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SAN ANTONIO — Trevor Reed, the Texas native and U.S. Marine veteran, arrived home Thursday after being detained in Russian since the summer of 2019.
Rep. August Pfluger shared photos of Reed arriving overnight at a San Antonio military base.
Reed’s family could also be seen in video taken from the scene of his arrival in San Antonio.
RELATED: Reed freed: Texas Marine veteran released by Russia in prisoner exchange, U.S. official says
Sources tell KHOU 11 that Reed will likely be medically evaluated and receive potential treatment at Brooke Army Medical Center.
Reed's family said his health was deteriorating while in Russian custody, and believes he could have tuberculosis, adding he was coughing up blood.
His release was part of a prisoner exchange between Russia and the U.S., which returned a Russian pilot convicted of smuggling drugs. The exchange unfolded in Turkey.
RELATED: Who is Konstantin Yaroshenko? More on the prisoner traded for Marine veteran's release from Russia
Earlier on Wednesday, Reed's parents expressed gratitude in North Texas to President Joe Biden for negotiating the swap.
"Almost as good as the day he was born," Reed's mother told local media on Wednesday. "We know he's on the plane, but it's going to really hit us when we get to put our arms around him."
Governor Greg Abbott sent a Wednesday-morning tweet welcoming Reed home as the news was announced.
Reed was sentenced in 2020 to nine years behind bars in Russia. He was convicted by authorities there of assault charges while drunk, but has continuously denied the allegations. And the U.S. government has described him as “unjustly detained” over that time, while pressing for his release.
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https://www.wfaa.com/article/news/local/texas/trevor-reed-arrives-in-san-antonio/285-40fff397-0e40-460a-91dd-a2d590a10651
| 2022-04-28T11:28:14
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https://www.wfaa.com/article/news/local/texas/trevor-reed-arrives-in-san-antonio/285-40fff397-0e40-460a-91dd-a2d590a10651
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On a recent Sunday morning at the weather-worn entrance of Kelly’s Cove nestled beneath the Cliff House, a crowd of nearly 100 people gathered around an assortment of custom-made surfboards, each bearing watercolorlike swirls, meticulous pinstriping and a bold, unmistakable “H.”
Some of the spectators had been plunging into the frigid waters of this legendary San Francisco surf spot since as early as the 1950s — before the days of wetsuits, leashes, lifeguards and even boards themselves. Others had only heard stories about that mythic time and hoped to pay tribute to someone they thought of as a mentor and a trailblazing surfer at Ocean Beach.
All of them were there because of the late Bill Hickey, an artist and surfboard maker who worked for the first O’Neill surf shop on Wawona Street and went on to open his own business at 48th Avenue and Irving Street, crafting, shaping and glassing thousands of boards by hand from start to finish and changing the local surf scene forever.
Hickey died at his Encinitas home Feb. 27 after a year-and-a-half-long battle with cancer. He was 85 years old.
A hush fell over the gathering as Steven Krolik, a former bodysurfer at Kelly’s Cove, made his way to a spot on the sandy cement flanked by a few bouquets of roses and photographs of his longtime friend. Stenciled pieces of painted plywood by artist Pierre Benitomako lined the sea wall between Ocean Beach and the Great Highway, some of them reading Hickey’s trademark slogan: “Built to last.”
Krolik paused as the aroma of the burning sage in his hand emanated through the salty air.
“Waves come and go,” he said, finally. “But Bill Hickey will be here forever.”
One by one, each person picked up a flower and threw it into the ocean.
Bill Hickey was born at St. Luke’s Hospital in San Francisco on Sept. 23, 1936, though his family resided in San Mateo at the time. They eventually moved to a house in the Sunset District on 39th Avenue between Lawton and Moraga streets while his father worked as a superintendent for famed developer Henry Doelger, who built more than 16,000 homes on the west side of the city.
A fear of getting pushed into the water at Fleishhacker Pool inspired a 12-year-old Hickey to learn how to swim. He was self-taught, spending an entire summer standing off to the side as he watched Red Cross instructors teach swimming lessons to some of the other kids, later imitating them on his own. Within a few months, he was doing laps around the 1,000-foot-long pool.
But it wasn’t until Hickey was a teenager fresh out of Riordan High School in 1954 that he would brave the swell at Kelly’s Cove, eventually learning how to bodysurf there with Chuck Klebora, a friend who lived nearby in the Sunset. Surfing started in the area in as early as the '30s and '40s, when Fleishhacker swim instructors Cliff Kamaka and Eddie Eukini, both from Hawaii, taught a group of high schoolers how to bodysurf and mat surf as a fun alternative to the rigors of training.
At the time, it was illegal to go into the water at Ocean Beach, but the north end at Kelly’s Cove became a de facto area where police tended to look the other way. Boards weren’t widely available yet in San Francisco, nor did they appear to be strong enough to handle the shorebreak — if you wanted to learn how to surf that way, you had to go to Santa Cruz, Hickey told documentarian Pete Koff in a 2019 interview.
All of that changed one day when Hickey and Klebora were huddling up to the Ocean Beach sea wall above Kelly’s Cove for warmth after an afternoon spent in the waves sans wetsuits.
“Even on cold days, it held the heat,” said Jim Gallagher, a friend of Hickey and a former San Francisco firefighter who grew up in the Richmond District and surfed at Kelly’s Cove at the time, later becoming a historian on the topic. “You’d get some respite from the shakes you had from being in the cold water.”
As they shivered and tried to sun themselves, they noticed a young surfer descending the stairs with a board and knee paddles, which they had never seen before. He turned out to be Ted Pearson, one of the first people in San Francisco to construct his own DIY boards and foster board surfing in the area.
Mesmerized, they watched as Pearson waited for the swell to come before he took off into the ocean. He gently leaned his weight over one side of the board, allowing him to effortlessly skim over the surface of the water as he caught wave after wave within 20 or 30 minutes — an effort that took them significantly longer without nearly the same results.
“[We] looked at one another, and we knew at that moment we had to get surfboards,” Hickey said in the 2019 interview.
He wrote a letter to Hobie Surfboards in 1956 — one of two board manufacturers at the time, the other being Velzy — and ordered two brand-new balsa wood boards for just under $79. After that, his friends started venturing out to other surf spots in Pacifica, Pedro Point and Ano Nuevo State Park in Pescadero, eventually getting to know the likes of Dick Keating, a legendary surfer in his own right. But Ocean Beach was their true home base, and everyone including Hickey went out there nearly every day.
They were hooked.
A year later, Hickey bailed off a wave at Kelly’s Cove and hit his head on the rocks, fracturing his neck and knocking out two of his teeth, according to Mark Gunson’s 2016 documentary “Great Highway: Journey to the Soul of San Francisco Surfing.” While he was recovering in the hospital, he was visited by friend and fellow surfer Jack O’Neill, who told him he was planning on opening a surf shop and asked if he wanted to come and work for him.
It was a question that would change Hickey’s life, though he didn’t know it yet.
“I said, ‘Jack, you’re crazy, man. Who’s going to buy this stuff?’ There’s only about 10 surfers in the whole Bay Area,” Hickey recounted in the documentary.
Nevertheless, he became the first employee at O’Neill’s shop — which would develop the first commercially available wetsuit and go on to become one of the most well-known surf brands in the world — and honed his craft while he went to school at City College of San Francisco and later the San Francisco Art Institute, where he studied painting. It was around that time that Hickey started making his own surfboards in the garage of his parents’ house in the Sunset — at first for his brother, then for a friend and soon just about everyone on the beach as he started to make a name for himself.
Shaping the boards provided him with a medium of artistic expression, former Kelly’s Cove surfers told the Western Neighborhoods Project’s Nicole Meldahl in a recent podcast episode and virtual paddle-out honoring Hickey. Some of them, including Gary Silberstein, still have boards Hickey made nearly 60 years ago.
“He always said the hardest part about the painting was choosing what subject to paint, but that the narrow scope of the surfboards helped to focus him,” Silberstein said. “To him, the color on a surfboard should enhance the shape, not take away from it.”
But Hickey was also recognized in other ways. An article in the San Francisco News-Call Bulletin dating back to Oct. 25, 1961, described him as a “one man lifeguard force,” recounting how he pulled at least 10 people out of the water at Ocean Beach who were at risk of drowning and saved their lives. (On-duty lifeguards would not begin patrolling the beach until nearly a decade later.) Hickey told the outlet most of the rescues were joint efforts with other surfers.
“I guess I’m just in the right place at the right time,” he said.
Meanwhile, Hickey’s custom-made boards were becoming more sought after than ever, but as his parents grew tired of the smell of resin and the mess resulting from his workshop in their garage, he decided to open up his own storefront with the help of fellow surfer Hal Satler, setting up shop near 48th Avenue on Irving Street in 1964, where Satler shaped the boards and he glassed them. Throughout the 1960s, Hickey also did janitorial work at the Surf Theatre, fixed up cars and for two years was the manager of what he claimed was the first natural food store in the country — then called Sunset Health Foods and later New Age Natural Foods, it stood near the corner of Ninth Avenue and Irving Street.
As busy as he was, he still found solace surfing at Kelly’s Cove and was a mentor and source of comfort to many of the people who found community there, especially around the beach bonfires.
“A lot of people have blues every now and then. Things go wrong. He was a guy that could let the air out of some of the pain that was wearing on people,” Gallagher said. “Anyone that went through some difficulty was around Bill. … He would clearly embrace their pain and offer them some sound thinking about it.”
Glenn Schot, a Mendocino-based artist who started surfing at Kelly’s Cove in the late ’50s, described how he was “adopted” by some of the older surfers there including Carol Schuldt, who many described as the “queen of Ocean Beach,” as well as Hickey, who gave him his first job glassing up fins at his surf shop.
“Kelly’s Cove was like a home away from home, … a place apart from the city and the world. You forgot everything once you were there. It was your friends and the ocean, and these people really looked out for me,” he said. “There were many others who made up the Kelly’s Cove magic, but I guess with Carol [Schuldt’s] and [Hickey’s] passing, they were the last of that era.”
Animator Arne Jin An Wong, who grew up in the Richmond and started to surf at Kelly’s Cove in the late 1960s, described Hickey as a mentor who not only provided a listening ear but also encouraged him to speak his mind and stand up for himself. He added that Hickey also taught younger surfers the importance of a healthy diet and exercise long before those ideals hit the mainstream.
“He provided a path for us to follow and life lessons to live by,” said Wong, who went on to organize the popular Kelly’s Cove reunions that occur annually in September. “A lot of us were only 16, 17 at the time but wanted to do everything we could to become surfers like him. He set an example for us.”
Wong described his generation of surfers as “guinea pigs” of Hickey’s, particularly during the evolutionary shift from longboards to shortboards.
“He was experimenting and knew so much about board design, and we were excited to try out anything he made,” Wong said. “Today, you just go to a surf shop, and people just sell one to you. Nobody makes their own boards anymore, and he was the leader of the pack in that.”
For more than six decades, Hickey kept the lost art of surfboard shaping alive, overseeing every step of the process, even as he moved out of his longtime home on the Great Highway and down to Encinitas for the last 20 years of his life. He was known for adding a personal touch to the experience not often seen today, going out of his way to meet and get to know each one of his clients so he could cater the board to their personality. By his own account, he spent about 40 hours working on each one — though he never really kept track — providing many surfers with their first board. He always took photographs of his grinning clients when he gave them the finished product, sometimes driving hundreds of miles to deliver them himself.
“His surfboards were the highest quality, best craftsmanship imaginable. They were functional art,” Koff said, noting that some businesses in the Sunset, including Gus’s Community Market, have a few of Hickey’s boards proudly displayed on their walls. “He said he’d shape boards until the day he died, and that’s just what he did.”
But Hickey’s daughters also saw him in a different light.
“People always talk about how he was a great surfboard maker and a craftsman and a legend at Ocean Beach, but he was a really loving and dedicated single father to me and my sister,” Amber Hickey-Brosnan said. “He sacrificed a lot for us, and we were always his priority. We were lucky to have him. None of it was a burden to him. It was just who he was.”
Hickey is survived by his daughters, Amber and Jennifer, and four grandchildren, Shane, Keara, Matthew and Caden. His ashes were spread along the tide at Kelly’s Cove on Saturday evening.
“It swept him away so fast,” Hickey-Brosnan said. “It was like the ocean was waiting for him.”
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https://www.sfgate.com/local/article/SF-surfer-Bill-Hickey-dies-17130952.php
| 2022-04-28T11:38:24
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https://www.sfgate.com/local/article/SF-surfer-Bill-Hickey-dies-17130952.php
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DEKALB, Ill. (AP) — Meta, the parent company of Facebook, is expanding a data center in northern Illinois and says more than 200 operational jobs will be based there once complete.
The company announced the expansion Wednesday.
The company announced its initial plan for the DeKalb data center in June 2020, proposing an $800 million project in northern Illinois that would require about 100 operational employees once complete.
The expansion brings the total project cost to more than $1 billion, Meta said in a statement.
“We are thrilled to be expanding our presence in Illinois,” said Darcy Nothnagle, director of community and economic development for Meta. “The city of DeKalb and the state of Illinois have been great partners from the beginning, and we look forward to a continued strong and fruitful partnership for years to come.”
Paul Borek, executive director of the DeKalb County Economic Development Corporation, said more than 1,200 construction workers have been at work on the site — “a boon to Illinois.”
DeKalb officials and the company also touted Meta’s grant program available to schools or nonprofits where it runs data centers, which will launch in DeKalb County this fall.
The county’s school district Superintendent Minerva Garcia-Sanchez said it will create opportunities for local students.
“We look forward to the future as we transform from being known as an agricultural community to one of the leading technological centers in the nation and we look forward to our future endeavors,” Garcia-Sanchez said.
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https://www.cbs42.com/local/facebook-parent-meta-expands-illinois-data-center-in-dekalb/
| 2022-04-28T11:59:09
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https://www.cbs42.com/local/facebook-parent-meta-expands-illinois-data-center-in-dekalb/
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NEW YORK (AP) — A Florida teen who became a prominent opponent of the state’s so-called “Don’t Say Gay” bill will be honored at next month’s PEN America gala. Jack Petocz, a high school junior, will be presented the PEN/Benenson Freedom of Expression Courage Award.
“Jack Petocz is leading his generation in fighting back against book bans and legislative efforts to police how individual identities can be discussed in schools,” Suzanne Nossel, CEO of the literary and human rights organization, said in a statement Wednesday.
“Jack understands that the struggles he and his peers are waging for a more equitable and inclusive society cannot succeed without robust free speech protections. He has been fearless in asserting his rights and those of others in the face of political forces that are determined to meet ideas they disagree with not with reasoned argument, but with bans and punishments.”
Petocz helped organize a statewide “Say Gay” student walkout in early March to protest the bill, which forbids instruction on sexual orientation and gender identity in kindergarten through third grade. He was briefly suspended from Flagler Palm Coast High School for handing out LGBTQ+ pride flags during a protest there.
Gov. Ron DeSantis signed the bill into law on March 28.
Asia Kate Dillon, known for their roles in “Orange Is the New Black” and “Billions,” will present the award to Petocz. Among previous honorees are Darnella Frazier, who recorded on video the murder of George Floyd; and two survivors of the shootings at Florida’s Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School.
Also on Wednesday, PEN announced that actor, author and radio and television commentator Faith Salie will host the May 23 gala, to be held at the American Museum of Natural History. Other honorees will include the imprisoned Ukrainian journalist Vladyslav Yesypenko, Audible founder Don Katz and author Zadie Smith.
Oscar winner Michael Douglas will present Yesypenko’s award to the journalist’s wife, Kateryna Yesypenko.
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https://www.cbs42.com/local/florida-high-school-activist-jack-petocz-receives-pen-honor/
| 2022-04-28T11:59:15
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https://www.cbs42.com/local/florida-high-school-activist-jack-petocz-receives-pen-honor/
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LOS ANGELES (AP) — Helen Mirren graces People magazine’s “The Beautiful Issue” in a cover story that touches on her thoughts of beauty and how the Oscar winner still gets nervous before filming a role.
The magazine on Wednesday revealed the cover of the annual issue, which hits newsstands Friday.
The 76-year-old Mirren said she was “gobstruck” after learning about her honor and never considered herself beautiful – especially at her age. From her perspective, the word beauty should be dubbed another word: swagger.
“I love the word swagger because I think swagger means I’m confident in myself, I’m presenting myself to the world, I’m enjoying the world around me,” said Mirren, who won an Academy Award for best actress for her role in the 2006 film “The Queen.” The actor, who has been a L’Oreal Paris spokesperson since 2014, has built an impressive acting career with more than 140 credits in 55 years.
“I think what is called the beauty industry should be called the swagger industry,” she continued. “We’re giving people swagger.”
Despite her revered career, she still finds herself nervous before starting a new project.
“I get very nervous about the day-to-day process,” said Mirren, who starred in films including “The Long Good Friday,” “Elizabeth I” and “The Cook, the Thief, His Wife, & Her Lover.” “And meeting and dealing with new people. And not knowing whether I am going to remember my lines or not. I just get very frightened until I get into the swing of things and then I kind of relax.”
After a film wraps, Mirren said her nerves are calmed and she doesn’t read any reviews — good or bad.
While Mirren is hesitant to call herself beautiful, Vin Diesel believes the word perfectly suits her.
“She has a charisma that is timeless. She has looks to kill and always has. She has a jovial spirit,” said Diesel, who starred in the 2021 film “F9” with Mirren. “But I think the thing that is most attractive about Dame Helen Mirren is the way she makes you feel. She always makes you feel appreciated and loved. And for that, I Iove her forever.”
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https://www.cbs42.com/local/helen-mirren-graces-cover-of-peoples-beautiful-issue/
| 2022-04-28T11:59:22
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https://www.cbs42.com/local/helen-mirren-graces-cover-of-peoples-beautiful-issue/
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LOS ANGELES (AP) — Rob Kardashian testified Wednesday that he feared for his life on a night in 2016 when his then-fiancée Blac Chyna pointed a gun at his head, pulled a phone-charging cable around his neck and repeatedly hit him with a metal rod while under the influence of substances.
“She strangled me, she put a gun to my head twice, she was on cocaine and alcohol,” Kardashian said, his voice rising nearly to a shout in a Los Angeles courtroom as Chyna’s attorney Lynne Ciani sought to cast doubt on the attack and its severity.
Chyna is suing Rob Kardashian’s mother Kris Jenner and sisters Kim Kardashian, Khloe Kardashian and Kylie Jenner, alleging they spread false reports of her assaulting him in order to have her “Keeping Up With the Kardashians” spinoff “Rob & Chyna” canceled and ruin her reality TV career.
During an emotional and contentious hour on the stand, Rob Kardashian grew angry when Ciani asked him why photos and video from the days that followed didn’t show any marks on him, despite his testimony that she had hit him repeatedly with a 6-foot metal rod.
“Did you have as much as a Band-Aid on you?” the attorney asked.
“I just told you it didn’t leave a mark on my face!” Rob Kardashian said. “And the gun to my head two different times during the night didn’t leave a mark to my temple!”
Kris Jenner and Kim Kardashian watched the testimony from the front row of the gallery, and had no visible reaction.
Chyna testified earlier in the trial that she was never violent toward Rob Kardashian.
She said that on the night of Dec. 14 and the morning of Dec. 15, 2016, the couple had been celebrating the news that “Rob & Chyna” was getting a second season.
The all-night celebration turned into a bitter fight by morning, when he took her phone and shut himself in a closet, looking for evidence of communications with other men, she said.
She testified that earlier in the evening, she had wrapped a phone-charging cord around Rob Kardashian’s neck playfully because he was ignoring her, and picked up a gun he kept around, always unloaded, from a nightstand as a joke.
The chain of events would lead to the end of the relationship, and their show.
Rob Kardashian, 35, the youngest of Kris Jenner’s four children with the late Robert Kardashian, has kept a much lower public profile than his mother and sisters. He was mostly an offscreen character, and only occasionally appeared, on the family’s reality show.
He broke from the pattern in 2016, spending a year in the limelight before it went bad. He and Chyna began dating in January, announced their engagement in April, announced they were having a child together in May, had their own reality show premiere in September, and had a daughter, Dream, in November.
He testified Wednesday that he felt in retrospect that their love was never real, and that he had been at the “weakest, worst point” in his life when their relationship began.
He said the coupling was “toxic” from the start, and that she beat him at least five times during the yearlong relationship.
“Strangling someone, beating someone, that’s not a family,” he said. “That’s not love to me.”
Rob Kardashian wore a loose-fitting, untucked black dress shirt on the stand. His otherwise dark testimony drew a laugh from most of the courtroom when Ciani suggested that two videos she showed were shot on the same day because he was wearing the same thing.
“That doesn’t mean anything,” he said. “I wear the same thing every day.”
Rob Kardashian is not a defendant in this trial. Chyna’s allegations against him, stemming from the same incidents, will get a separate trial when this one is done.
Earlier Wednesday, Corey Gamble, a key witness backing up Rob Kardashian’s account of the assault, insisted that he saw Chyna punch him and whip him with a phone-charging cord, as Ciani tried to poke holes in his story.
“I said that she attacked him,” testified Gamble, the longtime boyfriend and sometime co-star of “Keeping Up With the Kardashians” matriarch Kris Jenner. “What I saw is what I saw.”
Gamble said he rushed to the house the couple was staying in after Kris Jenner got an early morning call from her son, who sounded deeply distressed.
When he arrived, he said, Chyna was holding some sort of metal rod, and threw it down. She rushed toward Rob Kardashian, whipping the phone cord at him then punching him.
“By the time she got to him, she started hitting him,” Gamble testified. ”I was able to get in the middle of them two. I even got hit two or three times.”
Gamble said Chyna threw a chair at Rob Kardashian’s car as he was leaving, then attempted to pick up a table but Gamble stopped her.
During cross-examination, Ciani had Gamble read from a declaration he submitted in the case two years earlier, in which he said he arrived to find Chyna hitting Rob Kardashian with her fists, but made no mention of any of the objects.
“You didn’t see sufficient to mention the metal rod, the cord or the table?” Ciani asked.
“I don’t know why I didn’t include those details,” Gamble said.
___
Follow AP Entertainment Writer Andrew Dalton on Twitter: https://twitter.com/andyjamesdalton
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https://www.cbs42.com/local/kardashians-key-witness-says-he-saw-assault-by-blac-chyna/
| 2022-04-28T11:59:29
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https://www.cbs42.com/local/kardashians-key-witness-says-he-saw-assault-by-blac-chyna/
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NEW YORK (AP) — It’s one of the most recognizable outfits in American movie history, the blue-and-white checked gingham dress a young Judy Garland wore as Dorothy in the classic 1939 movie “The Wizard of Oz.”
For decades, one of the versions of the dress Garland wore in the movie was assumed lost at Catholic University of America, where it had been given to someone in the drama department in the early 1970s. But the clearing out of some office clutter last year led to the finding of the dress in an old shoebox, and now it’s headed for the auction block.
When she first saw it, “all I could think about was watching the movie when I was a child and growing up with” it, said Jacqueline Leary-Warsaw, dean of the school of music, drama and art at Catholic University, in Washington, D.C. “In a way it was like I was looking at my past childhood.”
She and others are hopeful that nostalgia factor will come into play when the costume goes up for sale at Bonhams “Classic Hollywood: Film and Television” auction on May 24 in Los Angeles, where it has a presale estimate of $800,000 to $1.2 million. Bonhams has the dress on display this week at the auction house’s New York location before it is sent to California for public view and then auction.
Helen Hall, director of popular culture for Bonhams, said that the market for memorabilia, and film costumes in particular, is strong, and that “The Wizard of Oz” is a cultural touchstone.
People “very much remember the first time they saw the film, the effect it had on their lives,” she said. The film is renowned for its music, its dialogue and its visuals, particularly when Dorothy goes from drab, sepia-colored Kansas to gloriously multicolored Oz.
There was more than one of the costume made for Garland while filming. Hall said that four are known to exist and that only two, including the one found at Catholic University, are with the blouse she wore underneath. Bonhams sold the other one with a blouse at an auction in 2015 for more than $1.5 million.
(There are also some surviving pairs of the ruby slippers Garland wore, with one pair in the collection at the Smithsonian.)
The rediscovered dress had initially been given to Father Gilbert Hartke, who was then head of the university’s drama department, in 1973 by actress Mercedes McCambridge, Leary-Warsaw said, although it’s not clear how McCambridge came to have it.
Somehow, in the years that followed, the department lost track of the costume until it became “something that people had thought was just a myth,” she said. Last year, during preparations for a renovation, a bag containing the shoebox was opened, and there it was — though how it got to where it ended up remains a mystery, Leary-Warsaw said.
The dress was in good condition, aside from a piece that had been cut away, while the blouse was more fragile.
In researching the dress, it was determined that Garland wore it in the movie in the scene where she is confronted in a castle by a threatening Wicked Witch of the West.
The school decided to auction it off instead of keeping it, and plans to use the proceeds from the auction sale to create a full-fledged film program in the drama department.
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https://www.cbs42.com/local/lost-for-decades-dorothys-dress-from-oz-up-for-sale/
| 2022-04-28T11:59:36
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https://www.cbs42.com/local/lost-for-decades-dorothys-dress-from-oz-up-for-sale/
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NEW YORK (AP) — Fresh from the special unveiling of his Madame Tussauds wax figure in Medellín, Colombia, Maluma is ready to give the largest concert ever held at the Atanasio Girardot Soccer Stadium in his hometown.
Tickets for Saturday’s show, titled “Medallo en el Mapa,” are officially sold out. His management confirmed that 54,000 people will accompany the Latin star while he fulfills one of his biggest dreams.
“I’m very excited because I’ve always dreamed of this, really, since I started my career,” Maluma told The Associated Press in an interview from Medellín. “It fills me with adrenaline, it fills me with nerves, because being up there and seeing my family, seeing my friends that I grew up with, seeing my people … I think it is the dream of any artist to perform in their city.”
He added enthusiastically: “We have to show the world that you can be a prophet in your own land.”
The stadium, with a maximum capacity of almost 45,000 people, has already received two big stars from Medellín: J Balvin and Karol G. But Maluma points out that his will be the largest concert ever held in the venue thanks to its 360 degree concept, with the stage in the middle and the audience filling not only the stands but the grass.
He’s planning guests “of the highest caliber, my dream artists,” but is keeping their names secret for now.
For the singer, putting on a show like “Medallo en el Mapa” is a way to diminish the drug-trafficking stereotypes of his city. Pablo Escobar died in 1993, less than two months before Maluma was born.
“Things have changed a lot since I started my career, because whenever I went abroad, people always spoke very negatively when they talked about Medellín: they talked about drug trafficking, violence, they said (Colombia) was a country that you couldn’t visit, a dangerous country,” he said, noting that over the years many fellow citizens have stood out not only in music, but also in sports and business.
“I am part of that herd that has a different vision and a different perspective and that has worked hard for that,” Maluma said. “That is what I want to do with ‘Medallo en el Mapa’, I want to show the whole world that Medellín is not violence, that Medellin is not drug trafficking, that Pablo Escobar died many years ago.”
He also fulfilled another dream on Monday afternoon, when he attended the special unveiling of his wax figure from the Madame Tussauds Orlando at the Museum of Modern Art in Medellín, where the statue was flown at the singer’s request.
“I know that there are many people here who don’t have the possibility to travel to Orlando or New York or Los Angeles and go to a museum and see a sculpture of this caliber, so to be able to bring it from the United States to Colombia, to be able to give that gift to my city … it’s the most special thing for me, to be honest,” said the singer, remembering that once he himself visited a branch of the popular wax museum and photographed himself next to the replicas of his idols. “Now my figure is going to be next to all these artists that I have followed.”
Maluma’s wax figure can be seen for free this week at the Museum of Modern Art before it is transferred to the Girardot stadium for the concert. It will then return to Madame Tussauds Orlando in Florida, where it will go on exhibition in May.
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Sigal Ratner-Arias is on Twitter at https://twitter.com/sigalratner.
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FALLS CHURCH, Va. (AP) — May 27, 2016, was the day that Johnny Depp and Amber Heard’s marriage went from private misery to public, career-killing spectacle.
Heard, who had just filed for divorce, arrived at a Los Angeles courthouse that day to seek a temporary restraining order, showing up with a clear mark on her face, which she said Depp inflicted during a fight six days prior. Photographers captured the scene, and the allegations became tabloid fodder across the globe.
Depp says he never hit her, and now he’s suing Heard for libel in Fairfax County Circuit Court. On Wednesday, jurors in the case heard from police officers who responded to the couple’s penthouse immediately after the fight. None of the officers saw the red mark that was so prominent six days later.
Officer Tyler Hadden, one of the officers who responded to the couple’s penthouse apartment on May 21, 2016, said Heard refused to talk to officers and had no signs of an injury, although he acknowledged she’d been crying and was red-faced.
“Just because I see a female with pink cheeks and pink eyes doesn’t mean something happened,” he said in a recorded deposition played for jurors Wednesday.
Depp had already left the penthouse by the time officers arrived. Officers said they had no idea who Heard was, or that she was married to Depp. He said neither Heard nor anyone at the penthouse complex was willing to tell him or the other officers who Heard’s husband was.
Jurors heard similar testimony Tuesday from an officer who accompanied Hadden to the penthouse.
An officer who made a follow-up visit that night, William Gatlin, testified Wednesday that he saw no injuries either, though he acknowledged that his visit was brief and he got no closer than 10 feet (3 meters) from Heard. He said his check was a perfunctory one because it appeared that the call was just a duplicate to the one that Hadden had already responded to.
The jury saw bodycam video of Gatlin’s response, which was less than two minutes. Heard could only be seen at a distance.
Heard’s lawyers, in their questions, have suggested that Heard could have covered her injuries with makeup, because at that point she still wanted to protect Depp. They also asked officers why they didn’t investigate a potential case of domestic violence more thoroughly.
The officers’ testimony is some of Depp’s best evidence that Heard contrived the allegations against her ex-husband. It complements earlier testimony from witnesses who say they saw Heard and her sister practicing fake punches in the days after the attack.
It’s far from definitive, though. Heard’s lawyers have yet to put on their case, and some of her friends say they were at the penthouse when Depp allegedly attacked her.
And even if jurors were to conclude that Depp never assaulted his wife on May 21, they have heard evidence of other alleged assaults before and during the couple’s brief marriage.
Depp sued Heard for libel after she wrote an op-ed piece piece in The Washington Post in 2018 referring to herself as “a public figure representing domestic abuse.” The article doesn’t mention Depp by name, but his lawyers say the article defames him nevertheless because it’s a clear reference to the highly publicized allegations Heard made when she filed for divorce in 2016 and obtained a temporary restraining order as well.
Jurors also heard recorded testimony Wednesday from Christian Carino, an agent who represented Depp and Heard and was friends with both. He said he believes the abuse allegations scuttled Depp’s participation in a sixth “Pirates of the Caribbean” film, but he did not pin the loss of that film specifically on Heard’s 2018 op-ed piece.
Heard’s lawyers told jurors in opening statements that there must be proof that the Post article specifically damaged Depp’s reputation for him to prevail in a libel case.
Carino also testified that Heard twice tried to reconcile with Depp, even after she filed for divorce — once in 2016 and again in 2017. At one point in 2016 he brokered a meeting between Heard and a reluctant Depp that ended in a fight.
He also testified briefly about Heard’s subsequent relationship with tech entrepreneur Elon Musk. Heard texted Carino in 2017 professing sadness about her breakup with Musk. Carino seemed incredulous, and texted in response to Heard, “You told me a thousand times you were just filling space.”
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LAS VEGAS (AP) — A rapper and former reality TV figure is facing a felony sex trafficking charge in Las Vegas in an ongoing criminal investigation alleging that he used his large social media following to recruit women as prostitutes, according to police.
Records showed Wednesday that Kevin Lamont Barnes Jr., 37, was arrested Monday and released Tuesday without bail from the Clark County Detention Center pending a preliminary hearing of evidence May 10.
Barnes, who uses the name Chopper and was featured on the early 2000’s MTV reality series “Making the Band,” was represented in court by a public defender. It was not immediately clear later if he had an attorney who could speak on his behalf.
Details of the investigation were not immediately made public by police or prosecutors.
The celebrity website TMZ said it obtained documents showing that an undercover vice detective posing as a sex worker said Barnes used social media to tell the person to travel to Charlotte, North Carolina, to become part of his “team.”
The Las Vegas Review-Journal reportedthat after his MTV stint, Barnes became a member of the hip-hop group Da Band, formed by Sean “P. Diddy” Combs.
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https://www.cbs42.com/local/reality-tv-figure-facing-sex-trafficking-charge-in-las-vegas/
| 2022-04-28T11:59:58
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In this file photo from 2021, Stanley Vernon of Amory stops to look at a 1930 Model A as he strolls the parking lot of the BancorpSouth Arena during the Blue Suede Cruise. The classic car show will return for the 19th time this weekend, beginning Friday at the BancorpSouth Arena in Tupelo.
TUPELO • The annual Tupelo Blue Suede Cruise will roll into town starting Friday, April 29 for their 19th installment.
The annual car show will return to the BancorpSouth Arena for their weekend-long event. Festivities include poker walks, cash drawings, live music and an antique car parade.
