text stringlengths 65 123k | url stringlengths 25 420 | crawl_date timestamp[us, tz=UTC]date 2022-04-01 01:00:57 2022-09-19 04:34:04 |
|---|---|---|
Chronicle of Higher Education senior writer Lee Gardner joins Here & Now‘s Peter O’Dowd to discuss the reasons why college is so expensive in the United States, including declining government support for state schools and private colleges that prioritize educational mission over efficiency.
This article was originally published on WBUR.org.
Copyright 2022 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org. | https://www.wyomingpublicmedia.org/2022-08-30/why-college-has-become-so-expensive-in-the-u-s | 2022-08-30T19:08:19Z |
Resistance to nuclear power is starting to ebb around the world with support from a surprising group: environmentalists.
This change of heart spans the globe, and is being prompted by climate change, unreliable electrical grids and fears about national security in the wake of Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
In California, the state's last remaining power plant — Diablo Canyon, situated on the Pacific Coast between San Francisco and Los Angeles — long scheduled to be scrapped, may now remain open. Governor Gavin Newsom, a longtime opponent of the plant, is seeking to extend its lifespan through at least 2029.
It's a remarkable turnaround in a state where anti-nuclear activists and progressive Democratic lawmakers have fought with great success to rid the state of nuclear power.
Last week, Japan's prime minister said the country is restarting idled nuclear plants and considering building new ones. This is a sharp reversal for the country that largely abandoned nuclear after the tsunami-led disaster at the Fukushima plant in 2011.
Germany pulled the plug on nuclear after Fukushima, too. But this summer there's been an intense debate in Germany over whether to restart three plants in response to the country's severe energy crisis prompted by the Russia-Ukraine war.
Backers of nuclear power note that it is a source of emissions-free reliable power. And they believe their case has been strengthened due to the threat of climate change and the need to stabilize unreliable electrical grids.
In California the moment of truth came in 2020 when residents had to endure a series of rolling power outages, said Michael Shellenberger, an environmentalist and author who supports nuclear.
"The state is constantly on the verge of blackouts," Shellenberger said.
Environmentalists for nuclear power
The turnabout on Diablo Canyon is noteworthy because California is the birthplace of America's anti-nuclear movement. The case against nuclear power stems primarily from fears about nuclear waste and potential accidents as well as its association with nuclear weapons.
The two operating generators at Diablo Canyon had been set to shut down by 2025. And for years the momentum to shutter the plant seemed inevitable, with anti-nuclear sentiment in California remaining high. Even the utility that operates Diablo Canyon, PG&E, wanted to pull the plug.
So it is striking that the most vehement arguments to keep Diablo Canyon running haven't come the nuclear industry. Instead, they have been put forward by a most unlikely collection of pro-nuclear advocates.
It seemed quixotic, even hopeless, in 2016, when Shellenberger along with the pioneering climate scientist James Hansen and Stewart Brand, founder of the crunchy Whole Earth Catalog, began advocating to save Diablo Canyon.
"We were basically excluded from polite conversation for even talking about keeping the plant open," recalled Shellenberger. Promoting nuclear as an important tool in fighting climate change would get him dismissed by fellow environmentalists as a conspiracy theorist or, falsely, as a corporate shill, he added.
Two moms — a scientist and an engineer — join hands to save nuclear
At the same time, Kritsin Zaitz and Heather Hoff were forming an advocacy group called Mothers for Nuclear, a local grassroots effort to keep Diablo Canyon operating. To say their views were not widely embraced would be a serious understatement.
"We felt like we were on an island all by ourselves," said Zaitz. "We had people wishing that we would die, wishing we would get cancer...making weird videos about us that made me feel like, am I unsafe, is my family unsafe?"
In many ways Zaitz and Hoff are also the most unlikely of nuclear advocates. They both describe themselves as eco-friendly liberals, moms concerned about preserving wild spaces, recycling and climate change.
At Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo, not far from Diablo Canyon, they both studied engineering and both took jobs at the plant – Hoff is a materials scientist and Zaitz is a civil engineer – despite misgivings about nuclear energy.
"I was nervous about nuclear before I started working there," said Hoff. "And it took a lot of years to change my mind...and eventually realize that nuclear really aligned with my environmental and humanitarian goals."
To promote those goals Zaitz and Hoff talk to community groups and professional societies, they promote nuclear power on social media and generate conversations walking around their hometowns wearing t-shirts that say, "Why nuclear? Ask me."
They see their role as going beyond just facts to make an emotional connection to people suspicious of nuclear, especially fellow environmentalists.
"It's the largest source of carbon free electricity in the United States," said Zaitz. "Most people don't know that it produces a lot of electricity on a relatively tiny land footprint."
Overcoming the stigma of "The Simpsons"
It's only reasonable to push back and say it's not surprising that Zaitz and Hoff support Diablo Canyon – after all, they work there. And, yes, they acknowledge they want to keep their jobs. But they say with their skills and experience they could find similar jobs elsewhere.
"This is how we feel we can contribute as environmentalists," said Hoff of their advocacy.
A lot of their work involves trying to combat a longstanding stigma against nuclear power, especially in popular culture, where its image is abysmal. Like on "The Simpsons," where Homer Simpson works in a slipshod plant and nuclear waste is dumped in a children's playground.
"We need to point people to accurate information so they can make up their own minds," said Zaitz.
Nuclear power has a safer track record than coal or natural gas
They don't shy away from the fact that for many people nuclear power is scary. "We say we were scared too," said Hoff. "It's okay to be scared. But that doesn't mean it's dangerous."
In terms of deaths from accidents or pollution, nuclear is far safer than coal or natural gas - the largest sources of electricity in the U.S.
Diablo Canyon got a boost last year when researchers from MIT and Stanford said keeping the plant open until 2035 would cut carbon emissions from California's power sector by more than 10% and save $2.6 billion in electricity costs.
The most important reason to keep the plant running is to help assure the reliability of the state's power grid, said John Parsons of MIT's Center for Energy and Environmental Policy Research and one of the study's co-authors. "And it's a zero carbon source of power so it can keep emissions low while also providing low cost power and reliable power."
Diablo's storied history of arrests & more
Despite recent gains by the plant's backers, opposition to Diablo Canyon remains stout and has a storied history dating back decades. In 1981 singer-songwriter Jackson Browne was arrested at the plant with some four dozen anti-nuclear protestors.
Governor Newsom's plan to keep Diablo Canyon operating still faces a number of obstacles, including opposition from some of his fellow Democrats in the state legislature. It must clear state and federal funding and regulatory obstacles. And diehard grass roots opponents of the plant are not giving up.
"Diablo Canyon is not safe and it's old, too. It's almost 40 years old," said Linda Seeley, a spokesperson for San Luis Obispo Mothers for Peace, a watchdog group that has opposed the plant for decades.
She said that it's especially risky because of its location in an earthquake prone area. Critics like Seeley also also call Governor Newsom's plan to keep the plant operating a corporate giveaway, noting that it includes a $1.4 billion forgivable loan to the plant's operator, PG&E.
And finally she said it's unwise to forget the nuclear disasters of the past. While Japan just announced it is restarting idled nuclear plants, Naoto Kan, the prime minister at the time of the Fukushima accident, has a different perspective, she said. In May, he wrote to Governor Newsom advising him to shut down Diablo Canyon as soon as possible.
Copyright 2022 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org. | https://www.wyomingpublicmedia.org/2022-08-30/why-even-environmentalists-are-supporting-nuclear-power-today | 2022-08-30T19:08:20Z |
This image provided by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases shows a colorized transmission electron micrograph of monkeypox particles (red) found within an infected cell (blue), cultured in the laboratory that was captured and color-enhanced at the NIAID Integrated Research Facility in Fort Detrick, Md.
CHEYENNE – The Wyoming Department of Health has announced the state’s second monkeypox case was identified, in a Teton County resident.
Dr. Alexia Harrist, state health officer and state epidemiologist with WDOH, said follow up with the adult man showed no increased risk of the virus to the local community, according to Monday's news release.
Monkeypox is characterized by a rash with other symptoms such as fever, chills, headache, muscle aches and tiredness. Monkeypox is rarely fatal, but it can be highly unpleasant and painful and can cause serious illness in some people.
“We want people to realize monkeypox spreads through close, intimate contact and does not spread easily like familiar viruses such as influenza or COVID-19,” Harrist said in the written announcement.
Harrist said steps to help reduce monkeypox risk include:
Talking with intimate partners about monkeypox symptoms and being aware of any new or unexplained rash or lesions. Anyone who has or recently had monkeypox symptoms or has a new or unexplained rash shouldn't have sex and should see a health care provider.
Consider limiting the number of one-time or anonymous sex partners to reduce likelihood of exposure.
Condoms may provide some protection against monkeypox, but may not prevent all exposures because the rash can occur in other areas of the body.
“While anyone can become ill with monkeypox, we specifically recommend vaccination for people who have been exposed to monkeypox and for people who may be more likely to get monkeypox based on how the current outbreak has been spreading,” Harrist said.
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 had sex with multiple or anonymous sexual partners who are male or male assigned at birth within the past year.
Sex workers (of any sex).
Eligible individuals interested in vaccination appointments should contact their public health office. Contact information for county public health offices can be found at health.wyo.gov/publichealth/nursing/phn-co-offices/. Wyoming residents may also call WDOH at 307-777-6004 for help finding the closest public health office.
While vaccine doses are being provided by the federal government through the state at no cost, a small administration fee may be charged.
Detailed facts and recommendations, including rash photos, are available from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention at cdc.gov/poxvirus/monkeypox/index.html. | https://www.wyomingnews.com/news/local_news/states-second-monkeypox-case-identified-in-teton-county/article_a4edef66-288c-11ed-9d89-970b2a6fd1c0.html | 2022-08-30T19:18:02Z |
CHEYENNE – State lawmakers spent Friday morning searching for ways to provide more affordable housing to Wyoming residents, including solutions such as a state housing trust fund and land banking.
Discussions were led by members of the Wyoming Legislature’s Joint Corporations, Elections and Political Subdivisions Committee, state agencies and local nonprofits invested in breaking down barriers to housing development. It falls in line with the committee’s second-highest priority to address the lack of workforce housing, which they have studied throughout the interim.
“Because of housing, we can’t keep teachers, snowplow drivers, or doctors and nurses,” said Rep. Jim Roscoe, I-Wilson.
Despite stakeholders showing support for a state housing trust fund, legislators decided only to take action on land banking. There were concerns expressed that the state housing trust fund would be unconstitutional because legislative appropriations for charitable or industrial purposes are not allowed unless the recipient is under control of the state.
“Section 6 prohibits the state and its political subdivisions from loaning or giving credit to guarantee private obligations, and also prohibits these actors from making donations to private individuals or entities except for the necessary support of the poor,” said Legislative Service Office staff attorney Anna Johnson.
A state housing trust fund could be possible, but not by following the original recommendation based on Iowa’s model, which legislative staff attorneys said could be problematic because of the difference in how Wyoming’s trust funds are laid out. Wyoming is one of just three states in the nation without a housing trust fund.
Other housing programs in Wyoming already exist, but legislators hoped to find additional ways to manage the pressure on the market.
The Wyoming Business Ready Community Program doesn’t specifically address workforce housing, but Johnson outlined in a memo how it would be a helpful framework for a program, since it provides loans for infrastructure, economic or educational development projects.
There is the Wyoming Workforce Housing Infrastructure Program, which provides loans for the creation of workforce housing subdivisions or developments. However, the infrastructure must be publicly owned, and doesn’t include the building of actual houses in order to follow state statute.
The Wyoming Community Development Authority was also created for many of the same reasons as the infrastructure program, and provides low-interest mortgage loans and financial education. Opportunities are available for down payment assistance, but it is still a loan.
Land banking
Advocates for a direct approach to solving the affordable housing crisis pushed for land banking. The banks are state-enabled public entities with unique governmental powers “that are solely focused on converting problem properties into productive use according to local community goals.”
“It’s a device, in part, where a municipality can clean up that kind of problem and eventually wind up with a property that is sellable,” said Sen. Charles Scott, R-Casper.
Brenda Birkle, executive director of the local nonprofit My Front Door and chair of Cheyenne’s Affordable Housing Taskforce, made her case for the land bank. She played an instrumental role along with Dan Dorsch, special coordinator for Habitat for Humanity of Laramie County, in identifying tools the Legislature could consider.
In her presentation to the committee, she described the land bank as having special powers, “including the ability to hold land tax-free, clear title, negotiate sales, convey property for other-than-monetary consideration and lease for interim uses.”
It acquires property through the expedited tax foreclosure process, lending institutions and the Department of Housing and Urban Development transferring low-value properties to the land bank, as well as private individuals and probate estates not wanting the burden of owning a property and giving it away. This, in return, can address community blights, increase the number of low- to moderate-income units, increase area property values and provide economic growth.
“Land banks are most commonly established in localities with relatively low or declining housing costs and a sizable inventory of tax-delinquent properties that the community wants to repurpose to support community goals,” according to Local Housing Solutions. “In high-cost localities, however, where there are few tax delinquent properties, land banks can serve as a vehicle for holding land purchased strategically for future affordable housing development.”
Based on the presentation and support from nonprofits, legislators passed a motion for the legislative staff to draft a bill based on Nebraska’s statutes. It would not require an appropriation from the Legislature, but rather develop legislation that enables local entities to develop interagency agreements to establish the land bank.
Housing trust fund
Although the housing trust fund that would have fallen under the Wyoming Community Development Authority’s responsibility was not supported by the majority of the committee, it did take up a significant portion of the discussion.
Sen. Tara Nethercott, R-Cheyenne, was a supporter of the housing trust fund, even with the work required make it constitutional. She was unsure whether the bill would move forward, but she encouraged efforts to be made, nonetheless.
“I do think, in light of it being one of our priority topics that this committee has chosen to take up, and hearing the overwhelming testimony from May, which I know we have all forgotten that there is an attainable housing concern – then at least we will have something tangible to work on at some meeting,” she told her fellow Corporations Committee members. “And, unfortunately, it will be our last.”
The wariness among legislators to draft the bill started hours before her call to draft the bill, and not just regarding the legal barriers.
According to the Housing Trust Fund Project, they are distinct funds established by governments that receive ongoing sources of public funding to support the preservation of affordable housing.
“Housing trust funds systemically shift affordable housing funding from annual budget allocations to the commitment of dedicated public revenue,” the advocacy organization wrote. “While housing trust funds can also be a repository for private donations, they are not public/private partnerships, nor are they endowed funds operating from interest and other earnings.”
Birkle said money from a statewide trust fund could go into local housing trust funds to create local control, and millions could be used to address housing issues. She said it could be used as gap funding for projects, to acquire and redevelop properties or land, to teach financial literacy and housing counseling, or for down payment assistance for homebuyers that are of low to moderate income.
“The good news is it’s customizable,” she told the Wyoming Tribune Eagle days before she went before the committee.
In order to implement it in Wyoming, it could be placed under the authority of agencies such as the WCDA and the Wyoming Business Council.
However, the WBC didn’t want to take on the housing affordability tool, and leadership argued its focus should be in expanding the workforce.
“The Business Council’s job is to create a housing problem. And I say that, in all seriousness, and I don’t mean to be flippant about it, but it is actually our job to create an environment where businesses can thrive, where businesses can grow,” WBC CEO Josh Dorrell testified Friday. “Housing is one component of it, but, ultimately, it’s our job to create the pressure. That creates a housing problem. And if we stay focused on that, we can create enough pressure, we can create enough of a housing problem, that will make us attractive to developers.”
Dorrell was supported by staff from Gov. Mark Gordon’s office, who argued the agency should stay in line with its duties and not take on the housing trust fund. Policy advisor Ivy McGowan-Castleberry said the governor expressed that he feels very strongly that the Business Council has a mission, that they need to work on activating new economic opportunities, and that the framework and expertise for a housing trust fund don’t currently exist.
Some lawmakers questioned whether companies would be deterred from moving into the state if there wasn’t housing, or why the private sector was having difficulty developing enough properties. Sen. Cale Case, R-Lander, stepped in to defend the private sector, and said his colleagues were forgetting how well it worked.
“I don’t think we should be so short and frustrated with what the private sector has accomplished and say, ‘Well, it’s not working right now, let’s create a program,’” he said. “I think there’s complementariness that we can pursue.”
Lawmakers will continue to try to find that balance at the next Corporations Committee Oct. 13-14. | https://www.wyomingnews.com/wyomingbusinessreport/industry_news/economy_and_labor/committee-supports-land-bank-housing-solution/article_79210cf2-288b-11ed-9d70-472cac346365.html | 2022-08-30T19:18:10Z |
After enacting a series of at-times contentious changes to city zoning and housing regulations, Laramie officials are preparing to enter a new phase in their push to create more local affordable housing options.
Over the past seven years, the city has collected and worked out multiple pieces of research showing a need to broaden housing access in the community.
Data shows that 54% of renters and 30% of homeowners are cost burdened by their current living situations, City Planning Manager Derek Teini told the Laramie City Council last week.
The city began taking initial steps to address the problem in 2020, researching and ultimately issuing a range of zoning changes aimed at encouraging development, such as reducing minimum lot size requirements, allowing the construction of accessible dwelling units and easing up on garage regulations.
Other recent changes, such as requiring builders to submit to a permitting process and creating a set of minimum habitability standards for rental housing, focus on increasing the quality of existing housing.
Now, the city plans to explore a more hands-on approach by potentially creating an urban renewal authority or using a tax increment financing method to encourage development in certain areas of the city.
Building back
Urban renewal authorities have historically brought mixed reactions and results to communities over time. URAs are statutory bodies formed with the intention of removing instances of “blight” in areas that are developed or have the potential for further development.
“Blight” could refer to various issues such as unfinished or broken roadways or failing infrastructure, Teini said.
Methods of resolving these issues can vary depending on the procedures of a specific URA and the situation, and could range from collaborative projects with property owners to condemning a property altogether.
The official process to create a local URA is likely to come before City Council in September, said Assistant City Manager Todd Feezer. If approved, it would likely be active by January.
City leaders said they expect public transparency and thoughtfulness to be a part of any potential URA decisions.
“Every member of council is not interested in pursuing rules that are going to put existing developing areas and property areas in a bad place where they might be struggling,” said Mayor Paul Weaver. “What we’re not trying to do is encourage a gentrifying policy in the city of Laramie.”
An important part of the process will be ensuring the city creates its policy structures in a way that avoids the pitfalls of URAs in other communities, said Laramie City Manager Janine Jordan.
Feezer explained that a URA could help create opportunities for new development in the city by focusing on demolition and reconstruction in areas that are already abandoned, such as the former Slade Elementary School building.
Finding money
City staff are also conducting intensive research on the process of tax increment financing to promote development in unused areas.
This funding structure, also known as TIF, allows cities to pay for development work up front and then make up for that spending by collecting the increase in property taxes applied to areas that benefit from the development.
This payment structure is one of the few tools communities with lower income rates across the population have at their disposal, Jordan said.
Some potential areas of city-owned property that could be developed using a TIF structure include lots on Crystal Court and the Turner Tract, Feezer said. The property along North 4th Street that the city vacated in a move to its new Public Works facility could be reimagined to be a mixed-use residential and retail area that could provide 70-200 residences.
TIF has not been used in Laramie before, Feezer said. The process would include vetting from the Laramie Planning Commission and City Council, which includes opportunity for public comment.
Long wait for improvement
With even small changes to zoning ordinances causing turbulence in the community, city staff and council members discussed the importance of public input and research in the process of considering new housing expansion approaches.
“Those changes that were made over the last two years are a significant amount of changes to housing,” Teini said. “There are communities across the West that would love to have just one part of those changes done in the last two or three years. I think it shows as a community our desire to provide that option.”
In an online survey of Laramie residents this year, 56% of respondents said they are in favor of the city playing a role in increasing housing options, Jordan said.
She said residents have been asking the city to address housing issues for nearly a decade.
“This is not a static process,” Weaver said. “It’s going to require looking at policies and deciding whether or not they’re a good thing for Laramie.” | https://www.wyomingnews.com/wyomingbusinessreport/industry_news/economy_and_labor/housing-dilemma-laramie-searches-for-missing-middle/article_93385a32-288b-11ed-8a5c-ab849caccfc6.html | 2022-08-30T19:18:11Z |
Lawmakers, looking to alleviate Wyoming’s mental health professional shortage, are considering measures that would make it easier for practitioners to work across state lines.
The Joint Labor, Health and Social Services committee considered two draft bills this month that would allow the state to join interstate psychology and counseling compacts. By enabling professionals licensed in one compact state to practice in all compact states, advocates say the agreements would give Wyoming patients access to more counselors and psychologists, and give Wyoming providers access to larger markets.
Wyoming residents could connect virtually with a counselor in Denver, for example, or a University of Wyoming student going home for the summer could continue treatment with a Laramie-based psychologist. The expansion of mental health care options is especially appealing in a rural state where the per-capita suicide rate is often the highest in the nation.
Advocates of the bill say state licensure requirements can be prohibitively time consuming, costly and ultimately discourage psychologists and counselors from going through the process. Skeptics, however, are concerned joining the compacts could wrest regulatory control away from the state and cost mental health professionals clients.
The non-profit advocacy group Mental Health America ranked Wyoming last in its 2022 state of mental health report because of a dangerous combination of factors: a high prevalence of mental illness and poor access to care.
There’s been a shadow pandemic of behavioral health issues taking place across the country, said Julia Harris, senior policy analyst for the health policy project at the Bipartisan Policy Center. “There’s been some of the highest rates of overdose that have ever happened in this country during the pandemic. There’s growing anxiety and depression because of the pandemic pressures.”
“The demand is way up,” said Casper-based psychologist and Wyoming Psychological Association president Donald Benson. “Part of that has been the pandemic and the stress people have been under.”
“My phone’s ringing off the hook,” Cheyenne-based counselor Lindsay Simineo said. It’s been a long time since she’s had an opening in her schedule.
“We do not want our Wyoming counselors getting to the point where they are so burned out by the overwhelming need, they walk away from the profession,” Simineo said. “So that additional workforce from out of state is going to be hugely important in supporting our current mental health workforce.”
Simineo also lobbies on behalf of the Wyoming Association of Counselors, which supports joining the counseling compact.
Need is outstripping the supply of mental health professionals, but the two compacts provide a potential way to alleviate that stress. Plus, joining them could make Wyoming a more attractive place for specialists to live and work.
Utah joined both the psychology and counseling compacts in the last few years.
Anna Lieber, licensed clinical mental health counselor and president of the Utah Mental Health Counselors Association, points to Logan, Utah’s proximity to the Idaho border as a prime example of the compacts’ benefits. “Most therapists in Logan have to be licensed in both Idaho and Utah,” Lieber said. “Which is a financial burden.”
“With COVID, we realized we could use telehealth a little more efficiently and better,” said Amanda Alkema, assistant director of substance abuse for the Utah Department of Health and Human Services. “It’s really helped in our rural areas to expand that.”
She noted that Mountain West states are often competing for the same workforce, and the compacts allow for more collaboration and shared expertise.
Wyoming has joined several compacts in the past few years, noted Wyoming Hospital Association president Eric Boley. Physician and nursing compacts proved particularly helpful during the pandemic. Nurses and physicians from participating compact states were able to work in Wyoming without going through an arduous licensing process.
“We haven’t seen any downside to this at all,” Boley said. “It’s all been really positive.”
The Wyoming Psychological Association has yet to take an official position on the compact, Benson said.
“There absolutely are people that worry that the people in other compact states will cherry pick patients from Wyoming,” Benson said. “And that will cut into the livelihoods of psychologists here.”
Additionally, some worry about states losing regulatory control over their counselors and psychologists.
“And when it comes to the Legislature,” Boley of the Hospital Association said, “there’s always concern about oversight and who’s ultimately responsible for making sure that they’re good practitioners, and they’re adhering to all the rules and regulations and guidance.”
However, he also said that the previously enacted physician and nursing compacts haven’t resulted in substandard care. “There’s still oversight and they’re still licensed in their home states,” Boley said.
The compact is just one important step forward, said Wyoming Association of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Centers executive director Andi Summerville. “But we still need people on the ground in Wyoming. Telehealth is wonderful, but it’s not a panacea.”
She says the state should still focus on growing the number of counselors who live and work in Wyoming and improving pay.
Summerville is supportive of the psychology and counseling compacts and the potential for more telehealth options.
“It’s important to recognize that that’s the way the country is moving in general,” Summerville said. “And without being part of the compact, it creates barriers for folks to come practice in our state.”
The Joint Labor, Health and Social Services committee voted to move forward with the draft bills and formally finalize them in its next meeting. | https://www.wyomingnews.com/wyomingbusinessreport/industry_news/government_and_politics/wyoming-mulls-joining-mental-health-care-compacts/article_b003ba1c-288b-11ed-bc46-07f5247040da.html | 2022-08-30T19:18:11Z |
2 children die in fire caused by cigarette lighter 1 was playing with, officials say
MOBILE, Ala. (WALA/Gray News) - Investigators said they have discovered the cause of a fire that broke out at a mobile home and killed two children last week in Alabama.
Sgt. Mark Bailey said the Alabama State Fire Marshal’s Office determined one of the victims, 4-year-old Liam Barnes, was playing with a cigarette lighter.
“The mother has confirmed that that is her cigarette lighter,” Bailey told WALA. “She usually keeps it in the kitchen. The 4-year-old obviously got a hold of the lighter, made it back to the bedroom and was playing with the lighter when he ignited the mattress.”
Bailey said it did not take long for flames to engulf the room and take over the home around 8:30 p.m. Thursday. He said Liam was inside the bedroom, and 2-year-old Noah Gordon was in a closet.
Bailey said the mother, Kali Sherman, briefly went over to a neighbor to deliver dinner. By the time she noticed the fire, it was engulfed. She managed to get Noah and her 10-month-old child, Sebastian Gordon, out of the home. While Sebastian survived, Noah and Liam did not.
Bailey said rescue workers rushed both to the hospital, but they died from smoke inhalation and related burns.
“We’ve obviously talked to her and several neighbors,” he said. “She never does leave the kids alone. She never leaves them alone for any period of time. She never leaves the house with the kids inside.”
That has been the observation of next-door neighbor Shaun Kendall, as well. Kendall, a tattoo artist who is donating part of his fees to help the family, said he has raised $340 so far.
“I’ve never known them to be anything other than good parents,” he said.
Kendall said his Ring camera captured the fire.
“It shows that this side, it wasn’t that much smoke. But the middle started catching fire,” he said. “This was a tragic, tragic – to say the least – incident. It was accidental. There was no intent and no, you know, there was just no recklessness there.”
To Bailey, the tragedy highlights the importance of making sure young children do not have access to anything dangerous. He compares it to secure guns in the home.
“Why should we not do the same for cigarette lighters, matches, and other dangerous objects that can cause damage or loss of life?” he said. “Fire safety is just as important to me as gun safety.”
