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News brief
People in the rural Mountain West are used to traveling long distances for services – but for many of those seeking abortions, the distances are growing even longer.
“Even somebody who is used to driving a couple of hours for a dentist appointment, we’re now talking distances that … are in the hundreds of miles,” said Katrina Kimport, a professor at the University of California, San Francisco.
Kimport works at Advancing New Standards in Reproductive Health at UCSF and has interviewed hundreds of women who have considered and obtained abortions. She said these long trips can mean spending more money on a place to stay and more time away from work.
She added that people tend to want an abortion as soon as possible after making that decision, but flights booked late tend to be the most expensive. Gas is more expensive now, too.
“They want to have the shortest period of time between when they decide they want an abortion and when they are able to maintain one, and what travel does is it extends that period of time,” she said.
“But even people who don’t have to travel in many states are looking at an extension of that time because the places that they’re going, the clinics that are local to them, are now seeing an influx in out-of-state patients.”
In the Mountain West, Idaho, Utah, Wyoming and Arizona are currently fighting court battles as they try to enforce abortion bans in the wake of the U.S. Supreme Court overturning Roe v. Wade in June. Some of Idaho’s abortion restrictions have already gone into effect, though others are in question as the Department of Justice sues the state.
But as abortion providers close up shop, those seeking the procedure may head to neighboring states like Colorado, Nevada and New Mexico.
Travel costs will be a challenge for many, though. Research from the Guttmacher Institute in 2014 found that 75% of those seeking abortions are low-income. Most surveyed also had kids and would have to pay for childcare while losing out on work hours to travel long distances.
There are services to help fund travel for abortion, but Kimport said she doesn’t think there will be enough to meet demand.
Beyond finances, she said the increased travel takes an emotional toll, as people are often forced to go to cities they don’t know without family or friends to support them. It also increases stigma.
“The idea that you would have to travel suggests that there is something you should be ashamed of because it’s not available in your community or your home state,” she said.
Kimport wrote about the costs of abortion travel in The Conversation.
This story was produced by the Mountain West News Bureau, a collaboration between Wyoming Public Media, Boise State Public Radio in Idaho, KUNR in Nevada, the O'Connor Center for the Rocky Mountain West in Montana, KUNC in Colorado, KUNM in New Mexico, with support from affiliate stations across the region. Funding for the Mountain West News Bureau is provided in part by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.
Copyright 2022 Boise State Public Radio News. To see more, visit Boise State Public Radio News. | https://www.wyomingpublicmedia.org/politics-government/2022-08-31/abortion-travel-will-become-even-more-expensive-and-daunting-as-mountain-west-states-enforce-bans | 2022-08-31T21:14:01Z |
The study, published in the scientific journal Nature Communications, found that residents in several states have high levels of what’s known as “pluralistic ignorance” – a shared misperception of how others think or behave.
In the Mountain West, this misperception is greatest in Wyoming, where residents underestimate climate concern among fellow Wyomingites by 24.4%. Not far behind are Arizona (22.9%), Idaho (22.8%), Utah (21.8%), Nevada (21.7%) and Montana (21.6%).
Meanwhile, New Mexico and Colorado have the region’s lowest levels of misperception at 15.2% and 17.7%, respectively.
Anthony Leiserowitz, who leads Yale University’s program on climate change communication, says underestimating climate concerns in our communities is slowing political action on the issue.
“If you believe that less than half of your constituents believe that climate change is real or a serious problem or want you to take action, then there’s obviously not a big motivation by those political leaders to take action,” Leiserowitz said.
Overall, the study found that 80% to 90% of Americans underestimate public support for climate policies to some degree. That’s a level of pluralistic ignorance the study’s authors call a “false social reality,” or “a near universal perception of public opinion that is the opposite of true public sentiment.”
Gregg Sparkman, an assistant professor in psychology at Boston College and the lead author of the study, was interviewed recently by Boise State Public Radio host George Prentice.
“It’s not like some of the population is a little off, but other folks aren’t here,” Sparkman said of Americans’ underestimation of public concern about climate change. “Everyone is, whether it be liberals or conservatives, people who don’t have a GED, people who went all the way and got their Ph.D. You name it, everybody. People in the rural areas, people in suburbs. Everyone here is incorrect.”
This story was produced by the Mountain West News Bureau, a collaboration between Wyoming Public Media, Nevada Public Radio, Boise State Public Radio in Idaho, KUNR in Nevada, the O'Connor Center for the Rocky Mountain West in Montana, KUNC in Colorado, KUNM in New Mexico, with support from affiliate stations across the region. Funding for the Mountain West News Bureau is provided in part by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.
Copyright 2022 KUNR Public Radio. To see more, visit KUNR Public Radio. | https://www.wyomingpublicmedia.org/politics-government/2022-08-31/mountain-westerners-climate-change-concerns-greater-than-we-think | 2022-08-31T21:14:08Z |
Contest Rules
Teacher Feature
OFFICIAL RULES
NO PURCHASE NECESSARY TO ENTER OR WIN. A PURCHASE WILL NOT INCREASE YOUR CHANCE OF WINNING
1. PROMOTION DATES
a. Cole Chevrolet will give away $250.00 each month beginning October 12, 2022 and go through May 10, 2023 for a total of 7 winners.
2. ELIGIBILITY RESTRICTIONS
a. The Promotion is open to all legal residents of the United States and the District of Columbia (except NY and FL) who are 18 years of age or older at the time of entry and who teach n Mercer, McDowell, Wyoming, Raleigh, Summers, Monroe, Fayette and Greenbrier counties in WV as well as Tazewell County in VA. Employees of WVVA, its parent, subsidiary, and affiliated entities, its advertising agencies, participating sponsors/promotional partners, other broadcasting stations in the Bluefield-Beckley-Oak Hill DMA, and the members of their immediate families (spouse, parents, siblings or children) or households (whether related or not) are ineligible to participate or win. This Promotion is subject to all applicable federal, state, and local laws and regulations. Void outside the United States, in NY and FL, as applicable, and where prohibited.
b. Winner must have a valid driver’s license to claim the prize and must be claimed within 30 days of the announcement at Cole Chevrolet location in Bluefield, WV. Date will be set monthly by WVVA and Cole Chevrolet. If not picked up within 30 days, prize will be VOID.
c. Entrants are required to provide truthful information and the Station will reject and delete any entry that it discovers to be false or fraudulent. The Station will disqualify any entry from any individual who does not meet the eligibility requirements and will also delete any entry as required by law.
3. ENTRY
a. To participate in the Promotion, you may enter via the following method(s):
VIA INTERNET –Homepage (wvva.com)
Follow the links and instructions to enter and submit your first name and last name, complete address, city, state, zip code, telephone number, date of birth, and a valid email address in the online entry form. Internet entries will be deemed made by the authorized account holder of the email address submitted at the time of entry. The authorized account holder is the natural person who is assigned to the email address by an internet access provider, online service provider or other organization that is responsible for assigning the email address or the domain associated with the submitted email address. Multiple entrants are not permitted to share the same email address. Entries submitted will not be acknowledged or returned. Use of any device to automate entry is prohibited. Proof of submission of an entry shall not be deemed proof of receipt by Station. The contest/sweepstakes administrator’s computer is the official time-keeping device for the Promotion.
4. PRIZES AND ODDS OF WINNING
a. Each monthly winner will be selected by a committee consisting of two WVVA employees and one Cole Chevrolet employee. The winner will receive a $250 check from Cole Chevrolet and MUST be claimed at the dealership in Bluefield, WV. Winners will be contacted by an employee of WVVA to arrange for the check presentation.
b. A winner cannot win more than once in the 2022-2023 school year.
c. There is no substitution, transfer, or cash equivalent for prizes, except that the Station may, at its sole discretion and to the extent permitted by law, substitute prizes of comparable value or cash. The prizes are expressly limited to the item(s) listed above and do not include taxes, gratuities or any other expenses. Any tickets awarded as part of a prize will be subject to the terms and conditions set forth by the issuer and are valid only on the date(s) printed on the tickets. Other restrictions may apply.
5. WINNER SELECTION AND NOTIFICATION
a. Decisions of Station management with respect to the Promotion are final.
b. One Winner will be announced on WVVA News@ 6 p.m. each month beginning in October 12,2022 and will go through May 10, 2023. Winner will be announced the 2nd Monday of every month. Winner will also be contacted to arrange for news story to highlight the winner and to arrange for check presentation.
c. Qualifications for the winner will be based on impact on students lives, community service, and demonstrates going above and beyond the normal day to day duties. This will be answered during the submission process through the form that is filled out online that is emailed to the selection committee.
d. The winner(s) will forfeit any prize or prize certificate not claimed within thirty (30) days of winning. Prize or prize certificates will not be mailed to the winner(s). The Station, its sponsor(s), or promotional partner(s) are not responsible for the safe arrival of a prize or prize certificate.
6. CONDITIONS
a. Payments of all federal, state and local taxes are solely the responsibility of the winner(s). Winner(s) will be required to complete and submit an IRS Form W-9 or the equivalent including a winner’s full Social Security Number for receipt of any prize.. Failure to submit a complete W-9 or equivalent will result in disqualification and forfeiture of the prize.
b. Participating in the Promotion and acceptance of a prize constitutes a winner’s and guest’s (where applicable) permission for the Station or its agents to photograph, film and record each winner, and to use his/her name, address (city and state), likeness, photograph, voice, biographical information and/or any statements made by him/her regarding the Promotion or its sponsors for purposes of trade, publicity or promotion without additional financial or other compensation, and, the Station may, where legal, require a winner (and guest or travel companion, where applicable) to sign a publicity release confirming such consent prior to acceptance of the prize. It is the responsibility of the winner(s) to ensure that their guest(s) or travel companion(s) sign and return to the Station any required release.
c. To the fullest extent permitted by law, by participating in the Promotion, you:
i. agree to grant the Station a non-exclusive, perpetual, worldwide license to edit, telecast, exhibit, rerun, reproduce, use, syndicate, license, print, distribute and otherwise exploit any items (including any photos, videos, audio, or written material) submitted as part of your contest entry (the “Materials”), or any portion thereof, in any manner and in any and all formats and media now known or hereafter devised, without payment to you or any third party;
ii. acknowledge that the Station reserves the right, in its sole discretion, not to use the Materials at all; and
iii. represent and warrant that: you are18 years of age or older; you have the full legal right, power and authority to grant to the Station the license provided for herein; you own or control the complete exhibition and other rights to the Materials you submitted for the purposes contemplated in this license; you are either the parent (or legal guardian) of any minor featured in the Materials or have received the express consent of the parent (or legal guardian) for any such minor to appear in the Materials and to enter the minor’s likeness in the Materials in the contest; and neither the Materials nor the exercise of the rights granted herein shall infringe upon or violate the right of privacy or right of publicity of, or
constitute a libel or slander against, or violate any common law or any other right of, any person or entity.
d. Prior to awarding any prize or prize certificate and depending on the nature of the prize and eligibility requirements of the Promotion, the Station in its sole discretion may require verification of Promotion winner’s or winners’ identification by a showing of valid government-issued photo identification.
e. To the fullest extent permitted by law, by participating and/or accepting a prize, entrants, winner(s) and guests (if applicable) agree to release and hold harmless the Station, its sponsor(s) and promotional partner(s), its advertising and promotion agencies, any social media platform utilized in the conduct of the Promotion (including but not limited to Facebook, Inc.) and each of their respective parent, subsidiary and affiliated entities, and the officers, shareholders, directors, employees, agents, representatives, successors, and assigns of each of them (collectively, the “Released Parties”) against any and all claims or liability arising directly or indirectly from the prize or participation in the Promotion. The Station may also require eligible Promotion winner(s) and their guests or travel companions, if any (as well as each of their parent(s) or legal guardian(s), if winner(s), guest(s) or travel companion(s) are under the age of majority in their state of residence), to sign a liability release confirming such consent. It is the responsibility of the winner(s) to ensure that their guest(s) or travel companion(s) sign and return to the Station any required release.
f. The Station, in its sole discretion, reserves the right to disqualify any person (and all of their entries) from this Promotion if he or she tampers with the entry process, the operation of the Promotion, or the operation of the Station’s website, Facebook Page, and/or any other social networking site used in the Promotion, or is otherwise in violation of the rules. The Station further reserves the right, at its sole discretion, to modify, cancel, terminate or suspend the Promotion, or any part of it, if it is not capable of completion as planned or if any fraud, technical failures or any factor beyond the Station’s control, including infection by computer virus, bugs, tampering, unauthorized intervention or technical failures of any sort, corrupt or affect the administration, security, fairness, integrity or proper conduct of the Promotion as determined by the Station in is sole discretion. Any attempt by an entrant or any person to deliberately damage any station website, Facebook Page, and/or any other social networking site used in the Promotion or to undermine the legitimate operation of this Promotion may be a violation of criminal and civil laws. Should such an attempt be made, the Station reserves the right to seek full prosecution and/or damages from any such individual to the fullest extent permitted by law. The Station’s failure to enforce any term of these Official Rules shall not constitute a waiver of this provision. If due to circumstances beyond the control of the Station, any competition or prize-related event or travel is delayed, rescheduled, postponed or cancelled, the Station reserves the right, but not the obligation, to modify, terminate, suspend or cancel the Promotion and shall not be required to award a substitute prize.
g. The Released Parties are not responsible for (i) typographical or other errors in the printing, the offering or the administration of the Promotion, or in the announcement of a prize; (ii) entries not received due to difficulty accessing the internet, service outage or delays, computer difficulties, malfunctions, disconnections, other technological failures, telephone service outages, delays, dropped calls, or busy signals, or any other difficulties that may prevent an individual from sending or receiving a text message; or (iii) lost, stolen, mangled, misdirected, postage due, illegible, incomplete, incorrect, or late entries. Due to online streaming delays, online viewers of station programming may have difficulty participating in on-air contests. Further, the Released Parties are not responsible if any part of a Promotion prize that cannot be awarded due to acts of god, acts of war, natural disasters, weather, acts of terrorism or other factors beyond the Station’s control.
h. To the fullest extent permitted by law, by participating in the Promotion, you understand and agree that:
i. the Federal Arbitration Act applies to this agreement, and if the parties are unable to resolve their dispute amicably, it shall be resolved by means of binding arbitration (not in a court of law);
ii. any and all disputes, claims, and causes of action arising out of or in connection with this Promotion, or any prizes awarded, shall be resolved individually, without resort to any form of class action (even if the rules and procedures of the arbitration tribunal allow class arbitrations);
iii. any and all claims, judgments, and awards shall be limited to actual out-of-pocket costs incurred, including costs associated with entering this Promotion, but in no event and under no circumstances will entrants or winners be permitted to obtain awards for attorneys’ fees, and you hereby waive all rights to claim punitive, incidental, or consequential damages, or any other form of damages, other than actual out-of-pocket expenses, and any and all rights to have damages multiplied or otherwise increased;
iv. any claim or dispute regarding the Promotion or these Official Rules will be resolved pursuant to the laws of the State or Commonwealth in which the Station is located, without regard to the conflicts of laws and rules of that State or Commonwealth;
v. any claim or dispute regarding the Promotion or these Official Rules will be resolved in a tribunal within the State or Commonwealth in which the Station is located, and you submit to the jurisdiction of, and waive all objections to the jurisdiction or venue of, such tribunal; and
vi. if for any reason a claim or dispute regarding the Promotion or these Official Rules proceeds in court rather than through arbitration, there will not be a jury trial.
i. The invalidity or unenforceability of any provision of these Official Rules, including but not limited to the agreement to arbitrate, shall not affect the validity or enforceability of any other provision. If any such provision is determined to be invalid or otherwise unenforceable, these rules shall be construed in accordance with their terms as if the invalid or unenforceable provision was not contained herein.
j. To obtain a copy of the Official Rules or a list of winner(s) following completion of the Promotion (please specify which), send a self-addressed, stamped envelope specifying “Official Rules” or “Winner List” to “Teacher Feature” giveaway contest Winner List or Official Rules Request, WVVA Television, 3052 Big Laurel Highway Bluefield, WV 24701. A copy of the Official Rules and a list of winner(s) (when complete) are also available during regular business hours at the main studio of WVVA Television. All such requests must be received within thirty (30) days following completion of the Promotion.
7. OFFICIAL RULES, TERMS OF USE AGREEMENT & PRIVACY POLICY
By entering this Promotion, you agree to be bound by these Official Rules and the Station’s Terms of Use Agreement and to the use of your personal information as described in the Privacy Policy located at: Homepage (wvva.com) WVVA Television 3052 Big Laurel Highway Bluefield, WV 24701. Cole Chevrolet P.O. Box 688 Bluefield, WV 24701-0688 | https://www.wvva.com/page/teacher-feature-contest-rules/ | 2022-08-31T21:15:05Z |
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Latest Newscasts | https://www.wvva.com/page/teacher-of-the-month/ | 2022-08-31T21:15:11Z |
How do you fit a gayageum and an ajaeng behind the Tiny Desk? That's the question I whispered into the ear of our Tiny Desk audio engineer, Josh Rogosin, when we first saw ADG7 playing those five-foot long string instruments at globalFEST in New York City at the top of 2020. The Tiny Desk team solved the puzzle and the nine-piece Korean band filled the room with joy and a sound that's unique in Tiny Desk history. ADG7 mixes traditional, shamanistic ritual sounds with Korean folk songs from Hwanghae Province. The group's full name is Ak Dan Gwang Chil: "Ak Dan" translates as band, while "Gwang Chil" is in honor of the band having formed during the 70th anniversary of Gwangbokjeol, the National Liberation Day of Korea. The music is from the band's 2020 album, Such is Life,and its self-titled 2017 album.
The three singers, Hong Ok, Myeong Wol and Yoo Wol, immediately capture my eyes and ears but my attention begins to sway toward Lee Man Wol, who appears to be blowing into a pipe organ she holds in her hands. The instrument is a saenghwang, just one of ADG7's transfixing instruments — including brilliant percussion and a large bamboo flute known as a daegeum played by bandleader Kim Yak Dae — that make this enthusiastic and adventurous concert an eye-opener.
SET LIST
MUSICIANS
TINY DESK TEAM
Copyright 2022 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org. | https://www.wyomingpublicmedia.org/2022-08-19/adg7-tiny-desk-concert | 2022-08-31T21:25:15Z |
NPR's Ari Shapiro speaks with Tina Brown, author of The Palace Papers, about the lasting impact of Lady Diana's death 25 years later.
Copyright 2022 NPR
NPR's Ari Shapiro speaks with Tina Brown, author of The Palace Papers, about the lasting impact of Lady Diana's death 25 years later.
Copyright 2022 NPR | https://www.keranews.org/2022-08-31/25-years-ago-princess-dianas-shocking-death-became-one-of-the-first-viral-moments | 2022-08-31T21:41:58Z |
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/2022-08-31/debt-relief-for-black-farmers-shows-challenges-of-pursuing-racial-equity-with-policy | 2022-08-31T21:42:05Z |
Jackson, Miss., is still without access to safe drinking water, and it's not clear when it will be available. The government is trying to navigate getting bottled water to 150,000 residents.
Copyright 2022 NPR
Jackson, Miss., is still without access to safe drinking water, and it's not clear when it will be available. The government is trying to navigate getting bottled water to 150,000 residents.
Copyright 2022 NPR | https://www.keranews.org/2022-08-31/drinking-water-crisis-in-jackson-miss-continues-as-residents-rely-on-bottled-water | 2022-08-31T21:42:11Z |
In this encore presentation, NPR's Ailsa Chang talks with Melissa Fu about her debut novel Peach Blossom Spring, a multigenerational story of war and migration inspired by her father's life.
Copyright 2022 NPR
In this encore presentation, NPR's Ailsa Chang talks with Melissa Fu about her debut novel Peach Blossom Spring, a multigenerational story of war and migration inspired by her father's life.
Copyright 2022 NPR | https://www.keranews.org/2022-08-31/encore-peach-blossom-spring-interrogates-the-meaning-of-home | 2022-08-31T21:42:17Z |
FDA authorizes omicron boosters By Rob Stein Published August 31, 2022 at 3:16 PM CDT Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Listen • 3:42 The Food and Drug Administration authorized the first updated COVID-19 vaccines since the pandemic began — boosters targeted at the omicron variant. Copyright 2022 NPR | https://www.keranews.org/2022-08-31/fda-authorizes-omicron-boosters | 2022-08-31T21:42:23Z |
Why are American politics so polarized now? NPR's Ari Shapiro speaks with former Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull about why he blames Rupert Murdoch, the former CEO of Fox News.
Copyright 2022 NPR
Why are American politics so polarized now? NPR's Ari Shapiro speaks with former Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull about why he blames Rupert Murdoch, the former CEO of Fox News.
Copyright 2022 NPR | https://www.keranews.org/2022-08-31/former-australian-prime-minister-blames-fox-news-for-americas-polarized-politics | 2022-08-31T21:42:29Z |
Some experts fear the nuclear power plant in Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine, could meltdown in a way similar to what happened in Fukushima, Japan, over a decade ago. What would that look like in a war zone?
Copyright 2022 NPR
Some experts fear the nuclear power plant in Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine, could meltdown in a way similar to what happened in Fukushima, Japan, over a decade ago. What would that look like in a war zone?
Copyright 2022 NPR | https://www.keranews.org/2022-08-31/fukushima-could-provide-insight-into-a-potential-nuclear-disaster-in-ukraine | 2022-08-31T21:42:35Z |
Life expectancy in the United States dropped for the second year in a row, according to new provisional data released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Copyright 2022 NPR
Life expectancy in the United States dropped for the second year in a row, according to new provisional data released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Copyright 2022 NPR | https://www.keranews.org/2022-08-31/life-expectancy-drops-in-the-u-s-for-the-second-year-in-a-row | 2022-08-31T21:42:41Z |
Ari Shapiro has been one of the hosts of All Things Considered, NPR's award-winning afternoon newsmagazine, since 2015. During his first two years on the program, listenership to All Things Considered grew at an unprecedented rate, with more people tuning in during a typical quarter-hour than any other program on the radio. | https://www.keranews.org/2022-08-31/nasa-is-going-back-to-the-moon-whats-different-this-time | 2022-08-31T21:42:47Z |
A massive filing from the Justice Department on the Mar-a-Lago search provides new details on the investigation into the materials former President Donald Trump took when he left office.
Copyright 2022 NPR
A massive filing from the Justice Department on the Mar-a-Lago search provides new details on the investigation into the materials former President Donald Trump took when he left office.
Copyright 2022 NPR | https://www.keranews.org/2022-08-31/new-details-from-mar-a-lago-investigation-show-how-trump-handled-classified-documents | 2022-08-31T21:42:54Z |
NPR's Juana Summers speaks with Kimberly and Felix Rubio, who lost their daughter, Lexi, in the Robb Elementary shooting in Uvalde, Texas, about how they are coping with the loss.
Copyright 2022 NPR
NPR's Juana Summers speaks with Kimberly and Felix Rubio, who lost their daughter, Lexi, in the Robb Elementary shooting in Uvalde, Texas, about how they are coping with the loss.
Copyright 2022 NPR | https://www.keranews.org/2022-08-31/parents-of-uvalde-shooting-victim-lexi-rubio-wade-through-grief-and-take-action | 2022-08-31T21:43:00Z |
Schools are open in Philadelphia, but tens of thousands of students have been sent home early this week because it's too hot in their unairconditioned classrooms.
Copyright 2022 WHYY
Schools are open in Philadelphia, but tens of thousands of students have been sent home early this week because it's too hot in their unairconditioned classrooms.
Copyright 2022 WHYY | https://www.keranews.org/2022-08-31/philadelphia-schools-close-due-to-high-temperatures-and-no-air-conditioning | 2022-08-31T21:43:06Z |
“I’ve tried to spray them, they fly everywhere,” Shelton said.
Shelton is one of many residents of the Arterra Apartments in southern Dallas who say they live with holes in their floors and walls, dangerous electrical problems and bug infestations.
The City of Dallas’ community prosecutor is investigating the apartment complex’s living conditions. City code compliance officials and the fire department have been involved, according the city council member for the area.
Inside her apartment, Shelton points to the mold all around her bathroom and a cracked bathtub that appears to be sinking into the floor. Some of her kitchen appliances are malfunctioning, she says, and many of her electrical outlets don’t work.
“All those wiring that’s plugged in at my television they shoot fire. And at my kitchen, they have blown out my microwave and my stove,” Shelton said.
Shelton is not alone. Several residents told KERA about unsafe and unhealthy housing conditions at the apartment complex.
In addition to horrific conditions, some have been told that the apartment managers are no longer taking housing assistance vouchers. Others have received notices to move out. Shelton, who is disabled, has lived at the Arterra Apartments for five years and relies on a housing voucher to pay for part of her nearly $900 rent.
If the complex stops taking her voucher, she’d have to leave. She’s been trying to get answers from the new property managers, but she says she was met with a door-to-the-face.
"They’ve barred me from the office from telling them anything... They've been taking pictures of my door. [And they say] ‘I am going to have the police watching you.’ I don’t care. I will call them for you,” she said.
Shelton said the property managers are intimidating vulnerable residents who have no other place to go.
If residents like Shelton are pushed out, the tenants who rely on vouchers to pay their rent are likely to struggle to find a place to live. Dallas’ tight housing market has few apartments that are affordable to people with very low incomes.
And many people struggle to find landlords willing to take housing vouchers.
