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Dim Sum House Plots Third Location, Private-Event Space and New Cafe
Owners Jane Guo and Jackson Fu are doubling down on their restaurant expansion plans.
The big restaurant opening news in Philly this week is that Dim Sum House by Jane G’s is finally (finally!) picking up a third location. Expansion has been rumored forever, in the works for years, hinted at with pop-ups, and now it’s a real thing. The new restaurant location will be just north of Girard at 1214 North American Street (on the ground floor of the Liberty Square apartments), and it’s opening on…
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Well, actually, no one seems to know exactly when it’s opening. But it’ll be soon. Or soon-ish. Like, definitely this year. Totally. Or maybe early 2023. Seriously, though, the opening date is still very much up in the air, but I do have some details for you.
The new spot is going to be big. Sure, you might be saying to yourself that the existing locations in Rittenhouse and University City are already pretty sizable operations, but this one is even bigger. When it opens, the new Dim Sum House will seat more than 100 people inside and another 100 outside on a covered patio (a first for Dim Sum House). The Shanghainese and Cantonese dim sum restaurant will also have a 20-foot bar, private-event spaces, and a total of something like 9,000 square feet for drinking cocktails and slurping xiao long bao.
Owner Jane Guo and her son, Jackson Fu, are excited to get things rolling with their opening. Which will happen, you know…eventually. In the meantime, Guo and Fu have something else to keep them occupied: In addition to getting the new Dim Sum House up and running, they’re also immediately debuting a second concept called Xi West. This is a full-on private event space and wedding venue attached to the University City Dim Sum House at 3939 Chestnut Street.
Xi West is its own thing, with a separate entrance, its own vibe and banquet menu. But the two spaces are also connected: You’ll walk in and go upstairs for Dim Sum House or hook a hard left for Xi West.
So why am I telling you about a wedding venue here in the restaurant section? Because Xi is going to be more than just weddings. Guo and Fu are planning on using the space for food festivals, dumpling cook-offs, and large-group dining. Most notably, when not in use for events, they’re thinking about using the front of the space as a neighborhood cafe with snacks, pastries, coffee and more. It’ll be a spot for students to hang out and study, for neighbors to get together — perfect for the student-heavy population in University City.
The whole daytime cafe idea was integral to Xi West’s design. Guo and Fu were adamant that the space not be dark and empty on those days when it’s not being used for catering, so the design of the coffee shop was baked into all the plans from the beginning. No word yet on exactly when this part of Xi’s identity will be revealed to the neighborhood, but as always, you’ll know more when I know more.
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https://www.phillymag.com/foobooz/2022/04/04/dim-sum-house-event-space-new-location/
| 2022-04-04T19:10:39
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https://www.phillymag.com/foobooz/2022/04/04/dim-sum-house-event-space-new-location/
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At Eclectic Hook & Master, Garces Dreams of Octopus — and Pizza
Chicago-meets-Brooklyn pizza, a tiki lounge, and a giant cartoon octopus combine for "complete culinary absurdity" that somehow works.
Jose Garces’s Hook & Master is a strange place. Right on the edge of gentrifying Kensington, it’s an octopus-themed Chicago-meets-Brooklyn pizza joint opened in the shell of the old Liquid Room. You can get kampachi crudo with yuzu and jalapeño, shrimp cooked in Calabrian chili butter, jumped-up tiki drinks — either at the main bar or in the tiki lounge upstairs — and Chicago-style deep-dish pies.
It’s a lot, I know. It’s the kind of restaurant I’d make up if I was telling a bad joke about desperate restaurateurs trying to smash together concepts in a misguided attempt at pleasing all the people, all the time. Except that here, it’s real. There’s a giant cartoon octopus painted on the outside, buoys hanging from the ceiling, cracker-crust tavern pies, Chicago pan and Brooklyn-style New York pizzas with blistered crusts topped with house-made sausage and long hots, plus special bowls of goop (Alfredo, ricotta with chili, herbed oil) just for dipping the crusts in.
Funny thing is, though, it works. Mostly because there’s a fuck-it-all sense of complete culinary absurdity permeating the place that I truly appreciate, but also because Garces knows how to make a themed restaurant that doesn’t feel like a theme restaurant, you know? He’s done Old Cuba (Rosa Blanca) and Mexican beach vibes (Buena Onda). Hell, he even had a pizza joint once before (24, in Old City), and even if that place — egoless, efficient and, ultimately, cold — was the exact opposite of this, it’s a historical counterweight that makes Hook & Master’s mashed-up, genre-fluid oddity even more fascinating to me. In this moment, in this place? The absurd feels almost comforting.
So, too, does a big-ass pizza — thick-crusted, high-walled, perfectly laced with that pan-pizza curtain of near-burnt cheese. A man of Chicago from way back, Garces knows what a Chicago deep-dish pie is supposed to taste like but goes his own way anyway, giving his a spicy red top and an architecture that feels more like a straight pan pizza than those coliseums of sauce and cheese that the Windy City is (shamelessly) known for.
So is it good? Sure. The small plates are clever. The tavern-style thin-crust pizzas are admirably greasy, floppy in the middle and crisp at the edges, just the way I like. But more importantly, Hook & Master feels real. It feels like unapologetic love, isolation madness, and recursive obsessions given physical form — like this whole place was based on a dream Garces had once that he just couldn’t shake. One with a giant octopus who loved crudo and Chicago pizzas and rum.
Like any dream, I’m not sure Hook & Master will last. But it’s worth enjoying while we can.
2 Stars — Come if you’re in the neighborhood
Rating Key
0 stars: stay away
★: come if you have no other options
★★: come if you’re in the neighborhood
★★★: come from anywhere in the region
★★★★: come from anywhere in the country
Published as “The Octopus Dream” in the April 2022 issue of Philadelphia magazine.
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https://www.phillymag.com/foobooz/2022/04/04/hook-and-master-garces-review/
| 2022-04-04T19:10:46
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https://www.phillymag.com/foobooz/2022/04/04/hook-and-master-garces-review/
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An Ice Cream Shop Just for Dogs Opened in Rittenhouse, and It’s as Adorable as It Sounds
Flavors at Salty Paws include maple bacon and peanut butter. Patrons include everyone who’s been a very good boy.
Latke, one of the shop’s first canine diners, had the distinction of having previously won an ice cream eating contest and made herself right at home with a peanut butter and biscuit sundae. Parker was there with his human Chanel Wong to celebrate his “gotcha day” with a crown and special cookie (both available in-store, so you can have an impromptu doggie party). The fanciest Gucci-clad pooch in all of Philadelphia showed up and showed out. (Predictably, the pup-arazzi — a.k.a., me — swarmed her.)
From dog parks to “yappy hours,” Philly is a city that loves its four-legged friends. Now, Rittenhouse Square is getting even more canine friendly. Salty Paws — an ice cream bar and bakery just for dogs — opened this past weekend, and it is the perfect place to go if your dog has been a very good boy.
Dogs can get their treats to go or pull a fluffy cushion-covered seat up to a table to eat in the parlor — many opted for the floor, but there’s no judgment here. (The ice cream is safe for cats to eat too, but they probably would not want to dine in, for obvious reasons.)
Salty Paws offers a variety of lactose-free or goat’s-milk-based ice creams (easier on a dog’s stomach than the sugary dairy ice cream people eat) with flavors ranging from maple bacon to cheese to plain, old vanilla. A full topping bar includes a variety of dehydrated meat crumbles, mini dog biscuits in different flavors, and yogurt chips. Dogs can sample flavors before deciding on their treat, though peanut butter seemed to be the favorite flavor on opening day.
Originally opened in Rehoboth Beach in 2018, this is the first Philly location and ninth Salty Paws overall. At the Rittenhouse opening, franchise owner Suzanne Tretowicz said, “The best part about this business is that you get the best side of people. They’re not just buying things for their dogs, they’re spoiling their animals. Everyone is happy.”
This was the draw for Philly shop owner Karla Shanesy, who discovered the original Salty Paws on social media, and after over 30 years as a pharmacist, decided to make a complete change by expanding the franchise. Shanesy has three dogs (and two cats) of her own, and chose the Rittenhouse location because it “has always been super dog-friendly, from the park to the outdoor dining. By adding a Salty Paws, we are giving dog owners another way to enhance their day out with their best friend.”
In addition to ice cream, the shop sells dog treats of all types — rawhide bones, bulk biscuits, decorated cookies, and even doggie doughnuts — as well as dog toys, collars and other accessories. If your dog just can’t get enough of the shop’s signature frozen treats, they also sell powdered ice cream mix so you can make it at home.
Shanesy plans to hold events like breed meetups, ice cream socials and fundraisers at the shop, plus private doggie birthday parties. She is planning to expand upstairs with a dedicated event space, as well.
Salty Paws is located at 211 South 17th Street. Get a one-scoop cup for $5, or spring for a three-scoop dog bowl for $7. Toppings are an additional $1.
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https://www.phillymag.com/life-style/2022/04/03/salty-paws-rittenhouse-dog-ice-cream/
| 2022-04-04T19:10:52
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https://www.phillymag.com/life-style/2022/04/03/salty-paws-rittenhouse-dog-ice-cream/
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We Took Engagement Photos on Our Favorite Stoops in Rittenhouse
Afterward, the couple dressed up and went to the Rodin Museum for more modern-chic snaps.
We’ve said it before and we’ll say it again: The streets and buildings of Philly are tops for photo sessions — from proposals caught on camera to weddings to every other related celebration. These Rittenhouse engagement photos are just another example. The couple wanted to take portraits on their favorite stoops before heading to Rodin Museum for more snaps. Minh Cao of Du Soleil Photographie pulled off their modern-chic session, which you can see below.
The couple: Vanessa Pileggi, 31, and Thomas Fecca, 30, of North Philly
How they met: While the couple was introduced through mutual friends while attending Temple University, they really connected after graduation. They were both prepping for the CPA exam and bumped into each other at a live-study course in Center City. They began cracking the books together and soon started having drinks and dinner after study sessions. Those get-togethers quickly turned into dates. They were together for five and a half years before Tommy popped the question.
Their proposal story: Tommy had initially hoped to propose during the couple’s planned vacation in Cappadocia, Turkey, but COVID got in the way of that. Instead, on a pretty Sunday in August 2020, he got down on one knee at Longwood Gardens in Kennett Square. “The weather was beautiful, and we kicked off the day with champagne,” says Vanessa. “I should have known.” Afterward, the couple and his sister (who he’d enlisted to film the big moment) went to Vallini in Skippack for a surprise brunch with their families.
The engagement-session approach: Since they met and live in Philly, Vanessa and Tommy decided the city was the perfect spot for their modern-chic photo session. They chose Rittenhouse Square and the Rodin Museum because of the special meaning each holds for their relationship. The neighborhood is just a few blocks from their first apartment together (The Sterling), and they love strolling through the streets and admiring the grand detailing of all the homes — particularly on Delancey.
They chose the museum, meanwhile, because it’s a few blocks from where they purchased their first home in Francisville, and they thought the venue’s large columns and white marble background would fit the overall style of their photos.
The couple’s attire: Because they wanted to show off their casual, everyday lifestyle in the city, Vanessa and Tommy both sported jeans and T-shirts. “This look represented us just hanging around, going on bike rides, grabbing coffee and dining out at some of our favorite spots,” says Vanessa. She adds they felt super-comfy and at home. In fact, she says: “We like to joke that some of these stoop shots are us hanging in front of our multimillion-dollar home. (We wish!)”
They used their Rodin Museum location to show off their fancier side. “We love to dress up … and enjoy the finer things in life,” says Vanessa. She wore a dress from Revolve and shoes from Alias Mae and carried an acrylic marble-inspired clutch etched with their wedding date in Roman numerals. “Minh helped us capture these walking ‘Hollywood’ shots that really made us feel like celebs. It was seriously something special.”
Some chance encounters: While the couple and their photographer were taking action photos on 18th Street, Vanessa and Tommy were surprised to see two of their close friends walking toward them and taping them in action. “We started cracking up and immediately lost composure,” says Vanessa.
Later, at the Rodin, a butterfly landed on the bride-to-be and stayed on her long enough for Cao to snap a few images. “We like to think of this as good luck for the future,” says Vanessa. “Fingers crossed that a butterfly finds us on the wedding day.”
The wedding plans: Vanessa and Tommy will be saying “I do” in June at the Ballroom at the Ben. “Having a Philly wedding is our official way to make our mark in the city,” finishes Vanessa.
This interview has been edited for clarity and length.
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https://www.phillymag.com/philadelphia-wedding/2022/04/04/rittenhouse-engagement-photos/
| 2022-04-04T19:10:58
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https://www.phillymag.com/philadelphia-wedding/2022/04/04/rittenhouse-engagement-photos/
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Bruins score a crucial win in St. Cloud
Published 9:47 am Monday, April 4, 2022
The Austin Bruins moved closer to the postseason as they edged out the first place St. Cloud Norsemen (37-16-2-1 overall) 2-1 in St. Cloud Saturday.
Anthony Menghini scored his 16th goal of the season to give the Bruins (28-23-3-2 overall) the lead for good in the second period.
Klayton Knapp stopped 24 of 25 shots to score the win in net.
There are just five games remaining in the regular season and if Austin wins one more game, it will clinch a playoff spot.
SCORING SUMMARY
St. Cloud 1 0 0 — 1
Austin 1 1 0 — 2
First period
(A) Walter Zacher (Sutter Muzzatti) 4:10
(SC) Dakota Lenz (Leo Gruba, Peyton Hanson) 8:39
Second period
(A) Anthony Menghini (Nick Catalano, Xavier Jean-Louis) 12:13
Third period
No scoring
Shots: Austin — 20; St. Cloud — 25
Power plays: Austin — 0-for-3; St. Cloud — 0-for-6
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https://www.austindailyherald.com/2022/04/bruins-score-a-crucial-win-in-st-cloud/
| 2022-04-04T19:14:54
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https://www.austindailyherald.com/2022/04/bruins-score-a-crucial-win-in-st-cloud/
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U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said the report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change revealed "a litany of broken climate promises" by governments and corporations, accusing them of stoking global warming by clinging to harmful fossil fuels.
"It is a file of shame, cataloguing the empty pledges that put us firmly on track toward an unlivable world," he said.
Governments agreed in the 2015 Paris accord to keep global warming well below 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 Fahrenheit) this century, ideally no more than 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 Fahrenheit). Yet temperatures have already increased by over 1.1C (2F) since pre-industrial times, resulting in measurable increases in disasters such flash floods, extreme heat, more intense hurricanes and longer-burning wildfires, putting human lives in danger and costing governments hundreds of billions of dollars to confront.
"Projected global emissions from (national pledges) place limiting global warming to 1.5C beyond reach and make it harder after 2030 to limit warming to 2C," the panel said.
In other words, the report's co-chair, James Skea of Imperial College London, told The Associated Press: "If we continue acting as we are now, we're not even going to limit warming to 2 degrees, never mind 1.5 degrees."
Ongoing investments in fossil fuel infrastructure and clearing large swaths of forest for agriculture undermine the massive curbs in emissions needed to meet the Paris goal, the report found.
Emissions in 2019 were about 12% higher than they were in 2010 and 54% higher than in 1990, said Skea.
RELATED: New vehicles sold in US must average at least 40 miles per gallon of gas by 2026
The rate of growth has slowed from 2.1% per year in the early part of this century to 1.3% per year between 2010 and 2019, the report's authors said. But they voiced "high confidence" that unless countries step up their efforts to cut greenhouse gas emissions, the planet will on average be 2.4C to 3.5C (4.3 to 6.3 F) warmer by the end of the century - a level experts say is sure to cause severe impacts for much of the world's population.
"Limiting warming to 1.5C requires global greenhouse gas emissions to peak before 2025 at the latest and be reduced by 43% by 2030," he said.
Such cuts would be hard to achieve without without drastic, economy-wide measures, the panel acknowledged. It's more likely that the world will pass 1.5C and efforts will then need to be made to bring temperatures back down again, including by removing vast amounts of carbon dioxide - the main greenhouse gas - from the atmosphere.
Many experts say this is unfeasible with current technologies, and even if it could be done it would be far costlier than preventing the emissions in the first place.
The report, numbering thousands of pages, doesn't single out individual countries for blame.
However, the figures show much of the carbon dioxide already in the atmosphere was released by rich countries that were the first to burn coal, oil and gas when the industrial revolution really got going in the 1850s.
The U.N. panel said about 40% of emissions since then came from Europe and North America. Just over 12% can be attributed to East Asia, which includes China. The country took over the position as world's top emitter from the United States in the mid-2000s.
Many countries and companies have used recent climate meetings to paint rosy pictures of their emissions-cutting efforts, while continuing to invest in fossil fuels and other polluting activities, Guterres warned.
"Some government and business leaders are saying one thing - but doing another," he said. "Simply put, they are lying. And the results will be catastrophic."
RELATED: Study: Allergy season will start much earlier, be far more intense because of climate crisis
The report isn't without some hope, however.
Its authors highlight myriad ways in which the world can be brought back on track to 2C or even, with great effort, return to 1.5C after that threshold has been passed. This could require measures such as the removal of CO2 from the atmosphere with natural or artificial means, but also potentially risky technologies such as pumping aerosols into the sky to reflect sunlight.
Among the solutions recommended are a rapid shift away from fossil fuels toward renewable energy such as increasingly cheap solar and wind power, the electrification of transport, less meat consumption, more efficient use of resources and massive financial support for poor countries unable to pay for such measures without help.
The situation is as if humanity has "gone to the doctor in a very unhealthy condition," and the doctor saying "you need to change, it's a radical change. If you don't you're in trouble," said report co-author Pete Smith, a professor of soils and global change at the University Aberdeen.
"It's not like a diet," Smith said. "It is a fundamental lifestyle change. It's changing what you eat, how much you eat and get on a more active lifestyle."
One move often described as "low-hanging fruit" by scientists is to plug methane leaks from mines, wells and landfills that release the potent but short-lived greenhouse gas into the atmosphere. A pact forged between the United States and China at last year's U.N. climate conference in Glasgow aims to do just that.
"You can see the first signs that the actions that people are taking are beginning to make a difference," said Skea, the panel's co-chair.
"The big message we've got (is that) human activities got us into this problem and human agency can actually get us out of it again," he said.
The panel's reports have become increasingly blunt since the first one was published in 1990, and the latest may be the last before the planet passes 1.5C of warming, Skea told the AP.
Last August, it said climate change caused by humans was "an established fact" and warned that some effects of global warming are already inevitable. In late February, the panel published a report that outlined how further temperature increases will multiply the risk of floods, storms, drought and heat waves worldwide.
Still, the British government's former chief science adviser David King, who wasn't involved in writing the report, said there are optimistic assumptions about how much CO2 the world can afford to emit.
The U.N. panel suggests there's still a "carbon budget" of 500 billion metric tons (550 billion U.S. tons) that can be emitted before hitting the 1.5C threshold.
"We don't actually have a remaining carbon budget to burn," said King, who now chairs the Climate Crisis Advisory Group.
"It's just the reverse. We've already done too much in the way of putting greenhouse gases up there," he said, arguing that the IPCC's calculation omits new risks and potentially self-reinforcing effects already happening in some places, such as the increased absorption of heat into the oceans from sea ice loss and the release of methane as permafrost melts, he said.
Such warnings were echoed by U.N. chief Guterres, citing scientists' warnings that the planet is moving "perilously close to tipping points that could lead to cascading and irreversible climate impacts."
"But high-emitting governments and corporations are not just turning a blind eye; they are adding fuel to the flames," he said, calling for an end to further coal, oil and gas extraction that the report said might have to be abandoned anyway, resulting in losses of trillions of dollars.
"Investing in new fossil fuels infrastructure is moral and economic madness," said Guterres.
Vulnerable nations said the report showed big polluters have to step up their efforts.
"We are looking to the G-20, to the world's biggest emitters, to set ambitious targets ahead of COP27, and to reach those targets - by investing in renewables, cutting out coal and fossil fuel subsidies," said Tina Stege, climate envoy for the Marshall Islands. "It's long past time to deliver on promises made."
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https://abc11.com/un-climate-report-change-greenhouse-gas-global-warming/11708876/
| 2022-04-04T19:55:20
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https://abc11.com/un-climate-report-change-greenhouse-gas-global-warming/11708876/
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Alaska Airlines moves to gender-neutral uniforms, allowing tattoos for employees
(CNN) - Alaska Airlines is going gender-neutral with its uniform policy for employees.
In a statement this week, the airline said the updated guidelines will “provide more freedom and flexibility in individual and gender expression.”
The carrier will also collaborate with a designer to create gender-neutral uniform items for frontline workers, including flight attendants, customer service agents and lounge employees.
The change follows a 2021 employee allegation that Alaska Airlines’ uniform policy discriminated against workers whose gender expression did not fit male and female dress codes.
Previously, the airline required either “male” or “female” uniforms, along with regulations on other dress codes based on assumed gender. At the time, the carrier said flight attendants could order any “uniform kit of their choice, regardless of gender identity.”
The airline is also updating to allow more flexibility in personal expression, including with tattoos and hair style choices.
Copyright 2022 CNN Newsource. All rights reserved.
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https://www.wflx.com/2022/04/04/alaska-airlines-moves-gender-neutral-uniforms-allowing-tattoos-employees/
| 2022-04-04T20:00:16
| 0
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https://www.wflx.com/2022/04/04/alaska-airlines-moves-gender-neutral-uniforms-allowing-tattoos-employees/
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Biggest underdog victories in March Madness
(Stacker) - Everyone loves an underdog. Whether it’s an intrinsic desire to root for the little guy or a hedge against laying the favorite, sports fans can’t help but crave the come-out-of-nowhere victory. This propensity is strongest during March Madness, that annual springtime tourney that pits NCAA Division I college basketball teams against one another in a drive toward the national championship.
What we have come to know as March Madness began in 1939, when it featured just eight teams. By 1951, that number doubled to 16. It doubled again in 1975, and yet again in 1985, before finally settling on the 68 first-round contenders we now see each year. According to the Sporting News, the first mention of the moniker “March Madness” was in the Illinois High School Athlete magazine, where high school official Henry V. Porter opined, “A little March madness may complement and contribute to sanity and help keep society on an even keel.”
The term’s association with the NCAA can be traced to the 1982 tournament, when CBS announcer Brent Musburger claimed he purloined the term from local car dealer commercials that aired during his time broadcasting Illinois state high school games (which also led to a lawsuit that resulted in the eventual trademark of the term itself).
One aspect of March Madness that’s open to less debate is that the annual sporting event is a standout with its high possibilities of having an unknown or undervalued team coming out of nowhere to score a major upset.
Leveraging AP Men’s Basketball polls from 1950–2021, BestOdds has come up with a list of some of the greatest and most unexpected underdog wins in the history of the NCAA championship tournament. AP polls are determined by a nationwide panel of sports writers and broadcasters who vote weekly, in a simple points system, to decide the AP Top 25. A team receives 25 points for each first place vote, 24 for second place and so on through to the 25th team, which receives one point. The rankings are set by listing the teams’ point totals from highest to lowest.
Here, teams were ranked by their standing in the polls going into March Madness, with teams that had poorer standings ranking higher on the list. (Lower numbers in the poll indicate a better expected performance, with 1 being the top pick, so a higher number indicates a poorer standing, and thus an underdog victory.) Ties were broken by the team’s preseason standing in the polls. The preseason favorite for that year is also included. From 1949–1960 and 1969–1989, the poll included 20 teams, from 1961–1968 the poll included 10 teams, and from 1990–present the poll has 25 teams.
So without further ado, here are 10 of the biggest underdog victories in NCAA March Madness history.
#10. The 1989 Michigan Wolverines
- Final AP poll ranking: 10
- Preseason AP poll ranking: 3
- Preseason AP poll favorite: Duke
The Big Ten is a notoriously tough conference prided on defense. Going into the 1988–1989 season, everyone had their eye on the Wolverines, who were coming off a respectable 26–8 season, but still smarting from a loss to North Carolina in the 1988 Sweet Sixteen. Conference foes Indiana, Illinois, and Iowa all put up winning records, while Purdue, ranked as high as #3, slipped into the rearview. After a 24–7 regular season record (12–6 in the Big Ten Conference), Michigan barreled through the tournament, besting ACC powers North Carolina and Virginia to reach the Final Four.
There, they faced fellow Big Ten member Illinois in a match that few expected the Wolverines to win. But win they did, 83–81, in a nail-biting classic. Two days later, on April 3, Michigan won the title with an 80–79 overtime victory over fellow underdog Seton Hall.
#9. The 2006 Florida Gators (tie)
- Final AP poll ranking: 11
- Preseason AP poll ranking: Unranked
- Preseason AP poll favorite: Duke
Prior to the 2005–2006 season, the Florida Gators had been bounced out in the first round of the tourney each of the past two years. With coach Billy Donovan returning for his 10th season in the Sunshine State and a lineup that featured Joakim Noah, Al Horford, Corey Brewer, and Chris Richard—all of whom would go on play in the NBA—along with team captain Adrian Moss, the Gators took home the SEC Championship against South Carolina after posting a 24–6 regular season record.
Coming into the NCAA tournament ranked 11th in the country, the team beat Big East dynamos Georgetown and Villanova. The Gators then handled upstart George Mason on the way to a 73–57 win over UCLA, who have more NCAA men’s basketball championships than any other school. This would be the beginning of a brief dynasty, as the Gators also won the 2007 championship, becoming the first school to win back-to-back titles since Duke in the early 1990s.
#8. The 1959 California Golden Bears (tie)
- Final AP poll ranking: 11
- Preseason AP poll ranking: Unranked
- Preseason AP poll favorite: Cincinnati
Coming off a modest 19–9 campaign, no one expected much from the Golden Bears heading into the 1958–1959 season. But beginning with a decisive 60–36 win over San Jose State to open the season, the team went on to finish the regular season in impressive fashion, posting a 21–4 record. After wins over Utah and Saint Mary’s, both top 20 teams, Cal made it to the championship game by beating #5 Cincinnati (and its three-time Sporting News Player of the Year Oscar Robertson). The title game was a white-knuckle bout against #10 West Virginia and future NBA Hall of Famer Jerry West, but the Golden Bears squeaked out a 71–70 win.
Just one year later, California center Darrall Imhoff would go on to win gold with the 1960 U.S. Men’s Olympic basketball team—a team coached by the Golden Bears’ own Pete Newell. Imhoff was then drafted third overall in the 1960 NBA Draft by the New York Knicks, right behind Robertson and West.
#7. The 2003 Syracuse Orange
- Final AP poll ranking: 13
- Preseason AP poll ranking: Unranked
- Preseason AP poll favorite: Arizona
The 2003 NCAA Championship would be a first title for one of two legendary coaches. On one side was Syracuse’s Jim Boeheim, who in his 27 years as head coach, had taken his team to the Final Four just two times, in 1987 and 1996. On the other sideline was Kansas head coach Roy Williams, who had reached the Final Four four times, finishing as runner up in 1991. The Syracuse Orangemen, as they were known at the time, were led by freshmen Carmelo Anthony and Gerry McNamara. Together, these first-year phenoms blazed a trail through the tournament, culminating with an 81–78 victory over Kansas.
Anthony was named the NCAA Tournament Most Outstanding Player and months later was drafted in the first round by the NBA’s Denver Nuggets. Later, still fond of Syracuse, he donated $3 million to his alma mater to build the Carmelo K. Anthony Basketball Center.
#6. The 1997 Arizona Wildcats
- Final AP poll ranking: 15
- Preseason AP poll ranking: 19
- Preseason AP poll favorite: Cincinnati
There’s a first time for everything, and for the Arizona Wildcats, 1997 marked many firsts in program and college basketball history. Yes, they won their first-ever championship that year, defeating top-ranked Kentucky, 84–79, in overtime, but the team’s true mark on NCAA history was that they were the first school to defeat three top seeds in one tournament. Before their victory over Kentucky, the Wildcats bested top-ranked Kansas and North Carolina.
Fun fact: In the opening game of the season, the Wildcats took down North Carolina 83-72, providing a harbinger of things to come in the Final Four rematch.
#5. The 1983 NC State Wolfpack
- Final AP poll ranking: 16
- Preseason AP poll ranking: 16
- Preseason AP poll favorite: Virginia
To this day, the story of the 1983 “Cardiac Pack” still evokes awe among sports fans. After putting up a respectable, if not spectacular 17–10 regular season record, the Wolfpack took the ACC Tournament title from Virginia. Led by notorious rabble-rousing coach Jim Valvano, NC State carried that momentum into a matchup with #1 seed Houston in the NCAA title game. But Houston was led by future NBA Hall of Famers Clyde Drexler and Akeem Olajuwon, and the Cougars were heavily favored to win. (The Drexel and Olajuwon duo was known as Phi Slamma Jamma for their high-scoring and dunk-filled style of play.)
This battle of underdogs versus superstars would come down to the last shot. NC State’s Dereck Whittenburg lofted an airball, but center Lorenzo Charles, waiting under the basket, outboxed Olajuwon and tapped it in for the 54–52 victory.
#4. The 2014 UConn Huskies
- Final AP poll ranking: 18
- Preseason AP poll ranking: 18
- Preseason AP poll favorite: Kentucky
The year before their 2014 title, the Huskies had a great season by many standards, going 20–10, but they were banned from participating in tournament play, due to sanctions resulting from years of substandard academic progress ratings among team members. Out for vengeance, second-year coach Kevin Ollie guided UConn to a 24-7 regular season record in 2014.
The team hit a speedbump in the American Athletic Conference final, losing to #5 Louisville, but bounced back in the NCAA tourney with wins over top 10 ranked Villanova and Iowa State. UConn also topped #11 Michigan State, before a stunning decisive win over #1 Florida, 63–53. The Huskies then faced college basketball royalty Kentucky for the title, and pulled out a 60–54 victory.
#3. The 1950 CCNY Beavers
- Final AP poll ranking: Unranked
- Preseason AP poll ranking: 14
- Preseason AP poll favorite: St. John’s (NY)
The Beavers provided headlines of hoop dreams and scandal during a memorable 1950 season. They were the first NCAA championship team to have Black players in its starting lineup, setting a precedent that redefined the sport. But even after a 17–5 regular season, there was no love for the team by the poll voters. That did not stop them—and maybe even motivated them—to winning the NIT and NCAA titles, both over top-ranked Bradley.
Scandal later engulfed the team when it was revealed that seven players were charged for their involvement in fixing games during the regular season, a fiasco that involved a total of seven schools and supposedly members of organized crime.
#2. The 1988 Kansas Jayhawks
- Final AP poll ranking: Unranked
- Preseason AP poll ranking: 7
- Preseason AP poll favorite: Syracuse
Jayhawks fans still remember the year of Danny and the Miracles. Led by star player Danny Manning, the 1988 squad got off to a rocky 12–8 start, but turned things around in the season’s second half, winning 15 of its last 18 games, including a win over rival Oklahoma. Manning would go on to be named National Player of the Year, and head coach Larry Brown became the only coach in basketball history to win both an NCAA national championship and an NBA title, the latter of which he accomplished with the Detroit Pistons in 2004.
#1. The 1985 Villanova Wildcats
- Final AP poll ranking: Unranked
- Preseason AP poll ranking: Unranked
- Preseason AP poll favorite: Georgetown
For any college hoops fan, this championship team was utterly unforgettable. Dubbed by Sports Illustrated as “The Perfect Game,” the 1985 NCAA title match had all the makings of a David versus Goliath showdown. Defending champion and #1 ranked Georgetown, which came into the final with a 35–2 record, had future NBA Hall of Famer Patrick Ewing dominating at the center position.
Villanova’s comparatively average record of 19–10 seemed to suggest that this would be one of the biggest routs in college basketball history. But Villanova shot an unprecedented 79% from the field, while limiting Ewing to just 14 points. The Wildcats’ 66–64 win was, in the words of P.J. Carlesimo, coach of then-rival Seton Hall, “as close to the perfect game as any team [has played] ever.”
Copyright 2022 Stacker via Gray Media Group, Inc. All rights reserved.
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Pet resort fire shines light on Palm Beach Co. safety codes
Seventy-five dogs were killed in a fire at a Texas pet resort last September.
When the fire occurred, there was no staffing overnight at the time and no sprinkler system was in place.
Changes to the fire codes in Georgetown, Texas, have already been approved for animal care facilities.
Locally, it appears Palm Beach County's fire code for sprinklers is stricter than the state's code.
What happened at the Ponderosa Pet Resort in Texas is a real fear for pet owners who use boarding facilities.
"There's a lot of care, there's a lot of affection that goes into it, so of course you want them to be taken care of by somebody who will care about them as much as you do," said Lyndon Brown, a local pet owner.
Brown has had his pit bull mix Mia for six years.
"I always joke and say she's the longest relationship I’ve had, so they do become like your children," Brown said.
He travels a lot for work. He's found that leaving Mia with pet sitters gives him more peace of mind than choosing a pet resort.
"They usually keep their pets in their home," he said. "I felt that was a much better option for her than going to a boarding facility where they use crates or cages to contain the animals overnight."
Pet shelters and boarding facilities in Palm Beach County have to adhere to fire codes and animal safety ordinances regulated by fire rescue and animal care and control.
"We are more stringent. Any building over 5,000 square feet is automatically sprinklered," said Chief David Derita, division chief fire marshal for Palm Beach County Fire Rescue.
WPTV found that Palm Beach County follows Florida Fire Prevention Code, which adopts codes from National Fire Protection Association.
But, the sprinkler requirements in the current code only apply to newer facilities that are 5,000 square feet or larger. Buildings permitted before 2005 may not have sprinkler systems.
"Until they renovate by code, they're not required to," Derita said about older buildings that are renovating 50% or more of the structure.
However, animal shelters, kennels and pet shops that may not have sprinklers are still regulated by inspections for animal safety.
Palm Beach County Animal Care and Control conducts those inspections annually.
"We require them to have fire safety protocols that come directly from the fire and zoning divisions, as well as we require them to have a posted fire plan," said Capt. Brian Lloyd, field operations manager for Palm Beach County Animal Care and Control.
Fire evacuation maps are posted throughout the animal care and control building, but Director Jan Steele said only newer buildings on the grounds have sprinkler systems.
She said there are plans to renovate older facilities, which will bring them up to code. As far as evacuation plans, Steele said there is a plan in place should anything happen overnight.
"We have staff members who live fairly close. We also have our animal control officers on call. They are on call from their homes. So, it could be anywhere from a few minutes to 20 minutes," Steele said about response time to the shelter.
Steele also added that the shelter's alarm has a notification system after 9 p.m. Their dispatch goes to 911's dispatch.
Below are some simple things you can ask a pet facility about fire safety:
- Is the facility manned 24 hours a day?
- Is there an alert system in place?
- Does it have sprinklers or a fire alarm system?
- What is the evacuation plan for animals in the event of an emergency?
Derita recommends pet owners also have a plan in place at home that includes camera systems, WiFi smoke alarms or anything that can alert you sooner if there's a fire.
"The quicker you’re notified, the quicker you notify us, the quicker we get there," Derita said. "Time is everything."
Scripps Only Content 2022
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| 2022-04-04T20:00:33
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PHOTOS: New York police rescue seal from Long Island roadway
(Gray News) – Police came to the rescue of an aquatic animal on Sunday that found itself trapped on the dry land of a New York street.
In a Facebook post, Southampton Town police said their dispatchers received a call Sunday about a seal in the roadway at a Long Island traffic circle.
Officers responded to the location and found a baby harbor seal in the roadway near an inn.
The officers detained the seal until it was taken safely by the Riverhead Foundation Rescue Center of the Long Island Aquarium.
The program director of the center said seal season is approaching. He said that harbor seals usually rest on rocks and beaches, and something like this situation is uncommon.
Copyright 2022 Gray Media Group, Inc. All rights reserved. CNN Newsource contributed to this report.
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UN warns Earth ‘firmly on track toward an unlivable world’
BERLIN (AP) — Temperatures on Earth will shoot past a key danger point unless greenhouse gas emissions fall faster than countries have committed, the world’s top body of climate scientists said Monday, warning of the consequences of inaction but also noting hopeful signs of progress.
U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said the report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change revealed “a litany of broken climate promises” by governments and corporations, accusing them of stoking global warming by clinging to harmful fossil fuels.
“It is a file of shame, cataloguing the empty pledges that put us firmly on track toward an unlivable world,” he said.
Governments agreed in the 2015 Paris accord to keep global warming well below 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 Fahrenheit) this century, ideally no more than 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 Fahrenheit). Yet temperatures have already increased by over 1.1C (2F) since pre-industrial times, resulting in measurable increases in disasters such flash floods, extreme heat, more intense hurricanes and longer-burning wildfires, putting human lives in danger and costing governments hundreds of billions of dollars to confront.
“Projected global emissions from (national pledges) place limiting global warming to 1.5C beyond reach and make it harder after 2030 to limit warming to 2C,” the panel said.
In other words, the report’s co-chair, James Skea of Imperial College London, told The Associated Press: “If we continue acting as we are now, we’re not even going to limit warming to 2 degrees, never mind 1.5 degrees.”
Ongoing investments in fossil fuel infrastructure and clearing large swaths of forest for agriculture undermine the massive curbs in emissions needed to meet the Paris goal, the report found.
Emissions in 2019 were about 12% higher than they were in 2010 and 54% higher than in 1990, said Skea.
The rate of growth has slowed from 2.1% per year in the early part of this century to 1.3% per year between 2010 and 2019, the report’s authors said. But they voiced “high confidence” that unless countries step up their efforts to cut greenhouse gas emissions, the planet will on average be 2.4C to 3.5C (4.3 to 6.3 F) warmer by the end of the century — a level experts say is sure to cause severe impacts for much of the world’s population.
“Limiting warming to 1.5C requires global greenhouse gas emissions to peak before 2025 at the latest and be reduced by 43% by 2030,” he said.
Such cuts would be hard to achieve without without drastic, economy-wide measures, the panel acknowledged. It’s more likely that the world will pass 1.5C and efforts will then need to be made to bring temperatures back down again, including by removing vast amounts of carbon dioxide — the main greenhouse gas — from the atmosphere.
Many experts say this is unfeasible with current technologies, and even if it could be done it would be far costlier than preventing the emissions in the first place.
The report, numbering thousands of pages, doesn’t single out individual countries for blame.
However, the figures show much of the carbon dioxide already in the atmosphere was released by rich countries that were the first to burn coal, oil and gas when the industrial revolution really got going in the 1850s.
The U.N. panel said about 40% of emissions since then came from Europe and North America. Just over 12% can be attributed to East Asia, which includes China. The country took over the position as world’s top emitter from the United States in the mid-2000s.
Many countries and companies have used recent climate meetings to paint rosy pictures of their emissions-cutting efforts, while continuing to invest in fossil fuels and other polluting activities, Guterres warned.
“Some government and business leaders are saying one thing – but doing another,” he said. “Simply put, they are lying. And the results will be catastrophic.”
The report isn’t without some hope, however.
Its authors highlight myriad ways in which the world can be brought back on track to 2C or even, with great effort, return to 1.5C after that threshold has been passed. This could require measures such as the removal of CO2 from the atmosphere with natural or artificial means, but also potentially risky technologies such as pumping aerosols into the sky to reflect sunlight.
