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+{"question_id": "20240119_0", "search_time": "2024/01/19/23:34", "search_result": [{"url": "https://www.cnn.com/2022/09/01/world/gallery/photos-this-week-august-25-september-1/index.html", "title": "Photos this week: August 25-September 1, 2022 | CNN", "text": "A water shortage in Jackson, Mississippi, has upended life in the capital city.\n\nLittle to no water has been flowing from faucets since the failure of a water treatment plant plagued by decades of deferred maintenance. Authorities have been scrambling to get the plant back online.\n\nSchools have been shuttered, businesses have been forced to adapt, and people have had to wait in long lines for bottled water that they can use to drink, cook or brush their teeth.\n\nA rental pump installed Wednesday at the plant will help add 4 million more gallons of water a day into the system, authorities believe. The state also contracted with outside operators to begin work on critical emergency repairs.\n\nMayor Chokwe Antar Lumumba said Wednesday he was optimistic that water service could be restored this week. But he added that \"there is a huge mountain to climb in order to achieve that.\"\n\nHere are some of the stories that made headlines over the past week, as well as some photos that caught our eye.", "authors": [], "publish_date": "2022/09/01"}, {"url": "https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/nfl/columnist/mike-jones/2022/02/13/aaron-donald-los-angeles-rams-super-bowl-2022/6781266001/", "title": "Aaron Donald's Super Bowl cements Rams DT as NFL all-time great", "text": "INGLEWOOD, Calif. – Aaron Donald had a promise to keep, and he couldn’t blow a second opportunity.\n\nThree years ago when the Los Angeles Rams traveled to Atlanta, where they would face the New England Patriots in Super Bowl 53, the All-Pro defensive lineman told his daughter that he and his teammates were going to win the championship game, and she would join him on the field afterward and play in the confetti.\n\nThe Rams wound up losing that game, and there was no confetti celebration, which 5-year-old Jaeda didn’t understand.\n\n“She was like, “Daddy, when are we playing in the confetti?’” Donald said Sunday. “So, this was something that I had to keep a promise to my daughter and make sure that we were able to complete the mission this time.”\n\nNFL STATS CENTRAL: The latest NFL scores, schedules, odds, stats and more.", "authors": [], "publish_date": "2022/02/13"}, {"url": "https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/50-states/2020/11/09/hospital-wedding-howard-celebrates-home-order-news-around-states/114749772/", "title": "Hospital wedding, Howard celebrates: News from around our 50 states", "text": "From USA TODAY Network and wire reports\n\nAlabama\n\nMontgomery: An organization for teachers is expressing concern that children are being allowed to return to school before completing required COVID-19 quarantine periods, potentially putting the health of students and school employees at risk. The Alabama Education Association sent a letter Thursday to the Alabama Board of Medical Examiners saying it had learned some doctors are writing excuses for students to return to school before mandated quarantine periods expired. Theron Stokes, associate executive director of AEA, said doctors should be aware of the guidelines and follow them. “When students return to school having not completed the entire 14-day quarantine period, they are placing their fellow students and their schools’ employees at risk. For students and school employees who have underlying health conditions, these decisions can be deadly,” Stokes wrote. The group said it is gross negligence to ignore the quarantine guidelines and threatened possible legal action.\n\nAlaska\n\nAnchorage: The state’s largest city plans to boost enforcement of an expanded mask mandate and restrict gathering sizes in a bid to curb coronavirus cases, officials said Friday. The changes take effect Monday, with masks to be worn, with a few exceptions, in indoor public settings or communal areas and outdoors when distancing from non-household members is not possible. In some cases, such as for individuals with disabilities who cannot tolerate a mask, face shields will be allowed unless wearing one would be impossible, the order says. Masks are to be worn by school-age children older than 5, those who exercise or work at gyms, and athletes, players, coaches and officials who participate in organized sports, according to the municipality directives. Athletes must keep a mask on for indoor sports, but one is not required while “exercising vigorously outdoors,” the directives state.\n\nArizona\n\nPhoenix: A top hospital official urged Arizonans to help curb the spread of the coronavirus by considering alternatives to traditional Thanksgiving get-togethers. “Congregating in large groups and close contact with others outside of your immediate household put you and those around you at risk,” said Dr. Marjorie Bessell, chief clinical officer of Banner Health. “I know we are asking a lot of you.” Banner operates 23 hospitals in Arizona and several in other states. Arizona health officials on Sunday reported 1,880 new COVID-19 cases and 17 additional deaths. State Department of Health Services officials said the latest figures increase Arizona’s totals to 259,264 cases and 6,164 known deaths since the coronavirus pandemic began. Cases and hospitalizations have been steadily increasing in Arizona since late September and throughout October after bottoming out in August after the state was a national hot spot in June and July.\n\nArkansas\n\nLittle Rock: The state hit a record one-day increase in coronavirus cases Friday for the second day in a row, as Gov. Asa Hutchinson said he was growing concerned about hospital capacity. The Department of Health said the state’s probable and confirmed virus cases rose by 1,870. The state’s previous one-day high came Thursday, when it reported 1,548 new cases. On Saturday the department reported 1,598 new cases and 12 additional deaths for totals of 120,828 cases and 2,068 deaths since the pandemic began. The department reported 722 hospitalizations, 16 more than Friday’s then-record high. “Today’s numbers show we are not in a good position as we head into the colder months,” Gov. Asa Hutchinson said Friday. “I ask all Arkansans to take this virus seriously and to take necessary precautions. Our number of new cases is growing at a rate that worries me in terms of our hospital capacity.”\n\nCalifornia\n\nSan Diego: Republican former U.S. Rep. Darrell Issa was victorious Saturday in his race to return to Congress, where he once headed the powerful House Oversight and Government Reform Committee and became a GOP favorite for launching a string of investigations of the Obama administration. The former nine-term congressman and ardent supporter of President Donald Trump trailed early in the San Diego-area 50th District. But as more votes were counted after Election Day, he overtook Democrat Ammar Campa-Najjar. The latest vote count update gave him about 54% of the votes and a 23,000-vote lead. Issa already had declared victory in a statement posted to social media Friday night. Campa-Najjar, a 31-year-old former Obama administration official, was making his second bid for the seat. He received more votes than he did in 2018 and thanked his supporters for “giving a Latino-Arab American a chance to do something special.”\n\nColorado\n\nDenver: City officials are urging residents to stay home between 10 p.m. and 5 a.m. in an effort to stem the tide of coronavirus cases, which could overwhelm area hospitals by the end of the year. Mayor Michael Hancock said during a virtual news conference Friday that the “Home by 10 Order,” which will last for at least 30 days, is necessary to avoid another citywide stay-at-home order. He also urged residents not to gather or mix with other households. “I’m not going to mince any words here when it comes to the spread of the coronavirus,” Hancock said. “We’re on a very dangerous path. We’re seeing rapid, significant increases in the numbers of people getting sick, and many of those people ended up in the hospital.” The mayor shied away from calling the order a curfew because he said enforcement would only target the most egregious violations – not, for instance, someone walking their dog or going for a run after 10 p.m.\n\nConnecticut\n\nHamden: Several colleges and universities have added new restrictions for students as coronavirus cases continue to rise in the state. Quinnipiac University announced it is instituting a two-week quarantine after recording 155 positive tests on campus since Wednesday. The quarantine means residential students must stay in their rooms, except to pick up takeout meals from the dining hall, and students living off campus can only return for testing. Students in isolation who have tested positive for the coronavirus will have meals delivered to their rooms each night. At Yale University, students residing in Davenport, Hopper, and Saybrook Colleges were ordered to quarantine because of positive coronavirus tests. In Fairfield, Sacred Heart and Fairfield universities have instituted curfews. The state reported Friday that 22 more people were hospitalized with COVID-19, bringing the total to 402, the highest total in five months.\n\nDelaware\n\nLewes: For the Rehoboth Beach Film Society, the show (or shows) must go on. The 23rd annual Rehoboth Beach Independent Film Festival is taking place as scheduled this month with a few modifications for health concerns. Only five films will be shown inside the society’s Cinema Art Theater, with 10 more available to stream at home. “We had the opportunity to carry out this event with the safety of our viewers as a priority,” said Rehoboth Beach Film Society Executive Director Sue Early. “They can watch films at home this year. It’s not the same experience, but there’s some great films to see. And in our theater, we could be showing at 60%, and we’re only going to use 30 out of 104 seats, which is just under 29%. They are well-spaced and cleaned after every screening. So it’s really safe.” Tickets are on sale now for the festival, which runs Nov. 5-15.\n\nDistrict of Columbia\n\nWashington: Hundreds of people gathered on the campus of Howard University on Saturday to celebrate their sister Kamala Harris after her announcement as vice president-elect, WUSA-TV reports. “When you come to Howard University, that is a very distinct choice,” said Niambi Carter, associate professor of political science at Howard University. “You are choosing a legacy and a lineage that is great in so many aspects.” A large group of Alpha chapter members of Alpha Kappa Alpha gathered in front of the sorority’s plot on the yard to cheer for Harris’ election. “I’m so proud of Kamala, and I’m so proud to stand on the grounds where she walked,” alumna Kenya Sumner said. Harris graduated from Howard with a degree in political science and economics in 1986, the same year she became a member of the Alpha chapter of Alpha Kappa Alpha, the first historically black sorority, founded on Howard’s campus.\n\nFlorida\n\nOrange Park: Eight weeks after being admitted to the hospital with COVID-19, Henry Bell and his longtime fiancee decided the time was right for a wedding. So the day before his anticipated release from the inpatient rehab center at Orange Park Medical Center, Bell, 63, and Antionette Brown, 48, said their vows in the parking lot Thursday. Brown’s uncle performed the ceremony. “His condition was deadly,” Brown said. “We decided to do it now because we feel they (the hospital staff) are like family and wanted to share the life they gave us back.” Bell was admitted to the hospital Sept. 13 and immediately put on a ventilator. Brown and the couple’s seven grown children could only wait and hope for his condition to improve. He spent weeks in intensive care. He entered the hospital’s rehab center Sunday, and his recovery has included learning how to walk again.\n\nGeorgia\n\nAthens: Athens-Clarke County plans to rent space for jury trials and grand jury proceedings. Grand juries and trials have been on hold in the state since March 14, when state Supreme Court Chief Justice Harold Melton declared a statewide judicial emergency because of the coronavirus threat. In subsequent renewal orders, Melton amended them to allow for court proceedings if they could be conducted safely. The best option for holding court proceedings in Athens-Clarke County is by using the Classic Center, said a committee tasked with deciding the issue. The county will pay the Classic Center up to $350,815 to rent space for the proceedings. The price Athens-Clarke will pay includes daily cleaning of the rooms used for trial proceedings, including space to conduct actual trials and a jury deliberation room. The $350,815 amount is based on the cost of 30 jury trials that last an average of five days each.\n\nHawaii\n\nHonolulu: The state Department of Land and Natural Resources reopened a popular scenic spot on Oahu that has been closed to visitors since the outbreak of the coronavirus. The Nuuanu Pali State Wayside, popularly known as Pali Lookout, was closed to the public at the outset of the pandemic because of budgetary constraints and crowding concerns. There were challenges in maintaining physical distancing at the lookout, State Parks Administrator Curt Cottrell said. Officials announced the park, which is among the most visited spots on Oahu, reopened Wednesday with daily hours of 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. The gates to the park’s access roads will be unlocked and secured daily by the Honolulu Police Department. The state set new parking fees of $7 per vehicle for nonresidents. Hawaii residents are not subject to parking and entry fees at any state parks. Tour buses are largely absent from the lookout, making the volume of visitors much lower.\n\nIdaho\n\nBoise: A state panel of medical experts is asking the governor for a statewide mask mandate, and hospitals are running out of space for COVID-19 patients, after a week marked with record numbers of new cases and deaths. At least 671 Idaho residents have died from the coronavirus, and a record high of 1,290 new COVID-19 cases were reported on Wednesday alone, according to the Idaho Department of Health and Welfare, followed by 1,265 new cases Thursday. More than 69,500 residents have been confirmed to have the illness since the pandemic began. Idaho hospitals have reported more than 200 patients hospitalized with COVID-19 every day since Oct. 12. On Nov. 2, the most recent data available, there were nearly 300 patients hospitalized with COVID-19. Jeanie Gentry, CEO of Steele Memorial Medical Center in Salmon, told the Idaho Statesman the facility is short about 40% of its staffers because they’ve been exposed or sickened.\n\nIllinois\n\nSpringfield: Gov. J.B. Pritzker has tested negative for the coronavirus after learning he may have been exposed during a meeting to someone who tested positive. Members of Pritzker’s staff who attended the meeting last Monday also tested negative for the virus, his office said Saturday in a news release. Pritzker had self-isolated Friday while awaiting test results. They were the second negative test results for Pritzker and staff members who also underwent weekly tests Wednesday, according to his office. Meanwhile, 12,438 newly confirmed and probable cases of the virus and another 76 deaths were reported Saturday by the Illinois Department of Public Health. More than 10,370 new cases and 49 deaths were reported Friday. Illinois has had nearly 478,000 cases of the coronavirus and more than 10,150 deaths since the start of the pandemic.\n\nIndiana\n\nSouth Bend: The University of Notre Dame’s Faculty Senate formally expressed disappointment in the school president’s failure to wear a face mask at a White House event days before he tested positive for the coronavirus. The Faculty Senate voted 29-13 on Thursday for a resolution expressing disappointment in the Rev. John Jenkins’ failure to wear a mask and practice social distancing at a Sept. 26 Rose Garden ceremony for Amy Coney Barrett, a Notre Dame law professor confirmed last month as a U.S. Supreme Court justice. The Faculty Senate was originally expected to vote on a no confidence resolution, but that was amended. Jenkins tested positive for the coronavirus days after the Rose Garden ceremony, where President Donald Trump introduced Barrett as his nominee to the high court. Jenkins was seen without a mask, and he shook hands and sat shoulder-to-shoulder with others.\n\nIowa\n\nDes Moines: State prison officials reported Friday that a coronavirus outbreak has infected nearly half of the inmates at a prison in Anamosa. Testing last week revealed 476 inmates among 985 at the prison tested positive for the virus, said Cord Overton, a spokesman for the Iowa Department of Corrections. A report provided by the department indicates 37 staff members also tested positive. Across the nine institutions the department manages, 601 inmates were infected as of Friday afternoon. The report shows coronavirus has been active in the prison system since testing began in March with more than 21,000 tests administered to inmates. It said 1,252 inmates have recovered, an indication they have at one time tested positive but are no longer symptomatic are believed to be contagious. Four Iowa inmates have died during the pandemic, the report said.\n\nKansas\n\nTopeka: The state saw most of a projected budget shortfall melt away Friday with a fiscal forecast that is less pessimistic about the economy and tax collections than a dire estimate issued this spring during a statewide lockdown for the coronavirus pandemic. The forecasting group boosted the state’s forecast for tax collections by $463 million, or 6.3%, for the 2021 budget year that began July 1. The group also issued its first calculations for the 2022 budget year that starts in July 2021, and while the forecast predicts a drop in tax collections of 2.1%, or $166 million, that’s due largely to the end of a temporary, pandemic-induced move to help income taxpayers. The Legislature’s nonpartisan research staff now projects a $153 million budget shortfall for the state’s 2022 budget year, an amount that almost can be covered by an internal shuffling of government funds that Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly already has proposed.\n\nKentucky\n\nFrankfort: The state’s bar and restaurant operators are getting a break from alcoholic beverage renewal fees in a cost-saving step as they struggle with revenue losses from the pandemic. The Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control is granting a 12-month fee renewal waiver to license holders, Gov. Andy Beshear said Thursday. Bar and restaurant operators who haven’t submitted the renewal fee this year won’t have to pay until 2021, he said. Those who have paid this year will have their fees waived in 2021, he said. “This has certainly been a difficult year for our bars, restaurants and venues, and they deserve this innovative support as we face what could be a very painful winter,” Beshear said. Bars and restaurants have endured capacity limitations to help contain the coronavirus. The fee waiver doesn’t apply to producers, distributors, wholesalers and others able to continue operations throughout the virus-related state of emergency.\n\nLouisiana\n\nBaton Rouge: In response to complaints that family and clergy were barred from hospitals and nursing homes amid the coronavirus pandemic, legislators have rewritten state laws to lessen visitation restrictions during public health emergencies. The bills passed unanimously in the special session that ended last month and were signed into law by Gov. John Bel Edwards. They still will give discretion to the Louisiana Department of Health to decide just how wide-open the visitation can be and what safety protections will have to be followed. One measure by Sen. Robert Mills, a Minden Republican, calls on the health department to create rules requiring inpatient health care facilities to allow pastors, priests and other members of the clergy to visit patients during a public health emergency, if the patient asks for the visit.\n\nMaine\n\nPortland: Officials on Friday recommended caution at more schools in the state because of the rise in coronavirus cases. The state uses a color-coded system to categorize the level of precaution schools should use. The administration of Gov. Janet Mills, a Democrat, said it’s adding schools in Knox County and Franklin County to the “yellow” category, which is an intermediate level. Those counties join Somerset and Washington counties in the yellow category. All other counties in the state are in the “green” category, the lowest level, though officials said they’re closely monitoring schools in Waldo and Kennebec counties. The state recommends that schools located in counties in the yellow category consider hybrid instruction models to reduce the number of people in schools and classrooms. The change in category for some schools came as cases surged around the state.\n\nMaryland\n\nBaltimore: The city is tightening restrictions on restaurants and indoor and outdoor gatherings in response to rising cases of the coronavirus, Mayor Bernard “Jack” Young announced Friday. The changes will take effect Thursday at 5 p.m. Young said numbers of people in restaurants, religious facilities, theaters and malls will be limited to 25% capacity. Young said food service establishments must close indoor dining at 10 p.m. Bars that don’t have a license to sell food will be closed. “I am instituting these restrictions for the public health and to save lives in Baltimore city,” Young said. Also, the city’s health commissioner revised an order to require masks to be worn in public at all times, whether people are inside or outside. Dr. Letitia Dzirasa’s order is effective immediately. “Over the past month Baltimore city has seen our data trends move in the wrong direction,” she said.\n\nMassachusetts\n\nBoston: State officials on Friday urged more schools to return to full, in-person instruction, saying that only communities with the highest COVID-19 rates should be using any form of remote learning. Under previous guidance, schools were told to shift among remote learning, in-person learning or a mix of the two depending on their area’s infection rate. Areas with moderate spread were advised to use remote or hybrid learning, while only those with the lowest rates were encouraged to bring students back full time. But speaking at a news conference, Gov. Charlie Baker said there’s growing evidence that schools are not a significant source of spread and that keeping students at home hurts their learning and mental health. “We continue to see too many communities with children learning in remote-only models,” he said. “We all know that losing a week, a month, a quarter or more in the life of a kid’s education has real consequences.”\n\nMichigan\n\nLansing: Joe Biden reclaimed the Wolverine State for Democrats with a surge of support in urban regions like Detroit and Grand Rapids, offsetting high turnout in rural and exurban areas for President Donald Trump. Biden’s 146,000-vote margin, 2.7 percentage points, was powered by gains in big, vote-rich counties such as Oakland near Detroit and Kent, which includes Grand Rapids – amid a record 5.5 million people casting ballots statewide. Biden won Oakland by 14 points, besting Hillary Clinton’s 8-point edge in 2016. He carried Kent by almost 6 points after Trump netted it by 3 points four years ago. Trump again won traditional bellwether Macomb County outside Detroit, by roughly 8 points – less than his 11-point margin in 2016, however. Biden became just the second Democratic presidential candidate to carry Kent in more than 50 years, after Barack Obama did it in his first run.\n\nMinnesota\n\nMinneapolis: COVID-19 is sweeping across the state at an unprecedented pace, breaking records for new cases and daily deaths and raising concerns about the ability of hospitals to keep up. The Star Tribune reports Saturday’s tally of 4,647 new cases – a figure that would have easily set a record during the first eight months of the pandemic – wasn’t even close to the biggest single-day count of the past week. For the seven-day period ending Saturday, Minnesota reported more than 25,000 new COVID-19 cases, or more than 10% of the state’s cases since March. The Minnesota Department of Health reported another 34 deaths Saturday, bringing the week’s total to 168, the second-highest one-week count since the start of the pandemic. Hospitals, meanwhile, are scrambling to treat more COVID-19 patients even as the virus threatens to sideline more health care workers.\n\nMississippi\n\nJackson: The Mississippi Department of Health has been working around the clock to respond to the coronavirus pandemic. Now, the agency will be responsible for starting a statewide medical marijuana program within the next nine months. Uncertified election results showed 74% of Mississippi voters approved the ballot measure that allows doctors to prescribe up to 5 ounces of marijuana per month for people who have at least one of more than 20 serious medical conditions. “This vote shows minds are changing,” said Jaqueline Temple Rudder, a homemaker from Madison County who lost her father-in-law to cancer and voted for Initiative 65. “We don’t want our sick suffering.” Both Gov. Tate Reeves and state’s top health officer, Dr. Thomas Dobbs, opposed the initiative. Officials with the Department of Health will have until August to begin licensing treatment centers and certifying eligible patients.\n\nMissouri\n\nSt. Louis: Local health departments in the state don’t have enough staffers to conduct contact tracing for all the COVID-19 cases popping up, so they have been prioritizing the ones they try to trace back to their sources, officials said. The state’s rate of positive tests over the past two weeks is more than double the national average, according to the COVID Tracking Project. Larry Jones, who heads the Missouri Center for Public Health Excellence, said local health departments are struggling to keep up with contact tracing, which helps determine how a disease is spreading. Missouri on Sunday reported 4,131 new confirmed cases of COVID-19 and three more deaths from the disease caused by the coronavirus. The seven-day rolling average of daily new cases in Missouri has risen over the past two weeks, from about 1,789 new cases per day Oct. 24 to about 3,126 as of Saturday, according to data from Johns Hopkins University.\n\nMontana\n\nHelena: A nursing facility in Butte has reported 10 COVID-19-related deaths in less than two weeks, and Gallatin County on Friday enacted stricter measures aimed at preventing the spread of the coronavirus. Montana has hit a record for hospitalizations, and the confirmed number of infection cases was closing in on 38,000, state officials said. The state health department confirmed 986 more cases of COVID-19 on Friday, bringing the total for the past week to 6,040, or an average of 863 cases per day. Over the previous week, the daily average was 779. Montana has reported 418 deaths, which may not include all 10 deaths tied to the outbreak at the Continental Care & Rehabilitation nursing facility in Butte. The Gallatin County health board on Friday said bars, restaurants and casinos must close by 10 p.m. instead of 12:30 a.m. They must also limit group sizes at tables to six adults plus children who are with a parent or guardian.\n\nNebraska\n\nOmaha: The state continues to report record numbers of new coronavirus cases and people hospitalized with the virus. Health officials said the surge in cases over the past month continued Friday with 2,681 new cases and 748 people hospitalized with the virus. Both those were new records, and the state’s rate of new cases was the seventh-highest in the nation. The state said 27 new deaths were reported Friday to give Nebraska 701 deaths. The seven-day rolling average of daily new cases has increased over the past two weeks from 836.71 new cases per day Oct. 23 to 1,408.86 new cases per day Friday, according to data from Johns Hopkins University. Also Friday, the Nebraska Department of Correctional Services said nine more staff members had tested positive for the virus to give it a total of 225 staff members who have been diagnosed with the virus. The department said the ill staffers are all isolating themselves at home.\n\nNevada\n\nCarson City: Democrats successfully won reelection in the swing state’s two battleground congressional districts. First-term Rep. Susie Lee won reelection to a second term by defeating former professional wrestler Dan Rodimer in the 3rd District. Republicans believed the Las Vegas-area district offered them their best chance at unseating an incumbent. Democratic Rep. Steven Horsford was reelected in the state’s other battleground district, defeating Republican former Assemblyman Jim Marchant. Lee and Horsford’s victories cement a six-year hold on Nevada’s swing districts, which Democrats have won in the three most recent elections, and helps Democrats hoping maintain a majority in the U.S. House of Representatives, where many races remain too early to call with votes left to be counted. The result sends Nevada’s existing delegation back to Washington, D.C.\n\nNew Hampshire\n\nConcord: Dartmouth-Hitchcock is again putting strict limits on visitors to its hospitals and outpatient clinics in response to the rising number of COVID-19 cases. Effective Friday, visitors are banned under most circumstances. Limited exceptions will be made for pediatric patients, women giving birth, patients at the end of life and those in a few other circumstances. The return to more restrictive policies applies to Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center in Lebanon as well as the health system’s outpatient clinics and facilities. Officials said their decision was based on the recent increase in COVID-19 cases in both New Hampshire and Vermont. Meanwhile, the state’s court system said it is suspending in-person hearings for a few days after Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year’s Day to prevent the spread of the coronavirus.\n\nNew Jersey\n\nTrenton: Gov. Phil Murphy on Friday named his associate counsel to lead the commission that will oversee the state’s new recreational marijuana marketplace. Dianna Houenou, who serves as legal counsel to Murphy’s administration, will chair the Cannabis Regulatory Commission. Before working in Murphy’s administration, Houenou was policy counsel at the American Civil Liberties Union in New Jersey. Murphy, a Democrat, made the announcement just days after New Jersey voters approved a constitutional amendment legalizing recreational marijuana for people 21 and older. The amendment goes into effect at the start of next year and calls for state regulators to set up a marketplace for the legal sale of the drug. It’s unclear when marijuana will be ready to hit retail shelves in the state. Advocates for legalization said the soonest they expect it could happen toward the end of 2021.\n\nNew Mexico\n\nAlbuquerque: State officials have the power to impose civil penalties when enforcing public health orders that call for businesses to restrict their operations amid a public health emergency, the state Supreme Court said Friday. The unanimous written opinion details the legal reasoning for an oral decision made by the court in August in a case brought by businesses that challenged health orders issued as a result of the coronavirus pandemic. Democratic Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham had petitioned the court to resolve the dispute. Lujan Grisham has warned that more restrictions could be imposed as early as this week as infections, hospitalizations and deaths continue to increase. She also said she has been disappointed in enforcement, pointing to businesses and country clubs in Albuquerque and elsewhere that hosted Halloween parties despite the ban on gatherings.\n\nNew York\n\nAlbany: Restrictions in some New York City pandemic hot spots will be rolled back, even as the state prepares to combat coronavirus flare-ups upstate, Gov. Andrew Cuomo said Friday. The governor said he’s considering imposing additional social distancing restrictions in “microcluster” zones in the Buffalo, Rochester and Syracuse areas because of rising infection rates. The addition of more of those zones upstate reflect the shifting state strategy as COVID-19 becomes a worsening problem beyond New York City, once an epicenter of the pandemic. The governor also said the National Guard will increase its presence at airports to help make sure travelers from non-neighboring states can provide proof of a negative coronavirus test. “In general, downstate New York is doing better than upstate New York, which is a total reversal from the first phase of COVID,” Cuomo said during a telephone briefing.\n\nNorth Carolina\n\nRaleigh: Republicans pressed state election officials Friday to make public more information about the number of outstanding ballots from last week’s election that could be counted. Nearly a dozen Election Day races in North Carolina, including those for president and U.S. Senate, remained too early to call because as many as 172,000 ballots had either yet to be counted or rejected, or could trickle in before this week’s deadline to receive mail-in ballots postmarked by Election Day. The actual number of ballots that will arrive is likely to be less, however, because many people who requested absentee ballots ended up voting on Election Day or perhaps didn’t vote at all. And past elections show a significant portion of the 41,000 provisional ballots cast Tuesday will be rejected.\n\nNorth Dakota\n\nBismarck: A child with COVID-19 has been confirmed to have a rare condition that causes inflammation in different parts of the body, state health officials said Friday. The child, who was discharged from the hospital and is resting at home, is the first confirmed case of multisystem inflammatory syndrome in the state. “This development is an unfortunate reminder that COVID-19 can impact people of any age, even children,” Dr. Joan Connell, Department of Health field medical officer and pediatrician, said in a statement. “The best way to help prevent your child from getting MIS-C is to take action to avoid exposure to the COVID-19 virus and teach your child how to do the same.” MIS-C – short for multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children – can inflame the heart, lungs, kidneys, brain, skin, eyes or gastrointestinal organs. Children with it have experienced persistent fever, abdominal pain, vomiting, diarrhea, neck pain, rash, bloodshot eyes and fatigue. Long-term effects are unknown.\n\nOhio\n\nColumbus: The number of coronavirus cases in the state has continued to spike despite pleas from the governor for people to help slow the spread. The seven-day rolling average of daily new cases in Ohio has risen over the past two weeks from 2,084 new cases per day Oct. 22 to 3,748 new cases per day Thursday, according to the COVID Tracking Project. The seven-day rolling average of the positivity rate in the state has also risen over the past two weeks from 4.96% on Oct. 22 to 7.93% on Thursday, according to the tracking hub. The Health Department on Friday reported 5,008 probable and confirmed cases, another daily record high. Ohio has reported more than 240,000 probable and confirmed cases to date, including 5,494 deaths. Republican Gov. Mike DeWine said Thursday that he planned to announce additional measures soon to slow the spread of the virus.\n\nOklahoma\n\nOklahoma City: The number of newly reported coronavirus cases in the state Saturday more than doubled the previous one-day record, and the Department of Health said a backlog of cases and possibly duplicate reporting were the reason. There were 4,741 new cases, bringing the total to 136,492 since the pandemic began, the department said. The previous one-day record of 2,101 new cases was recorded Thursday as cases in the state have surged in recent weeks. “We have reason to believe that our normal case count would have continued on an upward trajectory without the backlog and duplication,” which is due to a transition from a manual to electronic reporting system, according to a health department statement. In a statement, Gov. Kevin Stitt called on residents to wash hands often, socially distance and voluntarily wear masks at indoor public places.\n\nOregon\n\nSalem: Following a record-breaking day of COVID-19 cases in the state, officials announced new restrictions Friday that will be implemented in at least five of the state’s counties as part of a two-week pause on social activities. The updated safety measures, which begin Wednesday, include halting visitations to long-term care facilities, reducing the capacity of indoor dining at restaurants to 50 people, encouraging all businesses to mandate working from home, and urging Oregonians not to gather with people who do not live in their household – but if they do to limit it to six people. If people have multiple get-togethers, which is discouraged, it should be the same social circle of six people. “Let me be clear, we cannot allow this disease to continue to spread so rapidly in our communities. Lives are at stake,” Gov. Kate Brown said.\n\nPennsylvania\n\nPhiladelphia: Bail has been set at $750,000 each for two men authorities said were armed with loaded handguns when they were arrested near the city’s convention center where votes were being counted. Joshua Macias, 42, and Antonio LaMotta, 61, traveled from the Virginia Beach, Virginia, area in a Hummer and did not have permits to carry the weapons in Pennsylvania, police said. They were charged with carrying a concealed firearm without a license and carrying a firearm on a public street. The men were stopped Thursday about a block from the vehicle, Macias with a .40-caliber Beretta handgun inside his jacket and LaMotta with a 9 mm Beretta in a holster, Philadelphia Police Commissioner Danielle Outlaw said. An AR-style rifle and ammunition were found inside the vehicle, Outlaw said.\n\nRhode Island\n\nCentral Falls: Protesters gathered near a prison that houses federal detainees Friday, denouncing the facility’s contract with U.S. immigration authorities and pointing to a surge in coronavirus infections among detainees. Demonstrators blocked roads leading to the Wyatt Detention Facility in Central Falls, where authorities say more than 150 detainees have tested positive for COVID-19. Activists have repeatedly called for Wyatt’s closure, saying conditions are subpar. The publicly owned but privately operated lockup has about 540 inmates in the custody of the U.S. Marshals Service and Immigration and Customs Enforcement. In April, the American Civil Liberties Union filed a federal class-action lawsuit seeking the release of dozens of detainees, saying the virus was spreading “uncontrollably.” More than two dozen detainees subsequently were freed.\n\nSouth Carolina\n\nColumbia: Two days after his opponent proclaimed victory in South Carolina’s 1st District, freshman U.S. House Rep. Joe Cunningham conceded defeat Friday, saying he was proud of the work he had done in his single term in Congress and pledging to continue to work toward bipartisan progress as a private citizen. Standing in front of the U.S. Customs House in Charleston, Cunningham told supporters that he had called Republican Nancy Mace to offer support and congratulations. “She’s now my representative,” Cunningham said. “I’m rooting for her.” The Associated Press called the race for Mace early Wednesday morning, but Cunningham did not concede, citing scanning issues with absentee ballots in one of the district’s counties. In her victory, Mace, 42, becomes the first Republican woman elected to Congress in South Carolina and only the second-ever woman from the state elected to a full House term.\n\nSouth Dakota\n\nSioux Falls: More than 100 state residents have died of complications due to the coronavirus in the first eight days of November, health officials said Sunday. The Department of Health confirmed 13 deaths in the past day, for a total of 111 this month and 536 since the start of the pandemic. The overall death count is the 24th-highest per capita in the country in the past two weeks, Johns Hopkins University researchers said. The state reported 1,426 positive tests for COVID-19 since Saturday. South Dakota ranks second in the country behind North Dakota in the number of new cases per capita in the past two weeks. The top five counties with the most cases per capita in that time are Bon Homme, Dewey, Buffalo, Potter and Sanborn, according to the COVID Tracking Project. There are 546 people being treated in hospitals in the state, up 31 in the past day. Of those, 96 are in intensive care units, and 69 are using ventilators.