Texas law does not bar landlords from discriminating against voucher holders.
KERA contacted complex's management team for comment, but did not get a response.
History of problems
Arterra Apartments are located in Mayor Pro Tem Carolyn King Arnold’s district, about four miles west of Lemmon Lake Park.
She’s been hearing from tenants about problems for months and said it's not clear who actually owns the property.
“They'll send the manager, but they won't send the owner. And so basically, we're not engaged in a long conversation with the manager because the manager cannot make legal decisions that affect his property,” Arnold said. “The owner seems to be reluctant to come forth.”
The property has a history of problems going back years, she said, and has changed names at least three times.
It was formerly called Oasis Gardens.
Then it was named The Loop at 2755.
Now, it’s the Arterra Apartments.
The Dallas Central Appraisal District lists a nondescript shell company as the owner, called 2755 E Ledbetter Hive Partners LLC. Arnold said the complex has been sold in recent months.
Last spring, Arnold went out to the complex after tenants reached out and reported a gas leak. Last year, a gas leak at a nearby apartment complex caused an explosion that seriously injured firefighters.
Arnold said it was clear the apartment management had failed to notify tenants about the problem and how long it would take to fix it. One tenant, a young man, said he couldn’t heat milk to feed his baby.
The manager on site exhibited a “nonchalant attitude” toward the tenant’s concerns, Arnold said, “not showing the compassion that they need to show for those…tenants.”
Since then, she’s heard complaints from tenants about the condition of the property, health and safety violations, and other issues. Tenants who are elderly or have mobility challenges have told her that broken and missing sidewalks make it hard for them to get around.
A safe and healthy place to live?
City ordinances and state and federal laws require landlords to provide residents with a safe and healthy place to live, and they must ensure their properties are accessible to people with disabilities. Arnold said the owner must also abide by protections for housing voucher holders.
If they don’t, she said, the city will step in. Code compliance and the fire department have already been involved at the property, she said, and the city can sue the apartment’s owner if tenants’ rights are being violated.
“Until that owner meets those requirements — and immediately — our next step is to act on behalf of those individuals who have reached out to us. And they are really reaching out aggressively, especially those individuals who have received some notification of evictions,” Arnold said.
Arterra resident Shalondra Gabriel is desperate. She said no matter how much she cleans, bugs still crawl out from her walls. She’s tired of waiting for management to do something about it.
Gabriel said management says they're going to do something, but then "do nothing.
"But I feel like if they go to court, then I feel like they will do the right thing. If not they have to suffer the consequences,” Gabriel said.
Got a tip? Email Alejandra Martinez at amartinez@kera.org and Christopher Connelly at cconnelly@kera.org.You can follow Christopher on Twitter @hithisischris.and Alejandra on Twitter @alereports.
KERA News is made possible through the generosity of our members. If you find this reporting valuable, consider making a tax-deductible gift today. Thank you. | https://www.keranews.org/2022-08-31/southern-dallas-apartment-complex-residents-grapple-with-bug-infestations-faulty-electrical-outlets | 2022-08-31T21:43:12Z |
In Ukraine's most popular summer destination, a 90-year-old grandmother encourages a rebellion against a war-time beach ban, swimming despite the threat of fines – and floating mines.
Copyright 2022 NPR
In Ukraine's most popular summer destination, a 90-year-old grandmother encourages a rebellion against a war-time beach ban, swimming despite the threat of fines – and floating mines.
Copyright 2022 NPR | https://www.keranews.org/2022-08-31/this-ukrainian-grandmother-is-rebelling-against-the-war-time-beach-ban | 2022-08-31T21:43:18Z |
More than 3,000 theaters will be charging just $3 admission on Saturday to promote moviegoing. What does that say about the state of the film industry?
Copyright 2022 NPR
More than 3,000 theaters will be charging just $3 admission on Saturday to promote moviegoing. What does that say about the state of the film industry?
Copyright 2022 NPR | https://www.keranews.org/2022-08-31/what-national-cinema-day-says-about-the-state-of-the-film-industry | 2022-08-31T21:43:24Z |
Gov. Greg Abbott said Wednesday that it would be unconstitutional to increase the minimum age to buy assault-style rifles from 18 to 21 years old — a key proposal Uvalde parents have called for after an 18-year-old gunned down their children’s school in May.
“It is clear that the gun control law that they are seeking in Uvalde — as much as they may want it — has already been ruled as unconstitutional,” Abbott said at a reelection campaign event in Allen.
The gunman in Uvalde bought two AR-15-style rifles days after he turned 18, the legal purchasing age in Texas, and used the weapons to kill 19 students and two teachers at Robb Elementary.
In the aftermath of the shooting, Texas Senate Democrats have asked for a special legislative session to increase the minimum age to purchase a semi-automatic rifle. Advocates call the proposal a compromise with GOP lawmakers — a three-year increase to the legal age instead of an outright ban on the style of weapon.
“Simply doing nothing is about as evil as it comes,” state Sen. Roland Gutierrez, D-San Antonio, whose district includes Uvalde, said in June.
Abbott at his Wednesday campaign event brought up court rulings from the past three months, including a federal court in Fort Worth on Thursday that struck down a Texas law limiting adults under 21 from carrying handguns. U.S. District Judge Mark Pittman wrote that the Second Amendment does not specify limits on age.
The U.S. Supreme Court also struck down a century-old New York gun law in June that restricted concealed carry of handgun, a ruling that didn’t impact Texas. In the last 13 years, as firearms have become more accessible in the state, Texas has had eight mass shootings.
A day after the shooting in Uvalde, Abbott was asked if he would consider banning assault-style weapons for 18-year-olds. The governor at the time appeared hesitant.
“Ever since Texas has been a state, an 18-year-old has had the ability to buy a long gun, a rifle. Since that time, it seems like it’s only been in the past decade or two that we’ve had school shootings. For a century and a half, 18-year-olds could buy rifles and we didn’t have school shootings. But we do,” Abbott said. “Maybe we’re focusing our attention on the wrong thing.”
Abbott that day was immediately interrupted by Gutierrez, who said, “Your own colleagues are telling me, calling me and telling me an 18-year-old shouldn’t have a gun. This is enough. Call us back, man.” | https://www.keranews.org/politics/2022-08-31/abbott-claims-raising-the-age-to-buy-an-assault-style-rifle-is-unconstitutional | 2022-08-31T21:43:30Z |
Even as he prepares to leave the office in mid-September, Wyoming Secretary of State Ed Buchanan is confident in the state’s election process without him, he told the Wyoming Tribune Eagle on Wednesday.
In July, Gov. Mark Gordon appointed Buchanan to serve in Goshen County as a district court judge in Wyoming’s Eighth Judicial District. Buchanan has indicated, including in an earlier interview with the WTE, that he might leave following last month's primary election and before the Nov. 8 general election.
On Wednesday, Buchanan said he expects his last day in his current position will be around Sept. 19. The judiciary wanted him to start by Oct. 1, and he has to balance the responsibilities of both positions.
“I have to take into account the schedule of the retiring judge, and a docket that is ever-growing. You can’t expect people to pick up the slack forever waiting for you to take the bench,” he said. “And so, I’ve got some SLIB (State Loan and Investment Board) matters that are coming up in the middle of September, and after those are done, I think it’s a good time to make a transition.”
Buchanan has no predictions for who might temporarily replace him, nor is he concerned with them being under-qualified to serve in his absence. He said they will be in the office for such a short period of time that they will have few responsibilities, even as the general election approaches.
“Your county clerks are the ones that run elections. We at the Secretary of State’s Office play a role in supporting that, and we have a great relationship with the county clerks. We work very well together as a team,” he told the WTE. “The county clerks have the latest and greatest when it comes to physical and cybersecurity, and they have the expertise to get your elections done.”
He said election staff will be in the office the night of the general election, just as they always have been, to receive and verify the results. He said it's a matter of waiting for the process to complete itself, and he has 100% confidence that no matter what happens, the general election will go smoothly.
Laramie County Clerk Debra Lee voiced her confidence in the election process at the local level, as well. She said there are statutes and rules that provide the legal framework for conducting elections, and many clerks have years of experience under their belt to provide the best experience for voters.
"We will certainly miss Secretary Buchanan," she said. "He's been a good champion for election integrity, and highlighting the misinformation and disinformation that has been circulating by providing facts, and that's very much appreciated."
Election commission
Buchanan weighed in on another election issue that has been discussed by lawmakers in the past week, warning that any efforts to take elections away from the Secretary of State’s Office must be thoughtfully discussed and considered. He doesn’t believe the office is too overwhelmed or incapable of handling its responsibilities, and said it has done so successfully for decades.
As the WTE previously reported, Rep. Dan Zwonitzer, R-Cheyenne, brought forward a motion last Thursday at the Legislature’s Joint Corporations, Elections and Political Subdivisions Committee to create an election commission, which would create a separate operating agency in charge of elections.
“We have a 2024 presidential election coming up that’s going to very contentious, and I do have some concern that the most likely person that will be our next chief elections officer, secretary of state, has alleged that there may be nefarious activities in the ballot box, which I don’t agree exists,” said Zwonitzer. “I think our elections are safe and secure, probably more than any other state in this country.”
The motion to draft a bill to formulate the agency was passed amid pushback, including from Sen. Charles Scott, R-Casper. He said county clerks are going to preserve the integrity of the election system, and voters who wanted primary election winner, Rep. Chuck Gray, R-Casper, as the secretary of state would be insulted.
“The Legislature has the ability to shape the duties of certain state offices, including Secretary of State,” Buchanan said. “That's not my decision, and I'm not going to weigh in on whether or not they should or shouldn't. I just think if they entertain that discussion, they should do so very, very carefully.”
Among other presentations at the committee meeting, Elections Director Kai Schon told lawmakers the new-post election audit pilot was successful and showed the primary results were 100% accurate. Buchanan said it was one of the projects he plans to complete as much as possible before he leaves the office, and it was implemented well for the primary.
According to a LinkedIn post, Schon is among the staff in the Secretary of State’s Office who may be leaving. He didn't comment.
Leadership transition
There has been speculation as to whether other members of staff will resign after Buchanan takes the bench. He said there are always such concerns after an election because.
“When I came into office, my message to the people that were here was very simple: We’re going to give 110% customer service and we will have a zero-fail mission,” he said.
He said whoever comes into the office next has to recognize that in large part, they are a member of a team now, whether it be in the office or on state boards. Buchanan added that the ultimate goal is to serve the best interests of Wyomingites.
“Hopefully, they will instill confidence in their abilities to lead this office,” he said. “And that’s the best way to approach coming into any new office.”
Interim secretary
Buchanan leaving before his term ends means the office will work under two new secretaries of state in the upcoming months.
The governor is required to choose an appointee to take Buchanan's place until the winner of the general election is sworn into office.
Once Gordon receives the official resignation notice from Buchanan, the governor will notify the chairman of the Wyoming GOP Central Committee, Frank Eathorne, and the selection process for a replacement will begin. Gray won the GOP primary to succeed Buchanan as secretary of state, though he likely wouldn't start until early next year, and he still must win the general election.
A state central committee meeting will be called no later than 15 days after Eathorne is made aware of Buchanan's resignation, and committee members will choose three candidates from which the governor will select one. It cannot be any member of the Legislature, including Gray, due to state statute.
Gordon has five days to make the decision following their selection.
“I can’t over-emphasize, honestly, what a tremendous honor and privilege it’s been to serve the state in this capacity,” Buchanan said. “That’s why it wasn’t an easy decision, because I’m going to miss everyone that I’ve worked with.” | https://www.wyomingnews.com/laramieboomerang/news/buchanan-confident-in-election-process-without-him/article_69681848-296f-11ed-91fd-d3689d65b93a.html | 2022-08-31T22:07:24Z |
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People's Rep'c of Guinea-Bissau, Republic of Guyana, Republic of Heard and McDonald Islands Holy See (Vatican City State) Honduras, Republic of Hong Kong, Special Administrative Region of China Hrvatska (Croatia) Hungary, Hungarian People's Republic Iceland, Republic of India, Republic of Indonesia, Republic of Iran, Islamic Republic of Iraq, Republic of Ireland Israel, State of Italy, Italian Republic Japan Jordan, Hashemite Kingdom of Kazakhstan, Republic of Kenya, Republic of Kiribati, Republic of Korea, Democratic People's Republic of Korea, Republic of Kuwait, State of Kyrgyz Republic Lao People's Democratic Republic Latvia Lebanon, Lebanese Republic Lesotho, Kingdom of Liberia, Republic of Libyan Arab Jamahiriya Liechtenstein, Principality of Lithuania Luxembourg, Grand Duchy of Macao, Special Administrative Region of China Macedonia, the former Yugoslav Republic of Madagascar, Republic of Malawi, Republic of Malaysia Maldives, Republic of Mali, Republic of Malta, Republic of Marshall Islands Martinique Mauritania, Islamic Republic of Mauritius Mayotte Micronesia, Federated States of Moldova, Republic of Monaco, Principality of Mongolia, Mongolian People's Republic Montserrat Morocco, Kingdom of Mozambique, People's Republic of Myanmar Namibia Nauru, Republic of Nepal, Kingdom of Netherlands Antilles Netherlands, Kingdom of the New Caledonia New Zealand Nicaragua, Republic of Niger, Republic of the Nigeria, Federal Republic of Niue, Republic of Norfolk Island Northern Mariana Islands Norway, Kingdom of Oman, Sultanate of Pakistan, Islamic Republic of Palau Palestinian Territory, Occupied Panama, Republic of Papua New Guinea Paraguay, Republic of Peru, Republic of Philippines, Republic of the Pitcairn Island Poland, Polish People's Republic Portugal, Portuguese Republic Puerto Rico Qatar, State of Reunion Romania, Socialist Republic of Russian Federation Rwanda, Rwandese Republic Samoa, Independent State of San Marino, Republic of Sao Tome and Principe, Democratic Republic of Saudi Arabia, Kingdom of Senegal, Republic of Serbia and Montenegro Seychelles, Republic of Sierra Leone, Republic of Singapore, Republic of Slovakia (Slovak Republic) Slovenia Solomon Islands Somalia, Somali Republic South Africa, Republic of South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands Spain, Spanish State Sri Lanka, Democratic Socialist Republic of St. Helena St. Kitts and Nevis St. Lucia St. Pierre and Miquelon St. Vincent and the Grenadines Sudan, Democratic Republic of the Suriname, Republic of Svalbard & Jan Mayen Islands Swaziland, Kingdom of Sweden, Kingdom of Switzerland, Swiss Confederation Syrian Arab Republic Taiwan, Province of China Tajikistan Tanzania, United Republic of Thailand, Kingdom of Timor-Leste, Democratic Republic of Togo, Togolese Republic Tokelau (Tokelau Islands) Tonga, Kingdom of Trinidad and Tobago, Republic of Tunisia, Republic of Turkey, Republic of Turkmenistan Turks and Caicos Islands Tuvalu Uganda, Republic of Ukraine United Arab Emirates United Kingdom of Great Britain & N. Ireland Uruguay, Eastern Republic of Uzbekistan Vanuatu Venezuela, Bolivarian Republic of Viet Nam, Socialist Republic of Wallis and Futuna Islands Western Sahara Yemen Zambia, Republic of Zimbabwe | https://www.wyomingnews.com/wyomingbusinessreport/industry_news/government_and_politics/final-education-board-candidate-filings/article_f55d54a0-2972-11ed-9657-2fe088f32092.html | 2022-08-31T22:07:42Z |
Wyoming lawmakers are considering removing election-related duties from the office of secretary of state.
The Joint Corporations, Elections and Political Subdivisions Committee passed a motion during a Thursday meeting to draft a bill to create a separate office to administer the state’s elections. The effort was in direct response to Rep. Chuck Gray, R-Casper, securing the Republican nomination for secretary of state.
“I’m concerned based on some of the rhetoric and some of the mailers I saw in regards to our most likely upcoming secretary of state that we may be in a precarious position when it comes to election administration for the next four years,” said committee co-chair Rep. Dan Zwonitzer, R-Cheyenne, who introduced the motion.
Audits before and after the 2020 election in Wyoming indicated 100% accuracy. Gray, however, campaigned heavily on unsupported claims about voter fraud, saying there were “tremendous problems” with the security of Wyoming’s elections. This week, the State Canvassing Board certified the results of the 2022 primary election after an enhanced audit indicated zero issues across all 23 counties.
Gray did not respond to WyoFile’s request for comment.
Lawmakers moved several other election-related matters forward during the meeting, including a bill to open Wyoming’s primary election using ranked-choice voting.
Election duties
While the committee passed the motion to explore the possibility of having a separate state agency in charge of elections, the vote was not unanimous. Sen. Charles Scott, R-Casper, spoke against it.
Voters who supported Gray in the primary election would “rightfully feel insulted if we tried to take a major portion of the responsibilities away before the guy’s even had a chance,” he said.
Scott also pointed to recent history.
“We’ve been down this road before in the education area. There was consequences [that] were most unfortunate,” he said in reference to former State Superintendent of Public Instruction Cindy Hill.
After Hill refused to implement legislation, Gov. Matt Mead signed a bill into law in 2013 that stripped Hill of most of her authority, rendering her position largely ceremonial. A lengthy legal battle ensued, with the Wyoming Supreme Court declaring the removal of powers unconstitutional.
Like most states, Wyoming’s secretary of state administers elections, which includes providing residents with election information. The office also prepares a campaign guide for candidates and collects campaign finances.
In recent years, that workload has ballooned in a very specific way, according to Monique Meese, former policy advisor to the office.
“Election records requests have become exponentially greater since the 2020 election on a variety of data points,” she said. Meese recently resigned from the position as a direct result of Gray’s primary election victory, according to the Cowboy State Daily.
When Wyoming voters raised questions about the state’s elections in 2020, Secretary of State Ed Buchanan spent a considerable amount of time traveling the state to give presentations on election integrity and security. Buchanan’s office also looked into allegations of voter fraud, but no evidence ever surfaced.
Creating an office solely devoted to election duties would address this new workload, according to Zwonitzer, who said it would also be able to perform additional audits, including of political spending. Currently, there is no automatic audit mechanism for campaign finances, so a review of filings only takes place if the office receives a complaint about a report.
“You’d be able to go after transparency when it came to dark money and really strengthen and buffer our election security,” Zwonitzer said.
The new office would be overseen by the state’s top five elected officials – the governor, secretary of state, treasurer, auditor and superintendent of public instruction – who would also appoint its director, Zwonitzer said.
Special elections
Following controversy and a legal battle involving the process to replace Jillian Balow earlier this year when she resigned from her position as superintendent of public instruction, lawmakers are looking to change how the state fills certain vacancies.
The committee is working on a bill from the 2022 session which would create, for example, a special election in the case of a vacancy in the governor’s office.
“I’ve certainly heard the concerns for six months now that we may want to have a better system, and this [bill] is at least one option,” Zwonitzer said.
The more elections that are held, however, the fewer people come out to them, according to Kai Schon, director of the secretary of state’s Election Division. Another concern with the bill is the cost, which would be shouldered solely by the counties.
“If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it,” Scott said in opposition. Sen. Danny Eyre, R-Lyman, disagreed.
“I believe the system is broken, or at least we can do better,” he said, adding that low voter participation is preferable to the current system that involves political parties making appointments.
The committee voted to work together with county clerks and the secretary of state’s office to draft a bill that’s neither cost prohibitive nor disruptive to other elections.
The committee plans to meet again in October.
UPDATE: Schon has plans to leave the secretary of state’s office and is looking for work elsewhere, according to his LinkedIn account. He did not respond to WyoFile’s request for comment by press time Friday.
WyoFile is an independent nonprofit news organization focused on Wyoming people, places and policy. | https://www.wyomingnews.com/wyomingbusinessreport/industry_news/government_and_politics/lawmakers-seek-to-restrict-secretary-of-state-s-authority/article_e0a3f910-2972-11ed-ab60-c71295d51c6d.html | 2022-08-31T22:07:49Z |
HONOLULU (KITV4) -- Four military families filed a federal lawsuit against the US Government on Wednesday, claiming they suffered severe health problems from drinking the water from the Navy's Red Hill system.
The Navy admits the water was contaminated by jet fuel that leaked from its Red Hill storage facility.
The lawsuit details health problems including seizures, gastrointestinal disorders, neurological issues, rashes and more.
The attorneys for the families say "the government compounded the suffering by first denying and then dismissing" the health concerns.
The Navy has since admitted the fuel leakage is a grave problem and says it will be corrected. But many balk at the Navy's timeline, saying action needs to be taken now rather than later.
A Navy spokesperson released the following statement on Wednesday:
“The Navy does not discuss details of or provide status updates on specific claims. The Navy is focused on ensuring the safety and health of those impacted from the November 2021 fuel spill. Nothing is more important than the health, safety, and well-being of our people, their families, and our community neighbors. Providing clean, safe, drinking water to our families and communities, and ensuring their continued health and safety concerns are addressed are our highest priorities.”
Meanwhile, Hawaii is still awaiting the Navy's updated plan to defuel the Red Hill fuel facility.
In July, the Hawaii Department of Health (DOH) disapproved of the Navy's initial plan citing a lack of details and solid timeline.
The state says the Navy claimed it would have an updated plan by Aug. 31. The Navy now says the updated plan is due Sept. 7. | https://www.kitv.com/news/local/4-oahu-families-sue-us-government-over-health-problems-related-to-red-hill-water-contamination/article_6d70f2ee-2978-11ed-9434-436dda923f9d.html | 2022-08-31T22:40:53Z |
KAPAAU, Hawaii (KITV4) -- An autopsy has confirmed that a pre-teen boy died from a single gunshot wound following an accidental shooting at a Boy Scouts camp on the Big Island over the weekend.
The shooting happened on the rifle range at Camp Honokaia Boy Scout Camp, near Honokaa, on Sunday, Aug. 28.
The boy’s identity is still being withheld pending further investigation, however, Hawaii Island Police officials said he was 12 years old. Foul play is not suspected and no arrests have been made, authorities said.
Details surrounding the shooting are still limited. Investigators said the boy was not carrying a weapon at the time of the incident. The Boy Scouts of America referred to the incident as an “accidental firearm discharge” and said it occurred during a camp activity.
Hawaii Island Police say they are still investigating this incident and are conducting interviews with children and adults that were present at the time.
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/autopsy-confirms-boy-12-died-from-gunshot-wound-at-big-island-boy-scouts-camp/article_307d5f4e-2973-11ed-8562-336b9ba0d251.html | 2022-08-31T22:40:54Z |
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EMT renders aid to teen boy immediately after shooting him, police say
LUBBOCK, Texas (KCBD/Gray News) – A man in Texas rendered aid to a teenage boy immediately after shooting him, according to police.
John Karika, an emergency medical technician, was arrested and charged with aggravated assault on Saturday after shooting a 16-year-old boy from inside his apartment, police said.
Investigators found that the teen was outside the apartment complex when Karika allegedly shot a bullet at him through his apartment window. According to the police report, officers found a bullet hole in Karika’s window.
When police arrived at the scene, they found the teen on the ground with blood on his head and legs and Karika at the victim’s side, tending to his facial wound with gauze.
Officers said it appeared the teen had been shot in the face, though he was conscious and alert. He was taken to the hospital by ambulance.
Once the victim was transported to the hospital, officers followed Karika to his apartment, where they found the gun. According to a police report, while officers were investigating the apartment, Karika answered his phone and said, “I f***ed up. I’m in trouble.”
The report said Karika appeared saddened by the situation and cooperated with police.
Officers noted a badge on Karika’s living room coffee table identifying him as an EMT. Karika told the officers he used his medical equipment to help render aid to the teen after shooting him.
Karika was arrested for aggravated assault and taken to the Lubbock County Detention Center without incident. According to jail records, he has since been released.
The victim underwent surgery at the hospital, with his condition currently unknown.
Police did not clarify a motive on what led up to the shooting.
Copyright 2022 KCBD via Gray Media Group, Inc. All rights reserved. | https://www.wvva.com/2022/08/31/emt-renders-aid-teen-boy-immediately-after-shooting-him-police-say/ | 2022-08-31T22:42:01Z |
Injured Officer Seara Burton to be removed from life support, department says
RICHMOND, Ind. (Gray News) - The Richmond Police Department says injured Officer Seara Burton will be removed from life support this week.
On Wednesday, the department said despite the best efforts of all the doctors and nurses at the hospital, Burton’s injuries have been determined to be unrecoverable, and she will be taken off life support on Thursday.
Authorities said Burton was shot on Aug. 10 while responding to a call from other officers to help with a traffic stop in Richmond. Burton made contact with a man, later identified as 47-yer-old Phillip Lee, riding a moped and her K-9 partner, Brev, alerted her to a possible presence of narcotics.
According to Indiana State Police, while officers were talking with Lee, he pulled out a gun and shot several times toward the officers, striking Burton.
Other officers returned fire and chased Lee until he was apprehended, police said. He was treated for gunshot wounds and transported by ambulance to a hospital.
Burton was rushed by ambulance to a hospital and later airlifted to another hospital in Dayton, where she remained in very critical condition, according to state police.
The department said Seara would live on and continue to be a hero with her selfless gift of organ donation. Final arrangements for the officer are planned to be released in the coming days.
Richmond Police Chief Michael Britt shared that Brev, Burton’s K-9 partner, is OK and currently living with a Richmond police officer who previously had a K-9.
Chief Britt also thanked the community for the outpouring of support they have received during this time.