The Tupelo Blue Suede Cruise has been a staple in the community since 2003, bringing people of all ages from nearly 20 different states and Canada to the birthplace of Elvis Presley.
Event organizer Allen McDaniel said this year's event will be bigger and better than ever.
"We have 1,100 cars that will be there this weekend," McDaniel said. "We'll have entertainment inside the BancorpSouth Arena on Friday and Saturday nights."
McDaniel said the Eagles Tribute Band will be providing live entertainment on Friday night with covers of Alabama's greatest hits and Saturday night with the Eagles biggest chart toppers.
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Additionally, KOTO the DJ (King of the Oldies) will provide music throughout Friday and Saturday's daytime events.
The Parade of Classics will begin at 9:30 a.m. Saturday at the Malco Theater near Barnes Crossing Mall. Antique cars will promenade down North Gloster Street as they make their way to Main Street and finally put it in park at the BancorpSouth Arena.
All participating cars must be 1997 model year or older. Some featured sets of wheels will include Camaros, T-Birds, Mustangs and Corvettes just to name a few.
For McDaniel, the most rewarding aspect of the Tupelo Blue Suede Cruise is seeing attendees and participants have fun.
"Friendships are made, and some of these folks don't see each other but once a year at Blue Suede Cruise," he said. "We have people from 18 surrounding states and Canada," said McDaniel.
The Tupelo Blue Suede Cruise will ring in their 20th anniversary in 2023.
In the meantime, event attendees can enjoy their weekend starting Friday afternoon with a poker walk and drawing for $250. In total, Blue Suede Cruise will give away $10,000 in cash drawings this weekend.
BROOKE BULLOCK BURLESON is a digital producer for the Daily Journal. Contact her at brooke.burleson@djournal.com.
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https://www.djournal.com/news/local/blue-suede-cruise-set-to-roll-into-tupelo-this-weekend/article_cef41474-c6bd-5d1a-b05f-0470f86ee187.html
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TUPELO • Ward 5 Councilman Buddy Palmer has lived in East Tupelo most of his adult life, and since the city annexed East Tupelo about a decade ago, he has represented it on the city council.
Currently in his third term, Palmer said there are some projects and issues in his ward he hopes to address during his time in office, including meeting growing infrastructure needs, increasing rental code enforcement and locating more affordable housing in his neighborhoods.
Infrastructure on Palmer’s mind
Infrastructure is at or near the top of the list of concerns for every council member in Tupelo, and Palmer is no exception.
Elvis Presley Drive is an immediate concern.
With money in the capital budget, Palmer said it’s as good a time as any to make some much-needed repairs and modifications to the roadway.
“You could have a wreck and not be found for six months because the ditches are so bad,” he said.
But City Engineer Dennis Bonds said that while improvements to Elvis Presley Drive are a possibility, they aren’t a priority. Widening the road would involve a lot of factors, he said, including existing right of ways and whether landowners would work with the city.
Although work on Elvis Presley Drive is included in the city’s capital plan, it has not been given a date for when any renovations would begin.
Meanwhile, Palmer also said he is “tickled to death” by the Major Thoroughfare Committee's upcoming work on Eason Boulevard.
“It is a much-traveled road,” Palmer said. “I think it is time for (work) to move forward.”
That work, recently approved by members of the Major Thoroughfare Committee, includes widening the road between Veterans Boulevard to Briar Ridge Road.
Bonds said the project would likely start and finish over the summer.
The committee also slated a road-widening project for Veterans Boulevard between East Main Street to Ham Street. Bonds said the committee placed the Veterans project in its current phase, but it could be moved to the next five-year phase if needed.
Code Enforcement is key to building neighborhoods
Palmer said code enforcement inspectors have been stretched too thin, leading to increased code violations, particularly among renters. This becomes an issue, he said, when residents breaking codes make neighborhoods less desirable for those looking to move to the city.
“Code enforcement is No. 1, and the city is taking care of it as we speak,” he said, noting the recent reorganization of the city’s development services department.
According to Development Services Director Tanner Newman, the most commonly broken codes include unkempt lawns (grass that exceeds 5 inches in height violates city ordinances) and parked cars in yards.
These issues, though small, are considered during property appraisals, which Newman said is the driving force for many residents who want stronger code enforcement.
Newman, whose department is in the middle of a complex restructuring, noted that the city recently hired a new chief code inspector and plans to hire additional code inspectors soon.
As part of this restructuring, the city plans to double its code enforcement inspector staff and move away from reactive code enforcement toward a more proactive approach. Each inspector will be assigned a specific ward to patrol for code violations.
"We are going to a ward-based system,” Newman said. “Right now, we have three rental and code inspectors handling the entire city. It is no secret that the city has a backlog on renal inspections. … We anticipate that the addition of four inspectors will cut down significantly on that backlog.”
Affordable housing a priority with pitfalls
The cornerstone of any community, Palmer said, is affordable living space for residents.
In Ward 5, there’s not enough of it.
Though an important issue, Palmer noted that increasing the amount of affordable housing is highly complex, with no immediate solution. He also said affordable housing has only become more challenging because of inflated costs in materials.
City Planner Jenny Savely said affordable housing, though broad, can be defined as any housing with a mortgage that is within 30% of an area's median monthly income
According to 2020 Census data, Tupelo’s median income was $54,691, while the median monthly mortgage for a home was $1,160, which is 25% of the city’s median monthly income. Savely said the metric does not account for low-income affordable housing, which is a much bigger problem in the city, state and country.
“We are in a moment where the cost of living is going up, and the cost of building materials is higher than it has ever been,” she said. “It becomes a balance of how you’re thinking about people in your neighborhood versus the housing values. We are in a difficult place in this.”
Savely defined low-income affordable housing as eating less than 30% of the monthly income of a full-time minimum wage worker. In a 40-hour workweek, someone making minimum wage would bring home around $1,200.
By Savely’s definition, that would make an affordable rental rate or mortgage of $350 per month, an amount Savely called “difficult to impossible.”
“At a federal level, how we understand our low limits of poverty and minimum wage are dated and don’t line up with our changing economic and housing situation,” she said. “At our level, we are stuck dealing with what we are dealing with.”
The solution, Savely said, would need to be “creative” while also considering property values, annual taxes and the layout of the city decades from now. Savley noted that Ward 5 was the only Ward without overlay districts, which means housing restrictions and requirements are more relaxed, leaving room for cheaper construction costs.
Newman said affordable housing has been a priority for the city and that the administration has a focus on growing residential opportunities. He said, like Mill Village in Ward 3, Ward 5 has the potential to see tremendous residential growth. Developers often go to older neighborhoods to buy aging homes for renovation or to build smaller-scale properties, Newman said.
“Ward 5 is a prime example of an area that is waiting to be tapped by developers for revitalization,” Newman said. “We have a real opportunity as a city to look at East Tupelo and determine how we as a city can cultivate that revitalization.”
Newman said he tasked Savely with examining city-owned property in neighborhoods and seeing what concepts could be located in those areas to bring on more development. He also said multiple developers approached the city looking to create subdivisions in Palmer's ward.
Ward 5 storm shelter needs expansion
Palmer said he’d also like to expand the storm shelter at Veterans Park, which he says isn’t large enough. As it stands now, he said the shelter can only hold a few dozen residents.
“We need a little bit bigger shelter,” he said. “During the last storm, the shelter was packed tight.”
Chief Operating Officer Don Lewis said the city was looking for federal funding related to emergency response and building a new shelter in East Tupelo. He said grants for shelters and storm response are often based on the number of storms and the amount of danger they cause in a given time.
“That area would be a priority for us,” he said. “If we find federal funding for a storm shelter, it would be No. 1 on the list because we have something for every other area, but we don’t have a large shelter in East Tupelo.”
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https://www.djournal.com/news/local/infrastructure-code-enforcement-housing-priority-for-ward-5-councilman-buddy-palmer/article_6f9a53f6-81a3-5a6c-ac5a-434a7504223d.html
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TUPELO • The North Mississippi Symphony Orchestra (NMSO) will present the final performance of its 50th season at the Tupelo Civic Auditorium Saturday, April 30 starting at 7:30 p.m.
Led by Maestro Steven Byess, the NMSO ushered in its golden year last fall and will conclude the milestone anniversary with a diverse program of American music.
The program will consist of the full orchestra and guest violinist Er-Gene Kahng as well as choruses from Itawamba Community College (ICC) and Northeast Mississippi Community College (NEMCC). The NMSO Children's Chorus will also join the collegiate choirs at the end of the evening.
NMSO's season finale will include the Mississippi premiere of James Stephenson's "Fanfare for Democracy," composed for President Joe Biden's inauguration.
In addition to this new selection, the North Mississippi Symphony Orchestra will entertain the audience with the recently discovered "Violin Concerto No. 2," crafted by composer Florence Beatrice Price who passed away some 70 years ago.
The evening will conclude with a joint performance of the orchestra, choirs from ICC and NEMCC and the NMSO Children's Chorus. Together, they will perform an ensemble of American music including "Simple Gifts," "Amazing Grace" and "America the Beautiful."
Prior to Saturday's performance, the NMSO will perform two educational concerts on Friday, April 29 for students from surrounding schools.
Tickets for Saturday's performance start at $30 and can be purchased online.
BROOKE BULLOCK BURLESON is a digital producer for the Daily Journal. Contact her at brooke.burleson@djournal.com.
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https://www.djournal.com/news/local/nmso-wraps-up-golden-year-this-saturday/article_340c5769-0d55-5af0-b0ad-2bd5fe893074.html
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Mote Marine cautions public to be "turtle-friendly" as first nests of the season pop up
Researchers and volunteers stumbled upon a heartening find Sunday: the season's first documented sea turtle nest burrowed at the southern end of Longboat Key.
Mote Marine Laboratory and Aquarium's Sea Turtle Conservation and Research said the nest is indicative of an early start to the sea turtle nesting season — its usual timeline stretches from May 1 to Oct. 31.
“Once again, sea turtles have arrived on our beaches just before the official start of season,” Melissa Macksey, STCRP Conservation Manager & Senior Biologist, said in a press release.
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Macksey leads local sea turtle conservation efforts with more than 300 devoted volunteers who monitor 35 miles of beaches between Longboat Key and Venice.
The team scours beaches for turtle crawls as the sun peeks over the horizon every morning.
Last year, STCRP counted 3,786 nests — certifying 2021 as the fourth highest count in Mote's 40 years of monitoring. The top-five years for the number of sea turtle nests in the Sarasota region have all occurred in the last five years.
Despite the encouraging swell of nesting, Macksey warns residents and visitors to stay cautious and respectful of Florida's coastal environment.
Beach chairs and trash can create blockades for sea turtles and their young, and streaking lights from waterfront properties can disorient the animals. Sea turtles rise from their nests at night and follow natural light to find the shoreline.
Light pollution can also leave hatchlings vulnerable to predators if they struggle to make it to water. But a majority of hatchlings die from exhaustion or starvation from following the artificial light.
“The best thing you can do is leave the beach as natural as you can,” Macksey said. “The majority of nesting turtles in our area are loggerheads, but green sea turtle numbers continue to increase. As Sarasota County is home to the densest loggerhead nesting population in the Gulf of Mexico, success here is important to the overall population. Everyone can do their part to help our turtles have a successful season.”
A 1997 county ordinance outlines various suggestions to ease a sea turtle's nesting journey: use long-wavelength bulbs (such as red or amber LEDs with shielded fixtures), remove all beach furniture nightly and pick up your trash.
Jaclyn Irwin, a Sarasota County wildlife specialist, added that in addition to using appropriate lighting and removing recreational items, avoiding the use of flashlights, knocking down sandcastles, and filling holes enhance a nesting habitat.
The county also has an online brochure guiding residents to "turtle-tint" friendly lights.
Mote offers more beach tips on its website — as well as a new nest tracker updated weekly on Mondays.
Community members should continue to enjoy their beaches as well as work to protect wildlife sharing the land.
You can report injured or distressed sea turtles to the Florida Fish & Wildlife Conservation Commission at 888-404-FWCC (3922).
Stefania Lugli covers a little of everything for the Herald-Tribune while pursuing watchdog/investigative stories. You can contact her at slugli@heraldtribune.com or dm her on Twitter at @steflugli.
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At the library: Book clubs, dine-out fundraiser, crafts and more
Monroe County Public Library provides opportunities for local residents to read, learn, connect and create. The downtown library is at 303 E. Kirkwood Ave. and the Ellettsville branch is at 600 W. Temperance St. All events are free of charge. Event funding is provided by the Friends of the Library Foundation.
Free 3D printer use
The library’s 3D printers are now available to the public, Turn your digital designs into real-world physical objects at the Level Up digital creativity center at the downtown library. Make a reservation online at mcpl.info/3D, via phone, or drop by on a first-come, first-served basis.
Books Plus, Virtual Edition: 'The Lincoln Highway: A Novel'
All are welcome to join the book discussion — or just listen. Ages 16 and older. It’s 2-3 p.m. Sunday on Zoom. Register at mcpl.info/calendar if you have not previously been emailed the Zoom link. May's title is “The Lincoln Highway: A Novel by Amor Towles.”
LEGO Club
Unleash your imagination and creativity with fellow LEGO builders. Ages 5-12. It’s 2-3 p.m. Sunday in the children’s program room at the downtown library. Drop in.
Homeschool activity hour in The Ground Floor
Come by The Ground Floor teen space to try your hand at some fun crafts and video games before official opening hours. Activities are designed for ages 7-12, but siblings of all ages are welcome to attend. It’s 1-2 p.m. Monday in The Ground Floor teen space at the downtown library. Drop in.
Golden Agers' Club
Come and join the Golden Agers' Club for older adults who want to stay young at heart! Presenter Deepa Shah will host a variety of activities, including movement sessions, brain-boosting games, stories, and discussions. Participants are welcome to bring companions, but please register each person individually. Ages 60 and older. It’s 3-5:30 p.m. Monday in meeting room 1B & 1C at the downtown library. Register at mcpl.info/calendar.
Weekly math homework help for teens
Drop in for free one-on-one help with math and science-related assignments ––arithmetic, algebra, geometry, trigonometry, calculus, physics, chemistry and ISTEP and SAT review. For middle school and high school students only. It’s 7-8:45 p.m. Mondays in program room 2B at the downtown library.
Tiny to 2
Families with babies play, sing, read and talk together. For infants to age 3. It’s 10-10:30 a.m. Tuesday in Ellettsville meeting room B. Register at mcpl.info/calendar.
Dine Out for the Library at Crazy Horse
Try a different restaurant each month when you Dine Out for the Library. This month, drop by Crazy Horse 11 a.m.-9 p.m. Tuesday and the Friends of the Library will receive 20% of the amount you spend for food and soft beverages. Crazy Horse is at 214 W. Kirkwood Ave. in Bloomington. Download the flyer at mcpl.info/dineout.
DIY dice tower
Build your own dice tower using an easy cardboard template. Ages 12-19. It’s 3:30-4:30 p.m. Tuesday at the Ellettsville Teen Space. Drop in.
Comics and Cookies with Kaleidoscope Youth Community
Drop by for a special session of Comics and Cookies! You'll chat about “The Prince and the Dressmaker” by Jen Wang, eat cookies and share your feels on this graphic novel! Reading the graphic novel before the event is encouraged but not required! Ages 12-20. It’s 4-5 p.m. Tuesday in meeting room 1B & 1C combo at the downtown library. Register at mcplinfo/calendar.
Craft Club for Adults: Oceans of Crafts
Join the library to learn about water-based process art — paper marbling, abstract watercolors and more. Play with the materials and learn how they interact with these crafts that use various media suspended on water and transferred to paper to create beautiful artwork. It’s 7-8 p.m. Tuesday in program room 2B at the downtown library. Register at mcpl.info/calendar.
Flowertime Fun D&D Club
Drop in, adventure through fantastic realms, then leave when you want! These sessions of Dungeons and Dragons are designed to be short, fun and evolving adventures that anyone can play. All skill levels are welcome. Ages 12-19. It’s 4-5:30 p.m. Wednesday in meeting room 1C at the downtown library.
Retro Crafting: Potholders
Add a vintage touch to your kitchen with this craft from the past. The library will provide the supplies for you to make two. Join the library for this fun and easy project. Ages 18 and older. It’s 6-7 p.m. Wednesday in Ellettsville meeting room B. Register at mcpl.info/calendar.
Preschool storytime and discovery
At preschool storytime, stories, songs and rhymes get your preschooler talking, singing and playing with books and words, followed by preschool discovery — fun, open-ended art experiences, STEAM adventures and letter exploration. It’s 10-10:25 a.m. and 10:30-11:15 a.m. Thursday, May 5, in Ellettsville meeting rooms A and B. For ages 3-6 and caregivers. Register at mcpl.info/calendar.
Miniature Painting 101
The library provides the minis, paints, brushes, and know-how — come try your hand at miniature painting! All skill levels are welcome. Ages 12-19. It’s 3:30-4:30 p.m. Thursday, May 5, in The Ground Floor teen space at the downtown library. Drop in.
Tiny Art Studio for Teens
Paint your own tiny art masterpiece! Your 3x3-inch art will be displayed in the library’s tiny art gallery show throughout the month of June. Dress for mess — acrylic paints stain. Ages 12-19. It’s 3:30-4:30 p.m. Thursday, May 5, in the Ellettsville Teen Space. Drop in. Visit mcpl.info/calendar to view upcoming tiny art studios for adults and children.
Tween D&D
Interested in Dungeons & Dragons? Join the library for a special stand-alone role-playing adventure. No prior experience is necessary. Ages 9-12. It’s 5:30-6:30 p.m. Thursday, May 5, in the children’s program room at the downtown library. Register at mcpl.info/calendar.
Garden pest control
Worried about insects, diseases and critters getting in your garden? Purdue Extension–Monroe County Director and Educator Amy Thompson will teach you the best ways to keep pests away from your summer garden. All ages. It’s 6:30-7:30 p.m. Thursday, May 5, in Ellettsville meeting room B. Drop in.
More events online
This is a sampling of this week’s library events. For the full calendar, visit mcpl.info/events.
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https://www.heraldtimesonline.com/story/news/local/2022/04/28/library-book-clubs-dine-out-fundraiser-crafts-and-more/9548201002/
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SAN DIEGO — A California Highway Patrol officer was shot early Wednesday evening on Interstate 8 in Mission Valley, while he was investigating a traffic collision, according a press briefing held Wednesday night by Captain Michael Harris, California Highway Patrol Border Division, Special Services Unit.
The shooting near the I-805 interchange was reported around 6:15 p.m., according to the San Diego Police Department, prompting Interstate 8 to be shut down in both directions in that area.
Paramedics took the victim to Scripps Mercy Hospital and according to the press briefing the officer is in serious, but stable condition.
The CHP officer who was shot is an eight-year veteran of the force and was investigating a traffic collision at the time. During a struggle with a pedestrian, police officials said the officer was shot in the right thigh by a single gunshot.
A suspect was in custody within minutes of the shooting according to CHP, and there is no threat to the public. Highway Patrol said Good Samaritans got out of their cars and held the suspect at the scene so he could be arrested by officers. The suspect has been identified as a 25-year-old man and resident of San Diego.
During the briefing, Captain Harris said that the CHP was deeply grateful for the other agencies that arrived on the scene and assisted the injured officer.
As of 5 a.m. Thursday, all lanes of I-8 are back open following the investigation.
The next update planned on the shooting is expected Thursday morning.
Watch the full police briefing held Wednesday night: Officer shot on San Diego freeway while investigating a traffic collision:
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https://www.abc10.com/article/news/local/chp-officer-shot-interstate-8/509-a738d990-c296-4823-b61e-d4f105ff9e15
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https://www.abc10.com/article/news/local/chp-officer-shot-interstate-8/509-a738d990-c296-4823-b61e-d4f105ff9e15
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SAN DIEGO COUNTY, Calif. — Republican-leaning counties saw a significant baby bump following the 2016 election of President Donald Trump compared to Democrat-leaning counties, a study from UC San Diego revealed Wednesday.
The study found that the difference in the first two years of the Trump presidency amounted to between 1% and 2% of the national birth rate.
That's a significant partisan shift according to the UCSD authors, Gordon Dahl, professor of economics in the Department of Economics/School of Social Sciences and William Mullins, assistant professor of finance at the Rady School of Management.
"The size of the change is equivalent to changes in birth rates that occur after economic shocks or in response to policies designed to affect birth rates," Dahl said. "For example, when unemployment drops by 1%, it increases national fertility by 1 to 2%, and when other countries provide a $1,000 subsidy to mothers for having a child, fertility rates rise by about 2%."
The study, to be published in a future issue of American Economic Review: Insights, is touted as the first to establish a link between a presidential election and the birth rates of politically aligned groups. The 2016 scenario provided the perfect natural experiment, the authors say, because the outcome was a surprise and also because the United States is so polarized.
Trump's win in 2016 was unexpected by the majority of Americans, the authors said, and it led to a sharp change in optimism among Democrats and Republicans, according to several different surveys. One survey revealed that within four months of the election, Republican and Democratic outlooks on the economy had flipped, with a strong majority of Republican voters saying they believed economic conditions were getting better -- reversing formerly pessimistic views -- while the opposite was true for Democrats.
In addition to comparing births between partisan counties, the researchers looked within counties at birth rates among Hispanics versus non- Hispanics, since, "Hispanics were singled out by the Trump campaign and voted approximately two-to-one for Hillary Clinton in 2016," they wrote.
The result was Hispanic mothers had fewer babies after the election -- a drop in birth rates among Hispanics relative to non-Hispanics equivalent to 2.3% of the national birth rate. The difference was even larger when compared to groups that heavily voted in favor of Trump, rural whites and evangelical whites.
As comparison, the researchers also looked at previous elections. The election of former President Barack Obama, who was long projected to win the presidency in both 2008 and in 2012, had no effect on birth rates. However, they found a similar effect in 2000, when George W. Bush was elected after Al Gore was favored to win. Still, the change was much smaller compared to the Trump presidency.
"Our research really illustrates how polarized the country has become over the last 20 years," Mullins said. "Democrats and Republicans are deeply divided on their policy priorities and worries about the future, including on topics such as the environment, inequality, moral values and immigration.
"Polling data on voters' satisfaction with `the way things are going in the U.S.' reveals members of the two parties see the country through almost completely different lenses," he said.
The researchers used birth certificate data from the National Center for Health Statistics. Since party affiliation is not listed on birth certificates, they compared the NCHS information to county-level Census Bureau data on the number of Democratic and Republican voters in the 2016 election. To gauge the effects on Hispanic mothers, they were able to use the ethnicity listed on birth certificates.
WATCH RELATED: Impact vaccines have on breastfeeding mothers and their babies (Jan 22, 2021)
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https://www.abc10.com/article/news/local/ucsd-study-gop-baby-boom-trumps-election/509-c439d952-bb22-45fa-9805-b18d48281a18
| 2022-04-28T13:40:18
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https://www.abc10.com/article/news/local/ucsd-study-gop-baby-boom-trumps-election/509-c439d952-bb22-45fa-9805-b18d48281a18
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A 27-year-old man has been arrested in a sex attack in Queens where a 22-year-old woman was forced from a subway station and to a building nearby, where she was restrained, authorities said Thursday.
Roy Higgins is accused of unlawful imprisonment, attempted criminal sex act and public lewdness in the April 21 attack at the Flushing-Main Street station shortly before 10 a.m.
Cops allege Higgins was the man who walked up to the woman, grabbed her arm and forced her to walk upstairs and leave the station.
He then made her walk with him down Main Street and to Kissena Boulevard, where he brought her into the lobby of a seven-story building, according to the NYPD.
Once inside, he allegedly restrained the woman and exposed himself. Cops say she resist and managed to break free. She ran off and reported the case to the police.
The victim wasn't physically hurt.
Information on a possible attorney for Higgins wasn't immediately available.
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https://www.nbcnewyork.com/news/local/nyc-sex-predator-who-forced-woman-from-subway-in-broad-daylight-arrested-cops/3667741/
| 2022-04-28T13:44:41
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https://www.nbcnewyork.com/news/local/nyc-sex-predator-who-forced-woman-from-subway-in-broad-daylight-arrested-cops/3667741/
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Stetson professor, expert on Ukraine-Russia relations, to talk history and the ongoing war
As Russia's war on Ukraine enters its ninth week, the turmoil for many, if not most, in the United States feels unrelatable.
Mayhill Fowler, an associate professor at Stetson University and director of Stetson's Program in Russian, East European and Eurasian Studies, wants to put things in perspective.
"You see these bombed-out buildings … a sort of dark, horror-filled landscape, and it's hard to realize that this was a very functioning democratic country with wine bars and book festivals and swimming pools," Fowler said in a phone interview Tuesday.
Fowler will share more of Ukraine's history and the realities of the war during a free event Saturday at the Enterprise Museum, 360 Main St. Doors open at 6:30 p.m. and the event begins at 7 p.m.
The museum can hold 100 people for the talk on Ukraine and on Russia's war, Cindy Sullivan, the museum's director, said. Beer and wine will be available during a question-and-answer session after the talk.
Welcome:Stetson University will host 4 displaced Ukrainian students, 1 faculty member next year
The Daytona Beach News-Journal spoke with Fowler, who holds a doctorate in history from Princeton University, about her reaction, and that of others, to what's occurred in Ukraine and what may be to come.
News-Journal: What questions has the war prompted people to ask you and how do you respond?
Fowler: "Are Ukraine and Russia really different? Isn’t Ukraine kind of just like Russia? Isn’t this really the West’s fault? It actually is about Russia and Russia’s aggression, and it's about the West to the extent that Russia doesn't like the West and doesn't like freedom, and doesn't like Western values. We’re so used to sort of criticizing American foreign policy that you don't realize, actually, some places are worse."
News-Journal: What are some misconceptions held about the two countries?
Fowler: "It's interesting to me that people say 'Oh, those Ukrainians are so resilient.' Yeah, they are, because they've been fighting a war for eight years, and because for centuries people have been trying to conquer them."
"I think the other misconception is really thinking of Ukraine and Russia as the same place, which, if you don't study this region, is really easy to do. Even in the press, the Soviet Union was often called Russia. The other countries that came out of the Soviet Union don't show up in the news very often unless there's some sort of revolution happening or a revolt, and so what people don't realize is Ukraine and Russia have taken radically different paths since 1991."
News-Journal: What is Vladimir Putin trying to achieve?
Fowler: "In 2014, Russia took Crimea and aided, militarily and financially, these small breakaway republics in Donbas, which is bad enough, but they weren't lobbing missiles at Kyiv. His goal really is to crush Ukraine. There's no way to explain the murders of civilians in really horrible ways without this being not just about military targets but actually about eradicating a people and a country."
News-Journal: What advice do you have for people in the U.S. as it relates to the war?
Fowler: "I think as citizens we can keep ourselves informed, even when it's really, really hard to see so many sad stories and so much heartbreak and pain. We can donate what we can, and we can write our politicians and let them know what we as their constituents want."
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https://www.news-journalonline.com/story/news/local/volusia/2022/04/28/stetson-professor-talk-ukraine-russia-relations-war-mayhill-fowler/7359694001/
| 2022-04-28T13:52:28
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https://www.news-journalonline.com/story/news/local/volusia/2022/04/28/stetson-professor-talk-ukraine-russia-relations-war-mayhill-fowler/7359694001/
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MINNEAPOLIS — Target Corp. has agreed to $5 million in civil penalties and a host of other changes to its in-store and online pricing practices, following a lawsuit by prosecutors in California, who claim the national retailer engaged in false advertising and unfair competition.
The lawsuit and judgement come after a KARE 11 investigation uncovered certain prices in the Target app switching when customers walked into the store.
“We learned of your news story that showed changes on the app depending on the location,” said Steve Spinella, deputy district attorney for San Diego County. “We conducted our own independent investigation to see if this was also occurring in California.”
Spinella joined six other county prosecutors in California and recently sued target, accusing the chain of charging customers higher prices than advertised.
According to the civil complaint, prosecutors found prices posted for various items on Target.com or the Target app that then switched when a customer entered the perimeter of the store without “clearly and conspicuously disclosing the sales channel.”
Prosecutors deemed these practices violated the state’s Business and Professions Code.
“With this latest lawsuit, we’re continuing to protect consumers and their hard-earned money, as well as ensuring that Target is held responsible when it violates the law,” said Summer Stephan, district attorney of San Diego County.
In a judgement negotiated between prosecutors and Target, the company admits no guilt, but has agreed to some big changes.
First, Target must pay $5 million in civil penalties.
According to the court order, Target will also create a price accuracy program with signs advertising the program at every kiosk and every entrance at every Target in the state of California.
The court ordered weekly price audits that will be checked by state regulators, and the company can no longer use a geofence to change prices on the app or website when a customer approaches the store.
In response to the lawsuit, a Target spokesperson told KARE 11, "Target is committed to providing value to our guests, and that includes accurate pricing in our stores and online. We've taken steps to improve our processes because the majority of these issues in California occurred when promotional signs were not removed immediately after a promotion ended. If guests have questions, they can bring their receipt to the Guest Service desk to discuss a price adjustment."
What does this mean for Target stores in Minnesota you may be wondering?
We looked into the Target app now, three years after our initial investigation, and found a few changes here as well.
Prices no longer switch in the parking lot. Also, each price on the app clearly states if it's online or in-store.
Further, when we brought certain items to the register in the store, we were notified of and charged a cheaper online sale price without asking.
Can prices still differ online and in-store? Yes, there's nothing illegal about that. But now, customers should know what to expect to pay, however you shop.
Watch more local news:
Watch the latest local news from the Twin Cities in our YouTube playlist:
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https://www.wfaa.com/article/news/local/target-settles-ca-lawsuit-alleging-false-advertising-overpricing-fined-5m/89-ba4a5441-c38e-4c9f-b524-b0d13414042f
| 2022-04-28T13:56:50
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https://www.wfaa.com/article/news/local/target-settles-ca-lawsuit-alleging-false-advertising-overpricing-fined-5m/89-ba4a5441-c38e-4c9f-b524-b0d13414042f
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TEXAS, USA — Texas is already home to major companies like Southwest Airlines, AT&T, and Pizza Hut, but could the Lone Star State become the primary residence for Twitter?
That's what one Texas rancher is hoping for after Twitter accepted an offer from Elon Musk to acquire the social media platform for roughly $44 billion.
Jim Schwertner, president and CEO of Schwertner Farms, tweeted to Musk Tuesday, asking him to move Twitter to Schwertner, which is about 38 miles north of Austin. If obliged, Schwertner promised Musk 100 acres for free.
"Elon Musk, Move Twitter to Schwertner, TX. 38 Miles North of Austin in Williamson County, and we will give you 100 Acres for FREE," the tweet read.
Schwertner is not the only Texan who is pleading with Musk to move Twitter to the bluebonnet state.
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott tweeted to Musk Monday saying "bring Twitter to Texas to join Tesla, SpaceX and the Boring company."
Twitter moving its headquarters from San Franciso to Texas is not a far-fetched idea since Musk already has companies stationed within the Lone Star State.
Tesla's Gigafactory is in Austin and his Boring company has just bought land in Texas. Musk even has a SpaceX site that launches in Texas.
Musk said in a joint statement with Twitter that he wants to make the service “better than ever” with new features while getting rid of automated "spam'' accounts and making its algorithms open to the public to increase trust.
“Free speech is the bedrock of a functioning democracy, and Twitter is the digital town square where matters vital to the future of humanity are debated,” the 50-year-old Musk said, adding hearts, stars and rocket emojis in a tweet that highlighted the statement.
The more hands-off approach to content moderation that Musk envisions has many users concerned that the platform will become more of a haven for disinformation, hate speech and bullying, something it has worked hard in recent years to mitigate. Wall Street analysts said if he goes too far, it could also alienate advertisers.
The deal was cemented roughly two weeks after the billionaire first revealed a 9% stake in the platform. Musk said last week that he had lined up $46.5 billion in financing to buy Twitter, putting pressure on the company’s board to negotiate a deal.
Asked during a recent TED interview if there are any limits to his notion of “free speech,” Musk said Twitter would abide by national laws that restrict speech around the world. Beyond that, he said, he’d be “very reluctant” to delete posts or permanently ban users who violate the company's rules.
It won’t be perfect, Musk added, “but I think we want it to really have the perception and reality that speech is as free as reasonably possible."
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https://www.wfaa.com/article/news/local/texas/elon-musk-free-land-offer-move-twitter-texas/285-7cdc1e9c-0785-43f3-85dd-eca43e60700b
| 2022-04-28T13:56:56
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https://www.wfaa.com/article/news/local/texas/elon-musk-free-land-offer-move-twitter-texas/285-7cdc1e9c-0785-43f3-85dd-eca43e60700b
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When the COVID-19 pandemic hit, nearly all Texas public universities responded by making the submission of an SAT or ACT score optional for college admission.
But although COVID infections are down and in-person standardized tests are widely available again, the majority of Texas public universities are keeping the SAT and ACT optional until the spring of 2023 or later.
Even before the pandemic, some universities considered themselves test-optional because of a state law that grants automatic admission to Texas students who graduate in the top 10% of their high school classes. But the COVID-19 pandemic pushed many more schools to become test-optional for all applicants.
“It was an opportunity that a lot of schools are grateful they’ve been able to take,” said Chris Reed, executive director of admissions at Texas A&M University in College Station. “The pandemic created an opportunity when it was the right thing to do. … Now we have a living, breathing dataset to evaluate some of those assumptions.”