\n\nTennessee\n\nJohnson City: Health officials in northeastern Tennessee say they do not have enough nurses to combat COVID-19 inside the region’s hospital system. “There are no longer enough nurses to fill the need that we have,” Ballad Health Senior Vice President and Chief Nursing Officer Lisa Smithgall told WJHL-TV. According to Ballad Health, the hospital system is looking to hire 350 registered nurses to fill its nurse shortage. “In the last eight weeks, we’ve had more than 900 patients admitted to COVID-19,” said Ballad Health Chief Administrative Officer Eric Deaton. After hitting 200 inpatients last week, the health care system has adjusted its COVID-19 surge plan to receive 300 inpatients. “These numbers represent lives; they’re non-encouraging,” Deaton said. “In fact, it’s really becoming a tragedy in the increased rates that we’re seeing.”\n\nTexas\n\nEl Paso: A district judge on Friday upheld an order from El Paso County’s top elected official shutting down businesses while the region fights an alarming surge in COVID-19 cases. The decision from Judge Bill Moody of El Paso’s 34th District Court came as federal military medical teams deployed to the border region at the request of the state. The county’s top elected official, El Paso County Judge Ricardo Samaniego, ordered a two-week shutdown of nonessential activities late last month. In making his decision, Moody pointed out that during the Spanish flu pandemic in the early part of the 20th century, city and county elected officials had authority to respond as they “thought was necessary to protect the health and financial interests of their individual communities.” Chris Hilton, an attorney with the Texas attorney general’s office, said the state would appeal.\n\nUtah\n\nSalt Lake City: The state’s largest teachers union called for the governor to move all public secondary schools in high coronavirus transmission areas to remote learning Friday as the state reported a single-day record of 17 COVID-19 deaths. The Utah Education Association also called for Republican Gov. Gary Herbert to suspend all extracurricular activities that can’t comply with social distancing guidelines in high transmission areas from the Thanksgiving holiday throughout winter break. “We are now seeing multiple schools repeatedly shift back and forth from in-person to at-home learning due to outbreaks,” the union wrote in a statement. “This cycle is obviously not helping to control the virus spread and, as educators, we can unequivocally state the continual interruptions are not in the best interest of student learning.”\n\nVermont\n\nMontpelier: Republican Gov. Phil Scott said Friday that comments by President Donald Trump casting doubts on the integrity of the election process are hurting society. Scott said all legal votes cast in the 2020 election need to be counted, including mail-in votes. Scott’s comments came a day after President Donald Trump made baseless claims of fraud in the ballot-counting process for the presidential election. Scott said that the president’s comments are “inciting a lot of rhetoric” and that many of his followers take him at his word. “I don’t believe any of the statements he made last night are true, and I do believe it is hurting our society and our ability to work together,” Scott said. After voting Tuesday, he said he had cast his presidential ballot for former Vice President Joe Biden. He said he had never voted for a Democratic presidential candidate before but had to put “country over party.”\n\nVirginia\n\nRichmond: Freshman Democratic U.S. Rep. Abigail Spanberger has kept her seat in a competitive congressional race in the Richmond suburbs. The former CIA operations officer defeated Republican challenger and state House delegate Nick Freitas in a close race that was called Sunday. Spanberger is considered one of Congress’ more moderate Democrats and was part of a wave of women who helped Democrats retake the U.S. House in 2018. But Freitas had tried to tie Spanberger to her party’s leadership and said it was out of sync with constituents. Spanberger spent nearly a decade with the CIA, working on counterterrorism and nuclear proliferation cases. She is one of two moderate Virginia Democrats who held on to U.S. House seats they flipped from red to blue two years ago, as Democrats’ strength in the Old Dominion continues to grow.\n\nWashington\n\nOlympia: The state set a daily record for new coronavirus cases, with 1,777 new confirmed cases announced Saturday, and the state Department of Health warned that COVID-19 cases are spreading in the Puget Sound region. In a statement, the health agency said the high numbers the state has seen over the past week reflect an overall surge that started in mid-September. King, Snohomish and Pierce counties are currently the hot spots in the region, officials said. “COVID-19 is currently spreading very quickly in Washington state,” said Secretary of Health John Wiesman. “We are very concerned that disease transmission will only grow over the next few weeks with the holidays coming up. The threat to overwhelming not just our hospital systems, but our ability to do contact tracing, is real. We need everyone in Washington state to take action now to stop the spread.”\n\nWest Virginia\n\nCharleston: The state reported surging COVID-19 case numbers Saturday along with 15 newly reported deaths from the virus. The West Virginia Department of Health and Human Resources reported 655 newly reported cases as of 10 a.m. Saturday for a total of 27,742 total cases and 502 deaths since the pandemic reached the state. The daily case count set a record for the state, a day after West Virginia saw a new peak of 540 cases over 24 hours. On Friday, several government staff and officials including Gov. Jim Justice were tested for the virus after a staffer in the Capitol building tested positive Friday morning. The attorney general’s office later said the employee believed to have the virus tested negative Friday night. Justice said he was tested for the virus minutes before a noon news conference Friday, where he announced the record high of new cases. He also urged West Virginians to get tested at sites around the state.\n\nWisconsin\n\nMilwaukee: State health officials reported a new daily high of more than 7,000 new COVID-19 cases – another new daily record. Saturday’s total of 7,065 confirmed infections is more than 900 cases higher than the previous record, set Friday with 6,141 cases, according to the state Department of Health Services. The state first passed 6,000 daily cases Friday, and Tuesday and Wednesday of this past week also saw record-setting numbers of new cases. The 7,065 positive cases made up 37% of the 18,928 test results reported Saturday by the state health department. The seven-day average of new cases also rose again, hitting 5,394, which is the highest weekly average to date, according to DHS. The state health department also reported 45 more people have died, bringing the state’s death toll to 2,301.\n\nWyoming\n\nCasper: State health officials reported 646 new coronavirus cases Sunday, the second-highest single-day total of the pandemic in the state. The Department of Health listed 966 new cases Friday, the highest single-day total. The Casper Star-Tribune reports at least 114 people have died of the coronavirus, and more than 14,690 people have tested positive. The new totals come amid a rapid surge in the numbers of cases in Wyoming and throughout much of the U.S. Gov. Mark Gordon has said he is not considering implementing a statewide face mask order but has urged residents to wear masks. Albany County, which includes Laramie; the Wind River Reservation; and Teton and Laramie counties have implemented mask mandates under which residents must wear facial coverings when outside their homes, with some exceptions.\n\nFrom USA TODAY Network and wire reports", "authors": [], "publish_date": "2020/11/09"}, {"url": "https://www.usatoday.com/story/lifestyle/2016/10/14/dance-disabilities-display-mag-moving-installation/91909322/", "title": "On Display: A human sculpture court at MAG", "text": "Jeff Spevak\n\n@jeffspevak1\n\nWelcome to the sculpture court. You’ve seen them before, in museums. There stands a figure with a missing leg. And another, seemingly complete. They are of many races and body shapes and sizes, as though they’ve been collected from all around the world for you to stare at and think about.\n\nAnd then, they begin to move.\n\n“It’s a human sculpture court,” Heidi Latsky says. “We’re creating a safe place for people to stare.”\n\nThis is On Display, what Latsky, a New York City choreographer, calls a “moving installation.” It is a deconstructed art exhibit. A fashion show where everything isn’t perfect. Heidi Latsky Dance has staged these in New York City's Times Square and Chinatown, in Canada, Italy, Spain and in the lobby of the United Nations building. And it is coming to the Memorial Art Gallery for two hour-long performances next week: 5:30 p.m. Oct. 20 and 3:30 p.m. Oct. 23. Twenty to 30 figures, dressed in white, like statues. The one with the missing leg is Adalquis Bruno. The one who’s seemingly complete, Austin Kelly.\n\n“In a disability world, a lot of people experience being stared at, or they see others averting their eyes,” Latsky says. On Display grants permission for visitors to the exhibition to look at their fellow humans just as they might examine “Torso of a Young Man,” one of the ancient armless, legless — headless even — ancient world statues at the MAG. Guests are encouraged to take photos and post them on social media.\n\nAnd the dancers of On Display will be looking back as well.\n\n“It’s a commentary on the body as spectacle and our society’s obsession with body image,” Missy Pfohl Smith says. “Sometimes we’re not willing to look at people with disabilities, because we’re uncomfortable. And sometimes we gawk at people with disabilities.”\n\nPfohl Smith is director of the Program of Dance and Movement at the University of Rochester, and also artistic director and choreographer of the social-issue minded dance company Biodance. She’s recruiting and rehearsing the dancers — some disabled, some not — for the shows here. On Display returns on Dec. 3, International Day of Persons With Disabilities, in conjunction with a performance at the United Nations that will also feature video from as many as 40 of the On Display sites, including Rochester. Here the event at Helen Wood Hall at University of Rochester will be part of a conference called, \"It Takes a Village: Disability, Interdependence and Empowerment.\"\n\n“There’s a structure, a movement structure, where certain things happen at certain times,” Pfohl Smith says. “But the performers decide how they move, and when they move.”\n\n“They get a set of instructions, but they really do it on their own,” Latsky says. “Each performer chooses their movement, when they look out, when they close their eyes.”\n\nPfohl Smith’s husband has an uncle in California struggling with ALS, commonly known as Lou Gehrig’s Disease. “He’s no longer able to move at all, he communicates through his eyes blinking, and it’s translated to a computer screen,” she says. “His mind is engaged in life that way.”\n\nShe cites no epiphany that led to her interest in On Display, and the idea of bringing the disabled into full view. However, Pfohl Smith does teach classes at The Community Place, which works with people struggling with basic needs; advocating health, education, literacy and personal and social development. And Biodance takes on issues such as politics, Big Oil and the role architecture plays in creating isolation in society. So that commitment to extending a hand has been there.\n\nIt is the same with Latsky, a native of Montreal. Where does the interest in highlighting the disabled come from? She was a principal dancer with the Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company through the late 1980s and early ’90s. “They wanted me to be a feminist, they’re very political,” Latsky says. “But I’m more of an individualist, a humanist.”\n\nShe wandered off to create her own dance company, and in 2006 she had her moment: Lisa Bufano, “A visual artist from Boston,” Latsky says. “She had received a grant to create a solo dance for her to perform. And she needed a choreographer.”\n\nLatsky created a dance for Bufano, a bilateral amputee who had no fingers and no lower legs.\n\n“She was so exquisite,” Latsky says. “Her body made shapes that I couldn’t.\n\n“She became my muse, it was revolutionary for me. It began the GIMP Project, my body of work involving people with disabilities.”\n\nIt is a controversial name, Latsky concedes. Gimp implies lame. But it has other meanings as well. “It means fighting spirit and vigor,” she says. “It means interwoven fabric.”\n\nHer dance company is an interwoven fabric, a mix of dancers of varying physical levels, some disabled. It made another conceptual leap in 2009, after Latsky had received a Creative Capital grant, which called for a presentation to an audience of funders, presenters and artists. “I had this five-minute video trailer, so people would understand what I had gotten the money for,” she says. “And this museum curator came up to me afterward and told me how deeply it had affected him. He’s looking at my dancers, who are talking about museum sculptures with missing limbs. Artifacts without arms and legs, and they’re all beautiful.\n\n“And I thought: What if we made a sculpture garden with real people, so people could look and get an opportunity to see each person, evocative of sculptures that many of us have seen, that are missing limbs?”\n\nAdalquis Bruno is missing a limb. “I’m a dancer, a social dancer,” he says, a recreation seriously threatened after the 28-year-old Rochester man lost his leg below the knee in a motorcycle accident in February.\n\nYet within months he was back at work, as a waiter at The Del Monte Lodge Renaissance Rochester Hotel & Spa in Pittsford, and doing small landscaping jobs. “I had my prosthetic, to help me on my feet and back to dancing,” he says.\n\nBack on his feet. Sounds like a joke by a one-legged man, but Bruno is indeed dancing again, sometimes three nights a week at venues such as the Tango Café. And when it was suggested he should try On Display, “I said, ‘Sure, of course I will. I support other people with disabilities. We’re a big community. It’s the same thing with the dancers. We’re a big community.”\n\nAustin Kelly is a member of that community, although it might not be immediately obvious. The 22-year-old is studying theater at Monroe Community College. And dance, all styles. He was in a show at the last Rochester Fringe Festival, and this week was taking classes in Flower City Ballet's second-floor studio in the sprawling old downtown Post Office building on Cumberland Street. Photographs of famous dancers stared down from the glazed-brick walls as teacher Erika Ruegemer led the class through an exercise to a piano version of the pop band One Direction’s hit, “They Don’t Know About Us.”\n\n“He’s actually a dancer with an invisible disability,” his mother, Diana Kelly, was saying earlier. “There’s a lot of pre-judgment, and when you first meet him you’ll never know. But after you talk to him for a while you’ll figure out something’s a little different about him.”\n\nSomewhere between 6 months and a year in age, Diana and her husband suspected something was up with Austin. They were watching carefully, as their oldest son has Asperberger Syndrome. Now their youngest son made only intermittent eye contact. He was fascinated by spinning things, like fans. And, “he was too easy,” Diana says.\n\nAustin didn’t speak until he was 5 years old. His parents were told he would never do anything. With therapy, special classes and home schooling, and following a move from New Jersey to Rochester six years ago, he was enrolled for the first time in a real school — as a sophomore in School of the Arts. Austin, Diana says, is now “a high-functioning autistic.”\n\nHis appearances in the MAG’s moving art exhibit will be his second round of On Display. He answered a call for disabled performers at an outdoor show this summer, on a wharf overlooking Boston Harbor. From that experience, he knows his moves must be subtle: Like, when someone is looking at a statue, and they turn away, and then out of the corner of the eye they see something. ... Did that statue move?\n\n“I knew I would be able to fit in,” Austin says of his role in the Boston moving art installation. “The other people there have their own disabilities.”\n\nAnd yet, “People will only let you in so far,” Diana says. “He had to find teachers to take his dancing seriously.\"\n\n“That’s what Heidi’s thing is about,” she says of Latsky’s On Display concept. “Looking at, ‘The Other.’”\n\nAustin Kelly has long established his own style: His black fedora comes off only when he hits the dance floor. And he has an appearance in Flour City Ballet’s Nutcracker this winter. Dance, he says, “taught me how to work with people.”\n\nPerhaps, when there is a disability, the importance of the arts is magnified. Latsky’s muse, Lisa Bufano, took her own life in 2013. She left no note, so we will not know. Austin is just coming into his own life, and he leaves no doubt as to the significance of dance in his life.\n\n“We were talking recently,” Diana Kelly says as her son limbers up in the Flower City Dance studio, “and he told me, ‘If it weren’t for dance, I wouldn’t have a reason to exist.’”\n\nA day earlier, she’d been trying to describe the barriers faced by her son. “Invisible disabilities are harder to see,” she said. “With physical disabilities, you know what you’re dealing with, people have a tendency to look away. We shy away, either it’s contagious or something to be pitied, these people clearly can’t have the same capabilities as us. We have a tendency to sell a lot of these people short, make them feel like freaks, when they’re actually capable of something beautiful if you look.”\n\nJSPEVAK@gannett.com\n\nIf you go\n\nWhat: On Display, a moving art installation. Do not touch the performers, but feel free to take photos and post them on social media, tweeting with the hashtag #ondisplay.\n\nWhen: 5:30 p.m Oct. 20, 3:30 p.m. Oct. 23 and Dec. 3.\n\nWhere: Memorial Art Gallery, 500 University Ave.\n\nAdmission: With regular museum admission ($14 general admission, $10 ages 62 and over, $5 for college students with ID and children 6 through 18 and free for children 5 and under.)\n\nOn Display wants you: Dancers of all disabilities and body types may apply. Missy Pfohl Smith will be taking applications through Oct. 17 at m.p.smith@rochester.edu.", "authors": [], "publish_date": "2016/10/14"}, {"url": "https://www.cnn.com/2022/09/04/us/five-things-september-4-trnd/index.html", "title": "5 things to know on September 4, 2022: Start your week smart ...", "text": "There are Sundays, and then there are SUN-days. Record heat hit several drought-stricken regions across the US this weekend. And meteorologists say brace yourselves – it’s going to be a long, hot summer. Nearly the entire contiguous US is expected to have above-normal temperatures from June through August, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.\n\nHere’s what else you need to know to Start Your Week Smart.\n\nThe weekend that was\n\n• The strategically important city of Severodonetsk in eastern Ukraine was attacked from multiple directions overnight, but the Russians were pushed back, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s office said earlier today.\n\n• Australian voters have delivered a sharp rebuke to the center-right government, ending nine years of conservative rule, in favor of the center-left opposition that promised stronger action on climate change.\n\n• A 32-year-old runner died yesterday after finishing a half marathon in Brooklyn where 15 others were injured, police and fire officials said. An official cause and manner of death should be released in the coming days, the New York City’s Office of Chief Medical Examiner said.\n\n• Two people are dead after a powerful tornado ripped roofs off buildings and flipped cars in a northern Michigan town on Friday, prompting the governor to declare a state of emergency for the area. The twister also injured 44 people as it tore through the town of Gaylord, causing what officials describe as “catastrophic” damages.\n\n• J.M. Smucker is recalling certain types of Jif peanut butter in the US because of a potential salmonella contamination. The company said that the peanut butter was sold nationwide and the recall includes more than 45 kinds of products. They have lot codes between 1274425 to 2140425, the company said in a statement.\n\nThe week ahead\n\nMonday\n\nPresident Joe Biden continues his first trip to Asia since taking office with a visit to Japan for meetings with Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida.\n\n(A note to our weekday readers: 5 Things is taking Monday off. We’ll be back in your inboxes bright and early on Tuesday.)\n\nTuesday\n\nAugust 30 is the International Day of the Disappeared, a day to remember the hundreds of thousands of people who are missing worldwide due to armed conflict, violence, disasters and migration.\n\nWednesday\n\nWednesday is National Wine Day! Whether it’s red, white, rose or sparkling, find time to relax and curl up with your favorite glass. Cheers!\n\nAlso on Wednesday, former President Barack Obama and former first lady Michelle Obama will return to the White House for the unveiling of their official White House portraits. While there had been a decades-long tradition of first-term American presidents hosting their immediate predecessors at the White House to unveil their official portraits, a ceremony for the Obamas never came during former President Donald Trump’s time in the Oval Office.\n\nThursday\n\nMay 5 is Cinco de Mayo! The day commemorates Mexico’s victory against the French during the Battle of Puebla in 1862, and according to research by UCLA professor David Hayes-Bautista, it isn’t a Mexican holiday at all, but rather an American one created by Latinos in California during the Civil War. Here are some Cinco de Mayo do’s and don’ts – and yes, please refrain from wearing sombreros and fake mustaches.\n\nSaturday\n\nPresident Joe Biden is scheduled to deliver the commencement address at the University of Delaware, his alma mater. Some 4,000 graduates are expected to attend the ceremony on May 28, with approximately 16,000 family and friends, the university said in a statement. The commencement also will also be livestreamed.\n\nWant more 5 Things?\n\nThis week on the Sunday edition of the 5 Things podcast, a conversation with CNN’s Jake Tapper about his exclusive interview with former Marine Trevor Reed, who is back home after being held in Russia for nearly three years. Listen here!\n\nPhotos of the week\n\nCheck out more moving, fascinating and thought-provoking images from the week that was, curated by CNN Photos.\n\nWhat’s happening in entertainment\n\nFall TV preview\n\nDisney’s D23 Expo 2022, billed as “the ultimate Disney fan event,” kicks off on Friday in Anaheim, California. All of Disney’s entertainment properties – including Marvel, Pixar and Star Wars – will be represented across film, television and theme parks.\n\n‘Cobra Kai’\n\nThe “Karate Kid” revival series returns for its fifth season Friday on Netflix. Following a loss at the All Valley Tournament, the new season begins with the team licking their wounds but quickly finding the fire to get back up and defend their honor.\n\nWhat’s happening in sports\n\nTennis anyone?\n\nThe action at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in Flushing, New York, continues today and Monday with the men’s and women’s Round of 16. The tournament wraps up over the weekend with the women’s final on Saturday and the men’s final a week from today.\n\nNFL Kickoff\n\nThe NFL season begins on Thursday with the Buffalo Bills facing the reigning Super Bowl champion Los Angeles Rams at home in what could be an early preview of Super Bowl LVII.\n\nQuiz time!\n\nTake CNN’s weekly news quiz to see how much you remember from the week that was! So far, 10.9% of readers who took this week’s news quiz got a perfect score. How well can you do?\n\nPlay me off\n\nHuey Lewis And The News - Workin' For A Livin'\n\nI Wanna Dance With Somebody\n\nCelebrate Labor Day with this pure 80s flashback. (Click here to view)", "authors": ["Andrew Torgan"], "publish_date": "2022/09/04"}]}
+{"question_id": "20240119_1", "search_time": "2024/01/19/23:34", "search_result": []}
+{"question_id": "20240119_2", "search_time": "2024/01/19/23:34", "search_result": [{"url": "https://www.usatoday.com/story/entertainment/celebrities/2024/01/17/princess-kate-surgery-hospitalized-royal-duties-postponed/72253855007/", "title": "Kate Middleton abdominal surgery: Princess Kate to remain in hospital", "text": "Princess Kate has been admitted to the hospital for a \"planned abdominal surgery.\"\n\nKensington Palace announced Wednesday that the Princess of Wales, 42, underwent a \"successful\" surgery on Tuesday and is expected to remain hospitalized for 10 to 14 days before returning home to recover.\n\n\"Based on the current medical advice, she is unlikely to return to public duties until after Easter,\" according to the statement.\n\nKate asked for privacy amid her recovery. \"She hopes that the public will understand her desire to maintain as much normality for her children as possible; and her wish that her personal medical information remains private.\"\n\nThe Princess of Wales and Prince William share three kids: Prince George, 10; Princess Charlotte, 8; and Prince Louis, 5.\n\nThe palace apologized to all those affected by Kate's postponed engagements. \"She looks forward to reinstating as many as possible, as soon as possible,\" the statement concluded.\n\nPrincess Kate's surgerynews ignites gossip. Why you should mind your business.\n\nKing Charles III to be hospitalized for enlarged prostate\n\nKing Charles III also announced a medical procedure Wednesday: The king, 75, will undergo treatment for an enlarged prostate, the palace said.\n\n\"In common with thousands of men each year, The King has sought treatment for an enlarged prostate,\" Buckingham Palace said in a Wednesday statement. \"His Majesty's condition is benign and he will attend hospital next week for a corrective procedure.\"\n\nThe palace said the king's public engagements will also be postponed for a brief period of rest as he heals from the procedure.\n\nKing Charles IIIto undergo hospitalization for enlarged prostate, palace says\n\nPrincess Kate to postpone royal duties for 2 months\n\nKate and the British royals typically maintain a robust schedule of public engagements for their various charities and personal family outings such as their yearly Easter church service at St. George's Chapel.\n\nThe 42-year-old's last public appearance was in December for Christmas church service at St Mary Magdalene Church. On Christmas Eve, Kate's televised Christmas carol service, \"Together at Christmas,\" aired in support of her charity The Royal Foundation Centre for Early Childhood.\n\nKate celebrated her birthday earlier this month but did not have a public engagement.\n\nKing Charles III and Queen Camilla recognized Kate's 42nd birthday, honoring her with a \"very happy birthday\" message posted on the royal family's social media accounts on Jan. 9 and a photo of Kate from the coronation last year.\n\nPrincess Kate turns 42:King Charles celebrates her birthday with rare photo\n\nBells rung out at Westminster Abbey on Tuesday to celebrate Kate's birthday. \"Our bell ringers are ringing 542 changes of Stedman Caters followed by a course of Sgurr A'Chaorachain Surprise Royal,\" according to the official Westminster Abbey account on X, formerly Twitter.\n\nContributing: Brendan Morrow\n\nKing Charles celebrates 75th birthdaywith food project, Prince William tribute", "authors": [], "publish_date": "2024/01/17"}, {"url": "https://www.usatoday.com/story/life/people/2013/06/10/queen-visits-recovering-husband-prince-philip-in-hospital/2409001/", "title": "Queen visits recovering Prince Philip in hospital", "text": "Maria Puente\n\nUSA TODAY\n\nQueen%27s husband will need two months to recover from exploratory surgery\n\nHe%27s %27comfortable and in good spirits%2C%27 palace says\n\nYoungest son Prince Edward paid his father a visit%2C too\n\nThe royals have started turning up at Prince Philip's hospital room today, as the 92-year-old husband of the queen celebrated his birthday and began a two-month convalescence from abdominal surgery.\n\nQueen Elizabeth II wasn't the first to visit but she was certainly the most important. Looking cheery and smiling radiantly, she arrived at the London Clinic this evening, dressed impeccably as usual in a bouclé skirt suit that was as white as her hair.\n\nEarlier, their youngest son, Prince Edward Earl of Wessex, also paid a visit, spending 20 minutes with dad and telling reporters later that he's doing well.\n\nMeanwhile, as is traditional, Philip's 92nd birthday was marked by two extended gun salutes in central London near Buckingham Palace.\n\nPhilip, the Duke of Edinburgh and the oldest and longest-serving royal consort in English history, went into the hospital last week for \"abdominal investigations\" and is \"progressing satisfactorily\" after exploratory surgery on Friday, the palace said.\n\nHe is \"comfortable and in good spirits,\" and will need about two months to recover from the surgery, the palace statement added. He's expected to remain in the hospital for about two weeks.\n\nThe two-months prediction suggests he won't be making public appearances with the queen during the festival next month celebrating the 60th anniversary of her coronation.\n\nThe queen has carried on solo with their engagements, and was overheard saying, on Friday during a visit to the BBC headquarters, that he \"isn't ill.\"\n\nPhilip has had several health issues in the last 18 months, including heart and bladder ailments. This is is fourth recent hospitalization.", "authors": [], "publish_date": "2013/06/10"}, {"url": "https://www.usatoday.com/story/life/people/2013/06/06/prince-philip-surgery-hospital/2397381/", "title": "U.K.'s Prince Philip enters hospital for operation", "text": "AP\n\nQueen Elizabeth II%27s husband to have exploratory surgery after %22abdominal investigations%22\n\nPrince Philip%2C 91%2C will be in the hospital for up to two weeks\n\nHe pulled out of an event earlier this week because of illness\n\nLONDON (AP) — Buckingham Palace says Queen Elizabeth II's husband has been admitted to a London hospital for an exploratory operation.\n\nThe palace said the operation on 91-year-old Prince Philip will come after \"abdominal investigations,\" but did not elaborate.\n\nIn a brief statement, it said Philip was admitted Thursday and will be in the hospital for up to two weeks. He will likely spend his 92nd birthday, on June 10, in the hospital.\n\nPhilip had to pull out of an engagement with the queen on Monday night because of illness. But the next day he was by her side and with the whole family for the service at Westminster Abbey to mark the 60th anniversary of the queen's coronation.\n\nToday, after attending another garden party at the palace with the queen, Philip was admitted as planned to the private London Clinic, a longtime favorite for royals and other celebrities.\n\nThis is the fourth time Phillip has been hospitalized since he suffered chest pains in Christmas 2011 while at Sandringham, the family's Norfolk estate. He underwent surgery then for an emergency stent in the coronary artery, but recovered to attend New Year's Day services with his family.\n\nSince then, he's been in the hospital twice for a recurring bladder infection; one bout last summer forced him to miss some of the queen's Diamond Jubilee celebrations.", "authors": [], "publish_date": "2013/06/06"}, {"url": "https://www.usatoday.com/story/entertainment/celebrities/2024/01/17/king-charles-enlarged-prostate-treatment/72254718007/", "title": "King Charles prostate puts him in hospital amid Kate abdominal ...", "text": "King Charles III will undergo treatment for an enlarged prostate, the palace said Wednesday, coming amid news of Princess Kate's recent hospitalization.\n\n\"In common with thousands of men each year, The King has sought treatment for an enlarged prostate,\" Buckingham Palace said in a Wednesday statement. \"His Majesty's condition is benign and he will attend hospital next week for a corrective procedure.\"\n\nThe palace said the king's public engagements will be postponed for a brief period of rest as he heals from the procedure, and the timing of announcement can also be seen as offering an explanation for Charles' absence. Foreign dignitaries and members of the Cabinet had been due to travel to Dumfries House in Scotland later this week.\n\nThough it is unusual for members of the royal family to offer much detail on their health, the publicity about Charles' revelation may encourage other men experiencing symptoms to get checked in line with public health advice.\n\nHow old is King Charles? Monarch took over the throne after death of Queen Elizabeth II\n\nKing Charles, 75, was crowned alongside his wife Queen Camilla at a coronation on May 6 of last year. In November, he celebrated his birthday, which marked his first as a monarch.\n\nIn recent months, King Charles made state trips to Kenya and France. In Kenya, he expressed the \"greatest sorrow and the deepest regret\" for the \"abhorrent and unjustifiable acts of violence\" committed against Kenyans as they sought independence.\n\nHow to treat an enlarged prostate\n\nAccording to Mayo Clinic, an enlarged prostate is a common condition as men get older. By age 60, about 30% of men show moderate to severe symptoms of BPH or benign prostatic hyperplasia, the medical term for the condition. An enlarged prostate can cause a weak urine stream, a urine stream that starts and stops and frequent urination at night.\n\nLloyd Austindidn’t want to share his prostate cancer struggle. Many men feel similarly.\n\nThe prostate is a smaller organ that sits at the bottom of the bladder. In a man's early life, the prostate is the size of a walnut or small tangerine. But around age 50, the prostate begins to increase in size. A common treatment for prostate issues is a removal of prostate tissue.\n\nProstate cancer affects more than 1 in 8 U.S. men, and 1 in 6 African American men during their lifetime, the doctors who oversaw Austin's treatment said in a statement released by the Pentagon Tuesday. The nonprofit American Cancer Society said it's the most common form of cancer in men other than skin cancer, and the risk of getting it increases with age. Austin, the first Black defense secretary, is 70.\n\nLloyd Austindidn’t want to share his prostate cancer struggle. Many men feel similarly.\n\nWhat surgery did Princess Kate have?\n\nThe news of Charles' prostate treatment comes amid Kensington Palace's announcement that Princess Kate has been admitted to the hospital for a \"planned abdominal surgery.\" Kensington Palace also announced that the Princess of Wales, 42, underwent a \"successful\" surgery on Tuesday and is expected to remain hospitalized for 10 to 14 days before returning home to recover.\n\nKing Charles III and Queen Camilla recognized Kate's 42nd birthday, honoring her with a photo of Kate from the coronation last year and a \"very happy birthday\" message, posted on the royal family's social media accounts on Jan. 9.\n\nMore:Princess Kate hospitalized for abdominal surgery, postpones royal engagements, palace says\n\nContributing: Naledi Ushe and Charles Trepany, USA TODAY; Danica Kirka, Evelyne Musambi and Emmanuel Igunza, The Associated Press", "authors": [], "publish_date": "2024/01/17"}, {"url": "https://www.usatoday.com/story/life/health-wellness/2024/01/17/princess-kate-abdominal-surgery-privacy/72254103007/", "title": "Kate Middleton surgery: Princess of Wales wants privacy amid rumors", "text": "Princess Kate will be shying away from public duties \"until after Easter\" following a \"planned abdominal surgery, Kensington Palace announced Wednesday.\n\nPrincess Kate asked for privacy amid her recovery. \"She hopes that the public will understand her desire to maintain as much normality for her children as possible; and her wish that her personal medical information remains private.\" Perhaps in a move to help facilitate that privacy, the palace also dropped news that King Charles III was having a procedure right around the same time.\n\nYet almost immediately, many began to speculate the reason for the surgery. Google searches surged for queries such as \"what surgery did Kate Middleton have?\" and \"reasons for abdominal surgery\" as well as for specific procedures and their recovery times.\n\nBut the reality is that no family – famous or otherwise – is immune to health issues of any sort, and everyone deserves privacy when they withhold details. Serious stories often lurk behind silence.\n\n\"Public figures need privacy to cope, heal, and develop a strategy to move forward just like everyone else,\" Amy Morin, psychotherapist, author of \"13 Things Mentally Strong People Don’t Do\" and the host of a podcast, previously told USA TODAY. \"Working through issues privately can give them space to manage their emotions and strategize how to move forward without the distraction of outside opinions.\"\n\nWhat the royal family is saying:Princess Kate hospitalized for abdominal surgery, postpones 2 months of engagements, palace says\n\nMore on King Charles:King Charles III to undergo hospitalization for enlarged prostate, palace says\n\nPrincess Kate, celebrity and medical privacy\n\nThe royals have a long, complicated history with the press. They have denounced the tabloid appetite for details in their personal lives – but have also walked hand-in-hand with the press to promote their royal duties and causes.\n\nIn recent years, Kate and Prince William have mirrored celebrities in sharing news they want to share on their social media profiles and via official royal press releases.\n\n\"Boundaries are essential to lead a healthy life,\" Laura Petiford, a licensed marriage and family therapist, previously told USA TODAY. \"Healthy people respect the boundaries that others establish for themselves.\"\n\nIt's easy to ignore others' boundaries, however, in current times. \"In the age of social media, the general public has become trained to share not only their most private moments, but to also expect others to do the same,\" psychologist Reneé Carr also previously told USA TODAY.\n\nKate has insisted on privacy on the outset – meaning questions about her condition to any fellow royals, including her husband, will come off as intrusive.\n\n\"If they want to keep their crisis private, it's important to respect that,\" Morin adds. \"They may need space to process their feelings without outside opinions. They may also be trying to respect the privacy of a loved one by not sharing details.\"\n\nIn case you missed:Lloyd Austin didn’t want to share his prostate cancer struggle. Many men feel similarly.\n\nWhy celebrities, royals deserve privacy too\n\nThe public often insists they deserve to know all the ins and outs of celebrities lives. But do they really?\n\n\"If we put ourselves in their shoes, we would want to be able to have a private life especially when dealing with sensitive or difficult issues,\" Petiford adds. \"Yes, they have chosen to lead a life that is more in the public eye but they have not forfeited their human need to draw a distinct line between themselves and those who are interested in them.\"\n\nYou'd want the same privacy for yourself during life's cruelest moments, wouldn't you?\n\n\"We need privacy to not only cope with the situation, but to also try to makes sense of what has happened or is happening to us and try to figure out how to move on,\" Carr adds.\n\nMoreover, no one going through a difficult time wants to hear every opinion about their situation, whether you're a celebrity or not.