Burton has served with Richmond Police Department for four years.
Copyright 2022 Gray Media Group, Inc. All rights reserved. | https://www.wvva.com/2022/08/31/injured-officer-seara-burton-be-removed-life-support-department-says/ | 2022-08-31T22:42:08Z |
Non-profit tries to combat cat over-population
TAZEWELL COUNTY, Va. (WVVA) -
The non-profit group " Friends of Tazewell County Community Cats” is reporting there are nearly five thousand feral cats in different colonies throughout the county.
The group’s founder says the best way to curb feline over population is something called “t-n-r”. It means trap, neuter or spay, and return.
“The colony itself over-time will decrease. The female cats can produce kittens at four months. She can keep producing cats after that as soon as the kittens are weaned she goes right back into heat.” said founder Sharon Shinall.
Shinall says another issue is the lack of available spay and neuter clinics in the area, which leads to people leaving cats to form colonies as they fend for themselves.
“We really need spay and neuter clinics in Tazewell County, We need it for every county around here, but Tazewell County is a good central location.” Shinall said.
Until that clinic is realized, the non-profit often drives 6 hours round trip to a clinic in Roanoke to get the community cats fixed. On average 40 cats a month go through this procedure at a cost of between 2 and 3 thousand dollars. To help with these costs they are holding a fundraiser at the violet art studio in Tazewell.
“When she reached out to me to create this fundraiser, I just thought it would be the best idea because I know there’s a problem in our area and love that someone is trying to do something about that.” said Violet Asbury of Violet Studio.
The event will be a paint instruction class with a silent auction, it will be held at The Violet Studio on Sept. 17. For more info visit their website at thevioletstudio.com
If you would like to help even more reach out to Sharon through the Friends of Tazewell County Community Cats Facebook page.
Copyright 2022 WVVA. All rights reserved. | https://www.wvva.com/2022/08/31/non-profit-tries-combat-cat-over-population/ | 2022-08-31T22:42:14Z |
TSA confiscates meat cleaver, saw blade from passenger’s carry-on bag
Published: Aug. 31, 2022 at 5:56 PM EDT|Updated: 45 minutes ago
(Gray News) – The Transportation Security Administration shared pictures of a few scary-looking items they confiscated from a passenger’s carry-on bag.
The TSA in the Great Lakes region posted the pictures on Twitter on Aug. 30.
The items they confiscated at a checkpoint in O’Hare National Airport in Chicago included a meat cleaver and a saw blade. The items were among other tools the passenger removed from their bag and placed into a bin to be checked by security.
The TSA said in the tweet that sharp objects are not allowed to be carried onto flights and should be wrapped and packaged safely in a passenger’s checked baggage.
Copyright 2022 Gray Media Group, Inc. All rights reserved. | https://www.wvva.com/2022/08/31/tsa-confiscates-meat-cleaver-saw-blade-passengers-carry-on-bag/ | 2022-08-31T22:42:20Z |
US Marshals capture ex-Marine, most wanted murder suspect in Central America
(Gray News) - An ex-Marine and a most wanted fugitive for the alleged murder of his girlfriend has been arrested in Central America.
Raymond McLeod, 37, was arrested on Monday in El Salvador. The U.S. Marshals Service said the team had received a tip that McLeod had been teaching English at a school in Sonsonate.
Authorities said McLeod confirmed his identity to members of the U.S. Marshals team and members of the U.S. Embassy. They were on the ground with the El Salvadoran police when they took him into custody.
“I am extremely gratified to hear the news of Raymond McLeod’s arrest without incident,” said U.S. Marshals Director Ronald Davis.
McLeod was on the U.S. Marshals 15 most wanted list for allegedly killing his girlfriend, 30-year-old Krystal Mitchell, in 2016.
Authorities said Mitchell was found dead at an acquaintance’s residence in San Diego. The couple was visiting friends at the time of the incident.
During the investigation, police said they found evidence of a struggle and that McLeod was the last person to see Mitchell alive.
The San Diego District Attorney’s Office charged McLeod with murder, and a warrant was issued for his arrest. In December 2016, authorities asked the U.S. Marshals to join the search and lead the fugitive investigation for McLeod.
“It is our sincere hope that his capture brings some sense of relief to Krystal Mitchell’s family, especially her mother, Josephine Wentzel, who has worked so diligently with law enforcement these past years to see this day of justice arrive,” Davis said.
The U.S. Marshals and San Diego police said they believed McLeod fled through Mexico to Central America after Mitchell’s death. His last reported locations were in Belize in 2018 and Guatemala in 2017.
Officials said the U.S. Marshals intensified the search for the former Marine in April 2021, offering a reward of up to $50,000 for information leading to his capture.
The U.S. Marshals Service said McLeod would be deported to San Diego to face the charges against him.
Copyright 2022 Gray Media Group, Inc. All rights reserved. | https://www.wvva.com/2022/08/31/us-marshals-capture-ex-marine-most-wanted-murder-suspect-central-america/ | 2022-08-31T22:42:27Z |
EMT renders aid to teen boy immediately after shooting him, police say
LUBBOCK, Texas (KCBD/Gray News) – A man in Texas rendered aid to a teenage boy immediately after shooting him, according to police.
John Karika, an emergency medical technician, was arrested and charged with aggravated assault on Saturday after shooting a 16-year-old boy from inside his apartment, police said.
Investigators found that the teen was outside the apartment complex when Karika allegedly shot a bullet at him through his apartment window. According to the police report, officers found a bullet hole in Karika’s window.
When police arrived at the scene, they found the teen on the ground with blood on his head and legs and Karika at the victim’s side, tending to his facial wound with gauze.
Officers said it appeared the teen had been shot in the face, though he was conscious and alert. He was taken to the hospital by ambulance.
Once the victim was transported to the hospital, officers followed Karika to his apartment, where they found the gun. According to a police report, while officers were investigating the apartment, Karika answered his phone and said, “I f***ed up. I’m in trouble.”
The report said Karika appeared saddened by the situation and cooperated with police.
Officers noted a badge on Karika’s living room coffee table identifying him as an EMT. Karika told the officers he used his medical equipment to help render aid to the teen after shooting him.
Karika was arrested for aggravated assault and taken to the Lubbock County Detention Center without incident. According to jail records, he has since been released.
The victim underwent surgery at the hospital, with his condition currently unknown.
Police did not clarify a motive on what led up to the shooting.
Copyright 2022 KCBD via Gray Media Group, Inc. All rights reserved. | https://www.whsv.com/2022/08/31/emt-renders-aid-teen-boy-immediately-after-shooting-him-police-say/ | 2022-08-31T22:44:15Z |
Injured Officer Seara Burton to be removed from life support, department says
RICHMOND, Ind. (Gray News) - The Richmond Police Department says injured Officer Seara Burton will be removed from life support this week.
On Wednesday, the department said despite the best efforts of all the doctors and nurses at the hospital, Burton’s injuries have been determined to be unrecoverable, and she will be taken off life support on Thursday.
Authorities said Burton was shot on Aug. 10 while responding to a call from other officers to help with a traffic stop in Richmond. Burton made contact with a man, later identified as 47-yer-old Phillip Lee, riding a moped and her K-9 partner, Brev, alerted her to a possible presence of narcotics.
According to Indiana State Police, while officers were talking with Lee, he pulled out a gun and shot several times toward the officers, striking Burton.
Other officers returned fire and chased Lee until he was apprehended, police said. He was treated for gunshot wounds and transported by ambulance to a hospital.
Burton was rushed by ambulance to a hospital and later airlifted to another hospital in Dayton, where she remained in very critical condition, according to state police.
The department said Seara would live on and continue to be a hero with her selfless gift of organ donation. Final arrangements for the officer are planned to be released in the coming days.
Richmond Police Chief Michael Britt shared that Brev, Burton’s K-9 partner, is OK and currently living with a Richmond police officer who previously had a K-9.
Chief Britt also thanked the community for the outpouring of support they have received during this time.
Burton has served with Richmond Police Department for four years.
Copyright 2022 Gray Media Group, Inc. All rights reserved. | https://www.whsv.com/2022/08/31/injured-officer-seara-burton-be-removed-life-support-department-says/ | 2022-08-31T22:44:17Z |
Lawyers: Eastman advised to plead the Fifth in Georgia probe
ATLANTA (AP) — Lawyers for John Eastman, a lead architect of some of Donald Trump’s efforts to remain in power after the 2020 election, said Wednesday they advised their client to assert attorney-client privilege and invoke his constitutional right to remain silent when testifying before a special grand jury investigating possible illegal election interference in Georgia.
Charles Burnham and Harvey Silverglate confirmed in a statement that Eastman had appeared before the panel in Fulton County, complying with a summons from the district attorney. They declined to comment on the questions or testimony, citing respect for the secrecy of the grand jury process.
Eastman is one of a number of Trump advisers, attorneys and allies whose testimony Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis has sought to compel in the case. Former New York mayor and Trump attorney Rudy Giuliani, who’s been told he may face criminal charges in the investigation, testified in mid-August. U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham, a South Carolina Republican, is fighting his subpoena. Willis filed petitions last week seeking the testimony of former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows and Trump-allied attorney Sidney Powell, among others. And conservative attorney L. Lin Wood Jr. said this week he’s been told Willis wants him to appear.
Willis’ investigation began early last year, shortly after a recording of a Jan. 2, 2021, phone call between Trump and Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger became public. In that call, Trump suggested the state’s top election official could “find” the votes needed to overturn his narrow loss in the state. But it has become clear that the scope of the probe has broadened considerably since then.
In their statement Wednesday, Eastman’s attorneys accused Willis of embarking on “an unprecedented path of criminalizing controversial or disfavored legal theories.”
As Trump and his allies began a campaign to spread false claims about the election, Eastman circulated what was essentially an academic proposal challenging the workings of the 130-year-old Electoral Count Act that governs the process for tallying the election results in Congress.
The first part of the plan was to put in place a slate of “alternate” electors in seven battleground states to sign certificates falsely stating that Trump, not Democrat Joe Biden, had won their states. Willis has told the 16 Georgia Republicans who joined that effort that they are targets of her investigation.
The second part of the proposal involved convincing then-Vice President Mike Pence to refuse to count some of the electoral votes won by Biden when presiding over Congress the certification of election results on Jan. 6, 2021. But Pence refused to stray from his ceremonial role that day, even as Trump supporters broke into the Capitol, chanting for him to be hung.
Wood, who sued unsuccessfully to block the certification of Georgia’s election results, said Wednesday that he’s willing to testify before the special grand jury.
Wood said a lawyer who represents him in a separate matter told him late last week that Willis’ office wants to subpoena him to testify. But he said he hadn’t received a formal request and didn’t know when they would want to see him.
“If they want to ask me questions, I’m happy to answer them,” Wood told The Associated Press by phone. “I have nothing to hide.”
Wood has long been known for his representation of high-profile clients — including Richard Jewell, who was wrongly accused in the 1996 Olympic bombing in Atlanta — particularly in defamation cases.
In a document filed last week seeking to compel Powell’s testimony, Willis noted that Wood hosted meetings at his home in South Carolina “for the purpose of exploring options to influence the results of the November 2020 election in Georgia and elsewhere.” Powell asked Wood, who’s licensed as a lawyer in Georgia, to help find Georgia residents who would be willing to serve as plaintiffs in lawsuits contesting the election results in the state, the petition says.
Wood said he didn’t know Powell well at the time but that she got in touch and asked if a group could meet at his home in late November 2020. He agreed to reach out to some prominent Georgia Republicans on Powell’s behalf, but said he doesn’t remember exactly who he called and whether they ended up joining any lawsuit filed by Powell.
The lawsuits filed by Powell and Wood were among many that were filed around the country in the wake of the 2020 election, many of them claiming that widespread election fraud had occurred. The lawsuits were ultimately dismissed, and state and federal election officials have consistently said there was no evidence of widespread fraud in the election.
___
Associated Press writer Farnoush Amiri in Washington contributed to this report.
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More on Donald Trump-related investigations: https://apnews.com/hub/donald-trump
Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. | https://www.whsv.com/2022/08/31/lawyers-eastman-advised-plead-fifth-georgia-probe/ | 2022-08-31T22:44:17Z |
Man sentenced to 12 years in prison for Port Republic shooting
HARRISONBURG, Va. (WHSV) - A man from Grottoes will spend more than a decade in prison for the shooting death of one man last summer. On Wednesday, a Rockingham County Circuit Court judge sentenced 21-year-old Pierce Delawder to 12 years in prison for the killing of 44-year-old William Reeves Jr.
The shooting took place on June 27, 2021, in the parking lot of Gayle’s Quickstop in Port Republic. According to investigators and court testimony on Wednesday, the incident began with an argument between Reeves and his wife, and their niece who was Delawder’s girlfriend at the time.
During the sentencing hearing on Wednesday, both Reeves’s widow, Cynthia, and Delawder’s ex-girlfriend, Destiny, testified and offered differing versions of what happened on the day of the shooting.
Both said that the argument began with Cynthia and William Reeves telling Destiny Reeves and Delawder they needed to leave the parking lot. Both said that during their argument, Destiny hit Cynthia through the car’s window at which point William exited the car. This is where their stories differ.
Destiny claimed that William punched her in the face knocking her to the ground and knocking three of her teeth out. She said that William then got on top of her and began hitting her and slamming her head into the ground before Delawder shot him.
Conversely, Cynthia Reeves claimed that her husband never hit Destiny and said that he simply wrapped her up with his arms to attempt to restrain her. She said that her husband never threw Destiny to the ground. She also claimed that Delawder was dancing around cursing and brandishing his firearm before he began firing it.
Photos from investigators did show that Destiny’s teeth were recovered at the scene and photos of her in the hospital showed her with facial injuries including bloody lips and bruises on her face.
After hearing all testimonies and victim impact statements from Cynthia Reeves and her son as well as a statement and apology from Delawder himself the judge sentenced Delawder to 15 years in prison with three years suspended.
The full 15-year sentence would’ve been the maximum sentence Delawder could’ve received per the terms of his plea agreement. Upon his release, Delawder will have to serve five years of supervised probation and have no contact whatsoever with the victim’s family.
Copyright 2022 WHSV. All rights reserved. | https://www.whsv.com/2022/08/31/man-sentenced-12-years-prison-port-republic-shooting/ | 2022-08-31T22:44:19Z |
Roanoke College poll shows most Virginians don’t want Gov. Youngkin in presidential race
CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. (WVIR) - A new poll from Roanoke College shows that Governor Glenn Youngkin’s approval rating is going up, however that does not mean that Virginians approve of the idea of him running the country.
Speculation indicates that Youngkin may run for president in 2024, and the poll found that only 36% of Virginians are in support of him running.
Larry Sabato with the UVA Center for Politics says that Youngkin running would not be a good idea.
“That statistic includes Republicans, he doesn’t even have majority support for running for president among Republicans. If he were running against Donald Trump and a primary in Virginia, he would lose very badly by more than two to one,” Sabato said.
Sabato says Youngkin should just dedicate himself to being governor if he wants constituents to support him. The full poll can be found here.
Do you have a story idea? Send us your news tip here.
Copyright 2022 WVIR. All rights reserved. | https://www.whsv.com/2022/08/31/roanoke-college-poll-shows-most-virginians-dont-want-gov-youngkin-presidential-race/ | 2022-08-31T22:44:19Z |
Shenandoah County Fair holds Senior Citizen’s Day
WOODSTOCK, Va. (WHSV) - The Shenandoah County Fair is back this week. It kicked off on Monday and has been busy with food, rides, livestock shows, and music. On Wednesday, the fair held its Senior Citizen’s Day and the entertainment got kicked up a notch with the return of harness racing.
“On Seniors Day, they really enjoy coming for the harness racing. 65 and older get admission for half price, which was $3 this year. We had a lot of organizations. Triad put on a huge group and had a free speaker in the grandstand, and of course, it kicked off harness racing right after that,” said Shenandoah County Fair General Manager Dawn Burch.
The harness racing at the Shenandoah Downs horse track is always one of the fair’s biggest draws. The races will run through Saturday and will be accompanied by the fair’s Pig Scramble, the largest in the state, on Wednesday night.
This year marks Dawn Burch’s first fair as General Manager after longtime GM Tom Eshelman stepped down last year. Burch said that she is happy with how the fair has gone so far.
“Everybody’s been having a really good time. The weather has been nice and held out for us,” she said.
Burch said that attendance numbers have been solid so far but they are down a little bit from last year because Shenandoah County Public Schools started back up a week earlier than usual this year.
“It’s been busy but it has been a little slower in the evenings with the kids being in school in the county. They have been out of school the last couple of years during fair week,” she said.
Burch said that she is excited for the rest of the week and is hoping for big crowds. She said that she is particularly looking forward to the fair’s Veterans Day on Thursday when veterans will get free admission to the fair.
You can learn more about everything going on at the fair this week here.
Copyright 2022 WHSV. All rights reserved. | https://www.whsv.com/2022/08/31/shenandoah-county-fair-holds-senior-citizens-day/ | 2022-08-31T22:44:35Z |
“Substance use disorder does not discriminate”: honoring Overdose Awareness Day in the Valley
VERONA, Va. (WHSV) - Drug overdoses continues to be the leading cause of unnatural death in Virginia, according to the Virginia Department of Health.
That’s been the case since 2013.
On Aug. 31, International Overdose Awareness Day, treatment centers and advocacy groups come together to help people learn about an issue that is so pervasive in the Shenandoah Valley. The day is also about removing the stigma from conversations about drug use.
“Substance use disorder does not discriminate,” said Jennifer Brugh, Program Director at BHG Staunton Treatment Center.
Brugh said substance use disorder touches every class, gender and race.
“It can affect across the spectrum: patients in very low-income communities and also people in middle-class, in very high income brackets,” Brugh said.
Drugs like opioids and methamphetamine are especially common in the Shenandoah Valley.
“Substance use disorder can affect everyone, especially opioid use disorder because so often it stems from a patient, person, that was legitimately prescribed an opiate for pain,” she said.
Overdose Awareness Day is a chance to honor those lost to overdoses, but Brugh said it’s more than that, too.
“A lot of times we talk about memorializing, which is also important, but also still being aware that overdoses happen even sometimes multiple times among our population with substance use disorder as well,” Brugh said.
Substance use disorder was added to the Diagnostic Statistical Manual in 1980, classifying it as a disorder alongside things like depression.
“Not only does it not discriminate, but it’s not a moral failing. It’s based biologically. The same way that a mental diagnosis – you know, major depressive disorder, substance use disorder is the same,” she said.
In 2018, 1,486 people died from drug overdose in the Commonwealth. In 2019, 1,627. In 2020, that number rose to 2,309, and in 2021, 2,667. The rate of fatal drug overdoses in 2022 is expected to be below last year’s number but still over 2,600.
“We’re all humans. Just encourage people to express kindness and compassion towards people,” Brugh said. “Rather than looking at this person like, ‘Oh, they’re just a junkie’ or some other terrible term that some people use, just looking at them as a human.”
At Staunton Treatment Center, it’s important to acknowledge what International Overdose Awareness Day means.
“We have posted inside here some recovery stories from people of all walks of life. We also have a memorial wall so that our patients can put a candle and a little message for anybody they may have lost or if anybody has experienced an overdose in their own life, maybe for themselves,” Brugh said.
There are many options for people seeking treatment.
BHG Staunton Treatment Center, Mid Atlantic Recovery Center and the Valley Community Services Board all offer medication assisted treatment for opioid use disorder.
Valley Community Services Board also has an outpatient option. Strength in Peers in Harrisonburg also options harm reduction options, like needle exchanges, Narcan and HIV or Hepatitis C testing.
If you don’t know where to turn for help, you can call SAMHSA’s National Hotline at 1-800-662-4357 for confidential free help.
Copyright 2022 WHSV. All rights reserved. | https://www.whsv.com/2022/08/31/substance-use-disorder-does-not-discriminate-honoring-overdose-awareness-day-valley/ | 2022-08-31T22:44:41Z |
TSA confiscates meat cleaver, saw blade from passenger’s carry-on bag
Published: Aug. 31, 2022 at 5:56 PM EDT|Updated: 48 minutes ago
(Gray News) – The Transportation Security Administration shared pictures of a few scary-looking items they confiscated from a passenger’s carry-on bag.
The TSA in the Great Lakes region posted the pictures on Twitter on Aug. 30.
The items they confiscated at a checkpoint in O’Hare National Airport in Chicago included a meat cleaver and a saw blade. The items were among other tools the passenger removed from their bag and placed into a bin to be checked by security.
The TSA said in the tweet that sharp objects are not allowed to be carried onto flights and should be wrapped and packaged safely in a passenger’s checked baggage.
Copyright 2022 Gray Media Group, Inc. All rights reserved. | https://www.whsv.com/2022/08/31/tsa-confiscates-meat-cleaver-saw-blade-passengers-carry-on-bag/ | 2022-08-31T22:44:47Z |
Two businesses donate 200+ backpacks and food to Valley Mission
STAUNTON, Va. (WHSV) - Coca-Cola Consolidated and Kroger Mid-Atlantic teamed up Wednesday, Aug. 31 to deliver over 200 backpacks to Valley Mission in Staunton.
The backpacks are filled with non-perishable foods, and the bags can then be refilled, taken to school or work, or used to carry belongings. The bags will be distributed to people who stay at the mission or people who eat meals there.
Leaders with Coca-Cola and Kroger said contributing to projects like this is very important to them.
“Our company purpose says we’re going to honor God in all we do, and this is just one of the many ways that we are able to do that,” said Wayne Tyree, the Engagement Manager with Coca-Cola Consolidated.
“It’s so important that we give back to the communities in which we operate. There are so many families that are facing food insecurity, and we think it’s really important that we help address that,” said James Menees, Corporate Affairs Manager at Kroger Mid-Atlantic Division.
Susan Richardson, Executive Director of Valley Mission, said hunger is an issue in the Shenandoah Valley, and they hope this can help people who need it.
“We really just want to stand in the gap to help people, especially now, when there is a lot of instability in terms of employment and inflation, so we’re just really pleased to partner with local businesses who care. They care about our folks, they care about people in the community who have food insecurities,” said Richardson.
The bags include things like peanut butter, crackers and cereal.
Copyright 2022 WHSV. All rights reserved. | https://www.whsv.com/2022/08/31/two-businesses-donate-200-backpacks-food-valley-mission/ | 2022-08-31T22:44:54Z |
US Marshals capture ex-Marine, most wanted murder suspect in Central America
(Gray News) - An ex-Marine and a most wanted fugitive for the alleged murder of his girlfriend has been arrested in Central America.
Raymond McLeod, 37, was arrested on Monday in El Salvador. The U.S. Marshals Service said the team had received a tip that McLeod had been teaching English at a school in Sonsonate.
Authorities said McLeod confirmed his identity to members of the U.S. Marshals team and members of the U.S. Embassy. They were on the ground with the El Salvadoran police when they took him into custody.
“I am extremely gratified to hear the news of Raymond McLeod’s arrest without incident,” said U.S. Marshals Director Ronald Davis.
McLeod was on the U.S. Marshals 15 most wanted list for allegedly killing his girlfriend, 30-year-old Krystal Mitchell, in 2016.
Authorities said Mitchell was found dead at an acquaintance’s residence in San Diego. The couple was visiting friends at the time of the incident.
During the investigation, police said they found evidence of a struggle and that McLeod was the last person to see Mitchell alive.
The San Diego District Attorney’s Office charged McLeod with murder, and a warrant was issued for his arrest. In December 2016, authorities asked the U.S. Marshals to join the search and lead the fugitive investigation for McLeod.
“It is our sincere hope that his capture brings some sense of relief to Krystal Mitchell’s family, especially her mother, Josephine Wentzel, who has worked so diligently with law enforcement these past years to see this day of justice arrive,” Davis said.
The U.S. Marshals and San Diego police said they believed McLeod fled through Mexico to Central America after Mitchell’s death. His last reported locations were in Belize in 2018 and Guatemala in 2017.
Officials said the U.S. Marshals intensified the search for the former Marine in April 2021, offering a reward of up to $50,000 for information leading to his capture.
The U.S. Marshals Service said McLeod would be deported to San Diego to face the charges against him.
Copyright 2022 Gray Media Group, Inc. All rights reserved. | https://www.whsv.com/2022/08/31/us-marshals-capture-ex-marine-most-wanted-murder-suspect-central-america/ | 2022-08-31T22:45:00Z |
VT students heading to KY to assist in relief efforts
BLACKSBURG, Va. (WDBJ) - A group of Virginia Tech students will be lending a helping hand in the Kentucky flood relief efforts.
Students will be cleaning out mud from homes, preparing meals and organizing supplies for victims in Letcher County, KY.
The initiative is called “Holler to Holler.”
Around 30 students will leave September 3, to help with relief efforts before returning to Blacksburg September 5.
“For the volunteers involved in this effort, really, the main focus is serving back and helping the community, because one of the beautiful things about being a part of a community is that when there are those that are suffering, and those in times of need, it’s up to us that go support and uplift them,” Virginia Tech senior Gabriel Mendelson said.
The group also is also raising money for relief efforts in Kentucky. If you’d like to donate click here.