Bailey also said the smoke alarms in the home were not working. He urged people to check those fire detectors periodically.
“Teach your children about fire safety,” he said. “If a fire alarm goes off, a fire breaks out, don’t hide in a safe space in the closet. Go out. Get to the outside if you can.”
Copyright 2022 WALA via Gray Media Group, Inc. All rights reserved. | https://www.wvva.com/2022/08/30/2-children-die-fire-caused-by-cigarette-lighter-1-was-playing-with-officials-say/ | 2022-08-30T19:18:58Z |
AP, other news outlets sue Uvalde officials for records
AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — The Associated Press and other news organizations are suing officials in Uvalde, Texas, after months of refusal to publicly release records related to the May massacre at Robb Elementary School.
The lawsuit filed Monday in Uvalde County asks a court to force the city, school district and sheriff’s department to turn over 911 recordings, personnel records and other documents. Newsrooms have requested them under Texas open records laws since a gunman killed 19 children and two teachers on May 24.
More than three months after one of the deadliest classroom shootings in U.S. history, news organizations have turned to courts in an effort to obtain information and records that Uvalde officials and state police have argued they cannot release because of ongoing investigations. The Texas Attorney General’s Office has also ruled that Uvalde officials cannot withhold all records.
Misleading and outright false statements by authorities about the police response in the initial hours and days after the attack on a fourth-grade classroom — which lasted more than 70 minutes — have sowed distrust that remains among many Uvalde residents.
“The obfuscation and inaction have only prolonged the pain of victims, their families and the community at large, all of whom continue to cry out for transparency regarding the events of that day,” the lawsuit states.
A spokeswoman for the city of Uvalde said they had to be served a copy of the lawsuit and declined comment. Representatives for the school district and sheriff’s office did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Uvalde officials, including Mayor Don McLaughlin, have previously citied ongoing investigations in their defense of the city continuing to withhold some records. The city has released some body camera footage from Uvalde police that show officers from multiple agencies in and outside the school during the attack.
The fullest account of the shooting has so far come from a report from a Texas House investigative committee that found wide failures by nearly 400 officers who rushed to the scene but waited more than an hour to confront the gunman. The report, released in July, also noted that Uvalde families had “already waited too long for answers and transparency.”
The Texas Department of Public Safety, which had more than 90 officers at the scene, has also denied public records requests since the shooting.
___
Associated Press writer Jake Bleiberg contributed to this report.
Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. | https://www.wvva.com/2022/08/30/ap-other-news-outlets-sue-uvalde-officials-records/ | 2022-08-30T19:19:04Z |
Liberty High holds Back to School Bash to celebrate new year, normalcy
GLEN DANIEL, W.Va. (WVVA) - For the first time in almost three years, Raleigh County students are returning to school without rigid Covid restrictions. And Monday night’s celebration, a Back to School Bash held on the school’s football field, showed just how happy students, parents, and teachers are about a return to normalcy.
“It’s our first normal year back to school,” said the event’s organizer and the school’s Community in Schools Liason, Amanda Wimbish. “So it was to kick off in a great way and to normalize the school year again and let the students have fun.”
Jamie Bailey, Liberty High School’s Assistant Principal, would agree. She says over the last few years, she has seen the students’ energy and excitement diminish; however, this year, she is already seeing a difference.
“To me, I mean, it feels like a different energy. It doesn’t feel maybe like a burden as the other years have been. I feel like it’s just so light and so fresh and airy like everybody is just so excited to be back and be normal.”
Wimbish and Bailey say they have a common goal: to have a solid school year for students, faculty, and staff, both during the day and at after-school activities.
“Having great events like this- we hope that it builds that atmosphere to where they want to be here,” Wimbish stated. “They’re not like, ‘Oh, man. This stinks. I don’t want to be at school.’ This year is different. We want to build that atmosphere and that Raider Nation pride back.”
Those at Liberty High say Monday’s bash was only the beginning of many more fun events to come. Wimbish is already making plans for a Homecoming dance and parade, which will be held in September.
Copyright 2022 WVVA. All rights reserved. | https://www.wvva.com/2022/08/30/liberty-high-holds-back-school-bash-celebrate-new-year-normalcy/ | 2022-08-30T19:19:11Z |
NASA releases image of the Phantom Galaxy
(CNN) - Stunning new images produced by the Hubble Telescope and the James Webb Telescope showcase the Phantom Galaxy, a spiral of solar systems 32 million light-years away from Earth.
The galaxy is located in the constellation Pisces, according to the European Space Agency (ESA), which collaborates with NASA on both the Hubble Telescope and the James Webb Telescope.
The Phantom Galaxy, formally known as M74, is a kind of spiral galaxy known as a “grand design spiral.” This means that it has well-defined spiral arms, visibly winding out from the center in the newly released images.
The images were created using data from both the Hubble Telescope and the Webb Telescope. The Webb detected “delicate filaments of gas and dust” in the galaxy’s spiral arms, according to the ESA. The images also provide a clear look at the nuclear star cluster at the galaxy’s center, unclouded by gas.
The Webb telescope also used its Mid-InfraRed Instrument to examine the Phantom Galaxy as part of a project to understand the earliest phases of star formation, said the ESA.
While the Webb is best at observing infrared wavelengths, the Hubble has particularly sharp vision at ultraviolet and visible wavelengths, says the agency. This allowed it to reveal particularly bright areas of star formation, known as HII regions, in the Phantom Galaxy images.
The combination of data from both telescopes allowed scientists to gain an even deeper understanding of the Phantom Galaxy and to create spectacular images of the cosmos.
The Webb released its first high-resolution images just weeks ago in July. Bigger than the Hubble, the telescope is capable of observing extremely distant galaxies, allowing scientists to learn about early star formation. Hubble orbits the Earth but Webb orbits the sun, around 1 million miles away from
Copyright 2022 CNN Newsource. All rights reserved. | https://www.wvva.com/2022/08/30/nasa-releases-image-phantom-galaxy/ | 2022-08-30T19:19:17Z |
New York to restrict gun carrying after Supreme Court ruling
NEW YORK (AP) — Amid the bright lights and electronic billboards across New York’s Times Square, city authorities are posting new signs proclaiming the bustling crossroads a “Gun Free Zone.”
The sprawling Manhattan tourist attraction is one of scores of “sensitive” places — including parks, churches and theaters — that will be off limits for guns under a sweeping new state law going into effect Thursday. The measure, passed after a U.S. Supreme Court decision in June expanded gun rights, also sets stringent standards for issuing concealed carry permits.
New York is among a half-dozen states that had key provisions of its gun laws invalidated by the high court because of a requirement for applicants to prove they had “proper cause” for a permit. Gov. Kathy Hochul said Friday that she and her fellow Democrats in the state Legislature took action the next week because the ruling “destroyed the ability for a governor to be able to protect her citizens from people who carry concealed weapons anywhere they choose.”
The quickly adopted law, however, has led to confusion and court challenges from gun owners who say it improperly limits their constitutional rights.
“They seem to be designed less towards addressing gun violence and more towards simply preventing people from getting guns — even if those people are law-abiding, upstanding citizens, who according to the Supreme Court have the rights to have them,” said Jonathan Corbett, a Brooklyn attorney and permit applicant who is one of several people challenging the law in court.
Under the law, applicants for a concealed carry permit will have to complete 16 hours of classroom training and two hours of live-fire exercises. Ordinary citizens would be prohibited from bringing guns to schools, churches, subways, theaters and amusement parks — among other places deemed “sensitive” by authorities.
Applicants also will have to provide a list of social media accounts for the past three years as part of a “character and conduct” review. The requirement was added because shooters have sometimes dropped hints of violence online before they opened fire on people.
Sheriffs in some upstate counties said the additional work for their investigators could add to existing backlogs in processing applications.
In Rochester, Monroe County Sheriff Todd Baxter said it currently takes two to four hours to perform a pistol permit background check on a “clean” candidate. He estimate the new law will add another one to three hours for each permit. The county has about 600 pending pistol permits.
“It’s going to slow everything down just a bit more,” he said.
In the Mohawk Valley, Fulton County Sheriff Richard C. Giardino had questions on how the digital sleuthing would proceed.
“It says three years worth of your social media. We’re not going to print out three years of social media posts by everybody. If you look at my Facebook, I send out six or 10 things a day,” said the sheriff, a former district attorney and judge.
The list of prohibited spaces for carrying guns has drawn criticism from advocates who say it’s so extensive it will make it difficult for people with permits to move about in public. People carrying a gun could go into private business only with permission, such as a sign posted on the window.
Giardino has already started giving out signs to local businesses saying people can carry legal firearms on the premises. Jennifer Elson, who owns the Let’s Twist Again Diner in Amsterdam, said she put up the sheriff’s sign, along with one of her own reading in part “per our governor, we have to post this nonsense. If you are a law abiding citizen who obtained a legal permit to carry, you are welcome here.”
“I feel pretty strongly that everybody’s constitutional rights should be protected,” she said.
But in Times Square, visited by about 50 million tourists annually, and many less crowded places carrying a gun will be illegal starting Thursday.
New York City Council Speaker Adrienne Adams said Tuesday she looked forward to seeing authorities move to “protect New Yorkers and visitors who frequent Times Square.”
One lawsuit challenging provisions of the law argued the rules make it hard for license holders to leave home without violating the law. A federal judge is expected to rule soon on a motion challenging multiple provisions of the law, which was filed on behalf of a Schenectady resident who holds a license to carry.
The Supreme Court ruling also led to a flurry of legislation in California to tighten rules on gun ownership, including a new law that could hold gun dealers and manufacturers responsible for any harm caused by anyone they have “reasonable cause to believe is at substantial risk” of using a gun illegally.
Earlier this month, Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker signed into law a measure that would require gun permit applicants to undergo personal interviews with a licensing authority.
New Jersey required people to get training before receiving a permit and would require new residents to register guns brought in from out of state.
Hawaii, which has the nation’s lowest number of gun deaths, is still weighing its options. Since the Supreme Court’s ruling, the state has only granted one new gun permit.
While New York does not keep statewide data on pistol permit applications, there are reports of long lines at county clerks’ office and other evidence of a surge in applications before the law takes effect.
In the Mohawk Valley, Pine Tree Rifle Club President Paul Catucci said interest in the club’s volunteer-run safety courses “blew right up” late this summer.
“I had to turn hundreds of them away,” he said.
___
Maysoon Khan is a corps member for the Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on under-covered issues. Follow Maysoon Khan on Twitter.
___
Hill and Khan contributed from Albany, New York.
Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. | https://www.wvva.com/2022/08/30/new-york-restrict-gun-carrying-after-supreme-court-ruling/ | 2022-08-30T19:19:24Z |
UN seeks $160 million in emergency aid for Pakistan floods
ISLAMABAD (AP) — The United Nations and Pakistan issued an appeal Tuesday for $160 million in emergency funding to help millions affected by record-breaking floods that have killed more than 1,160 people since mid-June.
U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said Pakistan’s flooding, caused by weeks of unprecedented monsoon rains, were a signal to the world to step up action against climate change.
“Let’s stop sleepwalking toward the destruction of our planet by climate change,” he said in a video message to an Islamabad ceremony launching the funding appeal. “Today, it’s Pakistan. Tomorrow, it could be your country.”
Guterres will visit Pakistan on Sept. 9 and meet with flood victims to express solidarity with them, according to a statement released by his office. It said Guterres will also “witness how we are working, in collaboration with our humanitarian partners, to support the government’s relief efforts and provide assistance to millions of people.”
More than 33 million people, or one in seven Pakistanis, have been affected by the catastrophic flooding, which has devastated a country already trying to revive a struggling economy. More than 1 million homes have been damaged or destroyed in the past two and half months, displacing millions of people. Around a half million of those displaced are living in organized camps, while others have had to find their own shelter.
Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif said the floods badly destroyed crops, and his government was considering importing wheat to avoid any shortage of food.
Sharif said Pakistan was witnessing the worst flooding in its history and any inadvertent delay by the international community in helping victims “will be devastating for the people of Pakistan.”
He promised funds from the international community would be spent in a transparent manner and that he would ensure all aid reaches those in need. “This is my commitment,” he told reporters, saying his country is “facing the toughest moment of its history.”
Pakistan says it has received aid from some countries, and others were dispatching aid too.
On Tuesday, the U.S. government said it would provide $30 million in assistance to help victims of the flood. According to a statement released by the U.S. Agency for International Development, this aid will be given to Pakistan through USAID. It said the United States is deeply saddened by the devastating loss of life and livelihoods throughout Pakistan.
According to initial government estimates, the devastation caused $10 billion in damage to the economy.
“It is a preliminary estimate likely to be far greater,” Planning Minister Ahsan Iqbal told The Associated Press. More than 243 bridges and more than 5,000 kilometers (3,100 miles) of road have been damaged.
Although rains stopped three days ago, large swaths of the country remain underwater, and the main rivers, the Indus and the Swat, are still swollen. The National Disaster Management Authority on Tuesday warned emergency services to be on maximum alert, saying flood waters over the next 24 hours could cause further damage.
Rescuers continued to evacuate stranded people from inundated villages to safer ground. Makeshift tent camps have sprung up along highways.
Meteorologists have warned of more rains in coming weeks.
“The situation is likely to deteriorate even further as heavy rains continue over areas already inundated by more than two months of storms and flooding. For us, this is no less than a national emergency,” Pakistani Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari said Tuesday, urging the international community to give generously to the U.N. appeal.
“Since mid-June, in fact, Pakistan has been battling one of the most severe, totally anomalous cycles of torrential monsoon weather,” he said. Rainfall during that time was three times the average, and up to six times higher in some areas, he said.
The U.N. flash appeal for $160 million will provide food, water, sanitation, health and other forms of aid to some 5.2 million people, Gutteres said.
“The scale of needs is rising like the flood waters. It requires the world’s collective and prioritized attention,” he said.
A day earlier, the International Monetary Fund’s executive board approved the release of a much awaited $1.17 billion for Pakistan.
The funds are part of a $6 billion bailout agreed on in 2019. The latest tranche had been on hold since earlier this year, when the IMF expressed concern about Pakistan’s compliance with the deal’s terms under the government of former Prime Minister Imran Khan. Khan was ousted through a no-confidence vote in the parliament in April.
Pakistan has risked default as its reserves dwindle and inflation has spiraled, and to get the IMF bailout, the government has had to agree to austerity measures.
The flooding catastrophe, however, adds new burdens to the cash-strapped government. It also reflects how poorer countries often pay the price for climate change largely caused by more industrialized nations. Since 1959, Pakistan is responsible for only 0.4% of the world’s historic emissions blamed for climate change. The U.S. is responsible for 21.5%, China for 16.5% and the EU 15%.
Several scientists say the record-breaking flooding has all the hallmarks of being affected by climate change.
“This year, Pakistan has received the highest rainfall in at least three decades,” said Abid Qaiyum Suleri, executive director of the Sustainable Development Policy Institute and a member of Pakistan’s Climate Change Council. “Extreme weather patterns are turning more frequent in the region and Pakistan is not an exception.”
Pakistan saw similar flooding and devastation in 2010 that killed nearly 2,000 people. But the government didn’t implement plans to prevent future flooding by preventing construction and homes in flood prone areas and river beds, said Suleri.
___
Associated Press writer Jamey Keaten contributed to this story from Geneva.
Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. | https://www.wvva.com/2022/08/30/un-seeks-160-million-emergency-aid-pakistan-floods/ | 2022-08-30T19:19:30Z |
UPDATE: Lockdown at McLaren Port Huron lifted; visitation resumes
Liz Shepard
Port Huron Times Herald
A lockdown at McLaren Port Huron has been lifted following a threat to the hospital Tuesday morning.
The hospital's social media said Tuesday afternoon that all visitation and entry to the hospital can resume as usual.
The hospital went on lockdown shortly after 9:35 a.m. following a threat that was made by phone call to the hospital, Port Huron Police Capt. Brian Kerrigan said.
Patients with an appointment were screened at the entrance during the lockdown, while the hospital asked all others to refrain from visiting, according to the hospital's social media posted around 10:30 a.m.
Further information was not immediately available. | https://www.thetimesherald.com/story/news/2022/08/30/mclaren-port-huron-hospital-on-lockdown-following-threat/65463707007/ | 2022-08-30T20:34:06Z |
Port Huron man dies following motorcycle crash on 13th Street
A motorcyclist died following a traffic crash in Port Huron Saturday.
The motorcycle was southbound in the 500 block of 13th Street at a high rate of speed shortly before 2:30 p.m. when he attempted to pass another southbound vehicle, according to the Port Huron Police Department.
As the motorcyclist was passing the vehicle, he lost control of the motorcycle, and was ejected, the police department said.
The motorcyclist, a 37-year-old Port Huron man, was pronounced dead on the scene.
Police believe that speed, along with the motorcyclist not wearing a helmet, was a factor in the crash.
The road was closed for several hours while police investigated the crash.
Anyone with information about the crash should call the Port Huron Police Department at(810) 984-8415 or CAPTURE at (810) 987-6688. Anonymous texts can also be received bytexting the keyword CAPTURE and the message/tip to 847411 or by downloading the PortHuron PD app on an apple or android device. Tips can also be emailed by clicking on theCAPTURE link at porthuronpolice.org.
Contact Laura Fitzgerald at (810) 941-7072 or lfitzgeral@gannett.com. | https://www.thetimesherald.com/story/news/2022/08/30/port-huron-man-dies-following-traffic-crash/65463879007/ | 2022-08-30T20:34:12Z |
Witness describes moment Croswell man allegedly ran over motorcyclist
A witness described the moment a Croswell man allegedly ran over a motorcyclist with his pickup truck during a probable cause hearing in Sanilac County Tuesday.
Tia Graham testified she was in the vehicle with Shawn Patrick Woodruff on the night of Aug. 7 when she said they started following Benjamin Green, 31, of Croswell, on his motorcycle. As they approached Harrington Road in Lexington Township, Woodruff told her to close her eyes.
As she peeked through her eyelids, she felt Woodruff's vehicle speed up and saw the lights of Green's vehicle grow closer in the windshield.
"All I see is the back of the lights on the motorcycle and I felt two bumps," Graham said.
She tried to jump out of the vehicle to check on Green, but Woodruff grabbed her arm and stopped her. She said when they returned to Woodruff's trailer, she tried to leave, but Woodruff stopped her.
"(Woodruff) told me was going to put on his boots and take me out back to take care of me," Graham said.
Eventually, Graham said she left, and went back to her own trailer, where her grandmother was. They went to the police to tell them what happened.
Graham said both Woodruff and Green are her cousins. The two men had had a conflict, and Woodruff said he would kill Green the next time he saw him, Graham said.
Graham said she was with Woodruff and another friend in Croswell hanging out and drinking beer prior to the crash.
Woodruff is charged with open murder, reckless driving causing death, failure to stop at the scene of an accident when at fault causing death, witness bribing/intimidation/interfering, assault with intent to do great bodily harm less than murder, moving violation causing death, aggravated assault and failure to report an accident.
If convicted, he faces a maximum sentence of life in prison without parole.
Sanilac County Sheriff deputies were dispatched to Harrington Road east of Eighth Road for a report of a motorcycle crash and a man lying in a ditch shortly before 3:30 a.m. on Aug. 8, the Sanilac County Sheriff Department has said.
The victim was transported to McLaren Port Huron and later transferred to McLaren Macomb, the sheriff department said. The victim later died, Sanilac County Sheriff Paul Rich has said.
"Ben was very artistic and loved artwork, his motorcycle and his baby girl," Green's obituary states.
Woodruff was taken into custody shortly after 5:30 p.m. the next day following the execution of a search warrant in Fort Gratiot, the department said.
Woodruff is scheduled for a continuation of the probable cause hearing at 10 a.m. Oct. 11 and an examination hearing at 1:30 p.m. Oct. 18 in front of Sanilac County District Court Judge Gregory Ross.
Contact Laura Fitzgerald at (810) 941-7072 or lfitzgeral@gannett.com. | https://www.thetimesherald.com/story/news/crime/2022/08/30/witness-describes-moment-croswell-man-allegedly-ran-over-motorcyclist-with-truck/65464589007/ | 2022-08-30T20:34:18Z |
A federal program to forgive loans for many Black farmers was ensnared in lawsuits. It speaks to the Biden Administration's challenges in pursuing racial equity through federal policy.
Copyright 2022 NPR
A federal program to forgive loans for many Black farmers was ensnared in lawsuits. It speaks to the Biden Administration's challenges in pursuing racial equity through federal policy.
Copyright 2022 NPR | https://www.wyomingpublicmedia.org/2022-08-30/debt-relief-for-black-farmers-shows-challenges-of-pursuing-racial-equity-with-policy | 2022-08-30T20:36:59Z |
As Alaska tallies votes for a special election to the U.S. House, Democrat Mary Peltola is hoping to keep a lead ahead of Republican Sarah Palin. Peltola would be the first Alaska native in Congress.
Copyright 2022 NPR
As Alaska tallies votes for a special election to the U.S. House, Democrat Mary Peltola is hoping to keep a lead ahead of Republican Sarah Palin. Peltola would be the first Alaska native in Congress.
Copyright 2022 NPR | https://www.wyomingpublicmedia.org/2022-08-30/democrat-mary-peltola-hopes-to-keep-lead-over-gops-sarah-palin-in-alaska-election | 2022-08-30T20:37:06Z |
As kids get ready to head back to school, it seems the right moment to celebrate educators with a look at what the movies have taught us about teaching.
Copyright 2022 NPR
As kids get ready to head back to school, it seems the right moment to celebrate educators with a look at what the movies have taught us about teaching.
Copyright 2022 NPR | https://www.wyomingpublicmedia.org/2022-08-30/encore-what-the-movies-taught-us-about-teaching | 2022-08-30T20:37:12Z |
FCC: Wireless carriers keeping track of your location, storing it for months
(CNN) - Your cellphone carrier might know more about your daily life than you realize.
According to carrier letters made public last week by the Federal Communications Commission, the country’s largest wireless carriers know where you are every time you make a phone call or use your data connection.
The companies routinely hold onto that location information for months and sometimes provide it to law enforcement.
The letters showed that smartphones constantly communicate with cell towers, giving carriers specific Global Positioning System coordinates.
Officials are calling on the FCC enforcement bureau to investigate whether wireless carriers are doing enough to tell customers how their information is handled.
Copyright 2022 CNN Newsource. All rights reserved. | https://www.whsv.com/2022/08/30/fcc-wireless-carriers-keeping-track-your-location-storing-it-months/ | 2022-08-30T20:37:14Z |
NPR's Ari Shapiro talks with Eater reporter Bettina Makalintal about her recent piece, "Why Do So Many Recipes Call for So Little Garlic?"
Copyright 2022 NPR
NPR's Ari Shapiro talks with Eater reporter Bettina Makalintal about her recent piece, "Why Do So Many Recipes Call for So Little Garlic?"
Copyright 2022 NPR | https://www.wyomingpublicmedia.org/2022-08-30/it-seems-like-everyone-loves-garlic-eater-looks-at-why-do-recipes-use-so-little | 2022-08-30T20:37:19Z |
Girl, 9, trapped under 1,000-lb. hay bale airlifted to children’s hospital, recovering
FOND DU LAC COUNTY, Wis. (WBAY/Gray News) – A 9-year-old girl who was trapped underneath a large bale of hale last week in Wisconsin, was expected to be released from the hospital Tuesday.
Savannah Grahl, 9, and her older sister were playing with new kittens in the calf barn on a family farm, their mother, Tara Grahl, told WBAY.
Grahl said she walked into the barn and found Savannah’s head and neck trapped between two bales of hay that were stacked on top of one another.
With the help of her sister-in-law, the two women were able to lift the 1,000-pound bale off the girl, freeing her.
They got the girl breathing again before first responders arrived. She was eventually flown to Children’s Wisconsin in Milwaukee in critical care.
She moved out of ICU on Saturday, and Grahl announced on Facebook Monday that Savannah would be released from the hospital Tuesday.
Grahl says her daughter will have to wear a neck brace for a few months and will need physical and occupational therapy to regain strength and mobility in her right arm and hand.
“She has the best attitude and has been the best little patient ever,” her mother said, thankful her daughter is alive.
Copyright 2022 WBAY Gray Media Group, Inc. All rights reserved. | https://www.whsv.com/2022/08/30/girl-9-trapped-under-1000-lb-hay-bale-airlifted-childrens-hospital-recovering/ | 2022-08-30T20:37:21Z |
Wedding bells and shared accounts - financial advice for newlyweds
Experts say most important part of money management is to be a team
InvestigateTV - Following a pandemic slowdown the past two years, 2022 is expected to be a record year for marriages.
Nate Johnson, a wealth management advisor with Merrill Lynch, said along with budgeting for a wedding, couples should also plan for how they will budget their life together.
Johnson said the most important thing for couples is to be a team.
“Whether you do everything together or you keep your account separate, the most important thing is just to have some sort of game plan that both partners are comfortable with and open with and committed to sticking to,” Johnson advised.
Johnson had two other important tips for newlyweds:
Get into the habit of saving as much money as possible, as early in the marriage as possible: Johnson said he has never had a client regret saving too much money.
Don’t be afraid to deviate from your peer group: While some may be rushing to buy a new house or new car or expensive vacation, do what’s best for your family.
Copyright 2022 Gray Media Group, Inc. All rights reserved. | https://www.whsv.com/2022/08/30/wedding-bells-shared-accounts-financial-advice-newlyweds/ | 2022-08-30T20:37:23Z |
Jackson, Miss., is without clean drinking water as its water system is near collapse. Officials are scrambling to distribute fresh water and devise a plan to repair the neglected treatment system.
Copyright 2022 NPR
Jackson, Miss., is without clean drinking water as its water system is near collapse. Officials are scrambling to distribute fresh water and devise a plan to repair the neglected treatment system.
Copyright 2022 NPR | https://www.wyomingpublicmedia.org/2022-08-30/jackson-miss-is-in-a-water-emergency-and-residents-dont-have-clean-drinking-water | 2022-08-30T20:37:25Z |
A third of Pakistan is under water from catastrophic flooding. Nowshera, in northwestern Pakistan, has managed to avoid the worst losses — thanks in part to the efforts of a local official.
Copyright 2022 NPR
A third of Pakistan is under water from catastrophic flooding. Nowshera, in northwestern Pakistan, has managed to avoid the worst losses — thanks in part to the efforts of a local official.
Copyright 2022 NPR | https://www.wyomingpublicmedia.org/2022-08-30/millions-are-displaced-from-flooding-in-pakistan-but-one-city-has-avoided-the-worst | 2022-08-30T20:37:32Z |
One-third of Pakistan is inundated, as floods sweep through the country this summer. The catastrophic floods, resulting from monsoon rains that began in June, are unprecedented in scale and scope. So far, they have affected some 33 million people — about 14% of Pakistan's population — causing death, damage, displacement and loss whose effects will be felt for months and years to come.