\n\n\"Comments from other people can be upsetting and distracting,\" Morin says. \"During a crisis, it's important to devote your energy to things that matter most. You only have so much time and energy and the last thing you want to do is waste it on combating outside forces that could affect your decision-making.\"\n\nContributing: Naledi Ushe", "authors": [], "publish_date": "2024/01/17"}, {"url": "https://www.cnn.com/2022/09/19/uk/queen-royal-vault-king-george-chapel-intl-gbr/index.html", "title": "Where will the Queen be buried? Why the Royal Vault will not be her ...", "text": "London CNN —\n\nQueen Elizabeth’s coffin came to its final resting place at Windsor on Monday. This completed its long journey from Balmoral Castle to Edinburgh, then from Buckingham Palace to Westminster Hall and Westminster Abbey, and then finally to St. George’s Chapel in Windsor Castle.\n\nThousands of mourners lined the streets to pay their final respects to the Queen, after her funeral earlier in the day.\n\nAfter the pomp and pageantry of the state funeral at Westminster, attended by leaders from across the globe, a more intimate committal service was held at St. George’s.\n\nVideo Ad Feedback Watch key moments from Queen Elizabeth II's funeral 04:14 - Source: CNN\n\nAt the service’s conclusion, the Queen’s coffin was lowered into the Royal Vault – the resting place of many past monarchs. Below the chapel lie King George III, IV and V, William IV and others. Last year Prince Philip, the Queen’s husband, was also laid to rest there.\n\nBefore that King Charles stepped forward to place the Queen’s Company Camp Colour of the Grenadier Guards on the late monarch’s coffin.\n\nThen, the Lord Chamberlain, who is the most senior office in the Royal Household, broke his Wand of Office and placed it atop the coffin. The ceremonial breaking of the thin staff is to create symmetry with the three Instruments of State that have been removed, according to Buckingham Palace.\n\nWhile the Queen’s coffin was being lowered into the vault, the Dean of Windsor said a Psalm, before the Garter King of the Arms pronounced the styles and titles of the Queen. This concluded the public ceremonies devoted to her.\n\nHowever, the vault was not her final resting place. Later on Monday evening, a private burial service was due to be held for the royal family, when the Queen is to be relocated to the King George VI Memorial Chapel. Here the Queen’s coffin will join those of her parents, King George VI and Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother.\n\nThe coffin of Prince Philip will also be relocated, so that the Queen can be laid to rest alongside her beloved husband of 73 years.\n\nAlthough it is closed for Monday’s private ceremony, ordinarily the Chapel is open to the public, meaning Britons can visit the Queen’s final resting place to pay their respects.", "authors": ["Lauren Said-Moorhouse Christian Edwards", "Lauren Said-Moorhouse", "Christian Edwards"], "publish_date": "2022/09/19"}, {"url": "https://www.cnn.com/2022/04/11/uk/queen-elizabeth-ii-covid-exhausted-intl-scli-gbr/index.html", "title": "Queen Elizabeth II says Covid-19 left her exhausted' | CNN", "text": "CNN —\n\nBritain’s Queen Elizabeth II has revealed that she was left “very tired and exhausted” following her recent bout of Covid-19.\n\nThe 95-year-old monarch, who tested positive for coronavirus in February, discussed her experience in a video call with staff at an east London hospital on Wednesday.\n\nSpeaking with former Covid patient Asef Hussain, the Queen said of the virus: “I’m glad that you’re getting better…It does leave one very tired and exhausted, doesn’t it? This horrible pandemic. It’s not a nice result.”\n\nThe Queen heard from hospital staff about their experiences of working on the front line during the pandemic. Handout/Publicity/Getty Images\n\nHussain’s brother and father died from the illness, the PA Media news agency reported.\n\nHe was the third member of his family to be hospitalized with Covid-19, after falling ill in December 2020. Recounting his experience, he told the Queen: “I remember waking up one morning and just finding it really, really difficult to breathe.”\n\nHe added that he felt “like there’s no oxygen in the room” and even stuck his head out the window, “just trying to breathe, trying to get that extra oxygen.”\n\nHussain spent seven weeks on a ventilator in the hospital and is still recovering.\n\nDuring her virtual visit, the Queen also heard how hospital staff responded to the huge influx of Covid patients.\n\nSpeaking to the construction team who built the 155-bed Queen Elizabeth Unit on the hospital’s 14th and 15th floors in five weeks, rather than the usual five months, she said: “It is very interesting, isn’t it, when there is some very vital thing, how everybody works together and pulls together? Marvellous, isn’t it?”\n\nThe Queen – who is celebrating her 70th year on the throne– has dealt with a number of health issues in recent months.\n\nAt a church service in October, she used a cane in public for the first time since 2003.\n\nLater that month, she took a break from royal engagements after spending a night in a central London hospital, where doctors did “preliminary tests” and advised her to rest for a few days.\n\nBuckingham Palace announced back in February that the 95-year-old sovereign was suffering “mild cold-like symptoms” as a result of Covid-19 infection but would continue light duties at Windsor. The palace previously confirmed both the monarch and her late husband, Prince Philip, received their first doses of a Covid-19 vaccine in January 2021.", "authors": ["Toyin Owoseje"], "publish_date": "2022/04/11"}, {"url": "https://www.usatoday.com/story/life/people/2013/03/03/queen-elizabeth-hospitalized/1959929/", "title": "U.K.: Queen hospitalized with stomach bug", "text": "Maria Puente, USA TODAY\n\nIt was the queen%27s first hospitalization in 10 years\n\nA planned trip to Rome this week is off\n\nThe monarch is in good spirits%2C the palace says\n\nYou can never be too careful with an ailing 86-year-old queen.\n\nBritain's Queen Elizabeth II has been hospitalized for an apparent stomach infection that has ailed her for days, Buckingham Palace said today.\n\nShe was said to be in good spirits, according to palace officials, but the British media went on high alert, ever watchful when health problems arise for the monarch or her husband. Prince Philip, who will be 92 this year, also has been hospitalized recently.\n\nBut it was the queen's first hospitalization in 10 years and one of the rare times she has been forced by health reasons to cancel public engagements, including a trip to Rome this week.\n\nThe queen, who turns 87 next month and has long enjoyed robust health, entered London's King Edward VII Hospital, the royal favorite, after becoming ill on Friday.\n\nEven so, before she was driven to the hospital, she rallied to present one of her staff an award for long service at Windsor Castle, according to media reports.\n\nThe move to the hospital was taken as a \"precaution,\" and \"all official engagements for this week will regrettably be either postponed or canceled,\" the palace statement said. The Daily Mail and others quoted senior officials as saying she probably would remain in the hospital for a couple of days.\n\nThe symptoms of gastroenteritis — vomiting and diarrhea — usually pass after one or two days, although they can be more severe in older people. Dehydration is a common complication.\n\nThe illness was first announced Friday; the queen had to cancel a visit Saturday to Swansea, Wales, to meet with soldiers of the Royal Welsh Regiment in honor of Wales' national day, St. David's Day. She instead spent the day trying to recover at Windsor Castle, but apparently that was not enough.\n\nThe two-day trip to Rome had been planned to start Wednesday and was to be the only foreign trip on her schedule until the end of the year. A palace spokeswoman said the trip may be \"reinstated\" at a later date.\n\nThe queen rarely cancels an engagement; last October she had to pull out of a ceremony at Windsor Castle to award medals because of strain on her back, a problem that also cropped up in 2006.\n\nShe hasn't been hospitalized since 2003 when she had knee surgery. As per usual, the British media gathered in droves outside the hospital, as they did only a few months ago when the queen's granddaughter-in-law, Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge, was treated there for acute morning sickness.\n\nA doctor not involved in the queen's treatment said that if medical officials determined the ailing monarch had lost too much fluid, she could be rehydrated intravenously.\n\n\"I suspect that she's being assessed and that it'll be a relatively uncomplicated treatment,\" Chaand Nagpaul told Sky News television. \"It is very much about ensuring that the body receives the fluid it needs.\"\n\nThe queen is Britain's second-longest-reigning monarch (61 years) and even now usually takes on about 350 engagements a year. The last week has been typical: On Tuesday, she met the new archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, at Buckingham Palace, and on Thursday she presented Olympic stars with honors during a ceremony.\n\nIngrid Seward, the editor of the Britain's Majesty Magazine, said the queen \"probably agreed to be hospitalized in order to get better quickly.\"\n\n\"Everybody will want to be wishing her a speedy recovery,\" she told Sky.", "authors": [], "publish_date": "2013/03/03"}, {"url": "https://www.cnn.com/2022/09/19/uk/queen-piper-funeral-westminster-gbr-intl-scli/index.html", "title": "The piper who woke the Queen up every morning plays her to rest ...", "text": "London CNN —\n\nOver the seven decades of the Queen’s reign, the British public came to know many of her quirks: her corgis, her hats, her wave. But, as the nation gathered for her funeral on Monday, they witnessed a lesser-known fixture of the Queen’s life: her piper.\n\nFor most of her reign, the Queen was roused by the sound of bagpipes played beneath her window – at all her residences around the country. The Piper to the Sovereign for decades acted as a personal alarm clock, playing for 15 minutes each morning, as well as on state occasions.\n\nBut on Monday, the piper had a different role. The music that signaled the start of the Queen’s mornings signaled the end of her funeral, as he played one final lament, “A Salute to the Royal Fendersmith,” while her coffin was lowered into the Royal Vault beneath St. George’s Chapel at Windsor Castle.\n\nThe piper played from the doorway between the chapel and the Dean’s Cloister. While doing so, he started to walk slowly toward the Deanery so that the music within the chapel gradually faded. It was a moment full of symbolism, reflecting a similar ending to Prince Philip’s funeral last year.\n\nBefore the committal service in Windsor, the piper brought the state funeral service in Westminster Abbey to an end with a lament, “Sleep, Dearie, Sleep.”\n\nThe role of Piper to the Sovereign dates back to the reign of Queen Victoria. During a visit to the Scottish Highlands, she and her husband, Prince Albert, became enamored of the sound. Since the role was created in 1843, there have been 17 chief pipers.\n\nOn Monday, the music was played by Pipe Major Paul Burns, of the Royal Regiment of Scotland, who took up the role last year.\n\nAmong the thousands of tributes paid to the Queen this week, one of the most moving came from Scott Methven, who served as the Queen’s piper between 2015 and 2019. In an interview with the BBC, Methven said he was “devastated” to learn of the Queen’s death, and recalled the many moments of kindness she showed during his four years of service.\n\nMethven lost his parents and his wife within eight months, while serving as Queen’s piper. Speaking to the BBC, Methven recalled “standing with the Queen,” who said, “If you’re not here in the morning and you don’t play the bagpipes, then I know you’re away. Don’t wait to ask anyone, just go home if your family need you because it’s family first.\n\n“You know, Pipes,” the Queen continued, “if anyone has a problem with that, you tell them that I said it was OK to go.”", "authors": ["Lauren Said-Moorhouse Christian Edwards", "Lauren Said-Moorhouse", "Christian Edwards"], "publish_date": "2022/09/19"}, {"url": "https://www.cnn.com/2022/02/25/uk/royal-news-newsletter-02-25-22-scli-gbr-cmd-intl/index.html", "title": "Analysis: Why aren't we being told more about the Queen's health ...", "text": "A version of this story appeared in the February 25 edition of CNN’s Royal News, a weekly dispatch bringing you the inside track on Britain’s royal family. Sign up here.\n\nLondon CNN —\n\nElizabeth II’s health is a big talking point right now, not just because she is elderly but also because Buckingham Palace is releasing so little information about it.\n\nSo we thought we’d spend this week’s edition answering your biggest questions and concerns.\n\nYes, she is still recovering from Covid-19.\n\nLast Sunday, the palace announced the 95-year old monarch had tested positive for Covid that same day and was experiencing “mild, cold-like symptoms.” It confirmed she was receiving “medical attention” and a royal source added that there had been an outbreak of the virus among Her Majesty’s team at Windsor.\n\nIt was made clear though that she was not out of action, as the statement added that she “expects to continue light duties at Windsor over the coming week.”\n\nWhat are “light duties?”\n\nThis is a relatively new term that we are still getting used to, but our sense is that it means paperwork. Mentioning it reassures us that she is still well enough to work on the most important matters of state, such as signing off on new laws.\n\nShe also found time to send a letter of congratulations to the British Olympic team in the week and offer condolences to the people of Brazil following the devastating floods in Petrópolis.\n\nThe Queen during her last in-person engagement, days before she tested positive for coronavirus Steve Parsons/AFP/Getty Images\n\nBut didn’t she have to cancel her meetings?\n\nShe canceled her weekly in-person audience with the Prime Minister on Wednesday but that’s because it would have broken Covid regulations at the time, which still required her to isolate. The Queen had a call with Boris Johnson instead.\n\nOn Tuesday, she postponed an unspecified number of video calls as she continued to experience symptoms and a source told CNN that they would decide on upcoming engagements nearer the time. She also canceled her video calls Thursday but we are told they are being rescheduled.\n\nWhy can’t she do video calls?\n\nIt may simply be because she doesn’t want to appear on camera when she feels unwell, but it also meant we weren’t able to see her for ourselves for the whole week.\n\nWhy is the palace being so secretive?\n\nIt wouldn’t accept that it is being secretive. Aides agree the public has a right to updates on their head of state but they also refuse to give a “running commentary” on her medical condition. That’s because they believe the family has the same right to patient confidentiality that the rest of us have.\n\nThe Queen at a reception in Windsor in 2021 Pool/Getty Images/FILE\n\nWould they tell us if it got serious?\n\nWell, the palace didn’t tell us when she was admitted to hospital last year until it was leaked to the media and even then, it wouldn’t specify what she was admitted for.\n\nOur reading of that incident was that if there had been a procedure of some sort then we would have been informed as that was the general rule courtiers had for updates on Prince Philip’s hospital visits.\n\nIf it got really serious and the Queen became incapacitated temporarily, we suspect we won’t be told anything until the family and the Prime Minister were informed and a formal announcement is made about who will be acting on her behalf.\n\nIs Covid her only health issue?\n\nNo. She also has some sort of mobility issue. At her last in-person audience with senior members of the military, she joked with them that she couldn’t move. CNN was told that was probably more to do with feeling stiff rather than an injury or other ailment. It would be more surprising if she didn’t feel creaky sometimes given that she’s approaching her 96th birthday in April. This week can’t have been comfortable for her when she couldn’t move around properly and felt like she had a cold. At least she’s out of isolation now, or we assume so as the isolation rules were scrapped in England on Thursday.\n\nAll this is a reminder that Elizabeth isn’t superhuman, and instances like this prompt the public to worry. The palace is constantly trying to balance the public’s right to updates on a publicly-funded monarch with her desire for some privacy.\n\nIn reality, the public will always want to know more but it’s that mystique that keeps us captivated by royalty, and it’s why we eagerly await pictures of her return to work and again keeping the country ticking over. History teaches us she won’t be held back for long.\n\nDON’T MISS\n\nKate wows crowds in Denmark.\n\nCatherine, the Duchess of Cambridge, received the warmest of welcomes from the Danish Royal family in Copenhagen this week as she made her inaugural overseas trip with her organization, The Royal Foundation Center for Early Childhood. Kate was received to Denmark by Queen Margrethe II, who recently marked her 50th year on the throne.\n\nThe duchess spent her two-day trip learning about the country’s approach to childhood development, visiting the LEGO Foundation Playlab at the University College Copenhagen. She appeared in her element and even shot down a children’s slide (in heels!).\n\nThe Duchess of Cambridge uses a slide during a visit to the LEGO Foundation PlayLab on February 22 in Copenhagen, Denmark. Samir Hussein/WireImage/Getty Images\n\nKate then visited the Copenhagen Infant Mental Health Project, and later the Stenurten Forest Kindergarten, where she learned about how the power of nature can be harnessed to support early years learning. There she was seen laughing and playing with the children.\n\nKate was in Denmark on a two-day visit with her royal foundation. Samir Hussein/WireImage/Getty Images\n\nThe duchess also joined Crown Princess Mary of Denmark on a visit to the Danner Crisis Center, a project supported by the Danish royal that aims to protect vulnerable women and children from domestic violence. The pair were photographed smiling and embracing on the trip, to the delight of royal watchers who gushed on social media over the future Queens working together.\n\nThe Duchess of Cambridge and Crown Princess of Denmark on Wednesday Samir Hussein/WireImage/Getty Images\n\nWHAT ELSE IS HAPPENING\n\nTension brewing in Cambridge household?\n\nWilliam and Catherine are going head-to-head this weekend as England takes on Wales in the rugby Six Nations Championship Saturday. The duke is royal patron of the Welsh Rugby Union while Kate recently became the patron of England Rugby. The couple – who have often revealed their competitive nature at sporting engagements – are set to attend the game at London’s Twickenham Stadium.\n\nWilliam and Kate share a laugh during a 2021 engagement. Chris Jackson/Getty Images\n\nPrince Harry’s latest lawsuit.\n\nThe Duke of Sussex has launched a new legal battle against a UK publisher. Prince Harry filed a complaint against Associated Newspapers Limited (ANL) – the publisher of titles including The Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday, a spokesperson for the duke told us this week. Harry’s spokesperson did not share any further details on which newspaper is facing litigation or why. CNN has reached out to DMG Media, ANL’s parent company, for comment. Prince Harry labeled the British tabloid landscape as “toxic” last year in an interview with “The Late Late Show” host James Cordon. The fresh lawsuit comes months after Meghan, Duchess of Sussex won her own legal battle with ANL over the publication of a letter she wrote to her estranged father in 2018.\n\nPrince Harry speaks onstage during Global Citizen VAX LIVE: The Concert To Reunite The World at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, California. The concert was broadcast on May 8, 2021 Kevin Winter/Getty Images\n\nEarl of Wessex takes over father’s role.\n\nPrince Edward has taken over his late father’s role as president of the Royal Windsor Horse Show. The Duke of Edinburgh had been a “hands on” president of the event, which has taken place on the private grounds of Windsor Castle since 1991. Philip was a keen horseman and competed in International Carriage Driving competitions for 35 years. Edward said his father had been “instrumental” in developing the equestrian festival into one of the most prestigious horse shows in the world. The earl and his wife Sophie, Countess of Wessex, have long been involved with the event, most recently as Royal Vice Presidents, according to a press release from organizers. The show is set to put on a jubilee-themed extravaganza in May.\n\nPrince Edward with his father, Prince Philip, in Edinburgh, Scotland in 2016 Max Mumby/Indigo/Getty Images\n\nROYAL TEA BREAK\n\nThe Sussexes attend the 2021 Salute To Freedom Gala at Intrepid Sea-Air-Space Museum on in New York City on November 10, 2021. Dia Dipasupil/Getty Images\n\nThe Duke and Duchess of Sussex will be awarded with the prestigious NAACP President’s Award in recognition of their humanitarian work and commitment to equality and social justice this weekend. The couple will be presented with the accolade at the 53rd NAACP Image Awards, which will air live at 8 p.m. ET on BET, on Saturday. The NAACP are honoring Harry and Meghan for their “distinguished public service” and for having “heeded the call to social justice” in the United States and around the world, according to a NAACP press release. Previous winners include Rihanna, Muhammad Ali, Lauryn Hill, Condoleezza Rice and LeBron James.\n\nThe pair have also announced a new award in collaboration with NAACP in an effort to continue supporting and recognizing future generations of civil rights leaders. Author and scholar Safiya Noble – who explores how digital technologies intersect with culture, race and gender – will be awarded the inaugural NAACP-Archewell Digital Civil Rights Award.\n\nHarry and Meghan said it was a “true honor” to be acknowledged by the President’s Award, the press release added. They said the work of the NAACP to ensure racial justice and protect civil rights was “vital.”\n\nIN THE ROYAL DIARY\n\nThe Cambridges arrive at RAF Akrotiri, southwest of the coastal southern Cypriot city of Limassol on December 5, 2018, during a visit honoring military personnel serving overseas during the Christmas period. Iakovos Hatzistavrou/AFP/Getty Images\n\nSeveral members of the royal family will embark on overseas tours in spring to mark the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee, when Elizabeth II celebrates the milestone of 70 years on the British throne.\n\nThe Cambridges will kick things off with the first tour next month, with the couple heading to the Caribbean, where they will visit Belize, Jamaica and the Bahamas between March 19 and 26. Prince Charles and wife Camilla will head to the Republic of Ireland for a two-day visit on March 23. Princess Anne will visit Papua New Guinea in mid-April. And finally, the Queen’s youngest son, Prince Edward, and his wife Sophie will round out the month, on a multi-stop tour that will take in Antigua and Barbuda, Grenada, St. Lucia, and St. Vincent and the Grenadines from April 22.\n\nIn a post on their joint Instagram story, the Cambridges shared their excitement over their upcoming Caribbean tour. “We can’t wait to meet people in all three countries, celebrate local cultures and understand more about innovative work being done across communities,” the pair wrote before signing off the message “W&C.”\n\nDID YOU KNOW?\n\nWilliam’s secret trip to MI6 HQ.\n\nSpeaking of the Duke of Cambridge … while his wife was in Denmark, he made an unannounced visit to the Secret Intelligence Service in London on Wednesday. The agency is perhaps better known as MI6 – thanks to James Bond – and specializes in foreign intelligence. Media outlets learned of the visit after it featured in the Court Circular, which is the official record of royal engagements. In 2019, the duke completed a three-week attachment with the UK’s Security and Intelligence Agencies, observing firsthand the country’s fight against terrorism.\n\nPHOTO OF THE WEEK\n\nSophie, Countess of Wessex met new mothers and their babies as she opened the new Jigsaw Hub at The Lighthouse community center in Woking, England on February 24. The center hosts a range of projects aiming to support, encourage and empower marginalized and vulnerable members of society through training and providing care packages and food. Samir Hussein/WireImage/Getty Images\n\n“We stand with the people of Ukraine.” Harry and Meghan issued a statement in support of the European country after it was invaded by Russian forces Thursday.\n\nThe pair called Russian President Vladimir Putin’s actions a “breach of international and humanitarian law” and called on the global community to do the same.", "authors": ["Max Foster Lauren Said-Moorhouse", "Max Foster", "Lauren Said-Moorhouse"], "publish_date": "2022/02/25"}]}
+{"question_id": "20240119_3", "search_time": "2024/01/19/23:34", "search_result": [{"url": "https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/elections/2020/01/06/do-iowa-caucus-winners-win-presidency-party-nomination-general-election/2828834001/", "title": "Historically, do Iowa Caucus winners earn their party's nomination ...", "text": "DES MOINES — Presidential candidates spend months or even years in Iowa during election season, hoping to secure that coveted top spot on caucus night. But while a win in Iowa can spring candidates into the spotlight, the caucuses don't necessarily forecast the rest of the race.\n\nSince the caucuses began in 1972, there have been 18 caucus winners between the two parties: 10 Democrats and 8 Republicans. More than half of those winners went on to secure their party's nomination in that cycle, but only three would go on to be elected president.\n\nThe list includes two incumbents who faced significant primary challenges in Iowa. Incumbent President Gerald Ford, a Republican, was challenged by former California governor Ronald Reagan in 1976. Though Ford narrowly won the Iowa caucus and secured the Republican nomination, he lost the presidency to Georgia Gov. Jimmy Carter, a Democrat.\n\nCarter faced a similar situation four years later as he ran for a second term. Sen. Ted Kennedy of Massachusetts challenged Carter in Iowa. Carter won the caucus and the Democratic nomination, but went on to lose lose the general election to Reagan.\n\nIncumbent presidents who ran unopposed or faced negligible competition Iowa are excluded from the data.\n\nPrep for the polls: See who is running for president and compare where they stand on key issues in our Voter Guide\n\nTwo men are counted twice in the data: Carter and former Kansas U.S. Sen. Bob Dole, who each won two opposed Iowa caucuses. Dole was not the Republican nominee in 1988 but did clinch the nomination his second time around, in 1996. He would go on to lose the general election to the Democratic incumbent, President Bill Clinton.\n\nIowa caucus winners who became president varies by party\n\nIowa Democratic caucus winners have more often become their party's nominee and the winner of the presidential election than the winners of Iowa's Republican caucuses.\n\nSeven of 10 Democrats who won their Iowa caucus went on to become the Democratic nominee in the general election. Meanwhile, just 3 of 8 Iowa Republican caucus winners would become the party's nominee a few months later.\n\nThe Iowa Democratic caucuses over the last 20 years have been especially accurate at choosing the nominee: Every caucus winner since 2000, from Vice President Al Gore to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, has gone on to become the party's general election nominee.\n\nThe opposite is true for Iowa Republicans: No Iowa Republican caucus winner has gone on to represent the party in a general election since Texas governor George W. Bush, in 2000.\n\nWhen it comes to selecting the winner of the presidential election, Democratic caucuses maintain an edge over Republicans. Since 1972, two Democrats who placed first on caucus night were elected president that November: Carter did it in 1976, then former U.S. Sen. Barack Obama in 2008.\n\nOnly one Republican, George W. Bush, won an opposed Iowa caucus, secured his party's nomination and went on to become president.\n\nSo what does it all mean for the 2020 Democratic presidential candidates?\n\nAs candidates scramble to charm Iowans and the caucuses creep ever-closer, it is clear that the winner of the Iowa caucus is most often not the person who eventually sits in the Oval Office.\n\nStill, Democratic caucuses in the last two decades have been eerily good at predicting the nominee. Expect to see candidates pouring time and money into the state and hoping they can continue that trend.\n\nMore results: Dig deeper into Iowa Caucus history and results, including recent county-level results.\n\nKatie Akin is a politics reporter for the Des Moines Register. Reach her at kakin@registermedia.com or at 515-284-8041. Follow her on Twitter at @katie_akin.", "authors": [], "publish_date": "2020/01/06"}, {"url": "https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/elections/presidential/caucus/2024/01/09/iowa-caucuses-how-all-7-republican-candidates-could-succeed-or-fall-short-trump-desantis-haley/71919590007/", "title": "How each Republican candidate can win the Iowa Caucuses or fall ...", "text": "Iowa Republicans will caucus Jan. 15 to select their choice for a presidential nominee and kick off a contentious primary election calendar.\n\nFormer President Donald Trump, facing 91 criminal charges across four different cases, is waging an unprecedented campaign as the faraway front-runner.\n\nFlorida Gov. Ron DeSantis and former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley, both former allies of Trump, have for weeks battled for second place, lobbing attacks at each other as they aim to position themselves as the leading alternative to Trump.\n\nAuthor and entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy is running a near-nonstop campaign blitz focused on passing the baton to a younger leader of the party.\n\nAnd the remainder of the field — former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson and Texas pastor Ryan Binkley — are fighting to remain in the conversation come caucus night.\n\nPrep for the polls: See who is running for president and compare where they stand on key issues in our Voter Guide\n\nHere's a rundown on where each candidate stands according to our recent polling; what their path to success in the Iowa Caucuses looks like; how they could fall short; and a key insight into every one of their campaigns.\n\nFormer President Donald Trump\n\nWhere he stands: 48% in January's Des Moines Register/NBC News/Mediacom Iowa Poll, leading the field by 28 percentage points.\n\nHis path to victory: Trump's assertion throughout this cycle comes to fruition — a landslide victory in which he eclipses 50% of the vote, while none of his challengers stands out or gains significant ground.\n\nHis campaign's organizing operation turns out longtime loyalists and first-time caucusgoers alike, proving its competence compared to his scattered 2016 operation. Barring a late surge by a rival in the following early states, Trump rolls into New Hampshire and beyond looking like the all-but-assured nominee.\n\nHow he could fall short: The Trump campaign's turnout strategy flops, failing to turn out supporters in high numbers while the ground game of DeSantis or Haley or both pays off and accelerates them into competition.\n\nFailing to win the caucuses with such a significant polling lead just weeks out would be unprecedented, but even a close margin between Trump and one or both of his challengers could give them the momentum to pull off an upset in New Hampshire and turn the race upside down.\n\nA key number: 56%, the percentage of first-time caucusgoers who named Trump as their first-choice candidate in January's Iowa Poll. That's down from 63% in December, but still dwarfs the 13% support among first-time caucusgoers for DeSantis and 14% for Haley.\n\nRead more on Donald Trump:\n\nFormer UN Ambassador Nikki Haley\n\nWhere she stands: 20% first-choice support in January's Iowa Poll, second place.\n\nThe path to victory: A late winter surge continues for Haley through Caucus Day, separating her from a bitter back-and-forth with DeSantis and elevating her to a competitive position as the leading challenger to Trump.\n\nHaley's increasingly sharp attacks against DeSantis (and to a lesser extent, Trump), combined with a well-financed field operation courtesy of the Koch political network, allow her to push through criticisms from the right and prepare for New Hampshire, where recent polling has shown her chipping away at Trump's lead.\n\nHow she could fall short: The former ambassador and governor's pitch as the best option to beat President Joe Biden in the general election doesn't resonate with Iowans, and those not backing Trump instead flock to DeSantis.\n\nHaley will head to New Hampshire hoping that, in her words, which were quickly criticized by DeSantis, voters in that state \"correct\" Iowans' decision.\n\nA key number: $24 million, how much Haley's campaign said they fundraised in the last three months of 2023. It's more than double what she raised in any other quarter thus far in the campaign, a sign that her campaign has seen a boost in national attention and an indication that she aims to stick around regardless of Iowa's results.\n\nRead more on Nikki Haley:\n\nFlorida Gov. Ron DeSantis\n\nWhere he stands: 16% first-choice support in January's Iowa Poll, third place.\n\nThe path to victory: DeSantis' laser focus on Iowa pays off — harnessing a massive super PAC organizing effort and connections with evangelical leaders to surge late and emerge as the Trump alternative of choice.\n\nHis ability to earn the support of some of Iowa's most prominent conservative leaders — Gov. Kim Reynolds, Family Leader CEO Bob Vander Plaats, radio host Steve Deace and others — and a near-constant campaign with visits to all 99 counties provide the last-minute break from the pack the governor has been seeking for months.\n\nHow he could fall short: DeSantis' struggle to gain traction in Iowa continues until the very end, with the support from state GOP leaders and ample spending failing to result in a competitive finish.\n\nFueled by a bump of national interest over the winter, Haley instead cements herself as the leading alternative to Trump, and DeSantis' lack of significant investment in future states makes a path to the nomination difficult.\n\nA key number: 812,000, how many homes in Iowa the pro-DeSantis super PAC says it had knocked doors on as of late December. If DeSantis ends up with a favorable result, it will be in part because of the PAC's massive dump of resources throughout the state.\n\nRead more on Ron DeSantis:\n\nEntrepreneur and author Vivek Ramaswamy\n\nWhere he stands: 8% first-choice support in January's Iowa Poll, fourth place.\n\nThe path to victory: Ramaswamy's pitch to Iowans who typically don't show up for the caucuses in large numbers — independents, young voters and Libertarians among them — sees success, as he outperforms his low polling marks throughout the race.\n\nThe author and entrepreneur's hard-line proposals for mass government layoffs and eliminations of major agencies, as well as near-unlimited self-funding that fueled months of campaigning in Iowa, allow him to hang around the race a while longer.\n\nHow he could fall short: Ramaswamy's onslaught of campaign events and self-funding are for naught, as his targeted groups of caucusgoers don't show up on Jan. 15.\n\nHis pitch as the \"next generation\" of Trump's \"America First\" movement doesn't resonate, with potential supporters instead turning out for Trump himself.\n\nA key number: 318, the number of events Ramaswamy has held in Iowa from February 2022 through Jan. 2, according to a list provided by the campaign to the Register.\n\nRead more on Vivek Ramaswamy:\n\nFormer Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson\n\nWhere he stands: 1% first-choice support in January's Iowa Poll, tied for fifth place.\n\nThe path to victory: Hutchinson, who at several points during this caucus cycle has been openly booed by Republican crowds, is able to pull off an unlikely last-minute surge, spurred by consolidating anti-Trump Republicans seeking a more moderate option.\n\nHow he could fall short: Hutchinson has pitched himself as a candidate open to bipartisanship, recently conducting a \"Return to Normal\" campaign swing, but it's not what Iowans are looking for. He fails to chart in the caucuses.\n\nA key number: Four, the number of Republican debates Hutchinson has failed to qualify for since making the stage at the first debate in August.\n\nRead more on Asa Hutchinson:\n\nTexas pastor Ryan Binkley\n\nWhere he stands: 1% first-choice support in January's Iowa Poll, tied for fifth place.\n\nThe path to victory: Binkley's faith focus and willingness to spend money despite his nonexistent support in polls allows him to attract undecided voters in the final days of the race.\n\nHow he could fall short: His status as a political outsider does not resonate with Iowans, as he fails to gain any traction and leaves Iowa with no notable support.\n\nA key number: 0%, which Binkley polled at for three straight Iowa Polls before cracking 1% in January.\n\nRead more on Ryan Binkley:\n\nGalen Bacharier covers politics for the Register. Reach him at gbacharier@registermedia.com or (573) 219-7440, and follow him on Twitter @galenbacharier.", "authors": [], "publish_date": "2024/01/09"}, {"url": "https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/elections/presidential/caucus/2019/08/30/iowa-caucus-how-democratic-republican-caucuses-work-differences-presidential-preferences-primary/2164118001/", "title": "How do the Democratic and Republican caucuses work in Iowa and ...", "text": "The Register\n\nThe Iowa caucuses for the Democratic and Republican parties will be held Feb. 3, 2020.\n\nThe caucuses begin at 7 p.m. at most locations (you have to be in line by 7 p.m. to participate). It's a good idea to arrive early, especially if you need to register at the door. This year, some Democratic satellite caucus locations begin earlier. However, some of those sites require preregistration and some of those deadlines have passed.\n\nSo just how does the caucus process work? Read on for a detailed description of both the Democratic and Republican caucuses.\n\nMore:How to find your caucus site, register and be informed about the candidate you want to support\n\nWhat is a caucus?\n\nA caucus is a gathering of party members to discuss presidential preferences, elect local party leaders and talk about policy positions that make up a party’s platform.\n\nThere are major differences between the Democrats’ and the Republicans’ way of caucusing. The key one is that at a Democratic caucus participants separate into groups based on which presidential candidate they support. In a Republican caucus, participants simply cast a vote to indicate their support.\n\nA caucus begins with a call to order, and other general business, including election of a chair for the night’s proceedings.\n\nIn both parties’ caucuses, candidates or their representatives may speak to caucusgoers before the preference selection begins.\n\nHow is a primary different?\n\nCaucuses are run by the parties; primaries are run by the states. A primary resembles a general election, where registered voters cast a vote by secret ballot for their preferred candidate.\n\nMore:\n\nThe Democratic caucus\n\n1. PICKING A CANDIDATE\n\nCaucusgoers show their presidential preference by standing in a section of the room devoted to their candidate.\n\n2. BECOMING VIABLE\n\nThe people in each of those groups are counted. If the size of the group is at least 15% of those attending, that group is considered viable and the people in that group must fill out a presidential preference card, sign it, and turn it in. After they fill out that card, those in a 15% group can leave or watch the rest of the caucus. They cannot vote again.