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SCOTTSVILLE, Va. — Two hundred years ago, it was tobacco. The long, flat-bottomed batteau invented to transport the crop down the James River turned Scottsville into one of the biggest port cities in the early 19th-century Virginia.
The James River Batteau Company offers both midday and sunset cruises in its batteau, paired with charcuterie boards, local history lessons and live music. Since co-owners Will Smith and Will Cash founded the tour company at spring’s start last year, they’ve been booked just under capacity with tourists from Charlottesville, Richmond, Washington and beyond.
“Where I really think the future of tourism in Albemarle County and Charlottesville is the merger of the raw beauty of this area with its unique history,” Smith told The Daily Progress on a recent Thursday evening drifting down the James. “This is a story of a small town that’s got a lot to offer, and we’re bringing the town’s history and heritage to life.”
Bringing history to life
That history begins with European immigrants in the 18th century trying to make their fortunes in tobacco. Settlements expanded from the already-saturated Tidewater into the Piedmont, where space and rich soil for tobacco were abundant.
“The problem is, we’ve moved out to the middle of nowhere, which is what Scottsville would have been by then,” Smith said. “Some people suggest that Scottsville is still in the middle of nowhere, depending on what your perspective is.”
Settlers of the Piedmont got creative with how to transport the cash crop back to Richmond for export: At first, it was by rolling giant barrels of tobacco one by one down the roads. When that proved detrimental to the quality of the crop, they turned to the river.
Construction of the batteau’s predecessor, the double dugout canoe, demanded all the old-growth trees in the area be cut down. That deforestation led to Scottsville’s biggest flood to date. Far surpassing the size of a modern day flood, which might submerge a parking lot and give Scottsvillians a day of fishing from the railroad tracks, the 1771 disaster destroyed all of the canoes in one night.
“But there’s good news,” Smith said, as his modern-day batteau-goers sat, transfixed at his storytelling. “Amherst County, Virginia, has a long history of producing ingenious young men — you have three of them on board with you today.”
Those three young men — not to be confused with Smith, Cash and Luke Johnston onboard — would go on to invent the design for the batteau. Steering the boat from its rear sweep at the stern, Smith pointed out the vessel’s key features: a flat bottom, pointed ends and accompanying long cedar poles, which Cash and Johnston used to propel the craft forward.
The batteaux would go on to revolutionize the tobacco industry and river commerce, bringing wealth, whiskey and the windows of Monticello to the James’ upriver cities. In the modern day, the cargo looks different: up to twelve tourists, buckets of ice for bring-your-own beverages, dripping candles and charcuterie boards.
Modern-day beginnings
Smith, Cash and Johnston have known each other their whole lives. Smith and Johnston were next-door neighbors in grammar school, and all three were friends in high school. Smith’s start with batteaux began even earlier, when his father built the family’s first batteau the very year Smith was born.
“I don’t think he ever thought it was going to be a career path,” Smith said. His father, an industrial arts teacher, built the boat with his students and, in 1987, began participating in the James River Batteau Festival, an annual celebration of batteaux and batteau history. As many as 25 boats travel the 120 miles from Lynchburg to Richmond over eight days, during which the batteaumen share food, songs and stories — and sleep in tents on their boats.
Smith grew up watching his dad at the festival and learning to love batteaux for himself.
“You could imagine as a kid this is like a playground, especially at night out here when the lightning bugs are dancing around in the trees,” Smith said. His first batteau after graduating high school was a “sinking mess,” but Smith and his friends took it out to the festival anyway, spending entire nights bailing it out.
“We’re all 18, 19, and testosterone is pouring out of the boat in every direction,” Smith said. “What has gone from this slightly ‘Lord of the Flies’-on-the-James-River experience has turned into my high school friends’ reunion.”
Smith, Cash and Johnston have been part of the Batteau Festival for 17 years. After that first sinking batteau they built the “Harvest Moon,” one of the two boats now used for the tour company.
“We’ve kind of been scheming on it forever,” Cash said, referring to the company. Working in hospitality and tourism gave Cash and Smith the experience to finally make it happen in 2022. They scoured the internet and Virginia’s historical societies to prepare a story for the tours, which last April through October.
Smith and Cash built their second batteau after the first season proved successful, drawing tourists including Richmonder Lisa Freiman and her out-of-state family from New Haven, Connecticut. In a “staycation” of sorts, Freiman wanted to explore the local area and its history.
“I didn’t even know Scottsville existed,” Freiman said.
Putting Scottsville on the map
Smith said the company is profitable and is booked roughly 85% most days with visitors from Charlottesville, Richmond, Washington and even farther afield. It’s nothing compared to the booming wine country in the surrounding area or the theater and book festivals in downtown Charlottesville, but the tour company is driving business at other spots in Scottsville, such as the local brewery and restaurants.
“People are coming to Scottsville, a place they’ve never heard of or seen,” Cash said. “Then they leave our tours and go spend money in town.”
Laura Mays, a local business owner in Scottsville, echoed Cash’s sentiments. Scottsville has always been a river economy, but tourism has picked up in the past decade through word of mouth and day-trip advertising from the Chamber of Commerce, she told The Daily Progress.
“There’s a lot that goes on here,” said Mays, who has lived in Scottsville her whole life. “It’s a quiet, small town that appeals to people from the busier areas.”
Former Mayor Nancy Gill said she has met tourists visiting from across the country and even abroad. One man hailing from Ireland stopped in Scottsville on a bike trip from Boston to Miami. After Gill introduced him to some locals, he stayed in town for another week.
“I’m hoping that as we move forward, we maintain that small-town quality that makes this place a very interesting and somewhat magical place for people to visit,” Gill told The Daily Progress. “But at the same time, we need to be very thoughtful about growth.”
“What I’m seeing, and I think it’s very healthy, is businesses more or less promoting tourism through what they do,” Gill said. Having done the batteau tour multiple times herself, Gill said the James River Batteau Company has “hit upon a winning business.”
Smith and Cash aren’t the only ones tapping into the James River for recreation. On any given day there are plenty of kayakers, fishers and tubers floating in its waters. The batteaumen scheduled their cruises around the busiest times on the river, learning quickly that Kid Rock blasting on a Saturday afternoon would kill the tranquil experience they were trying to create.
“This area’s got lots of outdoor recreation potential, but it’s also got lots of really unique history,” Smith said. “So we’re trying to bridge some of that, tell a story while keeping people outside.”
First full-time batteaumen in 150 years
As part of that story, Smith and Cash pay homage to the original batteaumen, who were often enslaved Black people and freedmen.
“Tobacco would turn Virginia into a powerhouse of early America, and these men’s role in that often goes untold,” Smith said.
The work of batteaumen was difficult, with long hours in the hot sun spent poling their boats through shallow, snagging parts of the river. It took up to a week to transport thousands of pounds of tobacco to Richmond, and multiple weeks to travel back upriver.
But as many batteaux would make the journey at the same time, there are stories of a community forming on the James — a community Smith and Cash have also found growing up around batteaux.
“A lot of our good friends, we might not be home for Christmas, but we would always be home for the Batteau Festival,” Smith said.
Now, they’ve opened up that community to the public, and they’re not done yet. The company is planning a “farm to batteau” experience later this year, where they’ll cook over a wood fire built right in the boat itself, much like batteaumen used to do.
As ever, the local history will remain an integral part of their tours. While not in any textbooks he has read, Smith said he believes the region’s settlement cannot be understood without first understanding the early economy and batteaux.
Then there’s the pure serenity of the cruises, an appeal for even those who don’t care for the history. Easy conversation over Smith’s guitar, the occasional sighting of a black bear swimming along or a bobcat chasing a fawn into the river water, the smooth white oak of the batteau. The speckled river rippling in the path of the boat, propelled by Cash and Johnston, their beige Crocs flexing on the boards.
The quiet, open feeling as the light fades and the batteaux head upriver, right into the sunset.
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https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/2023/07/30/exchange-batteau-company/366c7cfc-2ed9-11ee-85dd-5c3c97d6acda_story.html
| 2023-07-30T13:19:37
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https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/2023/07/30/exchange-batteau-company/366c7cfc-2ed9-11ee-85dd-5c3c97d6acda_story.html
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A Bismarck man accused of shooting his neighbor’s windows with a BB gun and threatening to shoot his neighbor is now accused of firing pellets at the same neighbor and hitting that man's truck and camper.
Eduardo Diaz, 32, on Thursday allegedly fired two pellets with a BB gun at his neighbor driving away in a pickup truck hauling a camper. The first pellet hit the driver's side of the vehicle, narrowly missing the driver's side window, and the second pellet hit the side of the pull-behind camper, according to a police affidavit.
Diaz on July 18 allegedly shot out two windows of the same next-door neighbor’s mobile home on North 19th Street, then threatened the neighbor when he was confronted, according to an affidavit.
Neither affidavit discusses possible motives.
Diaz also allegedly told his mother that he was going to commit suicide by cop during the July 18 incident, which refers to a person escalating a situation to a point where officers use deadly force. Authorities deployed an armed SWAT vehicle to the area, and Diaz eventually was arrested without incident.
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He faces two felony charges for the July 18 incident of terrorizing; each carries a maximum sentence of five years in prison. He also is charged with misdemeanor criminal mischief. Bail was set at $10,000 on July 19 and a no-contact order with the neighbor was put in place.
Diaz now faces additional felony charges of terrorizing and criminal attempted aggravated assault; each carries a maximum sentence of five years in prison. He also is charged with misdemeanor criminal mischief and discharging a firearm within city limits.
Court records do not list an attorney for him in either case.
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https://bismarcktribune.com/news/local/crime-courts/bismarck-man-accused-of-bb-gun-terrorizing-faces-new-charges-in-2nd-alleged-incident/article_a18bfdac-2d83-11ee-9a78-1f3791773ecd.html
| 2023-07-30T13:29:12
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https://bismarcktribune.com/news/local/crime-courts/bismarck-man-accused-of-bb-gun-terrorizing-faces-new-charges-in-2nd-alleged-incident/article_a18bfdac-2d83-11ee-9a78-1f3791773ecd.html
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AUSTIN, Texas — The Texas Department of Public Safety is helping the Austin Police Department investigate at least one illegal street takeover event that happened in Austin late Saturday night.
Multiple takeover events were reported across town Saturday night into Sunday morning.
Twitter user CenTexScanner reported car meetup and takeover events at 8601 Research Blvd., 9900 S. IH-35 and at the intersection of Barton Springs Road and South Lamar Boulevard.
Texas DPS confirmed to KVUE that troopers were called to help investigate the incident on Research Boulevard Saturday night. Around 9:30 p.m., Texas DPS received reports from APD of approximately 100 cars gathered in a parking lot nearby. As troopers arrived, they observed a vehicle leaving and attempted to stop it. According to DPS, that driver took off and crashed into another vehicle. All three people who were in those two vehicles were taken to a local hospital.
Austin Police confirmed to KVUE that investigators were keeping an eye on the situation in South Austin Saturday night but have not provided any additional details about these incidents.
In recent months, local investigators have stepped up efforts to crack down on takeovers illegal street racing events. Similar incidents in February led to more than two dozen arrests by APD and the Texas Department of Public Safety. Governor Greg Abbott announced the creation of a statewide Street Takeover Task Force shortly after.
After the end of the regular legislative session, Governor Abbott also signed two bills into law that aim to help law enforcement crack down on takeovers. House Bill 1442 provides law enforcement and prosecutors more tools to pursue organized street racing and takeover events in Texas. House Bill 2899 allows for the immediate removal and impoundment of a vehicle involved in a takeover event.
This is a developing story. Check back for updates.
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https://www.kvue.com/article/news/local/multiple-street-takeover-events-reported-in-austin-overnight/269-4501acbc-0275-451c-a023-3c1bc2e01cc1
| 2023-07-30T13:44:35
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https://www.kvue.com/article/news/local/multiple-street-takeover-events-reported-in-austin-overnight/269-4501acbc-0275-451c-a023-3c1bc2e01cc1
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Life is like a playbook for Peoria Fire Chief and avid hockey player Gary Bernard.
Before officially taking the title of fire chief last May, Bernard spent 31 years serving, protecting the city of Peoria. For Bernard, infernos, soot-covered boots, and unbearable heat were all part of his regular life. But so were ice rinks, sharp-bladed skates, and bitter cold.
Play 1: A successful beginning
Growing up in Ontario, Canada, Bernard began playing hockey at the age of 5. After more than a decade, Bernard was still playing hockey, and as it turns out, he had gotten pretty good at it.
At the age of 19, Bernard was offered a scholarship to play Division 1 Hockey in San Diego. He was recruited by the United States International University Gulls. After college Bernard went through various pro tryouts, including one with the Minnesota North Stars, who were then coached by Herb Brooks.
A series of cuts eventually led Bernard to a triumphant yes when he found himself in North Carolina playing for the Carolina Thunderbirds.
Play 2: A change of pace
Following his brief stint in the minors, Bernard decided to settle down as he started a real job at Smitty's grocery store in Peoria.
While he was working at Smitty’s, Bernard decided to give hockey another shot. This time, he would try out for the Phoenix Roadrunners.
In preparation for tryouts, Bernard ran into a firefighter from Station 191 at the hockey rink. Before this moment the hockey player hadn't thought much about firefighting, yet just two years later he was hired on at the station in Peoria, the beginning of an era.
Play 3: Fire and ice
While firefighting is a dangerous career, Bernard found the transition to be, well, relatable. The now-chief says fighting blazing fires reminds him a lot of skating in chilly arenas.
Though of course, Bernard was not referring to the extreme differences in temperature, which can range from 60 F in an ice rink to 600 F in a fire, he rather noted the similarities amongst each environment's intensity.
“I grew up playing hockey, and it (firefighting) seemed like it related a lot to hockey to me,” Bernard said.
The comparison is one Bernard shares often, according to Edward Georgevich, a fellow hockey player.
Georgevich, who now leads alongside Bernard as the head hockey coach at Mountain Ridge High School, shared that "Gary brings hockey and firefighting together."
"Although one might not immediately draw a line between playing hockey and fighting fires, our players are able to see a direct connection between the two experiences," Georgevich said.
Play 4: Part of a team
“I think the hockey mirrors the fire department pretty close,” Bernard emphasized.
He described the concept like this: In both hockey and a fire department, there is a group of individuals with a mission. There are five people on the ice at a time. There are four, sometimes five, people in the fire truck at a time.
“Everybody on the ice has a job to do. Everybody in the fire truck has a job to do.”
In order to complete the mission, you have to understand everyone else’s roles, whether that be to assist your teammate in getting the puck across the red line or standing by waiting for your engineer to release the water.
“If they miss something," Bernard started, "then you know what they're supposed to get and you’re able to back them up and just complete the mission."
Both in hockey and firefighting, a person can’t complete their mission without having a sort of mental strength, yet another similarity Bernard noted between the two seemingly polar opposites.
“The mental aspect of how fast you have to make decisions when you are playing hockey is the same thing as on the fire ground,” Bernard said. “In hockey we have plays. In the fire department we have plays.”
While the standard operating procedures of firefighting are inherently a little different than the typical plays within a hockey match, both are executed in a quick manner that is intended to result in a nearly immediate game- or life-saving outcome.
Bernard set up an example of getting a call to attend to a house fire.
“There’s certain things that have to get done out of the playbook,” he said.
As the firefighters start getting closer to that call, their play tends to change based on the information they have now as compared with what was provided initially. Though, they have to act quickly to stay safe and protect those involved.
In hockey, you are always wondering where the puck is going to go, and who it will get to next. In a fire, you have to consider where the fire is going to spread and anticipate where it will end up.
Another similarity Bernard noted was the process of moving up in the ranks. In hockey, for instance, players join the team and often keep quiet; then the longer they are with the team, they begin to take on more of a leadership role.
Play 5: The chief
The same has proven true for Bernard and his career with the Peoria Fire Department. In his third year, Bernard was promoted to engineer, in his fifth year captain, in his twenty-fourth year deputy chief, and now fire chief.
The chief shared an analogy that suggested that growing up in any organization comes with varying levels of protection. When you first enter the organization, you have no protection, no one knows who you are. But, “as you do things right,” the chief explained, “you get a little piece of armor.”
“Then after 30 years, hopefully you get so much armor that you do something that isn't quite right, you don’t get injured.”
After almost 32 years of service, the chief is covered in armor, including, of course, his hockey helmet.
While he no longer physically fights fires, Bernard sits tucked into a corner office with a Wayne Gretzky jersey hanging over his desk. And though he rarely slides into his worn bunker boots, he still frequently laces up his ice skates.
“I play pickup every Friday,” Bernard shared.
Pickup is a sort of informal hockey game, where the rules and regulations are less strict as opposed to those in league match.
And when it’s not Friday, Bernard can be found at the rink on most Sundays as he plays in a local men's league.
“We call it the NHL,” he paused. “The night hockey league, as opposed to the National Hockey League where we all wanted to go.”
The hockey does not stop there for Bernard, as he has spent the past 13 years as a volunteer coach for the Mountain Ridge High School hockey team.
"Gary shares his experiences and talks with our players to show that playing hockey is all about learning to work together as a team, and as a firefighter, relying on your team is key," Coach Georgevich said.
While no day is the same for the chief, he finds comfort in playing by the book.
On and off the court: Coach Joe León helps Latinos find success in life and basketball
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https://www.azcentral.com/mosaic-story/news/local/arizona-people/2023/07/30/peoria-fire-chief-gary-bernard-lives-by-fire-dept-hockey-playbooks/70434015007/
| 2023-07-30T13:45:59
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https://www.azcentral.com/mosaic-story/news/local/arizona-people/2023/07/30/peoria-fire-chief-gary-bernard-lives-by-fire-dept-hockey-playbooks/70434015007/
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Phoenix to spend $39M on police bodycams as it settles $1M police shooting with mother
Phoenix approved a new $39 million contract for police body-worn cameras this summer, expanding the use of these cameras and the technology used to share footage from them.
Since the cameras came into widespread use in Phoenix five years ago, footage from the body-worn cameras has redefined what is normal in criminal justice circles. But their impact on police shootings and police complaints remains contentious, and how to best use the pricey technology remains unclear.
Today more than 90% of the largest U.S. law enforcement departments with 500 or more officers use body-worn cameras. Phoenix has been a forerunner in the use of body cameras since officers started testing the technology in 2013, according to Arizona State University criminologist Michael White.
Phoenix increased its use of cameras in 2019, after a record high number of police shootings in 2018 and a resulting barrage of calls for reform.
The flurry of deadly police shootings and the backlash against the arrests of protestors prompted the U.S. Justice Department to launch a wide-ranging investigation of the Phoenix Police Department, and for the city to hire Interim Chief Michael Sullivan.
Under Sullivan, who came from the Baltimore Police Department as a reformer under a similar probe, Phoenix will expand the use of bodycam technology in the name of transparency. The new contract was approved in June.
In October 2020, bodycam-wearing Phoenix police answered a domestic violence call at the home of Lillian Cocreham in central Phoenix.
The call ended with police shooting and killing George and Emmett Cocreham, the adult sons of Lillian. The majority of the call was caught on body camera video, which played a part in an internal review of the shooting, but it did little to settle what happened that night.
Phoenix was an early adopter of bodycams
In 2013 the Phoenix Police Department gave cameras to 56 officers patrolling Maryvale.
The Center for Violence Prevention and Community Safety at Arizona State University published a study in 2014 that tracked some of the most significant impacts of those cameras. According to the study, the number of community complaints that were filed declined for the 56 officers, while complaints increased with other officers in the same precinct.
Arrests by those same 56 officers went up.
Phoenix police:Body-camera footage released of fatal shooting of man who resisted arrest
The study also noted that the most common types of calls recorded involved domestic violence reports. The recorded domestic violence cases lead to prosecutors being 10% more likely to charge a crime and 3% more likely to get a guilty verdict, according to the study.
However, the study flagged the need for more officer compliance in turning the cameras on.
“Fewer than 50 percent of incidents were recorded by officers who had been assigned a body camera,” the study found.
The study concluded that the cameras had benefited the department and the community.
A decade later, some of those early findings still hold true; others do not.
On Oct. 20, 2020, Lillian Cocreham called a nonemergency line to get help with her son Emmett Cocreham, who was having an angry outburst due to a lapse in medication.
She told The Arizona Republic in an interview that she waited on the phone for 45 minutes trying to get a crisis counselor before having to call 911.
On a recording of the call, she is heard telling the operator that she was scared her son would hurt her and kill her.
A man in the background of her call sounds menacing, cursing at Lillian, and telling her to “tell them to come over,” and “we’re ready, come on, bring it on.”
A pair of officers arrive at the house at about 8:45 p.m. The officers turn on their body cameras.
Charging criminal cases
The new city contract includes upgraded cameras and an improved system for storing and sharing the video evidence they record.
The new contract will come with unlimited cloud storage and a management system that makes sharing that footage easier with other agencies. Something that prosecutors in the 2014 ASU study complained took too long.
Even with the footage issues, the number of days it took to dismiss domestic violence cases dropped by about 30 days and getting guilty pleas dropped by 90 days, the 2014 study showed.
Maricopa County Attorney Rachel Mitchell told The Arizona Republic that the initial problems with sharing footage were no longer an issue.
The process has been streamlined. What remains a broader problem is having staff go through each piece of footage to redact victim or witness information before entering it as evidence or discovery.
The office doubled its staff for this work to 24 this year.
State trooper injured:DPS releases body-camera footage showing trooper getting shot during traffic stop
Mitchell explained that the usefulness of the footage still remains limited.
Most crimes don’t happen on camera, and when the camera captures some of the crime, prosecutors have to deal with narrow fields of vision and mixed recording quality, she said.
Mitchell added that educating a jury about what footage can and can’t offer has become a part of the prosecutor's job.
She said most people, and most juries, don't understand the camera limitations and need to be guided through footage used in court.
Still, MCAO's policy remains: If the crime is caught on video, "every effort should be made to view that video, if at all possible, prior to charging it," Mitchell said.
In some of the crimes that are captured on camera, including domestic violence calls, assaults against police or DUI stops, the footage helps capture what can’t be expressed in a report or in testimony, according to Mitchell.
“It just takes the emotion of the moment, the stress of the moment out of the equation and, understanding the limitations of cameras, we can see with our own eyes what happened,” she said.
As more footage becomes available, her office will continue to see its further use in court.
The bodycam footage from the Cocreham shooting starts when officers begin talking to Lillian outside her home. In the video, she tells the officer that her son Emmett wants to kill her.
This footage was edited down, narrated and published online by Phoenix police through a Critical Incident Briefing.
On the tape, Lillian sounds panicked as she tells police that Emmett and George are in the house. The video shows her blurred-out face talking to one of the officers. It’s dark, and what is most clear is the house windows from which light pours out.
She warns the officers that they shouldn’t go into the house because they might get attacked.
The police ask if there were any weapons in the house. She says she doesn't know.
Lillian goes back into the house to try and get Emmett to come out and talk to the officers, but this sets George off, and he starts yelling at her.
One officer reports that one of the brothers is looking through the windows with a flashlight and a handgun. The officer calls for backup.
It later turned out that the handgun was a BB gun that looked real, but police also found a rifle in the house.
After a cut, the video resumes in the back of the house with officers who are carrying rifles.
The officers shout at Emmett and George, who are at the back of the house. Officers keep yelling at them to get closer. There is some discussion about one of the brothers holding what might be a gun, but guns are never clearly visible in the video.
After one of the brothers yells back at the police that he can’t hear what they are commanding, both brothers walk back into the house.
Minutes later, Emmett walks from the side of the house toward the back door. Then one police officer shouts, “He’s got a …” as George opens the back door.
“Oh, oh!” one officer shouts. He fires his gun. Both brothers are seen falling.
The Maricopa County Attorney's office closed the criminal investigation into the case in April 2022, without filing charges.
But that didn't end the legal saga.
Complaints
National studies show that agencies that adopt body-worn cameras have seen a decrease in community complaints, much like the 2014 study in Phoenix reported a drop in complaints with the officers wearing cameras.
White explained that the reasons behind the drops are not immediately obvious.
It could be because people are less likely to make frivolous complaints against officers with cameras, or it could be that officers are less likely to act inappropriately knowing that a camera is on, White said.
The department said that a big part of its commitment to transparency and accountability comes from a review of the footage.
”Videos are routinely reviewed by first line supervisors, Quality Assurance supervisors, the Compliance and Oversite Bureau, the Professional Standards Bureau, the Body Worn Camera unit and Executive Staff members,” Phoenix Police Sergeant Phil Krynsky wrote in an email to the Arizona Republic.
The department reviews both successful and “challenging” interactions and applies what they learn to evolve training, Krynsky explained.
Lillian Cocreham filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the city in September 2021. In her complaint, she details what happened that night and a list of reasons she believed that the shooting could have been prevented.
Most notably, the complaint said, there was no “objective evidence, photo or video that proved that George was holding a gun” when police opened fire on both sons.
Effect on police shootings
Nationally, one of the most commonly researched impacts of body-worn cameras has been their effects on police shootings.
But studies are divided on what effects, if any, cameras have on the rate of police shootings.
A study conducted by the National Opinion Research Center at the University of Chicago between 2015 and 2019 found that implementing cameras had no significant effect on the use of force in the 800 law enforcement agencies that participated in the study.
But White has been persuaded that cameras have had a positive effect, based on other studies.
“Just over half of the 30 studies have found reductions in use of force,” he said.
It’s not an overwhelming number, but he believes analyzing the conflicting reports will reveal more about how each police department is affected by the use of cameras.
Since the widespread introduction of cameras in Phoenix, the rate of police shootings per 100,000 people has climbed from 0.9 in 2019 to 1.4 in 2022, according to data pulled from Phoenix and the Census Bureau.
Since 2017, criminal charges against police officers for murder or manslaughter have been increasing nationally year over year. The highest number of charges came in 2021 with 21 charges, according to a study by Bowling Green State University in Ohio.
The number of fatal police shootings has also increased year over year for the last five years. In 2022 there were 1,242 people killed in police shootings in the U.S., according to a database managed by Mapping Police Violence.
Jesse Showalter is a local attorney who represents families of police shooting victims and deaths in custody. He said he isn't sure if the number of civil cases against police has gone up, but camera footage has increased the ability to have a successful outcome in the cases, whether via settlement or courtroom win.
He said that camera footage has also played a significant role in deciding if he can take a case to trial.
“I routinely turn down cases because I review the body-worn camera, and I’m able to see from that body-worn camera that, legally, there is not a strong case to be brought,” Showalter said.
Cameras have changed our expectations in the short time they have been incorporated. Everyone expects officers to have a bodycam at this point, and so do juries, he said.
Mitchell explained that the prosecutor's office does something similar when reviewing cases against officers in criminal court.
When it comes to shootings involving police, her office reviews each piece of footage extensively.
“I absolutely think it has a significant impact on either the decision to charge or not charge,” she said.
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While the footage may not be the definitive evidence in these cases, they add something, whether it’s audio or visual, she said.
“One thing that it really conveys to people is just how quickly these things happen and how quickly we are asking our law enforcement to make these very, very split-second decisions,” she said.
Ben Laughlin of Poder in Action, a community organization that works with families whose loved ones have been shot by police, is upset at how police departments use bodycam footage.
He said it is often first presented through Critical Incident Briefings, in which police use the footage to justify their actions rather than hold themselves accountable.
Critical Incident Briefings, like the one in the Cocreham case, are narrated by police public affairs officers by providing information pulled from police reports and offering an interpretation of what took place based on the initial investigation.
These briefing videos are made for every police-involved shooting in Phoenix within 14 days of the incident.
But there have been times when those narratives fall flat, as new information comes to light, according to Showalter.
“I think body cameras have resulted in some acknowledgment that police should not necessarily be taken at their word,” he said.
Two years and seven months after her sons' shooting, Lillian Cocreham walked past the bullet holes in her home and complained about two things: police didn’t tell her immediately that her sons had been killed, and they had initially told her that one son had shot another.
In the Critical Incident Briefing, the officer narrating said that “evidence suggested” that George had fired a rifle.
About a month after their deaths, detectives came to Lillian and admitted that officers had killed both sons, she said.
The two officers who had fired at the brothers were Officer Adrian Juarez and Officer Laker Dohan, according to court records.
The city decided to settle the case, and in June the City Council approved a $1 million payment to the family.
The Police Department’s Professional Standards Bureau started an internal investigation that remains open.
Bodycam footage offers mixed value
After other shootings, the footage, as presented now, does more harm than good, Laughlin said, suggesting that maybe we shouldn’t be pouring more money into the program, especially when there are so many other needs our communities have.
Roger Smith of Phoenix's Office of Accountability and Transparency said his department had made good use of the footage.
His office monitors the quality of investigations conducted over police shootings and other complaints against police conduct.
Monitors in his office use the footage to determine if the questions investigators asked were sufficient and if the witnesses they interviewed were the right ones.
Camera footage lets them see who was there and determine if investigators talked to the most relevant people.
They can catch anything investigators missed using camera footage, he said.
“You see a lot of things in terms of the officers' behavior, the civilians' behavior and the circumstances of the incident that need to be asked about in the course of the investigation. You get to ask better questions, because you're seeing those body cameras,” he said.
Smith explained that cameras have been doing what people expected from them, but it is the response to the footage where people are falling behind.
“This is the situation that sort of bugs me constantly, is the situation where you look at a body camera footage, or a piece of body camera footage, and everybody can agree, what we just looked at. And somehow the response is deficient,” he said.
Smith said he hopes to see more policy change and public outcry from what footage does reveal.
Laughlin agrees that the response needs to be improved.
He said that he has never seen the city take the available footage and do a comprehensive investigation.
He thinks the ongoing U.S. Department of Justice investigation could potentially be the first time Phoenix footage gets investigated on a large scale.
The Police Department turned over 19,800 body-worn camera videos to the Department of Justice as it continued its investigation into the department.
According to White, 95% of all the footage recorded by law enforcement agencies goes unseen.
The next step for agencies is figuring out how to use the unseen footage best.
Under the new contract, police will increase the capacity to upload an unlimited amount of footage from the cameras and store it on a cloud service.
Expectations and doubts
Phoenix police’s biggest assets remain to be the men and women who routinely demonstrate hard work, determination, dedication, and resolve to bring justice to victims, according to Krynsky.
The new $39 million technology will help officers work more efficiently, he said.
Krynsky points out that “the increased level of efficiency equates to savings in both investigative time, administrative costs, and an increased availability of department staff and resources.”
For Laughlin and the families of some police shooting victims, the cost of this technology doesn’t make up for the limited accountability they feel is provided.
They believe that exposure to violent policing comes more often from community members using their phone cameras than from body cameras.
Just look at what happened in George Floyd’s case, Laughlin said.
Showalter said that even in cases where video is available, people will more readily believe the story they tell themselves about what happened than what they see.
He singled out the Philip Brailsford case, where Brailsford, a Mesa police officer, was charged with the second-degree murder of Daniel Shaver in 2016 after he shot Shaver in the hallway of a motel. Brailsford was found not guilty, but footage of what happened was captured on police body cameras.
“People look at that video and can still become just convinced that it shows a certain thing and then another half of people will be convinced it shows the exact opposite,” he explained.
He said that his concern with cameras is the need for more audio in some of the footage.
The cameras that Phoenix uses have a 30-second advance recording from the point that an officer turns the camera on. But that 30 seconds is soundless.
Sometimes that little bit of audio tells more of the story than what is seen, according to Showalter.
Smith believes that the expectations society places on technology like cameras will never be met if people don’t use the footage to make the changes they wish to see.
“Why are we not responding properly and consistently to what we see in the body cameras? Why are we ignoring certain things that we see in the body cameras? Why are we not properly training the things that we can clearly identify are improper, that we see in body camera footage?” he asked.
Even though it was used in her lawsuit, Lillian Cocreham cannot bring herself to watch the footage from the night her sons died.
She listened to the audio during the depositions in her civil case, she said.
"I had to listen to the tape, but I can't watch the video." She said. She could hear her son asking the police to back up because he couldn't hear what they wanted from him.
She had hoped the video might have led to criminal charges, and even though there is an internal review still going on, she has lost faith in the process. She said that the lawsuit was the only thing she could think to do to expose what she saw as a faulty system.
"I just wanted my voice to be heard because this can't happen again, this shouldn't happen to anyone else," she said.
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MIDDLESEX TOWNSHIP, Pa. — Pennsylvania State Police are asking for the public’s help to find a missing and endangered teenager out of Butler County.
Sydney Ours, 15, was last seen at 10:46 p.m. in the area of Blue Heron Court in Middlesex Township.
Ours is described as being five feet, seven inches tall and weighing 120 pounds. She has blonde hair and brown eyes.
Ours was last seen wearing a white zip-up hooded sweatshirt, black pants and white Converse shoes.
State police said Ours may be at special risk of harm or injury.
If you have any information on her whereabouts, please call 911 or the Middlesex Township Police Department at (724) 898-3533.
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The Pittsburgh Pirates (46-58) defeated the Philadelphia Phillies (56-48) thanks to a few young Bucs stepping up in more ways than one on Saturday night.
Liover Peguero flashed the leather on more than one occasion, and even contributed offensively going 3-4 with a homer and two RBIs.
Alika Williams flashed the leather, and even picked up a huge RBI single, and as a result, the Pirates beat the Phillies by a score of 7-6 as Quinn Priester picked up his second-straight victory.
First pitch at PNC Park is scheduled for 1:35 p.m.
As the trade deadline approaches, Hill is still a Pirate and is scheduled to make the start on Sunday.
Read more at Sports Now Group Pittsburgh.
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PITTSBURGH — It took some time for Yasin Willis’ recruiting process to unfold, especially as he received major interest late into the cycle, but he’s made a decision. Pitt is it.
Willis committed to Pitt Saturday night over the likes of Alabama, Michigan and Rutgers — becoming the 21st member of Pitt’s class of 2024.
Willis — a 6-foot, 225-pound four-star running back from St. Joseph High in Montvale, New Jersey — has been on Pitt’s radar for quite some time, and he made a couple of visits over the summer, including an official visit from June 8-10. His official visit to Pittsburgh was his second and last official visit after he called off an OV to Michigan.
Read more about Willis at Sports Now Group Pittsburgh
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As parents, educators and students discovered during the pandemic, there’s much more to the full school experience than math, reading and science.
Even many kids who were able to reasonably manage the challenges of remote learning still felt the acute loss of social interaction and the absence of many nonacademic offerings.
That’s why, back-to-school time also includes a greater emphasis on finding the right extracurricular activities to help develop deeper social relationships and supplement and enhance a student’s day-to-day classwork.
As with most things, the key to this search is striking the right balance between filling the gaps in a student’s schedule without overstuffing the same — particularly for elementary and junior high students who are navigating a new world of choices for perhaps the first time.
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The start of the school year is a great time to begin that exploration.
At Beiriger Elementary School in Griffith, for example, Principal Ambre Cain says information relating to extracurricular activities such as Best Buddies, STEM, Drama Club and girls’ and boys’ fitness clubs — including a description of each activity, meeting dates/times, participation requirements and contact information for club sponsors — is displayed and discussed during the school’s Meet the Teacher Night at the start of the school year.
A similar range of offerings is available for students at Wilbur Wright Middle School in Munster, where Principal Bojan Jovanovic says he encourages parents and students to focus on finding the right fit.
“We want our students to be involved in extracurriculars, but it needs to fit into their personality, educational process and family plan,” he explains. “We have sports, music and social clubs happening at varying degrees of time commitment, which hopefully means parents and students should be able to find something that works well for them.”
The goal, Jovanovic says, is to find activities that spark a student’s interest, but also work well with his or her ability to maintain schoolwork without undue mental or emotional fatigue.
“We see students who become stressed or tired based on overscheduling,” he says. “Some of our students play multiple sports while playing an instrument and taking high school level courses at the same time. I worry for those students and their physical and mental well-being.”
To avoid potential overscheduling and burnout, child and adolescent psychologist Andrea Brandon says parents and students need to work together to focus on balance, which encompasses not only the number of extracurricular activities chosen, but also the relationships between extracurricular activities and school demands, mental/behavioral health, sleep hygiene and downtime.
“Extracurricular activities are life enhancing, often providing opportunities to develop new friendships, unique skillsets outside of academics, collaboration and/or teamwork skills,” says Brandon, the founder of Childthrive in Merrillville, which was recently integrated into Ellie Mental Health. “However, if this falls out of balance, a child may become more fatigued than usual, develop irritability or become less cooperative with their parents, siblings and peers.”
To get the most possible good out of extracurricular activities and avoid overdoing it,
Brandon recommends sitting down with your student to set up a realistic schedule. Doing so ahead of time will help head off potential problems down the road.