Copyright 2022 WDBJ. All rights reserved. | https://www.whsv.com/2022/08/31/vt-students-heading-ky-assist-relief-efforts/ | 2022-08-31T22:45:07Z |
Puerto Rican rapper Residente is challenging the definition of America NPR | By Enrique Rivera Published August 31, 2022 at 3:49 PM MDT Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Flipboard Listen • 7:58 Puerto Rican musician Residente is gearing up for his biggest fight yet – challenging the meaning of America. Copyright 2022 NPR | https://www.wyomingpublicmedia.org/2022-08-31/puerto-rican-rapper-residente-is-challenging-the-definition-of-america | 2022-08-31T22:46:32Z |
Back in January, we told you about a different kind of COVID vaccine that had just been approved for use in India. The vaccine, called Corbevax, had some very attractive properties: It's low-cost, easy to make using well-established biotech processes — and patent-free.
The vaccine's inventors were hoping it would help address questions of vaccine equity for countries that can't afford to make or buy expensive vaccines like the ones sold by Pfizer and Moderna.
It appears their strategy is working. Since Corbevax was authorized for use last December, Indian health authorities have administered quite a few doses. Here's where things stood on August 10 when I spoke with the two scientists who invented it: Peter Hotez and Maria Elena Botazzi, co-directors of the Center for Vaccine Development at Texas Children's Hospital.
"The new numbers as of this week from the Indian government say that 70 million doses have gone into arms," Hotez says. Those arms belong to adolescents, but on August 10 the vaccine was authorized for use as a booster in people 18 and older.
Not only does the experience so far suggest the vaccine confers long-lasting immunity, it also appears to be quite safe.
"We have not seen any pharmacovigilance that says otherwise," Botazzi says. Pharmacovigilance is the technical term for monitoring for bad side effects from a drug or vaccine.
In addition to using low-cost materials, Botazzi says they also wanted to be culturally sensitive. For example, they made sure no products derived from animals were needed to make the vaccine.
"Our technology is considered vegan and therefore we can develop this vaccine as a halal certified vaccine," she says – an important consideration in countries with a large Islamic population like Indonesia.
Wondering how the world would respond
It wasn't certain at first countries would take to Corbevax.
"A lot of people initially thought the global market for COVID vaccines is quite saturated," says Prashant Yadav, a senior fellow at the Center for Global Development. "Will there be a place for a late entrant, even if it comes at a lower cost and even if it comes with more open intellectual property?"
The answer to that question appears to be yes. In addition to a partnership with Biological E in India, a company called Biofarma in Indonesia is planning to make Corbevax.
And African countries are showing interest.
"Corbervax has been approved by the Botswana Medicines Regulator Authority," says Mogomatsi Matshaba, an adviser to the Botswana government on COVID-19 and executive director of Botswana-Baylor. He says Corbevax has not yet been used there, but he expects it will be, as well as in other African countries.
"The plan is to start mass production in Botswana," he says.
Of course lately, there have been new variants of the COVID virus, and it's not clear how well Corbevax will work against them. The Texas team that made Corbevax is trying to make a version of their vaccine that will work against all varieties of the virus.
At least one member of the U.S. Congress was so impressed with Hotez and Botazzi that she nominated the pair for the Nobel Peace Prize
"Their effort is to bring health, peace and security to all people by making it possible to vaccinate the world," says Lizzie Fletcher, a Texas Democrat. "So I think that that's very much in keeping with the purpose of the prize."
Winning a Nobel prize is probably a long shot, but that's OK with Hotez.
"I'm on cloud nine and I think Dr. Bottazzi is as well in part because, you know, it's not just the recognition, it's the fact that we showed there's another way to do this," he says — a way for a small, academically focused lab to make a vaccine that's safe, effective and affordable.
Copyright 2022 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org. | https://www.wyomingpublicmedia.org/2022-08-31/whatever-happened-to-the-new-no-patent-covid-vaccine-touted-as-a-global-game-changer | 2022-08-31T22:46:39Z |
Several Wyoming movie theaters will be selling tickets for $3 on Saturday, Sept. 3 as part of their participation in National Cinema Day, a special nationwide promotion sponsored by the non-profit Cinema Foundation. The hope is to increase theater ticket sales, which dramatically decreased during the pandemic.
“So, it’s been pretty slow the last few weeks but I’m hoping this brings extra people in,” said Melissa Cogan, manager of the six-screen Foothills Theatres in Gillette, which will be participating. “You know, movies can be expensive, and we understand that, so maybe that three-dollar ticket will bring a few extras in.”
Cogan said that they’ve had a very good summer attendance-wise with popular movies such as Top Gun: Maverick driving people to the big screen. This year’s ticket sales are in line with pre-pandemic attendance after a disastrous 2020 and 2021.
“Since about December, well even November really of last year, is when we started to see some light at the end of the tunnel from COVID,” she explained. “We really had a great summer with Top Gun and Thor and a combination of other movies, but it just kind of just celebrate[s] just being in the theater back where we used to be, and hopefully we can stay there.”
Cogan said she doesn’t have any idea of how many moviegoers will show up but is optimistic that it will be a good turnout.
The multi-screen theater in Sheridan is also participating in the National Cinema Day promotion.
“I think it’ll be a lot more than we have been [for attendance] and I think it’ll be a pretty busy weekend for us,” said Kendra Tanner, manager of the six-screen Centennial Theaters. “I am hopeful.”
Overall, she said this year’s attendance figures are still lagging from where they were pre-pandemic, but there are positive signs as more people start to fill theaters once again.
“I think we're finally getting back into it with the release of more popular movies like the Marvel movies [that] are starting to come out,” she said. “People are wanting to watch those and big movies, like Top Gun, has been really popular for us because I think it's a lot of nostalgia, and just a good movie overall. And they did it really well. So, people have been wanting to like see movies like those.”
The price of movie tickets has steadily increased over the years. The last time that a regular admission ticket cost $3.00 was in the early 1980s. National Cinema Day is the first large-scale promotion of its kind.
Other participating theaters in the state include those in Casper, Cheyenne, Laramie, Rock Springs, Evanston, and Jackson. | https://www.wyomingpublicmedia.org/arts-culture/2022-08-31/several-wyoming-movie-theaters-are-participating-in-national-cinema-day | 2022-08-31T22:46:45Z |
Country singer and Wyoming resident Luke Bell was found dead this week, following a short, albeit successful career in the music industry.
The 32-year-old’s body was discovered in Tucson, Arizona Monday, August 22, after being reported missing earlier this month. The cause of death is still under investigation. Friend’s of Bell said he struggled with bi-polar disorder throughout his life.
Bell was known for his authentic country sound, often likened to the music of a bygone era, with influences dating back to Johnny Cash, Glen Campbell and George Jones.
Bell was raised in Cody, Wyo. and called the state home up until his death.
Many called him “the real deal,” as he was a rugged cowboy who became a troubadour.
He had only released one album, a self debut album titled ‘Luke Bell,’ released in 2016 after being signed to Thirty Tigers records. Even with a short music career, Bell gained fast notoriety in the country music world, with more than 2 million plays on his hit song ‘Where Ya Been?’ | https://www.wyomingpublicmedia.org/arts-culture/2022-08-31/wyomingite-and-country-musician-luke-bell-found-dead | 2022-08-31T22:46:52Z |
Puerto Rican rapper Residente is challenging the definition of America By Enrique Rivera Published August 31, 2022 at 4:49 PM CDT Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Listen • 7:58 Puerto Rican musician Residente is gearing up for his biggest fight yet – challenging the meaning of America. Copyright 2022 NPR | https://www.keranews.org/2022-08-31/puerto-rican-rapper-residente-is-challenging-the-definition-of-america | 2022-08-31T23:16:58Z |
Virginia’s tie to California law causing split in opinions over vehicle standards
RICHMOND, Va. (WVIR) - Virginia may be impacted by a law passed over on the other side of the country: California is banning the sale of new gas powered cars by 2035.
Then-Governor Ralph Northam signed a bill back in 2021 that tied Virginia to California’s vehicle emission standards. Now, Virginia would also have to ban the sale of new gas powered cars in 13 years if there is not a change in law.
“This is a one of the risks whenever you tie your law to another state’s laws that you’re kind of stuck with them as they change,” 58th District Delegate Rob Bell (R) said.
Del. Bell says he voted against House Bill 1965. He says there’s aspects of it being overlooked that he does not think are as feasible for the commonwealth.
“There’s a much quicker impact, which is by 2026, which is obviously just a few years away, the sales have to be 35% hybrid or electric. At this point, Virginia has 2%. And so whereas California is closer to the number they’re setting, Virginia is nowhere close,” Bell said.
Bell says to change this would require a change in Virginia law, including efforts in the General Assembly.
57th District Delegate Sally Hudson (D) says she doesn’t want the law to change just yet.
“It would be a real mistake for us to step backward,” Del. Hudson said.
Governor Glenn Younkin (R) has expressed that he wants to work to untie Virginia from this California law, but Hudson believes that wouldn’t be a smart plan.
“The federal government gives states two options: We can either use the national emission standards for vehicles, or we can adopt the standards that were first developed by California. So Virginia doesn’t have the authority to design our own standards,” she said.
Hudson says auto manufacturers are prepared to make the switch to comply with these new standards: “They’re planning to do it faster than is required by law. General Motors has already committed to transitioning its North American fleet by 2030. Buick has done the same,” she said.
However, Bell is a bit more hesitant of that progress. It’s the 35% hybrid or electric by 2026 that keeps worrying him: “The dealers have to sell, the manufacturers have to provide cars at that percentage. And so, that’s the issue that the amount of change that would be required over that period is much more sudden now,” Bell said.
Bell says that means losing options for car buying, but Hudson says with more electric vehicles, they’d be cheaper for everyone.
“Clean cars have to be part of combating climate change, because transportation is the single largest source of climate emissions. So it’s not the whole problem, but it’s part of the problem,” Hudson said.
Nothing is set in stone, and the General Assembly could still change this legislation. NBC29 also reached out to Governor Youngkin for an interview but he was not available.
Do you have a story idea? Send us your news tip here.
Copyright 2022 WVIR. All rights reserved. | https://www.whsv.com/2022/08/31/virginias-tie-california-law-causing-split-opinions-over-vehicle-standards/ | 2022-08-31T23:37:27Z |
Boomerang page plan, Sept. 1 Aug 31, 2022 Aug 31, 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 THUSDAY, Sept. 1 A1 (send color)Tease 1TODAY’S PICK US clears updated COVID boosters targeting newest variants, Page A3Tease 2:Sports teaseTease 3:IN THE FIELD Road cycling is where all senses come into play, Page A6MAIN PACKAGE: Breathing room: UW student loan borrowers react to debt relief, Abby (photos)Loan plan reactions mixed: Students happy, politicians not so much, WNE – compliments main; can use one of the photos with this.Buchanan confident in election process without him, WTE (mug, bug)Jumps to A3A2 (send color)Today/tomorrowWorth notingWhat’s happening?WeatherCorrection policy A3 (send color)Today’s pick: US clears updated COVID boosters targeting newest variants, AP (photos)Jumps from A1A4 (send B&W)Syndicated cartoonState leaders ignored school funding, now the bill has come due (Wyoming editorial)Adler column (Other voices)New letters policyA5 (send color)Obits (none that I see)Special prosecutors to serve in child murder case, WTE (photos)People are going gaga for new sport, WNE (photo)Vol. 142 No. 179 A6 OUTDOORS (send B&W)Road cycling, where all senses come into play, Travsky column (photos)Yellowstone volcano, earthquake monitoring plan updated, UW (photo)Out and about briefsMysterious moth-eating grizzlis have a people problem, WNE (file photo) – can hold if you want A7 (send color)Jumps from A6Fishing report – ad goes over it A8 (send color) – HEALTH PRO PAGEShelly sent another ad to plug into hole (email)Shelly also will send a pdf of the story to fill the main holeB SECTION B1-B3 SPORTS (B1 color, B2-B3 B&W) B4-B5 COMICS/PUZZLES (send B&W) B6-B8 CLASSIFIEDS (send color) Facebook Twitter WhatsApp SMS Email Print Copy article link Save Tags Borrower Student Loan Photo Finance Politics Bank Chemistry Color Plan Cycling Ad Clear Linguistics Covid Recommended for you Please enable JavaScript to view the comments powered by Disqus. comments powered by Disqus Trending Now Highway Patrol trooper arrested Tuesday; charges unknown Crumbl Cookies opens location in Cheyenne 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-sept-1/article_14781484-2977-11ed-b320-f764b7c04487.html | 2022-08-31T23:51:46Z |
With the highest rate of suicide per capita in the nation, Wyoming is working through issues that limit mental health care to the state’s rural areas. Metro Creative Photo
The Federal Communications Commission requires phone companies support the 988 number for people to call to reach an existing suicide-prevention hotline, including in Wyoming.
With the highest rate of suicide per capita in the nation, Wyoming is working through issues that limit mental health care to the state’s rural areas. Metro Creative Photo
Metro Creative Photo
The Federal Communications Commission requires phone companies support the 988 number for people to call to reach an existing suicide-prevention hotline, including in Wyoming.
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 in August 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. The committee voted to move forward with the draft bills and formally finalize them in its next meeting.
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 nonprofit 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.”
High demand
“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.
Compacts
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.”
WyoFile is an independent nonprofit news organization focused on Wyoming people, places and policy.
WyoFile is an independent nonprofit news organization focused on Wyoming people, places and policy. | https://www.wyomingnews.com/news/local_news/state-mulls-joining-mental-health-care-compacts/article_5074937e-28b2-11ed-a5a0-8b2d94965abd.html | 2022-08-31T23:51:58Z |
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Sgt. Tyler Holloway of the 115 Field Artillery Brigade in the Wyoming Army National Guard calls in a medical evacuation as part of a round-robin set of events at the Volunteer Training Site in Milan, Tenn.
CHEYENNE — Legislators hope to provide state funding to the Wyoming Guard for future recruitment and retention efforts.
The Wyoming Military Department has reiterated its need for support in the wake of being seven percentage points below the strength goal of 102% in 2021, which members of the Wyoming Legislature’s Joint Transportation, Highways and Military Affairs Committee heard Wednesday. Without funding for incentives from the state, it could be nearly a decade before the department meets the 100% threshold.
Even with this year being a large success in terms of accessions, officials said they are bracing for the impacts of COVID-19 vaccination requirements. Many are waiting for their religious accommodations, or other aspects of the process, and will no longer be able to serve if not approved.
“We anticipate that number may go down to as low as 85% of our end strength,” said Maj. Karen Hinkle. “So, you’ll see a pretty significant dip.”
In response to these concerns, leaders of the Transportation Committee asked the Legislative Service Office to draft two bills before its next meeting in early November. One is designed to temporarily fund incentive payments for successful referrals to the Guard, which would include a starting appropriation of $350,000 per biennium, and another bill would enhance existing state education and tuition benefits for Guard members.
The two bills are based on proposals put forward by a working group that identifies and studies opportunities to address recruiting and retention goals. Hinkle said the department has discovered it is a more complex issue than a lack of desire from candidates.
In fiscal year 2019, the Department of Defense as a whole attracted 565 candidates from Wyoming, and in 2022, it decreased to only 241 applicants.
“The Wyoming Army National Guard has captured 41% of the market of all new people in Wyoming who are joining in military service. The only thing that’s been kept out of that number is the Air National Guard,” said Hinkle, who didn’t clarify why the Air Guard number wasn’t included. “So, our recruiting team is doing a fantastic job when it comes to attracting applicants. The problem is the applicant pool has shrunk significantly.”
Other factors leading to a decline in accessions has been a lack of qualified applicant pool; low test scores; increased medical issues, criminal records and disqualifying mental health conditions; and deterrence due to the COVID-19 vaccine mandate.
Wyoming military data also shows a decrease in retention. The top reasons for leaving include retirement, members rendered ineligible to serve due to medical issues, declining to re-enlist because of political concerns of benefits being used up and interstate transfer. They often stay for incentives, quality of life, military education and a sense of community.
Incentivizing service
Tapping into incentives is key for both military officials and lawmakers.
One of the more direct paths is providing a cash bonus of $500 to Guard members who make a successful referral. The appropriation would be included in an individual bill. Since it was recommended as a three-year program, the department would likely receive $525,000 from the Legislature. Several other states have adopted a similar program, and Hinkle said the department believes it will maximize peer-to-peer recruiting.
The second piece of legislation that will be considered at the next Transportation Committee meeting covers additions to the Wyoming National Guard tuition assistance program. It currently limits participation to one program for a degree, requires a six-year service commitment, and there is no option to transfer the benefit to spouse or dependents, unlike the GI Bill.
Hinkle said with additional funding from the state, the Wyoming Military Department could put it toward authorizing the transfer of unused benefit to a spouse or dependent, and authorize funding for individuals to obtain a second degree from the state. They would have to commit to additional years in the Guard in exchange.
“The goal here is to really incentivize them to stay past that first term of service,” she said.
Committee members also discussed other recruitment and retention measures that will not be developed into draft bills yet, but target members to relocate to Wyoming or incentivize out-of-state members to join Wyoming Guard units. Some of those included reduction in vehicle registration rates, property tax exemptions, as well as reduced costs for hunting, fishing and camping permits, preferential treatment for hunting tag draws and admission to state recreational facilities.
The working group made up of legislators and military recruitment officials will continue to deliberate on those topics, as well as returning the Combat Vets Tuition Program to its original benefit level.
Jasmine Hall is the Wyoming Tribune Eagle’s state government reporter. She can be reached by email at jhall@wyomingnews.com or by phone at 307-633-3167. Follow her on Twitter @jasminerhphotos and on Instagram @jhrose25. | https://www.wyomingnews.com/rawlinstimes/news/lawmakers-want-support-for-wyoming-guard-recruitment/article_c305181a-27a3-11ed-abb2-3b4bcd1d5ec1.html | 2022-08-31T23:52:10Z |
Donald Trump has more than $100 million in his political war chest. But he has something even more valuable — an active FBI investigation against him.
Anyone can raise money. Few can dominate the nation’s political consciousness, cleaving the country into two passionately opposed sides and giving rise to perfervid theories and counter-theories, based on being the target of a law enforcement action. That’s the quality that Trump has brought to the table for years, and it is boosting him still.
Democrats all over the country have been cynically and not-so-subtly promoting MAGA candidates in GOP primaries. If the Federal Bureau of Investigations were doing the same thing, it wouldn’t have handled its search of Mar-a-Lago any differently.
The raid has put Trump front-and-center again. It has made it easy for him to portray himself as an embattled victim. It has caused nearly everyone in the GOP to embrace him.
Of course, none of this was intended by FBI Director Christopher Wray, although it was entirely foreseeable.
No one is above the law, yet if the FBI search was really over a document dispute, it’s hard to see how the law-enforcement stakes were big enough to justify taking a step sure to inflame roughly half the country.
The episode and its fallout are a reminder that the magnitude of controversy and attention generated by Trump is beyond what anyone else can hope to match.
Ron DeSantis recently suspended a “woke” county prosecutor who pledged not to enforce laws that he opposed. For a couple of days, this felt like a big deal. Yet, compared to the action at Mar-a-Lago, the firing was a picayune dispute over county government — Hollywood, Florida, compared to Hollywood, California.
The FBI search played into Trump’s hands in another way. Populism thrives on the sense that big, out-of-control forces are wielding outsize power, that things aren’t what they seem, and that institutions are fundamentally corrupt.
Trump built his political career playing to this sentiment. He portrays himself as the courageous fighter against such malign forces, and their victim.
For him, the contention that he’s being treated unfairly, a constant throughout his adult life, is both a negotiating posture (“How dare you charge such an exorbitant amount to build the clubhouse at my new golf course?”) and a worldview. In the political realm, the more he’s being cheated, the worse and more malevolent his enemies are — and the more his supporters need to rally to his side.
That’s what happened after the raid — for good reason.
It is impossible to overestimate the effect of the Russia investigation on the Republican psyche. To have a couple of years of “the walls are closing in” media coverage, speculation Trump might be a Russian agent, and an intense special counsel investigation all coming to naught and predicated on the Steele dossier that was laughably bogus from the start won’t soon be forgotten.
After that experience, no assurance that, “There’s no way the FBI would do that,” or, “Well, they had a warrant, so it must be OK,” is ever going to get any traction for Republicans.
And because any political taint around federal law enforcement naturally raises apocalyptic fears — and don’t kid yourselves progressives, you’d feel the same way if the shoe was on the other front — there is no room for modulation or nuance.
To the extent Trump becomes the central figure in a Manichean struggle between good and evil, it makes any other concern — electability, a well-considered and achievable agenda — seem small-minded by comparison.
Now, maybe what we learn about the classified material sought by the FBI turns out to be so shocking that the search looks different in the cold light of day.
Maybe, the initial rallying around Trump fades.
Maybe. For now, the chances of another Republican beating Trump for the GOP nomination look more remote. Thank you, Christopher Wray.
Rich Lowry is a syndicated columnist. Follow him on Twitter @RichLowry. | https://www.wyomingnews.com/rawlinstimes/opinion/guest_column/why-is-the-fbi-choosing-bidens-opponent-for-him/article_d2f6e312-27a2-11ed-962d-5fe84cde0c2f.html | 2022-08-31T23:52:17Z |
President Joe Biden speaks about student loan debt forgiveness in the Roosevelt Room of the White House, on Aug. 24 in Washington. Education Secretary Miguel Cardona listens at right. AP
CHEYENNE – Wyoming ranks first in the nation for the percentage of federal student loan borrowers whose debt will be completely eliminated with $10,000 in forgiveness.
The opportunity may be available to residents following the announcement from President Joe Biden that he will forgive $10,000 in federal student debt for most borrowers, and up to $20,000 for recipients of Pell Grants. An additional payment pause will be extended through Dec. 31, and undergraduate loan payments may be capped at 5% of an individual’s monthly income.
If the administration follows through with the plan, nearly 37.8% of residents who took out federal student loans will have a zero balance, according to the analysis done by Student Loan Hero. The data from the U.S. The Department of Education shows the other two states impacted at the highest percentage are Nevada and Utah at just above 36%.
Student Loan Hero Senior Economist Jacob Channel told the Wyoming Tribune Eagle this is made possible in part because loan borrowers in Wyoming owe 20% less than the national average of $36,689. At close to $29,000 per federal and private student borrower, only residents in Nebraska and North Dakota have a similar low student debt portfolio.
“The reason for that primarily has to do with the fact that there aren’t necessarily a ton of private schools in Wyoming,” he said. “A lot of people gravitate toward either community college or the University of Wyoming, both of which are generally cheaper options that don’t require as much debt as some other institutions might. So in that regard, I think that Wyoming is in pretty good shape.”
While the average is $29,000 among borrowers across the state, the statistic is influenced by the residents in the older age demographic.
The Education Data Initiative reported that as of April 2022, the highest number of borrowers fell into the 36-to-49 year old category at 17,900, and they owed an average of $40,000. This totals more than $740 million in student debt. Residents age 50 and older also owed the highest amount of debt, with an average of more than $40,000 per borrower.
Channel said many older borrowers may have not been able to afford to back the amount requested by the Department of Education, and the debt had to sit there and accumulate.
“You do have some contingent of people who are going to school later in life for the first time, who maybe missed out on some opportunities for scholarships that might be a little bit more readily available to high school students,” he said. “The main reason would be that based on how student loans work, if you’re not able to make a full payment on them…your debt can quickly spiral out of control because of the interest rates on it.”
He added this can happen in spite of college tuition costing significantly less 20 to 30 years ago. It is confirmed by reports from the National Center for Education Statistics that found after adjusting for currency inflation, college tuition has increased 747.8% since 1963.
Although younger students are expected to pay thousands more in tuition, they are among the borrowers with the least amount of student loan debt. There are close to 8,500 Wyoming residents who are 24 years old and younger and owe an average of $10,5888, according to the Education Data Initiative. Former students between ages 25 and 34 owe an average of $26,257, and there are 17,900 borrowers.
“It still illustrates that for a lot of new borrowers, these younger groups that we often talk more about when we’re talking about student loans, they can easily find themselves in the same situation as older people,” Channel said. “Where they can’t pay their payments and then their debt can balloon.”
Jasmine Hall is the Wyoming Tribune Eagle’s state government reporter. She can be reached by email at jhall@wyomingnews.com or by phone at 307-633-3167. Follow her on Twitter @jasminerhphotos and on Instagram @jhrose25. | https://www.wyomingnews.com/wyoming-significantly-impacted-by-possible-student-loan-relief/article_f4cf9dcc-297c-11ed-9498-171e404e856e.html | 2022-08-31T23:52:23Z |
Update: Suspect in custody after bicyclist, good Samaritan killed in crash Tuesday
A suspect is in custody after a bicyclist and a woman who tried to help him died during two separate collisions Tuesday night in Port Huron Township.
According to a media release, the St. Clair County Sheriff's Department identified a suspect vehicle responsible for hitting the good samaritan — a light-colored Lincoln — as of late afternoon Wednesday. Authorities said that the suspect who is being investigated is also being held at the county jail on an unrelated warrant.
The sheriff's department posted on social media that a 30-year-old Marysville man called 911 at about 10:30 p.m. Tuesday to report he had hit a bicyclist in the 3700 block of Dove Road in the township.
A 40-year-old woman living nearby came to the scene to help and was reportedly hit by the Lincoln.
The woman and the bicyclist, a 56-year-old Fort Gratiot man, were pronounced dead at the scene.
The driver who called 911 remained at the scene and is cooperating with the investigation, according to the sheriff's department.
The driver of the second vehicle involved fled.