Among the solutions recommended are a rapid shift away from fossil fuels toward renewable energy such as increasingly cheap solar and wind power, the electrification of transport, less meat consumption, more efficient use of resources and massive financial support for poor countries unable to pay for such measures without help.
The situation is as if humanity has “gone to the doctor in a very unhealthy condition,” and the doctor saying “you need to change, it’s a radical change. If you don’t you’re in trouble,” said report co-author Pete Smith, a professor of soils and global change at the University Aberdeen.
“It’s not like a diet,” Smith said. “It is a fundamental lifestyle change. It’s changing what you eat, how much you eat and get on a more active lifestyle.”
One move often described as “low-hanging fruit” by scientists is to plug methane leaks from mines, wells and landfills that release the potent but short-lived greenhouse gas into the atmosphere. A pact forged between the United States and China at last year’s U.N. climate conference in Glasgow aims to do just that.
“You can see the first signs that the actions that people are taking are beginning to make a difference,” said Skea, the panel’s co-chair.
“The big message we’ve got (is that) human activities got us into this problem and human agency can actually get us out of it again,” he said.
The panel’s reports have become increasingly blunt since the first one was published in 1990, and the latest may be the last before the planet passes 1.5C of warming, Skea told the AP.
Last August, it said climate change caused by humans was “an established fact” and warned that some effects of global warming are already inevitable. In late February, the panel published a report that outlined how further temperature increases will multiply the risk of floods, storms, drought and heat waves worldwide.
Still, the British government’s former chief science adviser David King, who wasn’t involved in writing the report, said there are optimistic assumptions about how much CO2 the world can afford to emit.
The U.N. panel suggests there’s still a “carbon budget” of 500 billion metric tons (550 billion U.S. tons) that can be emitted before hitting the 1.5C threshold.
“We don’t actually have a remaining carbon budget to burn,” said King, who now chairs the Climate Crisis Advisory Group.
“It’s just the reverse. We’ve already done too much in the way of putting greenhouse gases up there,” he said, arguing that the IPCC’s calculation omits new risks and potentially self-reinforcing effects already happening in some places, such as the increased absorption of heat into the oceans from sea ice loss and the release of methane as permafrost melts, he said.
Such warnings were echoed by U.N. chief Guterres, citing scientists’ warnings that the planet is moving “perilously close to tipping points that could lead to cascading and irreversible climate impacts.”
“But high-emitting governments and corporations are not just turning a blind eye; they are adding fuel to the flames,” he said, calling for an end to further coal, oil and gas extraction that the report said might have to be abandoned anyway, resulting in losses of trillions of dollars.
“Investing in new fossil fuels infrastructure is moral and economic madness,” said Guterres.
Vulnerable nations said the report showed big polluters have to step up their efforts.
“We are looking to the G-20, to the world’s biggest emitters, to set ambitious targets ahead of COP27, and to reach those targets – by investing in renewables, cutting out coal and fossil fuel subsidies,” said Tina Stege, climate envoy for the Marshall Islands. “It’s long past time to deliver on promises made.”
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Borenstein reported from Washington.
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Follow AP’s climate coverage at https://apnews.com/hub/climate
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Associated Press climate and environmental coverage receives support from several private foundations. See more about AP’s climate initiative here. The AP is solely responsible for all content.
Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.
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VANCOUVER, Wash. — After more than 150 years of existence, the Vancouver Fire Department just formed its first all-female crew — and it wasn’t entirely planned.
Crew formations happen annually and are based on rank, paramedic classification and other parameters. At Fire Station 2, located in the Harney Heights neighborhood, Capt. Heidi Parr was matched to serve with Melissa Anthony and Hannah Nelson.
“It happened all on its own,” Parr said with a smile.
Out of the fire department’s 178 frontline firefighters and captains, only 10 are women. Two additional women are in one of the department’s many anticipated firefighter academies. The change, although incremental, is advancing the department’s goal of diversifying its staff to better reflect the community.
Meeting the crew
In 2002, Parr was the second woman to be hired at the department, joining Julie Ledoux, who retired as a firefighter in 2010. Parr was the first woman to be promoted to captain in 2017.
Yet, she didn’t always envision herself being in the profession.
Parr used to divert her gaze from crashes on the road; the mere thought of it made her dizzy. Instead, she was en route to becoming a pilot, just like her father. After college, she worked for the Mount Hood Ski Patrol, where she had to study emergency care, which soon directed her career trajectory toward attending paramedic school and, eventually, volunteering at the Hood River Fire Department.
Upon joining the Vancouver Fire Department, Parr felt welcomed into the “brotherhood,” as she formed bonds with fellow academy members through studying, testing and being hired together. However, she was pleased to finally see a crew like hers come into fruition, she said.
Parr and her team work hard to be physically strong for emergency situations. There are people who would assume that someone small wouldn’t be capable of being a firefighter, Parr said, but together, the crew members impress others with their abilities.
“I think a lot of women don’t even consider the fact that they’re capable,” she continued. “We’re a walking testament to the fact that if you have a desire and will, there’s a way.”
Nelson, who has worked at the department for two years, said it’s interesting to see the public’s reaction when they see the crew is all women.
As a mechanic in the Navy, Nelson experienced working in a predominantly male field. She was used to the dynamic of being in a brotherhood. Admittedly, she had to work harder to alter her colleagues’ preconceived notions about what a woman could do in the position. Nelson was eventually seen as adept, she said, but it took time.
Being in an all-female crew curtailed this assimilation process; although the women came from different walks of life, they shared similar experiences of being women in a male-dominated career field.
Nelson recalled being a child and wanting to be a firefighter. It wasn’t until she was in middle school that she met a female firefighter for the first time.
“I thought, ‘Wow, this is something I can actually do,’ ” she said.
“When (little girls) see us, they love it,” Parr said, noting the impression the crew has on the public.
The third crew member, Anthony, was unavailable for comment.
Promoting diversity
The formation of the fire department’s all-female crew was rare based on staff numbers. However, the department is aiming for this to become less unusual, Fire Chief Brennan Blue said.
“We want to have our workforce be more reflective of our community,” he added.
According to Vancouver government employee data, more than 91 percent of its fire employees are men. Most fire staff are white, with 7.5 percent being people of color.
Proposition 2, certified in February, provided the financial capacity for the fire department to hire up to 80 firefighters over the next three years. Blue said academies for recruits with prior firefighting experience are operational, and there are plans under development to reach those who are new to the career field.
The department will attend job fairs and collaborate with community groups, such as local League of United Latin American Citizens and NAACP chapters, to help shape its recruitment processes. Staff also suggested reducing application and testing fees for candidates to make the application process more accessible.
A culture shift
The city of Vancouver hired an investigator in 2016 to observe the fire department after a female firefighter reported that her male boss had walked in on her using the bathroom. The third-party research resulted in the discovery of more issues within the department as it related to gender bias and treatment of women.
Since then, changes were made to accommodate men and women working together, such as creating designated bathrooms and sleeping areas. Parr said the structural changes resolved some of the reported issues. There was also an increase of anti-harassment training within the department, according to previous reporting from The Columbian.
“I think there has been a realization in a bit of a culture shift that this is a team and family environment,” said Blue, who became fire chief in 2020. “We can respect each other’s differences and still work together in a cohesive environment. Most people here get it.”
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PORTLAND, Ore. — Dozens of volunteers from the group People's Housing Project gathered in Portland's Pearl District on Sunday morning, ready to transform a stack of wooden pallets into three new housing structures for homeless Portlanders at the intersection of Northwest Davis Street and Northwest Park Avenue.
"I help support folks on the street in every way I can," said Mimi German, who spearheaded the construction effort. "All these people that are here do the same thing."
The group announced their intentions in a press release Sunday morning, and stated that the move was in direct response to the city clearing homeless camps around Portland. The structures on the Park Blocks are intended to house people who have been displaced by the removal of the camps.
"It was really early, like 7:45 to 8, when I woke up to them taking my tent," said a woman who asked not to be named but said was looking for a new place to stay after her camp was cleared. "Just took it down, didn't look to see if anyone was in there."
The group faced pushback on Sunday when Portland Police officers and Portland Parks and Recreation staff arrived and wanted to see a permit for the project. People's Housing Project volunteers cited a piece of Oregon legislation.
"House Bill 4001... allows nonprofits and religious organizations during an emergency housing crisis to provide shelter in the city," German said.
The city workers weren't familiar with the bill, likely because it isn't Oregon law. The Ways and Means committee recommended that HB 4001 be passed during the 2020 legislative session, but the legislature adjourned before it could.
A Portland Police Bureau spokesman later told KGW that it did not appear the officers had observed any criminal activity, which means it would likely fall to the Park Bureau to address any permitting concerns.
A Portland Parks & Recreation did not immediately reply to a request for comment about the permit status of the project, but participating group members told KGW on Monday that they did not have a permit.
Nearby residents had mixed feelings about the project.
"Eighteen years ago, we would walk through this park with our grandchildren at night and we'd think 'can you believe how cool this is?'" said Phil Oester, who lives in the area with his wife Debbie.
The Oesters said the neighborhood has deteriorated over the years, with crime, drug use and mental health concerns with the homeless population all increasing.
The couple said they're in favor of the group providing services and support at the park, "but not to live here," Debbie Oester said.
Another neighbor, Dave Taylor, said he agreed about the direction of the neighborhood, citing concerns about drug use and homeless residents who need help. He enthusiastically welcomed the idea of the tents.
"That's awesome, it's great," he said, giving a thumbs up.
After the three main tents were up, the volunteers pitched dozens of smaller ones around the park, ignoring calls from police to stop the work, and said they were ready to continue their work around the city.
"We'll just keep erecting these all around every time there's a sweep," German said. "We'll put more up because the city needs to stop sweeps."
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LEAVENWORTH, Wash. — An accomplished Mukilteo, Washington, mountaineer who summited the highest peaks on all seven continents died this week in a climbing accident on Dragontail Peak in the Cascade Range, the Chelan County Sheriff’s Office confirmed.
Dr. Richard Thurmer, 66, who worked for The Everett Clinic in Everett, Washington, had gone solo climbing in the Enchantments southwest of Leavenworth.
He was a skilled, experienced climber who was featured in The (Everett) Daily Herald in 2017 in a story that began: “Rick Thurmer was just 12 when he added his name to the summit register on Mount Whitney. He and his father completed the trek in one day, starting before sunrise and returning to the trailhead after dark.”
His wife, Allie Thurmer, called 911 on March 28 to report she had not heard from her husband in 24 hours. He wasn’t due back until the next day, but he would always keep in touch each day with an InReach device, according to the sheriff’s office. A deputy found his vehicle parked near the Bridge Creek Campground along Icicle Creek Road and left a note, with the hope he would return on time. But he did not.
The Enchantments offer a smorgasbord of climbing and few peaks are as popular, well known or accessible as Dragontail. This time of year, the mountain is still very much in winter conditions, with much of the approach covered in snow.
Around 11:15 a.m. on March 30, a crew aboard a search-and-rescue helicopter discovered a motionless body in the snow at the base of the Triple Couloir on the north face of Dragontail Peak — the side of the mountain visible from Colchuck Lake.
The helicopter could not land due to “very high winds,” and the crew was forced to return to Wenatchee, according to the sheriff’s office. Around 2:30 p.m., a two-person ground team arrived and confirmed the victim was Thurmer. He was pronounced dead at the scene.
It appeared he had fallen hundreds of feet.
Chelan County Sheriff Brian Burnett confirmed the body was recovered via helicopter hoist March 31.
Thurmer was the father of three sons.
Atop of the most difficult peaks, he said, “is where I feel most alive.”
“It’s his way of seeing the world,” Allie Thurmer told The Herald in 2017.
Thurmer’s passion took him to France, Italy, Russia, Indonesia, Canada, Argentina, Nepal and Antarctica, as well as many summits in the United States and Canada.
He climbed the tallest mountains on each continent:
- Aconcagua, Argentina, 22,834 feet, Feb. 11, 1974.
- Mount Kilimanjaro, Tanzania, 19,341 feet, Feb. 10, 2009.
- Mount Everest, Nepal, 29,028 feet, May 17, 2010.
- Mount Elbrus, Russia, 18,510 feet, Aug. 21, 2012.
- Denali, Alaska 20,320 feet, June 15, 2014.
- Carstensz Pyramid, Indonesia, 16,024 feet, Aug. 20, 2016.
- Mount Vinson, Antarctica, 16,050 feet, Jan. 4, 2017.
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WASHINGTON — Former President Barack Obama will be returning to the White House on Tuesday for his first public event there since he left office in 2017.
A White House official said Sunday that Obama will be joining President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris to “deliver remarks celebrating the success of the Affordable Care Act and Medicaid in extending affordable health insurance to millions of Americans.”
The event is part of Biden's effort to turn his focus to pocketbook issues that directly affect American households. While job growth has been steady since he took office, inflation is at its worst level in a generation.
The White House said Biden “will take additional action to further strengthen the ACA and save families hundreds of dollars a month on their health care.”
Health Secretary Xavier Becerra and other members of Biden’s Cabinet will attend Tuesday's event.
Obama's visit to the White House was first reported by NBC News.
Perhaps the signature piece of legislation during the Obama administration, most major provisions of the Affordable Health Care Act, colloquially dubbed "Obamacare," went into effect in 2014.
Most notably, the law banned insurers from denying coverage to those with pre-existing conditions, and it mandated individuals purchase insurance. Former President Trump rescinded this mandate in 2017.
Republicans have tried to challenge the constitutionality of the ACA, but courts have repeatedly ruled in favor of most provisions of the legislation, with the Supreme Court most recently upholding the act for the third time in 2021.
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| 2022-04-04T20:09:19
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WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden on Monday called for a war crimes trial against Russia President Vladimir Putin and said he’d seek more sanctions after reported atrocities in Ukraine.
“You saw what happened in Bucha,” Biden said. He added that Putin “is a war criminal.”
Biden’s comments to reporters came after Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy visited Bucha, one of the towns surrounding Kyiv where Ukrainian officials say the bodies of civilians have been found. Zelenskyy called the Russian actions “genocide” and called for the West to apply tougher sanctions against Russia.
Biden, however, stopped short of calling the actions genocide.
“We have seen atrocities, we have seen war crimes, we have not yet seen a level of systematic deprivation of life of the Ukrainian people to rise to the level of genocide,” said U.S. national security adviser Jake Sullivan.
The bodies of 410 civilians have been removed from Kyiv-area towns that were recently retaken from Russian forces, Ukraine’s prosecutor-general, Iryna Venediktova, said. Associated Press journalists saw the bodies of at least 21 people in various spots around Bucha, northwest of the capital.
“We have to continue to provide Ukraine with the weapons they need to continue the fight. And we have to gather all the detail so this can be an actual -- have a war crimes trial,” Biden said.
Biden lashed out at Putin as “brutal.”
"What’s happening in Bucha is outrageous and everyone sees it,” Biden added.
Sullivan said Monday that Russia was shifting its focus in its war in Ukraine to the country’s east and south, after experiencing a stronger-than-expected defense by Ukrainians supported by Western allies.
Sullivan said “the Russians have now realized that the West will not break” in its support of the Ukrainian government. But he warned that Russia was redoubling its offensive in other parts of the country after pulling many troops from around the capital of Kyiv.
White House officials said talks about ramping up new sanctions against Russia intensified after reports of alleged atrocities emerged. Biden said Monday that he would continue to add sanctions but did not detail what sectors the U.S. may target next. Sullivan said the additional sanctions would come this week.
After unveiling an avalanche of sanctions in the first weeks of the war, administration officials in recent days have put more focus on closing loopholes that Russia might try to use to avoid sanctions.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen tweeted Monday that the European Union will send investigators to Ukraine to help the local prosecutor general “document war crimes."
A Russian law enforcement agency says it has launched its own investigation into allegations that Ukrainian civilians were massacred in suburbs of Kyiv that were held by Russian troops, focusing on what it calls “false information” about Russian forces.
The Investigative Committee claims Ukrainian authorities made the allegations “with the aim of discrediting Russian troops” and that those involved should be investigated over possible breaches of a new Russian law banning what the government deems to be false information about its forces.
Biden noted that he faced pushback last month when he described Putin as a war criminal for the unfolding onslaught in Ukraine after hospitals and maternity wards were bombed. In his remarks on Monday, Biden made clear that label still applied.
Investigations into Putin’s actions had begun before the new allegations of atrocities outside Kyiv.
The U.S. and more than 40 other countries are working together to investigate possible violations and abuses, after the passage of a resolution by the United Nations Human Rights Council to establish a commission of inquiry. There is another probe by the International Criminal Court, an independent body based in the Netherlands. The U.S. Senate unanimously approved a resolution last month seeking investigations of Putin and elements of his government for war crimes over the invasion of Ukraine.
Meanwhile, Biden's chief envoy to the United Nations, Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield, announced Monday that the U.S. plans to seek a suspension of Russia from its seat on the U.N.’s top human rights body in the wake of more indications Russian forces may have committed war crimes in Ukraine. That would require a decision by the U.N. General Assembly.
Russia and the other four permanent members of the U.N. Security Council – Britain, China, France and the United States – all currently have seats on the 47-member-state rights council, which is based in Geneva. The United States rejoined the council this year.
“My message to those 140 countries who have courageously stood together is simple: the images out of Bucha and devastation across Ukraine require us now to match our words with action,” Thomas-Greenfield said. “We cannot let a Member State that is subverting every principle we hold dear to continue to sit on the UN Human Rights Council."
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Bayonne, NJ teenager charged in connection with armed robberies
BAYONNE - A 17-year-old is responsible for a series of armed robberies in the city that date back to November 2021, according to police.
And evidence suggests he's linked to several other thefts.
Bayonne police announced Monday that a male juvenile had been taken into custody from the area of West 29th Street. He's been charged in connection with three incidents, the most recent of which allegedly occurred on March 31.
According to reports to police, in each case, the defendant brandished a handgun and demanded that the victim hand over their valuables. The minor made off from the crimes with a cell phone, cash, bank cards and a shoulder bag, among other items, according to police.
Following the most recent incident, the victim was notified that $965 had been transferred from his bank account to an unfamiliar account.
All of the robberies occurred outdoors, according to the victims' reports, and all of the victims were male. The two earlier incidents both occurred on Nov. 12, police say.
Bayonne police identified the defendant as the perpetrator and arrested him on April 1. Detectives were able to recover a loaded handgun, additional rounds, and "a quantity of cocaine suitable for distribution" at the juvenile's residence, according to police. They also spotted evidence linking him to the robberies in question, along with numerous bank cards belonging to various unknown individuals.
The 17-year-old faces weapons and drug charges, as well as robbery and theft charges.
Dino Flammia is a reporter for New Jersey 101.5. You can reach him at dino.flammia@townsquaremedia.com
Click here to contact an editor about feedback or a correction for this story.
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| 2022-04-04T20:23:35
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Plane crashes onto Manville, NJ front yard and sidewalk
MANVILLE — A small plane crashed into the front yard of a house, just two blocks from the Central Jersey Airport runway.
The FAA said a single-engine M20M crashed about 1 p.m. The FAA did not yet know the number of people on board.
Images from the crash scene show it came down on the front lawn of a house on South Main Street near the corner of South Greasheimer Street.
The plane looks to be intact except for the cover of the engine, which was ripped off. ABC 7 Eyewitness News reported one of the individuals on board was taken to a hospital for treatment of a facial injury.
According to FlightAware.com the plane left Piedmont Triad International Airport in Greensboro, North Carolina at 10:42 a.m. and was due to land at Central Jersey Airport at 12:50 p.m. The plane is owned by Guthrie Group, a North Carolina based banking and investment group.
The plane flew from Columbus, Ohio to East Texas Regional Airport on Thursday. Friday it flew from Texas to Greensboro.
FAA records show the plane was built in 2006.
The crash closed Millstone River Road between Franklin Drive and Wilhousky Street.
Manville police on Monday afternoon did not respond to New Jersey 101.5's request for more information.
A plane rolled off the runway at Morristown Airpot in Hanover on Saturday morning with four people on board. It came to a stop in the grass with significant damage. Both wings had separated from the small plane, according to Morristown Green.
This is a breaking story. Check back for additional details
Dan Alexander is a reporter for New Jersey 101.5. You can reach him at dan.alexander@townsquaremedia.com
Click here to contact an editor about feedback or a correction for this story.
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| 2022-04-04T20:23:41
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NJ gas prices down 5 cents a gallon in a week, below national average
Gas prices are continuing a downward trend in New Jersey and are now nearly four weeks past their recent peak following Russia's invasion of Ukraine, according to the latest update Monday from AAA Northeast.
The price for a gallon of regular gasoline now stands at $4.16, down two cents from Friday and five cents from a week ago Monday. The high of nearly $4.38 was recorded by AAA on March 10.
The current national average is $4.18 per gallon, AAA said, meaning New Jersey is not only outperforming the rest of the country as a whole, but also its closest neighbors: New York state's average price was $4.29 Monday, while Pennsylvania's was $4.27.
Connecticut, which instituted a gas tax holiday, saw its average price per gallon plummet to $4.03, according to AAA. New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy has said he would not support a similar measure for the Garden State.
AAA said the cheapest gas in New Jersey is concentrated in the Vineland area, where the average price is $4.08 for a gallon of regular. The most expensive fuel in the state is in the Newark region, at almost $4.22.
Diesel prices remain high, just a tick under $5.28 on average statewide, about a cent and a half lower than a recent peak reached last Wednesday.
Regular gasoline had already begun a steep upward climb one month ago, when drivers in the Garden State were paying $3.89 per gallon. A year ago at this time, the statewide average price was almost $2.92, according to AAA figures.
Patrick Lavery is a reporter and anchor for New Jersey 101.5. You can reach him at patrick.lavery@townsquaremedia.com
Click here to contact an editor about feedback or a correction for this story.
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NJ sues Connecticut company for contamination at former Lodi site
LODI — The New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection has filed a lawsuit seeking damages against Connecticut-based Hexcel Corporation, which for 13 years operated a manufacturing plant in this Bergen County borough where storage tanks leaked fuel and toxic chemicals into the groundwater.
In a release Monday, the state Office of the Attorney General said another defendant, Fine Organics Corporation of Clifton, is named as a second entity in the suit. Fine Organics acquired the Lodi site from Hexcel in 1986, and ran it for another 12 years before operations were curtailed.
OAG said remediation of the site has been completed, but that the groundwater was previously contaminated by volatile organic compounds, polychlorinated biphenyls, and petroleum products that "move quickly through urban environments, often causing harmful chemical vapors to seep into homes and businesses."
The chemicals in question, according to state officials, pose increased risk for immune, reproductive, nervous, or endocrine system damage, cancer, kidney dysfunction, respiratory tract irritation, or cognitive or neurological problems.
While the remediation as of 2016 had removed 8,500 cubic yards of contaminated soil and 53,000 gallons of groundwater, OAG said, the groundwater has not returned to pre-contamination conditions and is not expected to until 2041.
No specific ill health effects on area residents, if any have been reported, were mentioned in the release, but OAG said the community has a significant low-income, minority population and is "overburdened" as per the terms of the state's Environmental Justice Law.
In addition to seeking financial damages, the lawsuit also alleges that both Hexcel and Fine Organics committed unlawful trespass, and created a public nuisance.
Patrick Lavery is a reporter and anchor for New Jersey 101.5. You can reach him at patrick.lavery@townsquaremedia.com
Click here to contact an editor about feedback or a correction for this story.
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NJ woman, who forgot her dog was safe at home, charged with DWI
Officials in Brigantine say rumors about a dog-napping on the island Friday are not true -- but a woman was arrested for allegedly driving while intoxicated.
And they were quick to point out that this was not an April Fool's Day story.
According to the Brigantine Police Department, their officers respond to the area near Acme around 1:30 Friday afternoon for reports about a woman, later identified as 63-year-old Soraya Espinosa of Brigantine, who was screaming in her vehicle saying her dog had been taken.
After an investigation by Ofc. Panas, it was determined that the female forgot she left her dog at home and that the dog was never actually in the car with her.
Police say an investigation did, however, lead to Espinosa being taken into custody for driving while intoxicated and related traffic violations.
The public is reminded that charges are accusations and all persons are considered innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.
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| 2022-04-04T20:24:00
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Parental rights under assault in NJ: How you can fight back (Opinion)
For a few weeks, I've been talking about the radical policies, such as the "Gender-Affirming" policies, being implemented in grade school curriculums across the state.
One of the big concerns that parents have is that not only are they left out of the process and the conversation between school officials and their child, but the "affirmation" is about whatever the child "feels" like on a particular day.
This new policy is being supported at the federal level with new guidelines from the Department of Health and Human Services "Office of Population Affairs." I didn't know that department existed, either.
Your government is pushing these policies at any age. Here is the Lawrence Township (Mercer) school district's curriculum for its "Kindergarten Social Justice" lesson on "Gender Identity/True Self."
That translates into a kindergartener being able to decide in class that they want to change their biological sexual identity and the state's guidance is to have the school go along with the child without having to inform the parents. These are kids who still believe that Santa Claus comes down the chimney on Christmas Eve and the Easter Bunny delivers candy.
The lines of adulthood and parental rights are being erased by this new policy. Disney is going along fully with this agenda, eliminating the terms "boys and girls" and saying that they are "adding queerness" to their programming to push their "not-at-all-secret gay agenda." Those are the exact words of a Disney executive.
It's up to you whether you continue to spend your money on Disney entertainment and theme parks. For me, honestly, I've never been a big fan so dropping them isn't that difficult. Besides that, we are empty-nesters so we're not dealing with what so many parents are dealing with regarding the assault on their kids in school.
It's one of the reasons I am fighting hard. The very idea that children are being subjected to a radical agenda is wrong on many levels. First, the push essentiality takes advantage of the confusion many kids have over who they are. Some kids think they are dinosaurs when they are little. If "affirming" were applied to the biological sex of the child, it's being labeled as bigotry. This is madness. In my opinion, this could inadvertently force the issue of transitioning on children without parental involvement.
Beyond the issue of transgenderism, there's a push for vaccine segregation and critical race theory all thrust on your kids without parental involvement.
In order to put my money, time, and effort where my mouth is every day on the air, I launched the Common Sense Club a few months ago. We have signed up 30,000 members in the past 14 weeks and are now adding more than a thousand a week. Our first effort is to fight for parents' rights, which we're doing with the "Parental Bill of Rights" being sponsored in the state Senate by Sens. Mike Testa and Joe Pennachio and on the Assembly side by Christian Barranco and Beth Sawyer.
Testa and Barranco joined me on the show Monday morning.
We had our first event at the Town and Country Inn in Keyport, New Jersey on Saturday and packed the house with concerned parents who stepped up to become citizen signers of our Parental Bill of Rights.
The difference with this bill is that YOU can sign as a "citizen signer" and have your voice represented in the fight.
The post above reflects the thoughts and observations of New Jersey 101.5 talk show host Bill Spadea. Any opinions expressed are Bill's own. Bill Spadea is on the air weekdays from 6 to 10 a.m., talkin’ Jersey, taking your calls at 1-800-283-1015.
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Social Security offices in NJ reopen Thursday, no appointment needed
TRENTON – Social Security offices in New Jersey and nationwide will resume in-person services Thursday for the first time since the pandemic began more than two years ago.
Unlike New Jersey unemployment offices, people will not need an appointment to visit a Social Security office. But like the state labor department, the Social Security Administration advises that online services and telephone remain the most convenient options.
“To avoid waiting in line, I strongly encourage people, who can, to use our online services at www.socialsecurity.gov, call us, and schedule appointments in advance rather than walking in without an appointment,” acting Social Security Commissioner Kilolo Kijakazi said in a statement.
“Customers who walk in without appointments may encounter delays and longer waits at our offices,” Kijakazi said. “Be aware that our offices tend to be the busiest first thing in the morning, early in the week, and during the early part of the month, so people may want to plan to visit at other times.”
The SSA is continuing to require COVID-related safety measures such as masking, physical distancing and self-checks for virus symptoms. Kijakazi said that is because “many of the people we serve have health vulnerabilities, and consistent with our union agreements.”
The offices will provide masks to the public and employees who need them.
Kijakazi said the agency is transitioning to a new phone system and that, as a result, some callers may hear a busy signal or be unintentionally disconnected. He recommends calling when the national toll-free number – 1-800-772-1213 – is less busy: before 10 a.m., after 4 p.m. or later in a week or month.
People who are deaf or hard of hearing may call Social Security’s TTY number, 1-800-325-0778.
Social Security has offices in Bridgewater, Clifton, Egg Harbor Township, Hackensack, Hoboken, Jersey City, Mount Holly, Mount Laurel, New Brunswick, Newark, Newton, Neptune City, Parsippany, Toms River, Trenton and Union Township.
Michael Symons is the Statehouse bureau chief for New Jersey 101.5. You can reach him at michael.symons@townsquaremedia.com
Click here to contact an editor about feedback or a correction for this story.
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What stresses us out most in NJ and why we’re one of the least stressed-out states
How much stress do you feel living in New Jersey? Not much, according to WalletHub, which ranked Garden State 41st on a list out of 50. That puts New Jersey in the Top 10 least stressed out states. How can that be you ask?
I have a theory. Along with New Jersey being in the Top 10 of least stressed out states, we also lead the nation in profanity. We curse therefore we are. While other states hold their tension in their frustration which builds stress, we let ours out with a few choice words or a simple bird flip.
Personally, I think the middle finger could actually replace the American goldfinch as the official bird of New Jersey. I also think the flipped bird should be on-road tests so that future drivers could know how to avoid stress when someone drives too slow in the left lane or cuts them off. This could go a long way toward cutting down fatal car accidents.
Growing up in New Jersey, I've become a big fan of the curse. Something happens that stresses you out, let one rip. You immediately feel better. While F**k you could lead to an altercation in other states, here, it's a welcome greeting followed by a bro hug, "Bring it in."
So let those other states live with their polite frustration biting their lip at the first sign of stress, welcome to New Jersey, where we don't bite our lip, we give you some.
Here are some of the many things that stress us out in New Jersey. If you let out a curse after everyone, you're going to feel great today!
Brian Brown
Gov. Murphy
Beth Coffey Fite
Driving to the shore on Friday night of Memorial Day weekend.
Thomas Mongelli
Negotiating traffic circles in the senior citizen capital of the state.
Jill Zutty
Tornados
John J Ruppert
The Right Turns To Make A Left Turn LOL
Robin Oratio
Property Tax!
Deena Gordon
The most stressful thing about living in NJ is that it's NJ. Nuff said.
Gary Cavico
Driving on the parkway during rush hour
Mark G Tillson
Potholes in jersey
Robert Michelin
Taxes. Taxes and Taxes. Good thing we have an excellent radio station
Matt Heavens
Finding an affordable shore rental
Peter Delutis
Trying to get construction permits so your renovations will be done within a year not 5 years
Kieran Thomas Gormley
Being able to afford it
Opinions expressed in the post above are those of New Jersey 101.5 talk show host Steve Trevelise only. Follow him on Twitter @realstevetrev.
You can now listen to Steve Trevelise — On Demand! Discover more about New Jersey’s personalities and what makes the Garden State interesting . Download the Steve Trevelise show wherever you get podcasts, on our free app, or listen right now:
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FROM KING FEATURES SYNDICATE, 300 W. 57TH STREET, 41ST FLOOR, NEW YORK, NY 10019
FOR RELEASE monday, april 4, 2022
CUSTOMER SERVICE: (800) 708-7311 EXT. 236
HINTS FROM HELOISE #12345_20220404
BYLINE: By Heloise
TITLE: Don't fall for fraud
---
Today's Sound Off is about protecting yourself from bank fraud:
Dear Heloise: I work at a well known banking institution, and of late, we have experienced problems from various scammers. Since we are in contact with other banking institutions, we found that several other companies have been hit with the same problems we are facing. Please warn your readers that just because someone on the phone, in a text message or email says they are from your bank, they still have no right to ask certain questions.
1. Do NOT give out your account number, passwords, username, debit card number or credit card numbers. Never give anyone else your PIN or Social Security number. If you suspect fraud, hang up and alert your bank immediately.
2. Scammers can make your caller ID look like it's from your bank, so beware of this trick.
3. If it's a text or email you receive, look for typos and errors in the grammar that's used.
4. Always call your bank and let them know what's happened so they can keep an eye on your account. Even if you have mistakenly given out personal or financial information, don't delay calling your bank with your suspicions. -- Linda S., Dallas, Texas
SEND A GREAT HINT TO:
Heloise
P.O. Box 795001
San Antonio, TX 78279-5001
Fax: 1-210-HELOISE
Email: Heloise@Heloise.com
FAST FACTS
Lost a pet? Here's what to do:
-- Make flyers to post and hand out; use a photo of your pet if you have one.
-- Next, ask neighbors if they have seen your pet and leave a flyer with your phone number.
-- Call all local animal shelters and the pound to see if your pet was turned in. Do this daily.
-- Drive around your area, looking up and down each street.
-- Place a notice in the local paper with your phone number and offer a small reward if found.
-- Go online and post a picture of your pet on local community sites.
MEDICATION MIX-UP
Dear Heloise: We just had a problem here at home that could have been very serious. I used to store all medications in a plastic container in the refrigerator. That included medication for our two elderly dogs as well as the pills my husband takes. My husband and I were chatting while he was getting out his meds, and he wasn't paying attention to the vial of pills. I stopped him before he popped the pill in his mouth because it was the wrong color. That's when we found out he almost took the dog's medication. Now I store the dogs' medicines in the refrigerator and my husband's medication in our nightstand. -- Diane H., Morgantown, West Virginia
BREAKFAST
Dear Heloise: With four boys and three girls in our blended household, I decided to teach the kids to make their own breakfast and lunch each school day. I let them choose what they want to eat, and then they clean up afterward. If they want cookies in their lunch, they are to pack no more than two or three, depending on the size. It's a step toward making them independent adults someday. -- Ashley G., Rockland, Massachusetts
(c)2022 by King Features Syndicate Inc.
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| 2022-04-04T20:28:30
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FROM ANDREWS MCMEEL SYNDICATION
FOR RELEASE: TUESDAY, APRIL 5, 2022
DEAR ABBY by Abigail Van Buren
LENGTHY MARRIAGE NOW INCLUDES THREATS AND ILL WILL
DEAR ABBY: I am a 50-year-old man, married for 25 years. My wife is older than me. In the beginning, it was great, but our relationship slowly started failing, and now we argue about everything. I feel like I'm trapped in a cage. We don't have one single thing in common anymore.
I want a happy life with or without her, but I see nothing but darkness around me. When I ask for divorce, I get accused of cheating and threatened with paying her spousal support for the rest of my life. Marriage counseling doesn't seem to be an option. What should I do? -- WANTS TO BE FREE IN OREGON
DEAR WANTS: If marriage counseling "isn't an option," it doesn't mean you can't get psychological counseling to help you become emotionally stronger. While you're at it, it is important that you talk with an attorney about the divorce laws in your state. Once you have done that, you will be better able to decide if you want to "live in darkness" for the rest of your life, or what you may have to sacrifice in order to be finally free. You deserve to be happy, and frankly, so does your wife, who also appears to be miserable.
** ** **
DEAR ABBY: My boyfriend of four years refuses to come clean to me about his infidelity and cheating. I've given him countless chances to come forward, but he always denies it. I caught him with a girl who has been following us around the whole time we've been together.
Abby, I have done everything I could to get him to own up, but he doesn't! What should I have done or what can I do so my life can move forward and I won't have to worry about what he's doing? I'm heartbroken and he doesn't care. -- TWO-TIMED IN CALIFORNIA
DEAR TWO-TIMED: As you stated, you have been deeply hurt by your boyfriend's dishonesty, and he "doesn't care" about your feelings. He is who he is, and he isn't going to change. Obviously, one woman isn't enough for him. You have now wasted four precious years of your life -- time you will never get back -- on a cheater who lies consistently. Isn't that enough? Do what you should have done years ago and MOVE ON.
** ** **
DEAR ABBY: I am a fourth grade student who is, let's say, good at math. I usually finish my math homework easily, but lately it's been piling up. The problem is, my classmates ask me for help a lot. I enjoy helping them, but sometimes it's hard to explain things, or I can't find the time to get my own work done.
The teacher is usually doing a math group with other students, so my friends can't ask her. Should I fall behind by helping my friends or focus on my own work and risk hurting their feelings? -- STRESSED IN IDAHO
DEAR STRESSED: You shouldn't be helping your friends to the exclusion of your own work. It is important for your sake and your friends' that you discuss this with your math teacher. She needs to know she should be devoting more attention to the students outside her math group who need further instruction instead of relying on you to do it. After your work is finished, lend a hand to the other students if you wish.
** ** **
Dear Abby is written by Abigail Van Buren, also known as Jeanne Phillips, and was founded by her mother, Pauline Phillips. Contact Dear Abby at www.DearAbby.com or P.O. Box 69440, Los Angeles, CA 90069.
** ** **
What teens need to know about sex, drugs, AIDS and getting along with peers and parents is in "What Every Teen Should Know." Send your name and mailing address, plus check or money order for $8 (U.S. funds) to: Dear Abby, Teen Booklet, P.O. Box 447, Mount Morris, IL 61054-0447. (Shipping and handling are included in the price.)
(EDITORS: If you have editorial questions, please contact Clint Hooker, chooker@amuniversal.com.)
COPYRIGHT 2022 ANDREWS MCMEEL SYNDICATION
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https://www.djournal.com/news/crime-law-enforcement/booneville-man-charged-with-drug-possession/article_1025b00a-c42a-5a34-be46-2c34428e711f.html
| 2022-04-04T20:28:42
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TODAY'S OBITUARIES
Sarah Barnes, Myrtle
Roger Barnett, Amory
Glorious Brooks, Shannon
Daniel Gordon, Iuka
Billie Graham, Thaxton
Robbie Harbor, Mantachie
John Holmes, Ripley/Ashland
Ailese Shepherd, Amory
Timothy O'Neal Springer, Tupelo
Wayne Allen Whipple, Tupelo
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MEMO
Ailese Shepherd
AMORY - Ailese Shepherd, 87, passed away Friday, April 1, 2022, at her home in Amory. Services will be on Wednesday, April 6, 2022 at 1 p.m. at Cleveland-Moffett Funeral Home. Visitation will be on on Wednesday from 12:30 until service time at the funeral home.
MEMO
Roger Barnett
AMORY - Roger Barnett, 64, passed away Saturday, April 2, 2022, at North Mississippi Medical Center in Tupelo. Services will be on Friday, April 8, 2022 at 1 p.m. at Cleveland-Moffett Funeral Home. Visitation will be on Friday evening from 5 until 7 p.m. at the funeral home. Burial will follow at New Hope Cemetery.
MEMO
Daniel Gordon
IUKA - Daniel Gordon, 72, passed away Sunday, April 3, 2022, at North Mississippi Medical Center in Tupelo. Private family services will be held. W. E. Pegues Funeral Directors is entrusted with arrangements. Expressions of sympathy and fond memories may be left at www.peguesfuneralhome.com.