\n\n3. REALIGNING\n\nThose in groups that did not reach 15% in the first count can select a candidate again, either by joining a viable group, earning support for their group or another group or joining an uncommitted group.\n\n4. FINAL COUNT\n\nAfter realignment, the groups’ size will be counted again. That will be the final count.\n\n5. DETERMINING DELEGATES\n\nAfter the final count, delegates are awarded to the candidates, based on how many supporters those groups had.\n\nChanges in the 2020 Democratic caucus\n\nTwo counts: In previous cycles, caucusgoers could realign multiple times. Starting this year, there is only one realignment and people who supported a viable candidate cannot vote again.\n\nSatellite caucuses: For the first time in 2020, Democrats have allowed caucuses at dozens of satellite locations, both in Iowa and in other states and three other countries, to allow people who could not caucus at 7 p.m. at their assigned precinct in Iowa to participate. Some of those satellite caucuses start earlier or later than 7 p.m. and some require preregistration.\n\nReporting results: Democrats will make public the raw vote numbers from the first and second alignments, as well as the delegate strength candidates have. In previous years, the party reported only the delegate strength.\n\nView the final delegate totals as well as the first and second alignment vote numbers at DesMoinesRegister.com on Feb. 3.\n\nThe Republican caucus\n\n1. PICKING A CANDIDATE\n\nParticipants are asked to cast a vote for their preferred candidate for president. The delegates that will represent Iowa at the Republican National Convention will be divided proportionally to the statewide vote.\n\n2. TALLYING VOTES\n\nThe votes are counted and the chair announces the number of delegates to be elected by the precinct to attend the county convention.\n\n3. SELECTING DELEGATES\n\nThe delegates are nominated based on the candidates receiving the most votes and confirmed by all caucus participants.\n\nWhere are the caucuses held?\n\nA caucus is usually held at a school or other public building in a precinct, depending on expected turnout. Churches, union halls, fire stations, businesses and private homes also serve as caucus sites.\n\nFind your polling place through the Iowa Democratic Party or the Republican Party of Iowa.\n\nLook up Democratic caucus locations at the Iowa Democratic Party website\n\nat the Iowa Democratic Party website Look up Republican caucus locations at the Republican Party of Iowa website\n\nSome locations will host caucuses for multiple precincts on caucus night, so it will be helpful to know your precinct number so that you caucus with the right group.\n\nTo find your precinct, go to the Secretary of State’s website: https://sos.iowa.gov/elections/voterreg/pollingplace/search.aspx\n\nBoth parties recommend arriving 30 to 45 minutes early. The Democratic Party specifies that you must be signed in or in line by 7 p.m. to participate.\n\nWho can caucus?\n\nYou must be eligible to vote in the state of Iowa; 18 years old by the date of the presidential election, Nov. 3, 2020; and registered as a Democrat or Republican.\n\nDemocrats require no specific identification. Republicans say those seeking to register on caucus night should bring an ID and proof of residency.\n\nMore:\n\nOther caucus business\n\nResults: Once the presidential preference proceedings are done, the results are reported to the state party, where they will be verified, then reported to the media and the public.\n\nAdditional business: Caucus participants conduct additional committee elections and discuss the party platform to help prepare for the county convention.\n\nAfter the caucuses: Conventions\n\nThe delegates elected during the caucuses will attend county conventions in March. The delegates elected during the caucuses will attend county conventions in March. District conventions are held in April and state conventions in June.\n\nDelegates are further narrowed to attend the party national conventions in July and August. There, the national delegates select which candidate will be the party’s nominee for president.\n\nSources: Republican Party of Iowa, Iowa Democratic Party, Register research", "authors": [], "publish_date": "2019/08/30"}, {"url": "https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/elections/2024/01/13/iowa-poll-nikki-haley-leads-desantis-caucus/72221223007/", "title": "Iowa Poll: Nikki Haley overtakes Ron DeSantis; Donald Trump leads ...", "text": "© Copyright 2024, Des Moines Register and Tribune Co.\n\nNikki Haley has overtaken Ron DeSantis in Iowa just days before a high-stakes Republican caucus that could help determine whether either candidate has a viable shot at upending Donald Trump, the race’s far-and-away front-runner.\n\nBut even as Haley has moved into second place, a new Des Moines Register/NBC News/Mediacom Iowa Poll indicates her support may be based on “shaky ground,” said pollster J. Ann Selzer, who conducted the poll.\n\nThe Iowa Poll shows 48% of likely Republican caucusgoers pick Trump as their first choice for president — a slight dip from the 51% who said the same in December.\n\nHaley, who has shown more upward momentum since the start of the caucus cycle than any other candidate, now sits in second place at 20%. It is her best showing in the Iowa Poll, and an increase of 4 percentage points since December.\n\nPrep for the polls: See who is running for president and compare where they stand on key issues in our Voter Guide\n\nDeSantis has fallen 3 percentage points to slip to third place at 16%.\n\nAlthough DeSantis entered the race last year looking like the candidate best positioned to take on Trump in Iowa, the Florida governor has stagnated in the polls, failing to gain any ground over his first Iowa Poll showing in August, when he earned 19%.\n\nSelzer, who is president of the nationally recognized firm Selzer & Co., said Saturday’s results bring to mind those of the final Iowa Poll before the 2016 Republican caucus.\n\nThat year, Trump stood atop the poll, but Cruz looked far stronger in the underlying data. Cruz went on to defeat Trump, but Trump defeated him for the Republican nomination.\n\n“The deep data on (Haley) suggest she looks stronger in the poll than she could on caucus night,” Selzer said.\n\nThe poll shows troubling signs around likely caucusgoers’ enthusiasm for Haley, which could become particularly important as Iowa faces what is expected to be a historically cold caucus night following a blizzard that dumped a foot of snow across much of the state.\n\nWhile Haley has surpassed DeSantis, Selzer said, “most of the rest of the data here is not good news.”\n\nNo other candidate breaks into double digits.\n\nEntrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy is in fourth place at 8%, up from 5% in December.\n\nTexas pastor Ryan Binkley and former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson are at 1%.\n\nThe poll of 705 likely Republican caucusgoers was conducted Jan. 7-12 and has a margin of error of plus or minus 3.7 percentage points.\n\nIt comes as Iowans are solidifying their caucus picks. Overall, 68% say their minds are made up, while 25% say they could still be persuaded. Another 7% say they do not have a first-choice candidate.\n\nMore Trump supporters are locked in, with 82% saying their minds are made up. It’s 64% for DeSantis supporters and 63% for Haley supporters.\n\nThis cycle has seen most Iowa Republican caucusgoers decide on a candidate and stick with their choice even as the field has shifted and narrowed.\n\nTwo in three, or 65%, say they have always supported their current first-choice candidate, while 27% say they’ve previously supported someone else.\n\nAmong Trump supporters, 87% say they have always supported him. For DeSantis, it’s 67%. But it’s just 46% among Haley supporters.\n\nLack of enthusiasm among Nikki Haley supporters is ‘on the edge of jaw-dropping’\n\nAlthough Haley has pulled ahead of DeSantis, the poll shows clear dangers lurk for her going into a caucus night that could be decided by Iowans’ willingness to brave the snow and cold.\n\nOverall, 32% of likely Republican caucusgoers say they are “extremely” enthusiastic about caucusing for their first-choice candidate. Another 34% are “very enthusiastic.” But 22% are only “mildly” enthusiastic and 4% are “not that enthusiastic.” Seven percent did not name a first-choice candidate.\n\nTrump has the greatest share of enthusiastic supporters, with 49% saying they are extremely enthusiastic and 39% who are very enthusiastic. Just 11% say they are only mildly enthusiastic and zero percent they are not that enthusiastic.\n\nFor DeSantis, 23% say they are extremely enthusiastic to caucus for him — up from 16% in December.\n\nBut a majority of those who plan to caucus for Haley say they are only mildly enthusiastic (49%, up from 39% in December) or not that enthusiastic (12%, up from 2% in December). She is the only candidate to see a substantial rise in the proportion of her supporters saying they are only mildly or not that enthusiastic.\n\nJust 9% say they are extremely enthusiastic to caucus for Haley. Another 30% say they are very enthusiastic about caucusing for her.\n\n“Her enthusiasm numbers, again, I just think are on the edge of jaw-dropping,” Selzer said. “That 61% are just mildly enthusiastic or not that enthusiastic — it just seems at odds with a candidate moving up.”\n\nAt the same time, Haley’s favorability ratings have also fallen to the point where they’re barely above water.\n\nNow, Haley is viewed favorably by 48% of likely Republican caucusgoers, down from 59% in December. And she is viewed unfavorably by 46%, up from 31%. Another 6% don’t know enough about her to say.\n\nThe change comes as Haley has become the focus of attacks from both DeSantis and Trump in the final weeks of the campaign and as millions of dollars of negative TV ads have flooded Iowa’s airwaves.\n\nDeSantis’ favorable numbers have also dropped, to 58% from 66% in December. And his unfavorable numbers climbed from 29% to 36%. Another 6% don’t know enough to say.\n\nRamaswamy is viewed favorably by 52%, up from 46%. And he is viewed unfavorably by 36%, matching the 36% who said the same in December. Another 13% are not sure.\n\nTrump continues to have the best favorability ratings among the GOP candidates with 69% viewing him favorably and 29% viewing him unfavorably. That’s similar to December, when 72% viewed him favorably and 28% viewed him unfavorably.\n\nWhich caucusgoers are most likely to attend, despite sub-zero wind chills?\n\nOn a night when turnout and enthusiasm matters, the Iowa Poll shows one bright spot for DeSantis, whose supporters are more likely to say they will definitely attend the caucus.\n\nOverall, 55% of poll respondents say they will definitely, rather than probably, attend the caucuses on Monday.\n\nAmong DeSantis supporters, 62% say they will definitely attend. Among Trump supporters, it is 56%, and 51% of Haley supporters.\n\nPaul Rottinghaus, a 71-year-old Charles City resident and poll respondent, said he definitely plans to caucus for DeSantis.\n\n“I like all four of them, but Ron, to me, has the best chance of winning,” he said. “I like what he has to say. I like what he's done in Florida. I like his right-to-life stance. I like the fact that he's willing to stand up and make a statement and move forward to get people involved to reach a resolution.”\n\nRottinghaus said he has participated in the caucuses “practically every year” and isn’t bothered by the snow and cold.\n\n“I run a company called Zips, and we sell tow trucks,” he said. “This kind of weather is what we call ‘record sunshine.’”\n\nBut with bitterly cold weather and life-threatening wind chills predicted, older Iowans may choose to stay home on caucus night.\n\nAmong likely caucusgoers who are 65 and older, Trump leads with 52%. Haley follows with 24%, and DeSantis gets 13%.\n\nDonald Trump leads with independents, but they make up a big chunk of Nikki Haley’s support\n\nOverall, Trump leads with independents.\n\nHe gets the support of 37% of independents who plan to caucus with Republicans. Haley follows with 33%. DeSantis gets 14%, and Ramaswamy gets 5%.\n\nBut independents and Democrats make up half of Haley’s support going into Caucus Day, the poll shows. That was also true in the Register’s December Iowa Poll.\n\nAmong Haley’s supporters, 39% identify as independents and 11% identify as Democrats.\n\nDemocrats and independents are allowed to vote for GOP candidates if they register with the Republican Party on caucus night.\n\n“I think she offers intelligence and experience in global policies with her experience in the U.N.,” said Megan Ulrich, a poll respondent and 41-year-old Ogden resident and political independent who plans to caucus for Haley. “And I think that she has the ability to bring our country together and not further divide it.”\n\nUlrich said she tends to support Republicans over Democrats, but lately she doesn’t feel much affinity to either party. She is only mildly excited to caucus for Haley, though she did feel a stronger commitment to her after watching the last GOP presidential debate.\n\n“I just don't feel like we have a lot of super inspirational candidates right now,” she said.\n\nUlrich lives in a rural area and says she’s not worried about the forecast cold, but the snow could be a concern.\n\n“It's going to be a little bit tough,” she said. “But I think as long as our roads are plowed, I can handle the cold and make it to caucus at our location.”\n\nLee Potter, a 62-year-old Democrat and poll respondent, said he plans to change his party registration on caucus night to support Haley. Potter, a Cedar Falls resident, said there’s “no action on the Democratic side” this year, and he feels strongly about the GOP candidates.\n\n“As it was when I voted for John McCain in 2000, I want to be able to vote for somebody that I can stomach in the White House,” he said. “And she seems to be the least offensive.”\n\nIowa Democrats will meet on Jan. 15 to caucus, but they will only conduct party business. They will cast their presidential preferences entirely by mail, with the results to be released March 5.\n\nAccording to the Iowa Poll, 69% of those who say they are likely to caucus with Republicans on Monday are Republicans, 5% are Democrats, and 23% are independents.\n\nIn 2012, the last time the Republicans held a contested caucus when the Democrats did not also have a contested race, entrance polling showed Republicans made up 75% of the electorate, Democrats were 2% and independents made up 23%.\n\nIn addition to independents, Haley does best with those who live in the suburbs (31%) and with white women with college degrees (31%).\n\nDonald Trump holds strong, steady lead across all demographics\n\nTrump holds a 28-point lead over Haley, which is slightly smaller than the 32-point lead he held over the rest of the field in December. He continues to hold a commanding lead, but with modest slippage.\n\n“His lead is still impressive,” Selzer said. “The game appears to be for second place, without a real challenger on the horizon.”\n\nAs in the December Iowa Poll, Trump leads with every demographic group tested.\n\nTrump does best among those without a college degree (59%), those with an income of less than $50,000 (60%), and white men without a college degree (62%).\n\nTrump’s lead with first-time caucusgoers is 4-to-1 at 56% to Haley’s 14% and DeSantis’ 13%.\n\nSusanne Olson, a 58-year-old Des Moines resident and poll respondent, said she’s been to see Trump speak six or seven times and plans to caucus for him Monday.\n\n“Oh my God, I'm like a groupie for Trump,” she said.\n\nShe’s heard Trump at his recent events making explicit appeals to Iowans to show up and caucus for him. Olson said she plans to caucus for the first time because of him.\n\n“Trump has never lied to us one time,” she said. “Everything that man said he was going to do, he did. And I believe he cares about the people, because who would give up his life to try and fix this? You know, he does talk too much. Yeah, his mouth. OK, we understand that. But the man knows what he's doing. I trust him.”\n\nShe said she’s not worried about the weather or navigating the caucus process for the first time.\n\n“Not at all,” she said. “I'll jump right in there. He did it. He jumped in there for us.”\n\nThirty-four percent of likely Republican caucusgoers say this will be their first caucus, which is lower than the 40% who said the same in the final Iowa Poll ahead of the 2016 GOP caucus.\n\nTrump’s weakest demographic groups still award him the plurality of the first-choice vote.\n\nThat includes white women with a college degree (34%), suburban residents (32%), all those with a college degree (34%) and white men with a college degree (29%).\n\nDonald Trump leads with evangelicals; Ron DeSantis outperforms Nikki Haley\n\nTrump continues to lead with evangelicals, who make up a sizable and influential bloc of likely caucusgoers.\n\nAmong evangelicals, Trump leads with 51%, which is unchanged from December. DeSantis gets 22% (down from 26%), Haley gets 12%, which is unchanged from December. And Ramaswamy is at 8% (up from 5%).\n\nIowa Republicans say this caucus cycle is noteworthy because, for the first time in years, the evangelical community doesn’t appear to have united behind a candidate.\n\nBut Iowa’s GOP strategists say DeSantis may be able to peel off enough support to help boost his campaign.\n\nDeSantis has campaigned regularly in northwest Iowa, which is home to a large conservative evangelical population. And he earned the endorsement of influential evangelical leader Bob Vander Plaats late last year.\n\n“If that gets up to 30-plus, he's going to have a great night,” Iowa Republican operative Jimmy Centers previously told the Register. “He's going to get second place. And he's going to put a little bit of margin between himself and Ambassador Haley, which is exactly what he needs going forward.”\n\nMajority of likely caucusgoers say they are ‘excited’ for Caucus Day, but others are ‘resigned’\n\nHeading into Caucus Day, a majority of Iowans, or 60%, say they are feeling “excited for their candidate.”\n\nBut another 27%, say they’re feeling “neutral” about the outcome and 12% say they are “resigned” to the outcome.\n\nThe numbers again show strength for Trump, whose supporters are more likely to say they’re feeling excited. And they show warning signs for Haley, who trails both Trump and DeSantis.\n\nAmong Trump’s supporters, 75% say they are feeling excited, 19% feel neutral and just 4% say they are resigned.\n\nA majority of DeSantis’ supporters, or 59%, also say they are feeling excited. Another 22% say they are feeling neutral, and 19% say they are resigned.\n\nBut for Haley, just 43% say they are feeling excited. Another 37% say they feel neutral, and 18% say they feel resigned.\n\nRottinghaus, the DeSantis supporter, said he is among those feeling resigned to the outcome on caucus night.\n\n“Well, it's kind of an exercise, because Donald Trump is so far ahead and I assume that he'll be that way at the caucus,” he said. “My goal is to keep somebody else alive. And, you know, it's a long time until the election. Lots of things can happen, but I still feel in the end, (DeSantis) or Nikki Haley both have a better chance of getting a Republican into office than we imagine, I guess.”\n\nBrianne Pfannenstiel is the chief politics reporter for the Register. Reach her at bpfann@dmreg.com or 515-284-8244. Follow her on Twitter at @brianneDMR\n\nAbout the Iowa Poll\n\nThe Iowa Poll, conducted Jan. 7-12, 2024, for The Des Moines Register, NBC News and Mediacom by Selzer & Co. of Des Moines, is based on telephone interviews with 705 registered voters in Iowa who say they will definitely or probably attend the 2024 Republican caucuses.\n\nInterviewers with Quantel Research contacted 4,170 randomly selected voters from the Iowa Secretary of State’s voter registration list by telephone. The sample was supplemented with additional phone number lookups. Interviews were administered in English. Responses for all contacts were adjusted by age, sex and congressional district to reflect their proportions among voters in the list.\n\nQuestions based on the sample of 705 voters likely to attend the 2024 Iowa Republican caucuses have a maximum margin of error of plus or minus 3.7 percentage points. This means that if this survey were repeated using the same questions and the same methodology, 19 times out of 20, the findings would not vary from the true population value by more than plus or minus 3.7 percentage points. Results based on smaller samples of respondents — such as by gender or age — have a larger margin of error.\n\nRepublishing the copyright Iowa Poll without credit to The Des Moines Register, NBC News and Mediacom is prohibited.", "authors": [], "publish_date": "2024/01/13"}, {"url": "https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/elections/2024/01/15/iowa-caucus-live-updates-2024/72192316007/", "title": "Iowa Caucus replay: Catch up after Trump won, DeSantis followed", "text": "Former President Donald Trump clinched victory in the Iowa Caucuses on Monday, celebrating a quick win over his Republican rivals.\n\nFlorida Gov. Ron DeSantis secured second place ahead of former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley and entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy. The political newcomer on Monday suspended his longshot 2024 bid after the caucuses came to a close, telling supporters there was \"no path\" forward for his campaign\n\nCatch up with the USA TODAY Network's live coverage of the Iowa Caucuses here. Our reporters in Iowa and across the country talked to caucusgoers, leaders and organizers to answer your questions and bring you key updates.\n\nVivek Ramaswamy suspends presidential campaign, endorses Donald Trump\n\nVivek Ramaswamy is dropping out of the presidential race, his campaign spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin confirmed Monday night.\n\nPrep for the polls: See who is running for president and compare where they stand on key issues in our Voter Guide\n\n\"There's no path for me to be the next president, absent things we don't want to see happen in this country,\" he said in a speech announcing that he was suspending his campaign after a 4th place finish in the Iowa Caucuses.\n\nRamaswamy said the next president must be an \"America First\" president. He said he would throw his support behind Donald Trump. As he announced he was ending his bid, Ramaswamy had 8,093 votes, or 7.7%, in the Republican Iowa Caucuses, with 91% of votes reporting.\n\nRamaswamy held the most events in Iowa, which he did by far – 323 scheduled public events, according to the Des Moines Register's Candidate Tracker. His campaign says he visited every one of Iowa's 99 counties at least twice and visited many counties three or more times. He's found curious crowds but few die-hard supporters.\n\nRamaswamy, 38, told supporters during a campaign stop in Clive on Monday that his parents came to the U.S. from India with no money, he said. Now he’s founded companies worth billions of dollars, has a wife and two sons and is living the American Dream, Ramaswamy said.\n\n– Des Moines Register\n\nRon DeSantis finishes in second place behind Donald Trump\n\nRon DeSantis won second place in the Iowa Caucuses Monday night, trailing GOP frontrunner Donald Trump.\n\nThe Florida governor was competing with Nikki Haley for a second-place finish in the Hawkeye State.\n\n– Marina Pitofsky\n\nDonald Trump touts win\n\nDonald Trump took on a conciliatory approach in his victory, complimenting his opponents and saying \"we want to come together.\"\n\nHe joked about how close the second place battle was, though he did not name Nikki Haley or Ron DeSantis. He did give a specific shout out to Vivek Ramaswamy, with whom he has been feuding in recent days.\n\nBut the former president ultimately looked to November's general election.\n\n“This is the first, because the big night is going to be in November when we take back our country,” he said.\n\n– David Jackson\n\nDonald Trump set to speak in Des Moines soon\n\nDonald Trump, who the Associated Press and other organizations have declared the winner of the Iowa Caucuses, will address supporters at his campaign's watch party in Des Moines at 9:30 p.m. CT, a senior advisor said.\n\n– Galen Bacharier\n\nDonald Trump's supporters celebrate victory\n\nTrump backers at the Iowa Events Center in Des Moines, Iowa, said they were a little surprised at the quick call on Monday night, but not shocked.\n\n\"Everybody knew he was going to win, so it's not too surprising,\" said Vickie Froehlich, 69, a farmer from Kenyon, Minn., who drove down for the festivities.\n\nFroehlich scoffed at the notion that the fast call was some kind of \"election interference.\"\n\n\"People were already at the caucuses,\" she said. \"They knew how they were all going to vote.\"\n\n– David Jackson\n\nDonald Trump watch party in Des Moines fills up with supporters\n\nDonald Trump's supporters have filled the auditorium at the Iowa Events Center in Des Moines, with a couple hundred people mingling and watching a Fox News broadcast of the results on two projectors.\n\nHundreds of press are filling the risers and tables in the back of the auditorium.\n\nAn early call of the caucuses by major networks and news organizations meant that when the race was called for Trump, there were no supporters present to react.–Galen Bacharier\n\nPrecinct near Des Moines sees high level of new Republican registrations\n\nA caucus site just outside Iowa’s capital of Des Moines ran out of registration forms at one point Monday night, as almost 40% of caucusgoers there registered as Republicans. Precinct chair Jim McClure said he heard some say they were previously Democrats or Independents, while others said they had just never registered with the party before. In the past, this new registration number has been closer to 20% of caucusgoers, McClure said. There were 244 Iowans attending the caucus at Beaver Creek Elementary School on Monday night. McClure said the delay was minimal, though, as a school employee quickly photocopied additional forms.\n\n–Savannah Kuchar\n\nDisruption at Des Moines-area caucus site\n\nA video posted to X, formerly Twitter, appeared to show a disruption at a caucus site at Timberline School in Waukee, Iowa.\n\nThe video, posted by Republican Florida state Sen. Blaise Ingoglia, showed a man who shouted “How dare you do this on Martin Luther King Day,” before he was grabbed by people and escorted out.\n\nRep. Wesley Hunt of Texas later posted on X he was making a speech in support of Trump when the man interrupted and shouted Trump was \"racist.\"\n\n\"But on this day, of all days, Martin Luther King Day, the people of Iowa, just like President Trump judge me not by the color of my skin but by the content of my character,\" Hunt said.\n\n–Phillip Sitter\n\nDonald Trump 'honored' by the early call – and says nice things about opponents\n\nThe former president didn't mind the quick call of the Iowa caucuses.\n\n\"I feel great,\" Trump told Fox News Digital in a post-win interview. \"I am greatly honored by such an early call.\"\n\nTrump was in such a good mood that he had some nice things to say about his rivals (though not by name).\n\n\"It really is an honor that, minutes after, they’ve announced I’ve won - against very credible competition- great competition, actually,\" Trump said.\n\n–David Jackson\n\nHow did Donald Trump win so fast?\n\nNot even an hour after doors closed, the Associated Press called the 2024 Iowa Caucuses for Donald Trump at just 7:31pm local time. With just eight counties reporting their results, the winner was determined by a combination of entrance polling and results from a survey of planned voters run by AP.\n\nThe eight counties with results in were, according to AP, similar in demographics and political ideology of other large precincts yet to be counted.\n\nThe AP made their call based on this data as well as analysis from elections experts, researchers, and professional race callers.\n\nUSA TODAY called the Iowa victory for Trump based on AP’s analysis and call.\n\n– Sam Woodward\n\nRon DeSantis spokesperson alleges early race calling is 'election interference'\n\nRon DeSantis' campaign immediately criticized Trump's quick victory on Monday.\n\n\"It is absolutely outrageous that the media would participate in election interference by calling the race before tens of thousands of Iowans even had a chance to vote. The media is in the tank for Trump and this is the most egregious example yet,\" Andrew Romeo, DeSantis' campaign spokesperson, said in a statement.\n\n-Kim Norvell\n\nDonald Trump Jr. says ‘a win is a win is a win’ after his father declares victory in Iowa Caucus\n\nDonald Trump Jr. said “a win is a win is a win” for his father, regardless of the margin of victory Monday night.\n\nHe said Donald Trump’s opponents were trying to drag out the primary process by creating unrealistic expectations, pointing out that the record margin of victory in a contested Republican caucus is Bob Dole’s 12-point win.\n\n“I’d love to have it be a good victory,” he told reporters at the Franklin Jr. High caucus site in Des Moines. “But everyone says he’s gonna win by statistically impossible margins. And then if he does one point less than that – which would be an absolute drubbing – they’ll say, ‘He underperformed! There’s blood in the water!’”\n\n–Stephen Gruber-Miller\n\nNikki Haley and Donald Trump Jr. give dueling speeches at Des Moines caucus site\n\nNikki Haley and Donald Trump Jr. addressed caucusgoers Monday night with competing speeches at Franklin Jr. High in Des Moines.\n\nHaley urged caucusgoers to choose “a new generational leader” to lead the party, saying “You don’t defeat Democrat chaos with Republican chaos.”\n\n“I trust all of you. Iowans do their homework. They know their issues,” she added. “But more than that, you’re patriotic, God-fearing, hardworking Americans and this is your chance to show the power of your voice. And this is your chance to lead the way to get our country back on track.”\n\nTrump spoke after Haley at the caucus site, telling the crowd that the country was in good shape when his father was president. He accused Haley of wanting to involve the U.S. military in conflicts around the world.\n\n“If they want to be in every war in the history of the world, they should vote for Nikki Haley,” he said. “If they want to get back to peace and prosperity the choice is clear that it’s Trump.”\n\n– Stephen Gruber-Miller\n\nDonald Trump wins Iowa Caucus\n\nDonald Trump is projected to win the Iowa Caucus, according to the Associated Press and a slate of other outlets.\n\n– Marina Pitofsky\n\nWhat is my Iowa precinct number?\n\nIowans can find their designated caucus precinct through the Iowa Secretary of State website here.\n\nThey will be asked to enter their home ZIP code and address. After filling out their information, they’ll receive the address of the nearest polling site and directions.\n\nTo find the location of their precinct through the state’s GOP website click here and then on one of Iowa’s 99 counties.\n\nCaucusgoers must be a registered voter and registered Republican to participate. If they are not yet registered they can do so in-person at the caucus site.\n\n– Anthony Robledo\n\nIowa caucus results: GOP chair says it 'might be midnight,' but they’ll be patient with process\n\nIn the face of extreme winter weather conditions across the state, Iowa GOP Chairman Jeff Kaufmann said precinct chairs will be patient as Iowans travel to each caucus location.\n\n“It might be midnight that we have every single piece of data come in,” said Kaufmann, speaking to reporters about an hour before caucus sites were expected to open.\n\n“Certainly I would rather get those results later than have anybody hurry up beyond where they feel comfortable,” he added.\n\nKaufmann said they have asked Iowans to arrive at caucus sites as early as possible. He went on to say that while some sites have had to change locations due to weather and icy roads, they have not had any closures.\n\n“I’m perfectly comfortable with what is going on right now,” Kaufmann said.\n\n– Savannah Kuchar\n\nTrump motorcade arrives at caucus site\n\nDonald Trump is set to speak at a caucus site at Horizon Events Center in Clive, Iowa, with his presidential motorcade arriving just after 7 p.m.\n\nVivek Ramaswamy and Asa Hutchinson also were to address caucusgoers there.\n\n– Galen Bacharie\n\nWhat time is it in Iowa right now?\n\nThe entire state of Iowa is in Central time.\n\nVoting will begin there at 7 p.m., meaning 8 p.m. Eastern time and 5 p.m. Pacific time.\n\nThe state’s GOP chair has said it could take hours to know the ultimate outcome of the Iowa caucus, potentially until midnight in the Hawkeye State.\n\n– Savannah Kuchar\n\nRon DeSantis speaks at caucus sites in Dubuque, Iowa\n\nRon DeSantis blitzed the state on last time on Caucus Day and is ending an Iowa campaign that could make or break his presidential ambitions with pitches to voters at two Caucus sites in Dubuque.\n\nDeSantis was scheduled to speak at the Dubuque Roosevelt Middle School and Dubuque Table Mound Elementary School Caucus sites.\n\nHe also held campaign events in Seargent Bluff, Council Bluffs, and Cedar Rapids Monday.\n\n– Zac Anderson\n\nDoes every state have a caucus?\n\nNot every U.S. state holds a caucus. While some state parties, like Iowa, hold caucuses, other areas conduct presidential primary elections.\n\nThe following states will hold caucuses ahead of the 2024 General Election:\n\nIowa (Republicans on Jan. 15)\n\nNevada Republican s on Feb. 8 that will decide the state's delegates, though there is also a state-run Republican primary on Feb. 6)\n\non Feb. 8 that will decide the state's delegates, though there is also a state-run Republican primary on Feb. 6) Missouri (Republicans on March 2)\n\nIdaho (Republicans on March 2. Democrats on May 23)\n\nNorth Dakota (Republicans on March 4)\n\nUtah (Republicans on March 5)\n\nHawaii (Republicans on March 12)\n\nAlaska (No date yet for Republicans)\n\nThe following U.S. territories will also hold caucuses this year:\n\nThe Virgin Islands (Republicans on Feb. 8. No date yet for Democrats)\n\nAmerican Samoa (Democrats on March 5. No date yet for Republicans)\n\nNorthern Mariana Islands (No date yet for Republicans)– Anthony Robledo\n\nThe coldest caucus in Iowa history: Here’s your weather update\n\nOf the 1,675 precincts, none have closed despite marking the coldest caucus day with extreme winter weather conditions across the state.\n\nAs Iowans travel to their polling locations, the National Weather Service reports that parts of the state will experience life-threatening wind chills, in Des Moines, as low as 30 below. Most of the state is under a windchill warning, continuing into Tuesday.\n\nThe Iowa Department of Transportation reports most northern parts of the state are having normal winter conditions. In areas around Cedar Rapids and Iowa City, roads are covered in snow, slush and ice. Most roads in the southern part of the state are partially covered in snow with windy conditions expected to drift.\n\n– Sam Woodward\n\nWhy is the Iowa caucus so important for the election?\n\nFor 50 years, Iowans have gathered in school gymnasiums, community centers and family living rooms to kick off the nation's presidential nominating process, wielding their outsized influence to winnow and shape the field of contenders.\n\nAhead of each caucus, presidential candidates flood the state for months, if not years, to try to woo Iowans and gain their support. The national and international media descends on the state, ready to derive meaning from caucus night results.\n\n– Brianne Pfannenstiel\n\nWho is winning the election so far?\n\nDonald Trump has long led the Republican field, both in state and national surveys.\n\nIn a Real Clear Politics average of national Republican polls, Trump leads the group of GOP hopefuls with 61.4% Nikki Haley trails the former president with 12%, and DeSantis has garnered 10.7%\n\n– Marina Pitofsky\n\nIowa poll finds a Donald Trump conviction would be no big deal to most GOP caucusgoers\n\nFormer President Donald Trump is running an unprecedented campaign for the White House as he faces 91 criminal charges, bouncing between rallies and court appearances.\n\nDepending on how his four ongoing court battles proceed, he could be convicted of a crime before the general election in 2024. But just ahead of the first-in-the-nation Iowa Caucuses Monday, a majority of likely Republican caucusgoers say a Trump conviction would not affect their support, a new Des Moines Register/NBC News/Mediacom Iowa Poll finds.\n\nSixty-one percent say a potential conviction “does not matter” in determining their general election support for him. Nineteen percent say a conviction would make them more likely to support Trump, and 18% say it would make them less likely. Two percent say they are not sure.\n\n–Galen Bacharier\n\nDonald Trump stays low-key on caucus night\n\nUnless you count social media, Donald Trump spent the daylight hours of Iowa caucus day out of the public eye.\n\nReporters did catch the former president briefly at a hotel, where he predicted that \"we're going to have a great night.\"The Trump campaign, meanwhile, set up a post-caucus party at the Iowa Events Center.\n\n– David Jackson\n\nNikki Haley on immigration, the economy\n\nNikki Haley is trailing frontrunner Donald Trump in the race for the Republican nomination for president by 34 percentage points, a recent Suffolk University poll showed.\n\nThe former U.N. ambassador has cited her deep knowledge of world affairs and record of economic growth as governor throughout her campaign. She stays true to traditional Republican views on reducing government regulation, calling for tax cuts and a balancing the nation's budget, even coining the slogan “it’s time for an accountant in the White House.”\n\nHaley has vocalized that she views China as America’s biggest adversary by calling to end trade relations and eliminating Chinese investment in U.S. companies and universities. She has also distinguished herself from some of her rivals with her unapologetic support in continuing to aid Ukraine in its fight against Russia.\n\nAs the daughter of two Indian immigrants, Haley has vowed to improve legal immigration pathways and address the over 11 million estimated undocumented immigrants living in the U.S. As president, she pledges to crack down on illegal immigration at the U.S. southern border by once again requiring asylum seekers stay in the bordering country during their immigration proceedings and defunding cities that don’t enforce certain immigration laws.\n\n– Anthony Robledo\n\nRon DeSantis's campaign promises\n\nRon DeSantis entered the 2024 race last May, casting himself as an alternative to Donald Trump and a staunch conservative not afraid to partake in culture war battles.\n\nDeSantis has marked his time as governor with sweeping education bills adding fire to the flame of culture wars surrounding gender identity and parents’ rights in the state and more. He has been outspoken in his opposition against critical race theory, signing legislation to ban it and saying he had a mission to dismantle the so-called “woke” agenda in schools.\n\nHis support for Ukraine stops short of sending troops overseas and instead proposes to send them to the southern border. DeSantis said he supports the use of deadly force to secure the area from some illegal immigrants entering through the Mexican border.\n\nOn the first day of his potential presidency, DeSantis said he would reverse President Joe Biden's signature \"Bidenomics\" policies by slashing government spending and extending Trump-era tax cuts to achieve a goal of 3% economic growth for the country.\n\nAs governor, DeSantis signed a six-week abortion ban.\n\n– Sam Woodward\n\nIs there a Democratic caucus in Iowa?\n\nYes, Democrats will hold a caucus in Iowa this year too, which President Joe Biden is currently expected to win.\n\nBut Democrats will not be choosing a presidential candidate in-person on Jan. 15. Instead, they will be conducting party business, including electing delegates and alternate delegates to county conventions, electing county central committee members and submitting platform resolutions for county conventions.