Anyone with information regarding this incident is asked to contact the detective bureau at (810) 987-1711. | https://www.thetimesherald.com/story/news/2022/08/31/bicyclist-good-samaritan-dead-following-crash-tuesday/65465777007/ | 2022-09-01T00:03:33Z |
Community Foundation pauses Come Home plan pending student loan decisions
Paying off his student loans meant Andrew Kercher could buy his dream home in his native Port Huron, a historic house on Military Street. That sale came in the nick of time as the world shut down for the COVID-19 pandemic just days after the final sale.
Kercher was a 2019 recipient of the Community Foundation of St. Clair County's Come Home award, a reverse scholarship granted to college graduates who agree to move to St. Clair County in exchange for receiving money to pay off their student loans.
Kercher lived all over Michigan before returning home to take a job as the community engagement manager for Port Huron Museums, a career that he is passionate about and helps him feel connected to the community. Things have fallen into place for him, with his marriage, dream job and historic home, but that is a feat that might not have been possible if it wasn't for every dollar he received from both the award and other sources to pay off his student loans.
"By being able to pay off the last of my student loans, with a little bit of help from my grandparents, and funds like the Come Home funds, I was able to be at the right place at the right time to buy the home I'm in now. My wife and I love it," Kercher said. "We actually closed on our house basically the week the pandemic started, so any sort of delay, anything that had held me back even another week or two, I have no idea if I would even still be living in Port Huron because so much would have changed."
The announcement of U.S. President Joe Biden's federal student loan program last week will place a temporary pause on the Come Home award, which might allow the foundation to redirect funds to other talent attraction programs, said Community Foundation of St. Clair County President and CEO Randy Maiers.
Community Foundation of St. Clair County looking to attract all young talent to St. Clair County
The award grants up to $15,000 to college graduates who agree to move to St. Clair County and secure a job in the science, technology, engineering, arts and math fields. The scholarship money must be used to pay off student debt from a two- or four-year undergraduate program, or graduate program.
Since its inception in 2016, a total of $209,000 has been awarded to 21 recipients, Maiers said.
Biden's federal student loan debt forgiveness program will grant up to $10,000 in student loan relief, and up to $20,000 for Pell Grant recipients, for single people earning under $125,000 or married couples with a combined income of under $250,000.
Maiers said the federal student loan forgiveness program will put a pause on the Come Home program while applicants and recipients determine whether they qualify for federal student loan forgiveness.
The money that might be saved by the federal student loan forgiveness program will then be reallocated to other talent attraction programs, Maiers said. This could be programs such as the foundation's newer Talent Attraction fund, trade programs, or grants requested by the foundation's community partners.
However, how much — or even if any — money will be reallocated remains to be seen as borrowers sort out the federal student loan forgiveness program in the coming months, Maiers said.
The community foundation's Talent Attraction program — which began in summer 2021 — is geared to attract a more diverse pool of young talent, whether that be college graduates, those in skilled trades, or entrepreneurs without a college degree.
Small businesses and nonprofits can apply to the program for up to $5,000 to allocate to new employees in the form of a sign-on bonus or reimbursement for moving expenses. New employees cannot already live in St. Clair County.
Maiers said the community foundation received no applicants when the program was introduced last summer, so the foundation broadened the potential applicant pool from its community partners to any nonprofit or small business in certain geographic areas of St. Clair County.
So far, the foundation has received one application for this summer's application cycle, Maiers said. Talent attraction is a priority the foundation will continue to focus on, he said.
Young talent adds to small towns' economic vibrancy
Maiers said community foundations are interested in attracting young talent to their areas to support economic vibrancy. Every worker adds value to the community and economic vibrancy of a region by investing in the community's businesses and civic and community organizations. Families also send their children to area schools, helping depleting enrollments that result in loss of funding.
"We're seeing young people leave college with $40,000, $50,000 or $60,000 in student debt and when they come back to St. Clair or Marysville or Port Huron with that kind of debt they struggle to be able to buy a house or live downtown or start a family," Maiers said. "We and other foundations like us advocate for living downtown, settling down, coming back to small town America, spending your money here. So for us, it comes full circle. If we can help give them a break on their monthly payment, they can afford to settle down. They can afford to start a family. They can afford to buy a house."
And for some recipients like Marysville resident Kim DeLand, the Come Home award also provides a means to return home where there is family, friends and other social support.
DeLand had been working for Yale Public Schools and living in Royal Oak with her partner, now husband, when she learned of the Come Home scholarship. The award, which was granted to her in 2017, gave her the incentive she needed to return to her native Marysville, where her family and her husband's family live.
"When you don't have to make a $300 a month payment or something like that, you're obviously going to have more money to spend on other stuff like a mortgage," DeLand said.
The come home award allowed her to enter her marriage with less debt, and now the couple own a home in Marysville with plans to stay for the long haul.
"This is where we hail from. This is where our families are from and it's great to be able to work and live in the community that you care about," DeLand said.
Contact Laura Fitzgerald at (810) 941-7072 or lfitzgeral@gannett.com. USA Today also contributed to this report. | https://www.thetimesherald.com/story/news/2022/08/31/community-foundation-pauses-reverse-scholarship-program/65458956007/ | 2022-09-01T00:03:36Z |
Power to be restored for some DTE customers tonight following Monday night's storms
Laura Fitzgerald
Port Huron Times Herald
DTE released estimated power restoration times for St. Clair County after a line of storms knocked out power for some residents Monday night.
For customers in western St. Clair County, power is estimated to be restored by 10 p.m. Thursday or Friday nights. Harsens Island customers are expected to have their power restored by 10 p.m. tonight, according to DTE's outage map.
National Weather Service meteorologist Trent Frey said a line of squalls with wind gusts of 60 to 70 mph came through southeastern Michigan Monday night, causing minor wind damage in the form of downed trees and power lines.
An alert on DTE's site urged customers to continue to stay at least 20 feet away from downed power lines or anything the line touches. | https://www.thetimesherald.com/story/news/2022/08/31/power-to-be-restored-for-some-dte-customers-tonight-following-monday-nights-storms/65465757007/ | 2022-09-01T00:03:37Z |
Port Huron man arrested following threat at McLaren Port Huron hospital
A Port Huron man was arrested following a threat to McLaren Port Huron hospital Tuesday.
A threat was made to the hospital via phone call shortly after 9:30 a.m. Tuesday, causing the facility to go into lockdown, according to the Port Huron Police Department.
Earlier report:Lockdown lifted at McLaren Port Huron Hospital
Later that day, a suspect was identified. Police attempted to contact him, but he refused to come out of his house. A search warrant was served at the suspect's residence by the Port Huron Special Response Team, and he was arrested without incident, the police department said.
A search of the home revealed the 56-year-old suspect did not have the means to carry out the threats he made towards the hospital, the department said.
Police said the suspect confessed to making the threat when interviewed by detectives, and said he was sorry and had no intention of carrying out the threat.
The suspect is facing charges of making terroristic threats and a habitual offender.
Those with information about the incident should call the Port Huron Police Department at (810) 984-8415 or CAPTURE at (810) 987-6688. Anonymous texts can also be received by texting the keyword CAPTURE and the message/tip to 847411 or by downloading the Port Huron PD app on an apple or android device. Tips can also be emailed by clicking on the CAPTURE link at porthuronpolice.org.
Contact Laura Fitzgerald at (810) 941-7072 or lfitzgeral@gannett.com. | https://www.thetimesherald.com/story/news/crime/2022/08/31/port-huron-man-arrested-following-threat-at-mclaren-port-huron/65465518007/ | 2022-09-01T00:03:39Z |
Blue Water Area football: Week 2 picks feature a pair of BWAC battles
Week 1 taught me a valuable lesson. Be careful when picking against BWAC teams.
I went 3-2 with my picks last week. Not bad for a first try. It's just not as impressive as the BWAC, which finished 6-1. Oh and the two games I predicted incorrectly? Both were won by teams from that conference (Almont and Armada).
Lesson learned. Here are my picks for Week 2:
Croswell-Lexington (1-0) at Richmond (1-0), 7 p.m. Thursday
This will be one of two matchups between BWAC teams with 1-0 records. Both the Pioneers and Blue Devils came away with double-digit victories in Week 1. Cros-Lex rolled Saginaw Swan Valley, 34-7, while Richmond blanked St. Clair, 14-0.
Each club's quarterback got off to a strong start. Cros-Lex's Gavin Espinoza finished 4-for-11 passing for 44 yards and one touchdown. The junior also ran for 109 yards and one score on nine carries. Richmond's Anthony Bonnetti went 5-for-11 for 72 yards. The sophomore rushed for 24 yards and two touchdowns on five attempts.
But the equalizer will likely be Pioneers running back Gabriel Groppi. He ran for a whopping 217 yards (9.4 per carry) and two scores on 23 touches in the season opener. It was the second-highest single-game rushing total of Groppi's career (235 yards against Armada on Oct. 15, 2021).
By comparison, the Blue Devils had 172 yards of total offense last week. Richmond should fare better against Cros-Lex than it did in the previous matchup, a 56-0 road loss. But the Pioneers just have too many weapons.
The pick: Cros-Lex
Marine City (0-1) at Clawson (0-1), 7 p.m. Thursday
If you haven't heard by now, the Mariners lost their first home game since 2019 last week. Armada pulled off a 28-27 non-conference upset in double overtime.
Yet the sky is not falling in Marine City. Yes, a loss is a loss. But it's not like the Mariners were overmatched. The game came down to the final play. So let's look at the positives.
Marine City still had 337 yards of total offense. Quarterback Jeffery Heaslip went 9-for-22 passing for 140 yards and two touchdowns. Running back Zach Tetler ran for 112 yards and one touchdown on 16 carries. Six of those rushing attempts resulted in a first down. Neither player had a turnover.
Those numbers normally result in a victory. But Armada made the plays it needed to in order to win. Especially on fourth down, where the Tigers went 5-for-5 on conversion attempts. The Mariners' defense can't let that happen against Clawson.
Speaking of the Trojans, they also dropped their opener at home and fell to Perry, 24-14. While Clawson went 7-3 in 2021, its season was bookended by two blowout losses to area teams — 48-0 to Armada on Aug. 27, 2021, and 35-0 to Almont on Oct. 29, 2021.
Marine City also hasn't lost consecutive games in the same season since 2016. Don't expect that streak to end Thursday.
The pick: Marine City
Port Huron (0-1) at Eastpointe (0-1), 7 p.m. Thursday
Last week's 54-0 loss to Grand Rapids Catholic Central left the Big Reds with a sour taste. But they're eager for a chance to bounce back.
"They are not dissuaded or anything," Port Huron coach Dan Perkins said. "They came to work (at practice) and they see that there are challenges in front of them."
Their next challenge will be handling Eastpointe's speed. While Port Huron is also skilled in that department, it's not taking any chances. The Big Reds know their defense, especially in the secondary, must be ready.
"Their wide receiver positions are very fast," Perkins said. "So we're going to have to chase them down. It's multiple people (they have), it's not just a couple."
The Shamrocks lost their opener to Madison Heights Madison on the road, 24-22.
"They don't have great numbers, but up front they've got good size," Perkins said. "They play a number of kids both ways. But with the combination of size and speed, it'll be a challenge. There's no doubt about that."
The pick: Port Huron
Warren Fitzgerald (0-1) at Port Huron Northern (1-0), 7 p.m. Thursday
I'll be honest with you. Last week, I expected Northern to beat St. Clair Shores Lake Shore. I just didn't think it would be by 32 points.
The Huskies' offense played to its potential against the Shorians. Quarterback Dylan Bloink finished 7-for-12 passing for 79 yards and one touchdown. The senior also rushed for 35 yards and three touchdowns on nine attempts.
Three different Northern players had multiple receptions — Danny Moore (three catches, 51 yards, one touchdown), Jacob Kerrigan (three catches, 50 yards, one touchdown) and Max Williams (two catches, 13 yards).
All four names listed above are upperclassmen. But even the younger players on Northern's offense found success. Sophomore running back Reace Buckhana ran for 76 yards and the first touchdown of his career.
The box score should look similar this week against Warren Fitzgerald, which just lost to Warren Mott 36-0. Expect defensive end Luke Fletcher and linebacker Alex Armstrong to have a field day on defense.
The pick: Port Huron Northern
Yale (1-0) at Armada (1-0), 7 p.m. Thursday
The Tigers enter their home opener fresh off an upset of Marine City. Meanwhile, the Bulldogs obliterated Dearborn Heights Annapolis by 35 points last week. We'll learn a lot about the depth of the BWAC from this game.
Armada has been the biggest story in the Blue Water Area as the past few days. That tends to happen when you hand an opponent its first home loss in 1,022 days.
It was a well-rounded victory for the Tigers, who tallied 258 yards of offense. Three different players ran for a touchdown in Kyle Coenen (21 carries, 98 yards), Vinny Fodale (16 carries, 55 yards) and Zac Dykes (11 carries, 27 yards).
Yale had 305 yards of total offense in its triumph. Quarterback Connor Jakubiak was responsible for four of the Bulldogs' five touchdowns. He went 6-for-14 passing for 112 yards and two scores while running for five yards and two touchdowns.
Yardage certainly won't come as easy against Armada. Nothing will for that matter. But this will be a good measuring stick for Yale, which can reach its win total from last season with a victory.
The pick: Armada
Contact Brenden Welper at bwelper@gannett.com. Follow him on Twitter @BrendenWelper. | https://www.thetimesherald.com/story/sports/2022/08/31/blue-water-area-football-week-2-picks-feature-bwac-battles/65462360007/ | 2022-09-01T00:03:45Z |
Former Idaho lawmaker sentenced to 20 years in prison for rape
Published: Aug. 31, 2022 at 7:59 PM EDT|Updated: 13 minutes ago
BOISE, Idaho (AP) — A former Idaho lawmaker convicted of raping a 19-year-old legislative intern has been sentenced to 20 years in prison for the crime.
Fourth District Judge Michael Reardon sentenced Aaron von Ehlinger on Wednesday, saying he must serve at least eight years before he will be eligible for parole.
The judge said von Ehlinger failed to show empathy or remorse, and that it was clear he was not ready for sex offender treatment.
The Republican from Lewiston resigned from the Idaho House of Representatives last year after an ethics committee recommended that he be banned from the statehouse.
Von Ehlinger has maintained that the sex was consensual.
Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. | https://www.wvva.com/2022/08/31/former-idaho-lawmaker-sentenced-20-years-prison-rape/ | 2022-09-01T00:13:16Z |
Golfer continues to hit the links at 100 years old with longtime friend
FARGO, N.D. (WDAY) - A 100-year-old golfer and his 92-year-old longtime cart partner rarely miss a morning round of golf.
The two longtime friends keep up their golf games and are fixtures at a golf course in North Dakota.
They both shoot well below their age, which is not bad when you consider one of them is 100 years old.
Max Olson, 92, and Wendell Johnson, 100, said they get up before the birds do to play their round.
You can find them on the course by 8 a.m., twice a week, and they both hit the ball well.
“We’ve had quite the experiences over the years,” Olson said.
Olson was a barber in the Fargo area for 40 years, and Johnson worked at the post office for 30 years.
Both men have served in the armed forces: Olson in the Korean War and Johnson is a Purple Heart recipient from his time in World War II.
The two have stories and continue to be there for one another.
Johnson said he had to help Olson when his golf cart got stuck in the mud over the summer.
“It was 100-year-old Wendell to the rescue. I had to help him get out of there,” Johnson said.
The two golfers finished their morning round of golf and said they were looking forward to their next game.
“That’s what it’s all about. To have fun, get out in the fresh air, and move around,” Olson said.
Copyright 2022 WDAY via CNN Newsource. All rights reserved. | https://www.wvva.com/2022/08/31/golfer-continues-hit-links-100-years-old-with-longtime-friend/ | 2022-09-01T00:13:23Z |
Serena Williams plays 2nd seed Kontaveit in US Open Round 2
NEW YORK (AP) — For as long as Serena Williams remains in the U.S. Open bracket, there is one overwhelming question that will hang over the proceedings and help define the moment: Could this be the last chance to watch her play?
The second opportunity for spectators to shower Williams with adoration — and for the 23-time major champion to enjoy that outpouring at what she has hinted, but purposely not definitively declared, will be her final tournament — began Wednesday night in Arthur Ashe Stadium, the largest arena in Grand Slam tennis.
The opponent this time: No. 2 seed Anett Kontaveit, a 26-year-old from Estonia whose current ranking is much better than Williams’ is, but whose career resume lacks so much as one quarterfinal victory at any Slam event.
About 1 1/2 hours before the scheduled start of that match, Williams went out to the practice courts for a 30-minute warmup session. She crossed paths with her sister, Venus, who was wrapping up some doubles work on that same court.
As Serena left after her hitting session, crowds cheered, and she paused to wave in their direction with her right hand as she checked her cellphone in her left.
Forget, for a minute, the relative merits of the two players’ skills and styles of play in the Williams vs. Kontaveit matchup. Forget the X’s and O’s. Because this trip to Flushing Meadows is, as always, about the points and the games and the sets and the scores for Williams, who won her first trophy here at age 17 in 1999 and is now 40.
As strident a competitor as tennis, or any sport, has seen, as rightly self-confident in her abilities as an athlete, Williams was not about to think of this whole exercise as merely a farewell tour.
She came to New York wanting to win, of course.
That’s what Williams showed in the first round on Monday, when she got past some early shakiness to beat 80th-ranked Danka Kovinic 6-3, 6-3 in front of a packed house that roared with approval from start to finish. The crowd of more than 23,000 in the stands and thousands of others watching on a video screen outside Ashe helped break the U.S. Open record for largest attendance at a night session.
“I was just thinking, like, ‘Is this for real? Really?’” Williams said about the roars that greeted her entrance for the match, so raucous she “could feel it in my chest.”
“At the same time I’m also thinking, I still have a match to play and I want to be able to play up to this reception, almost. It was so loud. I just was overwhelmed in a good way. But at the same time, it’s like you have to be focused, you have to be laser-focused,” she added. “That’s what I needed to do and that’s what I tried to do.”
Other players who watched from the seats, or on TV, were struck by the scene. One that seemed likely to be repeated on Wednesday.
“For sure, it was like the most popular first round of a Slam, ever. Yeah, it’s just amazing. It shows how much she has changed our sport and how much she has done. I’m pretty happy that she can experience something like that,” said No. 1-ranked Iga Swiatek, a 21-year-old from Poland who owns two French Open titles. “I also feel that not every player would handle that kind of fuss around your first match of the tournament. She’s handling it pretty well, as usual. So that’s just confirmation of how great she is.”
On Wednesday, Williams wore the same glittery crystal-encrusted top and diamond-accented sneakers — replete with solid gold shoelace tags and the word “Queen” on the right one, “Mama” on the left — that she sported Monday. Long someone whose on-court fashion has stood out from the crowd, Williams helped design the Nike combo, which was inspired by what figure skaters wear to compete. Williams’ daughter, Olympia, who turns 5 on Thursday, wore her own version to sit in the stands Monday, along with beads that paid tribute to Mom’s hairstyle when she won her first major title 23 years ago.
Regardless of how Williams vs. Kontaveit went, there would be more in store for the American, who announced on Aug. 9 she was intent on “evolving” away from her playing days (she said she does not like using the word “retirement”).
Williams will team up with Venus in doubles on Thursday night against the Czech duo of Lucie Hradecka and Linda Noskova. It marks the reunion of a partnership that produced 14 Grand Slam doubles championships but last participated in that event anywhere in 2018.
Venus said it was Serena’s idea to enter the doubles.
“More than anything,” said Venus, who is 42, “I just want to hold my side of the court up and be a good sister.”
___
More AP coverage of U.S. Open tennis: https://apnews.com/hub/us-open-tennis-championships and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports
Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. | https://www.wvva.com/2022/08/31/serena-williams-plays-2nd-seed-kontaveit-us-open-round-2/ | 2022-09-01T00:13:32Z |
A shopper stocks up on merchandise at a Sam's Club store on January 12, 2018 in Streamwood, Illinois. The warehouse club, owned by Walmart, announced that it's raising its annual membership fee by 11% — from $45 to $50 — beginning in October.
Add a Sam's Club membership to the list of subscriptions that are getting more expensive.
The warehouse club, owned by Walmart, announced Wednesday that it's raising its annual membership fee by 11% — from $45 to $50 — beginning in October. It's the first change to the fee in nine years.
The cost of a premium membership plan will also increase from $100 to $110 for the first time since the plan was introduced in 1999.
Sam's Club said it will offer $5 in rewards to shoppers with a basic membership and $10 to premium customers as a perk for renewing after the price hike goes into effect.
A regular membership at rival Costco, the largest warehouse club, costs $60. Costco typically raises the price of a membership about every five years. Its last hike was in 2017.
Warehouse clubs gained market share during Covid. More consumers were buying online during the shutdown as fear of catching the virus kept many shoppers away from crowds.
Sam's Club and BJ's even added same-day curbside pickup for customers who bought online. Club stores gained 0.5% of market share in 2020 and 0.5% in 2021, adding up to around $16 billion, according to IRI data. They have also had the fastest sales growth in 2021 compared to 2020 among all retail channels. | https://www.kitv.com/news/business/sams-club-is-raising-its-membership-by-5/article_5c3390a5-af92-59ea-ada1-ee53d8dc3831.html | 2022-09-01T00:13:51Z |
The US Drug Enforcement Administration issued a warning Tuesday about "brightly-colored fentanyl used to target young Americans."
The agency said it and its partners in law enforcement seized colored fentanyl and fentanyl pills in 18 states this month.
"This trend appears to be a new method used by drug cartels to sell highly addictive and potentially deadly fentanyl made to look like candy to children and young people," the DEA said.
"Brightly-colored fentanyl is being seized in multiple forms, including pills, powder, and blocks that resembles sidewalk chalk. Despite claims that certain colors may be more potent than others, there is no indication through DEA's laboratory testing that this is the case. Every color, shape, and size of fentanyl should be considered extremely dangerous."
Fentanyl is a synthetic opioid intended to help people such as cancer patients manage severe pain. It's 50 to 100 times more potent than morphine. It's used illicitly because of its heroin-like effect, and even small doses can be deadly.
"Fentanyl remains the deadliest drug threat facing this country," the DEA said.
More than 109,000 people in the United States died of a drug overdose in the 12-month period ending March 2022, according to provisional data published this month by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Fentanyl and other synthetic opioids were involved in more than two-thirds of overdose deaths in that time -- up from just over half at the start of the Covid-19 pandemic.
In the two years since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic, annual drug overdose deaths have jumped 44%. There were 75,702 deaths in the 12-month period ending March 2020, compared with 109,247 deaths in the latest 12-month period ending March 2022.
Drug deaths among children are relatively rare. But unintentional overdoses led to 200,000 years of lost life for US preteens and teens who died between 2015 and 2019, and experts suspect that the problem has gotten worse during the pandemic. | https://www.kitv.com/news/national/dea-warns-of-brightly-colored-fentanyl-used-to-target-young-americans/article_489130b4-053f-5aa9-b9cf-8c25bf9d1ea9.html | 2022-09-01T00:13:57Z |
In the buildup to the current Ukrainian counteroffensive, the US urged Kyiv to keep the operation limited in both its objectives and its geography to avoid getting overextended and bogged down on multiple fronts, multiple US and western officials and Ukrainian sources tell CNN.
Those discussions involved engaging in "war-gaming" with Kyiv, the sources said -- analytical exercises that were intended to help the Ukrainian forces understand what force levels they would need to muster to be successful in different scenarios.
The Ukrainians were initially considering a broader counteroffensive, but narrowed their mission to the south, in the Kherson region, in recent weeks, US and Ukrainian officials said.
Pentagon spokesperson Brig. Gen. Pat Ryder told CNN that "the United States has routine military-to-military dialogue at multiple levels with Ukraine. We will not comment on the specifics of those engagements. Generally speaking, we provide the Ukrainians with information to help them better understand the threats they face and defend their country against Russian aggression. Ultimately, the Ukrainians are making the final decisions for their operations."
Officials say they believe there is now increased parity between the Ukrainian and Russian militaries. But western officials have been hesitant to label the nascent Ukrainian operation -- which appeared to begin on Monday in the southern province of Kherson -- a true "counteroffensive."
How successful Ukraine is likely to be in regaining lost territory remains an open question, sources familiar with the latest intelligence tell CNN. Ukrainian officials have already said this offensive will likely be a slow operation, and punishingly cold winter weather is coming and then an early spring mud, both of which could force pauses in the fighting.
Still, there is a distinct feeling amongst Ukraine's US and western advisers that the Ukrainian military is on much more even footing with Russia than was believed even just a few short months ago, multiple officials told CNN. Russia still maintains superior numbers in overall manpower and massed artillery.
But Ukrainian capabilities, bolstered by sophisticated western arms and training, have closed an important gap, officials say -- particularly the High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems, or HIMARS, that Ukraine has been using to launch attacks behind Russian front lines in recent months.
"It shows you what the sustained training and weapons provision can do when the force is highly motivated and capable in its employment," a senior NATO official told CNN.
Another US military source put it more bluntly: Ukraine has made up for Russia's advantage in sheer volume of fire with its "competence."
Growing momentum
Ukraine has been publicly signaling for months that it intended to launch a major counteroffensive to retake territory lost to Russia in the six-month war. And even before Monday, when Ukrainian forces began increasing their artillery rocket and missile fire on the frontlines in southern Ukraine, Kyiv had been actively disrupting Russian resupply efforts and command and control across the region.