MEMO
John Holmes
RIPLEY/ASHLAND - John Holmes, 49, passed away on April 3, 2022, in Ashland. Arrangements are incomplete and will be announced later by Ripley Funeral Home.
MEMO
Timothy O'Neal Springer
TUPELO - Timothy O'Neal Springer, 53, passed away on March 31, 2022, at North Mississippi Medical Center in Tupelo. Arrangements are incomplete and will be announced later by N.L. Jones Funeral Directors.
MEMO, UNITED LOGO
Sarah Barnes
MYRTLE - Sarah Elizabeth Sanderson Barnes, 89, passed away on Saturday, April 2, 2022 at her residence. She was born August 16, 1932 in Ripley, MS to John and Casey Coston Sanderson. She retired from Mohasco, and then worked for fifteen years at Wal-Mart as a People Greeter. She enjoyed reading and working Word-Search puzzles. She also enjoyed working with flowers and gardening. Yet, her favorite pastime was spending time with her family.
Funeral services will be at 2:00p.m. Tuesday, April 5, 2022 at United Funeral Service with Jay Tidwell officiating. Burial will be at Glenfield Memorial Park.
She is survived by her daughter, Patsy Barnes Robbins (Allen); two grandchildren, Morgan Little (Phillip) and Taylor Robbins; and two great grandchildren, Ella Little and Emerie Little.
She was preceded in death by her parents; her husband, Tommy Barnes; three sisters and one brother.
Pallbearers will be Jeff Gaines, Kenny Gaines, Darrell Huddleston, Danny Barnes, Kim Barnes and Don Parish.
Visitation will be Tuesday, April 5, 2022 from 12:00p.m. until service time at the funeral home.
United Funeral Service is honored to be entrusted with these arrangements. For online condolences and guest registry, please visit www.unitedfuneralservice.com.
MEMO
Glorious Brooks
SHANNON - Glorious Brooks, 79, passed away on March 30, 2022. Arrangements are incomplete and will be announced later by N.L. Jones Funeral Directors.
MEMO, PHOTO, PEGUES LOGO
Wayne Allen Whipple
TUPELO - Wayne Allen Whipple, 69, passed away Thursday evening, March 31, 2022, at North Mississippi Medical Center in Tupelo, surrounded by his loving family. He was born in Colorado Springs, Colorado, on July 6, 1952 to Alma Virgil and Mary Lorraine Whipple. He was raised in Sandy and Granger, Utah, where he graduated from Granger High School in 1970. While in school, he was a member of the swim team and won several regional and state awards.
Wayne was a journeyman electrician and earned two Associate degrees, in Business and Electronic Technology. He retired from NESCO in Tupelo after 30 years of electrical sales.
Wayne married his eternal sweetheart, Carolyn Duncan, on March 29, 1974 in the Salt Lake, Utah Temple of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Together, they enjoyed many happy years raising their family, traveling, serving in the church, and spending time together. They recently celebrated 48 years of marriage and look forward to being together forever.
Wayne was a faithful, lifelong member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. He held many leadership positions, including Bishop of the Booneville and Tupelo Wards, and various other ward and stake callings. He served as a missionary in the Gulf States Mission from 1971 until 1973. Together with his wife, he served for over seven years in the Memphis, Tennessee Temple and a one-year Family History Mission for the church. He was an avid Scouter, earned the rank of Eagle, and served in various leadership capacities in the Boy Scouts of America for over 25 years. He was pleased that all of his sons also earned the rank of Eagle and that all five of his children were married in the Temple.
Wayne was a stalwart disciple of Jesus Christ, always accepting opportunities to provide service to others, and is remembered by many for being an exceptional teacher. In his life, family was first, and he was always concerned about each member of the family and what he could do for them. He was known for encouraging his children to "make good choices" and to keep "making memories." Playing guitar, woodworking, and taking family vacations were some of his favorite things to do. Wayne and Carolyn especially enjoyed their 40th anniversary trip to Hawaii.
He is survived by his wife, Carolyn Duncan Whipple of Tupelo; one daughter and four sons, Holly Lorraine Babcock (Jonathan) of Kennesaw, Georgia; Joshua Nathan Whipple (Ambur) of Rancho Mission Viejo, California; Patrick Dale Whipple (Brigette) of Madison, Mississippi; Nicholas Shawn Whipple (Kristy) of Farmington, Utah; and Adam Craig Whipple (Jessi) of Buena Vista, Virginia; grandchildren Anna, Will, Mary, and Jake Babcock; Marie, Capri, Joaquin, Allie, Aubry, Duncan, Preston, Collin, Ellie, Faye, Wes, Max, and Jade Whipple; his sister Maureen Burbidge (Lynn), brother Dale Whipple (Miriam), and sister Jeanette Crotchett, all of Utah; sister-in-law, Karen Whipple Miller of Arizona; sister- and brother-in-law, Rhonda and Sammy Allred of Corinth; and a host of nieces and nephews.
He was preceded in death by this father and mother, Alma Virgil and Mary Lorraine Whipple; and brother, Ron Whipple.
Pallbearers will be his sons: Josh, Patrick, Nicholas, and Adam Whipple; Jonathan and Will Babcock; and Sammy and Clayton Allred.
Honorary Pallbearers will be Matt Westcott, Mark Westcott, Chris McKissack, Mark Rulewicz, Vern Christensen, and Muncie Hayes.
Visitation will be from 6 until 8 p.m. Tuesday, April 5, 2022 at W.E. Pegues Funeral Home, Tupelo.
Services will be 11 a.m. Wednesday, April 6, 2022, at The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 1085 S. Thomas Street Tupelo, MS 38801. W. E. Pegues Funeral Directors is in charge of the arrangements.
Burial will follow in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints Cemetery, 147 County Road 1251, Booneville MS, 38829.
Expressions of sympathy and fond memories may be made at www.peguesfuneralhome.com.
MEMO, PRAYER HANDS ICON, ASSOCIATED LOGO
Billie Graham
THAXTON - Mrs Billie Dove Graham, age 93 passed Sunday April 4, 2022 at the Pontotoc Nursing Home after an extended Illness. Mrs Graham was the daughter of Johnny Bevill and Dovie Irene Hodge Bevill. She was born on Sept, 26, 1928 in Ms. Mrs Graham was a former cook and server at Thaxton School, and alife long member of Thaxton Methodist Church. Billie Dove love to garden and was a collector of Red Fox keepsakes. In later years she was a homemaker who loved and took care of her family. Funeral Services were Monday, April 4th, 2020 at 2pm at Thaxton Methodist Church with Interment in Thaxton Community Cemetery. Visitation was at 1 pm until service time at the church. Bro William Montgomery officiated . She leaves her Son, Zane Moody of Thaxton and her daughter Susan Moody Winters, of Thaxton. 4 grandchildren and 5 grandchildren. She also leaves a very special niece, Tami Lorick. Billie Dove is preceded by her parents, her husband Hanon Graham, a daughter in law, Shelia Moody, Sisters Rudell Gooch, Mae Dillard, Ilene Dillard, Otie Carwyle, and a brother Otto Bevill. Our family at Associated are very greatful to have been chosen to serve the Graham/Moody family. ASSOCIATED FAMILY FUNERAL HOME - TUPELO has charge of all arrangements. You may leave your condolences and messages @ associatedfuneral.com by clicking on the tributes link.
MEMO, PHOTO, MCNEECE MORRIS LOGO
Robbie Harbor
MANTACHIE - Robbie Allene Gardner Harbor passed away peacefully at her home late Sunday evening on April 3, 2022, following a lengthy illness, and is now in the presence of her Heavenly Father. She was 90 years old.
Born November 29, 1931, Robbie was the daughter of the late Edward Clarence Gardner and Idella Estes Gardner. She was one of nine children, growing up in the Ozark community of Itawamba County. Robbie was a loving, devoted wife to Tracy Reldon Harbor, and together they made their home in the Centerville Community until his death on October 11, 2006. While raising a family, she also worked her entire adult life at Mantachie Manufacturing Company before retiring in the mid 90's. She was one of the oldest surviving members of Centerville Baptist Church where she attended faithfully until her health declined.
Robbie enjoyed a blessed and simple life -- watching TV, cooking and tending to her garden, but her greatest treasures were her children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren. Nothing brought her more joy and happiness than having her family together for her amazing Sunday dinners. She was a kind and gentle soul who lived a life of faith and humility. She leaves behind a legacy of love to all who knew her.
A celebration of her life will be held at 2:00 pm on Wednesday, April 6, 2022, at the McNeece- Morris Funeral Home Chapel in Mantachie, MS with Bro. Greg Jones officiating, assisted by Bro. Bill Adams. Burial will follow in the Oak Grove Cemetery in Itawamba County. Visitation will be held from noon until service time on Wednesday at the funeral home.
The family wishes to express thanks to the NMMC Home Hospice Team and Visiting Angels for the compassionate and loving care they provided to our Mother. Special appreciation and love is extended to caregivers Cecilia Melson and Shirley Weatherford who cared for our Mother as their own.
Robbie is survived by her loving family: sons Phillip Harbor and Kacey Harbor (Tracy), daughters Judy McMullan (George) and Pam Evans (Robert); grandsons Mackenzie Harbor (Taylor) and Ryan Evans; granddaughters Carrie Martin (Kevin), Leann Cato (Jason) and Dicy Sheffield (Blake); sister Peggy Scruggs; sisters-in-law Sue Sharp, Betty Bramlett and Nancy Ingram (Ben); six great-grandchildren and numerous nieces and nephews.
She was preceded in death by her husband, parents, her precious granddaughters Traci Nicole Harbor and Maggie Katherine McMullan; sisters Mattie Ruth Tabler, Avonell Bishop, Jean Sheffield and Joan Sheffield, brothers Edward "Buck" Gardner, Charlie Gardner and Ellis Gardner; and in-laws Woody and Hattie Nichols Harbor.
Pallbearers will be her grandsons: Mackenzie Harbor and Ryan Evans; grandsons-in-law Kevin Martin and Jason Cato; and great-grandsons Jake and Eli Martin and Bryant Cato; and nephews Larry and Jerry Bishop.
Online condolences and a guest book can be accessed at www.mcneecemorrisfuneralhome.com.
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https://www.djournal.com/obituaries/obits-tuesday-april-5-2022/article_a1b6299a-0083-55b8-b67f-faa6292a4f49.html
| 2022-04-04T20:28:49
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https://www.djournal.com/obituaries/obits-tuesday-april-5-2022/article_a1b6299a-0083-55b8-b67f-faa6292a4f49.html
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This past week, I met with Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson in my office to discuss her nomination to the U.S. Supreme Court. I entered that meeting with serious concerns about her record and judicial philosophy, having voted against her appointment to a federal appeals court just last year. Our meeting was cordial, and I appreciated hearing about her professional journey and her family. Yet she did not alleviate my concerns that she has a far-left judicial philosophy and would legislate from the bench. I will be voting “no” on her confirmation.
Jackson would not disavow court packing
President Biden has pledged to appoint activist judges, and Jackson has given us no reason to doubt she is that kind of judge. Throughout the Senate confirmation process, she has refused to answer basic questions about her record and her approach to the law. At one point, she indicated that she would restrict religious freedom when it comes to same-sex marriage. She was also totally unable to define what a “woman” is, a sign that she is likeminded with the far left on issues involving the transgender movement.
Significantly, she would not reject the idea of court packing. Left-wing groups have been pushing Congress and Biden to add seats to the Supreme Court to guarantee favorable rulings, even though liberal Justices Stephen Breyer and the late Ruth Bader Ginsburg have openly opposed the idea. When asked directly about court packing, Jackson dodged the question entirely. This was troubling, but not surprising, given that she was the top choice of extreme left groups who are pushing to rig the courts.
Jackson’s record is too thin
Jackson has an unusually thin judicial record for someone being appointed to our nation’s highest court. In her brief time as an appellate judge, she has authored only two opinions, providing almost no insight into her thinking. By comparison, Trump’s first two Supreme Court nominees had authored more than 200 opinions each during their time as appellate judges. Making matters worse, much of Jackson’s record from her time as vice chair of the U.S. Sentencing Commission is sealed and has not been disclosed to Congress. Senate Democrats have long acknowledged the importance of examining a nominee’s record, yet this nominee’s paper trail is largely hidden. Americans should not be left guessing as to how Jackson will do her job as a lifetime member of our highest court.
A pattern of judicial overreach
Brief as it is, Jackson’s record raises serious red flags. It is telling that some of her most significant rulings have been reversed by the D.C. Circuit Court, hardly a bastion of conservatism. In one instance, Jackson ruled that House Democrats could force President Trump’s chief counsel to testify before congressional investigators. That ruling was promptly overturned. She also blocked the Department of Homeland Security from expanding deportation efforts, a ruling that was dismissed out of hand. Additionally, she struck down parts of Trump’s executive orders aimed at making it easier to fire poorly performing federal employees. When she was unanimously overruled, the appeals court said she had “no power” to wade into the matter. These cases indicate that Jackson does not appreciate the limits of her role as a judge.
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https://www.djournal.com/opinion/columnists/jackson-s-record-suggests-she-will-legislate-from-the-bench/article_ee824c37-b1bd-599e-afba-f9e24d4749e9.html
| 2022-04-04T20:28:55
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https://www.djournal.com/opinion/columnists/jackson-s-record-suggests-she-will-legislate-from-the-bench/article_ee824c37-b1bd-599e-afba-f9e24d4749e9.html
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Recently, a friend showed me a sobering graphic depicting the gender disparity in suicide rates between men and women. While females tend to attempt suicide more often than men (and experience suicidal thoughts more frequently), males are more “successful” in completing the act.
There are a lot of reasons for the striking difference along gender lines, but one thing is clear: men are in crisis mode, and that crisis starts from early adolescence and carries all the way through to old age.
Years ago, Christina Hoff Somers wrote a book called “The War On Boys.” It was a welcome response to the volumes devoted to exposing the horrible state of girls in society, the Ophelias who were drowning in their own despair. Years of the second and third feminist waves were devoted to examining the particular problems facing females at school, at work, in love and at every level of their lives. Men were either ignored, ridiculed or in the worst case, demonized.
I remember the disturbing trend of sitcoms in the 70s and 80s that depicted the father figure not as a dependable and honored head of the family, but as a barely-tolerated buffoon. It was as if Hollywood needed to completely dismantle the solid, respectable role models from the Golden Age of Television shown in "Father Knows Best," "Leave It To Beaver," "My Three Sons" and similar beloved programs.
I can only imagine the impact it had on young men, who saw themselves portrayed as fools, or on the other end, manipulative predators. Virtually every episode of "Law and Order: SVU" shows male villains stalking their innocent female victims. And while Elliot was usually on the side of the angels, he was saddled with a violent temper while his partner Olivia was basically canonized. The fact that she was the product of a rape herself was not a coincidence.
The guys I knew generally swallowed the media malpractice with as much grace as they could muster. But as Somers demonstrated, the “kids were not all right.” Statistics showed over two decades ago that boys were having problems in school while girls were flourishing. Part of this has to do with the fact that females are more able to articulate their feelings of anger or upset, and are taught that it’s okay to talk while boys were taught to just be quiet and suck it up. If they dared to express any sort of anger or upset, they were saddled with the label of “toxic masculinity.”
All of this came to a head with the Supreme Court hearings of Brett Kavanaugh. I think that those of us who watched those hearings in real time are still traumatized by what was done to that man. The fact that he was ultimately confirmed doesn’t change the fact that a man was set up for destruction, based entirely on fabrications. He was attacked, vilified, defamed and abused in a way that no nominee before, or since, has experienced. His reputation was drawn-and-quartered, and he became less than human.
When I saw the statistics on male suicide, I realized that the pendulum has swung too far in the wrong direction. I’ve often dealt with victims of abuse in my immigration practice, and while many have been women, a sizeable number have been men. The very first Battered Spouse Petition I ever filed was on behalf of a man who had been threatened with deportation by his U.S. citizen spouse, a woman who joked about how she could lie about him abusing her, and no one would believe him if he defended himself.
I thought of that man when I watched the Kavanaugh hearings, and I thought of that man when I read that graphic which, to be honest, scared me. A society that doesn’t provide safety nets for all of its troubled children, regardless of gender, is a society headed for extinction.
March 31 was dubbed “International Trans Visibility” Day. We say that Black Lives Matter. The entire month of March was devoted to Women’s History. June is Gay Pride Month. There are lists of people we want to honor, and protect.
Judging from the disturbing statistics on suicide, there’s an even larger group of people dying, literally, for some attention.
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https://www.djournal.com/opinion/columnists/men-are-dying-from-a-lack-of-attention/article_d064eb84-77cd-513c-a87f-aad586451763.html
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Sometimes it’s the juxtaposition of things that gets your attention. Without the timing that throws them together you might not consider them in context with each other.
Last week a visit to the North Jackson Rotary Club reminded me of Rotary’s transcendent motto, “Service above self; he profits most who serves best.”
This followed my contemplation of one of the Bible verses I receive by text each day, “Learn to put aside your own desires so that you will become patient and godly, gladly letting God have His way with you” – 2 Peter 1:6. This wording from The Living Bible caught my attention.
Then there was the story in Mississippi Today headlined, “Rank-and-file legislators have no influence in budgeting process because they gave it away.” That followed an earlier story suggesting House Speaker Philip Gunn uses closed GOP caucus meetings to strong arm members into supporting his positions.
In the first story, long-time government reporter Bobby Harrison explained that in 2012, when Republicans took over both the House and the Senate, Gunn and then-Lt. Gov. Tate Reeves pushed through significant rules changes. In particular, these new rules severely restricted opportunities for rank-and-file members to amend appropriations bills for the benefit of their constituents. As Harrison noted, this year “legislators are sitting on an unprecedented revenue surplus of more than $2 billion,” but due to those rule changes, “most members will have little say in how those funds are spent.”
In the second story, editor Adam Ganucheau wrote, “rank-and-file members often feel forced to vote for a policy they may not personally support or feel their district would support over fear Gunn or other House leaders will retaliate against them.”
The Rotary motto and the Bible verse describe the ideal public-servant legislator for our representative form of government. At its best this form of government consists of selfless representatives voicing the interests of their constituents, working through contested issues, then coming together to make government serve the diverse interests of its people.
At its worst this form of government yields power to special interests and enables autocrats to dictate policy and practice. The two stories in Mississippi Today portray a House of Representatives moving in that direction.
Constitutionally, each legislator serves as the voice of his or her constituents. When powerful interests can use secrecy and intimidation to silence and ignore those voices, they deny those constituents representation. Not only is that contrary to the way American government is supposed to work, it has the aroma of the despotic power our forefathers revolted against.
Now, representative government seldom works at its best. Money, special interests, and strong egos always shape results. But neither does representative government work for long at its worst. I served in the House when enough representatives finally got so tired of Speaker Buddie Newman’s heavy-handed ways they forced a change.
Open and honest debate plus transparency go a long way toward making representative government work as best it can. Representatives owe at least that to their constituents.
“Power corrupts, and when you're in charge, you start doing things that you think are right, but they're actually not” – Star Wars creator George Lucas.
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https://www.djournal.com/opinion/columnists/representatives-owe-constituents-open-and-honest-debate/article_845274b5-c2ad-5a17-bbcd-76ed0883712f.html
| 2022-04-04T20:29:07
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https://www.djournal.com/opinion/columnists/representatives-owe-constituents-open-and-honest-debate/article_845274b5-c2ad-5a17-bbcd-76ed0883712f.html
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Wedding traditions date back hundreds, and even thousands of years and have evolved over time. Today, most wedding customs are a mixture of current trends and historical influences. Many American wedding traditions reflect customs and traditions of our European ancestors. Let’s take a look at a few of these customs and traditions and the history behind them.
Wedding Ceremony
Prior to the 1500s, wedding ceremonies mostly took place in homes. Beginning around the 1500s, couples began to exchange their vows more in churches. Marriage in England and Wales had been governed by the canon law of the Church of England that required “Banns” to be called. For the Banns, the church of both the bride and the groom would either verbally or in writing, make three announcements of the upcoming weddingon three successive Sundays in a parish church. Anyone objecting to the wedding had to object prior to the time of the ceremony. In 1753, legislation was passed in England and Wales that required a marriage ceremony be conducted by an Anglican clergyman. This legislation was called “An Act for the Better Preventing of Clandestine Marriage”, and was more commonly known as Lord Hardwicke’s Marriage Act.
Wedding Terms
The term “Bewed” or “Bewedding” is a middle English term meaning to bethroth or marry. There was a public ceremony of bethrothal held between the bride’s father and the groom. The groom offered pledges of property such as land or livestock as a contractual agreement. The term “wedding” is from the Anglo-Saxon word “wedd” and referred to the promises the groom and his family made during the bewedding to the bride’s father. The term “wedlock” is from the old English word “lock” and referred to the carrying out of the promises of property made to the bride’s father as payment. The wedlock meant that the groom had fulfilled the contract and was now allowed to become married. Today, the term refers to the state of marriage. The term “engagement” referred to the time period the groom had to pay for the bride.
Best Man and Bridesmaids
Historically, the role of the best man was to protect the groom in case trouble occurred such as conflicts over the contractual agreement. The word “best” meant that he was the best fighter.
It was once believed that the bride was especially vulnerable to evil spirits on her wedding day. The bridesmaids dressed up, carried bouquets, and surrounded the bride in order to confuse the evil spirits as to who was getting married.
White Wedding Dress
For hundreds of years, brides wore a variety of colors and prints for their wedding dress. Often the family or friends made the dress, while wealthier people had a seamstress make the dress. Brides with limited funds simply wore the best dress they had for the wedding. Up until the early 19th century, many brides wore black or dark-colored wedding dresses. After the wedding, the wedding dress was incorporated into her wardrobe and worn for other occasions.
In 1840, white became the popular color when Queen Victoria chose a white gown for her marriage to Prince Albert at Saint James Palace in London. In the 20th century, it became a custom to purchase a ready-made wedding dress and to only wear the dress on the wedding day.
Wedding Accessories
Most wedding accessories used today can be traced back hundreds, if not thousands of years. Brides in ancient Greece would carry bouquets consisting of clusters of herbs and spices to ward off evil spirits. Queen Victoria is credited with changing the bouquet from herbs and spices to fresh flowers and with starting the custom of the wedding bouquet toss. During Victorian times, brides tossed the bouquet to a friend as she left to keep the bride safe and offer good luck.
Floral garlands in the shape of a crown were worn by brides in various cultures. Ancient Romans and Greeks wore chaplets and garlands and carried bundles of wheat and barley for fertility.
The boutonniere worn by the groom customarily matches the color of the bridal bouquet. This tradition stems from knights wearing the same color as the bride as a declaration of love.
The bride has long been considered to be lucky on her wedding day, and it was believed that taking a piece of the bride’s dress would bring good luck to the person taking it. Guest would rip off a piece of the bride’s dress. This led the bride wearing a garter with strips of fabric that she could give away, and therefore keep her dress from being ruined. Today, the groom traditionally removed the garter during the reception and tosses it. Whoever catches it will be the next to get married.
In Ancient Greece and Rome, bridal veils were worn to confuse the evil spirits or to shield the bride’s face so the evil spirits couldn’t see her. Once the couple were married, the veil could be lifted because the evil spirts could no longer harm her. Veils were also associated with modesty, respect, virginity, and good behavior. Women were required to wear veils in many churches through the 19th century. Delicate lace veils became popular with Queen Victoria’s wedding.
Some wedding accessories come from the old English rhyme: Something old, something new; Something borrowed, something blue; And a silver sixpence in your shoe. “Something old” refers to the old life the woman is leaving behind. “Something new” symbolizes the new life the couple is starting together. “Something borrowed” refers to the sense of community surrounding the bride and groom. “Something blue” gets its meaning from the color blue being a noble color: symbolic of constancy and purity. A silver sixpence refers to financial stability and good luck. It was the custom in the 1600’s for the Lord of the Manor to give his bride a piece of silver as a wedding gift and a silver sixpence coin was symbolically used. The tradition of placing this British currency in the bride’s left shoe before waling down the isle is still common. Some brides carry a penny in their shoe.
Wedding Rings
Historically, the ring symbolized ownership. Rings became a symbol of marriage as early as the 12th century. Egyptian pharaohs used rings to symbolize eternity since a circle has no beginning and no end, and reflects the shape of the sun and moon which were worshiped by the Egyptians. The Egyptian Ouroboros rings were a serpent swallowing its tail. The Egyptians, Greeks, and Romans believed that a nerve or a vein they called “the vein of love” ran through the ring finger to the heart. They further believed that if a person kept the ring on their ring finger and dipped this finger into anything poisonous, then they would get a shock that ran up the arm to warn them not to drink this drink. Wedding rings for both men and women became more popular around World War II.
Wedding Reception Customs
The Ancient Romans made wedding cakes of salt, water, and flour. These cakes were partially eaten in sacrifice to the god, Jupiter. The remaining cake was broken over the bride’s head to ensure fertility. The crumbling of the cake over the bride’s head eventually became throwing rice. About 100 BC, these plain cakes were replaced with sweet cakes.
In England in the Middle Ages, each guest would bring small cakes, biscuits, buns, or scones to the wedding to be stacked. The bride and groom were to kiss over the stack, while trying not to knock it over. Historians record that in the 1660s a French chef visited London and was appalled by the cake-piling ritual. Determined to make something better, the chef is credited with creating the multi-tiered cake, made possible by the invention of the cake tin.
Saving some of the wedding cake for a year became a trend in the 1800s. In 1882 at the wedding of Price Leopold, a dense icing was used and allowed to harden, allowing the cake layers to be stacked together.
Wine and ales have been used at weddings for centuries. The toast is an old French custom where a piece of bread or toast was placed in the bottom of a cup to absorb the residue from wine that was not filtered.
The Honeymoon
Several theories surround of the origin of the honeymoon. One theory is that it served as a way for the groom to hide the bride for about a month so that her tribe could not find her. The more popular theory is that the word comes from a Norse custom where the bride and groom drank a cup of honey wine (mead) every day for the first month of marriage. Since they used the moon phases as a calendar, the name for the first month of marriage became known as the “honeymoon”.
Carrying the Bride Across the Threshold
It was a medieval English tradition for the bride to enter her new home through the front door. It was believed to be bad luck if the bride tripped entering the door. To make sure that she didn’t stumble, the groom would carry the bride over the threshold.
References
Ashland Addison Floral & Event Décor (n.d.). History of the Brides Bouquet. https://www.ashaddevents.com/
Bridebox Wedding Albums (2015). Everything You Need to Know About the Wedding Garter. http://www.bridebox.com/blog/everything-need-know-wedding-garter/
Darrisaw, M. (2021). 17 Common Wedding Traditions – And the Shocking History Behind Them. Southern Living. https://www.southernliving.com/weddings/history-wedding-traditions
Etheredge, C. (2022). Lecture 5: Historical Wedding Customs & Traditions [PowerPoint slides]. Mississippi State University Wedding Floral Design
Gemological Institute of America (n.d.). The Origin of Wedding Rings: Ancient Tradition or Marketing Invention? https://4cs.gia.edu/en-us/blog/origin-of-wedding-rings/
McGough, N.B. (n.d.). Do You Have a Sixpence in Your Shoe? Southern Living. https://www.southernliving.com
Papadopoulos, M. (2016). A Short History of the Wedding Cake’s Tall History. Paste Magazine. https://www.pastemagazine.com/food/cake/a-short-history-of-wedding-cakes-tall-history/
Wikipedia. Clandestine Marriages Act of 1753 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clandestine_Marriages_Act_1753
Wikipedia. White Wedding. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_wedding
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https://www.djournal.com/pontotoc/a-history-of-wedding-customs/article_8f736037-d1a9-53c7-aa16-88df02a9c127.html
| 2022-04-04T20:29:13
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https://www.djournal.com/pontotoc/a-history-of-wedding-customs/article_8f736037-d1a9-53c7-aa16-88df02a9c127.html
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Stress and anxiety are frequent emotions that many individuals feel. According to the American Psychological Association, millions of individuals in the United States experience stress or anxiety daily. Stress affects a large number of people daily. Work, family troubles, health worries, and financial commitments are all aspects of everyday life that cause elevated stress levels in certain people, especially women.
A person’s susceptibility to stress is influenced by variables such as heredity, social support, coping style, and personality type, which means that some individuals are more likely than others to be stressed at any one point in time. First, however, it’s essential to know that stress and anxiety are not the same.
Although the suggestions below may help reduce stress, they may not be effective for persons who suffer from the disorders listed below.
Exercise Regularly
Moving your body regularly may help you feel less anxious. For example, a six-week research of 185 university students revealed that aerobic exercise two days a week lowered total stress and perceived uncertainty-related stress. In addition, the exercise practice decreased self-reported depression considerably.
Much additional research has found that exercising reduces stress and improves mood. In contrast, sedentary behavior can increase stress, bad mood, and sleep difficulties. Furthermore, regular exercise has been demonstrated to alleviate the symptoms of common mental illnesses, including anxiety and sadness.
Start with mild exercises like walking or biking if you’re currently inactive. Choosing an activity you like will boost your chances of staying with it over time.
Reduce Screen Time
Smartphones, laptops, and tablets have become an inevitable part of many people’s daily lives. While these gadgets are frequently helpful, utilizing them excessively might cause stress. Excessive smartphone use, sometimes known as “iPhone addiction,” has been related to higher levels of stress and mental health concerns in many studies.
Spending too much time on screens is related to decreased psychological well-being and increased stress levels in adults and children. Furthermore, screen usage can interfere with sleep, contributing to increased stress levels.
Engage in Self Care
Setting aside time for self-care might help you feel less stressed. Here are some real-life examples: going for a walk in the park, taking a bath with candles lit, and reading an excellent book
According to studies, self-care is linked to reduced stress levels and a greater quality of life. In contrast, a lack of self-care is connected to a higher risk of stress and burnout. Therefore, it is essential to set aside time to live a healthy life. Self-care doesn’t have to be time-consuming or difficult. It simply refers to looking after your health and pleasure.
Spend Time with Loved Ones
Friends and relatives may provide social support to help you get through difficult times and manage stress. It is crucial to have a social support system for your mental health. If you’re lonely and don’t have any friends or family to lean on, social support groups may be able to assist. Consider joining a club or team or volunteering for a worthwhile cause.
Establish Healthy Boundaries
You don’t control all stresses, but you have power over some. Taking on too much might increase your stress level and decrease the amount of time you have for self-care. Taking charge of your own life can aid in stress reduction and mental health protection.
Saying “no” more often might be one method to do this. This is especially true if you take on more obligations than you can handle since juggling many responsibilities might leave you feeling overwhelmed. Stress levels can be reduced by being cautious about what you decide to take on. And by saying “no” to things that would unnecessarily add to your workload.
While these tips won’t work for everyone, they are a great place to start if you want to find relief from stress and anxiety. If you have tried some of these techniques but haven’t seen the results you were hoping for, it might be time to seek professional help. There is no shame in admitting that you need assistance managing your mental health. Finding a therapist who can help you create a treatment plan tailored specifically to your needs can make a difference. Have any of these tips worked well for you? Let us know in the comments!
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https://www.jewishaz.com/blog/useful-tips-for-relieving-stress-and-anxiety/article_e7b5d758-b42b-11ec-928b-8f4a06272e43.html
| 2022-04-04T20:39:38
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https://www.jewishaz.com/blog/useful-tips-for-relieving-stress-and-anxiety/article_e7b5d758-b42b-11ec-928b-8f4a06272e43.html
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Eli Bieri noticed something disturbing as he walked through Presque Isle Park in Marquette, Mich., a few years ago.
Several dozen blue-spotted salamanders had been smashed by cars while they were crossing from the forest to the wetlands on the other side of the road during their annual migration to breed and lay eggs.
"They were all over the road, squished flat by tires," said Bieri, 23, then a freshman ecology student at Northern Michigan University in the Upper Peninsula.
"I've always loved salamanders, and it really made me sad," he said about the 4-inch, bug-eyed amphibians, a common species in east-central North America.
On that drizzly night in 2018, he said he was the only one in the park to witness the yearly migration that happens over several weeks in the spring.
"I saw them crossing the road en masse," said Bieri, adding that they go to their breeding ponds when the weather is just right -- rainy and 30 to 40 degrees.
The following year, Bieri said he knew he had to do something to help the blue-spotted salamanders that were being crushed by people who drove their cars into the park to stargaze, not knowing any better.
"I've been fascinated by swamps and ponds since I was a kid chasing frogs and turtles, so of course, I was out there," he said.
Bieri went to the tool he knew best: He started a university research project to figure out how many of the salamanders were being killed by tires in Presque Isle Park every year.
"It's impossible for a driver to see them at night because they're black and the asphalt is black," said Bieri, explaining that the long-tailed salamanders move slowly, increasing their chance of being squashed.
Bieri checked the park road every day for several weeks to see how many salamanders had died during their migration journey.
He got other students to help with his research, and together they tagged salamanders to get a feel for their numbers, he said.
They found about 400 dead salamanders on the road that spring, and learned that many of them were getting wiped out on the park's main thoroughfare every year, Bieri said.
He released his findings, and upon seeing them, Marquette decided in 2020 to block a quarter-mile section of the park's main road during migration season, from 8 p.m. to 8 a.m.
That year, Bieri found only three salamanders flattened by car tires, a big victory.
The road closure now happens every year, and other groups joined the city to help let the public know about the salamander's plight, including the Superior Watershed Partnership and Northern Michigan University.
Once residents found out about the salamanders, they flocked to the park to see them, leaving their cars in safely designated areas, and searching for the critters on foot, Bieri said.
"Most people didn't even know they were there," he said. "I was happy to help share that magic."
Now, salamander-watching expeditions are so popular in Marquette that the city has decided to hold its first Salamander Days this spring - six weeks of events including a salamander art show and hikes to learn about the amphibians' habitat. A local brewery has even come up with a special salamander beer, but it's golden hued, not blue.
Local resident Dan Barrington, 64, proposed the celebration last year.
"I thought it sounded like a magical idea - I'd been out to watch the migration with my wife and I was mesmerized," Barrington said. "The salamanders are really sweet and not many people had seen them before."
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https://www.unionleader.com/news/back_page/cars-were-killing-salamanders-a-student-got-the-road-closed-to-save-them/article_ed6c1c93-2b58-57a3-8bab-3005462c62f8.html
| 2022-04-04T20:39:52
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https://www.unionleader.com/news/back_page/cars-were-killing-salamanders-a-student-got-the-road-closed-to-save-them/article_ed6c1c93-2b58-57a3-8bab-3005462c62f8.html
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WASHINGTON -- Scientists have observed an enormous planet about nine times the mass of Jupiter at a remarkably early stage of formation -- describing it as still in the womb -- in a discovery that challenges the current understanding of planetary formation.
The researchers used the Subaru Telescope located near the summit of an inactive Hawaiian volcano and the orbiting Hubble Space Telescope to detect and study the planet, a gas giant orbiting unusually far from its young host star. Gas giants are planets, like our solar system's largest ones Jupiter and Saturn, composed mostly of hydrogen and helium, with swirling gases surrounding a smaller solid core.
"We think it is still very early on in its 'birthing' process," said astrophysicist Thayne Currie of the Subaru Telescope and the NASA-Ames Research Center, lead author of the study published on Monday in the journal Nature Astronomy. "Evidence suggests that this is the earliest stage of formation ever observed for a gas giant."
It is embedded in an expansive disk of gas and dust, bearing the material that forms planets, that surrounds a star called AB Aurigae located 508 light years -- the distance light travels in a year, 5.9 trillion miles -- from Earth. This star got a fleeting moment of fame when its image appeared in a scene in the 2021 film "Don't Look Up."
About 5,000 planets beyond our solar system, or exoplanets, have been identified. This one, called AB Aur b, is among the largest. It is approaching the maximum size to be classified as a planet rather than a brown dwarf, a body intermediate between planet and star. It is heated by gas and dust falling into it.
Planets in the process of formation -- called protoplanets -- have been observed around only one other star.
Almost all known exoplanets have orbits around their stars within the distance that separates our sun and its most faraway planet Neptune. But this planet orbits three times as far as Neptune from the sun and 93 times Earth's distance from the sun.
Its birth appears to be following a different process than the standard planetary formation model.
"The conventional thinking is that most -- if not all -- planets form by slow accretion of solids onto a rocky core, and that gas giants go through this phase before the solid core is massive enough to start accreting gas," said astronomer and study co-author Olivier Guyon of the Subaru Telescope and the University of Arizona.
In this scenario, protoplanets embedded in the disk surrounding a young star gradually grow out of dust- to boulder-sized solid objects and, if this core reaches several times Earth's mass, then begin accumulating gas from the disk.
"This process cannot form giant planets at large orbital distance, so this discovery challenges our understanding of planet formation," Guyon said.
Instead, the researchers believe AB Aur b is forming in a scenario in which the disk around the star cools and gravity causes it to fragment into one or more massive clumps that form into planets.
"There's more than one way to cook an egg," Currie said. "And apparently there may be more than one way to form a Jupiter-like planet."
The star AB Aurigae is about 2.4 times more massive than our sun and almost 60 times brighter. It is about 2 million years old - an infant by stellar standards -- compared to about 4.5 billion years for our middle-aged sun. The sun early in its life also was surrounded by a disk that gave rise to Earth and the other planets.
"New astronomical observations continuously challenge our current theories, ultimately improving our understanding of the universe," Guyon said. "Planet formation is very complex and messy, with many surprises still ahead."
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https://www.unionleader.com/news/back_page/gigantic-jupiter-like-alien-planet-observed-still-in-the-womb/article_93159258-3fb5-5ae2-89eb-1ebe7304824a.html
| 2022-04-04T20:39:58
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https://www.unionleader.com/news/back_page/gigantic-jupiter-like-alien-planet-observed-still-in-the-womb/article_93159258-3fb5-5ae2-89eb-1ebe7304824a.html
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This map shows the area for a $20.5 million contract to widen a 1.7-mile section of the F.E. Everett Turnpike in Bedford. The Executive Council will take up the matter at its meeting on Wednesday.
Traffic flows on the Everett Turnpike in Bedford on Monday. This view looks south to the Bedford Tolls from near the intersection of Interstate 293. A plan to widen the 1.7-mile stretch goes before the Executive Council on Wednesday.
Cars are blurred by a long exposure on the Everett Turnpike in Bedford on Monday. A plan to widen this section just south of the Interstate 293 intersection goes before the Executive Council on Wednesday.
This view faces north just north of the Bedford Tolls on the Everett Turnpike on Monday. A plan to widen the 1.7-mile stretch to the intersection with Interstate 293 goes before the Executive Council on Wednesday.
Traffic flows on the Everett Turnpike in Bedford on April 4, 2022. This view looks south from the intersection of Interstate 293. A plan to widen the 1.7 mile stretch goes before the Executive Council on Wednesday.
This map shows the area for a $20.5 million contract to widen a 1.7-mile section of the F.E. Everett Turnpike in Bedford. The Executive Council will take up the matter at its meeting on Wednesday.
