text
string | url
string | crawl_date
timestamp[ns, tz=UTC] | source_domain
string | group
string | id
string | in_blocksbin
int64 | in_noblocksbin
int64 | tag
string | minhash_count
string |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) — Federal authorities reviewing a Chinese company’s purchase of land in North Dakota for a wet corn milling plant say more information is needed before they can decide whether the project might be detrimental to national security.
Fufeng Group’s planned $700 million project in Grand Forks is near a U.S. Air Force base, prompting opponents to raise concerns about potential for espionage.
The Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States told Fufeng in a letter this week that the information the company has provided is “insufficient.” The company said in a statement that it has been “open and cooperative” with U.S. officials and will comply with the government’s request for more information.
Grand Forks City Administrator Todd Feland said Friday that infrastructure work being done by the city for the project would be halted until the review is complete. He said the review is expected to take up to three months.
“I think it’s going to be one of the most highly scrutinized projects from a national security perspective through this process, which is good for everybody,” Feland said.
Amid growing opposition toward the project, Gov. Doug Burgum, and North Dakota U.S. Sens. John Hoeven and Kevin Cramer — all Republicans — pressed the U.S. government in July to expedite a review to ensure it doesn’t pose a risk to national security.
Feland has said the company, which is privately owned, voluntarily submitted a formal request for a review in July.
The Grand Forks City Council in February gave initial approval to the Chinese agribusiness for its proposed corn-milling facility that officials said could be the largest private sector investment in the community’s history.
Fufeng makes products for the animal nutrition, food and beverage, pharmaceutical, health and wellness, oil and gas, and other industries. It’s a leading producer of xanthan gum. The Grand Forks site would be its first U.S.-based manufacturing facility.
|
https://www.ktalnews.com/news/business/ap-us-seeks-more-info-on-chinese-companys-north-dakota-project/
| 2022-09-21T12:10:52Z
|
ktalnews.com
|
control
|
https://www.ktalnews.com/news/business/ap-us-seeks-more-info-on-chinese-companys-north-dakota-project/
| 1
| 0
|
green-iguana-35
| null |
(NBC News) — Friday “Dateline,” revisits a case that made headlines in 2019, Jennifer Dulos, a Connecticut mother of five who vanished without a trace.
Now the lead investigator in the case reveals key details about the day Dulos disappeared.
Here is a preview of Dennis Murphy’s report:
The early thumbnail of the missing mom was this: Jennifer Dulos was 50 years old, a one-time New Yorker, married to a luxury home builder named Fotis Dulos.
They had five children together, but in 2017 she took the kids and left the marriage, moving from the family home in suburban Hartford, Connecticut, to a rental house in New Canaan, about 70 miles away.
Two years later, just before Memorial Day, no one knew where she was.
SHANNON MILLER: We start to learn that she had several appointments in New York that she didn’t make. So her friends start to get concerned and make a call to police.
In those early moments, there wasn’t much to go on. It was an overcast Friday morning, May 24. Jennifer Dulos dropped her kids off at their exclusive private school at 8 a.m. and seemingly walked off the face of the earth.
Watch “Dateline: The Day Jennifer Disappeared” on NBC4 at 10 p.m.
About ‘Dateline’
“Dateline NBC” is the longest-running series in NBC primetime history and is in its 30th season. Dateline is anchored by Lester Holt and features correspondents Andrea Canning, Josh Mankiewicz, Natalie Morales, Keith Morrison and Dennis Murphy.
Dateline is the #1 Friday newsmagazine and reaches more than 17 million people every week through its broadcast, and millions more through its social media platforms and podcasts.
The stories range from compelling mysteries to powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. When major news breaks, they go to the scene, putting the pieces together to bring the viewer the full picture. And in every story they tell, they help the real people who lived the events share their journeys with the viewer.
|
https://www.ktalnews.com/news/crime/dateline-revisits-case-of-connecticut-mother-jennifer-dulos-who-vanished-in-2019/
| 2022-09-21T12:11:08Z
|
ktalnews.com
|
control
|
https://www.ktalnews.com/news/crime/dateline-revisits-case-of-connecticut-mother-jennifer-dulos-who-vanished-in-2019/
| 1
| 0
|
green-iguana-35
| null |
SHREVEPORT, La. (KTAL/KMSS) – A Bossier City beauty school owner faces up to five years in prison after pleading guilty to making false statements to a federal agency and using CARES Act money meant to keep her business afloat during the coronavirus pandemic for personal use instead.
The United States Attorney’s Office says 41-year-old Janola Massaquoi of Shreveport fraudulently applied for and secured a $500,000 Small Business Administration Economic Injury Disaster Loan (EDIL) and a $178,750 loan through the Paycheck Protection Plan in the name of her LLC, Jane Elizabeth Education Group.
According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Massaquoi served as president of the beauty career training company founded in 2018. That company is listed in business filings with the State of Louisiana with an address in the Heart O’ Bossier shopping center on Old Minden Road. The doors at that location were locked on Friday, and a woman who answered the door declined to comment.
Federal prosecutors say Massaquoi electronically submitted a Loan Authorization and Agreement to the SBA in April 2020 as part of the EIDL process. The certification of that document was an agreement that JEEG “will not without the prior written consent of SBA, make any distribution of Borrower’s assets, or give any preferential treatment, make any advance, directly or indirectly, by way of loan, gift, bonus, or otherwise to any owner or partner.”
Massaquoi also certified that the loan funds would be used solely as working capital for JEEG.
According to evidence presented in court, Massaquoi did not use the funds as working capital for JEEG. Instead, she transferred funds from the company account to her personal account. The money was used for a variety of personal expenses including a down payment on a house and mortgage payments.
It was also revealed that Massaquoi withdrew more than $30,000 in cash, transferred over $50,000 to friends and family members, and used about $83,000 to fund her personal investment and retirement accounts. In total, federal prosecutors say Massaquoi used $250,000 of the EIDL funds for personal use.
“This defendant took advantage of taxpayer dollars at one of the most vulnerable times in American history,” U.S. Attorney Brandon B. Brown said in a statement released Thursday. “Over the last few years, small businesses have struggled to survive during the pandemic. Massaquoi exploited an opportunity given by the government to provide legitimate financial assistance to said businesses. Individuals who commit such fraud will be investigated and ultimately prosecuted. We will continue to work with our federal partners who have allocated their investigative resources toward combating this type of fraud.”
In addition to prison time, Massaquoi faces up to three years of supervised release and a fine of up to $250,000. Sentencing is set for January 11, 2023.
The U.S. Attorney’s office says anyone with information about allegations of attempted fraud involving COVID-19 can report it by calling the Department of Justice’s National Center for Disaster Fraud (NCDF) Hotline at 866-720-5721 or via the NCDF Web Complaint Form at: https://www.justice.gov/disaster-fraud/ncdf-disaster-complaint-form.
|
https://www.ktalnews.com/news/crime/shreveport-bossier-city-louisiana-business-owner-pleads-guilty-to-misusing-250k-in-sba-ppp-funds/
| 2022-09-21T12:11:15Z
|
ktalnews.com
|
control
|
https://www.ktalnews.com/news/crime/shreveport-bossier-city-louisiana-business-owner-pleads-guilty-to-misusing-250k-in-sba-ppp-funds/
| 1
| 0
|
green-iguana-35
| null |
SHREVEPORT, La. (KTAL/KMSS) – The children of Kelly Jose took the witness stand Friday morning to testify in the double-homicide trial of the man accused of killing their father and stepmother.
Prosecutors say DeWayne Watkins, 37, shot Kelly and Heather Jose after they gave him a ride from Mall St. Vincent and withdrew money from an ATM for him, and then, in an attempt to destroy evidence, burned their bodies inside a vehicle in the carport of a vacant home in the Queensborough neighborhood.
Abigayle Jose Arbuckle, now 22, and her little brother, 17-year-old Reagan Jose, were the last people besides the killer to see their dad and stepmom alive.
Reagan Jose was only 13 years old when he, his sister, and her then-boyfriend at the time joined Kelly and Heather Jose for pizza, followed by a shopping trip at Mall St. Vincent, but that didn’t stop him from being able to point to the man he says he last saw with his parents, identifying Watkins as the man who got into the backseat of Heather and Kelly Jose’s white Kia sedan at the mall.
As the short, curly-headed blond teen sat on the witness stand, he calmly recounted the events of that evening. As he and the rest of the family were leaving the mall, he said saw a man he described as a “younger African American man with short hair” sitting down and smoking a cigarette.
He said the man approached the family and asked if he could use a cell phone to call a taxi. Instead, he said, Heather Jose called a taxi for him. When she did not get an answer, he said she and his dad offered the man a ride. He recalled the man saying he need a ride to “somewhere near the fairgrounds.”
Reagan Jose went on to say he left with his sister and her then-boyfriend in the latter’s truck, and they all went to Kelly and Heather’s apartment, where they watched television for what he believed was about 45 minutes before becoming alarmed when his sister got a text that money had been withdrawn from her account.
Arbuckle, who was 18 at the time the Joses’ were killed, confessed that she was spending more time focusing on her then-boyfriend than the man who got into the backseat of the elder Jose’s car and only glimpsed at him for seconds.
Though unable to identify Watkins in the lineup, Arbuckle was able to clarify a timeline for the jury. She said the Joses’ apartment at Fairfield Oakes was only “two-or-three minutes” from Mall St. Vincent and that she, her boyfriend, and Reagan watched television for about an hour-and-a-half when she got pinged from her bank that money had been withdrawn.
Arbuckle said Kelly and Heather were on her bank account and had in the past withdrawn money, but never without notifying her, and always paid her back. In addition, she was concerned because it was a substantial amount of money – around $800 – that left only $3 in her account.
At that point, Arbuckle tried to call both her dad and step-mom but only got voice mail. She said she then called her mom, who lives with her husband in Greenwood, and asked her what to do. Her mother told her to come home, and they’d go from there.
After the three arrived in Greenwood, Arbuckle continued to try to call Heather and her dad, still only getting voice mail. The family decided to call Shreveport police, who said they would have to be inside the Shreveport city limits to file a report.
Arbuckle said at that point, she and her stepfather went to Walmart on Pines Road, met an officer there, and filled out the report.
Later, Arbuckle said she returned to the Joses’ apartment to pick up their dogs because she didn’t want them to be alone all night. While there, she said she found her dad’s phone, so realized he did not have it with him that night.
Neither Arbuckle nor Reagan Jose got much sleep that night. According to Arbuckle, around 4 a.m., Shreveport detectives showed up at their door in Greenwood to tell them that Heather and Kelly Jose had been murdered.
|
https://www.ktalnews.com/news/crime/victims-children-recall-last-moments-before-shreveport-parents-murder-watkins-trial/
| 2022-09-21T12:11:21Z
|
ktalnews.com
|
control
|
https://www.ktalnews.com/news/crime/victims-children-recall-last-moments-before-shreveport-parents-murder-watkins-trial/
| 1
| 0
|
green-iguana-35
| null |
BATON ROUGE, La. (BRPROUD) — This week State Superintendent Cade Brumley released a statement about the proposed expansion of Title IX protections that lay out specific guidelines for transgender youth that was announced earlier in the summer by the Biden Administration. He stated the guidelines are not enforceable and the Louisiana Department of Education (LDOE) is against the proposed changes.
In his statement to system leaders, school boards, and Athletic Association, Brumley said the guidelines “…were prematurely issued by the U.S. Department of Education and the U.S. Department of Agriculture…Louisiana Department of Education does not agree with the proposed changes nor do we recognize the…guidance documents as binding or enforceable at this time.”
The letter states he had been getting a lot of questions from school boards about if the changes were already in effect. He points to the proposed changes being in the public comment phase of the process which will end on Sept. 12. After the comments are reviewed the final rule will be released.
Brumley reached out to the USDOE to see if Louisiana will be penalized for not following the rule – since about 13% of LDOE’s funding is from the federal government.
A representative from the USDOE’s Office of Civil Rights responded by stating, “It would be premature for the Department to answer specific questions about the application of the proposed rule outside the rulemaking process or before the Department has had the opportunity to review and consider all comments submitted.”
Forum for Equality, an LGBTQ advocacy group, said LGBTQ students especially need to be protected.
“I think it sends the wrong message to students going back into the classroom and I think that it doesn’t give us any answers on what we should be doing within our school districts to protect and respect gay and trans students,” Executive Director SarahJane Guidry said.
Brumley points out that the “Fairness in Women’s Sports Act,” which bans transgender girls from competing on girl’s sports teams in school, was overwhelmingly passed in the legislature and LSHAA has rules on the books banning those players as well.
“The guidelines were put out in response to the attacks that legislatures like the one here in Louisiana have put on trans athletes and trans students… the guidelines are going to be looking at how they are going to be able to access gym facilities, how they’re going to be able to access bathrooms, and what the schools should be doing in response to that,” Guidry said.
State Rep. Valerie Hodges, R-Denham Springs, tweeted support for the letter as she did support the ban on transgender athletes on school teams.
“La. Dept of [Education] [response] to Biden’s radical and ridiculous changes to Title IX. Thank you for standing for children,” Rep. Hodges said.
Guidry points to LGBTQ youth being a vulnerable population and in need of support.
It is not clear if the guidelines will put Louisiana’s funding in jeopardy for not following the final rule when it is released.
“I think it depends on how the administration ends up publishing the policy and how it goes into effect. So that is really up into the air at this moment. They could remain guidelines which don’t have the force of law,” Guidry said.
The public can share their input on the guidelines on the Federal Register website.
|
https://www.ktalnews.com/news/education/state-superintendent-says-ldoe-disagrees-with-new-title-ix-guidance-not-enforceable/
| 2022-09-21T12:11:29Z
|
ktalnews.com
|
control
|
https://www.ktalnews.com/news/education/state-superintendent-says-ldoe-disagrees-with-new-title-ix-guidance-not-enforceable/
| 1
| 0
|
green-iguana-35
| null |
SHREVEPORT, La. (KTAL/KMSS) – A Texas who died after his motorcycle went off the road in Broadmoor early Wednesday was identified by the Caddo Parish Coroner.
The coroner says 33-year-old Micah D. Gehring of Marshall was driving his motorcycle in the 6300 block of Youree Drive just after 1 a.m. when the cycle veered off the road, struck the curb and jumped a cement ditch. Gehring was pronounced dead on the scene.
|
https://www.ktalnews.com/news/local-news/marshall-man-identified-as-driver-in-fatal-broadmoor-motorcycle-crash/
| 2022-09-21T12:11:36Z
|
ktalnews.com
|
control
|
https://www.ktalnews.com/news/local-news/marshall-man-identified-as-driver-in-fatal-broadmoor-motorcycle-crash/
| 1
| 0
|
green-iguana-35
| null |
SHREVEPORT, La. (KTAL/KMSS) – A boil advisory has been rescinded for most of Shreveport.
According to an update released by the city late Friday night, the boil advisory has been lifted for the main pressure zone that impacts most Shreveport water customers and feeds the city’s hospitals.
The boil advisory for the Southeast zone was lifted early Friday afternoon after repairs were completed on four of the city’s water towers, where holes were discovered earlier this week during an annual inspection conducted with the help of Louisiana Department of Health drones. The holes exposed customers’ drinking water to potential contamination.
Only the west zone remains under a boil advisory, and the city says that is expected to be lifted Saturday.
Work on the last of the towers was completed just before noon on the West Shreveport elevated tank on Rice Road. Shreveport Mayor Adrian Perkins shared photos on his official Facebook page of crews working that tower.
📲 Download the KTAL NBC 6 News app to stay updated on the go.
📧 Sign up for KTAL Breaking News email alerts
💻 Find today’s top stories from Shreveport-Bossier and across the ArkLaTex on KTALNews.com.
Crews finished repairs on Thursday at the St. Vincent water tower, the Linwood water tank, and the elevated ground storage site at 70th and Pines Road. Water sampling began when the work was completed. Water Department staff collected samples though the night, and once analyzed, LDH is expected to rescind the last of the boil advisory for the remaining zone.
|
https://www.ktalnews.com/news/local-news/progress-on-shreveport-water-tower-repairs-boil-advisory-could-be-lifted-soon/
| 2022-09-21T12:11:44Z
|
ktalnews.com
|
control
|
https://www.ktalnews.com/news/local-news/progress-on-shreveport-water-tower-repairs-boil-advisory-could-be-lifted-soon/
| 1
| 0
|
green-iguana-35
| null |
SHREVEPORT, La. (KTAL/KMSS) – After Tuesday’s brawl at Southwood High School, many people in the Shreveport community are expressing concerns and exploring solutions to end teen violence in the city.
Caddo Parish Deputies arrested a dozen Southwood High School students after two gang-related fights. Twelve teenagers face charges of disturbing the peace for the fight Tuesday.
“Then if you ain’t in blue, you had better not come to Southwood,” Craig Lee, co-founder of Dads on Duty USA, said. Lee says the fight took place right in front of him, and it was due to the color of the students’ attire.
The teenagers were released to their guardians. Elders are looking for ways to meet the youth in the middle and put an end to the violence.
“It is saddening at some level, and at the same time, it is understandable how it evolved because of the population being dispossessed, and despised, and disposed of,” Head of the Department of Psychology/Sociology at Grambling State University, Dr. Kevin Washington said.
Washington says violence in teens often comes from negative reinforcements.
“If they are in a space where they never shown their value, their worth, and they’re never given an opportunity to have a vision for the future, then their despair will turn inward and create a condition of a perpetual unrest within a given space.”
While Lee has expressed concern for students at Southwood High School, he says he is worried about the teachers, too.
“The fear that teachers and administration have about saying something to them, possibly being seen at a grocery store and it’s like ‘that’s her!’ This is real.”
Both Lee and Washington believe the solution is community support.
“Our interest is attracting positive fathers, grandfathers, uncles, cousins as our first line of defense. And then other positive community supporters to come in and join the effort,” Lee said. “It really does take an empowered village to empower our children.”
Lee says he is actively recruiting positive role models to lead the youth of Southwood High School in the right direction. Dads on Duty began last year after a series of fights at the school.
|
https://www.ktalnews.com/news/local-news/teen-violence-in-shreveport-saddening-and-understandable/
| 2022-09-21T12:11:50Z
|
ktalnews.com
|
control
|
https://www.ktalnews.com/news/local-news/teen-violence-in-shreveport-saddening-and-understandable/
| 1
| 0
|
green-iguana-35
| null |
BOSSIER PARISH, La. (KTAL/KMSS) – Unlocked doors and few consequences, if any, are giving youth housed in a Bossier City center a prime opportunity to walk out the door with no resistance from staff.
In August, at least three teens reportedly ran away from youth shelters in Bossier City. Staci Scott, Executive Director of Ware Youth Center in Coushatta, and Johnny Gray Jones Youth Shelter in Bossier City explain what the facilities are doing to keep kids safe.
Scott says that youth housed at Johhny Gray Jones come from all parts of the state. They are placed there by the Office of Juvenile Justice, Department of Children and Family Services, and the parish as truants or ungovernable youth.
“As you know, juvenile crime is up, and youth are tending to act out more, and I think parents just don’t know what to do with their kids,” Scott said. “We are getting a lot of youth. We are getting a lot of troubled youth. Some youth that probably should really be in detention, but because of bed space, they end up being placed in shelter.”
Johnny Gray Jones is not a youth detention center. It is a facility that provides shelter care. Because it is a residential facility, no guards or other security measures are in place. That allows youth who are more defiant or ungovernable to simply walk out of the center.
“We’re considered a residential facility. We’re licensed by the Department of Children and Family Services as a residential facility, which means the doors are not locked. So if a kid really decides that they want to run away, there’s really not much that we can do about it.”
When there is a runaway, Scott says the center follows guidance set by DCFS, including calling the Bossier City Police Department. He says that about 70% of the youth reported as runaways are returned the same day.
Scott draws a clear distinction between the adolescents housed at Johnny Gray. She says they are not juvenile offenders.
“They are runaways, abused, neglected, ungovernable – which just means they won’t mind their parents – truancy and things along that lines. They have not been convicted of any crimes.”
The youth in the facility know the doors are unlocked, and many seize the opportunity to walk through an unlocked door. They understand that there isn’t anything that staff can do.
“As far as any kind of disciplinary measures, there’s not much we can do. Our hands are kind of tied on that.”
Safety is a significant issue when it comes to juvenile runaways. Youth face many dangers on the street. Scott says she and center staff emphasize to the teens they house that running away poses a safety threat and they could be hurt.
She says there are no disciplinary measures that the center can take to prevent juveniles housed in the facility from running away multiple times. They must follow DCFS guidelines and report the incident to the appropriate department that sent the minor to the center. Police can write the teen a runaway summons.
A recent partnership with Missouri Youth Services Institute MYSI is something Scott hopes will help them curb some of the issues juvenile facilities face. She says MYSI uses a group approach to addressing some of the problems juveniles face in state detention and shelter facilities.
|
https://www.ktalnews.com/news/local-news/unlocked-doors-provide-opportunity-for-youth-in-bosssier-city-facility-to-runaway/
| 2022-09-21T12:11:57Z
|
ktalnews.com
|
control
|
https://www.ktalnews.com/news/local-news/unlocked-doors-provide-opportunity-for-youth-in-bosssier-city-facility-to-runaway/
| 1
| 0
|
green-iguana-35
| null |
(NewsNation) — America’s employers added 315,000 jobs in August, a decrease from a blockbuster gain the month prior, and in the face of continued inflation and recession fears.
The report Friday from the Labor Department showed the unemployment rate bumped up from 3.5% to 3.7%. The unemployment rate in July reached the lowest level since the pandemic erupted two years ago.
The smaller August gain will likely be welcomed by the Federal Reserve. The Fed is rapidly raising interest rates to try to cool hiring and wage growth, which have been consistently strong. Businesses typically pass the cost of higher wages on to their customers through higher prices, thereby fueling inflation.
“In a normal setting, this would be considered a pretty good report,” said Dan Roccato, finance professor at the University of San Diego. “But we’re not in a normal setting right now, as you know. So right now, Wall Street is just so focused on one thing, and that’s interest rates.”
Chair Jerome Powell and other Fed officials have increasingly stressed their determination to tame inflation even at the cost of damaging the economy. In a major speech in Jackson Hole, Wyoming last week, Powell underscored the Fed’s tight focus on curbing inflation and said he was prepared to continue raising short-term interest rates and keep them elevated to achieve that goal. He warned that the Fed’s inflation fight would likely cause pain for Americans in the form of a weaker economy and job losses.
Fed officials hope that by raising borrowing costs across the economy, they can reduce inflation from a near-40-year high. Some economists fear, though, that the Fed is tightening credit so aggressively that it will eventually tip the economy into recession.
The stock market has fallen every day since that speech as fears that the Fed may cause a recession have escalated.
Job openings remain high and the pace of layoffs low, indicating that most businesses still want to hire and that the economy isn’t likely in, or even close to, a recession. The broadest measure of the economy’s output — gross domestic product — has shrunk for two straight quarters, meeting one informal definition of a recession.
“While the report itself wasn’t bad, certainly a little bit more modest than the last report last month, it still didn’t aleve the fears of the traders that in fact, interest rates are set for yet another pretty big increase in two weeks time,” Roccato said.
Charles Schwab reports the U.S. could be in a “rolling recession” right now.
“They’re probably right,” Roccato said. “So I don’t see this cataclysmic recession like we had in 2008. Right, the Great Recession. It’s hard to see that again. But it is easy to see how pockets of the economy continue to struggle.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
|
https://www.ktalnews.com/news/national/us-adds-315000-jobs-unemployment-ticks-up/
| 2022-09-21T12:12:05Z
|
ktalnews.com
|
control
|
https://www.ktalnews.com/news/national/us-adds-315000-jobs-unemployment-ticks-up/
| 1
| 0
|
green-iguana-35
| null |
LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — Monkeypox in Arkansas continues to spread, with more counties added as infection rates climb.
In its Friday update, the Arkansas Department of Health reported the state now has 12 of the state’s 75 counties with a monkeypox infection, up from last week’s 10.
ADH also reports the state has 41 cases of the disease, a 34% increase from its 30 cases a week ago.
The first case of monkeypox in Arkansas was July 3.
Lee and Garland counties are now included in the list of those with monkeypox cases, having one case in each. Pulaski County continues to have the greatest number of cases, now at 25, up from last week’s 17 cases per ADH figures. Faulkner and Washington counties continue to have three cases, with Desha County, added to the county list last week, now with two cases up from last week’s single case. The remaining counties, Benton, Pope, Saline, Lonoke, Cross, Crittenden have a single case.
As reported last week, when ADH began reporting demographics, Arkansas monkeypox infections are nearly entirely affecting males, with 0% female infections and a 2.44% infection rate where gender is listed as “unknown.” Breaking down cases by race, 56.1% of the infections are listed as Black, with 29.7% as White and 4.88% as Asian. Other, in the race category, is 9.76%.
Thirteen cases reported in both the 25-34 and 35-44 age groups, four cases among patients 18–24-years old and a single case in the 55-64 age group.
Vaccination is recommended if one of three conditions are met:
- People who have been identified by public health officials as a contact with someone who has monkeypox
- People who are aware that one of their sexual partners in the past two weeks has been diagnosed with monkeypox
- People who had multiple sexual partners in the past two weeks in an area with known monkeypox
Vaccines are available in 14 Arkansas counties with the locations mapped on the health department’s monkeypox web page.
|
https://www.ktalnews.com/news/state-news/arkansas/arkansas-adds-counties-to-monkeypox-spread-as-case-numbers-grow/
| 2022-09-21T12:12:12Z
|
ktalnews.com
|
control
|
https://www.ktalnews.com/news/state-news/arkansas/arkansas-adds-counties-to-monkeypox-spread-as-case-numbers-grow/
| 1
| 0
|
green-iguana-35
| null |
LITTLE ROCK, Ark. – Want to live well into old age? Statistically, Arkansas may not be your best choice.
In an August report by the National Vital Statistics Reports, Arkansas ranks 45th of the 50 states and the District of Columbia for life expectancy. The survey is based upon data tables through 2020, including mortality tables and Medicare data.
In the report the life expectancy for an Arkansas resident was 73.8 years. This was derived from the life expectancy for an Arkansas male, 71.1 years, and female of 76.6 years. While we can thank the state females for raising the curve, fair to point out that the female life expectancy rank is 46 for Arkansas females, one point lower compared to the state average.
The 73.8 average expectancy for Arkansas is 1.9 years lower than the 2019 study.
Southern states are the lowest ranking, with Oklahoma at 45, one above Arkansas, and Tennessee, Kentucky, Alabama, Louisiana, West Virginia and Mississippi all finishing below Arkansas.
Mississippi finished lowest, with a 71.9-year expectancy, 68.6 for males and 75.2 for females. Hawaii finished first, with an 80.7-year life expectancy, 77.6 for males and 83.8 for females. The national life expectancy average is 77 years.
The survey is based upon data tables through 2020, including mortality tables and Medicare data.
|
https://www.ktalnews.com/news/state-news/arkansas/arkansas-ranks-low-on-federal-life-expectancy-charts/
| 2022-09-21T12:12:19Z
|
ktalnews.com
|
control
|
https://www.ktalnews.com/news/state-news/arkansas/arkansas-ranks-low-on-federal-life-expectancy-charts/
| 1
| 0
|
green-iguana-35
| null |
CRAWFORD COUNTY, Ark. (KNWA/KFTA) — A Little Rock attorney has been named as the special prosecutor in the investigation resulting from a violent viral video involving two deputies and a police officer subduing a man in Mulberry.
Crawford County prosecuting attorney Rinda Baker selected Emily White as a special prosecutor in the case on August 30. After an investigation, White will determine if charges are to be filed against the two deputies and one police officer involved in the incident.
On August 21, a video posted to Facebook showed Crawford County deputies Levi White and Zack King and Mulberry police officer Thell Riddle punching and kneeing a man on the ground. All three have been suspended as an investigation continues.
The man being beaten in the video, Randal Worcester, 27, filed a civil suit in federal court against all three law enforcement officers. Russell Wood, a lawyer for the two Crawford County sheriff’s deputies, said Worcester had earlier attacked one of the deputies, leaving him with a concussion.
The special prosecutor would not yet confirm if charges will be filed.
“Because it is an ongoing, open and active criminal investigation, I am not releasing any portion of the investigative file at this time,” White said.
White is a former district court judge and also served as disciplinary counsel to the Arkansas judiciary. She has also been a legal instructor at the University of Arkansas Criminal Justice Institute and was the Deputy Executive Director of the Judicial Discipline and Disability Commission for over five years.
She graduated from the William H. Bowen School of Law at the University of Arkansas-Little Rock.
|
https://www.ktalnews.com/news/state-news/arkansas/special-prosecutor-named-in-mulberry-viral-video-use-of-force-investigation-case/
| 2022-09-21T12:12:41Z
|
ktalnews.com
|
control
|
https://www.ktalnews.com/news/state-news/arkansas/special-prosecutor-named-in-mulberry-viral-video-use-of-force-investigation-case/
| 1
| 0
|
green-iguana-35
| null |
BATON ROUGE, La. (BRPROUD) — The Louisiana Department of Health (LDH) says it has expanded its eligibility criteria for the monkeypox vaccines after a supply increase.
Expanded criteria, according to LDH:
- Gay/bisexual men or transgender people who are sexually active with more than one partner
- Anyone who is at high risk of monkeypox exposure: This includes but is not limited to people who:
- Are HIV positive or receive medicines to prevent HIV infection (PrEP)
- Are experiencing homelessness
- Use IV drugs
- Give or receive money or other goods in exchange for sex
- Have significant, skin-to-skin contact with others in a social or sexual venue
- Work at establishments where close, intimate activity occurs (e.g., bathhouses, saunas, sex clubs, hotels)
- Clinicians or laboratory staff who are at high risk of occupational exposure
- Anyone who has been determined to be at high risk by a healthcare provider or public health official
To find a monkeypox vaccine location or event, visit ldh.la.gov/monkeypox-vax.
|
https://www.ktalnews.com/news/state-news/louisiana/monkeypox-vaccine-eligibility-expanded-by-ldh-after-receiving-more-vaccines/
| 2022-09-21T12:12:55Z
|
ktalnews.com
|
control
|
https://www.ktalnews.com/news/state-news/louisiana/monkeypox-vaccine-eligibility-expanded-by-ldh-after-receiving-more-vaccines/
| 1
| 0
|
green-iguana-35
| null |
AUSTIN (KXAN) — On Friday, Gov. Greg Abbott announced the Texas Health and Human Services Commission was providing more than $344.9 million in emergency Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program food benefits for September.
According to Abbott, the food benefits would help nearly 1.6 million Texas households.
After receiving federal approval, HHSC extended the amount of SNAP benefits people can receive based on family size. Recipients will also get a minimum of $95 in emergency allotments, which should appear in recipients’ accounts by Sept. 30, according to Abbott.
“The emergency September allotments are in addition to the more than $7.9 billion in benefits previously provided to Texans since April 2020,” Abbott said.
SNAP is a program that provides food assistance to low-income families and people in Texas who qualify. Texans can apply for these benefits, including Medicaid, online here.
|
https://www.ktalnews.com/news/state-news/texas/emergency-snap-benefits-extended-for-september/
| 2022-09-21T12:13:02Z
|
ktalnews.com
|
control
|
https://www.ktalnews.com/news/state-news/texas/emergency-snap-benefits-extended-for-september/
| 1
| 0
|
green-iguana-35
| null |
(KXAN) — The holders of “The Texas Chainsaw Massacre” copyright are suing a central Texas business — accusing its owners of marketing and selling “at least 66 illicit items” with trademarked logos and images related to the classic 1974 horror film.
According to a lawsuit filed Thursday in the U.S. District Court’s Western District of Texas, Roy and Lisa Rose run The Gas Station off State Highway 304, which was a film location for the 1974 movie. It sells barbecue and horror memorabilia, hosts events and rents out cabin. KXAN reached out to the Roses for comment.
The plaintiff, Vortex Inc., is a family-owned business created in 1974 to manage the rights to the film. It has licensed it to several other companies to produce a variety of products, including clothing, toys, novelties, video games and more.
Vortex’s agents say they reached out to the Roses in March 2016 to establish a licensing agreement.
According to the lawsuit, Roy responded “audaciously” that they would only do a deal if the film’s writers, Toby Hooper and Kim Henkel, would be available annually to sign autographs at The Gas Station.
Roy also reportedly wanted to recoup their initial expenses before paying back licensing fees.
The company’s response was a reminder that Vortex still owns the copyrights and that the Roses could not use them without permission, and a meeting between the two businesses occurred, the lawsuit stated.
After that meeting, Roy was to provide a business plan to Vortex, which it says never came.
It wasn’t until 2020 that Vortex investigated the Roses’ Cult Classic Convention, a yearly gathering of horror and cult classics film enthusiasts. There, it found a “number of infringing goods,” the lawsuit said.
Further investigation by the company found that the Roses also sold these products online and at a chain of Ohio smoke shops, according to the lawsuit.
Read the full lawsuit and see examples of memorabilia below:
In the lawsuit, Vortex’s attorney asks for $150,000 in statutory damages per infringing work, for a total $9.9 million, as well as legal fees and all profits from sales of the goods.
The lawsuit also asks the court to require the Roses destroy any remaining products.
“We take the protection of our intellectual property rights very seriously; this is one of the tenets that has allowed The Texas Chainsaw Massacre film franchise to remain independently owned and controlled by its original creators,” Vortex wrote in a statement. “Unfortunately in this instance we felt the need to protect against the infringement of those rights through court action.”
|
https://www.ktalnews.com/news/state-news/texas/the-texas-chainsaw-copyright-infringement-business-sued-by-film-owner/
| 2022-09-21T12:13:10Z
|
ktalnews.com
|
control
|
https://www.ktalnews.com/news/state-news/texas/the-texas-chainsaw-copyright-infringement-business-sued-by-film-owner/
| 1
| 0
|
green-iguana-35
| null |
TYLER, Texas (KETK) — Ally Goad will be remembered as a free spirit and a positive light who loved being around friends and family.
“She was somebody that was always full of adventure and would drag anybody on those adventures with her,” said her mom Danette Goad.
At just 22 years old, the Oklahoma native died in a crash on Highway 69 near Jacksonville. Her family got the news on Sept. 11, 2021 at 4 a.m.
“There were two police officers standing in the room with my husband, son and daughter-in-law. My husband was on his knees on the ground. My son was clutching the counter trying to stay upright. I turned and looked at the police officers as they delivered the news and I told them that they were liars,” said Danette.
Ally’s family, with the help of East Texans, chose to honor her with a small memorial near the crash site.
There, you’ll find her favorite flowers, sunflowers, stuffed animals, a cross and more, showing how loved and missed she is.
“We ended up driving down, my husband and I, and they put the crosses up and we put the flowers out,” added Danette.
Recently, Ally’s parents learned about TxDOT’s Memorial Sign Program and decided to have one made.
For $350, TxDOT makes a sign to be placed at the site of accident to help raise awareness of preventable tragedies.
“Texas Department of Transportation has what we saw as an amazing program. Not all states have it,” said Danette.
A few weeks after the sign went up, Ally’s mom said TxDOT reached out, saying she needs to remove the family’s memorial. She says TxDOT told her once the sign goes up, you’re not allowed to keep or put up your own memorial.
“They’re saying it’s two memorials, but the memorial for us is the cross and the flowers on the side of the road. The sign is a tool to save other lives and hopefully keep another family from having to go through this devastation,” explained Danette.
Initially, Danette said TxDOT told her to move the cross further away from the road, which they did. Then she said TxDOT gave them 30 days to remove it all.
After KETK’s investigation, TxDOT reached back out to the Goad family and said they do not have to remove the memorial.
“We don’t have a grave to go to. We have an urn and we have that crash site,” said Danette.
Danette said it’s a special spot to the family since it’s the last place Ally was.
For more information, you can visit Ally Rocks 405 on Facebook.
TxDOT gave the following statement to KETK News:
“TxDOT is committed to working with families who have lost loved ones in traffic crashes through our memorial sign program. These signs not only memorialize the victims, but also help remind the traveling public to make safe-driving decisions. Memorials placed by victim’s families should be located in such a way that it does not distract the traveling public and it should not pose hazards to motorists or maintenance crews. We encourage those who want to place a memorial to meet with TxDOT to determine the exact placement of the marker to ensure proper and safe placement.”
Statement from TxDOT
|
https://www.ktalnews.com/news/state-news/texas/txdot-allows-family-to-keep-daughters-roadside-memorial-in-cherokee-county/
| 2022-09-21T12:13:17Z
|
ktalnews.com
|
control
|
https://www.ktalnews.com/news/state-news/texas/txdot-allows-family-to-keep-daughters-roadside-memorial-in-cherokee-county/
| 1
| 0
|
green-iguana-35
| null |
TOKYO (AP) — The head of the U.S. Environment Protection Agency said Friday that advanced nuclear technology will be “critical” for both the United States and Japan as they step up cooperation to meet decarbonization goals.
Michael Regan, after holding talks with his Japanese counterpart Akihiro Nishimura in Tokyo, told a joint news conference that nuclear energy in their countries plays a role and “the opportunities for advanced nuclear technology will be critical if we’re going to meet our climate goals.”
“I think the science tells us that we have to respond to the climate crisis with a sense of urgency and nuclear energy and nuclear technology has and can have a role in continuing with a zero emissions contribution to the climate,” he said, showing support for Japan’s recent shift toward returning to nuclear energy.
Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said last week he instructed his government to consider developing safer, smaller nuclear reactors, in a renewed emphasis on nuclear energy years after many of the country’s plants were shut down.
Kishida said Japan needs to consider all options of energy mix, including nuclear, to bolster its “green transformation” effort to curb emissions of greenhouse gases and to secure stable energy supply. Japan has pledged to reach carbon neutrality by 2050.
Anti-nuclear sentiment and safety concerns rose sharply in Japan after the 2011 Fukushima nuclear plant meltdowns, but the government has been pushing for a return to nuclear energy amid worries of power shortage following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and a global push to reduce greenhouse gases. Japan has faced criticism for saying it will phase out fossil fuel use by 2050 without showing clearer timeline.
While maintaining a 20%-22% target for nuclear energy as part of its energy mix for 2030, Japan’s government had previously insisted it was not considering building new plants or replacing aged reactors, apparently to avoid stoking criticism from a wary public. Kishida’s recent comment represents a sharp change from that stance.
Kishida asked a government panel to decide by the end of the year on its proposal for the development and construction of “new innovative reactors,” such as small modular reactors, while also considering extending operational lifespan of aging reactors.
President Joe Biden also believes that it is an “all hands on deck approach,” Regan said, adding that investments in nuclear technology and carbon capture will complement the big potential for renewable energy.
U.S. and Japanese environment heads also agreed to cooperate to speed up global effort to achieve decarbonization as well as curb ocean plastic pollution, chemicals and other environmental issues.
Biden last month signed into law the Inflation Reduction Act that includes energy provisions aimed at creating savings by providing tax credit for new purchases of some electric vehicles and for home owners who invest in energy-efficient equipment.