“If you want to sign your child up for an activity or your child wants to sign up for an extra activity, create a schedule that outlines their daily schedule that includes protected time for eating, sleeping, socializing and downtime,” she says. “If any of those elements may be compromised, then ask yourself if it’s a good time to introduce another activity or if it might be better to protect your child's well-being and wait for another time.”
And if a parent is having a hard time telling whether an existing schedule is starting to stress out their student, Jovanovic says there’s an easy way to find out whether an adjustment should be made.
“Talk to your student — and listen to them when they offer their opinions,” he says. “Make sure they’re able to handle the school workload while enjoying the extracurriculars. We may want to encourage our students to get out of their comfort zone, but we don’t want them to be miserable.”
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https://www.nwitimes.com/life-entertainment/local/making-sure-extracurricular-activities-are-just-right-for-your-child/article_49d962ec-2bbd-11ee-bac9-8f3e15c81138.html
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Feeling the summer heat? Here are tips to prevent heat exhaustionKissimmee shopping center’s new owner plans to expandSEE: Massive aquarium to soon replace former Daytona MallSuspect in homicide turns himself in, Casselberry Police sayNeed a truck, drone or tractor? Orange County hosting huge online auction
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ORLANDO, Fla. — It’s going to be very hot today, dangerously hot!
>>> STREAM CHANNEL 9 EYEWITNESS NEWS LIVE <<<
Meteorologist Kassandra Crimi said daytime highs will hit the mid-90s, but heat index values will reach 105 to 110 degrees across most of Central Florida.
Because of this, a heat advisory was issued for most of the area.
The advisory will be in place from 12 p.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday.
Read: Feeling the summer heat? Here are tips to prevent heat exhaustion
Showers and storms will develop later this afternoon and last into the evening, bringing much-needed relief from the heat.
Follow our Severe Weather team on Twitter for live updates:
Click here to download the free WFTV news and weather apps, click here to download the WFTV Now app for your smart TV and click here to stream Channel 9 Eyewitness News live.
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ORLANDO, Fla. — Channel 9 meteorologists are monitoring the tropics Sunday.
>>> STREAM CHANNEL 9 EYEWITNESS NEWS LIVE <<<
Nothing has changed with the wave in the Central Atlantic, and it still has a 70% chance of development early this week and staying away.
Meteorologist Kassandra Crimi said an area of showers and storms off the coast of the Carolinas could see some gradual development over the next 48 hours.
There is only a 20% chance of formation.
Read: Heat advisory issued for most of Central Florida with high temps
The tropical wave remains disorganized in the Central Atlantic, but we anticipate minor development early next week.
This will likely become a Tropical Depression early in the week.
Regardless of development, it will stay away from Central Florida.
Watch Channel 9 Eyewitness News for live updates.
Follow our Severe Weather team on Twitter for live updates:
Click here to download the free WFTV news and weather apps, click here to download the WFTV Now app for your smart TV and click here to stream Channel 9 Eyewitness News live.
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In the news business, we’re used to working with deadlines. And tomorrow marks an important one. Monday is the final day to nominate for the Inspire: Celebrating Women’s Leadership Awards.
There are extraordinary women leading across all sectors of our city.
Governmental leaders are making crucial decisions to secure our safety and prosperity — in city hall, from the floor of the Legislature and in dozens of other places.
Business leaders are navigating challenging macroeconomic conditions.
Philanthropic and nonprofit leaders are working to serve the needs of our most vulnerable populations.
Educational leaders are inspiring the next generation of leaders. And the list goes on.
The year 2023 marks the ninth year for the Inspire Awards, which celebrate women's leadership across several sectors, including business, entrepreneurship, government service, education, philanthropy, health care, nonprofit, as well as the Young Leader's Award, Inspire Scholarship and Woman of the Year.
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All nominations will be reviewed by the Inspire Advisory Board, which has the difficult but rewarding task of selecting the 2023 finalists and winners in each category. I am joined on the 2023 Inspire Advisory Board by: Ashley Abramson, Robin Eschliman, Charlie Foster, Mia Wilken, Staci Hass, Jen Landis, Meagan Liesveld, James Overcash, Diane Temme Stinton, Natalia Wiita and Sarah Wischhof.
We are excited to return to Pinnacle Bank Arena for this year's awards luncheon on Wednesday, Sept. 20. Doors open at 11 a.m.
Please visit InspireLincoln.com to nominate the "inspiring" women in your life. Whether it is a leader in your business organization, a neighbor, friend or associate, please share their story with us so we can recognize them for their contributions to our community.
Thank you to the following Inspire sponsors for making this event possible: Union Bank & Trust, Woodhouse Auto, Speedway Motors, Woods Aitken, Primrose Schools, Ameritas, Doane University, Assurity and Filament Essential Services. If your organization would like to participate, call 402-473-7420.
We look forward to shining the spotlight on these inspiring women and celebrating what makes Lincoln an incredible community for everyone.
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(For the next two months, columnist Jim McKee will be contributing new columns on the first week of the month. On other weeks, the Journal Star will publish some of McKee's past columns. This one ran on Aug. 25, 2013.)
Lincoln has had a number of neighbors in Lancaster County since its birth; many of the villages and proposed sites have fallen by the wayside, a few were annexed to Lincoln, others that have prospered briefly now have waned to a few houses and no businesses, and still others have become bedroom communities.
One of the first settlers in Grant Township southeast of Lincoln was Mr. Cheney. One of Nebraska’s earliest westward trails ran through the area, roughly paralleling current Nebraska 2 from Nebraska City, and it was this trail that saw the Capital Commission to Yankee Hill and the city of Lancaster in the summer of 1867, though there was little resembling a city or village on their route.
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When various inducements were offered to build a railroad connection to the new state capital in 1867, the Midland Pacific Railway was formed in Nebraska City. Ground was broken on June 5, 1868, and in early 1871 the line reached Grant Precinct, arriving in Lincoln that April, the second railroad to reach Lincoln. The station in Grant Township was named Cheney’s Station in honor of the first settler, but the name first was shortened to Cheney’s and ultimately simply Cheney.
In 1874 Joel Converse platted and filed the plan for the village of Cheney. The triangular map had east/west streets numbered from 1 to 5 while the north/south streets were named Fleming, Smith, Showers and Lincoln while a northwest/southeast street paralleled the railroad.
In 1874, the first school building came into being. It was replaced in 1879 to accommodate grades one through nine and again in 1915 when grades 10 through 12 were added. Although the railroad had arrived five years earlier, and the village was growing, the post office, headed by Isaac Wheeler, did not open until Sept. 28, 1876. Although through the years Cheney has had a lumberyard, grocery, three churches, a bank chartered in 1909, hardware, elevator, general store and dance hall above the grocery, the village never really bloomed, reaching the peak population of 49 in 1940. The post office and school closed near its most prosperous point in 1943.
Once known more as the terminus of Old Cheney Road, it is now more widely famous for its ancestral connection to Vice President Dick Cheney, who also has aided in the pronunciation change from Cheen-y to chain-y. Cheney still has its own ZIP code of 68526, which shows a total population of 1,174, and as its next-door neighbors restaurants, a lumberyard, motels, service businesses, banks and even a hospital.
Another sometimes-overlooked village in Lancaster County is Davey, 15 miles north of Lincoln in Rock Creek Township. Michael Davey, the town’s namesake, immigrated to New York from Ireland in 1862, moving to Nebraska in 1870, where he briefly lived in a dugout. In 1885, the Fremont, Elkhorn & Missouri Valley Railroad built through the eastern edge of his quarter section on its way to Lincoln. The following year a siding and depot were built and given the name Davey in his honor.
On Oct. 14, 1886, the Western Town Lot Co. platted the 40-acre village, which they named after the railroad stop even though virtually all of the townsite was on land owned by Alfred Peterson. The five-square-block map showed east/west streets numbered 1, 2 and 3 while east/west streets were named Elm, Cedar, Maple and Oak. The depot sat at about First and Maple, and the post office, which was opened Feb. 1, 1887, by Patrick O’Donnell, at Second and Cedar.
The first store opened in 1886, and the first train arrived Oct. 18, 1886. By 1890, the Davey Mirror, though printed in Lincoln, gave the community an air of permanence. On July 29, 1903, the Farmer’s State Bank, with $8,000 in capital stock, opened. By 1916, there were three churches, but a fire that started in the Catholics' building, destroyed most of the businesses and buildings on the west side of Main Street. In 1942, Davey High School closed, having seen only 84 graduates in its 22-year history.
Although William Jennings Bryan, Vice President Charles Dawes and General John J. Pershing all visited Davey, the village is far more interesting surrounding the businesses that left. On Jan. 1, 1949, the Farmer’s State Bank was purchased by G.A. Frampton. In 1960, his daughter Alice M. Dittman moved the facility to 14th Street and Cornhusker Highway in Lincoln, renaming it Cornhusker Bank.
In 1943, Arthur and Ollie Christensen moved their father’s business to the northeast corner of 11th and M streets to the ground floor of the once-three-story Masonic Temple. First known as Christensen’s Farm Equipment and Tractor Supply, through the years it morphed into Christensen’s Appliances. The business prospered until the property was acquired by adjacent St. Paul United Methodist Church, which expanded its building to encompass the entire south half of the block.
15 more Nebraska ghost towns
Long-forgotten towns have stories to tell, too
Every village, town and city in Nebraska had the same humble roots -- ambitious settlers and big dreams.
As the state was settled, moving from southeast to northwest, new communities sprang out of the prairie. While those that remain range from a sole resident (Monowi) to hundreds of thousands (Lincoln and Omaha), hundreds failed to take root and withered.
Today, Nebraska has 146 cities and 384 villages, according to the state's official website. But Lilian Linder Fitzpatrick's 1925 work, "Nebraska Place-Names," attempts to study the origins of how more than 1,100 communities -- many of which were long gone then -- got their names.
The histories of the communities that still endure are easy enough to find, but Nebraska's ghost towns help tell a story that can go unheard -- and remind us about the struggles of taming the wilderness that became the Good Life.
1. Arago or Fargo (Richardson County)
German settlers from New York found looking for new beginnings following the bank panic of 1857 discovered abundant cheap land along the Missouri River a few miles upriver of the town of Rulo.
They laid out a town on the site, which was chartered by the Territorial Legislature in 1860, and named it Arago, after French astronomer Dominique Francois Arago. That year's census reported 163 residents. But Arago exploded in the years that followed.
By 1862, it had absorbed the adjacent settlement of St. Stephens and began flourishing as a steamboat hub, owing to its proximity to the river. Within a few years, its population had grown to more than 1,500.
As local historian Jim McKee wrote about Arago for the Journal Star in 2011: "The city's businesses at that point included four saloons, two hotels, five general stores, three blacksmiths, a whiskey distillery, the Southeastern Nebraskan newspaper, a brewery, brickyard, huge pork canning plant, an opera house, numerous small businesses and a 'jolly, good-natured population.'"
Just as quickly as it boomed, however, Arago went bust.
A cholera outbreak in 1866 was the first blow, followed by a railroad's decision to locate on the opposite side of the Missouri River. From there, the river that served as its lifeblood began eroding its shoreline and later washed away the site. By 1870, the population had dropped to 374.
The settlement later moved several miles inland and took the name Fargo, after the Wells Fargo wagon. By 1913, however, even the renamed post office closed, spelling the town's death blow. Only a small cemetery remains at the inland site.
2. Elvira (Merrick County)
Only one of Nebraska's 93 counties is named for a woman -- and its initial county seat carried her name, too.
Merrick County was created by the Nebraska Territorial Legislature in 1858, named in honor of Elvira Merrick De Puy. Her husband, state Rep. Henry De Puy of Dodge County, future agent to the Pawnee Tribe at the Genoa Indian Agency, bestowed his wife's name upon both the county name (Merrick) and its initial seat of government (Elvira).
Though approved as county seat by the Legislature, the town of Elvira scarcely existed -- if at all. By all accounts, this ghost (town) never materialized.
In his 1882 "History of the State of Nebraska," A.T. Andreas mused that nobody knew where the county seat had even been designated. That is, except for a Judge Martin, who cheekily noted: "Elvira was beautifully located upon a paper in the office of Dr. Henry, of Omaha, and supposed, by the fortunate possessor of corner lots, to be about two miles southwest of the present town of Clark's, on the old military road."
Meaning Elvira existed only on paper and not in reality. However, Andreas admits that directing people to a town that was yet to be built, in an area not yet surveyed, would have been nearly impossible.
When the county's government was formally organized in 1864, Merrick County's first residents instead met in Lone Tree, which would later take the name Central City. It holds the courthouse to this day; whatever, if anything, existed of Elvira disappeared.
Merrick County's jagged, pointed triangle appeared on a headstone for Elvira Merrick recently installed at Elmwood Cemetery in Detroit. There, she'd been buried in an unmarked grave until the Merrick County Historical Museum and Merrick Foundation raised money to buy and transport the marker that so honors the only woman for whom a Nebraska county will forever remember.
3. Friedensau (Thayer County)
Before Deshler became an early industrial powerhouse, there was Friedensau.
In 1874, German Lutheran settlers who'd originally planted roots in Indiana and Illinois moved farther west to the prairies of southern Nebraska near the Little Blue River.
There, they established a small German settlement named Friedensau -- "peaceful meadow." Within a decade, the population had grown to about 70, which managed to support a pair of German Lutheran churches. Further expansion was on the horizon, with the Rock Island Railroad expected to pass through town.
However, wealthy landowner John Deshler convinced the railroad to instead pass through his property, depriving Friedensau of its anticipated boom.
The railroad didn't come to the small town. But the small town came to the railroad. Residents moved the buildings and relocated north to the site of present-day Deshler. Though it sounds far-fetched, such moves were relatively common in this era.
One building, however, stayed behind and was rebuilt in 1899. Trinity Lutheran Church still operates in the former village northwest of Hebron, where it's held worship services since the late 1880s and serves as "mother church" to a number of congregations in the region. It also spawned one of Nebraska's first parochial schools.
The tall white spires and adjacent cemetery are all that remains of where a community once -- and briefly -- stood.
4. Hope (Scotts Bluff County)
As central and western Nebraska were settled by the first permanent residents in the late 1800s, many oppressed groups -- including blacks and Jews -- found a home on the prairie where they lived and worked alongside white settlers.
Scotts Bluff County hosted more than one of these communities. Most were short-lived as their first inhabitants moved on to other locales.
But one -- Hope -- persisted for decades.
Henry Nehme refused to live under English rule after the Boer War ended in 1902 and moved from his native South Africa to western Nebraska shortly thereafter. He made his home near the eastern shore of present-day Lake Minatare.
In 1907, Nehme founded a post office, which was named "Hope" after the community's optimism. The name stuck, and a school and nearby creek also assumed the same moniker.
A couple dozen families -- with surnames that appear to be German, English and/or Scotch-Irish -- settled in the area, right next to black pioneers at a time where such proximity was almost unheard of, at least in urban areas.
Little else is known about the community, but the school appeared to be the its center for both education and gathering.
The building served as a grade school and "short" high school for ninth and 10th grades until sometime during the Great Depression, with some speculation it may have been large enough at one time to serve all 12 grades in three rooms. It remained a country elementary school until 1960, when it merged with a nearby school.
Though Hope is gone, its memory hasn't been fully lost to the ages.
5. Jamaica (Lancaster County)
The Jamaica name lives on in Lancaster County, long after the town dubbed that by its first settlers disappeared to history.
The Jamaica North Trail runs along a former Union Pacific railroad line that served the former town near 27th Street and Saltillo Road, with a small display. A new link connecting 27th Street to the South Beltway project will be named Jamaica Avenue after the long-gone community.
But what was Jamaica?
Established in 1885 as a station along the railroad, the town was presumably named after Jamaica, New York. However, it flooded frequently, owing to the close proximity of Salt Creek. The Z-shaped curve of the creek, along with the community's location in the floodplain, provided a welcome mat for an unwelcome guest -- high waters.
At its peak, the community had a handful of houses, a Baptist church, a creamery, a lodge, a blacksmith shop and a grain elevator. A nearby homestead, meanwhile, served travelers -- purportedly even welcoming members of the Jesse James gang, according to a marker at the site.
By the 1920s, Jamaica had largely faded off the map -- but not for good. The abandoned Union Pacific line became the Jamaica North Trail in 2006, which runs north toward downtown Lincoln. South of Saltillo Road, it becomes the Homestead Trail, which runs to the Kansas border.
Even though it's been decades since a train has passed through Jamaica, plenty of walkers, runners and bikers skirt the town on a daily basis, ensuring it wouldn't be forgotten.
6. Lakeland (Brown County)
With much of Brown County's population along present-day U.S. 20, the sparsely populated areas in the southern half of this sprawling Sandhills county often had to get creative to get things done.
A post office named Lakeland opened in 1896 in the southwestern portion of the county, lasting until 1917. It took its name from the many lakes near the headwaters of the Calamus River. The surrounding area was more a loosely connected settlement than a town.
The Lakeland name came back in 1934, when three rural school districts pooled their resources to build a consolidated high school during the Great Depression. With limited money and few trees available in this region, local residents returned to their pioneer roots to build a high school out of sod -- the only one of its type known in the country.
The two-room building featured a classroom and living quarters for the teacher. The bathrooms were outhouses, and the adjacent barn housed horses for the students who rode in to class from as far as 5 miles out.
Much like the post office, the school was also short-lived. It operated for just seven years, from 1934-1941, and graduated 33 students. The building's deterioration and desire of students to take more advanced coursework led to its demise.
A state historical marker was placed along U.S. 20 west of Ainsworth. Twenty miles south down a road that's mostly dirt, the Brown County Historical Society erected a small stone marker commemorating the school near Long Lake State Recreation Area.
7. Lee Park (Custer and Valley counties)
The long-gone town of Lee Park has generated more than its fair share of confusion.
When it was platted in 1884, frontier historian and photographer Solomon Butcher wrote that it was situated in Custer County, adjacent to the line that separated Valley County. As it grew, however, additions placed portions of the community across the boundary into Valley County.
Having one town in two counties produced plenty of headaches for the area's residents.
The sod schoolhouse, for instance, was originally built on the Custer County side of the line in 1878 -- before the town was founded. Residents in Valley County felt slighted, and the final decision ended up being the construction of a second school in their county.
Furthermore, the community of Lee Park shared its name with the nearby valley, leaving travelers unsure if they needed to head into town or out into the country. A postmaster came up with the solution -- naming the valley Lee's Park instead.
Lastly, mail delivery was always a chore. The post office was originally in Valley County, but the town site was razed and relocated after the railroad failed to advance past Arcadia, five miles away.
At that point, Custer County had won out -- all of Lee Park was now on its side of the line. But the little town quickly faded into obscurity, with only Protestant and Catholic cemeteries to mark where it had stood.
8. Marsland (Dawes County)
Founded by the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad in 1889, the small station of Marsland -- named after Thomas Marsland, the Lincoln man who was the railroad's general freight agent -- was platted in northwest Nebraska.
The community hit the ground running, with the nearby post office at the Corbin townsite moving to Marsland. A church soon followed, which held its first service less than two months and first wedding less than four months after the community was founded.
Shortly thereafter, a school, creamery, shoe store, blacksmith's forge, newspaper, hotel, sawmill and livery were set up, along with two flour mills that attracted customers from miles around. By 1896, a newspaper noted that Marsland "will without any doubt become a rich town in the near future."
Yet, in her book "The Story of Marsland and the Surrounding Community," author Elsie M. Hess noted that the remote location and lack of money during a time of bank panic meant many residents "traded meat, butters and eggs for groceries" at the community's only grocery store.
Disaster struck often, too. A 1902 lightning strike burned a mill to the ground, and a pair of fires within the following years ravaged the young community's business district. Though some residents persisted for decades to come, Marsland has largely been vacated.
However, its founding brought Nebraska an oddity that persists to this day. The Belmont Tunnel through the rocky outcroppings of the Pine Ridge eight miles from Marsland remains the state's only railroad tunnel. Though the nearest town, one its construction helped create, is largely gone, the tunnel operated until 1982.
9. Martha (Holt County)
The town of Martha is no more, but its post office has returned home after a long journey from Holt County brought it to Lincoln for a brief stay.
Established in 1904, the post office and nearby community was named after Martha Rollin Porter, the mother-in-law of the first postmaster, Louis G. Lambert, and an area pioneer.
The Lambert family home served as the first post office, leading to hustle and bustle in the home that ultimately led the family to purchase a 12-foot-by-12-foot post office kit from the U.S. Postal Service -- which ultimately became the town's second post office until its shuttering in 1934.
Both buildings went on to have interesting history, as documented by University of Nebraska-Lincoln geography professor Becky Buller.
The farmhouse that served as Martha's first post office was moved 40 miles and became the family home of Lambert's great-granddaughter. Though the postboxes are gone, much of the original structure remains intact.
The second post office has since served a multitude of purposes, beginning as milkhouse before being converted to a space to raise bees, store items or house visitors.
Then, in 1997, it was moved to Lincoln by a great-grandson of Lambert's who ran ACTON Printing Company. Rechristened as the "Martha, Nebraska, Post Office" and restored to its previous look, it handled mail more than six decades after doing so for the last time. Buller noted that it became Nebraska's third-largest post office in terms of revenue and ranked in the top 150 nationwide, sometimes dealing with millions of pieces of mail a day.
The company outgrew that building, however, and it was moved back to its original site in southern Holt County in 2002.
10. Melrose (Harlan County)
U.S. soldiers and a group of pioneers, primarily from Scandinavia, teamed up to build a stockade in southern Nebraska near the Republican River in 1870. The land had, until shortly beforehand, been prime hunting grounds fiercely contested by the Sioux, Cheyenne and Arapaho tribes.
Those at the stockade would soon spread out into homesteads around the site, with two towns -- Alma, Melrose and Napoleon -- platted, but not built, nearby. Alma won the first election to be the seat of government in Harlan Conty, but irregularities led residents to successfully petition the governor to invalidate the initial vote and schedule a second election.
After a long process that saw four town sites compete, Melrose beat out Republican City in the final election in 1872 to claim the title. But its tenure didn't last long.
Interests from both Alma and Republican City filed court challenges, and the nearby town of Orleans offered a building free of charge for county commissioners -- leading to the claim the county seat was "on wheels." In 1874, Alma was recognized as Harlan County's seat of government, a position its held despite a later suit by Orleans that landed before the Nebraska Supreme Court.
Melrose, meanwhile, disappeared soon after losing the county seat. Many of the buildings were moved to Orleans, and the town was dissolved in 1881, less than a decade after its ambitious plan to become county seat succeeded.
11. Meridian (Jefferson County)
The name "Meridian" still means something in Jefferson County as the name of the school district based in Daykin. But the school was far from the first entity in the county with that moniker.
In fact, it belonged to the initial county seat, which was first founded as Big Sandy after a nearby creek.
George Weisel's store on Big Sandy Creek served as the unofficial seat of government for Jones County when the territorial Legislature separated it from neighboring Gage County in 1864. In a delightful twist of pioneer chicanery, a county with 35 settlers managed to cast 75 votes to procure that independence and related taxing authority.
(Now, for the confusing part: Jones County expanded in 1867 to include what was originally called Jefferson County, now Thayer County, before it was split after being deemed too large. The Jefferson name stuck with the original Jones County.)
At that point, Meridian -- so named for its location along the Sixth Principal Meridian -- became the functioning county seat. As the center of commerce with multiple mills and stores, that designation made sense. But an 1881 history of the county noted that four deaths from its saloon spelled doom for the town.
When Jefferson County officially organized in 1871, Fairbury held onto the county seat. The next year, the railroad bypassed Meridian and sealed its fate.
The mill survived for a few decades more, with A.T. Andreas' history noting, "the mill is now the principal monument of what has been. The waters pouring over the old dam moans [sic] the dirge of ruined hopes."
12. Mud Springs (Morrill County)
In an otherwise arid stretch of Nebraska's Panhandle, natural springs in a long stretch between Lodgepole Creek and the North Platte River served as an oasis. And, long before other communities in the western part of the state were even dreamed up, Mud Springs was surveyed in 1856 and constructed with its first sod buildings in 1859.
Because of the scarcity of water sources in the region, Mud Springs became an important stop on a cutoff connecting the Oregon Trail to the Jules Trail into Colorado. In 1860, it became a Pony Express stop during the brief but illustrious run of the legendary route -- a letter was handed from one rider to another on the maiden journey west -- before becoming a transcontinental telegraph station the following year.
The town's biggest claim to fame came in February 1865, when some 200 Arapaho, Cheyenne and Sioux warriors attacked the small detachment of soldiers guarding the telegraph station -- claiming horses and cattle there while retaliating for the previous year's Sand Creek massacre in Colorado. Soldiers from Fort Mitchell and Fort Laramie soon rallied to their aid, and the short-lived battle ended with just a single fatality.
Shifts in westward migration routes and telegraph lines within the next decade or so spelled the end of Mud Springs, which quickly faded into obscurity. Though no buildings remain on the site near U.S. 385, which was purchased by a private citizen in 1896 and transferred to History Nebraska in 1936, it's commemorated by a Pony Express marker and holds a place on the National Register of Historic Places.
13. Neapolis (Saunders County)
Omaha began as Nebraska's territorial capital, and Lincoln later replaced it in that role.
But the Capital City almost didn't get that chance, because of tensions among delegates over whether those north or south of the Platte River would dominate.
This debate, which at least once turned into a literal fistfight, saw Omaha lawmakers who in the majority "secede" to Florence to pass their own laws. Meanwhile, those south of the Platte entertained notions of joining Kansas.
This tug-of-war between the parties lasted over the tenures of five territorial governors and eventually resulted in the Omaha's faction's proclamation that they would build a new capital city 50 miles west of the Missouri River and near the Platte River. With Omaha unable to be the center of population, its leaders wanted a more centrally located capital that would be more favorable to its interests.
They called it "Neapolis," meaning new city, and it was to be located on a bluff named Pahuk, which was sacred to the Pawnee, but more commonly known as Capitol Hill. At that time, the "town" was little more than a few log buildings used to help construct the Union Pacific Railroad.
Territorial Gov. Samuel Richardson declared the action invalid. Even though a majority of lawmakers were present, he said, their actions carried no weight because they were completed in Florence rather than Omaha, then the seat of state government.
This compromise fell through, with Omaha eventually yielding the capital to Lancaster, which became Lincoln, in 1869. Neapolis' town site later ended up on the National Register of Historic Places, owing to its Pawnee heritage.
Neapolis, however, helped to produce a town that survives today. The abundance of cedar trees cleared out in the region later gave rise to Cedar Bluffs, which was founded when a different railroad passed through northern Saunders County.
14. Pleasant Hill (Saline County)
In many counties, towns initially declared county seats failed to hold onto that distinction. Saline County saw its first two fade into obscurity.
The first, Swan City, was the result of an arbitrary declaration of the territorial Legislature, that faded away and saw its post office moved to nearby DeWitt. Despite being the acting county seat, it finished last in an 1871 election.
What replaced it was Pleasant Hill, a more central location that won a runoff election against Crete and Dorchester. Already the county's biggest and most prosperous town after its platting in 1867, with a state-of-the-art mill and at least one store, its offer of land and cash for a courthouse no doubt encouraged voters.
Within a couple years, though, Crete and Wilber had grown and sought to claim the courthouse as their own. State law required them to wait five years before bring the matter to a vote. Like its successor, Pleasant Hill finished last in a tight election won by Wilber, where the courthouse remains to this day.
Getting the county records from Pleasant Hill, however, wasn't a given. It took 160 wagon teams and 300 people projecting force from Wilber before the papers were handed over.
Like many other towns, its demise was sealed when the railroad by passed the former county seat. That first courthouse, used first as a poor house and then as a community hall, burned down prior to World War I. The final straw, though, was the fire that destroyed the mill in 1930.
15. Sartoria (Buffalo County)
By way of Sweden, Illinois and the Civil War battlefield in Tennessee that cost him an arm, John Swenson settled in northwestern Buffalo County in 1874.
In addition to serving two terms as superintendent of county schools, he founded and named the town that sprang up near his land along the South Loup River. He coined the name "Sartoria" after laboring to find a combination of letters that was easy to spell and could be understood by pioneers of all tongues.
The man of many talents also became Sartoria's first postmaster and operated at least two general stores in the community, which later added a bank, blacksmith, hotel and car dealers.
Though the town's population topped out at 40, it served as the hub for social and commerce activities for the surrounding region -- with activities that included a race track and boxing club in addition to the usual school and church events, according to the Buffalo County Historical Society.
Again, the lack of a railroad led to the gradual demise of Sartoria, though the name still graces its township. A Union Pacific branch line being built in nearby Pleasanton was supposed to extend to Sartoria -- but it never did.
Historian Jim McKee, who still writes with a fountain pen, invites comments or questions. Write to him in care of the Journal Star or at jim@leebooksellers.com.
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https://journalstar.com/news/local/jim-mckee-cheney-davey-two-lincoln-neighbors/article_16120c3e-1c40-11ee-94b4-73d81462e37c.html
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“When a man with money meets a man with experience, the man with experience ends up with the money, and the man with the money ends up with the experience.”—Anonymous
While sifting through used books at Goodwill, I found a thin volume entitled “Ethics of the County Fair Midway Carny.” And I quote:
Rule 1. Take their money. So, what if they’re kids? They need to learn sooner or later about games of chance and the people who run them. We are educators. If their parents don’t teach them, then we will.
Rule 2. Rigging the game is an art. Thou shalt rig the game.
Rule 3. Kewpie dolls are overhead. If the game is fair, overhead goes up. If we wanted a business with a lot of overhead, we wouldn’t be working as a carny, we’d be selling auto parts.
Rule 3. Empty their pockets and then run them off. Tears and sobs keep fresh pigeons away.
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Rule 4. Never yawn.
Rule 5. Make at least thrice what you’re paid, or you’ll be working cleanup at the pony ride in Podunk tomorrow night.
Rule 6. Don’t expect anybody to understand our noble calling. We are sustaining a tradition that reaches back to the days of Nero. In addition to being educators, we are purveyors of that mystical quality of life called “luck.” We make it tangible to the yokels who rarely see it in their daily lives. Within the glow of our brightly lit arcades, we conjure an irresistible illusion with the fun house mirrors of personal prowess and good fortune. Give it to them. Hard.
Rule 7. The rube with the fresh-faced young lady on his arm is our bread and butter. Take him for every penny. We’re doing them both a favor. She gets to see how big a fool he is, and he gets to see how big a fool she expects him to be. That is valuable information for a couple in love.
Rule 8. It isn’t cheating; it’s artifice. To the uninitiated, our craft appears crude, deceitful and heartless; we know otherwise. It is esoteric. What we do requires an ability not found in everyone. Nobody is forcing folks to take a chance at the ring toss or the duck shoot. Nobody is promising that the rings fit the bottles, or the gun sights are true. All we’re saying is “You look lucky today, kid. Three tries for a dollar. And lookee here, we got ourselves a winner! Give it another try. Whaddya say?”
Rule 9. Early in the evening, give up one big stuffed bear. While little Missy and her big beau Buddy spend the remainder of the evening at the fair toting around that overstuffed hunk of junk, they’re doing all the advertising you’ll ever need. Rubes will congregate like hatchery trout at feeding time for the chance to win one of those big ol’ stuffed bears for their baby. Smile big and give them a chance. And then give them another. And another.
Rule 10. When in doubt, refer to Rule 1.
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https://azdailysun.com/news/local/carpenters-column-another-book-to-add-to-my-collection/article_7d665daa-2d6a-11ee-8e18-6f18d3c964f7.html
| 2023-07-30T14:12:53
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https://azdailysun.com/news/local/carpenters-column-another-book-to-add-to-my-collection/article_7d665daa-2d6a-11ee-8e18-6f18d3c964f7.html
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I get lots of emails from readers expressing sentiments similar to what these guys recently sent me: “Why should rich people get Social Security? I think it’s just morally wrong that wealthy people should be able to collect a Social Security check.” Here is another example: “Why all the fuss about Social Security going broke? We could save the system forever if we just take rich people off the program.”
I always respond to these people by making the following points. Social Security isn’t, and never has been, a welfare program. One of the basic tenets of Social Security is that if you work and pay taxes for a required amount of time, you are going to get a Social Security benefit someday. And you get that benefit if you are poor or if you are rich. In other words, if you pay into the system, you’re going to get something out of the system. It’s as simple as that.
Or to put that yet another way. Social Security has never been means-tested. And if we ever were to do that, by decreeing that certain people are too wealthy to get Social Security, then you start turning Social Security into a welfare program. And I think that is a slippery slope we do not want to descend.
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But if we were to do the unthinkable and means-test the program, especially as part of some package of reforms intended to “save Social Security,” then where do you draw the line? I mean, how rich is too rich to get Social Security? When I ask this question of guys like those who sent me the emails I included above, they will usually quickly say something like: “Billionaires shouldn’t get Social Security.”
Well, if you are doing that as part of a plan to keep Social Security solvent for future generations, it’s a totally worthless gesture. According to a Google search I did, the U.S. is home to about 770 billionaires. So, knocking 770 people off the program, out of the hundreds of millions of current and future beneficiaries, is absolutely meaningless.
And if you want them off the program because you think it is “morally wrong,” then I can only repeat the point I made earlier. These folks worked and paid Social Security taxes just like everyone else, so they should be able to get Social Security benefits just like everyone else.
And speaking of what rich people pay into the system, let me make some points about a related issue. Many people think that one of the Social Security reforms should be a plan to make rich people pay more into the system.
For the entire 86-year history of the program, there has been a cap on the wages subject to Social Security tax. That cap has certainly inched its way up over the years, from $3,000 in 1937 to $160,200 today. But some say the cap should be raised rather steeply, or even eliminated.
But here is what people don’t realize when they float such ideas. Social Security benefits are tied to a person’s taxable wages. In other words, the more you pay into the program, the more you are going to get out of the program. So, if you sharply increase the wage base for wealthier people, you are concurrently going to sharply increase the benefits these wealthy people will someday get in return. And so, a lot of the extra money you think you are pumping into the Social Security pipeline as part of a reform package will simply pour out of the other end of the pipe in future benefits for the well-to-do.
In other words, if you dramatically raise or even eliminate the wage cap to help “save Social Security,” what you’d have to do is place a cap on the benefits paid out of the system to wealthier people to make that kind of reform work. And that would be a hard thing to pull off politically.
And before I wrap up my discussion of wealthy people and Social Security, there is one final point I need to make. Earlier, I said that Social Security is not a welfare program. But having said that, I must point out that there actually are certain “social welfare” characteristics that have been an intrinsic part of Social Security’s makeup from the very beginning. After all, the word “social” isn’t included in the name of the program just because it alliteratively looks good next to the word “security.”
To put that another way, there always have been social goals for American society built into the DNA of Social Security. And one of those goals is to raise the standard of living in retirement for lower-income people.
So how does Social Security achieve that goal? With a benefit formula that is skewed to give lower-income people a better deal out of the system than that offered to wealthier folks. That doesn’t mean that low-income people get higher benefits than better-off people do. Warren Buffett, for example, certainly gets a significantly higher Social Security benefit than the maid who cleans his mansion will get someday when she retires. But as a percentage of what they kicked into the system (in the form of Social Security taxes), that maid will get a much better “rate of return” than Buffett gets.
I don’t have the space here today to get into the intricacies of the Social Security benefit formula, but that maid could potentially end up with a benefit that represents 90% of her pre-retirement income. On the other hand, Warren Buffett’s Social Security benefit might only be about 30% of his Social Security taxable income (and only a teeny-tiny fraction of his actual income).
And in case you’re wondering, the Social Security benefit formula is set up so that most of us (in other words, people with average incomes) end up with a Social Security benefit that is about 42% of our pre-retirement income.
If you have a Social Security question, Tom Margenau has two books with all the answers. One is called “Social Security — Simple and Smart: 10 Easy-to-Understand Fact Sheets That Will Answer All Your Questions About Social Security.” The other is “Social Security: 100 Myths and 100 Facts.” You can find the books at Amazon.com or other book outlets. To find out more about Tom Margenau and to read past columns, visit creators.com.
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https://tucson.com/news/local/business/social-security-you-yes-rich-people-should-get-social-security/article_dd02941e-15fe-11ee-8640-37f482545311.html
| 2023-07-30T14:13:28
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https://tucson.com/news/local/business/social-security-you-yes-rich-people-should-get-social-security/article_dd02941e-15fe-11ee-8640-37f482545311.html
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After murder-suicide in Winter Haven, mother makes plea for mental-health treatment
WINTER HAVEN — She happily anticipated becoming a grandmother next month, ready to welcome baby Oliver into her household.