\n\nIn an effort to simplify their process and make it more inclusive, Iowa Democrats have moved to an entirely mail-in system of casting their presidential preferences. Iowa Democrats can request an absentee presidential preference card, which functions like a ballot, that they can fill out and return to the state party until March 5, when results will be announced.\n\nThe last day to submit a request for a preference card is Feb. 19. Cards can be requested online at iowademocrats.org/caucus.\n\n− Des Moines Register staff\n\nDonald Trump on the issues\n\nDonald Trump is the clear frontrunner in the race to secure the Republican nomination for president, even as he faces 91 charges across four criminal cases.\n\nTrump has made the cases a central focus of his reelection campaign, arguing he is being targeted and pledging to use the powers of the federal government to investigate alleged wrongdoing by his political opponents.\n\nHe has also pledged to ramp up deportations and arrests at the southern border, institute a more isolationist foreign policy approach and rejuvenate the economy by increasing oil drilling and reducing regulations.\n\nTrump has slammed crime in cities and floated using the military to crack down on protestors. He is opposed to most legislation aimed at slowing climate change. In Iowa, he has been more moderate on abortion, calling a six-week abortion ban like one that passed in the state a “horrible thing.”\n\nTrump has largely left the Iowa Caucuses famous retail politicking to his competitors, making only 22 public visits to the state the entire campaign cycle. However, he remained 32 percentage points ahead of the rest of the field in a December Iowa Poll.\n\n– Riley Beggin\n\nVivek Ramaswamy's political views\n\nVivek Ramaswamy, 38, is aiming to win Monday's caucuses by holding the most events in Iowa, which he did by far — 323 scheduled public events, according to the Des Moines Register's Candidate Tracker.\n\nAn Ohio native, Ramaswamy is a biotech entrepreneur who founded Roivant Sciences. He has written multiple books, including “Woke, Inc.: Inside Corporate America's Social Justice Scam” which describes capitalism as an invisible force in politics. He has criticized what he calls a “national identity crisis,” instead touting “faith, patriotism and hard work.”\n\nRamaswamy has also often noted on the campaign trail that he is the first millennial to run for president as a Republican.\n\nHe has proposed shutting down the Department of Education and redistributing that money back to parents. On immigration, he supports deporting swaths of undocumented immigrants and has balked at a path to legal citizenship for them. Ramaswamy has repeatedly opposed a federal abortion ban but has supported six-week bans in individual states with exceptions for rape, incest and severe medical emergencies.\n\n– Rachel Looker\n\nWhy Nikki Haley's supporters aren’t worried – but excited – about a potential second-place finish in Iowa\n\nRepublican presidential candidates made their final pushes in Iowa this weekend as the state gears up for Monday’s critical caucuses.\n\nNikki Haley enters caucus day with a 4-point lead ahead of Ron DeSantis, according to the latest Des Moines Register/NBC News/Mediacom poll. But she still trails Iowa’s expected winner, former Donald Trump, by almost 30 percentage points.\n\nHer likely barrel towards a second-place finish is not concerning her most fervent supporters, who came out to see her in treacherous weather that swept below zero degrees.\n\n– Savannah Kuchar\n\nDonald Trump risks a loss in Iowa – even if he wins the 2024 caucus. Here's how.\n\nAfter years of investigations, indictments and other unprecedented legal and political problems, former President Donald Trump on Monday will start to find out whether actual voters will validate his huge leads in polls.\n\nAs the Iowa caucuses roll around Monday night, Trump and his aides say they hope to win by a record margin − and maybe even exceed 50% support.\n\nBut at the same time, they know anything short of a blowout will be seen by opponents as a sign of potential weakness in the former president's bid to reclaim the White House. Trump on Sunday seemed to both set his own goal of 50% support in Iowa, while also downplaying the potential target.\n\n– David Jackson\n\nWhat is a caucus and how does it work?\n\nIn an election, a caucus refers to a group of party supporters meeting to choose their candidate in the months leading up to an election. They are run at the district, county or precinct level.\n\nCaucus participants give speeches and work to persuade other party members to support their candidates. Then, participants cast their votes either via secret ballot or as they're divided into groups based on who they support. Votes are counted in front of all caucus participants, tallied and sent to the state party.\n\n– Sam Woodward\n\nWhat’s the difference between a caucus and a primary?\n\nStates can choose whether to have a caucus or a primary to allow voters to choose their party’s nominee for president. In both cases, a candidate gets a number of delegates at the national party convention based on a percentage of the vote they received in that state.\n\nPrimaries are elections organized by the state, whereas caucuses are in-person meetings organized by political parties. Voters have to be a registered party member to participate.\n\nWhile primary voters fill out a secret ballot much like a general election, caucusgoers hear speeches from their neighbors on behalf of the candidates.\n\nAfterward, caucus attendees write down their preferred candidate on a slip of paper usually left blank. Each precinct tallies ballots and reports the total to the state party.\n\n– Riley Beggin\n\nWhen will Iowa caucus results be in?\n\nIowa Republicans are expecting a smooth night on Monday as they report caucus results from 1,657 precincts around the state, in contrast to issues that plagued Democrats' caucuses in 2020 and prevented reports of timely and accurate results.\n\nPatrick Stewart, a consultant for the Republican Party of Iowa, told reporters ahead of the 2024 contest that results from the smallest precincts, where only a few people show up to caucus, should be available about 30 minutes or so after their 7 p.m. start. Results from larger precincts should begin coming in over the next few hours.\n\nBut, historically, Iowa's caucus results haven't always been known right away on night.\n\n− Stephen Gruber-Miller\n\nHow does the Iowa caucus work?\n\nIowa caucusgoers on Monday will hold a binding vote for the party's presidential nominee and elect delegates to county conventions.\n\nVoters can visit 1,657 caucus sites throughout Iowa.\n\nVoting is done with a secret ballot with no set list of candidates to choose from. Some caucus sites provide pre-printed names of major candidates and a write-in option but most of the time voters write the name of the candidate on a blank paper sheet.\n\nThe event does not require a minimum threshold to qualify for delegates. Delegates will attend this summer's Republican National Convention in Milwaukee, where the Republican Party's official nominee will be chosen.\n\n– Anthony Robledo\n\nYes, there's Iowa Caucus merch\n\nDes Moines-based retailer Raygun once again has merchandise related to the Iowa Caucuses ready for shoppers wanting to memorialize the day with a witty T-shirt. Raygun, a popular stop for Iowa Caucus-visitors, has several new sarcastic designs available for purchase online and in stores.\n\nThose include a T-shirt with the phrase, “What the hell is a caucus? And where the hell is Iowa?” Other designs include shirt “Election 2024: Welp, I guess we’re doing this again\" and a button that reads “Iowa Caucuses: They’re Letting Us Do This Again?!”\n\nOwner Mike Draper told the Des Moines Register last week that the designs were inspired by a quote overheard on a New York subway and emailed to Raygun.More merchandise will be dependent on what happens out of the Iowa Caucuses, Draper explained.In 2020, Raygun produced a shirt faster than the Iowa Democratic Party was able to announce results after widespread reporting problems caused a significant delay.\n\n– Paris Barraza\n\nWhen does the Iowa caucus end?\n\nThe Iowa Caucus doesn't have a pre-set time when election officials are expected to announce a winner. The caucuses will start at 7 p.m. CT, and officials and organizers across the state are expected to give regular updates on their progress.\n\nBut keep in mind that, historically, Iowa's caucus results haven't always been known right away on election night.\n\n– Marina Pitofsky, Stephen Gruber-Miller\n\nWhat happens after the Iowa Caucus?\n\nThe Iowa Caucus is a pivotal presidential contest, but it leads into other primaries and caucuses across the country. After the Iowa Caucuses end, here are the next races where Republican candidates will face off for support.\n\nJan. 23: New Hampshire primary\n\nFeb. 8: Nevada caucus, Virgin Islands caucus\n\nFeb. 24: South Carolina primary\n\n– Marina Pitofsky\n\nRon DeSantis says he's not dropping out after Iowa\n\nHours before the official start of the Iowa Caucuses, Ron DeSantis and allies are busy swatting down suggestions that he should drop out if he does poorly in Iowa.\n\n\"We're going on with this,\" DeSantis told MSNBC. \"We've been built for the long haul. It's all about the accumulation of delegates.\"\n\n– David Jackson\n\nWhy each Republican candidate can win the Iowa Caucuses. (And why they can't)\n\nCaucus night is nearly here, and the campaigns are setting expectations for caucus night.\n\nDonald Trump, Nikki Haley, Ron DeSantis, Vivek Ramaswamy, Asa Hutchinson, Ryan Binkley – each has carved a path to victory in the Iowa Caucuses to collect the state's 40 delegates. But each has their weaknesses.\n\nHere's a rundown on where each candidate stands according to our January Iowa Poll; what their path to success in the Iowa Caucuses looks like; how they could fall short; and a key insight into every one of their campaigns.\n\n–Galen Bacharier\n\nVivek Ramaswamy shrugs off Donald Trump attack\n\nOne day after Donald Trump warned his supporters not to caucus for Vivek Ramaswamy during Monday's Iowa Caucuses, Ramaswamy said he would not engage with the former president.\n\nRamaswamy held five events Sunday, one day before Iowa's first-in-the-nation caucuses. During a briefing with reporters Sunday morning after an event in Ankeny, Ramaswamy called Trump's attack bad campaign advice.\n\nRamaswamy, 38, told reporters that he respects \"the heck out of Donald Trump\" and would support Trump if he gets the Republican nomination.\n\n“It was probably an unfortunate move by his campaign advisers,” Ramaswamy said of Trump’s post. “I think he probably got bad advice. I don’t think friendly fire within our America First movement is helpful, and I’m not going to hold it against him. I’m not going to criticize him in response because he was an excellent president.\"\n\n-Philip Joens\n\nWho are the Republican candidates?\n\nRon DeSantis: DeSantis serves as the 46th governor of Florida. While in law school, DeSantis joined the U.S. Navy as a JAG officer, later deploying to Iraq for active duty. Before his run for governor, he served in the House of Representatives as a congressman for Florida's 6th district for three terms from 2013 to 2018.\n\nDeSantis serves as the 46th governor of Florida. While in law school, DeSantis joined the U.S. Navy as a JAG officer, later deploying to Iraq for active duty. Before his run for governor, he served in the House of Representatives as a congressman for Florida's 6th district for three terms from 2013 to 2018. Nikki Haley: Haley started her political career in South Carolina's state legislature, where she served for 6 years before mounting a successful campaign for the governor's office in 2010. In 2016, former President Donald Trump nominated Haley to be U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, a position she held for a year before unexpectedly stepping down in 2018.\n\nHaley started her political career in South Carolina's state legislature, where she served for 6 years before mounting a successful campaign for the governor's office in 2010. In 2016, former President Donald Trump nominated Haley to be U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, a position she held for a year before unexpectedly stepping down in 2018. Asa Hutchinson : Hutchinson was first elected to the U.S. House of Representatives to serve Arkansas' 3rd district in 1997. He served until 2001 when he was appointed director for the Drug Enforcement Administration and later undersecretary for the Department of Homeland Security for former President George W. Bush's administration. After leaving Washington, he was elected 46th Governor of Arkansas. He served for two terms, from 2015 to 2023.\n\n: Hutchinson was first elected to the U.S. House of Representatives to serve Arkansas' 3rd district in 1997. He served until 2001 when he was appointed director for the Drug Enforcement Administration and later undersecretary for the Department of Homeland Security for former President George W. Bush's administration. After leaving Washington, he was elected 46th Governor of Arkansas. He served for two terms, from 2015 to 2023. Vivek Ramaswamy : Ramaswamy is a former biotech investor who founded the pharmaceutical research company Roivant Sciences in 2014. He stepped down as CEO in 2021 after going more public with his opposition to ESG and 'woke' politics in the corporate sector. He moved on to found Strive Asset Management, before stepping down to dedicate time to his 2024 run.\n\n: Ramaswamy is a former biotech investor who founded the pharmaceutical research company Roivant Sciences in 2014. He stepped down as CEO in 2021 after going more public with his opposition to ESG and 'woke' politics in the corporate sector. He moved on to found Strive Asset Management, before stepping down to dedicate time to his 2024 run. Donald Trump: Prior to 2016, Trump dabbled in politics, often sounding off on issues like the birther movement. However, he was still primarily known for real estate and his forays into reality television, famously starring in \"The Apprentice.\" In 2016, Trump won the White House, serving a full four-year term before being defeated by Biden in his reelection bid.–Anna Kaufman & Veronica Bravo\n\nTrump began Iowa caucus day with another blast at Ramaswamy\n\n\"A VOTE FOR VIVEK IS A WASTED VOTE,\" Trump said in an all-caps post on Truth Social, maintaining an attack plan that began over the weekend.\n\nTrump and allies said Ramaswamy is trying to keep their Iowa margin down by cutting into their vote.\n\n\"I LIKE VIVEK, BUT HE PLAYED IT TOO 'CUTE' WITH US,\" Trump said in his post.\n\nTrump used his second post to attack higher-polling rivals, Nikki Haley and Ron DeSantis.\n\n=David Jackson\n\nWho is projected to win? The Iowa Poll offers a snapshot of the state of the race\n\nFormer president Donald Trump shows a commanding lead among Republican candidates, but a Des Moines Register/NBC News/Mediacom Iowa Poll released Saturday showed Haley pulling ahead of DeSantis for the second-place spot for the first time. She has shown more upward momentum than any other candidate in the caucus cycle.\n\nIn addition his strides ahead of the other candidates, Trump may have more dedicated supporters. Poll results show that 82% of respondents who picked Trump as their first choice candidate said their mind was made up. For DeSantis and Haley supporters, that contingency came in at 64% and 63% respectively.\n\nStill, polls show man Republican caucusgoers aren't wild about MAGA, a movement referencing Trump's \"Make American Great Again\" slogan. Thirty-eight percent of poll respondents said they have neutral feelings about the MAGA movement, and 17% say they are “anti-MAGA.”\n\n– Brianne Pfannenstiel, Michaela Ramm & Kinsey Crowley\n\nMost GOP caucusgoers aren’t wild about MAGA, Iowa Poll shows\n\nWhile former President Donald Trump has built a commanding lead with likely Republican caucusgoers in Iowa, less than half identify with his MAGA brand, according to a new Des Moines Register/NBC News/Mediacom Iowa Poll.\n\nForty percent of Iowans who plan to caucus for Republicans Monday say they align with the MAGA identity, a reference to Trump’s “Make America Great Again” slogan, which has sometimes become synonymous with conservative politics.\n\nEighteen percent of likely Republican caucusgoers say they consider themselves “ultra MAGA,” and 22% say they identify as “just regular MAGA” supporters.\n\nOf the anti-Maga contingent, 60% plan to vote for U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley, who has coalesced the never-Trump contingent into her camp of supporters.\n\n-Galen Bacharier\n\nIowa weather today: What's the forecast for Caucus day?\n\nWhile Monday's caucus is expected to be the coldest on record, there won't be much new snow.\n\nAccuWeather meteorologist Kerry Schwindenhammer said there will be very little precipitation, with conditions mainly dry with a mix of clouds and sunshine. Snow from last week's blizzard remains across much of the state, though Schwindenhammer expects conditions will ease today.\n\nWinds in northwestern Iowa are expected to move at 10 to 20 mph. However, the arctic air will make being outside brutal nonetheless.\n\n“This kind of cold can be downright dangerous. It's not a time to go outside and wear a light jacket, you're going to want to bundle up,\" Schwindenhammer said. \"Wear all the layers you need to wear in order to stay warm here. And the less time you can spend outdoors, the better.\"\n\n– Anthony Robledo\n\nLatest forecast: Bundle up for subzero temps, coldest caucus on record\n\nBitterly frigid temperatures and subzero wind chills throughout Iowa will test caucusgoer's willingness to support their favorite presidential candidates today.\n\nMonday is expected to be the coldest Iowa Caucus since it began in 1972. The low at the first caucuses was four degrees below zero, with a wind chill of 26 degrees below zero. The high that day was 25 degrees.\n\nThe forecast for today calls for a high of zero degrees, according to AccuWeather meteorologist Kerry Schwindenhammer. But temperatures, he said, could feel like 20 to 25 degrees below zero — or even 30 degrees below zero in some spots.– Anthony Robledo\n\nWhen is the Iowa caucus?\n\nThe Iowa caucuses are scheduled for Jan. 15, starting at 7 p.m.\n\nThe Democratic and Republican contests are operating differently this year. Catch up with the the Des Moines Register, part of the USA TODAY Network, on what you need to know about the races.\n\n– Marina Pitofsky", "authors": [], "publish_date": "2024/01/15"}, {"url": "https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/elections/presidential/caucus/2023/12/26/iowa-caucuses-and-presidential-primary-election-2024-new-hampshire-south-carolina-different/71504632007/", "title": "How are the Iowa Caucuses and a presidential primary different?", "text": "Iowans will kick off the presidential nominating process at the Jan. 15 Republican caucuses.\n\nAfter a dramatic rearranging of the Democratic primary calendar and the passage of a new state law requiring in-person caucusing, it's more important than ever to distinguish between caucuses like Iowa's and primaries like New Hampshire's.\n\nHere's what Iowans need to know about the difference between a caucus and a primary.\n\nWhat's the difference between a caucus and a primary?\n\nPolitical parties organize caucuses, which are in-person meetings of registered party members.\n\nPrep for the polls: See who is running for president and compare where they stand on key issues in our Voter Guide\n\nAhead of the 2024 caucuses, the Republican Party of Iowa has organized more than 1,500 caucus sites at schools, churches, legion halls and other venues across the state.\n\nMore:Where do I caucus? Republicans release Iowa Caucus sites for presidential nominations\n\nOn Jan. 15, registered Republicans may attend their local caucus site at 7 p.m. sharp and voice their support for a candidate. It's a more social affair than primaries: Rather than silently filling out a ballot, caucus attendees will hear speeches from their neighbors on behalf of the different Republican candidates.\n\nAfter the speeches, caucusgoers will write down their favorite candidate on a blank slip of paper. Leaders from each precinct will tally the ballots and report the total for each candidate to the Republican Party of Iowa.\n\nWhen all the results are in, the party will allocate Iowa's 40 delegates proportionally, based on how many times caucusgoers wrote down a candidate's name.\n\nMost other states have primary elections, which are similar to general elections.\n\nIn places like New Hampshire or South Carolina, voters may go to the polls on the day of the primary, or they can request an absentee ballot in the mail. The ballot lists all of the candidates, and voters secretly select their preferences.\n\nState governments organize primaries, instead of state political parties.\n\nSome states award delegates proportionally, while others use a \"winner-take-all\" method, awarding delegates only to the first-place finisher.\n\nMore:Everything you need to know about the Iowa caucuses ahead of the 2024 presidential race\n\nWhy does it matter that Iowa has a caucus? Why is Iowa first?\n\nIowa has almost always held presidential caucuses, but it has only been first-in-the-nation since 1972.\n\nThat year, Iowa was first on the calendar, and political operative Gary Hart encouraged Sen. George McGovern to focus on Iowa campaigning to get a boost. McGovern came in second in Iowa, but went on to win the Democratic nomination that year. (Then he lost the general election in a landslide, but that's not Iowa's fault.)\n\nJimmy Carter employed the same Iowa campaigning strategy in 1976, winning the caucuses, the Democratic nomination, and the presidency. Since then, presidential candidates have flocked to Iowa, eager for the media attention and the momentum of a caucus win.\n\nSupporters of the caucus process say it's beneficial for candidates to develop deep support networks among Iowans. Winning someone's vote is one thing, but inspiring them to attend an event on a snowy January evening requires a different kind of enthusiasm. Plus, the social caucus process encourages conversation among neighbors.\n\nCritics of caucuses argue the process isn't accessible to people with evening shifts, disabilities, or caregiving responsibilities. It's also a process run by party volunteers, potentially creating more room for errors than a state-run primary — like the Republican precinct captain who went to bed in 2012 without sending along her results, or the meltdown of the Democrats' caucus app in 2020.\n\nBut Iowa's caucuses are more than just a state preference. The caucus is part of a complicated web of state laws, handshake deals and intra-party politics that decides the order of the presidential nominating contest.\n\nOne key agreement: Iowa Republicans may have the first nominating contest, but New Hampshire Republicans have dibs on holding the first presidential primary.\n\nIf Iowa's caucus process veers too close to a primary, New Hampshire may try to hold its contest before Iowa.\n\nWhat's up with the Democratic caucuses?\n\nIowa Democrats have dramatically changed the way they caucus in 2024.\n\nIn 2020, Democrats gathered at 7 p.m. on caucus night to physically stand in corners of the room to be counted on a first and second alignment. But that process is all gone now.\n\nIn an effort to simplify their process and make it more inclusive, Iowa Democrats have moved to an entirely mail-in system of casting their presidential preferences. Starting Nov. 1, Iowa Democrats could request an absentee presidential preference card, which functions like a ballot, that they can fill out and return to the state party until March 5, when results will be announced.\n\nMore:Where do I caucus? Iowa Democrats release 2024 sites for party business on caucus night\n\nThe party will still hold in-person caucuses on Jan. 15, but only to conduct other party business unrelated to picking a presidential nominee.\n\nKatie Akin is a politics reporter for the Register. Reach her atkakin@registermedia.com. Follow her on Twitter at@katie_akin.", "authors": [], "publish_date": "2023/12/26"}, {"url": "https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/elections/2023/08/21/trump-leads-gop-field-iowa-poll/70639433007/", "title": "Iowa Poll: Donald Trump holds commanding lead 5 months to ...", "text": "© Copyright 2023, Des Moines Register and Tribune Co.\n\nDonald Trump holds a commanding lead over the rest of the 2024 Republican presidential field in Iowa — and a more than 2-to-1 lead over his closest rival, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis — with about five months to Caucus Day, a new Des Moines Register/NBC News/Mediacom Iowa Poll shows.\n\nThe poll of Iowa’s likely Republican caucusgoers comes as the former president grapples with the fallout of a fourth criminal indictment and a pack of other top contenders prepares to gather for a high-stakes GOP presidential debate in Milwaukee on Wednesday.\n\nAmong those likely caucusgoers, 42% say they plan to support Trump — a lead of 23 percentage points over DeSantis, who is at 19%. U.S. Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina follows in third place with 9%.\n\nFormer United Nations Ambassador Nikki Haley and former Vice President Mike Pence tie at 6%, former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie is at 5% and entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy follows with 4%.\n\nPrep for the polls: See who is running for president and compare where they stand on key issues in our Voter Guide\n\nThe poll finds many indicators of Trump’s strength, but the race is not settled and may be “closer than it may first seem,” said J. Ann Selzer, president of Selzer & Co., the firm that conducted the poll.\n\nMore:See where presidential candidates are campaigning in Iowa\n\nSixty-three percent of likely GOP caucusgoers say they support Trump as their first or second choice in the caucuses or are actively considering him. That footprint is on par with the 61% who say the same for DeSantis.\n\nPlenty could shift by Caucus Day on Jan. 15.\n\nA majority, or 52%, of likely GOP caucusgoers have a first choice for president and say they could still be persuaded to support a different candidate, while 40% say their minds are made up. Seven percent do not have a first-choice candidate.\n\nIn addition, just 7% of poll respondents say they are considering only one candidate for president. Seventeen percent say they are considering two candidates; 19% say three; and 55%, four or more.\n\nThe poll of 406 likely Republican caucusgoers was conducted Aug. 13-17 and has a margin of error of plus or minus 4.9 percentage points.\n\nIt is the Iowa’s Poll’s first test of the field of 14 Republican candidates vying for their party’s chance to take on Democratic President Joe Biden in 2024.\n\nIn addition to the top contenders, seven other candidates are polling at 2% or lower.\n\nThey include North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum, who is at 2%, and former U.S. Rep. Will Hurd, who has 1%.\n\nBusinessman Ryan Binkley, conservative radio host Larry Elder, former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson, businessman Perry Johnson and Miami Mayor Francis Suarez all register below 1%.\n\nAs they think about which candidate to support, 65% of poll respondents say it’s most important to find a candidate who comes closest to their own views on issues, while 29% say it’s most important to pick a candidate who has the best chance of defeating Biden.\n\nDonald Trump’s legal challenges may be helping him in Iowa\n\nEven as Trump faces mounting legal troubles, his support appears only to grow.\n\nA grand jury in Georgia indicted Trump Aug. 15 for allegedly attempting to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election there.\n\nThe Iowa Poll, which was conducted Aug. 13-17, showed greater support for Trump in the days after the indictment was unveiled.\n\nIn the days before the indictment, Trump led DeSantis 38% to 20%. In the days after, his lead grew to 43% over DeSantis’ 18%.\n\nTrump’s Iowa footprint, combining his first-choice support, second choice and those actively considering him, also increased 12 percentage points after the Georgia indictment was announced — from 55% to 67%.\n\nDonald Trump leads, but Ron DeSantis and Tim Scott have room to grow\n\nAlthough Trump leads overall, the poll measures candidates’ full footprint of support in Iowa, where caucusgoers are known for considering many candidates before slowly zeroing in on one person by Caucus Day.\n\nThe footprint adds together those who say the candidate is their first choice for president, those who say the candidate is their second choice and those who are actively considering supporting the candidate.By that measure, about as many likely GOP caucusgoers are considering DeSantis as are considering Trump.\n\nTrump’s Iowa footprint includes the 42% who say he is their first choice for president, 10% who say he is their second choice and 12% who say they are actively considering him. That’s 63%, or nearly two-thirds of likely Republican caucusgoers, who are considering caucusing for Trump.\n\nDeSantis’ support includes the 19% who name him as their first choice, 20% who say he is their second choice and 22% who say they are actively considering him — totaling 61%.\n\nScott is the only other candidate whose Iowa footprint tops 50%.\n\nIn addition to the 9% who say Scott is their first choice for president, 15% say he is their second choice and 29% say they are actively considering him. That gives him an Iowa footprint of 53%.\n\nHaley’s Iowa footprint totals 40%, Ramaswamy’s is 34% and Pence’s is 31%.\n\nSelzer said other candidates have the opportunity to gain on Trump and turn people who are actively considering them into firm supporters, but “there’s a lot of work to be done.”\n\nTrump’s support is more firmly locked in than DeSantis’; 66% of those who name Trump as their first choice say their minds are made up, while 34% say they could be persuaded to support someone else.\n\nFor DeSantis, it’s nearly the inverse, with 31% who say their minds are made up and 69% who could be persuaded.\n\nMore:Donald Trump, at Iowa fair, woos crowds, rebuffs 'wise guy' question on taking plea deal\n\nTrump also leads DeSantis among self-identified Republicans, the core of caucusgoers, 51% to 20%.\n\nAmong those who say they will be attending their first caucus in January, Trump leads the Florida governor 47% to 18%.\n\nAnd among evangelicals, an influential group in Iowa that’s often key to a caucus win, Trump leads with 47% who say he is their first choice for president. He’s followed by DeSantis, who gets 20% of evangelicals and Scott who gets 7%.\n\nPhil Marchand, a 42-year-old Sergeant Bluffs resident and poll respondent, said he caucused for Trump ahead of the 2016 election and has been “on the Trump train” ever since.\n\nMarchand is steadfast in his support for Trump in the current election cycle. He said he considered other Republican candidates, including DeSantis and Scott, but ultimately decided to caucus again for the former president come January.\n\n“The more time I spend listening to DeSantis and the more I listen to the things Trump is saying, the more I think that it has to be (Trump). It can’t be anyone else,” he said.\n\nMore:Trump is wrestling with 5 big legal cases. Here's how they may collide with the campaign calendar.\n\nMarchand said he appreciates Trump’s “America first” approach to foreign policy and his efforts to grow the economy and jobs.\n\nIf Trump does not receive the Republican nomination, Marchand said he would likely register as an independent and vote for a third-party candidate.\n\nIndependent caucusgoers could be ‘the way in’ for Trump challengers\n\nAmong independents, Trump and DeSantis are nearly evenly split, with 21% supporting Trump as their first choice and 19% supporting DeSantis.\n\nAnother 13% of independents support Scott, 12% support Christie, 10% support Haley and 6% each support Pence and Ramaswamy. No other candidate tops 5% with independents.\n\nSelf-identified independents who say they will likely caucus with Republicans make up 25% of the poll’s respondents.\n\n“To me, that's a little bit of something to be paying attention to,” Selzer said. “Because we've seen this happen in the past. A non-Trump candidate could say, 'I've got to get people to come to the caucus who are outside of the GOP base.’ So, if a candidate can grow the people who are coming to the caucuses, that is the way in, because Trump is strong with that base.”\n\nBrian Alstrom, a 48-year-old independent voter and poll respondent, said he would consider caucusing in January — if it looks like some of the candidates opposing Trump have a chance.\n\n“I did vote for him both times because it was the lesser of two evils,” Alstrom said of Trump’s 2016 and 2020 campaigns. “But it was hard to even listen to him speak. I’m just done with him. Hopefully I don’t have to vote for him again, because I’m not going to vote for Joe Biden.”\n\nAlstrom, who is a Dorchester resident, said he’s soured on Trump’s personal approach to managing conflicts and his combative attitude. He said DeSantis is his top choice for president, followed by Scott.\n\nIn DeSantis, Alstrom sees an appealing candidate with a “common sense approach” to issues that are important to him, such as the economy and national security.\n\n“Florida speaks for itself in how successful they’ve been,” he said. “... I’d love to see that transfer to the rest of our country.”\n\nDonald Trump has never been viewed favorably by more Iowa Republican caucusgoers\n\nSince his presidency ended and as he has mounted a third campaign for the White House, Trump has been criminally indicted four times, has attacked Kim Reynolds, Iowa’s popular Republican governor, and has held relatively few campaign events in the first-in-the-nation caucus state.\n\nAnd yet, Trump has never been viewed favorably by more of Iowa’s likely Republican caucusgoers than he is now, the Iowa Poll shows.\n\nIn August 2015, Trump was viewed favorably by 61% and unfavorably by 35% — his best showing among likely GOP caucusgoers during the 2016 caucus cycle. Trump went on to finish second in Iowa’s Republican caucuses behind U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas.\n\nMore:Candidates try to clear GOP debate fundraising hurdles. Is it changing their Iowa strategy?\n\nNow, Trump is viewed favorably by 65%. That includes 42% who view him “very favorably” — the best showing of any of the 2024 candidates. Another 33% view him unfavorably, and 2% are not sure.\n\nTrump’s best showing is among self-identified Republicans, with 77% viewing him favorably and 21% viewing him unfavorably.\n\nHe also does well with those who make less than $70,000 a year (74% favorable, 25% unfavorable) and among evangelicals (74% favorable, 25% unfavorable).\n\nDeSantis’ overall favorability numbers are about on par with Trump’s.\n\nThe Florida governor is viewed favorably by 66% of likely GOP caucusgoers and unfavorably by 29%. Another 5% are not sure.\n\nAmong self-identified Republicans, DeSantis is viewed favorably by 74% and unfavorably by 21% — numbers that are about equal to Trump’s.\n\nMore:Republican presidential candidates woo Iowa's pivotal evangelicals to pry them away from Trump\n\nPoll respondent Rick Williams, a 72-year-old Holstein resident and self-identified Republican, said he considers himself a Trump supporter and believes the former president is being unfairly targeted in the series of criminal indictments that have been unveiled this year.\n\nStill, he plans to support someone else in the caucuses. Right now, he prefers DeSantis.\n\n“Trump supporters are going to support him no matter what if he's the nominee,” Williams said. “But we need the independents. We can't win with just us. We've got to get the independents, and I don't know if he can swing them.”\n\nThe Florida governor has higher favorability ratings with independents than Trump: 52% view him favorably, and 43% view him unfavorably.\n\nMore:Mike Pence is asking Iowans to choose him for president. Some say Jan. 6 is 'holding him back'\n\nFor Trump, it’s the inverse: 44% of independents view him favorably, while a majority, 53%, view him unfavorably.\n\nWilliams, a semi-retired paramedic, said Scott is currently his second-choice candidate.\n\nScott is viewed favorably by 59% and unfavorably by 17%. But a higher percentage — 24% — are unsure, indicating they don’t know enough about him to say one way or the other.\n\nGenevieve Hefel, a 63-year-old Dubuque resident and poll respondent, said she voted for Trump in the 2020 election but has felt her support for the former president wane.\n\nBecause of the recent indictments, Hefel, a retired Army sergeant, said she believes there’s “too much noise” around Trump for him to be able to defeat a Democratic opponent in the general election.\n\nHefel said she’s still considering other Republican contenders in the race, but she’s drawn to Scott’s “positive message and Christian beliefs” and plans to caucus for him.\n\n“He's able to carry on a conversation to get his point across without having to be ignorant or raise his voice,” Hefel said, reflecting on an interview she saw Scott give recently. “He handled it very professionally and calmly, and I thought he made very good points.”\n\nScott does best with those age 55 and older, with 70% viewing him favorably and 16% viewing him unfavorably.\n\nHaley is viewed favorably by 53% and unfavorably by 26%. Another 21% are not sure.\n\nMike Pence, Chris Christie among those with highest unfavorable ratings\n\nSeven candidates are underwater, meaning more likely Republican caucusgoers view them unfavorably than favorably.\n\nThey include Binkley (12% favorable, 21% unfavorable), Hurd (13%-22%), Hutchinson (20%-32%), Johnson (18%-22%) and Suarez (12%-23%).\n\nPence is viewed favorably by 42% and unfavorably by 53%, with 5% who aren’t sure. Even though he’s underwater, a plurality — 33% — say they have a “mostly” favorable view of the former vice president.\n\nBut he holds no advantage with evangelicals, despite his efforts to highlight his own faith and connect with Iowa’s religious conservatives: 43% view him favorably and 51% view him unfavorably — numbers that mirror his overall favorability numbers.\n\nAmong all the candidates, Christie is viewed unfavorably by the greatest share of poll respondents, with 60% saying they view him unfavorably, including 31% who view him “very” unfavorably. Another 28% say they view him favorably and 12% say they’re not sure.\n\nNo 2024 presidential candidate performs better than Iowa’s own Republican elected officials.\n\nReynolds commands the highest numbers, with 81% viewing her favorably (including 50% who view her very favorably), 18% who view her unfavorably and 1% who are not sure.\n\nU.S. Sen. Chuck Grassley is viewed favorably by 73%, unfavorably by 22%, and 5% are not sure.\n\nU.S. Sen. Joni Ernst is viewed favorably by 72%, unfavorably by 24%, and 4% are not sure.\n\nBrianne Pfannenstiel is the chief politics reporter for the Register. Reach her at bpfann@dmreg.com or 515-284-8244. Follow her on Twitter at @brianneDMR.\n\nMichaela Ramm covers health care for the Des Moines Register. She can be reached atmramm@registermedia.com, at (319) 339-7354 or on Twitter at@Michaela_Ramm.\n\nAbout the Iowa Poll\n\nThe Iowa Poll, conducted Aug. 13-17, 2023, for The Des Moines Register, NBC News and Mediacom by Selzer & Co. of Des Moines, is based on telephone interviews with 406 registered voters in Iowa who say they will definitely or probably attend the 2024 Republican caucuses.\n\nInterviewers with Quantel Research contacted 2,953 randomly selected voters from the Iowa secretary of state’s voter registration list by telephone. The sample was supplemented with additional phone number lookups. Interviews were administered in English. Responses for all contacts were adjusted by age, sex and congressional district to reflect their proportions among voters in the list.\n\nQuestions based on the sample of 406 voters likely to attend the 2024 Iowa Republican caucuses have a maximum margin of error of plus or minus 4.9 percentage points. This means that if this survey were repeated using the same questions and the same methodology, 19 times out of 20, the findings would not vary from the true population value by more than plus or minus 4.9 percentage points. Results based on smaller samples of respondents — such as by gender or age — have a larger margin of error.