While costs of wind, solar and battery storage are coming down and will dominate the future market, existing technology will remain important for the zero emissions goal “if we want to respond to the climate crisis in a timely manner,” Regan said.
|
https://www.ktalnews.com/news/tech-news/ap-epa-head-advanced-nuke-tech-key-to-mitigate-climate-change/
| 2022-09-21T12:13:25Z
|
ktalnews.com
|
control
|
https://www.ktalnews.com/news/tech-news/ap-epa-head-advanced-nuke-tech-key-to-mitigate-climate-change/
| 1
| 0
|
green-iguana-35
| null |
NEW YORK (AP) — The Federal Trade Commission is investigating Amazon’s $3.9 billion acquisition of the primary health organization One Medical, a move that could delay the completion of the deal.
Both One Medical and Amazon received a request for additional information Friday in connection with an FTC review of the merger, according to a filing made with securities regulators by One Medical’s parent, San Francisco-based 1Life Healthcare Inc.
Amazon announced plans in late July to buy One Medical, a concierge-type medical service with roughly 190 medical offices in 25 markets. Last week, the e-commerce giant said it would shutter its own hybrid virtual in-home care service called Amazon Care, a One Medical competitor, because it wasn’t meeting customers’ needs.
The One Medical deal, the first to be announced under CEO Andy Jassy, was another push into healthcare for Amazon following its acquisition of the online pharmacy PillPack for $750 million in 2018. Groups calling for stricter antitrust regulations quickly urged the FTC to block the merger, arguing it would further expand the company’s massive market power.
An Amazon spokesperson declined to comment.
The FTC has already been investigating the sign-up and cancellation practices of Amazon Prime and has issued civil subpoenas in that case.
Last year, the company asked unsuccessfully that FTC Chair Lina Khan step aside from separate antitrust investigations into its business, arguing she would be biased. Khan was notable critic of Seattle-based Amazon and other Big Tech companies prior to assuming the chairmanship. As a Yale law student in 2017, she wrote an influential study titled “Amazon’s Antitrust Paradox.”
|
https://www.ktalnews.com/news/tech-news/ap-ftc-investigating-amazons-3-9b-purchase-of-one-medical/
| 2022-09-21T12:13:32Z
|
ktalnews.com
|
control
|
https://www.ktalnews.com/news/tech-news/ap-ftc-investigating-amazons-3-9b-purchase-of-one-medical/
| 1
| 0
|
green-iguana-35
| null |
TITUSVILLE, Fla. (WFLA) — NASA is pressing pause for now on attempting to launch Artemis I from the agency’s Kennedy Space Center.
The second attempt to launch NASA’s Artemis I mission from Kennedy Space Center was called off on Saturday, marking the second scrub of the mission this week.
NASA officials confirmed during a Saturday evening briefing that they would not make any additional attempts to launch during the current launch period. The period closes on Tuesday, Sept. 6.
No official date has been set for the next launch attempt, but NASA Associate Administrator Jim Free said Saturday that they are now looking at launch periods in late September and into October. The Artemis I team has to work around the SpaceX Crew-5 mission that’s scheduled to launch from Kennedy on Oct. 5.
The Artemis I mission management team was trying to launch the new Space Launch System (SLS) rocket and Orion spacecraft Saturday afternoon. The Artemis I mission will launch the SLS rocket – also called the mega moon rocket – and send the Orion spacecraft on a 37-day, 1.3-million mile test flight around the moon.
But as teams prepared to get the mission off the ground Saturday morning, they discovered a hydrogen line leak. NASA made three attempts to remedy the leak issue but were unable to do so.
NASA officials said the rocket will be rolled back to the vehicle assembly building for repairs.
What went wrong Monday?
Mission managers met several times this week to discuss Monday’s problems and analyze data recorded during the countdown before the mission was scrubbed. The team decided to move forward with a Saturday afternoon launch attempt. They did, however, update their procedures and timeline in response to Monday’s main issue involving one of the rocket engines apparently failing to cool down enough for launch.
“Teams will adjust the procedures to chill down the engines, also called the kick start bleed test, about 30 to 45 minutes earlier in the countdown during the liquid hydrogen fast fill phase for the core stage,” NASA explained. “This will to allow for additional time to cool the engines to appropriate temperatures for launch.”
SLS Program Manager John Honeycutt said he believes Monday’s problem was actually caused by a faulty sensor and expressed confidence that the four main engines are good to go.
“The way the sensor is behaving does not line up with the physics of the situation,” he said.
Artemis Program
Launch Pad 39B, the pad that Artemis I will launch from, is the same pad Apollo 10 launched from. The Apollo program was the last time humans stepped foot on the moon, more than 50 years ago. In Greek mythology, Artemis is the twin sister of Apollo.
Under the new Artemis program, NASA plans to land the first woman and the first person of color on the moon. NASA is looking to establish a long-term presence on the lunar surface and use what they learn to eventually send astronauts to Mars.
Artemis I
Artemis I is NASA’s first step when it comes to achieving the goals of the Artemis program. It is an uncrewed mission, meaning there will be no humans on the flight. NASA calls it “the first in a series of increasingly complex missions to build a long-term human presence at the moon for decades to come.”
“The mission will demonstrate the performance of the SLS rocket and test Orion’s capabilities over the course of about six weeks as it travels about 40,000 miles beyond the moon and back to Earth,” NASA explained.
On its website, NASA explains that the main goals of the mission are to “demonstrate Orion’s systems in a spaceflight environment” and to “ensure a safe re-entry, descent, splashdown and recovery.” This will help when it comes to future missions – including Artemis II, which will be the program’s first crewed flight around the moon.
Artemis I marks the first “integrated test” of NASA’s deep space exploration system. If the mission launches Saturday, NASA is looking at a splashdown on Oct. 11.
Deep space exploration system
The SLS rocket and Orion, along with the ground systems at Kennedy Space Center, make up NASA’s deep space exploration system.
The SLS rocket is described by NASA as the world’s most powerful rocket. According to the agency, it is the only rocket that can currently send the Orion spacecraft to the moon safely.
A comparison of the Saturn V and the new Moon rocket called the Space Launch System or SLS. (AP) A cutaway of the Space Launch System or SLS. (AP)
“SLS is designed specifically for deep space missions with humans and will send the Orion spacecraft to the moon, which is nearly 1,000 times farther than where the International Space Station resides in low-Earth orbit,” NASA said. “The rocket will provide the power to help Orion reach a speed of 22,600 mph, to escape the pull of Earth’s gravity [and] send the spacecraft to the moon.”
Orion, the spacecraft that will launch atop the SLS rocket, was designed to carry humans to deep space, according to NASA. The agency says it was “specifically designed to sustain humans hundreds of thousands of miles from home.”
|
https://www.ktalnews.com/news/tech-news/artemis-i-go-for-launch-attempt-saturday-nasa-says/
| 2022-09-21T12:13:38Z
|
ktalnews.com
|
control
|
https://www.ktalnews.com/news/tech-news/artemis-i-go-for-launch-attempt-saturday-nasa-says/
| 1
| 0
|
green-iguana-35
| null |
TEXARKANA, USA (KTAL/KMSS) – Bird electric scooters are now available for use in downtown Texarkana. The alternate mode of transportation became available this week after city leaders from both sides approved the scooter pilot program on a trial basis for one year.
The scooters are placed only downtown but could potentially expand to Spring Lake Park and Bringle Lake.
City officials say they hope the scooters will increase mobility for residents and visitors.
“Our long-term goal is to make sure that we’re accessible to people and so moving people around with scooters help business as well as the entertainment side,” said City Manager for Texarkana, Arkansas Jay Ellington.
Riders will need to download the Bird app on their phones to access the scooters. They are also encouraged to ride them in the bike lane and not on sidewalks.
|
https://www.ktalnews.com/news/texarkana-news/bird-scooters-now-available-in-downtown-texarkana/
| 2022-09-21T12:13:45Z
|
ktalnews.com
|
control
|
https://www.ktalnews.com/news/texarkana-news/bird-scooters-now-available-in-downtown-texarkana/
| 1
| 0
|
green-iguana-35
| null |
(NEXSTAR) – A brutal combination of soaring gas prices, inflation and travel disruptions have many, including the team at Google Flights, looking for the best way to book a cheap flight.
Just as the price of airfare has gone up – after an 8% drop in July, it was still 30% higher than in 2021 – so has the volume of Google searches for “cheapest airline tickets.” The online query rocketed 240% from April to August, Google found.
Google Flights decided to dig into five years’ worth of data to find any reliable patterns that might help travelers find the cheapest way to fly.
The results may disappoint some who have sworn by a certain day or time believed to be the cheapest for booking.
“There isn’t much value in purchasing your tickets on a certain day of the week — sorry, Tuesday!” wrote James Byers, Google Flights group product manager in a blog post Tuesday.
Five years of price data showed that Tuesdays, Wednesdays or Thursdays wound up being only 1.9% cheaper on average than booking on a weekend day.
“So if your trip is just a couple of weeks away, don’t wait for Tuesday to roll around — book your flight now in case the price goes up,” Byers wrote.
Focusing on the departure day, not the day you buy the ticket, will save you the most money. Flights leaving on Mondays, Tuesdays or Wednesdays were 12% cheaper than weekend departures — a number that jumps to 20% when excluding international destinations.
Other ways to save money include accepting layovers. Nonstop flight prices were 20% higher on average.
Another money-saving pattern the data revealed was the number of days in advance one should book to get the best price: 21-60 days out for domestic, with an average low price of 44 days. These numbers, of course, fluctuate by route, so check early.
Planning a trip to Europe? The lowest fare was found 129 days out, but low prices ranged anywhere between 50 and 179 days in advance of the trip. For Mexico and the Caribbean, the range was 37-87 days with 59 days in advance being the sweet spot.
|
https://www.ktalnews.com/news/the-cheapest-time-to-book-flight-is-a-myth-google-flights-says-what-to-do-instead/
| 2022-09-21T12:13:51Z
|
ktalnews.com
|
control
|
https://www.ktalnews.com/news/the-cheapest-time-to-book-flight-is-a-myth-google-flights-says-what-to-do-instead/
| 1
| 0
|
green-iguana-35
| null |
(The Hill) — Passenger complaints have soared as airlines canceled and delayed flights this year, but reliability has varied between airlines.
The Department of Transportation (DOT) released its latest air travel consumer report late last month, noting that roughly 24 percent of commercial flights between destinations in the United States did not arrive on time in the first half of the year.
The figure is a 52 percent jump from the same period last year, although carriers operated fewer flights in 2021 as more Americans avoided flying out of concerns of catching COVID-19.
Travel demand has now resurged to levels not seen since before the pandemic, but the airline industry has struggled to meet the influx of passengers, facing issues like staffing shortages, severe weather and high fuel costs. Some airlines have also placed blame on labor shortages at the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA).
Here’s how airlines’ on-time arrival percentages ranked during the first six months of 2022:
1. Hawaiian Airlines: 82.14 percent
Hawaiian Airlines beat out other airlines for the top spot, with more than 8 in 10 of its scheduled U.S. flights arriving on time.
The airline is smaller than the other nine included in DOT’s analysis, and Hawaiian also outranked the other carriers last year.
About 91 percent of Hawaiian’s U.S. flights during the first six months of 2021 arrived on time.
“We are proud of our frontline teams and everyone supporting our operations for getting our guests to their destination on time and with aloha while maintaining our industry-leading punctuality record,” said Hawaiian Airlines spokesperson Alex Da Silva.
2. Delta Air Lines: 80.75 percent
Delta Air Lines and flights operated by regional carriers marketed under the Delta brand were ranked No. 2 in DOT’s report.
Flights operated by Delta itself slightly outpaced the on-time arrival percentage of its regional carriers. Just over 80 percent of U.S. Delta-operated flights arrived on time, about a percentage point higher than its codeshare partners.
Delta has touted its leading record in its promotional appeal to customers, saying on Wednesday it was prepared to carry up to 2.9 million passengers over the upcoming busy Labor Day travel weekend.
“We’re looking forward to welcoming our customers on board for Labor Day weekend,” Allison Ausband, Delta’s chief customer experience officer, said in a statement. “We’ve taken steps this summer to ensure our people have the tools and support they need to deliver on our high standards for reliability, while offering Delta’s signature customer service with warmth and care.”
3. Alaska Airlines: 78.91 percent
Alaska Airlines and its codeshare partners clocked in at No. 3 on the list, with just under 8 in 10 U.S. flights arriving on time during the first half of the year.
Flights branded as Alaska Airlines but operated by its regional partners, Horizon Air and SkyWest Airlines, arrived on time about 81 percent of the time, slightly more often than those operated by Alaska itself.
An Alaska Airlines spokesperson did not return a request for comment.
4. United Airlines: 76.92 percent
United Airlines’ on-time arrival percentage registered about two percentage points below Alaska, with 76.92 percent of U.S. United Airlines-marketed flights arriving on time in the first half of 2022.
The figure marks a dip from the same period in 2021, when 83.47 of the airlines’ marketed flights arrived on time. United similarly ranked No. 4 during that period when compared to the other carriers.
United achieved its highest second-quarter revenue in the company’s history this year, which was also the airline’s first profitable quarter since the start of the pandemic.
A United Airlines spokesperson did not return a request for comment.
5. American Airlines: 76.75 percent
American Airlines, which marketed more flights than any other carrier in the first half of the year, clocked in near the middle of the pack, barely behind United Airlines.
Like United, a slight majority of flights marketed by American Airlines were operated by the carriers’ regional partners.
Those regional carriers’ flights arrived on time 78.01 percent of the time, compared to 75.33 percent of those operated by American Airlines.
Pilot unions at three regional carriers wholly owned by American Airlines — Envoy Air, Piedmont Airlines and PSA Airlines — recently announced contract agreements that include significant pay increases as part of their efforts to attract and retain pilots.
6. Southwest Airlines: 73.87 percent
Just under 74 percent of Southwest Airlines flights arrived on time in the first half of the year, earning the carrier sixth place out of the 10 airlines assessed by DOT.
As the industry faces scheduling snafus in part due to labor shortages, the airline said in a statement that it has grown its full-time equivalent employee base to more than 62,000, which is higher than its number of employees at the end of 2019.
“While on-time performance through June was down, our flight completion factor has recently been among the highest in the industry,” the airline said.
Most other major carriers use a hub-and-spoke system in which airlines concentrate flights in a handful of central airports. But Southwest is one of a few exceptions, instead leveraging a point-to-point strategy that offers direct flights between many smaller airports.
7. Spirit Airlines: 69.31 percent
Roughly 7 in 10 Spirit Airlines flights arrived on time between January and June, placing the low-cost carrier at No. 7 in DOT’s ranking.
When reached for comment, a Spirit Airlines spokesperson pointed to the company’s statement last month indicating its operational performance ranked among the industry best in the two months after Spirit’s peak summer schedule went into effect on June 5.
“These great results are among the best in the industry and are due to the relentless dedication of our Spirit family,” John Bendoraitis, the company’s chief operating officer, said in the statement. “Our team rose to the occasion to serve record numbers of summer travelers and work through industry challenges to deliver a high value experience for our guests.”
8. Frontier Airlines: 64.50 percent
More than a third of Frontier Airlines flights did not arrive on time, according to DOT.
About 81 percent of Frontier’s flights arrived on time during the first half of 2021.
The airline is one of the country’s smaller commercial carriers, marketing the third-lowest number of flights out of the 10 assessed by DOT, with only Hawaiian and Spirit airlines marketing fewer flights.
A Frontier Airlines spokesperson did not return a request for comment.
9. JetBlue Airways: 62.08 percent
About 62 percent of JetBlue flights arrived on time in the first half of 2022.
JetBlue spokesperson Derek Dombrowski said 70 percent of the airline’s flights touch the northeast corridor, a congested air traffic region often plagued by severe weather events. The airline was also impacted by air traffic control constraints in April and by sick calls due to the pandemic, he said.
Multiple airlines have placed blame on staffing challenges at air traffic control centers manned by the FAA, which at times have led to delayed flights. The challenges have been especially pronounced in New York and Florida.
“JetBlue has taken a number of steps to improve our operation and reliability, and our completion factor has greatly improved in recent months,” Dombrowski said, noting that the airline now has record levels of staffing following a spring hiring and training push.
“These investments have brought a significant improvement despite continued constraints on the air traffic system in New York and Florida,” he added.
10. Allegiant Air: 61.63 percent
Allegiant Air clocked in at the bottom of DOT’s list, with 61 percent of flights arriving on time. Roughly 74 percent of Allegiant’s flights in the first half of 2021 arrived on time.
The airline said in a statement that some of its crews maxed out on the number of hours they could fly under FAA regulations during the first half of the year, and limited availability of back-up crews caused a number of delays.
Allegiant, like other airlines, said it also grappled with crews being out of service due to COVID outbreaks and faces an “unprecedented” labor shortage.
“We are actively working to mitigate it by offering extra incentives to attract and retain employees, including higher wages, bonuses, work schedule flexibility and more,” the airline said.
|
https://www.ktalnews.com/news/u-s-world/ahead-of-labor-day-where-us-airlines-rank-on-reliability-this-year/
| 2022-09-21T12:13:59Z
|
ktalnews.com
|
control
|
https://www.ktalnews.com/news/u-s-world/ahead-of-labor-day-where-us-airlines-rank-on-reliability-this-year/
| 1
| 0
|
green-iguana-35
| null |
BELGRADE, Serbia (AP) — Anticipating a tough winter in light of the war in Ukraine, three Balkan states agreed Friday to help each other with potential food or energy shortages and have urged the European Union to include the volatile region in its support plans.
The leaders of Serbia, North Macedonia and Albania held a summit in the Serbian capital Belgrade as part of the so-called Open Balkan initiative aimed at strengthening regional economic ties and stepping up joint efforts for EU membership.
“We are facing a hard winter and anyone who says different would not be fair and would not be telling the truth,” said Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic.
Officials said agreements signed at the summit include a pledge not to limit food exports between the three countries and to cooperate on energy imports as electricity and other prices have soared throughout Europe.
Albania’s Prime Minister Edi Rama called on the EU not to repeat its “shameful behavior” during the coronavirus pandemic that he said forced Balkan nations to turn to China, Russia and Turkey to quickly acquire vaccines.
“Prospects are really worrisome,” said Rama who suggested that the coming winter could be the worst since World War II. He added that the energy crisis will put a severe strain on the budgets of Balkan countries which will need additional EU support to purchase energy.
Countries in the Western Balkans include Albania, Serbia, Bosnia, North Macedonia, Montenegro and Kosovo which are all at different stage in the EU accession process. The region is still plagued by instability stemming from the wars in the 1990s’ and the economic hardship that followed.
EU and U.S. officials have hailed the Open Balkan initiative as a way to boost regional cooperation and free trade by easing border procedures and taxes. The leaders of Serbia, Albania and North Macedonia have urged other countries in the region to join the project.
“This was the right step at the right moment,” said North Macedonia’s Prime Minister Dimitar Kovacevski. “We are here together to send a message of solidarity between our states and governments and readiness to jointly tackle the crisis and the tough winter that we are facing.”
Also present at the gathering were the foreign ministers of Turkey and Hungary who pledged their countries’ help to the region and urged the EU to speed up the accession agenda.
The meeting in Belgrade is the first after the EU launched accession talks with North Macedonia and Albania in July after years of waiting. While Western Balkan countries say they remain committed to the integration into the bloc, there have been fears Russia and China could step in as the process drags on.
Concerns of renewed instability have mounted recently after tensions between Serbia and Kosovo surged last month over problems with recognition of each other’s vehicle license plates and identity documents.
Serbia does not recognize Kosovo’s 2008 declaration of independence. The EU has been mediating in the dispute but Belgrade maintains close relations with Moscow and has relied on Russia and China in its bid retain claim on the former province.
|
https://www.ktalnews.com/news/u-s-world/ap-3-balkan-countries-to-work-on-averting-food-energy-shortage/
| 2022-09-21T12:14:06Z
|
ktalnews.com
|
control
|
https://www.ktalnews.com/news/u-s-world/ap-3-balkan-countries-to-work-on-averting-food-energy-shortage/
| 1
| 0
|
green-iguana-35
| null |
MEXICO CITY (AP) — Four people have been killed, including a former mayor, in an attack on a soccer field in central Mexico, according to state authorities.
The Morelos state prosecutor’s office said in a statement that the attack occurred Thursday night in the town of Yecapixtla. In addition to the four dead, there were a number of people wounded in the shooting.
Gunmen in two vehicles fired on people gathered after a soccer match, the statement said. Local media reported at least eight wounded.
Yecapixtla Mayor Heladio Rafael Sánchez said via social media that among those killed was 57-year-old Refugio Amaro Luna, a former mayor.
|
https://www.ktalnews.com/news/u-s-world/ap-4-killed-in-shooting-at-soccer-field-in-central-mexico/
| 2022-09-21T12:14:13Z
|
ktalnews.com
|
control
|
https://www.ktalnews.com/news/u-s-world/ap-4-killed-in-shooting-at-soccer-field-in-central-mexico/
| 1
| 0
|
green-iguana-35
| null |
ISLAMABAD (AP) — Planes carrying fresh supplies are surging across a humanitarian air bridge to flood-ravaged Pakistan as the death toll surged past 1,200, officials said Friday, with families and children at special risk of disease and homelessness.
The ninth flight from the United Arab Emirates and the first from Uzbekistan were the latest to land in Islamabad overnight as a military-backed rescue operation elsewhere in the country reached more of the 3 million people affected by the disaster.
Two more planes from UAE and Qatar with aid will arrive in Pakistan later Friday, and a Turkish train carrying relief goods for flood victims was on its way to the impoverished nation, according to the Foreign Ministry.
Multiple officials and experts have blamed the unusual monsoon and flooding on climate change, including U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, who earlier this week called on the world to stop “sleepwalking” through the deadly crisis.
Guterres will visit Pakistan on Sept. 9 to tour flood-hit areas and meet with officials.
According to initial government estimates, the devastation has caused $10 billion in damage.
Earlier this week, the United Nations and Pakistan jointly issued an appeal for $160 million in emergency funding to help the 3.3 million people affected by the floods, which have damaged over 1 million homes.
The U.N. refugee agency said Friday that while the response to the appeal was “very encouraging,” more help is needed.
UNHCR spokesman Matthew Saltmarsh said they were quickly releasing tents, as well as blankets, plastic sheets, buckets and other household items for flood victims. “The scale of the devastation that people face is unimaginable,” he said.
The planes brought additional food items, medicine and tents. Pakistani Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif had planned to travel to UAE on Saturday, but he postponed the trip to visit flood-hit areas at home.
So far, Pakistan has received aid from China, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Turkey, Uzbekistan, U.A.E. and some other countries.
The head of the U.S. military’s Central Command, Gen. Michael Kurilla, called Pakistan’s chief of army staff, Gen. Qamar Javed Bajwa, on Friday, offering his condolences. Central Command said it will send an assessment team to Islamabad to see what support it can provide.
The United States announced $30 million worth of aid for the flood victims earlier this week.
Since 1959, Pakistan has emitted less than half of 1% of the world’s heat-trapping carbon dioxide, compared to 21.5% by the United States and 16.4% by China, according to scientists and experts. Pakistani officials and experts say there’s been a 400% increase in average rainfall in some parts of the country, which led to the extreme flooding.
Ammar Malik, a research scientist at AidData, a research lab at the College of William & Mary in the United States, said global warming had worsened the floods in two ways, by hastening the annual monsoon and accelerating summertime glacial melting.
“The predictability of weather systems depends on the delicate balance of climatic conditions underlying them. Any irregularities, such as higher than normal temperatures due to climate change, can disturb this balance and cause abnormalities in weather patterns,” he said.
On Friday, authorities were warning people in the district of Dadu in the southern Sindh province to move to safer places ahead of floodwater from the swollen Indus river that’s expected to hit the region this week.
In May, some parts of Sindh were the hottest place in Pakistan. Now people are facing floods there that have caused an outbreak of waterborne diseases. Although flood waters continued to recede in most of the country, many districts in Sindh remained underwater.
Farah Naureen, the director for Pakistan at the international aid agency Mercy Corps, told The Associated Press that around 73,000 women will be giving birth within the next month, and they needed skilled birth attendants, privacy, and birth facilities.
The military said rescuers, backed by troops, resumed operations early Friday. They are using boats and helicopters to evacuate people from remote regions and to deliver aid.
Since mid-June, floods have also killed more than 700,000 goats, cows, and buffaloes and damaged crops. Pakistan’s government has been forced to import vegetables to avoid shortages. Pakistan is also in contact with Russia to import wheat.
|
https://www.ktalnews.com/news/u-s-world/ap-aid-pours-into-pakistan-deaths-from-floods-cross-1200-mark/
| 2022-09-21T12:14:21Z
|
ktalnews.com
|
control
|
https://www.ktalnews.com/news/u-s-world/ap-aid-pours-into-pakistan-deaths-from-floods-cross-1200-mark/
| 1
| 0
|
green-iguana-35
| null |
BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (AP) — As Argentina’s powerful Vice President Cristina Fernández stepped from her car outside her apartment building and began shaking hands with a throng of well-wishers, a man pushed forward with a gun, pointed it just inches from her face and pulled the trigger with a distinct click.
The loaded weapon evidently jammed.
Fernández’s security detail seized the gunman and took him away, and the 69-year-old former president of Argentina was unhurt. But the apparent assassination attempt against the deeply divisive figure Thursday night shook Argentina — a country with a history of political violence — and worsened tensions in the sharply divided nation.
The gunman was identified as Fernando André Sabag Montiel, a 35-year-old street vendor and Brazilian citizen who has lived in Argentina since 1998 and had no criminal record, authorities said. He was arrested on suspicion of attempted murder.
Sabag Montiel wielded a .38-caliber semiautomatic handgun that was “capable of firing” and was “operating normally,” according to a judicial official who was not authorized to discuss the case publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity.
Authorities shed no light on a possible motive and were investigating whether he acted alone or was part of a larger plot.
The country’s political leaders quickly condemned the attempted shooting as an assault on democracy and the rule of law, with President Alberto Fernández holding a late-night national broadcast to tell Argentines just how close the vice president came to being killed.
The president, who is not related to his vice president, said the gun was loaded with five bullets but “didn’t fire even though the trigger was pulled.”
The president declared a national holiday Friday in the wake of what he called “the most serious incident since we recovered democracy” in 1983 after a military dictatorship.
Tens of thousands of people packed the streets surrounding Government House in downtown Buenos Aires in the afternoon to show their support for the vice president and denounce the attempted shooting.
Some condemned the political opposition, saying its verbal attacks against the vice president motivated the gunman. Several political leaders similarly accused opposition politicians and media outlets of fomenting violence.
Demonstrator Andrés Casaola said: “That bullet represents hate speech.”
“We have to achieve … respect between Argentines and to no longer promote hatred, because people start accumulating hate, and then that leads to a person like this,” Mabel Lescano, another protester, said of the gunman.
No politician awakens more passion in Argentina than Fernández, revered by some for her left-leaning social welfare policies and reviled by others as corrupt and power-hungry.
The left-of-center leader is on trial on corruption charges involving public works while she was president from 2007 to 2015. Some of her staunchest supporters had been gathering daily outside her apartment since Aug. 22, when a prosecutor called for a 12-year prison sentence for her and a ban on holding public office ever again. She has vehemently denied all charges and cast herself as a victim of political persecution.
“If you touch Cristina, what chaos we’ll make!” supporters had chanted.
Over the weekend, her followers clashed with police during an effort by law enforcement to clear the area, and the strong police presence around the apartment was then reduced, though her supporters kept coming.
In recent days, some of her allies charged that her detractors were trying to spark violence, with Security Minister Aníbal Fernández saying the opposition “is looking for someone to die on the street.”
Before the apparent attempt on her life, Fernández had made a habit of leaving her apartment every day around noon, greeting supporters and signing autographs before getting in her vehicle to go to the Senate. She had a similar routine every evening.
In Thursday’s incident, captured on video, it was not clear whether she understood what had just happened. Even as her security detail went into action, she continued greeting supporters in the upscale Recoleta neighborhood of Argentina’s capital.
The gunman illegally possessed the weapon, an example of the old and “obsolete” guns that circulate among small-time criminals in Argentina, said Gabriel González Da Silva, a prosecutor who leads an office that investigates weapons-related crimes.
Patricia Bullrich, president of the opposition Republican Proposal party, accused President Fernández of using the shooting attempt for political gain.
“Instead of seriously investigating a serious incident, he accuses the opposition and the press, decreeing a national holiday to mobilize activists,” she said.
Fernández has been at the center stage of Argentine political life for almost two decades. She was the country’s charismatic first lady during President Néstor Kirchner’s 2003-07 administration, then succeeded her husband.
As opposition to her rule began rising, Fernández increasingly portrayed herself as the victim of attacks from powerful special interests because of her defense of the poor and workers.
In one of the most dramatic incidents of her two-term presidency, a prosecutor who had accused Fernández of making a deal with Iran to cover up its alleged involvement in a 1994 bombing of a Jewish community center in Buenos Aires died shortly before he was set to present evidence against her in 2015.
Allies of the former president insist Alberto Nisman died by suicide. But the opposition has long contended that he was murdered or driven to kill himself.
In the country’s deeply polarized environment, the attempted shooting of the vice president quickly gave rise to new conspiracy theories, dividing those who say “the whole thing was staged and those who think it was real,” said Mariel Fornoni, director of Management and Fit, a political consultancy.
Brazil’s far-right President Jair Bolsonaro, who has frequently criticized the left-leaning Argentine government, weighed in Friday on the apparent assassination attempt.
“I lament it, and there are people already trying to blame me for that problem,” Bolsonaro said. “It is good that the attacker didn’t know how to use a gun, otherwise he would have been successful. ”
___
Politi reported from Santiago, Chile.
|
https://www.ktalnews.com/news/u-s-world/ap-argentina-attempt-to-kill-vp-fails-when-handgun-misfires/
| 2022-09-21T12:14:29Z
|
ktalnews.com
|
control
|
https://www.ktalnews.com/news/u-s-world/ap-argentina-attempt-to-kill-vp-fails-when-handgun-misfires/
| 1
| 0
|
green-iguana-35
| null |
KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — The heavy rubber gas masks placed atop small wooden desks are nothing strange to these children as they file past the bomb shelter’s iron door to attend classes in weapons theory.
Nearby, children giggle, trying to keep up with their English teacher as she sings and gestures “Head and shoulders, knees and toes. Knees and toes!” each repetition getting a little faster.
Unique in Ukraine, Volodymyr the Great school Number 23 on the outskirts of Kyiv trains children to become military cadets, starting at the age of 7.
They are sent to this weekday boarding school to learn discipline, but many now see the skills being taught here as essential to their survival, returning to class with the country at war.
The school officially reopens Friday for the first time since Russia launched its invasion of Ukraine on Feb. 24.
Many of its 540 students took part in a rehearsal Thursday for the opening day ceremony, the boys in black and gold military uniforms, often a little oversized and reminiscent of the Soviet era, with broad hats and heavy shoulder boards.
In formation, the students carried tasseled frames of blue and yellow ‒ the national colors ‒ moving in time as the music alternated between children’s songs and military marching anthems.
Many cadet schools were set up in Soviet republics, but students at Volodymyr the Great were all born long after the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991 and were not in recent years pressured to join the military when they graduated.
Yaroslav, a 16-year-old student at the school, always wanted to study law and try life in Western Europe. But his school is only a few kilometers (miles) from where the Russian advance left neighborhoods pulverized by artillery fire, civilians thrown into mass graves, and attitudes hardened among ordinary Ukrainians.
“I’ll be honest with you … I want to fight in this war,” Yaroslav says. “I always wanted to travel but that decision has changed. I want to become a military man.”
Yaroslav’s father, an army engineer, was killed after war first broke out in the east of the country in 2014.
“My father was not afraid to go to the front, and I want to be that way too,” said Yaroslav.
Many of his classmates said they were inspired by the bravery displayed by Ukraine’s armed forces during the five-week siege of Kyiv that ended with the Russian retreat.
“We are constantly getting stronger and becoming one of the best armies in Europe, that’s how we can hold the Russians back,” says Yaroslav’s classmate Bohdan. “And it’s thanks to those fighters who stand at the front line, that we can keep going.”
Their English teacher Olha Kyrei, who has taught at the school for nine years, says she’s seen a difference in her students since the war started.
“I think maybe in one month they became more serious,” she said. “The eyes, when you look at the eyes, you don’t look into the eyes of children. You look at the eyes of adults.”
Kyrei keeps in touch with school graduates ‒ referring to them as “my children” ‒ who have been drafted into the military, sending them text messages “nearly every day.” She hopes the war will be over by the time her current batch of students graduates.
“We are praying for our school leavers of the June 2023,” she said. “We’re praying that everything will be okay by then: That this situation, this awful situation, this war will be over.”
School Principal Natalia Holovyhyna said two former students had already been killed in the war.
At school and during months of online classes Holovyhyna and her teachers say they try to keep the children occupied with additional homework and activities to stop them dwelling excessively on the war.
Teachers, she said, chose to stay in Kyiv when the fighting started, continuing classes online from their homes and volunteering to keep school facilities open so local residents could use its bomb shelters.
“I’m very proud of them,” Holovyhyna says, pausing with emotion. “Our teachers are focused on making the studying process comfortable … We’re bringing them up to become professional engineers, doctors, teachers and soldiers as well.”
___
Adam Pemble in Kyiv, Ukraine contributed.
___
Follow the AP’s coverage of the war at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine
|
https://www.ktalnews.com/news/u-s-world/ap-as-teachers-worry-kids-at-ukraine-cadet-school-wait-for-war/
| 2022-09-21T12:14:37Z
|
ktalnews.com
|
control
|
https://www.ktalnews.com/news/u-s-world/ap-as-teachers-worry-kids-at-ukraine-cadet-school-wait-for-war/
| 1
| 0
|
green-iguana-35
| null |
BEIJING (AP) — Hours after yet another assessment by outside observers that China’s crackdown in its far-west Xinjiang region may constitute crimes against humanity, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin stepped up to a podium to go on the offensive.
“The so-called assessment you mentioned is orchestrated and produced by the U.S. and some Western forces” and is a “a political tool” meant to contain China, he said.
It was a tactic long used by Beijing to deflect criticism from its mass detentions of Uyghurs and other largely Muslim ethnic groups in Xinjiang: blame a Western conspiracy.
At home, it’s found a willing audience. But abroad, it’s angered Uyghurs and alienated foreigners. The result has been a splintering of views on Xinjiang in China and the West, a gap that threatens to fracture already-poor relations.
For decades, Beijing has struggled to integrate the Uyghurs, a historically Muslim group with close ethnic and linguistic ties to Turkey, locking the region in a cycle of revolt and repression. After bombings and knifings by a small number of extremist Uyghurs, Chinese leader Xi Jinping launched a crackdown, ensnaring huge numbers of people in a network of camps and prisons.
Since the beginning of the crackdown, the Chinese government has sought to control the narrative. They have done so through secrecy and censorship. But they have also done so by tapping into powerful, deep-rooted anti-Western sentiment, born out of a century of humiliation at the hands of the West.
Growing up in Xinjiang, Uyghur linguist Abduweli Ayup learned about how European empires marched on China’s capital and burned ancient palaces. He learned about the U.S. colonization of Hawaii and how it took Texas from Mexico.
Even as a Uyghur, Ayup said, this history instilled resentment.
“All our history we learn that China is the victim, and all those countries around us are very bad,” Ayup said, adding that he himself was opposed to the West until well into his adulthood. “Anti-Western sentiment is really strong.”
It wasn’t until his thirties, Ayup said, when he saw how the authorities weaponized historic grievances to deflect blame from themselves. On July 5, 2009, protests demanding justice for lynched Uyghurs turned bloody. Police opened fire, violent demonstrators stoned ethnic majority Han Chinese bystanders and hundreds were killed in the melee.
Beijing blamed the riots on overseas “terrorists” and “separatists” supported by foreign governments. They glossed over long-held Uyghur resentments and suppressed evidence showing that police, too, were in part responsible for the violence.
“I felt it was ridiculous,” Ayup said. “How could these foreign forces manipulate Uyghurs from far away?”
When the government first launched the crackdown, they sought to keep it secret. For months, they denied the existence of the camps.
But as evidence mounted, the state switched tactics and followed the same playbook: They hit back with accusations of a foreign plot.
When the BBC investigated labor practices in Xinjiang’s cotton fields, state media denounced the report as “using the so-called ‘research’ of anti-China scholars” to “concoct rumors.”
When a former Xinjiang resident gathered records on over 10,000 people detained in the region, a state spokesperson said the database was “created by anti-China figures” backed by the U.S. and Australia.
And after Omir Bekali, an ethnic Kazakh and Uyghur who spent eight months in detention, testified about torture inside the camps, he was branded a liar with “stories full of loopholes” by state media, feeding into “anti-China forces’ smears.”
It’s frustrating, Bekali said, because he believes most Han Chinese in China are well intentioned, but have been kept ignorant by the country’s sophisticated censorship apparatus.
“If you want to know the reality, speak to the victims,” he said. “The government controls the media, they keep on saying lies.”
As criticism mounted, Xinjiang authorities also moved quietly to scale down the most visible signs of repression. Though unclear whether it was due to global scrutiny or planned all along, the result was the same: It hid the intensity of the crackdown from outside visitors.
They took down barbed wire, dismantled some of the camps, and ripped out surveillance cameras peering over city streets, bare wires still dangling on poles overhead. They replaced the region’s hard-line leader with one from a wealthy coastal province, known more for developing economies than for brutal policing.
Then, they took journalists to vineyards and banquets, dance shows and historic mosques, with a clear, underlying message: Xinjiang is open for business.
Today, Xinjiang’s tourism industry is booming. Travelers stuck inside China because of its harsh “zero-COVID” policies are flocking to the region’s deserts, mountains and bazaars, lured by what they see as its exotic, Islam-infused character.
Though hundreds of thousands still languish in prison on secret charges, they’re tucked away in facilities behind forests and desert dunes, far from city centers and prying eyes. Voices that cut against the party line are silenced, with fear and sometimes with prison sentences.
As a result, ex-camp detainee Bekali said, “people inside China, they don’t know what’s really going on.”
With the latest report on abuses in Xinjiang, there’s been a change from the usual pattern: The assessment didn’t come from the U.S. State Department, or a rights group, or from Uyghurs in exile.
Instead, it came from the human rights office of the United Nations, an organization that China’s own leaders have repeatedly praised as the “core” of the international system. As a result, Beijing finds itself in an awkward spot, as the report threatens to puncture the party line.
Still, with independent information censored, the authorities have been largely successful in shaping the narrative within China’s borders. On Chinese social media, response to the report has been muted. And with Western sanctions and rhetoric aimed at China, resentment against the West has only grown stronger.