Instead, the Winter Haven woman is now mourning the loss of her son and his partner, along with their unborn child. Yet she is unwilling to hold a funeral, afraid that “haters” would show up to ruin it.
Such is the aftermath of a July 21 murder-suicide in the Inwood area, just outside the boundaries of Winter Haven. The Polk County Sheriff’s Office said that Riley Groover, 26, shot and killed his fiancé, Camdyn Rider, 21, who was eight months pregnant, and then fatally shot himself.
Five days later, Groover’s mother stood on the front porch of the home she shared with her son and Rider, staring across the street to a neighbor’s yard, where the shootings occurred.
“I'm in so much shock,” she said. “Pieces of memories are coming back, when people are telling me what happened because I'm just totally devastated.”
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The woman asked to be identified only by her first name, Bonnie, for security reasons and to avoid possible harassment by others unaware of the lifelong struggles with serious mental illness that she said plagued her son. Bonnie is in her early 60s, and she uses a walker, as she is in need of double hip replacement surgery.
During a one-hour conversation, Bonnie gave a detailed history of Groover’s mental illness, talked openly about the couple’s loving but highly volatile relationship and said that Rider identified as a transgender man, a fact confirmed by their Facebook page and comments from friends.
And Bonnie repeatedly emphasized the need for those with psychological issues to pursue treatment.
“People don't realize that mental illness needs to be treated,” she said. “People need counseling. I'm going to be going through grief counseling myself because I'm devastated. I lost my son. I sat by his bed, so many hospital beds, so many times after he tried to overdose and kill himself. But I loved him, no matter what. I love him. You always love your child. I'd rather him have gone to prison than to die.”
A son's troubled childhood
Bonnie said that her son showed signs of mental illness from at least the age of 4. He was diagnosed with borderline personality disorder, typified by difficulty managing emotions, with tendencies toward anger, impulsiveness and severe mood swings. Groover also suffered from anxiety, depression and post-traumatic stress disorder, his mother said, and had been diagnosed with Asperger Syndrome, a condition on the autism spectrum.
The family has a history of mental illness, Bonnie said, acknowledging that she tried to kill herself at age 22. She said counseling and medication helped her to become more stable.
Bonnie said her son had made multiple suicide attempts, starting at age 8. An undersized child with gaudy ginger hair, he was a target of bullying as a kindergartner and beaten up by a fellow student, she said.
When he was 6, he came home from school with an unexplained injury that turned out to be a broken arm. Bonnie said he suffered “a nervous breakdown” at age 7 while at school, leading to a police call and Groover being handcuffed and taken to a hospital for a psychiatric evaluation under Florida’s Baker Act.
She said her son was wrongly diagnosed with ADHD, his autism not recognized until he was 14.
Groover developed an intense fear of some teachers and desperately resisted going to classes at Inwood Elementary School. One on occasion, he scrambled under her car to avoid being taken to class. On another, he wrapped himself around a flagpole at school and “screamed like a banshee,” Bonnie said.
Groover first drew the attention of law enforcement in 2014, when he was 17. His mother said he had a dispute with a woman who then lived across the street, and he shot out a window of her house with a pellet gun.
The Polk County Sheriff’s Office charged Groover with shooting into an occupied dwelling, a felony, along with resisting arrest and battery on a law-enforcement officer. He spent time in a juvenile detention center in Tampa following the arrest. Bonnie said he received training in automotive work and earned a cooking certificate.
Though Bonnie said Groover was never violent toward her, court records show that in 2016 he was arrested on a domestic violence charge following an incident at the family’s home.
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According to the arrest report, Groover broke a bottle on the kitchen floor and used a hatchet to break several doors inside the house. As Groover left the house, a victim (whose name is redacted) saw him approach while holding what they thought was the hatchet. The victim swung at him with a broom in defense, and Groover grabbed their upper arm, causing a 3-inch gash, the report says. He was charged with domestic battery on a person over age 65, a felony, and violation of conditional release.
The State Attorney’s Office for the 10th Judicial Circuit later filed notice that it would not prosecute Groover.
Groover was arrested again in 2018 after an argument with his sister at their home turned violent. At one point, he approached his sister while holding a pocket knife, the arrest report says.
Groover’s mother moved between the two, and Groover's sister ran into the house, taking refuge in a bedroom, the report says. Groover broke in and attempted to stab her with the knife, cutting her on the belly, the report says. He was charged with aggravated battery and aggravated assault.
Two years later, the State Attorney’s Office again filed a no-prosecution order. The notice said that Groover’s sister had signed a waiver, stating that she wanted him to continue taking medications and receive treatment. The order said Groover was receiving care in a group home.
Despite all the turmoil, Groover earned a high school diploma from Ridge Technical College in Winter Haven. Bonnie said he had a license as an HVAC technician but was working as a nighttime security guard, a position that did not involve carrying a gun.
Groover talked of working for a fish and wildlife service, and he also aspired to be a professional photographer, his mother said. He created a Facebook page titled Frosty Photos, posting his images of cars drift racing at Sebring International Raceway.
'Deeply in love'
Groover and Rider began dating in early 2021, Bonnie said. At the time, Rider already identified as a transgender man, she said. Rider had stopped using their feminine given name and planned to change their name legally after marrying Groover, she said.
“Cam had told me personally that when he was younger, he was bisexual and had crushes on girls, but then he met somebody online and he identified with him, I guess, when they were talking about transgender and dysphoria and all that,” Bonnie said. “And so Cam decided he was a man and he honestly felt like he was a man. But you know, that's neither here nor there. I accepted him as he was because he loved my son.” (See related story)
Bonnie said that Camryn planned to begin a physical transition after giving birth and finishing breastfeeding. Rider’s parents could not be reached. Bonnie said they lived in the Orlando area.
Not long after Groover and Rider started dating, Bonnie invited Rider to move into her Winter Haven home.
“And I loved Cam,” she said. “Cam called me ‘Mom.’ He never called me by my name.”
Bonnie said that Rider and her son were “deeply in love.” In April 2022, Rider posted a video snippet on Facebook showing the pair singing the line, “We found love right where we are,” from the Ed Sheeran song, “Thinking Out Loud,” followed by a loud smooch.
“Oh, it's just heartbreaking to look at it,” Bonnie said. “But I watch it several times a day.”
In another post from April 2022, Rider wrote to Groover, whom they called “RJ”: “From the second I laid eyes on you I knew that I wanted you in my life. I didn't know as what yet, but I knew I wanted you there. You showed me who I can be and you showed me what love is supposed to feel like. The more we talked and hung out the more I grew to like you. … I'm so happy to say that I'm gonna marry my best friend. Thank you for everything my love. And I can't wait to spend the rest of my life with you.”
The couple decided to delay their wedding after Rider became pregnant, Bonnie said. They held a baby shower and gender reveal party in June with a Harry Potter theme, one of Rider’s fixations. The couple disclosed that they planned to name the baby, due Aug. 18, Oliver John Lee.
Rider wanted to be a tattoo artist and owned an ink gun, Bonnie said. She talked of letting Rider turn a back room of the house into a tattoo studio someday.
A fiery relationship
But Bonnie said the relationship also contained a combative strain, one that regularly led to loud arguments and, in some cases, physical fights. She allowed the couple to live rent-free in her 1960s-era block home but expected them to help with bills and housework, and Bonnie said her son criticized Rider for not doing enough.
“They would argue over stupid stuff — stupid stuff,” she said.
Neither Groover nor Rider ever reported violence committed by the other, the PCSO said.
During arguments, Rider would sometimes enter what Bonnie called a “catatonic state,” going silent and rigid, with a vacant stare.
Bonnie said pregnancy increased Rider's sense of gender dysphoria, or discomfort with a female body, and she suspects the hormonal surges of pregnancy worsened Rider's emotional volatility.
Bonnie suspected that Rider had traits of autism, like her son. She said Rider engaged in self-injury through cutting their arms and legs, a practice used to manage emotional pain, according to psychological experts.
“He got my son to start doing it,” Bonnie said. “When I found out my son was doing it, I told them if they didn't stop that s--- they had to leave, that they couldn't stay here. And they stopped.”
Bonnie, a former nurse now on disability, has a heart condition. She warned Groover and Rider that their arguments sometimes caused her to have chest pain.
Bonnie said she urged Rider to seek psychological counseling, but Rider refused. She said Groover had resumed therapy, meeting with a counselor in a park because he didn’t like offices. But Bonnie said her son resisted taking psychiatric medications owing to bad memories of being overmedicated in childhood.
“He didn't want to be drugged up,” she said. “He didn't want to feel nothing.”
An unimaginable horror
Bonnie said she doesn’t know exactly what precipitated the tragedy of July 21, but she expects it was another argument over household chores. She said that around 7 p.m., the dispute moved outside, and at one point Rider drove their car toward Groover in the carport, possibly striking him.
Groover used something — Bonnie doesn’t know what — to break the driver’s-side window. As of Thursday, some broken glass remained under another vehicle in the carport, and the front porch floor bore dark splotches that Bonnie said were Groover's dried blood.
Bonnie had obtained a handgun for protection on nights when Groover and Rider were away, and she kept it hidden in the house. After the clash in the carport, Groover darted into the house. He soon raced out, but Bonnie said she didn’t know he had seized her gun, a .380 pistol small enough to fit in a pants pocket.
As he ran past her, he called out, “I’m not going to jail,” Bonnie said.
Rider had retreated and run away down the long, straight street. Recalling those moments, Bonnie said she wished Rider had continued past the point where the street bends to the right, out of Groover's sight. Instead, Rider turned and came back toward Bonnie’s house.
At that point, Groover chased after Rider, Bonnie said, and Rider ran across the street, seeking refuge in a neighbor’s house. But Groover caught up, “and they got into physically fighting on the ground. And then Cam got up and ran, and Riley shot him in the back several times.”
The Medical Examiner’s Office for the 10th Judicial Circuit has not yet released autopsy reports.
Bonnie could not see her son as he moved behind a large truck parked in the neighbors’ driveway and a tall bush. She went in that direction, moving as fast as she could with her walker. She found Rider dying, with a large wound in their chest.
Her son was on the ground, not far from Rider, his eyes still open. Bonnie asked if he had shot himself, and he said yes, pointing to the left side of his head, though he was right-handed. Bonnie picked up the gun so that Groover could not grab it and shoot himself again.
A neighbor had called 911, and a team of Polk County sheriff’s deputies soon arrived. A medical crew rushed Rider to Winter Haven Hospital, but they and the baby were soon pronounced dead. Groover died a short time later.
Bonnie’s hands trembled as she recalled that horrible evening. She said some of her description came not from her own memories but from what others told her, including the neighbors across the street, whose security cameras recorded video of the shootings.
“I know I'm stuttering because I have so much anxiety,” she said. “I’m just beside myself, just trying not to break out into tears. It just comes in waves.”
No appeals processLakeland's homeless are being trespassed from Munn Park
Adding to her distress, the PCSO Animal Control unit took away her dog, Wally, so that deputies could search her house after the shootings. She received the dog back after a few days, but she said Wally was showing signs of being traumatized by his time in the shelter, refusing to put his head in her lap or wag his tail. By Thursday, though, Wally was behaving more normally, she said.
Bonnie also said she has been receiving unwanted offers to buy her house following news reports about the murder-suicide.
'Wasn't in his right mind'
Bonnie has largely avoided social media since July 21, wary of seeing her son denounced by strangers.
“My friends and family are actually, like, ‘Riley was a terrorist’ because of what he did, but he wasn't in his right mind,” she said. “And people do bad things when they're not in their right mind, you know?”
Rider’s parents visited Winter Haven to claim their belongings, and Bonnie said they were understandably upset. They took all the baby items, planning to give them to a relative who is giving birth soon.
Asked about holding a service for her son, Bonnie said, “No, because I don't want haters there taking pictures and stuff. I don't want them because I couldn't mentally handle it.”
Bonnie’s stepdaughter came to stay with her for a few days, and her brother is coming down from Massachusetts. She plans to have Groover cremated, and she will blend his ashes with those of her mother and her stepfather to be placed in a pendant for a necklace.
While acknowledging the inexplicable evil of her son’s final actions, Bonnie emphasized his loving tendencies and his many acts of kindness. She recalled that the night before the tragedy, Groover came in to kiss her good night and mentioned her upcoming appointment with a cardiologist.
“And he said, ‘I love you, Mom. You can't die before me.’ ”
Gary White can be reached at gary.white@theledger.com or 863-802-7518. Follow on Twitter @garywhite13.
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https://www.theledger.com/story/news/local/2023/07/30/mother-urges-mental-health-treatment-after-winter-haven-murder-suicide/70475960007/
| 2023-07-30T14:13:31
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https://www.theledger.com/story/news/local/2023/07/30/mother-urges-mental-health-treatment-after-winter-haven-murder-suicide/70475960007/
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Winter Haven tragedy draws national attention for victim's status as transgender man
The killing of Camdyn Rider has drawn national publicity, and advocacy groups such as the Human Rights Campaign have criticized the Polk County Sheriff’s Office and media outlets for identifying Rider as a woman soon after the July 21 murder-suicide in Winter Haven.
Rider, who was pregnant, had long identified as a transgender man, according to Groover's mother, Rider's Facebook account and comments from friends.
Such LGBTQ-oriented outlets as Them and the Advocate have reported on Rider's death, emphasizing their status as a transgender man.
Alejandra Caraballo, a civil-rights lawyer, Harvard professor and prominent advocate for transgender rights, accused the PCSO of “intentionally misgendering” Rider. Caraballo also blasted Libs of Tik Tok, a conservative social media platform, for “mocking a trans man after he’s been murdered” by retweeting a news report about the incident with the phrase “pregnant boyfriend” in quotation marks.
PCSO spokesperson Carrie Horstman, who wrote a news release issued the morning after the incident, said she relied on information provided by deputies who responded to the shootings. Groover's mother, her memories of the episode still clouded by shock, said she didn’t know if anyone at the scene told deputies that Rider identified as a transgender man.
Caraballo tweeted that Rider’s death is at least the 15th violent killing of a transgender or gender non-conforming person this year. Groover's mother made clear that Rider's gender identity was not a factor in the killing, saying her son accepted Rider as a transgender man.
No appeals processLakeland's homeless are being trespassed from Munn Park
The Sheriff’s Office did not include Rider’s name in the news release, citing a state law that shields crime victims from public identification.
The HRC estimates that 75% of transgender crime victims are misgendered by law enforcement and/or the media.
Gary White can be reached at gary.white@theledger.com or 863-802-7518. Follow on Twitter @garywhite13.
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https://www.theledger.com/story/news/local/2023/07/30/tragedy-gets-national-attention-for-victims-status-as-transgender-man/70488510007/
| 2023-07-30T14:13:37
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https://www.theledger.com/story/news/local/2023/07/30/tragedy-gets-national-attention-for-victims-status-as-transgender-man/70488510007/
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BALTIMORE — Baltimore City Police need your help in identifying a child found wandering alone on Saturday night.
Just after 11:30pm, officers were called to the 4000 block of Fernhill Road to investigate reports of child neglect.
Once there they found a concerned citizen who first noticed the child.
The caller said the child had been running from Granada Avenue and Ridgewood Avenue.
According to police, the caller believed that the child was chasing an unknown black vehicle with temporary tags.
Police say he is 3 to 4-years-old and is nonverbal. He was taken to Johns Hopkins Pediatrics where he was examined by hospital staff.
Child protective services is currently handling the investigation.
Anyone with information is urged to contact Missing Persons detectives at 443-984-7385 or 911.
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https://www.wmar2news.com/local/baltimore-police-need-help-identifying-young-child-found-wandering-alone
| 2023-07-30T14:13:46
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https://www.wmar2news.com/local/baltimore-police-need-help-identifying-young-child-found-wandering-alone
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The discovery of four dead women in a drainage ditch just outside Atlantic City was shocking news in 2006.
International media flocked to the seaside gambling resort. More than 100 detectives and prosecutors were assigned to investigate. Casino guests worried about safety, and the victims’ fellow sex workers began carrying hidden knives.
But as the years passed, the public’s attention and fear faded, and the case of the “Eastbound Strangler” – so named for the direction the victims’ heads were facing – remained unsolved.
The arrest earlier this month of a man charged with killing three women whose remains were found on a Long Island beach in 2010 has breathed fresh life into another long-dormant case with obvious parallels; the Gilgo Beach serial killings involve a total of 11 victims, most of whom were young, female sex workers. Yet the recent breakthrough, and the rekindling of public interest, only highlights a painful truth: Many similar cases – like the one in Atlantic City -- remain open.
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The FBI would not say how many killings of sex workers in the U.S. remain unsolved. Media accounts and statements from local authorities show a long trail of open cases, from nine women whose bodies were found along highways in Massachusetts, to 11 found dead in New Mexico, and eight more found amid the crawfish farms and swamps of southern Louisiana. The killings of other sex workers in Chicago, New Haven, Connecticut and Ohio, among other places, also remain mysteries.
From the days of London’s Jack The Ripper in the 1880s, serial killers, particularly those preying on sex workers, have often gotten away with it, in part because their victims were easy targets living on the margins of society.
Gary Ridgway, the so-called Green River killer convicted of 49 killings in Washington state, said at during a 2003 court hearing in which he pleaded guilty that he chose sex workers as victims because he knew they would not be missed quickly, if at all.
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“I picked prostitutes because I thought I could kill as many of them as I wanted without getting caught,” he said.
Two women were out for an afternoon walk near Atlantic City in November 2006 when they found a body in a ditch. They called police, who quickly found three others nearby.
The $15-a-night motel in Egg Harbor Township behind which the four bodies were found is long gone. It was torn down in an attempt to clear a seedy area known for crime, drugs and disturbances – and the murders of Barbara Breidor, 42, Molly Jean Dilts, 20, Kim Raffo, 35, and Tracy Ann Roberts, 23.
Because it is near the ocean, like Gilgo Beach, the location has prompted much speculation by amateur detectives about a single killer, but some other online sleuths have pointed out that oceanside areas are often the remotest locations after hours on the densely packed East Coast. Gilgo Beach is about 3.5 hours drive from Atlantic City.
Gone in New Jersey are the four small wooden crosses someone erected on the site, along with the folded-up paper note bearing a Biblical quote promising justice that someone left there on one of the anniversaries of the discovery of the bodies.
For families left behind, each new day without word in the case of their loved one brings fresh pain.
“I kind of lost hope that anyone was even searching for the killer anymore,” said Joyce Roberts, whose daughter Tracy Ann was one of the four Atlantic City-area victims. “The first six months, the prosecutor did get on the phone with me and told me they were working on it.
“Then it just fell off the radar,” she said. “It was like nobody cared anymore.”
That is a sentiment echoed by Phoenix Calida, a former sex worker from Chicago who now advocates for them through the Sex Workers Outreach Project.
“Police departments often refer to it as an ‘NHI’ case: No humans involved,” she said. ”You feel like the only way you’ll be remembered is when they catch the serial killer who killed you, and then they’ll make five movies about him and no one will remember your name.”
Massachusetts State Police are investigating “nine unsolved homicides possibly committed by the same person,” said David Procopio, a spokesperson for the agency. He said two additional missing persons cases may be homicides related to the other nine.
Gilbert Gallegos, a spokesman for the Albuquerque Police Department, said the New Mexico cases remain actively investigated, with “multiple detectives” working them. The 11 victims were all involved in drugs and prostitution, police said.
A reward of $100,000 has been offered for information leading to an arrest and conviction in the case, which involved two victims who were just 15 years old.
Despite the decade-long efforts of a local, state and federal task force, Louisiana has at least eight unsolved apparent homicide cases involving sex workers between the ages of 17 and 30. Their bodies were found in marshy areas in Jennings, a small town in the area known as Cajun Country, between 2005 and 2009.
Prosecutors in New York's Suffolk County investigating the Gilgo Beach cases have been in touch with multiple law enforcement agencies, but District Attorney Ray Tierney would not say which ones.
“Everything is being examined and looked at, and this is an active investigation,” said Anthony Carter, Suffolk County's deputy police commissioner. He would not say if his agency was investigating any connection between Heuermann and the Atlantic City murders.
Atlantic County Prosecutor William Reynolds said the four cases from the drainage ditch outside Atlantic City remain active, with detectives assigned to them, but would not say how many. He declined comment on the Long Island case “as we are not involved.”
Joyce Roberts, the victim’s mother, said no one from law enforcement has called her since the arrest was made in the Long Island cases.
Police in Las Vegas, where Heuermann owns a time share, said they are investigating whether Heuermann may be involved in cases involving the killings of sex workers there.
In the months immediately after the bodies’ discovery near Atlantic City, the local prosecutor’s office and a dozen other law enforcement agencies had 140 people assigned to the cases, Ted Housel, who was prosecutor at the time, said in 2008. By the first anniversary, the total had fallen to 85, and those investigators were also working other cases.
Calida, the former sex worker from Chicago, said women involved the sex trade are frequently robbed by people who know they’re carrying cash, and are sometimes coerced into sexual activity by police in return for not being arrested.
She said an attacker “knows you can’t or won’t report it. You’re an easy target and they know it.”
Three of her friends who were also sex workers in Chicago also turned up dead.
“You see someone, you become friends with them and then one day they’re suddenly just not there,” she said. “We’d all go out asking around and looking for them, and then a few days later a body would be found. There’s always this specific fear that it’s a serial killer. Sometimes we never even get a body back to bury. And we wonder: Will law enforcement take it seriously because it’s ‘just another sex worker?’”
___
AP writers Susan Montoya Bryan in Albuquerque; Steve LeBlanc in Boston; Julie Walker and Robert Bumsted in Suffolk County, New York; Sara Cline in Baton Rouge, Louisiana and Rhonda Shafner in New York contributed to this story.
Follow Wayne Parry on Twitter at www.twitter.com/WayneParryAC
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https://www.nbcphiladelphia.com/news/local/breakthrough-in-long-island-serial-killings-shines-light-on-unsolved-murders-of-sex-workers-in-atlantic-city/3614501/
| 2023-07-30T14:15:57
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https://www.nbcphiladelphia.com/news/local/breakthrough-in-long-island-serial-killings-shines-light-on-unsolved-murders-of-sex-workers-in-atlantic-city/3614501/
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https://www.nbcphiladelphia.com/news/local/police-seek-man-who-took-upskirt-photos-at-montco-trader-joes/3614530/
| 2023-07-30T14:16:03
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https://www.nbcphiladelphia.com/news/local/police-seek-man-who-took-upskirt-photos-at-montco-trader-joes/3614530/
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Police in Montgomery County are seeking help from the public to identify a man accused of taking photos up the skirts of unsuspecting female shoppers at a Trader Joe's in Ardmore.
According to police in Lower Merion Township, a man believed to be in his 20s, visited the Trader Joe's store in the Suburban Square Shopping Center along Coulter Avenue in Ardmore, sometime in the afternoon on Friday, July 21, and took photos up the skirts of female shoppers.
Officials said the man had a dark beard and was wearing glasses, a red baseball cap, light blue shorts, a dark t-shirt, and white slides with white socks at the time of the incident.
According to police, he did not make a purchase at the store and fled on foot following the incident.
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If you recognize the man in the surveillance image, please contact the Lower Merion Township Police Department by calling Detective Jim Black at 610-645-6231 or Detective Sergeant Michael Keenan at 610-645-6228.
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https://www.nbcphiladelphia.com/news/local/police-seek-man-who-took-upskirt-photos-in-montco-trader-joes/3614518/
| 2023-07-30T14:16:09
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https://www.nbcphiladelphia.com/news/local/police-seek-man-who-took-upskirt-photos-in-montco-trader-joes/3614518/
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Goodwill Manasota announces 2023 Community Ambassadors of the Year
Goodwill Manasota will hold its Community Ambassador of the Year Awards, honoring leaders in the areas of veterans services, philanthropy, and community partnership, on Oct. 12 at Michael’s On East in Sarasota.
The awards, returning for the first time since 2019, include:· Veterans: Rob Kehs. A U.S. Navy veteran who served from 1985-89 as a jet engine mechanic, Kehs has been an “unsung hero” for veterans in the community, serving as vice president of SRQ Vets, an all-veteran, all-volunteer organization that connects veterans with services, since 2018.
· Philanthropy: Sarasota Private Trust Company, New York Private Bank & Trust Company and The Milstein Family. In the wake of Hurricane Ian, Sarasota Private Trust Company, New York Private Bank & Trust Company and the Milstein Family donated $1 million to assist community members impacted by the storm. Goodwill served as the pass-through agency for $750,000 of the total gift, which was used to purchase gift cards and subsidize Goodwill vouchers for individuals and families severely impacted by the storm.
· Community Partner: Easterseals Southwest Florida. Goodwill Manasota and Easterseals are longtime partners, collaborating on initiatives to assist those with disabilities in finding and retaining employment. The organizations recently began working together to help veterans through the Operation1Stride program, which provides equine assisted learning to support life and leadership skills.
“We are thrilled to bring back this event, which recognizes those in the community whose contributions of time, resources, expertise and passion for helping others have enabled our organization to expand our mission impact,” said Goodwill Manasota president and CEO Donn Githens. “We could not succeed in our work of strengthening the community without the leadership, support and collaboration of people and organizations like those we will honor.”
Goodwill also will present its inaugural Robert W. Rosinsky Achievement Award – made possible by the Louis & Gloria Flanzer Philanthropic Trust – to team member Dora Talamantes. The award recognizes a team member who embodies dedication to the Goodwill mission. For information and tickets, visit experiencegoodwill.org.
Submitted by Sharon Kunkel
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https://www.heraldtribune.com/story/news/local/2023/07/30/goodwill-manasota-to-honor-community-leaders-during-awards-banquet/70461135007/
| 2023-07-30T14:34:50
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https://www.heraldtribune.com/story/news/local/2023/07/30/goodwill-manasota-to-honor-community-leaders-during-awards-banquet/70461135007/
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VIN'S PEOPLE: Books for Kids literacy program seeking volunteers to help make a difference
Want to help make a difference to the youngest students in some of our schools in Manatee and Sarasota?
Consider volunteering for the Books For Kids Promoting Literacy programs sponsored by the Rotary Club of Lakewood Ranch. Books For Kids is designed not only to improve reading comprehension, but also instill a love of reading in young learners.
Beginning in October, there will be a weekly program with kindergarteners in addition to a monthly program with first, second and third graders. Overall the programs include approximately 4,000 students in 10 schools and thousands of books are distributed monthly.
The weekly program involves volunteers working with kindergarteners 1-on-1, reading a pre-selected book, a lesson plan and additional materials – i.e., magnetic letters, art materials – to amplify the book connection. The monthly program involves a group setting with the volunteer reading a pre-selected book aloud to the class followed by a discussion.
Students get to keep books at the conclusion of each session in both programs.
Interested? Call 845-304-5793 for more details or email: Ted Lindenberg at stlind88@cloud.com, Susan Travilla at stravilla@msn.com, or Joanne Vernon at joannevernon12@gmail.com.
· Alphonso Clark is 55.
· A bow to the 2023 graduating class from Pace Center for Girls Manatee. The young women are Thekenyia Lang, Kylie Lawson, Allison Jordan, Cadence Peterson, Janyris Rivera, Ashanti Robinson, Gabriella Rodrigues, Trinity Russell, Desiray Stalowski and Sydney Vega.
· Jodi Chrustowski is 39. Again.
· So is Mark Granstrand.
· And Angela Williams.
· Big ups to Activities Coordinator Jackie Davis, July Employee of the Month at Discovery Village at Sarasota Bay.
· Louis Murrell is 63.
· Welcome to Bradenton to Dr. Justin Fields, who has joined the Klement, Jungman, Varga and Troxler dental group. A Philly guy, he’s an alum of Syracuse University and Temple University’s Kornberg School of Dentistry and comes here from the West Palm Beach Veterans Affairs Medical Center.
· Sean Tuttle is 38.
· Respect to both Patricia Hamilton and Sarah Cohawitz. The two Child Protective Services investigators are the Manatee County Sheriff’s Office June Employees of the Month for their patience, persistence and professionalism in ensuring the safety of two children, getting them away from a chronically dangerous situation at home involving domestic violence.
· And well done to Caddy Award winner Roger Salazar, Personal Care Services at Manatee Memorial Hospital.
Vin’s People runs Sundays. Email Vin Mannix at vinspeople@gmail.com. Or call 941-962-5944. Twitter: @vinmannix.
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https://www.heraldtribune.com/story/news/local/2023/07/30/vin-mannix-volunteers-needed-for-rotary-clubs-books-for-kids-program/70461210007/
| 2023-07-30T14:34:56
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https://www.heraldtribune.com/story/news/local/2023/07/30/vin-mannix-volunteers-needed-for-rotary-clubs-books-for-kids-program/70461210007/
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Report: Sarasota ranked among top 10 metros where homebuyers want to move
It must be a day that ends in the letter Y, as the North Port-Sarasota-Bradenton metro area once again finds itself atop a national list related to real estate — this time from the real estate website Redfin.com.
The local metro area landed at sixth among the nation's top 10 metros where homebuyers are moving.
The list is ranked by "net inflow."
Redfin described "net inflow" as the number of Redfin.com home searchers who sought information on moving to a particular metro, minus the number of searchers looking to leave that metro.
The Sarasota area metro had a 2023 "net inflow" of 4,700, compared to 5,900 in 2022.
Redfin attributes less net inflow this year — experienced across most metro areas — to increased interest rates that have caused mortgage rates to spike in 2023.
Sarasota and Manatee counties make up the North Port-Sarasota-Bradenton metro area, with about 830,000 residents combined.
The five metro areas placing ahead of Sarasota-Manatee were Sacramento, California, with a metro population of about 2.4 million and a Redfin net inflow of 4,800; Orlando, with a metro population of 2.5 million and a Redfin net inflow of 4,900; Tampa, with a metro population of about 3.2 million and a Redfin net inflow of 5,000; Phoenix, Arizona, with a metro population of about 4.9 million and a Redfin net inflow of 5,300; and Las Vegas, Nevada, at No. 1, with a metro population of about 2.9 million and a net inflow of 5,700.
The Cape Coral metro area, with a Redfin net inflow of 4,100, came in at number seven on the list.
Interestingly, the Redfin data also included the city where the most searches originated. For Tampa, Orlando and the Sarasota area metros, New York City was the top spot for people searching the local real estate market looking to move.
Cape Coral's top city where people were seeking to move from was Chicago.
Within the last several weeks, the Sarasota area has made several lists compiled by various sources. Local master-planned communities posted strong sales so far in 2023, according to the mid-year report from a real estate consulting firm that has tracked the fastest growing communities in the country for nearly three decades.
Lakewood Ranch remained the fastest selling multigenerational master-planned community in the United States, posting 1,227 sales through the first six months, according to national real estate consulting firm RCLCO.
Daytime television show "The Today Show" in July named Sarasota as the second-ranked place to live in the U.S. According to the July 10 ranking, released by Frances Katzen, a real estate broker with Douglas Elliman, Sarasota ranks just behind Round Rock, Texas, a suburb of Austin, for the most growth and is one of the top five "booming" cities in the United States this year.
A recent ranking released by national moving and storage company PODS has ranked Sarasota near the top of its 2023 list of the top 20 cities where people are moving across the country.
Sarasota ranked as the second most moved-to city in the United States, one slot lower than its first-place finish on the 2022 list of cities where people relocated. Based on PODS customer moves in 2022, Sarasota had the highest growth rate in Florida and the entire country, and that trend continued into 2023, the company's data shows.
A leading real estate data and analytics company also identified several Florida areas as the "top markets at risk of home price decline," including the North Port-Sarasota-Manatee metro area.
The most recent report examining May data was released last week showing home prices increased by 1.4% compared to May 2022.
While the report notes that May was the 136th consecutive month of year-over-year home price growth in the United States' residential real estate market, it was the lowest increase in prices since May 2012.
The report identified the North Port-Sarasota-Bradenton metro area as one of five markets where the likelihood of home price decline was rated "very high" over the next 12 months.
The other five markets identified as having a very high risk of price declines were Provo-Orem, Utah, followed by four Florida markets: Lakeland-Winter Haven, North Port-Sarasota-Bradenton, Cape Coral-Fort Myers and Port St. Lucie.
Recent real estate articles:Report: Four Florida markets named as 'at risk for home price decline'
More:Strong sales put Florida master-planned communities in top ranks in nation
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https://www.heraldtribune.com/story/news/local/sarasota/2023/07/30/sarasota-near-top-of-another-real-estate-list-of-places-people-want-to-move/70487994007/
| 2023-07-30T14:35:02
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https://www.heraldtribune.com/story/news/local/sarasota/2023/07/30/sarasota-near-top-of-another-real-estate-list-of-places-people-want-to-move/70487994007/
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Sarasota Babe Ruth 15 Alll-Stars lose, eliminated from Southeast Regional tournament
SARASOTA - The performance of the three Sarasota Babe Ruth All-Star teams at this year's Southeast Regional should send a message to future players who will wear the Sarasota uniform.
It's not the uniform. It's the player wearing the uniform.
The loss of the Sarasota 15s to Arlington on Saturday, knocking head coach Mike Marquez's team from the tourney, made it three up and three down for the Sarasota representatives. The 14s were eliminated last week at their regional, the 13s on Friday, and the 15s by a 4-3 decision to Arlington at the Guy Smith Stadium Complex in Greenville, N.C., in a game Sarasota had to win for a shot at qualifying for Sunday's semifinals.
But, once again, errors on routine plays sealed Sarasota's fate. Had his team played to its capabilities, Marquez has little doubt it would have finished the tournament with a 4-0 record. Instead, the 15s limped back to Sarasota with an underachieving 1-3 mark. The 13s, 14s, and 15s combined to go 3-8, hardly representative of the reputation the area has for strong youth baseball.
On more than one occasion, Sarasota players were accused of lacking focus, as if the name on their uniform somehow would guarantee automatic success. Perhaps, if anything, it made Sarasota's opponents even more determined and engaged.
A microcosm of the regional for all three Sarasota teams helped Arlington break a scoreless deadlock against the 15s.
With two out in the top of the third inning, Arlington’s Drew Welch got on first via a hit off Sarasota starter Jackson Smith. With Cameron Hershey at the plate, a Smith throw over to first baseman Luke Duffy had Welch picked off.
But as the Arlington second baseman took off for second, Duffy’s throw to second baseman Luca Meehan covering the base was wide and ricocheted off Meehan’s glove into the outfield. The deflection sent the ball past Sarasota center fielder Stephen Commander, who was backing up the play.
By the time Commander retrieved the ball, Welch had come all the way around to score, giving Arlington an unearned run and 1-0 lead. Following a single and a walk, Arlington’s Patrick Mellett hit a deep fly ball to center that Commander, after a long run, lost in the sun. Two more unearned runs scored for a 3-0 Arlington lead.
“My big horse (Smith) was about to get out of that inning,” lamented Marquez. “Seven pitches, and it turned into a 20-pitch inning.”
Both teams exchanged runs, and Arlington took a 4-1 lead into the bottom of the sixth. Sarasota scored two runs, cutting the lead to 4-3, and had the bases loaded with two out, but couldn’t capitalize.
And in the seventh, again with two out, a Sarasota single, stolen base, and passed ball had the tying run at third base. But that’s where he stayed.
“He was right there (at third),” Marquez said. “We could have tied it in the bottom of the seventh. Just couldn’t get him in.”
In only one game, a 9-3 victory over Greenville, Sarasota’s lone win in the tournament, did errors not factor into the outcome. But far too often, they did.
“It was not our best defense,” Marquez said. “Definitely made an impact. If we weren’t hitting, it just made it more difficult. We come all this way, and I know how good of a baseball team we are. I definitely expected to perform better than 1-3.”
The last time a Sarasota Babe Ruth team won a regional title was in 2017. Coach Dave Million took the 15s to the World Series that year in Lawrenceburg, Tenn. The year before, Million had taken the 14s to the World Series in Westfield, Mass.
Future Sarasota Babe Ruth players, take note. To get to where Million’s clubs went, performing as these three Sarasota teams did won’t do it.
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https://www.heraldtribune.com/story/sports/local/2023/07/30/sarasota-babe-ruth-15s-lose-eliminated-from-southeast-regional-tournament-joining-13s-and-14s/70493083007/
| 2023-07-30T14:35:20
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https://www.heraldtribune.com/story/sports/local/2023/07/30/sarasota-babe-ruth-15s-lose-eliminated-from-southeast-regional-tournament-joining-13s-and-14s/70493083007/
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SPRINGFIELD, Ill. — At least eight dogs died of heat -related injuries after being transported in the back of an uncooled cargo van through northern Indiana Thursday night, authorities said.