Traffic flows on the Everett Turnpike in Bedford on Monday. This view looks south to the Bedford Tolls from near the intersection of Interstate 293. A plan to widen the 1.7-mile stretch goes before the Executive Council on Wednesday.
DAVID LANE/UNION LEADER
Cars are blurred by a long exposure on the Everett Turnpike in Bedford on Monday. A plan to widen this section just south of the Interstate 293 intersection goes before the Executive Council on Wednesday.
DAVID LANE/UNION LEADER
This view faces north just north of the Bedford Tolls on the Everett Turnpike on Monday. A plan to widen the 1.7-mile stretch to the intersection with Interstate 293 goes before the Executive Council on Wednesday.
DAVID LANE/UNION LEADER
Traffic flows on the Everett Turnpike in Bedford on April 4, 2022. This view looks south from the intersection of Interstate 293. A plan to widen the 1.7 mile stretch goes before the Executive Council on Wednesday.
CONCORD — A $20.5-million contract to perform the first phase for the widening of a 12-mile stretch of the F.E. Everett Turnpike from Nashua to Bedford goes before the Executive Council Wednesday.
Alvin J. Coleman & Son of Conway was the lower of two bids to widen the 1.7-mile section of the turnpike just north of Exit 13 to the intersection with I-293 in Bedford.
The contract came in $2.7 million over the Department of Transportation’s estimate to do the work, or about 15%.
Transportation Commissioner Victoria Sheehan said 13 factors contributed to the higher bid, including the $1.3 million cost for the contractor to keep at least two lanes of travel open in both directions on the turnpike while this work is being done.
Audley Construction of Bow submitted the other bid at $21.1 million.
Once complete, the widening should reduce the heavy traffic backups that occur southbound for the morning commute and northbound during the evening rush hour.
Turnpike toll revenues are paying for the project, which once complete will provide at least three lanes of traffic in either direction the entire length of the project.
Completion by mid 2024
There are only two lanes for some of this existing section of the turnpike that goes through Bedford, Merrimack and Nashua.
This contract is to do the northernmost part of the project with a final completion date of July 19, 2024.
In other DOT matters, the council will be asked to approve a three-year, $12.6 million contract for Conduent State and Local Solutions of Germantown, Md., to serve as the company that maintains the turnpike’s toll collection system.
The council will also review eight different road repaving contracts across the state that total $32.2 million.
During the meeting, the council is expected to confirm Attorney General John Formella's pick to be his deputy AG, James Boffetti of Litchfield, who will earn a salary of $126,620.
A veteran department head in the agency, Boffetti replaces Deputy Jane Young who President Joe Biden named U.S. attorney for New Hampshire.
The council also has before it Gov. Chris Sununu's nomination of Cassandra Sanchez of Methuen, Mass., to become the state's second child advocate, replacing Moira O'Neill of Surry, Maine, who decided not to seek another term. This job pays $96,720 annually.
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https://www.unionleader.com/news/business/transportation/20m-contract-to-begin-f-e-everett-widening-from-bedford-to-nashua/article_4fdad100-0041-5463-a530-05ee5c08478d.html
| 2022-04-04T20:40:04
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https://www.unionleader.com/news/business/transportation/20m-contract-to-begin-f-e-everett-widening-from-bedford-to-nashua/article_4fdad100-0041-5463-a530-05ee5c08478d.html
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The U.S. is poised for recession most likely in 2023 and bank stocks are expected to fall behind the broader market, according to 525 respondents to the Markets Live weekly survey.
Asked when the next recession would start, only 15% said this year. Close to half saw a U.S. recession next year; another 21% flagged 2024 as likely, and 16% saw 2025 or later.
More than twice as many of the survey participants self-identified as financial professionals versus retail investors. Three in five respondents were based in the U.S. or Canada. There was broad agreement between professionals and retail investors on the likely timing of a U.S. recession.
A bit more than half of the total respondents would heed the two-year versus the 10-year yield curve inversion as the most likely warning signal among yield-curve inversions. Only 12% of participants indicated the gap between three-month and 18-month notes — backed by Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell — as a relevant barometer of recession risk.
Most investors expect the yield curve flattening to persist, with fully 79% saying the move will continue. U.S. bank shares are seen faring worse than the broader market in such an environment — however, there was a notable difference here between the professionals and retail investors, with professionals much more pessimistic on the outlook for bank stocks.
Another surprise is where investors saw value. Asked which country’s sovereign bonds are the most underpriced, a plurality of 60 said Russia. Respondents also liked bonds in the U.S., Germany, Japan and China. Brazil, Mexico and Turkey also received substantial support.
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https://www.unionleader.com/news/business/u-s-recession-seen-most-likely-to-start-next-year-survey/article_262fc8d3-641f-53c2-8b2f-671192ee0049.html
| 2022-04-04T20:40:10
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https://www.unionleader.com/news/business/u-s-recession-seen-most-likely-to-start-next-year-survey/article_262fc8d3-641f-53c2-8b2f-671192ee0049.html
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Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooter Nikolas Cruz speaks with Assistant Public Defender Melisa McNeill prior to the start of jury pre-selection in the penalty phase of his trial at the Broward County Courthouse in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, U.S. April 4, 2022. Amy Beth Bennett/Pool via REUTERS
Jury selection began Monday for the penalty phase of the trial for the man who shot and killed 17 people, including 14 students, at a Parkland, Fla., high school in 2018.
Nikolas Cruz pled guilty in November to 17 counts of murder. Now, a jury will determine whether he receives life in prison or the death penalty.
It is expected to take several weeks to seat the jury, and this phase of the trial could last several months, legal experts have said.
Cruz was a 19-year-old expelled student with a history of mental health and behavioral issues at the time of the killings, prosecutors said at his trial last year.
Under Florida law, a jury must be unanimous in its decision to recommend that a judge sentence Cruz to be executed. If any of the 12 jurors objects, Cruz will be sentenced to life in prison without parole.
Among the mitigating factors the defense will ask the jury to consider are Cruz's brain damage from his mother's drug and alcohol abuse during pregnancy, his long history of mental-health disorders and allegations he was sexually abused and bullied.
Some of the teenagers who survived Cruz's deadly rampage formed "March for Our Lives," an organization that called for gun control legislation such as a ban on assault-style rifles.
In March 2018, the group held a nationally televised march in Washington that sparked hundreds of similar rallies worldwide. Cruz was 18 when he legally purchased from a licensed gun dealer the AR-15 style rifle used in the shooting.
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https://www.unionleader.com/news/courts/parkland-shooter-cruz-faces-penalty-trial-for-killing-17-people/article_4abe1ede-3ea5-55a1-8127-c2aef0ca9c2d.html
| 2022-04-04T20:40:17
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https://www.unionleader.com/news/courts/parkland-shooter-cruz-faces-penalty-trial-for-killing-17-people/article_4abe1ede-3ea5-55a1-8127-c2aef0ca9c2d.html
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Authorities announced a slew of weapons and theft-related charges against the father of Harmony Montgomery, the Manchester girl who has been missing for more than two years.
Adam Montgomery, 32, who has been jailed since his arrest in early January, faces charges in connection to the theft of two guns in Manchester sometime in late September or early October 2019.
Harmony was last seen less than two months after the alleged thefts. She was 5 at the time.
"There is no evidence of any connection between the stolen firearms and the disappearance of Harmony Montgomery," reads a statement issued by New Hampshire Attorney General John Formella and other law enforcement authorities.
Montgomery is charged with stealing a rifle and shotgun from a person with the initials C.F., the statement reads. Montgomery faces two each of the following charges:
- Theft by unauthorized taking.
- Receiving stolen property.
- Felon in possession of a firearm.
- Armed career criminal in possession of a firearm.
Authorities have been frustrated over their inability to locate Harmony, whose mother started contacting authorities late last year about her disappearance. Manchester police issued their first public appeal for help to find Harmony on New Year's Eve 2021.
A reward for information that leads to her whereabouts is now at $150,000. Until Monday, Montgomery had only been charged with striking Harmony in the face, a felony, and three misdemeanor charges dealing with child endangerment and child custody.
It will be difficult for prosecutors to prove the felony assault charge; a report by the state's child protection service attributed her black eye to horseplay.
Authorities recently announced an indictment on the black-eye-related assault. Michael Garrity, a spokesman for Formella, said the misdemeanor endangerment and custody-interference charges are also moving forward.
If convicted of all the latest theft and firearm charges, Montgomery could be sent to prison for decades. The armed career criminal alone carries a minimum sentence of 10 years for each charge.
At the time of the thefts, the Montgomery family was living on a house in Gilford Street on the west side of Manchester. They were evicted from the house on Nov. 27, 2019, and were then living out of cars parked on the streets of Manchester.
Police have said that Harmony was last seen with the family sometime in late November or early December 2019.
The investigation into the latest charges involved the U.S. Marshal Service and the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms. Montgomery is expected to be arraigned in Hillsborough County Superior Court-North on Tuesday on the latest charges.
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https://www.unionleader.com/news/crime/adam-montgomery-charged-with-theft-firearms-charges/article_f7eecd71-5f4b-55bb-9af0-2d2e3bc77173.html
| 2022-04-04T20:40:23
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https://www.unionleader.com/news/crime/adam-montgomery-charged-with-theft-firearms-charges/article_f7eecd71-5f4b-55bb-9af0-2d2e3bc77173.html
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President Joe Biden calls Russia's President Vladimir Putin a war criminal and said he would call for a war crimes trial, as he speaks to reporters upon arriving at Fort McNair on his way back to the White House in Washington. REUTERS/Leah Millis
WASHINGTON -- President Joe Biden on Monday accused Russian President Vladimir Putin of war crimes and called for a trial, adding to the global outcry over civilian killings in the Ukrainian town of Bucha as more graphic images of their deaths emerged.
"You saw what happened in Bucha," Biden told reporters at the White House. "This warrants him -- he is a war criminal."
The discovery of a mass grave and tied bodies shot at close range in Bucha, outside Kyiv, a town Ukrainian forces reclaimed from Russian troops, looked set to galvanize the United States and Europe into imposing additional sanctions against Moscow.
"We have to gather the information. We have to continue to provide Ukraine with the weapons they need to continue the fight. And we have to get all the detail so this can be an actual, have a war crimes trial," Biden said.
Putin "is brutal. And what's happening in Bucha is outrageous, and everyone's seen it," Biden said as his United Nations envoy announced Washington would seek Russia's suspension from the U.N. Human Rights Council.
The Kremlin categorically denied any accusations related to the murder of civilians, including in Bucha, where it said the graves and corpses had been staged by Ukraine to tarnish Russia.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky called the killings "genocide" in a speech from Bucha on Monday as journalists entered the city and documented its destruction.
U.S. defense officials said the Pentagon could not independently confirm the atrocities.
Biden previously called Putin a war criminal following Moscow's Feb. 24 invasion of its neighbor -- words the Kremlin has said further damaged U.S.-Russian ties. The U.S. Senate called Putin a war criminal in a resolution last month.
Citing what he called "horrifying" images, Jim Risch, the leading Republican on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee said in a statement: "The international community must also take concrete steps to hold Putin and his cronies accountable for their war crimes."
Democrat Bob Menendez, committee chairman, said: "Putin must be held accountable for this tragic and barbaric assault on innocent civilians."
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Some of the key architects and amplifiers of the false claim that voting machines were rigged to steal the 2020 election from Donald Trump traveled to the Nevada desert last month with a new pitch.
Speaking at a commissioners meeting in deeply conservative, mostly rural Nye County, they argued the county should ditch all its voting machines.
"The electronic voting machines are so vulnerable and so uncertifiable, I don't see how we can trust them," Jim Marchant, a Trump-supporting Nevada secretary of state candidate, told Nye County commissioners.
Instead, they insisted, the county should adopt an old-fashioned and largely obsolete method: tallying the results by hand.
Also presenting to the commission were retired Army Col. Phil Waldron and businessman Russell Ramsland, who had worked with Trump's legal team to raise doubts about the machines in 2020. Now they're part of a network of Trump allies traveling the country to press for hand-counted paper ballots. The message is connecting: In recent weeks, officials have discussed the idea in public meetings in Colorado, Louisiana, Kansas and New Hampshire, and bills to require hand-counting have been proposed in at least six states.
None of the statewide bills have passed, nor have the proposals gotten traction in large jurisdictions. But there has been increasing pressure placed on Republicans to endorse the idea, and a number of smaller towns and counties are now seriously considering it.
Top backers of Trump's election fraud claims, meanwhile, are investing heavily in the effort to promote hand-counting - and using the pitch to raise money from energized supporters.
Experts say hand-counting ballots is so impractical that, if adopted, election results would be thrown into unimaginable chaos, inviting mass human error and delaying results - and potentially giving bad actors more time to slow or even block certification. Time and again, post-election audits have confirmed that machine counts are extremely accurate, and experts have said that there is no proof machines were hacked in 2020.
"It's a recipe for some chaos," said Pam Smith, president of Verified Voting, a nonprofit that promotes secure election practices such as post-election audits. "And I do think that's potentially very damaging to public trust in the process."
But the proposal is a nostalgic throwback that holds appeal for many Trump supporters convinced that his loss can be blamed on complicated computers controlled by shadowy forces.
What began as a rhetorical talking point on the fringe right is now an article of faith for some in the Republican grass roots, and a tool to stoke outrage and boost fundraising. The continued attacks on the vulnerability of machines have also helped harden beliefs on the right that the 2020 election was illegitimate.
In Nye County, commissioner Debra Strickland said she proposed the idea after listening to a presentation at a local Republican committee meeting. "The people have been concerned for some time about whether or not our votes are being processed," she said. On March 15, Strickland and her fellow commissioners in Nye County, population 45,000, voted 5 to 0 to urge their county clerk to adopt hand-counting.
Around the country, only a handful of jurisdictions still count ballots by hand, mostly counties and towns with very small populations concentrated in New England and Wisconsin, according to data provided by Verified Voting. Together, voters living in these communities represent just 0.2% of registered voters nationwide.
The vast majority of Americans now vote with hand-marked paper ballots or on touch-screen machines that print one - a security feature that most Republicans and Democrats support and that allows ballots to be hand-counted in post-election audits or in the event of alleged discrepancies or very close races. Current proposals to nix machines call for the elimination of all touch-screen devices and computer tabulators that scan and tally ballots.
Though supporters often claim their goal is to restore the techniques they remember from their youth, in fact, early iterations of voting machines that eliminated the need for hand-counted paper ballots were introduced in the late 19th century and were in widespread use in most American cities by the 1920s, said Doug Jones, a professor at the University of Iowa who specializes in the history of voting technology. Mechanical devices, like pull-lever machines that tallied votes as they were cast, were originally introduced to help eliminate both errors and incidents of fraud that cropped up when partisans controlled counting at the precinct level. Computer-assisted tabulation emerged in the 1960s, he said.
Among election officials and experts, the impracticality of counting ballots by hand is clear. In all but the smallest counties and towns, hand-counting would take days, if not weeks. Machines can complete a similar count in a fraction of the time. Hand-counting would add significant personnel costs and would almost certainly increase the error rate in election results, experts say. And such policies might not comply with federal election law if they do not include carve-outs to accommodate voters with disabilities or those casting overseas and military ballots.
Already, states and counties typically conduct pre-election accuracy tests. Many places also conduct post-election audits of sample batches of ballots, counting them by hand and comparing those results to the machine tally. In California, the law requires larger jurisdictions set aside multiple days to hand-count roughly 1 percent of ballots.
The results of such reviews in 2020 showed machines performed accurately. In Arizona, the GOP-led state Senate commissioned a hand recount in the state's largest county. Hundreds of workers spent more than two months counting around 2 million ballots, and the results were nearly identical to the machine count from 2020. A report released by independent experts last month also found no evidence the county's tabulators had been connected to the Internet, as long alleged by Trump allies.
In Colorado, the handful of discrepancies found in seven post-election audits conducted since 2017 were all human error - not a machine mistake, according to the secretary of state.
"The extreme right's call for a hand count across the nation is political theater," Colorado Secretary of State Jena Griswold, D, said in an interview. "It does not increase security. It actually decreases security. What will come of it in the big jurisdictions is a big slowdown in being able to certify elections, less-reliable results and opportunities for extremists to spread misinformation and mistrust."
But Trump's allies have worked to stoke suspicions about voting machines since even before the 2020 election, as previously reported by The Washington Post. "There is no totally secure electronic voting system, there just isn't," Ramsland said on a conservative podcast in December 2019. "What we really need is paper ballots."
After Trump's loss, they have examined machines and compiled reports concluding they are vulnerable to mass hacking, in an effort to prove President Biden's victory was illegitimate. Although experts have deemed their conclusions bogus or misleading, they have seeped into the mind-set of the GOP grass roots.
Some of Ramsland's most outlandish claims - that American votes were counted overseas, for example, and that U.S. voting machines were somehow linked to Venezuela - soon went mainstream, supercharged by pro-Trump lawyers Rudy Giuliani and Sidney Powell and by figures in right-wing media. Waldron told legislators in key battleground states in the weeks after the election that machines were so easy to hack that, as he told Arizona lawmakers in Phoenix on Nov. 30, 2020, "your vote is not as secure as your Venmo account."
The Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol and Biden's inauguration did not dissuade Ramsland, Waldron and an extended network of like-minded activists who continue to press Trump's claims that the election was stolen.
In April 2021, My Pillow chief executive and close Trump ally Mike Lindell declared war on voting machines, announcing that he had "100 percent proof" that China had attacked the United States by interfering with machines. "Obviously," he said in his film "Absolute Interference," "you can never have machines ever again."
By late summer, Lindell's associate Douglas Frank was arguing that Americans should "Vote Amish" - a shorthand for using no electronics in voting but only paper poll books and ballots counted by hand. Lindell, meanwhile, was pushing the idea that voting machines should be melted down and made into prison bars. (In a video-recorded interview posted on Lindell's website, Trump declared that a "very good idea" and "very interesting.")
In an interview, Lindell - who estimated that he has spent $35 million on his election efforts so far - claimed that hand-counting would prove to be "better than the machines, even faster and certainly more accurate." He said that he aims to eliminate the use of machines in U.S. elections altogether in time for this year's midterms, including by filing lawsuits against states as soon as this week.
He said the suits will cite a report based on a hard drive copied from a Dominion voting machine in Mesa County, Colo., without the knowledge or permission of state officials - an incident that led to criminal charges against the county clerk. The report - the last in a series of three based on the Mesa data - purports to have uncovered evidence that votes were flipped by the machines. Lindell published it on his website under the headline "Bombshell proof of election machine manipulation."
A spokesperson for Griswold, the Colorado secretary of state, called the Mesa reports "misleading" and said they "serve to further the spread of election disinformation." Independent data security expert Harri Hursti said that the reports were full of errors and did not show that votes were changed. He stressed there is no evidence that the reports were based on an authentic copy of the Mesa County hard drive.
The push to eliminate machines has gotten a boost from a new Lindell-funded organization, Cause of America, which Lindell described as an "information hub" to help grass-roots activists around the country investigate the 2020 election and advocate to jettison machines. The anti-machine movement has also been funded in part and popularized by former Overstock chief executive Patrick Byrne, a central figure in the push to overturn the 2020 election.
"I'm just trying to feed the movement," Byrne said in an interview. "We're like a gardener. We're just trying to nurture and create a fecund environment for the right ideas to fix this."
Byrne's nonprofit America Project paid $4,500 to rent space at a casino in Reno, Nev., in early December for the first in a series of "election integrity" conferences organized by Marchant, according to campaign finance disclosures filed by Marchant's political action committee.
Marchant did not respond to a request for comment. Nor did Waldron, who has spoken at several of those conferences. Ramsland defended his work and argued that machines are indeed vulnerable to hacking.
"It's not just the 2020 election that has been manipulated," he said. "Most qualified experts from both sides of the aisle now acknowledge the voting machines are wide open to hacking, have been purposefully configured to make it easy, and don't come close to being certifiable for use in an election."
In February, in an appearance on "War Room," the podcast hosted by former Trump political strategist SteveBannon, Lindell described the "sales pitch" activists were making to local officials around the country, urging them to get rid of machines. "We have probably 30 counties on board now, and it's just going to keep growing and growing," Lindell said.
Bannon himself, a powerful influencer on the right, has also jumped aboard. "I'm a paper ballot guy," he said last month to hundreds of people at an election integrity conference organized by Marchant's PAC.
"All the machines should go," Bannon added.
By late 2021, the notion of doing away with all voting machines had migrated from fantastical musings on far-right media into black-and-white agenda items.
Proposals around the country have ranged from small citizen presentations at county board meetings to sweeping statewide legislation that in some cases would require all ballots to be hand-counted in a single day - demands most experts say would be impossible in any but the smallest places.
Lawmakers in at least six states have proposed legislation that would require hand-counting - including in Arizona, where the prospect of a hand count in enormous Maricopa County, home to 4.5 million people, has given the measure little chance of passage.
When a panel responsible for choosing Louisiana's new voting system met in December, Waldron gave a presentation on hand-counting ballots. Members of the Louisiana panel voiced concern about the logistics of Waldron's proposal, but hand-counting remains an option under consideration, according to a presentation at a meeting of the panel in February.
The new push for hand-counting has emerged primarily in heavily Republican communities where election deniers are more prevalent among voters and public officials. And they have been spurred by the leading national advocates, who claim they have spoken to officials in dozens of jurisdictions in multiple states.
In Rio Blanco County, Colo., where commissioners considered moving to hand-counting on March 15, Trump won 83% of the vote. Among those who had been urging commissioners to adopt the proposal was retired Air Force officer Shawn Smith, an ally of Lindell and Waldron. While the commissioners say they don't believe anything untoward happened in their county in 2020, they said getting rid of Dominion Voting Systems machines, a particular target of Trump supporters since the election, is necessary to restore public trust in local elections.
"We are smart to play it safe," said Gary Moyer, a Rio Blanco commissioner who supported ending the Dominion contract. "We've only got an average of about 3,000 voters. We're a remote, small, rural county. I don't think doing a hand count is out of the realm of possibility. We did it in the past for years."
Moyer and another Rio Blanco commissioner are among a group of plaintiffs who last year sued Griswold, alleging that she illegally destroyed election records and exceeded her authority when she adopted emergency rules to prevent counties from conducting Arizona-style election reviews. Griswold has denied those claims. The case is pending.
Boots Campbell, the county clerk, countered in an interview that she believed it would take four judges more than 30 days to tally the roughly 3,500 ballots of a typical presidential contest. Griswold's top election officer also sent a letter warning that the proposal could violate state and federal law.
But the pleas didn't work - the commissioners took a preliminary vote to end their contract with Dominion and are scheduled to finalize the decision after a public hearing this month. They did not include any funding for additional election judges.
In Harvey County, Kan., a group of residents pressed officials not to purchase new election equipment earlier this year, not long after Frank, Lindell's associate, made a presentation to the state legislature.
"They said, 'We need to go back to all hand-counted paper ballots,'" said Harvey County Clerk Rick Piepho, who said local residents echoed Frank's mantra to "Vote Amish" in public comments.
In the end, to Piepho's relief, county leaders went ahead with the purchase. "Why do we need to have hand-counting if the system is working?" he asked.
Likewise, in Washoe County, Nev., which includes the city of Reno and is Nevada's second-most populous county, commissioners rejected a sprawling 20-point "election integrity resolution" last month that included a hand-counting provision.
The 4-to-1 vote came after hours of impassioned testimony from residents. The only commissioner to vote in favor of the resolution was its author, Jeanne Herman, a Republican. In an interview with The Post, Herman said she had been suspicious about elections for years and heard many "horror stories" from Washoe residents. Now, following the defeat of her resolution, she said she intends to focus on getting rid of voting machines because they are, in her view, unreliable.
In her own personal life, she said, "I have been hacked and other things have happened to my computer and even my phone," she said. "So I know that things can get messy sometimes with computers."
In Nye County, Ramsland and Waldron were brought to speak by Marchant. County Clerk Sandra Merlino, a Republican official who has helped run elections since 1994, said even the small county would take days to count its votes by hand. The commissioners had at first planned to vote to direct her to adopt hand-counting. Had they done so, she was prepared to resign in protest that day.
But an analysis by the county's attorney found that only the elected clerk has the power to decide how to conduct the county's count. So instead of an order, the commission voted to ask Merlino to consider adopting the new method for a June primary and the November general election.
In a podcast interview the next day, Marchant predicted other counties would soon follow. It had not been necessary to prove fraud had taken place in Nye, he said. "We just showed them how vulnerable and how uncertifiable [the machines] are," he said.
Merlino, who has announced she is not running for reelection after the bruising 2020 election, said she will use machines to count the vote for the primary. She has not yet decided whether she will retire before the November election. In any case, she said she believes the Republicans running to replace her are likely to pursue the idea of hand-counting whenever she leaves, without regard for how it would affect voters' already shaky trust in the system.
"I don't know how you get the comfort and trust back, I really don't," she said.
Instead of a more accurate count, she said, hand-counting would lead to the opposite result. "Our results will be delayed. They won't add up," she said. "Nye County will be an embarrassment."
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The Washington Post's Alice Crites contributed to this report.
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https://www.unionleader.com/news/politics/voters/how-trump-allies-are-pushing-to-hand-count-ballots-around-the-u-s/article_dd91911f-393c-5710-b82e-a14790509c11.html
| 2022-04-04T20:40:35
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CONCORD — A weekend after his comedy routine in Washington, D.C., went viral, Gov. Chris Sununu said the national media and his critics need to “lighten up” and not take seriously his attack on former President Donald Trump.
During several media appearances Monday, Sununu said he was just kidding when he described Trump as “f---ing crazy.”
The three-term Republican New Hampshire chief executive as one of two speakers at the 137th annual dinner of the Gridiron Club, the oldest social club of D.C. journalists.
“You laugh not at each other as much as with each other, and that’s what makes it bipartisan and comedic. Lighten up,” Sununu said Monday on the "Good Morning New Hampshire" radio talk show with Jack Heath.
Sununu said he’s sure Trump took the matter in jest since Trump has been both speaker and target for past Gridiron Club events.
“The whole point of the event is a four-hour comedy show,” Sununu said. “It’s funny, it’s just a joke and anyone taking this seriously is not understanding the whole point…it was all in good fun.”
During an interview with Chris Ryan’s "New Hampshire Today" program, Sununu said people in politics need to have a little humility, and that’s what is healthy about comedic nights.
“Look, if you think that I’m trying to make some sort of serious political statement at a roast, you don’t understand politics,” Sununu said.
“That makes no sense at all. It really doesn’t. We’re just, we’re down there to have fun. The goal is — they’re very clear, they say, ‘Look, you got to be pretty self deprecating on yourself and Republicans. You can go after Democrats and the press, of course,’” he added.
No recordings of Sununu's comic monologue
The Gridiron Club is a closed-door event where no recordings are allowed to be made.
But several of the journalists there were taking copious notes because they quoted his monologue verbatim.
“You know, he’s probably going to be the next president,” Sununu said, according to Politico. “Nah, I’m just kidding! He’s f---ing crazy.”
Multiple news outlets reported the ballroom erupted with laughter at the comment, with Sununu following up by saying, “Are you kidding? Come on. You guys are buying that? I love it. He just stresses me out so much!...I’m going to deny I ever said it.”
Politico reported Sununu went on to say, “The press often will ask me if I think Donald Trump is crazy. And I’ll say it this way: I don’t think he’s so crazy that you could put him in a mental institution. But I think if he were in one, he ain’t getting out.”
Sununu said he didn’t regret using the curse word because it was a private event.
“C’mon, I used the word as shock value in a comedic way. It was part of the joke, we move on,” Sununu said.
A spokesperson for Trump's campaign said Sununu's comments were unfortunate.
The governor has gotten more national media attention since last November when he announced his decision not to try and unseat Democrat Maggie Hassan in the U.S. Senate.
Sununu is seeking a fourth two-year term as governor this fall, but hasn’t ruled out a future run for national office including president.
As for the positive reviews of his comedic performance, Sununu said they aren’t going to his head.
“Being the funniest guy in Washington, D.C., is like being the best surfer in Kansas,” Sununu said. “It’s all about how low the bar is set.”
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https://www.unionleader.com/news/politics/voters/sununu-says-lighten-up-about-his-trump-joke/article_f030db1e-7cb4-5a14-9065-4ffe34c14ce2.html
| 2022-04-04T20:40:41
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BUCHA, Ukraine -- International outrage spread on Monday over civilian killings in northern Ukraine, where a mass grave and tied bodies of people shot at close range were found in a town taken back from Russian forces, as Moscow shifted the focus of the fighting elsewhere.
The deaths in Bucha, outside Kyiv, are likely to galvanize the United States and Europe into additional sanctions against Moscow, possibly including some restrictions on the billions of dollars in energy that Europe still imports from Russia.
The discoveries overshadowed peace talks between Russia and Ukraine that were due to resume on Monday against a backdrop of artillery barrages in Ukraine's south and east, where Moscow says it is now focusing its operations after it fell short in attempts to take any major cities in the heart of the country.
"These are war crimes and will be recognized by the world as genocide," Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on a visit to Bucha. It had become harder, he said, for Ukraine to negotiate with Russia since the scale of alleged atrocities emerged.
Taras Shapravskyi, deputy mayor of the town some 25 miles northwest of the capital Kyiv, said around 50 victims of extra-judicial killings by Russian troops had been found there after Kremlin forces withdrew late last week.
Reuters saw one man sprawled by the roadside, his hands bound behind his back and a bullet wound to his head. Hands and feet poked through red clay at a mass grave by a church where satellite images showed a 45-foot-long trench.
The Kremlin categorically denied any accusations related to the murder of civilians, including in Bucha. "This information must be seriously questioned," Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told reporters. "From what we have seen, our experts have identified signs of video falsification and other fakes."
Makeshift burials
Ukrainian authorities said they had found 421 civilian casualties near Kyiv by Sunday and were investigating possible war crimes in Bucha, a description also used by French President Emmanuel Macron and, in reference to Russia's broader offensive, by the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights.
Reuters saw more makeshift burials elsewhere but could not independently verify the number of dead or who was responsible.
In the village of Motyzhyn, west of Kyiv, Reuters reporters saw three bodies in a forest grave. An adviser to Ukraine's interior ministry said the victims were the village's leader, Olha Sukhenko, her husband Ihor and son Oleksandr.
Ihor, a local resident who said he was a relative of the family and did not give his surname, told Reuters: "I don't know what they were killed for. They were peaceful, kind people."
Zelensky has used the term genocide at various times during the war, decrying what he calls an intent to eliminate the nation by Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin, who has questioned Ukraine's legitimate, independent history from Russia.
President Joe Biden on Monday repeated his accusation that Putin was a war criminal and he called for a war crimes trial. Putin "is brutal. And what's happening in Bucha is outrageous, and everyone's seen it," Biden told reporters.
"We have to gather the information. We have to continue to provide Ukraine with the weapons they need to continue the fight. And we have to get all the detail so this can be an actual, have a war crimes trial."
Russia has previously denied targeting civilians and rejected allegations of war crimes in what it calls a "special military operation" aimed at demilitarizing and "denazifying" Ukraine. Ukraine says it was invaded without provocation.
Flattened by shelling
On the other side of the country in Mariupol, a southeastern port that has been under siege for weeks, Reuters images showed three bodies in civilian clothes lying in the street, one against a wall sprayed with blood. Outside a damaged apartment building, residents buried other dead in a shell crater.
"It is easier to dig here," a resident said, saying four bodies were in the improvised grave. Nearby, the skeletal remains of residential tower blocks and other buildings surrounded by dust and debris dominated the skyline.
Ukraine says it has evacuated thousands of civilians in the past few days from the city, which is surrounded by areas held by Russian-backed separatists in the eastern Donbas region.
Several attempts by International Committee of the Red Cross teams to reach the besieged city in recent days have been unsuccessful, and a spokesman for the organization said it was again unable to enter on Monday to evacuate civilians.
Russian deployments
Ukraine was preparing for what its general staff said were about 60,000 Russian reservists called in to reinforce Moscow's offensive in the east, after Russian forces bogged down elsewhere in the face of unexpectedly lethal and mobile Ukrainian resistance using Western anti-tank weaponry.
Officials in Ukraine's northern regions, nearest Russia, said Russian troops there had fully withdrawn or significantly reduced in number, leaving mines and damaged military vehicles behind.
Over the weekend Ukraine said its forces had wrested back all areas around Kyiv, claiming complete control of the capital region for the first time since Russia launched its onslaught.
On Monday, a senior U.S. defense official said Russia had repositioned about two-thirds of its forces from around Kyiv, with many consolidating in close ally Belarus where they were expected to be refit, resupplied and be redeployed elsewhere in Ukraine.
British military intelligence also said Russian troops, including contractors from the Wagner private military company, were moving to the east.
Reuters could not independently confirm the statements about Russian troop movements. Reuters correspondents saw convoys of armored vehicles belonging to pro-Russia forces near Mariupol.
Sanctions on Russian energy?
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said Putin and his supporters would "feel the consequences" of events in Bucha. Western allies would agree further sanctions against Moscow in coming days, he said, though their timing and reach were not clear.
German Defence Minister Christine Lambrecht said the European Union must discuss banning Russian gas, though other officials urged caution around measures that could touch off a European energy crisis. More than half of Germany's gas came from Russia last year.
France's Macron suggested sanctions on oil and coal.
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https://www.unionleader.com/news/world/war-crime-killings-near-kyiv-raise-international-outcry-as-frontline-shifts/article_020775a0-3aa7-509c-a969-5bfadb390f67.html
| 2022-04-04T20:40:47
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NEW ALBANY, Ind. — A man accused of murdering two people at a gas station in southern Indiana was shot by police after leading officers on a pursuit and taking a woman hostage during his attempt to evade arrest.
According to the Indiana State Police, the incident began at 10 a.m. Monday when police learned of a double murder at a New Albany gas station located at Beechwood and Grant Line Roads. Officers with the New Albany Police Department, the Floyd County Sheriff’s Department and troopers with the Indiana State Police all responded to the scene.
Authorities said officers observed the murder suspect driving a maroon SUV and launched into pursuit on Charleston Road, just north of I-265. The suspect reportedly abandoned his vehicle and fled on foot into a restaurant, however, where he took a woman hostage at gunpoint and forced her into a silver SUV.
After officers surrounded the area, police said the hostage fell from the vehicle and the suspect resorted to trying to run police over with the SUV. Officers from the New Albany Police Department and the Floyd County’s Sheriff’s Department then reportedly opened fire, shooting the suspect. The SUV then crashed into the back of the restaurant, according to officials, and the suspect was subdued.
Police said both the murder suspect and kidnapping victim were transported to a hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.
At this time, police have not released the identity of the murder suspect nor have they identified the victims killed in the double murder.
New Albany police are investigating the double-murder with state police in charge of the kidnapping and police-involved shooting investigation.
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https://fox59.com/indiana-news/isp-double-murder-suspect-shot-by-police-after-fleeing-taking-hostage/
| 2022-04-04T20:42:12
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https://fox59.com/indiana-news/isp-double-murder-suspect-shot-by-police-after-fleeing-taking-hostage/
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(The Hill) — A Texas teacher agreed to pay a $90,000 settlement this week after he was sued by a student on First Amendment grounds for requiring a class to write out the Pledge of Allegiance.
The incident occurred in 2017 when teacher Benjie Arnold asked his class to write out the Pledge of Allegiance or receive a failing grade. The student, Mari Oliver, wrote a squiggly line on the paper, and failed the assignment as a result.
Oliver, who is Black, refused to write out the pledge over religious and social justice reasons relating to the treatment of Black Americans in the United States.
Forty-seven states in the U.S. require the Pledge of Allegiance be recited in public schools, with varying exemptions for students or staff who wish to opt out. The 1943 U.S. Supreme Court ruling, West Virginia V. Barnette, determined that no school or government can compel someone to recite the Pledge of Allegiance or salute the flag.
But states can still require it while offering exemptions. And states have varying levels of exemptions — for example, Florida and Texas allow for a student to be exempted from reciting the Pledge of Allegiance only if a parent or guardian consents.
Here is a full breakdown of states’ laws on the Pledge of Allegiance.
States with no policy for the pledge
Nebraska – There is no statute in the state of Nebraska, but the state’s school board required the Pledge of Allegiance be recited at public schools in 2012.
Wyoming, Vermont and Hawaii
States that require the pledge be recited, with no clear exemptions
Kansas – The state of Kansas does require the pledge to be recited, but leaves oversight to the state’s Board of Education.
Georgia, Illinois, New Mexico and Nevada
Massachusetts – There is no clear exemption in the state of Massachusetts: “Failure for a period of two consecutive weeks by a teacher to salute the flag and recite said pledge as aforesaid, or to cause the pupils under his charge so to do, shall be punished for every such period by a fine of not more than five dollars,” the law states.
California – The state of California requires the pledge to be recited, but leaves oversight to school districts.
Delaware – The state of Delaware requires the pledge to be recited, and a bill that would have established a clear exemption and eliminated a penalty against teachers for not leading students in the patriotic exercise was tabled in a state legislature’s committee last year.
States requiring the Pledge be recited with stricter exemptions
Texas, Florida and Pennsylvania – In these states, a student must provide written notice from parent or guardian to gain exemption.
Utah – In Utah, students must provide written notice from parent or guardian to gain exemption, but the code does require schools to notify students they can opt out.
Washington – In the state of Washington, “students not reciting the pledge shall maintain a respectful silence,” according to state law.
New Jersey – In New Jersey, Exempt students “shall be required to show full respect to the flag while the pledge is being given merely by standing at attention, the boys removing the headdress.”
Virginia – In Virginia, exempt students must be quiet during recitation. The code also says every student must learn about the pledge and demonstrate knowledge of it.
Oregon and Tennessee – Exempt students must remain quiet.
States with new laws establishing the Pledge be recited in schools
Montana and Arkansas – These states passed updates to state laws in 2021 with clear exemptions.
North Dakota – North Dakota passed an update to its state law in 2021 that says schools may authorize a voluntary recitation.
Alabama – Alabama passed an update to its state law requiring recitation in 2019 with a clear exemption.
Iowa – Iowa passed a state law on the matter requiring recitation for the first time in 2021 with a clear exemption.
States with exemptions, but varying interpretations
Kentucky – Kentucky state law says: “Pupils shall be reminded that this Lord’s prayer is the prayer our pilgrim fathers recited when they came to this country in their search for freedom. Pupils shall be informed that these exercises are not meant to influence an individual’s personal religious beliefs in any manner.”
Alaska – Alaska requires school districts to inform people of their right not to participate in the Pledge of Allegiance.
Oklahoma – The Sooner state requires schools post a notice in a conspicuous place informing them that they don’t have to participate.
States with clear exemptions
South Dakota, North Carolina, Mississippi, Connecticut, Michigan, New York, Ohio, Minnesota, New Hampshire, West Virginia, South Carolina, Colorado, Idaho, Wisconsin, Maryland, Maine, Indiana, Louisiana and Rhode Island
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| 2022-04-04T20:50:54
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MONROE, Conn. (WTNH) – A wanted woman trying to evade police hit seven police cruisers and eventually crashed into a pole in Connecticut.