Today, from executives pacing downtown Beijing to teachers lecturing in lush Guangxi province, many Chinese wonder what all the Xinjiang fuss is about.
“People in Xinjiang live happy lives. All my friends living there are doing just fine,” said Ge Jing, a Han Chinese raised in Xinjiang who now runs a restaurant serving Uyghur cuisine. “I think foreign media are super biased against Xinjiang, they just can’t leave it alone.”
___
This story has been corrected to fix a name spelling to say Jing, not Qing.
|
https://www.ktalnews.com/news/u-s-world/ap-beijing-taps-into-anti-west-resentment-to-counter-un-report/
| 2022-09-21T12:14:44Z
|
ktalnews.com
|
control
|
https://www.ktalnews.com/news/u-s-world/ap-beijing-taps-into-anti-west-resentment-to-counter-un-report/
| 1
| 0
|
green-iguana-35
| null |
JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — Water pressure slowly improved in Mississippi’s capital city Friday but officials outlined numerous challenges and occasional setbacks as they worked to restore running water from the city’s aging, neglected water system to all in the city of 150,000.
A minor leak in an ammonia tank forced officials to cordon off a part of a water treatment plant late Thursday, Jim Craig, a state health official said Friday. Staffers at the plant are having to constantly account for changes in sediment and chemical levels in water taken into the system after recent torrential rains and flooding, Craig added.
“It’s like fixing the airplane while you’re still flying,” Craig said at a Friday evening news conference with Gov. Tate Reeves.
Mayor Chokwe Antar Lumumba noted at one news conference that, once pressure is restored, there are worries about the strain on aging, brittle pipes.
And even when water is running again, it’s unclear when it will be drinkable.
Last week’s rains, followed by flooding of the Pearl River, exacerbated long-standing problems at the O.B. Curtis treatment plant, leading to a drop in pressure throughout Jackson, where residents were already under a month-old boil-water order due to poor water quality.
The problems led to a Monday emergency declaration by the Republican governor and a disaster declaration from President Joe Biden. Biden’s infrastructure coordinator, Mitch Landrieu, and Federal Emergency Management Agency administrator Deanne Criswell were in Jackson for a firsthand look at the problem Friday.
“This is a true testament to President Biden’s commitment,” Criswell said at an evening news conference with Reeves and other state officials. She toured the main water treatment plant earlier in the day with Reeves.
“Many are now experiencing normal pressure. Areas further from the plant and at higher elevations may still be experiencing low to no pressure,” the city said Friday morning.
But, among the setbacks: pressure dropped a bit at one point as treatment plant staffers had to deal with chemical imbalances in the water, Craig said Friday evening.
It’s all a continuing strain on residents, like 64-year-old Mary Gaines, a resident at a complex for senior citizens and people with disabilities.
“It’s a very nice place to live. We just ain’t got no water,” Gaines said. “And most senior citizens ain’t got no car, so we have to get water wherever we can.”
At his news conference Friday, the Republican governor repeatedly stressed what he called a unified state, federal and local response to the crisis, discounting any suggestion of a rift with the mayor or president, both Democrats.
He thanked Criswell and Landrieu for the help and noted that Biden had “quickly signed” a disaster declaration. Lumumba had not been invited to a Reeves news conference Monday as the crisis was unfolding and he was not at the Friday news conference. But he appeared with Reeves earlier in the day during a water plant tour and was part of a Thursday news conference.
Reeves didn’t address and hasn’t commented on remarks Biden made to reporters at the White House late Thursday.
“We’ve offered every single thing available to Mississippi. The governor has to act,” Biden told reporters. “There’s money to deal with this problem. We’ve given them EPA. We’ve given them everything there is to offer.”
White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre declined to elaborate on Biden’s remarks Friday. She confirmed that Biden and Reeves haven’t spoken to each other about the crisis, but downplayed the lack of a call, saying it was “not necessary to further any progress in this situation.”
Statewide, there is about $75 million specifically for water resources available through a bipartisan infrastructure law signed by Biden last year, Jean-Pierre said.
Biden was asked Friday whether he would visit Mississippi and said he had no plans to. Biden said he has been talking to people in Mississippi including Lumumba.
Residents in Jackson have long struggled with a faulty water system before the latest crisis.
The National Guard has been called to help with water distribution. The state emergency agency said close to 2.8 million bottles of water were handed out from midday Thursday to Friday afternoon. Non-potable water, for toilet flushing and other uses, was also being offered to people who brought their own containers to some sites.
The entire city had been without water or with low pressure at one point. Figures on how many homes and businesses had service restore were not available.
___
McGill reported from New Orleans. Associated Press writers Michael Goldberg in Jackson, Rebecca Santana in New Orleans and Seung Min Kim in Washington contributed to this report.
|
https://www.ktalnews.com/news/u-s-world/ap-biden-mississippi-governor-has-to-act-on-jackson-water/
| 2022-09-21T12:14:52Z
|
ktalnews.com
|
control
|
https://www.ktalnews.com/news/u-s-world/ap-biden-mississippi-governor-has-to-act-on-jackson-water/
| 1
| 0
|
green-iguana-35
| null |
HERAT, Afghanistan (AP) — An explosion tore through a crowded mosque in western Afghanistan on Friday, killing at least 18 people. including a prominent cleric close to the Taliban, Taliban officials and a local medic said. At least 23 people were hurt.
The explosion in the city of Herat left the courtyard of the Guzargah Mosque littered with bodies, the ground stained with blood, video from the scene showed. Men shouted, “God is great,” in shock and horror.
The bomb went off during Friday noon prayers, when mosques are full of worshippers.
Among the dead was Mujib-ul Rahman Ansari, a prominent cleric who was known across Afghanistan for his criticism of the country’s Western-backed governments over the past two decades. Ansari was seen as close to the Taliban, who seized control over Afghanistan a year ago as foreign forces withdrew.
His death was confirmed by the chief Taliban spokesman, Zabihullah Mujahid. Just before the bombing, Ansari had been meeting in another part of the city with the Taliban government’s deputy prime minister, Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, who was on a visit to Herat. Ansari had rushed from the meeting to the mosque to get to the noon prayers, an aide to Baradar said in a tweet mourning the cleric.
Ansari’s brother, Habib ul Rahman, was also among those killed, according to Islam Jar, the governor of Herat province. Jar said another 23 people were wounded in the attack, updating an earlier toll.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility for Friday’s blast.
Last month, a bombing at a mosque in the capital Kabul targeted and killed a pro-Taliban cleric in an attack claimed by the Islamic State group. IS has waged a bloody campaign of attacks on Taliban targets and minority groups, particularly Shiites whom the extremist Sunni IS considers heretics. It has frequently hit mosques with suicide attacks during Friday prayers.
Herat’s Guzargah Mosque, where Ansari has long been the preacher, draws followers of Sunni Islam, the dominant stream in Afghanistan that is also followed by the Taliban.
Ansari was for years a thorn in the side of Afghanistan’s pro-Western government. In his sermons at the Guzargah, he urged his many supporters to carry out protests against the governments and preached against women’s rights.
The 57-nation Organization of Islamic Cooperation condemned Friday’s attack.
The Saudi-based body of Muslim states “remains gravely concerned that sporadic attacks and explosions in various provinces across the country continue to mar the security and social peace of Afghan people,” it said in a statement. “The OIC renews its resolute solidarity with Afghanistan and its long-suffering people.”
|
https://www.ktalnews.com/news/u-s-world/ap-blast-in-afghan-mosque-officials-report-dead-and-wounded/
| 2022-09-21T12:15:00Z
|
ktalnews.com
|
control
|
https://www.ktalnews.com/news/u-s-world/ap-blast-in-afghan-mosque-officials-report-dead-and-wounded/
| 1
| 0
|
green-iguana-35
| null |
COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — Multiple cheerleading coaches in South Carolina — including a coach who recently killed himself — sexually abused at least six boys and girls and provided them with drugs and alcohol, a federal lawsuit alleges.
A “coven of sexual predators” surrounded Rockstar Cheer of Greenville for more than a decade, according to one of the lawyers for the alleged victims.
Attorney Bakari Sellers contends that what happened is a result of the same kind of institutional failure seen in the case of Larry Nassar, the former USA Gymnastics and Michigan State University doctor who is serving a minimum of 40 years in prison after admitting that he molested some of the nation’s top gymnasts for years.
The lawsuit was filed Thursday by four girls and two boys who said they were abused by Scott Foster and others affiliated with Rockstar gyms. It suggests there could be up to 100 more survivors of the abuse.
“Scott Foster and his allies did their best to intimidate and isolate their targets, making these young people feel alone and somehow responsible. Well, they’re not alone anymore,” attorney Jessica Fickling said in a statement announcing the suit.
Foster, 49, was found dead in his car at a state park on Aug. 22. He shot himself in the head, the Greenville County Coroner’s Office ruled.
“He knew this was going to be a moment when the light was going to be shined on what I think will turn out to be a coven of sexual predators surrounding Rockstar,” said attorney James Bannister.
A number of people either knew Foster was abusing his cheer students and ignored it or did not have rules and procedures in place to stop the abuse, the lawsuit says.
Foster and other coaches not named in the lawsuit had sex with cheer students, sent and asked for explicit photos over social media, gave them alcohol and marijuana at their homes and in hotel rooms at cheer competitions and warned them to not tell anyone about it, according to the lawsuit.
“We have video of Scott Foster on Snapchat with beer bongs drinking with his underage cheerleaders,” Sellers said at a news conference this week.
The suit also names Varsity Brands, which runs cheerleading competitions; the U.S. All Star Federation, which is an organizing and governing body for competitive cheerleading across the country; Bain Capital, which bought Varsity in 2018, and others.
State and federal police are investigating Foster’s Rockstar Cheer and other cheerleading outlets, seizing computers, cellphones and other evidence, Bannister said. He said the investigating agencies asked lawyers not to identify them.
Several state and federal agencies have refused to tell news outlets whether they are involved.
Foster’s wife, Kathy, promised to cooperate with “all involved” to make sure athletes can safely learn and grow.
“I am heartbroken by the recent allegations made by current and former athletes from Rockstar Cheer and other cheer gyms across our community,” she said in a statement released this week. “I hope the survivors are seeking and receive the support they need. I am sympathetic to their stories.”
Varsity Brands President Bill Seely called the accusations devastating.
“Our hearts are broken right alongside yours,” he tweeted Thursday. “The alleged conduct runs counter to everything the cheer and dance community is intended to represent.”
Bain Capital didn’t return an email seeking comment.
Rockstar Cheer’s name is on more than a dozen gyms in South Carolina, Georgia, North Carolina, Rhode Island, Pennsylvania, Ohio and Arizona.
Ten of the gyms said in a statement this week that they had no connection with Foster and would be dropping the Rockstar brand name.
Foster opened his Greenville gym in 2007, according to his website.
___
Follow Jeffrey Collins on Twitter at https://twitter.com/JSCollinsAP.
|
https://www.ktalnews.com/news/u-s-world/ap-cheerleaders-sexually-abused-by-coaches-in-sc-lawsuit-says/
| 2022-09-21T12:15:07Z
|
ktalnews.com
|
control
|
https://www.ktalnews.com/news/u-s-world/ap-cheerleaders-sexually-abused-by-coaches-in-sc-lawsuit-says/
| 1
| 0
|
green-iguana-35
| null |
JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — Mississippi’s capital city is struggling with the near collapse of its water system, prompting emergency declarations from President Joe Biden and Gov. Tate Reeves.
Jackson has dangerously low water pressure this week, and many of the city’s 150,000 residents have been without water flowing from their faucets.
Problems started days after torrential rain fell in central Mississippi, altering the quality of the raw water entering Jackson’s treatment plants. That slowed the treatment process, depleted supplies in water tanks and caused a precipitous drop in pressure.
When water pressure drops, there’s a possibility that untreated groundwater can enter the water system through cracked pipes, so customers are told to boil water to kill potentially harmful bacteria.
But even before the rainfall, officials said some water pumps had failed and a treatment plant was using backup pumps. Jackson had already been under a boil-water notice for a month because the state health department had found cloudy water that could make people ill.
WHAT IS THE HISTORY OF WATER PROBLEMS IN JACKSON?
Jackson is the largest city in one of the poorest states in the U.S.
The city has a shrinking tax base that resulted from white flight, which began about a decade after public schools were integrated in 1970. Jackson’s population is more than 80% Black, and about 25% of its residents live in poverty.
Like many American cities, Jackson struggles with aging infrastructure with water lines that crack or collapse. Mayor Chokwe Antar Lumumba, a Democrat in a Republican-led state, said the city’s water problems come from decades of deferred maintenance.
Some equipment froze at Jackson’s main water treatment plant during a cold snap in early 2020, leaving thousands of customers with dangerously low water pressure or no water at all. The National Guard helped distribute drinking water. People gathered water in buckets to flush toilets. Similar problems happened on a smaller scale earlier this year.
Jackson frequently has boil-water notices because of loss of pressure or other problems that can contaminate the water. Some of the mandates are in place for only a few days, while others last weeks. Some only affect specific neighborhoods, usually because of broken pipes in the area. Others affect all customers on the water system.
The state health department put the entire Jackson water system under a boil-water notice in late July because of a cloudy quality to the water. That mandate remains in effect, and officials have not indicated when it might end. Although boiling the water is intended to protect people’s health, it also makes everyday tasks more time consuming.
WHERE DOES JACKSON GET ITS WATER?
Most of Jackson’s water comes from the Ross Barnett Reservoir, which is just northeast of the city and is fed by the Pearl River. The city also takes some water from a well. In addition, hospitals and some state agencies have drilled their own wells to have water available in case of problems with the city system.
The water system serves about 150,000 residents in Jackson and about 11,500 residents of a suburb, Byram, plus businesses and government offices. About 80% of customers had little or no water Wednesday morning at the worst part of the current outage, and all customers had low pressure, a Jackson city spokeswoman said.
WHERE DOES JACKSON PROCESS ITS WATER?
Jackson has two water treatment plants. The newer and larger one is the O.B. Curtis plant near the reservoir. This plant has been the main source of the most recent problems. The governor said two pumps at Curtis stopped operating within the past month, so the plant had been operating on backup pumps. A temporary pump was installed Wednesday.
The Curtis plant is authorized to produce up to 50 million gallons (189,271 kiloliters) of water per day. According to the governor’s office, it was producing 20 million gallons (75,708 kiloliters) Thursday. The older water treatment plant, J.H. Fewell, is authorized to produce 20 million gallons (75,708 kiloliters) of water per day, with the flexibility to go up to 30 million gallons (113,562 kiloliters). On Thursday, it was producing 20.5 million gallons (77,601 kiloliters).
DO ENOUGH PEOPLE WORK AT JACKSON’S WATER PLANTS?
Understaffing is a serious problem.
The mayor said the city has had difficulty finding and hiring enough Class A certified water operators. Federal law requires at least one such operator to be on duty at each water treatment plant at all times.
WLBT-TV requested emails from the city and found that the Curtis plant had one-sixth of the number of certified operators it needed to be fully staffed. The city engineer said in November that staff shortages were so severe that the city would have to shut down one of its plants if one more operator left. The documents also showed that operators were working massive amounts of overtime.
WHAT ABOUT WATER QUALITY?
The Environmental Protection Agency issued a notice in January that Jackson’s system violates the federal Safe Drinking Water Act. The EPA noted that an April 2021 fire in the electrical panel at Curtis had caused all five pumps to be unavailable for service, causing low water pressure. An inspection six months later found the pumps remained out of service.
In 2015, routine testing found higher than acceptable lead levels in Jackson water samples, and the city continues to publish public notices about water quality not meeting minimum standards.
In 2016, the state Health Department found an inadequate application of water treatment chemicals because of a failing corrosion control system at the Curtis plant. The EPA required the city to correct this problem. In 2017, the city began installation of corrosion control treatment.
A water quality notice published in July said the majority of tested samples showed lead levels “below the action level set by the EPA.” But it also listed precautions from the state Health Department, including that baby formula should be made only with filtered or bottled water and that children younger than 5 should have lead screening and blood testing.
WHAT OTHER WATER PROBLEMS DOES JACKSON HAVE?
Jackson has also struggled with wastewater.
In 2012, the city entered into a consent decree with the EPA and the U.S. Department of Justice to bring its sewer system into compliance with federal water quality laws. The city remains out of compliance.
In late April, the city submitted a report to federal regulators showing that sewer failures caused the release of nearly 45 million gallons (170,344 kiloliters) of untreated wastewater into the environment between December and March.
WHAT WILL IT COST TO FIX JACKSON’S WATER PROBLEMS?
The mayor said fixing Jackson’s water system could cost billions of dollars, and that is far beyond what the city can afford.
An infrastructure bill that Biden signed into law last year is designed to address problems like Jackson’s, but it’s unclear how much money the Mississippi capital will receive.
The Mississippi Legislature this year allocated $3 million for repairs at Jackson’s Fewell water plant. The Legislature also put $400 million of federal pandemic relief money into a water infrastructure fund, and Jackson could apply for part of that. Cities or counties are required to match the grant money with local money. The application period opened Thursday.
|
https://www.ktalnews.com/news/u-s-world/ap-explainer-mississippi-capitals-water-woes-are-extensive/
| 2022-09-21T12:15:15Z
|
ktalnews.com
|
control
|
https://www.ktalnews.com/news/u-s-world/ap-explainer-mississippi-capitals-water-woes-are-extensive/
| 1
| 0
|
green-iguana-35
| null |
TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) — Israeli lawmaker Itamar Ben-Gvir calls his Arab colleagues “terrorists.” He wants to deport his political opponents, and in his youth, his views were so extreme that the army banned him from compulsory military service.
Yet today, the populist lawmaker who was once relegated to the margins of Israeli politics is surging ahead in the polls ahead of November elections. He has received the blessing of former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and is poised to emerge as a major force that could propel the onetime premier back to power.
Ben-Gvir’s stunning rise is the culmination of years of efforts by the media-savvy lawmaker to gain legitimacy. But it also reflects a rightward shift in the Israeli electorate that has brought his religious, ultranationalist ideology into the mainstream and all but extinguished hopes for Palestinian independence.
“Over the last year I’ve been on a mission to save Israel,” Ben-Gvir recently told reporters. “Millions of citizens are waiting for a real right-wing government. The time has come to give them one.”
Ben-Gvir, 46, has been a fixture of Israel’s extreme right for more than two decades, gaining notoriety in his youth as a disciple of the late radical rabbi, Meir Kahane. He first became a national figure when he famously broke a hood ornament off then-Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin’s car in 1995.
“We got to his car, and we’ll get to him too,” he said, just weeks before Rabin was assassinated by a Jewish extremist opposed to his peace efforts with the Palestinians.
Kahane’s violent anti-Arab ideology — which included calls to ban Jewish-Arab intermarriage and for the mass expulsion of Palestinians — was considered so repugnant that Israel banned him from parliament and the U.S. listed his party as a terrorist group. Kahane himself was assassinated by an Arab assailant in New York in 1990.
But in recent years, his followers and some of his ideas have made their way to the Israeli mainstream — in large part thanks to Ben-Gvir.
He transitioned into politics last year after a career as a lawyer defending radical Jewish West Bank settlers. His intimate knowledge of the law has helped him test the boundaries of the country’s incitement laws and avoid sanctions that have prevented some of his closest associates from running in elections.
Ben-Gvir, for instance, calls Kahane “righteous and holy” but also says he doesn’t agree with everything his former mentor said. He’s careful to limit his own calls for expulsion to those who engage in violence and lawmakers — Jewish or Arab — who he says undermine the state.
Before entering politics, he removed a photo of Baruch Goldstein — a Jewish militant who gunned down 29 Palestinians in a mosque in 1994 — from his living room. He no longer allows his supporters to chant “Death to Arabs” at political rallies. Instead, they are told to say, “Death to terrorists!”
Supporters say Ben-Gvir has changed, been misunderstood, or wrongly painted an extremist.
“People mature. People develop,” said Nevo Cohen, Ben-Gvir’s campaign manager. “They stuck a label on Ben-Gvir that is totally wrong.”
Ben-Gvir’s office turned down an interview request. But he makes frequent appearances on Israeli TV and radio, displaying a cheerful demeanor, quit wit and knack for deflecting criticism as he banters with his hosts.
He also has tapped into a wave of anti-Arab and nationalist sentiment driven by years of violence, failed peace efforts and demographic changes. Ben-Gvir’s supporters are largely religious and ultra-Orthodox Jews, who tend to have large families, and also come from the influential West Bank settler movement. Ben-Gvir himself lives in a hard-line settlement next to the West Bank city of Hebron, home to more than 200,000 Palestinians.
“He is a populist demagogue. He plays on the sentiments of hate and fear of Arabs,” said Shuki Friedman, an expert on Israel’s far right at the Jewish People Policy Institute. “He interviews well, he is good on camera and he has had plenty of screen time that has given him legitimacy.”
In the opposition over the past year, Ben-Gvir has positioned himself as a rabble rouser against the government — the first ever to have an Arab party as a member. He publicly quarreled with Arab lawmakers in scenes captured on camera and widely broadcast.
In the tense run-up to last year’s Gaza war, he staged provocative visits to Arab neighborhoods, rallying ultranationalist supporters to confront Palestinians and assert “Jewish Power” — the name of his party.
He set up an outdoor parliamentary “office” in an Arab neighborhood of east Jerusalem where Jewish settlers are trying to expel Palestinians from their homes, setting off a melee. He later called for police to use live fire against Palestinian protesters at a flashpoint holy site.
His surge in the polls has made him a central figure in Netanyahu’s comeback strategy.
Netanyahu is on trial for corruption, and the public is again torn over his fitness to rule. After four consecutive inconclusive elections, Netanyahu and his Likud party hope to break the logjam with Ben-Gvir’s support.
“Yes, Ben-Gvir is someone very militant and yes, sometimes a little provocative, but he is someone who cares about Israel,” said Likud lawmaker and Netanyahu confidant Miki Zohar, who insisted Ben-Gvir would fall in line under a Netanyahu-led government.
Last week, Netanyahu personally brokered a deal between Ben-Gvir and a rival far-right leader, Bezalel Smotrich, to ensure they run together. If they hadn’t, Smotrich might not have made it into parliament, depriving Netanyahu of a critical source of support.
“Joining forces is the order of the day,” Netanyahu said.
One recent poll forecast Ben-Gvir’s alliance with 12 seats, which would make it parliament’s fourth-largest. That means Netanyahu almost certainly would make Ben-Gvir a Cabinet minister if he can form a government.
Ben-Gvir has said his first order of business would be to pass a law allowing deportations of those who allegedly subvert the country and its security forces. He has proposed imposing the death penalty for “terrorists” and granting immunity to soldiers accused of committing violent crimes against Palestinians.
Thabet Abu Rass, the Arab co-director of the Abraham Initiatives, which promotes Jewish-Arab coexistence, said the mainstreaming of figures like Ben-Gvir is not only a threat to Israel’s Arab citizens, but to the country as a whole.
By branding Arab members of parliament as traitors who should be expelled, Ben Gvir delegitimizes the political participation of Arab citizens — who make up around 20% of Israel’s population — and the possibility of Jewish-Arab partnerships, Abu Rass said.
“It’s very dangerous for the whole Israeli society,” he said. “It’s going to bring about the collapse of democracy.”
|
https://www.ktalnews.com/news/u-s-world/ap-extremist-lawmaker-surges-ahead-of-elections-in-israel/
| 2022-09-21T12:15:22Z
|
ktalnews.com
|
control
|
https://www.ktalnews.com/news/u-s-world/ap-extremist-lawmaker-surges-ahead-of-elections-in-israel/
| 1
| 0
|
green-iguana-35
| null |
ZAPORIZHZHIA, Ukraine (AP) — Fighting raged Friday near Europe’s biggest nuclear power plant in a Russian-held area of eastern Ukraine, as inspectors from the U.N.’s nuclear watchdog agency expressed concern over the facility’s “physical integrity” but didn’t blame either warring side.
International Atomic Energy Agency Director-General Rafael Grossi said he expects to produce a report “early next week, as soon as we have the full picture of the situation by the end of the weekend, more or less.”
Speaking to reporters in Vienna after returning from the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, he said he will brief the U.N. Security Council on Tuesday.
“We’ve seen what I requested to see — everything I requested to see,” Grossi said, adding that his big concerns were the plant’s “physical integrity,” the power supply to the facility and the situation of the staff.
“The military activity and operations are increasing in that part of the country, and this worries me a lot,” he said. “It is obvious that the statistical possibility of more physical damage is present.”
He noted that shelling started in August and “it is quite clearly a more recent trend,” but didn’t apportion blame for damage that has been done so far.
The head of Ukraine’s nuclear watchdog, Oleh Korikov, said Ukrainian officials “would like more decisive actions and statements” from the IAEA inspectors. “But let’s wait until the mission is over,” he added.
Local Russian-appointed authorities said Friday that staff at the plant restarted a key reactor just hours after shelling a day earlier forced it to shut down. Ukraine’s nuclear energy operator, Energoatom confirmed on its Telegram channel that the reactivated reactor had been plugged back into the power grid.
Aleksandr Volga, the Kremlin-backed mayor of Enerhodar, where the Zaporizhizhia plant is located, told the Interfax news agency that the facility now had two working reactors, out of a total of six.
The head of Ukraine’s powerful National Security Council, Oleksiy Danilov, said Ukrainian authorities weren’t fully aware of the situation inside the plant for now — despite the presence of the IAEA team that went in Thursday.
In an interview with The Associated Press, Danilov — a key official in Ukraine’s war effort — said: “I want to emphasize that this is a challenge for the whole world, how to make this nuclear facility not dangerous.”
Russia and Ukraine traded blame for the shelling which led to Thursday’s temporary shutdown of the reactor by its emergency protection system. Energoatom said the attack damaged a backup power supply line used for in-house needs, and one of the plant’s reactors that wasn’t operating was switched to diesel generators.
Britain’s Defense Ministry said earlier Friday that shelling continued in the area near the plant, and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s office said Russian shelling damaged houses, gas pipelines and other infrastructure on the other bank of the Dnieper River — part of fighting in several areas of eastern and southern Ukraine overnight.
Russian-backed officials in Enerhodar claimed Russian forces had shot down an armed Ukrainian drone near the plant Friday.
“Ukrainian militants, apparently, continue to try to attack the plant despite the fact that there are IAEA employees there,” the press service of the municipal administration said in a statement.
In its regular update on Friday evening, the Ukrainian military said it had carried out a “precision strike” in Enerhodar, but did not acknowledge or directly respond to the claims by Kremlin-backed officials. It said the attack destroyed three artillery systems, an ammunition depot and a company of personnel.
Russia and Ukraine traded accusations that the other side was trying to impede the work of the IAEA experts, or control the message.
Zelenskyy, in his nightly address on Thursday, had tough words for the IAEA delegation. While applauding its arrival at the plant, he said independent journalists were kept from covering the visit, allowing Russians to present a one-sided, “futile tour.”
In a conference call with reporters on Friday, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Moscow considered “positively” the arrival of the mission, “despite all problems and difficulties caused by the Ukrainian side’s provocative actions.”
The 14-member delegation arrived in a convoy of SUVs and vans after months of negotiations to enable the experts to pass through the front lines. They braved gunfire and artillery blasts along the route.
Grossi said Friday that six of the agency’s experts remain at the plant, and there will be a “permanent presence on site … with two of our experts who will be continuing the work.” He wasn’t specific about how long exactly the two experts will stay.
“The difference between being there and not being there is like day and night,” he said.
The plant has been occupied by Russian forces but run by Ukrainian engineers since the early days of the 6-month war.
Grossi said there was a “professional modus vivendi” at the site. He said it was “admirable for the Ukrainian experts to continue to work in these conditions.”
“It’s not an easy situation; it’s a tense situation, it’s not an ideal situation, it’s a situation everybody is coping with,” he said.
Ukraine alleges Russia is using the plant as a shield to launch attacks. On Friday, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu rejected the Ukrainian allegations and said Russia has no heavy weapons either on the site or in nearby areas.
Shoigu said Ukrainian forces have fired 120 artillery shells and used 16 suicide drones to hit the plant, “raising a real threat of a nuclear catastrophe in Europe.”
Elsewhere in Ukraine on Friday, Zelenskyy’s office said four people were killed and 10 injured over the last day in the eastern Donetsk region, a key hub of the Russian invasion.
___ Joanna Kozlowska in London and Geir Moulson in Berlin contributed to this report.
|
https://www.ktalnews.com/news/u-s-world/ap-fighting-goes-on-near-ukraine-nuclear-plant-iaea-on-site/
| 2022-09-21T12:15:30Z
|
ktalnews.com
|
control
|
https://www.ktalnews.com/news/u-s-world/ap-fighting-goes-on-near-ukraine-nuclear-plant-iaea-on-site/
| 1
| 0
|
green-iguana-35
| null |
Asia Muhammad is among the most fashionable professional tennis players on the Hologic WTA Tour, both on and off the court. Her love of tennis and fashion intersected the day a 13-year-old girl saw Serena Williams wearing a short, pleated denim skirt, modified to meet the specifications of this strenuous game.
“Serena’s outfit -- at the 2004 US Open -- I loved that so much,” Muhammad said. “I made my parents go out and buy it for me immediately. It was in the Niketown store inside Caesar’s Palace in Las Vegas. That’s what drew me into the fashion side.”
Years later, Muhammad, 31, now has an outlet for her two passions. It’s a tennis apparel company, co-founded with good friend Kimberly Yee, called Lemonsnlaundry. There’s a nifty backstory.
Yee’s father, Adam, grew up in the back of a Detroit laundromat run by his parents.
“This was a unique way of honoring him -- he taught me tennis,” said Yee, who played at Stanford University from 2015-19. “It goes along with the idea of turning lemons into lemonade, a play on that phrase. I also like the alliteration.
“We just decided to make women’s tennis apparel that people would actually like to wear.”
Certainly, Muhammad likes the clothes, which she wears as she and doubles partner Ena Shibahara aim to position themselves for a spot at the year-end WTA Finals in Fort Worth. Sitting in a small interview room at the media center at the Billie Jean King National Tennis Center at the US Open earlier this month, she explained how it all came together.
“Kimmy and I met at the No Quit Academy, a youth foundation in Vegas, where her dad worked,” Muhammad said. “We had talked about it over the years, and finally did it a year and a half ago. She’s from Vegas, too, and we wanted it to be a female-run, design-created thing, which was really fun. The clothes aren’t cool in a lot of other female sports, except for maybe volleyball; like in basketball you get the really long shorts. That wasn’t really my vibe.”
We mean business
- How Radwanska transitioned from a tennis player to successful hotel owner
- Off the court, Jessica Pegula growing her own line of skincare products
- How Donna Vekic turned her passion for candles into a successful business
- Sidelined by injuries, Monica Puig thriving in role as tennis broadcaster
- Why Danielle Collins became a powerful advocate for financial literacy
“My part is being the designer, and doing social media. I obviously wear it and I help pick out the stuff. She’s kind of more behind the scenes, logistics and such.”
Muhammad knew what she liked, got her visions down on paper and Yee helped them come into being. Yee lives in Los Angeles, a fashion and design hub, since she graduated and lined up the sourcing, the fabric and manufacturing details. Some of the apparel is made in California, the rest overseas.
The timeline began in early 2021 and about four months later, Lemonsnlaundry had their first dress -- which, instructively, bore no logo. In a business where the swoosh and the crocodile are the coin of the realm, this was an important if difficult decision. Muhammad and Yee -- who are the sole investors in this enterprise -- say that logos are expensive, both to produce and attach to the clothing.
“This way, people are paying just for the actual item,” Muhammad said. “When you look at some outfits, they’re ruined by the logo. For us, right now, affordability is the most important thing.”
Said Yee, “We like the clean look, and I think we’re the only athletic clothing brand that does logo-less. It’s a double-edged sword, but my hope, my goal, is for people to realize it’s high quality and, at the end of the day, that people like the stuff.”
Danielle Collins, who broke into the Top 10 following her appearance in this year’s Australian Open final, wore their bear tank top (in black) when she defeated two-time US Open champion Naomi Osaka in the first round and in subsequent victories, too. Muhammad wore the same top playing doubles.
Muhammad’s favorite is the distinctive blue Lolo dress, named after her first niece London. Elohim, a popular Los Angeles DJ, called to ask for one to wear at this year’s Coachella Festival -- but it was sold out.
“I just couldn’t get the material in time,” Yee said. “That reminds me, I need to send her a note when the new ones come in.”
The two proprietors are thrilled to join Venus and Serena Williams, as well as Jelena Ostapenko and others in the sporting apparel business. They’ve already launched the first store, in the Sterling Club in Las Vegas. The goal is to tap into the emerging pickleball market, bring in on-line retailers and add more store locations. Muhammad, who has 37,000 followers on social media, is helping to spread the word. Lemonsnlaundry is also giving a portion of the clothes they create to young female athletes and also to homeless shelters.
“I feel like clothes in general -- you buy a new outfit and you feel amazing,” Muhammad said. “We want to help younger girls with nice clothes. Getting nice-looking clothes, it makes me feel good. I’m happy I can help the girls out with that.”
An attractive product -- and an appealing socially inclusive approach to match -- it sounds like a winning combination. Oh, and owners report that they’ve already doubled their initial investment. Going forward, Yee would like to see the apparel giants embrace all the players.
“The very top players are sponsored,” she said, “but then there’s a weird gap between the players below them. There are some amazing players out there without clothing sponsorships, and we’d love to fill that void.”
For now, Muhammad is focusing on tennis. She and Shibahara were seeded No.9 at the US Open but lost in the third round to Gabriela Dabrowski and Giuliana Olmos, 6-3, 3-6, 7-6 [10-8]. The plan is to play Chennai, India, Seoul, South Korea, San Diego, Guadalajara and some ITF events in California with the goal of reaching the year-end tournament.
“It’s totally doable,” Muhammad said. “It just takes a week or two and there’s a lot of big tournaments left. That’s the great thing about tennis.”
And when the time comes to step away from the court for good, tennis will have been a dress rehearsal for Muhammad’s next phase: fashionable fashion entrepreneur.
|
https://www.wtatennis.com/news/2797897/asia-muhammad-bringing-a-new-style-of-fashion-to-tennis-apparel
| 2022-09-21T12:15:32Z
|
wtatennis.com
|
control
|
https://www.wtatennis.com/news/2797897/asia-muhammad-bringing-a-new-style-of-fashion-to-tennis-apparel
| 1
| 0
|
green-iguana-35
| null |
No.28 Zhang Shuai saved match point to oust No.2 seed Caroline Garcia 4-6, 7-6(5), 7-6(5) to advance to the quarterfinals of the Toray Pan Pacific Open. The victory was Zhang's second Top 10 win of the season and handed Garcia just her second loss in her last 15 matches.
Zhang will face either No.6 seed Karolina Pliskova or Petra Martic next.
Garcia sets the new season-best mark for aces: Already the tour's leader in aces this season, Garcia hit 27 aces to set the new mark for most aces in a match this year. The previous mark was 21 aces, set by Zheng Qinwen against Jelena Ostapenko at the US Open.
Playing with the confidence earned over her outstanding summer hard-court season, Garcia fired 27 winners in the opening set to seal it after 40 minutes.
How the match was won: The second set saw a quick turnaround from Zhang, who won 11 of the first 15 points to build a 3-0 lead. Garcia struggled to rediscover the range that pocketed her the first set, but the Frenchwoman continued to battle through and play aggressively. She broke Zhang to get the set back on serve at 5-4 but Zhang rallied from an early mini-break deficit to seal the set on her third set point.
She ATE 🥪
— wta (@WTA) September 21, 2022
Never a bad time for a sandwich, @zhangshuai121 😝#TorayPPO pic.twitter.com/JibgLySeBE
With the help of a quick sandwich break after the second set, Zhang got back to business in the third. Both women held their serves with clinical precision in the third set. The first break point of the set was a match point for Garcia, which Zhang saved with a big first serve on her way to leveling the score at 5-5.
In the deciding tiebreak, Garcia once again failed to hold on to an early mini-break. Zhang saved her best for the point of the match at 4-3, out-rallying Garcia from the baseline before improvising a desperate forehand flick passing winner. With a 5-3 lead, Zhang would close out the high-quality affair after 2 hours and 30 minutes on her second match point.
CLUTCH ✊@zhangshuai121 | #TorayPPO pic.twitter.com/o77SdOH6E1
— wta (@WTA) September 21, 2022
Stat of the match: Garcia struck 67 winners to 49 unforced errors in the loss and faced just two break points, being broken once. Zhang played a disciplined match from the baseline, striking 21 winners to 25 unforced errors. The victory moved her into the lead in their head-to-head, three wins to two.
More Day 3 results: No.30 Liudmila Samsonova continued her dangerous form, defeating Wimbledon champion Elena Rybakina 6-2, 6-4 in the first round. Samsonova saw her 13-match win streak end to Ajla Tomljanovic in the US Open Round of 16 but was back to her winning ways in Tokyo. She will face Wang Xinyu next.
No.3 seed Garbiñe Muguruza opened her tournament with a win, defeating Greek qualifier Despina Papamichail 6-4, 6-2 to advance to the quarterfinals. She awaits the winner of Samsonova vs. Wang.
|
https://www.wtatennis.com/news/2798147/zhang-saves-match-point-to-stun-garcia-in-tokyo-thriller
| 2022-09-21T12:15:38Z
|
wtatennis.com
|
control
|
https://www.wtatennis.com/news/2798147/zhang-saves-match-point-to-stun-garcia-in-tokyo-thriller
| 1
| 0
|
green-iguana-35
| null |
SAN JOSE, Costa Rica (AP) — After four years of trying to continue his studies in Nicaragua, Elthon Rivera finally reached the same conclusion as thousands of his countrymen. The government shuttered his university, its director told him he was going into exile and warned that the police were coming for Rivera too.
Rivera surveyed the various safe houses he had used after his arrest in 2018 and realized that no one who had sheltered him was left. “The only option is to go to Costa Rica, which is what I have closest and where I have the most contacts,” he said. He snuck out of Nicaragua along a trail over a mountain in February and was soon on a bus to San Jose.
Rivera immediately sought asylum. The Costa Rican government gave him an appointment to formalize his request — in 2030.
Since the summer of 2021, when Nicaragua President Daniel Ortega locked up dozens of political opponents ahead of November’s presidential elections, Nicaraguans have been seeking asylum in Costa Rica at the highest levels since Nicaragua’s political crisis exploded in April 2018.
The exodus of Nicaraguans fleeing political repression has neighboring Costa Rica’s asylum system teetering under the weight of applications that exceed even the 1980s when civil wars ravaged Central America.
Asylum seekers now account for 4% of Costa Rica’s population. Despite having only 5 million citizens, Costa Rica trailed only the United States, Germany and Mexico in the number of asylum applications it received last year, according to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees.
Costa Rican officials now confirm more than 200,000 pending applications and another 50,000 people waiting for their appointment to make a formal application. Nicaraguans account for nearly nine out of 10 applicants.