The dogs that died were among 18 shepherds traveling from O'Hare International Airport in Chicago to a training facility in Michigan City, Indiana, police said.
The driver, whom police did not name, said he was unaware that the air conditioning in the cargo area failed until he heard dogs barking. Then, he pulled off Interstate 94 at a convenience store and gas station in Lake Station, Indiana. When he opened the back, the driver found several dogs dead and others suffering. Numerous store employees and passersby stepped in to aid the dogs.
Jennifer Webber, executive director of the Humane Society of Hobart, responded to the call at 7:40 p.m. and said the dogs displayed signs of heatstroke: Salivating heavily, wobbling, vomiting and convulsing.
“There were already several dogs dead on the scene, and multiple failing fast," Webber said. “Their crates inside the truck were completely trashed on the inside and the little water bowls were the size you'd give a parrot. And they were empty and torn up as if the dogs were exasperated.”
In a statement posted online, the Lake Station Police Department described the incident as a “freak event.” Telephone and email messages seeking further comment were left with the police station Saturday.
"This was not an act of animal cruelty or neglect but a mechanical failure of the AC unit that was being used in the cargo area,” the statement said.
But Webber said she encountered resistance when attempting to gather facts for the investigation she is authorized to conduct. The police officer in charge of the scene told her she could leave because the deaths were an accident that “the owner will take care of.”
The owner, who was driving the car, used abusive language, cursed at her and refused to produce health certificates, Webber said. Such paperwork is typically signed by veterinarians in each state involved and required to move dogs across borders for commerce. Webber said she doubted a veterinarian would have approved travel on Thursday, when heat indices exceeded 100 degrees Fahrenheit (37.8 Celsius).
The extreme heat is a worldwide problem, and scientists calculate that July will be the hottest month on record.
“He shouldn’t have been traveling at all. So No. 1: That is neglectful,” Webber said. Then, the police let the owner drive away — this time with the door to the cargo area open — with several dead dogs and others who should have been hospitalized in crates that were not secured in the cargo area, she continued.
The truck, crates and dogs are evidence she wanted to inspect.
Even more, five of the dogs were transported to veterinary hospitals — in ambulances used for people, not in the specialized humane society vans offered on site. Webber filed a notice of seizure of the dogs when they're released. According to Lake Station ordinance, the humane society may confine any dog who is “ill, injured, or otherwise in need of care” or “reasonably believed to have been abused or neglected.”
But Webber claimed that Lake Station police blocked the order, directing the hospitals treating the animals to release them to the owner when they are well again. She said that in her five years working with Lake Station, that has never happened.
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https://www.kens5.com/article/news/local/8-dogs-died-from-extreme-heat-midwest-during-unairconditioned-drive/69-30792394-cc51-4c27-bc2c-232e7caacd77
| 2023-07-30T15:02:05
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https://www.kens5.com/article/news/local/8-dogs-died-from-extreme-heat-midwest-during-unairconditioned-drive/69-30792394-cc51-4c27-bc2c-232e7caacd77
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SAN ANTONIO — An elderly woman is dead after she was hit by a vehicle on the northeast side of town Saturday night.
It happened just after 9:30p.m. at the corner of Randolph Blvd and Sherri Ann Road near Overlook Road.
The sergeant on scene says when they arrived they found an elderly woman lying on Randolph Blvd.
Police and EMS arrived and attempted life saving measures, but nfortunately the woman was pronounced deceased on the scene.
No description of the vehicle who may have hit her.
No other injuries were reported.
This is a developing story.
MORE LOCAL NEWS
Learn more about KENS 5:
Since going on the air in 1950, KENS 5 has strived to be the best, most trusted news and entertainment source for generations of San Antonians.
KENS 5 has brought numerous firsts to South Texas television, including being the first local station with a helicopter, the first with its own Doppler radar and the first to air a local morning news program.
Over the years, KENS 5 has worked to transform local news. Our cameras have been the lens bringing history into local viewers' homes. We're proud of our legacy as we serve San Antonians today.
Today, KENS 5 continues to set the standard in local broadcasting and is recognized by its peers for excellence and innovation. The KENS 5 News team focuses on stories that really matter to our community.
You can find KENS 5 in more places than ever before, including KENS5.com, the KENS 5 app, the KENS 5 YouTube channel, KENS 5's Roku and Fire TV apps, and across social media on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and more!
Want to get in touch with someone at KENS 5? You can send a message using our Contacts page or email one of our team members.
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https://www.kens5.com/article/news/local/elderly-woman-hit-killed-by-vehicle-on-northeast-side-of-town-sapd-san-antonio-texas-hit-and-run/273-4e71e713-af0d-4bc2-a377-8fe8f7da5dc8
| 2023-07-30T15:02:11
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https://www.kens5.com/article/news/local/elderly-woman-hit-killed-by-vehicle-on-northeast-side-of-town-sapd-san-antonio-texas-hit-and-run/273-4e71e713-af0d-4bc2-a377-8fe8f7da5dc8
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SCRANTON, Pa. — A woman from Old Forge celebrated a very special birthday Sunday.
Frances Kachinski turns 100 years old on Monday.
She spent 50 years working as a seamstress.
On Sunday, her family threw her an early birthday party at the Mountain View Care Center in Scranton.
From everyone at Newswatch 16, Happy Birthday, Frances!
Check out WNEP’s YouTube channel.
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https://www.kens5.com/article/news/local/happy-birthday-frances-kachinski-mountain-view-care-center-stafford-avenue-scranton-old-forge/523-454fd4c9-35ba-460b-99e6-29eeb7b34604
| 2023-07-30T15:02:20
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https://www.kens5.com/article/news/local/happy-birthday-frances-kachinski-mountain-view-care-center-stafford-avenue-scranton-old-forge/523-454fd4c9-35ba-460b-99e6-29eeb7b34604
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SAN ANTONIO — Some residents will be looking to see what they can salvage after a fire forced them from their apartments on the north side of town Saturday night.
More than 30 firetrucks responded to the apartments in the 12000 block of Blanco Road near Churchill High School just after 8 p.m.
Firefighters say crews were able to put out the fire in about 15 minutes.
“First thing crews got here found significant fire in the first floor of a two story apartment that fire had spread to the second floor we quickly worked on extinguishing the fire and evacuating the rest of the building," said an SAFD firefighter.
No injuries were reported and two units were burned,
There was also signficiant smoke damage to the building.
No word yet on what caused the fire.
MORE LOCAL NEWS
Learn more about KENS 5:
Since going on the air in 1950, KENS 5 has strived to be the best, most trusted news and entertainment source for generations of San Antonians.
KENS 5 has brought numerous firsts to South Texas television, including being the first local station with a helicopter, the first with its own Doppler radar and the first to air a local morning news program.
Over the years, KENS 5 has worked to transform local news. Our cameras have been the lens bringing history into local viewers' homes. We're proud of our legacy as we serve San Antonians today.
Today, KENS 5 continues to set the standard in local broadcasting and is recognized by its peers for excellence and innovation. The KENS 5 News team focuses on stories that really matter to our community.
You can find KENS 5 in more places than ever before, including KENS5.com, the KENS 5 app, the KENS 5 YouTube channel, KENS 5's Roku and Fire TV apps, and across social media on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and more!
Want to get in touch with someone at KENS 5? You can send a message using our Contacts page or email one of our team members.
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https://www.kens5.com/article/news/local/large-north-side-apartment-fire-displaces-residents-safd-firefighters-san-antonio-texas/273-5a3434c7-f8d2-435f-810b-9acc32ff9bbe
| 2023-07-30T15:02:26
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https://www.kens5.com/article/news/local/large-north-side-apartment-fire-displaces-residents-safd-firefighters-san-antonio-texas/273-5a3434c7-f8d2-435f-810b-9acc32ff9bbe
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SAN ANTONIO — A man is now recovering after being shot multiple times in his legs in a drive-by shooting on the far west side of towen.
It happened around 11:51 p.m. Saturday in the 1200 block of Rio Linda Street near S Ellison Drive.
Police say that two men were outside a home hanging out when an unknown vehicle pulled up and started a verbal altercation. At some point, someone inside the car began firing shots, then they drove away.
The vicu=tim, a man in his 20s, was shot a total of three times, twice in one leg and once in the other one. He was taken to University Hospital in stable condition.
SAPD Eagle was in the area and was able to spot the vehicle, then follow them. Police were able to capture two men after they tried to ditch the vehicle and run off on foot.
Both men were detained by police. Two handguns were found in the vehicle.
No other injuries were reported. Police will continue the investigation.
Learn more about KENS 5:
Since going on the air in 1950, KENS 5 has strived to be the best, most trusted news and entertainment source for generations of San Antonians.
KENS 5 has brought numerous firsts to South Texas television, including being the first local station with a helicopter, the first with its own Doppler radar and the first to air a local morning news program.
Over the years, KENS 5 has worked to transform local news. Our cameras have been the lens bringing history into local viewers' homes. We're proud of our legacy as we serve San Antonians today.
Today, KENS 5 continues to set the standard in local broadcasting and is recognized by its peers for excellence and innovation. The KENS 5 News team focuses on stories that really matter to our community.
You can find KENS 5 in more places than ever before, including KENS5.com, the KENS 5 app, the KENS 5 YouTube channel, KENS 5's Roku and Fire TV apps, and across social media on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and more!
Want to get in touch with someone at KENS 5? You can send a message using our Contacts page or email one of our team members.
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https://www.kens5.com/article/news/local/man-recovering-after-being-shot-three-times-in-his-legs-sapd-san-antonio-texas-shooting-weapons/273-5385a0ac-0a2a-458b-a428-38553ac4e313
| 2023-07-30T15:02:32
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https://www.kens5.com/article/news/local/man-recovering-after-being-shot-three-times-in-his-legs-sapd-san-antonio-texas-shooting-weapons/273-5385a0ac-0a2a-458b-a428-38553ac4e313
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AUSTIN, Texas — The Texas Department of Public Safety is helping the Austin Police Department investigate at least one illegal street takeover event that happened in Austin late Saturday night.
Multiple takeover events were reported across town Saturday night into Sunday morning.
Twitter user CenTexScanner reported car meetup and takeover events at 8601 Research Blvd., 9900 S. IH-35 and at the intersection of Barton Springs Road and South Lamar Boulevard.
Texas DPS confirmed to KVUE that troopers were called to help investigate the incident on Research Boulevard Saturday night. At around 9:30 p.m., Texas DPS received reports from APD of approximately 100 cars gathered in a parking lot nearby. As troopers arrived, they observed a vehicle leaving and attempted to stop it. According to DPS, that driver took off and crashed into another vehicle. All three people who were in those two vehicles were taken to a local hospital.
Austin Police confirmed to KVUE that investigators were keeping an eye on the situation in South Austin Saturday night but have not provided any additional details about these incidents.
In recent months, local investigators have stepped up efforts to crack down on street takeovers and illegal street racing events. Similar incidents in February led to more than two dozen arrests by APD and the Texas Department of Public Safety. Gov. Greg Abbott announced the creation of a statewide Street Takeover Task Force shortly after.
After the end of the regular legislative session, Abbott also signed two bills into law that aim to help law enforcement crack down on takeovers. House Bill 1442 provides law enforcement and prosecutors more tools to pursue organized street racing and takeover events in Texas. House Bill 2899 allows for the immediate removal and impoundment of a vehicle involved in a takeover event.
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https://www.kens5.com/article/news/local/multiple-street-takeover-events-reported-in-austin-overnight/269-4501acbc-0275-451c-a023-3c1bc2e01cc1
| 2023-07-30T15:02:38
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https://www.kens5.com/article/news/local/multiple-street-takeover-events-reported-in-austin-overnight/269-4501acbc-0275-451c-a023-3c1bc2e01cc1
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SCHERTZ, Texas — Investigators trying to figure out where a gunman was when they fired shots at a hotel, hitting at least one woman.
Police responded to the 2100 block of I-35 North just before 12:30 a.m. Sunday for reports of shots fired.
Police say details are limited but they know at least seven rooms at the Best Western Hotel were hit by gunfire.
A woman in one of those rooms was hit in the arm. She was taken to BAMC in stable condition.
Police are trying to determine where the shots came from as they did not find any shell casings in the area. Officials believe the shots may have come from the access road of the highway.
No other injuries were reported.
This is an ongoing investigation.
MORE LOCAL NEWS
Learn more about KENS 5:
Since going on the air in 1950, KENS 5 has strived to be the best, most trusted news and entertainment source for generations of San Antonians.
KENS 5 has brought numerous firsts to South Texas television, including being the first local station with a helicopter, the first with its own Doppler radar and the first to air a local morning news program.
Over the years, KENS 5 has worked to transform local news. Our cameras have been the lens bringing history into local viewers' homes. We're proud of our legacy as we serve San Antonians today.
Today, KENS 5 continues to set the standard in local broadcasting and is recognized by its peers for excellence and innovation. The KENS 5 News team focuses on stories that really matter to our community.
You can find KENS 5 in more places than ever before, including KENS5.com, the KENS 5 app, the KENS 5 YouTube channel, KENS 5's Roku and Fire TV apps, and across social media on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and more!
Want to get in touch with someone at KENS 5? You can send a message using our Contacts page or email one of our team members.
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https://www.kens5.com/article/news/local/woman-hit-by-bullet-after-shots-fired-at-best-western-hotel-in-schertz-sapd-san-antonio-texas-gunfire-weapons-shooting/273-92391f2b-5088-4d22-b8fd-96e01e2c62e2
| 2023-07-30T15:02:45
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Bloomington-Normal
Galleries, museums
Angel Ambrose Fine Art Studio; 101 W. Monroe St. Suite 201, Bloomington; Open First Fridays 5-8 p.m. and by appointment; 309-825-4655; angelambrose.com.
David Davis Mansion; 1000 Monroe Drive, Bloomington; open for tours, 9 a.m.-3:30 p.m. Wednesday through Saturday; by donation; daviddavismansion.org; 309-828-1084.
Eaton Studio Gallery; 411 N. Center St., Bloomington; 10 a.m.-2 p.m. Saturdays; 5-8 p.m. First Fridays, or by appointment or ring bell; eatonstudiogallery.com; 309-828-1575.
The Hangar Art Co.; 105 W. Jefferson St., Bloomington; 10 a.m.-6 p.m., Wednesday through Saturday; hangart.com; 309-319-8672.
Illinois Art Station; 101 E. Vernon Ave., Normal; Gallery open 10 a.m.-2 p.m. Saturdays; illinoisartstation.org; 309-386-1019.
Inside Out: Accessible Art Gallery & Cooperative; 200 W. Monroe St., Bloomington; 10 a.m.-6 p.m. Wednesday-Friday; 8 a.m.-2 p.m. Saturday; by appointment Sunday-Tuesday; and 10 a.m.-8 p.m. first Friday; insideoutartcoop.org; 309-838-2160.
Jan Brandt Gallery; Normandy Village, 1100 Beach St., Building 8, Normal; by appointment; janbrandtgallery.com; 309-287-4700.
Joann Goetzinger Studio and Gallery; 313 N. Main St. Suite A, Bloomington; open 5-8 p.m. first Fridays, 9 a.m.-4 p.m. Saturdays, also by appointment; 309-826-1193.
Lois Jett Historic Costume Collection; Turner Hall 126E—ISU Campus, Normal; noon-2 p.m. Tuesday, 2-4 p.m. Wednesday, and 10 a.m.-noon Thursday through Dec. 9; also open 1-4 p.m. Nov. 6; 8:30 a.m.-4:30 p.m. Monday by appointment.
Main Gallery 404; 404 N. Main St., Bloomington; 12-5 p.m. Thursdays, Fridays; 10 a.m.-2 p.m. Saturdays; By chance or appointment at 309-590-6779.
McLean County Arts Center; 601 N. East St., Bloomington; open; 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Monday-Friday, 10 a.m.-7 p.m. Tuesday, noon-4 p.m. Saturday; mcac.org; 309-829-0011.
McLean County Museum of History; 200 N. Main St., Bloomington; 9 a.m.-8 p.m. Tuesday; 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Monday-Saturday; closed Sundays, until further notice; reservations at education@mchistory.org or 309-827-0428; mchistory.org; 309-827-0428.
Merwin and Wakeley Galleries; Illinois Wesleyan University; Bloomington; open; noon-4 p.m. Monday through Friday; 7-9 p.m. Tuesday; 1-4 p.m. Saturday through Sunday; iwu.edu/art/galleries; 309-556-3391.
Prairie Aviation Museum; 2929 E. Empire St., Bloomington; open 11 a.m.-3 p.m. Saturday and Sunday; prairieaviationmuseum.org; 309-663-7632.
University Galleries of Illinois State University, Normal; open 9:30 a.m.-5 p.m. Monday-Thursday, 9:30 a.m.-8 p.m. Friday, noon-4 p.m. Saturday, Sunday; 309-438-5487; galleries.illinoisstate.edu/about/visit/.
Central Illinois
Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum; 9 a.m.-5 p.m. daily, 212 N. Sixth St., Springfield; adults $15, seniors $12, under 5 free; presidentlincoln.illinois.gov; 217-558-8844.
Art Center at Greater Livingston County Arts Council; 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Monday-Friday; 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Saturday; noon-4 p.m. Sunday; 209 W. Madison St., Pontiac; pcartcenter.com; 815-419-2472.
Contemporary Art Center of Peoria; Riverfront Arts Center, 305 S.W. Water St., Peoria; 11 a.m.-5 p.m. Tuesday-Saturday; peoriacac.org; 309-674-6822.
Dickson Mounds Museum; 10956 N. Dickson Mounds Road, Lewistown; open, 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Tuesday-Saturday; free; illinoisstatemuseum.org; 309-547-3721.
Illinois State Museum; 502 S. Spring St., Springfield; open, 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Tuesday-Saturday; Monday-Friday, free; illinoisstatemuseum.org; 217-782-7386.
Lincoln Heritage Museum; Lincoln Center at Lincoln College, 300 Keokuk St., Lincoln; 9 a.m.-4 p.m. Tuesday-Friday; 1-4 p.m. Saturday, closed Sundays and Mondays; $4-7; museum.lincolncollege.edu; 217-735-7399.
Peoria Art Guild; 203 Harrison St., Peoria; open; 9 a.m.-2 p.m. Tuesday-Friday or by appointment; peoriaartguild.org; 309-637-2787.
Peoria Riverfront Museum; downtown riverfront Peoria; open 9 a.m.-4 p.m. Monday and Friday; 9 a.m.-6:30 p.m. Tuesday-Thursday; 9 a.m.-2 p.m. Saturday; and closed Sunday; adults $11, seniors, students $10, ages 3-17 $9; peoriariverfrontmuseum.org; 309-686-7000.
Simpkins Military Museum; 605 E. Cole St., Heyworth; Open 1-5 p.m. Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday or by appointment; Free admission (donations accepted); Private tours, call first; 309-319-3413; simpkinsmuseum@gmail.com.
Time Gallery; 9 a.m.-5 p.m., Monday-Friday; 9 a.m.-noon Saturday; Closed Sunday; Clock Tower Place Building, 201 Clock Tower Drive, East Peoria; 309-467-2331.
U of I Krannert Art Museum; 500 E. Peabody Drive, Champaign; open; 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Tuesday-Saturday; Thursdays until 8 p.m. when classes are in session; closed Sunday and Monday; kam.illinois.edu; 217-333-1861.
Exhibits
"Marks by Modern Masters: Selections from the Heintzman Collection"; through summer 2023; "Heart"; Experience Gallery; through fall 2023; "Body Worlds RX"; Experience Gallery; through fall 2023; Peoria Riverfront Museum.
"Growing Up X"; second floor gallery; through Sept. 4; Illinois State Museum.
"Pattern and Process"; through Dec. 22; West Gallery and Light Court; "The Ink Wash of Shozo Sato"; through Dec. 22; Main Level, Contemporary Gallery; Krannert Art Museum.
"Here I have Lived: Home in Illinois"; through Jan. 21, 2024; Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum.
"Flowers for Ukraine"; Preston Jackson Gallery; "Vera Scekic: Synethic Being"; Gallery 3R; both through Aug. 11; Contemporary Art Center of Peoria.
"Structures"; John Boylan; August 2023; Peoria Art Guild.
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https://pantagraph.com/life-entertainment/local/looking-for-art-culture-see-the-latest-central-illinois-exhibits/article_30d0badc-2b1f-11ee-9821-6bba47f3805a.html
| 2023-07-30T15:03:32
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https://pantagraph.com/life-entertainment/local/looking-for-art-culture-see-the-latest-central-illinois-exhibits/article_30d0badc-2b1f-11ee-9821-6bba47f3805a.html
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Normal
Franke Construction issued permit July 19, for $184,000 new single-family detached residence at 1249 Silver Oak Circle.
Messing Construction Co. Inc. issued permit July 24, for $58,049 commercial remodel to tear off partial roof and new install of approx. 2,800 sqft. at 200 Unit Drive.
Tarter Construction LLC issued permit July 24, for $120,000 commercial remodel to refinish parapets to match at 314 S. Towanda Ave.
Homes By Tentac issued permit July 24, for $290,000 new construction of single-family detached residence at 1113 N. Linden St.
Windfree Solar issued permit July 25, for $638,542 commercial remodel to Heartland Ag Building rooftop solar array at 1608 W. Raab Road.
McLean County
Harvest Solar issued permit July 20, for $54,000 solar array at 18275 North 2300 East Road, Towanda.
Nussbaum Transportation issued permit July 21, for $150,000 dirt work/paving of new trailer spot at 19336 North 1425 East Road, Hudson.
Riley Homes Inc. issued permit July 25, for $348,000 single-family residence at 36999 East 1800 North Road, Anchor.
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https://pantagraph.com/news/local/business/see-the-latest-mclean-county-building-permits/article_b3684ed6-2be4-11ee-a205-c7f97c80d24d.html
| 2023-07-30T15:03:51
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https://pantagraph.com/news/local/business/see-the-latest-mclean-county-building-permits/article_b3684ed6-2be4-11ee-a205-c7f97c80d24d.html
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BLOOMINGTON — As a Bloomington teen prepares to set off for the United States' oldest institution of higher learning, she's completing one more stint at the McLean County Fair and reflecting on her time in the 4-H program.
Normal Community High School graduate Avani Rai, 18, has been part of McLean County 4-H for almost eight years and will head to Harvard University this fall.
Since joining 4-H, Rai said she has been able to build her communication skills, take leadership positions and explore her passions through the various programs and events.
"When you really think about building those foundational steps, 4-H is 100% the arena that offered me the opportunity to take advantage and grow when it came to those skills," Rai said. "Communication, leadership, all the above."
4-H is active at the county, state and national levels, with clubs and programs ranging from agriculture and robotics to politics and leadership.
Rai said she first developed an interest in 4-H when a robotics club started at Benjamin Elementary School and took projects to the McLean County Fair that summer.
What she did not know was that in addition to robotics, her father had signed her up for public speaking and leadership programs.
"It was probably the greatest nightmare of my first 10 years of life, but I ended up going through with it, and I have multiple times," Rai said.
Rai has been proactive in 4-H since then, joining competitions ranging from consumer education to intercultural topics and eventually becoming a teen teacher, or a 4-H-er who provides enrichment lessons and activities to disadvantaged youth.
Carolyn Hansen, youth development educator with McLean County 4-H, said she has known Rai since her start in the program, and and has seen her contributions to 4-H and helping others.
"I've seen her grow from a shy little 10-year-old to somebody who is just confident and successful with all that she does and all that she touches," Hansen said. "The programs and teams that she's involved in are good for any child, and it's an opportunity to create that leadership that we need in our younger generation."
Although Rai is not taking part in any 4-H competitions this year, Hansen said she still volunteered to help at the fair.
"That's the kind of initiative that you see and you want to see in any young person, just to offer their time and help," Hansen added.
During her time as a teen teacher, Rai said in 2018 she joined the McLean County Hunger Ambassadors, a group of young people addressing food insecurity in the county, and then joined the Illinois 4-H Food Advocacy Team in 2020.
The team, along with the Illinois Food Ambassador Summit, awarded $23,000 in grants to 30 youth-led food insecurity projects throughout the state.
Rai later took to the national stage as an ambassador of 4-H's Healthy Living Delegation, along with 18 other youth leaders, representing Illinois 4-H at the Ignite by 4-H Summit in Washington, D.C., this past spring.
"I'm very proud of her for what she has done, and she sticks with the issues that are most important to her," said Kathy Weinzierl, leader of the Olympia Pacesetters 4-H Club. "I'm feeling a lot of pride to know her and to see how she's grown."
Weinzierl, who also is a leader with the Illinois Hunger Ambassadors, said she met Rai in 2018 at the Illinois Food Ambassador Summit in Bloomington. She was impressed by Rai's enthusiasm and focus on food insecurity, and soon found the teen instrumental in the group's work.
The two stayed in touch, and Weinzierl asked Rai to join the planning committee for the Why I See You Service Awards in 2020. YICU seeks to recognize youth leadership and service in the community, in hopes that this will inspire other young people.
"I've gotten to know her a lot more now and she's a dynamic speaker," Weinzierl said. "She is always involved with her school and talking with different counselors or organizations, just trying to get people to apply for it."
She added, "I feel a lot of pride to know her and to see how she's grown, and I liked that she was in 4-H and hopefully she got her roots through 4-H to do that."
Serving as a spokesperson for youth advocacy, Rai took part in the White House Conference on Hunger, Nutrition and Health, which brought together advocates fighting for improvements to health and creating solutions to make an impact.
Rai was joined by Second Gentleman Douglas Emhoff, White House Domestic Policy Adviser Ambassador Susan Rice, and Joshua Williams, founder of Joshua's Heart Foundation, a nonprofit that helps people affected by hunger and poverty.
Rai shared her perspectives and experiences on these issues; how she and others are working to address issues of hunger, nutrition and health in her community; and her goals to mobilize other young people to help with these efforts.
Outside of 4-H, Rai was involved with the Future Business Leaders of America's Phi Beta Lambda chapter; served as vice president and president of the Student Council at Normal Community; and competed in the National Speech & Debate Association, qualifying and reaching the quarterfinals twice in two years.
Rai plans to study economics at Harvard, with dreams of becoming a lawyer and working on legislation in Washington, D.C.
"4-H is such a wonderful community that I've been incredibly fortunate to take part in," Rai said. "I think it's one of the best-kept secrets we have in McLean County because there really should be so many more students involved, but when you're in 4-H it's all about taking initiative and finding mentors that will support you."
"There are so many (programs) that are available, all you have to do is be willing to take that first step and explore all there is to offer," Rai added.
To learn more about McLean County 4-H, visit go.illinois.edu/McLean4H
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| 2023-07-30T15:03:57
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The CenterPoint Energy Dayton Air Show set record attendance with approximately 85,000 attendees, organizers confirmed for the Dayton Daily News.
This surpasses last year’s record attendance mark of about 83,000.
“We’re absolutely ecstatic about that. Absolutely ecstatic. That’s exactly what you want to see it do,” said Shiela Wallace, media relations for the CenterPoint Energy Dayton Air Show.
Projections of estimated attendance numbers first released at a July 24 press conference held up, she said, and even last year was one of the highest attendances they had seen in a while.
The air show saw attendees pour in this year with the weather cooperating and a variety of attractions were available.
“There was something there for everyone, whether you wanted fast moving cars on the ground, whether you wanted general aviation aerobatic aircraft, or very loud high flying military aircraft, so there was absolutely something there for everybody,” Wallace said.
A children’s hangar was also available for families to find more entertainment for kids.
“I think people also enjoy, particularly young families with little kids, knowing that we’ve got a kids’ hangar there, a place where the kids can go and play for a little while,” Wallace said. “It’s a place where they can come and relax and let their kids play and just kind of catch a breath. I think that is also very important to our young families.”
Other changes may have made the difference this year. First, the show required patrons to buy parking vouchers in advance and, second, the show invested “tens of thousands” in a three-lane, half-mile gravel road leading from Northwoods and Engel Road, offering a new entrance to general admission parking for vehicles leaving I-75 at the Northwoods exit.
The 50th Dayton Air Show is scheduled for June 22 and 23, 2024 and will be headlined by the Navy’s Blue Angels.
“People can look for even bigger and better than this year,” Wallace said about the 50th anniversary next year.
Tom Gnau contributed to this story.
About the Author
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https://www.springfieldnewssun.com/local/air-show-sets-record-attendance-organizers-confirm/IKFM2S3WNFDHLLP3YUF4SHKTUQ/
| 2023-07-30T15:25:11
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LAKELAND, Fla. – Lakeland police took a woman into custody, but still have unanswered questions after a shooting outside of a lounge early Saturday that left one person dead and another with critical injuries, according to a news release.
Two officers working an off-duty detail at the business — located at 3010 Lakeland Highlands Road — were already on scene when the shooting occurred in the parking lot shortly before 2 a.m., the release states.
A 25-year-old man was taken to a hospital in a personal vehicle after being shot and was pronounced dead a short time later, police said. Another victim, a 48-year-old woman, suffered critical injuries and was reportedly taken to a hospital by ambulance.
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23-year-old Jamilah Johnson was taken into custody and will face a charge of possession of a firearm by a convicted felon, according to the Lakeland Police Department. The release mentions a gun was found at the scene that had been reported stolen in 2015, but it does not clearly state whether the gun was recovered from Johnson.
As of Saturday evening, Lakeland detectives were still working to determine if anyone else was involved in the shooting, the release states.
Anyone with information about the shooting was asked to contact Detective Neal Robertson at neal.roberston@lakelandgov.net.
No other details were shared.
This is a developing story. Check back with News 6 for updates.
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https://www.clickorlando.com/news/local/2023/07/30/1-dead-1-hurt-1-in-custody-after-shooting-in-lakeland-police-say/
| 2023-07-30T15:26:59
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KHAR, Pakistan — KHAR, Pakistan (AP) — A powerful bomb ripped through a rally by supporters of a hard-line cleric and political leader in the country’s northwestern Bajur district that borders Afghanistan on Sunday, police and health officials said. At least 35 people were killed and more than 100 wounded.
Senior police officer Nazir Khan said the workers convention of Maulana Fazlur Rehman’s Jamiat Ulema Islam party was taking place on the outskirts of Khar, the capital of Bajur district, when the explosion took place.
Initially police said 10 people were killed but later more bodies were moved to a hospital bringing the death toll to 35. He said some of the wounded were taken to the city’s main hospital in critical condition and the death toll could increase.
Azam Khan, head of the emergency room at Khar’s main hospital, said 35 bodies were brought to the hospital and some wre taken back by relatives while the number of wounded was now more than 100 as those who earlier went to near small clinics for medical aid consequently brought to the main government hospital.
Government administrator Mohibullah Khan Yousufzai also said death toll rose to 35 and the number of wounded was well over 100. He said the serious wounded people were being airlifted to provincial capital, Peshawar, for better medical care.
No one immediately claimed responsibility for the attack but the Islamic State group operates across the border in Afghanistan.
Maulana Ziaullah, the local chief of Rehman’s party, was among the dead. Senator Abdur Rasheed and former lawmaker Maulana Jamaluddin was also on the stage but escaped unhurt. Party officials said Rehman was not in the rally.
Rehman is considered to be a pro-Taliban cleric and his political party is part of the coalition government in Islamabad. It is not known whether Rehman was present. Meetings are being organized across the country to mobilize supporters for the coming elections.
Bajur, once used to be a tribal region but now a district, has been a safe haven for Islamic militants until recent years when Pakistani military carried out massive operations to eliminate militancy from the tribal region. Militants still strike attacking security forces and civilians often.
___
Riaz Khan reported from Peshawar, Pakistan.
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| 2023-07-30T15:29:28
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ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. — A mobile home burst into flames Saturday night, the Orange County Fire Rescue said.
>>> STREAM CHANNEL 9 EYEWITNESS NEWS LIVE <<<
According to a release, firefighters received reports of a mobile home fire at Lake Downey Mobile Park around 8 p.m. Saturday.
Fire officials said that the mobile home was fully involved when crews arrived at the scene.
Read: Heat advisory issued for most of Central Florida with high temps
Crews had a ‘good knockdown’ of the fire.
Investigators said there were no reported injuries.
Orange County Fire Rescue said they notified the state fire marshal.
Read: Victim identified in deadly shooting near Orange County apartment complex
No other information is available at this time.
See a map of the location below:
Click here to download the free WFTV news and weather apps, click here to download the WFTV Now app for your smart TV and click here to stream Channel 9 Eyewitness News live.
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https://www.wftv.com/news/local/crews-battle-fully-involved-mobile-home-fire-orange-county/RMGOPCAPI5GGXP3GUINKW66SPM/
| 2023-07-30T15:32:24
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ORLANDO, Fla. — Orlando City scored three goals to beat Liga MX Santos Laguna, 3-2, to take the top spot in Leagues Cup South Region Group 2.
>>> STREAM CHANNEL 9 EYEWITNESS NEWS LIVE <<<
The Lions now head to Ft. Lauderdale on Wednesday for the first Florida derby to include Lionel Messi.
In Saturday night’s game, the Lions had the first opportunity to take the lead in the 4-minute when rookie Duncan McGuire hit the right post of the goal from inside the six-yard box. Santos Laguna’s goalkeeper grabbed the ball to stop McGuire from putting back the rebound.
In the 41-minute, Santos Laguna’s Raúl López started the scoring for the night when López found a gap between two Lion defenders at the top of the box and sent a shot past Lions’ goalkeeper Pedro Gallese for the finish.
But three minutes later, McGuire would get a second opportunity when Rafael Santos sent a cross in front of the goal and a streaking McGuire headed the ball into the back of the net.
Read: Lionel Messi shines again in first Inter Miami start, scores twice in 4-0 win over Atlanta
The two clubs went into halftime tied 1-1.
Just a minute after halftime, City’s Captian Mauricio Pereyra fired a long-distance shot outside the box and found the top right corner of the goal, Lions go up 2-1.
But Santos would come back in the 58-minute when Harold Preciado would equalize with a looping header over Gallese to tie the game 2-2.
Read: UK billionaire Joe Lewis, owner of Tottenham soccer team, charged with insider trading in US
It looked like both clubs would be looking at another penalty shootout to determine the winner of the game and their final placement in the South Regin 2 standings.
But just a day after Peru’s Independence Day, the young Peruvian, Wilder Cartagena, would bring fans at Exploria Stadium to their feet in celebration.
In stoppage time, the Lion’s César Araújo was left open down the right side of the pitch and played a cross on the ground across the box to find Wilder running in behind Santos Laguna’s backline to tap in the winning goal under the legs of the opposing team’s goalkeeper.
Orlando City wins 3-2 and sets up an interstate rivalry match with Inter Miami CF in Leagues Cup play.
Next Game:
When: Aug. 2, time TBD
Where: DRV PNK Stadium
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Heat advisory issued for most of Central Florida with high tempsPolk County man strikes gold, becomes overnight multi-millionaire in lottery scratch-off gameNational Cheesecake Day 2023: Here are 9 places in Central Florida to enjoy this sweet treatBookmark the date: Buy half-priced used books at Orlando Public LibraryKissimmee shopping center’s new owner plans to expand
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https://www.wftv.com/news/local/victim-identified-deadly-shooting-near-orange-county-apartment-complex/QS3T7TJDEZA25GPGFW7P2FPZIE/
| 2023-07-30T15:32:37
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JOPPA, Md. — Two people were displaced after their was house caught fire from a lightning strike on Saturday afternoon.
It all began just before 5:00pm, firefighters were called to the 1600 block of Riverwood Circle for a two-story home that was on fire.
Officials say one of the occupants were home when they heard a loud 'boom' sound.
Once he found the heavy smoke, the occupant called 911 and left the home.
The fire was contained to the attic with smoke, water, and fire damage to the first and second floor.
Fire officials say the fire took 30 minutes to get under control with the help of 50 firefighters.
One firefighter from the Joppa Magnolia Volunteer Fire Company was injured and taken to a local hospital for treatment.
They are said to be in stable condition.
Both occupants of the house are being assisted by friends and family.
Fire officials say the total estimated loss from the fire is about $75,000.
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https://www.wmar2news.com/local/house-catches-fire-after-being-struck-by-lightning-in-harford-county
| 2023-07-30T15:45:00
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Just over two weeks after a video of a Meridian police officer repeatedly punching a suspect as he put him in handcuffs was posted on Twitter, the department announced the officer did not violate its use of force policy.
This is not a unique outcome; between 2018 and 2022, the Meridian Police Department conducted 619 use of force investigations and three were found to be out of policy, results from a public records request show.