More than 1,000 people have been killed. Agriculture, a mainstay of Pakistan's economy, has been overwhelmed as fields drown. Nearly half the cotton crop has been lost in southern Sindh province.
Pakistan's Federal Minister for Climate Change Sherry Rehman has called the flooding a "crisis of unimaginable proportions." Of Sindh — which is still bracing for more floods as rivers to the north swell and burst their banks — she tweeted: "The crops are gone, lives ruined, livelihoods wiped out, roads swept away, houses destroyed or barely standing ... Where to pump/drain the water? There's water everywhere."
Pakistani authorities estimate rebuilding will cost upward of $10 billion, and are pleading for help. The U.S. announced Tuesday that it's providing $30 million for shelter, food and sanitation. China, Turkey, the European Union and the United Arab Emirates also are sending aid.
The United Nations has launched a joint appeal with Pakistan's government for $160 million. "The Pakistani people are facing a monsoon on steroids — the relentless impact of epochal levels of rain and flooding," said U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres, who will visit the country on Friday. He referred to the flooding as a "climate catastrophe."
Here are images showing some of the extent of destruction and emergency response efforts.
Copyright 2022 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org. | https://www.wyomingpublicmedia.org/2022-08-30/photos-a-third-of-pakistan-is-under-water-in-catastrophic-floods | 2022-08-30T20:37:39Z |
Remembering the man behind the Trapper Keeper NPR | By Megan Lim, Christopher Intagliata Published August 30, 2022 at 2:05 PM MDT Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Flipboard E. Bryant Crutchfield, the inventor of the Trapper Keeper, died this month at age 85. Copyright 2022 NPR | https://www.wyomingpublicmedia.org/2022-08-30/remembering-the-man-behind-the-trapper-keeper | 2022-08-30T20:37:45Z |
The government has sent evacuation orders to Ukraine's Donbas region but many remain. One sparsely open city has become a hub for Ukrainian military members taking a break from the front line.
Copyright 2022 NPR
The government has sent evacuation orders to Ukraine's Donbas region but many remain. One sparsely open city has become a hub for Ukrainian military members taking a break from the front line.
Copyright 2022 NPR | https://www.wyomingpublicmedia.org/2022-08-30/revisiting-ukraines-front-line-in-slovyansk | 2022-08-30T20:37:52Z |
NPR's Mary Louise Kelly speaks with former pro tennis player and Tennis Channel commentator Chanda Rubin about Serena Williams' legacy on and off the court.
Copyright 2022 NPR
NPR's Mary Louise Kelly speaks with former pro tennis player and Tennis Channel commentator Chanda Rubin about Serena Williams' legacy on and off the court.
Copyright 2022 NPR | https://www.wyomingpublicmedia.org/2022-08-30/serena-williams-legacy-as-told-by-one-of-the-few-players-to-beat-her-chanda-rubin | 2022-08-30T20:37:58Z |
Baseball is sometimes called the "timeless game." Unlike football, basketball or soccer, there's no clock. Theoretically, the game could go on forever. Four decades ago, one game came close.
Copyright 2022 NPR
Baseball is sometimes called the "timeless game." Unlike football, basketball or soccer, there's no clock. Theoretically, the game could go on forever. Four decades ago, one game came close.
Copyright 2022 NPR | https://www.wyomingpublicmedia.org/2022-08-30/the-story-behind-the-longest-baseball-game-ever | 2022-08-30T20:38:05Z |
NPR's Ailsa Chang talks to Sarhang Hamasaeed, director of Middle East programs for the United States Institute of Peace, about popular Iraqi cleric Muqtada al-Sadr's resignation.
Copyright 2022 NPR
NPR's Ailsa Chang talks to Sarhang Hamasaeed, director of Middle East programs for the United States Institute of Peace, about popular Iraqi cleric Muqtada al-Sadr's resignation.
Copyright 2022 NPR | https://www.wyomingpublicmedia.org/2022-08-30/what-the-resignation-of-popular-iraqi-cleric-muqtada-al-sadr-means-in-the-middle-east | 2022-08-30T20:38:11Z |
NPR's Ailsa Chang talks with author Mia Mercado about her new book She's Nice Though, which explores why women, in particular, feel the need to perform niceness in so many situations.
Copyright 2022 NPR
NPR's Ailsa Chang talks with author Mia Mercado about her new book She's Nice Though, which explores why women, in particular, feel the need to perform niceness in so many situations.
Copyright 2022 NPR | https://www.wyomingpublicmedia.org/2022-08-30/when-is-nice-too-nice-one-author-explores-that-question-in-her-new-book | 2022-08-30T20:38:18Z |
The state has published two new geologic maps that provide insight into what is happening beneath the ground in the greater Jackson and Casper areas.
One of the maps the Wyoming State Geological Survey (WSGS) published highlights geologic hazards in the east half of the Jackson Lake Quadrangle, which includes Teton, Park and Fremont counties.
Check out this week's Caldera Chronicles about how the WSGS is using lidar data to ID and characterize the hazards associated with young faults in the Jackson Lake area. #Wyoming #geology @GrandTetonNPS @USGSVolcanoes https://t.co/JpX4RNlCK0
— WY Geological Survey (@WyGeoSurvey) August 22, 2022
James Mauch, a WSGS geologist, said hazards can include things like landslides and faults that could affect infrastructure.
“We're interested in the intersection of the geologic hazard with the important infrastructure in rapidly developing Teton County,” said Mauch.
He added that one area of concern is the highway from Dubois to Moran.
“That highway cuts through one of the most landslide prone parts of the states, and has been impacted by landslide activity multiple times in the past decades,” Mauch said.
Mauch said mapping these hazards can help with the safety of future development in the rapidly growing area. The team even discovered two new faults in the region.
“These faults have experienced multiple surface rupturing earthquakes in the last 20,000 years, and that the most recent surface rupturing earthquake occurred sometime in the last 15,000 years,” he said.
The area was mapped on a 1:100,000-scale, which is incredibly detailed, Mauch said, adding that the area has never been mapped on that scale before. It is part of a larger effort to map the entire state’s surficial geology on that scale.
Another WSGS map published this summer, shows mineral and energy resources near Casper, which can help the industry better understand the area for future resource extraction.
Annotated photograph of the contact between the Mowry Shale and Belle Fourche Member of the Frontier Formation, looking north, on the Oil Mountain quadrangle near Casper, #Wyoming.
— WY Geological Survey (@WyGeoSurvey) August 23, 2022
Oil Mountain quad #map ➡️ https://t.co/27a295HwR2#geology pic.twitter.com/Z0Ce75EqSo
The map highlights energy resources in the Oil Mountain area, which is between the Powder River Basin and Wind River Basins, both areas rich in resources.
“We're able to connect the dots between the data collected from oil wells and water wells in the basins on either side with surface data and that gives us a more complete picture of the geology,” said Dereck Lichtner, a WSGS geologist.
The new map shows the Oil Mountain area is likely rich with resources such as groundwater, coal and uranium, which is of interest to the energy industry. | https://www.wyomingpublicmedia.org/natural-resources-energy/2022-08-30/state-geological-maps-show-new-information-about-underground-activities-in-wyoming | 2022-08-30T20:38:24Z |
A federal program to forgive loans for many Black farmers was ensnared in lawsuits. It speaks to the Biden Administration's challenges in pursuing racial equity through federal policy.
Copyright 2022 NPR
A federal program to forgive loans for many Black farmers was ensnared in lawsuits. It speaks to the Biden Administration's challenges in pursuing racial equity through federal policy.
Copyright 2022 NPR | https://www.keranews.org/2022-08-30/debt-relief-for-black-farmers-shows-challenges-of-pursuing-racial-equity-with-policy | 2022-08-30T20:43:00Z |
As Alaska tallies votes for a special election to the U.S. House, Democrat Mary Peltola is hoping to keep a lead ahead of Republican Sarah Palin. Peltola would be the first Alaska native in Congress.
Copyright 2022 NPR
As Alaska tallies votes for a special election to the U.S. House, Democrat Mary Peltola is hoping to keep a lead ahead of Republican Sarah Palin. Peltola would be the first Alaska native in Congress.
Copyright 2022 NPR | https://www.keranews.org/2022-08-30/democrat-mary-peltola-hopes-to-keep-lead-over-gops-sarah-palin-in-alaska-election | 2022-08-30T20:43:07Z |
As kids get ready to head back to school, it seems the right moment to celebrate educators with a look at what the movies have taught us about teaching.
Bob Mondello, who jokes that he was a jinx at the beginning of his critical career — hired to write for every small paper that ever folded in Washington, just as it was about to collapse — saw that jinx broken in 1984 when he came to NPR. | https://www.keranews.org/2022-08-30/encore-what-the-movies-taught-us-about-teaching | 2022-08-30T20:43:13Z |
NPR's Ari Shapiro talks with Eater reporter Bettina Makalintal about her recent piece, "Why Do So Many Recipes Call for So Little Garlic?"
Copyright 2022 NPR
NPR's Ari Shapiro talks with Eater reporter Bettina Makalintal about her recent piece, "Why Do So Many Recipes Call for So Little Garlic?"
Copyright 2022 NPR | https://www.keranews.org/2022-08-30/it-seems-like-everyone-loves-garlic-eater-looks-at-why-do-recipes-use-so-little | 2022-08-30T20:43:19Z |
Jackson, Miss., is without clean drinking water as its water system is near collapse. Officials are scrambling to distribute fresh water and devise a plan to repair the neglected treatment system.
Copyright 2022 NPR
Jackson, Miss., is without clean drinking water as its water system is near collapse. Officials are scrambling to distribute fresh water and devise a plan to repair the neglected treatment system.
Copyright 2022 NPR | https://www.keranews.org/2022-08-30/jackson-miss-is-in-a-water-emergency-and-residents-dont-have-clean-drinking-water | 2022-08-30T20:43:25Z |
A third of Pakistan is under water from catastrophic flooding. Nowshera, in northwestern Pakistan, has managed to avoid the worst losses — thanks in part to the efforts of a local official.
Copyright 2022 NPR
A third of Pakistan is under water from catastrophic flooding. Nowshera, in northwestern Pakistan, has managed to avoid the worst losses — thanks in part to the efforts of a local official.
Copyright 2022 NPR | https://www.keranews.org/2022-08-30/millions-are-displaced-from-flooding-in-pakistan-but-one-city-has-avoided-the-worst | 2022-08-30T20:43:31Z |
Remembering the man behind the Trapper Keeper By Megan Lim, Christopher Intagliata Published August 30, 2022 at 3:05 PM CDT Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email E. Bryant Crutchfield, the inventor of the Trapper Keeper, died this month at age 85. Copyright 2022 NPR | https://www.keranews.org/2022-08-30/remembering-the-man-behind-the-trapper-keeper | 2022-08-30T20:43:37Z |
The government has sent evacuation orders to Ukraine's Donbas region but many remain. One sparsely open city has become a hub for Ukrainian military members taking a break from the front line.
Copyright 2022 NPR
The government has sent evacuation orders to Ukraine's Donbas region but many remain. One sparsely open city has become a hub for Ukrainian military members taking a break from the front line.
Copyright 2022 NPR | https://www.keranews.org/2022-08-30/revisiting-ukraines-front-line-in-slovyansk | 2022-08-30T20:43:43Z |
NPR's Mary Louise Kelly speaks with former pro tennis player and Tennis Channel commentator Chanda Rubin about Serena Williams' legacy on and off the court.
Copyright 2022 NPR
NPR's Mary Louise Kelly speaks with former pro tennis player and Tennis Channel commentator Chanda Rubin about Serena Williams' legacy on and off the court.
Copyright 2022 NPR | https://www.keranews.org/2022-08-30/serena-williams-legacy-as-told-by-one-of-the-few-players-to-beat-her-chanda-rubin | 2022-08-30T20:43:49Z |
Baseball is sometimes called the "timeless game." Unlike football, basketball or soccer, there's no clock. Theoretically, the game could go on forever. Four decades ago, one game came close.
Copyright 2022 NPR
Baseball is sometimes called the "timeless game." Unlike football, basketball or soccer, there's no clock. Theoretically, the game could go on forever. Four decades ago, one game came close.
Copyright 2022 NPR | https://www.keranews.org/2022-08-30/the-story-behind-the-longest-baseball-game-ever | 2022-08-30T20:43:56Z |
NPR's Ailsa Chang talks to Sarhang Hamasaeed, director of Middle East programs for the United States Institute of Peace, about popular Iraqi cleric Muqtada al-Sadr's resignation.
Copyright 2022 NPR
NPR's Ailsa Chang talks to Sarhang Hamasaeed, director of Middle East programs for the United States Institute of Peace, about popular Iraqi cleric Muqtada al-Sadr's resignation.
Copyright 2022 NPR | https://www.keranews.org/2022-08-30/what-the-resignation-of-popular-iraqi-cleric-muqtada-al-sadr-means-in-the-middle-east | 2022-08-30T20:44:02Z |
NPR's Ailsa Chang talks with author Mia Mercado about her new book She's Nice Though, which explores why women, in particular, feel the need to perform niceness in so many situations.
Copyright 2022 NPR
NPR's Ailsa Chang talks with author Mia Mercado about her new book She's Nice Though, which explores why women, in particular, feel the need to perform niceness in so many situations.
Copyright 2022 NPR | https://www.keranews.org/2022-08-30/when-is-nice-too-nice-one-author-explores-that-question-in-her-new-book | 2022-08-30T20:44:08Z |
SEATTLE — When the U.S. homicide rate jumped nearly 30% in 2020, experts hoped it was a temporary blip — a fleeting symptom of pandemic pressures and civil unrest.
"I lost a couple of people around that time, due to gun violence," says LaMaria Pope, who works for a youth outreach program in the Seattle area called "Choose 180."
Three summers later, she says that violence persists, and young people are more likely to be armed with a gun.
"Sixteen, and 17, 18 and up — they only feel safe if they have one. It's becoming a jacket — they can't leave the house without one," she says.
Hopes for a rapid decline in the pandemic murder spike are fading. National statistics for 2022 aren't yet available, but you can get a sneak peak from an informal year-to-date tally of murders in major cities compiled by data analyst Jeff Asher. The total count in those cities has dipped slightly lower than last year, but it's still well above pre-pandemic levels. And in 40% of the cities listed, homicides are trending higher.
Some of the worst trouble spots are cities such as Philadelphia and Baltimore, where year-to-date homicides are rivaling the high tallies of 2020 and 2021.
In Portland, Ore., the mayor has declared an "emergency" over gun violence, as the city struggles to reel in an annual murder count that shot up to 88 in 2021, from 36 in 2019.
Even some smaller cities, such as Little Rock, Ark., are in danger of eclipsing last year's murder numbers.
"This is definitely not the '90s"
But it's not just that the numbers remain high. The nature of the gun violence itself has changed, according to those who watch these crimes closely.
"This is definitely not the '90s, what we're seeing," says Elyne Vaught, a prosecutor in King County, Wash. He's part of a program called "Shots Fired," which counts and categorizes illegal shootings in a county that includes Seattle. The program seeks to identify people at risk of getting involved in the violence, and intervene by offering social services delivered by non-profits.
"The '90s was more gang-oriented, there was much more organized, sort of targeted shootings," Vaught says. "Today, it's petty offenses, petty conflicts, reckless shootings."
Vaught says you can see the "rise in reckless-type shootings" in the county statistics, where the number of shots fired has more than doubled, compared to the same period in 2019, and with more shots fired per victim.
Police around the country have noticed this trend. A new report from the Major Cities Chiefs Association points to "incidents of individuals indiscriminately shooting into large crowds while discharging massive amounts of ammunition," such as the April mass shooting in downtown Sacramento.
The chiefs point to the availability of extended ammunition magazines, as well as the growing popularity of "auto sear" switches, small after-market devices that turn semi-automatic Glock pistols into illegal automatics, capable of spraying bullets. (Similar attachments are also exist for AR-15-style rifles, but police worry more about handguns, which are used far more often in crimes.)
Post-pandemic "gunplay"
Anecdotally, gunfire has become a more common sound in many urban and suburban areas. Jimmy Hung, chief deputy for the juvenile division of the King County Prosecutor's Office, says he's noticed the change.
"I live in West Seattle and I've never felt, like, leaving my house, I was in danger of being shot — I still don't," Hung says. "But having lived there now for nearly 20 years, I can confidently say that when I sleep at night and I have my window open, I certainly hear more gunshots today than I did when I first moved into the neighborhood."
Hung wonders if those shots are connected to a rise in the "demonstrative" use of guns by young men.
A 16-year-old we're calling "G" recalls being at a party in the same neighborhood — West Seattle — and observing exactly that. (We're withholding his name, given his age and the topic.)
"All we hear is 'pop-pop-pop,' " he says, describing the incident.
He says it started with a dispute between two groups of young people, and took an ominous turn when some came back holding backpacks in front of them, one hand concealed inside.
"That only means, usually, two things," he says. "Either they're having a hard time finding something. Or — it's usually just them holding a gun, ready to pull it out and fire."
Gun violence often starts online
"G" says he doesn't have a gun, and most of the guns he sees in the hands of acquaintances are on social media.
"Mostly Snapchat," he says. "[The videos are] them usually smoking in a car and then holding out a gun, flashing the laser sight. Just saying, 'Hey, I have this, don't mess with me. Be scared of me, basically.' "
When the guns come out in person, he says it's often after warnings online. For instance, someone will post the video of a fistfight, which in turn will prompt others to promise to avenge the loser.
"One of the friends might say, 'Oh, I'm gonna slide for you. I'm going to slide real quick with a pole on me,' " G says, where the term "pole" is slang for gun.
"That usually means, 'Hey, we don't care that you lost, but we're gonna go get the deed done,' " he says.
Temple University criminologist Jason Gravel, who studies how young people acquire and use guns, says the role of social media may be the biggest change of the last few recent years.
"It might look like some random shooting on the street, but if that was preceded by a bunch of verbal threats online or in social media, you don't see the first part of the conflict, you just see the end result," Gravel says.
More guns, more shootings?
At the "Choose 180" program in suburban Seattle, Lemaria Pope thinks the year-long closure of in-person schooling in the region led to many kids discovering guns.
"Kids were finding their parents' guns, because they're in the house, no school, no work. I definitely think during that pandemic, it just opened up a window," Pope says.
There may have been more guns around for kids to find. Firearms dealers reported record sales during the pandemic, and a recent article in the Annals of Internal Medicine estimates that 2.9% of U.S. adults became new gun owners. By extension, the authors estimate 5 million children were "newly exposed" to firearms in their households.
At the prosecuting attorney's office, Hung believes irresponsible gun owners are part of the problem.
"I don't believe that we have emphasized or prioritized enough the secure storage of guns or the responsible ownership of guns," he says. "And so kids are gaining access to guns either through, you know, theft or people misplacing them and them just getting in the wrong hands."
Less risk of getting caught
Others reject this explanation for heightened gun violence, saying people who want guns have always found ways to get them.
Anthony Branch, 26, got into trouble for carrying a gun when he was a teen. Watching the gun culture in his neighborhood, he thinks more minors and felons are carrying guns illegally now for one simple reason: "Defund the police," as he puts it.
"They're only going to search for priorities," he says of the Seattle Police Department, which lost hundreds of officers after the protests that followed the 2020 murder of George Floyd by police in Minneapolis.
At the same time, he acknowledges the violence itself may also be a deciding factor.
"What are you gonna do when you win the fight, and somebody shoots you? Or you have a beef that's so bad that you lose the fight, and they still shoot you?" he asks. "So that's why you have all these young people — and older cats too — want to carry so much. Because of the uncertainty of it."
Criminologist Gravel says society should take seriously the fact that people in certain communities feel so unsafe, they want to carry guns.
"When you look at the rates of violence, if you lived in that community, I don't know if I would blame you if you wanted to carry a gun for protection," he says. "It's not entirely irrational to do so, even if it puts them more at risk."
As to the question of whether the pandemic-era violence is here to stay, Gravel says the jury is still out.
"There's a lot of research that suggests that violence is kind of operates like a contagion," he says. "It's going to take a while until the chain of conflicts that started in 2020 ends — and it might never end! It might take a while for it to die down on its own if we don't intervene and try to stop these conflicts before they happen."
Copyright 2022 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org. | https://www.keranews.org/news/2022-08-29/shootings-spiked-during-the-pandemic-the-spike-now-looks-like-a-new-normal | 2022-08-30T20:44:14Z |
A year and a half after a severe winter storm nearly collapsed the state’s power grid, Texas oil and gas regulators approved new rules Tuesday that would require natural gas companies to properly prepare their equipment for extreme weather.
The rules will require oil and gas companies to be able to continue operating during a weather emergency, but they do not specify the standards the agency’s inspectors will use to measure readiness. They also require companies to submit annual reports to the Texas Railroad Commission, which regulates the state’s massive oil and gas sector, outlining what they have done to ensure their facilities won’t fail during weather emergencies.
If companies do not comply with the new rules, they would be subject to a minimum $5,000 fine and a maximum fine of $1 million.
Critics are skeptical about whether the Railroad Commission can prevent another catastrophe like the one that struck Texas in February 2021, when extended freezing temperatures shut down natural gas facilities and power plants, which rely on each other to keep electricity flowing. The resulting blackouts left millions of Texans without power for days, and hundreds of people died in the winter storm.
A Federal Energy Regulatory Commission report on the Texas freeze released in late 2021 found that 87% of unplanned generation outages were due to fuel issues related to natural gas.
The Texas Competitive Power Advocates, which represents electricity generators, said the fine was not a strong punishment. “Penalties should serve as an incentive to avoid violations, not as a minor inconvenience,” the group said in comments submitted to the Railroad Commission.
Jim Wright, one of the three Railroad Commission board members, addressed those concerns during Tuesday’s meeting to adopt the new rules. He said “repeat and deliberate attempts to avoid compliance will not be taken lightly by the Commission and it will result in a referral to the attorney general.”
It’s unclear from the new rules what action the attorney general can take against companies beyond the $5,000 fine.
According to the weatherization proposal the commission adopted Tuesday, the new rules apply only to gas supply chain facility operators and gas pipeline facility operators that are included in a supply chain map the agency created this year to chart the state’s energy infrastructure, as mandated by lawmakers during the 2021 legislative session.
While the Railroad Commission took more than a year to implement weatherization standards, the Texas Public Utility Commission, which oversees the state’s power grid operator — the Electric Reliability Council of Texas —implemented rules last fall requiring power plants to fix “acute” issues exposed by the February 2021 disaster. Those rules were based on recommendations that were made — but never acted upon — a decade ago by experts and federal regulators after a 2011 winter storm caused widespread rolling power outages.
During Tuesday’s meeting, Luke Warford, a Democrat who is challenging Railroad Commission Chair Wayne Christian in the November election, slammed Christian and the Railroad Commission. The new rule “is beyond inadequate, failing to provide the accountability Texans deserve,” Warford told the board. “How can we possibly trust that this rule is going to keep us safe now?”
Neither Christian nor the other commissioners responded to Warford’s remarks during the public comments portion of the meeting.
Christian, who attended Tuesday’s meeting virtually because he said he tested positive for COVID-19, has mostly focused his reelection campaign on the state’s massive oil and gas sector’s importance to Texas and criticizing the Biden administration’s moves related to the industry.
Meanwhile, Warford has staked his campaign on last year’s power grid failure, trying to connect the catastrophe to the Railroad Commission and Christian’s leadership. | https://www.keranews.org/texas-news/2022-08-30/texas-gas-companies-face-fines-up-to-1-million-for-failing-to-prepare-for-extreme-weather | 2022-08-30T20:44:21Z |
FCC: Wireless carriers keeping track of your location, storing it for months
(CNN) - Your cellphone carrier might know more about your daily life than you realize.
According to carrier letters made public last week by the Federal Communications Commission, the country’s largest wireless carriers know where you are every time you make a phone call or use your data connection.
The companies routinely hold onto that location information for months and sometimes provide it to law enforcement.
The letters showed that smartphones constantly communicate with cell towers, giving carriers specific Global Positioning System coordinates.
Officials are calling on the FCC enforcement bureau to investigate whether wireless carriers are doing enough to tell customers how their information is handled.
Copyright 2022 CNN Newsource. All rights reserved. | https://www.wvva.com/2022/08/30/fcc-wireless-carriers-keeping-track-your-location-storing-it-months/ | 2022-08-30T20:50:17Z |
In Focus: 2022 Princeton Firefighters 9/11 Memorial Stair Climb
Published: Aug. 30, 2022 at 4:05 PM EDT|Updated: 43 minutes ago
BLUEFIELD, W.Va. (WVVA) - On this episode of In Focus, we spoke with Lt. Rick Shagoury with the Princeton Fire Dept about the upcoming 9/11 Stair Climb.
This stair climb is happening at Hunnicutt Field in Princeton on Sat. Sept. 10
Registration begins at 6 a.m. and is open until 8 a.m. This climb is open to anyone who would like to watch or participate.
In Focus is a show about people and events in the Two Virginias. It airs every Sunday at 9 am. If you have an idea for a segment, email anchor Melinda Zosh at mzosh@wvva.com
Copyright 2022 WVVA. All rights reserved. | https://www.wvva.com/2022/08/30/focus-2022-princeton-firefighters-911-memorial-stair-climb/ | 2022-08-30T20:50:25Z |
Girl, 9, trapped under 1,000-lb. hay bale airlifted to children’s hospital, recovering
FOND DU LAC COUNTY, Wis. (WBAY/Gray News) – A 9-year-old girl who was trapped underneath a large bale of hale last week in Wisconsin, was expected to be released from the hospital Tuesday.
Savannah Grahl, 9, and her older sister were playing with new kittens in the calf barn on a family farm, their mother, Tara Grahl, told WBAY.
Grahl said she walked into the barn and found Savannah’s head and neck trapped between two bales of hay that were stacked on top of one another.
With the help of her sister-in-law, the two women were able to lift the 1,000-pound bale off the girl, freeing her.
They got the girl breathing again before first responders arrived. She was eventually flown to Children’s Wisconsin in Milwaukee in critical care.
She moved out of ICU on Saturday, and Grahl announced on Facebook Monday that Savannah would be released from the hospital Tuesday.
Grahl says her daughter will have to wear a neck brace for a few months and will need physical and occupational therapy to regain strength and mobility in her right arm and hand.
“She has the best attitude and has been the best little patient ever,” her mother said, thankful her daughter is alive.
Copyright 2022 WBAY Gray Media Group, Inc. All rights reserved. | https://www.wvva.com/2022/08/30/girl-9-trapped-under-1000-lb-hay-bale-airlifted-childrens-hospital-recovering/ | 2022-08-30T20:50:31Z |
Rain fades overnight; Pleasant temps, low humidity in store for Wednesday
High pressure takes control into midweek
A cold front working its way through the Mid-Atlantic region will slowly move further east and out of our area overnight tonight. We’ll see a few more showers/storms on and off throughout the evening, eventually fading after sundown.