For weeks, Ukraine has used a mix of partisan supporters, long-range fire and special operations forces to launch a series of attacks far behind Russian lines -- including in Crimea -- that have targeted logistics and command and control hubs in preparation for the southern offensive.
"I don't think it's possible yet to confirm the extent of Ukrainian advances, but they've certainly impacted Russia's ability to move north and south across [the Dnieper River] with their attacks on bridges," the senior NATO official said on Wednesday. "And in terms of future prospects, I'd note that Ukraine is much closer to parity in troop numbers in Kherson than it has been in recent weeks" in the eastern provinces of the country, where fighting has ground on for months.
Attacks in Crimea have been a particularly smart strategy, one official said, because Russia has been using the peninsula as a launchpad for its operations in southern Ukraine.
Russia has also been forced to pull resources from the east "simply because of reports that the Ukrainians might be going more on the offense in the south," John Kirby, the communications coordinator for the National Security Council, said on Monday.
"And so they've had to deplete certain units ...in certain areas in the East in the Donbass, to respond to what they clearly believed was a looming threat of a counter offensive," Kirby said.
A narrower mission
US and Ukrainian sources tell CNN that earlier plans for the Ukrainian operation were initially broader, and involved a more ambitious effort to regain other territory lost to the Russian invasion over the last six months, including the southeastern city of Zaporizhzhia.
But by Monday, Ukrainian officials appeared laser-focused on retaking the Kherson region.
An administration official told CNN that in recent months, Ukraine has been asking the US for weapons specifically suited to their planned southern counteroffensive. The US fulfilled many of those requests -- including additional ammunition, artillery and javelins -- over the course of several presidential drawdown assistance packages provided to Ukraine over the last two months, the official said.
The planning exercises also helped the United States better grasp what kind of equipment, munitions or intelligence it could offer that would be most useful to Ukraine. Over the course of the war, the US has been regularly providing Ukraine with military advice and intelligence, along with billions of dollars in equipment and weaponry.
'A slow operation to grind the enemy'
Officials say that Ukraine now appears more evenly matched with Russian forces not only because of the advanced western weaponry that Ukraine has been using effectively, but also because the Ukrainians still have the advantage in terms of morale, unit cohesion, tactical acumen, and a superior ability to improvise on the fly.
They have another advantage, too, two officials said: a population that is largely appalled by the Russian occupation, and willing to engage in partisan attacks to expel them -- such as assassinations and sabotage efforts behind enemy lines.
Still, despite a more bullish assessment of Ukrainian fighting capabilities, US officials aren't placing any bets that Ukraine will successfully retake Kherson -- yet.
"I'm not sure this is going to be the big, massive counteroffensive that folks might be waiting on — it might be a smaller number of forces," the US military source cautioned. Much will depend on how well Russia is able to defend newly-claimed territory, the source said—something that it has not yet been called upon to do in the last six months.
A Ukrainian presidential adviser also warned that the offensive will be a "slow operation to grind the enemy."
"This process will not be very fast," Oleksiy Arestovych, an adviser to the Head of the Office of the President of Ukraine, said in a statement posted on his Telegram account late Monday, "but will end with the installation of the Ukrainian flag over all the settlements of Ukraine."
The-CNN-Wire
™ & © 2022 Cable News Network, Inc., a Warner Bros. Discovery Company. All rights reserved. | https://www.kitv.com/news/national/us-war-gamed-with-ukraine-ahead-of-counteroffensive-and-encouraged-more-limited-mission/article_2c3e2c26-6df5-5028-a462-bacd60759b45.html | 2022-09-01T00:14:03Z |
When the bell rings at Casa Grande Union High School, more than seventy sophomores pile into Stacy Brady's biology class.
The rural school district outside Phoenix can't find enough certified teachers, especially for math and science, so 13 classes are doubled up, with several holding more than 70 students. Some of those classes get a teaching assistant, but others rely on a single teacher.
"It's been very chaotic," Brady said. "I wish I could clone myself because I can't get to every kid who needs help."
Situated between Phoenix and Tucson, Casa Grande has struggled to find teachers for years, hiring roughly 30 from the Philippines each year to fill the gap. But that alarming trend is hitting a more dire point. Jennifer Kortsen, a district spokesperson, says, in her 29 years here, she's never seen a shortage like this.
"I've never had a school year start where we've had so many vacancies, and it's really sad," Kortsen said. "We have it posted, we've gone to job fairs, and there's simply no teachers out there to be had right now."
After two years of weathering pandemic health concerns, learning loss, and tense public scrutiny, teacher burnout is surging nationwide.
Jennifer Zanardi just quit her high school teaching job in Palm Beach, Florida, to become a corporate recruiter. She says the relatively low salary was a big factor, but the political pressure and the state's so-called "Don't Say Gay" bill were the tipping points. She found herself working more hours and walking on eggshells.
"The public was actually saying that teachers were trying to indoctrinate students," Zanardi said. "It affected my mental health and my stress in a huge way."
Enrollment in teacher preparation programs is also plummeting, down 33% between 2010 and 2020 -- a trend that has only intensified during the pandemic, according to the American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education.
Schools are competing for a shrinking pool of teachers, and wealthier suburban districts are winning out over those with fewer resources, especially rural schools and those that support more low-income families and students of color.
"(Teachers) are not going to the schools that are the most disadvantaged," said Chad Aldeman, policy director of the Edunomics Lab at Georgetown University. "The same schools that were struggling in 2019 are struggling even worse in 2022."
In Prince George's County, Maryland, where there's a high concentration of poverty, at least 8 percent of the public school district's teacher slots are vacant, more than twice as many as last year, according to the teachers union.
Dr. Donna Christy, the president of the Prince George's County Educators Association, is seeing a scramble to fill the gap.
"It definitely feels like there's been an exodus," Christy said. "They're leaving the profession, but they are leaving for other districts as well. Where there's higher pay, where there's better working conditions, where they feel more supported, or they've heard there's more support."
Geva Hickman-Johnson, a high school English teacher in Prince George's County, just found out she'll need to prep lessons for the new substitutes in her department. She also expects her class sizes to grow.
"It means that my students may not be getting the best teacher this year," Hickman-Johnson said. "I may not be able to be at my best because I'm being pulled in so many different directions that I'm not going to really be able to focus on the students that I'm standing in front of every day. It's hard."
On top of learning loss during the pandemic, many teachers across the country have also noticed worsening student behavior. At a time when many students need more attention, Christy fears they'll receive less.
"They were falling through the cracks before," she said. "It's going to be like opening the floodgates. It's going to be really hard to keep up with our struggling students."
Like many districts, Prince George's County Public Schools are now scrambling to fill those empty classrooms, shifting staff around, increasing pay for subs, and combining classes when necessary.
States are getting creative to fill vacancies, though some of the plans are controversial. In Florida, Gov. Ron DeSantis is asking veterans with no teaching degree to lead classrooms.
"It was a slap in the face," Jennifer Zanardi said. "Like what you do doesn't matter, your education doesn't matter, anybody can do what you do. And that's simply not true. We're professionals."
Casa Grande Elementary School District is one of many that have moved to a 4-day week to retain staff -- a strategy it says helped them keep several teachers.
The high school district is looking to hire more teachers from overseas. In some classrooms, paraeducators without expertise on the topic are teaching lessons prepared by certified teachers, like Stacy Brady.
"I think of myself," Brady said. "I struggled with math. And if I was sitting in that classroom, I needed help, I had questions, I needed somebody to break it down a different way, and there was nobody who has the content knowledge to do that, I (would) shut down. And I'm thinking many of our students might be shutting down as well."
Brady expects to lead classes with 70-plus students most, if not all year. She fears the teacher shortage in Casa Grande is only going to get worse.
"My biggest fear, I think, is that some kid is getting hurt in some way, emotionally or physically," she said. "And I'm not able to see it, because there are so many students in the room."
The-CNN-Wire
™ & © 2022 Cable News Network, Inc., a Warner Bros. Discovery Company. All rights reserved. | https://www.kitv.com/news/national/why-teachers-are-burning-out-and-leaving-districts-scrambling-to-fill-jobs/article_2ffaaa2d-c5ef-5777-912e-7fe33c865f1d.html | 2022-09-01T00:14:09Z |
Former Idaho lawmaker sentenced to 20 years in prison for rape
Published: Aug. 31, 2022 at 7:59 PM EDT|Updated: 16 minutes ago
BOISE, Idaho (AP) — A former Idaho lawmaker convicted of raping a 19-year-old legislative intern has been sentenced to 20 years in prison for the crime.
Fourth District Judge Michael Reardon sentenced Aaron von Ehlinger on Wednesday, saying he must serve at least eight years before he will be eligible for parole.
The judge said von Ehlinger failed to show empathy or remorse, and that it was clear he was not ready for sex offender treatment.
The Republican from Lewiston resigned from the Idaho House of Representatives last year after an ethics committee recommended that he be banned from the statehouse.
Von Ehlinger has maintained that the sex was consensual.
Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. | https://www.whsv.com/2022/08/31/former-idaho-lawmaker-sentenced-20-years-prison-rape/ | 2022-09-01T00:16:36Z |
Golfer continues to hit the links at 100 years old with longtime friend
FARGO, N.D. (WDAY) - A 100-year-old golfer and his 92-year-old longtime cart partner rarely miss a morning round of golf.
The two longtime friends keep up their golf games and are fixtures at a golf course in North Dakota.
They both shoot well below their age, which is not bad when you consider one of them is 100 years old.
Max Olson, 92, and Wendell Johnson, 100, said they get up before the birds do to play their round.
You can find them on the course by 8 a.m., twice a week, and they both hit the ball well.
“We’ve had quite the experiences over the years,” Olson said.
Olson was a barber in the Fargo area for 40 years, and Johnson worked at the post office for 30 years.
Both men have served in the armed forces: Olson in the Korean War and Johnson is a Purple Heart recipient from his time in World War II.
The two have stories and continue to be there for one another.
Johnson said he had to help Olson when his golf cart got stuck in the mud over the summer.
“It was 100-year-old Wendell to the rescue. I had to help him get out of there,” Johnson said.
The two golfers finished their morning round of golf and said they were looking forward to their next game.
“That’s what it’s all about. To have fun, get out in the fresh air, and move around,” Olson said.
Copyright 2022 WDAY via CNN Newsource. All rights reserved. | https://www.whsv.com/2022/08/31/golfer-continues-hit-links-100-years-old-with-longtime-friend/ | 2022-09-01T00:16:38Z |
Serena Williams plays 2nd seed Kontaveit in US Open Round 2
NEW YORK (AP) — For as long as Serena Williams remains in the U.S. Open bracket, there is one overwhelming question that will hang over the proceedings and help define the moment: Could this be the last chance to watch her play?
The second opportunity for spectators to shower Williams with adoration — and for the 23-time major champion to enjoy that outpouring at what she has hinted, but purposely not definitively declared, will be her final tournament — began Wednesday night in Arthur Ashe Stadium, the largest arena in Grand Slam tennis.
The opponent this time: No. 2 seed Anett Kontaveit, a 26-year-old from Estonia whose current ranking is much better than Williams’ is, but whose career resume lacks so much as one quarterfinal victory at any Slam event.
About 1 1/2 hours before the scheduled start of that match, Williams went out to the practice courts for a 30-minute warmup session. She crossed paths with her sister, Venus, who was wrapping up some doubles work on that same court.
As Serena left after her hitting session, crowds cheered, and she paused to wave in their direction with her right hand as she checked her cellphone in her left.
Forget, for a minute, the relative merits of the two players’ skills and styles of play in the Williams vs. Kontaveit matchup. Forget the X’s and O’s. Because this trip to Flushing Meadows is, as always, about the points and the games and the sets and the scores for Williams, who won her first trophy here at age 17 in 1999 and is now 40.
As strident a competitor as tennis, or any sport, has seen, as rightly self-confident in her abilities as an athlete, Williams was not about to think of this whole exercise as merely a farewell tour.
She came to New York wanting to win, of course.
That’s what Williams showed in the first round on Monday, when she got past some early shakiness to beat 80th-ranked Danka Kovinic 6-3, 6-3 in front of a packed house that roared with approval from start to finish. The crowd of more than 23,000 in the stands and thousands of others watching on a video screen outside Ashe helped break the U.S. Open record for largest attendance at a night session.
“I was just thinking, like, ‘Is this for real? Really?’” Williams said about the roars that greeted her entrance for the match, so raucous she “could feel it in my chest.”
“At the same time I’m also thinking, I still have a match to play and I want to be able to play up to this reception, almost. It was so loud. I just was overwhelmed in a good way. But at the same time, it’s like you have to be focused, you have to be laser-focused,” she added. “That’s what I needed to do and that’s what I tried to do.”
Other players who watched from the seats, or on TV, were struck by the scene. One that seemed likely to be repeated on Wednesday.
“For sure, it was like the most popular first round of a Slam, ever. Yeah, it’s just amazing. It shows how much she has changed our sport and how much she has done. I’m pretty happy that she can experience something like that,” said No. 1-ranked Iga Swiatek, a 21-year-old from Poland who owns two French Open titles. “I also feel that not every player would handle that kind of fuss around your first match of the tournament. She’s handling it pretty well, as usual. So that’s just confirmation of how great she is.”
On Wednesday, Williams wore the same glittery crystal-encrusted top and diamond-accented sneakers — replete with solid gold shoelace tags and the word “Queen” on the right one, “Mama” on the left — that she sported Monday. Long someone whose on-court fashion has stood out from the crowd, Williams helped design the Nike combo, which was inspired by what figure skaters wear to compete. Williams’ daughter, Olympia, who turns 5 on Thursday, wore her own version to sit in the stands Monday, along with beads that paid tribute to Mom’s hairstyle when she won her first major title 23 years ago.
Regardless of how Williams vs. Kontaveit went, there would be more in store for the American, who announced on Aug. 9 she was intent on “evolving” away from her playing days (she said she does not like using the word “retirement”).
Williams will team up with Venus in doubles on Thursday night against the Czech duo of Lucie Hradecka and Linda Noskova. It marks the reunion of a partnership that produced 14 Grand Slam doubles championships but last participated in that event anywhere in 2018.
Venus said it was Serena’s idea to enter the doubles.
“More than anything,” said Venus, who is 42, “I just want to hold my side of the court up and be a good sister.”
___
More AP coverage of U.S. Open tennis: https://apnews.com/hub/us-open-tennis-championships and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports
Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. | https://www.whsv.com/2022/08/31/serena-williams-plays-2nd-seed-kontaveit-us-open-round-2/ | 2022-09-01T00:16:47Z |
Youngkin administration to move forward with plan to withdraw from greenhouse gas initiative
ROANOKE, Va. (WDBJ) - The administration of Governor Glenn Youngkin says it is moving forward with plans to remove Virginia from the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative.
But supporters of the effort to address climate change are saying not so fast.
The Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI) requires utilities that generate power from fossil fuels to purchase allowances for their emissions of Carbon Dioxide.
Supporters of RGGI rallied in Roanoke and five other Virginia cities Wednesday.
Though Virginia has been participating for about a year, they say the program has already provided millions of dollars for flood protection and energy efficiency programs in the Commonwealth.
Emily Piontek is a field coordinator with the group Appalachian Voices.
“I think it’s really important for Youngkin to get the message that rural people, people in southwest Virginia, people who are outside the major metropolitan areas, support climate action,” Piontek told reporters.
Later during a meeting of the State Air Pollution Control Board in the Richmond area, the state’s Acting Secretary of Natural and Historic Resources said RGGI hasn’t accomplished the goal of reducing CO2 emissions, and is a bad deal for Virginians.
“The way RGGI has been implemented in Virginia has directly placed the burden on everyday Virginians as a regressive energy tax without incentivizing any change of behavior by the utility,” Travis Voyles said.
He said the Youngkin administration will move to end Virginia’s participation by the end of 2023. But supporters of RGGI said the governor doesn’t have the authority to do it on his own.
Nate Benforado is a Senior Attorney with the Southern Environmental Law Center.
“It actually doesn’t matter what I think about RGGI. It doesn’t matter what this board thinks about RGGI. It doesn’t even matter what the governor thinks about RGGI,” Benforado said. “The General Assembly decided this policy for us. In 2020, they wrote a law that mandated we participate in RGGI.”
So it appears we’re headed for a political and legal battle over this program
There was no decision Wednesday. The next step will come soon when the Youngkin administration proposes a formal action on Virginia’s participation in the program.
Copyright 2022 WDBJ. All rights reserved. | https://www.whsv.com/2022/08/31/youngkin-administration-move-forward-with-plan-withdraw-greenhouse-gas-initiative/ | 2022-09-01T00:16:53Z |
JACKSON, Miss. — Beatrice Gilmore has been trying to get some of the water being handed out around town since she lost nearly all pressure in her taps on Monday. She has spent hours traveling to distribution sites and waiting in line, only to have the stock run out just a few cars ahead of her. So she was excited Wednesday when she finally got one case of water for herself and her sister.
"I will take a sponge bath!" she laughed. She'll also use it for drinking and cooking, a welcome change from the canned food she has been heating up all week. Another man in the line said all he and his son have eaten is cereal.
Historic rain and flooding led to a drop in pressure at Jackson's main water-treatment plant Monday. That has left people with just a trickle of water — Gilmore says hers is "brownish" — or none at all. President Biden has declared a disaster, triggering federal aid, and the state is sending in the National Guard. But until that ramps up, the demand for bottled water is far exceeding what's available.
When Gilmore got one of the last cases, a long line of cars still snaked around the parking lot of a Walmart, which had donated the water. It went in an hour, but Maj. Ethan Frizzel of the Salvation Army said another truck with water would show up soon.
"With gas prices and challenges, we don't want to take any more time from people than necessary to get such a basic human need."
The lack of water has also shut down school buildings and businesses, upending the lives of people like Ayesha Stevenson.
She came to the parking-lot water line with her 5-year-old and 7-year-old in the back seat, because they're now learning remotely. Schools are boiling water to make breakfast and lunch bags for pick up. The poverty rate in Jackson is 25%, and many families rely on those school meals. Stevenson is a cook at a Waffle House that had to close down, so Wednesday was her third day out of work without pay. She said she would need to find something to make up for that loss.
But her biggest frustration is that this is just the latest in a series of water crises. Since the previous one early last year — after a record-setting February freeze — Stevenson has not gone back to tap water because it makes her kids sick.
"I can't even picture myself drinking it," she says. But "you go broke buying food and water all the time. It's very expensive."
In a late-day news conference, Governor Tate Reeves said 600 members of the Mississippi National Guard will deploy on Thursday for a larger-scale distribution of bottled water and hand sanitizer.
"I know it's not easy, nor is it fair, that any of you have to deal with this," he said. "In fact, it's a tremendous burden that you as citizens should not have to shoulder."
Copyright 2022 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org. | https://www.wyomingpublicmedia.org/2022-08-31/jackson-residents-face-long-lines-and-short-supply-in-a-frustrating-search-for-water | 2022-09-01T00:18:31Z |
Updated August 31, 2022 at 8:14 PM ET
LANSING, Mich. – A proposed state constitutional amendment that could protect abortion rights in Michigan has hit another roadblock on its path to November's ballot. Wednesday, a four-person board deadlocked along partisan lines on whether to send the amendment along to voters this fall.
Abortion rights supporters are expected to appeal the decision straight to the state's supreme court, but time is ticking. Any language that is slated to appear on the ballot would have to be sent to the printer by Sept. 9.
"Certainly that will be the next step, asking the Supreme Court to have the board do its job, essentially, and put this on the ballot because we have complied with the requirements," says Darci McConnell of the group Reproductive Freedom for All.
McConnell says the campaign turned in far more signatures than are required to get on the ballot. In fact, the petition broke a record in the state when more than 700,000 voters signed on.
For Michiganders who support abortion rights, the possibility of an amendment to protect abortion is important. The state has a nearly 100-year-old law that makes abortion illegal except in cases where the pregnant person's life is at risk. For now, that law is held up in litigation and is not being enforced.
Alleged typos
But Republicans said the petitions that were circulated had typos and words that were pushed too close together to be easily understood. The proposed amendment has faced scrutiny over alleged typos in its petition language for weeks.
"Call these typos, errors, mistakes, or whatever," says Eric Doster, the attorney for Citizens to Support MI Women and Children. "This gibberish now before this board does not satisfy the full test requirement under law and this board has never approved, never approved a petition with these types of typos and errors."
The version of the petition available online at the Board of State Canvassers' website appears to show the typos, such as: "DECISIONSABOUTALLMATTERSRELATINGTOPREGNANCY."
An appeal
Reproductive Freedom for All, the group behind the proposed amendment, can appeal the Wednesday decision straight to the Michigan Supreme Court where Democrats have a narrow majority.
If approved by the justices, Michigan will join other states such as California and Vermont where voters will see similar state constitutional abortion rights amendments on their ballots this November.
After voters in Kansas decided to reject a constitutional amendment that would have restricted abortion rights, Democrats across the country have renewed enthusiasm to push for abortion rights.
How an amendment could affect the rest of Nov.'s ballot
Democrats, including Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, are pushing hard for an amendment in part because of how much is at stake in November. Whitmer is running for reelection against abortion rights opponent Republican Tudor Dixon, who is endorsed by former President Donald Trump. Dixon made headlines this summer after responding to a question about the hypothetical rape of a 14-year-old by a family member being a "perfect example" of why abortion should be banned.
An amendment to protect abortion rights could propel abortion rights supporters to the polls and help push Democrats to victory up and down the ballot.
Copyright 2022 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org. | https://www.keranews.org/2022-08-31/the-michigan-supreme-court-set-to-decide-whether-voters-see-abortion-on-the-ballot | 2022-09-01T00:48:58Z |
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Andrew Pappas 1926-2022 Andrew S. Pappas, 95, of Cheyenne, Wyoming fell asleep in the Lord on August 29, 2022, in Denver, Colorado with his wife and children at his side. Andy was born December 28, 1926, in Cheyenne to Strat and Helen Pappas. Andy attended Cheyenne High School and the University of Wyoming, graduating with a degree in civil engineering. After college, he married Theoni Harrison of Cheyenne in June 1949. Andy is survived by five children, Stephan (Kay) Pappas of Cheyenne, Bill (Jacque) Pappas of Cheyenne, Driko (Christine) Pappas of Cheyenne, Valerie (Mason) Mitchell of Fort Collins, CO and Elaine (Harold) Cunningham of Colorado Springs, CO. He is also survived by eight grandchildren and five great-grandchildren. He was preceded in death by his parents, Strat and Helen; siblings, Jenny Zampos, Sophie Contos, Stavros Pappas, Angelo Pappas and Mary Diakakis; and a grandson, Jason Pappas. Andy had a long and distinguished career. He worked for the Wyoming Highway Department and then in 1955 began a 40-year career in architecture. In 1982, he and his son, Stephan, formed the firm of Pappas and Pappas Architects, and he practiced there until he retired in 1995. He left his mark on many outstanding architectural projects throughout Wyoming. Andy was always the consummate volunteer, offering his expertise on many boards and committees, including the Wyoming State Board of Architects and Landscape Architects, City of Cheyenne Board of Adjustments, and Saints Constantine & Helen Greek Orthodox Church Parish Council, just to mention a few. Andy had a passion for history. He spent countless hours researching and writing two books: his family's history and Orthodoxy on the High Plains. In addition to his devoted faith, Andy was also a private pilot, an avid Pokes fan, a lover of jazz music, and corny jokes. Trisagion services will be Friday, September 2, 2022 at 7:00 p.m. and funeral services on Saturday, September 3rd at 9:00 a.m., both at Saints Constantine and Helen Greek Orthodox Church. Interment will be held at Beth El Cemetery. Services are under the care of Schrader, Aragon, and Jacoby Funeral Home. Condolences may be offered at www.schradercares.com. In lieu of flowers, the family asks that donations be directed to Saints Constantine and Helen Memorial Fund. May the servant of God, Andrew, and his memory be eternal.