Hannah Casperson, 25, of Brookfield has been wanted by the Wolcott Police Department for allegedly assisting her boyfriend in the vandalization of 41 vehicles. While her boyfriend, Thomas Crawford, was caught by police, Casperson fled in a white Hummer. Police had been on the lookout ever since.
Sunday morning around 8:43 a.m., police received a tip about Casperson’s location. Waterbury police arrived at the location and found Casperson’s car with her inside. They attempted to make contact with her as she sat in the driver’s seat, but she decided to evade, they said.
Casperson reportedly accelerated her car, smashing a police cruiser and hitting another before driving onto the interstate.
Multiple police officers chased after her in their vehicles.
Casperson eventually lost control of her car during the chase and hit a telephone pole.
Taking into account the locations provided by police, she drove between 22 to 28 miles before crashing into the pole.
The Monroe Police Chief said seven police cruisers were hit during the chase. Seven officers from the Waterbury Police Department were transported to the hospital for treatment, where they were all listed in stable condition.
Casperson was transported to Bridgeport Hospital to be treated for her injuries, which were not life-threatening.
Casperson has multiple outstanding warrants and additional charges pending.
This is not Casperson’s first run-in with the law. She previously pleaded guilty to criminal mischief in Southbury and failed to appear in court. According to the Connecticut court system, Casperson is in the middle of serving 18 months of probation due to her first crime.
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| 2022-04-04T20:51:00
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BERLIN (AP) — A 60-year-old man allegedly had himself vaccinated against COVID-19 dozens of times in Germany in order to sell forged vaccination cards with real vaccine batch numbers to people not wanting to get vaccinated themselves.
The man from the eastern Germany city of Magdeburg, whose name was not released in line with German privacy rules, is said to have received up to 90 shots against COVID-19 at vaccination centers in the eastern state of Saxony for months until criminal police caught him this month, the German news agency dpa reported Sunday.
The suspect was not detained but is under investigation for unauthorized issuance of vaccination cards and document forgery, dpa reported.
He was caught at a vaccination center in Eilenburg in Saxony when he showed up for a COVID-19 shot for the second day in a row. Police confiscated several blank vaccination cards from him and initiated criminal proceedings.
It was not immediately clear what impact the approximately 90 shots of COVID-19 vaccines, which were from different brands, had on the man’s personal health.
German police have conducted many raids in connection with forgery of vaccination passports in recent months. Many COVID-19 deniers refuse to get vaccinated in Germany, but at the same time want to have the coveted COVID-19 passports that make access to public life and venues such as restaurants, theaters, swimming pools or workplaces much easier.
Germany has seen high infection numbers for weeks, yet many measures to rein in the pandemic ended on Friday. Donning masks is no longer compulsory in grocery stores and most theaters but it is still mandatory on public transportation.
In most schools in Germany, students also no longer have to wear masks, which has led teachers’ associations to warn of possible conflicts in class.
“There is now a danger that, on the one hand, children who wear masks will be teased by classmates as wimps and overprotective or, on the other hand, pressure will be exerted on non-mask wearers,” Heinz-Peter Meidinger, the president of the German Teachers’ Association, told dpa. He advocated a voluntary commitment by teachers and students to continue wearing masks in class and on school grounds, at least until the country goes on a two-week Easter holiday.
Health experts say the most recent surge of infections in Germany — triggered by the BA.2 omicron subvariant— may have peaked.
On Sunday, the country’s disease control agency reported 74,053 new COVID-19 infections in one day, while less than a week ago it reported 111,224 daily infections.
Overall, Germany has registered 130,029 COVID-19 deaths.
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| 2022-04-04T20:51:06
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(NEXSTAR) – Just days after the BA.2 strain of coronavirus achieved world dominance, international health officials are already turning their attention to a new, mutant variant believed to be even more transmissible – XE.
XE is a combination of the first form of omicron to spread across the globe, BA.1, and so-called “stealth omicron,” the subvariant BA.2, that is now dominant.
The highly transmissible XE strain was first detected in the United Kingdom on January 19, according to the WHO document, and there have been more than 600 documented cases in the UK since.
Preliminary findings suggest that XE may be about 10% more transmissible than BA.2, which is considered 50-60% more transmissible than its omicron predecessor, according to Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation’s top infectious disease expert.
How deadly XE turns out to be is still a question mark when it comes to XE as health experts continue to monitor the subvariant’s spread.
“The transmissibility and the severity of this new recombinant variant is still being investigated, so we will closely monitor the latest situation,” said Chuang Shuk-kwan, head of the Communicable Disease Branch at Hong Kong’s Center for Health Protection (CHP).
How to prepare for another COVID-19 wave
As the nation takes a collective breath after the fall of COVID hospitalizations and deaths, thinking about how to prepare for yet another wave is an exhausting proposition for many.
Dr. Peter Chin-Hong, an infectious disease expert at the University of California at San Francisco School of Medicine, says there are five things people should do, just in case.
COVID numbers are the new weather report: Keep an eye on the CDC tracking numbers that will reveal new outbreaks. If you want advanced notice, “you can also look at the wastewater epidemiology if you really want to get an even earlier look,” Chin-Hong said.
Keep your closet stocked: Make sure you have a good supply of masks and tests, which will be highly sought after if we see spiking cases.
Eligible Americans should be up to date on the vaccine: Maximize your body’s ability to keep you alive and out of the hospital by getting the COVID vaccine and recommended boosters – “especially the first booster for older people and the second booster for the oldest, above 75 or 80,” Chin-Hong said. “But everybody should at least get the three shots.”
Know how and when to access early therapy: The Biden administration has launched an all-in-one resource for Americans to help them navigate questions around COVID-19 treatments, testing, vaccines and other resources. “Many people don’t even know how to get Paxlovid, what it’s good for, when to take it – but that’s all going to be key because it’s going to keep people healthy and away from the hospital even if they’re not vaccinated.
Stock your medicine cabinet: If you do get sick but don’t need to be hospitalized, you’ll still want relief from symptoms. Painkillers, decongestants and other medications could ease your recovery. Some people may even want to invest in other tools, such as a pulse oximeter to monitor your blood oxygen level.
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| 2022-04-04T20:51:13
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INDIANAPOLIS – What to make of the Indianapolis Colts?
Oddmakers like what they’ve done thus far. We’re not on board, yet.
We’re barely a month into the NFL’s new league year – and more important, roughly five months from the season opener – and the Colts remain one of the more difficult teams to gauge.
On one hand, they’ve taken major steps to upgrade two of any team’s most influential positions: quarterback and edge rusher. Matt Ryan is expected to mitigate the failed Carson Wentz experience. And Yannick Ngakoue represents a decided boost for the pass rush.
Based on those two trades – probably more so the addition of Ryan – oddsmakers have elevated the Colts to at least co-favorites with the Tennessee Titans to win the AFC South. A few have Indy a smidgen in front.
Make of that what you will, but the Colts were clearly considered Titans chasers prior to the Ryan-for-Wentz switch. Pro Football Focus ranks Denver and Indy as being the most improved teams based on offseason personnel moves.
Again: quarterback and edge rusher.
No one has placed the Colts among the upper echelon in a loaded AFC, but that’s irrelevant. All that’s required is wrestling the AFC South away from the Titans, who’ve won two straight division titles.
“It’s a sticking point with me,’’ Jim Irsay said at last week’s owners meetings. “We can talk about the opener means a lot and blah, blah, blah, but this is a bigger deal about Tennessee.
“If you can’t get out of your division, if you have someone who’s dominating you, you’re in big trouble.’’
The trouble we have is while general manager Chris Ballard has addressed the Colts’ two most pressing offseason concerns, red flags dot the rest of the roster. Until more additions are made – through free agency or re-signing their own, not the draft – the Colts are:
Offensive Line
The Colts are without three of their top six offensive linemen from a year ago. Left tackle Eric Fisher remains unsigned while starting right guard Mark Glowinski signed with the New York Giants and backup guard Chris Reed is with the Minnesota Vikings. Matt Pryor was reupped and is the projected starting left tackle while 2020 5th-round pick Danny Pinter should be considered the front-runner to replace Glowinski at right guard.
Even if Pryor and Pinter pan out, quality depth – always a Ballard objective – is a concern. The Colts used 10 different starting offensive line combinations last season. Fisher, Glowinski and Reed combined for 35 starts.
Wide Receiver
Indianapolis is without two of their top three receivers from 2021. That would be T.Y. Hilton, who still is on the market, and Zach Pascal, who has been reunited with Nick Sirianni in Philadelphia. At this point, it’s Michael Pittman Jr. and . . .
Pittman enjoyed a breakout 2021 with 88 receptions, 1,082 yards and six TDs. The other returning wideouts combined for 28 receptions, 387 yards and four TDs.
Tight End
The Colts are without Jack Doyle as a stabilizing force at tight end for the first time since 2012. His retirement created a void that will be difficult to fill. He was a reliable chain-moving component on offense and an unquestioned leader in the tight ends room. Re-signing Mo Alie-Cox helps, and the team is anticipating Kylen Granson taking a big step in year 2, but the position needs serious help.
Cornerback
Indianapolis is without two of their top outside cornerbacks. The cost of adding Ngakoue was Rock Ya-Sin. We’d make that trade every time; edge rusher trumps proven corner. Also, Xavier Rhodes, who had three interceptions and 19 passes defensed in 29 starts the last two seasons, is unsigned. One of Ballard’s free-agent acquisitions is Brandon Facyson, who follows coordinator Gus Bradley to Indy from Las Vegas. He’s started 13 games in four seasons, including nine with the Raider last season.
The roster still is stocked with top-end talent. But until a handful of additions are made – with vets, not rookies – the veracity of the depth is bothersome.
Ballard continually preaches patience and has never overpaid to add a proven veteran to the roster. Last offseason, he signed Reed April 1, cornerback T.J. Carrie April 18 and Fisher May 12.
Listen to the Colts Blue Zone Podcast for weekly coverage/analysis of the Indianapolis Colts.
You can follow Mike Chappell on Twitter at @mchappell51.
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JOHNSTON COUNTY, N.C. (WTVD) -- A serious crash has traffic backed up on Interstate 40 in Johnston County.
It happened Monday afternoon near mile marker 319 in the McGee's Crossroads area of the county.
All eastbound lanes were initially shut down but one lane has reopened.
Still, traffic is backed up for an estimated three miles. Drivers are urged to avoid the area if possible.
Crash causes delays on I-40 eastbound in Johnston County
Copyright © 2022 WTVD-TV. All Rights Reserved.
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West, who now goes by Ye, had been set to be one of the headliners of The Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival along with Billie Eilish and Harry Styles.
The source said that West did not want to take the stage in the midst of his divorce battle with Kim Kardashian and in the wake of his one-sided feud with "Daily Show" host Trevor Noah.
In the past several weeks West has taken to social media to air his grievances about co-parenting issues with Kardashian.
He was suspended from Instagram for 24 hours for posting a racial slur aimed at Noah after the late-night host voiced his concern about West's feuding with Kardashian.
Kanye West suspended from Instagram for 24 hours after directing racial slur at Trevor Noah
A performance by Ye at Sunday's Grammy Awards was also subsequently canceled, according to three sources close to the artists, citing his "online behavior."
Ye did not attend the event but won two Grammys.
The annual event is held over two weekends at the Empire Polo Club in Indio, California, and this year is scheduled to take place April 15-17 and April 22-24.
West had earlier threatened to quit Coachella after Eilish made a comment he perceived to be bashing Travis Scott - something Eilish denied.
While Scott had not been announced as a headliner he will no longer be performing at Coachella with West the source told CNN.
The video in the media player above is from a related earlier story.
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| 2022-04-04T21:25:21
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RENO, Nevada -- A man kidnapped and killed an 18-year-old woman whose body was found in a remote grave in northern Nevada's high desert, sheriff's detectives said Friday.
Troy Driver of Fernley was booked Friday on charges of murder with use of a deadly weapon, robbery, burglary and destruction of evidence. He's been held on $750,000 bail at the Lyon County Jail since March 25 after his arrest on a charge of kidnapping Naomi Irion.
Driver, 41, has a violent criminal history and served more than a decade in prison in California before he was released in 2012.
Irion, of Fernley, had been missing since March 12, when surveillance video showed a masked man wearing a hooded sweatshirt get into her car at about 5:25 a.m. in a Walmart parking lot about 30 miles (48 kilometers) east of Reno.
After Driver's arrest, investigators acting on a tip found human remains in a gravesite Tuesday in a remote area in neighboring Churchill County northeast of Fallon. An autopsy the next day confirmed it was Irion.
Lyon County Sgt. Bret Willey said in announcing the new charges on Friday that the investigation is continuing but no other details would be immediately released.
It wasn't immediately clear if Driver would appear in court again before a status hearing scheduled for April 5. He's also set for an April 12 preliminary hearing. His lawyer, Mario Walther, didn't immediately respond to requests for comment.
Driver was charged with first-degree kidnapping during a brief arraignment Wednesday in Lyon County's Canal Township Justice Court.
The two-page criminal complaint filed earlier that day said he abducted Irion "on or about March 12" and "did hold or detain her for the purpose of committing sexual assault and/or purpose of killing her."
The Lyon and Churchill county sheriff's offices said in a statement late Thursday that they were investigating Irion's death as a homicide. They said they had established her cause of death but that information "cannot be released at this time as the circumstances around that event if released would compromise the ongoing investigation."
Several news outlets have reported that Driver was sentenced to 15 years in prison for his role in a 1997 murder case in Northern California.
Mendocino County Court records show he pleaded guilty that summer to robbery, burglary and firearms charges as well as to being an accessory to a felony after the fact.
California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation spokeswoman Dana Simas said earlier this week she had no details on the crimes but confirmed Driver was sentenced to 15 years on those charges on Aug. 19, 1997, was released to state parole supervision in 2012 and discharged from parole supervision in 2014.
Suspect faces murder charge in northern Nevada kidnapping
By Scott Sonner
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3 homicides in 12 hours in West Palm Beach
Three homicides within the span of 12 hours for the city of West Palm Beach this weekend, and right now detectives need your help in solving them.
Two men were shot to death while another man was found dead inside a dumpster
At the Southridge Senior Community is a dumpster where the body of a 49-year-old man was found. Police said a resident went to take out their trash Sunday morning and made the disturbing discovery.
That community is on edge Monday after becoming the focus of an intense investigation.
"I cannot sleep because I'm so nervous now," said resident Theresa Meneses.
Meneses has called this place home for the past 13 years, but lately she said she's lost her sense of security.
"I don’t feel safe here," Meneses said.
And shes not the only one concerned.
"Here no security, no camera, nothing. We are alone," said resident Yoloanda Rodriguez.
Residents said there's been an increase in crime lately and that lack of security and lighting is to blame.
"The back, it’s so dark no light at the night time. Everybody pass by and you don’t know who it is," Meneses said.
However, West Palm Beach police said within the past six months, incidents have been relatively low.
"In about a one-third-mile radius from where we are standing, there were three crimes of note. Two criminal mischiefs and one burglary," said public information officer Mike Jachles.
As far as the lights, WPTV reached out the housing authority for comment and is waiting to hear back
Detectiives are also trying to piece together the two other cases from Saturday night. Both were shootings. One of the victims was a 26-year-old man who was found dead inside an apartment complex on Haverhill Road.
The other shooting occurred along Carrbean Boulevard.
If you have any information that can help police, call Crime Stoppers of Palm Beach County at 1-800-458-TIPS.
Scripps Only Content 2022
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| 2022-04-04T21:34:32
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Airlines reduce cancellations, but US flight problems linger
(AP) - Air travel in the United States improved Monday after a rocky weekend that left thousands of flyers stranded by thunderstorms in Florida, technology problems at the busiest domestic airline and labor problems at another carrier.
However, airlines that do much of their flying in Florida were still struggling Monday, especially Spirit Airlines.
And airlines were bracing for another round of storms that were forecast to hit the Dallas area — home to American and Southwest — Monday night.
Airlines scrubbed about 650 U.S. flights by midafternoon Monday, according to tracking service FlightAware.com. That followed the cancellation of more than 3,500 flights — about one in every 13 — over the weekend.
Thunderstorms led the Federal Aviation Administration to limit flights over much of Florida and briefly halt flights at several airports in the state on Saturday. That caused ripple effects across the country for the rest of the weekend, and some travelers reported having to wait before they could be put on another flight.
“It’s spring-break season, so unfortunately there is no worse place to have bad weather than Florida right now,” Henry Harteveldt, a travel-industry analyst for Atmosphere Research, said Monday. “The airlines are scrambling to get people where they want to go, they’re working to get planes to and from Florida. It’s going to take a couple days.”
On Monday, Spirit, which is based in Miramar, Florida, canceled about 250 flights, or 30% of its schedule. JetBlue Airways, which flies frequently between Florida and the Northeast, canceled about 140 flights, or 13% of its total for the day.
Spirit did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Southwest Airlines, which operates more domestic flights than any airline, was doing much better on Monday — about 60 cancellations, 1% of its schedule, after scrubbing more than 900 flights, or about 13% of its total, Saturday and Sunday. The airline also suffered what it called intermittent technology problems over the weekend.
Southwest’s unusual point-to-point route map means that many of its planes stop in Florida at some point during a normal day. By contrast, American, Delta and United run so-called hub-and-spoke networks in which flights radiate outward from a few key airports. That keeps planes in one part of the country insulated from bad weather in other places.
Alaska Airlines, the fifth-largest U.S. carrier, canceled about 40 flights or 5% of its schedule Monday. Over the weekend, the airline seemed to blame the pilots’ union. Off-duty pilots have picketed at airports and an investor conference by the Seattle-based airline to protest the slow pace of contract negotiations over the past three years.
Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.
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Democratic, GOP Senate bargainers reach $10B COVID agreement
WASHINGTON (AP) — Senate bargainers have reached agreement on a slimmed-down $10 billion package for countering COVID-19, the top Democratic and Republican negotiators said Monday, but the measure dropped all funding to help nations abroad combat the pandemic.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said the deal would give the government “the tools we need” to continue battling the disease. Sen. Mitt Romney, R-Utah, trumpeted budget savings in the measure that he said meant it “will not cost the American people a single additional dollar.”
At least half the measure would have to be used to research and produce therapeutics to treat the disease, according to fact sheets distributed by Schumer and Romney, the two top bargainers.
The money would also be used to buy vaccines and tests. At least $750 million would be used to research new COVID-19 variants and to expand vaccine production, the descriptions said.
The agreement comes with party leaders hoping to move the legislation through Congress this week, before lawmakers leave for a two-week spring recess. It also comes with BA.2, the new omicron variant, expected to spark a fresh increase in U.S. cases. Around 980,000 Americans and over 6 million people worldwide have died from COVID-19.
Schumer blamed the GOP for the lack of global assistance, saying he is “disappointed that our Republican colleagues could not agree to include the $5 billion” from an earlier version of the measure. He said members of both parties want to craft a second spending measure this spring that could include funds to battle COVID-19 and hunger overseas and more assistance for Ukraine as it continues battling the Russian invasion.
Romney suggested an openness to considering future COVID-19 money. “While this agreement does not include funding for the U.S. global vaccination program, I am willing to explore a fiscally responsible solution to support global efforts in the weeks ahead,” he said.
The accord represents a deep cut from the $22.5 billion President Joe Biden initially requested, and from a $15 billion version that both parties’ leaders had negotiated last month. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., abandoned that plan after Democratic lawmakers rejected proposed cuts in state pandemic aid to help pay for the package.
The $15 billion plan had included about $5 billion for the global effort to fight COVID-19, which has run rampant in many countries, especially poorer ones. The overall price tag has shrunk, and the global money has fallen off, as the two parties have been unable to agree on more than $10 billion in budget savings to pay for it.
THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. AP’s earlier story follows below.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Bipartisan Senate bargainers have agreed to a slimmed-down $10 billion package for countering COVID-19, but without any funds to help nations abroad combat the pandemic, Democrats and Republicans familiar with the talks said Monday.
At least half the measure would have to be used to research and produce therapeutics to treat the disease, according to a fact sheet distributed by the chief GOP bargainer, Sen. Mitt Romney of Utah. And at least $750 million would be used to research new COVID-19 variants and to expand vaccine production, the description said.
The agreement comes with party leaders hoping to move the legislation through Congress this week, before lawmakers leave for a two-week spring recess. It also comes with BA.2, the new omicron variant, expected to spark a fresh increase in U.S. cases. Around 980,000 Americans and over 6 million people worldwide have died from COVID-19.
The accord represents a deep cut from the $22.5 billion President Joe Biden initially requested, and from a $15 billion version that both parties’ leaders had negotiated last month. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., abandoned that plan after Democratic lawmakers rejected proposed cuts in state pandemic aid to help pay for the package.
The $15 billion plan had included about $5 billion for the global effort to fight COVID-19, which has run rampant in many countries, especially poorer ones. The overall price tag has shrunk, and the global money has fallen off, as the two parties have been unable to agree on more than $10 billion in budget savings to pay for it.
Some people said the fate of the new agreement remained uncertain in the House, where Pelosi and liberal Democrats have expressed opposition to dropping the money for helping other countries.
Rep. Pramila Jayapal, leader of the House Progressive Caucus, said erasing the global assistance from the package “is a big problem,” and said she and other supporters of helping other countries have voiced their objections to House leadership and Senate negotiators. “It’s really shortsighted to not spend money on making sure this virus is contained around the world,” Jayapal, a Washington state Democrat who worked in global public health for a decade, told reporters.
The two Democrats and three Republicans who described the accord did so on condition of anonymity because they weren’t authorized to discuss the talks publicly.
One of the Democrats, and a third member of that party, said it remained unclear whether the emerging package would attract the minimum 10 GOP votes needed for the measure to move through the 50-50 Senate. The others said the needed Republican votes would be there.
The measure is fully paid for by pulling back unspent funds from previous pandemic relief bills that have been enacted, bargainers have said.
Romney’s fact sheet says those savings include $2.3 billion from a fund protecting aviation manufacturing jobs; $1.9 billion from money for helping entertainment venues shuttered by the pandemic; another $1.9 billion from a program that helps states extend credit to small businesses; and $1.6 billion from agriculture assistance programs.
___
AP writer Farnoush Amiri contributed to this report.
Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.
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| 2022-04-04T21:34:45
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Ukrainian soldier describes ongoing fight against Russians
Soldiers in Ukraine continue to battle Russian soldiers, fighting on the front lines.
One of those soldiers, Sam, joined the country's Territorial Defense Forces in Ukraine a month and a half ago after seeing many city buildings bombarded.
"Some cities in Ukraine are very damaged. Some of them are mostly almost destroyed," Sam said.
He said he's now seeing a lot of civilian deaths.
"They kill civilians. They kill kids," Sam said. "They shoot through the cars, no matter what. It's crazy."
People continue to flee the country in an effort to find safety from the dangers of the war.
"Lots of people died and lots of people fled Ukraine because of this situation here," Sam said.
Among those who fled were his family, including his wife.
At first, they stayed with relatives near the capital of Kyiv. But they then headed to Poland before finally settling in Germany. Their kids are now in school.
"Mom and I are official volunteers at the school," said Zee, who fled to Germany from Ukraine. "There are other parents that join who also fled Ukraine. ... They have really embraced our kids."
Though the family is safe, Zee worries about her husband, especially when she doesn't hear from him for several days.
"There were three nights during the war where he forgot (to contact me), so those were really stressful nights for me. Because I had no idea what was going on, whether I'm a widow or not," Zee said.
Sam is not giving up the fight as events are unfolding around him and hope that one day they can all return home.
"Me and my brothers are still here in Kyiv, and we will keep standing here protecting our land because we love the city that we live in," Sam said. "We love our country. We love our families, and we will protect it. We will stand here until the very end."
Scripps Only Content 2022
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US obesity rates increased during COVID pandemic, study says
Published: Apr. 4, 2022 at 5:24 PM EDT|Updated: 8 minutes ago
(CNN) – Americans got fatter during the COVID pandemic.
A new study published in the American Journal of Preventative Medicine shows obesity rates among adults in the U.S. got worse during the COVID pandemic.
The average body mass index in the U.S. increased by 0.6% between March of 2020 and March of 2021 over the previous year, the study says.
The increase happened even as exercise participation rates soared by 4.4%, and as people slept 1.5% more and smoked 4% less.
Researchers didn’t look at diets, so people may have eaten less healthy foods.
A rise in the consumption of alcohol may also have contributed.
Copyright 2022 CNN Newsource. All rights reserved.
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| 2022-04-04T21:35:00
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What effect does Ukraine conflict have on grocery prices?
Soaring prices are sparking tough decisions in the grocery store aisles. It’s all supply and demand affected by the COVID-19 pandemic and the war in Ukraine.
Take a ride through the grocery store aisles and you’ll see soaring prices.
"The prices are astronomical," said shopper Carole Rosen.
"It’s getting way out of control," said shopper Rebekah Bearden.
Typical bought items are nearly doubling in price.
"It’s terrible, absolutely terrible. I’ve never seen prices this high," Bearden said.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture said food prices are expected to rise up to 4% by the end of this year. Breaking that down, dairy product prices are predicted to increase up to 10%, poultry prices are expected at 12%, and meat up to 15 1/2%,
"Part of that is because the shortage of supply, and then the transportation issues, getting the food to the stores," said accountant Mark Parks.
The war in Ukraine has caused gas prices to spike. Parks said the job shortages from the pandemic and the increase in gas are some reasons for the increase in food items.
"When gas goes up, everything goes up," Parks said.
To save money, budget first and plan ahead before your trip to the grocery store. No impulse buys now.
"First of all, you never want to go to the grocery store when you’re hungry because you will pick up stuff that you hadn’t planned to get," Parks said. "Items that are at eye level tend to be items that are higher priced items."
"I get certain things at Publix, I go to Aldi, I go to Winn Dixie. I shop around for whatever I'm going to buy that week, whoever has the best price," Bearden said. "You can buy in bulk and pay less for what you’re getting, but even these prices are going up."
Planning can be time consuming, but Parks said to think long-term with your money
"That time consuming process can save you tens, twenties, hundreds of dollars," Parks said.
Scripps Only Content 2022
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| 2022-04-04T21:35:06
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Wife recognized for saving husband's life
A Palm Beach Gardens resident and volunteer was recognized Monday after saving her husband's life last October.
Edith Ward was awarded Fire Rescue's "Citizen Life Saving Award."
"We're here today to recognize not only one of our citizens but one of our residents here in Palm Beach Gardens for the actions that she took to save a life, and not only any life but her husband's life," said Cory Bessette of Palm Beach Gardens Fire Rescue.
"Charlie and I were sitting on the deck, and he says, 'I think I'm going to go in and shave.' I heard a bang, and I thought a shelf had fallen, and I went in and he was lying on the bathroom floor," Ward said. "Then I started the compressions. We did it until the firemen arrived."
"Because of that, my wife saved my life," Charlie said.
"Mr. Ward would have not had the positive outcome that he had without his wife doing CPR," Bessette said.
He said Edith's heroics highlight the importance of their CPR training classes.
"To see someone that we've taught, actually myself teaching her CPR, and use it to save her husband's life is awesome," Bessette said. "Once a year we train all of our employees on CPR and AED."
"I'll take it again, and I highly recommend anyone that has the opportunity to take that class to take it," Edith Ward said. "I thank God that I was there to help my husband because I don't think he'd be alive today if I wasn't."
Palm Beach Gardens offers CPR classes upon request. Click here to learn more.
Scripps Only Content 2022
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https://www.wflx.com/2022/04/04/wife-recognized-saving-husbands-life/
| 2022-04-04T21:35:15
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https://www.wflx.com/2022/04/04/wife-recognized-saving-husbands-life/
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LOS ANGELES -- Artists Cheri Pann and Gonzalo Duran started turning their house into a mosaic of tiles in 1994 to liven up the exterior, and they haven't stopped adding tile since. Nearly the entire property is now covered in beautiful tile mosaics featuring a variety of themes and hidden objects.
"In the beginning, we did the path to the house as the yellow brick road, and from there, it just took off," said Duran.
Pann gives Duran credit for coming up with the ideas for their tile projects, including their newest addition, and Alice in Wonderland themed wall facing the side of the house. The new wall already features a 3-D caterpillar, rabbit hole, Queen of Hearts, and White Rabbit.
The duo claims it's easy to collaborate together on each of their projects. Once Duran has a new idea, he talks about it with Pann who is quick to approve. Pann said, "It's always easy for us to come to an agreement because I just think whatever he does is fantastic."
When working on a project, Pann and Duran make their own tile out of raw clay as an inexpensive alternative to buying tiles. Pann paints the tiles and glazes them in preparation for Duran to place the tiles.
"Putting the tile up there doesn't take long," said Duran.
There is so much to love about the tile house, Pann herself has a hard time identifying a favorite part. "Every time I come out to look at stuff, I fall in love with a different area," Pann said.
The Mosaic Tile House is an outpouring of Pann and Duran's passion for art that inspires visitors to follow their own passions. Pann said, "You can do a job for making money, but then you need a passion that keeps you alive to the world."
Make a reservation to visit the Mosaic Tile House https://gonzaloduran.com/ by emailing mosaictilehouse@mac.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/mosaictilehouse/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mosaictilehouse_venice/
Step into the colorful world of the Mosaic Tile House in Venice, CA
LOCALISH
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https://abc11.com/mosaic-tile-house-venice-tiles-cheri-pann/10460783/
| 2022-04-04T21:35:36
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https://abc11.com/mosaic-tile-house-venice-tiles-cheri-pann/10460783/
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NAPA, Calif. -- When a pair of baby great horned owls fell out of their nest, Napa Wildlife Rescue came directly to their aid.
"So, how we found them is the tree that they fell out of was in somebody's backyard, so they called us and said they were there," explained Carol Poole of Napa Wildlife Rescue.
One of the owls was placed in an incubator and hand-fed until he grew stronger. Then he was reunited with his sibling and the two spent seven months with the rescue before returning to the wild.
Before taking them in, Napa Wildlife Rescue tried to attract the owls' parents. However, the babies appeared to be abandoned.
"I went and spent a whole day out there and never saw the parents," said Poole. "I went out and played these owl calls to try and attract the parents, and I just didn't see them. So, we couldn't put them back, we had to raise them."
Today, the great horned owls are living successfully in the wild. And more like the siblings are rehabilitated by Napa Wildlife Rescue every day.
"We're the only organization in Napa County that has the appropriate permits to take in wildlife that's injured, orphaned, or ill and rehabilitate it, and release it back into the wild," said Poole. "And it's all done with donations and grants."
Shafer Vineyards began a partnership with Napa Wildlife Rescue by donating land.
"We had a 5-acre piece down near the Napa River that we donated to them," explained Doug Shafer of Shafer Vineyards. "And we built this wonderful flight aviary, which is a structure where they rehabilitate anything that flies."
Shafer has embraced sustainable practices since the 80s, believing that caring for wildlife plays a vital role in the health of our environment.
To learn more about the work of Shafer Vineyards, visit here.
To support wildlife conservation through Napa Wildlife Rescue, go here.
Napa Wildlife Rescue rehabilitates injured, orphaned birds throughout Napa Country
By Janel Andronico
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https://abc11.com/napa-wildlife-rescue-shafer-vineyards-baby-owls-carol-poole/11701255/
| 2022-04-04T21:35:43
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A package of bills moving through the Legislature could block all but the most well-funded groups from getting a question on the ballot through Oklahoma’s initiative and referendum process, experts and advocates are warning.
The Senate is set to consider four joint resolutions that would make it more difficult for state questions to pass or be voted on.
Perhaps the most far-reaching is House Joint Resolution 1002. It would require citizen-led groups to collect a set number of signatures from each of the state’s 77 counties.
It specifically would require enough signatures of registered voters to equal 8% or 15% of votes cast in the most recent gubernatorial election — depending on if it’s a statutory or constitutional change — in every county.
Currently, signature gathers need to meet that 8% or 15% target regardless of where someone lives in the state.
That means even if signature collectors gathered thousands of verified signatures beyond the current requirement, their effort would be doomed if they fall short in any county.
Other proposals would require constitutional amendments to receive over 55% of the vote and make the state auditor responsible for determining projected costs of state questions.
Professor John G. Matsusaka, executive director of the non-partisan Initiative and Referendum Institute at the University of Southern California, said Oklahoma’s initiative laws already are among the nation’s most restrictive.
If these measures pass, he said groups will struggle even more.
“The way I see it, this will just make everything more expensive,” Matsusaka said. “And it could really make it where only really rich people or groups will be able to use this process.”
The Legislature’s interest in these proposals follows passage of several high-profile state questions opposed by the governor and many in the GOP-dominated Legislature.
Since 2016, voters through citizen-led initiatives have expanded Medicaid to more than 200,000 low-income Oklahomans, changed several drug and non-violent crimes from felonies to misdemeanors and made Oklahoma one of the nation’s largest and most accessible medical marijuana markets.
Republican lawmakers pushing legislation to make state questions more difficult say Oklahomans, especially those in rural communities, should have more information about what's on the ballot before Election Day. The geographical requirement, they say, will prevent groups from focusing signature collection efforts on more liberal areas in Oklahoma City and Tulsa.
At stake is whether the Oklahoma’s state question process, a cornerstone of state founder’s beliefs in direct democracy and their populist roots, should continue as is or include new roadblocks to make getting on the ballot tougher.
“If I were an Oklahoma voter, I would ask what problem this is trying to solve,” Matsusaka said. “It’s not that there’s been too many questions since I counted and there has been only 10 (citizen-led initiatives) on the ballot in the 21st Century, and that’s not many at all.”
The path to the ballot
Oklahoma is one of 28 states with an initiative process, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. Oklahoma’s is more restrictive than many.
Based on the votes cast in the most recent gubernatorial election, citizen-led campaigns for the 2022 election would need nearly 95,000 signatures for statutory changes and almost 178,000 for constitutional ones.
All of that must be completed in a 90-day window starting when the state approves a petition application.
Matsuska said the 90-day collection period is one of the shortest in the country. Oklahoma’s signature quotas are on the “high end” for states allowing initiatives or referendums, he said.
“I would say it is more difficult to use the initiative process than most other states,” he said.
Oklahoma became the first state to adopt the initiative and referendum as part of its original constitution when founded in 1907. The rules were initially more restrictive, requiring questions to receive a majority of all votes cast in the election (as opposed to votes cast on the proposition alone). That changed in the 1970s.
According to the Oklahoma Historical Society, Oklahomans have voted on more than 400 state questions since statehood. The bulk of those were questions referred to the ballot by the Legislature through a joint resolution passed by majority vote in each chamber.
In the past decade, 25 state questions have made the ballot. Only seven came from citizen-led groups, with four passing: Medicaid expansion in 2020, medical marijuana in 2018 and two related criminal justice measures in 2016 that changed certain low-level drug and property crimes from a felony to a misdemeanor.
It appears no citizen-led efforts will make the 2022 ballot.
The only measures filed with the Secretary of State’s office are marijuana legalization proposals. Signature collecting has not started as they have been tied up in court for months.
A group calling itself Oklahomans for Responsible Cannabis Action is attempting to get a pair of state questions on the ballot, including a constitutional change that would legalize recreational marijuana sales.
Jed Green, director of the group, said the number of legal, technical and logistical challenges already in place proves stricter rules are unnecessary.
“It’s very hard to organize on a 77-county level,” he said. “And I think that is the point to all this.”
Cindy Nguyen, policy director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Oklahoma, agreed. Oklahoma’s ACLU chapter has been involved in a number of state question campaigns, including 2016 criminal justice changes (State Question 780) and State Question 805, which sought to reclassify more criminal charges but failed in 2020.
"It is a concern because this provides an opportunity for those who are especially impacted by the state questions to not only get involved in the democratic process, but also to have their voices heard," she said.
Oklahoma’s veto referendum process would also be impacted by the geographical requirements.
The state allows citizens to try to repeal recently passed legislation through the state question process. Groups need to collect fewer signatures than initiatives, just 5% of votes in the last gubernatorial election, which would be 59,320 this year.
These have been even rarer since the state requires that all signatures be collected within 90 days of the end of that year’s session.
There have been 20 veto referendums in Oklahoma history, the last coming in 1970, according to Ballotpedia. Several attempts have been made since. All failed.
This includes an unsuccessful attempt to repeal a 2021 bill that cracks down on protesters by increasing penalties for blocking roadways and granting immunity to motorists who kill or injure rioters.
Joshua Harris-Till, a Democratic activist who recently announced plans to run for the party’s nomination in the Fifth District congressional race, led that effort. Adding geographical requirements would effectively keep almost any citizen-led referendum off the ballot, he said.
“Many of these countries don't have a convention center you can line up outside of or these big events where you can get signatures," he said. "So what they are trying to do is just make it more costly and make it, I would argue, impossible to get the signatures you need."
Part of a national trend?
Oklahoma is not the only state looking at making it harder for citizens to place questions on the ballot.
Kelly Hall is the executive director of the Fairness Project, a progressive organization that has helped pass ballot measures in a number of states, including Oklahoma’s Medicaid expansion measure.
Hall said she sees many of these attempts as retribution for successful state questions some lawmakers didn’t support.
“This is not specific to one issue, but rather where ballot measures demonstrate a disconnect between what matters to voters and what their elected leaders are doing in the halls of power,” she said.
What comes next?
There is still a lot of work before the Oklahoma proposals could take effect.
They need to be heard and passed in the state Senate before getting a final vote in the House. If they make it through the Legislature, the proposals will go to a vote of the people under the current state questions requirements.
Hall said she is hopeful that voters would want to protect their voice. But their passage poses a real threat.
“I think one of the ways our rights get taken away from us inch by inch is because they are wrapped up in jargon, hard to understand processes and a slow attrition of our rights," she said. "My concern is that with all the things voters are focused on — the economy, health care, wages — that Oklahoma voters may not be aware of the implications of what a slow attrition of their rights means."
Matsusaka, with USC’s Initiative and Referendum Institute, agreed that voters theoretically wouldn’t want to take power away from themselves. But it happens.
Florida voters approved a 2006 initiative increasing the votes required to approve a constitutional amendment from 50% to 60%.
“It’s not inconceivable that (Oklahoma’s proposals) could pass,” he said. “It could be a low-turnout election or maybe there isn’t a well-funded opposition campaign, that could happen.”
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https://www.normantranscript.com/news/end-of-state-questions-experts-say-legislation-could-doom-most-efforts/article_0fc880d6-b45b-11ec-85df-b3ebffede4f4.html
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TUPELO • The Lee County Library has postposed a visit from former NASA astronaut and author Mike Massimino.
Massimino, who twice traveled into space to help service the Hubble Space Telescope, was scheduled to speak as part of the latest entry in the Lee County Library’s long-running Helen Foster Lecture Series, originally set for Tuesday, April 5. He was expected to discuss his 2016 autobiography, “Spaceman: An Astronaut’s Unlikely Journey to Unlock the Secrets of the Universe.”
According to Jeff Tomlinson, director of the Lee-Itawamba Library System, the event was postponed because of an “unexpected illness” and will be rescheduled as soon as possible.