Nampa Police in that time frame conducted 208 use of force investigations and three were to be found outside the policy, records show.
Nampa’s use of force was 67% white suspects and 37% of the reports involved Hispanic people.
Meridian’s involved 73% against white people, and 14% were Hispanic and just under 6% were Black.
Use of force investigations are complicated, taking into account state and federal laws as well as department policies, and are often done internally in reports that aren’t subject to Idaho’s public records laws.
Low incidence of force being found out of policy can be attributed to proper training, but it could also indicate issues with how the policy is written, experts the Idaho Press spoke to say.
“It’s possible that it could be reflective of a well behaved police force. But then again, the policy looks like it’s very broad,” said Cody Jorgensen, Boise State University associate professor of criminal justice.
Force accounts for a low percentage of total police contacts, but high-profile cases of its use — such as the video of the Meridian police officer — often have implications for public trust and perceptions of community policing.
Recent police shootings in the area, such as Payton Wasson in Boise, have increased calls for police accountability. However, uses of force that aren’t deadly may be less publicized but still impact community relations.
“There is going to be that disjuncture between what a reasonable police officer at Nampa or Meridian thinks is a reasonable amount of force juxtaposed to the court of public opinion,” Jorgensen said. “I do think the public has a much higher bar when it comes to our expectations of when use of force is warranted and how much of it is warranted.”
To understand these investigations and officers’ uses of force in the field, the Idaho Press spoke to the Nampa and Meridian police departments.
DEPARTMENT PERSPECTIVE
Nampa interim Police Chief Curt Shankel says he sees the department’s low number of out-of-policy incidents as a sign his officers are doing their job correctly and in accordance with their training. And Meridian Police Chief Tracy Basterrechea agreed.
Basterrechea said he has no concerns that the policy is being applied too broadly.
Shakel said of Nampa’s use of force numbers, “Because it is a low percentage, that tells me our officers are doing things right. It tells me that the training that is being offered to them at the academy and throughout the FTO (field training officer) program is doing what it needs to.”
The two departments are of a similar size: Nampa currently has 144 sworn officer positions and Meridian is budgeted for 143 sworn officer positions. But Meridian had almost three times the number of use of force incidents over the same five-year period.
Basterrechea attributed that to tracking uses of force differently. Meridian police said the department tracks incidents that include controlled handcuffing, use of the wrap restraint, strikes, taking someone to the ground, discharging a firearm, use of a baton, use of a taser, use of a dog and a felony stop tactic. Controlled handcuffing involves a stronger control on someone, Basterrechea said.
Nampa reports strikes as well as uses of tasers, batons, pepper spray and guns.
Shankel said incoming officers have around 80 hours of use-of-force training under their belt from the state police academy, and the department holds regular training each week on different topics and situations, with most including a use of force component.
When a force occurs, such as an officer hits the suspect during an arrest, that officer is expected to immediately report to their supervisor while still on the scene. Videos and photos are all documented and the suspect may be interviewed on their version of the events as well, Shankel said.
The report goes to the use of force board, which comprises experts in different type of force, said Traffic Sgt. Doug Harward, chair of the use of force board and high liability use of force instructor. The board will evaluate the report and submit a recommendation on whether to review further or if there’s training deficiencies to the officer’s lieutenant. The lieutenant will then decide whether it should be submitted to the Office of Professional Standards for more investigation.
“It’s a multi-step process and we look at it objectively, so we’re making sure that we match, not how we feel about what happened, but the actual facts of the case,” Harward said.
The Office of Professional Standards is made up of two investigators who normally do background checks on incoming employees and internal investigations. If there’s a violation, discipline will depend on the severity. It could be a letter of reprimand on their file, retraining, to termination. If there’s a criminal violation, a separate criminal investigation would be done by an outside agency, Shankel said.
If a use of force isn’t reported, a superior would determine if the omission was intentional and refer it to the Office of Professional Standards if it was intentionally left out.
In Meridian, officers who use force are required to report it to the sergeant or the corporal, depending on who is on that day. The lieutenant reviews the use of force, followed by the captain and then the office of professional standards and training. If there’s something that needs to be brought up to the chief, Basterrechea reviews it.
If someone doesn’t report use of force, the department starts an internal affairs investigation.
Basterrechea said in a review, they don’t talk to the person who force was used on. Instead, they go through several factors.
“No, we evaluate the use of force … Did we have a legal reason to use force? Did we have a valid reason to use force?” Basterrechea said, enumerating on his fingers. “Was the level or the amount of force, the amount of force that we would expect?”
Capt. Berle Stokes said the department has to consider whether the force meets the constitutional standard and whether it meets department standards.
“The department standards are much more strict than the legal standards,” Stokes said.
Meridian Police also have early warning systems for when officers have a certain amount of complaints and uses of force. Basterrechea said the most number by any officer in 2022 was six. Sometimes, Basterrechea said reviewing a use of force means the force is lawful but the officer may need remedial training.
Shankel said that Nampa also has an early warning system in place in which the supervisors will review officers’ files and flag anyone who may have several use of force reports on file. The supervisor would then determine if the officer should undergo counseling or retraining.
“If they’re justified, we still want to see, if you’ve had a bunch of them, what’s the scenario around that so we can make sure that the officer is whole,” Shankel said. “ We don’t want to take our work home with us, but we don’t want to bring a bad day at home to work with us either.”
Ultimately, Stokes said the Meridian Police Department has to balance their interest in doing their jobs as police and the amount of force used to accomplish that. Both Stokes and Basterrechea said use of force is messy, not easy and not what it looks like on TV.
“You don’t use a 10 pound sledge hammer to squash a fly,” Stokes said. “There is no easy button. Each one of these things have their own dynamics.”
POLICE OVERSIGHT AND POLICIES
Policing, especially when it comes to oversight and use of force, is extremely difficult to study in the U.S.
Joseph De Angelis, a professor of criminology and sociology, researches the effectiveness of different types of oversight and in 2016 completed a report for the U.S. Department of Justice on best practices for oversight.
He said that internal affairs cases are some of the most sensitive and thus departments are reluctant to share the information. Personnel, law enforcement and investigatory records are exempt under Idaho’s public records law. There’s also a lack of “rigorous systematic research” in the field.
However, in his research he’s found a number of factors are related to effective oversight: adequate funding, independence, and having oversight agencies that are outside the police department’s chain of command.
De Angelis said it’s uncommon for medium-size departments, such as Meridian and Nampa, to have outside oversight agencies.
There’s also sometimes issues with not having enough resources or staff time to devote to updating policies.
“There’s a lot of variation in terms of how police departments write their use of force policies,” De Angelis said. “Some do an amazing job and then others, for a variety of reasons, don’t always do as good of a job. … Sometimes that’s a resource limitation or an expertise limitation.”
Ambiguity in policies isn’t uncommon, he said, but it’s been something that’s improved in most departments in recent years.
Shankel said that Nampa uses Lexipol, which is a national guide on public policy management. He said the department frequently receives updates, especially if federal or state laws change.
However, he said each situation is unique and no policy is perfect.
“No policy is going to be able to hit every single thing, there’s just no way, because human nature. Nobody’s going to act the same every time,” Shankel said.
When it comes to applying those policies, Jorgensen said there’s wide agreement among policing scholars that police investigating themselves “doesn’t cut it.”
“These policies allow for just an immense amount of discretion for police,” Jorgensen said. “Discretion can be the best thing but also the worst enemy. It is a double-edged sword because it is necessary, but also it can get out of hand.”
He said a general rule of thumb is to allow some discretion, but with oversight. There needs to be rules, he said.
Meridian’s policy says there is no way to specify the “exact amount or type of reasonable force” that should be applied in a given situation. Officers have to use guidelines to make decisions professionally, impartially and reasonably.
“The Meridian Police Department recognizes and respects the value of all human life and dignity without prejudice to anyone,” the policy states. “Vesting officers with the authority to use reasonable force and to protect the public welfare requires monitoring, evaluation, and a careful balancing of all interests.”
PUBLIC PERCEPTION
Basterrechea remembers when he first started in policing, working with an officer who he described as “extremely rude, belittling the person we’d arrested.” Basterrechea said he reported the “out of line” officer, though he doesn’t know what happened internally.
But he pulled the officer away, Basterrechea recalled on Wednesday.
“My point to him was, from my perspective, that’s the type of officer that gets good officers killed,” Basterrechea said. “Because people remember that.”
Shankel and Harward of Nampa also both recalled moments when they stepped in because an officer was getting heated.
“We do have a policy for that,” Harward said. “Realizing that officers are in stressful, unknown situations, that can cause them to get heated, because we’re people, but we really as part of our training we train each other to watch each other’s backs.”
Although use of force is infrequent, these rare events often draw the most attention and skew people’s perceptions of how often they occur. Often the only cases people are aware of are from videos taken from witnesses shared widely or when the departments disclose them, typically in cases involving shootings or deaths.
The court of public opinion often views incidents differently even if the force is within policy.
In the 2020 textbook “Evaluating Police Use of Force,” authors Seth Stoughton, Jeffrey Noble, and Geoffrey P. Alpert wrote, “Public confidence and trust in policing are exceptionally important for at least three pragmatic reasons: the impact they can have on crime rates, police effectiveness, and safety.”
The authors explained that low trust in the police can negatively affect how well people cooperate or how heated encounters with police can get.
“In the ambiguous environment of a police encounter, officers and community members who distrust each other are more likely to perceive each other as a threat and to react accordingly, increasing the potential for violence,” they wrote.
Shankel said he realizes that use of force does not often help public perception.
“No matter what level of force you use, it does not look good on video,” he said. “That’s just the nature of it.”
He said that the officer’s main duty is to get a suspect in custody as quickly as possible, and the officer is obligated to use the amount of force necessary to do so. He said there’s a formal complaint process for those who feel they were unfairly treated or wrongly arrested.
“It’s the individual’s actions that’s going to lead to use of force,” Shankel said. “If people just comply and do what they’re told, there’s no force ever used. … But once you use force, the officer’s not going to have a choice. We’re not going to get stabbed or shot first.”
But dealing with danger and overcoming a suspect’s resistance also have to be balanced with public perception.
“If doing things by the book pisses off the public then maybe it’s a good idea to revise the book,” Jorgensen said. “Because police have to work with the public and the public have to work with the police.”
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https://www.idahopress.com/news/local/treasure-valley-officers-rarely-found-to-violate-use-of-force-policies-an-in-depth-look/article_1c82e49a-2d7e-11ee-b45c-671261c5f1a4.html
| 2023-07-30T15:57:08
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Home prices continue to increase in Northwest Indiana despite declines in sales amid tight inventory.
In the first half of 2023, home sales in Lake, Porter, LaPorte, Jasper, Newton, Pulaski and Starke counties totaled 4,399, down from 5,280 during the first six months of 2022, according to the Northwest Indiana Realtors Association. After years of booming sales, the market has reached a new normal at the half-year mark.
"It's not surprising. This year looks like what we thought it would," NIRA CEO Pete Novak said. "Home prices remain steady. Sales are down on the year, which is not surprising considering how little inventory is on the market compared to historical levels of inventory. New homes are not coming on the market at an increased place."
New listings in Northwest Indiana totaled 5,929, a 16.7% decline as compared to the 6,905 homes sold in the first half of 2022.
"Interest rates remain high and are rising, which adds substantial cost to home buying," Novak said. "People who are locked into a low-interest rate are staying put. The market hasn't been great because of the inventory issues. The inventory has been declining steadily. The bright side is that any homes that are on sale are selling quickly. The demand isn't as strong as it was but there's enough demand to satisfy the home sellers on the market."
The median sales price rose 3.4% to $239,900 through the first six months of 2023, up from $232,000 during the same time period in 2022.
"The data is clear at this point," he said. "Home salves remain competitive. Home sellers are in the catbird's seat. There's not a lot to choose from for buyers. It's still a seller's market. That's why home prices are rising even though we did see some dips in home prices nationally. Home prices are back up and I don't think that's going to stop anytime soon."
Home builders have not been adding enough new inventory at affordable price points in the last few years as a result of building material supply shortages during the pandemic and lingering labor shortages.
"The builders I've talked to said they would build more homes if they could," he said. "But they've all talked about constraints with labor. There's demand for new construction. There's not enough housing period, whether that's existing homes or new construction."
Sellers got 95.8% of their asking prices in the first six months of the year, down 2.4% as compared to 98.2% during the first half of 2022.
The average home price is now $256,000 in Lake County, $320,000 in Porter County and $205,000 in LaPorte County. That's up from $248,000 in Lake County, $295,000 in Porter County and $200,500 in LaPorte County at the same time last year.
In June, new listings fell 23.3% to 1,161, down from 1,513, according to NIRA. Closed sales 8.3% to 958, down from 1,045 during June of 2022. The median sales price in June rose 5.3% to $260,000, up from $247,000.
"There's been a decrease in home sales, so it will be interesting to see if prices keep climbing or if they flatten out," he said. "Overall, they're still increasing."
Inventory rose 15.4% to 1.5 months in June, up from 1.3 months but still well below historical averages. The inventory of homes for sales fell 7.2% to 1,254 in June, up from 1,351 in June of 2022.
"Longterm we need more development and more home construction," he said. "We have a short-term inventory issue but also what looks like long-term inventory issues for housing."
The market will likely continue down the path it's going for the rest of the year.
"It's not the same market from last year and the year before but there are a lot of similarities," he said. "Sellers are in a pretty good position. They're in the catbird's seat. They have the advantage in the transaction. I would not be surprised if the next six months look a lot like the last six months."
NWI Business Ins and Outs: Jet's Pizza and vegan restaurant open; Chase Bank closes; Crown Point Toys and Collectibles moves
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https://www.nwitimes.com/news/local/nwi-home-prices-still-rising-despite-falling-sales-and-limited-inventory/article_d80494b0-2d84-11ee-8c7a-23ee419348f4.html
| 2023-07-30T16:00:58
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https://www.nwitimes.com/news/local/nwi-home-prices-still-rising-despite-falling-sales-and-limited-inventory/article_d80494b0-2d84-11ee-8c7a-23ee419348f4.html
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MOROCCO — The bison's tails swished back and fourth as they grazed through the tallgrasses and yellow cone flowers.
"That means they're calm," Trevor Edmonson explained. "They're tails stiffen when they feel like they're in danger."
The 110 bison that roam the Kankakee Sands Preserve have no reason to be afraid, they've never been hunted and they aren't being raised as livestock. However, these mighty creatures still have an important job — they're helping restore Northwest Indiana's prairie.
Restoring what was lost
The fleeing bison that appears on Indiana's state seal does not resemble the mild herd at Kankakee Sands. The animal's tail stands straight in the air as it leaps over a log, seemingly running away from a man chopping down a tree.
According to Indiana historian Jacob Piatt Dunn, "the woodman represented civilization subduing the wilderness; and the buffalo, . . . going west, . . . represented the primitive life retiring in that direction before the advance of civilization."
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The first recorded use of the Indiana state seal was 1801. Less than thirty years later, bison had been completely eradicated from the state.
Edmonson, project director at Kankakee Sands, said hunting records show Newton County's last bison was killed in 1824.
In the mid-19th century, it was estimated that 30 million to 60 million buffalo roamed North America. Many Native tribes relied on bison for food and other resources, however as the railroad began to expand white settlers began to travel throughout the country, eradicating bison. The federal government recognized how important bison were to Native American survival and in an effort to weaken the tribes, the U.S. Army provided free ammunition to bison hunters.
By the end of the 1800s less than 1,000 bison remained in North America.
As bison were being brought to the brink of extinction, Native tribes were forced onto reservations and in states like Indiana, tribes lost all of their land. Early Hoosiers worked to convert the state's natural areas into farmland, draining wetlands and plowing prairies.
According to the Indiana Department of Natural Resources 85% of Indiana's wetlands have been lost since the 1780s. The DNR also estimates that prairies likely made up about 15% of the state before European settlers arrived. Much of this prairie land would have been in Northwest Indiana; almost all of the state's original prairie has been lost.
“Back then people didn’t view wetlands as important infrastructure, they kind of viewed it as wasted land or marginal land," Edmonson explained.
Before the Nature Conservancy, or TNC, created the Kankakee Sands preserve in 1996, the land had been used for grazing and row crops. Pulling out an original map of Newton County from 1876, Edmonson pointed to the careful black hatch marks that fill the area where the preserve is today.
"That was all marshland," Edmonson said, adding that the southern half of the county contained tallgrass prairie.
The 8,4000-acre preserve sits in the footprint of Beaver Lake, which was Indiana's biggest freshwater lake before it was drained. The lake was part of the Grand Kankakee Marsh system, which once stretched all the way from South Bend to Momence, IL, making it the largest inland wetland in North America.
Over the past century Newton County's landscape has changed a lot: homes and farm fields now fill the former marsh, sand dunes were mined to help build U.S. 41 and the much of the black oak savanna where bison once roamed has become overgrown.
Edmonson said restoring this land will be a "multigeneration journey," one that will require native plants, prescribed burns, cattle, and, of course, plenty of bison.
The benefits of bison
The Kankakee Sands property is a patchwork of wetlands, black oak savanna, sedge meadows and prairie. Edmonson said
“The goal of our site is not to create one uniform prairie, everywhere you go here there's going to be a mix of soil types, a mix of plant communities that intertwined in that mosaic," Edmonson said. "That’s really what nature is."
This "mosaic" of different plant types helps promote biodiversity as different kinds of wildlife need different kinds of habitat to survive. Edmonson said the property is home to over 700 plant species, 250 bird species, 70 butterfly species and 1,000 moth species.
Many of these species thrive in habitats that have "structure," Edmonson explained grasslands that have plants with varying heights are good for a wide-range of wildlife. Promoting health, structured grassland requires natural disturbances like prescribed burns and grazing.
“If I were to plant a prairie full of Big Bluestem without bison, it’s going to be all eight-foot tall and look pretty uniform” Edmonson explained that grazing "Allows for other things to take up that real-estate and thrive."
In an effort to recreate the natural disturbances that would have occurred historically, TNC introduced 23 bison to Kankakee Sands in 2016. The herd has more than quadrupled; Edmonson said there were about 20 new calves this year alone. With 12 herds and about 6,000 animals, TNC is the second-largest bison producer in North America, behind media mogul Ted Turner. FIX
Edmonson said the benefits of bison go beyond grazing; when the giant animals take "dust baths" they create large divots in the earth, which fill with water and are used as breeding grounds for frogs and turtles, they distribute seeds and spores by carrying them in their thick coats, and birds and small mammals use bison hair to insulate nests and burrows.
“They are truly a keystone species," Edmonson said bison likely impact their environment in unknown ways as well. "That's part of the fun. You put them out there and then monitor birds and butterflies and dung beetles and things like that."
The herd has also changed how the human species interacts with Kankakee Sands.
Before the bison arrived, the preserve received few visitors. Now school groups, tourists and drivers who spot the herd from the highway stop-in and want to learn more. The preserve has a bison viewing area, but Edmonson said it's essentially a gravel lot. The Nature Conservancy is working to develop "flagship" preserves where people can visit and learn more about the groups conservation efforts.
As part of this initiative, Kankakee Sands is looking to create an outdoor pavilion with seating and informational signage and two bison viewing platforms. Earlier this month the preserve received a $25,000 donation from the NiSource Charitable Foundation for the project. Edmonson said they hope to start work on the project next summer, those interested in donating to the project or volunteering at Kankakee Sands can visit nature.org/Indiana.
The goal of the interpretive signage is to help visitors conduct self-guided tours of the properties' many trails. Traditional Western conservation practices kept people away from protected land, but Edmonson said this mindset is changing.
“People have always been involved and intertwined with nature," Edmonson said. "We’re not really separate from it so we want to get as many people out here as we can to see that nature is critical infrastructure for society and is also therapeutic and inspirational."
After walking through the sedges, admiring the deep purple ironweed flowers, taking in the the bison herd and listing to the meadowlarks, Edmonson hopes visitors will be inspired to protect nature in their own communities.
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https://www.nwitimes.com/news/local/bison-kankakee-preservation-conservation-thenatureconservancy-morocco/article_5d434fa4-2d44-11ee-a69a-a76aa5f87ee2.html
| 2023-07-30T16:05:22
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https://www.nwitimes.com/news/local/bison-kankakee-preservation-conservation-thenatureconservancy-morocco/article_5d434fa4-2d44-11ee-a69a-a76aa5f87ee2.html
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LYNCHBURG, Va. – Even on a hot day, people showed out to support the Peacemakers for their End of Summer Expo and fundraiser.
“We need to bring the neighborhood back to our city. The neighborhood, not the hood,” Peacemakers Founder Shawn Hunter said.
Hunter is standing by a boots on the ground approach to ending gun violence in Lynchburg.
“The community is responding because they’re seeing action,” Hunter said. “And that’s what they want to see, action. Not just talk and a lot of meetings.”
Saturday, the Peacemakers hosted the End of Summer Expo and fundraiser — with the goal of bringing the community together.
“I want us to meet each other right here,” Hunter said.
The money raised at the event goes towards buying a van that will be used for outreach.
“It allows us to move around at night time more safely,” he said.
Several community leaders and lawmakers joined the charge, speaking to people about the importance of peace.
Republican Delegate Wendall Walker says he’s had enough when it comes to violence in the Hill City.
“Send a message to the criminals in Lynchburg: ‘Not here,’” Walker said.
Democratic candidate for delegate Jennifer Woofter says supporting the Peacemakers allows for their work to continue making a change.
“Their voice is incredibly impactful,” Woofter said. “Gun violence is an issue that impacts families, neighborhoods, communities, states and the nation. And we need people at every level of organization to be thinking about it and finding solutions.”
If you did not get to attend the fundraiser, you can still donate by mailing your donation to P.O. Box 1161 Lynchburg, Virginia. More ways to donate will later be added on their Facebook page.
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https://www.wsls.com/news/local/2023/07/30/lynchburg-peacemakers-host-end-of-summer-expo-and-fundraiser/
| 2023-07-30T16:05:26
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https://www.wsls.com/news/local/2023/07/30/lynchburg-peacemakers-host-end-of-summer-expo-and-fundraiser/
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A skeptical grand jury that convened in December to investigate the February 2022 shooting death of an Alvo man at the hands of a Cass County Sheriff's deputy ultimately voted not to indict the deputy, clearing him of criminal wrongdoing in Andrew Stratton's death.
The grand jury — which spent much of two days in a Plattsmouth courtroom reviewing bodycam footage and hearing witness testimony in Stratton's Feb. 13, 2022, killing — voted 14-2 not to indict Deputy Elliot Schmit, who shot Stratton seven times with his personally owned semiautomatic rifle, according to the grand jury transcript filed last month.
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Though they ultimately absolved Schmit of criminal misconduct, jurors were skeptical of the decisions deputies made in the lead-up to Stratton's shooting, according to a Journal Star review of the 515-page transcript of the grand jury's investigation.
Jurors also raised their eyebrows at Schmit's brief-but-checkered history as a law enforcement agent and at the deputy's claim that Stratton was preparing to shoot a bow and arrow at him when Schmit shot the 34-year-old in the darkened basement of Stratton's father's home that night, according to the transcript.
The jury questioned why deputies didn't call a mental health professional to help subdue Stratton, who had been diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia and had previously barricaded himself from law enforcement, prompting an armed standoff with the Nebraska State Patrol that Schmit acknowledged came to "a more peaceful resolution" than the 2022 incident.
Jurors spent more than an hour watching and rewatching clips of bodycam footage from Schmit and other law enforcement agents on scene in an effort to determine whether Stratton had actually pointed at Schmit the compact bow found near his body.
And the jury, at times, seemed dubious of Schmit himself.
The deputy had been back on patrol for the Cass County Sheriff's Office for less than a month at the time of Stratton's shooting following a yearlong deployment to the Middle East, where he had been sent to help set up law enforcement operations in Jordan, according to his own grand jury testimony.
Before his February 2021 deployment there, Schmit had been with the sheriff's office for approximately seven months. He started in Cass County in July 2020 — four months after he was fired from the State Patrol for a pursuit policy violation less than a year removed from his graduation from the patrol's academy.
Still, it was Schmit's own testimony, which he gave voluntarily, that seemed to help convince jurors not to indict him — and then recommend several policy and procedure changes to the sheriff's office in an effort to prevent another such shooting, according to the transcript.
"I never shot anybody before. That was one of the most traumatic things I’ve ever done," Schmit told the jury, after indicating that equipment like a ballistic shield, pepper ball launchers or other "less-lethal" projectiles might have led to a different outcome if such equipment would have been available.
“If I could’ve done it any other way, I would’ve," he said. "I had no intent of doing it this way. If — if (Stratton) would’ve come and talked to us, he would still be alive. He ultimately chose it. It was a very unfortunate thing. I wish it had never happened.”
What led up to the shooting
Two Cass County deputies, Schmit and Sgt. Karl Boehm, responded to Stratton's grandma's house in Greenwood at around 9:30 p.m. that night after the 34-year-old's dad, Gregg Stratton, called them there, according to the transcript.
Gregg Stratton told Schmit and Boehm that his son had struck him in the head during an altercation that transpired earlier that evening at 23418 Alvo Road, where the two men lived.
The elder Stratton warned the deputies of his son's diagnosis, that he hadn't been taking his medication and that he might have access to a bow and arrow.
"Andrew needed some kind of help was, basically, his position on the events of that night, whether that was going to jail first and then getting the help or just getting (placed in emergency protective custody)," Schmit told jurors.
"He felt that Andrew was out of control and needed something.”
At 10:15 p.m., the deputies left the house in Greenwood and drove toward Alvo, arriving at the house on Alvo Road at 10:27 p.m.
“Did an attempt (happen) to get any social worker or therapist involved?" an alternate juror asked Cass County Attorney Chris Perrone, who guided the grand jury through its investigation in December.
"Because I heard 'schizophrenia,'" the juror said.
"You won’t get any evidence that that night there was any contact with social workers or mental health professionals or anybody like that," Perrone said. "So that could come down to the — it could affect whether or not you decide to charge or not charge."
Upon their arrival at the Strattons' house in Alvo, Schmit and Boehm knocked on the front and back doors without a response before Schmit asked Boehm, his supervisor, if they should call a captain to the scene.
Instead, the deputies asked a third colleague, Deputy Mike McKnelly, to pick up Gregg Stratton from his mom's house in Greenwood and drive him to his Alvo property before they entered the home, where they planned to arrest Andrew Stratton on suspicion of misdemeanor third-degree assault.
Back at his house, Gregg Stratton again warned the deputies that his son might have access to the compound bow, according to the transcript.
So the three sheriff's deputies devised a plan to enter and clear the home, according to their grand jury testimony.
Schmit, a 10-year military veteran with hand-to-hand combat experience, would lead the way into the house, armed with his own Colt M4. Boehm would be armed with a Taser. And McKnelly, the third man to enter the house, would carry his service pistol.
After entering the home in a "T" formation, the three deputies cleared the main floor of the house without finding anyone, and as they prepared to descend into the basement, Schmit announced their presence again.
Andrew Stratton called back from downstairs and the two began to negotiate the Alvo man's potential surrender.
"He seemed very, kind of, all over the place," Schmit told the jury. "He was talking about everything from how he was the one that killed Osama bin Laden to he was downstairs strapped to a bomb."
Schmit implored Andrew Stratton to come upstairs and talk things out, to resolve the standoff peacefully, he said.
“Honestly, I thought I was making some headway," he testified. "And then he just went silent and just stopped talking.”
When Andrew Stratton went quiet, the deputies initially planned to stay upstairs until reinforcements arrived. At least one trooper with the State Patrol was already on his way, according to the transcript.
But, Schmit said, deputies soon heard a noise that sounded as if Andrew Stratton had fallen over. Fearing he was injured, Schmit and Boehm began a slow walk into the basement, sending McKnelly outside in case Stratton tried to flee from the house through a downstairs door.
The deputies' decision to enter the basement was among the most frequent sources of criticism from grand jurors.
“My thought is: Were they rushing downstairs to just dissolve the situation as fast as possible?" juror No. 5 asked State Patrol Investigator Amanda DeFreece, who led the agency's probe into the shooting as a part of the patrol's Special Investigations Team.
"Where on their list of importance was preservation of life?" the juror asked. "They could’ve sat upstairs for 10 hours with him in the basement. I mean, you would’ve been in the same spot you were when you started, but he also wouldn’t be dead.”
The shooting and the aftermath
The decision to enter the basement already made, Schmit and Boehm inched downstairs into a darkened room and found themselves in what Schmit told jurors was "what is known … as a fatal funnel."
The deputies, holding flashlights, couldn't see Stratton, who was about 10 yards to the north of the staircase's landing and had line of sight to the bookcase that deputies were using for cover.
"It’s a very bad place to be," Schmit said.
Perrone, the county attorney, asked him why they didn't retreat from the position they had placed themselves in.
“It’s incredibly dangerous to turn around on those stairs like that, and that would mean crossing back across that fatal funnel again, which is also a huge no," Schmit said in part.
As Schmit and Boehm concealed themselves behind the bookcase, Schmit said, he heard a metallic click coming from Stratton's direction — one he believed to be the sounds of "a safety on a weapon of some kind or any number of potential threats," he testified.
So Schmit peered around the corner and caught a glimpse of Stratton, who Schmit said was holding a bow in his left hand and had started to draw back an arrow to fire it toward the deputies.
"He clearly had attempted to draw the string back and it had failed and his arm was — his right arm was now up by his head," Schmit said.
"OK," Perrone said. "And what are you thinking at that time?"
“He’s trying to kill me, but I still was trying to not kill him," Schmit said. "At that time I decided to issue commands or at least attempt it."
Schmit ordered Stratton to drop his weapon, he testified.
Instead, he said, Stratton started to draw an arrow back again.
"Then you shoot at him," Perrone said. "Why?"
“Because I know that that arrow, if he gets to shoot it, will go through my armor that I'm currently wearing," Schmit recalled. "The soft armor does not stop arrows, which means whatever he does is going to severely injure me or kill me."
A week after the shooting, Boehm told State Patrol investigators he thought Schmit fired four rounds. But investigators later determined the deputy fired nine times, striking Stratton seven times, including in the back and left arm, according to his death certificate.
Schmit and Boehm stepped toward Stratton before Schmit turned back and ran to his cruiser to retrieve a medical kit to help provide first aid to the man he had just shot.
Stratton died at the scene.
Erin Linde, the pathologist who conducted the Alvo man's autopsy, testified that the shooting caused "extensive injury of all of (Stratton's) organs" that likely killed him in seconds.
Footage from Schmit's bodycam was hindered by the lack of light in the basement and the angle the deputy had when he shot Stratton, leaving one of the grand jury's most consistent subjects of questioning — whether Stratton had pointed the bow and arrow toward Schmit before the shooting — without a definitive answer.
Still, the State Patrol's Special Investigative Team concluded Stratton, who was wearing an arrow grip on his right hand, was pointing the crossbow toward deputies at the time of his shooting, Investigator Pedram Nabegh told jurors.
Nabegh said the team came to that conclusion by analyzing the bodycam video, Stratton's autopsy bullet trajectories and the bow itself, which had “a bullet defect on the front of the bow, which told me that it was, most likely, in a raised position" when he was shot.
DeFreece, who led the State Patrol's investigation into the shooting, said the team concluded Schmit's use of force in the incident was justified, pointing to the "deadly force" Stratton seemed prepared to use against deputies.
Skeptical of that assessment, jurors pressed DeFreece on the need for deputies to enter the basement at all.
"So do you think that making the decision to go downstairs immediately was the correct one or do think that there should have been some type of further de-escalation done to prevent loss of life?" juror No. 5 asked.
"I'd say that’s a great question for Deputy Schmit," DeFreece said, later adding: "There was, I guess, no concern that we had at the appropriateness of them going ahead and going down and trying to contact him."
Schmit told jurors that deputies had entered the house with the intent to arrest Stratton, accused of a misdemeanor crime.
Schmit, who was reassigned to work at the county jail for nine months while the State Patrol investigated the shooting, returned to road patrol in December after the grand jury cleared him of criminal wrongdoing, the county attorney said.
What the jury had to say
“I mean, you’ve watched the video and (you've had) ten months to bank on this thing, and given all the training you’ve had and everything else, is there anything you’d do differently?” juror No. 6 asked Schmit at the tail end of his December testimony.
His response — “No, not with the resources available," he said — seemed to inform the recommendations the jury emerged from deliberations with.
Schmit told jurors that additional non-lethal weapons at his disposal — such as a pepper ball gun, 40-millimter less-lethal launchers or a ballistic shield — "would’ve made a difference" that night.
The grand jury, which cleared Schmit of criminal wrongdoing after less than an hour of deliberating, unanimously recommended three policy and procedure changes for the Cass County Sheriff's Office.
The jury recommended the agency expand its de-escalation and use of force training, particularly for incidents that involve subjects with mental health issues, and implored deputies to utilize "in-county resources," such as K9 units or infrared technology to help navigate standoffs.
Jurors also implored Cass County to explore options to provide the sheriff's office with "more less-than-lethal equipment" — like the kind Schmit said might have saved Stratton's life in Alvo that night.
In the months since the jury convened, the sheriff's office has began to invest in new equipment and is reexamining their training practices — but not on the advice of jurors, said Matt Watson, the office's chief deputy sheriff.
Watson and Sheriff Bob Sorensen took office in January and, Watson said, weren't made aware of the jury's recommendations until the Journal Star inquired about their response last week.
"Have there been changes? Yes," Watson said Friday afternoon. "Are there more changes coming? Yes. Have they been a direct result of that grand jury investigation? No."
Watson said he and Sorensen — both of whom started their careers at the sheriff's office but later moved to the Plattsmouth Police Department before returning after Sorensen won the seat last year following former Sheriff William Brueggemann's retirement — have ordered an independent audit into the county jail's practices and plan to request another audit for the office's road patrol unit to address "everything you can think of."
Even without the jury's recommendations in hand, he said, the sheriff's office is rebuilding its K9 unit, has started training with infrared equipment, is exploring new de-escalation training opportunities and has purchased the agency's first batch of ballistic shields.
"The ballistic shields, again, I mean it's something we recognized right away that it's just almost unheard of for a law enforcement agency, especially of this size — it's in an area designated as metro, we are part of the Omaha metro — where we don't have shields," Watson said. "We didn't have a single one."
Watson said he and Sorensen are trying to rebuild their sheriff's office from the ground up — an undertaking he described as "chaos."
"We're new, and we're trying to make connections that have been strained over the years with other law enforcement (agencies) and build partnerships to get us more resources, more tools.
"And then just share knowledge and admit, like, publicly, 'Hey, we need help and we'll take it,'" he said. "We don't have egos over here."
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https://journalstar.com/news/local/crime-courts/cass-county-deputy-not-indicted-for-killing-alvo-man/article_ff5a8dc6-2c9e-11ee-932c-a7302e0438e1.html
| 2023-07-30T16:06:16
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https://journalstar.com/news/local/crime-courts/cass-county-deputy-not-indicted-for-killing-alvo-man/article_ff5a8dc6-2c9e-11ee-932c-a7302e0438e1.html
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...HEAT ADVISORY REMAINS IN EFFECT UNTIL 7 PM EDT /6 PM CDT/ THIS
EVENING...
* WHAT...Heat index values up to 110 expected.
* WHERE...Portions of southeast Alabama, Big Bend Florida and
south central and southwest Georgia.
* WHEN...From 11 AM EDT /10 AM CDT/ to 7 PM EDT /6 PM CDT/
Sunday.
* IMPACTS...Hot temperatures and high humidity may cause heat
illnesses to occur.
PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS...
Drink plenty of fluids, stay in an air-conditioned room, stay out
of the sun, and check up on relatives and neighbors. Young
children and pets should never be left unattended in vehicles
under any circumstances.
Take extra precautions if you work or spend time outside. When
possible reschedule strenuous activities to early morning or
evening. Know the signs and symptoms of heat exhaustion and heat
stroke. Wear lightweight and loose fitting clothing when
possible. To reduce risk during outdoor work, the Occupational
Safety and Health Administration recommends scheduling frequent
rest breaks in shaded or air conditioned environments. Anyone
overcome by heat should be moved to a cool and shaded location.
Heat stroke is an emergency! Call 9 1 1.
&&
MACON – A middle Georgia resident was sentenced to prison this week after he admitted to committing wire fraud in an identity theft scheme.
Aaron Jamal Denzel Austin, 33, of Macon, was sentenced to serve 48 months in prison to be followed by three years of supervised release by U.S. District Judge Marc Treadwell on July 26, after he previously pleaded guilty to one count of wire fraud. There is no parole in the federal system.