The asylum seekers are added pressure for the new administration of President Rodrigo Chaves who is trying to jump-start an economy hit hard by the COVID-19 pandemic.
“That has been an incredible increase,” said Allan Rodríguez, deputy director of Costa Rica’s immigration agency, which also oversees the asylum system. “It has put the capacities of the administration to the test. It has made us reinvent ourselves not only in the reception process, but also in how to resolve this issue.”
Rodríguez said that the system has been bolstered in terms of its ability to take asylum applications — the U.N. refugee agency contracted 50 people to help — but that remaining challenges include resolving the cases quickly and integrating asylees into Costa Rican society.
Rivera, 28, was in the final year of studying medicine at Nicaragua’s largest public university and not particularly interested in politics when protests broke out in April 2018 in response to changes to the social security system. Police roughed up senior citizens who took to the streets, so university students came out in support of the pensioners.
Rivera did his rounds at a hospital the next day and saw wounded students flooding in. On the second day of protests, police beat him and tossed him in a filthy cell for six hours before releasing him. The arrest made him a leader among other medical students, which eventually got him expelled.
He later enrolled in a private university as a political science major because it did not have a medical school and was a few classes short of finishing his degree when Ortega’s government shut down the school, and a number of other private universities in February.
Even with his asylum appointment eight years off, he said: “I’ve been calm about it because I know the quantity of Nicaraguans there are here and Costa Rica is a very small country.”
Xaviera Molina, 27, has already been granted asylum because she left Nicaragua in one of the early waves in July 2018.
Molina, a marketing major, was a single mother at the time in the second year of her degree track. She had never been involved in activism, but when students expanded the protest against Ortega’s government she got involved, first distributing food and then helping provide medical care to wounded students.
“I was basically a nurse by accident,” Molina said.
The government increased its repression of protests, mounting an operation in July 2018 to clear the barricades protesters had erected around neighborhoods of resistance throughout Nicaragua. Molina went into hiding and then decided she had to leave the country.
Molina fled across the border to Costa Rica, requested asylum and received it last October. She went 1 ½ years without seeing her daughter who remained with her parents in Nicaragua.
She said the process was slow, but she was able to work, opened her own catering business and brought her daughter to Costa Rica.
“I know people who have been here four years like me and they still haven’t accepted that they have to stay,” Molina said. “They still haven’t bought a bed because they feel like at any moment they’re going to go back.”
This March, U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas met with officials in Costa Rica. The Biden administration was interested in seeing Costa Rica and Mexico, two countries with relatively robust asylum systems, continue taking as many asylum seekers as possible.
In his State of the Union Address that month, Biden said, “We’re securing commitments and supporting partners in South and Central America to host more refugees and secure their own borders.”
The U.S. government gave nearly $49 million to international organizations and nongovernmental organizations for humanitarian assistance to asylum seekers and vulnerable migrants in Costa Rica between 2017 and 2021.
At the Summit of the Americas in Los Angeles in June, Costa Rica said it would plan to renew a special protection category it had created for citizens of Nicaragua, Cuba and Venezuela whose initial asylum applications were denied. The reasoning was that it was not safe to return them to their countries.
Diego Pérez, a spokesman for the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees in Costa Rica, said that with the COVID-19 pandemic, Costa Rica’s asylum system no longer “has the same capacity to absorb or integrate (asylum seekers), including in the labor market.”
Gabriela Nuñez, the Costa Rica director for the U.S.-based refugee-support organization HIAS, notes that before the Nicaragua crisis Costa Rica was accustomed to receiving about 5,000 asylum requests annually. Now the country receives more than that in a month.
“There is an emergency in terms of how many people are seeking access to the territory, to the process and finally how many are ultimately recognized,” Nuñez said.
Now some worry that the years-long wait for an appointment is leading more Nicaraguans to look north — to Mexico or the United States — than at any point in their country’s four-plus year political crisis.
Through August of this year, 6,921 Nicaraguans have sought asylum in Mexico — often a step toward the U.S. border — more than double as many as all of 2021.
Through the first 10 months of the 2022 fiscal year, U.S. border agents have encountered Nicaraguans 134,000 times compared to more than 50,000 encounters the previous year.
For most however, Costa Rica remains the top choice for Nicaraguans seeking safety, due to its proximity, familiarity and possible existing family ties.
Still, it can be a difficult transition. Costa Rica is more expensive. Nicaraguans forced to flee quickly are not able to take much with them; professional certifications do not transfer; it takes time to determine what grade children should enter in a different education system.
Three months after applying for asylum, applicants can begin working legally. But many said that some employers do not recognize the government-issued card identifying them as asylum seekers.
Rivera is trying to make the best of it. He founded an organization called Bridges for Nicaraguan Students, which aims to help exiled students find ways to continue their studies.
Soon Rivera will travel to Romania to resume his medical studies, but he doesn’t plan to stop his political activism.
Leaving Nicaragua, Rivera remembers thinking: “I’m going to bother them more there, continue talking there, keep raising my voice there.”
__
Sherman reported from Mexico City. AP videojournalist Berny Araya in San Jose contributed to this report.
|
https://www.ktalnews.com/news/u-s-world/ap-fleeing-nicaraguans-strain-costa-ricas-asylum-system/
| 2022-09-21T12:15:37Z
|
ktalnews.com
|
control
|
https://www.ktalnews.com/news/u-s-world/ap-fleeing-nicaraguans-strain-costa-ricas-asylum-system/
| 1
| 0
|
green-iguana-35
| null |
While on-court development, silverware and ranking points are at the forefront of minds, the game’s rising stars have also benefitted from the latest ITF/WTA/ATP-led education session at the US Open.
The session featured a highly-informative section on hydration and nutrition before an enjoyable Q&A with professional duo Robert Farah and Anna Tatishvili.
The International Tennis Integrity Agency’s (ITIA) education team were also on-site, talking to players about how the organisation works to promote, encourage and safeguard the integrity of professional tennis worldwide.
The ITIA delivered interactive classes, highlighting the off-court requirements of being a tennis player, their responsibilities in adhering to the rules and the support available to them when navigating any challenges they encounter.
The premise of the ITF/WTA/ATP sessions at Junior Grand Slams are to re-ignite in-person education opportunities for elite competitors on the player pathway.
Emphasis is very much placed on the person behind the player, making sure they have the off-court support and knowledge to enjoy the sport they love and have the best possible career within the game.
The session at the US Open was the second of its kind, with previous editions taking place at J1 Roehampton – the traditional warm-up event for the Junior Championships, Wimbledon.
The Roehampton instalment, which took place in June, focused upon a wide range of topics such as mental health, dealing with stress and pressure, internet safety and guarding against abuse.
There were keynote addresses and interactive presentations from Kathy Martin, Senior Director of Mental Health and Wellness at the WTA, and Gary Bye, the ITF’s Safeguarding Manager. Then came an engaging Q&A with Canada’s Gabriela Dabrowski and Nicole Pratt of Australia.
In short, such sessions are the product of key tennis stakeholder alignment, ensuring collaboration as an individual progresses along the pathway, especially during that key transition from a junior to a professional. Going forward, further session of this nature are planned.
|
https://www.wtatennis.com/news/2798153/support-for-juniors-at-itf-wta-atp-led-education-session-at-us-open
| 2022-09-21T12:15:44Z
|
wtatennis.com
|
control
|
https://www.wtatennis.com/news/2798153/support-for-juniors-at-itf-wta-atp-led-education-session-at-us-open
| 1
| 0
|
green-iguana-35
| null |
PARIS (AP) — There is an elevated threat of terror attacks on French soil by Islamic extremists coming from Iraq and Syria, France’s national anti-terrorism prosecutor warned Friday.
Jean-Francois Ricard said in an interview on French news broadcaster BFM TV that terrorist acts carried out “by individuals coming from areas where terrorists are operating, especially the Iraqi-Syrian area” cannot be ruled out.
Ricard’s comments come ahead of the opening of the trial of eight suspects in connection with the 2016 Bastille Day truck attack in Nice that left 86 people dead.
Ricard said the extremist threat has increased since 2020. “For two years, we’ve been able to see how the Islamic State group was regaining some pieces of territory, was restructuring itself” in Iraq and Syria.
He pointed to the January attack in Syria by Islamic State militants of a prison holding suspected extremists in the northeastern city of Hassakeh.
Individuals convicted in France on terror-related charges and are set to be released pose another threat, Ricard said.
“Very often they have abandoned none of their convictions,” he said, adding however that France’s judicial and intelligence services will keep a close watch on that released inmates.
The prosecutor said French authorities will “need to do everything we can” to prevent determined terrorists from committing attacks.
“It’s a true problem that we must certainly not deny,” he said.
The Islamic State group had claimed responsibility for the July 14, 2016 attack in Nice. The attacker, Mohamed Lahouaiej Bouhlel, who plowed a 19-ton truck into a crowd assembled for the fireworks display, was shot dead by police.
French authorities said Bouhlel, a Tunisian with French residency, was inspired by the extremist group’s propaganda, but they say no evidence has been found that IS orchestrated the attack. The trial is to take place at a special court for terrorist cases in Paris.
In June, 20 men were convicted in connection with the 2015 Paris terror attacks on the Bataclan theater, Paris cafes and the national stadium that resulted in 130 deaths. Most attention had focused on the lone surviving member of the Islamic State attack team, Salah Abdeslam. The other suspects were found guilty of assisting in the preparation of the attacks or hiding Abdeslam from police. Some are presumed dead in Syria and were tried in absentia.
|
https://www.ktalnews.com/news/u-s-world/ap-french-prosecutor-warns-of-elevated-terror-attack-threat/
| 2022-09-21T12:15:45Z
|
ktalnews.com
|
control
|
https://www.ktalnews.com/news/u-s-world/ap-french-prosecutor-warns-of-elevated-terror-attack-threat/
| 1
| 0
|
green-iguana-35
| null |
Zheng Qinwen continued to soar in her breakthrough season, knocking out No.1 seed Paula Badosa 6-3, 6-2 in 78 minutes in the second round of the Toray Pan Pacific Open.
The result is the Chinese 19-year-old's first completed Top 10 win. Previously, she had advanced over Ons Jabeur via retirement in the second round of Toronto. It puts Zheng into her third tour-level quarterfinal of 2022, and second at WTA 500 level or above.
Inside the rise of Zheng Qinwen
"It was a big match for me," said Zheng. "Even though the score was like this, there were a lot of emotions for me in this match and I'm very proud of myself. It's not a surprise - I always knew I had the level, I just had to make it."
Zheng's overall record this year is now 34-15, and 19-15 at tour level. Having ended 2021 at No.143, she has risen to a career-high this week of No.36. She also came into this match in supreme form after a 6-1, 6-4 first-round defeat of Misaki Doi that had seen her win 19 points in a row.
A towering win in Tokyo 🗼
— wta (@WTA) September 21, 2022
Zheng Qinwen knocks out top seed Badosa to reach her third quarterfinal of the season!#TorayPPO pic.twitter.com/zquslEUWWe
If anything, the scoreline against Badosa does not do justice to Zheng's level of dominance. The teenager was initially slow to find the range on her forehand, and fell behind an early break.
But once she had settled, Zheng was imperious. From 3-1 down in the first set, she reeled off the next seven games, and 11 of the next 13. She did not face another break point in the match; in total, she tallied seven aces and won 82% of the points behind her first serve.
Zhang saves match point to stun Garcia in Tokyo thriller
Zheng also repeatedly teed off on the Badosa serve, blitzing three clean return winners in one game to break the Spaniard at the start of the second set. She was clutch in important moments, too, winning three consecutive games from 30-30 to turn the first set around, and fired 18 winners overall.
Though extended exchanges were few and far between, such was the quality of Zheng's first strikes, she was also able to outlast the World No.4 in athletic longer rallies as well. Zheng proved adept at soaking up her opponent's pace; unable to find a way through, Badosa ended up with 20 unforced errors to only six winners.
Zheng will next face either Elise Mertens or Claire Liu as she bids to reach her second WTA semifinal, and first at WTA 500 level.
|
https://www.wtatennis.com/news/2798336/zheng-qinwen-routs-top-seed-badosa-in-tokyo-to-reach-quarterfinals
| 2022-09-21T12:15:51Z
|
wtatennis.com
|
control
|
https://www.wtatennis.com/news/2798336/zheng-qinwen-routs-top-seed-badosa-in-tokyo-to-reach-quarterfinals
| 1
| 0
|
green-iguana-35
| null |
BERLIN (AP) — The German government confirmed Friday that families of 11 Israeli athletes killed by Palestinian militants at the 1972 Munich Olympics will receive a total of 28 million euros (dollars) in compensation.
The figure — which includes payments already made — had previously been reported by German and Israeli media but not officially communicated by the government.
It’s a significant increase from the initial 10 million-euro offer to the families ahead of the 50th anniversary of the attack, which will be commemorated on Monday.
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz “is very glad about the agreement achieved with the families of the victims,” government spokesman Steffen Hebesteit told reporters in Berlin.
“Germany is emphasizing its responsibility for the mistakes that were made there in 1972, but also in the decades that followed,” he added.
As part of an agreement with the families, Germany has agreed to acknowledge failures that authorities made at the time and to allow German and Israeli historians to review the events surrounding the attack.
Members of the Palestinian group Black September broke into the Olympic Village, killed two athletes from Israel’s national team and took nine more hostage on Sept. 5, 1972. The attackers hoped to force the release of Palestinian prisoners held by Israel as well as two left-wing extremists in West German jails.
All nine hostages and a West German police officer died during a rescue attempt by German forces. Relatives of the athletes accuse Germany of failing to secure the Olympic Village, refusing Israeli help and then botching the rescue operation.
Immediately after the attack, Germany made payments to relatives of the victims amounting to about 4.19 million marks (about 2 million euros or dollars), according to the country’s interior ministry. In 2002, the surviving relatives received an additional 3 million euros, Germany’s dpa news agency reported.
Asked whether Germany would welcome an apology for the attack from the current Palestinian leadership, Hebestreit said: “Yes, I would.”
He said the issue was not discussed at a recent meeting in Berlin with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas who dismissed questions about a possible apology and accused Israel of committing “50 Holocausts” against Palestinians, sparking outrage in Germany and beyond.
|
https://www.ktalnews.com/news/u-s-world/ap-germany-confirms-28m-settlement-with-munich-attack-families/
| 2022-09-21T12:15:52Z
|
ktalnews.com
|
control
|
https://www.ktalnews.com/news/u-s-world/ap-germany-confirms-28m-settlement-with-munich-attack-families/
| 1
| 0
|
green-iguana-35
| null |
MADRID (AP) — The mayor of a southern town in Spain said Friday that an oil slick from a damaged and partly sunken bulk carrier ship off Gibraltar has reached a nearby Spanish beach.
La Línea de la Concepción Mayor Juan Franco said fuel from the leakage had been pushed by winds and currents to the beach.
The leakage occurred Thursday but divers sealed the source. The environmental impact or the quantity of oil spilled was not immediately clear.
“What has entered is a worrying spillage but it is not a tragedy,” Franco said. He said the most important issue was to remove the remaining fuel oil on the tanker safely.
Gibraltar officials said early Friday that 80% of the diesel on the ship had been removed but that some 180 tons of heavy fuel are still on board. The ship was ordered grounded in the shallows after colliding Monday with another vessel in the bay of the British territory located at the western entrance to the Mediterranean Sea.
A government spokesman said there had been no further seepage of heavy fuel since Thursday and that the situation was under control.
The spokesman, who was not authorized to be named publicly, said the ship had been carrying 250 tons of diesel and still had 183 tons of heavy fuel oil and 27 tons of lubricant oil in its tanks.
The heavy fuel oil is potentially more damaging to the environment and more difficult to extract, raising concerns in Spain and Gibraltar for marine life and tourism in the area.
Fabian Picardo, the head of Gibraltar’s government, told Spain’s Cadena SER radio that work would begin on removing the heavy fuel after the diesel is fully extracted.
The usually busy port of Gibraltar remains closed, but the neighboring Algeciras port in Spain is fully operational.
The 178-meter (584-foot), Tuvalu-registered OS 35 was carrying a cargo of steel bars. The LNG carrier with which it collided sustained little damage. No one was injured in the collision.
The captain of the damaged ship has been detained for allegedly not obeying Gibraltar port orders initially after the collision.
|
https://www.ktalnews.com/news/u-s-world/ap-gibraltar-says-heavy-fuel-yet-to-be-removed-from-cargo-ship/
| 2022-09-21T12:16:00Z
|
ktalnews.com
|
control
|
https://www.ktalnews.com/news/u-s-world/ap-gibraltar-says-heavy-fuel-yet-to-be-removed-from-cargo-ship/
| 1
| 0
|
green-iguana-35
| null |
MOSCOW (AP) — Former Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev is set to be buried Saturday in a ceremony falling short of a state funeral that will not be attended by Russian President Vladimir Putin or top international leaders.
The relatively low-key funeral reflects the Kremlin’s uneasiness about the legacy of Gorbachev, who has been revered in the West for ending the Cold War but despised by many at home for the collapse of the Soviet Union and the ensuing economic meltdown that plunged millions into poverty.
Putin privately laid flowers at Gorbachev’s coffin on Thursday because of what the Kremlin described as the president’s busy schedule that would prevent him from attending the funeral.
Asked what specific business will keep Putin busy, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said in a conference call with reporters that the president will have a series of working meetings, an international phone call and must also prepare for attending a business forum in Russia’s Far East next week.
Gorbachev, who died Tuesday at the age of 91, will be buried at Moscow’s Novodevichy cemetery next to his wife, Raisa, following a farewell ceremony at the Pillar Hall of the House of the Unions, an iconic mansion near the Kremlin that has served as the venue for state funerals since Soviet times.
Despite the choice of the prestigious venue, the Kremlin stopped short of calling it a state funeral, with Peskov saying the ceremony will have “elements” of one, such as honorary guards, and the government’s assistance in organizing it. He wouldn’t describe how it will differ from a full-fledged state funeral.
If the Kremlin had declared a state funeral for Gorbachev, it would have made it awkward for Putin to ignore the event. It would also have obliged the Kremlin to send invitations to foreign leaders, something that it was apparently reluctant to do amid soaring tensions with the West after sending troops into Ukraine.
Putin, who once bemoaned the collapse of the Soviet Union as the “greatest geopolitical catastrophe of the century,” has avoided explicit personal criticism of Gorbachev but has repeatedly blamed him for failing to secure written commitments from the West that would rule out NATO’s expansion eastward. The issue has marred Russia-West relations for decades and fomented tensions that exploded when the Russian leader sent troops into Ukraine on Feb. 24.
In a carefully-phrased letter of condolence released Wednesday avoiding explicit praise or criticism, Putin described Gorbachev as a man who left “an enormous impact on the course of world history.”
“He led the country during difficult and dramatic changes, amid large-scale foreign policy, economic and society challenges,” Putin said. “He deeply realized that reforms were necessary and tried to offer his solutions for the acute problems.”
The Kremlin’s ambivalence about Gorbachev was mirrored in state television broadcasts, which paid tribute to Gorbachev as a historic figure but described his reforms as poorly planned and held him responsible for failing to properly defend the country’s interests.
The Russian public has remained similarly divided over Gorbachev’s legacy, with some praising him for ending the Cold War and shedding seven decades of totalitarian rule and others accusing him of betrayal.
___
AP journalist Susie Blann in London contributed to this report.
|
https://www.ktalnews.com/news/u-s-world/ap-gorbachev-to-be-buried-in-low-key-funeral-snubbed-by-putin/
| 2022-09-21T12:16:07Z
|
ktalnews.com
|
control
|
https://www.ktalnews.com/news/u-s-world/ap-gorbachev-to-be-buried-in-low-key-funeral-snubbed-by-putin/
| 1
| 0
|
green-iguana-35
| null |
NEW DELHI (AP) — India commissioned its first home-built aircraft carrier Friday as it seeks to counter regional rival China’s much larger and growing fleet, and expand its own indigenous shipbuilding capabilities.
The INS Vikrant, whose name is a Sanskrit word for “powerful” or “courageous,” is India’s second operational aircraft carrier, joining the Soviet-era INS Vikramaditya that it purchased from Russia in 2004 to defend the Indian Ocean and Bay of Bengal.
The new 262-meter (860-foot) carrier, designed by the Indian navy and built at the Cochin shipyard in southern India, was launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi as part of the country’s commemoration of 75 years of independence from British rule.
More than just adding to the country’s naval capabilities, Modi stressed the importance of India now being only one of a handful of nations with an indigenous carrier program.
“It’s a historic day and landmark achievement,” Modi said. “It’s an example of the government’s thrust to make India’s defense sector self-reliant.”
The carrier is the largest warship to be built in the country, and can carry a crew of around 1,600 and operate a fleet of 30 aircraft, including fighter jets and helicopters, the navy said.
More than 75% of India’s new aircraft carrier’s components are indigenously procured, with half a dozen major industrial firms and over 100 smaller businesses providing equipment and machinery, according to the Defense Ministry.
A delay of six years caused a six-fold price overrun to 200 billion rupees ($2.5 billion) at present, according to defense experts.
The 47,400-ton warship will be fully operational by the end of 2023 after first undergoing landing trials with India’s Russian-made MiG-29K fighter aircraft.
India plans to equip the carrier with more than two dozen new fighters, with the Rafale-M from France’s Dassault and the F/A-18 Block III Super Hornet built by Boeing currently being considered.
Until then it will rely on the Russian aircraft borrowed from India’s only other carrier, said Rahul Bedi, a defense expert.
In recent years, China has expanded its presence into the Indian Ocean, the Western Pacific and beyond.
In August, it sailed a navy vessel to a Chinese-built port in Sri Lanka despite security concerns from New Delhi about such a port call right off India’s own coast. Beijing called the ship a research vessel, but it was widely believed to be a dual-use spy vessel that India feared could be used to surveil the region.
In response to concerns over China’s growing assertiveness, the Indian navy last year sent four warships to Southeast Asia, the South China Sea and Indo-Pacific for exercises with members of the other “Quad” group of nations — the United States, Japan and Australia, according to India’s Defense Ministry.
Modi said on Friday that security concerns in the Indo-Pacific region and the Indian Ocean have been ignored for too long.
“But, today this area is a big defense priority of the country for us. So, we are working in every direction, from increasing the budget for the navy to increasing its capacity,” he said.
The vast maritime region has been tense because of China’s disputes with its neighbors, including Taiwan, the Philippines, Indonesia, Vietnam, Japan and South Korea. There are competing claims for all or part of the strategically vital waterway that holds significant undersea oil and gas deposits.
China’s People’s Liberation Army Navy, or PLAN, has been modernizing for more than a decade to become more of a “blue water” force — one capable of operating globally rather than being restricted to remaining closer to the Chinese mainland, for which carriers are critical.
The PLAN currently has some 355 ships, including submarines, according to the U.S. Defense Department, which estimates the force will grow to 420 ships by 2025 and 460 ships by 2030.
It possessed two aircraft carriers and in June launched its third believed to be with an electromagnetic system like the United States uses in its new carriers. The Indian carrier uses the traditional “ski jump” type system to launch its aircraft.
India’s fleet now includes two aircraft carriers, 10 destroyers, 12 frigates and 20 corvette ships, according to its navy.
India’s older aircraft carrier, the INS Vikramaditya, was built in the Soviet Union in 1987. It served with the Soviet navy under the name Admiral Gorshkov, and later with the Russian navy before it was decommissioned in 1996. India purchased it in 2004 for $2.35 billion.
|
https://www.ktalnews.com/news/u-s-world/ap-india-launches-new-aircraft-carrier-as-china-concerns-grow/
| 2022-09-21T12:16:15Z
|
ktalnews.com
|
control
|
https://www.ktalnews.com/news/u-s-world/ap-india-launches-new-aircraft-carrier-as-china-concerns-grow/
| 1
| 0
|
green-iguana-35
| null |
Jehovah’s Witnesses have restarted their door-to-door ministry after more than two and a half years on hiatus due to the coronavirus pandemic, reviving a religious practice that the faith considers crucial and cherished.
From coast to coast, members of the Christian denomination fanned out in cities and towns Thursday to share literature and converse about God for the first time since March 2020.
In the Jamaica Plain neighborhood on the south side of Boston, Dan and Carrie Sideris spent a balmy morning walking around knocking on doors and ringing bells. Dan Sideris said he had been apprehensive about evangelizing in person in “a changed world,” but the experience erased any traces of doubt.
“It all came back quite naturally because we don’t have a canned speech,” he said. “We try to engage with people about what’s in their heart, and what we say comes from our hearts.”
The couple were surprised at how many people opened their doors and were receptive.
One man took a break from a Zoom call to accept their booklets and set up an appointment to continue the conversation. At another home, a woman spoke of how many family members died in the last two years — something the Siderises could relate to, both of them having lost parents recently. Another woman was too busy at the moment but spoke to Carrie Sideris through the window and said she could come back Sunday.
“I’ve been looking forward to this day,” she said. “When I rang the first doorbell this morning, a total calm came over me. I was back where I needed to be.”
Jehovah’s Witnesses suspended door-knocking in the early days of the pandemic’s onset in the United States, just as much of the rest of society went into lockdown too. The organization also ended all public meetings at its 13,000 congregations nationwide and canceled 5,600 annual gatherings worldwide — an unprecedented move not taken even during the Spanish Flu pandemic in 1918, which killed 50 million people worldwide.
Witnesses continued their ministry by writing letters and making phone calls, but it wasn’t the same because it lacked a personal touch, said Robert Hendriks, national spokesperson for the denomination.
“To us, going door to door is an expression of our God’s impartiality,” he said. “We go to everyone and let them choose whether they want to hear us or not.”
Even in pre-pandemic times, door-knocking ministry came with anxiety because Witnesses never knew how they would be received at any given home. In 2022 that’s even more the case, and evangelizers are being advised to be mindful that lives and attitudes have changed.
“It’s going to take an additional level of courage,” Hendriks said.
The organization is not mandating masks or social distancing, leaving those decisions to each individual.
The denomination has cautiously been rebooting other activities: In April it reopened congregations for in-person gatherings, and in June it resumed public ministry where members set up carts in locations such as subway stations and hand out literature.
Getting back to door-knocking, considered not just a core belief but also an effective ministry, is a big step toward “a return to normal,” Hendriks said.
However, other denominations such as The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints have moved away from door-to-door ministry. Spokesman Sam Penrod said the church had already been doing so “for at least a decade” before COVID-19.
“Social media has become an effective way of reaching people interested in learning more about the Church in recent years and became invaluable in the early months of the pandemic,” Penrod said via email, adding that missionaries continue to minister in person but do not go door to door.
But for Jehovah’s Witnesses such as Jonathan Gomas of Milwaukee, who started door-knocking with his parents when he was “big enough to ring a doorbell,” a spiritual life without it seems inconceivable.
“When you’re out in the community, you have your hand on the pulse,” he said. “We haven’t had that close feeling with the community for more than two years now. It feels like we’ve all become more distant and polarized.”
Gomas and his wife and two daughters have all learned Hmong in order to better reach out to members of that community, and residents are often pleasantly surprised to open their doors to fluent speakers of their language.
“I think it made them listen even closer,” he said.
In Acworth, Georgia, Nathan Rivera said he has greatly missed seeing people’s faces and reading their expressions.
“You see and appreciate these responses, and it’s much more personal,” he said. “You establish common ground and relationships that you can never develop over the phone or by writing a letter.”
The son of Cuban refugees who came to the United States in the 1980s, Rivera said door-knocking is an important part of his spiritual identity and “feels Christ-like.”
“We show respect for each person’s right to hold a different belief,” he said. “If they don’t want to hear what we have to say, we politely thank them and move on, recognizing that we cannot judge anyone. We’ll just keep on knocking.”
___
Associated Press religion coverage receives support through the AP’s collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content.
|
https://www.ktalnews.com/news/u-s-world/ap-knock-knock-jehovahs-witnesses-resume-door-to-door-work/
| 2022-09-21T12:16:23Z
|
ktalnews.com
|
control
|
https://www.ktalnews.com/news/u-s-world/ap-knock-knock-jehovahs-witnesses-resume-door-to-door-work/
| 1
| 0
|
green-iguana-35
| null |
BERLIN (AP) — A 25-year-old man has died from injuries suffered in an attack at a gay pride event in the western city of Muenster, prosecutors in Germany said Friday.
The victim, identified in German media only by the first name Malte, had come to the aid of other participants in the Aug. 27 Christopher Street Day event after they were insulted by an unknown man. The man then attacked the victim, knocking him to the ground.
Authorities said the suspect in the attack fled with another person and has not yet been apprehended.
Police have issued a description of the men and appealed for witnesses to come forward.
The German government’s queer commissioner, Sven Lehmann, expressed shock at the death.
“Malte has died following a hate attack at the CSD Muenster,” Lehmann wrote on Twitter. “I’m stunned and sad. My condolences and deep sympathy go to his family and friends. Violence against queer people is a threat that we must all stand up to.”
|
https://www.ktalnews.com/news/u-s-world/ap-man-dies-following-attack-at-gay-pride-event-in-germany/
| 2022-09-21T12:16:30Z
|
ktalnews.com
|
control
|
https://www.ktalnews.com/news/u-s-world/ap-man-dies-following-attack-at-gay-pride-event-in-germany/
| 1
| 0
|
green-iguana-35
| null |
BANGKOK (AP) — A court in Myanmar on Friday sentenced ousted leader Aung San Suu Kyi to three years’ imprisonment with labor after finding her guilty of election fraud, adding more jail time to the 17 years she is already serving for other offenses prosecuted by the military government.
The latest verdict also carries potentially significant political consequences for Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy party by lending support to the government’s explicit threats to dissolve it before a new election the military has promised for 2023.
Suu Kyi’s party won the the 2020 general election in a landslide victory, but the army seized power the following February and kept her from a second five-year term in office. The army contends it acted because of alleged widespread fraud in the polls though independent election observers did not find any major irregularities. Some critics of Senior Gen. Min Aung Hlaing, who led the takeover and is now Myanmar’s top leader, believe he acted because the vote thwarted his own political ambitions.
A spokesperson for the Bangkok-based Asian Network for Free Elections, a non-partisan poll watching group, said Friday they did not observe any election fraud.
“Domestic election observers from Myanmar also did not see that,” Amaël Vier told The Associated Press. “There were improvements to be made for sure — we were still coming from a long way behind other democracies, in Myanmar –- but the claims of the junta that 25% of voters were fraudulent? This does not hold up to our scrutiny, for sure.”
The military’s seizure of power prompted widespread peaceful protests that were quashed with lethal force, triggering armed resistance that some U.N. experts now characterize as civil war.
Suu Kyi had already been sentenced to 17 years in prison on charges of illegally importing and possessing walkie-talkies, violating coronavirus restrictions, sedition and five counts of corruption. Many top members of her party and government also have been jailed, while others are in hiding or have fled abroad.
Suu Kyi’s supporters and independent analysts say all the charges against her are politically motivated and an attempt to discredit her and legitimize the military’s seizure of power while keeping her from returning to politics. All her trials have been held in closed courts.
Friday’s ruling by the special court at the prison in the capital, Naypyitaw, was conveyed by a legal official who insisted on anonymity for fear of being punished by the authorities, who have restricted the release of information about Suu Kyi’s trials. He said all the defendants appeared in good health.
He said that ousted President Win Myint and the former minister of the president’s office, Min Thu, both co-defendants in the election fraud case, each received sentences of three years. All three received prison terms with labor, a category of punishment that can include hard labor, such as road building, but in this case does not, he said. Lawyers will file appeals in the coming days, he added.
The election fraud charge against Suu Kyi was filed in November by the Election Commission, whose members were replaced by the military after it seized power.
It charged that Suu Kyi and her colleagues violated provisions in the constitution by allegedly influencing the old commission.
The military-appointed commission accused them of being “involved in electoral processes, election fraud and lawless actions” related to the election.
The commission claimed it has found more than 11 million irregularities in voter lists that could have let voters cast multiple ballots or commit other fraud.
Thein Soe, the new Election Commission chief, has said his agency would consider dissolving Suu Kyi’s party, charging that it had worked illegally with the government to give itself an advantage at the polls.
State media reported after a meeting two months ago of the ruling National Defense and Security Council that 2,417 officials had been prosecuted for failing to supervise the electoral processes and action was underway to prosecute voters who cast their ballots more than once.
The Election Commission has also warned that Suu Kyi’s party would be disbanded if it did not submit its financial accounts and expenses for inspection. The commission said it was examining political parties to see whether they were maintaining and using funds in accordance with the law.
Commission member Khin Maung Oo said the examination of Suu Kyi’s party would be delayed because some of its officers had been arrested and others had gone into hiding. Party officials who have escaped arrest said last year that they do not recognize the military-appointed commission and its statements are illegal.
In separate proceedings, Suu Kyi is being tried on the charge of violating the Official Secrets Act, which carries a maximum sentence of 14 years, and seven counts of corruption charges, which carry a maximum sentence of 15 years each.
Although there is little support for the army’s power grab and skepticism about its claims, they were not alone in criticizing the election, even before the vote took place.
The bedrock problem with Myanmar’s democracy is that the country’s 2008 constitution, drafted under a previous army-led government, reserves 25% of seats in parliament for unelected military officials and grants the military control of key government ministries.
Independent rights groups had criticized the disenfranchisement of the Muslim Rohingya ethnic minority and cancellation of the vote in certain areas under Suu Kyi’s first government. The Election Commission had cited the dangers of combat between government forces and ethnic minority guerrillas, but critics suggested certain areas were singled out for cancellation because they were certain to elect lawmakers from parties not allied to Suu Kyi’s.
A lack of transparency raised questions about the impartiality of the commission, which was appointed by Suu Kyi’s government.
Human rights groups and other observers also had concerns about a continued crackdown by her government on the rights to freedom of expression and peaceful assembly, including the arbitrary arrest and detention of civil society actors and activists.
|
https://www.ktalnews.com/news/u-s-world/ap-myanmar-court-sentences-suu-kyi-to-3-years-for-voting-fraud/
| 2022-09-21T12:16:37Z
|
ktalnews.com
|
control
|
https://www.ktalnews.com/news/u-s-world/ap-myanmar-court-sentences-suu-kyi-to-3-years-for-voting-fraud/
| 1
| 0
|
green-iguana-35
| null |
EAGLE PASS, Texas (AP) — A Texas pecan farm nearly the size of Disneyland has become entangled in a turf war between the Biden administration and Republican Gov. Greg Abbott over immigration enforcement on the southern border.
Hugo and Magali Urbina, who bought Heavenly Farms in April 2021, at first welcomed the state footing the bill for a new chain-link fence through their property earlier this year as part of Abbott’s multibillion-dollar crackdown on border crossings along the Rio Grande. But then, one day, they found the fence’s main gate unexpectedly locked.
The lock was put there, the couple says, by Texas authorities who have spent months arresting thousands of migrants on trespassing charges on private land. But the Urbinas didn’t want the lock and neither did the U.S. Border Patrol, which found it impeded the agency’s own immigration enforcement and had it removed.
Now a single gate on the 1,200-mile Texas border has swung open a new dust-up over how to address near-record levels of migration on America’s southern doorstep, a fight the Urbinas say they want no part of.
“Unbelievable,” Abbott lashed out on social media last month after the lock was removed. “While Texas secures the border, the federal government is enabling illegal immigration.”
The dispute is the latest example of how Texas’ unprecedented challenge to the federal government’s authority on the border has created a clash among agencies working at cross purposes.
The Border Patrol’s Del Rio sector, which includes Eagle Pass where most of the nearly 470-acre farm is located, is fast becoming the busiest corridor for illegal crossings, with thousands passing each week onto the farm alone. The sector may soon surpass Texas’ Rio Grande Valley, which has been the focus for the last decade.
The Urbinas do not oppose Abbott’s massive border mission. But in the case of the lock, they say it went too far. They blamed what they see as a lack of single command in an area saturated with state troopers, Texas National Guard members, U.S. Border Patrol agents and local authorities, all of whom constantly cross paths and often work in tandem.
“They are all doing what they are being told,” Magali Urbina said. “It is really not their fault, but there is nobody running or telling them. There is no boss.”
It isn’t an isolated case.
In September 2021, Texas troopers told Border Patrol agents on horseback to block migrants from crossing the river to a camp of nearly 16,000 predominantly Haitians in Del Rio, about an hour’s drive north of Eagle Pass. Images of Border Patrol agents twirling reins at overpowered migrants sparked widespread criticism, including from President Joe Biden.
The internal investigation found that agents acted against Border Patrol objectives and “resulted in the unnecessary use of force against migrants who were attempting to reenter the United States with food.” The agents had been “instructed to help where needed” and not told anything more specific about how to respond to requests from another agency.
Abbott, who is seeking a third term, launched his multibillion-dollar “Operation Lone Star” last year, creating an overwhelming presence on the border. The size and cost of the mission has grown in defiance of the Democratic administration in Washington:
— Since July, the state has picked up 5,600 migrants who have entered the country illegally in Texas and returned them to ports of entry on the border, a role that has been reserved for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
In Eagle Pass, state buses drop off migrants throughout the day at a border crossing with Piedras Negras, Mexico, as far as they can go. CBP releases them, creating a circular flow.
Since April, Texas has bused more than 7,000 migrants to Washington and New York on free, voluntary trips, attempting to call attention to what it considers Biden’s failed policies. This week, Abbott began sending buses to Chicago, with the first arriving Thursday at Union Station. White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre has called the move a “political ploy.”
— Since last year, the state has charged more than 4,800 migrants with trespassing, a misdemeanor that carries a maximum penalty of a year in jail.
The Urbinas’ farm, which winds along the river, includes an old house that the couple is restoring for visitors to sample pecans, coffee and wine. They were inspired by Fredericksburg, a town of German heritage near Austin that draws tourists.
The farm of neatly manicured rows of trees had long drawn migrants but was relatively peaceful before the lifelong Eagle Pass resident couple bought it. It is located at the end of a stretch of new border fencing that was built on Abbott’s orders, on the edge of the 30,000-resident town that is dotted with warehouses, decaying houses and chain stores.
Agents stopped migrants nearly 50,000 times in the Del Rio sector in July, with Rio Grande Valley a distant second at about 35,000. About 6 of 10 stops in the Del Rio sector were migrants from Venezuela, Cuba or Nicaragua, who are likely to be released to pursue their immigration cases because poor diplomatic relations with those countries means the U.S. can’t send them home.
Migrants cross the river and climb a few feet uphill amidst overgrown Carrizo cane and concertina wire to surrender on the farm’s edge, expecting they will be released. U.S. Border Patrol agents, state troopers and journalists are a regular presence.
Border Patrol unlocked the gate and took migrants in for processing, a regular procedure for the federal officials in any situation involving a lock within 25 miles of the border, said Jon Anfinsen, president of the National Border Patrol Council union chapter that includes agents in Eagle Pass.