Made possible by an endowment fund created by its namesake, former librarian and chairman of the Lee County Library Board of Trustees Helen Foster, the Helen Foster Lecture Series has invited a myriad of authors, artists, journalists and others to the Tupelo-based library over the decades. Past guests have included National Geographic photographer Brian Skerry, Pulitzer Prize-winning author Jon Meacham, former William Morris Agency head Sam Haskell, nationally syndicated columnist Rheta Grimsley Johnson and bestselling author John Grisham.
Events held as part of the Helen Foster Lecture Series are free to the public.
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https://www.djournal.com/news/local/astronaut-mike-massimino-visit-to-lee-county-library-postponed/article_6491d79d-068b-5c10-a1a8-36420ec747d8.html
| 2022-04-04T22:12:54
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TUPELO • A nominee for Tupelo’s Major Thoroughfare Committee has withdrawn himself from consideration amid friction between the mayor and a council member over his nomination.
Tupelo Mayor Todd Jordan confirmed that Tommy Scott, his pick to serve on the Major Thoroughfare Committee, removed himself from consideration over the weekend. Jordan noted that he had not spoken with Scott and did not know the reason for his withdrawal.
“It was a little bit of a shock that he withdrew, but we will move on,” Jordan told the Daily Journal on Monday.
Tupelo City Council was scheduled to vote on Scott’s appointment during their April 5 meeting.
The withdrawal follows Jordan's decision to break tradition and eschew a council member's recommendation to the committee in favor of his own. Ward 7 Councilwoman Rosie Jones recommended former Tupelo police officer Tiffany Gilleylen in November, but the mayor rejected it.
Jones said she had spoken to Scott over the weekend but did not ask him to pull his name from the recommendation. She also said she would be willing to recommend him to another committee, noting he had previously expressed interest in the Police Advisory Committee.
Scott did not respond to attempts to reach him.
Jordan previously said he had picked Scott to serve on the committee before Jones made her nomination known. Jones, however, claims Jordan did not support Gilleylen because she twice sued the city over alleged civil rights violations from her time with the Tupelo Police Department.
Jordan said the lawsuits, both of which were settled out of court, did not factor into his decision.
The mayor said he has received more resumes from interested residents for the committee and would be looking for someone to replace Scott. When asked if he would consider Gilleylen as his appointment, he said he was “not going to rule anyone out” and affirmed he would “work with any of the council members if they have anything in their ward.”
Jones said she had not spoken to the mayor since Scott withdrew his nomination.
The committee totals 18 members and is made up of two representatives from each ward and four at-large positions. The standard practice for appointments to the committee has been for each council member to recommend a candidate, with the mayor then formally nominating those recommendations for a vote by the full council. City Ordinance notes that it is dependent on the mayor to make the final recommendation and does not have the council participation baked in.
Jones recommended Gilleylen in November, along with her other pick, Delano Raphael Henry, to the committee. The council confirmed Henry on Feb. 2 but did not bring Gilleylen to a vote.
The council is poised to vote on Ward 4 Councilwoman Nettie Davis’ recommendation of George Jones to the Major Thoroughfare Committee during their meeting on April 5.
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https://www.djournal.com/news/local/major-thoroughfare-nominee-withdrawals-amid-tension-between-rosie-jones-todd-jordan/article_9f9e8a2b-835b-58af-9f58-ef63a739c820.html
| 2022-04-04T22:13:00
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In this file photo, a protester holds up a sign outside the State Capitol to show her solidarity with those who oppose the Mississippi Supreme Court's decision to nullify the state's ballot initiative process in 2020.
In this file photo, Sen. John Polk, R-Hattiesburg, glances up at a completed committee report that he is proof reading in the Supreme Court Chamber at the Capitol in Jackson, Miss., Monday, March 29, 2021. Polk is the author of four bills that, if passed by the full Legislature, would use federal COVID-19 relief money to bolster the efforts of the state's mental health and child protection departments, the National Guard and the state's emergency management agency.
In this file photo, a protester holds up a sign outside the State Capitol to show her solidarity with those who oppose the Mississippi Supreme Court's decision to nullify the state's ballot initiative process in 2020.
VICKIE D. KING I MISSISSIPPI TODAY
In this file photo, Sen. John Polk, R-Hattiesburg, glances up at a completed committee report that he is proof reading in the Supreme Court Chamber at the Capitol in Jackson, Miss., Monday, March 29, 2021. Polk is the author of four bills that, if passed by the full Legislature, would use federal COVID-19 relief money to bolster the efforts of the state's mental health and child protection departments, the National Guard and the state's emergency management agency.
JACKSON • As the 2022 legislative session comes to a close, the likelihood of lawmakers reviving the process that allows Mississippians to bypass the Legislature and place topics directly on a ballot looks dim.
Rep. Fred Shanks, R-Brandon, is the lead House negotiator on restoring the state’s initiative process. He told the Daily Journal the House and Senate are still at political loggerheads over the issue.
“I just don’t think it’s going to happen,” Shanks said.
The political impasse appears to be over the number of signatures needed to place an issue on a statewide ballot.
The House argues that the number of signatures should be equal to 12% of the people who voted during the last statewide election for governor. The Senate wants the signatures to be equal to 12% of the registered voters - including those who did not vote – on the day of the last presidential election, which is a much higher threshold.
The required number of signatures of registered voters needed under the House plan would be about 106,000. Under the Senate proposal, it would be about 238,000.
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Sen. John Polk, R-Hattiesburg, is the lead Senate negotiator. He told reporters last week the higher signature threshold would ensure "enough Mississippians care about the issue that is being presented.”
Lawmakers are in the final days of the session and are finalizing a state budget for the next fiscal year. The Legislature usually adjourns the session once the budget is passed.
If legislative leaders cannot agree on how the state should restore the initiative process, it would mean that citizens have no way to circumvent state government to place items directly on the ballot.
Both chambers do appear to agree that the initiative process should only be used to change state laws, and that the signatures should be gathered equally from however many congressional districts the state has at the time.
The Mississippi Supreme Court invalidated the state’s initiative process in 2021 over technical issues when it was considering a lawsuit over medical marijuana.
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https://www.djournal.com/news/state-news/prospects-for-reviving-initiative-process-look-dim-as-session-ends/article_fa8a913b-d4b1-59cd-9390-6d636dd5b8a5.html
| 2022-04-04T22:13:07
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PINE GROVE – When Jake Walker was hired as Pine Grove’s boys basketball coach seven years ago, a state championship was not at the forefront of his mind. The Panthers had not won a title since 1977, so it’s not as if it was an outside expectation, either.
“I never moved here thinking, hey, we’re going to win a boys state championship. It’s just kind of worked out,” Walker said.
Indeed it did, as the Panthers claimed the Class 2A title in March. Walker is the 2022 Daily Journal Boys Basketball Coach of the Year.
»GIRLS BASKETBALL COACH OF THE YEAR: Booneville's Michael Smith had good help
When he arrived at Pine Grove after six years at Falkner, Walker had the good fortune to be an assistant to girls head coach Katie Bates, who in turn is his boys assistant. Bates led the Lady Panthers to four-straight state titles (2017-20).
“I think our philosophies are very similar,” Walker said. “Seeing the success she had kind of coaching the same way that I wanted to coach kept me on that same path.”
This year’s team realized the potential Walker saw in it years earlier. Senior Carson Rowland was the unquestioned star, but players like Jamas Cox, Hayden Holcomb, Jack Hudson and Keaton Wilkerson found their roles and settled into them.
No game illustrated that better than the Division 1-2A tournament final, most of which Rowland missed due to foul trouble. Pine Grove beat Baldwyn 51-43.
“You could see it as we went into the division tournament, as we went into the playoffs, nobody cared,” Walker said. “They were able to overlook all the outside talk, all the noise and get over personal battles that some of them had with themselves. They kind of fell into line with what we had been teaching and preaching all year long.”
A good example is Cox, a junior who had to sit out the 2020-21 season after transferring from Ripley. At 6-foot-3, he gave Pine Grove a much-needed rebounder, averaging a team-high 7.2 per game.
“He found his way inside and had big rebounding games for us, which is what we struggle with the most out here, is rebounding the basketball,” Walker said.
»BOYS BASKETBALL PLAYER OF THE YEAR: Competitive drive spurs Pine Grove's Carson Rowland
»GIRLS BASKETBALL PLAYER OF THE YEAR: Pontotoc's Samya Brooks has put in the work
Without Rowland, the team’s lone senior, Cox should have a bigger scoring impact next season. In fact, everyone will need to expand their roles if the Panthers hope to win another title.
“I’ve got some hungry guys who want that opportunity to step up and be the guy,” Walker said. “They loved Carson and knew what he did for us, but I think they’re ready for the challenge. I hope they are.”
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https://www.djournal.com/sentinel/sports/boys-basketball-coach-of-the-year-walker-leads-panthers-to-promised-land/article_a5fe4a7c-10d8-5299-a230-8cff2aaf6f35.html
| 2022-04-04T22:13:13
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PINE GROVE – As the Pine Grove Panthers were lined up in the Mississippi Coliseum tunnel, ready to take the floor in the Class 2A state title game, Carson Rowland had his forehead against a cargo door, talking to himself.
He wasn’t about to let the moment get the better of him.
“I was just reminding myself not to be nervous, because this is what we’ve worked for all year, this is what I’ve worked for my whole life,” Rowland said.
He certainly didn’t play nervous. The senior guard scored 23 points to lead Pine Grove past Velma Jackson, 43-39, and claim the program’s first state championship in 45 years. It capped a remarkable career for Rowland, who is the 2022 Daily Journal Boys Basketball Player of the Year.
It also fulfilled a goal Rowland and his teammates had set three years earlier.
“It still doesn’t feel real sometimes,” Rowland said.
»BOYS BASKETBALL COACH OF THE YEAR: Jake Walker leads Pine Grove to promised land
It’s as real as Rowland’s fierce competitive nature, which has been a driving force for him over the years. He figures he got it from his parents, Ronnie and Melissa, the latter of whom reached Jackson twice as part of Falkner’s basketball team.
“There’s nothing I hate more than losing, no matter what it is,” Rowland said. “… My parents were kind of hard on me. They don’t like losing, either, so growing up around them with that same competitive nature just rubbed off on me, I guess.”
His dad was the one who made Rowland go to the gym even when he complained of being too tired. He kept putting in the work, and the results spoke for themselves. He averaged 18.4 points per game over four years. This past season, Rowland averaged 20.1 points to go with 5.3 rebounds and 4.6 assists.
“We had a lot of help, we had a lot of good players, but it’s no coincidence – 45 years and he comes to Pine Grove, and here we are with a state championship,” coach Jake Walker said.
»GIRLS BASKETBALL PLAYER OF THE YEAR: Pontotoc's Samya Brooks has put in the work
»GIRLS BASKETBALL COACH OF THE YEAR: Booneville's Michael Smith had good help
It wasn’t all smooth sailing. The Panthers lost five-straight games in the middle of the season, and then Rowland had to sit out most of the Division 1-2A tournament final with foul trouble – a game Pine Grove won.
“When we lost five games in a row – that didn’t really too much sense – I saw something in our guys,” Rowland said. “We came to practice, and it’s like something just clicked. We started working harder every day, and we started winning big games after that.”
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STARKVILLE – He says it was a simple adjustment. After his weekend struggles against Alabama, Jackson Fristoe didn’t need a completely new approach to pitching in the SEC.
He found his film, watched which pitches worked and which ones didn’t and he made the “slight” adjustments needed. Most of those required bringing the ball down.
The notes he took on his performances didn’t require the help of State’s staff. It was Fristoe who saw his own errors and improved them — starting with three scoreless frames in a midweek win against Memphis.
But that was Memphis, a 12-12 foe with an 0-3 record in the AAC. Fristoe needed to prove he could do it on a bigger stage and head coach Chris Lemonis makes it apparent he wants Fristoe to become a high-leverage arm.
He turned down all doubts, for the time being, with a stellar performance Sunday at Arkansas.
Fristoe hadn’t taken the field for the Bulldogs in the first two games of the weekend series because the matchups were too lopsided. Arkansas was dominating MSU in every aspect of the game, so there was no point in Lemonis wasting his top bullpen arms.
Sunday wasn’t the same case, though. The Bulldogs were in a back-and-forth battle with their SEC rival, and Lemonis desperately needed his bullpen to step up in a way it hasn’t this season.
Brooks Auger did his part, allowing one run in 3 1/3 innings. But with the game tied and headed to extra innings, Lemonis needed Fristoe’s best.
He got just that: 3 2/3 scoreless innings with one walk and four strikeouts. It came from Fristoe dotting his spots, unlike the hanging pitches he left over the plate against Alabama — particularly with two strikes.
Plus, he helped Lemonis save some bullpen arms for Tuesday against UT Martin.
“I’ve been feeling good all year,” Fristoe told reporters Sunday. “Every outing I feel like I’ve just gotten better every time.”
His off-speed pitches shifted away from hitters, and Fristoe’s fastball blew by them. It was his third consecutive scoreless outing, and his eighth in nine outings.
He doesn’t have the stuff of a Landon Sims, but Fristoe is showing something MSU desperately needs without a back end threat like Sims. He can give an impressive inning of work to close a game.
But Fristoe can also give extended innings in games Lemonis doesn’t want to risk bringing in an inconsistent arm. Just think back to Lemonis’ approach in the national title clinching game: let the starter give a strong six and let your go-to bullpen arm close the final three frames.
“I know the type of team we are, and we haven’t been playing that way,” Fristoe said. “So if I can help get us there — it’s a great feeling just to see how everybody reacts just because I know the type of team we can be.”
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New Smyrna Beach teen killed in two-vehicle crash
A 17-year-old teen was killed early Sunday in New Smyrna Beach when the van he was riding in was struck from behind by a pickup, police said.
The teen, a resident of New Smyrna Beach, was a passenger in the rear seat of a Honda Odyssey van and died at scene of the crash. The driver of the van was not injured but a second passenger in the van was transported in critical condition to Halifax Health Medical Center in Daytona Beach, according to a charging affidavit prepared by New Smyrna Beach Police traffic homicide investigators.
The crash occurred at 3:41 a.m. at the intersection of State Road 44 and Interstate 95, police said.
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The driver of the pickup, Michael Miles, 32, was arrested police said, on charges of DUI manslaughter, DUI, DUI with property damage, DUI causing serious bodily injury to another, driving with a suspended license and refusing to submit to testing.
Miles was being held in the Volusia County Branch Jail on Monday without bail.
According to New Smyrna Beach Police, the van was eastbound on State Road 44 and was stopped at a red light at the intersection with I-95. Miles, who was also eastbound on State Road 44, failed to stop and slammed into the back of the van, traffic homicide investigators said.
New Smyrna Beach police officers arriving at the scene of the crash said Miles smelled of alcohol, had slurred speech, bloodshot eyes and was unsteady on his feet.
Miles complained of an injured leg and was taken to AdventHealth New Smyrna Beach where he was treated. He refused to give a blood sample or submit to a breathalyzer test, investigators said.
Police had to get a warrant to get a blood draw from Miles, his arrest report said.
The sample was submitted to the Florida Department of Law Enforcement for testing to determine Miles' blood alcohol content, the report indicates.
As of Monday, test results had yet to be release
When questioned by police. Miles said he had been with some friends at a home in DeLand where he drank four beers. He said he slept there, woke up and was going to his home in New Smyrna Beach when he crashed, according to his arrest report.
Miles claimed he saw a green light and that the van was moving so he did not brake before colliding with the rear of the van, investigators said.
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Death-penalty trial begins for Ormond father accused of beating infant son to death
The death-penalty trial of an Ormond Beach man accused of beating his infant son to death began with a prosecutor recalling how the man described smacking the child like he was going to knock his teeth down his throat.
A defense attorney then followed with his opening statement saying how the man told police that he had never meant to hurt the child.
Calib Scott, 26, was indicted on a charge of first-degree murder in the death of his son, Daemon, who was not quite 5 months old when prosecutors said he was fatally beaten by his father.
The case dates back to June 11, 2019 when Scott called 9-1-1 to say that his son was not breathing.
If convicted of first-degree murder, prosecutors will seek the death penalty against Scott.
A 15-member jury began hearing testimony before Circuit Judge Dawn Nichols at the Volusia County Courthouse in DeLand.
Besides the murder charge, Scott was charged with aggravated child abuse and child neglect causing great harm.
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The child's body was bruised, he had what appeared to be an injury to his nose and a cut to his lips and a circular mark inside his ear that appeared to be a burn from a cigarette, according testimony.
A story changes
Assistant State Attorney Andrew Urbanak, who along with Heatha Trigones is prosecuting Scott, told jurors that Scott first lied to police and told them he never hurt the baby. Scott blamed the injuries to the child’s face on the child being too close to a vaporizer, although a doctor will testify they were caused by blunt trauma.
Scott eventually changed his story as police questioned him more about the injuries, Urbanak said.
Urbanak pointed out to the jury that Scott acknowledged that he was the child’s caregiver and that he didn't work. He was alone with the child as the mother went to work.
Scott admitted that he dropped the child on his head.
“He tells the police that after he dropped Daemon he made a mistake; he picked him up by his throat and put him on the bed,” Urbanak told the jury.
Urbanak then recalled how Scott described eventually striking the child.
“But he kept crying, he said, just kept crying and so he smacked him,” Urbanak told jurors. “And (he) describes the smack as one like your mama always threatened you with, ‘I’m going to knock your teeth down into your throat.’ He smacks him. And then he goes to change him. He’s still crying.”
'I think I killed him'
Urbanak said Scott then slammed the child down and then goes to change him and the child goes limp.
Urbanak said Scott then told police he was responsible.
“He tells them ‘I think I killed him.' He says 'I killed my baby, I killed him. It’s my fault. I just couldn’t take it no more. I couldn’t take just being alone, being stuck in that (expletive) house every single day. Doing the same thing over and over. Nobody to talk to, nobody to be there. It’s just me. I just couldn’t take it. And he started screaming and screaming and screaming and I couldn’t take it no more.'”
Assistant Public Defender Brian Smith, who is representing Scott along with Assistant Public Defenders Larry Avallone and Rosemarie Peoples, also recalled Scott’s statements.
“'I killed my baby. I killed him. It’s all my fault. I don’t deserve to be here. Oh God. Oh no. Oh God. I thought I saved him. I thought, got to breathing again and I had thought he was going to be OK. And then he’s dead. Oh God. Oh God. I miss my baby boy. I didn’t mean to hurt him. I didn’t mean to hurt him,'” Smith told jurors.
The investigation in Ormond Beach began after Scott called 9-1-1 early on the morning of June 11, 2019 to his mobile home at 19 N. Yonge St. after he said he noticed his son, Daemon, was having difficulty breathing, a report said.
The child was taken to Halifax Health Medical Center in Daytona Beach and was later pronounced dead.
An autopsy found that Daemon had suffered a “subdural hematoma,” according to the charging affidavit. A subdural hematoma is bleeding on the brain often caused by a severe head injury.
The child's mother, Stephanie Holly, 36, who was at work when police were called, was charged with neglect of a child causing great bodily harm, failure to report child abuse/neglect and culpable negligence. She has a hearing set for May 3 before Nichols.
During testimony Monday, Ormond Beach Police described the child's home in the single-wide trailer as filthy, unkempt with unwashed dishes, food on the stove and in the oven and what appeared to be dog feces in the trailer.
Former Ormond Beach Police Officer Kevin Culvert, who is now a police officer in Georgia, testified that he was the first officer on the scene that early morning.
He said he heard Scott call Holly on a cell phone set to speaker mode as paramedics worked on the child and then transported him to a hospital.
Culvert said he heard Holly tell him that he had better not have hurt the baby.
Culvert said Scott denied doing anything to the child.
Culvert testified about Scott: "He kept saying that he didn't do anything. He didn't hurt the baby and the baby just stopped breathing, he was changing the diaper."
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Police: Daytona Beach man stuffed coral he stole from pet fish store in pants
Holly Hill police said Adam Short had wet spots on his clothes shortly after he was accused of stealing from an exotic pet fish store on Friday.
At 1:44 p.m. the owner of Bluewater Reef Aquatics, Inc. at 1515 Ridgewood Ave. called authorities saying that a man was in his store shoplifting, a report states.
When police got to the store, the business owner said that on his surveillance camera, he saw Short reach into a fish tank and then shove something into the front of his pants, an arrest report states.
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Police found Short in the store and said the floor where Short was standing was wet with water.
Police handcuffed Short, 37, of Daytona Beach, and escorted him outside. When police searched Short, they found a Ziploc-style bag in the front of his pants containing three different types of live coral. A small net that was still wet was also stuck between Short's underwear and pants, police noted in their report.
"Adam (Short) had a few wet spots on his clothes," police wrote in the arrest report.
Short was charged with theft of aquaculture species. He is out of the Volusia County Branch Jail on $2,500 bail.
Short did not return a message left on his voicemail on Monday afternoon.
Officers returned the stolen coral to the store.
"I brought the live coral inside so the store could put them back in the water before they died," an officer jotted on the report.
A call made to the store on Monday afternoon went unanswered.
The owner of the store estimated the total cost of the coral to be around $1,000, police said.
It's not the first time Short is accused of stealing unusual items from a business. Court records show that Short was arrested in January 2014 for stealing 12 beer kegs from the Daytona Ale House.
Short, who agreed to pay back the business, served 16 days in jail for that heist, court records show.
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Doug Pettit enters Volusia County Council at-large race
DAYTONA BEACH — Political newcomer Doug Pettit is jumping into the Volusia County Council at-large race that's already attracted two competitors.
Pettit, an Ormond beachside resident making his first run for elected office, made his candidacy official late Friday afternoon with an announcement on the steps of the Volusia County Courthouse in Deland.
Pettit said he plans to "stand with the people, opposing tax hikes, supporting clean water, and raising impact fees." He said he understands "growth is not paying for itself, the citizens are."
"My intentions are to listen to the residents in our county and represent their issues to the best of my ability," Pettit said. "Their concerns are my concerns. The status quo has let us down by raising our taxes to pay for growth, letting our existing infrastructure fail, and allowing our water to become polluted. The way we are growing is unsustainable. The choice is simple. I stand with the residents of Volusia County, not the path we are currently on."
The Volusia County Council at-large member represents residents in the entire county.
Former Sheriff Ben Johnson has been the at-large Council representative since being elected in 2018, but he said in November he would not seek re-election. Three people jumped into the race for the soon-to-be-vacant Council seat, including Heather Post, who is currently the District 4 County Council representative.
Post was twice elected to the Volusia County Council, representing District 4 for the past six years. District 4 encompasses much of western Daytona Beach, all of Ormond Beach and Holly Hill, and unincorporated areas in the northeast and central parts of the county.
Read more about Volusia County Council at-large race:Volusia County Councilwoman Heather Post drops out of race for at-large seat
Catch up on Florida redistricting news:Florida redistricting dominoes begin to tumble, with Chase Tramont switching races
More Volusia County Council elections:Port Orange council's Chase Tramont running for Volusia County Council; Billie Wheeler won't seek re-election
On March 5 Post announced on Facebook that she was withdrawing her candidacy from the at-large seat and not seeking election this year for any position. When she declared her candidacy for the at-large seat, Post announced she would not run for re-election in District 4.
That left Jake Johansson, who spent five years as Port Orange's city manager and 35 years in the U.S. Navy, and past Daytona Beach mayoral candidate Sherrise Boyd vying for the at-large seat.
With Pettit in the race now, there are again three candidates.
Meet Council candidate Doug Pettit
Pettit is originally from Chaptico, Maryland. He attended Glassboro State College in Glassboro, New Jersey, where he played Division III college football and earned a bachelor’s degree in Radio & TV Communication.
After his college graduation, he was commissioned a 2nd Lieutenant in the United States Marine Corps and reported to 1st Combat Engineer Battalion, 1st Marine Division as his initial duty station.
He was the heavy equipment platoon commander for the 1st Marine Division, responsible for 108 Marines, sixty-eight pieces of heavy equipment and a $1.2 million budget. In 1990 and 1991, he served in Operation Desert Shield and Desert Storm as a company commander in the 2nd Light Armored Infantry Battalion, 2nd Marine Division, and was responsible for more than 600 active duty and Reserve Marines spread throughout the operational area.
In 1993 he ended his active duty service with the Marine Corps, moved to Florida and started running a fitness equipment business. However, he retained his position in the Marine Corps Reserves, attaining the rank of Lieutenant Colonel and eventually retiring in 2003 with 26 years of total service.
In 2005 he became a teacher through the Troops to Teachers program, starting as a substitute in the Seminole County School system and eventually becoming certified to teach.
In 2007 he was selected as the head football coach at T. Dewitt Taylor High School in Pierson. After that he taught and coached at several high schools in Volusia and Seminole counties. In 2019 he retired from 15 years as a high school teacher of physical education, special education and social studies.
"I maintain my contact with young people and schools by continuing to coach at the high school level," Pettit said. "I’m the vice president of the Volusia County Chapter of the Marine Veterans Motorcycle Association. I play golf and enjoy riding my motorcycle through the beautiful countryside in Volusia County. I'm a newlywed, married to my beautiful wife Tamara in early 2021. You can find me some weekends participating in Scottish Highland Games."
You can reach Eileen at Eileen.Zaffiro@news-jrnl.com
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Volusia-Flagler-St. Johns High School Athlete of the Week poll: April 4
The polls are open!
It's time to vote for the Volusia-Flagler-St. Johns Athlete of the Week for the week of March 28 to April 2. All in-season sports will be eligible.
Last week, Spruce Creek tennis star Kayla Wheeler made it back-to-back weeks for tennis, winning both No. 1 singles and No. 1 doubles draws at the Five Star tournament.
The News-Journal and Record gather nominees from scores and stats e-mailed to the sports desk during the week by coaches across the area. Coaches can email nominees to sports@news-jrnl.com.
Voting begins each Monday and closes at 10 a.m. Thursday. Votes are restricted to once per device per hour.
To see the newest poll, click here.
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Baseball
Aaron Holtz, Spruce Creek: The senior went 4 for 4 with two doubles, two RBIs and three runs scored as the Hawks routed Flagler Palm Coast 12-1 for a fourth straight win.
Evan Koehler, University: The senior turned in a gem in a 6-0 win over DeLand, pitching a one-hitter and striking out 11 Bulldogs.
William Moore, Father Lopez: The senior reached base in all five plate appearances of wins against Matanzas and New Smyrna Beach, driving in two runs and scoring two more.
Ryan Rustici, Nease: The senior launched a walkoff home run in the bottom of the ninth inning Friday as the Panthers defeated Fleming Island, 6-5.
Derrick Walker, Pine Ridge: The sophomore shortstop went 6 for 12 with a double last week, leading the Panthers to a pair of wins.
Flag football
Kaitlyn Herb, Spruce Creek: The junior sparked the Hawks' run to the Five Star flag football title, rushing for 2 TDs against New Smyrna Beach and scoring both the lone TD and game-winning PAT versus Mainland.
Softball
Taylor Burton, Nease: The sophomore went 3 for 5 with three RBIs and two runs scored as the Panthers run-ruled First Coast 14-4.
Bella Campbell, Creekside: The sophomore slugged two doubles and added a home run in a wild 18-13 win over Glenwood.
Olivia Conley, Bartram Trail: The sophomore pitched 17 scoreless innings in wins over Clay, Fletcher and Mandarin.
Annalyn Duncan, University: The Florida Gulf Coast-committed junior helped the Titans to a second-place finish in the Blue bracket of this week's Kissimmee Klassic, going 4 for 9 with a home run, two doubles and three RBIs.
Katie McCaw, Deltona: The junior left-hander struck out 28 batters in 17 innings at the Kissimmee Klassic, allowing just four hits and three unearned runs.
Haley Yeary, Spruce Creek: The Stetson commit had three hits and three runs scored as the Hawks defeated DeLand 10-5.
Track and Field
Aidan Dixon, Atlantic: The junior broke a school record in the 400-meter dash with a time of 47.28 at the UF Relays in Gainesville, the eighth-fastest time in the nation this season per Milesplit.
Elo Modozie, Bartram Trail: The Army West Point football commit set a personal record in the triple jump of 13.58 meters at the UF Relays, finishing fourth.
Cyrus Ways, Nease: The senior won the 110-meter hurdles at the UF Relays with a personal-best time of 13.66 seconds.
Tennis
Aidan Emmett, Bartram Trail: Won a third set tiebreaker to clinch the match against Gainesville Buchholz last week.
Brooke Albrecht, Nease: The senior led the Panthers with the clinching singles victory over Flagler Palm Coast.
Hayden Ensminger, Spruce Creek: Won at No. 1 singles and doubles last week against Celebration and West Port and has a combined singles/doubles record of 21-4 this season.
Lacrosse
Anna Taraboletti, Ponte Vedra: Had 10 goals and seven draw controls in games against Steinbrenner and Plant last week.
Ava LaManna, Ponte Vedra: In both games last week LaManna had 18 saves and a 55% save percentage.
Nick Fleming, Nease: In two wins for Nease last week, Fleming had 16 total points, including eight in each game.
Weightlifting
Jackson Oldham, Father Lopez: Oldham won the district title with a 330 bench and 270 clean and jerk.
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NASCAR 2023 Hall of Fame nominees includes Matt Kenseth, Carl Edwards and A.J. Foyt
NASCAR on Monday announced the 15 nominees for its 2023 Hall of fame class, including 2003 Cup Series champion Matt Kenseth and seven-time Cup winner A.J. Foyt.
NASCAR executive vice chair Lesa France Kennedy, the granddaughter of NASCAR founder Bill France Sr., joins this year's Landmark Award ballot — an award given for outstanding contributions to the sport.
This is the second nomination class under the redesigned Hall of Fame format in which 10 nominees appear on the Modern Era ballot and five on the Pioneer ballot, which is designed to honor those whose careers began more than 60 years ago.
Two Modern Era candidates and one Pioneer candidate will be elected as the Class of 2023.
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Chase Elliott, Kyle Larson to vote on 2023 NASCAR Hall of Fame
The NASCAR Hall of Fame Voting Panel will vote for the Class of 2023 and Landmark Award in May. Because there was no Class of 2022 due to COVID-19, both Chase Elliott and Kyle Larson will participate as one-time voters as Cup Series champions.
Other notable names on this year's Modern Era ballot include Neil Bonnett, Jeff Burton, Carl Edwards, Harry Gant and Ricky Rudd.
Dale Earnhardt Jr., Red Farmer and Mike Stefanik were the latest to be enshrined into the NASCAR Hall of Fame earlier this year.
Here is the full list of 2023 nominees:
Modern Ballot
Neil Bonnett: Won 18 times in the NASCAR Cup Series including consecutive Coca-Cola 600 victories
Tim Brewer: Two-time NASCAR Cup Series champion crew chief
Jeff Burton: Won 21 times in the NASCAR Cup Series including the Southern 500 and two Coca-Cola 600s
Carl Edwards: Winner of 28 NASCAR Cup Series races and 2007 Xfinity Series champion
Harry Gant: Winner of 18 NASCAR Cup Series races, including two Southern 500 victories
Harry Hyde: 1970 NASCAR Cup Series championship crew chief
Matt Kenseth: 2003 NASCAR Cup Series champion and winner of 39 Cup races
Larry Phillips: First five-time NASCAR weekly series national champion
Ricky Rudd: Won 23 times in NASCAR Cup Series, including the 1997 Brickyard 400
Kirk Shelmerdine: Four-time NASCAR Cup Series champion crew chief
Pioneer Ballot
Sam Ard: NASCAR Xfinity Series pioneer and two-time champion
A.J. Foyt: Won seven NASCAR Cup Series races including the 1972 Daytona 500
Banjo Matthews: Built cars that won more than 250 NASCAR Cup Series races and three championships
Hershel McGriff: 1986 NASCAR West Series champion
Ralph Moody: Two-time NASCAR Cup Series owner champion as mechanical genius of Holman-Moody
Landmark Award
Janet Guthrie: The first female to compete in a NASCAR Cup Series superspeedway race
Alvin Hawkins: NASCAR’s first flagman; established NASCAR racing at Bowman Gray Stadium with Bill France Sr.
Mike Helton: Named third president of NASCAR in 2000; career included track operator roles at Atlanta Motor Speedway and Talladega Superspeedway
Lesa France Kennedy: NASCAR Executive Vice Chair and one of the most influential women in sports
Dr. Joseph Mattioli: Founder of Pocono Raceway
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Through the Gears: NASCAR youth movement slows at Richmond with Dale Earnhardt Jr. up next
Leave it to Denny Hamlin to throw a wet towel on NASCAR's youth movement.
For the first time in 13 races, an old guy was in Victory Lane!
"It was just a matter of time," said Hamlin who, at 41, became the first winner over 30 since he won last fall at Las Vegas. "We weren’t just going to hang back where we were. You just have a tough season and things aren’t going well.
"It seems like everything is not going your way and the law of averages say things are going to work out and we’ll get our performance better, and today’s the day where it all matched up."
Game, set and match, Denny!
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NASCAR ON THE STRIP:NASCAR on the Las Vegas strip? It's an April Fools joke, but should it be?
Who won the NASCAR race yesterday?
Hamlin wasn't the only graybeard up front, either. Guys, look at this leaderboard ...
1. Hamlin
2. Kevin Harvick (welcome back, Kevin ...)
4. Martin Truex Jr. (... and Martin!)
"We finally had a day where nothing went wrong," said Harvick, who scored his best finish since Bristol last fall. I think he got into it there with some guy named Chase — can't remember, though.
"I think we had the best car, but it doesn’t matter," Truex added. "Overall, just really proud of our guys and a big step in the right direction. Completely different mindset coming here, and after today what we can do going forward."
DALE'S DONE:Dale Earnhardt Jr. tests at Daytona, but don't expect a Cup return: 'I'm done taking risks'
NO CHANCE:Can NASCAR drivers keep up with Rolex 24 field? Dale Earnhardt Jr. gives blunt assessment
Dale Earnhardt Jr. returning to NASCAR
Speaking of the old-timers ... guess who's back this week?
Junior!
Yep. Dale Earnhardt Jr. is set to run his annual Xfinity Series race Friday night at Martinsville — a place where he won once over 35 career Cup starts.
Anyone remember when that one win came? Take a minute.
Anyway, Junior will run the No. 88 Hellmann's Chevy for JR Motorsports (glad the boss let him back!) in what will be his fifth Xfinity race since retiring from his full-time Cup ride in 2017. His other four finishes?
Fourteenth at Richmond last fall, fifth at Homestead (2020), fifth at Darlington (2019) and fourth at Richmond (2018).
Second bonus question: Anyone know when and where Junior's first career Xfinity race was? This is a tough one, too!
NASCAR Richmond results: Denny Hamlin leads resurgence
Back to the modern drivers ...
Hamlin won for the 47th time at Richmond, putting a bow on a strong day for Joe Gibbs Racing, which they desperately needed.
Truex finished fourth and frankly had the best car (by a lot), Christopher Bell finished sixth and Kyle Busch ninth.
After a really, really, reeeeaaalllllly slow start to the year for JGR, the group righted the ship Sunday. Granted, Richmond is a place where that team has absolutely dominated for years now, but a win's a win, baby!
Hendrick Motorsports (minus Chase Elliott. Panic time yet?) had another good outing, while Roush Fenway Keselowski Racing seemingly came out of nowhere to find some surprising speed.
While Kez only finished 13th, he did score stage points in the first two stages and ran in the top-10 most of the afternoon.
And hey, no penalties either!
Dale Earnhardt Jr., Jeff Gordon and ... Myrtle Beach?
All right, enough of the Richmond logistics ... back to Junior!
His one and only Cup win at Martinsville came in 2014, when he passed Tony Stewart for the lead with three to go, then held off Jeff Gordon the final few miles for the victory.
There. We got an Earnhardt, Stewart and Gordon in this week. How's that for a bingo card!?
"This place is so special to me," Dale to ESPN after the win. "This was a real emotional win. I can't believe we won here."
Now for the bonus question: Junior's first Busch (Light) race came way back in 1996 at Myrtle Beach. Myrtle Beach!
He started seventh and finished 14th in the No. 31 Mom 'n' Pops DEI Chevrolet.
David Green won the race, Dick Trickle finished seventh and Buckshot Jones finished just ahead of Junior in 13th.
And, as is tradition around here (starting today), when we get to the Buckshot Jones references, that's usually a good stopping point.
NASCAR on TV this week
Thursday
3 p.m., NASCAR Camping World Truck Series: Practice/Qualifying at Martinsville Speedway, FS1
5:30 p.m., NASCAR Xfinity Series: Practice/Qualifying at Martinsville Speedway, FS1
8 p.m., NASCAR Camping World Truck Series: Blu-Emu Maximum Pain Relief 200 at Martinsville Speedway, FS1
Friday
4:30 p.m., NASCAR Cup Series: Practice/Qualifying at Martinsville Speedway, FS1
7:30 p.m., NASCAR Xfinity Series: Call 811 Before You Dig 250 powered by Call
Saturday
7:30 p.m., NASCAR Cup Series: Blue-Emu Maximum Pain Relief 400 at Martinsville Speedway, FS1
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| 2022-04-04T22:19:48
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INDIANAPOLIS – A few days time has done little to ease the frustrations of some Elton John fans who say a lack of notice about seating changes at Gainbridge Fieldhouse ruined a concert they had waited years for.
Bill Creech said he bought tickets to Friday night’s concert in October 2018 as a gift to his family. Like hundreds of other concertgoers, however, Creech discovered that the seats he had purchased were no longer available because of renovations at Gainbridge Fieldhouse.
“After three and a half years, buying these tickets, wanting to do a good thing for my family, then we get screwed like that,” Creech said. “That’s pretty bad.”
The tickets Creech had spent $1,500 on through StubHub were based on the pre-construction seating configuration at the Fieldhouse. StubHub was able to reassign three of his five tickets to different seats, but StubHub could not contact the original buyers of the other two. Creech’s daughter eventually purchased two new tickets through the vendor. However, her husband was not able to attend the show because she was not able to get him a handicap accessible seat, which he required due to recent foot surgery.
The end result was four out of the five family members attending the show in different seats, plus a couple hundred extra dollars over the original cost.
As frustrating as all that is, Creech said the worst part is that he only knew that the tickets were invalid because he contacted StubHub about finding his son-in-law a handicap seat.
“I didn’t see any news articles about you have to get there early and your tickets aren’t any good anymore, if you bought them from a third party, or however that works,” Creech said. “No one ever contacted us.”
Jaime Schultz story is similar, although it involves even less prior notice. Schultz said she bought two tickets to the Elton John concert. One for her, and one for her father.
“It was very important,” she said. “I bought that for a birthday and retirement gift for my father.”
Schultz’s tickets, which she purchased through SeatGeek, reserved seats in section 116 of the Fieldhouse, one level up from the floor and about halfway back to the left of the stage. Upon arrival at Gainbridge Fieldhouse Friday night, Schultz said she and her father quickly became part of the swarm of confused concertgoers who were trying to figure out why they couldn’t proceed to their seats.