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https://www.albanyherald.com/local/macon-man-sent-to-prison-on-identity-theft-charges/article_04f2fb24-2ee8-11ee-afc2-8f581ff420d6.html
| 2023-07-30T16:14:19
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https://www.albanyherald.com/local/macon-man-sent-to-prison-on-identity-theft-charges/article_04f2fb24-2ee8-11ee-afc2-8f581ff420d6.html
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AUSTIN, Texas — The Austin-Travis County EMS (ATCEMS) reports that four people were killed in a crash that happened in South Austin early Sunday morning.
The incident occurred at around 2:30 a.m. in the 5300 block of the Interstate 35 Service Road, near Battle Bend Boulevard. According to ATCEMS, the collision resulted in a rollover and a vehicle fire.
Two additional patients were also taken to the hospital, dealing with non-life threatening inuries.
It is currently unclear what caused the crash.
This is a developing story, and it will be updated with the latest information available. Stick with KVUE for the latest news.
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https://www.kvue.com/article/news/local/4-dead-after-crash-in-south-austin/269-919d90e8-148e-45f0-ba99-3b6dced7eaea
| 2023-07-30T16:18:42
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https://www.kvue.com/article/news/local/4-dead-after-crash-in-south-austin/269-919d90e8-148e-45f0-ba99-3b6dced7eaea
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PINELLAS COUNTY, Fla — A St. Petersburg man is dead after being hit by a truck early Sunday morning while laying out in the middle of the street, according to a news release.
Florida Highway Patrol said around 2:30 a.m., a GMC pickup truck was going south on U.S. 19, north of 46th Avenue when it struck the 42-year-old man.
It is unclear why the man was laying out in the roadway, FHP said.
The man was taken to a nearby hospital where he later died.
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https://www.wtsp.com/article/news/local/pinellascounty/deadly-crash-pinellas/67-930cc0d7-d125-416d-aa68-1af6fa974f18
| 2023-07-30T16:22:41
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https://www.wtsp.com/article/news/local/pinellascounty/deadly-crash-pinellas/67-930cc0d7-d125-416d-aa68-1af6fa974f18
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One person was killed and two others were injured in a shooting on Tucson's south side early Sunday morning.
Around 2:30 a.m., Pima County Sheriff's deputies were called to the area of Nogales Highway and Aerospace Parkway for a report of street racing, a news release said.
On their way there, deputies learned that someone had been shot. When they arrived, deputies found three people shot, one of whom was dead at the scene.
The other two people were taken to a hospital with life-threatening injuries.
Homicide detectives are investigating. No further information was released.
Anyone with information is asked to call 911 or the anonymous tip line, 88-CRIME.
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https://tucson.com/news/local/crime-courts/pima-county-sheriff-homicide-street-racing/article_0827afe8-2ef1-11ee-8468-4329a2bd6c1b.html
| 2023-07-30T16:48:38
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https://tucson.com/news/local/crime-courts/pima-county-sheriff-homicide-street-racing/article_0827afe8-2ef1-11ee-8468-4329a2bd6c1b.html
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Building in Detroit's ex-Chinatown razed; controversy mounts over why it wasn't saved
A roofless shamble of a building in Detroit’s former Chinatown district was demolished Saturday amid a last-minute effort by City Council, preservationists and some members of the Asian American community to save it.
The two-story building at 3143 Cass Ave. was completely torn down Saturday but anger over the city-ordered decision, which overruled a City Council decision to delay the demolition, appears to be mounting.
“I have several friends whose families owned Chinese restaurants in the area and they are greatly upset by the demolition of the community center especially after the City Council voted unanimously to pause demolition until a cultural and historic review is complete,” said Jacob Molewyk, the Midwest representative of the University of Michigan Asian/American and Pacific Islander Alumni club.
The long-vacant building was originally slated to be razed last week because city officials declared it a "dangerous building" in 2018. The city issued a demolition citation in May. The building had a partially collapsed roof and major interior damage, including trees growing inside some of the rooms.
The building has been owned since 2004 by entities linked to Olympia Development of Michigan, the real estate arm of Ilitch Holdings Inc. Olympia Development had agreed to demolish the building and had already hired a private contractor.
When Detroit City Councilwoman Gabriela Santiago-Romero learned of the demolition, she began a last-minute effort to delay it because of the building's historical connection to a 20th-century enclave of businesses and residences catering to the local Chinese community.
The effort resulted in council last week unanimously approving delaying the demolition for one month. The city's historical advisory board was to begin researching whether the building could meet historical designation status, which could have further delayed demolition.
Others joined the effort to save the building, including State Sen. Stephanie Chang, D-Detroit.
"I strongly urge the City of Detroit to pause the scheduled demolition to fully consider the historic significance that 3143 Cass Ave. has for Detroit and for the broader community," Chang wrote in a letter to city officials on Wednesday.
"For many Asian Americans in and around the city of Detroit, this building represents where many of their relatives first placed their roots. Located in the center of what is historically known as Chinatown, this property began as a residence in 1883 and was eventually purchased by the Chinese Merchants Association in 1963."
Others who spoke out against the demolition include Roland Hwang, president of American Citizens for Justice, and Curtis Chin, author and filmmaker.
But the reprieve didn't last. Less than 24 hours after council approved the delay, the city's corporation counsel issued an opinion that overruled the council's effort.
"Without proper designation as an historic district, the City must proceed with addressing blight in the interest of public health and safety," Corporation Counsel Conrad Mallett wrote, adding that the council resolution lacks any "legal impact."
The legal opinion meant the building should be demolished immediately, said David Bell, director of the city's Buildings, Safety Engineering, and Environmental Department, BSEED.
Building owner Olympia Development of Michigan said last week it would comply with the city.
"We wish to remain in good standing with the City of Detroit on this issue and await the City’s direction regarding 3143,'" according to Olympia Development's statement.
laguilar@detroitnews.com
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https://www.detroitnews.com/story/news/local/detroit-city/2023/07/30/razing-building-detroits-ex-chinatown-controversy/70493621007/
| 2023-07-30T16:48:52
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https://www.detroitnews.com/story/news/local/detroit-city/2023/07/30/razing-building-detroits-ex-chinatown-controversy/70493621007/
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Shooting wounds 5 people in Lansing with 2 victims in critical condition, police say
Lansing – A shooting early Sunday in Lansing wounded five people, including two who were listed in critical condition, police said.
Officers responded to reports of a shooting around 1 a.m., the Lansing Police Department said in a statement.
According to reporting done by WILX News 10, the incident occurred on the 1300 block of West Holmes Road.
Five victims, ranging in the age of 16 to 26-years-old, were taken to a hospital by the Lansing Fire Department, police said.
There was a large crowd at the scene when officers arrived, prompting Lansing police to ask for assistance from other jurisdictions. Several people were detained, and officers found multiple firearms, police said.
In February, a gunman killed three students and injured five others in a shooting at Michigan State University in neighboring East Lansing.
Students sheltered in place for four hours on the campus about 90 miles (145 kilometers) northwest of Detroit while hundreds of officers searched for the shooter. Suspect Anthony McRae, 43, killed himself when confronted by police near his home in Lansing.
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https://www.detroitnews.com/story/news/local/michigan/2023/07/30/shooting-wounds-5-people-in-lansing-police-say/70494326007/
| 2023-07-30T16:48:58
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https://www.detroitnews.com/story/news/local/michigan/2023/07/30/shooting-wounds-5-people-in-lansing-police-say/70494326007/
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U.S. Coast Guard rescues 5 from burning vessel at Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore
A U.S. Coast Guard crew rescued five people off a burning vessel Saturday at Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore in Munising.
During a routine patrol around 7 p.m., a crew from the Marquette station spotted smoke rising from a nearly 30-foot vessel and quickly responded, the station said on Facebook.
"As the flames grew, our crew transferred over all passengers onboard the distressed vessel to our 29’ RBS-II. All 5 passengers were safely transported back to the local marina with no injuries," the station posted.
The crew was not able to extinguish the fire and the vessel became engulfed in flames, said U.S. Coast Guard Petty Officer 1st Class Christopher Yaw.
"No causes known. The people on board did report smelling diesel (fuel) just before seeing any flames," Yaw said. "National Park's service vessel did remain on scene until dusk. They weren't able to secure the vessel to anything because it was against the rocks. ...
"It looks like they were just out enjoying a trip and something went wrong to cause a fire on the vessel," Yaw said.
The U.S. Coast Guard Great Lakes tweeted that the vessel contained up to 250 gallons of diesel.
Coast Guard pollution responders and the National Park Service are monitoring the area, and the vessel owner is working on a salvage plan with its insurance company, the Coast Guard said.
mjohnson@detroitnews.com
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https://www.detroitnews.com/story/news/local/michigan/2023/07/30/us-coast-guard-rescues-five-burning-vessel-at-pictured-rocks-national-lakeshore/70494350007/
| 2023-07-30T16:49:04
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https://www.detroitnews.com/story/news/local/michigan/2023/07/30/us-coast-guard-rescues-five-burning-vessel-at-pictured-rocks-national-lakeshore/70494350007/
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BITHLO, Fla. – The Orange County Sheriff’s Office was seen swarming streets off of East Colonial Drive in Bithlo on Sunday.
News 6 went to the scene around noon and observed a SWAT team, guns drawn, using an armored vehicle known as “The Rook” to approach what appears to be a house near the intersection of Grissom and Story Partin roads.
No information pertaining to this response has so far been shared or confirmed by the sheriff’s office.
[TRENDING: Become a News 6 Insider]
This is a developing story. Check back with News 6 for updates.
Note: This map depicts the general area of the scene and not necessarily its exact location.
Get today’s headlines in minutes with Your Florida Daily:
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https://www.clickorlando.com/news/local/2023/07/30/large-law-enforcement-presence-seen-in-bithlo/
| 2023-07-30T16:58:30
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https://www.clickorlando.com/news/local/2023/07/30/large-law-enforcement-presence-seen-in-bithlo/
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DAYTONA BEACH , Fla. — Five juveniles were injured after a crash Sunday morning, the Daytona Beach Fire Department said.
>>> STREAM CHANNEL 9 EYEWITNESS NEWS LIVE <<<
Fire officials said the crash happened around 7 a.m. at the 2400 block of Oleander Avenue.
According to reports, the car was racing and hit a wall.
Read: Victim identified in deadly shooting near Orange County apartment complex
All passengers were taken to Halifax Hospital for various injuries, and their status is unknown, fire officials said.
The crash remains under investigation.
Read: Frustrations after string of car break-ins near downtown Orlando
Click here to download the free WFTV news and weather apps, click here to download the WFTV Now app for your smart TV and click here to stream Channel 9 Eyewitness News live.
©2023 Cox Media Group
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https://www.wftv.com/news/local/1-trauma-alert-4-people-hospitalized-after-daytona-beach-crash-officials-say/3YLS7Z76AZBAFP5QW5BZEXDS3A/
| 2023-07-30T17:04:08
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https://www.wftv.com/news/local/1-trauma-alert-4-people-hospitalized-after-daytona-beach-crash-officials-say/3YLS7Z76AZBAFP5QW5BZEXDS3A/
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Dirt biker killed Saturday night after losing control, striking tree near Newark
A 26-year-old man was killed near Newark Saturday night after striking a tree while riding a dirt bike, New Castle County Police said.
Officers were notified of the incident at 8:39 p.m., just minutes after it had occurred. They arrived to the crash scene at the 800 block of Sheldon Drive, just west of Pike Creek.
Police say the biker lost control while navigating a turn, which led him to hit a tree. He was found by police underneath the dirt bike when officers arrived, they said.
First responders attempted to aid the victim, but he was pronounced dead at the scene. The man's name has not been released as of Sunday morning.
More:What University of Delaware police body cam footage shows us about Newark HS grad's arrest
No other injuries were reported.
Police say the investigation into the crash is ongoing. They ask anyone with information about the incident contact New Castle County's Detective Belk at (302) 395-8052 or corey.belk@newcastlede.gov. Information can also be provided to (302) 573-2800, the county's non-emergency number for police.
More:Why Delaware's new searchable crash database has years of wrong information
Contact Konner Metz at kmetz@gannett.com and follow him on Twitter @konner_metz.
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https://www.delawareonline.com/story/news/local/2023/07/30/dirt-bike-crash-newark-man-dead-police-fatal-new-castle-county/70494172007/
| 2023-07-30T17:15:10
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https://www.delawareonline.com/story/news/local/2023/07/30/dirt-bike-crash-newark-man-dead-police-fatal-new-castle-county/70494172007/
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100 years ago
1923: Warren G. Harding, president of the United States, died at the Palace Hotel, San Francisco, last night at 7:35 o’clock, of apoplexy, following an attack of ptomaine poisoning. The sad news of this untimely death in the prime of life of our beloved national leader comes with stunning force to a mourning nation. President Harding was making an extended tour of the United States and Alaska. Last Friday night he had an attack of ptomaine poisoning. His vitality was not high. He was very tired from excessively hard work for weeks prior to leaving Washington and since leaving the capitol had been pursued by matters of much importance which had to be attended to in spite of the strenuous features of the trip. The daily programs and the preparation of speeches for cities and towns, the meeting of countless thousands of men and women, and the necessary advance preparations for cities to still be visited taxed even rugged Warren B. Harding to the utmost. And behind all that, the severe attack of influenza he suffered last winter in Washington had reduced his vitality, probably far beyond his realization or that of his physicians and family.
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75 years ago
1948: The Sedona school house and gymnasium-auditorium, center of the civic and social life of the Oak Creek community, was completely destroyed by fire between 3 and 4 o’clock Monday afternoon after being struck by lightning. Tuesday Sturgeon Cromer, superintendent of schools of Flagstaff school district, and members of the school board went to Sedona to survey the situation and make plans for rebuilding or make other arrangements for the school year beginning in September. The new building under construction near the old structure was not damaged. It was to provide additional accommodations for the growing school.
Final Week! Little Miss America and All-American Boy Contest. If you have not already had your children’s pictures taken, do it now! It will be too late soon. Yes, you will be the judge to decide who the cutest kids in Flagstaff are. Ballots and pictures of all the entrants in the contest will be at Fronske Studio. Voting in the studio will begin July 30th and close Thursday, August 5th. There will be four final winners from Flagstaff: Girls from zero to three years old, tiny tot. Girls from three to seventeen year old, Little Miss America. Boy from zero to three years old, tiny tot. Boy from three to seventeen years old, All-American Boy. (ad)
50 years ago
1973: A 12-year-old Flagstaff-area girl was killed, four people were seriously injured and 32 people were checked for injuries at Flagstaff Community Hospital as the result of a diesel tractor-bus crash on Highway 89 North early today. The dead: Connie Dunmire, 12, the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Rusty Dunmire of Doney Park, who was a passenger in the cab of the diesel tractor. The crash, which occurred shortly after midnight, put Community Hospital on an emergency disaster status and before the ordeal was over, 32 people were checked for various injuries. City police reported the bus was apparently attempting a U-turn in the highway to get in the southbound lane when its gear box went out and it stalled between two traffic medians. The southbound diesel tractor slammed into the side of the big vehicle, driven by Pastor Davis Harrell, knocked it 15 feet down the road and “ripped it open at the seams.”
Things are looking bad for several meat distributors in Flagstaff, but worse for butchers in rural parts of northern Arizona. Vaughn’s General Store in the Verde Valley has been hit hardest by a shortage of beef in connection with President Nixon’s Phase 4 Plan. “I can’t get carcass beef,” said Lee Vaughn. “I was getting between three and five head a week, but now we’ve had to ration our customers.” Vaughn said his customer reaction to the rationing was rather philosophical. “Most of them are older people and they’ve gone through this once before. They are mostly retired people so they understand. It’s the young people who will scream. They’re philosophical. I’m not. If they had never started those stupid freezes and price ceilings, this would never have happened. The law of supply and demand would have taken over — it always has.”
25 years ago
1998: The new frontier in human genetics being explored by today’s scientists is worrisome to American Indians because it abruptly conflicts with their spirituality and world view, says Frank Dukepoo, a Hopi Indian who is a professor of genetics at Northern Arizona University and one of only two American Indian geneticists in the nation. Dukepoo is particularly concerned about the Human Genome Diversity Project, which is defined as a comprehensive study of genetic diversity, including the study of Indigenous people such as U.S. and Canadian Indians. The project, headed by Luca Cavalli-Sforza of Stanford University, has been under discussion for seven years by genetic researchers. The idea behind the project is to gather blood and other samples from tribes and ethnic groups around the world, some of them so small that their survival may be in doubt. While that might seem a positive goal, the sensitive aspect of the project is that its collection of genetic material from people in the study could then be used for a variety of biomedical or anthropological studies and possibly lead to commercialization of genetic products, Dukepoo said. American Indians take a holistic view of Mother Earth and her natural order, a profound belief in the sanctity of life and oppose any attempt to manipulate living organisms for purposes of profit, power and control. They also vehemently oppose the patenting of genetic information because they believe a person (or even part of a person) cannot be owned, he said.
Susan Johnson has lived in Flagstaff for over 30 years and loves to delve into her adopted hometown’s past. She has written two books for the History Press, Haunted Flagstaff and Flagstaff’s Walkup Family Murders, and, with her son Nick, manages Freaky Foot Tours. You’ll find her hiking the trails with her corgi, Shimmer.
All events were taken from issues of the Arizona Daily Sun and its predecessors, the Coconino Weekly Sun and the Coconino Sun.
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https://azdailysun.com/news/local/flagstaff-history-cromer-visited-sedona-after-lightning-destroyed-school/article_4788a3b8-2b18-11ee-ad4d-5fec2ac9c26f.html
| 2023-07-30T17:19:52
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https://azdailysun.com/news/local/flagstaff-history-cromer-visited-sedona-after-lightning-destroyed-school/article_4788a3b8-2b18-11ee-ad4d-5fec2ac9c26f.html
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PHOENIXThe International Rescue Committee's Welcome Center in Phoenix turns 4Arizona RepublicAaron Rippenkroeger, executive director of the International Rescue Committee, is interviewed at the organization's Welcome Center in Phoenix on July 19, 2023.Joel Angel Juarez/The RepublicAn unidentified Venezuelan asylum seeker poses for a portrait at the International Rescue Committee's Welcome Center in Phoenix on July 19, 2023. The asylum seeker chose to not be identified because of their ongoing immigration process.Joel Angel Juarez/The RepublicAn unidentified Venezuelan asylum seeker poses for a portrait at the International Rescue Committee's Welcome Center in Phoenix on July 19, 2023. The asylum seeker chose to not be identified because of their ongoing immigration process.Joel Angel Juarez/The RepublicAaron Rippenkroeger, executive director of the International Rescue Committee, gathers with staff at the organization's Welcome Center in Phoenix on July 19, 2023.Joel Angel Juarez/The RepublicAaron Rippenkroeger, executive director of the International Rescue Committee, poses for a portrait at the organization's Welcome Center in Phoenix on July 19, 2023.Joel Angel Juarez/The RepublicAn unidentified Venezuelan asylum seeker is interviewed at the International Rescue Committee's Welcome Center in Phoenix on July 19, 2023. The asylum seeker chose to not be identified because of their ongoing immigration process.Joel Angel Juarez/The RepublicAn unidentified Venezuelan asylum seeker poses for a portrait at the International Rescue Committee's Welcome Center in Phoenix on July 19, 2023. The asylum seeker chose to not be identified because of their ongoing immigration process.Joel Angel Juarez/The RepublicArtwork created by the children of asylum seekers hangs in a playroom at the Welcome Center in Phoenix on July 12, 2023. The Welcome Center marks four years of providing shelter, food and other humanitarian assistance to asylum seekers released by federal immigration authorities. Some credit the center for eliminating the street releases of asylum seekers in the past and alleviating the strain placed on local churches that had stepped in to accommodate them.Rob Schumacher/The RepublicBeth Strano, asylum seekers and families engagement manager, shows the clothing storage room at the Welcome Center in Phoenix on July 12, 2023. The Welcome Center marks four years of providing shelter, food and other humanitarian assistance to asylum seekers released by federal immigration authorities. Some credit the center for eliminating the street releases of asylum seekers in the past and alleviating the strain placed on local churches that had stepped in to accommodate them.Rob Schumacher/The RepublicAsylum seekers can pick out clothes at the Welcome Center in Phoenix, photographed on July 12, 2023. The Welcome Center marks four years of providing shelter, food and other humanitarian assistance to asylum seekers released by federal immigration authorities. Some credit the center for eliminating the street releases of asylum seekers in the past and alleviating the strain placed on local churches that had stepped in to accommodate them.Rob Schumacher/The RepublicPhotographs of young asylum seekers hang in a hallway at the Welcome Center in Phoenix on July 12, 2023. The Welcome Center marks four years of providing shelter, food and other humanitarian assistance to asylum seekers released by federal immigration authorities. Some credit the center for eliminating the street releases of asylum seekers in the past and alleviating the strain placed on local churches that had stepped in to accommodate them.Rob Schumacher/The RepublicThe meeting room for asylum seekers at the Welcome Center in Phoenix on July 12, 2023. The Welcome Center marks four years of providing shelter, food and other humanitarian assistance to asylum seekers released by federal immigration authorities. Some credit the center for eliminating the street releases of asylum seekers in the past and alleviating the strain placed on local churches that had stepped in to accommodate them.Rob Schumacher/The RepublicThe luggage of asylum seekers at the Welcome Center in Phoenix on July 12, 2023. The Welcome Center marks four years of providing shelter, food and other humanitarian assistance to asylum seekers released by federal immigration authorities. Some credit the center for eliminating the street releases of asylum seekers in the past and alleviating the strain placed on local churches that had stepped in to accommodate them.Rob Schumacher/The RepublicA vending machine offers snacks and charging cables for asylum seekers at the Welcome Center in Phoenix, photographed July 12, 2023. The Welcome Center marks four years of providing shelter, food and other humanitarian assistance to asylum seekers released by federal immigration authorities. Some credit the center for eliminating the street releases of asylum seekers in the past and alleviating the strain placed on local churches that had stepped in to accommodate them.Rob Schumacher/The RepublicInformation to help asylum seekers is prepared at the Welcome Center in Phoenix on July 12, 2023. The Welcome Center marks four years of providing shelter, food and other humanitarian assistance to asylum seekers released by federal immigration authorities. Some credit the center for eliminating the street releases of asylum seekers in the past and alleviating the strain placed on local churches that had stepped in to accommodate them.Rob Schumacher/The RepublicMedical services are available for asylum seekers at the Welcome Center in Phoenix, photographed on July 12, 2023. The Welcome Center marks four years of providing shelter, food, and other humanitarian assistance to asylum seekers released by federal immigration authorities. Some credit the center for eliminating the street releases of asylum seekers in the past and alleviating the strain placed on local churches that had stepped in to accommodate them.Rob Schumacher/The RepublicA note of encouragement is left for the volunteer workers who assist the asylum seekers at the Welcome Center in Phoenix on July 12, 2023. The Welcome Center marks four years of providing shelter, food and other humanitarian assistance to asylum seekers released by federal immigration authorities. Some credit the center for eliminating the street releases of asylum seekers in the past and alleviating the strain placed on local churches that had stepped in to accommodate them.Rob Schumacher/The RepublicThe intake room for asylum seekers at the Welcome Center in Phoenix on July 12, 2023. The Welcome Center marks four years of providing shelter, food and other humanitarian assistance to asylum seekers released by federal immigration authorities. Some credit the center for eliminating the street releases of asylum seekers in the past and alleviating the strain placed on local churches that had stepped in to accommodate them.Rob Schumacher/The RepublicState resource information is prepared for asylum seekers at the Welcome Center in Phoenix, photographed July 12, 2023. The Welcome Center marks four years of providing shelter, food and other humanitarian assistance to asylum seekers released by federal immigration authorities. Some credit the center for eliminating the street releases of asylum seekers in the past and alleviating the strain placed on local churches that had stepped in to accommodate them.Rob Schumacher/The RepublicMaria Jose Pinzon, asylum seekers and families program manager, which is run by the International Rescue Committee, explains the intake procedure for asylum seekers at the Welcome Center in Phoenix on July 12, 2023. The Welcome Center marks four years of providing shelter, food and other humanitarian assistance to asylum seekers released by federal immigration authorities. Some credit the center for eliminating the street releases of asylum seekers in the past and alleviating the strain placed on local churches that had stepped in to accommodate them.Rob Schumacher/The RepublicEmily Snyder, a family nurse practitioner at the Welcome Center in Phoenix on July 12, 2023. The Welcome Center marks four years of providing shelter, food and other humanitarian assistance to asylum seekers released by federal immigration authorities. Some credit the center for eliminating the street releases of asylum seekers in the past and alleviating the strain placed on local churches that had stepped in to accommodate them.Rob Schumacher/The Republic
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https://www.azcentral.com/picture-gallery/news/local/phoenix/2023/07/30/international-rescue-committees-welcome-center-phoenix-photos/12245066002/
| 2023-07-30T17:20:09
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TRI-CITIES, TN/VA (WJHL) — Appalachian Power said in an update to its storm response that most customers experiencing outages will have power restored by late Sunday night, however, some areas of East Tennessee and Scott County, Virginia could wait until late Monday night.
The release said storms on Friday left 52,000 Appalachian Power customers without electric service. On Saturday, the weather caused another 17,000 to lose power across Tennessee and southwest Virginia, according to the release.
The release said heavy rainfall Sunday morning has slowed restoration efforts in the Tri-Cities area, but “most affected customers should have service restored by late Monday night.”
More information on local outages and safety tips to remember while experiencing an outage can be found on appalachianpower.com.
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https://www.wjhl.com/news/local/outages-could-last-until-monday-night-for-some-in-east-tn-and-swva-appalachian-power-says/
| 2023-07-30T17:45:12
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https://www.wjhl.com/news/local/outages-could-last-until-monday-night-for-some-in-east-tn-and-swva-appalachian-power-says/
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BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (WIAT) — The Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office announced that they found a body Sunday morning.
According to Lt. Money with JCSO, a male body was found near the intersection 4th Ave and Quebec Drive. The body allegedly doesn’t have any visible signs of trauma.
Detectives will continue to investigate the scene.
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https://www.cbs42.com/news/local/body-found-in-birmingham/
| 2023-07-30T17:46:45
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https://www.cbs42.com/news/local/body-found-in-birmingham/
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The body of an 18-year-old man was recovered from Lake Michigan off the Lake County shore Saturday after a three-hour search hampered by high waves and rip currents.
Emergency personnel were dispatched to Miller Beach in Gary after the man was reported missing at 2:55 p.m. Saturday, according to the Indiana Department Natural Resources Division of Law Enforcement.
"Multiple agencies with dive teams responded to the scene to search," DNR said. "Search efforts were hampered due to a north wind, with three- to six-foot waves creating dangerous rip currents in the area."
A beachgoer observed a body in the at approximately 6 p.m., three quarters of a mile from where the man was last seen, DNR said. "A recovery was made, and the victim was pronounced dead on scene."
Indiana conservation officers are continuing their investigation of the incident and had not released the name of the victim by mid-day Sunday, awaiting notification of the man's family before doing so.
10-mile stretch of Interstate 65 closed for six hours due to semi rollover, ISP says
Crown Point man dead after Saturday morning crash, police say
Former Crown Point teacher sentenced for sexual relationship with student
New $34.7 million Kankakee Welcome Center aims to wow with wind turbine blades, bison and other wonders
Region shooting declared homicide, victim identified
Miner-Dunn and Schoop's featured on NBC Chicago's Food Guy
Driver dies in fiery crash at area dragstrip, officials say
Underground Railroad history to be unearthed in Northwest Indiana
Porter County man accused of having sex with 2 underage girls nabbed years after charges filed
Woman dies, 6 people hospitalized after boat hits Chicago breakwall
New hotel adds to Crown Point's growing business district
Armed, intoxicated motorcyclist leads Portage police on a 100-mph chase, report says
Cleveland-Cliffs reports $356 million second-quarter profit
Man arrested in wake of Portage bank robbery; department cooperation, technology credited
Region woman guilty of murdering, dismembering husband, forcing kids to help, prosecutor says
GALLERY: The Times Photos of the Week
Carolyn Mosby's family receives a plaque honoring the iconic lawmaker.
Molly DeVore, The Times
Baseball Hall of Famer Jim Thome gives hitting advice at the Still Got Game Foundation clinic at the U.S. Steel Yard in Gary on Tuesday.
Noah Bortle, The Times
Gary native and former MLB pitcher LaTroy Hawkins helps with fielding ground balls at the Still Got Game Foundation clinic at the U.S. Steel Yard in Gary on Tuesday.
Noah Bortle, The Times
Former Gary RailCat and Major League Baseball player Tim Byrdak shows children pitching mechanics at the Still Got Game Foundation baseball clinic at the U.S. Steel Yard in Gary on Tuesday.
Noah Bortle, The Times
Good Hospitality Services and Beacon Hill Development host a groundbreaking ceremony for a new TownePlace Suites by Marriott hotel in Crown Point. Good Hospitality Services President Jeff Good addresses the gathering Thursday.
John J. Watkins, The Times
Good Hospitality Services and Beacon Hill Development host a groundbreaking ceremony for a new TownePlace Suites by Marriott hotel in Crown Point.
John J. Watkins, The Times
The ribbon-cutting ceremony was held Tuesday.
Molly DeVore, The Times
Mr. Pierogi (Tony Panek) makes his appearance Friday at Pierogi Fest in Whiting.
John J. Watkins, The Times
Former Mr. Pierogi Matt Valuckis rides the route Friday at Pierogi Fest in Whiting.
John J. Watkins, The Times
Members of The Dance Connection perform Friday at Pierogi Fest in Whiting.
John J. Watkins, The Times
Indiana Lt. Governor Suzanne Crouch has her buscia outfit adjusted by Donna Watson Friday at Pierogi Fest in Whiting.
John J. Watkins, The Times
The crowd hits 119th Street Friday at Pierogi Fest in Whiting.
John J. Watkins, The Times
Sgt. Sarita Titus leads a session on how to use body cameras Friday at the Gary Police Department. The cameras will equip the 80 members of the patrol division.
Lizzie Kaboski, The Times
Gary police Lt. Greg Wolf secures his body camera to his bulletproof vest as Sgt. Jamel Martin and Officer Francisco Carrillo watch Friday at the Gary Police Department.
Lizzie Kaboski, The Times
Kankakee Sands is raising money for an outdoor pavilion with education signage and two bison viewing platforms.
Molly DeVore, The Times
Trevor Edmonson, the Kankakee Sands site manager, said the bison help with Kankakee Sand's prairie restoration efforts.
Molly DeVore, The Times
Colette Herald-Lambert, a Crown Point Library youth services assistant, reads “When I Grow Up,” by Julie Chen during storytime
John J. Watkins, The Times
Children pet Crown Point Police K-9 Valor during a recent storytime with the Crown Point Library at Bulldog Park.
John J. Watkins, The Times
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https://www.nwitimes.com/news/local/body-of-man-recovered-from-lake-michigan-in-gary-saturday-evening/article_13c8cc62-2ef9-11ee-ad4a-5fbeb615cb33.html
| 2023-07-30T18:07:33
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PUNTA GORDA, Fla. — A fire completely demolished a Steel barn in Punta Gorda Saturday, July 29.
Charlotte County firefighters responded to a call at 5785 Bronco Road Saturday evening.
Officials say crews found the structure fully engulfed in flames.
Fortunately, crews were able to put out the fire with no injuries reported.
Charlotte County Fire Department does not know the barn went up in flames at this time.
Authorities say the State Fire Marshal is investigating the cause of the fire.
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https://nbc-2.com/news/local/charlotte-county/2023/07/30/barn-up-in-flames-in-punta-gorda/
| 2023-07-30T18:19:33
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https://nbc-2.com/news/local/charlotte-county/2023/07/30/barn-up-in-flames-in-punta-gorda/
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The city of Bismarck is installing three additional outdoor warning sirens in areas of growth.
Siren No. 25 became operational Friday. Sirens No. 26 and No. 27 will follow in August. They're all in northern Bismarck. Siren No. 2 is being moved from the Provident Life Building downtown to along Main Avenue west of 12th street.
The project was paid for mostly with $84,000 in federal grant money -- 85% of the cost -- with the city picking up the rest.
Outdoor warning sirens go off when a confirmed tornado or funnel has been spotted within 10 miles of the community, or if a tornado warning is issued by officials. Outdoor warning sirens also are used for other types of emergencies. Authorities advise residents to seek shelter and monitor local media if a siren sounds.
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https://bismarcktribune.com/news/local/bismarck-getting-3-more-outdoor-warning-sirens/article_51c19d64-2d87-11ee-9407-ef733a8ec4f3.html
| 2023-07-30T18:23:00
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https://bismarcktribune.com/news/local/bismarck-getting-3-more-outdoor-warning-sirens/article_51c19d64-2d87-11ee-9407-ef733a8ec4f3.html
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WINTER PARK, Fla. – You may have passed it in Winter Park. It’s a Central Florida landmark known for its great breakfast and even better customer service.
Linda’s Winter Park Diner on Fairbanks Avenue closed its doors Sunday for the final time, 35 years after being bought by Linda D’Auria.
There were lots of hugs and smiles inside the diner as D’Auria, 67, did her final walkthrough and said goodbye to many of her loyal customers one last time. Many people also left behind balloons, flowers and powerful messages written on a board inside the diner to show their appreciation.
“I’ve been truly blessed,” D’Auria said.
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The Central Florida landmark has been around since the 1950s. Decades after it changed hands to D’Auria in 1988, she told News 6 she’s retiring and hoping to spend more time with her family.
“My sister passed away unexpectedly on May 1st and I think everything just lined up after that. She was telling me for a while, saying, ‘How long are you going to keep working? You’ve been tied down, you need to live your life,’” D’Auria said.
She said she’s selling the building and helping many of her employees find work.
“The key people who have been with me in the kitchen for 20-30 years, we are all over the age of 65,” D’Auria said. “Without them, I couldn’t have lasted 35 years.”
“The food, the people who work here, everyone has been just super nice,” said customer Refmann Lee.
Customers call the diner a staple, known for its great food and customer service.
“I moved here and I said, ‘I’ve got to find a place that feels like home,’ and this has certainly been the place,” said customer Judy Clarke.
It’s bittersweet for the owner’s daughter, who even had her wedding reception inside the diner.
“I’m excited for her and the next chapter, but it’s also sad because this has been my entire life,” said Gina Dilly.
Check out the Florida Foodie podcast. You can find every episode in the media player below:
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https://www.clickorlando.com/news/local/2023/07/30/lindas-winter-park-diner-hangs-up-the-apron-upon-owners-retirement/
| 2023-07-30T18:29:50
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https://www.clickorlando.com/news/local/2023/07/30/lindas-winter-park-diner-hangs-up-the-apron-upon-owners-retirement/
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PITTSBURGH — First responders were sent to a house fire in Pittsburgh’s Sheraden neighborhood.
Allegheny County dispatch officials tell Channel 11 fire, police and EMS responded to the fire on the 3100 block of Bergman Street around 12:20 p.m.
The dispatcher said no one was taken to the hospital because of a fire.
Our crew at the scene saw the home had heavy smoke damage near the roofline and broken windows.
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©2023 Cox Media Group
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https://www.wpxi.com/news/local/home-pittsburghs-sheraden-neighborhood-damaged-by-fire/IM75HKDEW5ETPIOI7CYXWOJTOA/
| 2023-07-30T18:32:08
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https://www.wpxi.com/news/local/home-pittsburghs-sheraden-neighborhood-damaged-by-fire/IM75HKDEW5ETPIOI7CYXWOJTOA/
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SWOYERSVILLE, Pa. — A woman is dead after a fire in Luzerne County.
Crews were called to a house along Mountain Street in Swoyersville just before 7:30 a.m. Sunday, when a delivery person spotted the fire from a nearby street.
Once firefighters arrived, the flames were out within 10 minutes.
The Swoyersville fire chief tells Newswatch 16 that most of the fire was towards the back of the home, where a woman was found dead inside a bedroom.
No one else was home at the time.
A state police fire marshal is investigating what caused that deadly fire in Swoyersville.
See news happening? Text our Newstip Hotline.