“The governor is telling everyone, ‘Secure the border.’ I have no doubt that is the intent but the reality of it is that it’s just not that simple,” Anfinsen said. “We’ve been doing this forever and it hasn’t been fixed yet. So it’s a noble attempt, I suppose, but we’re going to have to take these people into custody.”
Border Patrol officials declined comment.
Ericka Miller, a spokeswoman for the Texas Department of Public Safety, said the agency is accommodating the Urbinas’ request to have the gate unlocked. She said DPS is also working to have carrizo cane on the property removed but said the Urbinas are allowing concertina wiring to stay on the property.
“All landowner agreements are voluntary and can be eliminated at any time. Again, DPS is there to assist the landowner,” Miller said in an email.
The chain-link fence, which rises over the cane intertwined with the razor wire, makes it easier for the Urbinas to pursue trespassing charges against people crossing into their farm. However, they haven’t, although they know cattle ranchers who have.
The state and federal governments are each “wanting to pull all the levers” and not working together, Hugo Urbina said. The couple regrets what they see as a disconnect.
“The president is not here, the governor is not here, but this is our land,” Magali Urbina said.
___
Associated Press writers Elliot Spagat in San Diego and Paul Weber in Austin, Texas, contributed.
|
https://www.ktalnews.com/news/u-s-world/ap-pecan-farmers-get-caught-in-power-vacuum-on-texas-border/
| 2022-09-21T12:16:45Z
|
ktalnews.com
|
control
|
https://www.ktalnews.com/news/u-s-world/ap-pecan-farmers-get-caught-in-power-vacuum-on-texas-border/
| 1
| 0
|
green-iguana-35
| null |
MOSCOW (AP) — A senior Russian diplomat sternly warned Washington Friday against supplying long-range weapons to Ukraine, noting that the U.S. is balancing on the edge of direct involvement in the conflict.
Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov also pointed to the country’s military doctrine that envisages the use of nuclear weapons in case of a threat to the existence of the Russian state.
“We have repeatedly warned the U.S. about the consequences that may follow if the U.S. continues to flood Ukraine with weapons,” Ryabkov said. “It effectively puts itself in a state close to what can be described as a party to the conflict.”
Speaking on state television, Ryabkov warned that ”a very narrow margin that separates the U.S. from becoming a party to the conflict mustn’t create an illusion for rabid anti-Russian forces that everything will remain as it is if they cross it.”
He emphasized that Russia will push its offensive in Ukraine until it reaches its aims.
“Russia is capable of fully defending its interests, and the goals of the special military operation will be fully achieved,” Ryabkov said.
He pointed out that Russia’s military doctrine stipulates that it could use nuclear weapons in case of aggression against Russia and its allies involving mass destruction weapons, or an aggression involving conventional weapons that threatens the very existence of the Russian state.
Supplies of the U.S. HIMARS multiple rocket launchers strengthened the strike capability of the Ukrainian army, which has used them to hit key infrastructure facilities and other targets. The truck-mounted systems fire GPS-guided missiles capable of reaching targets up to 80 kilometers (50 miles) away.
U.S. authorities so far have refrained from providing Ukraine with longer range missiles for HIMARS launchers that can reach targets up to 300 kilometers (186 miles) and could potentially allow the Ukrainian military to hit areas deep inside Russia.
“We are warning the U.S. against making provocative steps, such as deliveries of longer-range and more devastating weapons,” Ryabkov said. “It’s a road to nowhere fraught with grave consequences, the responsibility for which will lie entirely with Washington.”
|
https://www.ktalnews.com/news/u-s-world/ap-russia-warns-us-off-sending-long-range-weapons-to-ukraine/
| 2022-09-21T12:16:59Z
|
ktalnews.com
|
control
|
https://www.ktalnews.com/news/u-s-world/ap-russia-warns-us-off-sending-long-range-weapons-to-ukraine/
| 1
| 0
|
green-iguana-35
| null |
KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — The head of Ukraine’s powerful National Security Council says his government is still not fully aware of the situation, including potential threats, inside the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant despite the ongoing inspection by United Nations monitors.
Oleksiy Danilov, a key official in Ukraine’s war effort, in an interview with The Associated Press Friday appealed for additional international support to try to demilitarize the area that includes the largest nuclear plant in Europe.
“We do not know what is happening there, whether it is currently mined by the Russians or not,” Danilov said, speaking inside a heavily guarded building in central Kyiv with sandbags piled against the entrance and windows.
“I want to emphasize that this is a challenge for the whole world, how to make this nuclear facility not dangerous. If the world community would work with us on this issue, we would be very grateful.”
Heavy fighting has continued around Zaporizhzhia despite the start of an inspection this week by experts from the International Atomic Energy Agency, who have already warned about the dangers caused by structural damage to the site.
The plant is still being operated by Ukrainian staff and connected to the country’s electricity grid, but has been occupied by Russian forces since the early stages of the war after the invasion was launched in Feb. 24.
Danilov said that with winter approaching preparations were being made to safeguard the country’s power supply in case the grid connection to the Zaporizhzhia plant is lost.
He said Ukraine remains unwilling to consider ceasefire negotiations as long Russia holds Ukrainian territory, adding: “We face an insidious enemy that is complex and difficult. We would be misleading ourselves if we believed that a quick victory was possible.”
The course of the war, Danilov said, went beyond the leadership of Russian President Vladimir Putin.
“Even Putin’s death would not automatically mean the end of the war,” he said. “There are a lot of people who want to continue this war today, many Russian oligarchs and people in the Russian leadership are making a lot of money.”
The National Security Council includes Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, his ministers of defense, foreign affairs and the interior, as well as the head of the country’s armed forces and intelligence service.
___
Follow the AP’s coverage of the war at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine
|
https://www.ktalnews.com/news/u-s-world/ap-ukraine-security-chief-nuclear-plant-a-threat-to-the-world/
| 2022-09-21T12:17:07Z
|
ktalnews.com
|
control
|
https://www.ktalnews.com/news/u-s-world/ap-ukraine-security-chief-nuclear-plant-a-threat-to-the-world/
| 1
| 0
|
green-iguana-35
| null |
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — The U.S. Navy says Iran has once again briefly seized an American sea drone before letting it go. Tehran says its navy seized two drones before releasing them.
Cmdr. Timothy Hawkins, a spokesman for the Navy’s Mideast-based 5th Fleet, acknowledged the incident on Friday to The Associated Press. He declined to immediately elaborate.
Iranian state television showed images of at least one drone on the deck of a vessel with sailors looking at it.
This marks the second-such incident involving Iran in recent days as negotiations over Tehran’s nuclear deal with world powers hang in the balance.
|
https://www.ktalnews.com/news/u-s-world/ap-us-navy-says-iran-again-briefly-seizes-american-sea-drone/
| 2022-09-21T12:17:22Z
|
ktalnews.com
|
control
|
https://www.ktalnews.com/news/u-s-world/ap-us-navy-says-iran-again-briefly-seizes-american-sea-drone/
| 1
| 0
|
green-iguana-35
| null |
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Department of Veterans Affairs said Friday it will provide abortion access to veterans and their beneficiaries — even in states that have made abortions illegal — in cases when the pregnant woman’s life or health is at risk, or in cases of rape or incest.
The VA said abortion services will be offered in those limited situations immediately once a document that outlines the change is published in the Federal Register. It was not clear when the document, which was submitted to the register on Thursday, would be published and a message left with the VA on Friday evening was not immediately returned.
“VA is taking this action because it has determined that providing access to abortion-related medical services is needed to protect the lives and health of veterans,” the document, which is called an interim final rule, says. “As abortion bans come into force across the country, veterans in many States are no longer assured access to abortion services in their communities, even when those services are needed.”
It is the first time abortion services and abortion counseling will be offered by the VA. The document said that before the U.S. Supreme Court’s June decision overturning Roe v. Wade, veterans could obtain abortions in their communities.
Now, the VA said that when working in the scope of their federal jobs, VA employees may provide abortion care regardless of state restrictions. Twelve states have banned abortions at all points of pregnancy, and most of those states do not allow exceptions for cases of rape or incest.
VA Secretary Denis McDonough called the move a “patient safety decision.”
Under the document, health care providers and their patients will determine on a case-by-case basis whether an abortion is needed to save a woman’s life or health. In cases of rape or incest, a woman won’t have to provide evidence of the crime, such as a police report, as some states require.
The document says that allowing a woman to self-report rape or incest to receive an abortion “removes barriers to providing care” and is consistent with a longstanding VA policy of providing treatment to people who experienced military sexual trauma without requiring them to report it.
Once the document is published in the Federal Register, the public will have 30 days to comment.
|
https://www.ktalnews.com/news/u-s-world/ap-va-plans-limited-abortion-access-to-vets-despite-state-bans/
| 2022-09-21T12:17:30Z
|
ktalnews.com
|
control
|
https://www.ktalnews.com/news/u-s-world/ap-va-plans-limited-abortion-access-to-vets-despite-state-bans/
| 1
| 0
|
green-iguana-35
| null |
MADRID (AP) — The shrieks of fear-infused excitement as bulls charge through the streets of many Spanish towns during wildly popular summer festivals echo in sharp contrast to the number of people who have died after being gored this year.
Bull runs may be a beloved spectacle for locals and visitors in thousands of summer festivals across Spain, but this year’s macabre, record-tying toll of eight deaths has politicians and animal rights defenders heaping much criticism on the practice.
There were no fatalities or injuries in Atanzón when revelers on foot and on horseback recently ran with the rampaging animal. But last week in Alalpardo, less than an hour’s drive away, a steer fatally gored a 60-year-old man.
A week earlier a 73-year-old French woman who was a regular in bull events died in the eastern town of Beniarbeig after being gored in the chest. Six men were fatally gored in other Valencia festivals and more than 380 participants have been injured. The season doesn’t end until November.
Despite the concern, authorities appear at a loss as to what additional safety measures they can take.
“Some people have lost any fear of the bull,” says regional emergency chief José María Angel. He urges revelers to be more cautious — the primary recommendation to come out a safety review meeting.
Valencia regional government Deputy President Aitana Mas has left the door open to debate whether to prohibit these kinds of fiestas, saying that the current legislation is “not enough.”
Only a few villages have canceled such festivals. Tavernes de la Valldigna is one that has, and sees it as a matter of staying in step with its policy of defending animal rights.
“I hope our decision brings further into the streets the debate and leads to the end of this tradition,” Mayor Sergi González told The Associated Press, even as he acknowledged the tradition’s deep cultural roots.
While the public debate in Spain has largely focused on the loss of human lives, activists are demanding a total ban on events where animals are used for entertainment.
Animal rights groups are particularly opposed to events they say are deliberately more cruel to the animals, such as when cotton balls are lit on the horns of bulls or when the animal is forced into the sea and is then brought back to shore.
Events known in the Valencian dialect as “Bous al carrer,” (Bulls on the street) involve bulls or calves released into the streets to waiting crowds who try to provoke them into charging.
Alejandro Cano, President of Defense of Bous al Carrer Associations doesn’t see cause any for alarm, telling the AP that the casualties are “part of the festival.”
Some bulls are fought and killed by matadors but most return to their farms.
According to the Culture Ministry, some 2,700 such spectacles were held last year. The amount was reduced compared to a regular season due to some pandemic restrictions still in place. In 2019, there were 17,000. This year around 9,000 are expected to take place until the end of November.
Pamplona’s San Fermin running of the bulls, immortalized by Literature Nobel Prize winner and novelist Ernest Hemingway, is the prime event but there has not been a death there in 13 years. Safety measures, public investment and the professionalism of the runners are unmatched in any other smaller Spanish festival.
Atanzón will continue celebrating its patron saint, San Agustín, in the same fashion as Pamplona does — praying to the saint that no one is killed by the bulls for another summer.
|
https://www.ktalnews.com/news/u-s-world/ap-wave-of-bull-runner-deaths-turns-focus-on-spains-fiestas/
| 2022-09-21T12:17:37Z
|
ktalnews.com
|
control
|
https://www.ktalnews.com/news/u-s-world/ap-wave-of-bull-runner-deaths-turns-focus-on-spains-fiestas/
| 1
| 0
|
green-iguana-35
| null |
NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — Residents in Ethiopia’s largest federal state, Oromia, say dozens of civilians were killed in an attack by an armed group on Monday, the latest mass violence along ethnic lines that challenges one of Africa’s most populous countries.
Two residents of the restive Wollega region’s Horo Guduru area said an armed group from the ethnic Amhara community, known as Fano, targeted ethnic Oromos indiscriminately.
“Those Fano militia came in full force and killed everyone they found,” one witness told The Associated Press, speaking on condition of anonymity for fear of retaliation. He said he saw six fresh bodies in a graveyard. The fighters burned houses, looted cattle and threatened to come back and “finish us all,” he said.
Another witness said he saw around 20 bodies on Tuesday and said he believed that “many other bodies remain to be discovered.”
Both witnesses said the attack occurred a day after Oromia regional forces withdrew from the area. A spokesman for Ethiopia’s federal government, Legesse Tulu, hung up without answering questions. Oromia’s police chief did not respond.
On Thursday, Ethiopia’s Media Authority issued a warning to private media outlet Finfinnee Integrated Broadcast for reporting the killings and accused it of disseminating “fake and unconfirmed reports.”
Ethiopia has experienced widespread ethnic rivalry and conflict since Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed came to power in 2018.
The Fano militia was a major actor in Ethiopia’s Tigray conflict that erupted in the northern part of the country in November 2020. Fighting alongside Ethiopia’s military, they were implicated in some of the worst atrocities committed against ethnic Tigrayans.
But when that conflict calmed in recent months, many of the Fano’s leaders and members were targeted by Ethiopian authorities after the prime minister referred to them as an “irregular force.”
Previously, ethnic Amahras were targeted in the Wollega area where Monday’s killings occurred. In June, hundreds of ethnic Amharas were killed and local authorities blamed the Oromo Liberation Army. The armed group denied it and blamed government forces instead.
|
https://www.ktalnews.com/news/u-s-world/ap-witnesses-say-dozens-killed-in-new-ethnic-attack-in-ethiopia/
| 2022-09-21T12:17:45Z
|
ktalnews.com
|
control
|
https://www.ktalnews.com/news/u-s-world/ap-witnesses-say-dozens-killed-in-new-ethnic-attack-in-ethiopia/
| 1
| 0
|
green-iguana-35
| null |
COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — Multiple cheerleading coaches in South Carolina — including a coach who recently killed himself — sexually abused at least six boys and girls and provided them with drugs and alcohol, a federal lawsuit alleges.
A “coven of sexual predators” surrounded Rockstar Cheer of Greenville for more than a decade, according to one of the lawyers for the alleged victims.
Attorney Bakari Sellers contends that what happened is a result of the same kind of institutional failure seen in the case of Larry Nassar, the former USA Gymnastics and Michigan State University doctor who is serving a minimum of 40 years in prison after admitting that he molested some of the nation’s top gymnasts for years.
The lawsuit was filed Thursday by four girls and two boys who said they were abused by Scott Foster and others affiliated with Rockstar gyms. It suggests there could be up to 100 more survivors of the abuse.
“Scott Foster and his allies did their best to intimidate and isolate their targets, making these young people feel alone and somehow responsible. Well, they’re not alone anymore,” attorney Jessica Fickling said in a statement announcing the suit.
Foster, 49, was found dead in his car at a state park on Aug. 22. He shot himself in the head, the Greenville County Coroner’s Office ruled.
“He knew this was going to be a moment when the light was going to be shined on what I think will turn out to be a coven of sexual predators surrounding Rockstar,” said attorney James Bannister.
A number of people either knew Foster was abusing his cheer students and ignored it or did not have rules and procedures in place to stop the abuse, the lawsuit says.
Foster and other coaches not named in the lawsuit had sex with cheer students, sent and asked for explicit photos over social media, gave them alcohol and marijuana at their homes and in hotel rooms at cheer competitions and warned them to not tell anyone about it, according to the lawsuit.
“We have video of Scott Foster on Snapchat with beer bongs drinking with his underage cheerleaders,” Sellers said at a news conference this week.
The suit also names Varsity Brands, which runs cheerleading competitions; the U.S. All Star Federation, which is an organizing and governing body for competitive cheerleading across the country; Bain Capital, which bought Varsity in 2018, and others.
State and federal police are investigating Foster’s Rockstar Cheer and other cheerleading outlets, seizing computers, cellphones and other evidence, Bannister said. He said the investigating agencies asked lawyers not to identify them.
Several state and federal agencies have refused to tell news outlets whether they are involved.
Foster’s wife, Kathy, promised to cooperate with “all involved” to make sure athletes can safely learn and grow.
“I am heartbroken by the recent allegations made by current and former athletes from Rockstar Cheer and other cheer gyms across our community,” she said in a statement released this week. “I hope the survivors are seeking and receive the support they need. I am sympathetic to their stories.”
Varsity Brands President Bill Seely called the accusations devastating.
“Our hearts are broken right alongside yours,” he tweeted Thursday. “The alleged conduct runs counter to everything the cheer and dance community is intended to represent.”
Bain Capital didn’t return an email seeking comment.
Rockstar Cheer’s name is on more than a dozen gyms in South Carolina, Georgia, North Carolina, Rhode Island, Pennsylvania, Ohio and Arizona.
Ten of the gyms said in a statement this week that they had no connection with Foster and would be dropping the Rockstar brand name.
Foster opened his Greenville gym in 2007, according to his website.
|
https://www.ktalnews.com/news/u-s-world/cheerleading-coach-accused-of-belonging-to-coven-of-sexual-predators-found-dead-in-sc/
| 2022-09-21T12:17:52Z
|
ktalnews.com
|
control
|
https://www.ktalnews.com/news/u-s-world/cheerleading-coach-accused-of-belonging-to-coven-of-sexual-predators-found-dead-in-sc/
| 1
| 0
|
green-iguana-35
| null |
(KTLA) – When you think of buying or selling cryptocurrency, maybe you think of high-tech trading floors. Maybe you think of state-of-the-art apps.
What you probably don’t think of is an ATM in a gas-station convenience store or payday-loan shop.
Increasingly, however, that’s how many working-class people are encountering crypto. And consumer advocates say this may not be a good thing.
“These ATMs are being put in places where retail consumers who don’t have a lot of information about investing, but are excited about cryptocurrency and want to get involved, are most likely to find them,” said Mark Hays, senior policy analyst for the advocacy group Americans for Financial Reform.
There are roughly 2,000 crypto ATMs in Los Angeles, mostly dealing in Bitcoin. They allow people to exchange dollars for digital currency – for a roughly 15% fee.
It’s not that there’s anything wrong with investing in Bitcoin or any other cryptocurrency. It’s just that it’s risky. Very risky.
Remember the “Fortune Favours the Brave” commercial for Crypto.com featuring Matt Damon? Since the ad debuted last October, Bitcoin has declined in value by about 60%.
In other words, if you invested $1,000 following Damon’s advice, you’d now have maybe $400 to show for it.
“This is something weird,” Anas Elshahawy, a cashier at a Crenshaw District convenience store, told KTLA.
He said about a half-dozen people use his shop’s Bitcoin machine each week.
Crypto ATMs can be used to transfer money abroad, particularly to El Salvador, which made Bitcoin a national currency.
Critics said they’re also used by drug dealers and fraudsters to launder cash.
The industry says the machines allow people without bank accounts to dabble in digital currencies.
“We’re well aware that there is the belief that only criminals use it, that only nefarious activity and scam victims go to ATMs,” said Seth Sattler, executive director of the Cryptocurrency Compliance Cooperative, an industry group.
“So as an industry, we’re trying actively to prevent that to the best of our ability.”
Hays at Americans for Financial Reform said there may be nothing untoward about most crypto transactions. But he emphasizes that largely unregulated digital currencies are often more like gambling than investing.
“Putting your money into a Bitcoin ATM and hoping that you’ll watch the line go up and make bank, it’s equivalent to going into a casino,” he said. “Sure, you can make some money. But the odds are generally stacked against you.”
|
https://www.ktalnews.com/news/u-s-world/crypto-atms-are-popping-up-throughout-california/
| 2022-09-21T12:17:59Z
|
ktalnews.com
|
control
|
https://www.ktalnews.com/news/u-s-world/crypto-atms-are-popping-up-throughout-california/
| 1
| 0
|
green-iguana-35
| null |
LAS VEGAS (KLAS) – A man who lost both his legs after being hit by a drunk driver continues his long road to recovery.
“I was screaming out, ‘Why me?'” Riley McGowan recalled. “‘Why did something like this have to happen?'”
McGowan shared the moment his life changed forever when he a suspected drunk driver had hit him.
“I heard a screech and a bang, and I look up,” he said. “And next thing I know, five feet in front of me there’s an old Dodge Dakota.”
The 23-year-old was working in the median on Casino Center Boulevard when he said a drunk driver jumped the curb, slammed into his work truck, and ran him over.
“I remember trying to crawl away from the situation,” McGowan said.
Nearly two months and ten surgeries later, McGowan has lost both his legs and he’s doing his best to navigate this new normal he could never have imagined.
“We never know what is going to come up because of this,” he explained.
It’s been anything but easy, but McGowan hopes that by sharing his story, he can convince at least one person to think twice before getting behind the wheel impaired.
“Whether it be them getting in an accident, or them causing an accident and harming somebody else, there are going to be consequences to your actions,” he said.
As McGowan focuses on starting again, he is grateful for this second chance.
“You never know when your last second is going to be,” he said. “And that came very true for me one day.”
McGowan and his family have started a GoFundMe to help with his medical expenses.
The driver accused of hitting McGowan has since pleaded guilty to a felony charge of DUI resulting in substantial bodily harm.
She also has two prior DUI charges and is expected back in court for sentencing on September 29.
|
https://www.ktalnews.com/news/u-s-world/i-remember-trying-to-crawl-away-las-vegas-man-loses-both-legs-in-dui-crash/
| 2022-09-21T12:18:14Z
|
ktalnews.com
|
control
|
https://www.ktalnews.com/news/u-s-world/i-remember-trying-to-crawl-away-las-vegas-man-loses-both-legs-in-dui-crash/
| 1
| 0
|
green-iguana-35
| null |
CHICAGO (NewsNation) — Amid months of mass flight cancellations and delays, the number of Americans traveling for Labor Day is expected to rebound to pre-pandemic levels.
An estimated 137 million Americans are expected to hit the highways, byways and airways this weekend, according to AAA.
Domestic travel is up 20% compared to 2019, according to Hopper, but headaches that hit travelers earlier in the summer are still lingering.
“Get in that line — while you’re in the line, get on the phone, get that airline representative on the phone or travel agent on the phone to help you simultaneously. You never know who you’re gonna get first, the faster you’ll get a seat on the next flight out,” said Abby Estevez, a travel advisor.
But help for vacationers may be on the way this travel-heavy weekend. The Department of Transportation has launched a customer service dashboard on Thursday.
The dashboard is part of an extended pressure campaign from Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, who has publicly challenged the major carriers to improve service and transparency after a summer marred by cancellations and flight delays. As summer travel returned to nearly pre-coronavirus pandemic levels, airlines struggled to keep pace, with mass cancellations being blamed on staffing shortages, particularly among pilots.
The dashboard compares all the major domestic airlines’ policies on issues such as which offer meals for delays of more than three hours and which offer to rebook flights on the same or different airlines at no additional charge. It focuses on what it calls “controllable” cancellations or delays, meaning those caused by mechanical issues, staffing shortages or delays in cleaning, fueling or baggage handling. Delays or cancellations caused by weather or security concerns don’t count.
Buttigieg asked airlines, at a minimum, to provide meal vouchers for delays of three hours or more, and lodging for anyone who has to wait overnight because of a delay within the airlines’ control.
The Department of Transportation is hoping that the dashboard will encourage competition among airlines to offer the most transparency and the best protections for customers.
So far this year, airlines have canceled about 146,000 flights, or 2.6% of all flights, and nearly 1.3 million flights have been delayed, according to tracking service FlightAware. The rate of cancellations is up about one-third from the same period in 2019, before the pandemic, and the rate of delays is up nearly one-fourth.
Federal officials have blamed many of the disruptions on understaffing at airlines, which encouraged employees to quit after the pandemic started. The airlines have countered by blaming staffing problems at the Federal Aviation Administration, which employs air traffic controllers.
Meanwhile, if you plan to hit the road, expect to pay less at the pump. Gas buddy reports that the average price of gas is $3.89 per gallon, and it will continue to drop. You can save by shopping around using such resources as the Gas Buddy app.
|
https://www.ktalnews.com/news/u-s-world/labor-day-travel-expected-to-near-pre-pandemic-levels/
| 2022-09-21T12:18:22Z
|
ktalnews.com
|
control
|
https://www.ktalnews.com/news/u-s-world/labor-day-travel-expected-to-near-pre-pandemic-levels/
| 1
| 0
|
green-iguana-35
| null |
(The Hill) – Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson announced on Thursday that the state government is working with police to investigate a possible illegal selling of a voter assist terminal.
“We are actively working with law enforcement to investigate allegations of an illegal attempt to sell a voter assist terminal acquired in Michigan,” Benson wrote in a statement.
Benson explained that a voter assist terminal is normally used to assist voters, often those with disabilities, who require help in marking their ballots.
“While our elections remain secure and safe, we take seriously all violations of election law and will be working with relevant authorities to ensure there are consequences for those who break the law.”
The Hill has reached out to Benson for further comment on the situation.
Michigan election law prevents citizens from withholding, breaking or destroying voting equipment, as well as obtaining “undue possession” of a voting machine.
Benson cited an article written by Michigan’s Cadillac News explaining that the voting machine was sold through Goodwill’s online auction site as well as listed on the popular auction site, eBay.
The machine disappeared from the Colfax Township in Wexford County, Mich.
“It was a touchscreen VAT machine,” Wexford County Clerk Alaina Nyman told Cadillac News of the sold voting equipment, referring to a Voter Assist Terminal.
“No election data was on it and you can’t get into the machine without the program cards and those were all accounted for.”
Nyman added that the investigation is attempting to discover how the voting machine was acquired by its seller and when it went missing.
“We are going to do things differently and will sign things in and out,” Colfax Township Clerk Becky Stoddard told Cadillac News, discussing future responses to the disappearance of the VAT machine.
|
https://www.ktalnews.com/news/u-s-world/michigan-police-investigating-voting-machine-sold-on-ebay/
| 2022-09-21T12:18:30Z
|
ktalnews.com
|
control
|
https://www.ktalnews.com/news/u-s-world/michigan-police-investigating-voting-machine-sold-on-ebay/
| 1
| 0
|
green-iguana-35
| null |
(The Hill) – Off-duty pilots for six airlines are picketing at airports nationwide on Thursday ahead of the busy Labor Day travel weekend in support of improved working conditions and benefits.
The one-day picketing campaign is organized by the Air Line Pilots Association (ALPA), which represents thousands of pilots at major U.S. airlines, and comes at the end of a chaotic summer travel season that has seen a soaring number of passenger complaints as travel demand resurges.
“When ALPA pilots stand shoulder to shoulder in support of shared goals, people notice — our airlines notice,” the union said in a statement.
“That’s why on September 1, we’re asking all ALPA pilots to join us for an ALPA-wide informational picket to show the public, our lawmakers and our airlines that all airline pilots stand together in support of the profession-wide goal of improved working conditions and benefits,” the statement continued.
Pilots are prevented from easily going on strike while on duty under federal regulations, and Thursday’s picketing by off-duty pilots is not expected to affect flight operations.
ALPA organized the picketing at 13 major airports across the country, 11 of which serve as hub airports for major airlines. Pilots for Delta Air Lines, Endeavor Air, JetBlue, Sun Country, Spirit Airlines and United Airlines are participating, the union said.
This comes as airlines have struggled to quickly rebuild their operations to meet the return in travel demand after downsizing during the pandemic. More than 2 million people now travel through the nation’s airports on an average day, the highest levels since the start of the pandemic.
The staffing shortages, combined with issues like severe summer storms and high fuel costs, have left passengers frustrated as they face cancellations and delays.
Passenger complaints soared in the first half of the year, and Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg has proposed strengthening federal regulations to clarify when passengers are owed refunds. Buttigieg’s department released a customer service dashboard on Thursday to help passengers understand airlines’ guarantees when they delay or cancel flights.
“@Delta_Pilots are on the picket line at @JFKairport to show @Delta that we’re beyond ready for a new contract,” ALPA’s Delta pilot group tweeted. “It’s been 2.5 years since our contract’s amendable date & 3.5 years since #DeltaPilots last had a pay raise.”
As pilots participating in Thursday’s strike look for increased benefits from their airlines, other ALPA pilot groups have already seen success in negotiating significant pay raises amid airlines’ struggles and a tight labor market.
Pilot unions at three regional carriers wholly owned by American Airlines — Envoy Air, Piedmont Airlines and PSA Airlines — recently announced contract agreements that include significant pay increases. Regional carriers have borne the brunt of what many in the industry view as a national pilot shortage, although ALPA has denied the existence of a shortage.
Many industry workers are complaining about working longer hours and experiencing more last-minute swaps, saying airlines’ recent scheduling snafus will continue without better working conditions.
JetBlue pilots at Los Angeles International Airport Thursday picketed with signs reading “schedule with integrity matters” and “fatiguing schedules = unreliable operations.”
Some airlines cut back on their August schedules to improve reliability, including Delta Air Lines, which on Wednesday noted the changes as it touted its preparedness for the upcoming Labor Day travel weekend. The airline says it is preparing to serve 2.9 customers over the weekend.
“We’re looking forward to welcoming our customers on board for Labor Day weekend,” said Allison Ausband, Delta’s chief customer experience officer. “We’ve taken steps this summer to ensure our people have the tools and support they need to deliver on our high standards for reliability, while offering Delta’s signature customer service with warmth and care.”
|
https://www.ktalnews.com/news/u-s-world/pilots-picketing-at-13-major-airports-ahead-of-labor-day-weekend/
| 2022-09-21T12:18:37Z
|
ktalnews.com
|
control
|
https://www.ktalnews.com/news/u-s-world/pilots-picketing-at-13-major-airports-ahead-of-labor-day-weekend/
| 1
| 0
|
green-iguana-35
| null |
NEW YORK (AP) — Serena Williams lost what is expected to be the last match of her transcendent tennis career Friday night, eliminated from the U.S. Open in the third round by Ajla Tomljanovic 7-5, 6-7 (4), 6-1 before an electric crowd at Arthur Ashe Stadium.
Unwilling to go quietly, Williams staved off five match points to prolong the three-hours-plus proceedings, as some spectators stood to watch, camera phones at the ready. No one — save, of course, Tomljanovic — wanted this to end.
It did on Tomljanovic’s sixth chance, when Williams netted a shot.
Williams turns 41 this month and recently told the world that she is ready to start “evolving” away from her playing days — she expressed distaste for the word “retirement” — and while she has remained purposely vague about whether this appearance at Flushing Meadows definitely would represent her final tournament, everyone assumes it will be.
If this was, indeed, the last hurrah, she took her fans on a thrill-a-minute throwback ride at the hard-court tournament that was the site of a half-dozen of her 23 Grand Slam championships. The first came in 1999 in New York, when Williams was just 17.
But she faltered against Tomljanovic, a 29-year-old Australian who is ranked 46th. Williams gave away leads in each set, including the last, in which she was up 1-0 before dropping the final six games.
|
https://www.ktalnews.com/news/u-s-world/serena-loses-at-us-open-could-be-last-match/
| 2022-09-21T12:18:46Z
|
ktalnews.com
|
control
|
https://www.ktalnews.com/news/u-s-world/serena-loses-at-us-open-could-be-last-match/
| 1
| 0
|
green-iguana-35
| null |
LUBBOCK, Texas (NEXSTAR/KLBK) – Barbara Munselle, the first “practice baby” to live on the campus of Texas Tech University in the mid-to-late-1930s, has died, the university announced on Wednesday.
Munselle, whose original surname was Hinsley, was born in Lubbock in the middle of the Great Depression in 1936. Her mother died in childbirth, and her father, who already had eight other children, was unable to take on the responsibilities of caring for her, according to the university.
She was instead given over to the care of Texas Tech thanks to a deal between the baby’s delivering physician and Suzanna Callan, then a professor of home economics at the university.
The baby, then just 2 weeks old, was to live in the school’s Home Management House, to be cared for by girls studying home economics, according to a Texas Tech Today blog post published in 2020.
“Motherless child of a local family, she has seven doting coeds to bathe her, warm her bottle and turn her on the other side when she cries,” the college wrote in a 1936 news release. “Diapers and baby dresses hang on the clothes-line in the back yard, visitors with colds are banned, and the best lead for conversation at the home economics building is, ‘How is the baby?’”
Barbara Ann, as the students named her, was soon nicknamed the school’s “practice baby.”
Munselle would later explain that Callan had hoped to adopt her, but her birth father didn’t approve. At the age of 3, she moved instead to a relative’s house, but Callan continued to visit and even brought the girl back to Lubbock for the summers.
Eventually, Barbara Ann moved back in with her father and siblings at the age of 13. She married and moved to California, where she resided in her later years.
“We are saddened to learn this evening of the death of Barbara Munselle,” Texas Tech University wrote in a Facebook post on Wednesday. “Born in 1936, ‘Baby Barbara,’ as she was known then, was the very first ‘practice baby’ to live in the Texas Tech Home Management House, where female students learned how to run a household and even raise children.
“Our hearts go out to Barbara’s family,” the university added.
Speaking with Texas Tech Today in 2020, Munselle remarked that she was “very, very fortunate” to have been put into to the care of the university and its students.
“I had so much love and so much care,” she said.
Texas Tech would have other “practice babies” over the years, though none remained on-site for as long as Munselle, and some for only part of the day. The “practice baby” program ended by the 1970s.
The concept of a university “practice baby,” meanwhile, was not uncommon in the 1950s. Author and researcher Lisa Grunwald estimated that around 40 or 50 schools had such programs in place at the time, usually using babies from local orphanages, she told NPR in 2011.
“The practice houses really embraced the idea that you could learn mothering the same way you learned cooking or learned chemistry — everything was learnable, and systems were really important,” Grunwald told the outlet.
|
https://www.ktalnews.com/news/u-s-world/texas-tech-announces-passing-of-schools-first-practice-baby/
| 2022-09-21T12:18:53Z
|
ktalnews.com
|
control
|
https://www.ktalnews.com/news/u-s-world/texas-tech-announces-passing-of-schools-first-practice-baby/
| 1
| 0
|
green-iguana-35
| null |
(KTLA) — The happiest place on Earth is getting a little more eco-friendly, though you may not notice, and that’s by design.
On Friday, artificial turf will make its debut around the Mickey floral planter at Disneyland’s entrance and on the front lawn of the Haunted Mansion, a report in the Orange County Register details.
These two locations aren’t alone in seeing their live grass replaced with turf. In many areas in the park, Disney plans to use high-quality turf instead of grass.
The idea behind the replacement is twofold: Not only does turf need less maintenance than live grass, but it also helps the park cut down on water usage amid California’s ongoing drought.
Though Disneyland is far from alone in removing live grass and replacing it with turf, the theme park is not advertising the change.
In fact, previous installations have been spaced out several weeks apart to avoid drawing attention to the change, according to the Register.
Think you’re eagle-eyed enough to spot where real grass remains?
Maybe not, as the “high-end” artificial turf used at Disneyland is apparently much different than the “synthetic green carpeting” most of us picture when we think of artificial turf, the Register said.
“Disneyland fans may be surprised to realize they’ve been staring at artificial turf with their own two eyes and never noticed,” the newspaper added.
Other water-saving measures, however, will be much more noticeable. And in some places, grass is being replaced with live plants that use less water, a process known as xeriscaping.
|
https://www.ktalnews.com/news/u-s-world/the-grass-may-be-greener-at-disneyland-but-increasingly-its-not-actually-grass/
| 2022-09-21T12:19:08Z
|
ktalnews.com
|
control
|
https://www.ktalnews.com/news/u-s-world/the-grass-may-be-greener-at-disneyland-but-increasingly-its-not-actually-grass/
| 1
| 0
|
green-iguana-35
| null |
AKRON, Ohio (WJW) – Monday was the first day of school at Betty Jane Community Learning Center, an Ohio elementary school where only the fourth and fifth grades were in session at the time.
It was also Darby Baumberger’s first day as an assistant principal.
“It just started out normal as could be. I greeted students at the front door, and then I’m always in charge of lunch duties, so that was my first big job with the kids,” she said.
Baumberger was collecting trash at the end of the final lunch period when she heard 9-year-old Arthur Clark, a fourth-grader, coughing behind her, she said.
“It wasn’t like a normal cough, and then I turned, and I said, ’Are you okay?’ He didn’t really respond. He bent over the table, and he continued to cough,” said Baumberger.
Arthur said it happened when he was chatting over lunch.
“I was talking to one of my cousins. He said something really funny while I was eating my corn dogs,” he told WJW on Thursday.
He said he started choking.
“It felt like something was in my throat. My throat was itchy, it was like hurting and stuff,” said Arthur.
Surveillance video from a camera in the school lunchroom shows Baumberger rushing around the table to stand Arthur up.
She said she delivered several blows to his back, but he continued coughing, and soon afterward, he couldn’t breathe at all.
“I looked at my principal, and she was saying, ‘I’ll get the nurse! I’ll get the nurse!’ But in my head, I’m like, there’s no time for that because I could tell he stopped breathing,” said Baumberger.
In the video, she is seen wrapping her arms around Arthur and using the Heimlich maneuver to deliver two light thrusts, but the boy was still unable to breathe.
“It didn’t hurt that bad those two times. The other two times she like did it harder,” Arthur said.
“I did it two times a little harder, and on the fourth time, it dislodged,” said Baumberger.
“She definitely knew what she was doing,” Arthur said, adding: “My momma is very, very grateful that she was there.”
His mother, Ashley Howell, affirmed her gratitude.
“He’s at school. I’m not able to be here, and thank God somebody was here,” said Howell. “We had a scary moment on Monday, but I’m just so happy that Ms. Baumberger was there and she reacted the way she reacted.”
Baumberger said in her 26 years of working in education, she had never done anything like that before and really never had any formal Heimlich training. She said it’s not required for her job, but she decided to learn on her own.
She said the significance of her actions didn’t hit her until it was over.
“When I did it, I didn’t even really think about it. I just thought, ‘It’s my job. I’m here to keep these kids safe,’ so I didn’t really hesitate. I was just like, ‘This is what I have got to do.'”
During lunch Thursday, with all grades present, she instructed children to make sure they thoroughly chew their food before swallowing and to let someone know if they feel like they are choking.
Howell said her son is fine, although he didn’t want to eat anything after he got home.
Arthur said although he really likes corn dogs, it will be some time before he wants to eat them again.
|
https://www.ktalnews.com/news/u-s-world/video-ohio-educator-saves-choking-student/
| 2022-09-21T12:19:15Z
|
ktalnews.com
|
control
|
https://www.ktalnews.com/news/u-s-world/video-ohio-educator-saves-choking-student/
| 1
| 0
|
green-iguana-35
| null |
BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (AP) — A man tried to kill Argentina’s politically powerful Vice President Cristina Fernández outside her home, but the handgun misfired, the country’s president said.