“There were hundreds of us who were clueless on why we weren’t able to enjoy the show,” she said.
About an hour into the show, Schultz and her father were finally seated in section 220, which is located behind the concert stage on the upper level. Not what Schultz had paid for.
“Absolutely blocked view,” she said. “We watched it basically from a monitor way way up high.”
“We understand, this was a big show,” said Pacers Sports & Entertainment spokesperson Danny Lopez Monday. “A lot of people were really excited to come in here and see Elton John. Who wouldn’t be? So we really apologize for people that came in and ran into those issues.”
The concert, originally scheduled for October 2019, was rescheduled several times. Lopez said officials knew in 2021 that renovations were affecting the configuration of the seating bowl at Gainbridge Fieldhouse.
“We contacted folks in 2021 to let them know that the seats had changed and they needed to come to the box office, they would be sent new tickets that were digital and they should arrive to the show early,” Lopez said.
However, Lopez added that Gainbridge Fieldhouse was only able to contact concertgoers who purchased their tickets through the Gainbridge Fieldhouse box office and Ticketmaster.
“If you purchased on StubHub or another third party, secondary market, we don’t necessarily have your contact information,” he said. “We do now because the technology has changed, but at the time we didn’t really have a way to follow up.”
“If tickets were just transferred, they might have been transferred in 2018 to somebody else,” Lopez added. “Then we’re reliant on the original purchaser to get that email, get that information and transfer it to somebody they might have transferred that ticket to several years ago.”
Schultz and Creech both believe Gainbridge Fieldhouse should have done more to alert ticket holders about the changes to the seating chart when the issues arose in 2021. They said some kind of public announcement could have encouraged those who bought from third-party vendors to check on the status of their seats and make necessary changes before the night of the show.
“There’s all kinds of third-party resale sights out there,” Creech said. “All of them should have worked together and at least notified us of the situation.”
“We’ve been talking pretty regularly for the last couple of years about the Fieldhouse of the Future renovations and how different events are impacted in different ways,” Lopez said in a statement. “However, for this one specifically, we had to make the call, since the overwhelming majority of ticket purchases were not impacted, to not raise a flood of confusion from the broader group. We opted instead to be more direct in our communications, with the exception of messages on social media.”
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| 2022-04-04T22:30:59
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ELLETSSVILLE, Ind. — The Indiana State Board of Accounts confirms it has received a request from the Monroe County town of Ellettsville to investigate allegations of financial irregularities within the town marshals office.
That probe could take the form of a special investigations unit inquiry in alleged criminal wrongdoing.
Last Thursday night, the town council received the surprise news that a longtime marshals officer was taking a sudden retirement.
“It was abrupt,” said councilor William Ellis. “He decided this was the best course of action for him and the town.”
The State Board of Accounts (SBOA) typically audits the financial records of Indiana municipalities.
“All relative boards have been notified that need to be at this juncture,” said Ellis, a Republican. “In situations like this, I guess it would be standard procedure if there’s any policy discrepancies to refer it to the State Board of Accounts, especially if there is any possibility of criminal activity within a town or a municipality.”
Ellis said that he was assured that public safety was not compromised due to the activities that may be under investigation, but now his primary concern is making sure the town was getting the services it thought it was paying for.
“When we’re talking about the town to be made whole, we’re talking about financial improprieties, correct?” Ellis was asked.
“Yes,” he said. “That would be a fair conclusion, and it’s our intent with the council to be as fully transparent as we can.”
Ellettsville employs five officers in the marshals office.
“It was reported to the town marshal,” said Ellis of the tip that led to the sudden retirement of the officer and the referral to the SBOA. “We know who’s on duty, but we have coverage from other elements, so at no time was Ellettsville left uncovered.”
Danielle Taylor said from the front window of her shop on Main Street that she often sees Monroe County sheriff’s deputies driving through the town, and she feels confident with the officers who assist her teenage children at the local high school.
“They’re always so great with getting all the high schoolers out and stopping traffic for the kids, the school resource officers down there that I know, and they’ve been really great,” she said. “I wouldn’t lose faith. I think they do a great job.”
Ellis said the town council will hold another executive session next Monday night to determine if the information regarding the retired officer should be referred to the Monroe County prosecutor for potential criminal charges.
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| 2022-04-04T22:31:05
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INDIANAPOLIS — Kim Davis, founder of local business Left Grain, started out making her leather and wood creations at her local library branch but is now branching out on her own.
The business, Davis said, got its name from both her and husband being left handed. Combining that with Davis’ love for making crafts out of wood grain, the business was born.
Davis, who has a background in graphic design, now runs Left Grain, which sells personalized leather and wood items such as Christmas ornaments, magnets and key chains. Davis said some of her favorite things to make include the bookmarks and
The shop is available on the website Etsy. For personalized items, such as trinkets with children’s artwork on it, customers can either email or Etsy message Davis a copy of whatever they want engraved into a piece and she will laser it in.
To shop Left Grain’s products or place an order, click here.
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| 2022-04-04T22:31:11
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INDIANAPOLIS — It’s time once again for an Indy Now Pop Quiz.
Ryan describes the game as kind of like “Jeopardy,” but disregard that. The questions are all about celebrities, music, TV, movies — so pretty much nothing like Jeopardy.
Play along to test your pop culture knowledge and see if you can beat us.
Let’s get social: follow your friends at Indy Now
Connect with us on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and TikTok for behind-the-scenes fun, the latest on what’s happening in central Indiana, information about the local businesses featured on the show, and much more.
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| 2022-04-04T22:31:18
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WASHINGTON D.C. — A D.C. rapper’s corpse was reportedly propped up and on display at a nightclub for the performer’s “last show” on Sunday, according to TMZ.
Rap artist Markelle Morrow, known as Goonew, was reportedly shot to death in a parking lot in District Heights on March 18. TMZ reported that family members believe he was the victim of an armed robbery.
TMZ shared video and photos from the nightclub funeral, named the Final Show, where dancers and club-goers share mixed reactions as the rapper’s so-called “embalmed corpse” is propped up before the crowd of revelers, wearing a crown and standing next to fireworks.
Audience reaction appears mixed, TMZ reports, with some dancing to the music in the Bliss Nightclub while others stare stone-faced at the dead body.
TMZ said the club is still investigating if the body was real or not, along with if any legal ramifications are possible.
Police are offering a reward of up to $25,000 for information leading to an arrest in Morrow’s death, according to FOX 5 News.
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| 2022-04-04T22:31:24
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BERLIN (AP) — Temperatures on Earth will shoot past a key danger point unless greenhouse gas emissions fall faster than countries have committed, the world’s top body of climate scientists said Monday, warning of the consequences of inaction but also noting hopeful signs of progress.
U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said the report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change revealed “a litany of broken climate promises” by governments and corporations, accusing them of stoking global warming by clinging to harmful fossil fuels.
“It is a file of shame, cataloguing the empty pledges that put us firmly on track toward an unlivable world,” he said.
Governments agreed in the 2015 Paris accord to keep global warming well below 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 Fahrenheit) this century, ideally no more than 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 Fahrenheit). Yet temperatures have already increased by over 1.1C (2F) since pre-industrial times, resulting in measurable increases in disasters such flash floods, extreme heat, more intense hurricanes and longer-burning wildfires, putting human lives in danger and costing governments hundreds of billions of dollars to confront.
“Projected global emissions from (national pledges) place limiting global warming to 1.5C beyond reach and make it harder after 2030 to limit warming to 2C,” the panel said.
In other words, the report’s co-chair, James Skea of Imperial College London, told The Associated Press: “If we continue acting as we are now, we’re not even going to limit warming to 2 degrees, never mind 1.5 degrees.”
Ongoing investments in fossil fuel infrastructure and clearing large swaths of forest for agriculture undermine the massive curbs in emissions needed to meet the Paris goal, the report found.
Emissions in 2019 were about 12% higher than they were in 2010 and 54% higher than in 1990, said Skea.
The rate of growth has slowed from 2.1% per year in the early part of this century to 1.3% per year between 2010 and 2019, the report’s authors said. But they voiced “high confidence” that unless countries step up their efforts to cut greenhouse gas emissions, the planet will on average be 2.4C to 3.5C (4.3 to 6.3F) warmer by the end of the century — a level experts say is sure to cause severe impacts for much of the world’s population.
“Limiting warming to 1.5C requires global greenhouse gas emissions to peak before 2025 at the latest and be reduced by 43% by 2030,” he said.
Such cuts would be hard to achieve without without drastic, economy-wide measures, the panel acknowledged. It’s more likely that the world will pass 1.5C and efforts will then need to be made to bring temperatures back down again, including by removing vast amounts of carbon dioxide — the main greenhouse gas — from the atmosphere.
Many experts say this is unfeasible with current technologies, and even if it could be done it would be far costlier than preventing the emissions in the first place.
The report, numbering thousands of pages, doesn’t single out individual countries for blame. But the figures show much of the carbon dioxide already in the atmosphere was released by rich countries that were the first to burn coal, oil and gas beginning with the industrial revolution.
The U.N. panel said 40% of emissions since then came from Europe and North America. Just over 12% can be attributed to East Asia, which includes China. But China took over the position as world’s top emissions polluter from the United States in the mid-2000s.
Many countries and companies have used recent climate meetings to paint rosy pictures of their emissions-cutting efforts, while continuing to invest in fossil fuels and other polluting activities, Guterres charged.
“Some government and business leaders are saying one thing but doing another,” he said. “Simply put, they are lying. And the results will be catastrophic.”
The report isn’t without some hope, however.
Its authors highlight myriad ways in which the world can be brought back on track to 2C or even, with great effort, return to 1.5C after that threshold has been passed. This could require measures such as the removal of CO2 from the atmosphere with natural or artificial means, but also potentially risky technologies such as pumping aerosols into the sky to reflect sunlight.
Among the solutions recommended are a rapid shift away from fossil fuels toward renewable energy such as increasingly cheap solar and wind power, the electrification of transport, less meat consumption, more efficient use of resources and massive financial support for poor countries unable to pay for such measures without help.
The situation is as if humanity has “gone to the doctor in a very unhealthy condition,” and the doctor is saying “you need to change, it’s a radical change. If you don’t you’re in trouble,” said report co-author Pete Smith, a professor of soils and global change at the University Aberdeen.
“It’s not like a diet,” Smith said. “It is a fundamental lifestyle change. It’s changing what you eat, how much you eat and get on a more active lifestyle.”
One move often described as “low-hanging fruit” by scientists is to plug methane leaks from mines, wells and landfills that release the potent but short-lived greenhouse gas into the atmosphere. A pact forged between the United States and China at last year’s U.N. climate conference in Glasgow aims to do just that.
“The big message we’ve got (is that) human activities got us into this problem and human agency can actually get us out of it again,” said Skea, the panel’s co-chair.
The panel’s reports have become increasingly blunt since the first one was published in 1990, and the latest may be the last before the planet passes 1.5C of warming, Skea told the AP.
Last August, it said climate change caused by humans was “an established fact” and warned that some effects of global warming are already inevitable. In late February, the panel published a report that outlined how further temperature increases will multiply the risk of floods, storms, drought and heat waves worldwide.
Still, the British government’s former chief science adviser David King, who wasn’t involved in writing the report, said there are too optimistic assumptions about how much CO2 the world can afford to emit.
“We don’t actually have a remaining carbon budget to burn,” said King, who now chairs the Climate Crisis Advisory Group.
“It’s just the reverse. We’ve already done too much in the way of putting greenhouse gases up there,” he said, arguing that the IPCC’s calculation omits new risks and potentially self-reinforcing effects already happening, such as the increased absorption of heat into the oceans from sea ice loss and the release of methane as permafrost melts.
Such warnings were echoed by U.N. chief Guterres, citing scientists’ warnings that the planet is moving “perilously close to tipping points that could lead to cascading and irreversible climate impacts.”
“But high-emitting governments and corporations are not just turning a blind eye; they are adding fuel to the flames,” he said, calling for an end to further coal, oil and gas extraction. “Investing in new fossil fuels infrastructure is moral and economic madness.”
Vulnerable nations said the report showed big polluters have to step up their efforts before the next U.N. climate summit in Egypt this fall.
“We are looking to the G-20, to the world’s biggest emitters, to set ambitious targets ahead of COP27, and to reach those targets – by investing in renewables, cutting out coal and fossil fuel subsidies,” said Tina Stege, climate envoy for the Marshall Islands. “It’s long past time to deliver on promises made.”
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| 2022-04-04T22:31:30
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WASHINGTON (AP) — The Senate Judiciary Committee deadlocked, 11-11, Monday on whether to send Ketanji Brown Jackson’s Supreme Court nomination to the Senate floor. But President Joe Biden’s nominee is still on track to be confirmed this week as the first Black woman on the high court.
The committee’s tie vote was expected, as there is an even party split on the panel and all of the Republicans are opposing Jackson’s nomination to replace retiring Justice Stephen Breyer. But it was still a blow to Democrats who had hoped for robust bipartisan support — and it was the first time the committee has deadlocked on a Supreme Court nomination in three decades.
In order to move forward, Democrats planned a new vote to “discharge” Jackson’s nomination from committee Monday evening and then take a series of procedural steps in the coming days to wind it through the 50-50 Senate. With the support of at least one Republican, Maine Sen. Susan Collins, Jackson is on a glidepath toward confirmation by the end of the week.
“Judge Jackson will bring extraordinary qualifications, deep experience and intellect, and a rigorous judicial record to the Supreme Court,” Biden tweeted Monday. “She deserves to be confirmed as the next justice.”
After more than 30 hours of hearings and interrogation from Republicans over her record, Jackson is on the brink of making history as the third Black justice and only the sixth woman in the court’s more than 200-year history. Democrats cite her deep experience in her nine years on the federal bench and the chance for her to become the first former public defender on the court.
The chairman of the Judiciary Committee, Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., said at Monday’s meeting that Jackson has “the highest level of skill, integrity, civility and grace.”
“This committee’s action today in nothing less than making history,” Durbin said. “I’m honored to be a part of it. I will strongly and proudly support Judge Jackson’s nomination.”
The committee’s top Republican, Iowa Sen. Chuck Grassley, said he was opposing Jackson’s nomination because “she and I have fundamental, different views on the role of judges and the role that they should play in our system of government.”
The committee hadn’t deadlocked since 1991, when Biden was chairman and a motion to send the nomination of current Justice Clarence Thomas to the floor with a “favorable” recommendation failed on a 7-7 vote. The committee then voted to send the nomination to the floor without a recommendation, meaning it could still be brought up for a vote.
Delaware Sen. Chris Coons, a Democrat on the committee, said last week that a panel tie vote on Jackson would be “a truly unfortunate signal of the continued descent into dysfunction of our confirmation process,”
So far, Democrats know they will have at least one GOP vote in the full Senate — Collins, who announced last week that she would support the nominee. Collins said that though they may not always agree, Jackson “possesses the experience, qualifications and integrity to serve as an associate justice on the Supreme Court.”
It’s unclear whether any other Republicans will join her. Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky set the tone for the party last week when he said he “cannot and will not” support Jackson, citing GOP concerns raised in the hearing about her sentencing record and her backing from liberal advocacy groups.
Republicans on the Judiciary panel continued their push Monday to paint Jackson as soft on crime, defending their repeated questions about her sentencing on sex crimes.
“Questions are not attacks,” said Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee, one of several GOP senators on the panel who hammered the point in the hearings two weeks ago.
Jackson pushed back on the GOP narrative, declaring that “nothing could be further from the truth.” Democrats said she was in line with other judges in her decisions. And on Monday they criticized their GOP counterparts’ questioning.
“You could try and create a straw man here, but it does not hold,” said New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker.
The questioning was filled with “absurdities of disrespect,” said Booker, who also is Black, and he said he will “rejoice” when she is confirmed.
Collins and Sens. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and Lindsey Graham of South Carolina were the only three to vote for Jackson when the Senate confirmed her as an appeals court judge last year. Graham said Thursday he won’t support her this time around; Murkowski said she was still deciding.
Collins’ support likely saves the Democrats from having to use Vice President Kamala Harris’ tiebreaking vote to confirm Biden’s pick, and the president called Collins on Wednesday to thank her. Biden had called her at least three times before the hearings, part of a major effort to win a bipartisan vote for his historic nominee.
It is expected that all 50 Democrats will support Jackson, though one notable moderate Democrat, Arizona Sen. Kyrsten Sinema, hasn’t yet said how she will vote.
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| 2022-04-04T22:31:36
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WASHINGTON (NEXSTAR) — The White House said there will be consequences for Russian President Vladimir Putin, as new evidence of Russian war crimes emerged over the weekend in communities just outside the capitol of Kyiv.
Russian military forces pulled back from the suburbs of the capital of Kyiv. Ukrainian forces found bodies in crushed cars, front yards and mass graves.
President Joe Biden said Putin should face a war crimes trial.
“He is a war criminal,” Biden said. “This guy is brutal.”
On Capitol Hill, Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., called for more economic sanctions to stop the money that’s paying for Putin’s violent rampage.
“It’s gut wrenching,” Blumenthal said. “The banks that process his oil and gas revenue have no sanctions, they’re the ones who need to be sanctioned.”
Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., said it’s time the U.S. and NATO up the ante.
“This is a turning point for me, I think this should be a turning point for the world,” Graham said. “Putin is not a legitimate leader, he needs to be considered a pariah. He should be kicked out of the UN.”
The president of Ukraine is calling the killings an act of genocide. Biden stopped short of using that term Monday, but he promised swift action.
National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan on Monday said more sanctions are on the way this week and promised more military aid to Ukraine as Russia ramps up attacks in other parts of the country.
“To raise the pressure and raise the cost on Putin and on Russia,” Sullivan said. “We should be under no illusions that Russia will adjust its tactics.”
Sullivan said the recent actions are a shock but not a surprise. He argued the killing of civilians was always part of Putin’s plans.
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba warned the new evidence is only a glimpse of the carnage, saying it’s “just the tip of the iceberg.”
The Russian government continues to deny allegations that their forces are targeting Ukrainian civilians.
The Biden administration said it will work with allies to determine what next steps should be taken to hold Putin accountable for war crimes on the world’s stage.
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| 2022-04-04T22:31:42
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WASHINGTON (NEXSTAR) – The trucking industry has been hit with major challenges recently, but President Joe Biden says his team has made progress in fixing some of the issues.
Big rigs were parked on the White House lawn on Monday as President Biden talked up his “Trucking Action Plan.”
“We’re building a better economy around American manufacturing and American supply chains,” Biden said.
The president says his team has created tens of thousands of trucking jobs, putting more truckers on the road through apprenticeship programs.
“A pipeline of hardworking men and women, from all backgrounds, highly trained and highly motivated to get behind the wheel,” Biden said.
The administration also says it has grown the industry by cutting red tape for things like commercial drivers licenses.
“So far in 2022, we’re issuing CDLs at double the rate of last year,” Biden said.
American Trucking Associations CEO Chris Spear says that progress impacts everyone.
“We really are the heartbeat of the country. We’re the glue of the economy,” Spear said. “There isn’t anything in this country that doesn’t at some point move by truck.”
But there’s still a shortage of truckers and they’re facing challenges, especially with the high price of fuel.
“If that continues too long, it’s really going to hurt our industry’s ability to serve the economy,” Spear said.
Spear hopes to see more federal action on fuel prices. He also wants lawmakers to fix chokepoints in the supply chain and streamline shipping.
“It’s absolutely critical that our elected officials break down those barriers and find the things that they can work together on,” Spear said.
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| 2022-04-04T22:31:48
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A new report finds NJ has the worst business climate in the region by far
A new report finds New Jersey has the worst business climate in the region.
Michele Siekerka, the president and CEO of the New Jersey Business and Industry Association, said for the fourth year in a row, the Garden State ranks last behind Massachusetts, Connecticut, New York, Pennsylvania, Maryland and Delaware when it comes to business affordability.
Taxes, taxes, taxes
“We define affordability by looking at things like taxes, property tax, income tax, corporate business tax,” she said.
She noted the analysis also looked at and compared the minimum wage rates, the state sales tax rates and the national unemployment insurance tax ranking of Jersey and the other states in the region.
Siekerka said New Jersey lawmakers continue to insist they are looking for ways to increase affordability.
New Jersey has the top corporate tax rate, 11.5%, in the nation.
She said for each of the metrics considered, the analysis assigns a score between 1 (least competitive) and 7 (most competitive), so the lower the score, the worse the state is ranked.
“New Jersey comes out with the ranking of number 13, and the next in line, which is Maryland, comes in at 21. I mean, think of that difference right there,” she said.
“We’re not just an outlier but we’re an extreme outlier when it comes to costs here in New Jersey, and in particular we’re talking about taxes.”
The state with the best, highest ranking in the region, 34, is Delaware.
Siekerka pointed out in 2018, New Jersey’s corporate tax rate went from 9% to 11.5% in what was termed a “temporary increase.” It was originally scheduled to phase down to 10.5% in 2020 and back to 9% in 2021, but instead the 2.5 percentage point surcharge was extended by the Legislature in 2020 until the end of 2023.
Crushing small businesses
She said having this kind of toxic tax environment is hurting everybody but it’s especially punitive for small businesses that have been decimated through COVID.
“Every dollar that they’re putting out toward any type of tax, income tax, corporate tax, property tax, is a dollar they’re not reinvesting in themselves, or able to invest in their workforce,” she said.
She noted that’s especially difficult with the hiring and retention crisis that continues to drag on.
David Matthau is a reporter for New Jersey 101.5. You can reach him at david.matthau@townsquaremedia.com
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| 2022-04-04T22:33:57
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NJ could soon have law to protect dogs from tether cruelty
New Jersey could soon have a new law that prohibits cruel tethering and confinement of dogs, and also gives animal control officers expanded authority to seize and care for canines involved in animal cruelty cases.
The measure, S981, revises current law to prohibit tethering a dog in any way that is harmful to their health or exposes them to accumulated waste, debris, precipitation or flooding.
It would prohibit tethering on vacant property unless the animal is within view of the owner, and the bill would also establish procedures for animal seizures, including specifying that notice has to be sent to the former owner as well as the address from which the animal has been taken no later than seven days after seizure.
According to state Sen. Pat Diegnan, D-Middlesex, the measure specifies the person responsible for the abuse would be responsible for the cost of care for the animal once it is seized.
“This will obviously give kennels the opportunity to be reimbursed for the care, and save these pets from being otherwise euthanized, this is just really basically passing along the cost to the responsible party,” he said.
He noted the bill would also make it difficult for neglectful and abusive owners to regain ownership once the animal has been taken to a shelter or animal care agency.
Animal cruelty getting worse
Diegnan said this kind of law is important because the problem of animal cruelty has been “amplified, believe it or not, during the pandemic, where people got pets to keep them company, and now they’re back at work and abandoning their pets and the stories you hear would break your heart."
“My niece actually has a dog that had pellets in it. The prior owner was taking target practice on the dog," he said.
Diegnan said most people are good with animals, but those that are not should be held responsible.
The State Senate has passed the measure and it now heads to the New Jersey Assembly for consideration.
David Matthau is a reporter for New Jersey 101.5. You can reach him at david.matthau@townsquaremedia.com
Click here to contact an editor about feedback or a correction for this story.
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| 2022-04-04T22:34:04
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NJ man goes to prison for sharing child sexual abuse on Google Meet
An Ocean County man has been sentenced to five years in state prison after pleading guilty to child porn charges.
Ocean County Prosecutor Bradley Billhimer says 40-year-old Richard Knight, of New Egypt, was sentenced on Friday to five years behind bars for distribution of child pornography and a concurrent five-year sentence for one count of possession of child pornography.
Knight will also be subject to the terms of Megan’s Law along with Parole Supervision for Life.
This investigation, which began in December 2020 . . . . detected that a user of the program Google Meets was uploading images of child pornography to the internet. An investigation by the Ocean County Prosecutor’s Office High Tech Crime Unit identified a residence in New Egypt as the source of the uploaded images of child pornography. On June 9, 2021, Detectives...executed a court-authorized search warrant on Knight’s residence in New Egypt.
Police seized two cell phones, which they said contained more than 1,000 images of child pornography.
Knight was subsequently arrested at his workplace in Browns Mills on June 9. He has been held in the Ocean County Jail since then.
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| 2022-04-04T22:34:10
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No, political candidates can’t accept bribes — NJ court overturns decision
A court decision that critics said effectively legalized bribes for political candidates has been overturned.
In a ruling published Monday morning, a state court of appeals clarified that a law outlawing bribery did not exclude candidates who did not yet hold a public office.
The appeal stemmed from now-dismissed charges against former Democratic Assemblyman Jason O’Donnell.
O'Donnell was one of five public officials arrested in a 2019 anti-corruption sting. The year prior, O'Donnell had run for mayor of Bayonne.
The state Attorney General's Office accused O'Donnell of taking a bag filled with $10,000 cash while on the campaign trail. Prosecutors said he took the bag from someone hoping to get a position within his administration.
But O'Donnell did not win the election and never took office.
Judge Mitzy Galis-Menendez's decision in June 2021 ruled that the state's bribery law did not apply to some candidates. It prompted an outcry from lawmakers and the state Attorney General's Office.
"We strongly disagree with the decision, which, if upheld, effectively legalizes bribing candidates for public office,” a spokesman for the Office of the Attorney General said at the time.
The law itself, N.J.S.A 2C:27-2, specifically mentions public servants, party officials, and voters. Galis-Menendez found that since it technically did not include candidates for office, O'Donnell could not face charges.
But Monday's strongly-worded decision rejects this line of thinking. The judges called it a "nonsensical conclusion" that lawmakers intended to give some candidates the ability to take bribes with no consequences.
"There is nothing about this broad language," Monday's decision said, "to suggest that somewhere in the provisions interstices lurked a legislative intent to give candidates for office carte blanche to accept bribes without consequence up until the moment they take office or if they never take office."
Acting Attorney General Matthew Platkin applauded the decision in a written statement sent to New Jersey 101.5.
"We’re grateful that the appellate court today confirmed candidates for office may not take bribes in exchange for promising to perform official duties if they are elected," Platkin said. "That commonsense prohibition is embodied in the plain language of our law, and I remain committed to pursuing these cases whenever they arise."
Monday's decision only greenlights prosecutors to again pursue charges against the former assemblyman. It did not make any reference to guilt.
O'Donnell's attorney Leo Hurley Jr. did not respond to a request for comment Monday.
State lawmakers unanimously passed a bill last month to close the potential loophole and prevent future debate. Governor Phil Murphy has yet to sign the bill into law.
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| 2022-04-04T22:34:16
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Percent of women in NJ politics steady while other states improve
New Jersey maintained its percentage of women holding municipal office in the newest annual report from the Center for American Women and Politics, but its rank relative to other U.S. states fell five spots from the previous year, as some of the others significantly improved their numbers.
The 2022 Women in Municipal Office fact sheet revealed that women make up 29.9% of officeholders in the Garden State's 242 incorporated municipalities of 10,000 or more residents, a percentage that stayed flat from the initial 2021 report while the national average grew a point, from 30.5% to 31.5%.
That stagnation was enough to drop New Jersey from 25th overall to 30th, the third-biggest drop in rank behind New Hampshire and South Carolina. Delaware, which had the largest jump, leapfrogged 13 spots in a year and is now the new No. 25.
"We're just kind of flatlining, and not really moving the needle, and what we need to see is more consistent, sustained progress over time," Jean Sinzdak, CAWP associate director, said.
New Jersey's underwhelming showing in the study hit close to home: While CAWP is a national group, it is a division of the Eagleton Institute of Politics at Rutgers University.
According to Sinzdak, "the power of incumbency" is alive and well in the state, and it's not just voters who are to blame.
"The party chairs have a lot of control here in New Jersey, so it would be great for them to really prioritize getting more women into office," she said.
What else might help? Better recruitment, Sinzdak said — and not just with respect to gender, but also race, ethnicity, and socioeconomic status.
Public officials should look like the people in the communities they serve, Sinzdak said.
"We know that women are less likely to get recruited than men are to run for office, so if we make recruitment a priority, we can really increase our numbers," she said.
Sinzdak said some movement in the rankings from year to year is not unexpected, since for instance, Hawaii has just one municipality that qualifies under CAWP's criteria, and right now half of its council members are women.
Only California, Illinois, and Texas have more of those such communities than New Jersey, according to CAWP's data.
However, Hawaii's mark of 50% represents a target Sinzdak would like to see New Jersey try to reach. Female officeholders at the state level are already more plentiful than per municipality, with a 34.2% mark that tops the national average and ties for 17th place.
"New Jersey has work to do if we want to get better representation and also move ourselves up the ranks in terms of how women are doing in local office," Sinzdak said, adding that people are often surprised to find out percentages of female representation is not closer to 50%.
Later this year, CAWP will be releasing a county-level report card, which may shed some more light on New Jersey's progress inbetween the municipal and state levels.
Patrick Lavery is a reporter and anchor for New Jersey 101.5. You can reach him at patrick.lavery@townsquaremedia.com
Click here to contact an editor about feedback or a correction for this story.
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| 2022-04-04T22:34:22
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Home of ‘Real Housewives of NJ’ Jennifer Aydin robbed while family is home
PARAMUS — Even the rich and famous should heed the message from law enforcement to lock their cars and not leave their key fobs inside.
Thieves were caught on video breaking into the garage of the home of "Real Housewives of New Jersey" star Jennifer Aydin, stealing sneakers and a Ferrari, according to Paramus police.
Aydin posted video on her Instagram page early Monday morning showing two garage doors opening and a single masked man dressed in black walking inside.
After lifting a red cover off the 2016 Ferrari California, he runs over to several pairs of sneakers next to the car and hands them to two other people also dressed in black who came in behind him.
The thieves then turn their attention to the Ferrari and noticed the doors are unlocked. Two of the thieves get out with their last boxes of sneakers as the third backs the Ferrari out of the garage.
A white SUV parked next to the Ferrari was left behind.
Easy pickings
Paramus police Chief Kenneth Ehrenberg said that Aydin and her husband left a key fob inside one of their unlocked vehicles in the driveway, which also had a garage door opener. The thefts took a total of three minutes, according to the chief.
Aydin said that her son Justin arrived at the house as the thieves were leaving the house.
"They stole the Ferrari. My kids and parents and other friends were all home. Please send any info to Paramus PD," Aydin said on Instagram.
Aydin earlier posted that she and her husband were at the Fountainbleu Hotel in Miami for the weekend.
Paramus police on Monday morning posted yet another reminder about securing vehicles and homes.
- Lock vehicles and remove key fobs and garage door openers.
- Notify police with suspicious activity on your street or near your home.
- Improve and maintain proper lighting at night.
- Secure all valuables within your home.
- Maintain shrubs and trees blocking your home.
https://www.instagram.com/p/Cb6lUqijDIQ/
https://www.instagram.com/tv/Cb6qmRCgVmq/?utm_medium=share_sheet
Dan Alexander is a reporter for New Jersey 101.5. You can reach him at dan.alexander@townsquaremedia.com
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| 2022-04-04T22:34:28
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The stock you need to buy if you live in New Jersey
If you're looking for a great stock tip living in New Jersey, try either the Clorox Company or Reynolds Consumer products, or both. They are the makers of Glad and Hefty trash bags, respectively, and with the single-use plastic bag being in the Garden State starting April 4, these bags will probably be what most people turn to.
Q. What did one bird say to the other?
A. "If it weren't for that bag ban in New Jersey, I wouldn't be here."
Soon birds and fish off the coast of our shores will owe their lives to this if you listen to those who are in favor of the ban. The reality of the situation is that people will instead end up forgetting their "tote bag" that they got from public television or some competitor of the store they're shopping in and end up buying a box of either Glad or Hefty bags. The more you forget, the more boxes you will buy, and the more the stock goes up.
Of course, as we all know, those Glad and Hefty bags won't hurt the environment at all, just like the virus won't infect you if you're sitting down eating or performing on stage in a theatre where the audience who showed proof of vaccination are forced to wear masks.
Oh, by the way, there are many other uses for those single-use bags. My favorite one is to use them to take this law banning the bag to the dumpster and throw it out.
Here are some other things people in New Jersey do with those dreaded single-use bags.
Valeria Jobst Morgan
Cat litter, dog poop, bathroom/or any smaller garbage cans in the house, to put dirty clothes in-in a hurry if out, put the dirty diaper in to tie up & throw away, to place wet items in to separate from dry items, car garbage bag, just to carry anything in when needing something to carry an item in, and you ALWAYS need at least 1 plastic bag to hold all the other plastic bags
Brian Brown
Use in your car for trash
Steven Keller
They are Poo Bags. Pure and Simple. Take groceries home. Use bag for lunch (2 0r three days). Pick up dog poop.
Tina Marie
They are "free" , so everything, garbage bags, wrapping paper, dog poop bags, wrap my phone in when it's raining, keep one in my back pocket for a rain hat, lol.
Opinions expressed in the post above are those of New Jersey 101.5 talk show host Steve Trevelise only. Follow him on Twitter @realstevetrev.
You can now listen to Steve Trevelise — On Demand! Discover more about New Jersey’s personalities and what makes the Garden State interesting . Download the Steve Trevelise show wherever you get podcasts, on our free app, or listen right now:
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| 2022-04-04T22:34:34
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Which flatware set is best?
Whether you’re looking to upgrade an old flatware set or purchasing one for the first time, you can find sets in materials and designs to fit any budget and aesthetic. They can also come with enough place settings for a small family or huge dinner party.
The best flatware set is the Lenox 65-Piece Portola Flatware Set. It has enough place settings for 12 people and is made from stainless steel with a simple, elegant design.
What to know before you buy a flatware set
What’s in the flatware set
Most flatware sets include the following five items: a dinner fork, salad fork, soup spoon, teaspoon and dinner knife. Some sets also include a salad knife and dessert spoon. Salad forks and knives are sometimes called “dessert” forks and knives instead. More limited sets may only include a dinner fork, spoon and knife.
Some sets include additional sets of flatware outside the above basics. The most common inclusion is a hostess set. Some also — or alternatively — include a steak knife set. This is rare, as most steak knife sets are sold separately.
Weight
Flatware sets have varying weights. Some have considerable heft, while others are light as a feather. There’s no qualitative difference between the two, so purchase according to your preference.
Finish
Finish refers to how much reflectivity a flatware set has. Some are mirror-like in their reflectivity, while others have none whatsoever. Most exist somewhere in between.
What to look for in a quality flatware set
Place settings
“Place settings” is just a fancy way of saying how many of each piece of flatware is included. Most sets cover eight place settings — enough for four to six people per day. Some cover 12 or more place settings. Others cover as few as two place settings.
Material
Flatware sets are usually made of stainless steel mixed with chromium and nickel. Pewter, brass and silver or silverplate sets are also available.
- Stainless steel mixed sets are most common due to their low cost and high durability. There are three tiers of mixing: 18/10, 18/8 and 18/0. The numbers state the percentage of chromium and nickel used, respectively. A higher nickel count means more corrosion resistance.
- Pewter/brass sets are rare due to their high cost and maintenance requirements. They develop unique patinas over time that can increase their value.
- Silver/silverplate sets are also common — though expensive — and are used for formal dining. Silverplate sets are more affordable as they only use a thin coat of silver over cheap metals such as nickel.
Construction
Most flatware sets are created by one of two methods: forging and stamping. Forged sets are made from a single piece of metal that’s heated and hammered into shape. Stamped sets are cut from a sheet of metal and bent into shape. Forged sets are usually of higher quality and cost more.
How much you can expect to spend on a flatware set
Most flatware sets are available for $50-$100, depending on the material it uses and the number of place settings it covers. Some limited sets are as affordable as $25 while the largest, most intricate sets can cost up to $500.
Flatware set FAQ
What is the proper way to set a place setting?
A. The exact placement varies slightly based on what you’re serving. However, there are some basic rules you should follow. Forks always go on the left. Dinner forks are placed closest to the plate with salad forks further to the left. Knives and diner spoons go on the right. Knives must be placed closest to the plate with the blade facing inward. Dinner spoons are placed to the right of the knife (but don’t place one unless you’re serving soup). Teaspoons are placed to the right of the teacup saucer if serving tea or another applicable beverage. Otherwise, they are not placed.
What is a hostess set?
A. A hostess set is a five-piece set of flatware meant for serving foods at the table. It’s included in most sets, though the cheapest sets may exclude it. The exact contents vary on the set but the usual five are: a serving fork and spoon, a slotted spoon, a sugar spoon and a butter or spreading knife.
What’s the best flatware set to buy?
Top flatware set
Lenox 65-Piece Portola Flatware Set
What you need to know: This attractive set is equally perfect for daily use and special occasions.
What you’ll love: It’s made of 18/10 stainless steel and is dishwasher-safe and tarnish-resistant. It comes with dinner and dessert forks and spoons, plus dinner knives, for 12 place settings. It also includes a hostess set. It comes in silver, gold and black.
What you should consider: Several consumers reported problems with the knives eventually rusting — the other pieces were unaffected.
Where to buy: Sold by Amazon, Macy’s and Wayfair
Top flatware set for the money
Pfaltzgraff 53-Piece Flatware Set
What you need to know: This is an excellent starter set for anyone on a budget.
What you’ll love: It includes dinner and salad forks, dinner spoons and teaspoons, and dinner knives. It also includes a set of steak knives and a hostess set. It covers eight place settings. It comes in two designs. It has a lifetime limited warranty.
What you should consider: It’s listed as dishwasher-safe but several consumers reported instances of rusting or other damage when machine-washed. It’s made of 18/0 stainless steel.
Where to buy: Sold by Amazon
Worth checking out
Mikasa 65-Piece Regent Bead Gold Flatware Set
What you need to know: This set’s design will impress all your dinner guests.
What you’ll love: It includes dinner and salad forks, dinner spoons and teaspoons, and dinner knives. It also includes a hostess set. It covers 12 place settings. It’s made of 18/10 stainless steel with 24-karat-gold accents. It’s large and weighty. It’s dishwasher-safe.
What you should consider: Some consumers reported instances of rusting or scratching. The crevices may not be fully cleaned through the dishwasher. It’s expensive.
Where to buy: Sold by Amazon
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Jordan C. Woika writes for BestReviews. BestReviews has helped millions of consumers simplify their purchasing decisions, saving them time and money.
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| 2022-04-04T22:35:20
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Which Panasonic Blu-ray players are best?
Netflix and Hulu are great, but if you want to get the highest possible quality out of your movies, Blu-ray is the way to go. Still, finding the perfect Blu-ray player can be tricky. Luckily, Panasonic has a wide range of quality Blu-ray players from which to choose. For example, the Panasonic UB820 4K Blu Ray Player is an excellent option that combines the best of both worlds with both Blu-ray and streaming capabilities.
What to consider before you buy a Panasonic Blu-ray player
Blu-ray vs. streaming services
Many streaming services now support 4K streaming, although you’ll need a powerful internet connection for it to work correctly. If you have an internet connection of at least 25 megabytes per second or higher and an unlimited internet plan, you likely won’t run into any issues. On the other hand, if you have a limited data plan, 4K streaming will quickly eat into your available data.
Blu-ray discs give you the ability to stream high-definition movies and television shows without worrying about your internet.