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This page displays the most recent milestones from each section. To see more please click "View More..." below each section. | https://www.wyomingnews.com/milestones/obituaries/pappas-andrew/article_a9c1cb13-3c41-5d09-91a7-39caaad212ab.html | 2022-09-01T01:32:34Z |
Jay Burns Reed 1946-Jay Reed, 75, passed away on July 27th, 2022 in Arvada, CO. Jay was born to J.O. and Lou Reed September 12, 1946, in Laramie, Wyoming. He grew up in Cheyenne, Wyoming. Jay received his BA in Education in 1970 from the University of Wyoming. He received a Master's Degree in Environmental Education in 1975 from the University of Utah. Jay taught sixth grade 1979-1981 in Colorado Springs, loving his work with kids. He moved on to working for the National Audubon Society, traveling the United States teaching teachers how to educate kids about the outdoors. He then settled down in Michigan as a regional Vice President of National Audubon for several years. He was married to Pat Weise 1978-1989. He worked for MCI telecommunications for five years as a government relations specialist in the western USA. He made the move back to his true passion, outdoor education, working for the Colorado Division of Wildlife for several years. He married Carol Kurtz Todd in 1992. Jay and Carol purchased a Wild Bird Center franchise in the Applewood Shopping Center in Wheat Ridge, Colorado in 1997. Jay’s skills and knowledge of wildlife and the outdoors fit the franchise perfectly. He ran the store until retirement a decade later. Jay mentored many young people with interests in natural history, guiding them into established careers. He is fondly remembered by all who experienced his exuberance and passion for "all things nature". He was preceded in death by his parents Lou and J.O. Reed, his brothers Don Reed and Dale Reed. He is survived by his wife Carol Todd Reed of Arvada, Colorado, his sister Janet Reed Dodson of Cheyenne, his daughter Victoria Santa Maria of Santa Rosa Beach, Florida, stepson Jason Todd of Houston, and stepdaughter Jennifer Todd Atlas of Superior, Colorado, who caringly managed his affairs and health in his last years, and seven step grandchildren. Memorials in Jay’s name may be made to a local chapter of National Audubon Society. To leave a message of condolence, you may visit obituaries.neptunesociety.com and search for Jay Reed. 2022
To plant a tree in memory of Jay Reed as a living tribute, please visit Tribute Store. | https://www.wyomingnews.com/milestones/obituaries/reed-jay-burns/article_48b6af91-8763-5cd2-bc02-6867693058ab.html | 2022-09-01T01:32:40Z |
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Barbara (Woolsey) Williams 1932-2022 Barbara Ann (Woolsey) Williams, 90 of Cheyenne went home to be with the Lord on August 26, 2022. She was born April 21, 1932, and lived in Cheyenne her entire life. Her grandparents, Christian and Bertholine Christensen immigrated to the US from Denmark and started the Plains Dairy in north Cheyenne where she lived as a child when her father took over the dairy. Barbara and her husband, Billy Williams were high school sweethearts at Cheyenne High School and married following graduation on September 8, 1950. She was a loving wife and mother of five children. Although that is what she would want to be known for, she also worked outside of the home in various jobs to help support her family; Marietta's Arts and Crafts, Memorial Hospital, Hobbs Elementary School, and she even drove an escort vehicle for Billy when he was a truck driver. She loved music and taught piano lessons for many years in addition to playing the accordion. Barbara and Billy loved square dancing and polka dancing, and because of this, she seldom missed watching Molly B's Polka Party on a Saturday night. Her friends and family will always remember her for giving the world's best hugs. She was preceded in death by her husband, Billy; parents, Kenneth and Kristine Woolsey; brother, George Woolsey; sister, Lena Wulf; daughter, Cynthia McGeehee; and a grandson, Stephen Knox. She is survived by her children, Janet DeGroat, David (Wendy) Williams of Warrenton Virginia, Cheryl Porter, Sharon (Al) Auzqui; grandchildren, Edward (Erin) Miller of Emsworth Pennsylvania, Robert (Katie) DeGroat of Moses Lake Washington, April (Mike) Matthie, Malissa DeGroat of Anchorage Alaska, Tommy (Jennifer) Porter of LaGrange Wyoming, Stephanie (Greg) Trujillo, Joseph (Shannon) Williams of Shelton Washington, Jennifer (Fred) Pillivant, Becky Bracewell of Warrenton Virginia, and 23 great grandchildren who lovingly referred to her as Grandma Great. She was a member of Northwoods Presbyterian Church. She loved crafting, sewing and making quilts and was a member of the Archer Friendly Club, Applique Club and S & B Club. A Viewing will be Thursday, September 1, from 10-4:00 p.m. Services will be Friday, September 2, at 2 pm at the Northwoods Presbyterian Church, 4723 Griffith Avenue. Friends who wish may contribute to Northwoods Presbyterian Church or Urban Redemption Chicago at P. O. Box 803466 Chicago IL 60680
To plant a tree in memory of Barbara Williams as a living tribute, please visit Tribute Store. | https://www.wyomingnews.com/milestones/obituaries/williams-barbara/article_04ff6034-8189-5025-9b0e-15a2beee82c0.html | 2022-09-01T01:32:52Z |
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Annual business summit creates conversation around West Virginia’s bright future
WHITE SULPHUR SPRINGS, W.Va. (WVVA) - The first day of the 86th Annual Leaders Taking Action Business Summit, held by the West Virginia Chamber, ended with a panel on multi-state collaboration. Appalachian Regional Commission (ARC) Co-Chair Gayle Manchin moderated the discussion.
A main point in Wednesday’s conversation is the work the 13 ARC states are doing to boost the region.
“You see little areas being successful or thriving or growing, and the thought still remains to me that if we work together on bigger projects, then we lift up the entire region, and you don’t leave people behind,” Manchin said.
Manchin added that sharing ideas, resources and successes is at the heart and soul of this new collaboration, adding how the opportunity also introduces fresh ideas to The Mountain State, as well as perfecting existing ones.
“...As we share information, we find that each of our states have certain areas of expertise and experience. We don’t need to be recreating the wheel everywhere. We can share that information and just grow it faster.”
As the only state lying completely within the Appalachian Region, Manchin says West Virginia is in the prime location to spearhead this new initiative.
“Being sort of in that heart of it helps us to sort us put those feelers out and bring people in together,” she said. “It’s sort of puts us in a position if we want to be sort of the lead, we can be.”
Work on this collaborative effort is well underway, and the fruit of that labor can already be seen. The region has started brainstorming ways to cooperate in areas like textiles, energy, broadband, and more.
Copyright 2022 WVVA. All rights reserved. | https://www.wvva.com/2022/09/01/annual-business-summit-creates-conversation-around-west-virginias-bright-future/ | 2022-09-01T01:44:33Z |
High pressure will keep rain at bay into late week
We’ll be sunny and dry in the coming days
We’ll have a cool, clear rest of our night tonight with high pressure in control. Low temps should fall into the 50s for most, though some deeper sheltered valleys could hit the 40s. Besides a little fog here and there, we should otherwise stay fair through Thursday AM.
Thursday will bring plenty of sunshine, with temps around average and still-low humidity. Highs should top off in the upper 70s-mid 80s. Thursday night looks cool and partly cloudy with lows in the 50s for most.
Friday will bring mostly sunny skies, and only the slim chance of a stray shower. We’ll otherwise just be warm and a tad bit muggier as moisture starts to build back in from the southwest. Highs should top off in the upper 70s-mid 80s for most Friday afternoon.
As we head into Labor Day weekend, we’ll grow a bit more unsettled. Scattered showers and thunderstorms are looking more likely by Sunday and Monday of next week.
After this system moves out, we look a little cooler for most of the first full week of September....STAY TUNED!
BLUEFIELD, W.Va. (WVVA) -
Copyright 2022 WVVA. All rights reserved. | https://www.wvva.com/2022/09/01/high-pressure-will-keep-rain-bay-into-late-week/ | 2022-09-01T01:44:39Z |
Peltola beats Palin, wins Alaska House special election
JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) — Democrat Mary Peltola won the special election for Alaska’s only U.S. House seat on Wednesday, besting a field that included Republican Sarah Palin, who was seeking a political comeback in the state where she was once governor.
Peltola, who is Yup’ik and turned 49 on Wednesday, will become the first Alaska Native to serve in the House and the first woman to hold the seat. She will serve the remaining months of the late Republican U.S. Rep. Don Young’s term. Young held the seat for 49 years before his death in March.
“I’m honored and humbled by the support I have received from across Alaska,” Peltola said in a statement. “I look forward to continuing Don Young’s legacy of bipartisanship, serving all Alaskans and building support for Alaska’s interests in DC.”
Peltola’s victory, coming in Alaska’s first statewide ranked choice voting election, is a boon for Democrats, particularly coming off better-than-expected performances in special elections around the country this year following the Supreme Court’s overturning of Roe v. Wade. She will be the first Democrat to hold the seat since the late U.S. Rep. Nick Begich, who was seeking reelection in 1972 when his plane disappeared. Begich was later declared dead and Young in 1973 was elected to the seat.
Peltola ran as a coalition builder while her two Republican opponents — Palin and Begich’s grandson, also named Nick Begich — at times went after each other. Palin also railed against the ranked voting system, which was instituted by Alaska voters.
All three are candidates in the November general election, seeking a two-year House term, which would start in January.
The results came 15 days after the Aug. 16 election, in line with the deadline for state elections officials to receive absentee ballots mailed from outside the U.S. Ranked choice tabulations took place Wednesday after no candidate won more than 50% of the first choice votes. Peltola was in the lead heading into the tabulations.
Wednesday’s results were a disappointment for Palin, who was looking to make a political comeback 14 years after she was vaulted onto the national stage when John McCain selected her to be his running mate in the 2008 presidential election. In her run for the House seat, she had widespread name recognition and won the endorsement of former President Donald Trump.
After Peltola’s victory was announced, Palin slammed the ranked voting process as “crazy, convoluted, confusing.”
“Though we’re disappointed in this outcome, Alaskans know I’m the last one who’ll ever retreat,” Palin said in a statement.
During the campaign, critics questioned Palin’s commitment to Alaska, citing her decision to resign as governor in July 2009, partway through her term. Palin went on to become a conservative commentator on TV and appeared in reality television programs, among other pursuits.
Palin has insisted her commitment to Alaska never wavered and said ahead of the special election that she had “signed up for the long haul.”
Peltola, a former state lawmaker who most recently worked for a commission whose goal is to rebuild salmon resources on the Kuskokwim River, cast herself as a “regular” Alaskan. “I’m not a millionaire. I’m not an international celebrity,” she said.
Peltola has said she was hopeful that the new system would allow more moderate candidates to be elected.
During the campaign, she emphasized her support of abortion rights and said she wanted to elevate issues of ocean productivity and food security. Peltola said she got a boost after the June special primary when she won endorsements from Democrats and independents who had been in the race. She said she believed her positive messaging also resonated with voters.
“It’s been very attractive to a lot of people to have a message of working together and positivity and holding each other up and unity and as Americans none of us are each other’s enemy,” she said. “That is just a message that people really need to hear right now.”
Alaska voters in 2020 approved an elections process that replaced party primaries with open primaries. Under the new system, ranked voting is used in general elections.
Under ranked voting, ballots are counted in rounds. A candidate can win outright with more than 50% of the vote in the first round. If no one hits that threshold, the candidate with the fewest votes is eliminated. Voters who chose that candidate as their top pick have their votes count for their next choice. Rounds continue until two candidates remain, and whoever has the most votes wins.
In Alaska, voters last backed a Democrat for president in 1964. But the state also has a history of rewarding candidates with an independent streak. The state has more registered unaffiliated voters than registered Republicans or Democrats combined.
___
Follow AP coverage of 2022 Midterm Elections: https://apnews.com/hub/2022-midterm-elections
Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. | https://www.wvva.com/2022/09/01/peltola-beats-palin-wins-alaska-house-special-election/ | 2022-09-01T01:44:45Z |
PHOTOS: NICU caring 7 sets of twins at once, a new record for the hospital
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (KKTV/Gray News) - Staff members at the NICU for a hospital in Colorado have had their hands full due to a record-breaking number of twins being cared for at the same time.
The Children’s Hospital Colorado, located in Colorado Springs, said they have seven sets of twins currently in their care.
A hospital spokesperson said the doctors and nurses at the hospital have “been seeing double recently!” The hospital says it has never cared for this many sets of twins before.
The hospital shared photos with KKTV showing some of the babies and a few parents.
“You might say we’re #twinning,” Leila Roche, the senior communications specialist for the hospital, wrote.
The news was shared with the public on Monday.
Copyright 2022 KKTV via Gray Media Group, Inc. All rights reserved. | https://www.wvva.com/2022/09/01/photos-nicu-caring-7-sets-twins-once-new-record-hospital/ | 2022-09-01T01:44:52Z |
Point taken: Pilot’s unique flight path appears to create a middle finger
Published: Aug. 31, 2022 at 8:57 PM EDT|Updated: 47 minutes ago
SEATTLE (KPTV/Gray News) - A flight-tracking company revealed what appears to be an interesting flight path taken earlier this week in Washington state.
FlightAware, a technology company that provides real-time flight tracking data, shared that a Piper Navajo aircraft flew for seven hours on Monday. The pilot’s flight path seemingly left a middle finger design from its tracked journey.
KPTV reports the Bellingham Herald was one of the first publications to pick up on the flight chart.
No immediate reason was given or shared for such a route that was taken, but the finger was reportedly pointing toward Whatcom County.
Copyright 2022 KPTV via Gray Media Group, Inc. All rights reserved. | https://www.wvva.com/2022/09/01/point-taken-pilots-unique-flight-path-appears-create-middle-finger/ | 2022-09-01T01:44:59Z |
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KAPAAU, Hawaii (KITV4) -- An autopsy has confirmed that a pre-teen boy died from a single gunshot wound following an accidental shooting at a Boy Scouts camp on the Big Island over the weekend.
The boy was identified Wednesday after noon as 12-year-old Manuel “Manny” Carvalho.
The shooting happened on the rifle range at Camp Honokaia Boy Scout Camp, near Honokaa, on Sunday, Aug. 28. Foul play is not suspected and no arrests have been made, authorities said.
Details surrounding the shooting are still limited. Investigators said the boy was not carrying a weapon at the time of the incident. The Boy Scouts of America referred to the incident as an “accidental firearm discharge” and said it occurred during a camp activity.
Hawaii Island Police say they are still investigating this incident and are conducting interviews with children and adults that were present at the time.
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/big-island-police-identify-boy-12-killed-in-shooting-accident-at-boy-scouts-camp/article_307d5f4e-2973-11ed-8562-336b9ba0d251.html | 2022-09-01T01:47:15Z |
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Democrat Mary Peltola is set to make history as the first Alaska Native in Congress -- while thwarting the attempted political comeback of former Gov. Sarah Palin -- by winning a special House election, according to unofficial ranked-choice voting results released Wednesday by the state Division of Elections.
Her unlikely bid for the House was unique to Alaska, where political relationships span decades and voters who have elected independents and write-in candidates to major offices have what Peltola calls a "libertarian bent" that at times defies the partisan label the state has earned by voting consistently for Republican presidential candidates.
She has a warm relationship with Palin, who once gave her family's backyard trampoline to Peltola's family, and she once spent Thanksgiving with the late Rep. Don Young, an old teaching colleague and hunting buddy of her father's whose former seat she and Palin sought to fill for the remainder of 2022. Young died in March after representing Alaska in the House for 49 years.
Despite Peltola's victory on Wednesday, she and Palin will face off again in November to fill the state's lone House seat for the next full term.
Peltola, who turned 49 on Wednesday, is the daughter of a Yup'ik mother and a Nebraskan father who had moved north to teach school and later became a bush pilot.
She had spent a decade in Alaska's House of Representatives, from 1999 to 2009, where she chaired the bipartisan "bush" caucus of rural lawmakers and overlapped with Palin, her leading opponent in the special congressional race, who was governor from late 2006 through mid-2009. Peltola later became a Bethel City Council member, a lobbyist and a salmon advocate as the executive director of the Kuskokwim River Inter-Tribal Fish Commission.
The Yup'ik people, she in an interview with CNN on Wednesday, are "holistic" thinkers.
"Everything is interconnected," Peltola said. "When we talk about community wellness, we talk about the entire community. I do think of things in very broad terms, and I do recognize that in Alaska, even though we have a huge footprint, we are a very small in numbers population, and we are all related."
If she wins when the Alaska Division of Elections tabulates its ranked-choice voting results at 8 p.m. ET Wednesday, she would fill the remaining months of the term started by Young -- who, before becoming the longest-serving Republican congressman in US history, was a close friend of her father.
The two were both teachers in Fort Yukon -- Peltola's father taught 8th grade while Young taught 4th grade -- and were hunting buddies. Once, in the 1960s, Peltola said, the two men bought a bulldozer together and took 12-hour shifts fighting a wildfire.
Each time Young saw Peltola, he told her to razz her father with a story about him not bringing the antlers back from a moose hunting trip.
After a strong commercial fishing year, Peltola's father sent her to a private boarding school near Allentown, Pennsylvania, for her sophomore year of high school. Her family couldn't afford flights home for both Thanksgiving and Christmas, she said, so her father called his old friend Young and asked if Peltola could spend Thanksgiving with his family in the Washington, DC, area.
She visited with Young's family and heard the story of the recent engagement of Dawn Young, one of the congressman's two daughters. The holiday, she said, was when she began to understand Young in a context beyond his friendship with her father.
"I realized at that time how significant Don's position was," Peltola said.
Colleagues before they were rivals
Peltola also has what she describes as a warm relationship with Palin. The two were expectant mothers working at the statehouse in Juneau at the same time. When Palin left Juneau in 2009, she and her then-husband Todd gave their backyard trampoline to Peltola's family.
The two had lost touch, but Peltola said one of the highlights of her run for Congress has been reconnecting with Palin and other former colleagues.
"I love it when Sarah and I are at the same forum. Every time I see her, I give her a hug. I'm always happy to see Sarah," she said.
Because of the small population and interconnected nature of Alaska politics, Peltola said, she views Palin and the third-place finisher in the race, Republican Nick Begich III, as "people I'm going to be working with for the rest of my life, whether I win the race or not."
"I feel camaraderie and a sense of fraternity with both Nick and Sarah," the Democrat said.
Peltola has campaigned as a fishing advocate, a supporter of labor rights and a proponent of abortion rights.
She said the Supreme Court's decision to overturn Roe v. Wade is at odds with Alaska's political instincts.
"We are very much covetous of our freedoms and our privacy," she said.
She also pointed to a dark history of Alaska Native women being the target of forced sterilizations into the mid-20th century.
"Seeing that Dobbs decision is a concern to me, and the other issues that this other radical Supreme Court -- radically conservative Supreme Court -- have signaled, the other personal rights they're talking about infringing upon is a great concern to me," she said.
Peltola was little-known when, in April, she entered the special election.
She was the fourth-place finisher in June's "open" primary, in which Alaska narrowed a field of 48 candidates from all parties down to a final four who advanced to an August special election: Peltola; Palin; Begich, a Republican member of the state's most famous Democratic political family; and independent Al Gross, who had been backed by Democrats in a Senate race less than two years earlier.
When Gross dropped out of the contest shortly after the primary, it created an opening in a state where President Joe Biden had won 42% of the vote in 2020. Peltola could consolidate all of the Democratic votes, while Palin and Begich jockeyed for Republicans' support.
Peltola finished the August 16 special election as the leading vote-getter with 40% support to Palin's 31% and Begich's 28%.
But because no one secured a majority of the vote, the state's new ranked-choice voting process was triggered.
Under the system, which is being used for the first time in the state, the last-place finisher is eliminated and votes are reallocated to voters' next available choice until one candidate exceeds 50% of the vote.
If Peltola wins about one-third of the second-place votes of those who backed Begich earlier this month, she will win the seat.
Win or lose, though, Peltola, Palin and Begich are all set to square off again in November. All three qualified for another ranked-choice showdown to win Alaska's lone at-large House seat for a full term.
The-CNN-Wire
™ & © 2022 Cable News Network, Inc., a Warner Bros. Discovery Company. All rights reserved. | https://www.kitv.com/news/national/mary-peltola-set-to-make-history-as-the-first-alaska-native-in-congress/article_c9cea4fd-11b6-5217-8497-95ed51a61526.html | 2022-09-01T01:47:27Z |
Spanning 830 acres in Windward O'ahu and home to several species of endangered native birds, Kawainui Marsh is the largest wetland across Hawai'i.
But over recent years, the picturesque wildlife sanctuary has become infested with Mongooses.
Experts explained the invasive predators are particularly harmful because they target bird eggs.
"Any of those birds that nest on the ground, mongooses are going to eat their eggs, they're going to eat their chicks while they hatch, and they could even eat the adults while they're nesting and vulnerable," University of Hawai'i wildlife ecologist Melissa Price added.
For years, area senator Chris Lee has been a part of the ongoing effort to restore the marsh.
"If we lose it, it's gone forever, and that's something that I think our community especially doesn't want to see," Lee said.
Knowing the importance of protecting endangered bird species, Lee helped allocate more than $4 million to put up a fence around the first half of the wetland, to shield them from mongooses and other predators.
"It's gonna take a few years, it's a lot of perimeter to fence, so we're going to do it in a couple phases," Lee said.
The senator expects the project will begin in the next few months.
Do you have a story idea? Email news tips to news@kitv.com
'A'ali'i is a reporter with KITV. He was born and raised on the island of Maui and graduated from the University of Southern California with a bachelor's degree in Journalism. | https://www.kitv.com/news/state-dishes-out-millions-to-manage-mongoose-problem-at-windward-oahu-marsh/article_fb51ff6a-2994-11ed-8eaf-7769deaf18ac.html | 2022-09-01T01:47:33Z |
Peltola beats Palin, wins Alaska House special election
JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) — JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) — Democrat Mary Peltola won the special election for Alaska’s only U.S. House seat on Wednesday, besting a field that included Republican Sarah Palin, who was seeking a political comeback in the state where she was once governor.
Peltola, who is Yup’ik and turned 49 on Wednesday, will become the first Alaska Native to serve in the House and the first woman to hold the seat. She will serve the remaining months of the late Republican U.S. Rep. Don Young’s term. Young held the seat for 49 years before his death in March.
“I’m honored and humbled by the support I have received from across Alaska,” Peltola said in a statement. “I look forward to continuing Don Young’s legacy of bipartisanship, serving all Alaskans and building support for Alaska’s interests in DC.”
Peltola’s victory, coming in Alaska’s first statewide ranked choice voting election, is a boon for Democrats, particularly coming off better-than-expected performances in special elections around the country this year following the Supreme Court’s overturning of Roe v. Wade. She will be the first Democrat to hold the seat since the late U.S. Rep. Nick Begich, who was seeking reelection in 1972 when his plane disappeared. Begich was later declared dead and Young in 1973 was elected to the seat.
Peltola ran as a coalition builder while her two Republican opponents — Palin and Begich’s grandson, also named Nick Begich — at times went after each other. Palin also railed against the ranked voting system, which was instituted by Alaska voters.
All three - Peltola, Palin and Begich - are candidates in the November general election, seeking a two-year House term that would start in January.
The results came 15 days after the Aug. 16 election, in line with the deadline for state elections officials to receive absentee ballots mailed from outside the U.S. Ranked choice tabulations took place Wednesday after no candidate won more than 50% of the first choice votes, with state elections officials livestreaming the event. Peltola was in the lead heading into the tabulations.
State elections officials plan to certify the election by Friday.
Alaska Democratic Party leaders cheered Peltola’s win.
“Alaskans have made clear they want a rational, steadfast, honest and caring voice speaking for them in Washington D.C., not opportunists and extremists associated with the Alaska Republican Party,” state Democratic party chair Michael Wenstrup said in a statement.
Wednesday’s results were a disappointment for Palin, who was looking to make a political comeback 14 years after she was vaulted onto the national stage when John McCain selected her to be his running mate in the 2008 presidential election. In her run for the House seat, she had widespread name recognition and won the endorsement of former President Donald Trump.
After Peltola’s victory was announced, Palin called the ranked voting system “crazy, convoluted, confusing.”
“Though we’re disappointed in this outcome, Alaskans know I’m the last one who’ll ever retreat,” Palin said in a statement.
Begich in a statement congratulated Peltola while looking forward to the November election.
During the campaign, critics questioned Palin’s commitment to Alaska, citing her decision to resign as governor in July 2009, partway through her term. Palin went on to become a conservative commentator on TV and appeared in reality television programs, among other pursuits.
Palin has insisted her commitment to Alaska never wavered and said ahead of the special election that she had “signed up for the long haul.”
Peltola, a former state lawmaker who most recently worked for a commission whose goal is to rebuild salmon resources on the Kuskokwim River, cast herself as a “regular” Alaskan. “I’m not a millionaire. I’m not an international celebrity,” she said.
Peltola has said she was hopeful that the new system would allow more moderate candidates to be elected.
During the campaign, she emphasized her support of abortion rights and said she wanted to elevate issues of ocean productivity and food security. Peltola said she got a boost after the June special primary when she won endorsements from Democrats and independents who had been in the race. She said she believed her positive messaging also resonated with voters.
“It’s been very attractive to a lot of people to have a message of working together and positivity and holding each other up and unity and as Americans none of us are each other’s enemy,” she said. “That is just a message that people really need to hear right now.”
Alaska voters in 2020 approved an elections process that replaced party primaries with open primaries. Under the new system, ranked voting is used in general elections.
Under ranked voting, ballots are counted in rounds. A candidate can win outright with more than 50% of the vote in the first round. If no one hits that threshold, the candidate with the fewest votes is eliminated. Voters who chose that candidate as their top pick have their votes count for their next choice. Rounds continue until two candidates remain, and whoever has the most votes wins.
In Alaska, voters last backed a Democrat for president in 1964. But the state also has a history of rewarding candidates with an independent streak. The number of registered voters not affiliated with a party is greater than the number of registered Republicans or Democrats combined, according to statistics from the Division of Elections.
The last Democratic member of Alaska’s congressional delegation was Mark Begich, Nick Begich’s uncle, who served one term and lost his 2014 reelection bid.
U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski, a Republican, said Peltola “has a long track record of public service to our great state” and said she looks forward to Peltola joining the congressional delegation, which also includes Republican U.S. Sen. Dan Sullivan. Murkowski and Peltola were in the state Legislature together.
___
Follow AP coverage of 2022 Midterm Elections: https://apnews.com/hub/2022-midterm-elections
Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. | https://www.whsv.com/2022/09/01/peltola-beats-palin-wins-alaska-house-special-election/ | 2022-09-01T01:47:57Z |
PHOTOS: NICU caring 7 sets of twins at once, a new record for the hospital
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (KKTV/Gray News) - Staff members at the NICU for a hospital in Colorado have had their hands full due to a record-breaking number of twins being cared for at the same time.