RELATED: The Bellaire 13 | Meet the valedictorians of this Houston-area high school graduating class
So far, Texas A&M has extended the policy through spring 2023. Stephen F. Austin State University in East Texas and the University of Texas at Dallas have already extended their test score policies through the fall of next year. Texas Tech University has extended its policy until 2025.
Other schools, including the University of Houston, Texas State University in San Marcos and the University of Texas at Tyler, say they will make decisions on test score requirements in the coming weeks or months.
Others, including Sam Houston State University, the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley and Tarleton State University, have extended the test-optional policy indefinitely. Some private universities, including Baylor University and Rice University, have extended their test-optional policies through fall 2023 and say they will reevaluate afterward.
The most selective public university in the state — the University of Texas at Austin — will not require test scores from students beginning in Fall 2023.
Meanwhile, the state’s two public historically Black universities continue to require standardized test scores. Texas Southern University in Houston requires test scores only for applicants with a 2.5 grade point average or below. Those with higher GPAs do not need to submit test scores. Prairie View A&M University reinstated its standardized test score requirement for fall 2021 applicants.
RELATED: UT Austin will allow students to live together on campus regardless of gender or sexual identity
A Prairie View spokesperson said most students continued to submit scores but did not explain why the school switched back to a test score requirement. Texas Southern said there has been no discussion to shift to a test-optional policy for all applicants.
Even before the pandemic, there were discussions at some schools to make the SAT or ACT score optional. Some school leaders have argued that the tests are not predictive of student performance in college and are an additional barrier to enrollment for low-income students.
Universities that shifted to test-optional policies said they rely on a holistic approach to applications, giving weight to areas like a student’s grade point average, the high school transcript and where the student attended high school.
Reed cautions that it’s too early to definitively state the impact of the change to enrollment with test-optional policies. But he said early data shows that Texas A&M did not see retention rates dip from fall to spring during either of the last two years. Also, the average fall GPA for first-time students remained the same. These data points helped inform the university’s decision to continue the test-optional policy.
Many Texas universities said they saw an increase in applications once standardized test scores became optional for admission. But they haven’t seen a significant change in the makeup of their freshman classes. College counseling experts said that is likely because the state’s Top 10% Rule allowed schools to enroll those students year after year.
Many universities said they saw minimal changes in the diversity of students who enrolled.
But a few universities reported some remarkable differences.
The University of Texas at Arlington increased the number of Black students in its freshman class by almost 34%, from 519 to 694, in fall 2021. The number of Black freshmen at Texas State increased by 6%. Texas A&M International University in Laredo reported that it had accepted more students ranked in the top 40% of their graduation classes.
Some schools, including West Texas A&M University, accepted more students who qualify for need-based federal grants, known as Pell grants. The regional public university in Canyon accepts any student who has at least a 2.0 GPA and meets at least one other requirement, which can include test scores. For those who don’t meet the qualifications, the school has adjusted its alternative admissions process to include two essay questions and a high school recommendation letter.
“The test-optional trend has opened up a lot more opportunities for students who are low-income, who don’t come from high schools that emphasize testing like more resourced counterparts,” said Sara Urquidez with Academic Success Program Dallas, which helps low-income and first-generation college students apply for and enroll in college at 18 high schools in the Dallas area. “But I don’t think it’s changed the fundamental question of college affordability for low-income students.”
Many Texas public universities say they still use test scores to determine merit scholarships, but they also take a more comprehensive look at applications from students who apply without SAT or ACT scores.
Yet Urquidez said she saw a stark reduction in the number of merit scholarships awarded to students who did not submit test scores, and many students and families are confused about what schools are using to determine merit scholarships.
“It’s a black box for students and families,” she said. “We can’t talk about test-optional being a vehicle for change when the vast majority of institutions are still using it in this other way.”
Urquidez said she sits on a few private scholarship committees and heard anecdotally from students that they were unaware that applying without a test score could negatively impact their chances of receiving aid from the university.
She said she still encourages students to submit good scores if they have them. Yet some universities across the state saw a majority of students apply without scores for fall 2020 and fall 2021.
At Texas A&M University-Kingsville, just 36% of applicants for admission last fall included standardized test scores. And at West Texas A&M University, which is keeping a test-optional policy permanently, nearly 80% of students did not submit scores. So far, about 35% of students applying to enroll next fall at the University of North Texas had submitted test scores.
In contrast, 75% of Rice University applicants submitted test scores with their applications for the fall 2021 semester. Reed, the executive director of admissions at Texas A&M University, said more than two-thirds of applicants to the College Station school submitted scores.
National experts say if schools want to make it clear they are truly test-optional, then they need to remain agnostic toward the exams. On some university websites, schools will say students won’t be negatively impacted if they don’t submit test scores but simultaneously encourage students to submit scores if they have them.
“Once they start making recommendations, it’s going to be interpreted as we would prefer this,” said Akil Bello with the National Center for Fair and Open Testing, an organization that works to “[eliminate] the racial, class, gender, and cultural barriers to equal opportunity posed by standardized tests.” “You see the same thing with [Advanced Placement] testing. … AP classes are optional, but kinda not really.”
The confusion that test-optional policies can create for families is one reason St. Mary’s University in San Antonio became the first university in Texas to become “test-free,” meaning it does not consider standardized test scores at all.
Rosalind Alderman, St. Mary’s vice president for enrollment management, said an analysis of student data determined that for the vast majority, the standardized test did not provide any additional information as to whether students would successfully make it to their sophomore year.
“Everyone’s worried about putting your best foot forward,” she said. “Sometimes families ... they kind of want a yes or no, and so [we said], ‘No, we’re not considering it.’”
While a majority of Texas universities have committed to continuing test-optional policies for the near future, some universities across the country have announced they’re beginning to require the scores again.
Earlier this month, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology announced it was bringing back the test requirement. The University of Georgia system recently reinstated its test-optional policies at all universities except at the University of Georgia, Georgia College and State University, and Georgia Tech.
Urquidez said she’s worried MIT’s decision will give colleges “permission” to bring the exams back at their schools, even if their circumstances around selectivity are different than MIT’s.
“There’s some institutions that are going to say we found ways to adjust, but higher ed is guilty of [saying], ‘This is the way we’ve always done it. This is always a little bit easier.’”
Disclosure: Baylor University, Prairie View A&M University, Rice University, Sam Houston State University, Texas A&M International University, Texas A&M University, Texas Tech University, the University of Texas at Arlington, the University of Texas at Dallas, the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley, the University of Texas at Austin, the University of Houston, the University of North Texas and West Texas A&M University have been financial supporters of The Texas Tribune, a nonprofit, nonpartisan news organization that is funded in part by donations from members, foundations and corporate sponsors. Financial supporters play no role in the Tribune’s journalism. Find a complete list of them here.
This story comes from our KHOU 11 News partners at The Texas Tribune, a nonprofit, nonpartisan media organization that informs Texans - and engages with them - about public policy, politics, government, and statewide issues.
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https://www.wfaa.com/article/news/local/texas/the-pandemic-showed-some-texas-universities-that-they-didnt-need-the-sat-they-might-never-go-back/285-68be46a2-4ecc-4e27-bee0-d518d782c402
| 2022-04-28T13:57:02
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https://www.wfaa.com/article/news/local/texas/the-pandemic-showed-some-texas-universities-that-they-didnt-need-the-sat-they-might-never-go-back/285-68be46a2-4ecc-4e27-bee0-d518d782c402
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BINGHAMTON, NY (WIVT/WBGH) This weekend you can tour the campus and student housing of SUNY Broome.
SUNY Broome is holding their Spring Open House this weekend on Saturday, April 30, from 9 a.m. until Noon at the SUNY Broome Ice Center. SUNY faculty and staff will be present and ready to talk to you about why SUNY Broome is the right choice for you. They will be able to discuss tuition, support services, a diverse range of academic programs, and campus activities.
During the event, you can tour the campus and student housing, get free SUNY Broome gear, Enter a raffle for $250 towards textbooks, and enjoy a free meal. Registration is required.
The schedule of events for the day is below:
- 9 AM: Spring Open House Begins
- 9 AM-Noon: You can explore over 55 degree and certificate programs, and learn about student support services, campus life, and on-campus housing.
- 10 AM & 10:30 AM: There will be financial aid workshops
- 11 AM-Noon: There will be breakout sessions with academic areas of interest
Masks are required for unvaccinated and partially vaccinated individuals while inside the buildings at SUNY Broome. If you have COVID symptoms, SUNY says that their academic team will help you schedule a virtual visit and a tour at a later date.
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https://www.binghamtonhomepage.com/local/suny-broome-hosts-open-house-saturday/
| 2022-04-28T14:20:52
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https://www.binghamtonhomepage.com/local/suny-broome-hosts-open-house-saturday/
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ROCHESTER, Minn.- There will be a WE forum today in Rochester. This stands for 'Women Entrepreneurs' forum.
It will only be in-person and will be located at the Cascade Meadow Wetlands and Environmental Science Center on Saint Mary's campus.
The focus of this forum will be on arts and entrepreneurship.
Organizers will teach creative women, who own their own businesses, how to connect with their audience and how to price their products.
Featured panelists are:
Michelle Fagan: Fagan Studios
Naura Anderson: Threshold Arts
Annie Mack: Singer and performer
This event will be from 8-9 a.m. on April 28th. Admission is free and open to the public, but registration is required.
If you're interested you can sign up using the link attached right here.
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https://www.kimt.com/news/local/women-entrepreneurs-forum/article_579865a4-c6ec-11ec-9acd-379099cb8d29.html
| 2022-04-28T14:28:51
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https://www.kimt.com/news/local/women-entrepreneurs-forum/article_579865a4-c6ec-11ec-9acd-379099cb8d29.html
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Police are looking for two people on a motorcycle who yanked handbags from a half-dozen women and punched some of them in the face during an 80-minute robbery spree in the Bronx last week, authorities said late Wednesday.
According to the NYPD, all six robberies happened between 1 a.m. and 2:20 a.m. last Wednesday and involved women between the ages of 23 and 35 years old. All but one of the victims was punched in the face prior to having their purses stolen.
They were attacked on six different streets, police say -- Crotona Park, Jessup Avenue, Boston Road, Archer Street, East 175th Street and Robert Avenue by Bruckner Boulevard.
Police released surveillance footage of the suspects (above) from the sixth robbery. Anyone with information is asked to call Crime Stoppers at 1-800-577-TIPS.
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https://www.nbcnewyork.com/news/local/6-women-attacked-by-punch-throwing-nyc-purse-thieves-on-motorcycle-in-80-minutes/3667749/
| 2022-04-28T14:41:06
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https://www.nbcnewyork.com/news/local/6-women-attacked-by-punch-throwing-nyc-purse-thieves-on-motorcycle-in-80-minutes/3667749/
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Police are looking for two masked suspects -- one in a white surgical mask, the other in a dark-colored one -- they say broke the window of a car, with the driver sitting in it, at a Brooklyn intersection and stole the driver's wallet, phone and car keys before fleeing.
According to the NYPD, the 40-year-old victim was sitting in his car at the corner of Fifth Avenue and 34th Street around 5:20 a.m. Saturday when one stranger walked up to his car. That person broke a window and demanded money from him while displaying some sort of sharp object, authorities say.
When the victim refused, the suspect pulled out a gun, police say, and took the man's wallet, phone and keys. The victim ran away from the scene while the suspect drove off in his car, picking up a second individual a few blocks away before speeding away.
The victim’s vehicle is described as a 2005 gray Mazda Mazda3. The two doors on the left side of the vehicle were replaced and are black in color.
Authorities released surveillance footage of the incident (above). Anyone with information is asked to call Crime Stoppers at 1-800-577-TIPS.
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https://www.nbcnewyork.com/news/local/nyc-driver-runs-in-terror-as-armed-window-smasher-steals-wallet-car-cops/3667798/
| 2022-04-28T14:41:25
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https://www.nbcnewyork.com/news/local/nyc-driver-runs-in-terror-as-armed-window-smasher-steals-wallet-car-cops/3667798/
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Police are looking for a man who attacked a 38-year-old woman in the heart of midtown Manhattan early one Saturday this month after following her, authorities say.
The woman was walking near Avenue of the Americas and West 46th Street around 4:30 a.m. April 16 when the stranger started to follow her, according to the NYPD.
He pushed her into a storefront, then started fondling her chest, cops say.
The woman pushed the man away and he fled into the subway station at West 47th Street and Avenue of the Americas. No physical injuries were reported.
Police released surveillance footage of the suspect (above). Anyone with information is asked to call Crime Stoppers at 1-800-577-TIPS.
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https://www.nbcnewyork.com/news/local/stranger-pushes-woman-into-storefront-in-midtown-sex-attack-cops/3667788/
| 2022-04-28T14:41:26
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https://www.nbcnewyork.com/news/local/stranger-pushes-woman-into-storefront-in-midtown-sex-attack-cops/3667788/
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'New modes of transit.' Bird electric scooters roll into Canton
CANTON – Residents and visitors now can rent Bird electric scooters to ride across the city.
Their debut this week resulted from discussions started last summer between Bird and city Planning Director Donn Angus and Neighborhood Planner Cassie Pearson.
"They just emailed us, so we talked to them and we liked their program," Pearson said. "So we just continued to roll with them."
Electric scooters, which can be rented with a phone app, already are a common sight in cities nationwide. Companies include the California-based Bird, Lime and Spin — the latter of which operates in Akron.
"Canton is committed to innovating and embracing new modes of transit, and Bird is known for implementing an excellent scooter program that meets each community's unique needs," Angus said in a city news release. "That's why we've chosen to team up with Bird to create a program that will thrive here."
Bird scooters available in more than a dozen Ohio cities
Bird has scooters in more than a dozen cities in Ohio, according to a company spokeswoman, and expanding into Canton made sense because of its Pro Football Hall of Fame tourism.
Austin Marshburn, director of city and university expansion for Bird, said in the release, "We applaud the city of Canton for their commitment to offering convenient, environmentally friendly and reliable transportation options to residents and visitors."
More:Electric scooters in Cincinnati will be locked at 6 p.m. for safety and to curb crime
Bird plans to deploy about 75 scooters this month and double that amount this summer if the use warrants it. The scooters can travel about 35 miles on a single charge and as fast as 15 mph.
Bird's mobile app on Wednesday showed scooters concentrated along Market Avenue, Cleveland Avenue NW and McKinley Avenue NW in downtown Canton. A few were dispersed farther out — near the Ken Weber Community Campus at Goodwill on Ninth Street SW, along 12th Street NW, and north of U.S. Route 62 on Cleveland Avenue NW.
Pearson said the scooters will be kept on sidewalks when not in use and are meant to be ridden on roads or in bike lanes. There are currently no off-limits or slow areas, as there are in some other cities.
"We do have the opportunity to restrict access to certain areas if needed, but to kind of see where they get the most use to start, they kept it pretty open and available," Pearson said.
She said the hope is to encourage people to explore Canton through a different form of transportation.
Here are some common questions about the scooters:
How do you use them?
- Download the Bird app on your mobile phone.
- Set up your profile and payment method.
- Complete safety tutorials.
- Scan the QR code near the scooter handlebars to ride.
What's the cost in Canton?
- $1 to unlock a scooter and then $0.42 per minute, plus taxes.
- A Community Pricing Program offers a 50% discount to people who have a low income, received a Pell Grant, are veterans or are senior citizens. Some local nonprofits and community organizations also might qualify. Proof of eligibility must be emailed to access@bird.co.
- Free rides are offered to health care workers and emergency personnel. A medical identification card, name and phone number can be emailed to together@bird.co to register.
What about safety and maintenance?
- Scooter safety features include anti-theft encryption, self-reporting damage sensors and puncture-proof tires. Bird also requires riders to verify that they are 18 or older.
- Scooters are maintained by local logistics companies through the Bird's Fleet Manager program.
- The city's codified ordinances also regulate low-speed devices, such as scooters. Rules include yielding to pedestrians and giving an audible signal before passing a pedestrian. A violation is a minor misdemeanor.
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https://www.cantonrep.com/story/news/local/canton/2022/04/28/canton-bird-team-up-bring-electric-scooters-city/9538689002/
| 2022-04-28T15:04:02
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https://www.cantonrep.com/story/news/local/canton/2022/04/28/canton-bird-team-up-bring-electric-scooters-city/9538689002/
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SACRAMENTO, Calif. — You've likely heard of 3D printers. Now, some companies have made them large and complex enough to print houses.
Kristen Henry is the chief technology officer at SQ4D, a New York based technology construction company that makes 3D printers that can build houses.
"A lot of people are starting to become familiar with small-scale plastic 3D printers," Henry said. "Concrete 3D printing is not significantly dissimilar to that. Obviously instead of using plastic filament, we are using this concrete material that we are extruding in layers that we then stack. And as we go up and stack the layers, the layer below has cured enough such that it is strong enough to support the weight."
Henry went on to say with concrete 3D printing, there is no form work or molds or anything required.
"We're able to just stack the beads of concrete on top of each other," Henry said. "So unlike pouring where you have to construct the form work and then let the concrete cure, we are just stacking layers as we go with no manual forming required."
All of SQ4D's 3D printed houses are made of concrete. Recently, a 1,407 square foot project took 80 hours to print just under 20 days.
Zachary Mannheimer is the founder and CEO of the Iowa based company Alquist. Even though they're based in the Midwest, they've built home in Virginia and Oregon. And maybe soon California.
"We are a 3D printing construction company but our goal is to create community and economic development and we're doing that by creating the housing," Mannheimer said. "The number one need in every single community is housing. You can't create community or economic development if you don't have anywhere to live."
Mannheimer's company just built the first 3D owner-occupied home in the world with Habitat for Humanity. Now they're looking to change the way houses are built.
"The construction industry has not adapted or changed in any meaningful way in well over 100 years," Mannheimer said. "We looked at a variety of ways to drop costs. We looked at modular housing, manufactured housing, and both of those certainly work. But we think 3D housing not only allows you to drop the cost of housing, but also customize the home in a much more unique, innovative way."
How much of a saving is there? Mannheimer says significant. And those savings don't just come from materials. He said a 3D printed home built with concrete would use less energy compared to a traditional stick built home.
"So right now, we know that 3D printing just in general will save between 10 and 15 percent versus a traditional stick-built home," Mannheimer said. "In a place like California, it's probably going to be significantly higher. Just because of the average price that folks are paying for homes."
So why aren't we seeing more 3D housing?
"We are averaging roughly 50 requests per hour for 3D homes right now since Christmas," Mannheimer said. "It's been crazy. Every state in the nation has reached out. There's over 12 countries in the world that have reached out to us. So we can't keep up with this demand. There's needs to be 50 more companies like this, to really fill the gap we see, especially in a place like California."
But is 3D printing the solution for California's housing crisis? Tyler Pullen, a PhD student in urban planning at UC Berkeley's Terner Center for Housing Innovation, said housing is so complex and the idea is too new to say completely if it is the answer.
"They're coming at it from the perspective of a pretty fundamentally different way of doing construction," Pullen said. "Maybe there's plenty of time savings and cost savings to be seen, but I think my reflex is I haven't yet seen them. And I don't think there is any one size fits all silver bullet to the housing crisis, especially affordable housing."
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Northern California growing into 'mega-region' as people moving from the Bay to Sacramento doubles
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https://www.abc10.com/article/news/local/california/are-3d-printed-homes-the-solution-to-californias-housing-issues/103-ee4d791c-2774-4446-8d9f-8d30849586f4
| 2022-04-28T15:42:05
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https://www.abc10.com/article/news/local/california/are-3d-printed-homes-the-solution-to-californias-housing-issues/103-ee4d791c-2774-4446-8d9f-8d30849586f4
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NAU is part of a five university consortium that recently received a grant to improve cybersecurity education. Students at each university will have online access to cybersecurity classes at all of them, starting in the fall semester.
“Society has been very quickly moving into new territories and then the type of remedies we had five, ten years ago are not good enough and that's essentially the environment we have,” said professor of nanotechnology and cybersecurity Bertrand Cambou. “I don't mean to be alarmist, but recognizing the threat is also the first step.”
The program, which also includes Northeastern, the University of Texas-Austin, the University of Houston and the University of South Carolina, received the grant through VICEROY (Virtual Institutes for Cyber and Electromagnetic Spectrum Research and Employ). It is funded through the Griffiss Institute in partnership with the Air Force Research Laboratory Information Directorate and the Office of the Undersecretary of Defense.
“Scholarships associated with the program will support participation of ethnically and economically diverse undergraduate students and ROTC cadets over a two-year period. The program also will provide DoD-related undergraduate research, capstone and internship opportunities,” according to an NAU press release
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Each university will start by bringing what they already have, though Cambou said NAU was in the process of expanding its cybersecurity program with two new professors joining at the start of the next school year.
Cambou develops cybersecurity for NAU and works on cybersecurity fraud for the Air Force during the summer. He is co-PI on the project at NAU alongside James Palmer, who he described as the “expert on education.”
He made sure to note that this is a wider group effort at NAU who “each have a piece to contribute.”
Cybersecurity is an in-demand career at the moment. Cambou mentioned program alumni who now work in Tucson, Colorado and even Silicon Valley.
“In our country, because cybersecurity is a problem, we also have hundreds of thousands of job openings. This is one of the fastest growing areas,” he said.
The United States is “falling behind” on cybersecurity, he said, in part because it has not been as much of a focus as it needs to be.
“The situation is, the way of life is becoming more and more online,” he said. “We buy online, [do] finance and communications. Then at the same time, you have all the threats. All the organized criminals, foreign countries attacking us…Cybersecurity is essentially a stretch because we use cyber more and more and the securities less and less because it’s too broad.”
The kinds of threats are also becoming greater, he said, noting that power grids and hospitals were among those vulnerable to attack.
“The threats are much more than what they used to be ten years ago,” he said. “...Here you have people stealing your money, affecting your life, shutting down things, which means the stakes are higher than ever …and this is just the beginning.”
The university’s cybersecurity program started in 2016.
“It's a wonderful team we have,” Cambou said. “On and off we have about 25 researchers in the lab, several of my colleagues are involved. We have a strong group of graduate students, which is a lot of fun.”
“The big picture is there are a lot of technologies we can bring…At the university, we need to look at what’s next, we need to bring technology that’s ahead of the need,” he said.
It’s a lot for students to learn, he said, requiring a baseline of mathematical knowledge–60% of his classes are math, he said.
Cambou described it as ”education that is more demanding than what the vast majority of what students want to do.”
The program focuses on cybersecurity for engineering (which he described as “getting into the guts of it and finding real solutions to the problem”), rather than on the user end.
“The vast majority of universities are offering what students like, which is more on an application standpoint...In this field, that’s not what we need. We need people who are going to be willing to tackle the tough, engineering things…not in a user standpoint but how to essentially get into the deep detail," he said.
Some of NAU cybersecurity research focuses Cambou mentioned included nanotechnology, developing cryptographic protocols and protecting from quantum computer attacks. As of January, Cambou said, Intel has been financing part of their research and they have other industry partners such as Lockheed Martin.
“On every device you have you use components. They each are different and we can actually use that fingerprint to authenticate, to protect and we developed technology connecting each device to security,” he said of the nanotechnology.
He also mentioned that the department has been “prolific” in its publications and that it had 60 granted and pending patents.
Students in the program come from a variety of fields–electrical and computer engineers, computer scientists, physicists. Cambou also noted that they have diverse backgrounds as well. About half the team are women and they have several Hispanic, Navajo and Asian researchers as well, he said.
“When you have these multi-discipline [students], they have to work together,” he said. “...They have to enjoy interacting with each other, helping each other. Some of the research programs, the students are very isolated, but then of course it becomes a problem when they get the job, which very often requires this kind of partnership.”
More about NAU’s cybersecurity program is available at nau.edu/cybersecurity.
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https://azdailysun.com/news/local/education/nau-part-of-consortium-working-to-improve-cybersecurity-education/article_295cb2aa-c29e-11ec-a8c8-0704e0ba30e5.html
| 2022-04-28T15:43:25
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https://azdailysun.com/news/local/education/nau-part-of-consortium-working-to-improve-cybersecurity-education/article_295cb2aa-c29e-11ec-a8c8-0704e0ba30e5.html
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Flagstaff City Council had a special work session on Monday to review applicants to the vacant seat left by the resignation of Vice Mayor Becky Daggett.
The session included five-minute presentations and the public posting of applications from 14 applicants. Council was charged with selecting which of the 14 applicants would advance to a public interview set to take place Thursday. After struggling through a request for public discussion, city council eventually moved to executive session and selected six applicants: Al White, Alethea Karlin, Joe Washington, Khara House, McKenzie Jones and Samantha Stone.
During this first session, all applicants had the option of electing that their application be discussed publicly during Monday’s meeting. Out of the 14 applicants, only one applicant elected to have their candidacy discussed publicly.
That applicant was Eva Putzova, former city councilmember and congressional candidate. Putzova initially entered Flagstaff city politics in 2012, when she applied for a similarly vacant city council seat. She was not appointed in 2012, but proceeded to run for a council spot in 2014 and was elected with the most votes a first-time candidate had ever received, claiming nearly 18% of all votes in a race of six candidates.
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After four years of service on Council, Putzova also ran a 2020 congressional campaign but did not advance past the Democratic primary.
Putzova presented herself on Monday as an applicant experienced with Flagstaff City Council who places priorities in quality of life, labor rights and transparent government. To that end, she put herself forward for public discussion of her application so that the decision to advance or withhold Putzova from an interview on Thursday had to be discussed and determined publicly during Monday’s meeting.
“It is in the public's best interest, and in the interest of good governance, to be transparent,” said Putzova of her choice to opt in for public discussion.
It was immediately clear that Putzova’s bid for transparency caused tension among councilmembers. The resulting discussion of Putzova’s application and qualifications was stilted and side-stepping at best. Far more focus was put on the process of determining how many applicants would be selected than on the qualifications of Putzova herself.
“Talking about Eva right now and trying to determine whether or not we want to see her in an interview is tricky without talking about our top six, or whatever the number is,” Councilmember Adam Shimoni said.
“This feels a little bit like putting the cart before the horse to be discussing this application without the benefit of hindsight on how the interview process went for all 14 candidates,” said Councilmember Austin Aslan.
Mayor Paul Deasy and City Attorney Sterling Solomon repeatedly attempted to refocus the conversation, but ultimately there was little discussion about Putzova’s qualifications. Deasy made specific reference to voting data he believed was evidence of public support for Putzova. Aslan stated that Putzova was obviously qualified and that he was “not ready to preclude” Putzova from Council without an interview. Shimoni agreed that she should be given the chance for an interview, but did not elaborate on his reasoning at length.
Three other members -- new Vice Mayor Miranda Sweet, Councilmember Jim McCarthy and Councilmember Regina Salas — offered little to no comment about Putzova’s specific qualifications. Salas proposed that all 14 applicants be offered interviews.
Sweet commented that she saw “value in having someone jump in who has experience,” but also value in “new voices, new vision, new thoughts.” The comments did not seem specific to Putzova, as she was not the only applicant with former experience sitting on city council.
McCarthy did make a specific comment about Putzova, but seemed to rebuke her for electing to have her application discussed publicly.
“This whole conversation is awkward,” McCarthy said. “The reason it's awkward is because one candidate asked that this be in public. So I think we should note that that candidate created an awkward situation.”
Ultimately, the matter was forced to a roll call, in which three “nays” from Sweet, McCarthy and Salas deprived Putzova of the Council's majority needed to advance her to the interview process.
Putzova’s appeal to transparency was something of a strategic error, said Al White, another former councilmember and fellow applicant who did not elect to have his application discussed publicly. He explained that while in an “ideal” scenario all applicants would be discussed publicly, he did not expect any applicant to opt in, and therefore did not opt in either.
“I wanted to be able to give [Council] the opportunity to compare all of the applications at one time to make the shortlist,” said White. “Whereas if you do it in public, you basically pull yourself out of that process. And, as Eva found out, if you force the issue, you may not get what you want.”
White also observed that there was little to no discussion about Putzova’s qualifications, and said the use of closed-door executive sessions can potentially “shortchange” the public.
“Nobody dove in to do an in-depth investigation into her application,” he said. “The three people who voted nay said nothing. They said nothing about what they saw in the application. I think they just felt like she's forcing the issue."
In an interview with the Arizona Daily Sun, Salas expanded upon her reason for voting not to advance Putzova. She said that while Putzova served on city council between 2014 and 2018, she was “one of the most polarizing and divisive members on the council.”
Salas also said she believed Putzova had a history of making politically inappropriate statements, and that she had received public outreach from her constituents urging her not to support Putzova’s application to city council. Sweet and McCarthy did not return requests for comment.
Public interviews of the six shortlisted city council applicants will take place Thursday at 3 p.m. at Flagstaff City Hall. The public meeting can also be attended virtually or streamed later at www.flagstaff.az.gov/1461/Streaming-City-Council-Meetings.
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https://azdailysun.com/news/local/govt-and-politics/elections/flagstaff-city-council-appointment-proceedings-struggle-with-transparency/article_b94702d8-c683-11ec-bf48-5ff48fe829a8.html
| 2022-04-28T15:43:31
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https://azdailysun.com/news/local/govt-and-politics/elections/flagstaff-city-council-appointment-proceedings-struggle-with-transparency/article_b94702d8-c683-11ec-bf48-5ff48fe829a8.html
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Northern Arizona men's tennis is set to take on the Sacramento State Hornets in the first round of the Big Sky Conference tournament on Friday.
The Lumberjacks return to the bracket as the defending champions, winning the last two times they entered the championship.
The Lumberjacks earned the No. 3 seed and a bye past the quarterfinal match.
Northern Arizona closed out the regular season with an overall record of 18-8 and a 6-2 mark in the Big Sky standings. Three of the six nonconference losses came to ITA nationally ranked teams.
Heading into the conference tourney, junior Alex Groves has kept a tight hold as the team's leading singles player with an overall record of 18-6. Groves' best victory came against the No. 40 Washington Huskies, during which he pulled out the win at the fifth spot of the lineup, earning his team's lone point of the match.
Sophomore Maciej Ziomber is right behind Groves in overall singles with a record of 17-6. Ziomber earned an impressive match victory at the No. 4 spot over the weekend over the Idaho State Bengals, playing a vital role in Northern Arizona's 4-3 win in Flagstaff. He earned a 6-3 first-set win and battled to a 7-6 victory in the second.
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With the longest win streak in singles play, Dominik Buzonics holds a 17-7 singles record and is riding a five-match win streak, primarily playing at court three for the Lumberjacks.
Buzonics and Groves hold a 17-7 record in overall doubles to lead the team.
The Lumberjacks took on the Hornets in Sacramento in March, earning a 5-2 victory as the former handed the latter its first doubles point loss of the season. Eban Straker-Meads, Dani Torres, Ziomber and Groves all brought in match victories at their respective positions, with the doubles point clinching Northern Arizona's first conference victory of the season.
The Hornets enter the tournament as the sixth seed, holding an overall record of 12-10 (3-5 Big Sky). The team is led by Mark Keki, who has showcased a 15-5 record in singles play this season for the Hornets at the team's top flight.
Keki and doubles pairing Mate Voros have only dropped one match through the entire season, as they lead the Hornets in doubles with a 19-1 record. The pairing remains undefeated in Big Sky play.
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https://azdailysun.com/sports/local/nau-roundup-mens-tennis-to-play-in-big-sky-semifinals-friday/article_2b49b916-c64d-11ec-b4c8-c79129d532e1.html
| 2022-04-28T15:43:37
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https://azdailysun.com/sports/local/nau-roundup-mens-tennis-to-play-in-big-sky-semifinals-friday/article_2b49b916-c64d-11ec-b4c8-c79129d532e1.html
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CAMAS, Wash. — Editor's note: The above video originally aired April 25, 2022.
A week-long investigation found some Camas High School junior varsity (JV) baseball players "engaged in racist behavior" during a match against Skyview High School's JV team at Camas on April 20. Witnesses alleged that some Camas JV players made racist comments and noises during the game.
Camas High School Principal Tom Morris and Athletic Director Rory Oster announced the findings of the investigation in a statement on Wednesday. The statement said they were unable to confirm all allegations, but they do confirm that some Camas players engaged in racist behavior.
All Camas JV baseball games will remain suspended "until the situation with Skyview and Camas JV baseball teams is resolved."
School leaders said Camas staff will work with students to determine how to repair the harm done, but did not share information about student discipline.
The statement said, in part, "Their actions and the inaction of the athletes who witnessed these acts, clearly illustrate that a problem exists in our team. We are deeply sorry this occurred and apologize for the harm our players caused to Skyview team members."
This is the second allegation of racist behavior by Camas High teams or spectators in the past six months. In December 2021, the Benson High School girls basketball coach accused the Camas student section of yelling racial slurs at his players during a game in Camas. An outside investigation by Educational Service District 112 determined it was likely that inappropriate language was used, but couldn't confirm if racial slurs were used or which students were involved.