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https://www.wnep.com/article/news/local/luzerne-county/woman-dies-in-luzerne-county-fatal-fire-swoyersville-department-deadly-home-mountain-street/523-e4cd8267-7f17-4888-89fb-d95c1243e87e
| 2023-07-30T18:34:17
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https://www.wnep.com/article/news/local/luzerne-county/woman-dies-in-luzerne-county-fatal-fire-swoyersville-department-deadly-home-mountain-street/523-e4cd8267-7f17-4888-89fb-d95c1243e87e
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Man injured, no suspect found after shooting in East Orange County, deputies say Heat advisory issued for most of Central Florida with high tempsNeed a truck, drone or tractor? Orange County hosting huge online auctionFeeling the summer heat? Here are tips to prevent heat exhaustionPolk County man strikes gold, becomes overnight multi-millionaire in lottery scratch-off game
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https://www.wftv.com/news/local/casselberry-homicide-suspect-appears-before-judge/GKVZPK7YRFFBVAE3AGYORQ5ZAQ/
| 2023-07-30T18:35:38
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https://www.wftv.com/news/local/casselberry-homicide-suspect-appears-before-judge/GKVZPK7YRFFBVAE3AGYORQ5ZAQ/
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2:30 p.m. Update:
ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. — The Orange County Sheriff’s Office said a man was injured after a shooting in East Orange County.
>>> STREAM CHANNEL 9 EYEWITNESS NEWS LIVE <<<
According to a news release, deputies were called to Story Partin Road around 3:18 a.m. for a shooting.
Deputies said that they found a man in his 20s shot when they arrived at the scene.
The man was taken to the hospital and is in stable condition.
The sheriff’s office received information that the suspect was inside a home, and after deputies cleared the home, they said they did not find the suspect.
1:23 p.m. Update:
Our Channel 9 crew said the crime scene tape has come down, but some parts of the roadway may still be closed off.
Previous story:
There was a large law enforcement presence in East Orange County Sunday morning.
Deputies have closed off Story Partin Road in Bithlo, near East Colonial Drive and Highway 50.
Channel 9 had a crew at the active scene at noon.
More than a dozen Orange County Sheriff’s Office deputies closed off the area with crime scene tape.
People gathered outside the tape between the nearby AutoZone and Advance Auto Parts.
Channel 9 has contacted the Orange County Sheriff’s Office for more information and is waiting to hear back.
Watch Eyewitness News and check this story for updates as it becomes available.
See a map of the scene below:
Click here to download the free WFTV news and weather apps, click here to download the WFTV Now app for your smart TV and click here to stream Channel 9 Eyewitness News live.
©2023 Cox Media Group
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https://www.wftv.com/news/local/large-law-enforcement-presence-seen-orange-county-shuts-down-roadway/HNEXXIIZARE2NI66W5DIVP5QNQ/
| 2023-07-30T18:35:44
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https://www.wftv.com/news/local/large-law-enforcement-presence-seen-orange-county-shuts-down-roadway/HNEXXIIZARE2NI66W5DIVP5QNQ/
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MACON, Ga. — Jason Aldean's "Try That in a Small Town" has thrown heaps of attention on Aldean's hometown: Macon.
The track was released in mid-May but only really gained attention once CMT aired the song's music video, then pulled it.
Some critics called the lyrics and the video divisive. A portion of the music video shows Aldean outside Maury County Courthouse in Columbia, Tennessee, where a lynching happened in 1927.
With critics taking aim at the song's racial undertones and music video, Macon community leaders are stepping up to showcase the Macon that they know and love.
"Everyone here in Macon knows where we come from, what we stand for, [and] all the things we've accomplished over the last few years. " Mayor Lester Miller told Liz Fabian on an upcoming episode of Central Georgia Focus. "Our actions speak for themselves, and we're proud to be part of that."
In a video released by Visit Macon, another member of the community, Justin Andrews, weighed in on what he believes Macon really stands for.
"People from Macon take pride in their city," Andrews, grandson of Macon's own Otis Redding, said in the video. "It is an inclusive place. I feel welcome here. I feel safe here. I feel welcome here. My business and my family feel respected here."
Andrews, who also is in charge of special projects for the Otis Redding Foundation, said in the two-minute video that Macon was an important place for his grandfather.
"My granddad really loved Macon," Andrews said. "Macon was very important for him to start his business, to raise a family, to build his home for the rest of his life."
Redding was one of the significant icons of soul and blues. His family stayed in Macon even after Redding died in a plane crash in 1967.
But Andrews does recognize that there are problems that need to be addressed.
"Macon is not perfect. Nobody is perfect. No city is perfect," Andrews said. "But one thing I can say about Macon is that it always works to right its wrongs, and we are continuing to do that every day."
Andrews points to the progress that has happened outside of the Otis Redding Foundation's office on Cotton Avenue in downtown Macon.
"My business sits out in front of what used to be a slave auction block," Andrews said. "We went from having a confederate monument erected right in front of my business to having a beautiful plaza for people of all walks of life to enjoy downtown."
Then, Andrews also points out the tidal wave of community support when Macon's synagogue, Temple Beth Israel, was rocked by an antisemitic protest outside during their worship.
"The people here in Macon understand that wrong is wrong and right is right," Andrews said.
It demonstrated to him that, in times when the community sees people hurt, they step up.
"Race, color, creed — it doesn't matter," Andrews said. "Everyone came out to support the cause because they knew it was wrong. "
With Aldean's song being called "Try That in a Small Town," many have criticized Aldean for saying he's from a small town when he's from Macon. Miller said that he doesn't believe it is a small town.
"Certainly, we have close to 160,000 people, I don't think that's a small town," Miller said. "We continue to have the most diverse community I see around, and that's our strength."
Even though Aldean has been in hot water, though, Miller said that Aldean is still someone who we are proud to say is from our community.
"We're proud of everyone who comes out of Macon, and certainly sometimes they're going to have challenges, but it's something we can overcome," Miller said.
But with all the attention and some controversial critiques being leveled against the Macon community, Miller thinks that Maconites are going to keep their focus on who they really are.
"Right now, I think Macon is on an upward trajectory," Miller said, "and we don't let people in New York and other places tell us what kind of people we are."
Central Georgia Focus airs on Saturday at noon on 13WMAZ.
WATCH ANDREWS AND MILLER'S TAKES ON THE CRITICISM:
WHAT OTHERS ARE READING:
RELATED: 'It's peaceful over here,' South Bibb residents react to new Jason Aldean song about small towns
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https://www.kens5.com/article/news/local/jason-aldeans-macon-local-leaders-say/93-bd91a001-45e0-4572-9ab0-5b84b759162c
| 2023-07-30T18:36:19
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https://www.kens5.com/article/news/local/jason-aldeans-macon-local-leaders-say/93-bd91a001-45e0-4572-9ab0-5b84b759162c
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LOUISVILLE, Ky. — 109 days after a mass shooting in downtown Louisville, a young police officer who was critically injured during a shootout with the gunman was released from the hospital after months of "remarkable" recovery.
On April 10, 2023, Louisville Metro Police Officer Nickolas Wilt, 26, responded to the shooting at Old National Bank when he was shot. He was then rushed to UofL Hospital, where he remained in critical condition for nearly a month.
After multiple surgeries and procedures at UofL Hospital and Jewish Hospital, his condition improved enough to be transferred to Frazier Rehabilitation Institute on May 10 to start neuro and physical rehabilitation, health officials said in a press release.
Officials said Wilt is still recovering from a traumatic brain injury and will continue his therapy at Frazier Rehabilitation Institute through outpatient care. In total, Wilt spent more than three and a half months recovering in the hospital.
On Friday, Wilt's brother, Zack Wilt, spoke on behalf of the family crediting the doctors at UofL Health for helping bring their brother home. "Nothing short of miracle work they do," he said.
"Nick gets to go home today, sleep in his own bed with his own TV -- and he's been asking for a steak dinner for a couple of weeks now," Zack said. "You bet we're gonna get him a steak dinner tonight."
BELOW: Check out the emotional moment as Wilt left the hospital.
Despite the long road ahead of him, Zack said his brother is more than ready to tackle the marathon head-on.
"Just a few days ago one of the therapists told us, she's been pulling teeth to get people out of bed, to get people to do what they need to do to heal. And those people have only been here for a few weeks," he said. "Nick has been here [months] he's in his chair ready to go and out the door with the therapist."
Zack joked about Wilt's catchphrase every time he's wheeled out of his room, "He goes, 'Let's boogie-woogie,' like he is ready to go. And that's just his mentality, he's ready to go."
"Officer Wilt is a hero in every sense of the word and I'm humbled to be here to celebrate his huge step forward in his recovery," Jim Ryan, CEO of Old National Bank, said.
Ryan called Wilt's release an answered prayer. He said the last few months have been very difficult on the Louisville bank team.
Dr. Darryl Kaelin, medical director at Frazier Rehabilitation Institute said Wilt's long-term prognosis is very good.
"Over the weeks and months to come, he is going to become more and more independent, I truly believe that there is no limits to the potential of what he can achieve, I would put no restrictions on his ability," Kaelin said. "Having said that, there will probably be long-term deficits, will he be back to 100%? Probably not...but that doesn't in any way say that he has not made a remarkable recovery so far and that he won't in the months and years to come."
He also said there is still a lot of work to be done. "Will he be at a level that if you met him you knew he had a brain injury? Maybe not. But there might be some signs and symptoms that he can tell and others can tell that he's not the way he was before."
On Thursday, LMPD made a post on Facebook saying this was the day they were "praying" for.
"The Wilt family has felt so much love and support from so many people and would like to extend an invite to all LMPD, all first responders, as well as the entire community to attend a celebration of Ofc. Wilt returning home!" a portion of the statement said.
LMPD Chief Jaquelyn Gwinn-Villaroel said at Friday's press conference that she appreciated the outpouring of support and love the department and Wilt's family received over the past few months.
"Your prayers were needed, and your prayers were welcomed," she said.
Dozens in the community gathered along the family's route home to celebrate Wilt's homecoming.
Make it easy to keep up-to-date with more stories like this. Download the WHAS11 News app now. For Apple or Android users.
Have a news tip? Email assign@whas11.com, visit our Facebook page or Twitter feed.
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https://www.kens5.com/article/news/local/officer-nickolas-wilt-discharged-uofl-health-friday-louisville-kentucky/417-2d226117-6e16-4cda-a6d5-ef6502ede221
| 2023-07-30T18:36:25
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https://www.kens5.com/article/news/local/officer-nickolas-wilt-discharged-uofl-health-friday-louisville-kentucky/417-2d226117-6e16-4cda-a6d5-ef6502ede221
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SAN ANTONIO — The Saga, a long-time downtown San Antonio light show experience, is currently dark due to unforeseen technical difficulties.
They tell us they are working to quickly bring this unique and free experience back to it's regular schedule and apologize for the inconvenience.
The Saga debuted back in June 2014 and has been a staple to the city’s community and visitors ever since.
"This unique video art projection by international artist Xavier de Richemont depicts the historical discovery, settlement and development of San Antonio, our wonderful Lone Star State, and United States history," they say on their website. "The Saga projection covers 7,000 square feet of light, color and visual narration projected onto the majestic façade of San Fernando Cathedral- the oldest cathedral in the United States. Through the 24-minute journey, it has become a destination for residents, South Texans, national, and international visitors."
For more information, visit their website.
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Over the years, KENS 5 has worked to transform local news. Our cameras have been the lens bringing history into local viewers' homes. We're proud of our legacy as we serve San Antonians today.
Today, KENS 5 continues to set the standard in local broadcasting and is recognized by its peers for excellence and innovation. The KENS 5 News team focuses on stories that really matter to our community.
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https://www.kens5.com/article/news/local/the-saga-light-show-in-downtown-dark-due-to-technical-difficulties-san-antonio-texas-art-entertainment-main-plaza/273-e59c6210-c339-489a-b8bd-e5403ae6162e
| 2023-07-30T18:36:32
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https://www.kens5.com/article/news/local/the-saga-light-show-in-downtown-dark-due-to-technical-difficulties-san-antonio-texas-art-entertainment-main-plaza/273-e59c6210-c339-489a-b8bd-e5403ae6162e
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AUSTIN, Texas — One person is dead after a motorcycle collided with a vehicle in Volente Saturday night.
Officials with Austin-Travis County EMS (ATCEMS) report that just just after 7 p.m. Saturday, a person driving a motorcycle southbound in the 9200 block of Lime Creek Road veered into the northbound lane and collided head-on with another vehicle.
EMS attempted CPR to resuscitate the motorcyclist, but they were unsuccessful and pronounced the person dead on the scene.
No other information is currently available.
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https://www.kvue.com/article/news/local/motorcycle-head-on-collision-west-travis-county/269-643c34d3-4b63-4cef-9284-3a2272c0766b
| 2023-07-30T18:36:52
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https://www.kvue.com/article/news/local/motorcycle-head-on-collision-west-travis-county/269-643c34d3-4b63-4cef-9284-3a2272c0766b
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POLK COUNTY, Fla. — Volunteers in Polk County resumed the search for an Auburndale woman who has been missing for more than a month.
Family members told 10 Tampa Bay they have not seen 38-year-old Tonya Whipp since June 1 but she wasn't reported missing until June 29 when they considered it unlike her not to contact them for so long.
The renewed search for Whipp was coordinated by a group called "We Are The Essentials" and is centered on Lake Blue.
The group is made up of mostly people with some law enforcement or military experience who are very knowledgeable about sensitive searches like this. The group has assisted several families locate their missing loved ones.
On Sunday morning, they brought their boats with various search-related equipment including a drone to help look in and around the Lake Blue area. They are focused on dragging the lake's bottom after law enforcement already used sonar equipment to inspect the lake.
The group has so far coordinated two searches for Whipp in the six weeks that she has been missing.
They have hiked across and surveyed several acres of land space, utilized all-terrain vehicles and golf carts to look in the woods, and also combed through bushes and brush. However, there's been no sign of Whipp so far, which is of great concern to her family.
The leader of the group of volunteers said of the search at Lake Blue that they were trying to find any clues or personal items that might lead them to the missing woman.
"We're going to have a variety of a lot of different boats out here," said Nico Tusconi of "We Are The Essentials."
"A lot of the equipment that we're using will be utilized by grabbing items out of the water basically trying to get a feel for different anomalies. The bottom of this lake is kind of soft, so we're going to be poking around to see if we find anything that is different," Tusconi said.
Tusconi said time was of the essence because Whipp has been missing for several weeks.
"I always tell the family and friends never to lose hope but now we're 8 weeks into this and everybody's concerned now that this is probably steering towards recovery instead rescue," said Tusconi.
Some neighbors were awakened by the loud noise coming from the equipment on the lake. One neighbor initially thought they were crews clearing out the overgrown vegetation.
"I have been seeing the signs for what now two or three weeks," said Alex Kersy who lives across from Lake Blue.
"There's no telling what happened to the girl. She may not even be in Polk County. She might have caught a ride right to somewhere else and just didn't tell nobody but we don't know that until you find a body or you find her," said Kersy.
Three days ago Auburndale police searched a house on Rose Street. The man who lives there said police searched his home after his girlfriend told officers that the couple had seen Whipp back on June 6.
"There are people out there that know what happened to Tonya and know exactly where she's at so man up this family needs closure," said Tusconi.
"I hope they find the girl. I hope she's alive, but in this neighborhood, I mean, who can tell," added Kersy.
Auburndale Police has urged anyone with information that can help with locating Ms. Whipp to contact the nearest law enforcement.
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https://www.wtsp.com/article/news/local/polkcounty/volunteers-search-lake-blue-missing-auburndale-woman/67-7a95d625-fd57-40a4-b5e1-afd533da256b
| 2023-07-30T18:46:46
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https://www.wtsp.com/article/news/local/polkcounty/volunteers-search-lake-blue-missing-auburndale-woman/67-7a95d625-fd57-40a4-b5e1-afd533da256b
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Looking for a good book for your book club to read next? Pima County Public Library is sharing Bookclubs.com’s most anticipated book club picks of 2023:
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Looking for a good book for your book club to read next? Pima County Public Library is sharing Bookclubs.com’s most anticipated book club picks of 2023:
Get up-to-the-minute news sent straight to your device.
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https://tucson.com/life-entertainment/local/most-anticipated-book-club-picks-for-2023/article_a67cdd8c-2a44-11ee-b6be-5b5a6c9a47b8.html
| 2023-07-30T19:07:10
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https://tucson.com/life-entertainment/local/most-anticipated-book-club-picks-for-2023/article_a67cdd8c-2a44-11ee-b6be-5b5a6c9a47b8.html
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PHOENIX — Republican leaders of the Arizona House and Senate have reached a deal with Democratic Gov. Katie Hobbs to bring a proposal extending a half-cent Maricopa County transportation tax up for a vote when the Legislature returns on Monday.
But a large faction of GOP lawmakers known as the Arizona Freedom Caucus remain staunchly opposed to the plan to ask voters to extend the tax that has been in place for nearly 40 years. It has paid for a massive expansion of the metro region's freeway and roads system and helps fund public transit services, including the light rail.
And even if the deal confirmed by Senate President Warren Petersen and House Speaker Ben Toma to Capitol Media Services passes the Legislature and is signed by Hobbs, voters would still be able to reject the tax when it goes to the ballot next year.
If the so-called Proposition 400 extension fails on any of those steps, residents of Arizona's other 14 counties would pay the price. That’s because without the approximately $20 billion the tax is expected to raise between 2025 and 2045, their cities and counties have to compete with Maricopa County for limited state transportation funding.
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Democrats are expected to rally behind the deal, even though House Minority Leader Lupe Contreras, D-Avondale, said they have still not seen the details.
They've been solidly aligned with the leaders of the region’s 27 cities, three tribes, Maricopa and parts of Pinal County that belong to the regional planning group called the Maricopa Association of Governments that is pushing the tax extension. MAG doles out the tax money for various transportation projects and crafted the initial plan that GOP lawmakers rejected.
"The one thing that we do know is that the cities, all the people that have been working on it, have blessed it," Contreras said. "The individuals that we have been fighting for say they are good with it."
Toma said Saturday that final details were still being worked out, and he was reticent to discuss it at length for fear of endangering a deal that already appeared shaky.
Petersen provided a two-page outline of the agreement that showed it cuts MAG's planned allocation for transit from a range of 40-45% over the life of the plan to 37%. Freeways and major roadways get 63% of the total, an increase that could reach $2 billion over the 20 years the new tax will be in effect if approved by voters.
The deal bars any of the sales tax money from being spent to extend the region's light rail system, cutting the total allocated to rail from 14% to just 3.5%, which can be used for major maintenance. It also bars the approved route for a 1.4-mile extension to the Capitol and cuts five years off the 25-year life of the tax as proposed by MAG.
The Arizona Freedom Caucus remains unsatisfied, tweeting that the plan is still being sold as improving roads while nearly 40% goes to transit that only a fraction of people use.
"A clear NO vote," the post said.
A MAG spokeswoman said the group supports the basic deal outlines but declined to comment further because discussions on final bill language were ongoing. And gubernatorial press aide Christian Slater said he would not discuss details.
The Legislature is expected to adjourn for the year after Monday's session.
The fight over the tax extension is now in its second year.
Lawmakers approved MAG's plan on how to split the tax revenue between freeways, major roadways, transit and programs like air quality last year, but then-Gov. Doug Ducey vetoed it. That move surprised its backers and came after a low-tax group called the Arizona Free Enterprise Club urged the Republican governor to reject MAG's plan.
This year, Toma, Petersen and Freedom Caucus members demanded major changes to the plan MAG had worked out with its members. Despite a host of tweaks agreed to by the regional planning group and Hobbs coming in at the last minute to negotiate on MAG's behalf, Republican lawmakers ended up passing their own plan without Democratic backing.
It shifted more of the money to freeways and highways, cut transit spending to just 28% of the future tax revenues, and barred any sales tax cash from being used to expand the region's light rail system, which the new plan also does.
Hobbs promptly vetoed it last month, leaving the fate of the tax extension plan in limbo as the GOP-led House and Senate took an unprecedented seven-week break. Some of the region’s leaders began talking about a voter initiative to repeal a law that requires only Maricopa County to get the Legislature’s approval to put a transportation tax on the ballot.
Toma, Petersen and others believe the light rail is a hugely expensive boondoggle and that taxpayers across the county should not have to pay for extensions that will not benefit them. The plan to extend the rail lines from downtown Phoenix to the state Capitol drew particular derision, and they vowed to kill that.
The major difference in the new deal is that it no longer splits the ballot question into two parts, a non-starter for Hobbs and MAG that they said endangered the whole plan. Other items were tweaked, and there is a tiny decrease in the overall tax rate needed to get support from some Republican lawmakers.
Like the vetoed plan, the agreement will force MAG to move the Capitol extension at least a short distance away from the host of state office buildings teeming with Arizona employees, cutting its utility for commuters if the extension is built. That proposed line has already been paid for by the current tax, federal funding and cash from the city of Phoenix.
A later extension is planned to run west from the Capitol and then along the Interstate 10 median to 79th Avenue, ending at the Desert Sky Mall and the Ak-Chin Pavilion.
The new deal also limits air quality programs Petersen worried could be used to curb private vehicle use, allowing money only to be used to pave dirt roads and buy street sweepers. And like the vetoed plan, it says any projects must decrease congestion and not boost travel times.
There are also new rules requiring bus lines to bring in more money, and the Legislature will get new seats on MAG’s board.
Sen. Mitzi Epstein, D-Tempe, who leads her chamber's Democrats, said she'll have to wait to see bill language and then determine if MAG can still implement the transportation plan unanimously adopted by the region's cities. If they can, she said it will win Democratic support.
A wild card not addressed in the two-page summary Petersen provided is the fate of a ban on city home and apartment rental taxes that Hobbs vetoed earlier this year. A new version passed the House and Senate on June 13 but is still sitting on Petersen's desk despite court rulings that say legislation must be "promptly'' sent to the governor.
Contreras, the leader of House Democrats, said that Hobbs signing the rental tax ban "is supposedly part of an all-around package.''
Petersen did not respond when asked about that part of the deal.
On Twitter: @AzChristieNews
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https://tucson.com/news/local/government-politics/republican-leaders-of-arizona-house-senate-reach-deal-with-hobbs-on-road-tax-deal/article_799d460c-2ef0-11ee-8e54-7b0edf59d73e.html
| 2023-07-30T19:07:16
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https://tucson.com/news/local/government-politics/republican-leaders-of-arizona-house-senate-reach-deal-with-hobbs-on-road-tax-deal/article_799d460c-2ef0-11ee-8e54-7b0edf59d73e.html
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If you haven’t returned your ballot for Tucson’s Aug. 1 primary election, there’s still time to make sure your vote counts.
The last day to mail in your ballot was July 25, but drop-off ballot boxes will be available until 7 p.m. Tuesday on Election Day.
You can drop off your filled-out and sealed ballot at 10 different locations throughout the city. Seven of those locations will allow voters to bring a vote-by-mail ballot and cast it in person or receive a replacement ballot after signing a statement attesting the original ballot was spoiled or not received.
Four voting locations are open Monday, July 31, from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., and all of them will be open on Tuesday from 6 a.m. to 7 p.m.
Only the races in wards 1 and 2 are contested, with two Democrats vying for the City Council seats in each race. Ward 1 Council Member Lane Santa Cruz is running against challenger Miguel Ortega as Ward 2 Council Member Paul Cunningham faces political newcomer Lisa Nutt.
People are also reading…
Open Monday, July 31, from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Tuesday, Aug. 1, from 6 a.m. to 7 p.m.:
- Tucson City Clerk Elections Center: 800 E. 12th St.
- Pima County Recorder – Downtown Office: 240 N. Stone Ave. (drop-off only)
- Pima County Recorder – Elections Department: 6550 S. Country Club Road (drop-off only)
- Pima County Recorder – Eastside Office: 6920 E. Broadway (drop-off only)
Open Tuesday, Aug. 1 from 6 a.m. to 7 p.m.:
- Department of Housing and Community Development: 310 N. Commerce Park Loop
- Morris K. Udall Regional Center: 7200 E. Tanque Verde Road
- Donna R. Liggins Recreation Center: 2160 N. Sixth Ave.
- William Clements Recreation Center: 8155 E. Poinciana Dr.
- El Pueblo Senior Center: 101 W. Irvington Road
- Parks and Recreation Administration Randolph Park: 900 S. Randolph Way
Read the Star's latest coverage of this year's local elections, meet the candidates and read candidate responses to local issues.
Contact reporter Nicole Ludden at nludden@tucson.com
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https://tucson.com/news/local/government-politics/tucson-elections-city-council-voters/article_55c29f70-2cb1-11ee-929b-1f88cd035b0a.html
| 2023-07-30T19:07:22
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https://tucson.com/news/local/government-politics/tucson-elections-city-council-voters/article_55c29f70-2cb1-11ee-929b-1f88cd035b0a.html
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ROANOKE, Va. – A man is dead following a shooting in Roanoke Sunday morning, according to the Roanoke Police Department.
On Sunday at around 9 a.m., police were called the 600 block of King George Avenue SW for the report of a person with a gunshot wound.
Officers arrived to find a man inside a vehicle with what appeared to be a critical gunshot wound. Authorities said Roanoke Fire-EMS personnel arrived and pronounced the man deceased on scene.
Police said details about this shooting are limited. We’re told no suspects were located on scene and no arrests have been made at this time.
This is an ongoing homicide investigation, according to authorities.
Anyone with information about this incident is asked to call (540)344-8500 and share what you know. You can also text 274637; please begin the text with “RoanokePD” to ensure it’s properly sent. Both calls and texts can remain anonymous.
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https://www.wsls.com/news/local/2023/07/30/man-dead-after-shooting-in-roanoke/
| 2023-07-30T19:08:20
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https://www.wsls.com/news/local/2023/07/30/man-dead-after-shooting-in-roanoke/
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...A strong thunderstorm will impact portions of eastern Dougherty,
south central Lee and southwestern Worth Counties through 300 PM
EDT...
At 218 PM EDT, Doppler radar was tracking a strong thunderstorm over
Turner City, or near Albany, moving southeast at 10 mph.
HAZARD...Winds in excess of 40 mph.
SOURCE...Radar indicated.
IMPACT...Gusty winds could knock down tree limbs and blow around
unsecured objects.
Locations impacted include...
Leesburg, Albany, East Albany, Marine Corps Logistics Base, Turner
City, Stocks, Radium Springs, Forrester, Sylvester Airport, South
Albany, Parkerville, Palmyra, Red Rock, Acree, Crestwood,
Williamsburg, Livingston, Century, Pecan City and Byne Crossroads.
PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS...
If outdoors, consider seeking shelter inside a building.
This storm may intensify, so be certain to monitor local radio
stations and available television stations for additional information
and possible warnings from the National Weather Service.
&&
MAX HAIL SIZE...0.00 IN;
MAX WIND GUST...40 MPH
Weather Alert
...HEAT ADVISORY REMAINS IN EFFECT UNTIL 7 PM EDT /6 PM CDT/ THIS
EVENING...
* WHAT...Heat index values up to 110 expected.
* WHERE...Portions of southeast Alabama, Big Bend Florida and
south central and southwest Georgia.
* WHEN...From 11 AM EDT /10 AM CDT/ to 7 PM EDT /6 PM CDT/
Sunday.
* IMPACTS...Hot temperatures and high humidity may cause heat
illnesses to occur.
PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS...
Drink plenty of fluids, stay in an air-conditioned room, stay out
of the sun, and check up on relatives and neighbors. Young
children and pets should never be left unattended in vehicles
under any circumstances.
Take extra precautions if you work or spend time outside. When
possible reschedule strenuous activities to early morning or
evening. Know the signs and symptoms of heat exhaustion and heat
stroke. Wear lightweight and loose fitting clothing when
possible. To reduce risk during outdoor work, the Occupational
Safety and Health Administration recommends scheduling frequent
rest breaks in shaded or air conditioned environments. Anyone
overcome by heat should be moved to a cool and shaded location.
Heat stroke is an emergency! Call 9 1 1.
&&
ALBANY -- The Institute for Organization Management, the professional development program of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, has announced that Barbara Rivera Holmes, president & CEO of the Albany Area Chamber of Commerce, has graduated from the program and has received the recognition of IOM.
Awarded to all graduates of the Institute program, the IOM Graduate Recognition signifies the individual’s completion of 96 credit hours of course instruction in nonprofit management. In addition, participants can earn credit hours towards the Certified Chamber Executive or Certified Association Executive certifications. Nearly 1,000 individuals attend the institute annually.
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https://www.albanyherald.com/local/albany-chambers-holmes-graduates-from-u-s-chamber-leadership-program/article_b8e640e8-2f04-11ee-9b1e-5f4fcf831d3c.html
| 2023-07-30T19:17:30
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https://www.albanyherald.com/local/albany-chambers-holmes-graduates-from-u-s-chamber-leadership-program/article_b8e640e8-2f04-11ee-9b1e-5f4fcf831d3c.html
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As nationwide rents slow, Detroit area goes one better
Los Angeles — When viewed through a wide lens, renters across the U.S. finally appear to be getting some relief, thanks in part to the biggest apartment construction boom in decades.
Median rent rose just 0.5% in June, year over year, after falling in May for the first time since the pandemic hit the U.S. Some economists project U.S. rents will be down modestly this year after soaring nearly 25% over the past four years.
Metro Detroit can attest to that trend. Median rents here were down 1.06%, year-over-year, to $1,638, according to rental listings company Rent, which tracks rents in 50 of the largest U.S. metropolitan areas.
A closer look, however, shows the trend will likely be little comfort for many U.S. renters who’ve had to put an increasing share of their income toward their monthly payment. Renters in cities such as Cincinnati and Indianapolis are still getting hit with increases of 5% or more. For all of Michigan, median rent was up 6.4% to $1,361.
Much of the new construction is located in just a few metro areas, and many of the new units are luxury apartments, which rent for well north of $2,000.
Median U.S. rent has risen to $2,029 this June from $1,629 in June 2019, according to Rent. Demand for apartments exploded during the pandemic as people who could work remotely sought more space or decided to relocate to another part of the country.
The steep rent increases have left tenants like Melissa Lombana, a high school teacher who lives in the South Florida city of Miramar, with progressively less income to spend on other needs.
The rent on her one-bedroom apartment jumped 13% last year to $1,700. It climbed another 6% to $1,800 this month when she renewed her lease.
“Even the $1,700 was a stretch for me,” said Lombana, 43, who supplements her teaching income with a side job doing educational testing. “In a year, I will not be able to afford living here at all.”
Lombana’s rent is now gobbling up nearly half her monthly income. That puts her in a category referred to as “cost-burdened” by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, denoting households that pay 30% or more of their income toward rent. Last year, the average rent-to-income ratio per household rose to 30%. This March, it was 29.6%.
Lombana hasn’t had any luck finding a more affordable apartment. While South Florida is one of the metropolitan areas seeing a rise in apartment construction, the units are mostly high-end and not a viable option.
That scenario is playing out across the nation. Developers are rushing to complete projects that were green-lit during the pandemic-era surge in demand for rentals or left in limbo by delays in supplies of fixtures and building materials. Nearly 1.1 million apartments are currently under construction, according to the commercial real estate tracker CoStar, a pace not seen since the 1970s.
Increasing the supply of apartments tends to moderate rent increases over time and can give tenants more options on where to live. But more than 40% of the new rentals to be completed this year will be concentrated in about 10 high job growth metropolitan areas, including Austin, Nashville, Denver, Atlanta and New York, according to Marcus & Millichap. In many areas, the boost to overall inventory will be barely noticeable.
Even within metros where there’ll be a notable increase in available apartments, such as Nashville, most of it will be in the luxury category, where rents average $2,270, nationally. Some 70% of the new rental inventory will be the luxury class, said Jay Lybik, national director of multifamily analytics at CoStar.
That will leave most tenants unlikely to see a big enough reduction in rent to make a difference, industry experts and economists say.
“I think we’re in a period of rent flattening for 12 or 18 months, but it’s certainly not a big rent decline,” said Hessam Nadji, CEO of commercial real estate firm Marcus & Millichap.
“We’re building a multi-decade record number of units,” Nadji said. “It’s going to cause some softening and some pockets of overbuilding, but it’s not going to fundamentally resolve the housing shortage or the affordability problem for renters across the U.S.”
The surge in rents has made it difficult for workers to keep up with inflation despite solid wage gains the past few years and exacerbated a long-term trend. Between 1999 and 2022, U.S. rents soared 135%, while income grew 77%, according to data from Moody’s Analytics.
Realtor.com is forecasting that rents will drop an average of 0.9% this year. But while down nationally, rents are still rising in many markets around the country, especially those where hiring remains robust.
In the New York metro area, the median rent climbed 4.7% in June from a year earlier to $2,899, according to Realtor.com. In the Midwest, rents surged 5.6% in the Cincinnati metro area to $1,188, and 6.9% to $1,350 in the Indianapolis metro area.
The current spike in apartment construction alone isn’t going to be enough to address how costly renting has become for many Americans.
“For the rest of the 2020s rents will continue to grow because millennials are such a big generation and we’re very much in the hole in terms of building housing for that generation,” said Daryl Fairweather, chief economist at Redfin. “It will take many good years of new construction to build adequate housing for millennials.”
The bigger challenge is building more work force housing, because the cost of land, labor and navigating the government approval process incentivize developers to put up luxury apartments buildings.
Expanding the supply of modestly priced rentals would help alleviate the strain from so many new apartments targeting renters with high incomes, “although additional subsidies will be needed to make housing affordable to households with the lowest incomes,” researchers at Harvard University’s Joint Center for Housing Studies wrote in a recent report.
Despite the overall pullback in U.S. rents, Joey Di Girolamo, in Pembroke Pines, Florida, worries that he’ll face more sharp rent increases in coming years.
Last year, the web designer left a two-bedroom, two-bath townhome he rented for $2,200 a month to avoid a $600 a month increase. This year, his rent went up by $200, a nearly 10% jump.
“That blew me away,” said Di Girolamo, 50. “I’m just kind of dreading what it’s going to be like next year, but especially 3 or 4 years from now.”
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https://www.detroitnews.com/story/news/local/detroit-city/2023/07/30/as-nationwide-rents-slow-detroit-area-goes-one-better/70494876007/
| 2023-07-30T19:17:30
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https://www.detroitnews.com/story/news/local/detroit-city/2023/07/30/as-nationwide-rents-slow-detroit-area-goes-one-better/70494876007/
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...A strong thunderstorm will impact portions of eastern Dougherty,
south central Lee and southwestern Worth Counties through 300 PM
EDT...
At 218 PM EDT, Doppler radar was tracking a strong thunderstorm over
Turner City, or near Albany, moving southeast at 10 mph.
HAZARD...Winds in excess of 40 mph.
SOURCE...Radar indicated.
IMPACT...Gusty winds could knock down tree limbs and blow around
unsecured objects.
Locations impacted include...
Leesburg, Albany, East Albany, Marine Corps Logistics Base, Turner
City, Stocks, Radium Springs, Forrester, Sylvester Airport, South
Albany, Parkerville, Palmyra, Red Rock, Acree, Crestwood,
Williamsburg, Livingston, Century, Pecan City and Byne Crossroads.
PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS...
If outdoors, consider seeking shelter inside a building.
This storm may intensify, so be certain to monitor local radio
stations and available television stations for additional information
and possible warnings from the National Weather Service.
&&
MAX HAIL SIZE...0.00 IN;
MAX WIND GUST...40 MPH
Weather Alert
...HEAT ADVISORY REMAINS IN EFFECT UNTIL 7 PM EDT /6 PM CDT/ THIS
EVENING...
* WHAT...Heat index values up to 110 expected.
* WHERE...Portions of southeast Alabama, Big Bend Florida and
south central and southwest Georgia.
* WHEN...From 11 AM EDT /10 AM CDT/ to 7 PM EDT /6 PM CDT/
Sunday.
* IMPACTS...Hot temperatures and high humidity may cause heat
illnesses to occur.
PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS...
Drink plenty of fluids, stay in an air-conditioned room, stay out
of the sun, and check up on relatives and neighbors. Young
children and pets should never be left unattended in vehicles
under any circumstances.
Take extra precautions if you work or spend time outside. When
possible reschedule strenuous activities to early morning or
evening. Know the signs and symptoms of heat exhaustion and heat
stroke. Wear lightweight and loose fitting clothing when
possible. To reduce risk during outdoor work, the Occupational
Safety and Health Administration recommends scheduling frequent
rest breaks in shaded or air conditioned environments. Anyone
overcome by heat should be moved to a cool and shaded location.
Heat stroke is an emergency! Call 9 1 1.
&&
The city of Albany, with the assistance of Dougherty County officials, will activate Operation Safe Place to give citizens places to cool off during the day Sunday and Monday.
ALBANY – The city of Albany, with the assistance of Dougherty County officials, will activate Operation Safe Place to give citizens places to cool off during the day Sunday and Monday.