The man was quickly overpowered by her security officers in the incident Thursday night, officials said.
President Alberto Fernández, who is not related to the vice president, a former president herself, said the pistol did not discharge when the man tried to fire it.
“A man pointed a firearm at her head and pulled the trigger,” the president said in a national broadcast following the incident. He said the firearm was loaded with five bullets but “didn’t fire even though the trigger was pulled.”
The vice president did not appear to have suffered any injury, and the man was overpowered within seconds as he stood among a crowd of her supporters.
Gina De Bai, a witness who was near the vice president during the incident, told The Associated Press she heard “the sound of the trigger being pulled.” She said she didn’t realize it was a handgun until the man was rushed by security personnel.
President Fernández called it “the most serious incident since we recovered democracy” in 1983 after a military dictatorship and urged political leaders, and society at large, to repudiate the attempted shooting.
The attack came as the vice president is facing a trial for alleged acts of corruption during her 2007-2015 presidency — charges that she vehemently denies and that have led her supporters to surround her home in the upscale Recoleta neighborhood of Argentina’s capital.
Video broadcast on local television channels showed Fernández exiting her vehicle surrounded by supporters when a man is seen extending his hand with what looks like a pistol. The vice president ducks as people around the apparent gunman appear shocked at what is happening.
Unverified video posted on social media shows the pistol almost touched Fernández’s face.
The alleged gunman was identified as Fernando André Sabag Montiel, a Brazilian citizen, said an official at the Security Ministry, who spoke on condition of anonymity. He does not have a criminal record, the official said. ading that the weapon was a .32-caliber Bersa.
The president declared Friday a holiday “so the Argentine people can, in peace and harmony, express itself in defense of life, democracy and in solidarity with our vice president.”
Supporters of the vice president have been gathering in the streets surrounding her home since last week, when a prosecutor called for a 12-year sentence for Fernández as well as a life-long prohibition in holding public office in the corruption case.
Shortly after the incident, government officials were quick to decry what they called an assassination attempt.
“When hate and violence are imposed over the debate of ideas, societies are destroyed and generate situations like the one seen today: an assassination attempt,” Economy Minister Sergio Massa said.
Cabinet ministers issued a news release saying they “energetically condemn the attempted homicide” of the vice president. “What happened tonight is of extreme gravity and threatens democracy, institutions and the rule of law.”
Former President Mauricio Macri, a conservative who succeeded the left-of-center Fernández in the presidency, also condemned the attack. “This very serious event demands an immediate and profound clarification by the judiciary and security forces,” Macri wrote on Twitter.
Patricia Bullrich, president of the opposition Republican Proposal party, criticized President Fernández’s reaction to the attack, accusing him of “playing with fire.” She said that “instead of seriously investigating a serious incident, he accuses the opposition and the press, decreeing a national holiday to mobilize activists.”
Tensions have been running high in the Recoleta neighborhood since the weekend, when the vice president’s supporters clashed with police in the streets surrounding her apartment amid an effort by law enforcement officers to clear the area. Following the clashes, what had been a strong police presence around the vice president’s apartment was reduced.
When Fernández leaves her apartment every day at around noon, she greets supporters and signs autographs before getting in her vehicle to go to the Senate. She repeats the same routine every evening.
Following the incident, allies of the vice president quickly pointed the finger at the opposition for what they said is hateful speech that promotes violence. In recent days, several key officials have said opposition leaders were looking for a fatality.
“This is a historic event in Argentina that must be a before-and-after,” Buenos Aires Gov. Axel Kicillof said.
Regional leaders also condemned the attack.
“We send our solidarity to the vice president in this attempt against her life,” Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro said on Twitter.
Former Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula Da Silva, who is a candidate in that nation’s presidential election next month, also expressed solidarity with Fernández, calling her a “victim of a fascist criminal who doesn’t know how to respect differences and diversity.”
|
https://www.ktalnews.com/news/u-s-world/watch-attempt-to-kill-argentinas-vp-fails-when-handgun-misfires/
| 2022-09-21T12:19:23Z
|
ktalnews.com
|
control
|
https://www.ktalnews.com/news/u-s-world/watch-attempt-to-kill-argentinas-vp-fails-when-handgun-misfires/
| 1
| 0
|
green-iguana-35
| null |
Editor’s note: The video included in this article may be graphic to some viewers.
PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) – Newly released footage shows the moments that a police officer in Beaverton, Oregon, rescued a man who was trapped in a flaming car early Tuesday morning.
Police responded to a rollover crash around 2:30 a.m., finding the car on its side engulfed in flames.
The Beaverton Police Department said the driver, 34-year-old Johan Hermosillo, was trapped inside. Video shows the officer breaking the sunroof and telling Hermosillo to crawl out.
After being pushed back by small explosions, the officer was able to pull an unresponsive Hermosillo out of the car.
BPD said because of the officer’s actions, Hermosillo only sustained non-life-threatening injuries and was taken to a hospital for treatment.
Officers reported seeing evidence of impairment, which they believe contributed to the crash. Hermosillo was released from the hospital and now faces DUI and reckless driving charges.
|
https://www.ktalnews.com/news/u-s-world/watch-oregon-officer-rescues-man-from-burning-car-after-rollover-crash/
| 2022-09-21T12:19:30Z
|
ktalnews.com
|
control
|
https://www.ktalnews.com/news/u-s-world/watch-oregon-officer-rescues-man-from-burning-car-after-rollover-crash/
| 1
| 0
|
green-iguana-35
| null |
ALBANY, N.Y. (WTEN) — Food poisoning incidents, thought to be caused by bad lettuce at Wendy’s restaurants, have spread to both New York and Kentucky, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Thursday.
The new cases raised the number of states where diners have fallen ill to six.
According to the CDC, as of Aug. 31, a total of 97 people nationwide have been infected with an outbreak strain of E. coli after dining at the popular fast-food spot. The agency has not confirmed the cause of the outbreak but said many sick people reported eating sandwiches with romaine lettuce at the restaurants before falling ill.
Officials did not specify where in New York or Kentucky the new cases were reported. It had previously noted incidents in Indiana, Michigan, Ohio and Pennsylvania. In New York, between one and five cases had been reported as of Thursday’s release.
In an Aug. 19 statement, Wendy’s said it was removing the sandwich lettuce at some of its affected restaurants as a precaution. Several lawsuits have been filed against the fast-food giant after some victims of the outbreak suffered severe symptoms, including diarrhea that can lead to kidney failure.
Symptoms of E. coli can also include a fever higher than 102 degrees Fahrenheit, vomiting to the point of being unable to keep down liquids, and signs of dehydration, the CDC said.
CDC map showing where the 97 people in this E. coli outbreak lived:
If you are experiencing these symptoms, the CDC asks that you keep a record of what you ate in the week before becoming sick to help identify the possible source of the infection.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
|
https://www.ktalnews.com/news/u-s-world/wendys-e-coli-outbreak-spreads-to-new-york-kentucky-cdc-says/
| 2022-09-21T12:19:38Z
|
ktalnews.com
|
control
|
https://www.ktalnews.com/news/u-s-world/wendys-e-coli-outbreak-spreads-to-new-york-kentucky-cdc-says/
| 1
| 0
|
green-iguana-35
| null |
(NEXSTAR) — Considering an end-of-summer vacay? You may be scanning hotel discount sites for the best rate on a quick getaway but a new study by travel site InsureMyTrip shows you may get more bang for your buck on some versus others.
Using data from 1,000 hotels across 20 cities, InsureMyTrip compared rates of three major booking sites to see who offers the cheapest deals on average — in addition to how much and how often. The study also compared discount booking sites with the cost of booking with hotels directly.
Here’s the ranking from most expensive to least expensive, per the study:
4. Booking.com — Average price (for a double room for 2 people): $250.14. Booking.com had the cheapest rates about 7% of the time.
3. Booking directly with the hotel — Average price: $222.87. Using a hotel’s website was cheaper than the three other sites about 39% of the time. Direct booking is also about $6 more expensive than the top 2 discount sites.
2. Expedia — Average price: $217.28. Expedia offers potential savings of about $32.87 and was the most affordable option about 579 times (or 58%), according to InsureMyTrip.
1. Hotels.com — Average price: $217.01. The difference between Hotels.com and Expedia is pretty marginal, though Hotels.com had the cheaper rate about 69% of the time.
It’s important to note both Expedia and Hotels.com are owned by the same parent company, Expedia Group, and thus, had similar or identical average rates in many instances.
Booking.com representatives did not immediately respond to Nexstar, however, Booking.com Managing Director of Asia Pacific Laura Houldsworth told CNBC the company aims to be transparent with customers and that “our property partners are free to set their own prices on Booking.com.”
Additionally, Houldsworth said Booking.com honors its “promise to price match, [which] also means that if a customer should ever find a lower price on another website, Booking.com will refund the difference.”
It depends which city you’re going to
InsureMyTrip’s analysis found customers can expect specific savings depending upon which city they’re visiting and which site they’re using.
- Direct booking — Booking direct is the best option if you’re staying in Washington, D.C., San Francisco and Los Angeles.
- Expedia — Most affordable cities include Boston, Orlando, Chicago and Honolulu.
- Hotels.com — Most affordable cities include New York, Miami and Las Vegas.
Internationally, Expedia and Hotels.com split the difference for best city deals.
“Of the 20 cities analyzed, we found seven were the same price on Hotels.com and Expedia. This shows that either site can be used to find a great deal, especially traveling to capital cities around the globe,” the study concludes.
Meanwhile, a stay in Istanbul, Turkey, is cheapest if booked with the hotel directly.
|
https://www.ktalnews.com/news/u-s-world/which-hotel-discount-sites-have-lowest-rates-study/
| 2022-09-21T12:19:45Z
|
ktalnews.com
|
control
|
https://www.ktalnews.com/news/u-s-world/which-hotel-discount-sites-have-lowest-rates-study/
| 1
| 0
|
green-iguana-35
| null |
DENVER (KDVR) — Can a day’s worth of cheap tickets rejuvenate an industry in the grips of a decades-long decline?
This coming Saturday, Sept. 3, is “National Cinema Day,” and in an effort to return movie watchers to theaters, participating businesses are offering $3 tickets for any of their movie showings for the entire day.
Over 3,000 theaters across the country are planning to take part, in a move designed to breathe life back into the industry as they continue to recover from the pandemic-imposed shutdowns.
A recent poll from Gallup suggested that Americans were seeing far fewer films in theaters in 2021 — an average of just 1.4 — than in previous years. Between 2001 and 2007, for instance, Americans saw nearly 5 films per year on average, the survey showed.
But even before the pandemic wreaked havoc on the movie-going experience, ticket sales were already faltering in the U.S., data shows.
In 2002, ticket sales reached a peak, with just under 1.6 billion sold. But by 2019, that number had fallen to 1.2 billion, according to data from The Numbers, a film industry research site. The COVID pandemic all but halted ticket sales the following year, with only 200 million sold. Sales have since improved, but are nowhere close to even the sinking pre-pandemic levels.
And even though theater chains have been charging more money for tickets — $9 or more instead of $4 in the late 1990s — they generally earn less each year when adjusted for inflation, according to The Numbers.
Box office sales totaled over $9 billion in 2002, or over $14 billion in 2022 dollars. By 2019, that had grown to $12 billion but also shrank to $12 billion in adjusted dollars.
As with ticket sales, box office revenue cratered to $2 billion the year the pandemic hit, and has not recovered. For the film industry’s sake, perhaps some cheap tickets will change a few minds about going back to the theater.
|
https://www.ktalnews.com/news/u-s-world/will-3-tickets-bring-film-fans-back-to-movie-theaters/
| 2022-09-21T12:19:53Z
|
ktalnews.com
|
control
|
https://www.ktalnews.com/news/u-s-world/will-3-tickets-bring-film-fans-back-to-movie-theaters/
| 1
| 0
|
green-iguana-35
| null |
WASHINGTON (AP) — The government will send $1 billion worth of federal grants for manufacturing, clean energy, farming, biotech and more to 21 regional partnerships across the nation, President Joe Biden and Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo announced Friday.
The 21 were chosen from 529 initial applicants vying for grants that were part of last year’s $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief package. The Biden administration has repeatedly laid out a vision for the economy that is more self-sufficient and driven by high-tech manufacturing and the development of renewable energy.
“We designed this program by thinking about people and places,” Biden said at a White House event. “This is about jobs in their communities for them, not having to leave or not having to go on unemployment. ”
Unlike much of the pandemic aid that was meant to address immediate needs, the grants are part of a longer-term effort to revitalize parts of the country that have needed an economic jolt. The money will include funds for existing industries and capital for new ventures. The grants are the largest ever for local economic development provided by the Commerce Department, Raimondo said.
She said the effort is personal for her. Her father lost his job at a watch factory in Rhode Island
“The whole point of this is we’re not going to let you get left behind as we transition to a more digital economy, to a more technical economy, to a green economy,” Raimondo said in an interview.
The grants include $65.1 million for California to improve farm production and $25 million for a robotics cluster in Nebraska. Georgia gets $65 million for artificial intelligence. There is $63.7 million for lithium-based battery development in New York. Coal counties in West Virginia would receive $62.8 million to help with the shift to solar power and find new uses for abandoned mines.
“I can’t tell you how much this means to our hardworking people in West Virginia,” said that state’s Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin, who attended the announcement virtually.
Raimondo estimated that the investments, which will be provided over five years as reimbursements, will result in at least 100,000 jobs.
Solidly Republican states such as Oklahoma and South Dakota received funding, and money also is going ahead of November’s midterm elections toward political battlegrounds that could decide control of Congress. There is $44 million for regenerative medicine in New Hampshire, where Democrat Maggie Hassan is defending her U.S. Senate seat. Pennsylvania, which has an open Senate seat, is set to receive $62.7 million for robotics and artificial intelligence.
Raimondo said the winners were chosen based on merit rather than politics
“Let me ask you: How is this going to play out on the political scene?” Biden asked the Pennsylvania team attending Friday’s event virtually.
Allegheny County Executive Rich Fitzgerald, a Democrat, quickly answered with a campaign ready line: “President Biden continues to invest in people and in jobs and in our future.”
The massive amount of coronavirus aid at the start of Biden’s tenure helped to accelerate job growth as the U.S. recovered from the pandemic. But accompanying the hiring was a burst of inflation that hit a 40-year peak this summer, crushing consumer sentiment and putting the administration on the defensive to show how its policies are helping the economy.
Even as much of the coronavirus money has been disbursed, the administration has said it still needs more to contain the disease and its variations. On Friday, the White House said it would seek $7.1 billion for additional vaccines and personal protective equipment as well as $2 billion for free at-home coronavirus tests as part of a broader emergency funding request.
Biden had earlier sought $22.5 billion from Congress to address and prevent outbreaks, a figure that lawmakers reduced to $10 billion in negotiations. But that additional funding was never passed by Congress despite confirmed cases that are now averaging about 90,000 daily.
White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre tried to minimize the lack of funding after the Food and Drug Administration on Wednesday approved modified booster shots of the vaccines. Jean-Pierre said booster shots would be available after the Labor Day holiday as the administration has worked with local partners.
The grants for economic development indicate that the relief package could have a multidecade impact that goes beyond the COVID-19 pandemic. The New Orleans area will receive $50 million to use hydrogen produced by wind power that does not cause carbon emissions, a meaningful change in Louisiana, a state that has long depended on fossil fuels.
“With clean hydrogen, we can remain an energy state — but become an energy state of the future that has less impact on the environment,” said Michael Hecht, president and CEO of Greater New Orleans Inc., an economic development nonprofit. “When money and morality come together, you get stuff done.”
|
https://www.ktalnews.com/news/us-politics/ap-biden-administration-awards-1-billion-for-economic-projects/
| 2022-09-21T12:20:00Z
|
ktalnews.com
|
control
|
https://www.ktalnews.com/news/us-politics/ap-biden-administration-awards-1-billion-for-economic-projects/
| 1
| 0
|
green-iguana-35
| null |
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden on Friday brought back John Podesta, a behind-the-scenes veteran at getting things done on climate in past Democratic administrations, to put into place an ambitious U.S. climate program newly revived by $375 billion from Congress.
Biden named Podesta as a senior adviser, charged with implementing the landmark clean-energy and climate spending under the huge health care and climate bill passed by Congress in August. Podesta will also lead the administration’s climate task force.
Further reshaping the White House’s climate team for a significantly more hopeful phase, Biden also announced the departure of his current climate adviser, Gina McCarthy. A former Environmental Protection Agency chief, McCarthy had led Biden’s domestic climate program during Democrats’ two years of struggle — often seeming all but doomed — to get the climate financing through Congress. McCarthy was trusted on Capitol Hill and delayed her departure until Biden could sign the new climate measures into law last month.
McCarthy had been expected to serve only the opening half of Biden’s term. Ali Zaidi, McCarthy’s deputy, will succeed her as national climate adviser, the White House said.
Zaidi said in an interview that the key will be implementing the law and working with federal agencies to achieve Biden’s goal of slashing carbon emissions over the next decade and beyond.
“We are in a paradigm shift, where we finally have the resources we need to accelerate climate action in a way we have never been able to before,” Zaidi said. ”The law gives us the hammers, the nails and the plywood — but we’ve got to build the clean energy future that we seek.”
A surprise administration-backed deal struck last month with two Democratic holdout senators salvaged a pared-down version of Biden’s domestic spending program. That includes funding for the biggest U.S. effort ever at slowing down the fossil-fuel-driven warming of the Earth.
Podesta’s “deep roots in climate and clean energy policy and his experience at senior levels of government mean we can truly hit the ground running to take advantage of the massive clean energy opportunity in front of us,” Biden said in a statement.
The pick of Podesta, a veteran of Democratic White Houses dating back to Bill Clinton’s in the early 1990s, is in line with a Biden trend of picking tested, familiar figures from past administrations, passing over potentially more exciting and younger figures from the progressive movement. The more experienced figures include John Kerry, the former secretary of state charged with U.S. climate diplomacy abroad.
Podesta’s jobs for Democratic presidents include acting chief of staff for Clinton and helping push through some early landmark climate efforts by Barack Obama. The subsequent election of Donald Trump saw his administration reverse Obama’s legacy efforts to cut climate-damaging fossil fuel emissions, as well as appoint conservative judges who have since blocked some key climate initiatives.
Podesta has been serving as head of the Center for American Progress think tank, and in that role he has been closely following the U.S. efforts to step up climate action after the setbacks of the Trump administration.
Podesta is perhaps best-known to the public for his 2016 role as the unwitting victim of hacking of his email account, an attack that U.S. intelligence said had Russian involvement. The email theft and leak were credited with helping Trump win the presidency over Hillary Clinton. Podesta was then Clinton’s campaign manager.
The legislation that passed last month, called the “Inflation Reduction Act,” is meant to infuse nearly $375 billion over the decade in climate change-fighting strategies that Democrats believe could put the country on a path to cut greenhouse gas emissions 40% by 2030.
That includes tax rebates for electric vehicles, a 10-year consumer tax credit for renewable energy investments in wind and solar and other tax breaks for consumers to go green.
For businesses, the bill has $60 billion for a clean energy manufacturing tax credit and $30 billion for a production tax credit for wind and solar, seen as ways to boost and support the industries that can help curb the country’s dependence on fossil fuels.
The bill also gives tax credits for nuclear power and carbon-capture technology that oil companies such as Exxon Mobil have invested millions of dollars to advance.
The bill would impose a new fee on excess methane emissions from oil and gas drilling while giving fossil fuel companies access to more leases on federal lands and waters.
|
https://www.ktalnews.com/news/us-politics/ap-biden-picks-white-house-veteran-to-run-revived-climate-drive/
| 2022-09-21T12:20:08Z
|
ktalnews.com
|
control
|
https://www.ktalnews.com/news/us-politics/ap-biden-picks-white-house-veteran-to-run-revived-climate-drive/
| 1
| 0
|
green-iguana-35
| null |
LOS ANGELES (AP) — CNN White House correspondent John Harwood said he’s exiting the news channel, an abrupt departure that comes amid other CNN changes.
“Today’s my last day at CNN,” Harwood said in a tweet posted Friday. He said he was proud of the work and called himself “lucky to serve the best in American media,” including stints at the St. Petersburg Times, Wall Street Journal, NBC and CNN.
“Look forward to figuring out what’s next,” he said on Twitter.
“We appreciate John’s work covering the White House, and we wish him all the best,” CNN said in a statement.
Last month, CNN canceled its weekly “Reliable Sources” media analysis show after three decades on the air, and host Brian Stelter left the network. The show appeared to be an early casualty in CNN’s effort to be less confrontational politically — a priority of Chris Licht, who became the network’s chairman and CEO in the spring, and his boss, David Zaslav, head of the Warner Bros. Discovery parent company.
Harwood came to CNN in 2020 from CNBC, where he was chief White House correspondent.
About two hours before Harwood announced he was leaving CNN, he was on-air discussing President Joe Biden’s speech Thursday, in which Biden called former President Donald Trump an extremist treat to the nation.
Harwood said that Biden’s “core point in that political speech about the threat to democracy is true. Now that is something that is not easy for us as journalists to say. We’re brought up to believe there’s two different political parties with different points of view, and we don’t take sides in honest disagreements between them.
“But that’s not what we are talking about. These are not honest disagreements. The Republican party right now is led by a dishonest demagogue,” Harwood said, in part.
|
https://www.ktalnews.com/news/us-politics/ap-john-harwood-exits-cnn-amid-changes-at-the-news-channel/
| 2022-09-21T12:20:23Z
|
ktalnews.com
|
control
|
https://www.ktalnews.com/news/us-politics/ap-john-harwood-exits-cnn-amid-changes-at-the-news-channel/
| 1
| 0
|
green-iguana-35
| null |
ATLANTA (AP) — After the 2020 election, a Georgia poll worker who was falsely accused of voting fraud by former President Donald Trump was pressured and threatened with imprisonment during a meeting arranged with the help of an ally of the Trump campaign, a prosecutor said in a court filing Friday.
Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis is investigating whether Trump and others illegally tried to influence the 2020 election in Georgia. As part of the probe, Willis filed court documents on Friday seeking testimony from Willie Lewis Floyd, a director of Black Voices for Trump, a group aimed at increasing the former president’s support among Black voters.
In December 2021, Floyd was asked to arrange a meeting to discuss an “immunity deal” with Ruby Freeman, a Fulton County election worker whom Trump and his allies falsely accused of pulling fraudulent ballots from a suitcase, according to Willis.
Willis said Floyd arranged for Trevian Kutti — whom Willis described as a “purported publicist” based in Chicago — to meet with Freeman. The prosecutor has previously sought Kutti’s testimony.
Kutti told Freeman that “an armed squad” of federal officers would approach her and her family within 48 hours and that Kutti had access to “very high-profile people that can make particular things happen in order to defend yourself and your family,” according to Willis’ court filing.
The district attorney cited video footage as evidence of those statements.
Kutti did not immediately respond to an email message seeking comment Friday. A message to Floyd’s Instagram account was also not immediately returned.
Freeman and Kutti met at the Cobb County Police Department, where Kutti told Freeman that “freedom and the freedom of one or more of your family members” would be disrupted if Freeman declined her assistance. Kutti said Freeman was “a loose end for a party that needs to tidy up,” according to Willis.
The meeting was captured in part by a body camera, Willis said.
Kutti also said she wanted to connect Freeman to Floyd, whom she described as a “Black progressive crisis manager, very high level, with authoritative powers to get you protection that you need,” Willis said.
During a subsequent phone call with Kutti and Floyd, Freeman was pressured to reveal information under threat of imprisonment, Willis said.
Freeman and her daughter, Wandrea “Shaye” Moss, appeared in June before the House Jan. 6 committee and have told lawmakers how the lies about election fraud upended their lives. Moss was also a poll worker in Fulton County.
Willis has sought testimony from numerous witnesses with ties to Trump as part of her investigation, including former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani and U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham. Giuliani, who’s been told he’s a target of the investigation, testified before the special grand jury last month. A federal judge on Thursday ruled that constitutional protections don’t shield Graham from testifying.
Trump has blamed voter fraud for his 2020 loss to Democrat Joe Biden. State officials and federal investigators, including Trump’s own attorney general, have said there was no evidence of widespread fraud in the 2020 contest.
___
Associated Press writer Meg Kinnard in Columbia, South Carolina, contributed to this report.
|
https://www.ktalnews.com/news/us-politics/ap-prosecutor-trump-ally-arranged-meeting-with-poll-worker/
| 2022-09-21T12:20:30Z
|
ktalnews.com
|
control
|
https://www.ktalnews.com/news/us-politics/ap-prosecutor-trump-ally-arranged-meeting-with-poll-worker/
| 1
| 0
|
green-iguana-35
| null |
WILKES-BARRE, Pa. (AP) — Larry Mitko voted for Donald Trump in 2016. But the Republican from Beaver County in western Pennsylvania says he has no plans to back his party’s nominee for Senate, Dr. Mehmet Oz — “no way, no how.”
Mitko doesn’t feel like he knows the celebrity heart surgeon, who only narrowly won his May primary with Trump’s backing. Instead, Mitko plans to vote for Oz’s Democratic rival, Lt. Gov. John Fetterman, a name he’s been familiar with since Fetterman’s days as mayor of nearby Braddock.
“Dr. Oz hasn’t showed me one thing to get me to vote for him,” he said. “I won’t vote for someone I don’t know.”
Mitko’s thinking underscores the political challenges facing Trump and the rest of the Republican Party as the former president shifts to general election mode with a rally Saturday night in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, the first of the fall campaign.
While the rally was organized to bolster Oz and Doug Mastriano, the GOP’s hard-line nominee for governor of Pennsylvania, it was Trump’s first rally since the FBI’s search of his Mar-a-Lago club, and Trump spent part of the evening railing against it.
He called it “one of the most shocking abuses of power by any administration in American history” and “a travesty of justice.”
“They’re trying to silence me and more importantly they’re trying to silence you. But we will not be silenced, right?” Trump said.
Investigators recovered thousands of documents in the search, including more than 100 with classified and top secret markings.
Trump’s endorsed picks won many Republican primaries this summer, but many of the candidates he backed were inexperienced and polarizing figures now struggling in their November races. That’s putting Senate control — once assumed to be a lock for Republicans — on the line.
In addition to Oz, among the others are author JD Vance in Ohio, venture capitalist Blake Masters in Arizona and former football star Herschel Walker in Georgia.
“Republicans have now nominated a number of candidates who’ve never run for office before for very high-profile Senate races,” said veteran Republican pollster Whit Ayres. While he isn’t writing his party’s chances off just yet, he said, “It’s a much more difficult endeavor than a candidate who had won several difficult political races before.”
The stakes are particularly high for Trump as he lays the groundwork for an expected 2024 presidential run amid a series of escalating legal challenges.
This past week, President Joe Biden gave a prime-time speech in Philadelphia warning that Trump and other “MAGA” Republicans — the acronym for Trump’s “Make America Great Again” campaign slogan — posed a threat to U.S. democracy. Biden has tried to frame the upcoming vote, as he did the 2020 election, as a battle for the “soul of the nation.” Biden’s Labor Day visit to Pittsburgh will be his third to the state within a week, a sign of Pennsylvania’s election-year importance.
Trump repeatedly attacked Biden — saying at one point “above all this election is a referendum on the corruption and extremism” of Biden and Democrats — and gave a brief spotlight to Oz and Mastriano.
Mastriano, he noted, had fought with him from the beginning to try to help Trump overturn the 2020 election and stay in power, saying Mastriano fought “like very few people fought.”
Oz, Trump said, “is going to work and fight for Pennsylvania,” while he attacked Fetterman and the Democratic nominee for governor, Josh Shapiro, as extreme while distorting their positions on issues like crime and abortion. In particular, the former president went after Fetterman’s irreverent dressing habits — shorts and hoodies — saying that “I don’t like those dirty sweat suits, they’re disgusting.”
“Fetterman may dress like a teenager getting high in his parents’ basement, but he’s a raging lunatic hell-bent on springing hardened criminals out of jail in the middle of the worst crime wave in Pennsylvania history,” Trump said.
Republicans have targeted Fetterman for backing proposals to release more geriatric or rehabilitated inmates from prisons and provide flexibility in certain mandatory-sentencing laws.
While Republicans were once seen as having a good chance of gaining control of both chambers of Congress in November, benefitting from soaring inflation, high gas prices and Biden’s slumping approval ratings, Republicans have found themselves on defense since the Supreme Court overturned the landmark Roe v. Wade decision protecting abortion rights.
Some candidates, like Mastriano, are sticking with their primary campaign playbooks, hoping they can win by turning out Trump’s loyal base even if they alienate or ignore more moderate voters.
Mastriano, who wants to outlaw abortion even when pregnancies are the result of rape or incest or endanger the life of the mother, played a leading role in Trump’s effort to overturn the 2020 election and was seen outside the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, as pro-Trump rioters stormed the building.
But others have been trying to broaden their appeal, scrubbing from their websites references to anti-abortion messaging that is out of step with the political mainstream. Others have played down Trump endorsements that were once featured prominently.
The shifting climate has prompted rounds of finger-pointing in the party, including from Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, who last month cited “candidate quality” as he lowered expectations that Republicans would recapture control of the Senate.
Florida Sen. Rick Scott, who leads the National Republican Senatorial Committee, said those who complain about the party’s nominees have “contempt” for the voters who chose them.
Trump, too, fired back, calling McConnell a “disgrace” as he defended the party’s candidate roster.
Democrats have also piled on.
“Republicans have put forward a roster of deeply flawed recruits,” said David Bergstein, the Senate Democratic campaign committee’s communication director.
In Pennsylvania, Republicans are hoping Oz’s shortcomings as a candidate will be overshadowed by concerns about Fetterman, who suffered a stroke just days before the primary and has been sidelined for much of the summer.
Republicans acknowledge that Oz struggles to come off as authentic and was slow to punch back as Fetterman spent the summer trolling him on social media and portraying him as an ultrawealthy, out-of-touch carpetbagger from New Jersey.
While Fetterman leads Oz in polls and fundraising, Republicans say they expect the money gap to narrow and are pleased to see Oz within striking distance after getting hammered by $20 million in negative advertising during the primaries.
Oz has won over some once-skeptical voters, like Glen Rubendall, who didn’t vote for the TV doctor in his seven-way primary — a victory so narrow it went to a statewide recount — but said he’s come around and has a “pro-Oz view now.”
Traci Martin, a registered independent, also plans to vote for Oz because she opposes abortion, despite ads that aired during the primary featuring past Oz statements that seemed supportive of abortion rights.
“I hope he is (anti-abortion),” Martin said, “but the sad part is we live in an age when we see politicians say one thing and do another.”
___
Colvin reported from New York. Associated Press writer Brian Slodysko in Washington contributed to this report.
___
Follow AP for full coverage of the midterms at https://apnews.com/hub/2022-midterm-elections and on Twitter, https://twitter.com/ap_politics
|
https://www.ktalnews.com/news/us-politics/ap-trump-rallies-for-oz-mastriano-in-pa-amid-midterm-worries/
| 2022-09-21T12:20:37Z
|
ktalnews.com
|
control
|
https://www.ktalnews.com/news/us-politics/ap-trump-rallies-for-oz-mastriano-in-pa-amid-midterm-worries/
| 1
| 0
|
green-iguana-35
| null |
WASHINGTON (AP) — The White House counsel under then-President Donald Trump and his top deputy arrived at a federal courthouse on Friday to appear before a federal grand jury investigating efforts to undo the 2020 presidential election.
Pat Cipollone was the top White House lawyer at the end of the Trump administration as Trump and outside allies pressed for ways to overturn the Republican’s loss to Democrat Joe Biden, culminating in the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection at the U.S. Capitol.
Cipollone vigorously resisted efforts to undo the election and has said he did not believe there was sufficient fraud to have affected the outcome of the race. Trump has insisted the election was rife with fraud and was stolen from him despite the fact that numerous federal and local election officials of both parties, a long list of courts, top former campaign staffers and even his own attorney general have said there is no evidence of the fraud he alleges.
Cipollone and Patrick Philbin, a deputy White House counsel, also have cooperated with a separate House committee probe into the deadly Jan. 6 attack and attempts to subvert the election.
Their grand jury appearances underscore how Justice Department officials examining schemes to overturn the presidential contest have been seeking the cooperation of senior Trump White House officials and advisers who opposed those efforts.
Federal prosecutors have been especially focused on a scheme by Trump allies to elevate fake electors in key battleground states won by Biden as a way to subvert the vote. They have issued subpoenas in recent weeks to multiple state Republican Party chairmen.
Portions of Cipollone’s private interview to the House Jan. 6 committee were featured prominently in hearings over the summer. Lawmakers aired video clips of him discussing a heated December 2020 meeting at the White House during which outside aides and advisers to Trump talked about a proposed executive order calling for the seizure of voting machines.
“To have the federal government seize voting machines? That’s a terrible idea for the country. That’s not how we do things in the United States,” Cipollone testified, adding, “I don’t understand why we even have to tell you why that’s a bad idea for the country.”
____
Follow Eric Tucker on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/etuckerAP.
|
https://www.ktalnews.com/news/us-politics/ap-trump-white-house-lawyer-arrives-for-jan-6-grand-jury/
| 2022-09-21T12:20:45Z
|
ktalnews.com
|
control
|
https://www.ktalnews.com/news/us-politics/ap-trump-white-house-lawyer-arrives-for-jan-6-grand-jury/
| 1
| 0
|
green-iguana-35
| null |
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Biden administration on Friday announced a more than $1 billion arms sale to Taiwan as U.S.-China tensions escalate over the status of the island.
The $1.09 billion sale includes $355 million for Harpoon air-to-sea missiles and $85 million for Sidewinder air-to-air missiles, the State Department said.
The largest portion of the sale, however, is a $655 million logistics support package for Taiwan’s surveillance radar program, which provides air defense warnings. Early warning air defense systems have become more important as China has stepped up military drills near Taiwan, which it regards as a renegade province.
The State Department said the equipment is necessary for Taiwan to “maintain a sufficient self-defense capability.” The administration notified Congress of the sale after close of business on Friday.
The administration said the deals comply with the U.S. one-China policy. It also urged Beijing ”to cease its military, diplomatic, and economic pressure against Taiwan and instead engage in meaningful dialogue with Taiwan.”
Laura Rosenberger, the White House’s senior director for China and Taiwan, said late Friday that as China “continues to increase pressure on Taiwan — including through heightened military air and maritime presence around Taiwan — and engages in attempts to change the status quo in the Taiwan Strait, we’re providing Taiwan with what it needs to maintain its self-defense capabilities.”
The acrimony and strident rhetoric between the U.S. and China over Taiwan have increased sharply since House Speaker Nancy Pelosi visited the island last month. Since Pelosi’s trip to Taipei there have been at least two other congressional visits and several by governors of U.S. states, all of which China has condemned.
On Thursday, Taiwan’s military said it shot down a drone hovering over one of its island outposts just off the Chinese coast in an incident that underscored the heightened tensions. A day earlier, Taiwan said it had warned off drones hovering over three of the islands it occupies off the coast of the Chinese port city of Xiamen.
China claims Taiwan as its own territory, to be annexed by force if necessary. The sides split after a civil war in 1949 and have no official relations, with China cutting off even informal contacts following the election of independence-leaning Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen in 2016.
Tsai’s administration has pushed for a strengthening of anti-drone defenses as part of a 12.9% increase in its Defense Ministry’s annual budget next year. That would boost defense spending by an additional 47.5 billion New Taiwan dollars ($1.6 billion), for a total of 415.1 billion NTD ($13.8 billion).
The U.S. described Chinese drills last month as a severe overreaction and responded by sailing two guided missile cruisers through the Taiwan Strait, which China has declared to be its sovereign waters.
|
https://www.ktalnews.com/news/us-politics/ap-us-to-ok-1b-arms-sale-to-taiwan-as-tensions-rise-with-china/
| 2022-09-21T12:20:52Z
|
ktalnews.com
|
control
|
https://www.ktalnews.com/news/us-politics/ap-us-to-ok-1b-arms-sale-to-taiwan-as-tensions-rise-with-china/
| 1
| 0
|
green-iguana-35
| null |
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden is asking Congress to provide more than $47 billion in emergency dollars that would go toward the war in Ukraine, the response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the ongoing monkeypox outbreak and help for recent natural disasters in Kentucky and other states.
The request, which comes as lawmakers are preparing to return to Washington and fund the government, seeks $13.7 billion related to Ukraine, including money for equipment, intelligence support and direct budgetary support. Shalanda Young, the director of the White House Office of Management and Budget, said that more than three-fourths of the $40 billion approved by Congress earlier this year has already been disbursed or committed.
“We have rallied the world to support the people of Ukraine as they defend their democracy and we cannot allow that support to Ukraine to run dry,” Young said in a blog post.
The White House request will play into congressional budget negotiations in the coming weeks as financing for federal agencies is set to run out Sept. 30. Both parties will be seeking to avoid a government shutdown in the weeks before the midterm elections, but they will have to work out differences over issues like the COVID-19 aid, which has been a sticking point for many months as the White House has said more money is needed for vaccines and testing and Republicans have pointed to the trillions that have already been approved.
In Friday’s request, the White House is seeking $7.1 billion to procure additional vaccines and for replenishing personal protective equipment in the Strategic National Stockpile, among other measures. Another $8 billion would go to accelerate research for next-generation vaccines and therapeutics.
Biden is also seeking $2 billion to continue COVID-19 testing programs, including an initiative to distribute free at-home tests that ended on Friday as the government says it is running short on funds. White House officials say they have some tests left in the stockpile, but not enough to provide free tests if cases sharply increase.
Congress has not moved forward on similar administration requests for the COVID-19 response amid the partisan stalemate.
White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said the White House has repeatedly warned that there would be trade-offs if that money wasn’t approved, and “that is precisely what happened.” The lack of free testing kits, for example, “leaves our domestic testing capacity diminished for a potential fall surge,” she said.
The administration is also asking for $4.5 billion to bolster its efforts to fight monkeypox amid the ongoing outbreak. Officials said they have already depleted significant reserves from the national stockpile to provide over 1.1 million vials of vaccine.
The money would help ensure access to vaccinations, testing and treatment, and also help fund the global effort to fight the disease, administration officials said.
For disaster relief, the White House is asking for $6.5 billion, including money for the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s disaster relief fund, farmers affected by weather events and efforts to increase the resilience of the electric grid. As part of that request, the administration is also asking for $1.4 billion to address unmet disaster recovery needs in several states, including for recent devastating floods in Kentucky.
|
https://www.ktalnews.com/news/us-politics/ap-white-house-seeks-13-7-billion-more-for-ukraine/
| 2022-09-21T12:21:00Z
|
ktalnews.com
|
control
|
https://www.ktalnews.com/news/us-politics/ap-white-house-seeks-13-7-billion-more-for-ukraine/
| 1
| 0
|
green-iguana-35
| null |
(The Hill) — President Biden on Thursday responded to the hecklers during his primetime speech in Philadelphia, saying that a democracy allows them to protest.