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https://www.kgw.com/article/news/local/camas-junior-varsity-baseball-team-skyview-racist-allegations-investigation/283-57839dfe-aa07-49d4-80c5-da770d42211a
| 2022-04-28T15:48:58
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https://www.kgw.com/article/news/local/camas-junior-varsity-baseball-team-skyview-racist-allegations-investigation/283-57839dfe-aa07-49d4-80c5-da770d42211a
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PORTLAND, Oregon — A Portland mom is thankful that she and her daughter are alive after police said a neighbor broke into her apartment and destroyed it.
"Right now, I don't have a home," said Kimberly Superneau. "There was blood everywhere, glass everywhere. The refrigerator was hanging out the window covered in blood."
Police arrested is 36-year-old Joseph Webb of Kelso after an hours-long standoff with police Monday night. It started around 9:00 p.m. at Superneau’s apartment on the 1000 block of Northwest Naito Parkway. She was home with her 13-year-old daughter when she heard neighbors yelling. They were warning Superneau that Webb had climbed onto the roof before jumping down to her patio. Superneau said she tried talking to Webb.
"I was asking if he was ok, what can I do to help," Superneau said. "He started saying, 'I'm gonna hurt you. You're going to get hurt. I'm going to hurt you,' and so I took off running… I just told [my daughter], 'Get the hell out of the house. Run. Grab Coco and Milano,' our puppy and our kitten."
For the next several hours, Portland police's Special Emergency Reaction Team (SERT) and Crisis Negotiation Team (CNT) members surrounded the apartment. They said Webb had armed himself with knives and a hammer.
"I was just watching him destroy everything, but we made it out alive," said Superneau.
Just before 1:00 a.m., police said Webb agreed to surrender. Medics wheeled him out on stretcher with self-inflicted injuries. No one else was hurt. Webb was booked into the Multnomah County Detention Center on two counts of criminal first-degree criminal mischief and one count of burglary. Bail was set at $60,000.
Court documents show Web has a history of using meth and heroin. He had also been convicted of multiple crimes in Washington including assault, robbery and criminal impersonation.
Superneau said for the past several weeks, Webb had been living in the apartment next door, but didn't go by Joseph Webb.
"It was a false identity," she said.
Superneau said despite losing her home and most of her personal belongings, she’s incredibly grateful that she and her daughter are safe and unharmed.
'We just need to find a home,' said Superneau. 'That's my number one priority; I just need to make sure I'm finding stability for my girl, my daughter.'
To help with that, friends set up a GoFundMe account.
"I'm thankful,” said Superneau. I know we'll get through this."
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https://www.kgw.com/article/news/local/man-accused-of-breaking-into-and-destroying-neighbors-apartment/283-2f87b637-53a4-4964-afa2-3fc0d9751ebe
| 2022-04-28T15:49:04
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https://www.kgw.com/article/news/local/man-accused-of-breaking-into-and-destroying-neighbors-apartment/283-2f87b637-53a4-4964-afa2-3fc0d9751ebe
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GLENDALE, Ariz. — A Valley man fought to care for his siblings, but after having his work hours reduced, his family is at risk of losing their childhood home unless they can get nearly $14,000 in a week.
When Raul Acosta was 18 years old, he was forced to step up and care for his seven siblings. His mother had become ill, and she could no longer care for them.
“My mom ended up passing away, and then I ended up being a dad to seven kids essentially,” he said.
He ended up becoming his siblings legal guardian with the help of a pro-bono attorney.
The father of Acosta and the siblings died three years later, at which point Acosta's life had drastically changed.
No family members were willing to take in the seven children. So, Acosta became the legal guardian and conservator of his brothers and sisters; the youngest was just a year and a half old.
“I took on the responsibility. I wasn’t willing to let them go into foster care, get separated, and having to find each other later on,” Acosta said. “It could be tragic.”
Attorney Sandra Creta was sought out by Children’s Legal Services to help the family stay together.
“I was so impressed by his maturity,” Creta said when first meeting Acosta. She was initially concerned about granting guardianship of seven children to a 21-year-old.
“The fact that he had already been packing lunches, braiding hair, changing diapers, using his money from his job at Burger King to fix up the house for years,” she added. “He was already the dad to the little ones.”
Acosta struggled but was able to raise the children and pay the mortgage by working as a tow truck driver until the pandemic hit.
His hours were reduced, and it was hard for him to make ends meet on top of losing state benefits, like food and cash assistance and Medicaid in December.
Two of his siblings have since turned 18 and moved on, but Acosta and his other five siblings are at risk of being homeless.
The now 26-year-old got behind on mortgage payments and now needs to pay $13,728.40 by May 6. If he doesn't, his family will lose their childhood home.
“It got rough, and now they’re trying to sell the house essentially, foreclose on it,” he said.
Creta reached out to the Association of Sole Practitioners and Small Firms of Arizona to help her get the mortgage loan in Acosta’s name. Andera Gutierrez and Danielle Graham stepped in to help.
“He didn’t ask for help, but there was no way I was letting this family lose their home,” Creta said.
While they help Acosta with legal matters, they have also set up a GoFundMe account to help raise the money needed to stop future foreclosure threats. You can help the siblings by donating here.
“We’re hoping to save it and fix it up; there’s a lot of things that need work around it,” Acosta said. “It’s not the prettiest, but it’s a roof over our head.
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https://www.wfaa.com/article/news/local/26-year-old-glendale-man-raising-7-siblings-facing-foreclosure-and-needs-communitys-help/75-c67026ca-4345-4cfb-8d00-3f9b5e803759
| 2022-04-28T16:10:47
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https://www.wfaa.com/article/news/local/26-year-old-glendale-man-raising-7-siblings-facing-foreclosure-and-needs-communitys-help/75-c67026ca-4345-4cfb-8d00-3f9b5e803759
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GUILFORD COUNTY, N.C. — A Guilford County woman who was abandoned at birth is now graduating from Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University as the president of her graduating class.
Angel Thomas was left under an outdoor stairwell at a Greensboro apartment complex in November 1999. She was found by a woman early in the morning and was later adopted by her now-parents. Thomas was raised in Gibsonville and went to T. Wingate Andrews High School while also doing various youth and leadership development activities throughout her childhood. In 2018, she won Miss Teen Greensboro and was the first runner-up in Miss Teen North Carolina.
Now 22, Thomas is about to graduate from Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University with a degree in Aeronautics and minors in Business and Occupational Safety.
"Through everything that’s ever happened in my life I’ve just kind of kept this attitude of being positive and staying focus(ed) toward the future and knowing that even though your past is a part of you it’s not something that’s ever going to define you," Thomas said.
The Gibsonville native originally went to Embry-Riddle in the hopes of becoming a pilot, but that changed.
"It’s OK to change your mind," said Thomas on what advice she would give to other prospective students. "You don’t have to have every single thing figured out throughout your whole journey as a college student. Just follow your heart and do what feels right for you and that’s when you really find your happiness as a student."
Now, she wants to go into the occupational safety industry as either a safety specialist or some form of a safety manager.
"My adopted mom she’s always said to me that it’s not where you come from but where you go," said Thomas.
Thomas officially graduates on May 7 when she says she plans to celebrate with her family visiting in Florida.
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https://www.wfaa.com/article/news/local/guilford-county-woman-abandoned-at-birth-soon-to-graduate-college/83-73a52857-b4b6-46b3-8128-93394ee86ce5
| 2022-04-28T16:10:53
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https://www.wfaa.com/article/news/local/guilford-county-woman-abandoned-at-birth-soon-to-graduate-college/83-73a52857-b4b6-46b3-8128-93394ee86ce5
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A 25-year-old Manhattan man has been arrested on a felony assault charge in connection with a stabbing and slashing at a Westchester County country club parking lot that left two victims bloody, authorities said Thursday.
Elijah Santiago, who was working as a valet at V.I.P. Country Club in Westchester County's New Rochelle at the time of the Wednesday night attack, is also accused of criminal possession of a weapon, a misdemeanor, officials said.
Investigators believe Santiago got into an argument with the two victims, both of whom were also working as valets at the country club on Davenport Avenue. It's not clear what they fought about, but cops responded to a call about a stabbing around 11 p.m.
Responding officers found one of the victims stabbed in the abdomen and another with a laceration to his back. Both were taken to a hospital, where the stabbing victim underwent emergency surgery and was last said to be in critical condition.
The victim slashed in the back was treated for his injuries and released.
Santiago was apprehended at the dead-end of Davenport Avenue, police say.
Information on a possible attorney for him wasn't immediately available.
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https://www.nbcnewyork.com/news/local/1-stabbed-in-gut-1-slashed-as-fight-among-valets-breaks-out-at-ny-country-club-cops/3667940/
| 2022-04-28T16:12:25
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'I'm not a bad person' | Virginia 'squatter' tells her side of the story
The woman says she helped rescue the house from a mess and cheer up an older man who was lonely while he gave her and her daughter a place to live after her divorce.
After days of speculation about the identity of the person living in the basement of a viral Zillow listing, the woman has come forward to tell her side of the unusual story.
"That's not true what they're talking about me," Nelly told WUSA9. "I'm not a bad person."
And she's more than a social media mystery, says the woman who asked that her last name not be used in an attempt to maintain some privacy.
Last week, her Fairfax, Va., home - that is not her house - went viral when it sold for more than $800,000 with the condition that it came with a person living in the basement who did not have a lease.
"We have a really nice relationship," Nelly said about the arrangement with the now previous owner. The house, she says, is where she and her daughter formed a kind of second family.
How It All Began Homeowner Makes Contact
Sometime around 2017 Nelly says she started cleaning the house every other week for the owner who had emailed her cleaning business.
When she first went inside Nelly said there was a lot of work to be done with multiple rooms full of trash. "It was so scary," she said of the house that looked "haunted."
But in addition to help cleaning, she says the older man needed a friend and offered for Nelly, her daughter, and her husband to move in while she helped with the house.
"'I have to go'," she says she told him. "'No, Nelly - if you leave I'm going to die who's going to take care of me?'" she said he pleaded.
Moving In 'I was so depressed'
After about a year of cleaning the house, Nelly and her husband split up.
"I was so depressed and sad about everything and my daughter, too," and then the homeowner wasn't the only one who needed a friend, she said.
So, Nelly asked if the offer still stood for her to move in. And she says the man welcomed them in.
"That day he gave me a big hug and said, 'From today we will be a family,'" she recalled. "He was (like) my father."
But now the man is said to be sick and in the hospital and the house just sold with Nelly and her daughter still in it.
What's Next for Nelly? 'That's not my house...he's not there.'
But she says she has no plans to stay there.
"No," she said. "That's not my house...he's not there. What is the reason to stay there if he's not there?"
Nelly says the man's family gave her little notice of their intent to sell and she had no idea of the attention the listing was getting until friends pointed it out.
She says she and her daughter and their dog will be out by this coming Saturday and says she has a place to go.
Right now, she says, her bigger concern is the health of the now previous owner.
"I want to say how much I love him. That's all. I don't care about this mess," she said.
Nelly says the man's family has tried to kick her out before, but she says the homeowner wouldn't have it and begged her to stay when she would suggest she should leave.
WUSA9 hasn't been able to reach the man's family for their side, but Nelly says she wishes them nothing but the best.
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https://www.5newsonline.com/article/news/local/virginia-home-squatter-living-basement-sold-805-000-woman-nelly-speaks-about-how-it-started-exclusive-interview/65-df33133a-9651-40c7-970e-a3108956cb34
| 2022-04-28T16:30:53
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https://www.5newsonline.com/article/news/local/virginia-home-squatter-living-basement-sold-805-000-woman-nelly-speaks-about-how-it-started-exclusive-interview/65-df33133a-9651-40c7-970e-a3108956cb34
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PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) — Portland-area beer hall Loyal Legion is opening a reservation-only cocktail bar in Beaverton on Thursday.
Flora is a new type of cocktail bar in the upstairs space of Loyal Legion‘s downtown Beaverton location. It’s a hidden, intimate and refined cocktail bar.
Kohr Harlan shares a sneak preview of the specialty bar and talked to Tiana Stuart who will be serving up cocktails.
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https://www.koin.com/local/new-reservation-only-hidden-cocktail-bar-opens-in-beaverton/
| 2022-04-28T16:35:24
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https://www.koin.com/local/new-reservation-only-hidden-cocktail-bar-opens-in-beaverton/
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PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) — A Clackamas man is facing at least 10 years in prison after prosecutors say he robbed a local public house at gunpoint and stole several cartons of cigarettes.
Prosecutors said 40-year-old Dustin Lee Henderson held up the Lighthouse Pub in Clackamas with a handgun more than two years ago on November 22, 2019. He was convicted on Wednesday.
Surveillance footage from the scene showed Henderson hand a bag to a clerk and take five cartons of cigarettes. According to a release from the U.S. Attorney’s office in Oregon, he then fired a round when the pub’s owner chased him through the parking lot.
No injuries were reported in the release.
Officials said police later found a .22 caliber bullet casing around the scene and arrested Henderson at a nearby mobile home lot. While carrying out a subsequent search warrant, investigators found the stolen cigarettes and a .22 pistol later linked to Henderson through DNA analysis, officials said.
Officers from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives investigated the case along with the Oregon State Police and Clackamas County Sheriff’s Office.
A federal jury in Portland indicted Henderson on January 22, 2020 and found him guilty on Wednesday on multiple charges:
– Interfering with commerce with threats or violence
– Possessing a firearm in furtherance of, and using and carrying a firearm during and in relation to, a crime of violence
– Illegally possessing a firearm as a convicted felon
He now faces a 10-year mandatory minimum sentence, with a $250,000 fine and five years of supervised release and a maximum sentence of life in prison.
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https://www.koin.com/local/clackamas-county/man-faces-prison-after-robbing-clackamas-pub-at-gunpoint/
| 2022-04-28T17:05:42
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https://www.koin.com/local/clackamas-county/man-faces-prison-after-robbing-clackamas-pub-at-gunpoint/
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ROCHESTER, Minn. - Sunday is the start of Motorcycle Safety Awareness Month.
As we see warmer weather - and it finally decides to stick around - we'll also be seeing more motorcycles on the road.
Last year, just under 70 motorcyclists died in Minnesota, according to the MN State Patrol.
To make sure we don't see those numbers get any higher, State Patrol is giving some reminders to stay safe on those roads.
Make sure you have the right gear - everything from the boots, to the jacket, to the helmet.
"it's also important that it's high vis just so you can be seen easier at these intersections where we talked about the crashes that are intersection related," said Sgt. Troy Christianson. "So really anything you can wear just to be seen with high visibility would really be great for all motorists to be safe."
As the weather moves more to spring-like weather, there will be left over salt on the roads, so be sure you take it slow and safe around corners.
And before you step on that motorcycle, make sure you're prepared.
"We'll probably see a lot more motorcycles this year, just because of the higher gas prices. So we typically see more people riding motorcycles. So if you do ride a motorcycle - make sure you get one that fits the size for you. And also make sure you take a riders safety course. Just so you can maneuver the bike and operate it comfortably on the roadways," said Sgt. Christianson.
Give yourself and the motorist a little more than a 2.5 second following distance between vehicles. And if you're a motorcyclist, keep your eye on the weather to try and avoid rainy conditions which can lead to hydroplaning.
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https://www.kimt.com/news/local/motorcycle-season-is-just-around-the-corner-and-heres-how-to-stay-safe-on-the/article_bdd81bac-c6ec-11ec-a2ee-bf8c43c6521c.html
| 2022-04-28T17:22:00
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https://www.kimt.com/news/local/motorcycle-season-is-just-around-the-corner-and-heres-how-to-stay-safe-on-the/article_bdd81bac-c6ec-11ec-a2ee-bf8c43c6521c.html
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Alliance named finalist for All-America City Award
ALLIANCE – The city is a finalist for an All-America City Award.
The National Civic League and the Campaign for Grade-Level Reading on Thursday released a list of 20 cities across the U.S. that were chosen based on their dedication to early school success and equitable learning recovery.
Along with Alliance, honorees included cities such as Chicago, Los Angeles, Atlanta and Omaha.
Barberton was only other city in the Buckeye State to receive the distinction.
More:Mahoning County library cardholders can now check out iPads for free
The All-America City Award recognizes communities that use civic engagement, collaboration, inclusiveness and innovation to address issues in the area.
This year's theme is “Housing as a Platform to Promote Early School Success and Equitable Learning Recovery.”
The selection committee evaluated factors such as digital equity, relation support systems, out-of-school learning opportunities, transforming non-school spaces into learning environments, promoting school readiness and parent involvement in its decision-making process.
The awards event and competition will be held virtually from July 19 to 21.
Residents, nonprofits, businesses and government leaders will present their efforts and discuss how they represent this year's theme during the event.
Other finalists include:
• Des Moines, Iowa
• El Paso, Texas
• Kansas City, Missouri
• Louisville, Kentucky
• New Haven, Connecticut
• Palacios, Texas
• Phoenix, Arizona
• Portland, Maine
• Roanoke, Virginia
• Sacramento, California
• San Antonio, Texas
• Springfield, Massachusetts
• Suncoast, Florida
• Tarpon Springs, Florida
The All-America City Award has been given annually to 10 cities across the country since 1949.
Reach Paige at 330-580-8577 or pmbennett@gannett.com, or on Twitter at @paigembenn.
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https://www.cantonrep.com/story/news/local/alliance/2022/04/28/alliance-named-finalist-all-america-city-award/9568398002/
| 2022-04-28T17:36:34
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https://www.cantonrep.com/story/news/local/alliance/2022/04/28/alliance-named-finalist-all-america-city-award/9568398002/
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Republican U.S. Senate candidate J.D. Vance to stop in East Canton Saturday
The Repository
EAST CANTON – Republican U.S. Senate candidate J.D. Vance will bring his campaign to the Foltz Community Center at 8:30 a.m. Saturday.
Vance will be joined by Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., as he continues his campaign ahead of the May 3 primary election.
The stop is part of Vance's "No BS Tour." He will also make appearances on Saturday in Newark and West Chester.
Gaetz and Georgia Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene will join Vance at the Newark and West Chester stops.
Vance is one of five candidates in the Republican primary hoping to succeed Rob Portman. The others are Jane Timken, Josh Mandel, Matt Dolan and Mike Gibbons.
Vance spoke to about 60 Stark County voters at the Foltz Community Center in March.
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https://www.cantonrep.com/story/news/local/stark-county/2022/04/28/republican-u-s-senate-candidate-j-d-vance-stop-east-canton/9569199002/
| 2022-04-28T17:36:40
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https://www.cantonrep.com/story/news/local/stark-county/2022/04/28/republican-u-s-senate-candidate-j-d-vance-stop-east-canton/9569199002/
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https://www.abc10.com/video/news/local/van-stolen-from-sacramento-man-with-muscular-dystrophy/103-31d7a86a-ace6-4491-b394-30e2005b531d
| 2022-04-28T17:39:42
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https://www.abc10.com/video/news/local/van-stolen-from-sacramento-man-with-muscular-dystrophy/103-31d7a86a-ace6-4491-b394-30e2005b531d
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Lawyers representing the 62-year-old man accused in an allegedly premeditated rush-hour transit attack that left nearly two dozen injured, 10 of them by gunshots, in Brooklyn on April 12 say the FBI unconstitutionally questioned and searched their client, Frank James, in his cell earlier this week, court papers obtained Thursday show.
In a letter sent to U.S. Magistrate Judge Roanne L. Mann of the Eastern District of New York and dated Thursday, attorneys Mia Eisner-Grynberg and Deirdre D. von Dornum claim FBI agents went to James' cell at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn on Tuesday, questioned him, took DNA swabs and told him to sign certain documents.
It was 12 days after he had been appointed legal counsel, the attorneys say, and they received no advance notice of the FBI's intentions.
"Contrary to standard practice, the government committed this intrusion absent advance notice to counsel, depriving us of an opportunity to be heard or to be present." Neither did the government provide subsequent notice to counsel," the lawyers said.
Furthermore, the search warrant approving DNA swabs to be taken from James wasn't provided to him, the lawyers said. They claim they only got a copy of the warrant when they asked -- after James had told them what happened and the search was completed, the letter to the judge says.
"It is the standard practice in this District that when the government obtains a search
warrant for buccal swabs from a represented, post-arraignment defendant, the government informs counsel of same before its execution, and offers an opportunity to be present," the lawyers wrote. "This serves as a safeguard to protect the rights of represented defendants. Here, because the government failed to provide notice to counsel before questioning and searching Mr. James, their practice risked violations of Mr. James’s core constitutional rights under the Fourth, Fifth and Sixth Amendments."
News
The attorneys asked for a court order to compel the government to give them the underlying affidavit upon which the warrant was issued so they can file to suppress any evidence of any kind that was collected during that meeting earlier this week.
An email request for comment to the Eastern District wasn't immediately returned.
James was arrested -- after allegedly tipping police off himself to his location -- on April 13 in the East Village, more than 24 hours after his alleged crimes shook the city, already grappling with a spike in violent subway incidents, to its core.
The suspect made his first appearance in Brooklyn federal court later that same day the day, as federal, state and local law enforcement agencies worked to piece together the details of the 62-year-old Black man’s life. He was ordered held without bail.
James didn't speak at the hearing other than to nod when a judge asked if he understood the federal charge against him. He waived his rights to a preliminary hearing and was ordered to undergo a psychiatric evaluation at the time.
"The defendant’s attack was entirely premeditated. The day before the shooting,
the defendant picked up a U-Haul in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, which he drove over the Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge and into Brooklyn in the early morning hours of April 12," prosecutors said in the detention memo. "The defendant came to Brooklyn prepared with all of the weapons and tools he needed to carry out the mass attack."
Those items, according to court papers, included a Glock 17 pistol bought by the suspect, a container with gasoline, a torch and fireworks with explosive powder. All were later found on the platform at the 36th Street and Fourth Avenue subway station.
Law enforcement officers recovered a stockpile of weapons and ammunition from other locations allegedly controlled by James, prosecutors said. They found an empty magazine for a Glock handgun, a taser, a high-capacity rifle magazine, and a blue smoke canister in the apartment where he stayed before traveling to Brooklyn. They also found a propane tank, pillow and chair in the U-Haul linked to the scene. The propane was being used with a heater, according to a senior law enforcement official.
From James' storage unit, investigators recovered 9mm ammunition, a threaded 9mm pistol barrel that allows for a silencer or suppresser to be attached, targets, and .223 caliber ammunition, used with an AR-15 semi-automatic rifle.
As for the gun he had on the subway to allegedly carry out the attack, investigators said he had three magazines that held 30 rounds each — up to 90 bullets in all. Some officials also said they think one smoke grenade might have accidentally been set off prematurely on that train, prompting James to allegedly begin shooting.
Read the full detention memo below.
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https://www.nbcnewyork.com/news/local/crime-and-courts/lawyers-for-accused-subway-shooter-frank-james-allege-fbi-illegally-searched-him-this-week-want-evidence-tossed/3668020/
| 2022-04-28T17:44:17
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https://www.nbcnewyork.com/news/local/crime-and-courts/lawyers-for-accused-subway-shooter-frank-james-allege-fbi-illegally-searched-him-this-week-want-evidence-tossed/3668020/
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WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden and first lady Jill Biden were set to host their first official film screening at the White House on Thursday.
The Bidens will show HBO’s “The Survivor,” in honor of Yom HaShoah and Holocaust Remembrance Week, in the White House movie theater on the ground floor of the East Wing.
The film tells the story of boxer Harry Haft, who put the lives of fellow concentration camp prisoners at risk to save his own. The movie dramatizes Haft’s experience in Auschwitz, a central part of the Nazi death camp system.
An estimated 1.3 million people were deported to Auschwitz in German-occupied Poland and at least 1.1 million died, according to its museum and memorial website.
Director Barry Levinson, actor Ben Foster, who plays Haft, the film’s producers and representatives of the American Jewish Community were expected to attend, the White House said.
HBO debuted “The Survivor” on Wednesday to mark Holocaust Remembrance Day. The film honors the 6 million Jews who died as part of Nazi Germany’s mass murder of European Jews.
The White House movie theater dates to President Franklin D. Roosevelt, who had a cloakroom in the East Wing converted into a theater, where he watched news reels, including of World War II battles being fought in Europe and Asia.
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https://www.cbs42.com/local/bidens-to-show-the-survivor-for-holocaust-remembrance-week/
| 2022-04-28T17:56:06
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NEW YORK (AP) — It started in 1948 as a society midnight supper, and it wasn’t even at the Met.
Fast forward 70-plus years, and the Met Gala is something totally different, one of the most photographed events in the world for its head-spinning red carpet — though the famous carpeted steps of the Metropolitan Museum of Art aren’t always red. We’re talking Rihanna as a bejeweled pope. Zendaya as Cinderella with a light-up gown. Katy Perry as a chandelier morphing into a hamburger. Also: Beyoncé in her “naked dress.” Kim Kardashian in a face-covering bodysuit. Billy Porter as an Egyptian sun god, carried on a litter by six shirtless men. And Lady Gaga’s 16-minute striptease.
Not to forget, the Met Gala is still a fundraiser — last year the evening earned more than a whopping $16.4 million for the Met’s Costume Institute. Let’s also not forget that it launches the annual spring fashion exhibitthat brings hundreds of thousands of visitors to the museum.
But it’s the Met Gala carpet itself (now watchable for everyone, on livestream) that draws the world’s eyes, with the guest list strategically withheld until the last minute — a collection of stars from movies, music, fashion, sports, politics and elsewhere that probably makes for thehighest celebrity wattage-per square foot of any party in the world.
Herewith, a primer for the 2022 Met gala, which is on May 2:
AGAIN, ALREADY?
Yes, we just did this in the fall. The annual fundraiser for the Met’s Costume Institute is traditionally held the first Monday in May, but because of the pandemic, a postponed gala was held in September.
WHO’S HOSTING THE 2022 MET GALA?
This year’s hosts are Regina King, power couple Blake Lively and Ryan Reynolds, and Lin-Manuel Miranda.
September’s slate of hosts included Timothée Chalamet, Billie Eilish, Amanda Gorman and Naomi Osaka.
Of course, Vogue’s Anna Wintour is supervising the whole shebang as she has since the ’90s. Her fellow honorary co-chairs are designer Tom Ford and Instagram head Adam Mosseri.
IS THERE A THEME FOR THE MET GALA?
Of course. The Met Gala theme for this year is “Gilded glamour, white-tie,” guests have been told.
As usual, the sartorial theme comes from the exhibit the gala launches: “In America: An Anthology of Fashion,” which is the second of star curator Andrew Bolton’s two-part show exploring the roots of American style.
This one will showcase some lesser-known designers, and also some top film directors, including Sofia Coppola, Martin Scorsese, host King, and last year’s Oscar winner Chloé Zhao. Their work will be displayed in the period rooms of the American Wing, so expect some grand fashion, like those gowns from HBO’s “The Gilded Age.” Artfully ripped jeans, this time? Not so much.
DOES EVERYONE FOLLOW THE MET GALA THEME?
Not really. Some eschew it and just go for big and crazy. But expect some guests to have carefully researched the theme and to come in perfect sync with the exhibit. It was hard to beat the carpet, for example, when the theme was “Catholic imagination” and Rihanna came as the pope, Zendaya channeled Joan of Arc, and Perry navigated the crowd with a set of enormous angel wings.
HOW MUCH DO I HAVE TO PAY FOR A MET GALA TICKET?
Wrong question. You cannot just “buy” a ticket. The right question is, IF I were famous or powerful and got invited, how much would it cost?
IF I GOT INVITED TO THE MET GALA, HOW MUCH WOULD IT COST?
Well, you might not pay yourself. Generally companies buy tables. A fashion label — Michael Kors, for example — would then host its desired celebrities, or fashion muses. But each paid seat reportedly costs around $35,000, though some guests are invited for free.
SO WHO GETS INVITED TO THE MET GALA?
This year, there will be 400 guests — similar to the September gala, and lower than pre-pandemic highs of 500-600. Trying to predict? Take out your pen and jot down some A-listers, the buzzier the better.
Newly minted Oscar or Grammy winners, for example — or fashion favorites like Chalamet, who wore white Converse shoes last year. Do the same with pop music, sports, politics, fashion of course … and Broadway, a special favorite of Wintour’s (and remember, Miranda’s a host this year). Now, cross everyone off your list except the very top.
At the Met Gala, everybody’s A-list.
THAT MUST BE AN EXAGGERATION.
Not really. Ask Tina Fey. She went in 2010 and later described walking around trying to find somebody “normal,” e.g. not too famous, to sit and talk with. That ended up being Barbara Walters.
HOW CAN I GET INVOLVED IN THE MET GALA?
Well, these days you can watch the whole carpet unfold on livestream. And really, the carpet is the party. (Ask Gaga!)
If you’re in New York City you can also join fans across the street from the museum on Fifth Avenue, and even further away on Madison Avenue, pressed up against police barricades. You might get lucky: Last year, Chalamet ran over to greet his admirers.
DO WE KNOW WHO’S COMING? AND WHO ISN’T?
Like we said, it’s secret. But reports slip out, often about who is not coming. Fashion favorite Zendaya has confirmed she has other plans. And Rihanna is about to give birth, so we’d assume she’ll skip, but then again, she’s Rihanna so let’s not assume anything.
WHAT HAPPENS INSIDE THE MET GALA?
Entering the museum, guests walk past an impossibly enormous flower arrangement in the lobby (one was over 250,000 white roses) and over to cocktails, often held in the airy Petrie Court. Or, they head to view the exhibit.
Around 8 p.m., they’re summoned to dinner — perhaps by a team of buglers (“Are they going to do that between every course?” actor Gary Oldman asked aloud one year.) We can’t personally describe anything beyond that, either dinner or the musical performance, but you can find clips of Rihanna singing on the table tops in the documentary “The First Monday in May,” and it looks fun.
IS IT FUN FOR EVERYONE?
Occasionally, someone says no. Fey, in a comic rant to David Letterman in 2015, described the gala as a “jerk parade” and said it included everyone you’d ever want to punch, if you had millions of arms.
Amy Schumer said she felt awkward and left “earlier than should be allowed.” But most profess to having fun.
Then there was Joan Collins, who arrived channeling her imperious “Dynasty” character, Alexis, in 2018, ready to have a blast, but seeking liquid sustenance. “I’m having a great time,” she told The Associated Press. “I’d be even better if I had a drink.”
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https://www.cbs42.com/local/met-gala-returns-a-guide-to-fashions-big-night/
| 2022-04-28T17:56:13
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LONDON (AP) — Prince Andrew has lost another ceremonial honor as groups throughout Britain cut ties to the royal disgraced by allegations of sexual misconduct.
The council in the northern city of York on Wednesday night voted unanimously to withdraw the prince’s “freedom of the city.” The honor was awarded to Andrew in 1987 after Queen Elizabeth II made him the Duke of York.
Andrew is the first person to be stripped of the status, a purely ceremonial honor that dates back to medieval times when “freemen” enjoyed special privileges. Honorees include the actress Judi Dench and Princess Anne, Andrew’s sister.
Andrew was stripped of his honorary military roles in January amid the furor surrounding a lawsuit alleging he had sex with a 17-year-old girl and fears that the scandal would taint the House of Windsor. The queen also removed his honorary leadership of various charities, known as royal patronages, and barred him from using the title “his royal highness” in official settings.
Andrew later settled the lawsuit, agreed to pay his accuser an undisclosed sum that the British media has suggested could be as much as 12 million pounds ($15 million). He denies the allegations.
York City Councilor Darryl Smalley said the city was just following the example set by the queen in removing Andrew’s titles.
“She saw that it was doing serious reputational damage to those military institutions and charities and so stepped in to remove him from those positions,” Smalley told ITV News. “We believe very strongly, and many residents agree with us, that we should be removing all links between our city and Prince Andrew.”
Smalley and other local leaders have argued that Andrew should also lose the title of Duke of York.
“York has a fantastic relationship with the monarchy going back hundreds of years. It’s something we cherish,” he said. “We can’t cherish it whilst we have Prince Andrew as our most senior royal.”
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https://www.cbs42.com/local/prince-andrew-stripped-of-freedom-of-city-by-york-council/
| 2022-04-28T17:56:21
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https://www.cbs42.com/local/prince-andrew-stripped-of-freedom-of-city-by-york-council/
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A 6-month-old boy was badly hurt but is expected to survive after his mother allegedly dropped him from a second-floor balcony in Brooklyn, then woke up the infant's father to tell him what she had done, authorities said Thursday.
Police were called about the incident at a multi-family home on 51st Street around 4 a.m. The baby was said to have suffered arm, body, leg and hand injuries.
He remained hospitalized as of Thursday afternoon.
His parents were being questioned, police said. The mother is also undergoing a psychiatric evaluation.
No other details were immediately available. Police say their investigation is ongoing.
Copyright NBC New York
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https://www.nbcnewyork.com/news/local/mom-drops-baby-from-nyc-balcony-then-wakes-up-dad-to-tell-him-cops/3668130/
| 2022-04-28T18:18:39
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https://www.nbcnewyork.com/news/local/mom-drops-baby-from-nyc-balcony-then-wakes-up-dad-to-tell-him-cops/3668130/
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Police in New Jersey are looking for whoever stole an ATM from a Chase Bank and drove off with it, leaving drag marks -- and loose cash -- in the parking lot on their way out, authorities say.
The standalone ATM was yanked from the bank on Route 1 in South Brunswick around 3:30 a.m. Tuesday, authorities said. Police declined to say how much cash was taken, describing it as tens of thousands of dollars.