\n\nRepublishing the copyright Iowa Poll without credit to The Des Moines Register, NBC News and Mediacom is prohibited.", "authors": [], "publish_date": "2023/08/21"}, {"url": "https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/elections/presidential/caucus/2015/05/03/pizza-ranch-circuit-iowa-caucuses/26844813/", "title": "To scarf up Iowa caucus votes, Pizza Ranch a near-must", "text": "Josh Hafner\n\njhafner@dmreg.com\n\n\"I feel at home. I'm at a Pizza Ranch.\"\n\nFormer Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee sat at a table in the buffet chain's Council Bluffs location in late March. His town hall meeting was winding down, and he would soon hop in a car to another meeting at another Pizza Ranch (this one in Sioux City). But with the smells of fried chicken and pepperoni in the air, the winner of the 2008 Iowa caucuses waxed nostalgic.\n\n\"I largely won it because of Pizza Ranches all over the state,\" Huckabee said. \"We created the Pizza Ranch strategy. A lot of people have copied it since then, but I think we created it.\"\n\nPresidential hopefuls campaigning at Pizza Ranches across Iowa — the \"Pizza Ranch circuit,\" the media call it — has become a staple of the Iowa caucuses. The down-home, Western-themed restaurants offer a microcosm of the caucuses' retail-heavy politics: The nation's next leader may stand before you as you scarf an all-you-can-eat buffet for $10.51.\n\nMore than 70 Pizza Ranches operate across Iowa, mostly in small towns. All offer a free meeting space to anyone who signs up and buys some pizza, making them the go-to venue for campaigns light on cash.\n\nHuckabee glad-handed heavily at Pizza Ranches ahead of his 2008 Iowa victory. So did Rick Santorum before he won the caucuses in 2012. Now both are gearing up for 2016 runs, and both have returned to the Pizza Ranch circuit.\n\nOther presidential aspirants have also appeared at the chain this go-around: Jeb Bush, Carly Fiorina and Marco Rubio.\n\n\"Now I have fulfilled my dream of coming to a Pizza Ranch,\" Rubio said at the chain's Pella restaurant last fall.\n\nPizza Ranch's mission, to \"glorify God by positively impacting the world,\" endears itself to evangelical conservatives in small-town Iowa while attracting candidates looking for their votes. Christian music plays softly at many locations.\n\n\"The people who typically go to a Pizza Ranch or go through the buffet with their families were Mike Huckabee-type voters,\" said Chip Saltsman, Huckabee's 2008 campaign manager. \"You go where your base is.\"\n\nCody Pierce, Pizza Ranch's vice president of marketing, oversees expansion and branding for the company, which began in Hull, Ia., and spread to 13 states. He acknowledges that \"the endearing quality of Pizza Ranch could match well with certain political candidates,\" but stresses the chain doesn't endorse any political ideology.\n\nIts president does, though: Weeks before the 2008 Iowa caucuses, Adrie Groeneweg, the chain's co-founder, donated $1,000 to Huckabee. Groeneweg also donated $5,000 to social conservative activist Bob Vander Plaats' run for governor in 2010.\n\nBut candidates of all political stripes visit Pizza Ranches: Democrat Hillary Clinton was the first to set foot in one ahead of 2008, according to Register data. She drew 200 people to the Emmetsburg Pizza Ranch in May 2007. (She hasn't visited one since.)\n\nDemocrats Joe Biden, John Edwards, Chris Dodd and Bill Richardson also appeared at Pizza Ranches for their '08 campaigns. No Democratic presidential candidate — prospective or declared — has held a Pizza Ranch event in the 2016 cycle, however.\n\nWhile the 35-year-old company's is nearly as old as the caucuses itself, Pierce said executives didn't notice political candidates frequenting the restaurant until 2008 — the year Huckabee won Iowa.\n\nIf Huckabee launched the Pizza Ranch trend, it was out of necessity. The former Arkansas governor's campaign was broke in its early days and struggled for attention.\n\nHuckabee's staff realized the restaurants functioned as de facto gathering places in many small Iowa towns.\n\n\"They've got all those nice little side rooms,\" said Saltsman, the campaign manager. \"You get a couple pizzas there, and you might get a little action.\"\n\nIn July 2007, Huckabee was luring 40 people to hear his stump speech at North Liberty's Pizza Ranch. By August, 50 people came to the Pizza Ranch in Pella.\n\nAs interest picked up in weeks leading to the caucuses, the campaign stuck largely to Pizza Ranches, which Saltsman by then viewed as a good luck charm.\n\n\"I remember Mount Pleasant. Good Lord, every stop in the northwest,\" said Eric Woolson, a longtime Iowa campaign operative who led Huckabee's Iowa effort. \"Typically, if I had the Pizza Ranch option, I was using it.\"\n\nOther campaigns used it too. In 2008, long-shot Republican candidate John Cox visited nine Pizza Ranches in 10 days, according to Register archives.\n\nIn 2012, the trend broke open: Michele Bachmann spoke at 20 Pizza Ranches within 12 days in December as she tried to visit every Iowa county.\n\nThe day before Santorum edged out eventual GOP nominee Mitt Romney in the caucuses, he spoke at three Pizza Ranches in a day. (One of those Pizza Ranches, in Boone, even named a \"Santorum Salad\" after him.)\n\nSo far in the 2016 cycle, Huckabee leads the way in Pizza Ranch stops with three — no other candidate has done more than one. Huckabee will make an official announcement about entering the race Tuesday. On Thursday, he's scheduled to appear at a Pizza Ranch in Cedar Rapids.\n\nHuckabee is better known — and better funded — than he was in 2008, yet Saltsman, who's been traveling with him in Iowa, sees the Pizza Ranch circuit in their future.\n\n\"Like I said, we feel like it's a good luck charm.\"\n\nBY THE NUMBERS\n\nSince 2008, The Des Moines Register has collected records of candidates' campaign stops across Iowa at diners, coffee shops and, yes, Pizza Ranches.\n\nHere's a look at which presidential candidates hit the circuit first and most often in that time, according to our data and archives. ​Dive into our full 2016 Candidate Tracker online, with maps, graphs and stats on this cycle's candidates, at DesMoinesRegister.com/CandidateTracker.\n\n2008 IOWA CAUCUSES\n\nFirst candidate to visit a Pizza Ranch: Democrat Hillary Clinton, on May 26, 2007, in Emmetsburg.\n\nMost Pizza Ranches visited: Republicans Mike Huckabee and John Cox, who each visited at least 11 locations.\n\nMost-visited Pizza Ranch: Emmetsburg.\n\nEventual caucus winners: Republican Mike Huckabee and Democrat Barack Obama (no Pizza Ranch visits).\n\n2012 IOWA CAUCUSES\n\nFirst candidate to visit a Pizza Ranch: Republican Tim Pawlenty on April 1, 2011, in Newton.\n\nMost Pizza Ranches visited: Republican Michele Bachmann, who visited at least 24 locations.\n\nMost-visited Pizza Ranch: Manchester.\n\nEventual caucus winner: Republican Rick Santorum (at least 14 locations visited).\n\n2016 IOWA CAUCUSES (so far)\n\nFirst candidate to visit a Pizza Ranch: Republican Marco Rubio, on Oct. 28, 2014, in Pella.\n\nMost Pizza Ranches visited: Republican Mike Huckabee, who has visited three locations.\n\nMost-visited Pizza Ranch: Cedar Rapids, with two visits by the end of last week.\n\nAVOIDING THE PIZZA RANCH\n\nIn 2012, every Republican candidate made a Pizza Ranch appearance save one: eventual nominee Mitt Romney.\n\nRomney's second presidential campaign intentionally avoided the chain because of a scandal surrounding one of its co-founders, the Cedar Rapids Gazette reported.\n\nCo-founder Lawrence Vander Esch, a Sioux City businessman, pleaded guilty in 2001 to charges that he sexually abused employees. Vander Esch, who is no longer with the company, was released from prison in 2006. A district court judge vacated the charges.\n\nIt was enough for Romney's 2012 campaign, led in Iowa by Des Moines strategist David Kochel, to eschew the chain altogether. Kochel, now a strategist for Jeb Bush, took a different tack ahead of 2016: Bush's first real retail stop took place at a Cedar Rapids Pizza Ranch.\n\n\"A lot of time has passed,\" Kochel told the Gazette the night of the event.\n\nTHE CROWD CONUNDRUM\n\nThe March 7 Pizza Ranch stop by Jeb Bush drew a stampede of politics watchers and journalists to the restaurant.\n\nWhile 60 people RSVP'd to the event, about 150 showed up, wreaking traffic jams around buffet lines and snaking lines through bathrooms.\n\nSuch Pizza Ranch moments are nirvana for political junkies. For Iowans just wanting some dinner with the family, they can prove a bit irritating.\n\nAt Huckabee's Council Bluffs stop in March, a crowd of journalists and aides who were surrounding him blocked off the fried chicken buffet, leaving one elderly customer at a standstill. Other diners looked up from their plates unfazed at the commotion.\n\n\"Oh, hey, Mike,\" one man said to the White House hopeful.", "authors": [], "publish_date": "2015/05/03"}, {"url": "https://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/columnists/iowa-view/2015/01/22/steve-king-making-iowa-caucuses-irrelevant/22156927/", "title": "Steve King is making the Iowa caucuses irrelevant", "text": "Matt Hildreth\n\nThere was a time when Iowans picked presidents. But for Iowa Republicans, that may no longer be true — thanks to Rep. Steve King.\n\nFor the last decade, Iowa Republicans have let King lead their party to what is now the irrelevant right and in doing so are at risk of losing the power and prestige that comes with being the first in the nation.\n\nBetween 1972 and 2000, the Republican winner of the Iowa caucuses went on to win the party's nomination four out of five times. But since 2000, Iowans haven't successfully picked a candidate for their party. They were wrong both on Mike Huckabee in 2008 and Rick Santorum in 2012. Compare this to Iowa Democrats, who have successfully picked their eventual nominee every year after 1992, when Tom Harkin, an Iowan, was in the running.\n\nAll through the early months of 2012 — despite his early success and victory in Iowa — Rick Santorum consistently trailed nearly 10 points behind President Barack Obama in national general election polling. At the same time, the same national polls showed Mitt Romney only 3 points behind the president.\n\nSo why did Santorum win Iowa when it was so clear that national Republicans preferred Mitt Romney?\n\nFew Iowans actually participate in Iowa's caucuses, which have a much more complex and time-consuming process than the straightforward primary election. Voters don't just cast a ballot. They have to show up at a local meeting for several hours.\n\nIn fact, in 2008 — the last year with competitive caucuses from both parties — only 350,000 voters participated and that's despite the millions spent by campaigns on both sides for turnout. That's less than 17 percent of registered Iowans. Compare this with New Hampshire, which had a voter turnout of more than 51 percent during its first-in-the-nation primary.\n\nBut this has always been true. The Republican caucuses have always been dominated by a relatively small number of partisan diehards.\n\nSo what changed? Simply put, Steve King entered the conversation.\n\nIn 2003, Steve King was elected to Congress and appointed himself the kingmaker of this group. And since then, Iowa hasn't successfully predicted the Republican presidential nomination.\n\nNow, King will host the first gathering of Republican presidential candidates at the Iowa \"Freedom\" Summit on Saturday, where candidates like Chris Christie, Ted Cruz, Rick Perry, Mike Huckabee and Rick Santorum join the stage with Sarah Palin and Donald Trump to pander to King and his followers.\n\nKing's strategy is to use his small but loyal following in Iowa to force moderate Republican presidential candidates to the right — especially when it comes to immigration.\n\nIn 2012, King was successful when, on the eve of the 2012 Iowa Caucus, Romney visited King's district and told a small crowd gathered at the Family Table Restaurant that he would veto the DREAM Act if elected president in an attempt to pull conservative caucus-goers away from Santorum.\n\nNot only was his last minute pander not enough to win Iowa (Romney lost Iowa by 34 votes), but his promise to veto the DREAM Act — a bill supported by 90 percent of the Latino community — cost him big in the general election. Latinos voted for President Barack Obama over Republican Mitt Romney 71 percent to 27 percent, a lower percentage than Republican candidates have received in the last three elections. Latinos also made up 10 percent of the electorate in 2012 for the first time ever and helped Obama win in key battleground states.\n\nNow leading Republicans are encouraging their candidates to avoid King and Iowa all together. Recently Sen. Jeff Flake of Arizona suggested: \"Often we [Republicans] spend so much time trying to win Iowa we can't win the rest of the states. Frankly a lot of Republicans appreciate those who come there and say, I'm sorry, I just don't agree with Steve King.\"\n\nIt's also a strategy that worked well for John McCain, who ignored the Iowa caucuses on his way to the nomination over Mike Huckabee in 2008.\n\nAnd already, Jeb Bush, the clear Republican presidential front runner in national polls appears to be following that tactic, skipping King's gathering this month. And Sen. Marco Rubio, another possible front runner for Republicans, has yet to confirm.\n\nSoon (maybe sooner than we think) Iowa Republicans will be forced to choose between two of their most powerful political brands: Congressman Steve King and the success of their beloved Iowa caucuses. Because if local Republicans keep letting King run the show, it won't be long until serious presidential candidates skip Iowa altogether. And what good is it to be first, if no serious candidates show up?\n\n\n\n\n\nMATT HILDRETH is the director of online programs for America's Voice, an immigration advocacy group based in Washington, DC. He lives in Larchwood, Ia. CONTACT: mhildreth@ americasvoice.org", "authors": [], "publish_date": "2015/01/22"}, {"url": "https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/elections/presidential/caucus/2023/06/05/iowa-caucuses-2024-what-to-know-how-they-work/70244890007/", "title": "What to know about the 2024 Iowa presidential caucuses", "text": "Register staff\n\nMuch of the U.S. political world is looking toward the Iowa caucuses in 2024.\n\nThe caucuses mark the first statewide vote on a field of candidates seeking the major parties' presidential nominations, effectively acting as a starting gun for the 2024 election.\n\nBut Iowa's caucuses aren't like a typical election, where you show up and cast a ballot.\n\nHere's what you need to know:\n\n2024 Iowa caucuses:Where and when are presidential candidates visiting Iowa?\n\nPrep for the polls: See who is running for president and compare where they stand on key issues in our Voter Guide\n\nWhat are the Iowa caucuses?\n\nMembers of Iowa's political parties gather for caucus meetings every presidential election cycle. Caucuses are held locally across the state, with members attending to elect local party leadership, discuss the party's platform and support a presidential candidate.\n\nDemocrats and Republicans hold their caucuses separately, and with different rules.\n\nIn 2024, Iowa will no longer be the first state on the primary election calendar for both major parties. While Republicans will still recognize Iowa as first in the nation, the national Democratic Party has opted for South Carolina as its first state.\n\nWhen are the Iowa caucuses?\n\nRepublicans will caucus Jan. 15.\n\nHow do the Iowa caucuses work?\n\nTHE REPUBLICAN CAUCUSES\n\nPicking a candidate: Participants are asked to cast a vote for their preferred candidate for president. The 40 delegates who will represent Iowa at the Republican National Convention will be divided proportionally to the statewide vote.\n\nTallying votes: The votes are counted and the chair announces the number of delegates to be elected by the precinct to attend the county convention. That number is predetermined by the county party according to the number of votes cast for the Republican candidate for governor in 2022, which was Gov. Kim Reynolds.\n\nSelecting delegates: The delegates are nominated based on the candidates receiving the most votes and confirmed by all caucus participants.\n\nTHE DEMOCRATIC CAUCUSES\n\nIowa Democrats have dramatically changed the way they caucus in 2024.\n\nIn 2020, Democrats gathered at 7 p.m. on caucus night to physically stand in corners of the room to be counted on a first and second alignment. But that process is all gone now.\n\nIn an effort to simplify their process and make it more inclusive, Iowa Democrats have moved to an entirely mail-in system of casting their presidential preferences. Starting Nov. 1, Iowa Democrats could request an absentee presidential preference card, which functions like a ballot, that they can fill out and return to the state party until March 5, when results will be announced.\n\nThe party will still hold in-person caucuses on Jan. 15, but only to conduct other party business unrelated to picking a presidential nominee.\n\nWhere are the Iowa caucuses held?\n\nCaucuses are usually held at local public buildings, like schools, churches, union halls, fire stations. They can also be held at private buildings or homes depending on the needs and makeup of a precinct.\n\nThere are nearly 1,700 precincts total across the state, though sometimes different precincts will caucus in different rooms at the same location.\n\nMore:Where do I caucus? Republicans release Iowa Caucus sites for presidential nominations\n\nWho can caucus in Iowa?\n\nYou can caucus if you meet the following requirements:\n\nYou must be eligible to vote in the state of Iowa.\n\nYou will be 18 years old by Nov. 5, 2024. That means if you're 17 and turn 18 between the date of the caucuses and the general election, you can caucus.\n\nYou must be registered as a Republican to participate in the Republican caucus or as a Democrat to participate in the Democratic caucus. If you're registered under a third party or no party, you won't be able to caucus, unless you change your registration to Republican or Democrat, which you can do on caucus night.\n\nHow are results calculated in the Iowa caucuses?\n\nOnce caucus proceedings are done at a precinct, the results are immediately reported to the state party. The state party will verify the results and report them to the public and to news outlets.\n\nDelegates elected during the caucuses will later attend a series of conventions in Iowa and will later be narrowed to a group sent to the national party conventions. The Republican and Democratic presidential nominees are confirmed during those national conventions, which usually take place over the summer.\n\nWhich candidates can I support in the Iowa caucuses?\n\nRepublican candidates for president include former President Donald Trump, former South Carolina Gov. and U.N. Amb. Nikki Haley, entrepreneur and author Vivek Ramaswamy, former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, and Texas businessman Ryan Binkley.\n\nCandidates who have dropped out include: Michigan businessman Perry Johnson, conservative commentator Larry Elder, U.S. Sen. Tim Scott, former Vice President Mike Pence, North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum, Miami Mayor Francis Suarez, and former Texas U.S. Rep. Will Hurd.\n\nMore:Iowa Democrats put 3 presidential candidates' names on mail-in caucus cards. Who's named:\n\nDemocratic candidates include President Joe Biden, U.S. Rep. Dean Phillips of Minnesota and author Marianne Williamson.", "authors": [], "publish_date": "2023/06/05"}]}
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+{"question_id": "20240119_7", "search_time": "2024/01/19/23:34", "search_result": [{"url": "https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/markets/2023/06/30/apple-3-trillion-valuation-first-public-company/70374526007/", "title": "Apple, world's most valuable public company, is first to hit $3 trillion ...", "text": "Apple has become the first publicly-traded company to have a market value of $3 trillion or more at the close of Wall Street's trading day.\n\nThe iPhone and Mac computer company had been valued at $2.98 trillion when the market closed on Thursday, according to S&P Global Market Intelligence. Apple's stock price rose 2.21% on Friday to $193.78, driving the tech giant's market cap to $3.05 billion.\n\nThe \"historic\" achievement marks \"another milestone for a technology juggernaut that has reshaped society with a line-up of products that churn out eye-popping profits,\" said Daniel Ives, an analyst with Wedbush Securities, in a note to investors Friday.\n\nApple, founded in 1976 by Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak, passed the $3 trillion market cap milestone in January 2022, but the stock price subsequently fell 25% over the rest of the year to $130 before beginning the current climb.\n\nWhile the $3 trillion market value achievement is largely symbolic, its magnitude is still breathtaking, The Associated Press noted, calculating that $3 trillion could buy nearly 9 million homes in the U.S., based on the average sales price during the past year as calculated by Zillow.\n\nOverall, the stock market had a good day with the Nasdaq composite index, which includes Apple, Amazon, Alphabet, Microsoft, Meta and more than 3,000 other companies, up 1.45% and closing the first six months of 2023 up more than 31%, for its best first half since 1983, according to CNBC.\n\nApple, which along with Microsoft and chipmaker Nvidia is in the S&P 500, have helped it rise 16% – its best first half since 2019, CNBC reported. The Dow has risen 3.8% for the year and was on track for its best month since November and its third winning quarter.\n\nTech's trillion-dollar club – Amazon, Microsoft and more – over the years\n\nBack in September 2018, Amazon surpassed $1 trillion in market value to join Apple, which had passed that mark the month before.\n\nBy 2020, Alphabet and Microsoft had joined those companies in the $1 trillion club. But many tech companies – Apple, Amazon, Alphabet and Microsoft among them – lost billions during 2022.\n\nApple overcame supply chain issues and a tough economy to return to the $3 trillion market cap mark, Ives said. And the company could become even more valuable with its promised Vision Pro VR headset next year – and demand for new iPhones, some of which could be more durable with rumored titanium frames coming to some models.\n\nFactor in apps for the VR headset and Apple's growing services revenue, in general, and Apple's \"fair valuation could be in the $3.5 trillion range with a bull case $4 trillion valuation by FY25,\" Ives said.\n\nWhat are the most valuable public companies after Apple?\n\nThese are the world's ten largest companies based on market cap, according to CompaniesMarketCap.com:\n\nApple – $3.05 trillion\n\nMicrosoft – $2.53 trillion\n\nSaudi Aramco – $2.08 trillion\n\nNVIDIA – $1.94 trillion\n\nAlphabet – $1.53 trillion\n\nAmazon – $1.34 trillion\n\nTesla – $830 billion\n\nBerkshire Hathaway – $745 billion\n\nMeta Platforms (Facebook) – $735 billion\n\nTaiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. – $523 billion\n\nContributing: The Associated Press\n\nFollow Mike Snider on Twitter: @mikesnider.", "authors": [], "publish_date": "2023/06/30"}, {"url": "https://www.cnn.com/2022/05/12/investing/saudi-aramco-becomes-most-valuable-company-intl-hnk/index.html", "title": "Saudi Aramco eclipses Apple to once again become the world's ...", "text": "Hong Kong CNN Business —\n\nSaudi Aramco has overtaken Apple as the world’s most valuable company, underscoring the recent surge in oil prices that have boosted the energy giant this year.\n\nAramco is now worth about $2.43 trillion, compared with Apple’s $2.37 trillion, according to data from Refinitiv.\n\nMarket capitalizations fluctuate frequently: earlier this year, Apple (AAPL) hit the $3 trillion mark, becoming the first to do so and making it by far the most valuable company on the planet.\n\nAramco at one point also held that mantle after a historic initial public offering in 2019, which propelled its valuation to $2 trillion.\n\nBut the latest market moves point to how the outlook for energy and tech producers have shifted lately.\n\nThis year, oil prices have soared to record highs, particularly on concerns about disruptions of supply from Russia since its invasion of Ukraine.\n\nBrent crude, the global benchmark, has climbed about 36% so far this year, and was last trading at $106.2 a barrel.\n\nThat has buoyed players like Saudi Aramco, whose shares are up 27% so far this year.\n\nMeanwhile, Apple’s stock has fallen more than 17% since January.\n\nThe iPhone maker has recently been weighed down by major supply chain headaches, particularly in China, where several of its suppliers’ factories have been temporarily caught in the country’s Covid lockdowns.\n\nLast month, Apple warned of huge losses related to the ongoing situation, saying that production and logistics issues could hit its sales by as much as $4 billion to $8 billion this quarter.\n\nApple’s constraints were “primarily centered around the Shanghai corridor,” CEO Tim Cook said in an earnings call.\n\nDan Ives, managing director of equity research at Wedbush Securities, called the impact of the lockdowns “the albatross for the June quarter,” saying in a report that Apple’s supply chain woes in China would likely remain the “peak worry” for investors in the short term.\n\nBut concerns may “subside” in the second half of the year, when the company is expected to launch a new iPhone 14, he added.", "authors": ["Michelle Toh"], "publish_date": "2022/05/12"}, {"url": "https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/2018/08/05/amazon-google-microsoft-within-striking-distance-joining-apple-wall-street-1-trillion-stock-club/899066002/", "title": "Who could join Apple in Wall Street's $1 trillion stock club?", "text": "Apple is the reigning king of Wall Street, the newest and only member of Wall Street's $1 Trillion Stock Club.\n\nWho's next?\n\nThat's the $1,000,000,000,000 question stock traders and 401(k) investors are pondering after the iPhone maker on Thursday became the first U.S. publicly traded stock to surpass a market value of $1 trillion.\n\nFinding companies with the clout, the sales, the killer product and the dominance to grow into a stock with a 13-digit market capitalization is all about focusing on the giants, the biggest companies that populate the large-company Standard & Poor's 500 stock index.\n\nGaining entrance to the club isn't about who you know. It's all about corporate wealth – or how much a company is worth measured in stock value.\n\nHere are three American-born tech giants that could soon be hanging out with Apple in $1 trillion stock club.\n\nAmazon\n\n(Market value: $889 billion; 12.5 percent shy of $1 trillion)\n\nThe Jeff Bezos-led juggernaut is not only the king of the retail e-commerce space, with roughly 50% of the total market, according to eMarketer, it is also a lead player in the public cloud computing business via its Amazon Web Services unit. Additionally, Amazon makes lots of money – and its earnings are expected to keep growing at a fast clip. In the quarter that ended in June, Amazon reported sales of $52.9 billion and a profit of $2.5 billion, the first time its quarterly net income has topped $2 billion. The company told Wall Street it expects third-quarter net sales of $54 billion to $57.5 billion, which equates to year-over-year growth of 23 percent to 31 percent. After Amazon's strong second-quarter results, Michael Graham, an analyst at Canaccord Genuity, raised his price target from $2,000 a share to $2,100. Achieving that would hurtle Amazon past the $1 trillion market value barrier. The bull case of Morgan Stanley analyst Brian Nowak is $2,800, which would propel Amazon's market capitalization to nearly $1.4 trillion. Amazon shares closed at $1,823.29 on Friday.\n\nAlphabet\n\n(Market value: $851 billion; 17.5 percent shy of $1 trillion)\n\nGoogle is the place many people go for internet searches. The world's leading search engine has leveraged that into a massive advertising business that helps Google parent Alphabet ring up huge profits. The company reported sales of $32.7 billion and a profit of $3.2 billion in this year's second quarter, and that was after accounting for a $5.1 billion fine imposed by the European Commission. Alphabet also is sitting on lots of cash — $102.3 billion as of June 30. The money allows it to buy back its own shares, which makes the company's earnings look even better, as well as invest in itself. The company spent $5.1 billion in research and development in the second quarter, money that's being put to work in investments such as Waymo, its self-driving-car project, artificial intelligence projects and its YouTube video streaming service.\n\nMore:How Tim Cook and the iPhone made Apple America's first $1 trillion company\n\nMore:Apple makes history by becoming first US company to reach $1 trillion market value\n\nMore:Apple jumps after strong third-quarter report\n\nKeyBanc Capital Markets analyst Andy Hargreaves continued to recommend the company's shares in a note to clients July 23, writing that \"Alphabet continues to invest heavily in front of large growth opportunities, while its core ad business continues to churn out impressive growth.” Alphabet shares closed at $1,238.16 on Friday.\n\nMicrosoft\n\n(Market value: $830 billion; 20.5 percent shy of $1 trillion)\n\nUnder CEO Satya Nadella, Microsoft has transformed itself from an \"old tech\" company to one on the cutting edge of one of the tech industry's fastest-growing businesses: cloud computing. A 23 percent jump in revenue to $9.6 billion in the quarter ended in June helped drive a 17 percent overall increase in sales to $30.1 billion. \"Our early investments in the intelligent cloud ... are paying off,\" Nadella said in the company's most recent earnings report. Wall Street analysts remain bullish on the stock, with Oppenheimer's Timothy Horan recently raising his price target to $120. That would put the shares within striking distance of a $1 trillion market cap. \"We expect a very strong next few quarters,\" Horan told clients in a research note. Microsoft shares closed at $108.04 Friday.", "authors": [], "publish_date": "2018/08/05"}, {"url": "https://www.cnn.com/2022/01/03/investing/apple-three-trillion-dollar-market-cap/index.html", "title": "Apple has become the world's first $3 trillion company | CNN Business", "text": "1. How relevant is this ad to you?\n\nVideo player was slow to load content Video content never loaded Ad froze or did not finish loading Video content did not start after ad Audio on ad was too loud Other issues", "authors": ["Paul R. La Monica"], "publish_date": "2022/01/03"}, {"url": "https://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/news/2016/04/01/40-biggest-moments-apple-history/82430458/", "title": "The 40 biggest moments in Apple history", "text": "Brett Molina\n\nUSA TODAY\n\nOn Friday, Apple reached a major milestone in its history, celebrating 40 years since it was founded by Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak.\n\nIt was a long road to becoming one of the world's biggest tech names, nearly reaching the edge of a financial collapse before Jobs returned to save the company and launch its most important products.\n\nOn Apple's 40th birthday, we look back at the 40 biggest moments in company history:\n\n1. April 1, 1976: Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak form Apple.\n\nWhile hanging out together as part of the Homebrew Computer Club, the two friends formed Apple from Jobs' garage. \"We first met during my college years, while he was in high school,\" Wozniak said in a 2007 interview with ABC News. \"It was 1971 when a friend said, you should meet Steve Jobs, because he likes electronics and he also plays pranks. So he introduced us.\"\n\n2. The Apple I computer is born.\n\nJobs and Wozniak create their first device: the Apple I computer. It sold for $666.66. Only 200 Apple I computers were built, making it a collector's item. Last year, a model sold for $200,000.\n\n3. The Apple II arrives one year later.\n\nThe duo's second attempt at creating a personal computer was far more successful. The device is credited with helping to spark a revolution in personal computers for the home.\n\n4. The Beatles vs. Apple.\n\nThe legendary band's record label, Apple Corp, sued Apple Computer over its use of the apple logo and name. Both sides reached a settlement where Apple Computer agreed to only use its name in the tech business, while Apple Corp stuck to music. Both sides would squabble over the trademark multiple times before finally settling for good in 2006.\n\n5. Apple goes public.\n\nShares of Apple began trading on Dec. 12, 1980, opening at $22 a share. On that day, Apple boasted a market cap of $1.2 billion. Today, it's above $600 billion.\n\n6. Wozniak takes a leave of absence.\n\nApple's co-founder stepped away from the company following a plane crash in 1981 leaving him seriously injured. Wozniak briefly returned to Apple, but left for good in 1985.\n\n7. John Sculley takes over.\n\nLured by Jobs, the former PepsiCo executive joined Apple as its next CEO. When he started in 1983, Apple was worth $800 million. When he left the company 10 years later, Apple was worth $8 billion. Sculley recounts the pitch Jobs presented during the PBS series The Triumph of the Nerds: The Rise of Accidental Empires. \"He looked up at me and just stared at me with the stare that only Steve Jobs has and he said do you want to sell sugar water for the rest of your life or do you want to come with me and change the world,\" said Sculley. \"I just gulped because I knew I would wonder for the rest of my life what I would have missed.\"\n\n8. The first Mac is unveiled.\n\nSay farewell to typing in commands. The next line of Apple computers was arguably among the most important, introducing key concepts still in use today including a graphical user interface, where users interact with the computer through a selection of on-screen icons.\n\n9. The 1984 ad.\n\nAired during Super Bowl XVIII, the TV commercial used clips of dystopian film \"1984\" to introduce the line of Macintosh computers.\n\n10. Jobs leaves Apple.\n\nThe man Jobs recruited as Apple's next CEO would ultimately push the co-founder out. John Sculley helped organize a boardroom coup in 1985, and Jobs would go on to start another computer company called NeXT.\n\n11. Apple sues Microsoft, Hewlett-Packard.\n\nA lawsuit filed by Apple for $5.5 billion claimed Microsoft's newly-launched Windows operating system and HP's New Wave copied the \"look and feel\" of the graphical user interface available on the Macintosh. Most of the claims were tossed by a federal judge in a ruling in April 1992.\n\n12. The first Powerbook arrives.\n\nApple takes the leap into portable computing with its first laptop. The line would later be replaced by the MacBook.\n\n13. The Newton bombs.\n\nWay, way, way before the iPhone came the Newton, Apple's personal digital assistant. It boasted a killer feature — handwriting recognition -- that never seemed to work, and that generated plenty of ridicule.\n\nThe device was immediately shelved after the return of Jobs, or as Wired puts it in a 2013 piece: \"The Newton wasn’t just killed, it was violently murdered, dragged into a closet by its hair and kicked to death in its youth by one of technology’s great men.\"\n\n14. Apple acquires NeXT.\n\nAlso known as the moment Steve Jobs returned to Apple. The co-founder's software firm is scooped up by Apple for $400 million. Jobs was appointed an adviser, reporting to CEO Gil Amelio.\n\n15. Jobs becomes Apple’s interim CEO.\n\nJobs is named to the top role at Apple on a temporary basis while the company searches for a replacement for Amelio, ousted in 1997. During a radio interview, Amelio supported Jobs' return even after his departure, according to a 1997 CNet report. \"I told him, 'Steve, I'll never be as charismatic as you are, and you'll never be as good of an operating manager as I am. You can't run a corporation...by just being cool,'\" said Amelio.\n\n16. The iMac debuts.\n\nWhile still serving on an interim basis, Jobs unveils the iMac desktop computer, a model that remains a part of Apple's lineup today. The iMacs boasting colorful displays were soon replaced by flat displays.\n\nThe reveal of the iMac was one of Jobs' first event appearances since taking over at Apple.\n\n17. Jobs interim no longer.\n\nApple's co-founder formally takes the company's top role, kicking off what would be one of its most successful runs in tech.\n\n18. Apple's first retail store opens.\n\nThe tech giant reveals in 2001 it will open 25 stores, with the first two arriving in Glendale, Calif., and McLean, Va. The stores introduced the Genius Bar, where Apple owners get support for their computers. Apple now boasts hundreds of stores in the U.S. alone.\n\n19. Apple introduces iPod.\n\nOh, this portable music player was only the device pushing Apple toward an epic financial rebound. Did I mention it also changed the way we buy music? Yeah, not a big deal at all. It also produced some classic ads.\n\n20. iTunes launches.\n\nWait, you don't need to buy CDs any more to enjoy music? Awesome. It also meant CD owners had to spend hours importing collections into a digital format.\n\n21. Jobs diagnosed with cancer.\n\nIn 2003, the Apple CEO was diagnosed with a form of pancreatic cancer. He waited until the following year to tell Apple employees.\n\n22. Apple switches to Intel.\n\nThe chip maker known for its work on PCs agrees to a deal with Apple to build processors for Macs. As Envisioneering analyst Richard Doherty put it when rumors of the deal surfaced: \"It's like Ferrari going to BMW for an engine.\"\n\n23. The Stanford commencement speech.\n\n\"Stay hungry. Stay foolish.\"\n\n24. The backdated options controversy.\n\nApple admitted to backdating — boosting the value of stock option awards by manipulating dates -- for more than 6,000 grants. Apple had been accused of backdating then covering it up. \"I apologize to Apple's shareholders and employees for these problems, which happened on my watch,\" said Jobs in 2006, when Apple's independent investigation found no wrongdoing. \"They are completely out of character for Apple.\"\n\n25. Apple unveils iPhone.\n\nWhere to begin. Unfurled in early 2007, it made smartphones household, can't-live-without items. It helped create a world of apps. It changed how we live, work and entertain ourselves. Last year, lifetime sales of the iPhone topped 700 million. Although the iPod started Apple's hot streak, the iPhone was its most important device.\n\n26. The App Store opens for business.\n\nRoughly a year after the iPhone launches, Apple creates an online store where users can download third-party applications. Two months after the App Store arrived in June 2008, it topped 100 million downloads. Today, the App Store boasts more than 11 million developers.\n\n27. Jobs receives a liver transplant.\n\nStoking fears about the health of Apple's leader, a hospital in Tennessee confirms Jobs was recovering following a liver transplant. Officials called his prognosis following the procedure \"excellent.\"\n\n28. Apple announces iPad.\n\nApple tackles tablets next with the unveiling of its \"magical and revolutionary\" iPad in 2010. This would also mark the last new product reveal from Jobs. But the reach of Apple's mobile devices would expand quickly. Worldwide, there are more than 1 billion active devices running Apple's iOS operating system.\n\n29. Foxconn working conditions.\n\nApple and other tech companies faced growing scrutiny from humans rights groups following a series of suicides at Chinese company Foxconn, which helped make the iPhone and other tech products. Long working hours and low wages were cited among the reasons for the spike in suicides. The problem was serious enough that Foxconn installed \"suicide nets\" to prevent attempts.\n\n30. Jobs takes leave.\n\nApple's CEO takes his second leave of absence since 2009 to address his health. \"I love Apple so much and hope to be back as soon as I can,\" said Jobs in a 2011 memo to employees.\n\n31. Jobs steps down as CEO.