“They’re entitled to be outrageous. This is a democracy,” the president said in the middle of his remarks.
Protestors yelled from outside of the Independence National Historical Park: “Let’s go, Brandon” and “F Joe Biden.” The phrase “Let’s Go Brandon” quickly became a political slogan adopted by former President Trump’s base after a TV commentator mistakenly interpreted a crowd chanting of “f— Joe Biden” as “Let’s Go Brandon,” in support of NASCAR driver Brandon Brown.
Biden’s speech on Thursday was centered around warning that Trump and Republicans aligned with him are threats to the country. It was framed beforehand as remarks about “the soul of the nation.”
Biden also snapped back at those yelling during his remarks, saying, “good manners is nothing they’ve ever suffered from,” according to Reuters White House reporter Jeff Mason.
The president emphasized in his remarks the danger of MAGA-aligned Republicans, arguing that they cast doubt on election results, spread conspiracy theories, attack law enforcement, do not respect the Constitution, and have blind loyalty for Trump.
Biden has had other interruptions during speeches throughout his presidency. In July, the president was interrupted by Manuel Oliver, the father of mass shooting victim Joaquin Oliver, during an event at the White House.
Biden responded, “let him talk, let him talk” when Oliver appeared to suggest that the bipartisan gun control bill did not go far enough.
|
https://www.ktalnews.com/news/us-politics/biden-to-hecklers-at-philadelphia-primetime-speech-theyre-entitled-to-be-outrageous/
| 2022-09-21T12:21:07Z
|
ktalnews.com
|
control
|
https://www.ktalnews.com/news/us-politics/biden-to-hecklers-at-philadelphia-primetime-speech-theyre-entitled-to-be-outrageous/
| 1
| 0
|
green-iguana-35
| null |
(The Hill) – Justice Department records unsealed on Friday offer new details about the volume of documents former President Trump stored in his personal office at Mar-a-Lago, as well as other items seized during the search of his Florida home.
The filing underscores just how many presidential records Trump was storing at his home and offers a breakdown of the more than 100 classified documents the Department of Justice (DOJ) says it recovered from Mar-a-Lago.
FBI agents found 43 empty folders with classified banners in Trump’s personal office as well as another 28 empty folders that were labeled “return to staff secretary/military aide,” according to the inventory.
The records were unsealed Friday by order of a federal judge who is reviewing a request from Trump to appoint a third-party special master to review the evidence seized, including a motion to block the FBI’s investigation during that review.
The inventory offers few new details about the classified materials themselves stored at Mar-a-Lago, but it does shed light on the extent classified materials were intermixed with Trump’s personal belongings.
A brief filed by the government just before midnight Tuesday indicated they found three classified records within Trump’s very own desk.
But the Friday inventory details in broad strokes the others that were found within his office: three documents marked confidential, 17 documents marked secret and seven documents marked top-secret.
Their location in Trump’s office could be significant to the Justice Department’s investigation, particularly after it alleged earlier this week that items were “likely concealed and removed.”
Storage in Trump’s personal office, rather than the storage room at Mar-a-Lago, could undercut potential claims that staff were unaware of the extent classified materials were stored on the property.
Earlier review of items seized indicates some of the items recovered were stored alongside Trump’s passports.
In a filing accompanying the latest inventory, the Justice Department noted that “all evidence — including the nature and manner in which they were stored” — will inform their investigation.
An FBI affidavit the DOJ used to request the warrant that allowed for the search indicated the storage of such documents at Mar-a-Lago could constitute a violation of the Espionage Act.
And the Tuesday filing from DOJ also expanded on the government’s rationale for including an obstruction statute on its warrant, breaking down numerous efforts to recover documents and indicating Trump’s team failed to turn over some documents even after receiving a subpoena.
The filing also breaks down the staggering number of government documents Trump was storing at Mar-a-Lago.
Trump retained nearly 10,000 of what the Justice Department calls “US government documents/photographs without classification markings.”
Of those, 1,463 records were kept in Trump’s office with another 8,141 kept in the storage room at Mar-a-Lago.
Though the documents weren’t classified, it’s another important detail in the case. While DOJ’s investigation has primarily been focused on the tranche of classified records in Trump’s home, they’ve also duked it out with Trump’s team over what they say are presidential records that must be returned.
Part of Trump’s argument for a special master is that documents taken from his home could be protected by attorney-client as well as executive privileges.
But DOJ said Trump may have violated the Presidential Records Act by keeping presidential records that former executives have always turned over to the National Archives.
The Justice Department said Tuesday that Trump’s claim that some of the materials may be covered by executive privilege only strengthen their case that he improperly took records that are government property and should be managed by Archives.
“Any Presidential records seized pursuant to the search warrant belong to the United States, not to the former President,” DOJ wrote.
“Plaintiff’s Motion, in fact, asserts that ‘the documents seized at Mar-a-Lago on August 8, 2022 … were created during his term as President.’ These are precisely the types of documents that likely constitute Presidential records.”
|
https://www.ktalnews.com/news/us-politics/unsealed-mar-a-lago-inventory-details-items-recovered-from-trumps-office/
| 2022-09-21T12:21:15Z
|
ktalnews.com
|
control
|
https://www.ktalnews.com/news/us-politics/unsealed-mar-a-lago-inventory-details-items-recovered-from-trumps-office/
| 1
| 0
|
green-iguana-35
| null |
The products and services mentioned below were selected independent of sales and advertising. However, Simplemost may receive a small commission from the purchase of any products or services through an affiliate link to the retailer's website.
Sweater weather. Pumpkin doughnuts. Autumn is upon us! One of the best ways to get in the fall spirit is by decorating your home. You can make a surprisingly big impact without spending a lot of money, or without creating a giant yard display. And nothing says fall like pumpkins, am I right?
Bringing fake pumpkins into the mix allows you to expand your fall decor repertoire without having to worry about them spoiling, plus they’re reusable. Take them outside and never worry about the squirrels gobbling them up again. You can break them out year after year, using them in new and different ways. One year you might mix them in a bowl on your countertop and the next, you could scatter them across your bookshelves.
Amazon has a nice set fake pumpkins marked down right now, just in time to whip your home into proper autumn shape.
Ticlooc Mixed 12-Piece Artificial Pumpkins ($16)
This set of a dozen by Ticlooc gives you four each of white, burlap and black-and-white checkered fake pumpkins. Made from foam and wood, each one is small enough to fit in your palm and measures 3.35 inches in diameter and 2.75 inches tall. Create a Thanksgiving dinner centerpiece or banquet place settings full of rustic charm. Being so lightweight, they can even be used to make autumn wreaths.
Amazon users mentioned displaying them separately and as bowl fillers. The possibilities with these fake pumpkins go on and on. You could fill a glass vase, set them out at fall birthday parties or display them on your desk or place them in a tiered tray along with other fall decor items like twigs and leaves to make a larger statement. They also make festive decorations for fall-themed weddings.
The white pumpkins even offer a smooth surface that’s perfect for drawing jack-o’-lantern faces onto or writing names for place settings.
This 12-set of fake pumpkins is currently marked down slightly to $15.99 on Amazon (normally $16.99) but you can also add a coupon for saving another 15% on the product page, to cut it even further. The set comes highly recommended, with an average rating of 4.7 stars out of 5. Several people mentioned how well they blended with their farmhouse decor while another reviewer mentioned using them on her mantel between lights. She said they are worth the money.
Reviewer Lisa B. called them so cute and said she puts them in her front porch lanterns and gets compliments all the time.
While the majority of the reviews on these fake pumpkins are positive, the negative reviews have lamented stems being broken off during transit or attached ones that aren’t properly centered.
If these palm-size pumpkins aren’t quite bold enough for your Halloween tastes, check out this 12-foot animated mummy from Lowe’s or a 25-foot Stay Puft Marshmallow Man inflatable!
This story originally appeared on Simplemost. Checkout Simplemost for additional stories.
|
https://www.katc.com/fake-pumpkins-fall-favorites-amazon
| 2022-09-21T12:21:20Z
|
katc.com
|
control
|
https://www.katc.com/fake-pumpkins-fall-favorites-amazon
| 1
| 0
|
green-iguana-35
| null |
Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered a partial mobilization of reservists in Russia on Wednesday, risking a deeply unpopular step that follows a string of humiliating setbacks for his troops nearly seven months after invading Ukraine.
It’s the first mobilization in Russia since World War II and is sure to further fuel tensions with the Western backers of Ukraine, who derided the move as an act of weakness. The move also sent Russians scrambling to buy plane tickets out of the country.
The Russian leader, in a seven-minute televised address to the nation aired on Wednesday morning, also warned the West that he isn't bluffing over using all the means at his disposal to protect Russia's territory, in what appeared to be a veiled reference to Russia’s nuclear capability. Putin has previously warned the West not to back Russia against the wall and has rebuked NATO countries for supplying weapons to help Ukraine.
The total number of reservists to be called up could be as high as 300,000, officials said.
Even a partial mobilization is likely to increase dismay, or sow doubt, among Russians about the war in Ukraine. Shortly after Putin’s address, Russian media reported a sharp spike in demand for plane tickets abroad amid an apparent scramble to leave despite exorbitant prices for flights.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov, who was asked what had changed since he and others previously said no mobilization was planned, argued that Russia is effectively fighting against a combined potential of NATO because the alliance’s members have been supplying weapons to Kyiv.
Only those with relevant combat and service experience will be mobilized, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said. He added that there are around 25 million people who fit this criteria, but only around 1% of them will be mobilized.
Another clause in the decree prevents most professional soldiers from terminating their contracts and leaving service until the partial mobilization is no longer in place.
Putin's announcement came against the backdrop of the U.N. General Assembly in New York, where Moscow's invasion of Ukraine on Feb. 24 has been the target of broad international criticism that has kept up intense diplomatic pressure on Moscow.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskky is due to address the gathering in a prerecorded address on Wednesday. Putin didn't travel to New York.
Putin's gambit has a strong element of risk — it could backfire, by making the Ukraine war unpopular at home and hurting his own standing, and it exposes Russia's underlying military shortcomings.
A Ukraine counteroffensive launched this month has snatched the military initiative away from Russia, as well as capturing large areas the Russians once held. The swiftness of the counteroffensive saw Russian forces abandon armored vehicles and other weapons as they beat hasty retreats.
A spokesman for Zelenskyy called the mobilization a “big tragedy” for the Russian people.
In a statement to The Associated Press, Sergii Nikiforov said conscripts sent to the front line in Ukraine would face a similar fate as ill-prepared Russian forces who were repelled in an attack on Kyiv in the first days of the invasion last February.
“This is a recognition of the incapacity of the Russian professional army, which has failed in all its tasks,” Nikiforov said.
The mobilization is unlikely to bring any consequences on the battlefield for months because of a lack of training facilities and equipment.
The U.S. ambassador to Ukraine, Bridget Brink, tweeted that the mobilization is a sign "of weakness, of Russian failure.”
British Defense Secretary Ben Wallace echoed that assessment, describing Putin's move as “an admission that his invasion is failing
|
https://www.katc.com/news/national/russia-ukraine-conflict/putin-sets-partial-military-call-up-wont-bluff-on-nuclear-weapons
| 2022-09-21T12:21:23Z
|
katc.com
|
control
|
https://www.katc.com/news/national/russia-ukraine-conflict/putin-sets-partial-military-call-up-wont-bluff-on-nuclear-weapons
| 1
| 0
|
green-iguana-35
| null |
The White House on Friday asked Congress to approve $13.7 billion to address Russia’s continued military invasion of Ukraine as part of a short-term funding bill.
The Biden administration is requesting that Congress authorize $11.7 billion in additional security and economic assistance for Ukraine and $2 billion to help shore up domestic energy supplies to offset impacts of the war on the global energy market.
“We have rallied the world to support the people of Ukraine to defend their democracy and we simply cannot allow that support to Ukraine to run dry,” an administration official told reporters when previewing the request on Friday.
The White House says that the funds are needed to sustain the pace of aid to Ukraine for the first three months of fiscal year 2023, which begins at the start of October. The administration official said roughly three-fourths of the funds Congress has already approved for Ukraine have been spent or obligated.
Congress on a bipartisan basis has approved over $53 billion in security, economic and humanitarian assistance to address Russia’s invasion of Ukraine this year. Biden signed the last package, totaling $40 billion, into law in May. At the time, the White House said it expected those funds to last through the end of the fiscal year.
Congress is expected to pass a continuing resolution to fund the government on a short-term basis to allow lawmakers more time to reach an agreement on a larger funding measure. The administration official noted Friday the duration of the short-term funding bill is up to Congress. It would need to be passed by the time the current fiscal year ends on Sept. 30 in order to prevent a government shutdown.
In addition to more funding for Ukraine, the White House is also asking Congress to authorize billions more in funding for the federal government’s COVID-19 pandemic response, Monkeypox response and disaster relief efforts as part of a continuing resolution.
There is bipartisan support for sending assistance to Ukraine as it grapples with more than six months of attacks from Russia, though it’s possible at least some Republicans will question the latest funding request.
The White House is asking Congress to approve $4.5 billion for military equipment and replenishing Pentagon stockpiles, $2.7 billion in defense and intelligence aid for Ukraine, and $4.5 billion for budgetary support for Ukraine’s government.
The request also asks for $2 billion to support domestic energy sources — $1.5 billion for uranium to fuel nuclear reactors and $500 million to modernize the Strategic Petroleum Reserve to address impacts of Russia’s war on energy supply and prices.
|
https://www.ktalnews.com/news/us-politics/white-house-asks-congress-for-13-7b-in-ukraine-related-funding/
| 2022-09-21T12:21:22Z
|
ktalnews.com
|
control
|
https://www.ktalnews.com/news/us-politics/white-house-asks-congress-for-13-7b-in-ukraine-related-funding/
| 1
| 0
|
green-iguana-35
| null |
WASHINGTON (NEXSTAR) — The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is drafting a new rule that would designate PFAS, a class of man-made chemicals that is a likely carcinogen, as a hazardous material.
The chemicals, often used for waterproofing, have been used in everything from Scotchgard to Teflon to a special foam used for fighting airplane fires. In recent years, PFAS has been found in drinking water sources in places including West Virginia and Michigan.
The hazardous designation under the Superfund Act would trigger faster cleanups when PFAS contamination is found and require companies that make PFAS to regularly report pollution. It would also ensure those companies are on the hook for cleanup if they are found to be responsible for water contamination.
“Up to now, what it’s been is a huge fight in the courts, where the companies have been denying, (saying), “This stuff isn’t harmful, you can’t prove that it’s causing any harm,'” environmental attorney Rob Bilott said.
He has spent decades in courts trying to prove communities that have recorded a spike in illnesses were poisoned by nearby factories that used PFAS.
“Having the U.S. EPA designate and declare this hazardous … (and) confirming these health effects is incredibly helpful,” Bilott said.
Melanie Benesh of the D.C.-based activist nonprofit Environmental Working Group called it “one of the most important steps that the EPA can take to address existing PFAS contamination.” For years, she has been working with U.S. Rep. Debbie Dingell, D-Mich., to urge the EPA to take action.
“Too many people do not understand that they are encountering this chemical every single day,” Dingell said.
She said it’s important to hold companies accountable, but also said to fully protect Americans’ health, Congress should establish a national standard for the acceptable level of PFAS in drinking water.
The EPA is expected to move forward with its own rules establishing such a standard by the end of the year. All rules are subject to a public comment period in which companies have an opportunity to push back.
|
https://www.ktalnews.com/news/washington-dc/epa-moves-to-designate-pfas-as-hazardous-material/
| 2022-09-21T12:21:30Z
|
ktalnews.com
|
control
|
https://www.ktalnews.com/news/washington-dc/epa-moves-to-designate-pfas-as-hazardous-material/
| 1
| 0
|
green-iguana-35
| null |
WASHINGTON (NEXSTAR) – The countdown is on for a rocket launch to the moon — again.
NASA will make a second attempt to launch its Artemis rocket on Saturday after technical issues delayed it the first time. NASA official Jeremy Parsons says all signs look good for an upcoming launch.
“If the conditions with weather and the hardware align, we’ll absolutely go,” Parsons said.
Engineers had to call off a planned launch on Monday because of a fuel leak and engine problems. Since then, they’ve been working to address the issues.
“Team has really just done a fantastic job getting us out of launch attempt number one, repairing all the issues and getting us into a safe configuration to proceed,” Parsons said.
If the launch is successful, this will be the first time America has sent a capsule to the moon since Apollo 17, which was 50 years ago. Former Astronaut Jefferey Hoffman says it’s long overdue.
“We went there and then we stopped and we threw it all away,” Hoffman said. “So I’m excited that we’re getting ready to go to the moon again.”
NASA’s eventual goal with this mission is getting astronauts back on the moon and establishing a permanent presence there. Dr. Hoffman says that could be important for scientific discovery.
“We’ve only just scratched the surface with Apollo, you know, bringing back samples of the moon. And we’ve learned incredible amounts about the history of the solar system, how the Earth was formed,” Hoffman said.
Billions of dollars have been poured into the project. But Dr. Hoffman says Artemis could unlock access to natural resources and give us a competitive edge globally.
“Someday the moon is going to be a part of the economic sphere of the Earth. Whoever establishes their bases first is in a good position,” Hoffman said.
|
https://www.ktalnews.com/news/washington-dc/return-to-moon-long-overdue-former-astronaut-says/
| 2022-09-21T12:21:36Z
|
ktalnews.com
|
control
|
https://www.ktalnews.com/news/washington-dc/return-to-moon-long-overdue-former-astronaut-says/
| 1
| 0
|
green-iguana-35
| null |
ROME (AP) — A drug-sniffing dog led frontier police Friday at a Milan airport to some 13 kilograms (nearly 30 pounds) of cocaine stuffed into the leather upholstery of a motorized wheelchair, whose user immediately stood up and was arrested, authorities said.
The specialized canine unit was being deployed at Malpensa airport to check arriving passengers and their luggage from a flight from the Dominican Republic, since previously drug couriers had used that route, the Financial Guard police said in a statement.
When a dog drew officers’ attention to the traveler, police first checked his luggage, which yielded nothing, then slashed the wheelchair’s upholstery, discovering the cocaine.
Police said that when the cocaine was found, the chair user — a Spaniard who had requested airport personnel to help guide the wheelchair — got up, walked without assistance and was taken into custody.
The passenger was brought to a local jail, where judicial authorities upheld his detention pending investigation of the case, the statement said.
Police said the 11 packets of cocaine, weighing a total of 13.35 kilograms (nearly 30 pounds) could have yielded some 27,000 individual doses of the drug and had a street sale value of some 1.4 million euros (dollars).
|
https://www.ktalnews.com/news/weird-news/ap-dog-sniffs-out-cocaine-hidden-in-wheelchair-at-milan-airport/
| 2022-09-21T12:21:42Z
|
ktalnews.com
|
control
|
https://www.ktalnews.com/news/weird-news/ap-dog-sniffs-out-cocaine-hidden-in-wheelchair-at-milan-airport/
| 1
| 0
|
green-iguana-35
| null |
BERLIN (AP) — Two earthquakes hit Liechtenstein just as lawmakers in the tiny Alpine principality were debating the pros and cons of quake insurance.
Lawmaker Bettina Petzold-Maehr had just warned that the chances of all Liechtenstein citizens being affected by an earthquake striking the country was high when the first small temblor hit shortly before 2 p.m. (1200GMT) Thursday.
Petzold-Maehr laughed and continued until the second quake struck, visibly shaking the room.
“This is getting a bit much, you never know if there’ll be aftershocks,” speaker Albert Frick said, announcing a 15-minute recess.
Records by the German Research Centre for Geosciences showed a magnitude 4 earthquake hit Liechtenstein, which is sandwiched between Switzerland and Austria, Thursday afternoon.
Liechtenstein police said no injuries or damage were reported, and gave a magnitude of 3.9 for the quake.
Liechtenstein has a population of just under 39,000 and a surface area of 62 square miles (160 square kilometers), making it slightly smaller than Washington, D.C.
|
https://www.ktalnews.com/news/weird-news/ap-liechtenstein-shakes-as-lawmakers-debate-quake-insurance/
| 2022-09-21T12:21:48Z
|
ktalnews.com
|
control
|
https://www.ktalnews.com/news/weird-news/ap-liechtenstein-shakes-as-lawmakers-debate-quake-insurance/
| 1
| 0
|
green-iguana-35
| null |
Do smart devices constantly listen to you?
Smart devices can enhance your life in numerous ways. Still, some people feel they listen in on their private conversations. Most smart devices have built-in microphones, so it isn’t just paranoia that leads people to believe they’re being spied on. To learn more about how smart devices work and whether they always listen, we sat down with our tech expert, Jaime Vazquez.
Everything you need to know about smart device privacy
Do smart devices listen all the time?
It is fair to say that smart devices listen 100% of the time. Still, it’s important to note that this doesn’t mean they record 100% of the time.
Many smart devices have an indicator, such as a light, that lets you know when they’re recording. These devices have microphones programmed to listen for specific wake words. For example, most Echo devices listen for the word “Alexa.”
A smart speaker starts recording when it hears its wake word. Once the device finishes recording your command, it sends the order to a server that processes your request and stops recording.
Is there anything you can do to stop your smart device from listening?
Although your smart speaker doesn’t record everything you say, it is natural to want to prevent it from listening throughout the day.
When asked how you can stop your devices from listening, Vazquez said, “They all have controls that let you set availability schedules. For example, you can set the Echo Kid’s Edition to stop listening to commands after a specific time of day. If you know someone named Alex or Alexa, it may be worth updating the wake word on your Echo devices. If you really want to take control of your devices, you might consider plugging them into smart plugs so you can easily turn them off when you aren’t using them.”
Which smart devices have the best privacy track record?
When shopping for a smart device, it’s worth considering which brand has the best history of protecting its customers’ privacy. Per Vazquez, “Apple has the best privacy track record overall, followed by Google and Amazon. That said, I would rank Amazon as the most proactive about privacy. They really got their privacy act together in 2020 and rolled out a framework that gave users a ton of control over their privacy. Now, Alexa sets the standard for the level of control you should have.”
Do smart devices with cameras watch you throughout the day?
Most camera-equipped smart devices only record video when you activate a feature that requires it. Amazon’s Echo Show devices have a built-in camera cover you can use when you don’t want it to record.
If you have a smart device that doesn’t have a built-in camera cover, you can typically buy one for less than $20.
Other privacy tips to consider
- Think about your smart device’s location: You likely don’t need a smart speaker in every room. Try using your device’s wake word in an adjacent room to test the distance it can hear and record. Additionally, it may be worth leaving them out of your home office if you’re worried about them recording you while you work.
- Explore privacy controls: All smart devices have privacy settings. After you’ve set your device up, take a minute to explore its settings and ensure you’re comfortable with the level of privacy it offers.
- Unplug them when you don’t need them: If you mainly use your voice assistant on the weekends, it may be worth unplugging throughout the week. You aren’t likely to need them when you’re on vacation, so they can be left unplugged until you get back.
- Let your guests know you have smart devices: People may have different levels of comfortability with smart speakers. When you have a guest over for the first time, it may be worth turning them off or letting your guests know.
- Request your data from the manufacturer: Apple, Amazon and Google allow you to request an email containing all the data they have collected about you, including data from smart devices.
Smart device privacy products our expert recommends
This option lets you turn devices on and off from your phone. You can use it to shut your smart devices down when you aren’t using them. It has three smart outlets and two USB ports. Many were impressed with how easy it is to set up.
Sold by Amazon
Metal Magnetic Sliding Web Camera Cover
Smart devices aren’t the only machines that can record you. It’s worth buying a cover for your webcam if you’re concerned about your privacy. This pack of covers is made of durable metal and uses magnets to keep the slide in place.
Sold by Amazon
This top-notch smart device can be used to watch TV, set calendar updates and manage routines. It has a built-in camera cover, and you can turn the microphone off with the click of a button.
Sold by Amazon
Logitech C920e HD 1080p Mic-Enabled Webcam
This affordable webcam has a built-in cover for your privacy. The camera automatically zooms in, so your face is centered in the frame. It is surprisingly easy to set up. Many were impressed with the picture quality.
TP-Link Kasa Smart Plug With Energy Monitoring
This handy plug is ideal for turning your smart devices off easily. It monitors your energy usage and lets you set schedules to lower your bills. It is compatible with Amazon Alexa, Google Assistant and Microsoft Cortana. Many people said they loved how intuitive it was.
Sold by Amazon
This features numerous privacy controls, including a button that deactivates the microphone. It is compact and easy to use. It sounds surprisingly good. This is available in blue, black and white.
Sold by Amazon
Want to shop the best products at the best prices? Check out Daily Deals from BestReviews.
Sign up here to receive the BestReviews weekly newsletter for useful advice on new products and noteworthy deals.
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.
|
https://www.ktalnews.com/reviews/br/electronics-br/smart-home-br/are-your-smart-devices-really-listening-all-the-time-our-tech-expert-weighs-in/
| 2022-09-21T12:22:02Z
|
ktalnews.com
|
control
|
https://www.ktalnews.com/reviews/br/electronics-br/smart-home-br/are-your-smart-devices-really-listening-all-the-time-our-tech-expert-weighs-in/
| 1
| 0
|
green-iguana-35
| null |
What’s the best sleep support supplement?
Sleeping is the body’s repair and recovery process. Waking up from a good night’s sleep with energy and clarity of mind is an invigorating feeling. And since poor sleep can harm physical and mental health, fighting insomnia and supporting restorative sleep are important.
Sleep supplements are made with natural ingredients designed to calm the mind and relax the body. For its multi-ingredient formula that helps you sleep longer, the best sleep support supplement is the Dr. Mercola Sleep Support with Melatonin.
What to know before you buy a sleep support supplement
What is a sleep support supplement?
Many people suffering from low-quality sleep need a boost of natural ingredients that have been used naturopathically for centuries to help the body help itself.
Sleep support supplements relax muscles and calm the mind. They slow the heart rate and reduce stress throughout the body.
When to take a sleep support supplement
A considerable percentage of Americans don’t experience regular restful sleep. According to the National Institutes of Health, one in three adults suffers from insomnia.
Poor sleep has many effects on our bodies, according to the Cleveland Clinic. It can alter concentration and mood. It also can increase blood pressure and the risk of a cardiovascular event. It even hampers our immune system’s defenses against illness.
When you feel like your quality of life is being damaged by poor sleep, it may be time to consider a sleep support supplement. Consult your health care provider for guidance.
Types of sleep support supplements
There are two types of sleep support supplements:
- Natural sleep supplements are available over the counter and are made from natural ingredients. They do not contain any controlled substances or synthetic chemicals made in a laboratory. Most include herbal and plant-based ingredients that have been used for centuries to treat sleep disorders. Some include other ingredients designed to work in tandem to relax the body.
- Synthetic sleep supplements are created in a laboratory. Some are sold over the counter, but these are usually antihistamines that trigger initial drowsiness. Prescription sleeping pills are powerful sedatives that shut down the brain, but they can be habit-forming and have other negative side effects. Always consult your health care provider to discuss the benefits and risks of synthetic sleep aids.
What to look for in a sleep support supplement
Form
Sleep support supplements come in three distinct forms.
- Capsules and tablets are the most common but can be difficult to swallow. They also can have strong flavors and an aftertaste.
- Liquid supplements are easy to swallow and quickly absorbed by the body.
- Chewable edibles come as gummies or baked goods that contain natural ingredients and are easily swallowed.
Melatonin
Melatonin is the best-known natural sleep supplement. It is a hormone produced in the brain that increases at night to signal the body to slow down. Melatonin doses range from 1 to 10 milligrams. It may take some trial and error to find the right dose for you.
Other ingredients
- L-theanine is an amino acid from tea leaves that relaxes the body.
- Lavender is most commonly used as an essential oil for aromatherapy, but the sweet-smelling flower also can be found in capsules and tea. It’s known for reducing stress.
- Valerian root is an herbal treatment that induces drowsiness. It comes in capsule form, although valerian root tea is available for those who can tolerate its strong smell and taste.
- Chamomile is an herbal remedy to slow down a busy mind. It comes in a flavorful tea or capsule.
Free of allergens
Look for supplements that are manufactured without common allergens such as gluten, soy, dairy and nuts. Non-GMO and vegan products also have high standards in how they are produced.
How much you can expect to spend on a sleep support supplement
A month’s supply costs $5-$30, affected by the number of doses per container and the complexity of the ingredients. Liquid supplements usually cost more than pills and edibles.
Sleep support supplement FAQ
What are ways to naturally increase melatonin at night?
A. One of the best ways to help your brain stimulate melatonin at night is to turn off your TV, computer and smartphone at least an hour before bedtime. The blue light emitted from these devices keeps the brain operating at full speed and may delay your falling asleep.
What are other ways to improve sleep?
A. Avoid heavy meals and snacks, close to bedtime since this stimulates the digestive system. Limit caffeine use later in the day. And maintain the same sleeping schedule on the weekend, which keeps your sleep cycle consistent.
What is the best sleep support supplement to buy?
Top sleep support supplement
Dr. Mercola Sleep Support with Melatonin
What you need to know: This is formulated with a blend of vitamins, enzymes and melatonin to calm the body and mind.
What you’ll love: Composed of melatonin and 10 supporting ingredients including niacin, vitamin B6, jujube and chamomile, these pills are designed to promote a relaxed state of mind at night and restore morning alertness. They are free of GMOs, soy and gluten.
What you should consider: Some consumers felt the natural ingredients did not enhance the effects of melatonin.
Where to buy: Sold by Amazon and iHerb
Top sleep support supplement for the money
Force Factor Somnapure Melatonin and Natural Botanicals
What you need to know: This affordable sleep supplement features natural ingredients that promote falling asleep faster.
What you’ll love: There are 3 milligrams of melatonin in each tablet. L-theanine and valerian root extract are meant to calm the mind. The supplement is designed for refreshed awakening. It is made in the United States and not habit forming.
What you should consider: The natural smell and taste are off-putting to some users.
Where to buy: Sold by Amazon
Worth checking out
Elderberry Hill Liquid Multimineral Night Time Formula
What you need to know: This focuses on a good night’s sleep, but also promotes immunity health.
What you’ll love: This American-made supplement is packed with vitamins and minerals. The liquid formula is easy to swallow and made for better absorption.
What you should consider: The cranberry flavor is intense and may leave an aftertaste.
Where to buy: Sold by Amazon
Want to shop the best products at the best prices? Check out Daily Deals from BestReviews.
Sign up here to receive the BestReviews weekly newsletter for useful advice on new products and noteworthy deals.
Steve Ganger 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.
|
https://www.ktalnews.com/reviews/br/health-wellness-br/supplements-br/best-sleep-support-supplement/
| 2022-09-21T12:22:10Z
|
ktalnews.com
|
control
|
https://www.ktalnews.com/reviews/br/health-wellness-br/supplements-br/best-sleep-support-supplement/
| 1
| 0
|
green-iguana-35
| null |
The best products to lower your electric bill
The cost of living is at an all-time high, especially in major metropolitan cities. There’s no need to pay more for things than you need to — including electricity. If your electric bill is alarmingly high every month, there are a few ways you can keep costs down.
Energy-saving products can help lower your electric bill. While some are expensive, they’re worth it in the long run. They range in functionality, but they can all help you monitor your monthly energy usage.
What are the best energy-saving products?
Air filters
A clean air filter can help lower your electric bill because it improves airflow in your heating, ventilation and air conditioning unit. Dirty filters make it difficult for air to circulate efficiently. You might feel more inclined to leave the heater or air conditioner on for extended periods.
Weatherstripping
Weatherstripping gap seals are excellent for keeping warm or cool air within a room. Some windows and doors have spaces where drafts can flow in and out. This means the cool or warm air you’ve worked hard to contain escapes easily. Weatherstripping is easy to attach to any door or window and works well at drowning out external noise.
LED light bulbs
LED light bulbs use less power and last longer than traditional incandescent bulbs. You don’t have to replace them as often as standard light bulbs. Because their wattage is lower, you should see a noticeable reduction in energy consumption over extended periods.
Smart power strips and plugs
Smart power strips and plugs connect to the internet and let you manage your connected appliances and devices remotely. For example, if you have a lamp plugged into a smart plug, you can program a schedule for when it powers on and off by using the corresponding app. You can also monitor how much energy each device uses.
Smart devices
Electric bills are often driven up because of unnecessary power usage. For example, there’s no need to water your lawn if it’s going to rain, but sprinkler systems are programmed to run no matter the weather. A smart sprinkler controller lets you program your sprinkler system, but it also tweaks it based on the weather and eliminates unnecessary watering.
Smart thermostats and energy monitors are the most popular smart devices for reducing energy consumption. Smart thermostats can be managed remotely, and an energy monitor provides you with reports and insights on your power usage to determine the best way to keep it down.
The 12 best energy-saving products
Best filters and weatherstripping for doors and windows
Aerostar MERV 13 Six-pack Pleated Air Filter
These air filters are easy to install and are an excellent, cost-effective way to trap lint, dust mites, pollen, pet dander, smoke and bacteria. They improve the efficiency of your HVAC unit and help keep utility costs low. Sold by Amazon
Filtrete Clean Living Basic Dust Filter
These air filters are electrostatically charged and super-effective at capturing lint, dust mite debris and household dust. They have a 300 Microparticle Performance Rating for trapping unwanted air particles through your heating and cooling system. Sold by Amazon
This weatherstripping gap sealer can help prevent heat and cold from escaping the rooms in your home in winter and summer. It sticks firmly, helps block out external noise and works on interior and exterior doors. Sold by Amazon
Cikkiio Self Adhesive Seal Strip
This weatherstripping seal is 32.8 feet long, 0.2 inches thick and versatile enough to use on windows and doors. It’s excellent for windproofing, dustproofing, weatherproofing and soundproof insulation, and you can use scissors to cut it to the desired length. Sold by Amazon
Best LED light bulbs and power strips
Philips LED Frosted Light Bulbs
These light bulbs use 80% less energy and last 10 times longer than standard 60-watt light bulbs. They deliver comfortable ambient light, fit in any E26 medium screw base and don’t contain mercury, making them eco-friendly. Sold by Amazon
TCP 60-Watt Equivalent LED Light Bulbs
These energy-efficient 9-watt light bulbs can help you save up to 85% on your light bill and last up to 18 years with moderate usage. They offer soft white light and are versatile enough for lamps and ceiling fixtures. Sold by Amazon
This power strip offers surge protection certified by the Electrical Testing Laboratories standards and has six independently controlled outlets and three built-in USB ports. You can use the Kasa smartphone app to monitor energy usage and power on and off your devices. Sold by Amazon
Bestek 2,000 Joules Surge Protector
This power strip has eight outlets and four USB ports that offer fast charging speeds and self-adjust electric currents to charge multiple devices without complications. It has an alloy plastic and flame-retardant construction with a lighted on/off switch for overload protection. Sold by Amazon
With the Amazon Smart Plug, you can use Alexa-enabled devices to control your lights and appliances. You can turn lights on and off through the Alexa app and set an energy-efficient routine for your devices. Sold by Amazon
Best smart devices and plugs
The Google Nest Thermostat is Energy-Star certified and automatically turns itself down when there’s no one home. You can program an energy-efficient schedule on the Google Home app, change the temperature from any device, and HVAC monitoring alerts you if things aren’t running optimally. Sold by Amazon
Sense Flex Home Energy Monitor
This energy monitor is expensive but can help you significantly reduce your electric bill in the long run. You can monitor your generator and up to two circuits and get real-time insights and energy usage reports. Sold by Amazon
The Rachio 3 smart sprinkler keeps tabs on the weather and automatically creates schedules, so your lawn only gets the necessary watering. You can manage your watering schedules through the Rachio smartphone app, and installation is simple, taking less than half an hour. Sold by Amazon
Want to shop the best products at the best prices? Check out Daily Deals from BestReviews.
Sign up here to receive the BestReviews weekly newsletter for useful advice on new products and noteworthy deals.
Kevin Luna 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.
|
https://www.ktalnews.com/reviews/br/home-br/heating-cooling-air-quality-br/these-energy-saving-products-help-lower-your-electric-bill/
| 2022-09-21T12:22:17Z
|
ktalnews.com
|
control
|
https://www.ktalnews.com/reviews/br/home-br/heating-cooling-air-quality-br/these-energy-saving-products-help-lower-your-electric-bill/
| 1
| 0
|
green-iguana-35
| null |
Which toaster oven is best?
When it comes to selecting a toaster oven, it’s good to know what you’re getting into. Unlike their simple relative, the toaster, today’s toaster ovens have gotten sophisticated and complex. They can do it all: toast, reheat, bake, dehydrate and even air-fry.
Not every toaster oven is going to be worth sacrificing counter space. But two trusted brands — Breville and Black and Decker — are creating hardworking appliances that might even be able to take the place of a conventional oven.
When it comes to a Breville toaster oven vs. a Black and Decker, it can be helpful to consider what you need. While Breville toaster ovens are complex appliances with all the bells and whistles, Black and Decker versions are simpler, but get the job done.
Breville toaster oven
Breville toaster ovens consistently earn top marks among home cooks and product reviewers. The brand is noted for high-performing appliances that are as good-looking as they are durable. Moving away from Breville’s humble toasters, the toaster oven has some serious wattage and can make short work of anything you need to bake.
Breville toaster oven pros
The biggest argument for a Breville toaster oven is its performance. The Element IQ system is a Breville trademark and uses separate quartz elements to heat the area of the oven that is occupied. The larger the oven, the more quartz elements there are, resulting in even heating and fast cooking.
These toaster ovens also feature a nonstick interior coating for easy cleaning, and some of the larger models have an interior light so you can keep an eye on what’s cooking.
Breville toaster oven cons
Breville toaster ovens are among the most expensive out there. The most affordable version is also the most basic, but they range in price from $150-$430 or more.
If you want more features, the oven gets pretty big. The largest model takes up nearly 2 feet of countertop and is over 18 inches deep.
Best Breville toaster ovens
The convection system in this oven reduces cooking time and bakes more evenly. Five independent quartz elements focus heat in the area where the food is being baked. It has nine separate cooking functions and an easy-to-read LCD. Sold by Amazon and Sur La Table
Breville Smart Oven Air Fryer Pro and Countertop Convection Oven
You can replace more than one appliance with this versatile toaster oven. It has 13 separate cooking functions, including a dehydrator, air fryer and convection oven. The extra large capacity means you can roast a 14-pound turkey in 30% less time than a standard oven. Sold by Amazon and Wayfair
This oven is perfect when counter space is tight but you still want the expanded functionality. It has three rack positions and an auto shut-off function for safety. It fits pizzas up to 11 inches and a six-muffin tin. It comes with a 10-inch by 10-inch enamel baking pan. Sold by Amazon
Black and Decker toaster oven
Black and Decker may be most well-known for its power tools, but its kitchen appliances have also gained popularity as people recognize their utility. Black and Decker toaster ovens aren’t flashy but are easy to use and produce consistent results.