Thousands more dollars were left scattered in the parking lot at the bank, and cops spent some time picking up the cash to return it to the bank, officials said.
Police believe the thieves used a stolen car with chains to pull the ATM from its platform, all in 90 seconds. The stolen car was left at the scene and the suspects took off in a van. All that, combined with the fact they had on hoods and gloves, leads them to believe it was a professional heist, police officials close to the investigation said.
No arrests had been made as of mid-afternoon Thursday. The investigation is ongoing.
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https://www.nbcnewyork.com/news/local/pros-eyed-in-90-second-atm-heist-at-nj-chase-bank-loose-cash-scattered-in-parking-lot/3668100/
| 2022-04-28T18:18:45
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https://www.nbcnewyork.com/news/local/pros-eyed-in-90-second-atm-heist-at-nj-chase-bank-loose-cash-scattered-in-parking-lot/3668100/
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DALLAS — Note: The video above was uploaded in April 2021.
The Dallas Holocaust and Human Rights Museum is mourning the loss of one of their co-founders.
The Museum announced the death of 94-year-old Max Glauben on Holocaust Remembrance Day.
Max Glauben was a survivor of the Holocaust. He was born in 1928 and grew up in Poland with his family.
When Germany invaded, Glauben was 11 years old. He went through many hardships including starvation, illness and his family's murder. He was also sent to multiple slave labor camps and on a death march.
Max Glauben and his fellow inmates were freed by the U.S. Army in 1945. In 1947, he immigrated to the U.S. and served in the army. He was stationed in Fort Hood before eventually moving to Dallas.
“Max embodied the spirit of resiliency. He turned the atrocities inflicted upon him, his family, and six million Jews during the Holocaust into a message of kindness, love, and optimism,” said Museum President and CEO Mary Pat Higgins. “He taught us that there is hope in hopelessness and that one person can make a difference.”
Glauben shared his story at schools and by getting involved in the International March of the Living. According to the Museum, the march leads people to Poland and Israel to learn about the Holocaust and the roots of antisemitism.
The Dallas Holocaust and Human Rights Museum was opened in 2019, but it was passion project since the late 1970s. Glauben joined a group of other survivors that wanted a memorial to honor their loved ones and educate future generations.
In 2020, Glauben got an honorary degree from Southern Methodist University for his work. He was also honored by the Museum last November with the Hope For Humanity Award.
Max Glauben is survived by his wife of almost 70 years, their three children, seven grandchildren and three great-grandchildren.
May his memory be a blessing.
Note: The following video was uploaded in August 2019
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https://www.wfaa.com/article/news/local/dallas-holocaust-museum-co-founder-dies-max-glauben/287-d491106b-5eb5-4e5b-8697-b0f2499d142f
| 2022-04-28T18:19:41
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https://www.wfaa.com/article/news/local/dallas-holocaust-museum-co-founder-dies-max-glauben/287-d491106b-5eb5-4e5b-8697-b0f2499d142f
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LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — Arkansas Attorney General Leslie Rutledge announced Thursday the state will be suing Family Dollar stores after inspection reports showed several instances of rat infestations months before the chain issued a recall.
"Family Dollar has had knowledge of this dangerous and massive rodent infestation for over two years, yet they continued to sell and profit from potentially contaminated goods," Rutledge said in the statement.
The lawsuit claims that Family Dollar knew about the rodent infestation at its West Memphis distribution center for years but allowed the unsafe products to be sold at hundreds of their stories in Arkansas and five other states.
"Their total disregard for safety endangered Arkansas consumers and forced hundreds of employees to work in unsafe conditions at the West Memphis Distribution Center."
Rutledge is seeking punitive damages, restitution, and civil penalties through the Arkansas Deceptive Trade Act, pointing out that many rural Arkansas communities depend on discount stores like Family Dollar. "Consumers lost money and could have lost their lives," the statement said.
On Friday, Feb. 18, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced that more than 1,000 rodents were found inside a Family Dollar distribution facility in Arkansas.
The chain issued a voluntary recall that impacted over 400 stores in the South, including 85 Arkansas stores.
An inspection report from March 3, 2021 states the facility violated Code 11.35(c) after "significant rodent activity" was observed in the aisles of the store where human and pet food was located.
The report also stated that management of the Family Dollar was "aware of the current rodent issues at the facility" and that the "issue has been ongoing for approximately 60 days," putting the initial onset of the infestation near the beginning of January 2021.
Another inspection in September 2021 of the Family Dollar distribution center noted there had been "live rodents in a box of Pringles."
Three months later, in December, a complaint was filed that said an employee saw three rats on his desk at a distribution center in West Memphis.
In a statement, the FDA said it is "urging caution around any items purchased since Jan. 1, 2021, at Family Dollar stores in Alabama, Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, or Tennessee."
After fumigating the facility, more than 1,100 dead rodents were recovered, officials said.
Rutledge filed the lawsuit in the Pulaski County Circuit Court. Each violation is subject to a fine of up to $10,000.
(Note: The attached video is a report from February 2022.)
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https://www.5newsonline.com/article/news/local/arkansas-sues-family-dollar-rat-infestation/91-5f46c500-87a0-4233-a7d1-7fe226eb9723
| 2022-04-28T18:45:44
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https://www.5newsonline.com/article/news/local/arkansas-sues-family-dollar-rat-infestation/91-5f46c500-87a0-4233-a7d1-7fe226eb9723
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PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) — Jose Monroy Castaneda’s family is preparing to lay him to rest after he was shot to death in Southeast Portland early Saturday morning.
While out on patrol, Portland police said officers found Castaneda shot around 1:12 a.m. near SE 136th Avenue and Powell Boulevard. Medical personnel got to the scene, but he didn’t survive, police said.
His death has been ruled a homicide. No information has been released on a suspect so far, and no arrests have been reported.
Castaneda, a father, had just celebrated his 52nd birthday with family weeks ago.
“I’m speaking out as my father lays in the next room because I think it’s important to understand that these people who are experiencing gun violence have communities and family members that care deeply about them,” his daughter Laurel Monroy said.
His family has set up a GoFundMe asking for help paying for funeral expenses.
Police asked anyone with information to contact Detective Sean Macomber or Detective Rico Beniga and reference case number 22-107170.
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https://www.koin.com/local/multnomah-county/family-mourns-man-shot-to-death-in-se-portland/
| 2022-04-28T19:07:50
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https://www.koin.com/local/multnomah-county/family-mourns-man-shot-to-death-in-se-portland/
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PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) — During a press conference Thursday, community leaders in Old Town called on city and county leaders to do more to curb crime and get people off the streets.
“In April alone, almost half the homicides in Portland were in Old Town,” said Society Hotel owner Jessie Burke.
The community-driven strategy aims to help Old Town recover and address the district’s rising crime rates, houselessness and addiction. However, the Old Town Community Association says the City of Portland Multnomah County has made “little progress” as the plan reaches its halfway point.
In the initial 90-day plan, the community looked to remove 33% of tents off the district’s 68 blocks. With tents still propped up, leaders scrapped the initial plan to remove 33% of tents.
“The goal for Old Town is that we need no human living on the sidewalk. It is not safe and I will not pretend that even a small decline in tents is improving our safety here,” Burke said. “Anything is safer than this.”
Within the first 90 days, community members hoped to create a safer, cleaner and accessible environment. The district hoped to increase trash clean-up, increase street lighting and decrease crime rates across the board.
Since the pandemic began, there’s reportedly been 32 times higher rate of person-on-person crime, 29 times higher rate of society crimes and 21 times higher rate of property crimes in Old Town.
Ian Williams, owner of Deadstock Coffee, said prior to the pandemic there was only one theft at the shop but over the last two years there’s been four thefts.
Further, 250 tents are reportedly propped up across the district’s 68 blocks.
“The reality is as we do this work we find ourselves mobilizing resources to provide short term solutions to long-term problems,” said Steve Wytcherly with Downtown Portland Clean & Safe. “We’re not addressing the root causes of the challenges we face — not just in Old Town but the city. And our community problems are very graphic — we see them, we feel them and we hear them.”
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https://www.koin.com/local/multnomah-county/old-town-sees-little-progress-midway-through-90-day-reset-plan/
| 2022-04-28T19:07:56
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https://www.koin.com/local/multnomah-county/old-town-sees-little-progress-midway-through-90-day-reset-plan/
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SACRAMENTO, Calif. — California's budget surplus has soared to a record $68 billion, Senate Democrats said Thursday, fueling a range of new spending proposals that include giving $8 billion back to taxpayers in the form of $200 checks.
In January, Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom estimated California would have a $29 billion surplus this year. But since then the state has collected a lot more in taxes than it had expected as wealthy people — who pay much higher taxes in California — got richer.
The new projected surplus is an estimate based on preliminary numbers from the Legislative Analyst's Office. The official estimate will be announced next month after April tax collections conclude. But Wednesday's announcement confirms California's budget surplus will be much larger than previously announced.
Wednesday, Democrats who control a majority of seats in the state Senate revealed how they would spend that money. The package includes a “Better for Families Rebate,” which would send a $200 check to every taxpayer who makes less than $125,000 per year, or $250,000 per year for couples who file joint returns. The state would also send $200 checks for each dependent, meaning a family of five would get $1,000.
That proposal puts Democrats at odds with Newsom, who has proposed sending checks as large as $800 to people who own cars in California to help offset record high gas prices. Newsom says his plan will cost about $9 billion.
Both Newsom and Democratic lawmakers who control the Legislature have said they want to get these checks to taxpayers as soon as possible. But so far, they haven't been able to agree on how to do it. In general, Democratic lawmakers don't like Newsom's plan because it would only benefit car owners. Newsom's plan also includes $750 million to give people free rides on public transit for three months.
“We stand ready to act as soon as the Governor joins us in supporting a plan that provides stronger relief for California families,” the Legislature's top two leaders, Senate President Pro Tempore Toni Atkins and Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon, said in a joint statement earlier this week.
The Senate spending plan also proposes billions of dollars in aid for small businesses. It includes $10 billion in rebates over 10 years to businesses with 250 employees or less. This would essentially act as a tax cut for small business owners who are having to pay off a debt in the state's unemployment trust fund.
RELATED: Bill seeks to ban prosecutors from using rape kit DNA to arrest a victim for unrelated crime
The plan would also give about $500 million in grants to businesses with as many as 150 employees to offset the cost of a new law requiring them to give workers up to two weeks off in paid sick leave because of the coronavirus pandemic.
The plan wouldn't just spend money. It would also put more money into the state's savings accounts, bringing the state's reserves to a total of $43.1 billion — the most ever.
Senate Republicans have proposed their own priorities, which include suspending the state's gas tax — which, at 51.1 cents per gallon is the second highest in the country — and creating a $10 billion “Mental Health Infrastructure Fund” to help pay for care of the state's homeless population, which includes many people with mental illnesses.
“We’ve ignored the mental health and substance abuse treatment needs of far too many Californians for far too long, mostly because we have failed to invest in the facilities and workforce necessary to provide the needed help,” Republican Sen. Patricia Bates said last week when announcing the plan.
Republicans only control nine of the Senate's 40 seats, meaning they can't pass their budget priorities on their own.
The proposal from Senate Democrats only represents one side of budget negotiations. Any budget proposal must also be approved by the Democratic-controlled state Assembly and Newsom. Newsom is scheduled to update his budget proposal by May 15.
“With this budget, the Legislature and the Governor will be taking the same responsible and effective path we’ve been on for over a decade now. Only this year, we’re able to help even more people, bolster their ability to achieve their dreams, and ensure there will be both resources and a more equitable system in place now, and for future generations of Californians," Atkins said in a news release.
ABC10: Watch, Download, Read
Watch more from ABC10
Northern California growing into 'mega-region' as people moving from the Bay to Sacramento doubles
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https://www.abc10.com/article/news/local/california/california-senate-leaders-say-budget-surplus-at-68b/103-7f1666c3-c639-4a53-80c1-70fd6401b93b
| 2022-04-28T19:32:26
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https://www.abc10.com/article/news/local/california/california-senate-leaders-say-budget-surplus-at-68b/103-7f1666c3-c639-4a53-80c1-70fd6401b93b
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TURLOCK, Calif. — A controversial musical is back on after it was abruptly shut down earlier this year.
Turlock High School announced on its Facebook page its spring musical "Be More Chill" is returning in mid-May for a weekend of shows "following behind-the-scenes discussions and additional preparation." The musical was originally shut down by the school's director and site administrator after one performance for its mature content.
Written by Joe Iconis, "Be More Chill" is a sci-fi musical that takes place in high school, where the main character struggles to choose between popularity and being his true self.
"Due to mature content/themes, children under 13 will not be permitted without a parent/guardian," the school said in its Facebook post.
The show is scheduled to run May 13 - 15. Tickets go on sale Monday, May 2.
Turlock High School cast member Evan Espinosa spoke to ABC10 at the time of the cancelation and said a lot of parents were supportive of the show.
"I just want people to know that the arts should be embraced and creativity is an amazing thing that everyone should embrace and accept," Espinosa previously told ABC10.
READ MORE FROM ABC10:
- UC Native American Opportunity Plan to allow for free schooling at California universities
- Sacramento City Unified proposes adding six days to the school year due to the strike
- Some California school districts launch transitional kindergarten without state help
- Debt-free college: California’s on the verge of spending over a half-billion dollars to help 360,000 students
ABC10: Watch, Download, Read
Watch more from ABC10
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https://www.abc10.com/article/news/local/turlock/be-more-chill-back-on-turlock-high-school/103-4c4a6ff6-31b8-41ad-909b-950fda8f9008
| 2022-04-28T19:32:32
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https://www.abc10.com/article/news/local/turlock/be-more-chill-back-on-turlock-high-school/103-4c4a6ff6-31b8-41ad-909b-950fda8f9008
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Two of three young people wounded when gunfire erupted on a Queens street a day ago appear to be innocent bystanders caught in the fray, including a 14-year-old girl who was shot in the neck, a senior NYPD official with direct knowledge of the investigation said Thursday.
A motive for the violence that broke out just after 4 p.m. on 188th Street between 48th and 50th avenues in Fresh Meadows is still unclear, the official said, but at this point, it looks like the girl and one of the 18-year-olds who were shot were not intended targets.
She was shot once in the neck and was said to be the most severely injured of the three. She remained hospitalized in critical condition Thursday afternoon but is expected to survive, officials said. The two 18-year-olds were the others shot. One was hit in the stomach, the other in the hip. Both of them are expected to be OK.
And both of them reported running from the scene after the shooting, the senior official says. In the case of one of them, cops responding to a 911 call from a home on 69th Avenue found him wounded inside and brought him to get help. During a follow-up interview at the hospital, he allegedly told cops he was walking in the area with a group of friends when they met up with another group he didn't know and started walking.
At some point, as they were walking north on 188th Street, they saw two double-parked vehicles in the street with multiple people standing outside, the senior NYPD official said. Those people started yelling in the group's direction and multiple shots were fired. That's when, according to what the NYPD official said the victim told investigators, he felt pain in his leg. And he ran to his home around the corner in fear.
The third victim also lived nearby and ran to his house after being shot as well, the senior NYPD official said. The bullet is lodged in his stomach, the senior NYPD official said in Thursday's update. It will have to be surgically removed but he should live.
The victim couldn't provide much additional information other than that he saw two cars stop at the location. He too heard yelling, then shots, then felt pain in his side, the senior NYPD official said he told investigators. He couldn't identify anyone at the scene.
News
Authorities have been canvassing the area for video and other potential evidence. They have cellphone video that captures part of the incident, including the double-parked cars, the people standing in front of them, the yelling and the sound of gunshots.
The shooting group fled the scene in a gray vehicle, the video showed, according to the senior NYPD official. Nine .9mm shell casings and two fired bullets were recovered from the scene, the official added.
Investigators are looking into whether the shooting may have been gang-motivated. They say their probe is ongoing and ask anyone with information to call Crime Stoppers at 1-800-577-TIPS.
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https://www.nbcnewyork.com/news/local/motive-probed-in-shooting-at-nyc-group-heading-for-pizza-14-year-old-girl-hit-in-neck/3668164/
| 2022-04-28T19:49:59
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https://www.nbcnewyork.com/news/local/motive-probed-in-shooting-at-nyc-group-heading-for-pizza-14-year-old-girl-hit-in-neck/3668164/
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No. 20-seeded Flagstaff baseball upset 13th-seeded Coconino, 11-6, in their third matchup of the season, winning in the 4A Conference play-in round on Wednesday at Coconino High School.
Coconino swept Flagstaff last week in both regular-season ballgames but fell short at home to its crosstown rival in the one-and-done contest.
“It’s truly tough to beat somebody three times in a season," Panthers manager Mike Sifling said, "let alone in a week and a half, and today they were just the better team. Hats off to those guys. They came out and they beat us, so kudos to them and coach (Mike) DoBosh and their program over there, and best of luck to them Saturday."
The Eagles, who advanced to the 4A state tournament with the victory, had an offensive explosion in the sixth inning, putting the finishing touches on a game the visitors led the entire way.
Senior Tristen Figueroa scored on a groundout by senior Teague Van Dyke. Senior Chad Philpot scored on a wild throw to first shortly after. Freshman Drew Smith hit a double, bringing one runner home. Jake Carpenter then doubled bringing in two more runs, forcing Coconino to relieve senior pitcher Cole Gillespie. Junior Quinn Mickelson came in to finish the game for Coconino. He did not allow another run in the inning, but the damage had been done with Flagstaff holding a 10-4 advantage. Flagstaff senior Spencer Smith added a solo home run in the top of the seventh to give the game an exclamation point.
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DoBosh is stepping away from the skipper role following this season and got a win in his final game against Coconino.
“It’s a big rivalry. Coco played well all season long; got to tip them a hat. They had a great year. I mean, obviously they beat us twice in the regular season,. The fact that it’s a rivalry you really want and the fact that they beat us twice already, I think it adds a bit more to it," DoBosh said.
Senior Justin Cordasco started the game for Flagstaff, starting for just the second time this season. He pitched 4 1/3 innings and was relieved with a 5-4 lead in the fifth.
Flagstaff jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the first inning with a run by Chad Philpot on a Luke Wilson single.
Flagstaff extended its lead by three in the second. Cordasco supplied himself some early run support with a leadoff home run that just squeezed inside the right-field foul pole. It was Cordasco’s first home run of his high school career.
“Coming out of the box, I thought it was going to be a foul and I was just telling myself, ‘Please don’t go foul, please don’t go foul.’ My first base coach told me to round the bag, and he said, ‘Oh, it’s gone,’ and I just lit up," he said.
Luke Wilson batted two more runs in for the Eagles with a bases-loaded double.
In an early hole, Gillespie was called upon to relieve starter Conner Calahan.
Coconino got its first run of the game on a sacrifice fly from Gillespie in the third inning. Ryker Patten tagged up from third on the play. However, Cordasco pitched out of the jam and incurred minimal damage.
A couple of wild pitches in the fourth allowed Flagstaff’s Van Dyke to work around the base path and score without much batting support, extending Flagstaff’s lead back to four runs.
The Panthers got one back in the bottom half of the inning with a sacrifice fly from junior Tyler Ragan, as junior Jacob Clouse tagged up to score. Sophomore Conner Culwell hit a double shortly after and stole third, but Coconino was couldn't turn the scoring opportunity into runs.
Flagstaff held a 5-2 lead going into the bottom of the fifth inning.
Gillespie was able to bring Coconino within one run of Flagstaff with a two-run shot over the right-center field fence, bringing himself and Tanner Johnson in to score. Cordasco nailed the batter in the next at-bat and was relieved after 4.1 innings with a 5-4 lead.
Drew Smith relieved Cordasco. The first batter Smith faced lined a ball to right field but a sliding effort by senior Layton Hagerman got the second out of the inning and held the runner at first. Flagstaff got out of the inning with a 5-4 lead going into the sixth inning.
The Eagles had their offensive explosion in the sixth inning to essentially put the game away
Gillespie started Coconino’s final rally attempt with a lead-off single. Mickelson was hit by a pitch putting a second runner on. With no outs, Drew Smith was relieved and Van Dyke was given the ball to end the game for Flagstaff.
The first batter Van Dyke faced grounded into a double-play, leaving Flagstaff with just one out to close out the game. Gillespie was able to score from third on a wild pitch, but the Panthers popped out shortly after, ending the game.
“It’s actually really tough because every guy on that team is like a brother to me. I wouldn’t want it to happen to us, so I know I don’t want it to happen to them," said Van Dyke, who transferred to Flagstaff from Coconino. "I know some guys are pretty emotional; I’m pretty emotional. I feel really bad for them, but I’m happy for us as a team.”
Coconino ended the season with a record of 12-7 (9-4 Grand Canyon Region).
Flagstaff (11-8, 6-7 Grand Canyon) will play in the first round of the playoffs beginning Saturday. The ballclub will face third-seeded Salpointe Catholic, the host, as the No. 14 seed.
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https://azdailysun.com/sports/local/flagstaff-baseball-upsets-coconino-advances-to-playoffs/article_a86a3220-c6a4-11ec-9c0e-376bca9c6b3c.html
| 2022-04-28T20:04:02
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https://azdailysun.com/sports/local/flagstaff-baseball-upsets-coconino-advances-to-playoffs/article_a86a3220-c6a4-11ec-9c0e-376bca9c6b3c.html
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ATLANTA — Days after the announcement that Elon Musk was purchasing Twitter for $44 billion, the richest man in the world joked with a tweet about buying Atlanta-based Coca-Cola.
Why? "To put the cocaine back in," referring to the drink's original formula.
He re-tweeted a meme also saying he was going to buy McDonald's in order to fix all the ice cream machines.
"Listen, I can’t do miracles ok," he responded.
So did Coca-Cola actually ever contain cocaine?
The drink was invented in 1885 by Atlanta pharmacist John Pemberton in his backyard. According to the National Institute on Drug Abuse, it contained cocaine in the form of an extract of the coca leaf. In the 1800s, the drug was legal and was a common ingredient in medicine, according to the government agency.
11Alive has reached out to Coca-Cola for a comment on the tweet.
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https://www.wfaa.com/article/news/local/elon-musk-coca-cola-cocaine-twitter/85-10e8152c-2615-4f48-86fe-532ed79c26d0
| 2022-04-28T20:17:02
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https://www.wfaa.com/article/news/local/elon-musk-coca-cola-cocaine-twitter/85-10e8152c-2615-4f48-86fe-532ed79c26d0
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What you need to know about the new Omicron COVID sub-variant in Northwest Louisiana
LSU Health Shreveport has confirmed a new variant of COVID in Northwest Louisiana. This new variant BA.2.12.1 is a sub lineage of the Omicron variant and is making up 20% of the samples collected.
This new variant is a sub lineage of Omicron meaning it originated from the same variant just mutated. The symptoms and severity of this variant are mild.
Dr. Krista Queen, Director of Viral Genomics and Surveillance at LSUHS said that this variant is one to keep an eye on due to its ability to spread. Queen said, "our community transmission is low."
Although this new variant is growing the transmission within this area is not high.
More:Is Louisiana done with COVID? Here's what one of Shreveport's top doctors says
As of April 27, the Shreveport Times reported the average number of COVID-positive patients in the area is nine per 100,000.
Although, the infected amount is low Queen is encouraging anyone up for a booster to receive the dosage because that is the best way to protect yourself.
Queen said it is to early to know all about this variant but it looks similar to Omicron. "We are watching the growth in the Ark-La-Tex," Queen said.
Makenzie Boucher is a reporter with the Shreveport Times. Contact her at mboucher@gannett.com.
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https://www.shreveporttimes.com/story/news/local/2022/04/28/new-omicron-covid-sub-variant-found-northwest-louisiana/9559982002/
| 2022-04-28T20:20:22
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https://www.shreveporttimes.com/story/news/local/2022/04/28/new-omicron-covid-sub-variant-found-northwest-louisiana/9559982002/
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Shreveport VA hospital no longer on water contingency plan
The Shreveport Overton Brooks VA Medical Center announced Thursday that they have taken the facility off a water contingency plan.
On April 19, the VA informed the public that they were placing the facility on a water contingency plan after water samples tested positive for coliform bacteria.
According to the EPA, coliforms are a group of related bacteria not typically harmful to humans but can be used as an indicator to determine if other harmful pathogens are present.
The VA initially said this plan would be in action until April 22, but have confirmed the results for the negative coliform test were not received until April 25.
The VA said, "we are no longer operating on a water contingency plan. A big thanks to Emergency Management, Engineering Service, Logistics Service and EMS for all their hard work."
More:Shreveport VA hospital on water contingency after testing positive for coliform bacteria
Makenzie Boucher is a reporter with the Shreveport Times. Contact her at mboucher@gannett.com.
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https://www.shreveporttimes.com/story/news/local/2022/04/28/shreveport-va-no-longer-water-contingency-plan/9572272002/
| 2022-04-28T20:20:28
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https://www.shreveporttimes.com/story/news/local/2022/04/28/shreveport-va-no-longer-water-contingency-plan/9572272002/
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SOUTHERN TIER, NY (WIVT/WBGH) — The National Weather Service in Burlington has issued a special weather statement for most of the Southern Tier.
This was to warn of fire weather concerns across Central New York and the Southern Tier of New York throughout the day on April 28. This includes Broome, Chenango, Delaware, Otsego, and Tioga Counties.
According to the NWS, a significantly dry air mass will form across the region as humidity values only reach 25% by midday. Additionally, gusty northwest winds of 20 to 25 miles per hour will be common throughout the afternoon hours with gusts up to 35mph. The highest will be in the Catskills area.
The NWS warned that the combination of dry and windy conditions will allow for fine fuels, such as dead grass and leaf litter to completely dry out, creating risks for fires.
Fires could quickly grow and get out of control due to how dry the air will be in the afternoon hours. This will impact all of Central, and the Southern Tier of New York.
Officials reminded residents that the New York State brush burn ban remains in effect. This prohibits open burning throughout the State until May 14, 2022.
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https://www.binghamtonhomepage.com/local/high-fire-hazard-weather-statement-issued/
| 2022-04-28T20:25:54
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https://www.binghamtonhomepage.com/local/high-fire-hazard-weather-statement-issued/
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Saltillo will usher in its first installment of Rails and Tails, a community-wide crawfish festival. Live music, vendors and plenty of crawfish are in store for those attending. Festivities will begin at 10 a.m., and crawfish will be available starting at noon.
SALTILLO• Saltillo's Main Street Association will host their first iteration of Rails and Tails, a community-wide crawfish festival, Saturday, April 30.
The festival will include live music, food trucks, vendors and, of course, crawfish. Festivities are set to begin at 10 a.m., with crawfish sales starting at noon. The cost will be $20 per plate. The event is free to attend.
Saltillo Main Street Association President Case Knight said he's looking forward to seeing the community come out and support the new event.
"We'll have about 40 vendors that will be there all day," said Knight. "Music starts at noon as well as beer sales and crawfish. We'll have live music from noon to 9 p.m.," he said.
Celebrating Saltillo's roots, Rails and Tails will take place on Mobile Street in downtown Saltillo.
Mobile Street serves as the main thoroughfare for Saltillo. What was once an intersection for the Mobile and Ohio Railroad is now home to many of Saltillo's local businesses.
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"We're trying to give our community more background on the town of Saltillo," said Erica Morgan, who is a committee member for the event.
For those with children, Rails and Tails will include a kids zone that features a magician and face painting.
"We have food trucks like Edible Bliss, The Local Chef and more making an appearance," said Morgan. "We've also got Funky Cones, Tiger Treats and two vendors that will be selling baked goods," she said.
In addition to the festival's many activities, local pottery shop OK Clay will be doing pottery demonstrations throughout the day.
Knight's goal for the inaugural festival is for people to enjoy the event with their loved ones.
"We want people to be able to come out and bring their family," said Knight.
BROOKE BULLOCK BURLESON is a digital producer for the Daily Journal. Contact her at brooke.burleson@djournal.com.
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https://www.djournal.com/news/local/saltillo-rails-and-tails-ready-to-boil-this-weekend/article_26641623-8c86-5242-9272-e1734ee87bf7.html
| 2022-04-28T20:25:54
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https://www.djournal.com/news/local/saltillo-rails-and-tails-ready-to-boil-this-weekend/article_26641623-8c86-5242-9272-e1734ee87bf7.html
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Sosa resigns Deltona commission seat to run for Volusia County Council
David Sosa resigned his Deltona City Commission post this week, effective on Nov. 13, as required in order to run for Volusia County Council.
Sosa’s exit means five of the seven Deltona seats will be open this year.
Sosa won his District 6 seat in 2020, which means the final two years of his term will be on the ballot later this year.
The deadline to file is noon on June 17. Potential candidates can learn more at the Deltona city website, deltonafl.gov.
The primary election is Aug. 23. The general election is Nov. 8.
Refusing tax increases? 3 Volusia County Council at-large candidates face tax-pledge question at Deltona debate
And then there were 2:Paul Zimmerman drops out of Volusia County Council District 2 race
More:Former Volusia Corrections Warden Matt Reinhart enters County Council District 2 race
Mayor Heidi Herzberg is seeking re-election, with Gus Kostianis and Charles Vance Jr., having signed up to challenge her.
District 1, held by Loren King, has two candidates thus far, Thomas Burbank and Brandy White.
District 3 Commissioner Maritza Avila-Vazquez is seeking a second term, facing a challenge by Tara D’Errico.
Donald Freeman is the lone candidate for the open District 5 seat, held by Victor Ramos, whose term is up in November and is also a candidate for the County Council.
Ramos and Sosa will both compete for the County Council’s District 5 seat, now held by former Deltona commissioner Fred Lowry, who’s running for Volusia County School Board.
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https://www.news-journalonline.com/story/news/politics/elections/local/2022/04/28/sosa-resigns-deltona-commission-seat-run-volusia-county-council/9572298002/
| 2022-04-28T20:38:44
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https://www.news-journalonline.com/story/news/politics/elections/local/2022/04/28/sosa-resigns-deltona-commission-seat-run-volusia-county-council/9572298002/
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VANCOUVER, Wash. — After a short delay caused by the unexpected spring snow storm earlier this month, the City of Vancouver has now opened its second Safe Stay Community. The transitional housing site provides basic shelters for homeless people who would otherwise be living on the street.
"Hope Village" rests on a city-owned property along East Fourth Plain Boulevard, joining another site on Northeast 51st Circle in east Vancouver that opened in December.
"Since opening, this community has successfully provided residents with referrals for permanent housing, job placement support, and access to critical health and treatment services necessary to exit homelessness," city officials said of the original site.
Overseen by the nonprofit Living Hope Church, the Fourth Plain site includes 20 temporary modular shelters that could house as many as 40 residents working to transition out of homelessness.
The site also attempts to provide lower barriers for entry, a frequent disconnect between shelters and the community they serve. Hope Village does not allow drug use on the property, but residents don't need to be clean and sober to qualify for entry. Residents are also allowed to keep their pets.
Charles Stuart works with Living Hope Church, and he'll be living on-site to help manage it. He's also very familiar with the challenges that residents have faced and will continue to struggle with.
"I've been homeless off and on for a little over 20 years," Stuart said. "I will say mainly due to drug addiction. I've got about two and a half years sober, clean and sober now. I found Living Hope church. That's been big, a really big part of my life."
Eddie Gresko will be one of the first residents at the village. While having a dry place to sleep is a perk, he's most looking forward to having some privacy and security.
"It's more worrying about my stuff than where I sleep," Gresko said. "It's easy to find a place to sleep as long as it's out of the wind and rain, that's easy. It's keeping all your things — not getting stolen, losing them, people walking off with your stuff — that's more about it."
It isn't just pragmatism that brought Gresko to Hope Village — he found some room for optimism.
"I'm kind of tired of being homeless, that's kind of what it was," he said. "And at least this will help me out until hopefully I get into housing ... which, fingers crossed on that."
Vancouver has an estimated 500-600 people currently living outside. It wasn't long ago that the city had few, if any people on the streets, according to Mayor Anne McEnerny-Ogle. The journey to addressing the issue has been long, and required a city government willing to become familiar with what life is like for the homeless.
"We've had councilors take care of food and clothing and clean up at shelters," McEnerny-Ogle told KGW. "You know? Don our gloves, tie our hair up and go out and clean. And so it meant a unified council saying 'what's going on here in our community?' Let's actually get our hands dirty and figure out what this all about and figure out how we can solve the problem."
City officials first attempted to address the problem by opening a navigation center to connect people with services, but the center closed after backlash from neighbors.
The Safe Stay Community concept emerged as part of a multi-pronged homelessness response plan developed by Vancouver, which the city has been working to follow dutifully since it was launched.
Portland has been pursuing a similar plan to open shelter communities, dubbed Safe Rest Villages, but the project has been bogged down by some combination of neighborhood pushback and difficulties employing COVID-19 relief funds. Of the six sites identified by city officials, none have yet opened.
McEnerny-Ogle said that there's a big difference between Vancouver's efforts and what Portland is endeavoring to do — one of scale. The smaller city's Homeless Response Coordinator Jamie Spinelli and Neighborhood Liaison Tyler Clary have been coaching local organizations on how to proceed.
"Tyler and Jamie worked with a couple nonprofits to help them understand and mentor them so they could take on the responsibility, but they're only responsible for 20 to 40 people," she said. "Portland — oh my goodness. I know you're looking at some big ... camp opportunities. We don't have the nonprofit people who could do that."