\n\nIn a shocking move months after taking leave, Jobs resigns. Tim Cook is named Apple's next CEO. \"I have always said if there ever came a day when I could no longer meet my duties and expectations as Apple’s CEO, I would be the first to let you know,\" wrote Jobs in a letter address to the company's board and the Apple community. \"Unfortunately, that day has come.\"\n\n32. Steve Jobs dies.\n\nHe was 56, when he passed away on Oct. 5, 2011.\n\n33. The smartphone patent wars.\n\nApple's battle in the courtroom against Samsung began in 2011, when the company accused the electronics maker of copying the look and features of the iPhone with its line of Galaxy smartphones. The battle has gone all the way to the Supreme Court, which said this month it will review an appeal by Samsung on the ruling that awarded Apple $548 million in damages.\n\n34. Move over, Exxon.\n\nIn 2011, Apple overtook the oil giant as the world's most valuable company. The two companies would trade places at the top spot over the next several years, with Google parent company Alphabet jumping into the mix.\n\n35. Apple faces Congress over taxes.\n\nApple CEO Tim Cook traveled to Washington to defend the tech giant against claims it avoids paying its taxes. \"We pay all the taxes we owe, every single dollar,\" said Cook during a hearing with a Senate subcommittee. In a later interview with 60 Minutes, Cook called the complaints \"political crap.\"\n\n36. Apple acquires Beats.\n\nApple takes a huge plunge into digital music by acquiring Beats Electronics, makers of the trendy Beats headphones, for more than $3 billion in May 2014. Apple would leverage Beats' expertise toward its own streaming music service, called Apple Music.\n\n37. That free U2 album.\n\nAt the end of its fall 2014 event, when it introduced the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus, rock band U2 performed. After the performance, U2 and Tim Cook announced the band's new album would be free to everyone. However, not many people were thrilled with a free U2 album invading their libraries, prompting Apple to instruct users how to hide it.\n\n(Side note: it also lead to one of the weirdest handshakes between Cook and Bono).\n\n38. ‘I’m proud to be gay'\n\nIn an essay published in October 2014, Tim Cook publicly confirmed he is gay, making him the highest-profile executive to come out. \"It is a game changer for corporate America,\" said Sarah Kate Ellis, president and CEO of GLAAD.\n\n39. Apple Watch is announced.\n\nApple joins companies including Samsung, Pebble and Fitbit in the wearables market with the Apple Watch. Although the Watch hasn't become a massive hit like earlier products, analysts project the device to eventually catch on with consumers.\n\n40. Apple takes on the government.\n\nA federal judge on Feb. 16, 2016, rules Apple must comply with an FBI order to unlock an iPhone used by one of the killers in the San Bernardino, Calif., shootings. Apple refuses, saying the solution Apple would create is equivalent to building a \"back door\" on the iPhone. The FBI withdrew its case on March 28 after breaking into the phone without Apple's help.\n\nFollow Brett Molina on Twitter: @brettmolina23.", "authors": [], "publish_date": "2016/04/01"}, {"url": "https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/business/2013/01/20/10-profitable-companies-2013/1848581/", "title": "Forecast: 10 most profitable U.S. companies in 2013", "text": "Douglas A. McIntyre, 24/7 Wall St.com\n\nDespite recent stock price drop%2C Apple expected to stay on top\n\nNo big growth surges for Microsoft%2C but its software dominance continues\n\nExxon embraces clean energy%2C plans to invest %24185 billion next 5 years\n\nEach January, 24/7 Wall St. forecasts the publicly traded U.S. companies that will have the highest profits in the year ahead.\n\nThis year, Apple (AAPL) almost certainly will keep first place, well ahead of No. 2 Exxon (XOM), as the most profitable corporation in America. It already passed the oil giant in market capitalization. However, while the market appears to anticipate continued rapid growth from Apple, its prospects have dimmed somewhat. After reaching all-time highs last year, Apple's stock advance has stopped and shares have sold off recently.\n\nThe list of most profitable companies is still dominated by oil companies, banks and big tech. A look back at profits over the past five years shows that this trend has continued. Some of these companies have not grown much on the top line of revenue for several years. But they continue to be earnings machines because of their long-time sales success, which will help them produce higher profits in the foreseeable future. Microsoft (MFST) is the best example of this. The software company is no longer considered a leader in the tech world, a position taken by public corporations like Google (GOOG) . Yet, Microsoft's Windows and business franchises still have huge profit margins. Microsoft's net income is greater than that of almost all other tech firms.\n\n24/7 Wall St. used Capital IQ data to identify companies with the largest profits, defined as net income, over the past 12 months. This included revenue and earnings forecasts and pricing data. We reviewed earnings forecasts for the final quarter of 2012 and for the full year of 2013 to gauge growth prospects. In addition, 24/7 Wall St. looked at the top 100 companies in the Fortune 500 based on revenue and again reviewed earnings and earnings forecasts for these based on Capital IQ data. Here are what 24/7 Wall St. predicts will be the 10 most profitable companies of 2013:\n\n1. Apple, market cap: $491.6 billion\n\n• Forecast: Revenue of $191 billion, up 23%, earnings of $46 billion, up 10%\n\n• Stock price: $500, trading between $418.66 – $705.07 per share\n\nMore than a year after the death of co-founder and CEO Steve Jobs, Apple's efforts to maintain preeminence in the smartphone and tablet PC markets are under constant scrutiny. Apple's pace of change has been remarkable. When it launched the iPhone, the company was a PC and portable music player company. Just over five years late, the iPhone accounts for almost half of Apple's revenue and two-thirds of its profits. Competition from a broad array of products from other companies, led by the Samsung line of smartphones and Amazon.com's Kindle tablet, has eroded Apple's lead. Apps built for the Google Android mobile operating system threatens Apple's strength in the app business, in which it has had a mammoth lead. There is a great deal of speculation about what Apple will do to remain ahead of its competition in all markets, including talk of launching an Apple TV and a cheaper version of the iPhone. Nervousness about Apple's prospects have pushed down its shares about 15% the past six months.\n\n2. Exxon Mobil, market cap: $406.2 billion\n\n• Forecast: Revenue of $473 billion, down 1%, earnings of $37 billion, up 2%\n\n• Stock price: $90.80, trading between $77.13 -- $93.67 per share\n\nExxon Mobil is the world's fourth-largest oil company, the largest company in the U.S. based on revenue, and the second-largest public corporation in the world based on market cap. Like most large energy companies, Exxon has made a large bet on the oil sands business, a relatively new way to produce significant amounts of crude. It also continues to increase its capacity to bring crude from deep-sea locations, and it is investing $14 billion in the Hebron fields off the coast of Newfoundland. As have most of the world's largest energy companies, Exxon has embraced the clean energy and fuel-efficiency movements, and it says it plans to spend a staggering $185 billion in energy projects the next five years.\n\n3. (tie) Chevron (CVX), market cap: $216.2 billion\n\n• Forecast: Revenue of $260 billion, up 8%, earnings of $24 billion, unchanged\n\n• Stock price: $110.47, trading between $95.73 -- $118.53 per share\n\nChevron is the third-largest company in the U.S., based on revenue, according to Fortune, behind Wal-Mart and Exxon. Like most other large U.S. oil and diversified energy firms, much of Chevron's revenue comes from overseas. In the most recent quarter, Chevron's total sales were $55.7 billion, of which $32.4 billion was pegged as \"international.\" Chevron recently forecast its financial results for the final quarter of 2012 would be particularly strong. Chevron has significant operations in the natural gas sector, operates gas stations under the Chevron, Texaco and Caltex brands, and has large shipping and pipeline operations. Chevron's stock has outperformed those of most of its global peers over the past five years and has risen 20% over that period.\n\n3. (tie) Microsoft, market cap: $222.7 billion\n\n• Forecast: Revenue of $80 billion, up 9%, earnings of $24 billion, up 7%\n\n• Stock price: $27.25, trading between $22.26 -- $32.95 per share\n\nMicrosoft, once the most powerful and largest software company in the world, has fallen on hard times. Its flagship product — Windows — was recently updated. The new operating system, Windows 8, has not done well, partly because global PC sales have slowed considerably. Unfortunately for Microsoft, PC sales are not expected to improve this year, as consumers move to tablets and smartphones. Microsoft has several other challenges. Its Online Services Division, made up of its Bing search engine and MSN portal, has struggled with losses. Google remains the dominant search engine by far, which has hurt Bing's growth chances. Microsoft has also had trouble gaining adoption of its mobile Windows product, which relies in large part on its partnership with handset giant Nokia (NOK). Microsoft's struggles have hurt it on Wall Street — its stock is down more than 20% the past five years.\n\n5. JP Morgan Chase (JPM), market cap: $175.4 billion\n\n• Forecast: Revenue of $100 billion, up 2%, earnings of $20 billion, up 6%\n\n• Stock price: $46.46, trading between $30.83 -- $46.49 per share\n\nUntil recently, JP Morgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon was considered the preeminent chief executive in his industry. His name was often mentioned as a possible candidate for Treasury Secretary when Tim Geithner retired. As a matter of fact, Warren Buffett said he favored Dimon for the job. But JP Morgan has had its share of trouble recently, and Obama's chief of staff, Jack Lew, was nominated to be the next Treasury secretary. The heart of JP Morgan's trouble was a large trade that cost the bank more than $6 billion. It was made by London investment employee Bruno Iksil, who has been called the \"London Whale\" because of the magnitude of the hit to JP Morgan's financials. Dimon readily admitted that poor management was the cause of the problem, which cost the bank's chief investment officer her job and caused Dimon to replace the head of London trading operations. As a result, Dimon lost most of his bonus for last year.\n\n6. (tie) Wells Fargo (WFC), market cap: $183.4 billion\n\n• Forecast: Revenue of $85 billion, down 1%, earnings of $19 billion, up 9%\n\n• Stock price: $34.93, trading between $28.77 – $36.60 per share\n\nWells Fargo is one of America's \"big four\" commercial banks, alongside Chase, Citigroup (C) and Bank of America (BAC). The company recently reported better-than-expected earnings. The quality of those numbers confirmed what many analysts believe: Wells Fargo has been able to build \"a reputation as one of the strongest banks in the country,\" as ABC News reported. An indication of Wall Street's admiration for the bank is that its share price has well outperformed its peers the past five years. Like the other large American banks, Well Fargo is highly diversified. It has retail bank operations, commercial operations that handle business lending, an investment bank and a wealth management business.\n\n6. (tie) International Business Machines (IBM), market cap: $217.9 billion\n\n• Forecast: Revenue of $107 billion, up 2%, earnings of $19 billion, up 10%\n\n•Stock price: $194.47, trading between $177.35 – $211.79 per share\n\nIBM is one of America's largest tech companies. It is also one of the most diverse. Its strength in sales to corporations and government has allowed it to largely avoid many of the troubles that have faced firms like Dell (DELL) and HewlettPackard (HPQ), which are more dependent on sales to consumers. IBM has significant operations in Europe and Asia. It sells hardware — including mainframe computers — software and IT services. It also has consulting operations and a finance division. IBM is one of America's oldest tech companies, and in 2011 celebrated the 100th anniversary of its founding. The company last year appointed its first female CEO — Ginni Rometty.\n\n8. General Electric (GE), market cap of $222 billion\n\n• Forecast: Revenue of $148 billion, up 2%, earnings of $18 billion, up 11%\n\n• Stock price: $22.04, trading between $18.02 – $23.18 per share\n\nGE is considered the world's largest conglomerate. It provides global infrastructure products and services, health care systems, jet engines and transportation services, and household appliances. It also has a large financial services division. One of the major criticisms of GE management is that the company has grown very little over the past several years. Wall Sreet has reacted negatively, and the stock price has fallen by over a third over the past five years. GE CEO Jeff Immelt is highly visible in business and government circles, and currently heads the U.S. Jobs Council set up by President Obama.\n\n9. Pfizer ( PFE), market cap: $197 billion\n\n• Forecast: Revenue of $58 billion, down 1%, earnings of $17 billion, up 6%\n\n• Stock price: $26.54, trading between $20.75 – $26.77 per share\n\nPfizer's largest challenge, like that of most other large pharmaceutical companies, is the expiration of patents for much of its drug portfolio. Cheaper, generic versions of these drugs have taken market share. In a recent example, Pfizer had to drop the price of Viagra in Canada to compete with generic versions sold there. Pfizer has gone through a series of layoffs to protect its margins, most recently at its U.S. sales operations. In the latest reported quarter, revenue fell to $14 billion from $16.6 billion in the same period a year ago.\n\n10. Wal-Mart Stores (WMT), market cap: $228.7 billion\n\n• Forecast: Revenue of $467 billion, up 5%, earnings of $16 billion, up 10%\n\n• Stock price: $69.20, trading between $57.18 – $77.60 per share\n\nWal-Mart employs more than 2 million people, making it the largest company in America by headcount. In the most recent Fortune 500 ranking, Wal-Mart fell just behind Exxon in total revenue. Wal-Mart is made up primarily of three divisions: Wal-Mart's domestic stores, its Sam's Club warehouse operation and Wal-Mart International. Wal-Mart has had a year marked by scandal. Allegedly, executives at the company's Mexico division bribed government officials. Democratic Congressmen Elijah E. Cummings and Henry A. Waxman recently released information indicating Wal-Mart CEO Mike Duke was aware as early as 2005 of allegations company executives had bribed Mexican government officials.\n\nMcIntyre is a partner of 24/7 Wall St.,a financial news website.", "authors": [], "publish_date": "2013/01/20"}, {"url": "https://www.cnn.com/2022/12/30/tech/silicon-valley-falls-back-to-earth/index.html", "title": "The year that brought high-flying Silicon Valley back down to earth ...", "text": "CNN —\n\nOn the first trading day of 2022, Apple hit a new milestone for the tech industry: the iPhone maker became the first publicly traded company to hit a $3 trillion market cap, with Microsoft and Google not far behind. As eye-popping as that valuation was, there were headlines speculating about how long it would be before Apple and its rivals topped $5 trillion.\n\nThe tech industry, already dominant, only seemed destined to grow even bigger at the start of this year. The spread of the Omicron variant suggested a continued pandemic-fueled demand for digital goods and services, which had buoyed many tech companies. Near 0% interest rates meant startups still had easy access to the funding that had fueled their high valuations and risky ventures.\n\nBut the year is ending on a much different note. A perfect storm of factors have forced a dizzying reality check for the once high-flying tech sector, making it one of the biggest losers of 2022.\n\nOver the course of the year, pandemic-era demand for many tech tools shifted; inflation soared; interest rates rose and fears of a looming recession weighed on consumer and advertiser spending, the latter of which makes up the core business of many household names in tech.\n\nThe result was a bloodbath unlike anything the tech industry has seen in the past decade. Tech stocks plunged, amid a broader market downturn. Tens of thousands of rank-and-file tech workers lost their livelihoods amid mass layoffs, both at tech giants like Amazon and Facebook-parent Meta as well as at smaller tech companies like Lyft, Peloton and Stripe. The crypto world all but imploded. And an entire industry known for burning cash on ambitious moonshots instead started shutting down projects and announcing cost-cutting efforts.\n\nEven the title of world’s richest man, which previously belonged to serial tech founder Elon Musk, ended up passing to Bernard Arnault, the chairman of French luxury goods giant LVMH, after Musk’s chaotic purchase of Twitter appeared to sour investors on his car company, Tesla.\n\nThe sharp shift in sentiment not only removed the air of invincibility for the industry; it also exposed some of its underlying myths. For years, Silicon Valley has held up its founders as visionaries who can see far into the future. But suddenly, many of its most prominent founders had to admit a harsh truth: they couldn’t even predict two years ahead.\n\nAs Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg put it in a memo to staff last month announcing the company would cut 11,000 employees: “Unfortunately, this did not play out the way I expected.”\n\nHe was far from the only one in the industry caught off guard.\n\nSilicon Valley’s rude awakening\n\nWhen the pandemic upended the broader economy in early 2020, tech firms only seemed to grow bigger and more powerful as people were forced to live out their lives online. Facebook (now Meta) could afford to nearly double its headcount and make multi-billion-dollar bets on a future version of the internet dubbed the metaverse. Amazon similarly went on a hiring spree and doubled its fulfilment center footprint to meet the surge in online shopping demand.\n\n“At the start of Covid, the world rapidly moved online and the surge of e-commerce led to outsized revenue growth,” Zuckerberg wrote in his memo to staff last month. “Many people predicted this would be a permanent acceleration that would continue even after the pandemic ended. I did too, so I made the decision to significantly increase our investments.”\n\nThen the market shifted.\n\nA person walking past the offices of Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, in King's Cross, London, on November 9. Meta has confirmed it plans to cut more than 11,000 jobs globally as part of a major restructuring of the tech giant. The cuts will reduce the size of the company's workforce by about 13 percent. Joshua Bratt/PA Images/Getty Images\n\n“People are terrible at predicting the future, and we always think that what’s happening now is going to happen forever,” Angela Lee, a professor at Columbia Business School who teaches venture capital, leadership, and strategy courses, told CNN. “But the reality is that the pandemic was a black swan event, and none of us knew what would happen going forward.”\n\nOne by one, the visionaries of Silicon Valley issued mea culpas. The founders of Stripe, Twitter and Facebook each took turns admitting they either grew their companies too quickly or were overly optimistic about pandemic-fueled growth in their sector.\n\n“We were much too optimistic about the internet economy’s near-term growth in 2022 and 2023 and underestimated both the likelihood and impact of a broader slowdown,” Patrick Collison, CEO of Stripe, wrote in a note to employees last month announcing 14% of the staff would be cut.\n\nIt wasn’t only a shift in consumers living their lives offline again that hurt the industry. The tech sector was particularly pummeled by the impacts of rising interest rates this year. Silicon Valley as a whole is arguably more sensitive to interest rate hikes than other industries, as many tech companies rely on easy access to funding to pursue their ambitious projects, typically before even turning a profit.\n\nIn a move to tame inflation, the Fed approved seven-straight rate hikes in 2022. Since the beginning of the year, the tech-heavy Nasdaq index shed more than 30% as of Dec. 21. By comparison, the Nasdaq soared more than 40% in 2020 and a further 20% in 2021. And the S&P 500’s Information Technology sector shed more than 28% this year through Dec. 21, considerably higher than the broader S&P 500’s fall of just 19% over that same period.\n\nApple’s market cap now hovers just above $2 trillion. Amazon’s stock has shed some 50% year to date. And shares for Meta have been hit even harder, losing nearly two thirds of their value in 2022. Once a trillion-dollar business last year, Meta has since seen its market value drop below companies like Home Depot.\n\n‘Return to sanity’\n\nThe shift in sentiment for tech has also hit the next generation of companies that aspire to be household names.\n\nGlobal venture funding hit a nine quarter low of $74.5 billion in the third quarter of 2022, according to data from analytics firm CB Insights. This marked the largest quarterly percentage drop in a decade (34%), and a 58% decline from the investment peak reached in the fourth quarter of 2021.\n\nIn another sign of how this played out in the startup world: more than two new unicorns (startups valued at $1 billion or more) were born on average per business day in 2021, according separate data from CB Insights. That rate dropped to a pace of less than one new unicorn for every other business day in the third quarter of 2022, per CB Insights’ most recent analysis, the lowest since the first quarter of 2020.\n\nLee, who is also the founder of investing network 37 Angels, said when she met with tech founders this year, “I have said these words, which is, ‘I might have done this deal last year, but I am not going to do it now.’ And I’ve heard a lot of other people say that as well.”\n\nWhile the belt tightening might be painful for tech founders, Lee says she views it as a good thing for the tech industry overall. Many industry insiders have long said these sorts of corrections can help weed out some of the excess in the market and ensure more financially viable companies are the ones that survive.\n\n“Right now, there are like a lot of headlines that are just like, ‘The sky is falling, the end is near,’ and the way that I describe it is more of like a return to normalcy,” said Lee, noting that most charts tracking VC spending (from the number of mega-rounds to the number of IPOs) had a huge hump in 2020 and 2021 when interest rates were low, and now these charts are starting to look like how they did in 2019.\n\n“I would just call it like a ‘return to sanity,’ versus like, ‘the sky is falling,’” Lee said. “I do not think venture is cratering, or the tech industry is cratering as an industry.”\n\nBut for now, at least, there appears to be no end in sight to the pain for Silicon Valley and those who work in it.\n\nIn his own memo acknowledging job cuts at Amazon, CEO Andy Jassy said the layoffs at Amazon, reported to total some 10,000 roles, would continue into 2023. At a conference last month, he called the earlier hiring spree a “lesson” for everybody.", "authors": ["Catherine Thorbecke"], "publish_date": "2022/12/30"}, {"url": "https://www.cnn.com/2022/12/22/tech/washington-tiktok-big-tech/index.html", "title": "Washington moved fast to crack down on TikTok but has made little ...", "text": "CNN —\n\nIn a matter of days, the United States is expected to ban federal employees from downloading or using TikTok on government-issued phones or tablets, marking the country’s broadest crackdown on the short-form video app to date.\n\nThe looming ban is the result of a bill that’s moved through Congress in the final days of the year with lightning-fast speed and bipartisan support. It’s gone from being just another proposal from a Republican lawmaker to being unanimously adopted in the Senate, backed by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and added to a massive year-end congressional spending package. The proposed ban has support from the White House, which already blocks TikTok on its devices.\n\nThe TikTok measure, while limited in its impact on the app’s wider US user base, highlights how quickly lawmakers can act when a combination of national security fears, bipartisan anti-China suspicions, and more targeted proposals cause the legislative stars to align.\n\nBut in fast-tracking the bill, Congress can’t help but draw attention to its notable lack of progress on regulating American tech giants more broadly — despite years of reports, hearings and proposed legislation.\n\nThe stark difference between the two illustrates how simple narratives, well-funded lobbying and genuinely thorny policy questions can make or break a bill. It also hints at how a select few Big Tech companies continue to maintain their dominance in the market and their centrality in the lives of countless US households.\n\nWashington finds a different tech villain\n\nThe tech industry’s largest players have faced a kitchen sink of allegations in recent years. From knee-capping nascent rivals; to harming children and mental health; to undermining democracy; to spreading hate speech and harassment; to censoring conservative viewpoints; to bankrupting local news outlets; Big Tech has been made out as one of Washington’s largest villains.\n\nBut over the course of this year, TikTok has once again emerged as an even bigger target, two years after the Trump administration threatened to ban the application in the United States amid rising tensions with China. And one reason why is the relatively straightforward case that US policymakers have put forward for banning the app.\n\nThe central allegation against TikTok is that the company poses a potential national security risk. US officials have worried that the Chinese government could pressure TikTok or its parent company, ByteDance, into handing over the personal information of its US users, which could then be used for Chinese intelligence operations or the spreading of Chinese-backed disinformation.\n\nThere’s no evidence yet that that has actually happened. Still, policymakers and security experts have said China’s national security laws make it a possibility — identifying a kernel of risk that fits into a broader anti-China narrative linked to issues including trade, human rights and authoritarianism. Those concerns were renewed after a report this year suggested US user data had been repeatedly accessed by China-based employees. TikTok has disputed the report.\n\nIn recent weeks, numerous states have leapt on the bandwagon, further increasing the pressure on Congress to act. More than a dozen states have now banned TikTok on state government devices, from Maryland to South Dakota.\n\nTikTok has insisted it maintains robust security controls on its data and that it prioritizes user privacy. It has also taken steps in recent months to wall off US user data from other parts of its business, both technologically and organizationally. But earlier this year, it acknowledged that China-based employees can access TikTok user data and declined to commit to cutting off those data flows in general.\n\nSince 2020, TikTok has been negotiating with the US government on a possible deal to keep the app running in the United States. But those talks have so far proven fruitless, giving an opening to policymakers in Congress and at the state level to seek restrictions on TikTok.\n\n“We’re disappointed that Congress has moved to ban TikTok on government devices—a political gesture that will do nothing to advance national security interests—rather than encouraging the Administration to conclude its national security review,” said Brooke Oberwetter, a TikTok spokesperson.\n\nCongress has moved swiftly on a bill that would ban federal employees from downloading or using TikTok on government-issued phones or tablets. But it's been far slower to take meaningful action on American tech giants. Sarah Silbiger/Reuters\n\nTikTok’s head of public policy, Michael Beckerman, has called the ban affecting government devices a “political approach that doesn’t have any real impact on national security.”\n\n“We think a lot of the concerns are maybe overblown,” Beckerman told CNN’s Jake Tapper on Tuesday, “but we do think these problems can be solved” through the ongoing government negotiations.\n\nAmerican tech giants better at playing defense\n\nTikTok has significantly expanded its Washington presence in recent years.\n\nIn 2019, ByteDance had 17 lobbyists and spent $270,000 on lobbying, according to public records gathered by the transparency group OpenSecrets. By the end of last year, its lobbyist count had more than doubled and the company had spent nearly $5.2 million on lobbying.\n\nThat pales in comparison, however, to the full force of Big Tech’s lobbying machine, which has become one of the largest in Washington.\n\nMeta was the biggest internet industry lobbying giant last year, spending upward of $20 million. Next was Amazon at $19 million, then Google at almost $10 million. Combined, that’s roughly $49 million in lobbying — almost 10 times what was spent by TikTok’s parent, which nevertheless clocked in at number four on the list.\n\nTech giants have repeatedly deployed their CEOs to Capitol Hill, who in some cases have made arguments citing the threat of Chinese competition. They’ve also leaned on help from trade associations they’re members of and relied on advertising campaigns to make the case against some of the biggest legislative threats to their business.\n\nOne of those bills, the American Innovation and Choice Online Act (AICOA), would erect new barriers between tech platforms’ various lines of business, preventing Amazon, for example, from being able to compete with third-party sellers on its own marketplace. That legislation was a product of a 16-month House antitrust investigation into the tech industry that concluded, in 2020, that many of the biggest tech companies were effectively monopolies.\n\nFor much of this year, supporters of AICOA insisted the legislation had enough votes to pass, and they called on Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer to bring it to a floor vote. But between intense tech lobbying and doubts about whether the bill did in fact have the votes, it never received the floor time its supporters wanted. The same fate awaited other tech-focused antitrust bills, such as one that would have forced Apple to allow users to download iPhone apps from any website, not just its own app store.\n\nFor a brief moment this month, lawmakers seemed poised to pass a bill that could force Meta, Google and other platforms to pay news organizations a larger share of ad revenues. But the legislation stumbled after Meta warned it could have to drop news content from its platforms altogether if the bill passed.\n\nTime and again, Silicon Valley’s biggest players have maneuvered expertly in Washington, defending their turf from lawmakers keen to knock them down a peg.\n\nAn easy win for Congress\n\nBut it isn’t just lobbying that has made some of these bills difficult to pass. It’s much more challenging to impose sweeping regulations on an entire industry than it is to pass a bill governing how the US government handles its own technology.\n\nThe TikTok bill banning the app from government devices is seen as having a limited potential impact on the company’s wider US user base, which skews younger. A ban on public employees’ use of the app likely wouldn’t reach the many teens or other young people with whom the app has grown increasingly popular.\n\nWith at least 100 million US users as of 2020, and likely more by now, TikTok has become almost “too big” to ban outright, some analysts have said.\n\nPolitically speaking, in light of TikTok’s deep foothold among US consumers, a ban affecting government devices also represents low-hanging fruit for policymakers who enjoy clear legal authority over official devices and don’t have to worry about triggering a consumer backlash that a broader ban might invite.\n\nBy contrast, decisions about the rules government might impose on tech platforms have called into question how those regulations may affect different parts of the economy, from small businesses to individual users to the future of the internet itself.\n\nIn some cases, as with proposals to revise the tech industry’s decades-old content moderation liability shield, Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, legislation may raise First Amendment issues as well as partisan divisions. Democrats have said Section 230 should be changed because it gives social media companies a pass to leave some hate speech and offensive content unaddressed, while Republicans have called for changes to the law so that platforms can be pressured to remove less content.\n\nThe cross-cutting politics and the technical challenges of regulating an entire sector of technology, not to mention the potential consequences for the economy of screwing it up, have combined to make it genuinely difficult for lawmakers to reach an accord.\n\nIt’s no wonder, then, that when Congress sees an easier victory within its grasp, lawmakers take it.", "authors": ["Brian Fung"], "publish_date": "2022/12/22"}, {"url": "https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/2022/02/03/facebook-zuckerberg-retirement-funds/6654000001/", "title": "Facebook dislike: Mark Zuckerberg loses $32 billion as shares ...", "text": "Shares of the social media giant were down more than 26% Thursday.\n\nThe New York State Common Retirement Fund lost $470 million.\n\nThe California Public Employees Retirement System lost $440 million.\n\nFacebook's parent company, Meta Platforms, just did a face plant on Wall Street.\n\nShares of the social media giant were down more than 26% Thursday, the first day of trading after Meta reported a decline in profit and users during the last three months of 2021 – and most tellingly, forecast revenue declines in the current quarter.\n\nMeta's market value fell more than $230 billion to a market capitalization of about $661 billion. The company's market cap had been $898.5 billion early Thursday.\n\nThe loss is the largest one-day decline in U.S. history, The Wall Street Journal reported.\n\nLast summer, when the company was still known as Facebook, the company became only the fifth U.S. company to achieve a market value surpassing $1 trillion – the others being Apple, Microsoft, Amazon and Google parent Alphabet.\n\nSTOCKS SLIDE:Facebook parent company Meta plunges, other tech stocks also stumble\n\nFACEBOOK:Network is losing users for the first time ever and shares in Meta have fallen off a cliff\n\nMeta Platforms' shares closed Thursday at $237.76, down about 26%. The stock price was up more than 1% in aftermarket trading to $240.60.\n\nShares of Meta, which will change its trading symbol on Nasdaq from \"FB\" to \"META\" in the first half of this year, are down nearly 30% so far this year.\n\nFacebook co-founder and Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg personally lost nearly $32 billion Zuckerberg is the largest individual Meta shareholder, with more than 374.8 million shares, or about 12.5% of total shares outstanding, according to S&P Global Market Intelligence.\n\nZuckerberg's shares had been valued at $121 billion before the market opened Thursday. When the markets closed, his holdings were worth $89.1 billion.\n\nZuckerberg, who has been No. 7 on Bloomberg's Billionaires, had already seen a decline of $4.9 billion in 2022.\n\nMeta stock plummets, what some lost\n\nMany of the top Meta shareholders who took losses, too, on Thursday will be familiar as many Americans have investments including 401(k) plans with them:\n\nThe Vanguard Group, which holds 182.9 million shares, , saw its value drop to about $43.5 billion from $59 billion.\n\nBlackRock (nearly 155.9 million shares): down to $37.1 billion from about $50.4 billion.\n\nCapital Research and Management Co. (Capitol Group/American Funds; nearly 137 million shares): about $44.3 billion from about $32.6 billion\n\nFMR LLC (Fidelity Investments; 123.8 million shares): about $29.4 billion from about $40 billion.\n\nUBS Asset Management (20 million shares): about $4.8 billion from about $6.5 billion.\n\nFisher Investments (7.6 million shares): about $1.8 billion from about $2.5 billion\n\nCalifornia Public Employees Retirement System (5.7 million): $1.36 billion from $1.8 billion.\n\nNew York State Common Retirement Fund (5.47 million): $1.3 billion from $1.77 billion.\n\nSheryl Sandberg, Meta COO (1.42 million shares): $337.6 million from $458.7 million.\n\nNorth Carolina Department of State Treasurer (1 million): 237.8 million from $323 million.\n\nMarc Andreessen, Meta independent director (44,434 shares): $10.6 million from $14.4 million.\n\nPeter Thiel, Meta independent director (12,947 shares): $3 million from $4.2 million.\n\nFacebook faces 'unprecedented' competition\n\nDuring Wednesday's earnings report, Meta reported that Facebook's daily active users had fallen for the first time: 1.929 billion daily active users compared to 1.93 billion in the previous quarter.\n\nZuckerberg said competition from other social media platforms including viral video-sharing app Tiktok is \"having an impact on our business.\"\n\nZuckerberg echoed that sentiment during an all-hands virtual meeting, saying the company faced an “unprecedented level of competition,\" Bloomberg reported, citing a person who attended but was not authorized to speak publicly about it,\n\nHe also said the company's weak revenue forecast for the current quarter triggered the historic stock decline, Bloomberg reported.\n\nThat forecast of slowed revenue growth \"was a headline grabber and not in a good way,\" wrote Michael Nathanson of investment research firm MoffettNathanson in a note to investors Thursday.\n\nFollow Mike Snider on Twitter: @mikesnider.", "authors": [], "publish_date": "2022/02/03"}, {"url": "https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/personalfinance/2013/03/17/companies-paying-highest-income-taxes/1991313/", "title": "Companies paying the most in income taxes", "text": "Douglas McIntyre, 24/7 Wall Street\n\n24/7 Wall St. looks at which companies pay the most in income taxes\n\nOil companies make up three of the top 10\n\nLarge technology and banking companies are also on the list\n\nThere has been a bruising battle over how much America's largest corporations should pay in taxes, especially as the size of the federal budget deficit grows. While on paper the federal corporate tax rate is 35%, companies usually pay far less than that because of loopholes and subsidies.\n\nThat has caused some activists to say that companies should pay the full rate regardless of special accounting charges, or if some revenue is earned overseas. Still, several huge American companies pay the 35% rate, and because of their size, the amount is well into the billions of dollars.\n\nThe companies paying the most in taxes tend to fall into only a few categories. The first is huge oil companies that often post outsized profits every year. They are both large and getting larger as the price of oil rises and remains near historic highs.\n\nAnother group of companies that pays very high taxes are the large tech companies, particularly those that have been around for some time. Unlike the darlings of the moment such as Facebook (FB), Microsoft (MSFT) pays tremendous taxes and has done so for many years. Even though its growth has slowed, it continues to be very profitable.\n\nThe third group is the most unlikely, at least in the eyes of most investors. The banking industry was nearly ruined by the 2008 global financial crisis. However, since then banks have bounced back, and many have huge profits from trading and investment banking operations, and even from renewed demand for mortgages.