Thanks to earlier rain, the air has stabilized a bit, dropping our severe risk. We could still see some locally heavy rainfall at times through sundown, however. Otherwise, we’ll see some lingering clouds and areas of fog overnight, with low temps in the 50s and 60s.
Wednesday, we could see a lingering shower or some clouds early, but we should gradually clear out throughout the day. The humidity will drop tomorrow too, making it feel quite refreshing! High temps will be a bit cooler as well behind this front, topping off in the mid to upper 70s for most Wednesday afternoon.
Wednesday night will be mainly clear, cool, and dry with lows in the 50s. Some 40s could pop up in deeper-sheltered valleys!
Thursday and Friday both look dry and sunny as well to start the month of September. We’ll see highs in the 70s and 80s both days, and lows in the 50s and low 60s at night.
We’ll grow a bit muggy and unsettled again over the course of our LABOR DAY weekend...STAY TUNED!
BLUEFIELD, W.Va. (WVVA) -
Copyright 2022 WVVA. All rights reserved. | https://www.wvva.com/2022/08/30/rain-fades-overnight-pleasant-temps-low-humidity-store-wednesday/ | 2022-08-30T20:50:40Z |
Russian media: Ex-Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev dead at 91
Published: Aug. 30, 2022 at 4:41 PM EDT|Updated: 9 minutes ago
MOSCOW (AP) — Russian news agencies are reporting that former Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev has died at 91.
The Tass, RIA Novosti and Interfax agencies cited the Central Clinical Hospital.
Gorbachev’s office said earlier that he was undergoing treatment at the hospital.
Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. | https://www.wvva.com/2022/08/30/russian-media-ex-soviet-leader-mikhail-gorbachev-dead-91/ | 2022-08-30T20:50:46Z |
Wedding bells and shared accounts - financial advice for newlyweds
Experts say most important part of money management is to be a team
InvestigateTV - Following a pandemic slowdown the past two years, 2022 is expected to be a record year for marriages.
Nate Johnson, a wealth management advisor with Merrill Lynch, said along with budgeting for a wedding, couples should also plan for how they will budget their life together.
Johnson said the most important thing for couples is to be a team.
“Whether you do everything together or you keep your account separate, the most important thing is just to have some sort of game plan that both partners are comfortable with and open with and committed to sticking to,” Johnson advised.
Johnson had two other important tips for newlyweds:
Get into the habit of saving as much money as possible, as early in the marriage as possible: Johnson said he has never had a client regret saving too much money.
Don’t be afraid to deviate from your peer group: While some may be rushing to buy a new house or new car or expensive vacation, do what’s best for your family.
Copyright 2022 Gray Media Group, Inc. All rights reserved. | https://www.wvva.com/2022/08/30/wedding-bells-shared-accounts-financial-advice-newlyweds/ | 2022-08-30T20:50:52Z |
Lower gas prices helped consumer confidence bounce back in August, breaking a three-month stretch of worsening sentiment. However this improvement is tempered by ongoing worries that the US economy may be heading toward a recession.
Lower gas prices helped consumer confidence bounce back in August, breaking a three-month stretch of worsening sentiment. However this improvement, while welcome, is tempered by ongoing worries that the US economy may be heading toward a recession.
The Conference Board's monthly snapshot of consumer attitudes improved, rising to 103.2 from July's downwardly revised 95.3. The August number matches the level it reached in May and marks the first time since then that the headline index broke 100, the historical baseline metric.
The survey found that Americans are less pessimistic in both their current and future economic outlooks. The present situation index, which measures how people perceive current business and labor market conditions, jumped to 145.4 from 139.7 last month.
The expectations index rose to 75.1 from 65.6, reflecting a reversal from pessimism in consumers' short-term outlook, which had hit a nine-year low in July.
Ian Shepherdson, chief economist at Pantheon Macroeconomics, attributed the improvement to the fall in gas prices, which have slumped by more than a dollar a gallon from their mid-June peak to a current nationwide average of less than $4.
"Expectations are more sensitive to movements in gas prices," Shepherdson said in a research note, adding that the continued slide in gas prices could be a tailwind for the survey results. "We expect a further increase in September as the lagged effect of the drop in gas prices kicks in."
This suggests that Americans' perceptions have a key role to play in the trajectory of the economy going forward.
Lynn Franco, senior director of economic indicators at the Conference Board noted that, although improved, the low reading on the expectations index suggested that the threat of a downturn continues to weigh on the economy.
"Recession risks continue. Concerns about inflation continued their retreat but remained elevated," she said. | https://www.kitv.com/news/business/lower-gas-prices-push-consumer-confidence-to-highest-level-since-may/article_6c0b8b30-b158-5ff6-9fa8-111a17b057e0.html | 2022-08-30T20:51:14Z |
HONOLULU (KITV4) -- Sears is closing its last remaining store in Hawaii.
An advertisement in a local newspaper says that the Sears Appliances & Mattresses store at Ala Moana Center in Honolulu is having a closing sale but has not yet released an exact closing date.
The store is located on the street level near Saks Fifth Avenue OFF 5th along Kapiolani Boulevard.
A store associate with Sears’ Ala Moana Center store confirmed to KITV4 News that it still has a repair service in the Islands, and that customers who purchased appliances at the store may still receive service under existing warranties.
A spokeswoman for Ala Moana Center deferred comment to Sears.
Illinois-based Transformco, which acquired the Sears and Kmart brands several years ago, did not return multiple requests for comment from KITV4.
Sears filed for bankruptcy in 2018.
At one time, there were six Sears department stores in Hawaii, with the last remaining department store closing its doors on Maui at the Kaahumanu Center last year.
Do you have a story idea? Email news tips to news@kitv.com
Duane Shimogawa has more than 15 years of experience in the media industry with stints as a reporter/anchor at several TV and radio stations, as well as newspapers such as Pacific Business News, Hawaii News Now, KNDU/KNDO-TV, and more. | https://www.kitv.com/news/business/sears-closing-its-last-remaining-hawaii-store/article_59a51dfa-2895-11ed-8410-7fd184a87e4d.html | 2022-08-30T20:51:21Z |
A pumpkin spice latte, purchased at a Starbucks in Baltimore, is shown in September 2021. Not even Starbucks' Pumpkin Spice Latte is immune to inflation. The fall favorite, which returns August 30, is getting more expensive with a grande-sized hot PSL costing customers between $5.45 to $5.95 depending on location — a roughly 4% increase compared to 2021.
Christina Tkacik/Baltimore Sun/Tribune News Service/Getty Images
The fall favorite, which returned today, is getting more expensive with a grande-sized hot PSL costing customers between $5.45 to $5.95 depending on location — a roughly 4% increase compared to 2021. That's in line with broader price hikes at Starbucks and other chains, which have all increased menu prices gradually over the past year because of inflationary pressures.
The PSL, as it's often referred to, has been a popular item on Starbucks' menu for nearly two decades, eliciting excitement among its loyal fan base. Starbucks has sold more than 600 million PSLs since the drink's introduction in 2003.
Also returning is Pumpkin Cream Cold Brew, an iced-drink topped with pumpkin cream cold foam and a dusting of pumpkin spice that Starbucks launched in 2019.
Even with chillier weather approaching, cold drinks are popular with Starbucks customers, accounting for roughly 75% of Starbucks' total beverage US sales in its most recent quarter. Overall, sales at its US stores open at least 13 months jumped 9% in the quarter.
In addition to pumpkin flavors, Starbucks is bringing back its Apple Crisp Macchiato and its Apple Crisp Oatmilk Macchiato, the latter being a new tweak to the 1-year-old drink because it's now made with the dairy-alternative milk.
Starbucks is entering the PSL battle later than its rivals this year. Krispy Kreme brought back their fall drinks on August 8, its earliest return date ever, and Dunkin' added pumpkin-flavored drinks and snacks on August 18. Meanwhile, Panera is ditching pumpkin for cinnamon, focusing its fall efforts on a new Cinnamon Crunch Latte inspired by its popular bagel of the same flavor.
These seasonal items build hype and awareness for brands in the competitive fast-food space. In the past, Starbucks has said the pumpkin drinks were the "catalyst" for a record-breaking fourth-quarter performance in 2020. | https://www.kitv.com/news/business/starbucks-pumpkin-spice-latte-is-coming-back-at-a-higher-price/article_50a5c721-ab0d-5db1-8dfb-2ce7dcff6e1d.html | 2022-08-30T20:51:27Z |
KONA, Hawaii (KITV4) -- Big Island police arrested three people on theft and drug complaints after responding to a grab-and-go robbery at a Kona business on Aug. 25.
According to investigators, Vice officers were conducting operations at a business in the 73-5000 block of Olowalu Street in the Kona area when they spotted several people leaving a business holding a bunch of high-value items in their arms.
Police said the people looked to be trying to quickly load the items into a car and leave.
The officers said when they approached the suspects’ car and identified themselves as police, the driver through the car in reverse in an attempt to flee. The officers ran after the car, which had stopped, in an attempt to make contact again. Investigators say as the officers tried to remove the four people from the vehicle, one of the officer’s guns went off. No one was injured.
All four people were arrested on suspicion of theft. During the course of the investigation, police said they learned that three of the four people in the car were responsible for stealing items from the business.
During a search of the suspects’ car, police said they recovered the stolen items as well as 14.4 grams of heroin and various drug paraphernalia.
On Saturday, Aug. 27, the three suspects were identified and charged with theft and drug complaints related to this incident. The fourth person who was arrested was later release pending further investigation, police said.
Those four people were identified and charged with the following:
William Kaipo Jr., 31, of Hilo, with one count each of second-degree theft and promoting a dangerous drug. His bail is set at $20,000.
Kylene Medeiros, 32, of Hilo, with one count of second-degree theft. Her bail is set at $2,000.
Javonne Pu‘u, 27, of Pāhoa, with one count of second-degree theft. Her bail is set at $2,000.
This case remains under investigation. Anyone with information is asked to call Detective Sheldon Nakamoto at 808-326-4646, ext. 228. You can also call the Hawaii Police Department’s non-emergency number at 808-935-3311.
Matthew has been the digital content manager for KITV4 since September 2021. Matthew is a prolific writer, editor, and self-described "newsie" who's worked in television markets in Oklahoma, California, and Hawaii. | https://www.kitv.com/news/crime/3-arrested-in-kona-for-theft-drug-complaints-after-officers-thwart-alleged-grab-and-go/article_8061428e-289a-11ed-9eaa-e74ca04360c3.html | 2022-08-30T20:51:33Z |
The Boys Scouts of America have "confirmed the death of a BSA registered youth in the Aloha Council in the State of Hawaii due to a reportedly accidental discharge of a firearm while involved in a Troop activity at Camp Honokaia," according to a BSA statement.
"The Hawaii Police Department is conducting a coroner’s inquest and the Aloha Council is fully cooperating. The investigation is ongoing. The BSA will have further comment as the investigation confirms details of this tragedy.
The Boy Scouts of America extends its sincere condolences to the family of the victim, Troop members and the Aloha Council."
---
ORIGINAL STORY
KAPAAU, Hawaii (KITV4) -- Police on the Big Island are investigating after a child was killed in an apparent shooting accident at Camp Honokaia Boy Scout Camp, near Honokaa, Sunday afternoon.
Officers were sent out to the camp just before 2:30 p.m. on a report of an unconscious child following a “shooting incident.” Investigators say they found the child “lifeless,” suffering from a single gunshot wound near the rifle range.
Due to the extent of his injuries, the child was not transported for rescue. He was instead taken to Hilo Medical Center where he was pronounced dead around 8 p.m.
The victim’s age and identity are being withheld pending notification of next of kin. Investigators have only said the victim was a pre-teen boy and a Hilo resident. Investigators say the victim was not carrying a weapon at the time of the shooting.
Police say they are interviewing all of the children and adults that were present at the camp. Foul play is not suspected and no arrests have been made, authorities said.
This incident remains under investigation and is classified as a coroner’s inquest. An autopsy is scheduled for Tuesday to determine the exact cause of death.
Hawaii County Mayor Mitch Roth issued the following statement on this incident:
“It was with heavy hearts that we learned of the tragic passing of one of our young Boy Scouts yesterday in Honokaʻa. Our thoughts and prayers are with his family in their time of grieving, as we remain hopeful that they will one day find peace. No family should have to suffer the pain of losing a child, and we hope this incident can help increase firearm safety awareness so that other families will not have to suffer the same tragedy. With that, we’d like to ask all of our residents to keep the young man’s family in their thoughts as they face a new journey ahead.”
Anyone with information is asked to contact the police department’s non-emergency number at 808-935-3311, or Detective Jeremy Kubojiri of the Area I Criminal Investigation Section, at 808-961-2378 or email him at Jeremy.Kubojiri@hawaiicounty.gov.
Matthew has been the digital content manager for KITV4 since September 2021. Matthew is a prolific writer, editor, and self-described "newsie" who's worked in television markets in Oklahoma, California, and Hawaii. | https://www.kitv.com/news/local/child-killed-in-apparent-accidental-firearm-discharge-at-big-island-boy-scout-camp-update/article_e82449da-27e5-11ed-aef8-17eb3262ee8d.html | 2022-08-30T20:51:39Z |
Just around a month ago, a ticket for the second-largest Mega Millions jackpot ever was sold, netting the winner close to $1.34 billion. However, the winner hasn't picked up their prize yet.
There's just one problem: The winner hasn't picked up their gargantuan prize yet.
The ticket was purchased from a Speedway gas station in Des Plaines, around a 20-mile drive northwest of downtown Chicago, on July 29, according to the Illinois Lottery's website. The ticket hit the top prize in the drawing on the same day.
But as of August 30, the jackpot still hasn't been claimed, Meghan Powers, director of communications at the Illinois Lottery, told CNN.
The Mega Millions jackpot winner isn't the only lottery winner who hasn't picked up their prize yet. According to the Illinois Lottery website, a $1 million prize bought in February and several six-figure prizes have also not yet been claimed.
Prizes must be claimed within one year, says the Illinois Lottery.
In a previous news release about the win, lottery officials said it's pretty common for large prize winners to wait to collect their earnings.
"For a prize of this magnitude, it's not unusual for the winner to take a while to claim," said Illinois Lottery Director Harold Mays in the release. "I'm sure they're going through a range of emotions."
The lottery advises winners to sign the back of their ticket and store it safely, consult professional financial and legal advice about their winnings, and then call the lottery hotline to arrange a time to claim their prize.
Even if the prize is claimed, the greater public may still never know who the lucky winner is. Winners of $250,000 or more can stay anonymous in Illinois, says the lottery.
"We will work closely with the winner to respect any wishes for privacy and support them in any way we can to provide a positive winning experience," said Mays in the release. | https://www.kitv.com/news/national/1-34-billion-lottery-prize-still-unclaimed/article_19b3fc39-0ff7-5c00-a552-1fae626d7359.html | 2022-08-30T20:51:45Z |
M74 shines at its brightest in this combined optical/mid-infrared image, featuring data from both the Hubble Space Telescope and the James Webb Space Telescope.
Stunning new images produced by the Hubble Telescope and the James Webb Telescope showcase the Phantom Galaxy, a spiral of solar systems 32 million light-years away from Earth.
The galaxy is located in the constellation Pisces, according to the European Space Agency, which collaborates with NASA on both the Hubble Telescope and the James Webb Telescope.
The Phantom Galaxy, formally known as M74, is a kind of spiral galaxy known as a "grand design spiral." This means that it has well-defined spiral arms, visibly winding out from the center in the newly released images.
The images were created using data from both the Hubble Telescope and the Webb Telescope. Webb detected "delicate filaments of gas and dust" in the galaxy's spiral arms, according to ESA. The images also provide a clear look at the nuclear star cluster at the galaxy's center, unclouded by gas.
The Webb telescope also used its Mid-InfraRed Instrument (MIRI) to examine the Phantom Galaxy as part of a project to understand the earliest phases of star formation, ESA noted.
While Webb is best at observing infrared wavelengths of light, Hubble has particularly sharp vision at ultraviolet and visible wavelengths, according to the agency. This allowed it to reveal particularly bright areas of star formation, known as HII regions, in the Phantom Galaxy images.
The combination of data from both telescopes allowed scientists to gain an even deeper understanding of the Phantom Galaxy -- and to create spectacular images of the cosmos.
NASA released Webb's first high-resolution images just weeks ago in July. Bigger than Hubble, the telescope is capable of observing extremely distant galaxies, allowing scientists to learn about early star formation. Hubble orbits Earth, but Webb orbits the sun, around 1 million miles away from Earth. | https://www.kitv.com/news/national/nasa-releases-stunning-new-image-of-the-phantom-galaxy/article_546ad837-90a0-5244-933f-e4de9ffde863.html | 2022-08-30T20:51:51Z |
Photos and video shared by Sydney Sweeney and other guests at the hoedown-themed party showed people line dancing and dressed in cowboy hats and boots. Some on social media commented about a photo of an unidentified guest in a Blue Lives Matter shirt, a pro-police countermovement to Black Lives Matter.
Rich Polk/Getty Images North America/Getty Images for MTV
Sydney Sweeney is commenting on the backlash her family has received over photos from her mom's 60th birthday party.
Photos and video shared by Sweeney and other guests at the hoedown-themed party showed people line dancing and dressed in cowboy hats and boots. Some on social media commented about a photo of an unidentified guest in a Blue Lives Matter shirt, a pro-police countermovement to Black Lives Matter.
Sweeney took to Twitter to say: "You guys this is wild. An innocent celebration for my mom's milestone 60th birthday has turned into an absurd political statement, which was not the intention. Please stop making assumptions. Much love to everyone and Happy Birthday Mom!"
One person commented, "Then you should've selected other pictures to post that wouldn't be left up to interpretation in this manner. Lesson learned for you, I assume."
Sweeney is set to attend the 74th Primetime Emmy Awards, where she's received two nominations, outstanding supporting actress in a drama series for "Euphoria" and outstanding supporting actress in a limited or anthology series or movie for "White Lotus." | https://www.kitv.com/news/national/sydney-sweeney-defends-family-celebration-stop-making-assumptions/article_fad3f074-dc03-5e8f-9b7c-42ba9877d3c8.html | 2022-08-30T20:51:57Z |
Boomerang page plan, Aug. 31 Aug 30, 2022 Aug 30, 2022 Updated 1 hr ago Comments Facebook Twitter WhatsApp SMS Email Facebook Twitter WhatsApp SMS Email Print Copy article link Save Facebook Twitter WhatsApp SMS Email Print Copy article link Save BOOMERANG page plan for WEDNESDAY, Aug. 31 A1 (send color)Tease 1TODAY’S PICK Ex-classmates say gunman was angry, liked to fight, Page A3Tease 2:Sports teaseTease 3:AT THE CAPITOL Car seat rules could be returning to Legislature, Page A7MAIN PACKAGE: Distress rehearsal: Area agencies rally for mock disaster drill at Laramie airport, Carol (photos)Corner crossers claim ranch owner broke federal law, WNE (file photos)Jumps to A3, A5A2 (send color)Today/tomorrowWorth notingWhat’s happening?WeatherCorrection policy A3 (send color)Today’s pick: Ex-classmates: Gunman was angry, liked to fight, AP (photo)Jumps from A1A4 (send B&W)Syndicated cartoonSimpson column (Wyoming voices)Lowry column (Other voices)New letters policyA5 (send color)ObitsOn the recordFelony arrests (2 mugs)Jumps from A1Vol. 142 No. 178 A6Crime briefs A7 (send color)Car seat rules could be returning to Legislature, WNE (file photo)‘Irma Dog’ was a fixture in downtown Cody, WNE A8 (send B&W)Rehab programs help long COVID patients recover, WNE (bug)Pence urges climate slowdown, WNE (file photo) A9-A12 (send all color)Nation and world wire stuff (just NOT the shooting follow that’s on A3)B SECTION B1-B3 SPORTS (B1 color, B2 B&W, B3 color) B4 COMICS (send B&W) B5-B7 PUZZLES (send B&W) B8-B12 CLASSIFIEDS (send color) Facebook Twitter WhatsApp SMS Email Print Copy article link Save Tags Color Classmate Chemistry Transports Criminal Law Crime Gunman Carol B&w Rule Photo Recommended for you Please enable JavaScript to view the comments powered by Disqus. comments powered by Disqus Trending Now Crumbl Cookies opens location in Cheyenne Police blotter 8-24-22 Hoss Woodard is doing all he can to give Cheyenne a 'Little Taste of Texas' Cheyenne day care worker to appeal manslaughter conviction New Unitarian Universalist minister finds home in Cheyenne Latest Special Section 2022 UW Football Preview To view our latest Special Section click the image on the left. Latest e-Edition Wyoming Tribune Eagle To view our latest e-Edition click the image on the left. | https://www.wyomingnews.com/boomerang-page-plan-aug-31/article_3061acf8-289d-11ed-acde-177b1e2db940.html | 2022-08-30T21:40:53Z |
Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell, center, takes a coffee break with attendees of the central bank’s annual symposium at Jackson Lake Lodge in Grand Teton National Park on Friday in Moran, Wyo. Amber Baesler/freelancer, AP
WASHINGTON — The number of open jobs in the U.S. rose in July after three months of declines, a sign that employers are still urgently seeking workers despite a weakening economy and high inflation.
The increase the government reported Tuesday comes as Federal Reserve officials are seeking to cool hiring and the economy by raising short-term interest rates to try to slow borrowing and spending, which tends to fuel inflation. Fed officials hope that their policies will serve primarily to reduce job openings and spare workers the pain of widespread layoffs and higher unemployment.
There were 11.2 million open jobs available on the last day of July. That's nearly two jobs, on average, for every unemployed person — up from 11 million in June. June’s figure was also revised sharply higher.
“The Fed has made very little progress in terms of narrowing the gap between labor supply and demand,” Aneta Markowska, chief economist at investment bank Jefferies, wrote in a research note.
Reducing the high demand for workers to a level closer to the available supply would ease the pressure on companies to pay higher wages to attract and keep workers. Higher pay has been passed on by many businesses to consumers in the form of higher prices, thereby intensifying inflation.
Last month, job openings rose in retail, warehousing and shipping, professional services, and in state and local education. Openings declined in manufacturing and health care.
The number of people who quit their jobs declined slightly in July, to 4.18 million from 4.25 million in June, according to Tuesday’s report. People typically quit jobs for a new position, usually at higher pay. As a result, fewer quits could lessen the pressure on companies to raise pay. But quitting still remains far above pre-pandemic levels, when it rarely topped 3 million.
The data released Tuesday also included a measure of layoffs, which slipped slightly in July. Despite high-profile reports of job cuts, the report reinforced the impression that most companies are holding onto the vast majority of their employees.
Job vacancies have been elevated since the economy began recovering from the pandemic recession more than two years ago. As demand has rapidly rebounded, employers have sought to quickly add workers.
When COVID-19 struck and widespread shutdowns were imposed in March and April of 2020, businesses slashed 22 million jobs. Yet not all workers have returned as the economy has recovered. There are now fewer people working or looking for work compared with pre-pandemic trends. The number of open jobs reached a record level of 11.9 million in March, before declining for three months. Before the pandemic, they had never topped 8 million.
The latest figures suggest that demand for workers remains hot. On Friday, the government will release its monthly jobs report, which is expected to show that 300,000 jobs were added, a slowdown from the previous month when hiring topped a half-million, but still a healthy number.
Fed Chair Jerome Powell and other policymakers have said they hope to reduce the number of open jobs without causing much higher unemployment. Larry Summers, a former Treasury Secretary, and Olivier Blanchard, former chief economist of the International Monetary Fund, have argued that such an outcome is unlikely.
“A reduction in (job) vacancies can take place without a big loss of employment, and this is the kind of soft landing anticipated” by Fed officials, Christopher Waller, a member of the central bank’s Board of Governors, said last month.
The Fed is trying to engineer a so-called soft landing — a slowdown in the economy that reduces inflation — currently near four-decade highs. The central bank wants to do that without causing a recession.
Yet Blanchard and Summers argue that historically, job openings have never declined without an accompanying rise in layoffs.
“The sad truth is that there is no such thing as a slowdown without an increase in unemployment,” Blanchard wrote earlier this month, calling the Fed’s efforts to lower job vacancies without increasing layoffs “a vain hope.” | https://www.wyomingnews.com/news/from_the_wire/job-vacancies-rose-in-july-dashing-fed-hopes-for-cooling/article_34f861d4-28a3-11ed-b64e-079db88075c9.html | 2022-08-30T21:40:59Z |
$1.34 billion Mega Millions jackpot remains unclaimed, according to officials
Published: Aug. 30, 2022 at 4:10 PM EDT|Updated: 42 minutes ago
(CNN) - We still do not know who won last month’s $1.34 billion Mega Millions jackpot.
That’s because the Illinois Lottery says the winner has yet to come forward.
Officials announced in July someone purchased the winning ticket at a Speedway gas station in Des Plaines.
On Friday, officials said the winner has yet to claim their prize, but there is still time for that to happen.
The winner has a year from the date of the drawing to claim the prize.
However, they only have 60 days from that same date to choose between annual payments or a lump sum cash payout, which would be worth close to $742 million.
Copyright 2022 CNN Newsource. All rights reserved. | https://www.whsv.com/2022/08/30/134-billion-mega-millions-jackpot-remains-unclaimed-according-officials/ | 2022-08-30T22:08:32Z |
Black returns from injury, ready to make impact for JMU
HARRISONBURG, Va. (WHSV) - Kaelon Black is healthy and expected to be a major part of the James Madison backfield this fall.
Black has been one of the offensive standouts in preseason practice as he works his way back into the running back rotation. The redshirt freshman from Virginia Beach started the first three games at running back for JMU last fall before sustaining a season-ending knee injury just before halftime during a road game at Weber State last September.
“I feel pretty good,” said Black. “See I have my knee brace off now, practicing without it, building that trust. Really just staying keyed into the little details, still rehabbing. Making sure I feel good for week one.”
Black has averaged 6.4 yards per carry on 52 career attempts in a James Madison jersey. He was on his way to becoming one of the most important players in JMU’s offense last fall before the injury occurred. He’s expected to get carries alongside Percy Agyei-Obese and Latrele Palmer this season.
“Kaelon is a guy we were very high on when he first came in here,” said JMU head coach Curt Cignetti. “He had an unfortunate injury. He’s got a lot of burst and acceleration. He’s a tough guy. I thought he had some good runs in our second scrimmage. He’s in that (RB) rotation.”
Copyright 2022 WHSV. All rights reserved. | https://www.whsv.com/2022/08/30/black-returns-injury-ready-make-impact-jmu/ | 2022-08-30T22:08:36Z |
Guts in a dish: UVA research checking how microbes regulate the body’s biological clock
CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. (WVIR) - At the UVA School of Medicine, Dr. Sean Moore and his team are using mini “guts in a dish” to study the body’s biological clock.