A third Safe Stay Community in Vancouver is expected to open by summer.
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https://www.kgw.com/article/news/local/homeless/vancouver-safe-stay-community-homeless-shelter/283-c118e93b-1f3d-40dc-9dd9-63a40f343d4c
| 2022-04-28T21:03:16
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https://www.kgw.com/article/news/local/homeless/vancouver-safe-stay-community-homeless-shelter/283-c118e93b-1f3d-40dc-9dd9-63a40f343d4c
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PORTLAND, Ore — For 15 years, a Portland woman has been transforming broken skateboards into keepsakes. She recycles pieces that would otherwise end up in a landfill.
Skateboarding is more than a hobby for Lindsay Holmes, it’s carried her to a full-time job.
"You can look at a parking curb or an empty pool and know that these things can be so cool because you can go skate that," said Holmes "I think skateboarding helps you look at the world differently."
Where others see an old skateboard, Holmes sees an opportunity to create something new. That's how she started to cut skateboards open.
"As I started to do that, the colors inside of the skateboard started to show and just I got, really, really excited and remember thinking 'oh my gosh, there’s something magical happening here,'" said Holmes.
She turned that magic into MapleXO, her Northeast Portland business.
“We make recycled skateboard jewelry and accessories," explained Holmes “it was kind of born out of my desire to keep skateboards living forever."
Skate shops and skateboarders around the country donate broken equipment, which Holmes turns into products selling for $30 to $40.
“All of these are old skateboard wheels ... these things will just sit in the landfill forever since they’re made from polyurethane," she explained. "We cut these up and turn them into little planters."
Mackenzie Moss was a MapleXO customer and purchased one of the planters, but the mission at the store kept her around.
"I’ve worked with MapleXO for 6 years," said Moss. "Recycling in any way possible is the most responsible thing we can do right now."
At MapleXO they try to recycle as much of the skateboard as possible — even the tiniest pieces. Small bits of skateboard get extra miles as bottle openers, keychains, planters and jewelry, keeping the Portland company rolling.
"The concept of turning skateboards into new products that can last forever is just something I’d like to help more people to see — turn trash into treasure," said Holmes.
MapleXO has 72 active wholesale accounts worldwide. From coast to coast in the United States as well as overseas in Japan, Germany and Australia. If you're in Portland you can drop off old skateboards at the shop at 2925 NE Glisan and they'll gladly recycle them.
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https://www.kgw.com/article/news/local/maplexo-skateboard-recycle-jewelry-portland-shop/283-6cf9525e-c29d-4ee0-8d82-3972a0ba4b97
| 2022-04-28T21:03:22
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https://www.kgw.com/article/news/local/maplexo-skateboard-recycle-jewelry-portland-shop/283-6cf9525e-c29d-4ee0-8d82-3972a0ba4b97
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U.S. Attorney's Office asked for a second time to investigate NK handling of a coach facing allegation
PROVIDENCE — For the second time in four months, the U.S. Attorney’s Office is being asked to investigate how North Kingstown school officials handled a complaint of a coach acting inappropriately with one or more students – this time an 11-year-old girl.
According to the most recent complaint, filed Thursday on behalf of the parents of the girl, the coach was removed from his position in 2019 only after the parents threatened to seek a restraining order against him.
The parents allege the coach attempted to isolate their daughter, touched her in what “was couched to the child ... as a form of examination or treatment” and eventually ended up “stalking the child” when she resisted “his overtures.”
And the school department now “acknowledges that the complaint these parents filed is now missing,” wrote lawyer Timothy Conlon, representing the parents.
Conlon is also representing several former North Kingstown high school students who alleged last year that then-boys' basketball coach Aaron Thomas performed body-fat tests on them alone and in various stages of undress.
More:Former student sues North Kingstown officials over Aaron Thomas 'fat-testing' scandal
More:Second North Kingstown school administrator resigns amid naked 'fat-testing' scandal
In that case, an independent investigator for the School Committee found that school administrators improperly monitored Thomas’ behavior after complaints arose about him in 2017 and 2018.
In January, Conlon filed a complaint with the U.S. Attorney's Office alleging the school department violated students' civil rights by allowing Thomas to conduct naked “fat tests” on athletes for 20 years. (Thomas has denied any wrongdoing and has not been criminally charged.)
In the separate complaint filed Thursday, Conlon refers to the coach in question as Coach Roe 21. Conlon does not name the sport he oversaw nor where he coached, other than at one of the town’s middle schools.
“There are obvious overlaps” in both complaints, Conlon wrote, “as to the nature of the reported conduct of the individual employee and the practices of [school] officials in addressing that conduct.”
The most recent complaint details how back in 2017 the parents of the then-11-year-old girl discussed with “various officials” concerns they had about a particular coach.
In December of 2018, after months of “frustration with what they viewed as inadequate responses, the child’s mother filed what the school termed a ‘formal complaint’ ... with Dr. Philip Auger,” then superintendent.
Auger, who resigned recently in the wake of the Thomas investigation, responded with a letter, but Conlon says the school department “has not been able to locate the complaint or Auger’s letter response.”
The parents, however, retained an email exchange between themselves and Auger from January 2019.
In it, the complaint says, Auger discusses having received the complaint and wrote: “In our investigation of your concerns, we have found that [Coach Roe 21] has not purposely positioned himself to be in contact with or to intimidate your daughter.”
Auger went on to state: “As I mentioned, we will continue to monitor this situation.”
Auger’s email made no reference to whether the school department planned to inform the state Department of Education of the parents' complaint, nor did it inform them “of their right to seek relief from [the department] or under Title IX,” the federal law which, among other things, protects against sexual harassment.
According to the complaint, the mother felt unsatisfied with that response, so she reached out to School Committee Chairman Gregory Blasbalg, only to be told the school department was dealing with a “far more serious issue at the high school.”
It was only after she told Blasbalg that she intended to seek a restraining order against the coach, the complaint says, that Auger “advised that Coach Roe 21 would no longer be coaching at the school.”
Said Conlon in the complaint: “We have to assume [school officials] took no formal action, however, as Coach Roe 21 immediately sought, and ultimately obtained, a coaching position in another school system for the following season.”
He then lost that position, Conlon wrote, after “at least two sets of parents of female athletes from that school system advised officials there of his having young kids over to his basement for private coaching sessions, and forming relationships with favorite girls.”
The coach has since taken a coaching position with yet another school system, Conlon wrote.
School Committee Chairman Blasbalg did not immediately return a phone message or email seeking comment.
In the complaint, Conlon asks the U.S. Attorney’s Office to investigate “and address these failures or otherwise hold accountable those responsible for these failures.”
Email Tom Mooney at: tmooney@providencejournal.com
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https://www.providencejournal.com/story/news/local/2022/04/28/another-coach-north-kingstown-accused-inappropriate-behavior-youth/9569408002/
| 2022-04-28T21:19:08
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https://www.providencejournal.com/story/news/local/2022/04/28/another-coach-north-kingstown-accused-inappropriate-behavior-youth/9569408002/
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The number of million-dollar single-family residences inside Midland County has more than doubled in the last four years, according to the Midland Central Appraisal District.
MCAD reported that in 2022 there are 699 single-family residences with a valuation at or above $1 million. That is more than double the 343 in 2018 and significantly higher than the 207 in 2015 and 63 in 2012.
That total does not include “ranches” – residential properties on 5 acres or more. MCAD reported there were 48 in 2022. That total is more than triple the 15 in 2012.
Million-dollar real estate
Single-family residences at or more than $1 million
2012 = 63
2015 = 207
2018 = 343
2022 = 699
Residential on 5 acres or more (ranch) at or more than $1 million
2012 = 15
2015 = 33
2018 = 35
2022 = 48
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https://www.mrt.com/news/local/article/Report-Million-dollar-homes-in-Midland-Co-nears-17133358.php
| 2022-04-28T21:20:02
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https://www.mrt.com/news/local/article/Report-Million-dollar-homes-in-Midland-Co-nears-17133358.php
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ROSEVILLE, Calif. — Baseline Road in Roseville will be temporarily closed between Fiddyment Road and Watt Avenue for road work.
The closure begins at 9 p.m. Thursday and goes through 5 a.m. Friday and again from 9 p.m. Friday through 5 a.m. Saturday.
There is a detour set-up for drivers to use Walerga Road, PFE Road and Watt Avenue to get around the road closures. During these closures, crews will be setting up traffic control in preparation for widening the road in the summer.
A housing development company, Lennar, will be widening Baseline Road from Westbrook Boulevard to the Placer County line, according to Public Information Officer Helen Dyda.
Residents in the area will be allowed to access their homes through Westbrook Boulevard and construction crews will be there to assist in entering the closed area.
Read more:
ABC10: Watch, Download, Read
Watch more on ABC10
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https://www.abc10.com/article/news/local/roseville/baseline-road-roseville-closures/103-6de7fa32-b91a-4718-9655-6566bd0e7f9d
| 2022-04-28T21:21:14
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https://www.abc10.com/article/news/local/roseville/baseline-road-roseville-closures/103-6de7fa32-b91a-4718-9655-6566bd0e7f9d
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SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Investigators believe 24-year-old Demetrius Davis has at least 80 victims between the ages of 6 to 13 in the U.S., and many more overseas, after posing as an 11-year-old girl named Lizzy online, directing dozens of children to create child pornography online.
"On their siblings, other relatives and other kids that they know and then film it and send that video to our suspect," Sgt. Rod Grassman, a spokesman for the Sacramento County Sheriff's Office said.
Jeffrey Lee, author of the book, 'Online Predators, an Internet Insurgency,' has more than a decade of experience fighting against online child exploitation. He says the best way to prevent this sort of activity from happening is parental involvement, first and foremost.
"These types of cases are actually quite common, unfortunately," Lee said. "They're more common than you would like to think."
Lee said parents should be teaching their kids that the 'stranger danger' policy needs to apply online too and they should be checking their phones regularly as every app and every URL is a potential destination for victimization.
"You've got to adapt the stranger danger conversation for the 21st century, plain and simple," Lee said. "We have to adjust accordingly, we have to stay in front of our kids and we have to make the topic of online predation, online exploitation, online criminality in general, regular topic, the conversation in the house."
He encourages bringing up this case, which kids may have heard about on the news or from their friends, as a jumping off point to start the conversation. But, Lee says there are warning signs that every parent can be looking out for at anytime.
"Any abrupt changes in behavior, and it's generally going to be for the negative, spending a lot of time, more time isolated in their room, a little more insolent, grades start to slip," Lee said.
And he says this is something than can be avoided with parental involvement.
"Nothing is going to take the place of your involvement and your willingness to stay involved and your willingness to talk to your kids about this stuff," Lee said. "Present to them and show them say, hey, look, if this happens to you, I have a plan."
Lee added if you do find something on your child's phone, stay calm, be a good witness, do not converse with the person on the other end, make sure you have the passcode, don't delete anything and call law enforcement right away.
ABC10: Watch, Download, Read
Watch more from ABC10
Sacramento County man allegedly lured 80 children into making porn
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https://www.abc10.com/article/news/local/sacramento/experts-advocate-for-parental-involvement-to-strengthen-cyber-security/103-09e6a827-1c6c-4759-8713-dd6a68365643
| 2022-04-28T21:21:20
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https://www.abc10.com/article/news/local/sacramento/experts-advocate-for-parental-involvement-to-strengthen-cyber-security/103-09e6a827-1c6c-4759-8713-dd6a68365643
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SACRAMENTO, Calif. — California's attorney general on Thursday subpoenaed ExxonMobil as part of what he called a first-of-its-kind broader investigation into the petroleum industry for its alleged role in causing a global plastic pollution crisis.
Attorney General Rob Bonta said the industry for decades has encouraged the development and use of petroleum-based plastic products while seeking to minimize public understanding that their widespread use harms the environment and public health.
"Every week, we consume the equivalent of a credit cards worth of plastic through the water we drink, the food we eat, and the air we breathe,” he said, citing a 2019 study for the World Wide Fund For Nature environmental group.
Bonta will consider whether petrochemical companies violated the law with what he called their “historic and ongoing efforts to deceive the public.” Bonta said ExxonMobil was subpoenaed as a major source of global plastics pollution and for its alleged prominent role in public deception regarding plastics.
ExxonMobil and the Western Plastics Association did not immediately comment, and the Western States Petroleum Association declined comment.
But the American Chemistry Council representing plastics makers issued a statement saying that U.S. "plastic makers are committed to a more sustainable future and have proposed comprehensive and bold actions at the state, federal, and international levels."
Initiatives the industry group said it supports include requiring all plastic packaging in the U.S. by 2030 to include at least 30% recycled plastic; making producers responsible for packaging to help increase recycling; and supporting a legally binding global agreement to confront the problem.
But Bonta said the industry appears to have engaged in “greenwashing” for decades by leading consumers to believe that plastics were environmentally friendly — largely because they can be recycled.
That marketing effort made “people comfortable to consume more and purchase more plastic,” he said. “And that is really the heart of the deception that we’re going to investigate.”
Companies may have violated laws barring unfair competition, deceptive business practices, or making “greenwashing” illegal, Bonta said.
A civil lawsuit could potentially seek fines or damages, but Bonta said his main goal is a legal order or a settlement requiring companies to clean up plastic waste, make plastics manufacturing changes and promote “non-deceptive ways of talking about plastics.”
“We’re really looking at the underlying issue of non-recyclability, essentially, of plastics, and that is a major problem,” Bonta said. “And we’re investigating whether that was fueled by a decades-old campaign of deception.”
There is no timeline for the completion of the investigation, but Bonta said it is proceeding “with a level of urgency.”
Bonta's move comes amid growing awareness of the pervasiveness of discarded plastics and the role of “microplastic” waste in the food chain.
Scientists are still studying the extent and human harm from tiny bits of broken-down plastic, some so small that they are invisible to the naked eye.
The National Academy of Sciences said in December that the United States — the world’s top plastics waste producer — should reduce its plastics production because so much winds up in the ocean and other waterways.
Like Bonta, the scientists have said that recycling won’t solve the problem. Most plastic cannot be recycled and overall recycling rates have never exceeded 9%, said Bonta. The rest is incinerated, put into landfills or escapes into the environment.
California is among states that have struggled to encourage recycling against market headwinds and to sort out products that can readily be reused.
California banned single-use plastic bags and is discouraging the use of drinking straws, plastic utensils and condiment packages.
The Los Angeles City Council this week approved 14 measures further restricting the use of plastic bags, utensils and containers at city properties and events. Los Angeles County supervisors last week restricted single-use plastic products.
California spends about $500 million each year to clean up plastic pollution in waterways and along beaches, said Bonta, a Democrat who is running for reelection this year. He announced the investigation with an ocean backdrop at Dockweiler State Beach in Southern California.
Petrochemical companies have ramped up plastics production as the use of fossil fuels is gradually replaced by renewable energy, he said. About 1.5 million tons of plastic produced globally on an annual basis in the 1950s. The amount is now more than 300 million tons annually.
The Center for Biological Diversity called Bonta's investigation “a crucial step,” but said plastic and its production is ultimately incompatible with a healthy planet.
"We have to stop producing plastic junk,” the group said in a statement.
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https://www.abc10.com/article/news/local/sacramento/exxonmobil-subpoenaed-plastic-pollution-investigation/103-37c2cc33-600f-4bc4-bc66-ab8c2b8d5c94
| 2022-04-28T21:21:26
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https://www.abc10.com/article/news/local/sacramento/exxonmobil-subpoenaed-plastic-pollution-investigation/103-37c2cc33-600f-4bc4-bc66-ab8c2b8d5c94
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ENGLEWOOD, Fla. — You see it at car crashes and at fires, bunker gear is the equipment firefighters wear. Now, one SWFL fire district is getting new suits and giving their old ones to people in Ukraine.
As the conflict continues in Ukraine, emergency responders need everything they can get their hands on.
Englewood fire is sending everything from boots, pants, jackets, and gloves. They’ve got 60 sets ready to send overseas.
“I remember seeing on TV that the firefighters that are putting out the fires from the missiles coming in, they desperately need that what you call bunker gear,” Daria Tomashoshky said, president of the Ukrainian American Club of SWFL.
Head-to-toe gear is what Englewood fire is donating so crews in the middle of a war are protected.
“We go into structural fires that can be up to 2000 degrees, it protects us for that. We also use it for again hazmat calls,” Lt. Adam Baer said, “search and rescue, structural firefighting, vehicle accidents, vehicle fires, wooden, wildland fires.”
Firefighters at EFD get new gear every five years and keep a second set as backup. So with a new round of gear coming in, they’ve got a closet full of protective clothing to send out.
“Most of it is in very good condition. No rips no tears. It’s all maintained. It gets cleaned regularly,” Baer said.
Boots, pants, gloves, jackets… you name it… it’s going.
“Especially in the area where they can’t get this stuff, being able to give out 60 sets, have it readily available is going to be big,” Baer said.
Tomashosky said they’re so grateful for the support being sent overseas, and she hopes it continues.
“You know this war is going to go on and the problem is that people, it becomes the same old same old and it’s not for the people of Ukraine. they’re fighting this till the very end so any help we can send over is so so much appreciated,” Tomashosky said. “Let’s not forget Ukraine.”
The gear is set to ship out sometime next week. It’ll go over with other gear from all around the state of Florida.
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https://nbc-2.com/news/local/2022/04/28/englewood-fire-prepares-to-send-used-bunker-gear-to-ukraine/
| 2022-04-28T22:12:45
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https://nbc-2.com/news/local/2022/04/28/englewood-fire-prepares-to-send-used-bunker-gear-to-ukraine/
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SAN ANTONIO — The world has been watching U.S. Marine veteran and Texas native Trevor Reed’s story. The 30-year-old was released in the prisoner exchange with Russia.
President Joe Biden and local officials were instrumental in Reed’s return back home.
Reed has a long road to recovery. What should he expect in the coming days?
Cellphone video captured the moment when Trevor Reed arrived at a San Antonio military base.
His parents, sister, Congressman August Pfluger and others were on the tarmac for the unforgettable moment.
“What an incredible reunion to see him touchdown, to put his feet on American soil in 985 days,” said Pfluger.
Reed was held captive in a Russian prison for three years.
Authorities in Moscow accused him of assaulting two police officers, during a visit to see his Russian girlfriend.
“They have not treated him well,” said Pfluger.
Pfluger represents Reed’s hometown of Granbury.
He made it a mission to help get Reed back home.
“Every single time I saw Secretary Blinken, I would mention Trevor his name. I didn't want them to forget. And they didn't. And I gave President Biden credit,” said Pfluger.
Reed’s parents were worried about their son’s health.
“Talk about what he looked like, frail? Obviously, he did look like he lost weight from the pictures that I've seen, very concerning,” said Pfluger.
Reed will go through a rigorous health evaluation for days, then a team of doctors will focus on his mental state of mind. He will eventually go into a reintegration program.
After everything Reed has been through in the Russian prison, Reed showed everyone he is resilient.
“I just said look, 'Trevor, it's great to have you back. Welcome back. As an Air Force veteran, I look forward to you giving me a hard time as a Marine.' He laughed about that. He thought it was really funny,” said Pfluger.
And, his parents will remain by his side, as he recovers.
It’s unclear when Reed will come home to Granbury.
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https://www.wfaa.com/article/news/local/texas/texas-marine-veteran-trevor-reed-is-back-on-us-soil-after-being-detained-in-russia/287-8f91299a-ac06-4dc9-826d-942aff4dad17
| 2022-04-28T22:17:30
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ALBANY -- Criminal charges filed more than two years ago against Dougherty County Probate Court Judge Leisa Blount have been dismissed by a special prosecutor.
The prosecutor, Southern Judicial Circuit District Attorney Brad Shealy, formally dismissed the case this week.
"I'm glad Mr. Shealy looked at it and basically he had the integrity to dismiss it," Albany attorney Maurice King, who represented Blount, said Thursday. "I guess that means he thoroughly looked at it and did an investigation, and after the investigation he decided it should not move forward."
Blount was charged in March 2020 with one count each of terroristic threats and violation of oath of office.
She was arrested after Dougherty County Sheriff Kevin Sproul asked the Georgia Bureau of Investigation to launch an investigation. The agency alleged that Blount made threats against a county employee who works in the Facilities Maintenance Department.
Specifically, Blount made a remark during a meeting with officials with the county and sheriff's office that as a judge she had the right to carry a firearm into her office building to protect herself. The alleged victim was not present at that meeting.
Blount said in an affidavit that the employee acted strangely during two occasions when he entered the Probate Court offices during times he had no duties in that part of the building. On one occasion he told her that he was there to turn off the lights, and in the other he did not give a reason for why he was in the Probate Court area.
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https://www.albanyherald.com/local/charges-against-probate-court-judge-dismissed/article_bd149f60-c737-11ec-9522-7346a60a842b.html
| 2022-04-28T22:34:16
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Three lions arrive at Brevard Zoo from Naples, explore new home before exhibit opens
Long-awaited lions have finally arrived at Brevard Zoo, 28 years after the popular nonprofit wildlife facility opened in Viera.
And the maned trio of African lion brothers — Chobe, Karoo and Ruaha — should be visible to zoo guests starting Sunday morning at their temporary exhibit in the Wild Florida loop, Executive Director Keith Winsten said.
“We decided to add lions because they've become a high conservation priority. And over the last 20 years, the number of lions in Africa has dropped by 50%,” Winsten said.
“Within the populations under our care, they need attention. So the request was to get more institutions caring for lions. So we answered that call," he said.
More:Three lion brothers to move from Naples to 'bachelor pad' in Brevard Zoo's Wild Florida
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Brevard Zoo's new lion siblings were born in May 2019 at Naples Zoo at Caribbean Gardens. Each is named for a national park in Africa.
Tuesday night, Brevard Zoo dispatched a personnel team to Naples. They gave Chobe, Karoo and Ruaha "pre-ship" medical checkups and physical assessments Wednesday morning, including COVID-19 vaccinations.
The lions were sedated, loaded into large locking metal crates, and trucked to Viera by Wednesday afternoon. There, crew members used a forklift to unload the crates.
“By about 5:30, all three lions were safely in our new exhibit. They're going to stay in the holding area for the next few days — and that becomes their safe zone. They get used to eating back there. They’ll feel safe and secure," Winsten said.
"And then on Sunday, we'll let them out onto the exhibit," he said.
If all goes well, the lions should be roaming their new exhibit by the time the zoo opens Sunday at 9 a.m. for members and 9:30 a.m. for nonmembers, Winsten said.
"They're brothers. They get along great. And so, now we're just letting them settle in over the next few days so the keepers can get to know them. And they get to know the keepers," he said.
Brevard Zoo is joining the Association of Zoos and Aquariums’ lion species survival breeding program.
The lions' temporary home in the Wild Florida loop is located between Eko the bobcat's exhibit and the Florida black bear habitat. Winsten said construction bids will soon be sought to build a permanent lion exhibit in the Expedition Africa loop.
The lions will take over the space occupied by Pepper the geriatric cheetah. Pepper will move into the former home of Mulac, the zoo's 20-year-old jaguar who died in January after battling chronic kidney disease and arthritis.
Winsten said crews will eventually convert the Wild Florida temporary lion exhibit into a bear expansion area.
Brevard Zoo officials started planning details of the Expedition Africa loop in earnest in 2002. That's when a team of roughly 20 zoo officials and volunteers took a two-week tour of Zimbabwe and Botswana to study habitats.
The 10-acre Expedition Africa zone opened on the Fourth of July in 2003, featuring giraffes and white rhinos. However, zoo officials said they would wait years in the future before consider adding great cats.
Rick Neale is the South Brevard Watchdog Reporter at FLORIDA TODAY (for more of his stories, click here.) Contact Neale at 321-242-3638 or rneale@floridatoday.com. Twitter: @RickNeale1
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https://www.floridatoday.com/story/news/local/2022/04/28/lions-naples-zoo-caribbean-gardens-arrive-brevard-zoo/9567976002/
| 2022-04-28T22:44:20
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CHELSEA, Ala. (WIAT) – Some Chelsea City Councilmembers are pushing back on a proposal for an increase in property taxes to fund an independent school system.
For weeks, residents and city leaders have been mulling options for a school system that would be separate from Shelby County Schools.
The current proposal calls for a $12.5 million property tax increase to pay for the creation of a new district. Leaders have estimated the hike to be around $250 a year for a home valued at $200,000.
Councilors Cody Sumners and Casey Morris have introduced an alternative plan that they believe will address needs without raising taxes.
“We had public forums, phone surveys and overwhelmingly the issue was not an education issue, it was facilities only and overwhelmingly, the citizens of Chelsea have been against forming their own school system and against increasing property taxes,” said Sumners.
Instead, the councilors want to work with the Shelby County BOE to enter into a memorandum of understanding to control a city sales tax that is already being collected for education.
Chelsea residents pay a 1% tax and Sumners wants that money to be kept in Chelsea for upgrades.
“We can perform just like Calera and Helena have their cities have partnered with the BOE to make renovations, upgrades on the schools in their cities and the city holds the money until the contractor sends an invoice to the board of education,” said Sumners.
Sumners told CBS 42 he has met with Shelby County School leaders and city attorneys to make sure the plan would work.
There are other city leaders and residents who would like to see Chelsea create its own school system to have more local control.
“The most important thing would be the fact we have more control. So we are able to elect people who are on the board who have the best interests for only Chelsea City Schools, so the building infrastructure,” said William Jones, a resident of Chelsea.
Jones has a 14-month-old child and is planning for the future. His family moved from Birmingham in hopes of a better school district. While he understands it’s a challenging economic time, he would be willing to pay the increase.
“We may continue to pay money towards this, but that’s kind of the price you pay to have a good school system,” said Jones.
The Chelsea City Council meets May 3 and could vote to put the issue in the hands of Chelsea voters. With council support, residents would vote on the plan for the increase and the new school system in July.
If voters do not approve the plan, or if councilors cannot agree next week, Sumners hopes the alternative will be considered.
“If it gets defeated we can move on and look at this option,” said Sumners.
CBS 42 reached out to Chelsea Mayor Tony Picklesimer, who declined an on-camera interview but issued the following statement in response to the alternative proposal:
The City Council and myself have considered many different options regarding improving the schools in Chelsea. While I know that Councilman Morris and Councilman Sumners have only the best interest at heart for our students and our citizens, I believe that tying up our 1% Educational Sales Tax for a period of 30 years with only relief to facility issues and not addressing the many other issues that we face is not the best plan of action.
It is clear to me that our citizens want to have a local Board of Education, made up of Chelsea residents, to make decisions for our students moving forward regarding not only facilities but also curriculum and policies. As one Chelsea resident wrote to me in an email recently,” I think a City school system would also allow a group of people to be solely focused on the schools in Chelsea, allowing them to make proactive decisions that won’t then have to be approved by another group of people that have to keep the best interest of other schools in mind.”
I echo this sentiment as I believe a majority of our residents and voters will also.
Chelsea Mayor Tony Picklesimer
A group of Chelsea residents plans to discuss the alternative proposal May 1 at the Chelsea Community Center at 6:30 p.m.
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https://www.cbs42.com/news/local/2-chelsea-city-council-members-push-back-on-proposed-tax-increase-to-fund-new-school-district/
| 2022-04-28T22:44:58
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https://www.cbs42.com/news/local/2-chelsea-city-council-members-push-back-on-proposed-tax-increase-to-fund-new-school-district/
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A man who has been on the run from police after allegedly committing a string of sexual assaults near a Columbia University housing complex has been caught, and the NYPD believes there may be more victims out there.
Miguel Mella was arrested on Saturday and faces four counts of sex abuse and two counts of forcible touching, according to police. Two of the alleged incidents occurred outside a university housing complex on Claremont Avenue in Morningside Heights just two days before he was caught, police said.
The 32-year-old Mella is accused of sexually assaulting at least two 19-year-old women around 3 a.m. on April 21, police said. Attorney information for Mella was not immediately available.
Students at Columbia University and Barnard College were alerted about the assaults with an email, which stated that the victims were pushed to the ground in front of 47 Claremont Avenue, a university housing complex, and forcibly touched.
Someone who recognized the suspect pictured in the university's email told authorities, which led to Mella's arrest, a university official told NBC New York. The school said it was not aware of any other sexual assaults connected to Mella in the area.
Investigators believe there could be more victims, and are asking people to come forward with information. Those with tips and information can call the NYPD's Crime Stoppers Hotline at 1-800-577-TIPS (8477).
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https://www.nbcnewyork.com/news/local/crime-and-courts/suspect-arrested-for-string-of-alleged-sex-crimes-near-columbia-university-housing/3668377/
| 2022-04-28T22:52:38
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The gunman accused of shooting a 24-year-old man and firing a "hail of bullets" that narrowly missed two children walking down a Bronx sidewalk was sentenced to 15 years in prison, the Bronx district attorney announced Thursday.
Michael Lopez, 28, pleaded guilty in January to attempted murder for opening fire on the sidewalk of Sheridan Avenue in the Claremont section in the afternoon of June 17. According to the police investigation, Lopez got off a scooter and chased the shooting target up the block, firing at least 12 times.
While Lopez was firing, the target scrambled to escape the gunfire, running into a 13-year-old girl and her 5-year-old brother on the sidewalk, knocking them to the ground and falling on top of them.
The children —who were just steps away from their home — amazingly avoided being shot as the gunman fired at his intended target, who police said was a gang member. The children were physically unharmed, while the victim was taken to a nearby hospital after being struck in the leg and back.
Lopez was arrested June 25 following a weeklong manhunt for the gunman caught on dramatic surveillance video in a broad daylight shooting. The terrifying video drew national attention as New York City grappled with rising gun violence, which has caught a growing number of children in its crosshairs.
"A 13-year-old girl and her five-year-old brother were caught in a hail of bullets when the defendant fired a dozen shots at a Bronx man," said Bronx District Attorney Darcel Clark. "Now, the defendant will pay the consequences for his intentions to kill and his blatant disregard for the lives of the children he endangered. They still suffer trauma from that horrific day.”
In his plea, Lopez reportedly admitted to having a gun and shooting the 24-year-old victim with the intent to kill him, Clark said, adding that the plea spared the children from "testifying in court and reliving the trauma," the district attorney added.
Following his arrest, top police officials said Lopez was picked up in Harlem at his stepfather's house. A Harlem resident himself, police said Lopez has a history of arrests for violent crimes including attempted murder in 2014.
Lopez had five prior arrests and was on parole for the attempted murder arrest, Chief of Detectives James Essig said. His most recent arrest was in January 2020 for a knifepoint robbery, Essig added.
Essig and former Commissioner Dermot Shea also identified Lopez as a member of the Make It Happen Boys gang.
While the children were physically unharmed, their parents said the harrowing ordeal took a psychological toll.
"My kids are traumatized, whenever they hear a noise outside they start shaking and get really nervous," the father of the children said in Spanish in the aftermath of the shooting.
The 13-year-old girl had taken her younger brother to buy candy at the store across the street from their apartment building when the chaos erupted. Their mother said they didn't know the shooter or the victim.
"The kids were not with those people. The kids were just in the bodega buying something," the mother said.
What can be seen on the video is the older sister trying to protect her little brother, shielding him from the danger. Then-NYPD Chief of Detectives Rodney Harrison said that "I'm not sure what it takes to get the key to the city, but I nominate her."
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https://www.nbcnewyork.com/news/local/gunman-sentenced-in-nyc-sidewalk-shooting-where-kids-dove-for-cover-in-hail-of-bullets/3668385/
| 2022-04-28T22:52:44
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PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) – The Portland Police Bureau should at times express remorse for prior incidents of racial discrimination, make clear that participating in a hate group is a violation of bureau policy, and dedicate more resources to relationship-building with specific Portland communities. Those are just a few of the 28 recommendations made in a report that was released to the public Thursday.
The report, conducted by the OIR Group, came as a request from Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler and Commissioner Jo Ann Hardesty.
The goal was for the group to assess three areas: community perception of racial bias, community perception of political bias and community perception that PPB is resistant to change.
OIR Group was asked to answer questions like, are PPB’s policies, culture, actions or outcomes driven by racial or political bias? If so, what is the extent of the bias and what are the root causes of it? How can those causes be addressed? Is PPB resistant to change sought by the community? And if so, what are the best practices to address that resistance?
The report was based on a survey of PPB employees, and individual interviews with bureau employees, elected officials and community members. OIR hoped to conduct a community survey but said logistical challenges prevented it from being completed in time for the planned release of the report in January 2022.
The report titled “An Independent Review of the Portland Police Bureau: Agency Culture, Community Perception, and Public Safety in a Time of Change” makes note of how PPB’s community perception may have changed since the protests that followed the death of George Floyd – an unarmed Black man who was murdered by a police officer in Minneapolis. It acknowledges the June 2021 indictment of a PPB officer for alleged excessive force at a protest and the resignation of the entire Rapid Response Team that followed shortly after.
It also noted how the number of documented shootings and homicides have risen alarmingly in recent years with no consensus as to causes or solutions.
“The goal [of the report] was to achieve a better understanding of — and to constructively address — some of the troubling perceptions about the Bureau that had developed over time, and that unfortunately seemed more pronounced than ever,” the report states.