Ownership
One significant benefit to Blu-ray discs is that you’ll have your favorite movies and series on hand whenever you want them. Streaming services usually rotate their selection of titles, meaning it can be hard to rewatch your favorite content at a later date. Many Blu-ray discs also have special features, collectible cases and other things that make them worth owning.
Panasonic
Panasonic is an established brand that has produced Blu-ray players, cameras, appliances and other electronics for over 100 years. Panasonic’s Blu-ray players usually have numerous features that make them stand out. Many Panasonic Blu-ray players feature Wi-Fi connectivity, voice assistance and more.
Design
When buying a Blu-ray player, it’s essential to consider how the device will blend with your entertainment setup. Many Panasonic Blu-ray players feature sleek, black designs that will look great on nearly any entertainment center.
What to look for in a quality Blu-ray player
Streaming services
Although Blu-ray discs are superior in many ways, buying a Blu-ray player with streaming capabilities is an excellent way to ensure you have options. Many Panasonic Blu-ray players allow you to install Prime Video, Netflix and YouTube, giving you numerous ways to watch content with a single device.
3D Blu-ray capabilities
3D movies may not be as popular as they were a few years ago, but countless movies still make use of this technology. Not every Blu-ray player supports 3D, so you’ll have to ensure your device has this feature if you plan on watching 3D movies. 3D TVs are a rarity nowadays, but many projectors still support 3D movies.
Voice controls
Voice controls give you the ability to control your Blu-ray player hands-free. Many Panasonic Blu-ray players are compatible with both Alexa and Google Assistant.
Superior audio
Blu-ray players are known for superior video quality, but many Blu-ray players also support high-quality audio. Several Panasonic Blu-ray players have multiple HDMI cables, allowing them to transmit audio and video separately. If you use a multi-speaker setup, you’ll need a device that supports all high-resolution audio formats to ensure it’s compatible with your setup.
How much you can expect to spend on a Panasonic Blu-ray player
Depending on their features, Panasonic Blu-ray players can range anywhere from $200-$500.
Panasonic Blu-ray player FAQ
Can you use HD Blu-ray discs with a 4K Blu-ray player?
A. In most cases, 4K Blu-ray players can support older HD Blu-ray discs, although the quality will not be the same as 4K.
Can you use standard DVDs with a Blu-ray player?
A. Yes, most Blu-ray players can play DVDs as well. Blu-ray players typically upscale the DVD’s resolution, appearing more detailed than a standard DVD player would.
Do voice-controlled Blu-ray players come with a remote?
A. Yes, although you can choose to use voice controls, they are an added feature and not a requirement.
What’s the best Panasonic Blu-ray player to buy?
Top Panasonic Blu-ray player
Panasonic UB820 4K Blu Ray Player
What you need to know: This advanced Blu-ray player supports 4K and numerous other HD formats.
What you’ll love: The UB820 is compatible with both Alexa and Google Voice Assistant. This Blu-ray player allows you to stream 4K content on Netflix, YouTube and Prime Video. Most buyers were amazed by this device’s HDR Optimizer that enables you to adjust any movie’s contrast so scenes aren’t overly bright or dark. This Blu-ray player is durable and features a sleek matte black design.
What you should consider: Some users were disappointed that this device doesn’t have a Spotify app, and the web browser can’t play from Spotify’s site.
Where to buy: Sold by Amazon
Top Panasonic Blu-ray player for the money
Panasonic UB420 4K Blu Ray Player
What you need to know: This affordable Blu-ray player has voice controls, streaming capabilities and more.
What you’ll love: This device supports HDR10+, HDR10 and hybrid log-gamma formats. The UB420 allows you to use YouTube, Prime Video and Netflix. This Panasonic Blu-ray player is Alexa-compatible. Setting this device up is surprisingly straightforward. This device’s twin-HDMI output ensures top-notch audio quality.
What you should consider: This device doesn’t support MP4 playback via USB or disk.
Where to buy: Sold by Amazon
Worth checking out
What you need to know: This device is an excellent budget Panasonic DVD player for those who don’t necessarily need Blu-ray capabilities.
What you’ll love: This device costs less than $100. The S700EP can play DVDs from any country. This DVD player can upscale standard-definition DVDs to 720p. Many users felt that this device’s picture and audio quality was superior to most other DVD players.
What you should consider: Some buyers received region-locked DVD players. This device doesn’t play Blu-ray discs.
Where to buy: Sold by Amazon
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Cody Stewart writes for BestReviews. BestReviews has helped millions of consumers simplify their purchasing decisions, saving them time and money.
Copyright 2022 BestReviews, a Nexstar company. All rights reserved.
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| 2022-04-04T22:35:27
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Which sheer robe is best?
For a romantic occasion or just to feel like a goddess at home, slip on a sheer robe. Sheer robes are worn over lingerie or worn as a bathing suit cover-up.
You can also find bridal and maternity sheer robes and dressing gowns that make you feel extra sexy during those special seasons of life. Sheer robes often have luxurious trimmings and are made either of lace or mesh. For a lace robe, INC’s Lace Wrap Robe is a stunning choice.
What to know before you buy a sheer robe
Material
Sheer robes are made from blends of materials such as polyester, viscose, silk, rayon, nylon, Spandex and cotton. The material is see-through due to the low-density knit and the use of thin threads. Sheer robes can range in sheerness from semi-transparent to semi-opaque.
Mesh vs. lace
Mesh sheer robes have a uniform appearance and are typically nylon or polyester. The material is breathable, wrinkle-resistant and strong. It is also water-resistant, which is why you’ll see the material used in sheer swimsuit cover-ups. Lace sheer robes feature lace patterns, often in feminine floral patterns, which gives the robe more of a lingerie feel. Some sheer robes combine both mesh and lace, using the lace as trimming.
Uses
Sexy styles of sheer robes are for the boudoir and, because of their translucent material, can showcase lingerie such as lace bras or thongs. Mesh sheer robes designed as swimwear cover-ups generally don’t have lace trimming and may feature more opaque material than lingerie-style sheer robes. Not all swim cover-ups are mesh, and if you’re in the market for a swimsuit cover-up, there are many options to explore.
Length
Sheer robes come in a variety of lengths, maxi robes that flow to the ground to short robes that graze the upper thigh. When choosing a long sheer robe, consider your height as well as if you’re planning on wearing the robe with heels. Always check the manufacturer’s sizing chart when considering the length of a robe. The length of a sheer robe is ultimately a matter of personal preference.
Size
Sheer robes come in women’s sizing, typically XS to XXL. Most sheer robes have a relaxed or loose fit and a belt tie, allowing for an adjustable fit. Still, it’s always good to check the sizing chart because a small in one brand may not be the same as a small in another.
What to look for in a quality sheer robe
Color
The majority of sheer robes come in a solid color, such as black, white, cream, pink or red. Sheer robes also come in blue, purple and green colors. Some can have contrasting colors, such as a nude mesh robe with black satin trimming. Some lace patterns combine different colors as well.
Belt
The majority of sheer robes come with a removable belt tie. The tie is often a satin fabric of the same color as the body of the robe. The tie can be thin, like a ribbon, or wider for a more secure tie. However, sheer robes are designed to reveal, so don’t rely on the belt to keep you modest.
Trim
Sheer robes often have luxurious trimming such as lace, tulle, satin or feathers. Tulle and feathers can add volume to a sheer robe. Some tulle-trimmed robes can be quite puffy and voluminous for a highly romantic look.
Maternity
If you’re expecting, select a sheer robe designed for maternity wear. These sexy styles accommodate your baby bump and can be styled for maternity photoshoots.
Bridal
Bridal, sheer robes tend to be long and white. They look great in getting-ready-for-the-big-day photos or can be worn exclusively on your wedding night.
How much you can expect to spend on a sheer robe
Sheer robes start as little as $9 for fast-fashion brands and can cost up to $129 for lingerie name brands. Good quality sheer robes start at $30.
Sheer robe FAQ
How do I launder a sheer robe?
A. This can vary from robe to robe, so definitely check the care instructions before tossing your robe in the wash with your other laundry. Because of the delicacy of the fabric, the majority of sheer robes must be hand washed in cold water and air-dried or dry cleaned. Some, however, can be washed in the machine on a delicate cycle.
What kind of sleeves do sheer robes have?
A. Sheer robes feature roomy, long sleeves, often in a bell-sleeve style. The sleeve openings are often trimmed with lace or feathers. Select sheer robes feature short sleeves or three-quarter length sleeves.
What are the best sheer robes to buy?
Top sheer robe
INC International Concepts Lace Wrap Robe
What you need to know: This is a wrap-style lace robe that’s comfortable and flirty.
What you’ll love: The lace material is soft and machine-washable. You can pair it with the matching lace nightgown for a more modest yet feminine look. It comes in white and light blue.
What you should consider: This robe is on the pricey side, and the matching nightie is sold separately.
Where to buy: Sold by Macy’s
Top sheer robe for the money
Avidlove Women’s Lace Kimono Robe
What you need to know: This is an ultra-sexy, short sheer robe that comes in every color imaginable.
What you’ll love: The lace comes in nearly two dozen color options. The size range is inclusive from XS to 5X. The lace isn’t itchy. The overall look is very sexy.
What you should consider: The ribbon belt feels cheap and papery.
Where to buy: Sold by Amazon
Worth checking out
Sovoyontee Women’s Sexy Thin Mesh Long Sleeve Tie Front Swimsuit Cover Up
What you need to know: This is a long, mesh robe that’s perfect and elegant to wear poolside.
What you’ll love: This floor-length mesh robe will make you feel glamorous, whether you’re lounging on a yacht or hanging by your backyard pool. It comes in several color choices, including jungle patterns. The material is stretchy and soft.
What you should consider: The length may drag on the ground on petite frames.
Where to buy: Sold by Amazon
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Ana Sanchez writes for BestReviews. BestReviews has helped millions of consumers simplify their purchasing decisions, saving them time and money.
Copyright 2022 BestReviews, a Nexstar company. All rights reserved.
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| 2022-04-04T22:35:34
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Which men’s raincoat is best?
No matter the season, you never know when a rainstorm might hit. This is why choosing a reliable raincoat to protect you from the elements is a must. The best men’s raincoats are fashionable enough to wear with various outfits and made with high-quality fabrics.
The top choice is the London Fog Men’s Single-Breasted Raincoat, which is sure to keep you dry during the rainiest and windiest days of the spring season.
What to know before you buy a men’s raincoat
Fabric
If you’re looking for a men’s raincoat, make sure you find one that’s made with water-resistant or waterproof fabrics. Nylon and polyester are two of the most popular raincoat fabrics, which are effective at wicking away moisture and keeping you dry.
It’s important to note that while a raincoat should keep you dry, not every part of the raincoat will be water-resistant. Water can still seep into the seams and through the zippers. If you live somewhere with heavy rainfall, look for jackets with waterproof zipper linings or covers.
Comfort
Some raincoats are uncomfortable to wear and feel stiff or get hot easily. The fit usually depends on what material they’re made out of, but most modern rain jackets use more breathable fabrics that are effective and comfortable in rainy weather. Many designers create raincoats with comfort in mind and include a lining that will keep you warm and dry without making you too hot.
Durability
Unlike a fleece sweater, a raincoat can withstand mildly inclement weather conditions like rain and wind. For that reason, you’ll want to get a durable raincoat that will last you a couple of seasons. Check for reputable brands and read reviews to find a rain jacket that will last. It’s a worthy investment you’ll be thankful for later.
What to look for in a quality men’s raincoat
Layers
Most raincoats have multiple layers to them, often including 2-3 layers with at least one membrane. A membrane can be either laminated or coated. Laminated styles are the more expensive of the two.
Two-layer raincoats feature a thin mesh liner and are great for casual everyday wear. Two-and-a-half-layer raincoats eliminate the need for a mesh liner, thanks to a water-resistant laminate layer. This style is the most lightweight and versatile option. A three-layer configuration has a thick liner layer and a tough exterior, making them the heaviest and most expensive due to their durability.
Pockets
If you need pockets, keep in mind that lightweight, casual men’s raincoats rarely have front hand pockets. Some feature an interior breast zipper pocket. Bulkier jackets often have multiple pockets on the exterior and a few zipper pockets on the inside for storing small items. The more lightweight and breathable a jacket is, the fewer pockets and zippers it’ll have.
Removable liners
While rain may come and go during the winter months, it’s also a constant visitor as the temperatures start to warm up. If you want a raincoat that’s versatile and will keep you dry without making you too warm, opt for one with a removable liner. Removing the liner allows you to wear the coat even if it’s warm outside, so you can stay dry without overheating.
How much you can expect to spend on a men’s raincoat
The price depends on the brand, features and durability of the coat. However, you can find a good men’s raincoat for $50-$100. Some of the best ones cost anywhere from $100-$250.
Men’s raincoat FAQ
Are windbreakers the same as raincoats?
A. No, windbreakers are single-layer, tight-fitting jackets with elasticized waistbands and wrist cuffs. Windbreakers are more lightweight and breathable, and they can withstand some light rain. They’re usually water-resistant but not waterproof.
What’s the difference between water-resistant and waterproof?
A. Water-resistant means it prevents rain from coming in, to a degree. Waterproof means it keeps moisture out completely. Raincoats made from nylon or polyester effectively keep out the rain, but they don’t offer a complete barrier in a heavy downpour.
What’s the best men’s raincoat to buy?
Top men’s raincoat
London Fog Men’s Single-Breasted Raincoat
What you need to know: The vintage design of this raincoat makes it a popular outwear option.
What you’ll love: It’s one of the most versatile raincoats around and matches well with various outfits. It goes down to just above the knees, giving it a classy look, and features a removable zip-out liner. Also, it’s water-resistant and machine washable.
What you should consider: Some found the arm length too long and the buttonholes too small.
Where to buy: Sold by Amazon
Top men’s raincoat for the money
What you need to know: This affordable and comfortable jacket will keep you both warm and dry in the rain.
What you’ll love: It’s a fully waterproof jacket made of polyurethane, which is guaranteed to keep water out. It’s highly breathable and features a practical zip closure. Also, it’s available in classic yellow or modern navy color.
What you should consider: It has a mid-length cut, so it’s not a good option for those who want to wear it over business suits.
Where to buy: Sold by Amazon
Worth checking out
The North Face Men’s Resolve Jacket
What you need to know: This is the perfect raincoat for those who want a versatile jacket that looks fantastic.
What you’ll love: It has a fully waterproof shell and features DryVent performance tech, making it one of the most breathable, waterproof and windproof raincoats around. It also has a standard shape and comes equipped with a removable hood.
What you should consider: It’s versatile, but the cut isn’t long enough to cover a business suit.
Where to buy: Sold by Amazon
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Kevin Luna writes for BestReviews. BestReviews has helped millions of consumers simplify their purchasing decisions, saving them time and money.
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| 2022-04-04T22:35:41
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Which baby camping chair is best?
If you’re the outdoorsy type of family, you probably want to introduce your children to the smell of the woods and the sight of unpolluted stars as soon as possible. But where are you going to put them when you need to set up your tent or cook dinner? A baby camping chair, of course.
The best baby camping chair is the Baby Delight Go With Me Venture Chair. It has a feeding tray and sun protection, plus it can fit a toddler once they become one.
What to know before you buy a baby camping chair
Standard vs. baby camping chairs
You may think standard and baby camping chairs are the same, only one is smaller. However, baby camping chairs have a few design tweaks to set them apart. The biggest is that baby chairs tend to have more waterproofing to prevent stains and lessen the impact of spills. They also tend to have harnesses built directly into the chair and have sections for an included tray to be attached.
Weight
Baby camp chairs can be surprisingly heavy. Yes, they’re much smaller, but they also include more pieces than standard chairs, which add up fast. The lightest chairs are at least 5 pounds, but most are closer to 10. If that doesn’t sound like much, remember that you have to haul it, the rest of your baby gear and the rest of your general camping gear from your car to the site and back again.
Height
Most baby camping chairs are designed to be as close to the ground as possible for two reasons: It’s less likely to tip over on uneven ground and, if they can walk, it’s easier for your baby to get in and out on their own. However, they never align with your camp chair, and it can be hard on your back and knees trying to feed them at that low level. There are high chair models available, but due to the risk of tipping on uneven ground, it’s recommended to only use them for feeding and have a low-height chair for casual use.
What to look for in a quality baby camping chair
Multi-age
The best baby camping chairs are designed around the speed at which babies grow. They have high weight limits and parts that can be removed to free up space and give toddlers enough room to comfortably sit.
Sunroof
Some baby camping chairs have detachable sunroofs to shade and protect your baby.
Materials
Baby camp chair materials are split between the frame and the padding.
- Frame: Aluminum is most commonly used for its low cost, lightness and strength. Steel is also common, though more likely to be found in chairs that are built to grow with your baby.
- Padding: Like standard chairs, baby chairs use nylon due to its durability and low cost.
How much you can expect to spend on a baby camping chair
Baby camping chairs usually cost a minimum of $30, though a few options can creep down to $15-$20. Better chairs usually run $30-$50 with premium options starting around $75.
Baby camping chair FAQ
What kind of weight limit does a baby camping chair have?
A. Baby camping chairs have small to medium weight limits. Small chairs that aren’t meant to grow with your child are usually limited to 30-40 pounds. Better chairs and those meant to grow with your child tend to have weight limits up to 75 pounds. Very few chairs reach 100-pound weight limits.
Does a baby camping chair’s visual design affect anything?
A. Yes. There are two points that can have negative effects: the color and the presence of reflective material such as vinyl. Dark colors grow hotter in the sun, which the chair is going to have plenty of contact with. If it sits in the sun while you play with your child, it might become too hot for them when it’s time to put them in it. Vinyl, and other plasticky substances, are used to waterproof stretches of the chair. If positioned just right they may cause the sun to reflect right into your baby’s eyes.
What’s the best baby camping chair to buy?
Top baby camping chair
Baby Delight Go With Me Venture Chair
What you need to know: This chair is feature-packed and grows with your child.
What you’ll love: It includes a large carrying bag that easily fits the chair, a detachable shade roof and a detachable feeding tray. The baby harness can easily be removed to give enough space for a toddler to sit comfortably. The right arm includes a cup holder.
What you should consider: It’s among the costlier chairs. It sits low to the ground, so feeding your baby might be uncomfortable. The tray sits too high for smaller babies.
Where to buy: Sold by Amazon
Top baby camping chair for the money
Summer Infant Summer Pop ’N Sit Portable Booster Chair
What you need to know: This is excellent for the occasional adventure as well as daily use.
What you’ll love: It includes a removable and dishwasher-safe feeding tray, a three-point safety harness, a storage pocket, chair straps and a carrying bag to fit it all in. Setup is as simple as unfolding it and it’s perfect for camping or at home.
What you should consider: The feeding tray can be difficult to attach and detach, plus the harness is attached to the seat instead of the back of the chair.
Where to buy: Sold by Amazon
Worth checking out
Ciao! Baby Portable High Chair For Babies and Toddlers
What you need to know: This chair’s height is perfectly situated to be less strenuous on your back when standing and comfortably reachable if you’re sitting in your own camping chair.
What you’ll love: The tray is covered in vinyl for easy cleaning and a five-point safety harness keeps your baby secure. Its height makes it a great choice for parents with bad backs.
What you should consider: It’s a little pricey. The tray can slant toward your baby depending on their weight and how they sit, causing their food to slide into their lap.
Where to buy: Sold by Amazon
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Jordan C. Woika writes for BestReviews. BestReviews has helped millions of consumers simplify their purchasing decisions, saving them time and money.
Copyright 2022 BestReviews, a Nexstar company. All rights reserved.
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| 2022-04-04T22:35:48
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Which kids tunnel is best?
Even though there are countless aisles of toys for every age, it can be challenging to find the perfect item for babies, toddlers or young kids that is both exciting and beneficial. However, one toy that checks all the boxes is a play tunnel. No kid can resist crawling through the tunnel, wondering what’s on the other side. And as a bonus, all that crawling is certain to burn your child’s excessive energy.
If you’re looking for a comprehensive kids tunnel with games that can accommodate multiple kids, the Playz Kids Playhouse Jungle Gym with Pop-Up Tents and Tunnels is a top choice.
What to know before you buy a kids tunnel
Here are a few things to consider before buying a kids tunnel.
What is a kids play tunnel?
The most common play tunnel for kids is made of soft material with wire that folds up when not in use. It can be anything from a simple tunnel to a full maze of tunnels, tents and games. The tents can include windows or areas to stand. Some larger play tunnels may include a ball pit or a basketball game.
Benefits of a kids tunnel
When kids are younger, they learn by having fun. Here are a few benefits kids will gain by playing in a kids tunnel.
- Exercise: A play tunnel offers a way for kids to get their exercise without even realizing they are. From crawling through the tunnel repeatedly to jumping in the ball pit to shooting the basketball, all of those fun activities count as exercise.
- Gross motor skills: Toddlers and babies especially can work on several gross motor skills from a kids tunnel. Babies can develop muscles needed to crawl forward and backward, and it also benefits children by engaging their entire body and building core and arm muscles.
- Sensory development: A play tunnel provides so much sensory stimulation, including the different colors, the feel of the material and the sound it makes when you’re wiggling through the tunnel. This can help babies and toddlers develop their senses. However, for some children who experience sensory processing problems, many of the elements in a kids tunnel can help with sensory overload.
What to look for in a quality kids tunnel
Size
There are many different sizes of tunnels for kids. When choosing a size, you’ll want to consider the age of your children. If you want a tunnel for your baby who just learned to crawl, a simple, straight tunnel will likely be a lot of fun. However, for toddlers or young kids, you might want to consider an option that includes multiple tunnels and a few games to make sure they don’t get bored.
Safety
To ensure a play tunnel is safe, you’ll first want to check the age recommendation on the tunnel to ensure your kids fall into that range. Also, because most play tunnels are soft and collapsible, they won’t be able to support the weight of your child if they lean against it or try to climb on top. Lastly, it’s smart to check the tunnel to ensure no wires have popped out of the material, which can happen if a wire breaks.
Extra features
If you want something more than a simple, straight tunnel, there are a ton of options, including sets that include multiple tunnels, tents, a basketball hoop and a ball pit. However, many expansive tunnels take up a large area, so be sure you have the space if you want a lot of extra features.
How much you can expect to spend on a kids tunnel
Depending on the material, size and features, kids tunnels cost between $10-$150.
Kids tunnel FAQ
Can I clean my play tunnel in the washing machine?
A. Since the majority of play tunnels for kids contain metal wiring inside the material that cannot be removed, they cannot be put in the washing machine. If it gets dirty, you should be able to hand wash it with a damp washcloth and soap. However, it’s always best to read the manufacturer’s instructions first.
Can I use a kids tunnel for my dogs?
A. Most soft play tunnels are safe for dogs and can be used to provide fun or as a training tool. However, since the material is thin, a dog’s nails could rip or put holes in the material.
What are the best kids tunnels to buy?
Top kids tunnel
Playz Kids Playhouse Jungle Gym with Pop Up Tents and Tunnels
What you need to know: If you’re looking for a comprehensive tunnel playset, this option offers space for multiple kids, an exciting maze and games.
What you’ll love: While there are several pieces, it’s straightforward to assemble and is lightweight. Plus, you can combine the tunnels and tents in various ways or keep them freestanding in different areas.
What you should consider: The ball pit balls are not included and can be a little expensive.
Where to buy: Sold by Amazon
Top kids tunnel for the money
What you need to know: This simple and affordable kids play tunnel offers enjoyment without taking up too much space.
What you’ll love: Set up is fast and simple with its pop-up design, and it easily folds up and comes with a convenient carrying case. Plus, the multi-color tunnel provides visual stimulation and fun.
What you should consider: The tunnel is not designed to withstand rough play — the material is thin.
Where to buy: Sold by Amazon
Worth checking out
What you need to know: With its unique design, this play tunnel can provide hours of excitement for multiple kids.
What you’ll love: This kids tunnel comes with four tunnels and a central area, which is ideal for multiple kids or keeping one child busy for hours. Each tunnel also comes with an easy twist lock to quickly set up and put away.
What you should consider: Similar to most soft, foldable tents, inside the material contains wires that could pop out if they’re broken.
Where to buy: Sold by Amazon
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Bre Richey writes for BestReviews. BestReviews has helped millions of consumers simplify their purchasing decisions, saving them time and money.
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| 2022-04-04T22:35:54
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Which waterproof spray is best?
Whether you want to protect your camping gear, outdoor wear, patio furniture, shoes or nearly anything else from the rain, waterproof sprays are excellent. They’re easy to apply, dry quickly and, in most cases, offer long-lasting protection.
Before purchasing a waterproof spray, make sure it is suitable for the material you are trying to protect — some sprays are less versatile than others. This is one of the things that makes Scotchgard Heavy-Duty Water Shield a great choice. It can be used on nearly any kind of material, from nylon to leather, without causing damage or discoloration. It also doesn’t affect breathability.
What to know before you buy a waterproof spray
Uses
Before purchasing any spray, carefully read the product details to ensure it will work as you want. For example, not all are safe for use on leather or suede. Others may not be suitable for indoor applications such as protecting a couch or for clothes that will be in constant contact with your skin.
Application
Aerosol sprays are the easiest to apply evenly and quickly, especially when covering a large area. This is important both for convenience and to ensure proper coverage. Uneven application may result in areas of fabric that don’t end up with enough water resistance.
Before you start applying any spray, read the directions carefully. Spraying usually entails holding the can anywhere from 8 to 12 inches away from the fabric and moving it in a slow, sweeping motion. Some sprays might also recommend two applications for optimal water resistance.
Discoloration
When you first apply a waterproof spray, it may appear to darken the fabric and cause discoloration. Don’t worry — your fabric should return to its original color as the spray dries. That said, it is always wise to test the spray on a small, unnoticeable spot to see how your fabric reacts before applying it everywhere. Make sure to wait for the spray to dry fully before deciding that it doesn’t cause any kind of permanent discoloration.
What to look for in a quality waterproof spray
Base
Waterproof sprays have either a water or a silicone base.
- Water-based: Many people prefer water-based formulas because they can be made without solvents, take less time to dry and can be applied indoors if needed.
- Silicone-based: These are more durable and generally offer longer-lasting protection after a single application. The downside is they contain solvents, which may irritate the skin, and should only be applied outdoors or in well-ventilated spaces. They are also flammable until the solvent fully dries and evaporates.
Longevity
How long a spray’s protection lasts after a single application varies. Some require reapplication in as little as a couple of months while others last for a year or more. Silicone-based repellents almost always last longer than water-based ones, so these are your best choice if you want to go as long as possible before having to reapply the spray. Keep in mind that the more often a material is exposed to water, the quicker the protection from a waterproof spray wears off.
Coverage
If you are purchasing a waterproof spray to coat a couple of pairs of shoes, the amount of coverage in a bottle probably won’t be a deciding factor in your choice. Every container will provide more than enough coverage.
On the other hand, if you are trying to protect an outdoor patio umbrella, a tent or another large piece of fabric, make sure to check the amount of coverage you can expect to ensure it will meet your needs.
Additional protection
In addition to waterproofing, some sprays offer protection against stains and sun damage.
How much you can expect to spend on a waterproof spray
Most waterproof sprays cost $5-$20 per container, which can be anywhere from 8 to 16 ounces.
Waterproof spray FAQ
Do waterproof sprays leave behind an odor?
A. They may have a strong smell when first applied, but it should completely dissipate within a day or two.
How long do waterproofing sprays take to dry?
A. It varies. Some are fully dry in just two to three hours, while some silicone-based sprays can take up to 48 hours. On nearly all sprays, the required drying time is printed on the container or in the instructions.
What’s the best waterproof spray to buy?
Top waterproof spray
Scotchgard Heavy-Duty Water Shield
What you need to know: Ideal for everything from outerwear to outdoor gear to patio furniture, this is a versatile spray that can keep almost all your stuff well protected.
What you’ll love: It dries fully in less than six hours and is effective at protecting against mold and stains on items constantly exposed to water.
What you should consider: It needs to be reapplied seasonally.
Where to buy: Sold by Amazon and Home Depot
Top waterproof spray for the money
What you need to know: If you need a particularly resilient silicone-based waterproof spray for footwear, this is a top choice.
What you’ll love: It’s designed to bond to leather and fabric for long-lasting protection. But it still lets the material breathe so your feet don’t wind up getting sweaty.
What you should consider: It sometimes leaves items with a darker, richer tone.
Where to buy: Sold by Amazon
Worth checking out
Grangers Performance Repel Plus
What you need to know: This eco-friendly choice gives items a water-repellent coating while being free of fluorocarbons and volatile organic compounds, so you can feel good about using it.
What you’ll love: It doesn’t leave behind any noticeable film or smell.
What you should consider: It is not intended for use on suede.
Where to buy: Sold by Amazon
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Brett Dvoretz writes for BestReviews. BestReviews has helped millions of consumers simplify their purchasing decisions, saving them time and money.
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| 2022-04-04T22:36:00
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Which kids camping cot is best?
When introducing your children to sleeping in the great outdoors, you want to ensure they have a good time. Otherwise, they’ll never want to go camping again. Guaranteeing they have a comfortable night is one of the most critical choices. Bad sleep leads to cranky people, no matter the age.
The best kids camping cot is the Redcamp Folding Kids Cot. It supports up to 220 pounds, weighs only 11.6 pounds and is the perfect fit for children 4 feet 5 inches or smaller.
What to know before you buy a kids camping cot
Tent vs. cabin sleeping
When camping, most people sleep in a tent or in a cabin. You need to consider this when shopping for a kids camping cot.
- Tent: If you’re sleeping in a tent, you need to check the feet and the height. The feet must have some soft coating. Otherwise, the frames can rip through the tent’s bottom. You can always place a protective sheet down instead, but this is more effort. The cot’s height can’t be too close to the top of the tent, otherwise, your child can’t get into and out of the cot. Most kids camping cots are less than a foot off the ground, so this is rarely an issue.
- Cabin: If you’re sleeping in a cabin, you also need to check the feet to make sure they aren’t sharp enough to scratch the floors. You’ll also want the feet to have an anti-slip function. Otherwise, a kid prone to tossing and turning can slide all over the cabin.
Ease of assembly
Kids camping cots are usually designed to make setup and takedown as easy as possible. Many have no separate parts and fold up when not needed. Folding cots are a good start if you want to introduce your child to setting up a camp.
What to look for in a quality kids camping cot
Materials
Kids camping cots use separate materials for their frames and the padding.
- Frame: Most frames are aluminum or steel. Aluminum is lighter, more affordable and naturally rust-resistant. Steel is more durable, has a higher weight limit and isn’t much more expensive. However, it does considerably add to carry weight.
- Padding: Most pads are polyester or nylon. These materials are supportive, comfortable and easy to clean. Other pads use canvas or cotton. These materials are far more durable but are heavier and difficult to keep clean. A few pads are made of mesh for breathability in hot weather.
Weight limit
As you might imagine, kids camping cots have lower weight limits than a standard cot. Most hold 150 to 200 pounds. Some of the cheaper cots might have weight limits under 100 pounds, while the better cots have weight limits over 200 pounds.
How much you can expect to spend on a kids camping cot
Kids camping cots fall into the same price ranges as any other cot, being roughly $30-$150. The average kids cot runs $40-$75. Some specialty cots can exceed $150.
Kids camping cot FAQ
How do I maintain a kids camping cot?
A. There’s not much maintenance one can do on a kids camping cot. At best, you need to spot clean the pad should it get dirty. You can do this with a cloth soaked in a solution of hot water and dish soap. This same cloth can wipe away any dirt on the frames and feet. You’ll want to keep an eye on the frames for denting and bending and an eye on the padding for tearing seams and other holes. Unfortunately, there’s not much you can do to repair these issues. You’ll likely need to purchase a new cot.
Can I buy bedding made specifically for a kids camping cot?
A. Yes. Cots of all sizes have special bedding made just for them. These sets usually include fitted and flat sheets as well as a pillowcase. Some cots can be bundled with these sets or include a sleeping bag instead.
What’s the best kids camping cot to buy?
Top kids camping cot
What you need to know: This pick is durable and comfortable.
What you’ll love: This has a weight limit of 220 pounds and a height limit of 4-foot-5-inches tall. It folds up for easy storage and weighs only 11.6 pounds. It’s available in several colors, two of which include a matching sleeping bag.
What you should consider: Some kids found the bed to be a little too stiff. A few consumers reported receiving used cots that had clearly been used.
Where to buy: Sold by Amazon
Top kids camping cot for the money
Regalo My Cot Portable Toddler Bed
What you need to know: This tiny budget pick is perfect for the youngest kids.
What you’ll love: This kids cot is designed for toddlers with a size of 4 feet by 2 feet and a weight limit of 75 pounds. It’s waterproof for easy cleaning. Lastly, it folds up to 9 by 8 by 24 inches and weighs only 6.25 pounds for easy travel.
What you should consider: Some consumers report the cot breaking down within a year of purchase. Others said the center support is too high for their child to sleep comfortably.
Where to buy: Sold by Amazon
Worth checking out
Kid-O-Bunk Children’s Portable Mobile Camping Bed
What you need to know: This bunk-style cot is an interesting variant.
What you’ll love: These can be set up individually or formed into bunk beds. The frames are made of sturdy steel and the pad is polyester. This makes them highly durable, with a weight limit of 200 pounds for each cot.
What you should consider: This is exceedingly pricey. You must supervise the setup to avoid potentially hazardous mistakes your children may make. Some consumers had issues with tearing seems.
Where to buy: Sold by Amazon
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Jordan C. Woika writes for BestReviews. BestReviews has helped millions of consumers simplify their purchasing decisions, saving them time and money.
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| 2022-04-04T22:36:07
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Which online photography course is best?
Photography is a fulfilling hobby and, for some people, a great way to make extra money on the side or as a full-time profession. However, if you’re just getting started, finding the best online photography course can be tricky. After all, there are many things to consider, such as the required skill level and types of photography covered in the course. If you’re a beginner who’s interested in learning photography starting from the basics, check out the Complete Photography: 21 Courses in 1 [Beginner to Expert] on Udemy.
What to know before you buy an online photography course
Topic
When it comes to taking a photography course, there are countless topics available. Some courses teach you how to set up and operate different types of cameras, including the one on your smartphone. Others focus on how to create a full composition.
More comprehensive or advanced courses take a deep dive into core concepts of the art as well as the types of lenses you should use based on the types of photos you want to take. There are also courses that teach you how to modify photos through graphic design programs or expert-level techniques on taking photos in poor lighting or fast-paced environments.
Ask yourself what it is you want to learn before signing up for a course. If you’re not sure, make a list that includes every aspect you can think of that might be interesting. For example, you might want to learn the technical side of camera work and angles, or you might want to focus on taking crisper images. Once you have an idea of what you want, check the course’s online syllabus to see if it’s the right fit for you.
Requirements
Some online photography courses teach only theoretical concepts, but many require students to have at least a basic camera. Generally, the requirements will be listed in the description of the courses or in a separate online tab. Even if the course doesn’t require a camera, it’s a good idea to have a smartphone or a basic DSLR camera so you can practice what you learn and hone your skills.
Besides equipment, you might also need to have an understanding of the fundamentals of photography before taking a course. Some online instructors build several courses on one another, meaning they’ll expect students to understand the previous source material before taking a more advanced course. That said, you can always try out different courses until you find one you really enjoy.
Time commitment
Learning photography takes some time and practice. The course should indicate how long it will take, on average, to complete. However, most courses don’t usually account for practice time, so be prepared for that.
Websites like Udemy will list the total amount of lectures, individual sections and total duration of the course. Length varies by course, but many photography courses will be five hours or longer. On the plus side, you can usually go back and listen to previous lectures as often as you’d like and on your own time.
Format
Most online courses are in video format, though some will have downloadable PDF files or audio files you can listen to instead.
What to look for in a quality online photography course
Level
Many online courses, including photography courses, indicate the level or difficulty just below the title or on the main page. Levels usually range from beginner to intermediate to advanced. Some courses are kid-friendly and go over simpler concepts in a more relaxed, fun way. Read through the course details prior to purchase to make sure it’s right for your current skill level.
Modules and lessons
Coursera and Udemy, as well as similar online educational sites, have a section where you can look at the course content broken down into modules and lessons. Each module will usually refer to a key concept and be further broken down into bite-sized lessons that flesh out that concept.
For example, if you’re taking a basic photography course, the first module might be about navigating a camera’s settings and features. Within that module, there could be separate lessons for settings, features and so forth. Read through the different modules and lessons to get a better understanding of the entire course.
Certifications
Depending on the platform, there might be a certification or college credit available with the photography course. However, most sites will require payment or membership first. If you’re interested in taking a course so you can advertise your skills on a professional site such as LinkedIn, a certificate could be great for your profile or resume.
How much you can expect to spend on an online photography course
Some courses on Coursera are free or come with a free trial, but they won’t include a certificate. If you want a certificate through this platform, expect to pay $59 a month. Udemy courses cost $10-$200.
Online photography courses FAQ
How else can I learn photography?
A. Read books or watch YouTube tutorials on photography and camera operation to supplement your skills. More importantly, get out there and start practicing. You can also join or form a group and work together to improve your skills. If you want to be challenged more, consider getting a professional mentor to teach you more advanced photography techniques and concepts.
What equipment do I need for photography?
A. If you’re just starting out, you should have a suitable camera, tripod, camera bag and a few lenses for taking different types of photos in different lighting. You can find a decent entry-level camera with a lens kit that includes an 18-55 millimeter lens and a standard zoom feature.
What are the best online photography courses to buy?
Top online photography course
Complete Photography: 21 Courses in 1 [Beginner to Expert]
What you need to know: This massive online course provides a comprehensive take on photography and features multiple sections that will educate you on the key concepts of photography.
What you’ll love: This course covers everything from photography basics to learning HDR photography and Adobe Photoshop. It also teaches different types of photography, including landscape and portrait. Along with this, there’s a module about the different ways to earn money through photography.
What you should consider: It’s a long course with over eight hours of videos, but it does come with lifetime access. The audio is low at times.
Where to buy: Sold by Udemy
Top online photography course for the money
Cameras, Exposure, and Photography
What you need to know: Designed for beginner photographers, this course breaks down the basics of taking photos and preparing your camera for future shoots.
What you’ll love: With around 19 hours of content, this course features separate readings, quizzes and videos. It’s the first course out of five, so it sets the foundation early on with lessons on camera settings, vantage points and framing your photos.
What you should consider: The quizzes are simple, and the course is primarily aimed at beginners.
Where to buy: Sold by Coursera
Worth checking out
What you need to know: If you’re interested in a brief course about landscape photography, then this course is right for you.
What you’ll love: With 45 minutes of content, this online course teaches the basics of landscape photography. The course is separated into sections, including one on camera settings and another on how to create a composition.
What you should consider: Those who take the course should already have a DSLR camera and understand the basic settings and features.
Where to buy: Sold by Udemy
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Angela Watson writes for BestReviews. BestReviews has helped millions of consumers simplify their purchasing decisions, saving them time and money.
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| 2022-04-04T22:36:13
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