The research looks at how the microbes in our bodies act at different hours of the day, and to explore the benefits of targeting specific times in their behavior. Dr. Moore says timing can be everything.
The team found that gut microbes regulate our inner cells by manufacturing short-chain fatty acids made by gut bacteria. These are critical timekeepers for biological processes because they switch certain mammalian genes on and off as needed over 24-hour periods, as the study noted.
Researchers say gut health can impact sleep disorders, jet lag, and even chemotherapy outcomes.
“One aspect which this research brings to the table is the element of timing. There may be a precise time of day to take medications to the benefit of good gut health, or that could help avoid certain side effects from other medications,” Dr. Moore said.
Dr. Moore says the next step he wants to take involves putting the mini guts into a device at UVA to stretch the cells to see even more of its structure and how it impacts our biological clocks.
Do you have a story idea? Send us your news tip here.
Copyright 2022 WVIR. All rights reserved. | https://www.whsv.com/2022/08/30/guts-dish-uva-research-checking-how-microbes-regulate-bodys-biological-clock/ | 2022-08-30T22:08:37Z |
JMU Football prepares for first game in the Sun Belt Conference
HARRISONBURG, Va. (WHSV) - Saturday will go down in history at James Madison University. It marks the beginning of the school’s rise to the FBS and is the football team’s first game in the Sun Belt Conference.
“There’s a lot of excitement around both internally in our department and what we’re seeing from fans for the first FBS game this Saturday hosting Middle Tennessee,” Kevin Warner, Assistant Athletic Director for Communications at JMU said.
For many fans, the move up to the FBS was long-awaited, and while the competition may get stiffer, the traditional gameday atmosphere at JMU is expected to stay the same.
“We’ve always done our game day to a very high level here at James Madison. Honestly, that’s part of why we felt like we were ready to be a member of FBS,” Warner said.
However, a few tweaks have been made to how the athletics department handles game days. There have been new partnerships and larger marketing for the team and the university as they embrace their new partnership with ESPN.
“We’ve done a lot of work on our branding and facility,” Warner said.
Fans can expect a few changes around the stadium, too.
Warner said instead of having different booths for alcohol wristbands and alcohol sales, they will now be located at the same booth.
With the move to a bigger conference, JMU launched a new “Dukes Do Better” campaign for the season.
“Sportsmanship is important a critical aspect of the game day atmosphere here at Bridgeforth Stadium. We want fans here, we want them loud, we want them energetic, and part of the game atmosphere we just encourage them to do it in an appropriate way,” Warner said.
In terms of crowd size, the Dukes are expecting a big turnout from fans on Saturday.
“Our student tickets are sold out. That happened earlier in the day Tuesday, so we’re excited to have a packed house from JMU students,” Warner said.
There are still select general public tickets available for purchase at jmusports.com
Warner said limited amounts of walk-up tickets are expected to be available on game day.
Here is a full list of everything you need to be prepared for game day, such as the clear bag policy and parking.
Copyright 2022 WHSV. All rights reserved. | https://www.whsv.com/2022/08/30/jmu-football-prepares-first-game-sun-belt-conference/ | 2022-08-30T22:08:44Z |
Public meeting for Harrisonburg-Rockingham Metropolitan long range transportation plan Wednesday
HARRISONBURG, Va. (WHSV) - There will be a public meeting on Wednesday about the 2045 long-range transportation plan for Harrisonburg and Rockingham County.
The Central Shenandoah Planning District Commission, along with Harrisonburg Rockingham Metropolitan Planning Organization, will have the proposed projects mapped out and are hoping to get resident feedback from it.
“What we’re really hoping is to one, first and foremost, encourage people to take the survey and know that the survey exists were trying to get the public’s thoughts on these projects on the things we find to be important but we want to make sure that we’re actually doing what the public are wanting us to do,” Ansley Heller, a transportation planner with CSPDC said.
On the survey, they have drafting projects, which are projects they know they want to pursue. It also includes future projects that look deeper into studies that might be necessary in years to come.
”A lot of people are commenting on the Chicago Avenue improvements so that is going to have a few different layers to it,” Heller said. “So it’s constructing a round-a-bout at the intersection of Waterman Drive and Chicago Avenue.”
The project also includes a section about constructing sidewalks, bike lanes, and drainage improvements in the areas of Mount Clinton Pike to Gay Street.
Heller said many of the projects include making roadways more pedestrian-friendly.
People have many suggestions for future studies, too.
”We hear that a lot especially from people out in the county that they want us to really look at Dinkle Avenue for capacity and for safety and things like that so this future study for Dinkle Avenue has potential for future corridor capacity,” Heller said.
The survey is available until Sept 16.
Once complete, CSPDC along with HRMPO will go through and score the projects and pick out the top-rated or most needed ones to move forward on.
The meeting will be held Wednesday afternoon from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. at Turner Ashby High School.
Copyright 2022 WHSV. All rights reserved. | https://www.whsv.com/2022/08/30/public-meeting-harrisonburg-rockingham-metropolitan-long-range-transportation-plan-wednesday/ | 2022-08-30T22:08:50Z |
Russian media: Ex-Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev dead at 91
MOSCOW (AP) — Mikhail Gorbachev, who as the last leader of the Soviet Union waged a losing battle to salvage a crumbling empire but produced extraordinary reforms that led to the end of the Cold War, died Tuesday. He was 91.
The Central Clinical Hospital said in a statement that Gorbachev died after a long illness. No other details were given.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said in a statement carried by Russian news agencies that Russian President Vladimir Putin offered deep condolences over Gorbachev’s death and would send an official telegram to Gorbachev’s family in the morning.
Though in power less than seven years, Gorbachev unleashed a breathtaking series of changes. But they quickly overtook him and resulted in the collapse of the authoritarian Soviet state, the freeing of Eastern European nations from Russian domination and the end of decades of East-West nuclear confrontation.
His decline was humiliating. His power hopelessly sapped by an attempted coup against him in August 1991, he spent his last months in office watching republic after republic declare independence until he resigned on Dec. 25, 1991. The Soviet Union wrote itself into oblivion a day later.
A quarter-century after the collapse, Gorbachev told The Associated Press that he had not considered using widespread force to try to keep the USSR together because he feared chaos in the nuclear country.
“The country was loaded to the brim with weapons. And it would have immediately pushed the country into a civil war,” he said.
Many of the changes, including the Soviet breakup, bore no resemblance to the transformation that Gorbachev had envisioned when he became Soviet leader in March 1985.
By the end of his rule he was powerless to halt the whirlwind he had sown. Yet Gorbachev may have had a greater impact on the second half of the 20th century than any other political figure.
“I see myself as a man who started the reforms that were necessary for the country and for Europe and the world,” Gorbachev told The AP in a 1992 interview shortly after he left office.
“I am often asked, would I have started it all again if I had to repeat it? Yes, indeed. And with more persistence and determination,” he said.
Gorbachev won the 1990 Nobel Peace Prize for his role in ending the Cold War and spent his later years collecting accolades and awards from all corners of the world. Yet he was widely despised at home.
Russians blamed him for the 1991 implosion of the Soviet Union — a once-fearsome superpower whose territory fractured into 15 separate nations. His former allies deserted him and made him a scapegoat for the country’s troubles.
His run for president in 1996 was a national joke, and he polled less than 1% of the vote.
In 1997, he resorted to making a TV ad for Pizza Hut to earn money for his charitable foundation. His former allies deserted him and made him a scapegoat for the country’s troubles.
“In the ad, he should take a pizza, divide it into 15 slices like he divided up our country, and then show how to put it back together again,” quipped Anatoly Lukyanov, a one-time Gorbachev supporter.
Gorbachev never set out to dismantle the Soviet system. What he wanted to do was improve it.
Soon after taking power, Gorbachev began a campaign to end his country’s economic and political stagnation, using “glasnost” or openness, to help achieve his goal of “perestroika” or restructuring.
In his memoirs, he said he had long been frustrated that in a country with immense natural resources, tens of millions were living in poverty.
“Our society was stifled in the grip of a bureaucratic command system,” Gorbachev wrote. “Doomed to serve ideology and bear the heavy burden of the arms race, it was strained to the utmost.”
Once he began, one move led to another: He freed political prisoners, allowed open debate and multi-candidate elections, gave his countrymen freedom to travel, halted religious oppression, reduced nuclear arsenals, established closer ties with the West and did not resist the fall of Communist regimes in Eastern European satellite states.
But the forces he unleashed quickly escaped his control.
Long-suppressed ethnic tensions flared, sparking wars and unrest in trouble spots such as the southern Caucasus region. Strikes and labor unrest followed price increases and shortages of consumer goods.
In one of the low points of his tenure, Gorbachev sanctioned a crackdown on the restive Baltic republics in early 1991.
The violence turned many intellectuals and reformers against him. Competitive elections also produced a new crop of populist politicians who challenged Gorbachev’s policies and authority.
Chief among them was his former protegee and eventual nemesis, Boris Yeltsin, who became Russia’s first president.
“The process of renovating this country and bringing about fundamental changes in the international community proved to be much more complex than originally anticipated,” Gorbachev told the nation as he stepped down.
“However, let us acknowledge what has been achieved so far. Society has acquired freedom; it has been freed politically and spiritually. And this is the most important achievement, which we have not fully come to grips with in part because we still have not learned how to use our freedom.”
There was little in Gorbachev’s childhood to hint at the pivotal role he would play on the world stage. On many levels, he had a typical Soviet upbringing in a typical Russian village. But it was a childhood blessed with unusual strokes of good fortune.
Mikhail Sergeyevich Gorbachev was born March 2, 1931, in the village of Privolnoye in southern Russia. Both of his grandfathers were peasants, collective farm chairmen and members of the Communist Party, as was his father.
Despite stellar party credentials, Gorbachev’s family did not emerge unscathed from the terror unleashed by Soviet dictator Josef Stalin: Both grandfathers were arrested and imprisoned for allegedly anti-Soviet activities.
But, rare in that period, both were eventually freed. In 1941, when Gorbachev was 10, his father went off to war, along with most of the other men from Privolnoye.
Meanwhile, the Nazis pushed across the western steppes in their blitzkrieg against the Soviet Union; they occupied Privolnoye for five months.
When the war was over, young Gorbachev was one of the few village boys whose father returned. By age 15, Gorbachev was helping his father drive a combine harvester after school and during the region’s blistering, dusty summers.
His performance earned him the order of the Red Banner of Labor, an unusual distinction for a 17-year-old. That prize and the party background of his parents helped him land admission in 1950 to the country’s top university, Moscow State.
There, he met his wife, Raisa Maximovna Titorenko, and joined the Communist Party. The award and his family’s credentials also helped him overcome the disgrace of his grandfathers’ arrests, which were overlooked in light of his exemplary Communist conduct.
In his memoirs, Gorbachev described himself as something of a maverick as he advanced through the party ranks, sometimes bursting out with criticism of the Soviet system and its leaders.
His early career coincided with the “thaw” begun by Nikita Khrushchev. As a young Communist propaganda official, he was tasked with explaining the 20th Party Congress that revealed Soviet dictator Josef Stalin’s repression of millions to local party activists. He said he was met first by “deathly silence,” then disbelief.
“They said: ‘We don’t believe it. It can’t be. You want to blame everything on Stalin now that he’s dead,’” he told The Associated Press in a 2006 interview.
He was a true if unorthodox believer in socialism. He was elected to the powerful party Central Committee in 1971, took over Soviet agricultural policy in 1978, and became a full Politburo member in 1980.
Along the way he was able to travel to the West, to Belgium, Germany, France, Italy and Canada. Those trips had a profound effect on his thinking, shaking his belief in the superiority of Soviet-style socialism.
“The question haunted me: Why was the standard of living in our country lower than in other developed countries?” he recalled in his memoirs. “It seemed that our aged leaders were not especially worried about our undeniably lower living standards, our unsatisfactory way of life, and our falling behind in the field of advanced technologies.”
But Gorbachev had to wait his turn. Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev died in 1982, and was succeeded by two other geriatric leaders: Yuri Andropov, Gorbachev’s mentor, and Konstantin Chernenko.
It wasn’t until March 1985, when Chernenko died, that the party finally chose a younger man to lead the country: Gorbachev. He was 54 years old.
His tenure was filled with rocky periods, including a poorly conceived anti-alcohol campaign, the Soviet military withdrawal from Afghanistan, and the Chernobyl nuclear disaster.
But starting in November 1985, Gorbachev began a series of attention-grabbing summit meetings with world leaders, especially U.S. Presidents Ronald Reagan and George Bush, which led to unprecedented, deep reductions in the American and Soviet nuclear arsenals.
After years of watching a parade of stodgy leaders in the Kremlin, Western leaders practically swooned over the charming, vigorous Gorbachev and his stylish, brainy wife. But perceptions were very different at home. It was the first time since the death of Soviet founder Vladimir Lenin that the wife of a Soviet leader had played such a public role, and many Russians found Raisa Gorbachev showy and arrogant.
Although the rest of the world benefited from the changes Gorbachev wrought, the rickety Soviet economy collapsed in the process, bringing with it tremendous economic hardship for the country’s 290 million people.
In the final days of the Soviet Union, the economic decline accelerated into a steep skid. Hyper-inflation robbed most older people of their life’s savings. Factories shut down. Bread lines formed.
And popular hatred for Gorbachev and his wife Raisa grew. But the couple won sympathy in summer 1999 when it was revealed that Raisa Gorbachev was dying of leukemia.
During her final days, Gorbachev spoke daily with television reporters, and the lofty-sounding, wooden politician of old was suddenly seen as an emotional family man surrendering to deep grief.
Gorbachev worked on the Gorbachev Foundation, which he created to address global priorities in the post-Cold War period, and with the Green Cross foundation, which was formed in 1993 to help cultivate “a more harmonious relationship between humans and the environment.”
Gorbachev took the helm of the small United Social Democratic Party in 2000 in hopes it could fill the vacuum left by the Communist Party, which he said had failed to reform into a modern leftist party after the breakup of the Soviet Union. He resigned from the chairmanship in 2004.
He continued to comment on Russian politics as a senior statesman — even if many of his countrymen were no longer interested in what he had to say.
“The crisis in our country will continue for some time, possibly leading to even greater upheaval,” Gorbachev wrote in a memoir in 1996. “But Russia has irrevocably chosen the path of freedom, and no one can make it turn back to totalitarianism.”
Gorbachev veered between criticism and mild praise for Russian President Vladimir Putin, who has been assailed for backtracking on the democratic achievements of the Gorbachev and Yeltsin eras.
He said Putin had done much to restore stability and prestige to Russia after the tumultuous decade following the Soviet collapse. He did, however, protest growing limitations on media freedom, and in 2006 bought one of Russia’s last investigative newspapers, Novaya Gazeta, with a businessman associate.
“We should — this is one of our goals — promote the newspaper’s qualitative development in the interests of democratic values,” he said, tacitly criticizing the Kremlin’s efforts to bring Novaya Gazeta and other independent media outlets to heel.
Gorbachev ventured into other new areas in his 70s, winning awards and kudos around the world. He won a Grammy in 2004 along with former U.S. President Bill Clinton and Italian actress Sophia Loren for their recording of Prokofiev’s Peter and the Wolf, and the United Nations named him a Champion of the Earth in 2006 for his environmental advocacy.
Gorbachev had a daughter, Irina, and two granddaughters.
The official news agency Tass reported that Gorbachev will be buried at Moscow’s Novodevichy cemetery next to his wife.
___
Vladimir Isachenkov and Kate de Pury in Moscow contributed.
Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. | https://www.whsv.com/2022/08/30/russian-media-ex-soviet-leader-mikhail-gorbachev-dead-91/ | 2022-08-30T22:08:52Z |
Shenandoah Valley well-stocked with Monkeypox vaccines
STAUNTON, Va. (WHSV) - Many states are working through Monkeypox vaccine distribution and availability issues.
Health leaders at the state and local level say supply is good, and they’re working to make sure everyone who is eligible for a vaccine can get one.
Dr. Laurie Forlano with the Virginia Department of Health said the federal government decides how many vaccines each state gets. From there, the states distribute it.
“That supply is driven by both the case burden in a given area, how many cases of Monkeypox are happening, but also the usage of that vaccine,” Forlano said.
The FDA issued an emergency use authorization to help the vaccine supply go further. Health providers are able to administer the vaccine between the layers of the skin.
“Previously it was just subcutaneous, which was just the more traditional shot that you’re probably more used to. That intradermal administration allows for us to get more doses out of one vial than just the sub cue method,” said Forlano.
Jordi Shelton with the Central Shenandoah Health District said supply is good in the Valley.
“We have access to enough Monkeypox vaccines to meet the current demand in the district,” Shelton said in an email.
A Monkeypox vaccine clinic began in Harrisonburg on Aug. 22. One will open at the Lexington Health Department on Sept. 7. The Staunton-Augusta Health Department will begin offering it on Sept. 12.
Copyright 2022 WHSV. All rights reserved. | https://www.whsv.com/2022/08/30/shenandoah-valley-well-stocked-with-monkeypox-vaccines/ | 2022-08-30T22:08:59Z |
Stay mindful and positive throughout September for Healthy Aging Month
AUGUSTA COUNTY, Va. (WHSV) - As August draws to an end, Healthy Aging Month is around the corner.
For many, summer is filled with projects and trips, and that’s often when people realize that they’re feeling their age a little more.
Lifestyle and wellness influencer Kym Douglas has some advice: make sure you’re caught up on any appointments you need.
“You want to make sure that your health and your body is up-to-date. Let’s make sure we’ve got that prioritized. Have you gone to the doctor lately? Have you had your check-ups? What have you missed in the last couple years that we’ve been locked in?” Douglas said.
Also, you can practice intentional self-care, go on a trip and visit friends and family. Douglas said mindset is very important, so don’t think of aging as a bad thing.
“It’s a different chapter. It’s a different time in your life and how great that you’re going to have opportunities to maybe pursue some of the interests that you had to put on hold in order to build your career, raise your family, create your home life, whatever it is,” she said.
There are many perks to aging, Douglas said, and one of those are discounts. Take advantage of senior discounts or programs like AARP when you’re eligible.
Copyright 2022 WHSV. All rights reserved. | https://www.whsv.com/2022/08/30/stay-mindful-positive-throughout-september-healthy-aging-month/ | 2022-08-30T22:09:05Z |
Three injured after massive tomato spill on highway
Published: Aug. 30, 2022 at 5:43 PM EDT|Updated: 25 minutes ago
VACAVILLE, Calif. (KOVR) – A big rig spill had a freeway in California covered in tomatoes.
Thousands of them were crushed when they spilled on I-80 and caused several collisions Monday.
Officials said a tractor-trailer lost its cargo after it lost control and hit another car. Then it slammed into the center median, spilling its load.
Tomatoes covered the roadway, causing a major road hazard.
One car got stuck in the spill, which led to a chain reaction of crashes involving four vehicles.
California Highway Patrol said one person suffered major injuries, while two others were treated for minor injuries.
Copyright 2022 KOVR via CNN Newsource. All rights reserved. | https://www.whsv.com/2022/08/30/three-injured-after-massive-tomato-spill-highway/ | 2022-08-30T22:09:11Z |
Former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev, who played a central role in ending the Cold War, has died at the age of 91. Russian media reported his death. His risky decision to liberalize Soviet society, confront its past and engage Western leaders arguably took the world from the brink of nuclear conflict.
This is a breaking news story and will be updated.
Copyright 2022 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org. | https://www.wyomingpublicmedia.org/2022-08-30/former-soviet-leader-mikhail-gorbachev-has-died-at-91 | 2022-08-30T22:12:40Z |
The state legislative tribal committee met in Riverton at Central Wyoming College on Monday to discuss a number of topics. Including an update on the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Person Task Force and a potential Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA) law at the state level.
Missing and Murdered Indigenous Person Task Force Update
Cara Chambers updated the committee on the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Person (MMIP) Task Force. Chambers is chair of the MMIP task force and director of the Department of Victim Services.
She brought a request to look into a missing adult alert system, to better get out timely information on missing Indigenous individuals.
“This would be a very easy lift for the state because it is so parallel to the Amber Alert system. It wouldn’t require much other than legislative action to adopt this in the state,” she said.
Chambers said the task force and state would work with Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) law enforcement to integrate missing adults on the Wind River into this alert system. The alert system is called the Ashanti Alert named after Ashanti Billie, who was killed in 2017 in Virginia. This alert system is used in other states.
Northern Arapaho chairman Jordan Dresser also addressed the committee and previewed a new trailer for “Who She Is”. A film telling personal stories from the missing and murdered women of the Wind River Reservation. The film will debut on September 10th on the Central Wyoming College campus. The film’s production was supported by the Department of Victim Services.
Dresser addressed the committee about the importance of telling personal stories and believing survivors of violence and sexual assault.
“Unfortunately, we live in a society where we ridicule individuals who do come and speak out. Who say, ‘This is what's going on…’ I don’t have respect for individuals like that. Because at the end of the day, you are undermining those people. You’re forcing those who do have stories to be quiet,” he said.
BIA chief of police Eric Blackburn also addressed the committee and said two victim advocate positions are being brought through the federal system but background checks are taking a long time. Currently, the selection is around five months into a background check.
“That seems to be our biggest issue in Indian Country Law enforcement is hiring. It's a challenge we are all trying to get passed. Here on the Wind River Reservation, I have had some good luck, I think we have 18 officers,” he said.
Blackburn also said that one of the victim advocate positions was filled last year, but backed out of the position before their start date.
Looking at a state Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA)
The Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA) has been a federal law for 44 years. The U.S. Supreme Court is hearing a ICWA case this fall with a decision expected next summer. In preparation, the committee had a section during the meeting to educate and talk about potentially beginning the process of a state ICWA law, in case the federal supreme court knocks ICWA down. The act gives tribes a seat at the table in efforts to find an Indigenous child a home if their past home is tumultuous, and to ideally keep families together.
The attorney for the Northern Arapaho tribes Clare Johnson said she currently is working on 62 ICWA cases, about half of those are within the state of Wyoming.
“With the fact that the federal law could be struck down we feel like it is incredibly important.” she said.
Because ICWA laws are so complex, Kathryn Fort, an expert from Michigan State was called in. She said that ICWA provides a layer of protection for Indigenous kids and families during neglect cases.
“These include active efforts to rehabilitate and reunify the Indian family if a child is removed and the parents have specific needs,” she said, citing that 90 percent of child cases are of neglect surrounding substance abuse or mental health issues. “So, when we are talking about ICWA cases, we are talking about making sure that families receive the services they need to stay together.”
Representative Affie Ellis asked Fort whether efforts should be led by the tribes or the state legislature, and what that might look like. Fort replied, it's a balance of meaningfully considering the tribes but the law is also the state's responsibility.
“ICWA is frankly a remedial law to make sure that states aren't… agencies and courts are not acting wrong when they get Native children in front of them,” she said.
Lee Spoonhunter is on the Northern Arapaho Business Council and said he wants to start drafting something now to protect Wyoming’s Indigenous children.
“In Indian Country, as tribal leaders, we are so worried about this and it's because we are going to lose our children. We are going to lose our children to the system. We are not going to find them until they have been adopted out and that's just the reality of what is going to happen if this law is struck down,” he said.
The select committee will meet again October 18th to get updates on Wyoming's MMIP and ICWA discussions.
The committee discussed other topics, including cross deputizing wildlife agents between state and tribal land, tax reform, and feral horse removal. A full recording of the meeting can be found on the Wyoming Legislature youtube page. | https://www.wyomingpublicmedia.org/2022-08-30/legislative-tribal-committee-discusses-mmip-and-a-state-icwa-law-in-riverton | 2022-08-30T22:12:46Z |
$1.34 billion Mega Millions jackpot remains unclaimed, according to officials
Published: Aug. 30, 2022 at 4:10 PM EDT|Updated: 56 minutes ago
(CNN) - We still do not know who won last month’s $1.34 billion Mega Millions jackpot.
That’s because the Illinois Lottery says the winner has yet to come forward.
Officials announced in July someone purchased the winning ticket at a Speedway gas station in Des Plaines.
On Friday, officials said the winner has yet to claim their prize, but there is still time for that to happen.
The winner has a year from the date of the drawing to claim the prize.
However, they only have 60 days from that same date to choose between annual payments or a lump sum cash payout, which would be worth close to $742 million.
Copyright 2022 CNN Newsource. All rights reserved. | https://www.wvva.com/2022/08/30/134-billion-mega-millions-jackpot-remains-unclaimed-according-officials/ | 2022-08-30T22:21:32Z |
Pregnant 17-year-old found dead in neighborhood home, family says
CARYVILLE, Tenn. (WVLT/Gray News) - Authorities in Tennessee are investigating the death of a 17-year-old girl.
According to the Campbell County Sheriff’s Office, the girl was found dead on Tuesday morning in a neighborhood home.
WVLT reports the girl’s family identified her as Kimber Marie Wilson. The 17-year-old’s mother, Carol Ann Wilson, said her daughter was five months pregnant.
According to the family, Kimber Marie Wilson was found dead in her great-grandfather’s home. The girl’s uncle said he saw her just after midnight and she seemed OK. They said she was a good kid and a smart girl.
Tennessee Highway Patrol officials said the Caryville Police Department sent a lookout order for a suspect before canceling it after a few hours.
Caryville police did not immediately confirm if a person was in custody, but highway patrol officials said that that is usually the case when a lookout order is canceled.
Copyright 2022 WVLT via Gray Media Group, Inc. All rights reserved. | https://www.wvva.com/2022/08/30/pregnant-17-year-old-found-dead-neighborhood-home-family-says/ | 2022-08-30T22:21:39Z |
Three injured after massive tomato spill on highway
Published: Aug. 30, 2022 at 5:43 PM EDT|Updated: 38 minutes ago
VACAVILLE, Calif. (KOVR) – A big rig spill had a freeway in California covered in tomatoes.
Thousands of them were crushed when they spilled on I-80 and caused several collisions Monday.
Officials said a tractor-trailer lost its cargo after it lost control and hit another car. Then it slammed into the center median, spilling its load.
Tomatoes covered the roadway, causing a major road hazard.
One car got stuck in the spill, which led to a chain reaction of crashes involving four vehicles.
California Highway Patrol said one person suffered major injuries, while two others were treated for minor injuries.
Copyright 2022 KOVR via CNN Newsource. All rights reserved. | https://www.wvva.com/2022/08/30/three-injured-after-massive-tomato-spill-highway/ | 2022-08-30T22:21:50Z |
W.Va. lawmakers split on upcoming ballot amendment
BLUEFIELD, W.Va. (WVVA) - West Virginia voters will soon decide whether to give state lawmakers the power to eliminate some personal property taxes. Amendment 2 on the upcoming Nov. ballot will grant that authority if passed by voters.