Black and Decker toaster oven pros
Black and Decker toaster ovens offer good basic functions and feature roomy interiors. However, one of their biggest pros is the price. These economical appliances start at $75 and stay below the $200 mark regardless of features.
Black and Decker toaster oven cons
Some users weren’t happy with the lack of fine-tuning available. Most models don’t offer the opportunity to set the baking temperature, and those that do can be finicky and imprecise.
The dual-position racks also mean that cooking is less even, and the outside of the toaster oven gets hot when in use.
Best Black and Decker toaster ovens
Black and Decker 8-Slice Toaster Oven
This toaster oven has a temperature range of 150 to 450 degrees. It heats quickly and evenly and has three rack positions. There are specific settings for bagels and pizza, but it also performs the same functions as an oven. The stainless steel finish looks great on the counter. Sold by Amazon and Home Depot
Black and Decker Countertop Convection Toaster Oven
It features one-touch controls that let you toast, bake and broil. It has convection cooking and two rack positions. Toast up to six slices of bread at once or prepare a 12-inch pizza. This comes with a two-year warranty and a baking pan to get you started. Sold by Amazon and Home Depot
Black and Decker Extra-Wide Crisp ‘N Bake Air Fry Toaster Oven
When you are cooking for a crowd, this is the way to go. This toaster oven fits a 9-inch by 13-inch pan with handles, eight slices of bread or a 12-inch pizza. It has five basic functions — bake, broil, toast, keep warm and air fry — and uses a 60-minute timer. Sold by Amazon
Should you get a Breville toaster oven or a Black and Decker toaster oven?
For sheer durability, good looks and performance, a Breville toaster oven is the best choice. These countertop workhorses have enough power and size to handle an entire holiday meal.
Want to shop the best products at the best prices? Check out Daily Deals from BestReviews.
Sign up here to receive the BestReviews weekly newsletter for useful advice on new products and noteworthy deals.
Suzannah Kolbeck 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.
|
https://www.ktalnews.com/reviews/breville-toaster-oven-vs-black-and-decker-toaster-oven/
| 2022-09-21T12:22:25Z
|
ktalnews.com
|
control
|
https://www.ktalnews.com/reviews/breville-toaster-oven-vs-black-and-decker-toaster-oven/
| 1
| 0
|
green-iguana-35
| null |
LOS ANGELES (AP) — When an accomplished boxer in his mid-30s returns to the ring after a four-year absence and a potentially serious health problem, most fight fans assume — quite correctly, in most cases — it’s because the fighter spent all his money.
“Thank God, that’s not me,” Abner Mares said with a chuckle.
That’s an understatement, because the 36-year-old Mares has practically set the blueprint for a champion boxer moving intelligently into the next stage of his life.
But the former three-division world champion wasn’t quite ready for that next stage to start yet, and that’s why Mares (31-3-1, 15 KOs) is back to face Miguel Flores on the pay-per-view undercard of the high-profile heavyweight showdown between Andy Ruiz Jr. and Luis Ortiz on Sunday night in downtown Los Angeles.
“I’m just coming back for the love,” Mares told The Associated Press. “If I don’t do it now, I’m going to regret it for the rest of my life. I’m 36. I’m so capable. If I were to wait another year, two more years and be like, ‘Man, you should have taken that fight,’ I would never forgive myself for that.”
Mares has plenty of other ways to spend his time rather than getting up at dawn for conditioning work and then sweating in a hot gym.
He was a Fox Sports commentator even before an eye injury, and he landed a job with Showtime early during the pandemic. He and his wife, who have been married since the start of his pro career 17 years ago, have responsibly invested much of his career earnings to provide a comfortable life for their two daughters, who are in private school.
“At first, they were like, ‘Why come back?’” Mares said. “’We’re comfortable. We’re good. Why put us through this?’ Because really, I’m putting them through nervous moments. I can just come back and have fun, but they have to be worried. They’re always supportive. They’re always behind me 100%, but they wish this could be my last fight, hopefully.”
Mares never actually intended to be away from the ring since June 2018, when he lost an entertaining rematch with Léo Santa Cruz. He booked a meeting with Gervonta “Tank” Davis for February 2019, but had to drop out due to a detached retina suffered during a sparring session.
Mares had successful surgery and was cleared to return to boxing a year later — the doctor who performed the surgery will even be at the fight Sunday. But his recovery coincided with the start of the coronavirus pandemic, and Mares began to enjoy his comfortable post-ring life as the next two years dragged on.
“Sometimes it felt like this was it,” Mares said. “There was no love, no passion for the sport anymore, as far as committing to get back in training and wanting to fight. I was comfortable behind the desk commentating. … It wasn’t until I saw Tank Davis fight (Mario) Barrios (in June 2021) that I felt something warm. I felt alive again. I felt that urge to get back.”
While Mares remains an exceptional dresser fond of wearing Louis Vuitton sunglasses indoors, that flash is just on the surface. He’s a cerebral boxer who frequently counsels other fighters to spend their winnings responsibly.
He learned financial prudence after a childhood spent between Guadalajara and the tough Hawaiian Gardens suburb of Los Angeles, and now he counsels others to follow his lead — a viewpoint that far too few boxers hear early in their careers.
When 12-0 American lightweight Jose Valenzuela admired Mares’ watch during a promotional appearance this week, Mares told him to raise his jewelry game “whenever you’re comfortable enough to get one. Don’t just get it because you want to show off. Examples like that, I wish I’d gotten them.”
If Mares wins Sunday night, he doesn’t sound ready to quit. He said he would entertain a third shot at Santa Cruz after their two close meetings, and he would welcome the chance to finally fight Davis, the current WBA lightweight champ.
But a meeting with the tested Flores in downtown Los Angeles is the first step, and Mares refuses to let his passion ruin his plans.
“I’ve got no pressure whatsoever to look a certain way or to do anything,” Mares said. “I’m just going to take baby steps, let everything sink in, soak up that good energy. It could be my last fight, so I’m just going to enjoy the moment.”
___
More AP boxing: https://apnews.com/hub/boxing and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports
|
https://www.ktalnews.com/sports/ap-abner-mares-comes-back-to-boxing-after-4-year-ring-absence/
| 2022-09-21T12:22:32Z
|
ktalnews.com
|
control
|
https://www.ktalnews.com/sports/ap-abner-mares-comes-back-to-boxing-after-4-year-ring-absence/
| 1
| 0
|
green-iguana-35
| null |
After 14 1/2 months of haggling over details and questioning motivations, a plan to expand the College Football Playoff to 12 teams was finally approved Friday, setting the stage for a multibillion-dollar tournament as soon as the 2024 season.
What still needs to be determined is just how quickly the current four-team model can be converted and implemented, but it will happen no later than 2026. When it does, major college football’s championship bracket will triple in size.
“This was a very historic day for college football,” said Mississippi State President Mark Keenum, chairman of the CFP’s Board of Managers that pressed ahead after a process that started in June 2021 with an ambitious plan was derailed for months by provincialism and mistrust.
In a unanimous vote that was necessary to pursue early expansion, the 11 university leaders who make up the board approved the original 12-team proposal. It calls for the six highest-ranked conference champions and six at-large picks — as determined by a selection committee — to make the playoff.
The top four seeds would be conference champions and receive byes into the second round. First-round games would be played on campuses and the rest at bowl sites.
A 12-team, 11-game postseason system to crown a champion could be worth as much as $2 billion in media rights to the conferences that play major college football, starting in 2026.
“So our plans are to begin the 12-team format for sure beginning in the 2026 football season,” Keenum said. “However, we have asked our (conference) commissioners on the management committee to explore the possibility of us beginning the 12-team playoff format before the 2026 seasons, in either 2024 or 2025. We as members of the board recognize there’s some pretty substantial issues that have to be resolved.”
If the new format can be implemented before the current 12-year contract with ESPN expires, the conferences could make an additional $450 million over the final two years. The current deal pays about $470 million per year.
CFP Executive Director Bill Hancock said ESPN under its contract would get the first bid on any new playoff inventory added in 2024 and ’25.
Beyond 2025, there is no TV contract for a playoff. The plan is to take the new format to the open market and possibly involve multiple TV partners instead of just ESPN.
The conference commissioners and Notre Dame athletic director who comprise the CFP management committee are scheduled to meet Thursday in Dallas. Among the logistical hurdles that they need to clear are dates of games, host sites, available television windows and the impact on the regular-season schedule.
The committee also needs to determine how all that new revenue will be shared and then have that approved by the presidents.
Hancock announced in February that expanding for the 2024 and ’25 seasons was off the table and attention would be turned to what the playoff would look like for 2026 and beyond. Last month, the CFP locked in sites and dates for the championship games to be played after the 2024 and 2025 seasons. In a 12-team playoff, those dates would have to be pushed back.
But the presidents ultimately decide what happens with the playoff, and they took matters into their own hands to move expansion forward.
“It was time for us to make a decision,” Keenum said.
Even after the February announcement, there were signs early expansion was not dead. A June meeting of the commissioners in Utah renewed optimism differences could be settled.
“It actually wouldn’t surprise me once we agree on the format, if it happens before the end of the current term,” Pac-12 Commissioner George Kliavkoff said in July.
Kliavkoff was one of three relatively new Power Five commissioners, along with Kevin Warren (Big Ten) and Jim Phillips (ACC), whose various objections to the 12-team proposal last year stalled negotiations.
That 12-team plan had been worked on for more than two years by a subgroup of the management committee that included Greg Sankey of the Southeastern Conference. Skepticism rose between the new commissioners, who had not been part of a process that started in 2019, and the rest after it was revealed the SEC would be adding Texas and Oklahoma to the powerhouse conference by no later than 2025.
Now everybody is on board with the plan.
“The Pac-12 is strongly in favor of CFP expansion and welcomes the decision of the CFP Board,” Kliavkoff said in a statement. “CFP expansion will provide increased access and excitement and is the right thing for our student-athletes and fans. We look forward to working with our fellow conferences to finalize the important elements of an expanded CFP in order to launch as soon as practicable.”
___
Follow Ralph D. Russo at https://twitter.com/ralphDrussoAP and listen at http://www.appodcasts.com
___
More AP college football: https://apnews.com/hub/college-football and https://twitter.com/AP_Top25. Sign up for the AP’s college football newsletter: https://apnews.com/cfbtop25
|
https://www.ktalnews.com/sports/ap-ap-source-college-football-playoff-to-expand-to-12-by-2026/
| 2022-09-21T12:22:40Z
|
ktalnews.com
|
control
|
https://www.ktalnews.com/sports/ap-ap-source-college-football-playoff-to-expand-to-12-by-2026/
| 1
| 0
|
green-iguana-35
| null |
Chicago Bears President and CEO Ted Phillips will retire at the end of the season after nearly 40 years with the franchise.
Phillips, an accountant by trade, joined the Bears as the team’s controller in 1983 and spent four years in that position before moving up the organization’s ladder. He became the fourth president of the founding NFL franchise in February 1999 and has had a hand since then in hiring four general managers, including Ryan Poles this year.
Phillips oversaw several renovations to the team’s suburban headquarters and played a key role in negotiating the oft-criticized renovation of Soldier Field in 2002.
Most recently, his focus has been on purchasing a 326-acre tract of land in suburban Arlington Heights, Illinois, where a new stadium and entertainment complex could be built. The team is scheduled to unveil conceptual plans for the site of the former Arlington International Racecourse — about 30 miles northwest of Soldier Field — at a community meeting Thursday in the town.
Phillips said Friday in a statement he has been “truly blessed” to work for the Bears. He said he appreciated the support of the McCaskey family owners and called “overseeing this amazing growth of the Chicago Bears” a “dream come true.”
“Every day has been a true pleasure and being surrounded by so many talented and wonderful people has made my job richly rewarding on many levels,” he said. “I will always bleed blue and orange and forever be proud to be a part of the Chicago Bears family.”
Team matriarch Virginia McCaskey, the daughter of founder George Halas, said in a rare public statement the Bears were “very blessed” to have Phillips.
“Anything that he was ever asked to take care of, he came through and did it very well,” she said.
The Bears said a search for his replacement is underway and a successor will be hired “in the coming months.”
“It’s difficult to put into words how much Ted has meant to the Bears and our family,” chairman George McCaskey said. “The faith that Virginia and Ed McCaskey placed in him by naming him President and CEO of the Bears has been rewarded many times over.”
Phillips has been a lightning rod for frustrated Bears fans. His input in hiring general managers and coaches was a sore spot, given his non-football background and the struggles on the field. Though the 2006 team reached the Super Bowl, the Bears have just six playoff appearances since he became president.
The team and city also drew criticism for the renovation of Soldier Field. The interior was demolished, replaced by a flying saucer-like, glass-dominated structure cantilevered over the famous Greek and Romanesque colonnades, and the stadium lost its National Historic Landmark designation. The renovation also reduced seating for Bears games to 61,500, lowest in the NFL.
Phillips oversaw a renovation in 2012 to Halas Hall that added more than 30,000 square feet to the team’s headquarters. A massive transformation completed in August 2019 gave the Bears expanded locker rooms, weight rooms, conference rooms and offices as well as a new players’ lounge and two more practice fields to give the team four in all.
The Bears also moved training camp back to Illinois from Wisconsin during Phillips’ tenure as president, holding it at Olivet Nazarene University in Bourbonnais, Illinois, from 2002 to 2019 before moving it to Halas Hall in 2020.
Phillips has served on several NFL committees. He is also on the board of directors of the Bears’ philanthropic arm as well as the Chicagoland Chamber of Commerce.
Before becoming the team’s president, Phillips spent six years as vice president of operations and was director of finance from 1987-93.
___
More AP NFL: https://apnews.com/hub/nfl and https://twitter.com/AP_NFL
|
https://www.ktalnews.com/sports/ap-bears-president-ted-phillips-to-retire-at-end-of-season/
| 2022-09-21T12:22:47Z
|
ktalnews.com
|
control
|
https://www.ktalnews.com/sports/ap-bears-president-ted-phillips-to-retire-at-end-of-season/
| 1
| 0
|
green-iguana-35
| null |
SYLVANIA, Ohio (AP) — Lucy Li already is assured of an LPGA Tour card for next year. The 19-year-old Californian played Friday as though she is ready to join the big leagues even sooner.
Li had five birdies in a seven-hole stretch on the back nine and kept bogeys off her card the rest of the way for a 7-under 64 that gave her a two-shot lead in the Dana Open.
Another 19-year-old, Chinese rookie Ruoning Yin, and Carlota Ciganda of Spain each had a 69 to trail Li going into the weekend at Highland Meadow.
Li is best known for becoming the youngest player in the U.S. Women’s Open when she qualified at age 11 in 2014 at Pinehurst No. 2. She has won twice this year on the Epson Tour to secure one of the developmental circuit’s 10 LPGA cards for 2023.
Li was at 10-under 132.
“It definitely gives me kind of the ability to play free just knowing that I have status next year and kind of focusing on some other goals for me, playing in some more LPGA starts and stuff like that,” Li said.
Defending champion Nasa Hataoka (66) and Lexi Thompson (69) were among those three behind.
Li’s run of birdies started on the par-4 12th and she ran off three straight birdies starting on the 14th. Equally critical for the California teenager were a number of par saves, especially No. 1 after making the turn.
“I chunked it from being in the middle of the fairway. That was really embarrassing, and I’m glad I was able to save the par there,” Li said.
Li had an exemption to play in Canada last week in the CP Women’s Open, and her tie for ninth got her into the Dana Open.
“It was such a quick turnaround for me. I just played one practice round. I just wanted to play the best that I can,” Li said. “I was looking forward to going home this week actually, but it’s nice to be out here playing on the LPGA. I’m just trying to have a good time.”
Yin was among three players who shared the lead after the first round. One of her goals is to play bogey-free, and her lone bogey in the opening round motivated her to finish with six birdies over the final 10 holes. She wasn’t so fortunate Friday. Yin twice followed bogeys with birdies, but mostly it was a steady diet of pars.
Yin earned her card through the LPGA Q-Series last fall. She is 143rd in the Race to CME Globe and found herself pressing so much and working so hard early in the year that she injured her wrist. She even played a few Epson Tour events when she wasn’t eligible for the European swing, and that might have aggravated it.
At least she spent more time on her short game, which is paying off. Yin also believes she has found the right recipe for practice.
“When I hit bad, I just want to press more, more, more and I think that’s what caused my injury,” she said. “Right now I just play less and I hit the ball less. Get back to my old game.”
Hye-Jin Choi, who also shared the lead after 18 holes, had a 70 and joined the group at 7-under 135 that included Wei-Ling Hsu of Taiwan (66) and Caroline Masson (67).
Ciganda, the other co-leader, after 18 holes held her own in the afternoon.
“The course was playing a little different than yesterday I thought,” Ciganda said. “I think with the heat and the warm weather it’s drying out a little bit, so the fairways are running a little bit more. I would have like a couple more birdies, but I think I am in a good position coming into the weekend.”
___
More AP golf: https://apnews.com/hub/golf and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports
|
https://www.ktalnews.com/sports/ap-california-teen-lucy-li-with-64-takes-the-lead-at-dana-open/
| 2022-09-21T12:22:55Z
|
ktalnews.com
|
control
|
https://www.ktalnews.com/sports/ap-california-teen-lucy-li-with-64-takes-the-lead-at-dana-open/
| 1
| 0
|
green-iguana-35
| null |
Earnie Shavers, whose thunderous punches stopped 68 fighters and earned him heavyweight title fights with Muhammad Ali and Larry Holmes, has died. He was 78.
Former British boxer and close friend Kenny Rainford told The Associated Press in a telephone call from Liverpool, England, that his close friend died on Thursday in Virginia at the home of one of his daughters.
“He had a hard career, traveled a lot and slowed down all the sudden,” said Rainford when asked about a a cause of death.
Rainford’s aunt (Sue) was married to Shavers for a decade. Their marriage ended amicably when Shavers wanted to return to the United States to be with his children and she wanted to stay in England, Rainford said.
Shavers’ death came a day after his birthday. Rainford said a funeral is planned for Sept. 17 in Warren, Ohio. Shavers was born in Garland, Alabama, in 1944 and grew up in the Youngstown, Ohio, area. He didn’t take up boxing until he was 22.
Shavers fought from 1969-1995, which included two abbreviated returns from retirement. He finished 74-14-1 with 68 knockouts.
Shavers lost a unanimous decision to Ali in September 1977 at Madison Square Garden in a fight for the WBC and WBA world heavyweight titles. Ali pulled out the victory with a strong rally in the 15th round.
In March 1979, Shavers beat Ken Norton by knockout in the first round, in what was considered one of his finest victories.
Shavers later faced Larry Holmes for the WBC heavyweight title in September 1979 in Las Vegas. Holmes won the bout by TKO in the bout stopped in the 11th round. Shavers did knock Holmes to the canvas in the seventh round.
Holmes had worked with Shavers in Cleveland at an event run by promoter Don King.
“He was one of the hardest punchers in boxing,” Holmes said of Shavers in a telephone interview with The Associated Press on Friday.
Former New York State Athletic Commissioner Randy Gordon said Shavers always had time for the fans, whether it was signing autographs or exchanging a word or two.
“He was one of the nicest guys in the world, until he got into the ring and tried to take your head off,” Gordon told The AP Friday.
Shavers had surgery for a detached retina after the Holmes fight and was stopped by Randall “Tex” Cobb in the eighth round the following year. In 1982 he fought Joe Bugner, also on the comeback trail. Bugner was knocked down in the first, and was stopped by cuts in the second round.
Shavers continued to fight professionally for several years, but never fought for a title again. He was named among the top-10 punchers in boxing history by The Ring and others.
Before turning professional, he won the 1969 National AAU heavyweight title.
Shavers was married to Laverne Payne. They had five daughters from their marriage together: Tamara, Cynthia, Catherine, Carla, and Amy. He also has four daughters from other relationships: Catherine, Lisa, Natasha and Latonya. He worked at General Motors in Lordstown, Ohio, in the late 1960s.
___
AP Sports Writers Tom Canavan, Bob Lentz, Dan Gelton and Greg Beacham contributed to this report.
___
More AP boxing: https://apnews.com/hub/boxing and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports
|
https://www.ktalnews.com/sports/ap-earnie-shavers-one-of-boxings-hardest-punchers-dies-at-78/
| 2022-09-21T12:23:02Z
|
ktalnews.com
|
control
|
https://www.ktalnews.com/sports/ap-earnie-shavers-one-of-boxings-hardest-punchers-dies-at-78/
| 1
| 0
|
green-iguana-35
| null |
NEW YORK (AP) — The Latest on the U.S. Open tennis tournament (all times local):
12:50 a.m.
Top-ranked Daniil Medvedev ended the historic run of Wu Yibing with a 6-4, 6-2, 6-2 victory in the third round.
The defending champion moves on to face Wimbledon runner-up Nick Kyrgios on Sunday. Medvedev is bidding to become the first repeat champion in Flushing Meadows since Roger Federer won five in a row from 2004-08.
The 22-year-old Wu was the first Chinese man to reach the third round of the U.S. Open.
___
11 p.m.
Serena Williams tearfully thanked her parents after a loss in what’s expected to be her final match.
Then came the acknowledgement for her older sister.
“I wouldn’t be Serena if there wasn’t Venus. So thank you, Venus,” Williams said. “She’s the only reason Serena Williams ever existed.”
Williams had said before the tournament she was preparing for the end of a career in which she won 23 Grand Slam singles titles. She said she was grateful to everyone who had supported her.
“These are happy tears, I guess,” she said.
___
10:30 p.m.
Serena Williams’ U.S. Open — maybe her last one — is over.
Williams was eliminated in the third round by Ajla Tomljanovic 7-5, 6-7 (4), 6-1 on Friday.
Williams, who will turn 41 this month, said before the tournament she was preparing to end her tennis career. She didn’t specify if it would be after the U.S. Open, where she earned six of her 23 Grand Slam singles titles.
After she finally lost following a lengthy final game, Williams walked back onto the court to give a wave to the crowd, putting her hand over her heart.
___
9:50 p.m.
Caroline Garcia has knocked 2019 champion Bianca Andreescu out of the U.S. Open.
The No. 17 seed from France continued her strong summer surge with a 6-3, 6-2 victory that moved her into the fourth round.
Garcia has won 11 straight matches, including the title last month in Cincinnati. She was ranked as low as No. 79 earlier in the summer.
Andreescu’s loss left Serena Williams as the most recent U.S. Open women’s champion in the field. She won the last of three straight in 2014.
___
9:35 p.m.
Serena Williams has pushed her third-round match to a third set.
Williams needed a tiebreaker that she finally won 7-4 on her fifth set point. She and Ajla Tomljanovic will start the decisive set having played more than 2 hours, 15 minutes.
Williams bounced back from her disappointing end to the first set, winning the first four games of the second and racing to a 5-2 lead. But Tomljanovic erased that, just as she erased a 5-3 deficit in the first set, which she won 7-5.
In what could be the final tournament of her career, Williams will need to win a three-setter for the second straight match. She went the distance to eliminate No. 2 seed Anett Kontaveit on Wednesday.
___
8:10 p.m.
Serena Williams has lost the first set of her third-round match against Ajla Tomljanovic.
Williams had a 5-3 lead and was serving to win the set. But Tomljanovic broke her serve to start a run of four straight games that allowed the Australian to take it 7-5.
Williams had to go three sets to beat No. 1 Anett Kontaveit in the second round.
___
7:20 p.m.
Serena Williams has begun her bid to become the oldest woman to reach the fourth round of a Grand Slam tournament in the professional era.
It’s the third night match of the week for the 23-time Grand Slam champion, who is preparing to end her tennis career.
With a win over Australian Ajla Tomljanovic, Williams will keep it going until at least Sunday.
Williams will turn 41 later this month. Three women since 1968 were older when they reached the third round of a major, but none advanced.
___
5:50 p.m.
Coco Gauff rolled through her match against fellow American Madison Keys, winning 6-2, 6-3 to reach the fourth round.
The No. 12 seed was broken to open the match, but broke right back against the 2017 U.S. Open runner-up in a lengthy second game en route to a 4-1 lead and was never really threatened.
The 18-year-old advanced to face China’s Zhang Shuai.
___
5:25 p.m.
Martina Navratilova saw a clip of Serena Williams practicing before her second match and noticed her movement appeared to be improved.
The Hall of Famer immediately had one thought.
“I was like, ‘Ooh, Serena is back,’” Navratilova said. “So yeah, I think sky is the limit for her now. I wouldn’t put it past her to win the whole thing.”
Williams plays her third-round match Friday night against Ajla Tomljanovic.
Footwork is one of the areas Navratilova says can be improved through Sense Arena’s virtual reality tennis training program that launches next month. It allows players to do drills such as returning serve and volleying, while swinging a racket that gives a similar feel of a real one, without the chance of injury from repeatedly hitting balls or running on hard courts.
Sense Arena has a hockey program used by five NHL and nine NCAA Division teams. CEO Bob Tetiva said having mastered the swing technology used in hockey made it natural to add tennis. The company, based in the Czech Republic, added Navratilova to its tennis advisory board.
The 59-time Grand Slam champion said she “whiffed” with her first few swings, but quickly got good and saw the benefits of being able to practice indoors or with an injury that limits the ability to run.
“Tennis is a sport that it takes a long time to not be horrible so there’s really no shortcuts,” she said, “but this thing is a small shortcut, really.”
___
4:15 p.m.
Matteo Berrettini ended Andy Murray’s bid to return to the fourth round of a major, beating the three-time Grand Slam champion 6-4, 6-4, 6-7 (1), 6-3.
Murray, who won his first major at the U.S. Open in 2012, hasn’t reached the round of 16 in one of tennis’ four biggest tournaments since Wimbledon in 2017, when he was ranked No. 1. He later required two hip surgeries that led to absences from the tour.
Berrettini, the No. 13 seed who was a U.S. Open semifinalist in 2019, will face Alejandro Davidovich Fokina on Sunday.
___
1:50 p.m.
Ons Jabeur made sure there will be at least one top-five woman in the fourth round.
The No. 5 seed rallied to beat No. 31 Shelby Rogers 4-6, 6-4, 6-3, avoiding the type of upset that has filled the first week of play at the U.S. Open.
It’s the first trip to the final 16 in Flushing Meadows for the Wimbledon runner-up, who lost in the third round each of the last three years.
Top-ranked Iga Swiatek is the only other top-five player who got out of the second round. Serena Williams ousted No. 2 Anett Kontaveit, and No. 3 Maria Sakkari and No. 4 Paula Badosa also lost their second match.
Swiatek plays her third-round match Saturday.
___
11:20 a.m.
Andy Murray leads off play in Arthur Ashe Stadium on Day 5 of the U.S. Open, trying to reach the fourth round of a Grand Slam for the first time in five years.
Serena Williams also has her eyes on a spot in the last 16 when she continues what could be her final tournament Friday night against Ajla Tomljanovic.
Murray was to face No. 13 Matteo Berrettini, with a victory sending the three-time Grand Slam champion into the fourth round for the first time since 2017 at Wimbledon. The 2012 U.S. Open winner will have to get by a past Grand Slam finalist in Berrettini, who also got to the semifinals in Flushing Meadows in 2019.
Americans Coco Gauff and Madison Keys were set to follow them with a third-round match.
Top-ranked Daniil Medvedev plays at night against Wu Yibing, who is trying to become the first Chinese man to reach the fourth round of a Grand Slam event since Kho Sin-Khie at Wimbledon in 1938.
___
More AP coverage of U.S. Open tennis: https://apnews.com/hub/us-open-tennis-championships and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports
|
https://www.ktalnews.com/sports/ap-murray-serena-eye-spots-in-round-of-16-us-open-updates/
| 2022-09-21T12:23:10Z
|
ktalnews.com
|
control
|
https://www.ktalnews.com/sports/ap-murray-serena-eye-spots-in-round-of-16-us-open-updates/
| 1
| 0
|
green-iguana-35
| null |
NEW YORK (AP) — Rafael Nadal cut himself on the bridge of his nose with his own racket when it ricocheted off the court on the follow-through from a shot, leaving himself bloodied and dizzy during his second-round victory at the U.S. Open.
Play was delayed for about five minutes during a medical timeout in the fourth set of what would become a 2-6, 6-4, 6-2, 6-1 win against Fabio Fognini at Arthur Ashe Stadium in a match that began Thursday night and finished after midnight on Friday.
It made for a bizarre, and briefly scary, scene, as Nadal immediately grimaced, dropped his racket, put a palm to his face and then placed both hands on his head. He said at his post-match news conference he thought right away that he might have broken his nose, which kept swelling.
He said it was a “shock” when it happened and he felt “a little bit out of the world.”
Still, Nadal managed to joke about it all. Asked during his on-court interview whether he’d ever had that happen before, he mustered a chuckle and replied: “With a golf club but not with a tennis racket.”
How was he feeling?
“Well, just a little bit dizzy at the beginning,” said Nadal, who has won four of his 22 Grand Slam titles at the U.S. Open, most recently in 2019, the last time he entered the hard-court tournament. “A little bit painful.”
The episode came on the first point of the game with Nadal leading 3-0 in the fourth set and clearly in command after ceding the opening set for the second match in a row this week.
The 36-year-old from Spain was moving to his right when he hit a backhand. After making contact with the ball, his racket deflected off the ground and smacked him on the nose.
He went over to the sideline and layed down, waiting for the trainer, and Fognini went over to check on Nadal.
“He told me everything was OK,” Fognini said later. “I hope it’s nothing serious.”
After having a bandage put on his nose, Nadal resumed play. He would lose that game, but not another, improving to 21-0 in Grand Slam matches in 2022.
Nadal won the Australian Open in January and the French Open in June for his 14th title there, then made it to the Wimbledon semifinals in July before the abdominal issue forced him to withdraw (which does not go into the books as a loss).
The match against Fognini, who beat him at the 2015 U.S. Open, did not begin auspiciously for Nadal. His shots were off and he quickly fell behind.
“For more than one hour and a half, I was not competing,” Nadal said. “One of the worst starts, probably, ever.”
The second set was hardly a thing of beauty for either man, filled with poor play by both: They combined for 39 unforced errors and merely nine winners, seven service breaks and only three holds.
“I was lucky, honestly, that Fabio made some mistakes in that second set,” Nadal acknowledged.
When Nadal dumped a backhand into the net, Fognini broke to lead 3-2, then went ahead 4-2. But from there, it was Fognini who faltered, missing four shots in a row to get broken at love as part of a four-game run by Nadal to make it a set apiece.
“With Nadal, you can’t mess around,” Fognini said. “I let him back in the match and he kept getting better from there.”
In the third, Nadal came up with one particularly perfect shot — a forehand on the run that redirected an overhead by Fognini and sent it down the line for a winner to break for 4-2. Nadal’s momentum carried him right to the edge of the stands, where thousands were on their feet, and he punched the air and yelled, “Vamos!”
Not long after, that set belong to Nadal, too, and he would collect 16 of the last 19 games.
___
More AP coverage of U.S. Open tennis: https://apnews.com/hub/us-open-tennis-championships and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports
|
https://www.ktalnews.com/sports/ap-nadals-nose-bloodied-by-own-racket-at-us-open-in-victory/
| 2022-09-21T12:23:17Z
|
ktalnews.com
|
control
|
https://www.ktalnews.com/sports/ap-nadals-nose-bloodied-by-own-racket-at-us-open-in-victory/
| 1
| 0
|
green-iguana-35
| null |
EAST LANSING, Mich. (AP) — Payton Thorne played well in spurts, allowing No. 15 Michigan State to earn a lopsided win over Western Michigan despite struggling for long stretches of the opener on both sides of the ball.
Thorne capped three straight drives with touchdown passes in the first half and threw for a fourth score in the final quarter to help the Spartans pull away and beat the Broncos 35-13 on Friday night.
“We got a lot of work to do,” Michigan State coach Mel Tucker said. “But I like what I saw in the locker room after the game. We’re a hungry football team and we know we need to get better.”
After taking a 21-3 lead early in the second quarter, the Spartans allowed an average Mid-American Conference team to pull within eight points late in the third after outscoring them 10-0 in the quarter.
“We didn’t play very well in the third quarter,” Thorne said. “I don’t know the official stats. It was pretty bad.”
Michigan State was fortunate Thorne’s uneven performance included four touchdowns, matching Connor Cook’s school record of throwing four touchdowns in four games. Thorne finished 12 of 24 for 233 yards with an interception.
Wisconsin transfer Jalen Berger ran for a career-high 120 yards and a touchdown that gave the Spartans a 28-13 lead with 6:28 remaining. Thorne’s fourth touchdown, a 43-yard pass to Tre Mosley, on the next drive ended any doubt about the outcome.
After a slow start, Thorne threw a short pass to freshman Germie Bernard, whose speed turned the play into a 44-yard touchdown late in the first quarter. Illinois transfer Daniel Barker used only his right hand to catch a 13-yard pass for a score and Keon Coleman ran under a 41-yard pass to put Michigan State ahead 21-3 early in the second quarter.
Western Michigan pulled within 11 points midway through the third quarter, when it converted a fourth-and-1 at its 42 and Sean Tyler ran for a 4-yard touchdown a snap after picking up 45 yards on the ground.
The Broncos made it 21-13 late in the third when Palmer Domschke made a 42-yard kick, but they couldn’t make enough plays on both sides of the ball in the fourth quarter and fell to 1-30 against ranked teams.
“I told the team I thought they fought hard,” Western Michigan coach Tim Lester said. “We didn’t get the job done. Our No. 1 thing coming into the game was to take care of the ball and I don’t think we did a good enough job of that. We’ve got to be better to beat a good team like that.”
INJURY REPORT
Michigan State’s defense took a hit in the first half, losing linebacker Darius Snow and safety Xavier Henderson after both appeared to have injured their right legs that were wrapped in protective braces. Tucker said he did not have an update on the condition of either player.
INSTANT IMPACT
UNLV transfer Jacoby Windmon had four of Michigan State’s seven sacks.
“We identified him in camp and in the spring as one of our best pass rushers, maybe our best,” Tucker said. “Pass rushers are hard to find.”
THE TAKEAWAY
Western Michigan: Redshirt freshman Jack Salopek had an encouraging first start, completing 21 of 36 passes for 193 yards and running for 61 yards on a draw.
Michigan State: If Snow and Henderson are injured significantly, that will hurt the team’s chances to improve a defense that ranked last against the pass in FBS in 2021.
POLL IMPLICATIONS
The Spartans likely will slip a little in the poll after a lackluster performance in a game that seemed to be closer than the final score.
UP NEXT
Western Michigan: Plays at Ball State on Sept. 10 and hosts No. 17 Pittsburgh the following week.
Michigan State: Hosts Akron on Sept. 10 and goes on the road to play Washington in a night game on Sept. 17.
___
More AP college football: https://apnews.com/hub/college-football and https://twitter.com/AP_Top25. Sign up for the AP’s college football newsletter: https://apnews.com/cfbtop25.
|
https://www.ktalnews.com/sports/ap-no-15-michigan-state-sputters-in-35-13-win-over-w-michigan/
| 2022-09-21T12:23:25Z
|
ktalnews.com
|
control
|
https://www.ktalnews.com/sports/ap-no-15-michigan-state-sputters-in-35-13-win-over-w-michigan/
| 1
| 0
|
green-iguana-35
| null |
NORFOLK, Va. (AP) — Blake Watson scored on a 1-yard run with 33 seconds to play and Old Dominion beat Virginia Tech for the second time in as many tries on its home field, 20-17 on Friday night.
The Monarchs made a big splash in their debut as a member of the Sun Belt Conference and spoiled the debut of Hokies coach Brent Pry. He was coaching against a longtime colleague at Vanderbilt and Penn State, Ricky Rahne.
When it was over, as they had in 2018 when the Monarchs knocked off the then-No. 13 Hokies 49-35, fans streamed on to the field in celebration. ODU is 2-12 in its history against Power Five programs, but 2-2 against Tech.
Keshawn King ran for 111 yards and caught a touchdown pass from transfer quarterback Grant Wells for the Hokies. Wells also ran for a score, but threw two first-half interceptions, and then one to set up the decisive drive.
The Hokies were driving and trying to put the game away when Wells’ pass from ODU’s 40 bounced off of Jalen Holston to the Monarchs’ Ryan Henry. A 15-yard penalty against ODU moved the ball back to their 26 with 2:58 left, but a long completion by Hayden Wolff and then a defensive pass interference call near the goal line on Dorian Strong set the Monarchs up at the 1-yard line.
Wolff finished just 14 for 35 for 165 yards, but connected with Ali Jennings for 24 yards to start the winning drive, ran for eight yards on a fourth-and-1 from midfield and threw the pass to Jennings that made Strong draw the huge flag.
“Tonight was frustrating for them because they knew they could play better,” Rahne said. “You know, I think part of it was that they wanted to come out and play so well that they played a little tight. And that’s not who we are.”
Watson needed two tries to make it, but tumbled in with 33 seconds left.
There was no question that he was getting the ball, Rahne said.
“Not only was it his ball, but it was our offensive line’s ball,” he said. “I’ll put it in their hands as many times as I can.”
SLOPPY
Wells, who threw a fourth interception on a desperation pass in the final seconds, wasn’t the only one with an auspicious debut for the Hokies. They were whistled for 14 penalties for 100 yards and had five turnovers.
“I am surprised we were sloppy and I felt like they pressed and you know, attention to detail, which showed up in the last scrimmage a little bit, just more penalties than we’ve been having,” Pry said.
“You want to make people earn it, and we didn’t do that.”
THE TAKEAWAY
Virginia Tech: Wells showed ability with both his big arm and feet, bit that arm also had him overthrowing receivers by a lot, including the interception that led the ODU’s first field goal. He had 34 TDs and 22 interceptions in 23 starts at Marshall and Pry will want him to get more consistent quickly.
Old Dominion: The Monarchs lone touchdown before the decisive run by Watson was a gift when the snap on a 38-yard field goal try by Virginia Tech sailed well over the holder’s head and, in the scramble to recover the ball, ended with Robert Kennedy scooping it and taking it the final 25 yards.
UP NEXT Virginia Tech: The Hokies open their Atlantic Coast Conference schedule at home against Boston College.
Old Dominion: The Monarchs go on the road to play at East Carolina.
___
More AP college football: https://apnews.com/hub/college-football and https://twitter.com/ap_top25. Sign up for the AP’s college football newsletter: https://bit.ly/3pqZVaF
|
https://www.ktalnews.com/sports/ap-old-dominion-does-it-again-taking-down-the-hokies-20-17/
| 2022-09-21T12:23:32Z
|
ktalnews.com
|
control
|
https://www.ktalnews.com/sports/ap-old-dominion-does-it-again-taking-down-the-hokies-20-17/
| 1
| 0
|
green-iguana-35
| null |
Subsets and Splits
No community queries yet
The top public SQL queries from the community will appear here once available.