The Children’s Hospital Colorado, located in Colorado Springs, said they have seven sets of twins currently in their care.
A hospital spokesperson said the doctors and nurses at the hospital have “been seeing double recently!” The hospital says it has never cared for this many sets of twins before.
The hospital shared photos with KKTV showing some of the babies and a few parents.
“You might say we’re #twinning,” Leila Roche, the senior communications specialist for the hospital, wrote.
The news was shared with the public on Monday.
Copyright 2022 KKTV via Gray Media Group, Inc. All rights reserved. | https://www.whsv.com/2022/09/01/photos-nicu-caring-7-sets-twins-once-new-record-hospital/ | 2022-09-01T01:48:03Z |
Point taken: Pilot’s unique flight path appears to create a middle finger
Published: Aug. 31, 2022 at 8:57 PM EDT|Updated: 50 minutes ago
SEATTLE (KPTV/Gray News) - A flight-tracking company revealed what appears to be an interesting flight path taken earlier this week in Washington state.
FlightAware, a technology company that provides real-time flight tracking data, shared that a Piper Navajo aircraft flew for seven hours on Monday. The pilot’s flight path seemingly left a middle finger design from its tracked journey.
KPTV reports the Bellingham Herald was one of the first publications to pick up on the flight chart.
No immediate reason was given or shared for such a route that was taken, but the finger was reportedly pointing toward Whatcom County.
Copyright 2022 KPTV via Gray Media Group, Inc. All rights reserved. | https://www.whsv.com/2022/09/01/point-taken-pilots-unique-flight-path-appears-create-middle-finger/ | 2022-09-01T01:48:10Z |
Updated August 31, 2022 at 9:16 PM ET
Democrat Mary Peltola will represent Alaska's lone U.S. House seat, after winning a special election that was determined by a ranked-choice voting tabulation on Wednesday. She will become the the first Alaska Native in Congress.
In the final round of the count, Peltola, a former state lawmaker, edged Sarah Palin, a former Alaska governor and the 2008 Republican vice presidential nominee, by 3 percentage points, 51.5% to 48.5%.
This is how the candidates finished after initial voting:
Peltola's victory denies the controversial Palin, an ally of former President Donald Trump, an immediate return back onto the national political scene.
The special election in Alaska was held earlier this month but it took until Wednesday to tabulate all the mail-in votes and calculate the winner with the state's new ranked-choice voting system.
Republican Nick Begich III came in third in the election, so voters who had put him as their first choice (or who had written in another candidate) had their ballots reallocated to the candidate who was their second choice.
The special election was to replace Rep. Don Young, who died earlier this year at the age of 88. Peltola will complete the term and then she, Palin and Begich will face off again in November for the next two-year term.
Peltola and Palin served together as state legislators.
Though Palin had sharp words for her fellow Republican Begich, she refrained from attacking Peltola during the campaign, calling her a sweetheart. Peltola also did not badmouth Palin, telling NPR, "The region where I'm from, there is a big premium on being respectful, on not using inflammatory language or harsh tones."
Copyright 2022 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org. | https://www.wyomingpublicmedia.org/2022-08-31/democrat-mary-peltola-tops-sarah-palin-to-win-u-s-house-special-election-in-alaska | 2022-09-01T01:49:51Z |
Updated August 31, 2022 at 8:14 PM ET
LANSING, Mich. – A proposed state constitutional amendment that could protect abortion rights in Michigan has hit another roadblock on its path to November's ballot. Wednesday, a four-person board deadlocked along partisan lines on whether to send the amendment along to voters this fall.
Abortion rights supporters are expected to appeal the decision straight to the state's supreme court, but time is ticking. Any language that is slated to appear on the ballot would have to be sent to the printer by Sept. 9.
"Certainly that will be the next step, asking the Supreme Court to have the board do its job, essentially, and put this on the ballot because we have complied with the requirements," says Darci McConnell of the group Reproductive Freedom for All.
McConnell says the campaign turned in far more signatures than are required to get on the ballot. In fact, the petition broke a record in the state when more than 700,000 voters signed on.
For Michiganders who support abortion rights, the possibility of an amendment to protect abortion is important. The state has a nearly 100-year-old law that makes abortion illegal except in cases where the pregnant person's life is at risk. For now, that law is held up in litigation and is not being enforced.
Alleged typos
But Republicans said the petitions that were circulated had typos and words that were pushed too close together to be easily understood. The proposed amendment has faced scrutiny over alleged typos in its petition language for weeks.
"Call these typos, errors, mistakes, or whatever," says Eric Doster, the attorney for Citizens to Support MI Women and Children. "This gibberish now before this board does not satisfy the full test requirement under law and this board has never approved, never approved a petition with these types of typos and errors."
The version of the petition available online at the Board of State Canvassers' website appears to show the typos, such as: "DECISIONSABOUTALLMATTERSRELATINGTOPREGNANCY."
An appeal
Reproductive Freedom for All, the group behind the proposed amendment, can appeal the Wednesday decision straight to the Michigan Supreme Court where Democrats have a narrow majority.
If approved by the justices, Michigan will join other states such as California and Vermont where voters will see similar state constitutional abortion rights amendments on their ballots this November.
After voters in Kansas decided to reject a constitutional amendment that would have restricted abortion rights, Democrats across the country have renewed enthusiasm to push for abortion rights.
How an amendment could affect the rest of Nov.'s ballot
Democrats, including Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, are pushing hard for an amendment in part because of how much is at stake in November. Whitmer is running for reelection against abortion rights opponent Republican Tudor Dixon, who is endorsed by former President Donald Trump. Dixon made headlines this summer after responding to a question about the hypothetical rape of a 14-year-old by a family member being a "perfect example" of why abortion should be banned.
An amendment to protect abortion rights could propel abortion rights supporters to the polls and help push Democrats to victory up and down the ballot.
Copyright 2022 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org. | https://www.wyomingpublicmedia.org/2022-08-31/the-michigan-supreme-court-set-to-decide-whether-voters-see-abortion-on-the-ballot | 2022-09-01T01:49:57Z |
Seventy years ago, Mao Zedong appeared on a balcony overlooking Tiananmen Square and conjured a new country into being. On Tuesday, Xi Jinping, arguably the strongest leader since Mao, appeared on that same balcony to reaffirm his vision of modern China.
That vision includes what Xi has repeatedly referred to as the "Chinese Dream," one pillar of which is the idea that all Chinese should have access to the shared prosperity of the nation.
Hundreds of millions of citizens have climbed out of poverty in the past few decades, but a chasm of inequality has opened up in the country at the same time. Researchers place China within the ranks of the 20 least equal nations in the world.
And as the nation marks 70 years of communist rule, many Chinese people are reflecting on their own stories of struggle and mobility.
"At the start of China's post-Mao period 40 years ago, China had one of the lowest levels of economic inequality in the world," says Bruce Dickson, a China expert at George Washington University. "But that was because everyone was equally poor."
When China's economy opened up to the world starting in the late 1970s, wealth poured in. But that wealth has not trickled down equally to all parts of society.
"There are opportunities, [but it's up to the] individual to seize them," says Cao Shuhao, a 53-year-old migrant worker from rural Hebei province. He came to Beijing when he was in his early 20s to find work. And he has sent the money he has made as a construction worker back to his family in Hebei for nearly 30 years.
As a child, Cao often went hungry. Rice and flour were luxuries that his parents, both farmers, couldn't afford.
There was no future at home with his family, he said. So he made the trek to Beijing to find a better life. "What I did wasn't unusual," Cao says. "Most people in my generation traveled to Beijing or somewhere else to work, and feed their families."
A better life in this case is a corrugated metal shanty at the bottom of a hill in the northern reaches of Beijing's suburbs.
By day, he and a team of construction workers, all migrants, make repairs to a Buddhist temple complex at the top of the hill. Then at night, they troop to the bottom of the hill to their temporary homes. There are about a dozen shanties set up in a long row, and each one sleeps two to three men.
China's decades of economic development have relied partly on the movement of hundreds of millions of laborers from their home provinces to wherever the job market pulls them. Although some have returned home, many continue to travel and set up temporary, often precarious, dwellings where they land.
The floors are a dusty mix of dirt and concrete tiles, there are swarms of ravenous mosquitoes, and in the summer, the heat is nearly unbearable. But the shared kitchen is painted a cheerful blue and a communal table out front has room for a slew of stools to be pulled up to the action.
When his crew finishes the work on the temple, they'll move on to another site and set up their temporary digs once again.
Had he stayed in Hebei, Cao says, there's no way he would have been able to put food on his family's table. In Beijing, that's exactly what he has been able to achieve.
By any measure, Cao is better off than his parents, the definition of economic mobility. But not everyone has access to the same rate of mobility.
"In both China and the U.S., the position one is born into has a big effect on life outcomes," says David Dollar, a China expert at the Brookings Institution. In China, a system called hukou means that children must attend school where they were born, no matter where their parents end up living. Dollar says educational opportunities are vastly inferior in rural areas when compared with cities in China.
"Most children born in the countryside with rural hukou do not go to college, while most urban children do," Dollar says. And a large portion of the income gap is the result of the education gap, he added.
Cao says his two grown children are doing better than him. His daughter is now a kindergarten teacher, and his son works on stage management for government events — working-class jobs that offer much more comfort than Cao has ever experienced. "I hope my children won't be like me; that they won't have just one option for work," he says.
Grace Jin's parents wanted options for her as well. The 28-year-old architect studied dance, music and art as a child. "My mother, when she was young, she didn't have access to the arts. She wanted to learn dance and she wanted to learn piano," she recalls. "But when she was growing up, the lessons were very expensive, and they couldn't afford it. So when I was young, she thought, 'What I couldn't have, I can give to my daughter.' "
Jin grew up in Zhejiang, an affluent eastern coastal province. Her father was an agricultural researcher and her mother was an accountant. Jin went to college after high school — a forgone conclusion for her middle-class upbringing. She then studied architecture at Columbia University in the U.S.
Over passion fruit cucumber sodas at a cat cafe in Beijing, Jin says that the Chinese Dream, for her, is about freedom. "Freedom to choose love, freedom to choose what I do for a living. I also want that for my children. I want them to grow up and have access to what they like — music, art, science, whatever. I want them to live their own lives," she says.
Seventy years ago, freedom of choice was not high on the priority list for the government of the brand-new nation. After centuries of imperial rule, Mao set up a Marxist system that abolished private property and exulted in the equality of all workers. Dickson, of George Washington University, says that when the government decided to rely on the private sector to achieve unprecedented growth after the late 1970s, it effectively abandoned Marxist ideals. But that evolution has been a successful survival strategy for the modern Chinese Communist Party.
"One reason that inequality has not been a politically explosive issue is that most people have benefited from economic growth, even though some have benefited more than others," Dickson says.
Jin, for her part, isn't interested in politics. When she studied in the U.S., she became familiar with the political system in the U.S. Ever the architect, she compares the U.S. practice of electing a president every four years to a Frank Gehry creation — you don't know what you're going to get. She says she much prefers the stability of the Chinese system, where she doesn't have to worry about instability at the top. She can focus on her own life, career and success.
Jin has never known a China without rapid economic growth. But the national economy is slowing down. The percentage of GDP growth has been falling over the past decade, from 14.2% in 2007 to 6.6% in 2018.
"If there is such a thing as a social contract in China, it is based on the presumption of continued prosperity under Chinese Communist Party rule," Dickson says.
As long as people believe the government will continue to make their lives better, hope will pacify them. But if growth and wages stagnate, that hope could turn to resentment, he says. And resentment could turn into action.
Then again, he says, the U.S. has often underestimated the Chinese government's ability to survive over the 70 years of its existence.
Copyright 2022 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org. | https://www.wyomingpublicmedia.org/2019-10-01/communist-china-turns-70-who-shares-its-economic-growth | 2022-09-01T02:14:16Z |
In the industrial city of Dongguan, China, the effects of the trade war on the Chinese economy are measured in idled machinery and empty bar stools.
"One year ago, you probably couldn't even get through the crowd because it would be so busy. But right now, even the smallest vendors can't survive," says Song Guanghui, the owner of Crowdbar, a tricked-out food stall in an open-air market in Dongguan.
The market is across the street from an enormous factory complex that specializes in making shoes. Crowdbar's flashy electric sign, cold beer and bombastic owner used to draw crowds of workers at shift change.
But shoes are among the thousands of products that the Trump administration has slapped double-digit tariffs on since the trade war began in early 2018. Trade talks between the U.S. and China resumed Thursday. But a deal is far from done.
Meanwhile, 70% of footwear sold in America is imported from China. And with tariffs cutting into their bottom lines, many manufacturers have already relocated operations to countries like Vietnam and Indonesia.
That has left Song and Crowdbar short of workers to buy his barbecue skewers and beer. "I'm probably going to pick up and move elsewhere. If I stay here for much longer, I'm not going to be able to make it," says Song.
There are clues like this about the Chinese economy's health nearly everywhere in Dongguan. It's a sprawling manufacturing hub of more than 8 million people in southern China, nicknamed the "workshop of the world." Cities like Dongguan are among the hardest hit in a trade war that targets goods manufactured on razor-sharp margins.
"I think there's a pretty major impact if you just look at the numbers," says Victor Shih, a political economist at the University of California, San Diego, who studies the Chinese economy. China exports more goods to the U.S. than to any other country in the world, and those exports have dropped by more than 12% this year alone, he says.
That drop has clearly hit the Chinese manufacturing sector. Industrial output growth in China fell to its lowest level in 17 years this summer.
On top of the trade war, China's economic growth has been slowing down for years. It's difficult to pinpoint exactly how many of China's current economic troubles are due to the trade war or the existing slump. But tariffs have undoubtedly contributed to slower growth since the early months of 2018, when the economic standoff began, experts on the Chinese economy say.
President Trump's trade war has hit the U.S. as well. Economist Arthur Kroeber, head of research at Gavekal Dragonomics, says that tariffs have made products imported from China more expensive. "The brunt of the burden of tariffs is being borne by U.S. consumers," Kroeber says.
American farmers who've had retaliatory tariffs placed on the goods they export to China have also suffered, despite aid packages supplied by the U.S. government.
The Chinese government has many more tools at its disposal to alleviate some of the trade war's pressures. The central government recently slashed taxes on businesses and corporations to help cushion the blow. The government also devalued its currency so that Chinese goods were cheaper, and thus would be more attractive, to trade partners around the world.
Another tool available to the central government, experts say, is massaging official data coming out of Beijing. The official unemployment rate in China, for instance, has hovered between 4.3% and 3.6% for nearly 20 years. A lack of fluctuation beyond a percentage point for such a period of time is highly unusual. And the government even shut down the release of regional manufacturing statistics out of Guangdong province, where Dongguan is located, that cast doubt on rosy national numbers.
But if some of the data is not to be trusted, anecdotal evidence on the ground in Dongguan paints a somewhat clearer picture.
On the dusty outskirts of the city, a dog of indeterminate heritage lazes in front of the entrance to the Dongguan Fangjie Printing and Packaging Company. The mood inside the plastic bag factory, however, is one of brisk efficiency. Workers in green polo shirts and blue caps monitor machines spitting out brightly colored plastic bags — bags for detergent, candy and dog poop.
"We make about 15 different kinds of doggie doo-dah bags," says Christopher Devereux, the managing director of Omnidex, a company that connects foreign companies from all over the world with Chinese factories like Fangjie that can manufacture their products.
Until the trade war, Devereux's business was called ChinaSavvy. But earlier this year, he changed the name because, increasingly, he's working with factories outside China. In fact, he recently pulled most of his clients out of the Fangjie factory and moved their business to factories in Vietnam, "because of the tariffs, [because of] the trade war."
And new business has evaporated, he says: "My inquiries from American customers about coming to China have dropped off considerably."
But Devereux concedes that he had already been considering a move to Vietnam when the opening shots of the trade war were fired.
"Wages have been going up steadily over the years, which happens when you get a more educated populace," says U.C. San Diego's Shih.
A more educated population means fewer low-skilled workers for production lines in factories like Fangjie Printing and Packaging Company. Factories have to offer higher wages to attract the best workers. And those wages eat into the bottom lines of the companies that Devereux places in Chinese factories.
"If you look at Vietnam now, you've got wages being roughly one-third of what they are here in China," says Devereux. And so the trade war merely sped up his move out of China and into Vietnam. "Two or three of our American customers, knowing we were looking in Vietnam, asked us to accelerate that" when the trade war began, he says.
"Even in the absence of a trade war, China's growth rate would have come down. The trade war makes it worse, but the trade war is not the primary reason," says Shang-Jin Wei, an expert on the Chinese economy at Columbia University and a former International Monetary Fund official.
The real challenges to the Chinese economy, Wei says, are structural issues like a lack of low-skilled workers to populate factories, an over-reliance on the manufacturing sector and an aging workforce.
Those factors, Wei says, pre-date the trade war. In fact, China's GDP growth has dropped by 3 percentage points in the past decade, from a growth rate of 9.6% in 2008 to 6.6% in 2018.
Still, at the plastic bag factory in Dongguan, a cluster of brand-new machines sits idle. "These four machines they bought especially especially for us," says Devereux, sweeping an arm toward the shiny machines on the factory floor. "And now we're saying bye-bye."
Copyright 2022 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org. | https://www.wyomingpublicmedia.org/2019-10-10/has-the-trade-war-taken-a-bite-out-of-chinas-economy-yes-but-its-complicated | 2022-09-01T02:14:23Z |
A few times a month, Marhana leaves the village of Krui in southern Sumatra and journeys deep into the woods. Then she finds a tree, lined with triangular holes, each hole dripping with crystalized sap.
Marhana (like many Indonesians, she uses only a first name) takes a woven rattan rope and lassos up the tree, climbing higher and higher, chipping away at the sap using a tiny pickaxe.
"This is the damar," she says in Indonesian, as she looks at the golden droppings.
Marhana may see damar as her way to make a living, but agriculture experts see this rare commodity as something bigger. They see damar as a sort of anti-palm oil — a model to combat deforestation and climate change.
Damar isn't a global household-name, but in Sumatra it goes way back. In the 1800s, Dutch colonists used the sap to bind their wood boats for sea journeys. Today damar is used in varnishes, paints, and cosmetics. According to the UN, Indonesia exports tens of thousands of tons of damar and other resins each year.
But compared to Indonesia's monthly exports of palm oil, that's not so whopping. According to the Indonesian Palm Oil Organization, or GAPKI, Indonesia exports about 2 to 3 million tons of palm oil per month.
And those palm oil exports come at a cost: large-scale deforestation of Indonesian forest, which in turn releases large amounts of climate change gases and destroys habitats for animals like endangered rhinos and orangutans. Last year, the Indonesian government stopped issuing licenses for new palm oil plantations and the European Union is now considering an import ban.
But there's an issue.
Last month Thomas Hertel, a professor of agricultural economics at Purdue University, co-authored a paper in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. He argued that even if the EU ban comes to pass, and even if it successfully reduces the trade of palm oil, local farmers aren't just going to automatically keep the forests in place.
"Even if the import ban bites, it may not do the job," Hertel says.
Hertel says that farmers might stop planting palm oil, but they might keep cutting down forests to plant other commodities, like soy or rice. "If you focus on certifying one crop, they switch to another crop. The incentive for deforestation will still be there," Hertel says.
That's where damar comes in. Back in Krui, farmer Kamas Usman says he grows damar in something called an agroforest. It may look like a regular forest, but it's actually an intricately planned farm.
"In this agroforest there are lots of varieties of trees. Durian, jengkol, lots of them," Usman says. The farmers plant food crops below — Southeast Asian fruits like durian and jengkol, as well as avocados or coffee. Above in the canopy are the damar trees — also called Shorea javanica — which produce the golden sap. "That's how it becomes not just a forest, but a damar forest," he says.
David Gilbert, a researcher at the University of California, Berkeley, says the agroforestry model adds value that's key to the forest's survival. First there's the water benefits: Having your farm in the middle of a forest with natural watersheds and rain cycles is a win for crops' health.
And then there's the business side — all these crops growing together means forest farmers like Usman and harvesters like Marhana have lots of economic incentives not to cut down their trees.
Gilbert says whereas palm oil is a monocrop — just rows and rows of the same palm trees — with damar agroforests, farmers aren't reliant on a single product. "If the damar price is too low, they can concentrate on selling their coffee or their avocados, for example," Gilbert says, "So it insulates them from the shocks of these global commodity markets in a way that producing just one crop can't provide."
The forest where Marhana harvests damar in South Sumatra is pretty much Indonesia's poster child for the strength of agroforests versus deforestation. In the 1990s, when the palm oil industry came in and tried to persuade locals to cut down their damar trees, it didn't work. The majority of farmers stuck with damar. Around this time, Indonesia's forestry minister decided to formally grant the community ownership of several thousand hectares of woods.
Now the Indonesian government is in the middle of a plan to increase Indonesia's community-owned forest lands to 12.7 million hectares. And the Indonesian Ministry of Social Forestry is also working on community agroforestry projects on other islands besides Sumatra, including Java, Kalimantan and Sulawesi.
As for Marhana, she says the agroforestry model works for her, providing her whole livelihood — just like it did for her mother and her grandmother. And at 48 years old, she has no plans to quit climbing damar trees anytime soon.
Julia Simon is a regular contributor to NPR's Planet Money. You can also hear her on the NPR business desk and the NPR podcasts Code Switch and Rough Translation.
Copyright 2022 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org. | https://www.wyomingpublicmedia.org/2019-10-19/could-this-tree-be-an-eco-friendly-way-to-wean-indonesian-farmers-off-palm-oil | 2022-09-01T02:14:29Z |
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer says he told President Trump on Wednesday that the United States should grant hazard pay — additional pay for hazardous duty — to frontline federal employees responding to the coronavirus pandemic.
Speaking to NPR's Mary Louise Kelly, the New York Democrat also said there will be another coronavirus relief package, and that legislation should require hazard pay for all frontline workers like nurses, doctors and first responders.
"These nurses, these doctors, health care workers, they're risking their lives," he said. "I'm sure when they walk to work or take the subway to work, they're wondering, will I catch this virus? But they're like the firefighters and police officers and construction workers were heroes of 9/11; these are our heroes today. And they should get hazard pay."
Schumer is currently practicing social distancing from his home in Brooklyn. He said he's been spending most of the time working the phone, except for a couple hours a day when he's responsible for childcare for his young grandson.
The Senate minority leader also said he's been pushing Trump to appoint a distribution czar, ideally a general with logistics experience, to manage the deployment of medical supplies like ventilators and masks to states.
A week after the Senate passed a historic $2 trillion rescue package — the third bill responding to the pandemic — he said Congress "will do" a fourth coronavirus relief package, though his vision for what that bill will prioritize seems to differ some from Trump's suggestion Tuesday of a massive infrastructure bill.
"We have to look at election reform," Schumer said. "How are people going to vote? ... And we may have to look at how Congress is going to vote. I think we have to do things with paid leave, paid sick leave, paid family leave."
Schumer said infrastructure investment is a key tool for stimulating the economy, but it might come further down the road.
"I think that the first job is to beat this health care crisis and deal with people who have their immediate problems," he said. "I would not at all be adverse to an infrastructure package. ... It's a longer range view of getting the economy back, but job No. 1 is get those materials to our hospitals and health care workers, get those unemployment checks out."
Copyright 2022 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org. | https://www.wyomingpublicmedia.org/2020-04-01/schumer-calls-for-hazard-pay-for-frontline-workers-in-coronavirus-fight | 2022-09-01T02:27:59Z |
Among the more than 1,200 people in Michigan who have died during the coronavirus pandemic is Otis Knapp Lee, better known as Detroit's king of corned beef. He died Sunday, at age 72.
Lee opened Mr. Fofo's Deli in Detroit's Midtown neighborhood in the early 1970s when he was 25.
"It took off like wildfire," his son, Keith Lee, told TV station Fox 2 Detroit earlier this week. "People loved it. It was basically an overnight success."
The deli's name came from Keith's childhood nickname, Fofo.
The elder Lee's specialties included huge sheet cakes, macaroni and cheese, and a sweet potato pie his grandmother taught him to make.
But he was most famous for heaping corned-beef sandwiches.
The words "corned beef" were written on the deli's front windows. A big "Thank you Detroit" sign stretched overhead.
"It was the go-to place," Keith Lee said. "You know, after church, after the club, just it was the place to be."
The deli catered to some important clients. According to Keith Lee, his father made cakes for both of Bill Clinton's inaugurations.
And every Thanksgiving, lines stretched around the deli when the elder Lee would give away thousands of turkeys.
After nearly 35 years in business, Lee retired and closed the deli.
He got sick about 2 weeks ago.
When the hospital called to say he wasn't getting better, his son Keith raced there to say goodbye. Now, the family is planning a funeral, which they hope to livestream.
Asked what he will miss most about his dad, Keith's voice wavered.
"Him, you know," he said, wiping away tears. "Just him."
All Things Considered has been remembering some of the people who have died from COVID-19, including New Orleans DJ Black N Mild, Brooklyn principal Dez-Ann Romain and New York sociologist William Helmreich.
Copyright 2022 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org. | https://www.wyomingpublicmedia.org/2020-04-10/detroits-king-of-corned-beef-dies-from-coronavirus-complications | 2022-09-01T02:28:06Z |
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