Lawmakers said they expect the amendment to pass, but some along with many county representatives worry the passage could result in a loss of funding at the local level.
“West Virginia has lost a lot of business just because of this tax. And that’s been identified not only by Republican administrations but also by Democrat administrations,” said Sen. Jack Woodrum (R - Summers County.)
“I agree, they’re not the best taxes in the world, they’re not the most business friendly. But at the end of the day you’ve got to be able to fund your schools, you’ve got to fund your police and what’s your plan otherwise,” said Sen. Stephen Baldwin (D - Greenbrier County.)
Mercer County Commissioner Bill Archer voiced his concerns, and noted he expects the amendment to be passed by voters.
“I trust the voters in all ways but i don’t trust the way this particular amendment was put together. First of all, I don’t think that it’s completely solidified now, what are the components of the thing,” said Archer.
While Archer is not alone in voicing issues, it appeared some form of change is on the horizon as of Tuesday.
“We’re listening to concerns and things that are brought us from the commissions, from the assessors …the language is being put together,” said Woodrum.
“I think if the voters give the legislature the authority to do it then something’s going to happen, it’s a matter of what happens,” said Baldwin.
Copyright 2022 WVVA. All rights reserved. | https://www.wvva.com/2022/08/30/wva-lawmakers-split-upcoming-ballot-amendment/ | 2022-08-30T22:22:00Z |
Sponsored - The following content is created on behalf of Summit Events and does not reflect the opinions of Gray Media or its editorial staff. To learn more about Summit Events, visit www.submitbsa.org
Summit Bechtel Reserve (SBR), one of four high adventure camps that host Boy Scouts of America Scouting, is thrilled to announce its opening daily to the public beginning Sept. 9th. Many of the high adventure activities available to members of the Scouts will now be open to everyone.
Adventure Center Day Passes offer three wonderful ways to experience SBR.
- General Admission – hiking and mountain biking trails, self-guided Sustainability Treehouse tours, Stand Up Paddleboarding, kayaking, canoeing, fishing access, skateboarding, and scootering.
- Activity Pass – includes all general admission activities AND ziplining, Laser Shot, Hunters Hall Hunting Museum, hatchet and knife throwing, guided archery, and guided mountain biking tour.
- Ridge Pass Upgrade – is an add-on to General Admission or Activity Passes and includes 5-Stand shotgun clays, pistol, rifle, long-range archery, and Laporte Archery.
The best part is you can bring your own gear or rent from us.
Opening Weekend is September 9 through 11 (and will be open daily thereafter) from 6 a.m. to 8 p.m. You will find the Summit Bechtel Reserve in Glen Jean, West Virginia, just minutes away from the Interstates 77/64 at the North Beckley exit.
Adventure Center passes and prices, along with information on available activity days/ times, are now available for purchase at www.submitbsa.org/adventuredaypass. *Blackout dates may apply.
The Summit’s recommendation: Come early. Stay late. Do all the things.
You can visit their Facebook page (@AdventureOnSummit) to learn more about these opening weekend hosted events or click the links below:
- WV DNR Hunting and Fishing weekend
- Mountaineer Classic Calling Contest
- GNCC: The Rocky Mountain ATV/MC Mountaineer Race
- Live music with the Davisson Brothers Band
On second thought: Come early. Stay the night. Do more things!
Did someone say overnight stay??? Why yes, you can! On-site tents, glamping, and lodging information can be found here.
The Summit Bechtel Family National Scout Reserve, often shortened as Summit Bechtel Reserve (SBR), located in Fayette and Raleigh counties, near Beckley, West Virginia, is one of four facilities managed by the National Council of the Boy Scouts of America (BSA). The Summit Bechtel Reserve is the current home of the National Scout Jamboree, the Paul R. Christen National High Adventure Base, the James C. Justice National Scout Camp, and the John D. Tickle National Training and Leadership Center. The reserve comprises properties totaling over 14,000 acres (57 km2). The facility’s opening event was the 2013 National Scout Jamboree. | https://www.wvva.com/sponsored/summit-events/outdoor-recreation-just-got-wilder-more-wonderful/ | 2022-08-30T22:22:06Z |
According to various Russian state media accounts, former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev, who played a pivotal role in ending the Cold War, died after a prolonged illness in Moscow at age 91.
Copyright 2022 NPR
According to various Russian state media accounts, former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev, who played a pivotal role in ending the Cold War, died after a prolonged illness in Moscow at age 91.
Copyright 2022 NPR | https://www.keranews.org/2022-08-30/the-life-and-legacy-of-former-soviet-leader-mikhail-gorbachev | 2022-08-30T22:45:46Z |
Haley Hickey, a recent law school graduate, plans to open her own law practice in her hometown of Lubbock. She also wants to start a family with her wife. But after Roe v. Wade was overturned by the U.S. Supreme Court in June, she says her life is in flux.
“If Texas goes after same-sex marriage, that kind of throws our entire future into chaos,” Hickey said. “I can’t go back in the closet, and all it takes is pissing off the wrong prosecutor for that to become personal animosity that can then be used against me and really jeopardize my career.”
Hickey, along with other LGBTQ Texans, are worried the court will revisit other rulings such as same-sex marriage. If the landmark case Obergefell v. Hodges is overturned, gay marriage would be left up to the states, making it illegal in Texas.
In that case, same-sex couples would not be able to get married because of existing laws in Texas, said Christina Molitor, a family lawyer based in San Antonio: “Both that constitutional amendment, which defined marriage as a union between a man and a woman back in 2005, and then the Texas Family Code says that a marriage license can only be issued to a man and a woman.”
Molitor said she’s received an increase of calls and emails from LGBTQ Texans asking how to protect their marital and parental rights ever since the Dobbs decision was announced a few months ago. Some have decided to take legal matters into their own hands.
“These are established couples who are raising families,” she said. “And to have to pick up and leave Texas just really seems unfathomable – unless, of course, your family is no longer going to be protected.”
Hickey and her wife are seriously considering leaving Texas, even if they don’t want to. The couple are both from Texas and want to live near their families. But if they were to move, New Mexico or Colorado are options.
“It’s kind of like frogs in boiling water,” Hickey explained. “We’re kind of like, should we get out while the water is steamy, but before it’s too late for us to jump? It feels like our safest bet right now is to leave the state.”
Molitor said there isn’t any historical precedent for what would happen if Obergefell were to be overturned. But she believes it’s unlikely that the marriage of a currently married LGBTQ couple would be deemed void. The real issue, she said, would be that LGBTQ people wouldn’t be able to get married moving forward.
Brandon and his husband, Carlos, both software engineers living in San Antonio, became concerned when they first heard the Supreme Court leak. Once the Dobbs decision was official, they decided to not take any chances.
“We wanted to establish a will just so that at the very least the other one gets to keep our house, our cars, our monetary assets, etc.,” Brandon said. “And then some of the other stuff that we were worried about was medical power of attorney, so if one of us is unconscious in a hospital bed the other one gets the rights to make those decisions of ‘Do we pull the plug? Do we do this risky surgery?’”
Brandon and Carlos also signed a durable power of attorney so they can legally handle each other’s finances. They’ve spent nearly $2,000 on a lawyer, a privilege they acknowledge not many LGBTQ people have. The couple never thought their martial rights would be in jeopardy when they moved back to Texas from Massachusetts in 2017.
“We actively made the decision to come back to Texas and be near family,” Brandon said. “We bought a house. We have a dog. We really set up roots here. And so it’s just kind of heartbreaking that we would have to possibly end up going against what we had set out for our lives to be just because of people don’t like us.”
And now Brandon and Carlos are gearing up to start a family, either through adoption or a surrogate. They worry the court could invalidate same-sex second parent adoptions if Obergefell is overturned. The two are considering moving out of the state as well and possibly relocating to Chicago or Denver.
“I try to kind of imagine life in another place and think about the good parts of it to try and kind of counteract that,” Carlos said. “Like if we’re living in a snowy place, I’ll try and imagine a fire, snow, Christmas, like happy things, but it’s still distressing. So, there’s no kind of getting around it.”
Cecelia Jordan moved to Austin for a Ph.D program with her partner, Zakiya Scott, after living in California for several years. The two were officially married, virtually, over Zoom in the state of Utah while Jordan was studying abroad in May. The couple needed to get married in order to move forward on a legal agreement with a sperm donor. Jordan will carry first and has already begun the insemination process.
“Even with the legal documentation, they could legally determine that Zakiya is not the parent,” Jordan said. “Even with all the estate planning, having adoption papers drafted before all these things. When you’re family planning, it just gets to this point where I’m like, ‘OK, if they overturn it, we have to leave Texas like immediately.’”
Scott said it feels like the state is stripping away their agency.
“This isn’t just about, like, one thing. It’s like the spectrum of state violence, especially on Black people – in this case, we’re talking about Black birthing people. But it’s also Black non-birthing people,” Scott said. “Whether or not you choose to discontinue the pregnancy, whether or not you go through the pregnancy, after pregnancy, there’s all of these levels of violence that we’re withstanding.”
Jordan grew up in East Texas and wants to raise her children near her family.
“In order for my queer family to be safe, they might not be able to be around the massive family that I have that is so loving,” Jordan said. “My grandparents are still alive, so I wanted to stay close to home as long as my grandparents are alive, because I know it’s such a gift. We really wanted to come back to the South and build roots where we come from.”
Molitor reminds clients that overturning the Supreme Court’s same-sex marriage ruling would take time.
“I think that although I completely understand the fear and the question, it’s more important to just take a deep breath, realize nothing’s going to happen overnight and there’s going to be ample warning if it looks like this is going to be an issue that the Supreme Court’s going to decide,” she said. “People should just try to focus on living their lives now. And when it really becomes an issue, then start thinking about whether or not they should be leaving the state to a more friendly state.”
But Carlos says it’s exactly this uncertainty about the future that’s troubling.
“People talk about law and order, but it really throws disorder into our lives when you can’t count on the stability of law, especially when I’m planning on fundamental things like where to live.”
If the Supreme Court were to overturn the same-sex marriage ruling, 25 to 30 states would make it illegal, according to Poynter. The only state bordering Texas without a ban on same-sex marriage in the books is New Mexico. | https://www.keranews.org/government/2022-08-30/lgbtq-texans-fear-supreme-court-will-target-same-sex-marriage-leaving-them-legally-unprotected | 2022-08-30T22:45:53Z |
Back in college, I had an embarrassing moment that's forever etched into my memory. A girlfriend borrowed my backpack for a weekend trip. And when she came back, she handed me the backpack and said something I'll never forget:
"Michaeleen, you must sweat a lot because your backpack stinks. The armstraps smell like onions. Ew."
I stood there in silence, feeling totally ashamed. I'm not sure how I responded. But I remember thinking to myself, "I don't eat many onions. Does my sweat really smell that bad?"
Now 25 years later, I've come to find out that my stinky sweat was actually a signal of something good on my skin – something that prevents skin problems, like eczema, and protects me from dangerous infections such as MRSA,, which is found in hospitals around the world and is the leading cause of skin infections in the U.S.
What creates your body's unique bouquet?
To figure out what I'm talking about, we need to step back and look at what actually creates body odor. It's not the sweat itself.
"No, I don't think your sweat by itself smells," says microbiologist Gavin Thomas at York University. "It certainly doesn't have these really stinky, odorous molecules."
Thomas studies how – and why– humans have a particular bouquet of scents. He says that sweat, immediately after it comes out of your pores, is essentially odorless.
"So most sweat is salty water," he says. That's the sweat that's secreted pretty much all over your body and cools you down when you're hot.
"But that's not what we're interested in," he explains. "We're interested in this other type of sweat, which is produced in our underarms and around the genitals."
This other type of sweat isn't just salty water but also contains a cornucopia of compounds, including oils, fats and proteins.
No one knows exactly why humans have this second type of sweat. But, Thomas says, one purpose likely has to do with the odors that it ends up emitting.
On its own, this second type of sweat isn't smelly. But something living on our skin – tiny creatures – takes that sweat and makes it stinky.
Yes, I'm talking about the bacteria on your skin.
"The human skin has almost 200 different species of bacteria living on it," says biologist Teruaki Nakatsuji at the University of California, San Diego. "And each person has different strains of these bacteria. So the skin microbiota is so diverse."
These bacteria are hungry. And some of them really enjoy eating the molecules in our sweat. They munch off a piece of the molecule and then spit out new molecular compounds, some of which are quite aromatic. For example, they can smell like cumin or goats, the American Society for Microbiology asserts.
And some of these molecules are downright stinky.
Back in 2020, Thomas and his colleagues found that one critter on the skin, called Staphylococcus hominis, produces an especially pungent odor: "We've had people describe it as kind of an onion smell or a cheesy onion smell," he says. "These types of compounds do smell pretty bad."
But wait! This critter – and your stinky sweat – is actually beneficial and even necessary.
So back in college, when my backpack smelled a bit stinky, it wasn't so much my sweat to blame but rather a little microbe called Staphylococcus hominins.
Which may make you want to go take shower stat. But wait! Before you go grab the antibacterial soap, there's something about this bacteria you need to know. Something that I didn't realize until recently: These bacteria – and their relatives – actually do something really good for you and your skin. In fact, you need these bacteria.
"Without S. hominins, you're in trouble," says dermatologist Richard Gallo at the University of California, San Diego.
Over the past five years, Gallo, Teruaki Nakatsuji and their colleagues have published a series of studies showing how S. hominins actually protects our skin from inflammatory problems, such as eczema, and dangerous infections, including Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, or MRSA.
The team has even developed a cream, made with the bacteria and tested in preliminary trials, as a treatment for eczema.
"S. hominins basically make a type of antibiotic, which specifically targets the bacteria that causes MRSA," Gallo says. "And it kills this bacteria by punching holes in its cell membrane."
But, Gallo says, this critter isn't the only part of your skin that produces antimicrobial agents. Twenty years ago, he and his colleagues found that your body itself also makes antimicrobial molecules and puts them inside your sweat.
"So sweat is almost like an antibiotic juice," Gallo says. "And as the water evaporates, those antibiotics actually increase in concentration. So it kind of leaves a little coating on your skin. So that's one of the ways our skin tries to fight the bad bacteria."
So the next time you're hot, sticky and maybe a bit stinky, before you hit the shower, take a moment to thank your sweat – and the bacteria that eat it – for helping to keep your skin healthy and safe.
Because even after you do take a shower, the protective critters will still be there to help you, Gallo says — even if you use antibacterial soap.
"When you wash your skin, you get rid of the material on its surface," he says. But these bacteria live deep inside your skin's pores, where detergents and antibiotics can't reach. "So within 10 minutes after washing, the bacteria grow back and populate your skin's surface.
"So in a way, your skin is smarter than you," he adds. It knows what it needs better than you do.
Copyright 2022 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org. | https://www.keranews.org/2022-08-25/why-stinky-sweat-is-good-for-you | 2022-08-30T23:27:35Z |
ASHLAND, Ore. — Jason Fischer watches a firefighting chopper scoop a big bucket of water out of the Klamath River, as it douses hotspots on the McKinney Fire in remote Northern California.
The flames threatening his sixth-generation cattle farm, Fischer looks across the narrow river canyon at a steep, charred mountainside. All the trees are blackened silhouettes.
His face twists into a scowl.
"This whole fire we knew ... it was a bomb," he says.
The last time the forests on the other side of the river burned was the Haystack Fire in 1955.
"And after that, they never did anything to manage the land, so all that grew back was brush," Fischer says. "The brush was 10 feet high, so one little spark when it's 113 degrees outside."
Fischer's frustration is one you hear a lot in this corner of the West, especially where the timber industry — once mighty — has largely shut down. The forests are neglected, not being managed, the saying goes. Environmental laws prevent them from being thinned or logged.
"People are tired and worn out from the downturn of the timber industry and the poverty and lack of funds and lack of action," says Larry Alexander, director of the Northern California Resource Center in nearby Fort Jones, Calif. "Then they look up and see everything burn up, and so they get angry."
Wildfires have burned about six million acres of land so far this year, mostly in the West and Alaska. Due to prior forest management decisions, including a century or more of suppressing wildfires, Alexander says many forests are a tinder box.
Severe drought and prolonged heatwaves — now more common with climate change — have exacerbated the problem. Yet Alexander and other foresters on the ground in Western states say there are finally signs that the needle is starting to move away from full fire suppression and toward more upfront mitigation and prevention work.
Really good timing
On a ridge, a couple thousand feet above Jason Fischer's farm, Clint Isbell, the fire ecologist for the Klamath National Forest, is looking across at the same forested land with a bit more optimism.
"We put in these strategic fuel breaks that you can see across the landscape," he says, pointing to the west into a brisk wind. "A lot of them are on ridges."
U.S. taxpayers recently paid to bulldoze and clear out these "strategic fuel breaks," which are built with the intention of slowing down a fire before it reaches homes, communities and critical infrastructure such as powerlines. The idea is that firefighters can then try to at least make a stand in places like this.
A years-long, 10,000-acre hazardous fuels reduction project, including thinning in these rugged mountains and canyons, is ongoing. And to the east, down the mountainside, another federally funded project paid to clear out brush on private land around the perimeter of the town of Yreka, Calif.
Remarkably, that last project was completed just three days before the McKinney Fire ignited.
"Yeah, really good timing," Isbell says.
The agency believes this upfront work may have helped firefighters tackle the McKinney Fire, which is believed to have destroyed more than 100 homes and killed four people. But despite fears, it didn't turn into as bad of an inferno as last summer's Dixie Fire, which burned more than one million acres in northeastern California, or the Calf Canyon-Hermits Peak Fire earlier this year that became the largest in New Mexico's history.
"We can't do anything about drought, it's climate change," says Nickie Johnny, an incident commander who managed the McKinney and Calf Canyon fires this summer.
There is growing acknowledgement among veteran managers that these modern wildfires burning amid record heat waves and extreme drought can never be stopped by firefighters alone.
"We just have to figure out how we're going to get out ahead of it or what we're going to do in the aftermath of it," Johnny says.
One recent hot afternoon, as more red flag warnings for extreme fire danger came into effect, Johnny took stock of the conditions that led up to elite teams like hers having to respond to Siskiyou County, Calif., where the McKinney was just one of several fires burning this August. While still too early to assess fully, she suspected some of the upfront mitigation work may have allowed her crews to position in safer places. That allowed them to begin digging a line around the perimeter of parts of the fire, eventually helping to contain it.
But in extreme drought made worse by climate change, Johnny says preparation work can only go so far. Now the U.S. government and other agencies like Cal Fire have no choice but to throw everything they can at the crisis in the moment. There's just too much at risk, she says, from lives and property to critical watersheds for cities.
At one point, 3,700 firefighters responded to the McKinney Fire.
"We've been focusing on fire suppression [in California] for the last three years because that's where the need is," Johnny says.
Stopping fires is making things worse
Some say we've backed ourselves into this corner.
Firefighters are really good at suppressing almost every wildfire on initial attack, only a few — 3% or less — of ignitions get away and turn into large blazes like McKinney. But every time they stop one, don't they just leave more fuel on the ground for the next fire?
This conundrum is often described as the fire paradox. And there's no easy solution, says forestry professor Andrew Sanchez Meador, who runs the Ecological Restoration Institute at Northern Arizona University.
"It took us 150 years to get into this problem , so it's not a problem we're going to get ourselves out of quickly," he says.
But Sanchez Meador is encouraged by what he sees is a paradigm shift starting to happen in the nation's hulking firefighting program, sometimes even dubbed the fire-industrial complex. Last year, the U.S. government spent a record $4.3 billion on fire suppression. But there are now tens of millions of federal and state dollars also going toward upfront mitigation work.
Allow fires to happen without killing everything
Just over the mountains from Yreka, Calif., near the historic gold mining town of Jacksonville, Ore., smoke and haze from the McKinney Fire hangs in the air as Rich Fairbanks steers his small pickup up a winding mountain highway.
Forests with dense stands of trees line the road, up to 300 packed into an acre in places.
"The people that are responsible for the safety of a fire crew, they don't like that at all," Fairbanks says looking up toward the dark woods. " They cannot see that spot fire starting up behind them and maybe trapping their crew."
Fairbanks is a retired U.S. Forest Service firefighter who now runs a small forestry company. They got a grant from the new Infrastructure Law that could make a big difference here. Further up the road, crews have already thinned out trees from private land that's peppered with homes and small outbuildings. The trees are stacked in piles awaiting to be burned this Fall when it's cooler and wetter.
"The idea is to make it so that the fires still happen, but they don't kill everything, and burn people up in their cars for heaven's sakes," Fairbanks says.
The thinning is also intended to create a bigger buffer around this already existing fire break — the highway. Fairbanks says a wildfire is probably inevitable here, but a catastrophic blaze with a chaotic evacuation along this road doesn't have to be.
"This [project] is a good use of tax dollars in my opinion," he says.
Everyone along this road signed up for the free treatments. Fairbanks also is encouraged by what he sees as a paradigm shift in state and federal agencies toward prioritizing work like this, and among Westerners who are starting to understand they have to learn to live with wildfires.
But some people still don't get it.
"Unfortunately, there are politicians who make hay out of saying, 'They should put out every single fire all the time forever,' which is just really dumb," Fairbanks says.
For foresters like him, a smarter path is the upfront work like this. It takes longer and doesn't make for dramatic headlines. But it might at least make some of these modern wildfires manageable again.
Copyright 2022 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org. | https://www.keranews.org/2022-08-27/why-suppressing-wildfires-may-be-making-the-western-fire-crisis-worse | 2022-08-30T23:27:42Z |
Despite 11 denials, John Lennon’s killer to appear in parole hearing
HONOLULU (HawaiiNewsNow/Gray News) - Mark David Chapman, the man who shot and killed John Lennon, is up for parole.
Officials said he is scheduled for a parole hearing sometime this week, Hawaii News Now reports.
Chapman was convicted more than 40 years ago of killing the famed Beatles member as he entered his luxury New York apartment on Dec. 8, 1980.
He was sentenced to 20 years to life in prison and has been denied parole 11 times.
Chapman was an out-of-work security guard from Hawaii with a history of mental illness.
In 2000, Chapman was eligible for parole the first time. It was denied. He was denied parole again every two years thereafter.
Every two years, Chapman has gone before a parole board to plead his case. And every time, they’ve determined he should not be freed.
The latest denial came in August 2020. He was denied release and given a hold for 24 months.
The Board of Parole now has two weeks to make a decision on whether or not to grant Chapman’s release.
Copyright 2022 Gray Media Group, Inc. via Hawaii News Now. All rights reserved. | https://www.whsv.com/2022/08/30/despite-11-denials-john-lennons-killer-appear-parole-hearing/ | 2022-08-30T23:40:16Z |
NASA aims for Saturday launch of new moon rocket
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — NASA will try again Saturday to launch its new moon rocket on a test flight, after engine trouble halted the first countdown this week.
Managers said Tuesday they are changing fueling procedures to deal with the issue.
The 322-foot (98-meter) rocket remains on its pad at Kennedy Space Center, with an empty crew capsule on top. It’s the most powerful rocket ever built by NASA.
The Space Launch System rocket, or SLS, will attempt to send the capsule around the moon and back. No one will be aboard, just three test dummies. If successful, it will be the first capsule to fly to the moon since NASA’s Apollo program 50 years ago.
During Monday’s launch attempt, one of the four main engines in the rocket’s core stage could not be chilled sufficiently prior to planned ignition moments before liftoff. The three others came up just a little short.
The chilling operation will be conducted a half-hour earlier for Saturday afternoon’s try, once fueling is underway at the pad, officials said.
John Honeycutt, NASA’s program manager for the rocket, told reporters that the timing of this engine chilldown was earlier during successful testing last year, and so moving it sooner may do the trick.
Honeycutt also questioned the integrity of one engine sensor, saying it might have provided inaccurate data Monday. To change that sensor, he noted, would mean hauling the rocket back into the hangar, which would mean weeks of delay.
The $4.1 billion test flight is the opening shot in NASA’s Artemis moon-exploration program, named after the twin sister of Apollo in Greek mythology. Astronauts could strap in as soon as 2024 for a lap around the moon and actually attempt a lunar landing in 2025.
___
The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Department of Science Education. The AP is solely responsible for all content.
Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. | https://www.whsv.com/2022/08/30/nasa-aims-saturday-launch-new-moon-rocket/ | 2022-08-30T23:40:23Z |
PHOTOS: Farmer sets new record with 2,147-pound pumpkin at state fair
Published: Aug. 30, 2022 at 7:25 PM EDT|Updated: 14 minutes ago
PALMER, Alaska (KTUU/Gray News) - A farmer in Alaska recently won the giant pumpkin weigh-off at a popular state fair, setting a new record in the process.
KTUU reports Anchorage farmer Dale Marshall set a record for the largest pumpkin in state history with a 2,147-pound giant pumpkin at the Alaska State Fair.
Officials with the fair said Marshall broke his own state record that was previously set in 2019 with a 2,051-pound pumpkin and took home the pumpkin title last year with a 1,603-pound pumpkin.
Copyright 2022 KTUU via Gray Media Group, Inc. All rights reserved. | https://www.whsv.com/2022/08/30/photos-farmer-sets-new-record-with-2147-pound-pumpkin-state-fair/ | 2022-08-30T23:40:29Z |
Pregnant 17-year-old found dead in neighborhood home, family says
CARYVILLE, Tenn. (WVLT/Gray News) - Authorities in Tennessee are investigating the death of a 17-year-old girl.
According to the Campbell County Sheriff’s Office, the girl was found dead on Tuesday morning in a neighborhood home.
WVLT reports the girl’s family identified her as Kimber Marie Wilson. The 17-year-old’s mother, Carol Ann Wilson, said her daughter was five months pregnant.
According to the family, Kimber Marie Wilson was found dead in her great-grandfather’s home. The girl’s uncle said he saw her just after midnight and she seemed OK. They said she was a good kid and a smart girl.
Tennessee Highway Patrol officials said the Caryville Police Department sent a lookout order for a suspect before canceling it after a few hours.
Caryville police did not immediately confirm if a person was in custody, but highway patrol officials said that that is usually the case when a lookout order is canceled.
Copyright 2022 WVLT via Gray Media Group, Inc. All rights reserved. | https://www.whsv.com/2022/08/30/pregnant-17-year-old-found-dead-neighborhood-home-family-says/ | 2022-08-30T23:40:36Z |
Ridership increases on Virginia Amtrak routes
ROANOKE, Va. (WDBJ) - The number of people who are taking the train continues to climb across the Commonwealth. Ridership on Amtrak’s state-supported routes hit an all-time high during the month of July.
More than 110,00 passengers used Amtrak’s Virginia routes during the month. That’s an increase of more than 28% over June, and almost 20% over the same period in 2019, before the pandemic hit.
Michael McLaughlin is the Chief Operating Officer of the Virginia Passenger Rail Authority.