The report says its conclusions to the questions it was asked to answer are not definitive. The authors said they heard from Portland residents who said the bureau’s culture was irredeemably racist and heard from PPB members who insisted that bias against them was a reason for the heightened dysfunction in the city. The authors said it was persuaded by neither group, but said the starkly contrasting views were helpful and provided value and a frame for the range of insights that fell within them.
“Unequivocally, we also came away with the understanding that troubling community perceptions about bias have a foundation in history and in dynamics that exist today, and that grappling with them constructively should be a priority — as many PPB members are willing and able to acknowledge,” the report stated.
On the whole, the report says PPB members rejected any narrative that framed the agency as racially discriminatory or that their political views influenced their handling of certain situations or their treatment of specific groups.
However, the report found studies showing disparate treatment toward people of color, proving that the bureau is not color blind.
While speaking to PPB members, the report authors learned that morale at the bureau is low and that officers are disappointed with their management and leaders. They were disappointed people at the management level, but at City Hall and in the field, had not been more consistently “front and center” in dealing with the protests.
PPB members also acknowledged a lack of meaningful community ties and withering relationships with people most connected to grassroots neighborhood concerns.
Within the community, the report found there is deep suspicion about the accuracy of information the Portland Police Bureau sends out and concerns about information it withholds.
The report states that the overwhelming success of the 2020 ballot measure calling for a new independent oversight committee for Portland law enforcement also shows the public is skeptical about the bureau’s commitments to accountability. However, the report says the proposed model is ambitious. It’s being implemented slowly, but hopefully, it will fulfill the voters’ goals.
The report authors also hope that the city government will work constructively with members of PPB and receive their input in the reaction of the 20-member “ReThink Police Accountability Commission.”
Below is the complete list of the 28 recommendations made by the report:
- Bureau leadership should at appropriate times express formal contrition for prior episodes of racially discriminatory conduct.
- New officers should be exposed to the prior discriminatory and racially charged conduct of Bureau officers in recent history and express messaging that such conduct will no longer be tolerated.
- The Bureau should continue to produce updated statistical dashboards relevant to racial disparity issues to increase transparency and show changes over time, and use these dashboards as part of regular communications with the community.
- In its regular use of force analysis, the Bureau should identify any patterns of practice that may result in disparate uses of force specifically on persons of color.
- The Bureau should regularly analyze use of force data, broken down by neighborhood or precinct and officer, to determine if there are trends or patterns of practice that might indicate a need for specific additional training, counseling, or discipline.
- The Bureau should modify its directive on political activity by members to align its prohibitions with the parameters of Oregon election law.
- The Bureau should ensure that its background investigators thoroughly examine all applicants’ social media posts and should eliminate from hiring consideration anyone found to have links to extremist groups or to have posted any communications associating themselves with racist viewpoints.
- Consistent with state law, the Bureau should modify its directives to make clear that membership or participation in hate groups, racial supremacist organizations, militant groups, or posting on social media any communications associated with racist viewpoints is a violation of Bureau policy.
- The Bureau should revise its disciplinary guidelines so that officers who associate with hate groups, racial supremacist organizations or militant groups, or display, make, or post on social media any statements or displays of racism or racial supremacy will be potentially subject to discharge.
- The Bureau and/or the Independent Police Review Division should thoroughly investigate, to the extent permissible by law, all allegations that a Bureau member is associated with an extremist group or has posted on social media any communications associated with racist viewpoints.
- The Bureau should seek out opportunities to offer constructive contributions to the City’s pending process of developing a new oversight model.
- The Bureau and/or the Independent Police Review Division should create a process for tracking the response to and implementation of recommendations for reform made by outside entities, and should regularly report to the public about progress on these measures.
- Any body-worn camera policy must be consistent with best investigative practices, including obtaining a “pure statement” from officers in force and misconduct investigations prior to showing them the audio/video account.
- The Bureau should continue to strive for a diverse recruitment and hiring program and should emphasize diversity of relevant life experiences, to include a reassessment of criteria that automatically excludes persons who otherwise might be excellent police officers.
- The Bureau should consider ways to employ innovative methods for recruiting new officers, including financial incentives for officers, professional Bureau staff, and City employees and creating a designated, diverse squad of recruiters who are motivated to find new ways to connect with potential applicants.
- The Bureau should modify its interview process for prospective officers to include a community member on each oral board panel.
- The Bureau should consider adding to its hiring process a required ride along with a designated officer and a one-on-one interview with the Chief or a top executive.
- The Bureau should move forward with its plan to employ a civilian Academic Director for its Training Division and should empower that individual to reassess existing training programs to ensure a student-centered approach to learning that meaningfully addresses the realities of policing in Portland.
- The Academic Director should assess the Advanced Academy training curriculum and whether its overarching philosophy could be better aligned to community expectations for public safety in Portland. The Director should report to the public the outcome of this evaluation.
- The Bureau should work to enhance its relationship with existing advisory groups and look for opportunities to educate and collaborate as well as respond to initiatives in more comprehensive and accountable ways.
- The Bureau should dedicate more resources to reinforcing effective strategies for relationship-building within specific Portland communities – a path that requires sustained and repeated outreach over time.
- The Bureau should pursue programs that build community bridges at the neighborhood level, including the use of localized patrol teams and the organized cultivation of relationships with a range of community representatives.
- PPB should work to ensure the effective approaches of its current “Community Engagement” officer are reinforced by providing that position with the requisite authority and resources, and by committing to the development of established directives and strategic plans that will promote the longer-term sustainability of the unit.
- The Bureau should develop ways to incorporate into its Academy training a community-based program focused on non-law enforcement social service work aimed at reinforcing the importance of building relationships within Portland’s diverse communities.
- Bureau leadership should continue to support a collaborative approach to public health and public safety through its Community Safety Director and should help the City define how PPB resources can be deployed in focused ways to address issues (including violent crime) that require the unique skills of law enforcement.
- The City should continue its efforts to create a more effective Public Safety communication structure, with greater coordination among bureaus and ongoing collaboration with the Police Bureau to ensure it is appropriately funded and staffed to be able to more effectively communicate with the public.
- The Bureau should periodically evaluate how modifications to policing strategies, such as focusing traffic enforcement on moving violations, impact the current racial disparities, and report on this progress.
- We encourage the City to incorporate questions into its next “Portland Insights” survey that would track community perceptions of PPB culture and practices, particularly with regard to racial and political bias, and resistance to change and other reform efforts.
OIR Group is submitting the report to Portland City Council for consideration.
OIR Group is led by Michael Gennaco, a former federal prosecutor and a nationally recognized leader in the field of police oversight.
Read the full OIR Group report “An Independent Review of the Portland Police Bureau: Agency Culture, Community Perception, and Public Safety in a Time of Change” below:
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https://www.koin.com/local/report-analyzes-portland-police-bureau-offers-28-recommendations/
| 2022-04-28T23:02:24
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PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) – A deputy remains in critical but stable condition following a deadly crash involving five Southridge High School students on Tualatin Valley Highway Wednesday morning, according to Washington County Sheriff’s Office.
During a press conference Wednesday afternoon, Sheriff Pat Garrett said Deputy Michael Trotter sustained life threatening injuries during the crash and faces “a long road to recovery.”
At 12:37 a.m. Wednesday, Tualatin Valley Fire & Rescue tweeted crews were on the scene of a multiple-vehicle crash on Tualatin Valley Highway at SW Murray Boulevard. Officials said the crash involved a Nissan Altima and a Washington County Sheriff’s Office patrol car.
According to Beaverton police, the students were in the Nissan headed southbound on Murray, then ran a red light and struck the deputy’s patrol car.
Two teens, identified as 16-year-old Juan Pacheco Aguilera and 17-year-old Matthew Amaya, were pronounced dead at the scene. The other three teens were taken to the hospital in critical condition.
Deputy Trotter started his career with WCSO in 2013 as a reserve deputy, before becoming a full time patrol deputy in 2015, Sheriff Garrett said.
“Last night is a stark reminder of how dangerous police work can be. It’s not only the bravery of my team that amazes me, it is also the unwavering support for each other as they raise their hand every day to accept a certain amount of risk to serve our community in an incredibly important way,” Sheriff Garrett said during the press conference.
Authorities are continuing to investigate. Anyone with information on the deadly crash is asked to call 503-629-0111.
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https://www.koin.com/local/washington-county/deputy-faces-long-road-to-recovery-after-fatal-tv-hwy-crash/
| 2022-04-28T23:02:34
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https://www.koin.com/local/washington-county/deputy-faces-long-road-to-recovery-after-fatal-tv-hwy-crash/
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SACRAMENTO, Calif. — A Sacramento County man has been charged with grooming dozens of children and luring them into making pornography.
Demetrius Carl Davis, 24, has been charged with 32 counts of lewd and lascivious acts with a minor under the age of 14.
Davis is suspected of portraying himself as an 11-year-old girl named "Lizzy" online and speaking with children in an effort to groom them. The Sacramento County Sheriff's Office has identified 80 child victims across the United States and an additional 15-20 victims internationally.
"What's particularly heinous about this is that this grooming led up to our suspect asking these children to perform sexual acts on their siblings, other relatives and other kids that they know and film it and then send that video to our suspect," Sgt. Rod Grassmann, spokesperson for the sheriff's office, told ABC10 at the time of Davis' arrest.
This kind of crime can have impacts on a victim's family for generations, said clinical and forensic psychologist Dr. Andrew Mendonsa.
"When something like this happens you really disrupt the development of a child, the development of their ability to trust. To see the world as a place where they can succeed," Dr. Mendonsa said.
Editor's Note: ABC10 has read the charging documents and has chosen not to share them as the they describe the crimes in graphic and disturbing detail.
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https://www.abc10.com/article/news/local/sacramento/sacramento-county-man-charged-with-luring-children-into-making-porn-online/103-b3665d67-baa4-43c1-a9b1-7c868ef761e5
| 2022-04-28T23:05:28
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SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Parking his wheelchair accessible van about a block from his residence in Sacramento Sunday evening, John Kerr said he returned to the same spot the next day to find something missing.
"I was devastated. My van is my life blood," he told ABC10. "It's how I get everywhere ― medical appointments (and) shopping."
Kerr runs a foundation for young adults with muscle dystrophy, a condition he also lives with himself. He said he has to travel frequently for outreach efforts, visiting families and different offices around California. None of that is possible now without his accessible van.
Though he wants his van returned, Kerr said he could empathize with whoever might have stolen it.
"These are hard times for a lot of people and I do understand someone might need to do that to have a place to live," he said. "I would try to help them in a different way. But as far as the van goes, that's something that I need."
The vehicle is a white Ford van with a power lift on the right hand side.
While the van itself is about 20 years old and worth a few thousand dollars according to Kerr, installation of the powerlift was the costliest part of the theft.
"A new wheelchair accessible van is about $75,000," he said. "Society doesn't make it easy for people with disabilities to have ultimate freedoms to live a full life."
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https://www.abc10.com/article/news/local/sacramento/wheelchair-accessible-van-stolen-from-man-living-with-ms/103-3590e26d-778d-42ab-8272-2d396e40b5f1
| 2022-04-28T23:05:34
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https://www.abc10.com/article/news/local/sacramento/wheelchair-accessible-van-stolen-from-man-living-with-ms/103-3590e26d-778d-42ab-8272-2d396e40b5f1
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PORTLAND, Ore. — The Portland City Council gave final approval Thursday to transfer management of 82nd Avenue from the Oregon Department of Transportation (ODOT) to the Portland Bureau of Transportation (PBOT).
The plan to shift the "orphan highway" from state to city control has been in the works for years, and it clears the way for an $80 million series of safety improvements that PBOT plans to implement along the East Portland corridor.
The five-lane arterial is one of Portland's most dangerous streets for pedestrians, and in recent years the area has also become a hotspot for shootings amid a spike in gun violence in Portland.
“From 2015 to 2019, there were nearly 2,000 crashes on 82nd. That’s nearly one per day, with 76 people killed or seriously injured – nearly 15 per year,” PBOT director Chris Warner said at Thursday’s council meeting. “Most of those killed were people crossing the street.”
The state-owned road has been neglected in the decades after the freeway system was built. ODOT has made some efforts to improve safety, but local residents have pushed to have 82nd Avenue transferred to local control in order to bring it fully up to city standards.
"More than anything, this is a victory for the communities living around 82nd Avenue, the geographic center of the City of Portland," commissioner Jo Ann Hardesty, who oversees PBOT, said on Thursday. "East Portlanders fought for this change for decades."
The city council unanimously voted to authorize PBOT to enter into an intergovernmental agreement with ODOT to transfer a 7-mile portion of 82nd Avenue from Northeast Killingsworth Street to Southeast Clatsop Street to city control.
The transfer is scheduled to occur on June 1. ODOT will retain ownership of a few pieces of the corridor, including the bridge that carries 82nd Avenue over Interstate 84 and the intersection with Southeast Powell Boulevard.
PBOT's $80 million project list includes filling in all the streetlight gaps along the corridor, adding 18 new pedestrian crossings and ADA accessible curb ramps and a implementing a host of technology upgrades and safety improvements aimed at deterring speeding through the corridor.
The $80 million investment comes from federal funding from the American Rescue Plan Act, which places a deadline of 2026 for PBOT to get all of the initial planned improvements done.
The City of Portland has pledged to allocate an additional $35 million for the corridor, and the agreement calls for PBOT to receive another $70 million from ODOT starting in 2026 to fund a second major round of upgrades, for a total of $185 million.
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https://www.kgw.com/article/news/local/portland-city-council-82nd-ave-transfer/283-918beb9e-c252-4da3-b68b-11b47b0a8afa
| 2022-04-28T23:21:51
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https://www.kgw.com/article/news/local/portland-city-council-82nd-ave-transfer/283-918beb9e-c252-4da3-b68b-11b47b0a8afa
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VANCOUVER, Wash. — In April 2020, Washington Gov. Jay Inslee signed the Tiffany Hill Act into law, named after a Vancouver mother who was murdered by her estranged, abusive husband.
The law allows courts to order people accused of domestic violence to wear GPS ankle devices, which can be monitored by officials and linked to an app on the victim's phone, alerting them when the offender is nearby.
Two years later, most Washington courts are not utilizing that option.
In September 2019, Tiffany Hill's husband Keland Hill was arrested after pushing her into a wall and trying to prevent her from calling 911. He was released from jail the next day and told not to contact Tiffany, but Keland violated the no-contact order several times in the months following his arrest.
In November 2019, detectives found a GPS tracker on Tiffany's car and Keland was arrested again. Investigators determined Tiffany was in extreme danger and requested Keland be held on $2 million bail, but a judge set it at only $250,000.
He bailed out of jail on Nov. 21, 2019. Five days later, he shot and killed Tiffany in front of her three children and her mother in the parking lot of Sarah J. Anderson Elementary, where her kids went to school.
Hill then led deputies on a chase and took his own life.
Tiffany's loved ones said technology allowing her to track her abuser's location could have saved her life, and others like her, had it been available.
In November 2021, KGW reached out to all 39 counties in Washington, asking prosecuting attorneys and courts how many times they had ordered the use of these tracking devices — and received responses from fewer than half.
Of the counties that did respond, almost none are utilizing the law. The exception is Clark County, where the law originated, which has more than a dozen offenders being monitored.
When asked why they aren't ordering this monitoring, most counties said cost was the biggest barrier. The offender in a domestic violence case has to foot the bill for the monitoring, which can cost up to $20 a day. Many courts are apprehensive to order it if a defendant can't afford it.
RELATED: 'She was in grave danger': Prosecutor calls for change in bail laws after Vancouver mom's murder
Some courts cited a lack of access to vendors, especially in more rural parts of the state, but there are five approved vendors that say they do cover the entire state of Washington.
Some jurisdictions said they were unaware a law had even been passed.
Multiple prosecutors said they would like to see GPS technology being issued, but judges in their jurisdiction are just not ordering it.
Six months later, little had changed when KGW followed up with prosecutors in counties that had not been ordering GPS tracking — in those counties, there had been no new cases where the courts had ordered monitoring under the Tiffany Hill Act.
At a time when domestic violence advocates say they're seeing more people seeking help from abusive situations, this is concerning.
"In some places, data looks like it's going down because people haven't been able to access services, they haven't been recording. They haven't been calling for help," said Elizabeth Montoya, with the Washington State Coalition Against Domestic Violence. "And in other communities we're seeing numbers way, way up. What I hear anecdotally from programs throughout our state is that the levels of violence that folks experience are increasing due to a number of factors... stressors in the home, economic instability, crises like this just kind of create a perfect storm for violence to escalate."
Montoya said these tools are great in theory, but there needs to be forethought and follow-through when it comes to putting it into practice.
"It doesn't surprise me that it has not been implemented, but only because we know that it's a struggle to get these things implemented. That's something that we're always kind of thinking about as these kinds of laws move through the legislature," Montoya said. "There are so many really important and really good ideas out there to address domestic violence and to respond to it effectively. But we also really have to think about, what is implementation going look like?"
RELATED: Vancouver mom's murder leads to push to strengthen laws protecting victims of domestic violence
Washington state Sen. Lynda Wilson, who represents Southwest Washington in the legislature, is a survivor of domestic abuse and originally sponsored the Tiffany Hill Act. After KGW reached out for her perspective on how little the law was being used, Wilson secured $2 million from the state's $15 billion budget surplus to be allocated to help counties order GPS monitoring of accused abusers. The money would help offset the cost in case where offenders can't afford to pay the cost themselves.
"I don't want money to interfere, to be a reason why someone is not able to get to the monitoring," Wilson said. "We know that in this case, because of Tiffany Hill, we feel quite confident that she would've lived if she had this. And I hear from women all the time and I know how important this is. I don't want money to get in the way, so I just continued to ask for it. We had a healthy budget this year, so we were able to do it."
Wilson said King County, the largest in Washington, has taken steps to begin using the tracking and victim notification software. She hopes as they start to use it, it will spur discussions with judges and prosecutors in other counties.
"I'm very thankful that Clark County was the first to implement it because they're actually doing such a great job with it that other counties can learn from that," Wilson said. "I would like to figure out a way to get that information out there."
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https://www.kgw.com/article/news/local/the-story/tiffany-hill-act-two-years-later/283-85dee69c-423f-49f4-953c-a08764bde0ea
| 2022-04-28T23:21:57
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https://www.kgw.com/article/news/local/the-story/tiffany-hill-act-two-years-later/283-85dee69c-423f-49f4-953c-a08764bde0ea
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PULLMAN, Wash. — The parents of a Washington State University (WSU) freshman from Bellevue who died after a fraternity party in 2019 say the university's negligence played a role in their son's death.
A Pullman police investigation, as well as a WSU investigation, found the events leading up to 19-year-old Sam Martinez’s death constituted "illegal hazing."
Parents Hector Martinez and Jolayne Houtz said university officials missed multiple opportunities to curb a culture of hazing at WSU, and that they lost their son because of that negligence.
“Washington State University has accumulated all of this information and evidence about the bad behavior of specific frats in its Greek system, yet they don’t share that [with the public],” said Houtz. “We were blindsided.”
According to university records, the school documented repeated problems with its fraternal organizations, including alcohol violations, alcohol abuse and poisoning, injuries, assaults, hospitalizations and hazing, which is illegal in Washington state.
“We just didn’t know all of this. If we had known just a tiny fraction of it, I think that Sam would still be alive,” said Houtz.
Sam Martinez, who attended Newport High School in Bellevue, pledged the Alpha Tau Omega (ATO) fraternity in July of 2019. He began classes in Pullman in August and died three months later, on the morning of November 12, 2019. His cause of death was acute alcohol poisoning.
The night before, Sam Martinez attended an alcohol-fueled fraternity function called "Big-Little Night." The event is when pledges find out the identity of their big brothers, records show. Police found the big brother assigned to Sam and one other pledge gave them a half-gallon of rum, the equivalent of 40 shots, to share between the two.
“We know it now, but we had no way to know it back then. But WSU knew it. They knew it dating back to at least 2013 that ATO was a bad actor [and they had a duty to share it],” said Houtz.
WSU finds "culture of higher risk" in its fraternities
University officials at the highest levels began documenting a reckless and risky pattern of behavior in WSU fraternities at least a decade ago.
In 2012, WSU President Elson Floyd convened a task force to address alcohol and drug problems within the student body. The WSU Presidential Task Force on Prevention and Education for Alcohol and other Drugs concluded that being a member of a Greek organization put students at far greater risk for alcohol-related problems compared with other students.
“At WSU, students in the Greek community drink significantly more often, are about twice as likely to binge drink, and to experience harmful consequences and impaired academic performance as a result of drinking,” wrote Task Force authors. "Examples of negative consequences included serious falls, hospitalizations, and ‘a near-fatal recent alcohol poisoning,’” Task Force representatives wrote.
The Task Force recommended that because of the Greek "culture of higher risk," freshmen should not be allowed to live in fraternity houses. According to Task Force leaders, there was full consensus on this step to better protect freshmen, except for the school's Center for Fraternity and Sorority Life and student representatives from the Greek community. In the end, the university decided freshmen could continue to live in fraternities as long as the organization was alcohol-free.
When Sam Martinez’s parents sought information about fraternities in 2019, they said they saw none of this information. Instead, the University’s Center for Fraternity and Sorority Life touted the many benefits of Greek life membership on its official school website:
- A home away from home
- Lifelong friendships
- Leadership development
- Community service opportunities
- Academics: "a pillar of fraternity and sorority life"
Sam Martinez and his parents also attended a new student orientation event in Pullman on July 6, 2019. They said the school again promoted fraternities as a healthy, success-driven environment for incoming freshmen.
“Since 1906, [the Greek community] has had a rich and rooted role in campus culture and continues to make men better men and women better women,” university representatives wrote.
“We were all excited. We were on top of the world,” said Hector Martinez, adding he was especially impressed with the community service focus in the Greek environment.
“That’s the most incredible thing to me," he continued. "They knew, but they only put out the positive and not the negative.”
In July 2020, Sam Martinez’s parents sued WSU and the ATO organization. In the complaint, they argued WSU had a duty to protect students from foreseeable harm and enforce Washington state hazing laws.
“WSU continuously promoted, sanctioned and recognized ATO…despite being aware of continuing violations of alcohol, hazing, and other student conduct rules… WSU breached their duty to their students when it failed to curtail ongoing dangerous activities,” wrote plaintiff attorney Becky Roe in the complaint.
The family has settled with ATO for an undisclosed amount. A judge dismissed the case against WSU last month, stating there was “no ‘special relationship’ between the plaintiff and [WSU] that would create a duty owed to the plaintiff by [the University].”
Sam Martinez’s parents are appealing the decision.
Citing the ongoing litigation, WSU officials declined to be interviewed or comment. In legal documents connected to the case, WSU attorneys said the school didn’t have power or control over the fraternity.
“The University did not owe a legal duty to protect Sam from the harm he suffered because of the illegal conduct of other adults at a private, off-campus establishment,” wrote university attorneys from the Attorney General’s Office. “[ATO] sought and was granted recognition by the University… the relationship agreement is facilitative and supportive, not controlling or micromanaging.”
WSU documented troubled history at ATO fraternity
Just as the WSU Presidential Task Force began its probe in 2013, the WSU Conduct Board investigated a hazing complaint against ATO.
The Board found the chapter broke hazing, reckless endangerment, and alcohol laws after, on two occasions, "pledges" - who are recruits trying to gain full membership status - were made to clean up raw sewage without protective gear. The Conduct Board found that violated reckless endangerment laws and university policy by "needlessly jeopardizing" the health of members. The Board also cited ATO for violating alcohol and hazing laws by waking pledges up in the middle of the night and providing them alcohol during a run across the campus.
The Conduct Board assigned the most serious sanction possible: loss of chapter recognition by the University for a year, with two years of probation to follow. When a Greek organization loses school recognition, that essentially shuts a house down as it prohibits them from recruiting new members and forbids them from accessing any university support or resources. However, the sanction didn’t stick. The WSU president reduced the loss of recognition to an eight-month probation.
“It’s just this ridiculous cycle," said Houtz. "Why would you repeat past mistakes? You know it’s not working. When were they going to take it seriously? [WSU officials] were talking about the issues around this fraternity. They knew and they didn’t tell us. That’s not right.”
In 2015, WSU received at least two complaints against ATO for alleged violations of WSU Standards of Conduct for Students. In one case, the Student Conduct Board received information that “new ATO members may have been forced to drink,” and that a new ATO member was injured after drinking.
In that case, the Conduct Board declined to formally investigate, but school officials warned ATO leadership that “forced drinking could be considered hazing. Washington State University has a zero-tolerance for hazing and organizations found responsible for hazing will lose University recognition.”
Sam Martinez’s parents said ATO got another pass from WSU.
“They know who the ones are who are the hazers, and they look the other way... I find that very hard to forgive,” said Houtz.
Problems persisted. In 2016, fraternity and sorority student leaders for the entire Greek system took drastic action after “a growing problem” with alcohol-related incidents. The leadership councils sent out a press release to the WSU administration and others announcing they were banning all social events for a semester due to “a concerning rise in the number of assaults, rapes, falls and hospitalizations due to the overuse of alcohol and/or drugs by Greek members in the community,” wrote the student leaders. “With the current negative reputation our community possesses, it is needless to say that the future of Greek Life at the institution is in jeopardy.”
The next year, WSU received another complaint of hazing from the mother of an ATO pledge.
The mother reported her son had been forced to drink “large quantities of alcohol,” and withstood “physical and emotional abuse.”
“My son’s college experience, as well as his friends, were completely ruined because of the acts of this fraternity, and he is too scared to continue his time at Washington State University,” wrote the mother in the complaint to the school. The mother included photos that she described as pledges being forced to stand in toilets with upperclassmen around them drinking and a photo of a freshman getting tackled to the ground.
On July 3, 2017, the WSU Office of Student Conduct wrote to the president of ATO to say “there is insufficient information to find ATO responsible for violating any of the standards.”
In 2018, emails and legal records show ATO expelled nearly half of its members after complaints of hazing. In connection with the internal investigation, the fraternity conducted interviews and drug tests that WSU officials helped to organize.
Also in 2018, the year before Sam died, his parents say WSU missed yet another opportunity to send a zero-tolerance message on hazing. On August 20, 2019, WSU’s Center for Community Standards received a complaint from the mother of a Sigma Nu pledge. The Sigma Nu fraternity shared housing space with ATO. The mother said her son was being “forced to drink” and that the “constant drinking” was putting him in a ‘bad place.’ The mother wrote her son was “threatening self-harm” and she worried for his safety.
Three days later, WSU’s Office of the Vice President of Student Affairs sent a letter to the Sigma Nu fraternity informing them of a serious consequence for hazing. Associate Vice President of Student Engagement Ellen Taylor informed the chapter they were imposing an interim loss of recognition because they’d found new members were asked to "binge drink" on numerous occasions and “participants in the reported activities experienced emotional and physical harm as a result of participation."
The loss of recognition would mean Sigma Nu would have to shut down at WSU. That didn’t happen. On September 9, 2019, the Acting Vice President of Student Affairs, Terry Boston, wrote to the Sigma Nu leadership, saying he was reinstating the chapter recognition. Sigma Nu could stay and get another chance, but the house was forbidden from hosting social events involving alcohol or holding new member activities.
Two months later, Sam Martinez died after a hazing incident that took place in the house ATO shared with Sigma Nu.
“What does that say to everybody in the whole system? It says at the end of the day, you simply aren’t going to be held accountable. And that was a really important and terrible message that was sent to everyone [in the Greek system],” said plaintiff attorney Becky Roe.
After Sam Martinez’s death, WSU removed official recognition from ATO for five years. In the last legislative session "Sam’s Law" was passed. It requires all universities in Washington state to publicize hazing violations on its website. WSU representatives sent legislators a letter in support of the legislation.
Seven ATO members were found guilty of supplying alcohol to a minor. Police recommended hazing charges, but the statute of limitations for that crime had passed. One of the ATO members served 19 days in jail.
“It’s inexplicable to me," said Houtz. "Why are we still talking about hazing? Can’t we just agree that it’s long past time for everyone to do their part, including Washington State University, to stop it in its tracks?"
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https://www.kgw.com/article/news/local/wsu-hazing-death-sam-martinez-fraternity-greek-row/281-958e625a-72ed-4dc4-a541-c5c297552788
| 2022-04-28T23:22:03
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https://www.kgw.com/article/news/local/wsu-hazing-death-sam-martinez-fraternity-greek-row/281-958e625a-72ed-4dc4-a541-c5c297552788
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Second-seeded Flagstaff reached its first Division II state tournament title match in team history, but was blanked in the finale Wednesday at Casteel High School in Queen Creek, losing 5-0 to top-seeded Salpointe Catholic.
“The girls came out and played their hearts out, and it didn’t go how we wanted but I’m still really proud of them,” Flagstaff coach Beth Haglin said. “They were disappointed because they’re competitive. But they also knew that they needed to be proud of what they accomplished. Second place, it stinks because we came to win, but it’s pretty darn good.”
The Lancers swept the Eagles in the lower pairings. Salpointe Catholic won handily at courts four and five, as Flagstaff seniors Ava Jenkins and Berlynn Fowler fell 21-11, 21-11 while playing the fives, and freshman Sophia Krassner and sophomore Gabi Sena fell 21-5, 21-17 at fours. The Lancers clinched a 3-0 lead and the state title with a 21-14, 21-13 win over seniors Alida Perry and Elise Galland in the No. 3 pairing.
Junior Haylee Gilleland and freshman Macie Moseng fell in straight sets in the No. 2 spot, and seniors Bridget Bond and Gracelyn Nez lost in a tiebreaker at No. 1 to complete the sweep for Salpointe Catholic.
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Flagstaff ended its season with a record of 15-1, going 4-0 in the Section Four standings to win it for the first time.
“This year was a lot of fun. I thoroughly enjoyed the season with this group of young ladies. They’re not only athletic, but they’re just awesome to be around and they’re good people,” Haglin said. "I'm really proud of them."
The top two pairs will continue their season in the D-II pairs state tournament beginning Monday in Queen Creek. Moseng and Gilleland will play Monday in the first round, while Nez and Bond are the No. 2 seed and earned a bye to play on Tuesday.
Boys tennis
Nighthawks 5, Eagles 3
No. 7-seeded Flagstaff ended its season with a home loss to 10th-seeded Ironwood Ridge in the first round of the D-II state tourney Wednesday.
The Eagles and Nighthawks split the six singles matches. Flagstaff sophomore Camden Hagerman won 6-2, 7-6 at the No. 1 flight. Sophomore Rowan Hawkins earned a 6-4, 6-3 victory at No. 4 singles, and junior Van Wiederholt added a 7-6, 6-2 win at court five.
The Nighthawks won at No. 1 and 2 doubles, clinching five points to advance.
Flagstaff finished the season with an overall record of 13-2 (7-0 Section Two). The Eagles will likely bring back their entire team in 2023.
Hagerman and junior Alejandro Acuna will continue their season in the singles state tournament on Friday in Phoenix. Hawkins and junior Zachary Miller will play in the doubles competition.
Softball
Eagles 10, Prospectors 0
Tenth-seeded Flagstaff kept its season alive with a five-inning win over No. 23-seeded Apache Junction at home on Wednesday in the 4A Conference play-in game.
Sophomore Gianna Baca pitched a complete game, giving up no walks and allowing just two hits.
The Eagles poured on seven runs in the fourth inning -- including a two-run double from junior Danica Wilson -- to secure the 10 they needed to win via mercy rule.
Junior Reese Elliott went 3 for 3 at the plate with two RBIs.
The Eagles (12-6, 7-5 Grand Canyon) will play at seventh-seeded Mingus Union on Saturday in the first round of the 4A playoffs. The Marauders and Eagles, Grand Canyon Region rivals, split their regular-season series in late March.
Panthers named fifth seed
Coconino will play at home in the first round of the 4A state tournament, hosting 12th-seeded Pueblo on Saturday.
The Panthers (15-3, 10-2 Grand Canyon) won the Grand Canyon Region this season.
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https://azdailysun.com/sports/local/local-roundup-eagles-blanked-in-beach-volleyball-title-match-by-salpointe-catholic/article_ab96858e-c71c-11ec-aa4a-b724734f1f6b.html
| 2022-04-28T23:50:14
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https://azdailysun.com/sports/local/local-roundup-eagles-blanked-in-beach-volleyball-title-match-by-salpointe-catholic/article_ab96858e-c71c-11ec-aa4a-b724734f1f6b.html
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FORT WORTH, Texas — A national program that focuses on dad’s being great says it’s mission is to try and do something about the more than 19 million children in America without father figures. Community leaders were invited to a Fort Worth elementary school for a kick-off of the program.
Jabier Carrion arrived at South Hills Elementary School to a huge surprise. He has a second-grade daughter at the school.
"I pulled up and man, there's just cars lined up like it’s, it was crazy,” Carrion said. "There's a lot of dads here."
Carrion is among the 150 dads who packed the auditorium to launch the new fatherhood program “All Pro Dad” in the city.
The program will focus on making fathers more visible to students, something Carrion knows about firsthand.
"My dad was a soldier, so he was away sometimes, but he always made sure to tell us that he loved us. He was proud of us, and he always provided for us, take care of us,” he said.
All Pro Dad organizers say since that's not always the case, they invited Fort Worth dads to sign-up and meet their co-founder and celebrity spokesperson Tony Dungy.