According to current weather reports, the heat index will reach dangerous temperatures both days, spurring city and county officials to offer shelter from the heat to those who need it.
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https://www.albanyherald.com/local/albany-dougherty-county-officials-initiate-operation-safe-place/article_bbae86c4-2ef4-11ee-9b8a-5f0ee0b5270d.html
| 2023-07-30T19:17:34
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https://www.albanyherald.com/local/albany-dougherty-county-officials-initiate-operation-safe-place/article_bbae86c4-2ef4-11ee-9b8a-5f0ee0b5270d.html
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Waves crash against the shoreline on Simmons Island beach on Thursday, July 1, 2021.
An Illinois man died in a reported drowning following a water incident that occurred in Lake Michigan at Simmons Island Beach Saturday night.
The 58-year-old man was with his 28-year-old son, also from Illinois, when both were reportedly struggling while in the water shortly after 6 p.m., according to Sgt. Jeff Galley of the Kenosha Police Department.
“Someone operating a Wave Runner (Jet Ski) tried to get near them to help them out,” Galley said Sunday.
While the younger man was able to hold on as he was being rescued, the older man was not and “ultimately went under the water, Galley said.
“It sounds like he was under the water for 15 minutes before he was pulled out by the Coast Guard,” he said.
Kenosha Fire Department rescue personnel transported the older man to Froedtert Pleasant Prairie Hospital and continued to perform life-saving measures enroute to the medical center.
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https://kenoshanews.com/news/local/illinois-man-drowning-victim-simmons-kenosha/article_ebb77442-2ef5-11ee-ae48-030969e35e3f.html
| 2023-07-30T19:19:24
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https://kenoshanews.com/news/local/illinois-man-drowning-victim-simmons-kenosha/article_ebb77442-2ef5-11ee-ae48-030969e35e3f.html
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Originally published July 27 onKTVB.COM.Two years have passed since 5-year-old Michael Vaughan went missing from his neighborhood in Fruitland.
His mother, Brandi Neal, has to work on the mark of his disappearance. But that doesn’t mean she has lost focus of her blonde-haired, blue-eyed son, who is nicknamed “Monkey.” Vaughan was last seen near Southwest Ninth Street on July 27, 2021, wearing a blue Minecraft t-shirt, dark blue briefs and blue flip-flops. Neal has worn her feet to the bone scouring every inch of the rural town looking for her son, she said.
Even though it’s been two years, Neal still has faith this case will come to fruition.
“It will all come to light,” she told KTVB reporter Alexandra Duggan in a phone call. “It’s coming.”
The Fruitland Police Department said on Thursday via Facebook its has submitted a case to the Payette County Prosecutor, along with a probable cause affidavit. In this case, a prosecutor would review the probable cause affidavit and decide whether or not to take the case before a judge. If there is enough evidence, a judge can issue an arrest warrant.
“On the second anniversary of Michael’s abduction the case remains very active. Our work has not stopped. Our ground searches have continued as recent as this month and we continue the arduous task of filtering through new tips and leads,” Fruitland police said. “The community support has been remarkable along with the unwavering patience with our team. We are committed and our tenacity steadfast.”
Sarah Wondra, 35, was arrested on Nov. 11 of last year and charged with the failure to report a death in connection to Vaughan’s disappearance. Those charges were later dropped. Following the arrest, police searched the 1102 Redwing St. home she and her husband Stacey Wondra were renting, which is in a neighborhood near where Vaughan was last seen.
Human remains dogs were brought onto the property, large equipment excavated the backyard, but Vaughan wasn’t there. Fruitland police said they had reason to believe Vaughan’s body was buried in the yard at some point, but was later moved elsewhere. However, police did say they recovered several pieces of evidence at the Wondras’ home and those were sent to a private lab for further analysis.
On Dec. 1, 2022, police unexpectedly announced the identities of two more people thought to have firsthand knowledge of Vaughan’s abduction — Brandon Shurtliff, 30, believed to be somewhere in North Dakota; and Adrien Lucienne, 32, believed to be somewhere in Toledo, Ohio; or California. Police have made contact with them, they said in a press conference.
Shurtliff’s mother, Tina Morreale, told KTVB in a message that police came knocking at her door and their cadaver dog alluded to something on her property. She said the dog “smelled poop outside” near her crawlspace from her leaking toilet. According to Idaho Mountain Search and Rescue, cadaver dogs do not alert on human feces, and are not trained to find it.
Morreale said Shurtliff is residing in North Dakota. She claims he has been cooperative and “has nothing to hide.” KTVB also reached out to Lucienne, but never received a response.
Fruitland Police Chief J.D Huff told KTVB in a message that he still wants to keep the community updated and informed, but he also must maintain the integrity of the investigation, as it is still ongoing.
“Justice for Michael and his family is my top priority,” Huff said.
Even as the investigation continues and Neal believes there will be accountability in the future, things have been especially tough for the Vaughan family in the last month, she said.
“Everything feels like the day Monkey went missing all over again. It’s so hard every day, but for days like these — birthdays, Halloween, Christmas, everything without Michael here is heartache,” Neal said. “We stand strong with law enforcement, the community and family.”
Vaughan is now 7 years old. His birthday was June 24.
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https://www.idahopress.com/news/local/2-years-after-michael-vaughans-disappearance-fruitland-police-submit-case-to-prosecutor/article_e5f76e38-2d90-11ee-97e5-e39423882ca5.html
| 2023-07-30T19:26:17
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https://www.idahopress.com/news/local/2-years-after-michael-vaughans-disappearance-fruitland-police-submit-case-to-prosecutor/article_e5f76e38-2d90-11ee-97e5-e39423882ca5.html
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Originally published July 24 on IdahoCapitalSun.com.Let’s make one thing clear: Idaho is the undisputed OG spud state.
And public officials say Idaho’s reputation as the potato state won’t fade — even if in June, the Oregon Legislature adopted a resolution to make the potato its state vegetable.
After the resolution passed, some Idahoans took to social media to share their response, including Idaho Gov. Brad Little, who said on Twitter that he would deploy the Big Idaho Potato Truck to “defend the honor” of Idaho potatoes.
Over the weekend, I recruited some buddies to help me defend Idaho’s title as the NUMBER ONE spud state against Oregon. pic.twitter.com/M5AbmbtZP6
— Brad Little (@GovernorLittle) July 3, 2023
Sam Eaton, the vice president of legal affairs at the Idaho Potato Commission, told the Idaho Capital Sun that the commission is determined to maintain Idaho’s world famous reputation for its quality potatoes.
“We’ve been tasked by Governor Little to defend our Famous Idaho Potatoes, and we take our responsibility seriously,” he said in an email. “In response to Oregon’s actions, we recently deployed our Big Idaho Potato Truck internationally into Canada to ensure Idaho remains world famous for its potatoes.”
Eaton said that “in all seriousness,” the Idaho Potato Commission partners with fellow potato-producing states, including Oregon, to advocate for the U.S. potato industry.
“We work very closely with our neighbors in Oregon and Washington to develop new, improved varieties of potatoes, including potatoes that are more resistant to drought, heat and disease,” he said.
While Idaho is no longer the only state with the potato emblem, Idaho potatoes played an important role in the state’s early economic development, and the state vegetable — designated as such in Idaho in 2002 — continues to play an important role in the world economy.
Even if Oregon is the fourth top grower of potatoes in the U.S., its potato sector does not match with Idaho’s potato power.
THE POTATO PAST: A LOOK INTO WHAT BECAME IDAHO’S PRIDE, IDENTITY
While today they are the No. 1 most consumed vegetable by U.S. consumers, potatoes did not originate from North America.
Potatoes are native to the South American Andes. Researchers believe they were transported to Europe in the 1500s, eventually making their way to the colonies in the 1600s.
Now a staple in the American diet, early U.S. potatoes weren’t immediately accepted into society until receiving an aristocratic seal of approval from former President Thomas Jefferson, who served them to guests at the White House. Only then did potatoes gain popularity.
Idaho’s reputation with potatoes began in the early 1900s, when russet potatoes began appearing throughout the state, according to the Idaho Potato Commission website. In 1937, the potato commission was founded as a state agency responsible for promoting and protecting the “Grown in Idaho” brand.
By the early years of World War II, Idaho-based J.R. Simplot Company became an important force in shipping millions of pounds of fresh potatoes across the country while also selling dehydrated onions and potatoes to the military.
Because wartime shortages made it difficult to access fertilizer, the company built a manufacturing plant in Pocatello to produce its own. And in the late 1940s, the Simplot Company was the first in the world to produce the first commercially viable frozen french fry.
Today, most of the state’s potatoes are grown in the Snake River Plain, or what NASA refers to as the “potato belt.” This region is a belt of low-lying land that extends across southern Idaho.
Since its early presence, state legislators have adopted measures for Idaho residents to promote their potato pride through “Famous Potatoes” license plates.
ECONOMIC IMPACT OF IDAHO POTATOES
Idaho potatoes play an important role in the national and global economy.
Today, the U.S. is the fifth largest global producer of potatoes, and Idaho is the top potato producing state, producing nearly a third of U.S. potatoes, according to the Idaho Department of Agriculture.
According to the Idaho Potato Commission, about one in five potatoes grown in Idaho is exported, and top destinations for fresh Idaho potatoes include Canada, Mexico, Malaysia and Singapore.
Officials with the commission are also taking steps to add Japan to the list of top destinations for Idaho potatoes. A ban currently prevents farmers from exporting fresh potatoes to Japan. But after a trade mission to the country in June, state officials are optimistic that Idaho potatoes will make their way to the island country.
The U.S. potato sector is responsible for creating an estimated 714,000 jobs, contributing more than $100.9 billion to the country’s economy in 2021, according to the National Potato Council.
Top 10 potato producing states (Source: Crop Production 2022 Summary, USDA)
1. Idaho: 12 billion pounds
2. Washington: 9 billion pounds
3. Wisconsin: 2.8 billion pounds
4. Oregon: 2.5 billion pounds
5. North Dakota: 2.3 billion pounds
6. Colorado: 2.1 billion pounds
7. Minnesota: 2 billion pounds
8. Maine: 1.8 billion pounds
9. Michigan: 1.6 billion pounds
10. California: 772 million pounds
According to the Idaho Potato Commission, Idaho is an ideal spot to grow potatoes because of the state’s volcanic soil, irrigation system and warm days and cool nights. Unlike some states, Idaho potatoes are usually available year-round.
While the Russet potato is Idaho’s most well-known product, it also grows more than 30 varieties of the crop such as Yukon golds, reds and fingerlings.
WHERE DOES OREGON STAND IN COMPARISON TO IDAHO?
Ranked the fourth top producer of potatoes in the country, Oregon has its fair share of the vegetable. Just not as much as Idaho.
In 2021, Idaho potato crops totaled $1 billion in sales while Oregon’s potato crop was valued at $218 million, according to data from the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
Data from the Department of Agriculture also shows that Idaho potatoes planted in 2022 totaled 295,000 acres, while 43,000 acres of potatoes were planted in Oregon.
There are about 500 farms in Idaho, and Bingham County alone planted over 61,000 acres of potatoes this year, Eaton told the Sun.
On the other hand, there are about 370 potato farms in Oregon, making potatoes the state’s eighth-most valuable crop, according to Agriculture in the Classroom, an Oregon-based educational nonprofit.
Most of Oregon’s potatoes are also sold for processing purposes. Nearly 80% of Oregon potatoes are used to process frozen or dehydrated products, while only 60% of the potatoes from Idaho are processed with the remaining sold as fresh potatoes.
While Oregon does not produce as many potatoes as Idaho, the Beaver State does have one claim to fame.
Tater tots, the deep-fried, cylinder-shaped snack, were invented in Oregon by F. Nephi Grigg — an Idaho native. In 1951, the entrepreneur acquired a bankrupt company in Ontario that is now known as Ore-Ida and began selling frozen potatoes, Deseret News reported.
Oregon Republican Sen. Bill Hansell, a sponsor of the resolution, said that no other state can claim the tater tot as their own, according to Oregon Public Broadcasting.
In a letter to the Legislature in support of making the potato Oregon’s state vegetable, Hansell said designating it as a state emblem recognizes the contributions of farmers.
“Oregon potato farmers are also valuable and committed members of their communities, and farmers annually donate one million pounds of potatoes to the Oregon Food Bank,” he said in the letter. “It goes without saying that potatoes are important to Oregon’s economy, our communities, and our food production.”
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https://www.idahopress.com/news/local/famous-oregon-potatoes-nah-idaho-stats-show-which-state-reigns-spud-supreme/article_f30e211c-2d8a-11ee-a76c-4b391ee46340.html
| 2023-07-30T19:26:23
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AUSTIN, Texas — The Austin-Travis County EMS (ATCEMS) reports that four people were killed in a crash that happened in South Austin early Sunday morning.
The incident occurred at around 2:30 a.m. in the 5300 block of the Interstate 35 Service Road, near Battle Bend Boulevard. According to ATCEMS, the collision resulted in a rollover and a vehicle fire.
Two additional patients were also taken to the hospital, dealing with non-life threatening inuries.
It is currently unclear what caused the crash.
This is a developing story, and it will be updated with the latest information available. Stick with KVUE for the latest news.
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https://www.myfoxzone.com/article/news/local/4-dead-after-crash-in-south-austin/269-919d90e8-148e-45f0-ba99-3b6dced7eaea
| 2023-07-30T19:29:13
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Hicks: Midwest has a neighborhood crisis
MUNCIE, Ind. – Every time I’ve sat down with economists over the past few months, we have lamented the dismal state of the housing policy discussion. Against stiff competition, it is easily the most poorly informed policy debate in America. Maybe a few facts will help.
The first matter to consider is that we’re on the flip side of the most acute economic interruption of modern times; the COVID pandemic. In a matter of weeks, we experienced Great Depression rates of job losses, across the globe. Then, most of these jobs came roaring back. Millions of Americans retired earlier than planned, and 44 million American workers found themselves working remotely, half of them full time. These events all changed future housing plans.
At the same time, mortgage rates plummeted, just as tens of millions of Americans wished to relocate. COVID virtually stopped home construction in early 2020, and supply chain disruptions further reduced new construction thereafter. All these factors drove up prices in almost every housing market.
All of this is transient disequilibrium. It is not a crisis, and it will pass without any government intervention. Home prices are already in retreat and new home construction is planned for next year across much of the country. Across the nation, there are empty office buildings in every major city, offering the opportunity for residential conversion. And, population loss in major cities has prompted broad review of restrictions on new housing. Markets work, and housing markets work better than most.
Second, for the past 50 years, we’ve been building homes at about the same rate the population has risen. However, we’ve been eliminating older homes at a tiny pace. That means today there are some 16 million unoccupied homes in the U.S., or more than 11 percent of the full housing stock. Indiana’s share of unoccupied homes are close to 300,000. That is sufficient to fully house all the growth of population in our state so far this century.
These Census counts of homes do not include those that appear damaged or unlivable. And, as with any Census estimate, the number may be off a few percent, high or low. But, any housing discussion that ignores the actual Census housing data is a waste of time. Any policy debate that ignores this data is negligent. Too often, we look only at Multiple Listing Service (MLS) data provided by realtors. This is superb data for everything, except for understanding housing supply. For that it is nearly worthless.
The problem is that this glut of homes is located in the places that people don’t wish to live. These don’t make it into the MLS listings, because neither the owner nor realtor are willing to pay the cost of listing. That has nothing to do with the quality of the home, or its level of disrepair. Realtors and owners don’t waste time trying to sell homes in many neighborhoods. Most of the 300,000 vacant homes in Indiana that don’t make it into the MLS would sell for several hundred thousand dollars if they could only be moved to Chicago, Boston or Albuquerque.
For these homes, we don’t have a housing problem, we have a neighborhood problem. That is the single most important thing to understand in all this debate. The reason new homes aren’t being built in much of the Midwest is because a new home cannot sell for the cost of construction. This isn’t an abstract problem. There are more than a million homes in Indiana alone that’d be worth more disassembled and stacked on a rail car than they are currently assembled in the towns in which they’re located.
Subsidizing new homes construction in a community with declining population won’t fix the neighborhood problem. Thus, it won’t increase population. In fact, it is almost certain to worsen the situation by further depressing the price of surrounding homes. I dislike being so flippant, but this is the sort of thing we cover in high school economics. Just to be clear, I’m talking about the 200 or so Midwest counties that are shrinking, or the 60 or so Hoosier counties that are in decline. Growing communities have a different problem.
Looking beyond the COVID disruption is difficult. Still, places that are growing have housing challenges that differ greatly from places in decline. The counties that are in between probably have a bit of both problems, as do large cities like Indianapolis, Cleveland or Milwaukee.
The Midwest doesn’t have the types of housing restrictions that have clobbered San Francisco, Seattle, New York or Portland. Faddish urban growth boundaries and building limits are in the process of being rolled back in these places. It is easy for fast-growing cities to slip in accidental growth restrictions that generate long-term problems.
The easiest of these is to simply ignore the need for different types of housing. Midwestern cities with large numbers of single-family homes are thriving, much to the chagrin of many urban planners. But, thriving suburban type communities also need housing of mixed type. This means some apartments and duplexes, as well as starter homes. This is delicate balance, of course. Still, my rule of thumb is that if a local police officer and school teacher cannot make a life together in your city because of housing costs, you have a problem.
There is much legitimate concern about the plight of low-income renters. These are the folks most likely to face a real budget crunch when we have home price spikes like we just experienced. However, this is not technically a housing issue. Low-income families have few housing choices because they are low income, not because there are few housing choices. In these cases, the problem is either in labor markets or in educational attainment. Trying to fix these problems through housing markets might offer temporary relief, but it won’t solve the underlying problem.
There are also frequently voiced concerns about the gentrification of neighborhoods currently occupied by low-income families. I find this argument to be appallingly incoherent. Thriving cities go through change, and attractive neighborhoods appreciate in value, while unattractive ones decline in value. There’s almost no better source of wealth for poor people than by owning an appreciating home. Arguably, the fastest path to growing intergenerational wealth would be through gentrification.
The simple fact is that housing markets in the Midwest operate smoothly and efficiently. The ‘housing crisis’ that so many folks talk about is largely non-existent, or at least massively overblown. Housing availability is only a symptom. When you hear someone say there’s a housing crisis or housing shortage, they are mistaken. What they should really say is that there is a neighborhood problem that starts with a lack of quality schools and public safety. Not housing.
Michael J. Hicks, PhD, is the director of the Center for Business and Economic Research and the George and Frances Ball distinguished professor of economics in the Miller College of Business at Ball State University.
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https://www.thestarpress.com/story/news/local/2023/07/30/hicks-midwest-has-a-neighborhood-crisis/70484461007/
| 2023-07-30T19:43:41
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Four people found clinging to the hull of an overturned boat off New Jersey were rescued and taken to a hospital, authorities said.
Coast Guard officials in New York say Coast Guard crews and New York police and fire units were deployed to the area off Sandy Hook after receiving a distress call over VHF Channel 16.
Petty Officer Logan Kaczmarek told the Asbury Park Press that rescue crews found a floating debris field of items from the boat. They then found the four people at about 2:15 a.m. Sunday holding onto the floating hull near the Romer Shoal Light Station about 2½ nautical miles (4.6 kilometers) from the tip of Sandy Hook.
Crews from Station Sandy Hook pulled two people from the water while the other two were rescued by New York fire crews. All four were taken to Monmouth Medical Center in Long Branch; there was no immediate word on their condition. Coast Guard officials didn't immediately release information about the type of vessel or the reason it capsized.
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https://www.nbcphiladelphia.com/news/local/4-people-found-clinging-to-hull-of-overturned-boat-off-jersey-shore-rescued/3614574/
| 2023-07-30T19:43:41
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https://www.nbcphiladelphia.com/news/local/4-people-found-clinging-to-hull-of-overturned-boat-off-jersey-shore-rescued/3614574/
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FORSYTH COUNTY, Ga. — A man was killed last Thursday after jumping off a dock into Lake Lanier, according to Georgia DNR.
This happened near Lanier Beach South Road in Forsyth County.
Officials provided limited details on what precisely occurred other than to say the victim, 24-year-old Thomas Milner entered the water from his family's dock and was heard screaming shortly after.
The Forsyth County Sheriff's Office said neighbors took a boat over to help Milner, jumped into the water, and described "a burning sensation he recognized as an electric shock."
Authorities add that the neighbor swam ashore and turned off a power box before pulling Milner from the water.
DNR adds that the victim was taken to Northside Forsyth Hospital where he later died.
News happens fast. Download our 11Alive News app for all the latest breaking updates, and sign up for our Speed Feed newsletter to get a rundown of the latest headlines across north Georgia.
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https://www.11alive.com/article/news/local/man-electrocuted-killed-lake-lanier/85-a0ef155a-53a9-4a9c-a473-18d4d9825768
| 2023-07-30T19:44:25
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PORT ANGELES, Wash. — An 8-year-old suffered minor injuries after being attacked by a cougar while camping at Lake Angeles in the Olympic National Park on Saturday.
The cougar "casually abandoned" the attack after the child's mother yelled at it, according to the National Park Service.
Park personnel responded and escorted the child and their family back to the trailhead. The child was then taken to a local hospital for further evaluation.
All remaining campers in the Lake Angeles area have been evacuated and access to the Lake Angeles and Heather Park areas are closed to the public until further notice.
“Due to the extreme nature of this incident, we are closing the Lake Angeles area and several trails in the vicinity,” said Olympic National Park Wildlife Biologist Tom Kay. “Out of an abundance of caution, the Lake Angeles Trail, Heather Park Trail, Switchback Trail, and the entire Klahhane Ridge Trail are closed until further notice.”
Law enforcement and wildlife personnel specializing in cougar tracking were dispatched to the cougar's last known location Sunday morning. If the cougar is located it will be euthanized and removed for necropsy, according to the National Park Service.
The Olympic National Park is considered cougar territory. The National Park Service recommends visitors do not hike or jog alone and to keep children within sight and close to adults.
Cougar/human interactions are rare in the northwest. But if you encounter one, officials say to do the following:
- Do not run
- Make noise and appear large
- If attacked, fight back
- Carry bear spray
This is a developing story. Check back for updates.
Download our free KING 5 app to stay up-to-date on news stories from across western Washington.
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https://www.king5.com/article/news/local/cougar-attack-child-olympia-national-park/281-102e0158-a488-48ac-aea0-54a5578d0a36
| 2023-07-30T19:53:56
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MERRILLVILLE — The town of Merrillville will be celebrating National Night Out from 5 to 8 p.m. Tuesday at the Dean and Barbara White Community Center, 6600 Broadway.
“The parking lot will be sectioned off by wards, and so we encourage residents to come out and have the opportunity to meet your elected official and have fellowship with neighbors,” Town Councilman Richard Hardaway said. “There will be food, water, pop, music, games for the kids, bouncy houses, popcorn, snow cones, and more.”
There will be an informational table set up at the entrance of the event so visitors can see which ward they live in and visit that area of the event.
“We’re looking for a great time, everyone is welcome, please come out and enjoy yourself,” Hardaway said.
National Night Out also offers a great opportunity to meet with the Town’s first responders to share your concerns and receive safety tips.
“I’m really looking forward to that,” Merrillville Police Chief Kosta Nuses said of National Night Out. “To seeing the public and meeting people and getting an idea of what they expect from the Police Department.”
Call 219-769-5711, ext. 303 for more information about National Night Out.
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https://www.nwitimes.com/news/local/lake/merrillville-celebrates-national-night-out/article_b6a5d488-2d92-11ee-97d0-0375e076daeb.html
| 2023-07-30T20:01:10
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WICHITA, Kan. (KSNW) — Kenneth Simons turned 90 this July, and his passion for growing watermelons goes back to the 1940s when he bought his first car for just thirty dollars.
Now, he sells them out of the back of his pickup truck, down a long dirt road near Haysville. Simons normally sells out within a few hours.
He began planting his watermelons on the land of Colonial Heights Church almost eight years ago. Originally, Simons was growing his melons across the road, but due to vandalism, he looked for a solution that was more off of the main road.
The church’s members said he’s put them on the map.
“He sort of made our church famous. We’re the watermelon church in South Wichita,” said
Pastor Mark Combs.
Combs thought he was going to tend to a small portion of the acreage behind the church. When he went to check on Simons, he was stunned.
“He’d been working all day, and he had plowed about 10 to 12 acres, and I said, ‘Ken, I thought it was a little patch,’ and he said, ‘Oh, this is little. I have a big patch down south,'” said Combs.
His customers have remained loyal over the years. One couple that stopped by Saturday has been buying from Kenneth for 10 years.
“It’s crazy, heat of the day, love it, love it, he was like, he’s not going to be out there in the heat of the day. I said watch, two to six, ya we’re going,” said customers Jamey and Heather Thomas.
Simons watermelon season normally lasts until early October. However, due to this year’s drought, he said he’ll only be selling until the end of August.
You can find him most days, from 2 to 6 p.m., at 5200 S. Broadway in Wichita.
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https://www.ksn.com/news/local/haysville-man-celebrates-85-years-in-watermelon-farming/
| 2023-07-30T20:01:57
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LIGONIER TOWNSHIP, Pa. — Two people were hurt after a vehicle crashed into a ticket booth at Idlewild & SoakZone.
Westmoreland County dispatch officials said the crash happened around 2 p.m.
Authorities say the driver experienced a medical emergency at the time of the crash.
One person was injured after becoming entrapped in the ticket booth.
The conditions of either person hurt is unknown.
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https://www.wpxi.com/news/local/2-people-hurt-when-vehicles-crashes-into-idlewild-ticket-booth/WT7OJZZKJVH5XAPTVNIJZORUOQ/
| 2023-07-30T20:03:30
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ROSS TOWNSHIP, Pa. — Giant Eagle has issued a voluntary recall for select ground beef for potential small plastic fragments located in the meat.
The recall affects items purchased from the Giant Eagle at 8080 McIntyre Square Drive in Ross Township on Saturday, July 29.
The following products are included in the recall:
- Local Beef Ground Beef
- Nature’s Basket Ground Beef, 90% Lean 10% Fat
- USDA Choice Market District Certified Angus Ground Sirloin, 90% Lean 10% Fat
- USDA Choice Market District Certified Angus Ground Beef, 85% Lean 15% Fat
- USDA Choice Certified Angus Ground Round, 85% Lean 15% Fat
- Certified Angus Virtually Prime Ground Round
- Ground Beef, 80% Lean 20% Fat
- Value Pack Ground Beef, 80% Lean 20% Fat
- Certified Angus Ground Beef, 80% Lean 20% Fat
- Certified Angus Virtually Prime Beef, 80% Lean 20% Fat
- USDA Choice Market District Certified Angus Ground Chuck, 80% Lean 20% Fat
- Ground Beef, 73% Lean 27% Fat
- Value Pack Ground Beef, 73% Lean 27% Fat
The recalled items only apply to the Giant Eagle on McIntyre Square Drive.
Giant Eagle said there have been no reports of illness associated with the recalled products.
The company also said they will be utilizing its telephone notification process to let Giant Eagle Advantage Card holders know if they purchased the items.
Guests with questions may call Giant Eagle Customer Care at 1-800-553-2324 Monday through Friday 8 a.m. to 8 p.m.
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| 2023-07-30T20:03:36
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https://www.wpxi.com/news/local/giant-eagle-issues-ground-beef-recall-due-potential-plastic-fragments-product/AM2IXXZIIVCWJPQWGLYWWLVHVY/
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SPRINGFIELD, Ohio — A helicopter hit power lines and crashed near an interstate in Ohio over the weekend, killing the pilot and causing a series of crashes, authorities said.
The Bell 206L-4 aircraft was flying near I-70 in Springfield Township in Clark County when it hit the lines and crashed into a cornfield shortly after noon Saturday, the Ohio State Highway Patrol said.
The pilot, 36-year-old Isaac Lee Santos of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, was pronounced dead at the scene, state troopers said. The aircraft was owned by Helicopter Applicators Inc. of Gettysburg, which does aerial applications such as herbicide and insecticide to farmland and other industries, according to the Springfield News-Sun.
Power lines fell onto the westbound and eastbound lanes of I-70, resulting in minor crashes of seven vehicles, authorities said. No other injuries were reported. The highway was closed for about five hours and Ohio Edison crews have been working to restore power to the area.
The Federal Aviation Administration and National Transportation Safety Board are investigating, and the highway patrol also continues to investigate.
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| 2023-07-30T20:03:42
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SANFORD, Fla. — Seminole County students and faculty can enjoy one last summer celebration before the start of the new school year.
>>> STREAM CHANNEL 9 EYEWITNESS NEWS LIVE <<<
Elev8 Fun will hold the Educ8 Back-to-School Extravaganza next month as a day of fun while raising money for the school district.
The back-to-school spirit night event is on Saturday, Aug. 8, in Sanford.
The entertainment center has attractions like bowling, mini golf, arcade games, go-karts and laser tag.
Read: UCF leads $3.3M project to enhance floating wind turbine technology
Guests can purchase a spirit night bundle for $30, including:
- Two gate pass activity credits for laser tag, mini golf, ropes course or omni-virtual reality
- Two hours of unlimited play in the arcade, except for claw machine or instant win games
- A meal voucher at the PL8 Bar & Grill
Five dollars from every spirit night bundle will benefit Seminole County Public Schools. People should mention their school to the cashier when buying the package.
Read: Students at 55 Marion County schools to get free breakfast, lunch this school year
Last year, the event focused on Sanford Middle School and raised $2,500.
Families can visit Elev8 from noon to 10 p.m. for games, food and prizes.
For more information, click here.
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https://www.wftv.com/news/local/back-to-school-event-will-raise-money-seminole-county-schools/CHLJPPCV6JFMPFFJVYYKYDAWS4/
| 2023-07-30T20:07:23
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ORLANDO, Fla. — A University of Central Florida (UCF) engineering professor, Tuhin Das, is leading a $3.3 million research project funded by the Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E) to study floating offshore wind turbines.
>>> STREAM CHANNEL 9 EYEWITNESS NEWS LIVE <<<
Das aims to develop a software platform that simulates the impact of external factors, like changing winds and crashing waves, on floating wind turbine systems. The project aims to diversify the nation’s energy resources and boost renewable energy contributions to the power grid.
During the initial phase, funded with $772,000, Das demonstrated the software’s potential benefits, showing results comparable to industry-accepted models and experimental data.
The recent $3.3 million grant from ARPA-E will fund phase two of the research, allowing further investigation for the next three years.
The software platform is envisioned to become publicly accessible, hosted on the university’s website, and available for licensing and commercialization. The goal is to enable researchers from academia and the industry to use it to advance wind turbine research and innovation.
Read: CDC: Up to 450,000 may not know they are suffering from meat allergy triggered by a tick
Floating offshore wind turbine farms are still limited, with only a few in operation, but Das hopes his software will support the development of more offshore wind turbines and promote renewable energy.
The research, initiated in 2019, is based on acausal modeling, which offers a declarative approach to modeling governing equations, allowing for better model reusability than traditional methods.
Das collaborated with researchers from the University of Maine and the National Renewable Energy Laboratory during the first phase to generate experimental data and validate the software.
Read: The unique staying power of #BlackLivesMatters 10 years later
The UCF team, consisting of graduate students and a postdoctoral research scholar, plans to work diligently over the next few years to advance the project’s objectives, according to a news release.
This research holds promise for the field of floating offshore wind turbines, driving innovation in renewable energy for the nation’s power infrastructure.
Read: State case between Disney, new oversight district will continue, Orange County judge rules
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https://www.wftv.com/news/local/ucf-leads-33m-project-enhance-floating-wind-turbine-technology/26CLELLE5FEHDMKFW6ZFR6G4HE/
| 2023-07-30T20:07:29
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https://www.wftv.com/news/local/ucf-leads-33m-project-enhance-floating-wind-turbine-technology/26CLELLE5FEHDMKFW6ZFR6G4HE/
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Waves crash against the shoreline on Simmons Island beach on Thursday, July 1, 2021.
An Illinois man died in a reported drowning following a water incident that occurred in Lake Michigan at Simmons Island Beach Saturday night.
The 58-year-old man was with his 28-year-old son, also from Illinois, when both were reportedly struggling while in the water shortly after 6 p.m., according to Sgt. Jeff Galley of the Kenosha Police Department.
“Someone operating a Wave Runner (Jet Ski) tried to get near them to help them out,” Galley said Sunday.
While the younger man was able to hold on as he was being rescued, the older man was not and “ultimately went under the water, Galley said.
“It sounds like he was under the water for 15 minutes before he was pulled out by the Coast Guard,” he said.
Kenosha Fire Department rescue personnel transported the older man to Froedtert Pleasant Prairie Hospital and continued to perform life-saving measures enroute to the medical center.
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https://kenoshanews.com/news/local/one-rescued-another-dies-in-reported-drowning-saturday-night-at-simmons-island-beach/article_ebb77442-2ef5-11ee-ae48-030969e35e3f.html
| 2023-07-30T20:16:06
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https://kenoshanews.com/news/local/one-rescued-another-dies-in-reported-drowning-saturday-night-at-simmons-island-beach/article_ebb77442-2ef5-11ee-ae48-030969e35e3f.html
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Lightning and thunderstorms hit east Mesa near Broadway and Hawes roadsWatch: Rare ocelot 'Lil Jefe' roams southeast ArizonaCar cooking in Phoenix during Arizona's heat wave of July 2023Cesar Chavez community mourns Christopher Hampton at vigil
Watch 90-year-old Marg Burg go skydiving for her birthdayVideo: Fire burns after propane tanks explode in PhoenixVideos show 'QAnon shaman' Jake Angeli at the Jan. 6 U.S. Capitol riot
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https://www.azcentral.com/videos/news/local/scottsdale/2023/07/30/hangry-donkey-sanctuary-founder-discusses-water-issues/12299723002/
| 2023-07-30T20:32:15
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https://www.azcentral.com/videos/news/local/scottsdale/2023/07/30/hangry-donkey-sanctuary-founder-discusses-water-issues/12299723002/
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SCOTTSDALEHangry Donkey Sanctuary in Rio Verde FoothillsArizona RepublicRose Carroll, founder of Hangry Donkey Sanctuary, pets Grace, a blind pony (left) at the sanctuary in the Rio Verde Foothills on July 28, 2023.Joel Angel Juarez/The RepublicRose Carroll, founder of Hangry Donkey Sanctuary, stands near one of her wells at the sanctuary in the Rio Verde Foothills on July 28, 2023.Joel Angel Juarez/The RepublicRose Carroll, founder of Hangry Donkey Sanctuary, pets Clancy (left) at the sanctuary in the Rio Verde Foothills on July 28, 2023.Joel Angel Juarez/The RepublicRose Carroll, founder of Hangry Donkey Sanctuary, hugs Clancy at the sanctuary in the Rio Verde Foothills on July 28, 2023.Joel Angel Juarez/The RepublicRose Carroll, founder of Hangry Donkey Sanctuary, pets Clancy at the sanctuary in the Rio Verde Foothills on July 28, 2023.Joel Angel Juarez/The RepublicGrace, a blind pony, (right) stands in shade at the Hangry Donkey Sanctuary in the Rio Verde Foothills on July 28, 2023.Joel Angel Juarez/The RepublicA view of the Hangry Donkey Sanctuary in the Rio Verde Foothills on July 28, 2023.Joel Angel Juarez/The RepublicA view of the Hangry Donkey Sanctuary in the Rio Verde Foothills on July 28, 2023.Joel Angel Juarez/The RepublicBill, a rescue, at Hangry Donkey Sanctuary on June 22, 2023, in Rio Verde Foothills.Mark Henle/The RepublicA portrait of Rose Carroll at her Hangry Donkey Sanctuary on June 22, 2023, in Rio Verde Foothills.Mark Henle/The RepublicRose Carroll operates her water well and filter system at Hangry Donkey Sanctuary on June 22, 2023, in Rio Verde Foothills.Mark Henle/The RepublicGroundwater is transferred to the storage tank at Hangry Donkey Sanctuary on June 22, 2023, in Rio Verde Foothills.Mark Henle/The RepublicColtin Carroll (left) and Kevin Carroll transfer water to the storage tank at Hangry Donkey Sanctuary on June 22, 2023, in Rio Verde Foothills.Mark Henle/The Republic
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https://www.azcentral.com/picture-gallery/news/local/scottsdale/2023/07/30/hangry-donkey-sanctuary-in-rio-verde-foothills-arizona-photos/12299899002/
| 2023-07-30T20:32:21
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https://www.azcentral.com/picture-gallery/news/local/scottsdale/2023/07/30/hangry-donkey-sanctuary-in-rio-verde-foothills-arizona-photos/12299899002/
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