“I think it shows that people want options on how they travel throughout the Commonwealth, whether it be a car, whether it be a bus, whether it be a train or by plane,” McLaughlin said. “People want options and many of them like the rail option.”
It was July 11 when the second Amtrak train began serving Roanoke. So that was part of the equation.
On the Roanoke route, ridership was up 27% from the month before, and up 31% compared to July 2019.
“Even on routes that we didn’t add service, say the Richmond route, we still saw an increase in service,” McLaughlin said. “That spring increase from April to May to June we still believe is increasing a little bit. Obviously adding the additional train to Roanoke and Norfolk has increased the numbers even more.”
McLaughlin said he’s looking forward to seeing the results for the period when college students were heading back to school.
And he said he expects ridership on Virginia’s state-supported trains to continue growing as more people learn about their options and the opportunity to travel by rail.
Copyright 2022 WDBJ. All rights reserved. | https://www.whsv.com/2022/08/30/ridership-increases-virginia-amtrak-routes/ | 2022-08-30T23:40:43Z |
VIDEO: Parents concerned after man boards school bus, allegedly threatens students
LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WAVE/Gray News) - Students in Kentucky received a scare when a man boarded a bus and reportedly threatened children.
The incident in question involved a bus with Carter Elementary School students. Last week, a video allegedly captured a parent on the bus threatening students after someone had hit his daughter.
The video was shot on a cell phone camera and shared with WAVE.
“That goes for every little motherf***er on here,” the man can be heard saying in the video. “I don’t give a f***. Touch my daughter again, and I’m going to flip this whole bus.”
The video also reportedly shows another man, most likely the bus driver, trying to get the parent off the bus while children appeared to be sobbing.
A mother, who did not want to be identified, said her child was on the bus when the incident occurred.
“Oh my gosh,” the woman said. “There were a lot of tears because you can’t get to your child when you hear them crying. It just hurt a lot.”
The mother said she was so concerned by what happened that she held her child out of school Monday and plans to do so for the rest of the week.
“I’m still scared for my child and other students that were on that bus. I hope that something can get done because it just seems like our children are being failed all across the board,” she said. “They need to feel like they’re safe, leaving their home, going to school and leaving their school and coming back home.”
Carter Elementary’s principal, Jamie Wyman, sent an email to parents about the incident, saying a police officer with the Louisville Metro Police Department followed the bus in the morning and a school security guard monitored the bus stop.
Wyman also said the police department told her no one had been arrested.
Copyright 2022 WAVE via Gray Media Group, Inc. All rights reserved. | https://www.whsv.com/2022/08/30/video-parents-concerned-after-man-boards-school-bus-allegedly-threatens-students/ | 2022-08-30T23:40:49Z |
Wearing Olympic medal in court, boxer Oshae Jones defends herself against charge of resisting arrest
TOLEDO, Ohio (WTVG/Gray News) - More than a dozen people rallied outside of a Toledo courtroom Tuesday morning in support of Olympian Oshae Jones.
Jones was back in court Tuesday, wearing the bronze medal she won at the Tokyo Olympics.
She faces charges of resisting arrest, failure to disperse, and obstructing official business charges, all of which she has pleaded not guilty.
Both sides agreed to a continuance in the case to get more video discovery to each side.
Jones was arrested last month near her home after officers broke up what they called “a large scene of people participating in a course of disorderly conduct,” according to the affidavit.
Officers allege that Jones failed to obey their orders and began resisting arrest by pulling away from officers as they tried to handcuff her.
The rally and court appearance come after Jones’ lawyers asked the City of Toledo for a public apology and to dismiss the charges against her last week.
Just days later, Toledo police released body camera footage of the arrest showing an officer striking her in the head.
Toledo police won’t release additional details or reports regarding the incident at this time during the internal affairs investigation.
“The incident is still under investigation; therefore, per collective bargaining agreements, we are unable to make a statement at this time,” a Toledo police spokesperson said Thursday.
Rallygoers criticized the police response to the arrest with signs reading “inappropriate behavior,” “accountability,” and “sad to see use of force just because you can.”
You can watch the full, unedited body camera footage of the arrest here.
Jones is due back in court on Sept. 27.
Copyright 2022 Gray Media Group, Inc. All rights reserved. | https://www.whsv.com/2022/08/30/wearing-olympic-medal-court-boxer-oshae-jones-defends-herself-against-charge-resisting-arrest/ | 2022-08-30T23:40:56Z |
W.Va. lawmakers split on upcoming ballot amendment
BLUEFIELD, W.Va. (WVVA) - West Virginia voters will soon decide whether to give state lawmakers the power to eliminate some personal property taxes. Amendment 2 on the upcoming Nov. ballot will grant that authority if passed by voters.
Lawmakers said they expect the amendment to pass, but some along with many county representatives worry the passage could result in a loss of funding at the local level.
“West Virginia has lost a lot of business just because of this tax. And that’s been identified not only by Republican administrations but also by Democrat administrations,” said Sen. Jack Woodrum (R - Summers County.)
“I agree, they’re not the best taxes in the world, they’re not the most business friendly. But at the end of the day you’ve got to be able to fund your schools, you’ve got to fund your police and what’s your plan otherwise,” said Sen. Stephen Baldwin (D - Greenbrier County.)
Mercer County Commissioner Bill Archer voiced his concerns, and noted he expects the amendment to be passed by voters.
“I trust the voters in all ways but i don’t trust the way this particular amendment was put together. First of all, I don’t think that it’s completely solidified now, what are the components of the thing,” said Archer.
While Archer is not alone in voicing issues, it appeared some form of change is on the horizon as of Tuesday.
“We’re listening to concerns and things that are brought us from the commissions, from the assessors …the language is being put together,” said Woodrum.
“I think if the voters give the legislature the authority to do it then something’s going to happen, it’s a matter of what happens,” said Baldwin.
Copyright 2022 WVVA. All rights reserved. | https://www.whsv.com/2022/08/30/wva-lawmakers-split-upcoming-ballot-amendment/ | 2022-08-30T23:41:03Z |
VSP investigating officer-involved shooting in Albemarle Co.
ALBEMARLE COUNTY, Va. (WVIR) - Virginia State Police is investigating an officer-involved shooting in Albemarle County late Monday, August 29.
According to authorities, a U.S. Marshals task force stopped 60-year-old Andrew T. Ainsworth, a wanted fugitive, in the area of Fontaine Avenue and Route 250 before 10 p.m. That task force included a member of the Albemarle Co. Police Department.
Police say Ainsworth fired a gun from inside a Toyota pickup, and three members of the task force shot back.
NBC29 obtained a recording of what went out over the radio scanner: “He’s not compliant. He’s not compliant. We are on the ramp of Fontaine Ave… Shots fired. Shots fired. Shots fired. Suspect down.”
Ainsworth died at the scene. His remains have been transported to the Office of the Medical Examiner for autopsy and examination.
“Task force officers attempted to conduct a traffic stop on the suspect’s vehicle, the fugitive fled from law enforcement and crashed their vehicle a short distance away. Immediately after the crash, task force officers ordered the fugitive to exit their vehicle and surrender, at which point the suspect pulled a firearm exchanged fire with officers,” Colonel Sean Reeves said Tuesday, Aug. 30.
The ACPD officer with the task force is now on administrative leave pending the outcome of the investigation, which is being conducted by VSP.
It is too early in the investigation for authorities to determine who fired the fatal shot.
“It is tragic that the offender, ultimately, lost their life. However, I remain grateful that no officers were killed or injured during the shooting,” Reeves said.
The colonel did not take any questions from the media.
Do you have a story idea? Send us your news tip here.
Copyright 2022 WVIR. All rights reserved. | https://www.whsv.com/2022/08/30/vsp-investigating-officer-involved-shooting-albemarle-co/ | 2022-08-30T23:44:38Z |
SAINT-JÉRÔME, QC, Aug. 30, 2022 /PRNewswire/ - On August 30, 2022, Marc Bedard, CEO-Founder of The Lion Electric Company ("Lion") (NYSE: LEV) (TSX: LEV), acquired 50,000 common shares of Lion.
Immediately prior to acquiring the common shares, Mr. Bedard had beneficial ownership of, or control or direction over (including through 9368-2672 Québec Inc., of which Mr. Bedard has control over, directly or indirectly, a majority of the voting shares), 26,458,653 common shares and 2,877,641 exercisable options to purchase common shares, which represented, in the aggregate, approximately 15.2% of the issued and outstanding common shares of Lion on a partially diluted basis. The common shares were acquired through a trade through the facilities of the Toronto Stock Exchange at a price of C$4.99 per common share and an aggregate purchase price of C$249,950. Immediately following the acquisition of the common shares, Mr. Bedard had beneficial ownership of, or control or direction over (including through 9368-2672 Québec Inc.), 26,508,653 common shares and 2,877,641 exercisable options to purchase common shares, representing, in the aggregate approximately 15.2% of the issued and outstanding common shares of Lion on a partially diluted basis.
Mr. Bédard acquired the common shares for investment purposes and may from time to time acquire further common shares, or dispose of common shares, in each case subject to market, economic and other relevant conditions.
Lion's head office is located at 921 chemin de la Rivière-du-Nord, Saint-Jérôme, Québec J7Y 5G2, Canada. For inquiries or to obtain a copy of the related early warning report required under applicable Canadian securities legislation, a copy of which has also been filed on Lion's profile on SEDAR at www.sedar.com, please contact: Isabelle Adjahi, Vice President, Investor Relations and Sustainable Development, Isabelle.Adjahi@thelionelectric.com, 450-432-5466, extension 171
View original content:
SOURCE Marc Bedard | https://www.whsv.com/prnewswire/2022/08/30/acquisition-common-shares-lion-electric-company-by-marc-bedard-ceo-founder/ | 2022-08-30T23:44:44Z |
VANCOUVER, BC, Aug. 30, 2022 /PRNewswire/ - Alexco Resource Corp. (NYSE American: AXU) (TSX: AXU) ("Alexco" or the "Company") announced today that the Company's Securityholders (as defined below) approved the previously announced acquisition of Alexco by 1080980 B.C. Ltd. ("108"), a subsidiary of Hecla Mining Company (NYSE: HL) ("Hecla") by way of a plan of arrangement (the "Arrangement") at a special meeting of Securityholders held earlier today (the "Meeting").
The special resolution approving the Arrangement was approved by (i) 92.04% of the votes cast by Alexco's shareholders (the "Alexco Shareholders") present or represented by proxy at the Meeting; (ii) 92.92% of the votes cast by Alexco Shareholders, optionholders, restricted share unit holders and deferred share unit holders of Alexco (collectively, "Securityholders"), voting as a single class, present or represented by proxy at the Meeting; and (iii) 91.50% of votes cast by Alexco Shareholders other than votes attached to Alexco shares required to be excluded pursuant to Multilateral Instrument 61-101 – Protection of Minority Security Holders in Special Transactions.
Under the terms of the Arrangement, Alexco Shareholders will receive 0.116 common shares in the capital of Hecla for each Alexco share held (the "Consideration"). Information regarding the procedure for exchange of shares for Consideration is provided in the Company's management information circular dated July 28, 2022, related to the Meeting (the "Circular"). The Circular and accompanying letter of transmittal (the "Letter of Transmittal") are available on SEDAR under the Company's profile on SEDAR at www.sedar.com and on the Company's website at https://alexcoresource.com/investors/special-meeting-of-shareholders/. If you are a holder of Alexco restricted share units, you will need to wait to submit your Letter of Transmittal until you have received details from the Company following the effective date of the Arrangement regarding your shares of Alexco.
The Arrangement remains subject to approval of the Supreme Court of British Columbia (the "Court") and the satisfaction or waiver of other customary conditions. On July 27, 2022, the Commissioner of Competition issued an advance ruling certificate. The Court hearing for the final order to approve the Arrangement is currently scheduled to take place on September 1, 2022 and closing of the Arrangement is expected to close on September 7, 2022. Following completion of the Arrangement, Alexco's shares are expected to be delisted from the Toronto Stock Exchange and NYSE American. An application is also expected to be made for the Company to cease to be a reporting issuer in the applicable jurisdictions upon closing of the Arrangement.
Additional information regarding the terms of the Arrangement is set out in the Circular which is available under Alexco's profile at www.sedar.com.
About Alexco
Alexco is a Canadian primary silver company that owns and operates the majority of the historic Keno Hill Silver District in Canada's Yukon Territory, one of the highest-grade silver mines in the world.
Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements
This news release contains forward-looking statements, which relate to future events or future performance. All statements, other than statements of historical fact, included herein are forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements herein include, without limitation, statements with respect to the consummation and timing of the Arrangement; the satisfaction or waiver of the conditions precedent to the transaction; the Consideration to be received by Alexco Shareholders; the expected benefits of the Arrangement; the timing, receipt and anticipated approval of the Court, and of any other regulatory consents and approvals; the delisting of the Alexco shares; and the intention that Alexco will cease to be a reporting issuer. Such forward-looking statements reflect management's current beliefs and are based on assumptions made by and information currently available to the Company, including assumptions as to the ability of Alexco and Hecla to receive, in a timely manner and on satisfactory terms, the necessary regulatory, Court and other third party approvals; the satisfaction or waiver of the conditions to closing of the Arrangement in a timely manner and completion of the Arrangement on the expected terms; the expected adherence to the terms of the arrangement agreement, as assigned and amended (the "Arrangement Agreement") and agreements related thereto; the adequacy of our and Hecla's financial resources; favourable equity and debt capital markets; and stability in financial capital markets. By their nature, forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which may cause our actual results, performance or achievements, or other future events, to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. These risks, uncertainties and other factors include, among others: the risk that the Arrangement may not close when planned or at all or on the terms and conditions set forth in the Arrangement Agreement; the failure of the Company and Hecla to obtain the necessary regulatory, Court, and other third-party approvals, or to otherwise satisfy the conditions to the completion of the Arrangement, in a timely manner, or at all, may result in the Arrangement not being completed on the proposed terms, or at all; changes in laws, regulations and government practices; if a third party makes a Superior Proposal (as defined in the Arrangement Agreement), the Arrangement may not be completed and the Company may be required to pay the Termination Fee (as defined in the Arrangement Agreement); if the Arrangement is not completed, and the Company continues as an independent entity, there are risks that the announcement of the Arrangement and the dedication of substantial resources of the Company to the completion of the Arrangement could have an impact on the Company's current business relationships and could have a material adverse effect on the current and future operations, financial condition and prospects of the Company; future prices of silver, gold, lead, zinc and other commodities; market competition; and the geopolitical, economic, permitting legal climate that Alexco and Hecla operate in; and the additional risks and uncertainties identified in Alexco's filings with Canadian securities regulators on SEDAR in Canada (available at www.sedar.com) and with the SEC on EDGAR (available at www.sec.gov/edgar.shtml). These forward-looking statements are made as of the date hereof and, except as required under applicable securities legislation, the Company does not assume any obligation to update or revise them to reflect new events or circumstances.
View original content:
SOURCE Alexco Resource Corp. | https://www.whsv.com/prnewswire/2022/08/30/alexco-announces-securityholder-approval-plan-arrangement-special-meeting-provides-transaction-update/ | 2022-08-30T23:44:50Z |
- Net earnings were $872.4 million, or $0.85 per diluted share for the first quarter of fiscal 2023 compared with $764.4 million, or $0.71 per diluted share for the first quarter of fiscal 2022. Adjusted net earnings1 were approximately $875.0 million compared with $758.0 million for the first quarter of fiscal 2022. Adjusted diluted net earnings per share1 were $0.85, representing an increase of 19.7% from $0.71 for the corresponding quarter of last year.
- Total merchandise and service revenues of $4.1 billion, an increase of 0.1%. Same-store merchandise revenues increased by 3.5% in the United States, by 2.8% in Europe and other regions1, and decreased by 1.3% in Canada.
- Merchandise and service gross margin1 decreased by 0.3% in the United States to 33.9%, and increased by 0.5% in Europe and other regions to 38.9%, and by 0.8% in Canada to 33.1%.
- Same-store road transportation fuel volumes decreased by 4.0% in the United States, by 3.7% in Europe and other regions, and increased by 0.4% in Canada.
- Road transportation fuel gross margin1 of 49.00¢ per gallon in the United States, an increase of 12.25¢ per gallon, US 12.26¢ per liter in Europe and other regions, an increase of US 1.94¢ per liter, and CA 14.04¢ per liter in Canada, an increase of CA 3.12¢ per liter. Fuel margins remained healthy throughout the network, due to favorable market conditions and the continued work on the optimization of the supply chain.
- Despite the growth in expenses of 9.4%, the Corporation has deployed strategic efforts to mitigate costs increases and inflationary pressures, which is demonstrated by the normalized growth of expenses1 of 7.3%, remaining below inflation.
- Sequential improvement of the leverage ratio1 at 1.31 : 1, and of the return on capital employed1 at 15.9%, both driven by strong earnings.
- On April 22, 2022, the Corporation renewed its share repurchase program which allows it to repurchase up to 10.0% of the public float. Under the renewed program, shares for a net amount of $478.0 million were repurchased during the quarter.
- On August 30, 2022, subsequent to the end of the quarter, the Corporation also announces that, following satisfaction of closing conditions, it has closed its proposed acquisition of Cape D'Or Holdings Limited, Barrington Terminals Limited and other related holding entities in Atlantic Canada.
LAVAL, QC, Aug. 30, 2022 /PRNewswire/ - For its first quarter ended July 17, 2022, Alimentation Couche-Tard Inc. ("Couche-Tard" or the "Corporation") (TSX: ATD) announces net earnings of $872.4 million, representing $0.85 per share on a diluted basis. The results for the first quarter of fiscal 2023 were affected by pre-tax acquisition costs of $1.2 million, as well as by a pre-tax net foreign exchange loss of $1.0 million. The results for the comparable quarter of fiscal 2022 were affected by a pre-tax net foreign exchange gain of $8.6 million as well as by pre-tax acquisition costs of $0.8 million. Excluding these items, the adjusted net earnings1 were approximately $875.0 million, or $0.85 per share on a diluted basis for the first quarter of fiscal 2023, compared with $758.0 million, or $0.71 per share on a diluted basis for the first quarter of fiscal 2022, an increase of 19.7% in the adjusted diluted net earnings per share1, driven by higher road transportation fuel gross margins1, by organic growth in the convenience activities, as well as by the favorable impact of the share repurchase program, partly offset by higher expenses. All financial information presented is in US dollars unless stated otherwise.
"In the face of continued and historic inflationary conditions and high fuel prices, we are pleased to report strong results this quarter, especially in convenience where we had healthy same stores sales in our U.S. market. We also continued to generate robust fuel margins across all of our platforms. In this period of high inflation and high prices, we remain focused on delivering a strong and consistent value to our customers and on maintaining cost discipline in our operations," said Brian Hannasch, President and Chief Executive Officer of Alimentation Couche-Tard.
"We are proud of the progress we made this quarter in our vision to become the world's preferred destination in convenience and mobility. With our Fresh Food, Fast priority, we are hitting key targets in site numbers and seeing very strong growth in our private label brands as consumers look for value. To enhance the customer experience at our locations, we are progressing with the roll out of our innovative, easy-to-use, smart checkout technology after announcing plans to deploy 10,000 units in 7,000 stores during the next three years. Also, after a year of record organic growth in store builds, we added 30 more new sites this quarter," concluded Brian Hannasch.
Claude Tessier, Chief Financial Officer, added: "We delivered another impressive quarter highlighted by increases of 10.6% in adjusted EBITDA1 and 19.7% in adjusted diluted net earnings per share2 compared to the first quarter of fiscal 2022, bringing our last four quarters adjusted EBITDA1 to more than $5.4 billion. Our customary cost discipline, combined with an improving labor market, have allowed us to limit the normalized growth of expenses1 to 7.3%, compared to the first quarter of last year, more than 1% below inflation, which was particularly notable once again this quarter. Our financial position remains strong, highlighted by our leverage ratio1 of 1.31, providing us with opportunities for the future. I am especially proud of our teams' execution this quarter which resulted in sequential improvements on both of our key return metrics."
Significant Items of the First Quarter of Fiscal 2023
- On April 22, 2022, the Toronto Stock Exchange approved the renewal of our share repurchase program, which took effect on April 26, 2022. The renewed share repurchase program allows us to repurchase up to 79,703,614 shares, representing 10.0% of the shares comprising the public float as at April 20, 2022, and the share repurchase period will end no later than April 25, 2023. During the first quarter of fiscal 2023, we repurchased 10,940,400 shares, for an amount of $478.0 million.
- On May 9, 2022, we established a commercial paper program in the United States on a private placement basis. The commercial paper program allows us to issue, at our discretion, unsecured commercial paper notes with maturities not exceeding 397 days. The aggregate principal amount of unsecured commercial paper notes outstanding at any one time cannot exceed $2.5 billion and our term revolving unsecured operating credit facility serves as a liquidity backstop for the repayment of the unsecured commercial paper notes. As at July 17, 2022, there were no outstanding unsecured commercial paper notes.
- On April 28, 2022, we exercised the Series B common share warrants in Fire & Flower for a total consideration of CA $37.8 million ($29.5 million), which increased our interests in Fire & Flower to 35.3%.
Changes in our Network during the First Quarter of Fiscal 2023
- We acquired one company-operated store since the beginning of the first quarter of fiscal 2023.
- We completed the construction of 23 stores and the relocation or reconstruction of 7 stores, reaching a total of 30 stores since the beginning of fiscal 2023. As of July 17, 2022, another 54 stores were under construction and should open in the upcoming quarters.
- During the first quarter of fiscal 2023, we invested an amount of $30.1 million in a joint venture with Musket Corporation, which then acquired four road transportation fuel terminals located in Florida, Illinois, and North Carolina, United States.
- On August 30, 2022, subsequent to the end of the quarter, we announce that, following satisfaction of closing conditions, we have closed our proposed acquisition of all the issued and outstanding shares of Cape D'Or Holdings Limited, Barrington Terminals Limited, and other related holding entities which operate an independent convenience store and fuel network in Atlantic Canada under the Esso, Go! Store and Wilsons Gas Stops brands (collectively "Wilsons"). The Wilsons network comprises 79 company-owned and operated convenience retail and fuel locations, 2 company-owned and dealeroperated locations, 137 dealer-owned and operated locations, and a fuel terminal in Halifax, Canada. The transaction was settled for a consideration, subject to post-closing adjustments including debt repayment, of CA $346.8 million ($265.9 million), using available cash. In connection with obtaining the Competition Bureau (Canada) approval for the transaction, we entered into a consent agreement with the Commissioner of Competition to divest 34 company-owned and operated convenience retail and fuel locations, 1 company-owned and dealer-operated location, and 12 dealer-owned and operated locations in New Brunswick, Newfoundland and Labrador, Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island, Canada.
Summary of changes in our store network
The following table presents certain information regarding changes in our store network over the 12‑week period ended July 17, 2022:
We use the US dollar as our reporting currency, which provides more relevant information given the predominance of our operations in the United States.
The following table sets forth information about exchange rates based upon closing rates expressed as US dollars per comparative currency unit:
For the analysis of consolidated results, the impact of the translation of our foreign currency operations into US dollars is defined as the impact from the translation of our Canadian, European and Asian operations into US dollars. Variances of our foreign currency operations into US dollars are determined as being the difference between the corresponding period results in local currencies translated at the current period average exchange rate and the corresponding period results in local currencies translated at the corresponding period average exchange rate.
The following table highlights certain information regarding our operations for the 12-week periods ended July 17, 2022, and July 18, 2021, and the results analysis in this section should be read in conjunction with this table. Europe and other regions include the results from our operations in Asia.
Our revenues were $18.7 billion for the first quarter of fiscal 2023, up by $5.1 billion, an increase of 37.4% compared with the corresponding quarter of fiscal 2022, mainly attributable to a higher average road transportation fuel and other fuel products selling price, organic growth on merchandise and service revenues, and the contribution from acquisitions while being partly offset by lower road transportation fuel demand, the impact of the divestiture of sites following the strategic review of our network as well as the net negative impact of approximately $336.0 million from the translation of our foreign currency operations into US dollars.
Merchandise and service revenues
Total merchandise and service revenues for the first quarter of fiscal 2023 were $4.1 billion, an increase of $4.5 million compared with the corresponding quarter of fiscal 2022. The translation of our foreign currency operations into US dollars had a net negative impact of approximately $78.0 million. The remaining increase of approximately $82.0 million, or 2.0%, is primarily attributable to organic growth in the United States and Europe and other regions, and to the contribution from acquisitions which amounted to approximately $31.0 million, while being partly offset by the disposal of stores following the strategic review of our network. Same-store merchandise revenues increased by 3.5% in the United States, by 2.8%1 in Europe and other regions, and decreased by 1.3% in Canada. Same-store merchandise revenues in Canada were strongly impacted by increased competition of the illicit market in the cigarettes category compared with the corresponding quarter of fiscal 2022.
Road transportation fuel revenues
Total road transportation fuel revenues for the first quarter of fiscal 2023 were $14.3 billion, an increase of $4.9 billion compared with the corresponding quarter of fiscal 2022. The translation of our foreign currency operations into US dollars had a net negative impact of approximately $249.0 million. The remaining increase of approximately $5.2 billion, or 55.1%, is attributable to a higher average road transportation fuel selling price, which had an impact of approximately $5.5 billion partly offset by the impact of lower road transportation fuel demand. Same-store road transportation fuel volumes decreased by 4.0% in the United States and by 3.7% in Europe and other regions, and increased by 0.4% in Canada. During the quarter, road transportation fuel demand remained unfavorably impacted by the significant rise in retail prices driven by the increase in crude oil costs, from work from home trends and the impact from our fuel rebranding activities.
The following table shows the average selling price of road transportation fuel of our company-operated stores in our various markets for the last eight quarters. The average selling price of road transportation fuel consists of the road transportation fuel revenues divided by the volume of road transportation fuel sold:
Other revenues
Total other revenues for the first quarter of fiscal 2023 were $266.1 million, an increase of $150.4 million compared with the corresponding quarter of fiscal 2022. The translation of our foreign currency operations into US dollars had a net negative impact of approximately $11.0 million. The remaining increase of approximately $161.0 million, or 139.2%, is primarily driven by higher prices and higher demand on our other fuel products, which had a minimal impact on gross profit1.
Our gross profit was $2.9 billion for the first quarter of fiscal 2023, up by $282.8 million or 10.9%, compared with the corresponding quarter of fiscal 2022, mainly attributable to higher road transportation fuel gross margins and organic growth in our convenience activities, while being partly offset by the net negative impact of the translation of our foreign currency operations into US dollars of approximately $60.0 million.
Merchandise and service gross profit
In the first quarter of fiscal 2023, our merchandise and service gross profit was $1.4 billion, an increase of $0.8 million compared with the corresponding quarter of fiscal 2022. The translation of our foreign currency operations into US dollars had a net negative impact of approximately $29.0 million. The remaining increase of approximately $30.0 million, or 2.1%, is primarily due to organic growth driven by pricing initiatives. Our gross margin1 decreased by 0.3% in the United States to 33.9%, while it increased by 0.5% in Europe and other regions to 38.9%, and by 0.8% in Canada to 33.1%.