Dungy is a retired NFL coach, who won the Super Bowl for the Indianapolis Colts in 2007. Dungy shared why he's involved and the program’s mission.
"A lot of these young kids, they're going to see a lot of female teachers, a lot of female administrators. But to see the men involved and say, my dad, thinks this is important, my dad thinks school is important, that sends a message," said Dungy.
Dungy's message is a huge draw in recruiting fathers, like Andrae Taylor. As a participant, Taylor has expanded the All Dad Pro program across Texas. He got to shake hands with Dungy.
"I can tell he genuinely cares about the program,” Taylor said. "And I'm excited to even have my own chapter and be a part of something that he created, which is great."
Great, because some of the dads recruited, like Tim Russell, can personally relate to fatherless students. Russell signed up to also help make the program mission a success.
"As fathers, uncles, grandfathers, we're there for the children, and you have to just be able to grow with them," said Russell.
According to All Pro Dad, nearly 19.7 million children in the United States are living with no active father or father figure in their lives. The organization believes that directly correlates to poor academic and social outcomes. One of the main goals of All Pro Dad is to provide programs and initiatives that will counteract the negative effects of fatherlessness.
The organization says it relies on legislative funding administered by state agencies. With this funding, it hopes to increase family engagement and positively impact the academic success of Texas, while creating unique opportunities for fatherhood involvement at local schools.
Those living in Texas can further support the nonprofit by purchasing one of the new “Family First” specialty license plates. Sales from the Texas plate directly support two main programs.
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https://www.wfaa.com/article/news/local/retired-nfl-coach-tony-dungy-all-pro-dad-program-in-fort-worth/287-6a35a452-77fc-4a3f-8507-124ef67cc045
| 2022-04-29T00:06:06
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https://www.wfaa.com/article/news/local/retired-nfl-coach-tony-dungy-all-pro-dad-program-in-fort-worth/287-6a35a452-77fc-4a3f-8507-124ef67cc045
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NAPLES, Fla. — A Naples man is encouraging homeowners to check their showers before getting clean.
On Tuesday, Curt Butler and his wife woke up to the sound of an explosion in their house.
Butler says he ran out of his bedroom to see glass scattered all over his master bedroom floor.
A shower installation company told him glass can break all on its own and Butler experienced the rarity firsthand.
“They say it could be the manufacturing possibly. An impurity of whatever they make it with sand and all these other things or it can be in workmanship when they put it on or wear and tear,” said Butler.
The Butlers say they feel lucky, because the door broke just before Curt’s wife went in to shower.
“She goes first, so if that thing would have exploded while she was in there – I just can’t imagine it,” said Butler.
He says he plans to have the door reinstalled with protective film covering the glass and encourages other homeowners to do the same.
“With a lot of building going on down here I’m sure they’re going to have a lot of these glass enclosures being installed on these houses around here,” said Butler.
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https://nbc-2.com/news/local/2022/04/28/naples-family-urges-homeowners-to-take-safety-measures-after-shower-explosion-incident/
| 2022-04-29T00:06:06
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https://nbc-2.com/news/local/2022/04/28/naples-family-urges-homeowners-to-take-safety-measures-after-shower-explosion-incident/
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DALLAS — Max Glauben believed if he kept sharing memories of the atrocities he suffered and witnessed, he could keep them from being repeated.
I had the privilege of interviewing Max on multiple occasions, and I will always consider it an honor that I was able to share his story.
Glauben was born in Poland on Jan. 14, 1928.
When Nazis invaded Warsaw, his once thriving Jewish neighborhood declined into a ghetto where food was scarce.
He found clever ways to escape so he could round up loaves of bread and potatoes that would keep his family alive.
But the Glaubens were eventually rounded up and sent to Nazi death camps.
He was the only Glauben to survive.
He suffered the horrors of the Holocaust, yet he harbored no hate.
I first interviewed Glauben in 2018 as he spent several exhausting days recording his memories as part of a project led by the USC Shoah Foundation to preserve Holocaust survivors’ histories.
“We need to deliver our testimony in a way that does not create hate -- the same hate that was applied towards us,” he told me back then.
The foundation created an interactive hologram of Glauben that’s now one of the most popular attractions inside the Dallas Holocaust and Human Rights Museum, which Glauben helped found.
I remember his big smile as he saw his hologram come to life.
He was proud to know his testimony would outlive him.
I also remember walking through the museum with him in the days before it opened to the public.
We stood together inside a boxcar like the ones used to transport Jews to death camps.
I asked him how he could stand there and not let hatred overwhelm him.
Hate does nobody any good, he said.
“The more he hates, the more he wants to hate,” Glauben said.
In 2021, Glauben and author Jori Epstein published The Upstander, a book about Glauben’s life and his commitment to spreading goodness and kindness in the world.
After our story about The Upstander aired, I talked to Glauben on the phone from time to time.
He shared with me not long ago that his health was declining.
But the only thing I ever heard in his voice was resilience.
My friend, Max Glauben, died of complications from cancer at 1:19 a.m. on April 28, 2022.
He passed on Holocaust Remembrance Day.
He survived the worst of humanity to become the best of it.
I am honored to have known him.
And I pledge to continue telling his story and the story of other persecuted people – as that’s what he would have wanted.
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https://www.wfaa.com/article/news/local/the-life-of-94-year-old-holocaust-survivor-max-glauben/287-7aa75a64-7041-432c-a65a-a4361fc95cd6
| 2022-04-29T00:06:12
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https://www.wfaa.com/article/news/local/the-life-of-94-year-old-holocaust-survivor-max-glauben/287-7aa75a64-7041-432c-a65a-a4361fc95cd6
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Concerts, live music in Hattiesburg spring, summer 2022
Hattiesburg is gearing up for warmer months filled with concerts and live music.
Here is what to know about upcoming concerts in the Hub City.
Kameron Marlowe with Bailey Zimmerman
When: 8 p.m., April 28
Where: Brewsky's, 3818 W. Fourth St.
Tickets: $12 on TicketWeb
Information: Ages 18 and older. Marlowe is a country musician with over 165 million on-demand streams.
Grits and Greens
When: 5 p.m., April 29
Where: Town Square Park, 100 Main St.
Tickets: Free admission
Information: This event is part of Hattiesburg's Live at Five concert series. Additional concerts featuring other bands will take place May 6 and 13.
Strangelove
When: 8 p.m., May 6
Where: Brewsky's, 3818 W. Fourth St.
Tickets: $15 on TicketWeb
Information: Ages 18 and older. The band will bring an 80s experience with special guests Electric Duke.
Better Than Ezra
When: 8 p.m., May 7
Where: The Lawn at Lake Terrace, 1 Convention Center Plaza
Tickets: $25 to $55 on Eventbrite
Information: The concert is all ages. Attendees have the option to purchase a VIP table of six seats, a standard table of four seats or any amount of standard seats. Masks are not required. This is a rain or shine event.
Midtown Sounds 2022 featuring The Lone Bellow
When: 5 p.m., May 7
Where: Southern Station, 118 College Dr.
Tickets: Admission is free
Information: The concert is all ages. Attendees are invited to bring blankets and lawn chairs.
Mississippi Moonlight
When: 11 p.m., May 7
Where: Brewsky's, 3818 W. Fourth St.
Tickets: $7 on TicketWeb
Information: Ages 18 and older
Luke Winslow-King
When: 6:30 p.m., May 11
Where: Thirsty Hippo, 309 McLeod St.
Tickets: Not yet available
Information: Luke Winslow-King is a guitarist, singer, composer and lyricist known for his slide guitar work.
Neutral Snap
When: 11 p.m., May 12
Where: Brewsky's, 3818 W. Fourth St.
Tickets: $10 on TicketWeb
Information: Neutral Snap is a five-piece rock band from New Orleans. Ages 18 and older
The Chitlins with Heavy Is The Crown
When: 8 p.m., May 14
Where: Last Call, 7308 U.S. 49
Tickets: Call 601-602-2845
Information: The Chitlins is a blues-rock group from Gulfport.
Soul Glo
When: 8 p.m., May 14
Where: Hattiesburg Community Arts Center, 825 Main St.
Tickets: $7 at the door
Tracy Byrd
When: 7:30 p.m., June 10
Where: Historic Hattiesburg Saenger Theater, 201 Forrest St.
Tickets: $45 to $65 on Eventbrite
Information: Some of Byrd’s hits include “Keeper of the Stars,” “Watermelon Crawl,” “Ten Rounds with Jose Cuervo” and “I’m From the Country.” The concert is all ages. A block party begins outside the Saenger at 6:30 p.m.
Forever: The Music of Queen A Symphonic Rock Concert
When: 7:30 p.m., June 25
Where: Historic Hattiesburg Saenger Theater, 201 Forrest St.
Tickets: $5 for children and $30 for adults on TicketWeb
Information: The concert will feature lead vocalist Michael Muenchow Rivera, a rock band, eight background singers and an orchestra performing Queen’s greatest hits.
Organized Grime & Fooshee's Forecast
When: 9 p.m., July 9
Where: Thirsty Hippo, 309 McLeod St.
Tickets: $8 on Eventbrite
Information: Fooshee's Forecast's sound is a fusion of folk, funk, and blues while Organized Grime takes inspiration from Radiohead and The Beatles.
Josh Turner
When: 7:30 p.m., Aug. 4
Where: Historic Hattiesburg Saenger Theater, 201 Forrest St.
Tickets: $49 to $79 on Eventbrite
Information: MCA Nashville recording artist Josh Turner is a county music musician. The concert is all ages.
Jed Bayes
When: 10:30 a.m., Aug. 14
Where: Hardy Street Baptist Church, 1508 Hardy St.
Tickets: Call 601-544-1794
Information: Jed Bayes is a Christian musician who played and sang for "The West Virginians" and studied songwriting at Liberty University.
Hattiesburg business owner:Turning a dream into reality
Contact reporter Laurel Thrailkill at lthrailkill@gannett.com or on Twitter.
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Hattiesburg-area summer camps 2022: Dates, cost, details
As summer is fast-approaching, summer camps are opening registration to students who will soon be out of class.
Here are the details on some Hattiesburg summer camps. Are we missing a camp? Contact lthrailkill@gannett.com.
All-South Drum Major and Guard Camp
Details: High school students of all experience levels will have the opportunity to hone their skills in conducting, leadership, flag work and rifle work. Registration ends May 31.
Contact: 601-266-6194
When: June 21-25
Where: The University of Southern Mississippi, 118 College Dr.
Cost: Commuter camper: $275; residential camper: $375.
Bristles Art Studio Summer Camp
Details: Classes are designed to teach kids about art processes and no previous experience is required. Registration begins May 1.
Contact: bristlesstudio.com/summer-art-camps
When: Three and four-day camps are offered through June and July.
Where: Bristles Art Studio, 16 Office Park Dr.
Cost: $75 to $95 plus $20 registration fee
Camp Create
Details: Stations include costumes, art projects, quiet comfortable spaces, musical instruments, a creative movement area and a game area.
Contact: Text 601-564-3811
When: June 6-10 and June 13-17
Where: Hattiesburg Community Arts Center on Main Street
Cost: $175
Summer Program for Academically Talented Youth
Details: This two-week residential program features professors and instructors from across the Southern Miss Campus and community to teach accelerated course work.
Students have opportunities to visit the Southern Miss arm of the Mississippi Crime Lab, Polymer Science Labs, Nursing Simulation Labs, Art Galleries, view musical performances, participate in rock wall climbing and get personalized time with the Honors College Admissions team. Recreation, room, and board are included.
Contact: kaleidoscope691993828.wordpress.com
When: June 20 to July 2
Where: The University of Southern Mississippi, 118 College Dr.
Cost: $2,000
Frances A. Karnes Center for Gifted Studies summer programs
Details: For a full list of programs and their offerings, visit this site. Applications are available online.
Contact: kaleidoscope691993828.wordpress.com
When: June and July
Where: The University of Southern Mississippi, 118 College Dr.
Cost: $200 to $2,000 depending on program
GenCyber Camps
Details: Cyber to the Top is Southern Miss' K-12 outreach program that provides summer camp and other co-curricular activities. Campers will participate in learning activities in computing and cybersecurity. Applications are accepted from JROTC cadets in Mississippi and Alabama.
Contact: 601-266-4949.
When: July 11-15 and July 18-22
Where: The University of Southern Mississippi, 118 College Dr.
Hattiesburg Youth Soccer Association HFC 2022 Summer Camp
Details: The camp will allow kids to hone their skills when it comes to sportsmanship and teamwork.
Contact: Email soccer1@hysams.org
When: June 13-16
Where: Tatum Park
Cost: $70 to $140
Joye Lee-McNelis Basketball Camps
Details: Camps are led by head coach Joye Lee-McNelis and Lady Eagles basketball staff for K through 12th-grade.
Contact: jlmbasketballcamps.com/contact-us.cfm
When: June and July
Where: Reed Green Coliseum on the Southern Miss campus
Cost: $50 to $150
Lake Thoreau Summer Camps
Details: Camps are for rising third through sixth-grade students. Campers can register online.
Contact: usm.edu/lake-thoreau-environmental-center/summer-camps.php or 601-266-4748
When: June and July
Where: Lake Thoreau Environmental Center, 150 Lake Thoreau Road
Cost: $115 to $150
Temple Baptist Church's Camp 5220
Details: Camp 5220 is an all-day summer camp for kids to enjoy sports, activities, games and devotions. Campers can register online at cogran.io/index.html?5220#/events.
Contact: Email hbarron@tbclife.net
When: July 11-15
Where: 5220 Old Hwy. 11
Cost: $125
Country Schoolhouse Camps
Details: Activities include learning about farm biology, arts and crafts, math, sewing, drama and music.
Contact: thecountryschoolhouseedcenter.com/summer-camps.html
When: June and July
Where: 70 Thames Ln, Purvis
Cost: $100 to $300
2022 Tennis & Swim Camp
Details: Tennis and swim camp open to children ages 5-12. Camps run from 9 a.m. to noon and include two hours of tennis and one hour of pool time.
Contact: 601-268-2098 or theoffice@hattiesburgracquetclub.com
When: May 30 to June 3, June 6-10, June 13-17, June 20-24, June 27-July 1, July 11-15 and July 18-22
Where: The Racquet Club of Hattiesburg
Cost: $145 per week for club members and $155 for non-members. Payment is due by the start of camp.
William Carey Athletics Camps
Details: The university is offering various sports camps and tournaments in June and July.
Contact: 601-318-6051
When: June and July
Where: 710 William Carey Pkwy.
Cost: $25 to $200
ASAAP Summer Academic and Enrichment Camp
Details: While the camp might be full, the waitlist is open. Upcoming K through fifth-grade campers will participate in weekly field trips and hands-on activities. Students are committed to the entire summer and tuition is due regardless of attendance.
Contact: 601-336-5501
When: Arts and Crafts, June 6-17; Healthy You, June 20 to July 1; STEM, July 4-15
Where: ASAAP Central, 106 N. 38th Ave. or ASAAP West, 10 Hunter Lane
Cost: Registration fee: $95; bi-weekly tuition: $240; field trip fee: $100.
2022 Hattiesburg Zoo summer camps:Dates, costs and details
Contact reporter Laurel Thrailkill at lthrailkill@gannett.com or on Twitter.
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Will Hattiesburg opt out of medical marijuana? Mayor Toby Barker on the decision
Though the deadline for Mississippi communities to pass on allowing certain types of medical marijuana businesses to operate within their jurisdictions is fast approaching, Hattiesburg officials don't plan to be on that list.
"We have no intentions of opting out," said Hattiesburg Mayor Toby Barker. "No council member has given any indication that that's a move they want to make."
Cities and counties have until the first week of May to finalize decisions on whether they will allow dispensaries, cultivators and processing facilities to operate in their jurisdictions.
Surrounding areas, including Madison, Brandon, Ridgeland, Pass Christian and Gluckstadt are among Mississippi communities that have already opted out. Madison Mayor Mary Hawkins-Butler cited concerns over zoning and "increased danger to (Madison) first responders" among the reasons for opting out.
Madison opts out of medical marijuana:Mayor cites zoning and public safety concerns
More:Mississippi pain cream scheme: Key player Chad Barrett sentenced, must repay $182.5 million
"While I certainly understand some concerns, these facilities, they're extremely regulated, and a lot of people in our community voted to support that medical marijuana initiative, and I think there are a lot of people who will benefit from it," Barker said.
Barker said the city is working to determine how dispensaries and other medical marijuana-related facilities will be incorporated into the land code, and a draft of the changes will be available within the next month.
According to the Mississippi Medical Cannabis Act, cannabis establishments cannot be located within 1,000 feet of any school, church or childcare facility unless it has received a waiver.
By June, the state Department of Health plans to begin accepting license applications for patients, medical practitioners, cannabis cultivation facilities, cannabis processing facilities, cannabis testing facilities, cannabis waste disposal entities and cannabis transportation entities.
Once the application process begins, there will be a 30-day approval time for licensure applications and a five-day approval time for program patients.
What recently opened in Hattiesburg:Businesses and restaurants
"I think there are a lot of people who deal with some really tough illnesses, and if they can have another option other than more opioids, it might give them some relief and add some quality of life. I think that's worth moving forward on," Barker said.
A full list of qualifying conditions can be found on the state Department of Health website.
Contact reporter Laurel Thrailkill at lthrailkill@gannett.com or on Twitter.
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Rally held in Lumberton in support of man allegedly threatened by local alderman
Members of the Lumberton community came together Wednesday at Fifth Avenue Park in support of Travis Thomas following an incident involving Alderman David "Kent" Crider.
On April 18, law enforcement responded after Crider allegedly threatened Thomas who was riding a four-wheeler on Hinton Avenue, according to Danny Rigel, Lamar County Sheriff.
Four-wheelers are not permitted on public roads in Mississippi.
Thomas, 32, said Crider attempted to run him over with a minivan. He then abandoned the four-wheeler and ran into a nearby yard. Crider exited his vehicle saying he was making a citizen's arrest and was an elected official, Thomas said.
"He then told me he was going to draw his gun on me if I moved," Thomas said.
Thomas said he saw a firearm in Crider's vehicle, and that after he fled, Crider followed him home, at which point Thomas called 911.
Crider, 66, was arrested April 23 on a personal affidavit and is being charged with disturbing the peace and simple assault by threat. Crider was bonded out the same day he was arrested.
Calls to Crider's attorney Doug Miller were not returned.
At least two dozen adults and several children sat in gray folding chairs under a pavilion Wednesday, listening to Thomas' account of the incident and community activists speak.
Speakers said Crider's actions toward Thomas, who is Black, were racially motivated.
"We want justice for (Thomas). We want the charges [against Crider] increased, and like I said earlier we've lost total confidence in (Crider) as a city councilperson," said Elaine Robinson, a community activist from Lumberton.
Activist Marquell Bridges said Crider abused his power.
"Now we can't event ride four-wheelers," Bridges said. "Where's the safe space for our men, for our women, for our children. I love the community support that I see, because this is what it takes. It takes unity."
Lumberton Ward 4 Alderman Bobby Smith and Ward 3 Alderwoman Myrtis Holder attended along with Rev. Raymond Brown of New Orleans.
"You have to make a choice of what kind of city you want to be, regardless of what somebody else may perceive of you, what it's like to live in Lumberton," said Anthony Hales of Poplarville, a community south of Lumberton.
Mayor Toby Barker:No plans to opt out of medical marijuana
Contact reporter Laurel Thrailkill at lthrailkill@gannett.com or on Twitter.
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PORTLAND, Maine — Julien Langevin drank coffee in high school. Now, he's an international coffee-tasting competitor.
“I was a big Tim Horton’s guy,” he says. “I loved flavored, like hazelnut coffee with cream in it.”
At the age of 18, he landed a job. His first gig in the coffee business was as a barista at Starbucks in downtown Portland. A shift leader gave him useful lessons by showing him how the taste of various brews changed when they were paired with different foods, such as a lemon pound cake.
“That was the first experience where I actually began to think about, 'OK, this is coffee, but it could taste like something else,'" he said.
Last fall, Langevin went to work for Coffee By Design in Portland, not as a barista but in production.
“I got the opportunity to start learning how to roast, and that was life-changing,” an experience he described as an epiphany. “How you roast coffee, how you develop the sweetness, the sugars, it all goes into what the coffee tastes like.”
“Life-changing?” “An epiphany?” A bit of hyperbole, right? Actually, no.
The roasting experience led Langevin to get really, really serious about tasting. In early April, to his astonishment, he beat 22 other contestants to win the national Cup Tasters Competition at the United States Coffee Championships in Boston.
In June he’ll fly to Milan, Italy, to go up against the ultra-discerning palates of competitors from around the globe at the World Coffee Championships. Think of it as the Olympics of coffee.
“What’s it going to be like if you win?” I asked.
“I don’t know,” Langevin said, acutely aware that merely discussing the prospect might bring bad luck. “I don’t want to think about it.”
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VIRGINIA, USA — Starting July 1, sending explicit images without the explicit consent of the receiver, so-called "cyberflashing," will be illegal in Virginia.
The bill was backed by the popular and self-described "women-first" dating app, Bumble. The company first got a similar bill passed in Texas and is working on legislation in California, Wisconsin, New York and Pennsylvania, according to a spokesperson.
Their efforts were inspired by a survey done by the company, in which nearly one out of every two women said they've received an unsolicited nude in their lifetime. Of those who had received a lewd image, nearly one out of three said it had been as recent as within the past month.
"It's demeaning, it's harassment," Sen. Jill Holtzman Vogel (R-Fauquier), one of the bill's sponsors, said. "If somebody walked up to a man or woman on the street and exposed themselves in an incredibly obscene way, that's not legal in Virginia. So how is [cyberflashing] any different?"
In the Commonwealth, victims will be able to sue violators, who could be liable "for actual damages or $500, whichever is greater, in addition to reasonable attorney fees and costs," the bill states.
"I've got two daughters and their friends and they let me know that this is a very common occurrence," said Sen. Jennifer Boysko (D-Fairfax), another sponsor of the legislation, which was supported by members of both parties and passed both the House of Delegates and the Senate unanimously.
The bill also specifies the court may award punitive damages -- which are typically awarded at the court's discretion when the defendant's behavior is found to be especially harmful -- as well as take measures to restrict the perpetrator from committing the act in the future.
Sen. Jennifer McClellan (D-Richmond) was the chief patron of the bill.
"We are thrilled to have helped spearhead this monumental moment in Virginia," stated Payton Iheme, Bumble’s Head of Public Policy for the Americas. "Living in a digital-first world means that penalties don’t typically apply to ensure the safety and wellbeing of people online, and this bill is a step in that direction.”
Making or sending child porn is already a crime. But this law is different. "This is one adult sending an unsolicited picture to another adult," said Boysko.
The lawmakers wanted to make it clear that sending graphic images between consenting adults is still perfectly legal.
The bill provides only a civil penalty, not a criminal one. Victims would have to file a claim in court. Violations would not be handled by law enforcement.
In the United Kingdom, the government plans to make cyberflashing a criminal offense, punishable by up to two years in prison.
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ARKANSAS, USA — In April of 2021, Arkansas lawmakers and Gov. Asa Hutchinson signed ACT 792 into law making it a requirement to take annual excessive force prevention training.
A year later, the Arkansas Department of Public Safety says a majority of law enforcement officers have completed the training.
The training requires officers to intervene if they see excessive force by another officer.
"This is an effort to make where the good guys are empowered and equipped in order to address it when some people either go off or not behaving themselves or unruly to begin with," said the bill's author Senator Bob Ballinger. “But either way, law enforcement officers not breaking the law it helps them realize that they have a duty to intervene."
The law was signed on April 20, 2021, the same day the Derek Chauvin trial reached a verdict. Chauvin is the former Minneapolis, Minnesota officer found guilty of the death of George Floyd. The death of Floyd sparked protests in 2020 about policing nationwide, including here in Arkansas.
Ballinger says the protests in Arkansas are exactly why he wrote it.
"With all the violence that was going on in Arkansas we can do something," Ballinger said.
Since the signing of this law that went into effect in January 2022, police have also increased their required training for racial profiling from two hours of annual training to four hours.
Arkansas Justice Reform Coalition Co-Founder Beth Coger says this is needed. However, she would like more done and for officers to have more resources such as mental health
"Their job is hard enough and if they can get help with responding to situations when someone is having a mental health crisis or a domestic call, I believe they want that help and it would help the community too."
She would also like to see more community involvement by the police as well as more of the community interacting with the police.
Senator Ballinger says this training will have more of a long-term effect on policing in Arkansas.
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PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) — When it comes to April showers, Portland has seen plenty, but there are activities you can do this weekend to get out and about while the rain continues.
KOIN 6 News put together a list of 6 events people can attend inside. On the list, you’ll find activities starting on Friday, April 29 through Sunday, May 1.
You can find the list below.
Lorde: Solar Power Tour
Event: New Zealand singer Lorde will make a stop in Portland as part of her latest tour. She is known for songs such as, “Royals,” “Team” and “Green Light.”
Date and time: 7:30 p.m., Monday, May 1
Location: Rose Quarter, 1 N Center Ct. St. #150, Portland
Cost: Ticket prices vary.
For tickets, visit here.
Portland Winterhawks
Event: The Portland Winterhawks face off Prince George Cougars in playoffs Game E.
Date and time: 5 p.m., Saturday, April 30
Location: Veterans Memorial Coliseum, 300 N. Ramsay Way, Portland
Cost: Ticket prices vary.
For tickets, click here.
Crafty Wonderland Spring Art and Craft Market
Event: People can buy handmade goods from more than 230 artists, crafters and designers.
“Support local artists and makers and buy-one-of-a-kind gifts for everyone on your list — including yourself,” the event’s Facebook page says.
The market will have timed admission through the day, which means everyone attending the event will need a ticket, added event organizers. However, children under five will not need tickets.
Date and time: 5 p.m. to 9 p.m., Friday, April 29 for the Crafty Wonderland Spring Art party
11 a.m. to 5 p.m., Saturday, April 30 for the craft market
Location: Oregon Convention Center, 777 N.E. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd, Portland
Cost: $23 for the Crafty Wonderland Spring Art party, $4 for the craft market
For tickets, visit this website.
Cannachef Portland — Cooking Competition and Edibles Cup
Event: Eight chefs will compete live in five rounds in a different style of cooking competition and later be judged live, according to the event’s Facebook page. Before the event starts, it will feature the Edible Cup Award Ceremony, live cooking demonstrations, vendor booths, tasting and giveaways.
The competition is filmed live and hosted by Ngaoi Bealum from Netflix’s “Cooking On High” and will feature special guest judges.
The event is only open to ages 21 and over.
Date and time: 1 p.m. to 8 p.m., Sunday, May 1 with the cooking competition starting at 4:20 p.m.
Location: REDD Event Venue, 831 S.E. Salmon St., Portland
Cost: Ticket prices vary.
For tickets, click here.
Nano Beer Festival
Event: The bi-annual event features small-batch beers, ciders and mead made by new members of the local craft industry, said the event.
“Created in 2008, the Nano Beer Fest began at Max’s Fanno Creek where the owners were looking for ways to showcase the local small brewers who were coming on the scene,” the festival added.
You must be 21 and over to attend the event.
Date and time: Noon to 9 p.m., Friday, April 29
Noon to 9 p.m., Saturday, April 30
Noon to 5 p.m., Sunday, May 1
Location: Johns Marketplace, 3535 S.E. Multnomah Boulevard, Portland
Cost: $20 online, $30 at the door
For tickets, click here.
BBQ Blessings Grand Opening
Event: BBQ Blessings in Vancouver is set to open this weekend.
“Your support has made all of this possible,” Organizers said on the event’s Facebook page. “We stepped out on faith about one year ago to date and have went from Facebook to a food cart to the coliseum and now to a brick and mortar restaurant.”
Date and time: 7 a.m. to 7 p.m., Saturday, April 30
Location: 2626 E Evergreen Blvd., Vancouver
Cost: No cost for admission, food prices vary
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BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (WIAT) — The Princeton Baptist Medical Center will be celebrating 100 years of serving Birmingham next week.
The hospital will be holding a Centennial Celebration on May 2 from 5:30 p.m. to 7 p.m. at the hospital.
Congresswoman Terri Sewell honored the hospital for its work on the House Floor Wednesday.
Princeton was the first major hospital in the Birmingham area.
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PORTLAND, Ore. — Police have recovered several guitars that were stolen from San Francisco rock band The Brian Jonestown Massacre during their tour stop in Portland.
Frontman Anton Newcombe tweeted on the morning of April 18 that he was on a plane headed to the Rose City when he learned that thousands of dollars worth of the band's gear had been stolen.
He shared photos of the guitars and asked his followers for help tracking them down. Police said they were told the guitars are from the 1960s and have
"enormous sentimental value and are not easily replaceable."
On Thursday, Portland police officers were responding to a homeless encampment by the I-405 onramp near North Kerby Avenue. A number of stolen vehicles had recently been recovered from the camp site, and there had also been a homicide near the camp on April 11.
During their response, officers found five or six guitars along with other equipment that had been stolen from The Brian Jamestown Massacre. They also found suspected fentanyl pills, drug paraphernalia and a stolen Subaru, along with other new property believed to have been stolen.
Following the recovery, Newcombe tweeted his thanks to the police bureau and others who helped spread the word about the stolen gear.
"@PortlandPolice I want to thank you for your service and the excellent detective work in locating most of our guitars. I also want to thank every single person that reached out or spread the word about the robbery - thank you all ❤️ #musicwins," he wrote.
The Portland Police Bureau's North Precinct Commander Tina Jones said she was "extremely proud" of the officers who helped recover the gear. She also thanked crews who helped clean up trash at the campsite.
"The conditions of the area were deplorable and a public safety hazard," said Jones. "We also appreciate our partners who assisted in cleaning up the detritus to improve the condition of our city.”
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EL DORADO HILLS, Calif. — After being diagnosed with a rare form of cancer the summer going into his senior year, Oak Ridge High School baseball player Bryce Bazor has felt an immense amount of support from his community.
When Bryce began developing slight pains during his summer ball season in July, his parents decided to take him to the doctor.
“After checking it out and sending in biopsies, they found it was chondroblastic osteosarcoma, which is a very rare form of cancer,” Bryce’s father, Jim Bazor, told ABC10.
According to the American Cancer Society, about 1,000 people in the United States are diagnosed with chondroblastic osteosarcoma each year.
Bryce was forced to leave baseball, which has been a part of his life since he was a child, behind this season after being diagnosed with cancer. Despite what he is currently going through, Bryce’s friends, family and teammates describe him as a resilient individual.
“One of Bryce’s defining characteristics is that his spirits are always high. I am honestly surprised at how well he is handling everything he is going through,” Jack Bolton, one of Bryce’s best friends and teammates said. “That’s just who he is as a person.”
Wes Clanton, Oak Ridge’s Junior Varsity baseball coach, said Bryce does not have an ounce of quit in his body.
“I look at what he's doing right now, and he's fighting, just like he did on the baseball field,” Clanton said.
Bryce said having a positive outlook and keeping a smile on his face every day despite what he is going through has helped him through his fight against cancer.
Although Bryce cannot play during his senior season, his coaches and teammates are making sure he’s still on the field in some capacity for every game.
“We play for one reason right now; we play for Bryce,” Clanton said. “Every time we touch that field, it's for him.”
On Saturday, the Del Oro High School baseball team wore Bryce’s number and “family” across their jerseys during their game against Oak Ridge. At Tuesday’s rivalry game against Folsom High School, both teams lined up together as they presented Bryce with a jersey, plaque and letterman patch.
Bryce said it was nice to see not only his friends supporting him, but his friends from Folsom supporting him as well.
“It was awesome to have everyone there supporting me,” Bryce said. “It was also great to be on the field again. I miss it.”
Bryce's close friends and teammates said seeing the whole baseball community come together as one put "a little bit of fight" in all of their hearts and gave them something to play for.
Over the course of his battle with cancer, Bryce has decided that he wants to set up a foundation in his name to raise money for cancer research.
“We want to do everything we can moving forward to help Bryce and other children just like him be able to overcome this rare form of cancer," Bryce's father said.
Clanton said him and Bryce's father have decided to set up a Wiffle ball tournament for Sunday, May 1 to raise money for cancer research. Claton said there are 16 teams playing in Sunday's Wiffle ball tournament.
“We’ve had an unbelievable outpour of support," Claton said. “We want the Bazor family to understand that they have the support of a family behind them.”
Bryce's father said their family cannot begin to express the amount of love and support they have received from the community.
“Our friends, family, and community are what have given our family the strength and courage to get through this,” Bryce’s father said. “These people have given us a reason to fight and to not feel alone."
Bryce said it has been great to have a whole community standing behind him, helping him get through his cancer battle.
“Just seeing that support extending beyond our El Dorado Hills community and moving into other communities across California has been amazing," Bryce said.
Watch more from ABC10: Breast cancer survivor said they need support, even past cancer-free status
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https://www.abc10.com/article/news/local/eldorado-hills/oak-ridge-high-bryce-bazor/103-eaf53d60-98a2-41f7-9c8d-db96904133ed
| 2022-04-29T02:25:39
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https://www.abc10.com/article/news/local/eldorado-hills/oak-ridge-high-bryce-bazor/103-eaf53d60-98a2-41f7-9c8d-db96904133ed
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