Road transportation fuel gross profit
In the first quarter of fiscal 2023, our road transportation fuel gross profit was $1.4 billion, an increase of $285.0 million compared with the corresponding quarter of fiscal 2022. The translation of our foreign currency operations into US dollars had a net negative impact of approximately $29.0 million. The remaining increase in our gross profit was approximately $314.0 million, or 27.1%. In the United States, our road transportation fuel gross margin1 was 49.00¢ per gallon, an increase of 12.25¢ per gallon, in Europe and other regions, our road transportation fuel gross margin1 was US 12.26¢ per liter, an increase of US 1.94¢ per liter, and in Canada, it was CA 14.04¢ per liter, an increase of CA 3.12¢ per liter. Fuel margins remained healthy throughout our network, due to favorable market conditions and the continued work on the optimization of our supply chain.
The road transportation fuel gross margin1 of our company-operated stores in the United States and the impact of expenses related to electronic payment modes for the last eight quarters, were as follows:
Generally, during normal economic cycles, road transportation fuel margins in the United States can be volatile from one quarter to another, while in Europe and other regions and in Canada, fuel margins and expenses related to electronic payment modes are not as volatile.
Other revenues gross profit
In the first quarter of fiscal 2023, other revenues gross profit was $35.4 million, a decrease of $3.0 million compared with the corresponding period of fiscal 2022. The translation of our foreign currency operations into US dollars had a net negative impact of approximately $2.0 million.
For the first quarter of fiscal 2023, expenses increased by 9.4% compared with the corresponding period of fiscal 2022. Normalized growth of expenses1 was 7.3%, as shown in the table below:
For the first quarter of fiscal 2023, we have continued to deploy strategic efforts in order to mitigate the impact of a higher inflation level and continued pressure on wages, which is demonstrated by our normalized growth of expenses1 of 7.3%, which is below inflation, despite the challenging market conditions. The normalized growth of expenses1 in the first quarter was mainly driven by inflationary pressures, most notably on higher occupancy costs, higher costs from rising minimum wages, as well as by incremental investments in our stores to support our strategic initiatives partly offset by the impact of lower pressure in the employment market.
Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, amortization and impairment ("EBITDA1") and adjusted EBITDA1
During the first quarter of fiscal 2023, EBITDA stood at $1.5 billion, an increase of 10.6% compared with the corresponding quarter of fiscal 2022. Adjusted EBITDA for the first quarter of fiscal 2023 increased by $144.4 million, or 10.6%, compared with the corresponding quarter of fiscal 2022, mainly due to higher road transportation fuel margins, and organic growth in our convenience operations, partly offset by higher expenses. The translation of our foreign currency operations into US dollars had a net negative impact of approximately $28.0 million.
For the first quarter of fiscal 2023, our depreciation expense increased by $4.9 million compared with the first quarter of fiscal 2022. The translation of our foreign currency operations into US dollars had a net favorable impact of approximately $9.0 million. The remaining increase of approximately $14.0 million, or 4.5%, is mainly driven by the replacement of equipment, the ongoing improvement of our network and the impact from investments made through acquisitions.
Net financial expenses for the first quarter of fiscal 2023 were $67.1 million, a decrease of $7.2 million compared with the corresponding period of fiscal 2022. A portion of the decrease is explained by certain items that are not considered indicative of future trends, as shown in the table below:
The remaining variation is mainly driven by the reduction of long-term debt compared with the corresponding period of fiscal 2022.
The income tax rate for the first quarter of fiscal 2023 was 21.9% compared with 21.3% for the corresponding quarter of fiscal 2022. The increase is mainly stemming from the impact of a different mix in our earnings across the various jurisdictions in which we operate.
Net earnings for the first quarter of fiscal 2023 were $872.4 million, compared with $764.4 million for the first quarter of the previous fiscal year, an increase of $108.0 million, or 14.1%. Diluted net earnings per share stood at $0.85, compared with $0.71 for the corresponding quarter of the previous fiscal year. The translation of revenues and expenses from our foreign currency operations into US dollars had a net negative impact of approximately $20.0 million on net earnings of the first quarter of fiscal 2023.
Adjusted net earnings for the first quarter of fiscal 2023 were approximately $875.0 million, compared with $758.0 million for the first quarter of fiscal 2022, an increase of $117.0 million, or 15.4%. Adjusted diluted net earnings per share were $0.85 for the first quarter of fiscal 2023, compared with $0.71 for the corresponding quarter of fiscal 2022, an increase of 19.7%.
During its August 30, 2022 meeting, the Board of Directors declared a quarterly dividend of CA 11.0¢ per share for the first quarter of fiscal 2023 to shareholders on record as at September 8, 2022, and approved its payment effective September 22, 2022. This is an eligible dividend within the meaning of the Income Tax Act (Canada).
To provide more information for evaluating the Corporation's performance, the financial information included in our financial documents contains certain data that are not performance measures under IFRS ("non-IFRS measures"), which are also calculated on an adjusted basis to exclude specific items. We believe that providing those non-IFRS measures is useful to management, investors, and analysts, as they provide additional information to measure the performance and financial position of the Corporation.
The following non-IFRS financial measures are used in our financial disclosures:
- Gross profit;
- Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, amortization and impairment ("EBITDA") and adjusted EBITDA;
- Adjusted net earnings; and
- Interest-bearing debt;
The following non-IFRS ratios are used in our financial disclosures:
- Merchandise and service gross margin and Road transportation fuel gross margin;
- Normalized growth of operating, selling, general and administrative expenses;
- Growth of same-store merchandise revenues for Europe and other regions;
- Adjusted diluted net earnings per share;
- Leverage ratio; and
- Return on equity and return on capital employed.
The following capital management measure is used in our financial disclosures:
- Net interest-bearing debt/total capitalization.
Supplementary financial measures are also used in our financial disclosures and those measures are described where they are presented.
Non-IFRS financial measures and ratios, as well as the capital management measure are mainly derived from the consolidated financial statements, but do not have standardized meanings prescribed by IFRS. These non-IFRS measures should not be considered in isolation or as a substitute for financial measures prepared in accordance with IFRS. In addition, our definitions of non-IFRS measures may differ from those of other public corporations. Any such modification or reformulation may be significant. These measures are also adjusted for the pro forma impact of our acquisitions and impacts of new accounting standards, if they are considered to be material.
Gross profit. Gross profit consists of revenues less the cost of sales, excluding depreciation, amortization and impairment. This measure is considered useful for evaluating the underlying performance of our operations.
The table below reconciles revenues and cost of sales, excluding depreciation, amortization and impairment, as per IFRS, to gross profit:
Please note that the same reconciliation applies in the determination of gross profit by category and by geography presented in the section "Summary Analysis of Consolidated Results".
Merchandise and service gross margin. Merchandise and service gross margin consists of Merchandise and service gross profit divided by Merchandise and service revenues, both measures are presented in the section ''Summary Analysis of Consolidated Results''. Merchandise and service gross margin is considered useful for evaluating how efficiently we generate gross profit by dollar of revenue.
Road transportation fuel gross margin. Road transportation fuel gross margin consists of Road transportation fuel gross profit divided by total volume of road transportation fuel sold. For the United States and Europe and other regions, both measures are presented in the section ''Summary Analysis of Consolidated Results''. For Canada, this measure is presented in functional currency and the table below reconciles, for road transportation fuel, Revenues and Cost of sales, excluding depreciation, amortization and impairment, as per IFRS, to gross profit and the resulting road transportation fuel gross margin. This measure is considered useful for evaluating how efficiently we generate gross profit by gallon or liter of road transportation fuel sold.
Normalized growth of operating, selling, general and administrative expenses ("normalized growth of expenses"). Normalized growth of expenses consists of the growth of Operating, selling, general and administrative expenses adjusted for the impact of the changes in our network, the impact of more volatile items over which we have limited control, as well as the impact from changes in accounting policies and adoption of accounting standards. This measure is considered useful for evaluating our ability to control our expenses on a comparable basis.
The tables below reconcile growth of Operating, selling, general and administrative expenses to normalized growth of expenses:
Growth of same-store merchandise revenues for Europe and other regions. Same-store merchandise revenues represent cumulated merchandise revenues between the current period and comparative period for those stores that were open for at least 23 days out of every 28-day period included in the reported periods. Merchandise revenues are defined as Merchandise and service revenues excluding service revenues. For Europe and other regions, the growth of same-store merchandise revenues is calculated based on constant currencies using the respective current period average exchange rate for both the current and corresponding period. In Europe and other regions, same-store merchandise revenues include same-store revenues from company-operated stores, CODO and DODO stores, as well as Asian corporate stores prior to their acquisition date of December 21, 2020. These last two items are not included in our consolidated results. This measure is considered useful for evaluating our ability to generate organic growth on a comparable basis in our overall European and other regions store network.
The tables below reconcile Merchandise and service revenues, as per IFRS, to same-store merchandise revenues for Europe and other regions and the resulting percentage of growth:
Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, amortization and impairment ("EBITDA") and adjusted EBITDA. EBITDA represents net earnings plus income taxes, net financial expenses, and depreciation, amortization and impairment. Adjusted EBITDA represents the EBITDA adjusted for acquisition costs and other specific items for which the impact on consolidated results is not deemed indicative of future trends. These performance measures are considered useful to facilitate the evaluation of our ongoing operations and our ability to generate cash flows to fund our cash requirements, including our capital expenditures program, share repurchases, and payment of dividends.
The table below reconciles net earnings, as per IFRS, to EBITDA and adjusted EBITDA:
Adjusted net earnings and adjusted diluted net earnings per share. Adjusted net earnings represents net earnings adjusted for net foreign exchange gains or losses, acquisition costs and other specific items for which the impact on consolidated results is not deemed indicative of future trends. These measures are considered useful for evaluating the underlying performance of our operations on a comparable basis.
The table below reconciles net earnings, as per IFRS, with adjusted net earnings and adjusted diluted net earnings per share:
Interest-bearing debt. This measure represents the sum of the following balance sheet accounts: Current portion of long-term debt, Long-term debt, Current portion of lease liabilities and Lease liabilities. This measure is considered useful to facilitate the understanding of our financial position in relation with financing obligations. The calculation of this measure of financial position is detailed in the ''Net interest-bearing debt/total capitalization'' section below.
Net interest-bearing debt/total capitalization. This measure represents the basis for monitoring our capital as well as a measure of financial condition that is especially used in financial circles.
The table below presents the calculation of this performance measure:
Leverage ratio. This measure represents a measure of financial condition that is especially used in financial circles.
The table below reconciles net interest-bearing debt and adjusted EBITDA, for which the calculation methodologies are described in other tables of this section, with the leverage ratio:
Return on equity. This measure is used to assess the relation between our profitability and our net assets. Average equity is calculated by taking the average of the opening and closing balance for the 52-week period.
The table below reconciles net earnings, as per IFRS, with the ratio of return on equity:
Return on capital employed. This measure is used to measure the relation between our profitability and capital efficiency. Earnings before interest and taxes ("EBIT") represents net earnings plus income taxes and net financial expenses. Capital employed represents total assets less short-term liabilities not bearing interest, which excludes the current portion of long-term debt and current portion of lease liabilities. Average capital employed is calculated by taking the average of the beginning and ending balance of capital employed for the 52-week period.
The table below reconciles net earnings, as per IFRS, to EBIT with the ratio of return on capital employed:
Couche-Tard is a global leader in convenience and fuel retail, operating in 24 countries and territories, with close to 14,100 stores, of which approximately 10,700 offer road transportation fuel. With its well-known Couche-Tard and Circle K banners, it is one of the largest independent convenience store operators in the United States and it is a leader in the convenience store industry and road transportation fuel retail in Canada, Scandinavia, the Baltics, as well as in Ireland. It also has an important presence in Poland and Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China. Approximately 122,000 people are employed throughout its network.
For more information on Alimentation Couche-Tard Inc., or to consult its audited annual Consolidated Financial Statements, unaudited interim condensed consolidated financial statements and Management Discussion and Analysis, please visit: https://corpo.couche-tard.com.
The statements set forth in this press release, which describes Couche-Tard's objectives, projections, estimates, expectations, or forecasts, may constitute forward-looking statements within the meaning of securities legislation. Positive or negative verbs such as "believe", "can", "shall", "intend", "expect", "estimate", "assume", and other related expressions are used to identify such statements. Couche-Tard would like to point out that, by their very nature, forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties such that its results, or the measures it adopts, could differ materially from those indicated in or underlying these statements, or could have an impact on the degree of realization of a particular projection. Major factors that may lead to a material difference between Couche-Tard's actual results and the projections or expectations set forth in the forward-looking statements include the effects of the integration of acquired businesses and the ability to achieve projected synergies, uncertainty related to the duration and severity of the current COVID-19 pandemic, fluctuations in margins on motor fuel sales, competition in the convenience store and retail motor fuel industries, exchange rate variations, and such other risks as described in detail from time to time in the reports filed by Couche-Tard with securities authorities in Canada and the United States. Unless otherwise required by applicable securities laws, Couche-Tard disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise. The forward-looking information in this release is based on information available as of the date of the release.
Couche-Tard invites analysts known to the Corporation to ask their questions to its management on August 31, 2022, during the question and answer period of the webcast.
Financial Analysts, Investors, media and any individuals interested in listening to the webcast on Couche-Tard's results, which will take place online on August 31, 2022, at 8:00 A.M. (EDT) can do so by either accessing the Corporation's website at https://corpo.couche-tard.com/en and by clicking in the "Investors/Events & Presentations" section or by dialing 1-888-390-0549 or the international number 1-416-764-8682, followed by the access code 35419650#.
Rebroadcast: For individuals who will not be able to listen to the live webcast, a recording of the webcast will be available on the Corporation's website for a period of 90 days.
View original content to download multimedia:
SOURCE Alimentation Couche-Tard Inc. | https://www.whsv.com/prnewswire/2022/08/30/alimentation-couche-tard-announces-its-results-its-first-quarter-fiscal-year-2023/ | 2022-08-30T23:44:56Z |
U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers discovered more than 1,500 pounds of cocaine hidden in a place where you would least expect it: a shipment of baby wipes.
The narcotics seizure occurred last Friday at the Laredo-Colombia Solidarity International Bridge, according to the agency in a news release. The bridge, located on the U.S.-Mexico border, connects Laredo, Texas over the Rio Grande with the Mexican state of Nuevo León.
Officials say a CBP officer at the Laredo-Colombia Solidarity Bridge stopped a tractor-trailer bringing in a shipment of baby wipes for a secondary inspection.
Following the inspection, drug-sniffing dogs made the discovery of what CBP described as 1,935 packages of cocaine totaling 1,532 pounds.
Colossal, record setting seizure. Largest Cocaine bust in 20 years! The Laredo Port of Entry seizes over 1,500 pounds of cocaine from Transnational Criminal Organizations! Extremely proud of our @CBP employees for keeping our communities safe. pic.twitter.com/WKDAFD4zIm
— Director, Field Operations, Randy Howe (@DFOLaredo) August 29, 2022
The agency says the estimated street value of the seized cocaine totaled more than $11.8 million.
"Officers assigned to CBP cargo facilities ensure effective border security by preventing and countering the flow of suspected narcotics entering the country," said Alberto Flores, the port director for the Laredo Port of Entry, in a news release.
"This seizure is a prime example of border security management and how it helps prevent dangerous narcotics from reaching our communities," he added.
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement-Homeland Security Investigations say special agents are investigating the seizure, according to the release.
Copyright 2022 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org. | https://www.wyomingpublicmedia.org/2022-08-30/a-shipment-of-baby-wipes-turns-out-to-be-11-8-million-worth-of-cocaine | 2022-08-30T23:44:59Z |
Pacific Surfliner and California Operation Lifesaver will kick off Rail Safety Month on September 1
ORANGE, Calif., Aug. 30, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- In recognition of Rail Safety Month and U.S. Rail Safety Week in September, the Los Angeles – San Diego – San Luis Obispo (LOSSAN) Rail Corridor Agency, which manages the Amtrak® Pacific Surfliner® service, will partner with California Operation Lifesaver (CAOL) to spread awareness about the importance of safety around train tracks.
"Keeping people safe is an important priority for the Pacific Surfliner," said Jason Jewell, interim managing director of the LOSSAN Rail Corridor Agency. "We are proud to be partnering with California Operation Lifesaver to raise awareness and provide information on staying safe near train tracks for our Southern California community."
Digital tools are available at PacificSurfliner.com/RailSafety, including activities for kids, lesson plans for teachers and parents, and downloadable presentations developed by Operation Lifesaver and California Operation Lifesaver (CAOL), two non-profit entities that work year-round to promote rail safety.
The Pacific Surfliner has also teamed up with the Los Angeles Angels to promote rail safety with a radio spot encouraging fans to follow safety rules and practices when near train tracks. Fans can hear the radio spot during the month of September on Angels Radio 830AM KLAA.
September is Rail Safety Month in California, and September 19 – 25, 2022 is U.S. Rail Safety Week across the nation. California has the highest number of rail related fatalities in the United States due to highway-rail grade crossing and trespassing incidents, according to CAOL and the Federal Railroad Administration.
Follow simple safety rules whenever around train tracks, including:
- Never walk on or along train tracks; it's illegal, trespassing, and highly dangerous.
- Cross train tracks only at designated pedestrian or roadway crossings and obey all warning signs and signals.
- Stay alert around tracks. Don't do anything that would prevent you from hearing an approaching train, such as listening to headphones or talking on the phone.
- When boarding, remember to stay behind the marked safety line on the station platform and use handholds as you board.
- Report suspicious items, persons, or activity immediately to the Amtrak Police Department by approaching a uniformed officer, calling (800) 331-0008, sending a text to APD11 (27311), or by calling 911.
The Pacific Surfliner, in partnership with Operation Lifesaver, Amtrak, CalTrans, and Metrolink, will host free public events at the Fullerton Transportation Center during Rail Safety Week. Events will take place September 22-25 and feature a variety of presentations, informational booths, themed train cars, and more.
For more information about rail safety or to request a free rail safety presentation, visit PacificSurfliner.com/RailSafety, CAOperationlifesaver.com, or OLI.org.
View original content to download multimedia:
SOURCE Amtrak Pacific Surfliner | https://www.whsv.com/prnewswire/2022/08/30/amtrak-pacific-surfliner-raises-awareness-rail-safety-during-rail-safety-month/ | 2022-08-30T23:45:03Z |
Attorney General Merrick Garland has set new restrictions on the political activities of some Justice Department employees, while also strongly reminding them of already established limits.
Political appointees — those workers who are hired by a presidential administration and are not building their careers in the department — are essentially barred from attending partisan political events such as fundraisers and rallies.
Garland in an Aug. 30 memo said that he was ending the long-standing policy of allowing appointees to attend those events if they participated passively and obtained prior approval from the department.
He added that from now on, appointees will be barred from attending political events during presidential election years, even if the event is for a family member, and they cannot attend political events on the evening of Election Day in a personal capacity.
"As Department employees, we have been entrusted with the authority and responsibility to enforce the laws of the United States in a neutral and impartial manner. In fulfilling this responsibility, we must do all we can to maintain public trust and ensure that politics — both in fact and appearance — does not compromise or affect the integrity of our work," Garland wrote.
Garland also issued a memo on abiding by the Hatch Act, which walls off public servants from using their government posts to boost their political parties or candidates.
Questions have bubbled up recently about protections against improper political influence over the Justice Department, as prosecutors investigate how top secret documents came to be stored at former President Trump's home and also delve into who funded and organized the Jan. 6 Capitol riot.
Copyright 2022 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org. | https://www.wyomingpublicmedia.org/2022-08-30/garland-tightens-the-reins-on-justice-dept-employees-political-activities | 2022-08-30T23:45:06Z |
MONROE, Mich., Aug. 30, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Monroe Community Credit Union is pleased to announce that Amy Zangara has joined their Executive Team as Vice President of Human Resources. Zangara is a life-long Monroe area resident with an accomplished career in human resources management, including over 20 years in the banking industry. Zangara brings an extensive level of strategic leadership expertise to the credit union.
"Monroe Community Credit Union strives to be the Employer of Choice and we are extremely excited to add Amy's proven leadership and human resources acumen to our Executive Leadership Team," said Kristine Brenner, President/CEO of MCCU.
Zangara received her Bachelor of Business Administration in Human Resource Management from The University of Toledo and holds PHR, SHRM-CP, SHRBP Certifications.
MCCU is a locally owned and operated, not-for-profit financial institution headquartered in Monroe, MI with $330 million in assets, six banking locations and 30,000 members. MCCU's field of membership includes those who live, work, worship, or attend school in the state of Michigan and in the Ohio counties of Fulton, Lucas, or Wood. MCCU was voted Best Credit Union and Best Mortgage Lender in Monroe for 2021.
Contact: Kate Hall
MCCU 715 N. Telegraph Rd.
Phone: 734-384-2717 Monroe, MI 48162
Fax: 734-242-6911 www.monroecommuntiycu.org
View original content to download multimedia:
SOURCE Monroe Community Credit Union | https://www.whsv.com/prnewswire/2022/08/30/amy-zangara-named-vice-president-human-resources-monroe-community-credit-union/ | 2022-08-30T23:45:10Z |
According to various Russian state media accounts, former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev, who played a pivotal role in ending the Cold War, died after a prolonged illness in Moscow at age 91.
Copyright 2022 NPR
According to various Russian state media accounts, former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev, who played a pivotal role in ending the Cold War, died after a prolonged illness in Moscow at age 91.
Copyright 2022 NPR | https://www.wyomingpublicmedia.org/2022-08-30/the-life-and-legacy-of-former-soviet-leader-mikhail-gorbachev | 2022-08-30T23:45:12Z |
OAKVILLE, ON, Aug. 30, 2022 /PRNewswire/ - Algonquin Power & Utilities Corp. ("AQN" or "the Company") (TSX: AQN) (NYSE: AQN) is pleased to announce that it has appointed Darren Myers Chief Financial Officer. This follows the decision of Arthur Kacprzak to step down from this role effective immediately. Mr. Kacprzak has agreed to remain with the Company in an advisory capacity through the end of 2022 to support a smooth transition to his successor.
"I am delighted to have a financial executive with Darren's proven leadership join Algonquin as the company continues to lead the decarbonization transformation in the energy and water industries. Darren has served as CFO for two premier Canadian public corporations and has significant capital markets experience in Canada and the US," said AQN Chief Executive Officer Arun Banskota. "The Company will benefit from his breadth and depth of experience in finance, his strategic leadership, and commitment to ensuring a strong balance sheet as we continue to grow both our regulated and renewable businesses and provide strong returns to our shareholders."
Mr. Myers most recently served as Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer at Loblaw (TSX: L), Canada's largest retail company. During his tenure, he improved capital discipline, elevated the performance management system, and balanced long-term investments and earnings growth while the Company navigated challenges with market disruption and the COVID-19 pandemic. Prior to Loblaw, Mr. Myers spent 16 years at Celestica (NYSE and TSX: CLS), a global supply chain and manufacturing company. He was the Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer from 2012 to 2017 including responsibility for Global Business Services and IT. As CFO, he helped the company shift its strategy to grow in new markets, drive operational execution and generate cash flow and reduce debt.
"I want to take this opportunity to thank Arthur for his service over the last 10 years and most especially for his support when I joined Algonquin in February 2020 as President and through my transition to CEO," said Mr. Banskota. "I know I speak for everyone at Algonquin in saying how grateful we are to him for his many contributions during a period of significant change at the Company."
"I am confident that Darren will be instrumental in delivering the strong financial results shareholders expect from Algonquin", said Board Chairman Ken Moore. "I also want to express my appreciation for Arthur's dedication to the Company's stellar performance. He has been an outstanding colleague and friend to the Company and the Board. We wish him all the best in his future endeavours."
Algonquin Power & Utilities Corp., parent company of Liberty, is a diversified international generation, transmission, and distribution utility with over $17 billion of total assets. Through its two business groups, the Regulated Services Group and the Renewable Energy Group, AQN is committed to providing safe, secure, reliable, cost-effective, and sustainable energy and water solutions through its portfolio of electric generation, transmission, and distribution utility investments to over one million customer connections, largely in the United States and Canada. AQN is a global leader in renewable energy through its portfolio of long-term contracted wind, solar, and hydroelectric generating facilities. AQN owns, operates, and/or has net interests in over 4 GW of installed renewable energy capacity.
AQN is committed to delivering growth and the pursuit of operational excellence in a sustainable manner through an expanding global pipeline of renewable energy and electric transmission development projects, organic growth within its rate-regulated generation, distribution, and transmission businesses, and the pursuit of accretive acquisitions and value enhancing recycling of assets.
AQN's common shares, Series A preferred shares and Series D preferred shares are listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange under the symbols AQN, AQN.PR.A, and AQN.PR.D, respectively. AQN's common shares, Series 2018-A subordinated notes, Series 2019-A subordinated notes and equity units are listed on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbols AQN, AQNA, AQNB, and AQNU, respectively.
Certain written statements included herein constitute "forward-looking information" within the meaning of applicable securities laws in each of the provinces of Canada and the respective policies, regulations and rules under such laws and "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 (collectively, "forward-looking statements"). The words "will", "expects", "intends", "plans", "should" and similar expressions are often intended to identify forward-looking statements, although not all forward-looking statements contain these identifying words. Specific forward-looking statements contained herein include, but are not limited to statements regarding the expectations regarding the CFO transition and the expected performance of AQN, including leadership in the decarbonization transformation and the delivery of growth and strong returns to shareholders. These statements are based on factors or assumptions that were applied in drawing a conclusion or making a forecast or projection, including assumptions based on historical trends, current conditions and expected future developments. Since forward-looking statements relate to future events and conditions, by their nature they rely upon assumptions and involve inherent risks and uncertainties. AQN cautions that although it is believed that the assumptions are reasonable in the circumstances, actual results may differ materially from the expectations set out in the forward-looking statements. Material risk factors and assumptions include those set out in AQN's most recent annual and interim Management Discussion and Analysis and most recent Annual Information Form, filed with securities regulatory authorities in Canada and the United States. Given these risks, undue reliance should not be placed on these forward-looking statements, which apply only as of their dates. Other than as specifically required by law, AQN undertakes no obligation to update any forward-looking statements to reflect new information, subsequent or otherwise.
View original content:
SOURCE Algonquin Power & Utilities Corp. | https://www.whsv.com/prnewswire/2022/08/30/arthur-kacprzak-steps-down-darren-myers-is-appointed-algonquins-chief-financial-officer/ | 2022-08-30T23:45:17Z |
Subsets and Splits
No community queries yet
The top public SQL queries from the community will appear here once available.