\n\nOddly, while some politicians and the public would like to see the tax burden on the mammoth companies raised, other experts want to see the tax rate reduced. Organizations such as the Tax Foundation have made the case that lower taxes will encourage companies to add workers, expand and make more purchases of plants and other equipment. While this opinion is probably not very popular, it illustrates how complex the issue of corporate taxes can be.\n\nRegardless of how this debate will shake out, each of the 10 companies on this list paid at least $4 billion in taxes, and one of them, ExxonMobil (XOM), paid more than $30 billion. It is at least some evidence that America's large companies often pay extraordinary amounts.\n\nTo identify the companies that pay the most taxes, 24/7 Wall St. reviewed corporate tax payments for the top 150 companies by revenue. Included in our analysis were company financials, including income, employee count and earnings before taxes. These were either provided by Capital IQ, or obtained by 24/7 Wall St. reviews of SEC filings or financial statements. All data, including taxes paid, are for 2012, or the most recent complete fiscal year.\n\nThese are the companies paying the most in taxes:\n\n1. ExxonMobil\n\n• Income tax expense: $31.05 billion\n\n• Earnings before taxes: $78.73 billion\n\n• Revenue: $428.38 billion\n\n•1-year share price change: 6.56%\n\n• Industry: Oil and gas\n\nLarge multinational oil companies have been among the largest payers of corporate federal taxes for years. Exxon's (XOM) income tax amount was approximately the same in 2011 as it was in 2012 — $31 billion. A simple reason for Exxon's position at the top of the tax paying list is its size. It vies with Wal-Mart each year for the spot as the publicly traded U.S. company with the greatest revenue. Exxon's revenue has averaged more than $400 billion a year from 2007 to 2012. Part of Exxon's success is tied to the price of crude oil. A barrel of WTI crude was worth $35 in 2003. The price reached $60 in 2006 and rarely dropped below it thereafter. It rose above $100 in 2008 and has occasionally topped that price since then. Whether Exxon can stay atop both the tax and revenue list much longer depends on several factors, not the least of which are new sources of energy led by solar, wind and particularly shale-based fossil fuels. One benefit Exxon has that may allow it to keep the top position as America's largest company is its role as the number one producer of natural gas.\n\n2. Chevron\n\n• Income tax expense: $20.00 billion\n\n• Earnings before taxes: $46.33 billion\n\n• Revenue: $222.58 billion\n\n• 1-year share price change: 9.52%\n\n• Industry: Oil and gas\n\nIt is somewhat unfair to say that Chevron (CVX) is a more modest sized version of Exxon, but in many cases it is. Chevron is the third largest public company in the U.S. based on sales, just above another energy multinational, ConocoPhillips, which was recently broken into two parts. Chevron has paid more than $10 billion a year in taxes in every year except one since 2005. And its revenue since the same year has only once dropped below $200 billion during that time. Like other large energy companies, it has added liquid natural gas to its reserve base, because natural gas currently accounts for 23% of the world's energy consumption. One challenge Chevron faces as it moves forward is the difficulty of finding new oil fields. This will require Chevron to make greater and greater efforts at deepwater drilling and oil sands production. Chevron is sanguine about its long-term prospects; it expects to increase production 20% by 2017.\n\n3. Apple\n\n• Income tax expense: $14.21 billion\n\n• Earnings before taxes: $55.96 billion\n\n• Revenue: $164.69 billion\n\n• 1-year share price change: -20.68%\n\n• Industry: Computer hardware\n\nApple (AAPL) has made a furious race up the ladder of top corporate tax payers. As appeal for its iPad, iPhone and Mac products has exploded, its tax payments have gone from $2 billion four years ago to $4.5 billion two years ago. And it has increased threefold since then. But these days Apple is facing several growth challenges, which could threaten its spot near the top of the tax tables and already have cut its stock price by one-quarter from record levels. Due to the iPhone's success, Apple was the dominant producer of smartphones since 2007. But Samsung passed Apple in smartphone sales in 2011. The iPad's dominance, too, has been threatened by Google Android-based tablets, the growth of which will put it ahead of Apple iOS-based products this year, according to research firm IDC. Other threats to Apple's growth include the fact that its success in the mammoth Chinese market has been very modest.\n\n4. Wells Fargo\n\n• Income tax expense: $9.10 billion\n\n• Earnings before taxes: $28.47 billion\n\n• Revenue: $79.45 billion\n\n• 1-year share price change: 16.77%\n\n• Industry: Banks\n\nWells Fargo (WFC) is often considered the most successful of the four U.S. money center banks, the others being Citigroup, JPMorgan Chase and Bank of America. Since the start of 2008 (when the bank bought Wachovia and nearly doubled its size), the year of the global financial crisis, Wells Fargo shares have rallied more than those of the other three. Wells Fargo's success is largely due to the fact that it has not relied heavily on investment banking and proprietary trading. The former is considered an unreliable source of revenue, the latter risky. Wells Fargo leans more on consumer banking. And its national customer base tends to be concentrated in a few markets that it dominates. That keeps the firm's cost of maintaining large numbers of branches low. As Morningstar recently commented, \"more than one third of the bank's deposits come from markets in which Wells Fargo is the pre-eminent player, and more than two-thirds are gathered in markets in which the company ranks among the top three.\" Wells Fargo's annual tax bill dropped as low as $602 million in 2008, and has risen steadily each year since.\n\n5. Wal-Mart\n\n• Income tax expense: $7.98 billion\n\n• Earnings before taxes: $25.74 billion\n\n• Revenue: $469.16 billion\n\n• 1-year share price change: 21.87%\n\n• Industry: Supermarkets\n\nWal-Mart Stores (WMT) is the largest company in the United States and the largest employer. Unlike some of the other companies on the highest taxpayer list, particularly the banks and oil companies, Wal-Mart is relatively young, founded in 1962. Since that time, expansion has outpaced traditional American retailers, such as Sears, Kmart and J.C. Penney, each of which has struggled as Wal-Mart has expanded. Wal-Mart's annual tax payment has been above $7 billion in each of its past five fiscal years. Wal-Mart's size has become something of a disadvantage because it is hard for the retailer to grow much faster than the economy in general. Recently, the company's U.S. same-store sales were up only 2.2% In a recent conversation with the media, Charles Holley Jr., Wal-Mart's chief financial officer, said \"I don't think the economy's helping us.\"\n\n6. ConocoPhillips\n\n• Income tax expense: $7.94 billion\n\n• Earnings before taxes: $15.42 billion\n\n• Revenue: $60.35 billion\n\n• 1-year share price change: -22.86%\n\n• Industry: Energy exploration and production\n\nConocoPhillips (COP) joins its larger rivals Exxon and Chevron on the top tax payer list. By sales, ConocoPhillips was the fourth largest public corporation in the U.S. until it recently broke itself into two pieces. One of the new companies, Phillips 66, holds the former parent's downstream assets — those that handle refining and marketing. The rest of ConocoPhillips, which kept the parent's name, is the largest of all the U.S.-headquartered exploration and production companies. Among the company's initiatives are plans to drill above the Arctic Circle beginning in 2014. The move is risky. Competitor Royal Dutch Shell recently stopped its operations in the same area due to engineering problems. ConocoPhillips also has significant assets in the Far East and runs the deepwater drilling operations in China's largest offshore oil field.\n\n7. JPMorgan\n\n• Income tax expense: $7.63 billion\n\n• Earnings before taxes: $28.92 billion\n\n• Revenue: $91.66 billion\n\n• 1-year share price change: 24.30%\n\n• Industry: Financial services\n\nAlmost all the recent news about JPMorgan Chase (JPM) has been negative. What was once considered the best-run bank in the United States has gone through a series of missteps, the most visible of which was a $6 billion trading loss in its London offices. As a result of the catastrophe, the bank agreed with the U.S. Comptroller of the Currency that it would improve oversight of its trading operations. The loss also cost several senior JPMorgan executives their jobs and tarnished the reputation of the bank's highly visible CEO, Jamie Dimon. And, within the last few days, a Senate panel has accused the bank of a cover-up. Despite those issues, JPMorgan's earnings have been solid and rose 53% in the fourth quarter, largely due to strong results in its mortgage operations.\n\n8. Berkshire Hathaway\n\n• Income tax expense: $6.92 billion\n\n• Earnings before taxes: $22.24 billion\n\n• Revenue: $162.46 billion\n\n• 1-year share price change: 31.01%\n\n• Industry: Asset management\n\nThe house that Warren Buffett built continues to grow. Buffett bought huge railroad company Burlington Northern Santa Fe in 2009 for $34 billion. More recently, he agreed to buy Heinz with investment company 3G Capital. The sticker price on the transaction is $23 billion. Berkshire Hathaway (BRK-B) continues to remain something of a mutual fund as the company owns large positions in American Express, Coca-Cola, ConocoPhillips and General Electric. Berkshire's recent earnings were also bolstered by its derivatives trading operations.The company booked a $1.4 billion gain from this activity in the fourth quarter.\n\n9. IBM\n\n• Income tax expense: $5.30 billion\n\n• Earnings before taxes: $21.90 billion\n\n• Revenue: $104.51 billion\n\n• 1-year share price change: 7.57%\n\n• Industry: IT consulting\n\nInternational Business Machines (IBM) by most measures, is the second-largest technology company in the United States, just behind Hewlett-Packard. However, there are significant differences between the two. Most notably, HP is falling apart, while IBM's continued financial success, most recently under its first female CEO, Ginni Rometty, has landed it on this list. One of the most critical reasons for IBM's success is that it operates in a broad array of businesses, which means it does not have to rely on a single sector of the tech world. While IBM's hardware operations are best known for its long line of mainframes, its software operations and IT services division are just as large. IBM is also geographically diversified, and very large parts of its annual sales come from Europe and Asia.\n\n10. Microsoft\n\n• Income tax expense: $4.57 billion\n\n• Earnings before taxes: $20.03 billion\n\n• Revenue: $72.93 billion\n\n• 1-year share price change: -12.04%\n\n• Industry: Software\n\nIn an industry in which success is often measured against fast-growing Google and Apple, Microsoft (MSFT) has been maligned for its lack of innovation and the resulting poor growth. What is ignored in that analysis is that Microsoft is a money machine and has huge operating margins in two of its oldest divisions. Microsoft had a net income of $6.38 billion in its fiscal second quarter on revenue of $21.5 billion. The Windows division alone had an operating income of $3.3 billion on revenue of $5.9 billion, a 56% margin. The business division had an operating income of $3.6 billion on $5.7 billion in revenue, a 63% margin. Other divisions, however, dragged down results. Microsoft's online operations, including its Bing search engine and its entertainment division, which markets Xbox products, posted operating losses. Largely due to the success of the two older operations, Microsoft has paid more than $5 billion in taxes in four of the past five years.\n\n24/7 Wall St. is a financial website offering news and opinion", "authors": [], "publish_date": "2013/03/17"}]}
+{"question_id": "20240119_8", "search_time": "2024/01/19/23:34", "search_result": [{"url": "https://www.theweek.co.uk/news/955356/why-have-we-all-switched-on-the-subtitles", "title": "Why more TV viewers are switching on subtitles | The Week", "text": "Millions of television viewers in the UK with unimpaired hearing are using subtitles, research shows.\n\nSo just why has what “was once a question of accessibility and a mainstay of foreign-language broadcasts” become an “inescapable part of visual media”, asked culture writer Hannah J. Davies in The Guardian.\n\nWho is using subtitles?\n\nSubscribe to The Week Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives. SUBSCRIBE & SAVE Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox. From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox. Sign up\n\nAn Ofcom study back in 2006 found that 7.5 million UK-based TV viewers used subtitles, “of whom about six million did not have a hearing impairment”.\n\nIn 2019, the regulator told The Guardian that subtitle use had increased further with the rise of smartphones, as “more and more people watch programmes or videos on commutes”.\n\nA study by Netflix that year found that more than 80% of members used subtitles or closed captions at least once a month on the streaming platform, “with many of them reporting that they use dubs and subtitles to learn new languages”.\n\nAnd the BBC reported last November that latest research by captioning charity Stagetext had found that the majority of viewers aged between 18 and 25 said they now used subtitles “all or part of the time”.\n\nFour in five young viewers routinely watched with subtitles, compared with less than a quarter of viewers aged between 56 and 75, despite the older age group being almost twice as likely to be deaf or hearing impaired.\n\nThe findings show that while “originally intended to help those with hearing problems, subtitles have become an essential aid for following a show for many people – especially if other distractions and devices are competing for their attention”, said the BBC.\n\nThe global popularity of foreign-language films and shows such as South Korean thriller Squid Game, French action mystery Lupin and Spanish crime drama Money Heist has also made subtitle use more mainstream.\n\n“I think there's far more acceptance of subtitles by young people because it's the norm, whereas, with an older age group, it isn't necessarily the norm,” said Stagetext’s chief executive Melanie Sharpe.\n\nOlder people often feel like subtitles require an “extra concentration level”, she argued, whereas younger people can “take in far more information quickly because they’re used to it”.\n\nLost in translation?\n\nWhile an increasing number of viewers are becoming reliant on subtitles, some critics are warning about poorly executed captions, particularly in foreign language translations.\n\nMany Korean speakers have claimed the subtitles for Squid Game missed much of the nuance and meaning of certain words or were simply mistranslated. “If you don’t understand Korean, you didn’t really watch the same show,” tweeted Youngmi Mayer, a New York-based co-host of podcast Feeling Asian.\n\nShe released a TikTok video outlining the flaws in Squid Game’s subtitles that has had more than 13.5 million views.\n\nThese “‘lost in translation’ moments have even tipped over into accusations of cultural and political bias”, said writer and TV presenter Viv Groskop in an article for The Guardian.\n\nWriting for Vice, Korean American journalist Eileen Cho described “feeling personally attacked” as a result of Squid Game subtitles that were “just plain wrong”, and asked: “How will people learn about our culture if the streamer is mistranslating our language?”\n\nSubtitles or closed captions?\n\nThe row about “Squid Game’s subtitles has performed a service” by highlighting the differences between subtitles, closed captions and dubbing, wrote Groskip in The Guardian.\n\n“Netflix’s algorithm sets your choice automatically to dubbing, which is why if you click on any foreign language content, the actors will mysteriously appear on your screen speaking fluent American English that almost-but-not-quite matches their mouth movements,” she explained.\n\nA “direct transcript of the dubbing script” is generally used for closed captions, which “were initially devised for deaf viewers and include audio description”.\n\nBut subtitles “use another script entirely”, Groskip continued. Like closed captions, subtitles “are subject to constraints” such as having to correspond to a preset reading speed, but “they are often seen as a more accurate translation than the dubbing script”.\n\nUsing subtitles when watching English-language shows can present other problems, however.\n\n“Too often, the subtitles are out of sync with the spoken dialogue,” wrote Chris Taylor for Mashable. “Lagging behind is bad, but captions that are ahead of the game are often worse – mini-spoilers, in effect.”\n\nLanguage benefits\n\nDespite such criticisms, many argue that “the mainstreaming of subtitles is doing more good than harm, making visual media more accessible, understandable and dynamic”, said Davies in The Guardian.\n\nWatching subtitled films, TV shows and videos can have “huge benefits for children” too, wrote Sharon Black, a lecturer in interpreting at the University of East Anglia, in an article on The Conversation.\n\n“It can help them boost their reading skills and learn other languages, as well as providing more inclusive access for children with disabilities or those who speak a minority language. This small change – turning on subtitles – can make a big difference.”", "authors": ["The Week", "Becca Stanek", "The Week Us", "Devika Rao", "Harriet Marsden", "The Week Uk", "Keumars Afifi-Sabet", "Julia O'Driscoll", "The Week Staff", "Social Links Navigation"], "publish_date": "2022/01/11"}, {"url": "https://theweek.co.uk/news/technology/958675/pong-at-50-the-video-game-that-changed-the-world", "title": "Pong at 50: the video game that 'changed the world' | The Week", "text": "Today marks 50 years since the gaming giant Atari first released Pong into an unsuspecting world.\n\nThe “first commercially successful video game in history”, the electronic table tennis game has embedded itself “in the public consciousness forever”, said Kotaku’s editor, David Smith. Today, historic Pong hardware even “sits on displays as prestigious as the Smithsonian”.\n\nBut it started out as something of an experiment for Atari’s first computer engineer.\n\nSubscribe to The Week Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives. SUBSCRIBE & SAVE Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox. From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox. Sign up\n\nA ‘warm-up exercise’\n\nNolan Bushnell and Ted Dabney founded Atari in 1972. The first engineer to join the team was Allan Alcorn, a University of California graduate who had “never played a video game before”, according to Professor Allison Marsh, writing at IEEE Spectrum.\n\nNolan Bushnell, the creator of Pong (Image credit: Liz Hafalia/The San Francisco Chronicle via Getty Images)\n\nAlcorn was assigned “a kind of warm-up exercise” by Bushnell, said Kotaku’s Smith. In an oral history taken by the Computer History Museum in 2008, Alcorn recalled that he was asked to create Pong – “which we now know was just an exercise” – believing that Atari had been contracted by General Electric to deliver a basic video game.\n\nPong “couldn’t be more simple by today’s standards”, said Smith. A pixelated black and white screen depicts an electronic table tennis table, with a dotted line through the middle marking the net, a small square ball and two rectangular bats on either side.\n\nDuring the game’s development, Alcorn said he “basically had free reign”. Pong was “low-budget to the point of being a one-man operation”, said the New York Post, and Alcorn told the newspaper it took him two months to create it.\n\nKeen to test Pong’s potential, Bushnell installed Alcorn’s creation at “local drinking hole” Andy Capp’s Tavern, said Kyle MacNeill at The Guardian. The “new form of playable, payable game… quickly struck gold”.\n\n‘The game-changer’\n\nIf anything “it was too popular”, said MacNeill. “According to Pong lore, people lined up for their turn to stuff quarters into the machine”, said IEEE Spectrum, until “the manager called Alcorn because the coin box was jammed to overflowing”.\n\nAt the time, Pong machines cost $500 to manufacture, according to the New York Post, and Atari was selling them for $1,000. “The business grew quickly and even spread overseas.”\n\nAtari went on to sell thousands of Pong consoles, and “the sudden success of its first game” saw the company “scrambling to staff up”, said the New York Post. In 1973 Alcorn hired Steve Jobs, then “a young hippie in sandals” who arrived at Atari’s offices “asking for a job”.\n\nAlcorn told the newspaper that Jobs, who would go on to co-found Apple just three years later, was “kind of a pain to work with”, and he had a “real problem with body odour”, which saw him put on the night shifts. “It was better for everyone,” said Alcorn.\n\nThe “real game changer” for Pong came in 1975, said IEEE Spectrum, when Home Pong was released. This at-home console was marketed as being compatible to play on any TV set, and “hundreds of thousands of Pong sets were distributed through the department store Sears”, said the site.\n\nSteve Heighway, left, the former Liverpool footballer, tries out Pong in 1977 (Image credit: SSPL/Getty Images)\n\n“Striking while the silicon was sizzling”, Atari released “a slew of sequels”, said MacNeill in The Guardian, such as Pong Doubles and Quadrapong. But by the end of the 1970s “Pong was overtaken” as new games like Pac-Man and Space Invaders offered “more up-to-date” features and graphics, said MacNeill.\n\nBut it had already made its mark as the video game that “changed the world”.\n\nThe next level\n\nPong “is still a touchstone” in the billion-dollar gaming industry, said Kotaku’s Smith.\n\nAnd the game “still has a place in active research”, said IEEE Spectrum, and is used for “training AI algorithms, strengthening neural networks, and developing the brain-machine interface called Neuralink”. It’s also used to teach children how to code, said MacNeill in The Guardian.\n\nEven “a bundle of lab-grown brain cells” has had a go at playing Pong, said The Guardian. In October, researchers at biological computing start-up Cortical Labs in Melbourne, Australia published a paper in the journal Neuron explaining how a grouping of 800,000 brain cells figured out how to play the game “in five minutes”.\n\nThe mini-brain was “plugged into” the video game, said the BBC, which provided an “external environment” to test brain development. Once play got underway, the cells “often missed the ball” but the “success rate was well above random chance”. The researchers hope the technology could one day be used to trial treatments for neurodegenerative conditions.\n\nIt may be “the most boring video game of all time”, said IEEE, but 50 years since people first started playing it, gamers are still drawn to the “novelty factor” and, of course, its “nostalgia”.", "authors": ["Julia O'Driscoll", "The Week Uk", "Harold Maass", "The Week Us", "Chas Newkey-Burden", "Harriet Marsden", "Theara Coleman", "Rebekah Evans", "Keumars Afifi-Sabet", "The Week Staff"], "publish_date": "2022/11/29"}, {"url": "https://www.cnn.com/2022/11/17/football/qatar-2022-world-cup-migrant-workers-human-rights-spt-intl/index.html", "title": "Migrant workers helped build Qatar's World Cup tournament, now ...", "text": "CNN —\n\nKamal was standing outside a shop with other migrant workers, having finished yet another grueling working day, when he and – he says – a few others were arrested this August. Without explanation, the 24-year-old says he was put into a vehicle and, for the next week, kept in a Qatari jail, the location and name of which he does not know.\n\n“When they arrested me, I couldn’t say anything, not a single word, as I was so scared,” he told CNN Sport, speaking at home in southern Nepal where he has been working on a farm since being deported three months ago.\n\nKamal – CNN has changed the names of the Nepali workers to protect them from retaliation – is one of many migrant workers wanting to tell the world of their experiences in Qatar, a country that will this month host one of sport’s greatest, most lucrative, spectacles – the World Cup, a tournament which usually unites the world as millions watch the spectacular goals and carefully-choreographed celebrations.\n\nIt will be a historic event, the first World Cup to be held in the Middle East, but one also mired in controversy. Much of the build-up to this tournament has been on more sober matters, that of human rights, from the deaths of migrant workers and the conditions many have endured in Qatar, to LGBTQ and women’s rights.\n\nKamal says he has yet to be paid the 7,000 Qatari Riyal bonus (around $1,922) he says he is entitled to from his previous employers, nor 7,000 Riyal in insurance for injuring two fingers at work.\n\n“I wasn’t told why I was being arrested. People are just standing there … some are walking with their grocery [sic], some are just sitting there consuming tobacco products … they just arrest you,” he adds, before explaining he could not ask questions as he does not speak Arabic.\n\nA worker is seen inside the Lusail Stadium during a stadium tour on December 20, 2019, in Doha, Qatar. Francois Nel/Getty Images\n\nDescribing the conditions in the cell he shared with 24 other Nepali migrant workers, he says he was provided with a blanket and a pillow, but the mattress on the floor he had to sleep on was riddled with bed bugs.\n\n“Inside the jail, there were people from Sri Lanka, Kerala (India), Pakistan, Sudan, Nepal, African, Philippines. There were around 14-15 units. In one jail, there were around 250-300 people. Around 24-25 people per room,” he says.\n\n“When they take you to the jail, they don’t give you a room right away. They keep you in a veranda. After a day or two, once a room is empty, they keep people from one country in one room.”\n\nUsing a smuggled phone, he spoke to friends, one of whom, he says, brought his belongings – including his passport – to the jail, though he says he was sent home after the Nepali embassy had sent a paper copy of his passport to the jail. CNN has reached out to the embassy but has yet to receive a response.\n\n“When they put me on the flight, I started thinking: ‘Why are they sending workers back all of a sudden? It’s not one, two, 10 people … they are sending 150, 200, 300 workers on one flight,’” he says.\n\n“Some workers who were just roaming outside wearing (work) dress were sent back. They don’t even allow you to collect your clothes. They just send you back in the cloth you are wearing.”\n\nKamal believes he was arrested because he had a second job, which is illegal under Qatar’s 2004 Labour Law and allows authorities to cancel a worker’s work permit. He says he worked an extra two to four hours a day to supplement his income as he was not making enough money working six eight-hour days a week.\n\nQatar has a 90-day grace period in which a worker can remain in the country legally without another sponsor, but if they have not had their permit renewed or reactivated in that time they risk being arrested or deported for being undocumented.\n\nHe says he received paperwork upon his arrest, which Amnesty International says would likely have explained why he was being detained, but as it was in Arabic he did not know what it said and no translator was provided.\n\nLaborers rest in green space along the corniche in Doha, Qatar, on June 23. Christopher Pike/Bloomberg/Getty Images/FILE\n\nA Qatari government official told CNN in a statement: “Any claims that workers are being jailed or deported without explanation are untrue. Action is only taken in very specific cases, such as if an individual participates in violence.”\n\nThe official added that 97% of all eligible workers were covered by Qatar’s Wage Protection System, established in 2018, “which ensures wages are paid in full and on time.” Further work was being done to strengthen the system, the official said.\n\nSome workers never returned home\n\nWith the opening match just days away, on-the-pitch matters are a mere footnote because this tournament has come at a cost to workers who left their families in the belief that they would reap financial rewards in one of the world’s richest countries per capita. Some would never return home. None of the three Nepali workers CNN spoke to were richer for their experience. Indeed, they are in debt and full of melancholy.\n\nThe Guardian reported last year that 6,500 South Asian migrant workers have died in Qatar since the country was awarded the World Cup in 2010, most of whom were involved in low-wage, dangerous labor, often undertaken in extreme heat.\n\nThe report did not connect all 6,500 deaths with World Cup infrastructure projects and has not been independently verified by CNN.\n\nHassan Al Thawadi – the man in charge of leading Qatar’s preparations – told CNN’s Becky Anderson that the Guardian’s 6,500 figure was a “sensational headline” that was misleading and that the report lacked context.\n\nA government official told CNN there had been three work-related deaths on stadiums and 37 non-work-related deaths. In a statement, the official said the Guardian’s figures were “inaccurate” and “wildly misleading.”\n\n“The 6,500 figure takes the number of all foreign worker deaths in the country over a 10-year period and attributes it to the World Cup,” the official said. “This is not true and neglects all other causes of death including illness, old age and traffic accidents. It also fails to recognize that only 20% of foreign workers in Qatar are employed on construction sites.”\n\nIt has been widely reported that Qatar has spent $220 billion leading up to the tournament, which would make it the most expensive World Cup in history, though this likely includes infrastructure not directly associated with stadium construction. A spokesperson for the Supreme Committee for Delivery & Legacy (SC) which, since its formation in 2011, has been responsible for overseeing the infrastructure projects and planning for the World Cup, told CNN that the tournament budget was $6.5 billion, without expanding on what that cost covered.\n\nEight new stadiums rose from the desert, and the Gulf state expanded its airport, constructed new hotels, rail and highways. All would have been constructed by migrant workers, who – according to Amnesty International – account for 90% of the workforce in a near-three million population.\n\nAn aerial view of Al Janoub stadium at sunrise on June 21 in Al Wakrah, Qatar. David Ramos/Getty Images\n\nSince 2010, migrant workers have faced delayed or unpaid wages, forced labor, long hours in hot weather, employer intimidation and an inability to leave their jobs because of the country’s sponsorship system, human rights organizations have found.\n\nHowever, the health, safety and dignity of “all workers employed on our projects has remained steadfast,” a statement from the SC read.\n\n“Our efforts have resulted in significant improvements in accommodation standards, health and safety regulations, grievance mechanisms, healthcare provision and reimbursements of illegal recruitment fees to workers.\n\n“While the journey is on-going, we are committed to delivering the legacy we promised. A legacy that improves lives and lays the foundation for fair, sustainable and lasting labour reforms.”\n\nLast year, in an interview with CNN Sport anchor Amanda Davies, FIFA President Gianni Infantino said that while “more needs to be done,” progress had been made.\n\n“I’ve seen the great evolution that has happened in Qatar, which was recognized – I mean not by FIFA – but by labor unions around the world, by international organizations,” said Infantino.\n\n‘It was difficult to breathe’\n\nWe are, unusually, writing about a World Cup in November because the competition had to be moved from its usual June-July slot to Qatar’s winter as the heat is so extreme in the country’s summer months – temperatures can reach around 43 degrees Celsius (109 degrees Fahrenheit) in June – that playing in such conditions could have posed a health risk to players.\n\nHari is 27 years old and, like many of his compatriots, left Nepal for Qatar as his family – he was one of five siblings with just his father at home – desperately needed money, primarily to eat. Since 2013, Nepal’s government-mandated minimum wage has been set at $74 a month, according to minimum-wage.org. He says that his monthly wage in Qatar was 700 Rial a month ($192).\n\nAfter moving to Qatar in 2014, he worked in four places during his four-year stay: at a supermarket, a hotel and airport, but the most difficult job, he says, was in construction when he had to carry tiles up buildings “six to seven stories above” in overbearing heat, plus lay pipelines in deep pits.\n\n“It was too hot,” he tells CNN. “The foreman was very demanding and used to complain a lot. The foreman used to threaten to reduce our salaries and overtime pay.\n\n“I had to carry tiles on my shoulder to the top. It was very difficult going up through the scaffolding. In the pipeline work, there were 5-7 meters deep pits, we had to lay the stones and concrete, it was difficult due to the heat. It was difficult to breathe. We had to come upstairs using a ladder to drink water.\n\n“It never happened to me, but I saw some workers fainting at work. I saw one Bengali, one Nepali … two to three people faint while working. They took the Bengali to medical services. I’m not sure what happened to him.”\n\nDuring his time in Qatar, government regulations generally prohibited workers from working outdoors between 11:30 a.m. and 3 p.m. from June 15 to August 31. He said one company he worked for followed these rules.\n\nHe added: “At some places, they didn’t have water. Some places, they didn’t provide us water on time. At some places, we used to go to houses nearby asking for water.”\n\nIn this photo taken in May 2015 during a government organized media tour, workers use heavy machinery at the Al-Wakra Stadium being built for the 2022 World Cup. Maya Alleruzzo/AP/FILE\n\nWorking long hours in extreme heat has, some non-governmental organizations believe, caused a number of deaths and put lives at risk in Qatar.\n\nIn 2019, research published in the Cardiology Journal, exploring the relationship between the deaths of more than 1,300 Nepali workers between 2009 and 2017 and heat exposure, found a “strong correlation” between heat stress and young workers dying of cardiovascular problems in the summer months.\n\nThe government official told CNN that there had been a “consistent decline” in the mortality rate of migrant workers, including a decline in heat stress disorders, “thanks in large part to our comprehensive heat stress legislation.”\n\n“Qatar has always acknowledged that work remains to be done, notably to hold unscrupulous employers to account,” the government official added. “Systemic reform does not happen overnight and shifting the behavior of every company takes time as is the case with any country around the world.”\n\n‘Heat does not typically injure on its own’\n\nNatasha Iskander, Professor of Urban Planning and Public Service at New York University, tells CNN that heat can kill “in ways that are confusing and unclear.”\n\n“Fatal heat stroke can look like a heart attack or a seizure. Sometimes, heat kills through the body, amplifying manageable and often silent conditions, like diabetes and hypertension, and turning them into sudden killers,” she explains.\n\n“As a result, Qatar, in the death certificates that it has issued after migrant construction workers have collapsed, has been able to push back against the correlation between heat stress and deaths and claim instead that the deaths are due to natural causes, even though the more proximate cause is work in the heat.”\n\nDetermining the number of workers injured by heat is even harder, she says, because many injuries may not become apparent until years later, when migrants have returned home and young men “find that their kidneys no longer function, that they suffer from chronic kidney disease, or that their hearts have begun to fail, displaying levels of cardiac weakness that are debilitating.”\n\n“Heat does not typically injure on its own,” she adds. “Workers are exposed to heat and heat dangers through the labor relations on Qatari worksites. The long hours, physically intense work, the forced overtime, the abusive conditions, the bullying on site all shape how exposed workers are to heat. Additionally, conditions beyond the worksite also augmented heat’s power to harm – things like poor sleep, insufficient nutrition or a room that was not cool enough to allow the body to reset after a day in the heat. In Qatar, the employer housed workers in labor camps, and workers as a matter of policy were segregated to industrial areas, where living accommodations were terrible.”\n\nForeign laborers working on the construction site of the Al-Wakrah football stadium, one of Qatar's 2022 World Cup stadiums, walk back to their accomodation at the Ezdan 40 compound after finishing work on May 4, 2015, in Doha's Al-Wakrah southern suburbs. Marwan Naamani/AFP/Getty Images/FILE\n\nAccording to Amnesty International, Qatari authorities have not investigated “thousands” of deaths of migrant workers over the past decade “despite evidence of links between premature deaths and unsafe working conditions.” That these deaths are not being recorded as work-related prevents families from receiving compensation, the advocacy group states.\n\nIn its statement, the SC said that its commitment to publicly disclose non-work-related deaths went beyond the requirements of the UK’s Health and Safety Executive Reporting of Injuries, Diseases and Dangerous Occurrences regulations (RIDDOR), which defines and provides classification for how to document work-related and non-work-related incidents.\n\nThe statement added: “The SC investigates all non-work-related deaths and work-related fatalities in line with our Incident Investigation Procedure to identify contributory factors and establish how they could have been prevented. This process involves evidence collection and analysis and witness interviews to establish the facts of the incident.”\n\nAmnesty International’s Ella Knight told CNN Sport that her organization would continue to push Qatar to “thoroughly investigate” deaths of migrant workers, including past deaths, to “ensure the families of the deceased have the opportunity to rebuild their lives.��\n\nBarun Ghimire is a human rights lawyer based in Kathmandu whose work focuses on the exploitation of Nepali migrants working abroad. He tells CNN that the families he advocates for have not received satisfactory information on their loved ones’ deaths. “Families send out healthy, young family member to work and they receive news that the family member died when they were sleeping,” he says. In a separate interview, he told CNN last year: “The Qatar World Cup is really the bloody cup – the blood of migrant workers.”\n\nLast year, Qatari legislation was strengthened regarding outdoor working conditions, expanding summertime working hours during which outdoor work is prohibited – replacing legislation introduced in 2007 – and additionally putting into law that “all work must stop if the wet-bulb globe temperature (WBGT) raises beyond 32.1C (89.8F) in a particular workplace.” The regulations also mandate annual health checks for workers, as well as mandatory risk assessments.\n\n“We recognize that heat stress is a particular issue in the summer months in Qatar,” a Qatari government official said. “In May 2021, Qatar introduced a requirement for companies to conduct annual health checks for workers, as well as mandatory risk assessments to mitigate the dangers of heat stress. Companies are expected to adopt flexible, self-monitored working hours where possible, adjust shift rotations, enforce regular breaks, provide free cold drinking water and shaded workspaces, and adhere to all other guidelines with respect to heat stress outlined by the Ministry of Labour.\n\n“Every summer, Qatar’s labor inspectors carry out thousands of unannounced visits to work sites across the country to ensure that heat stress rules are being followed,” the official added. “Between June and September 2022, 382 work sites were ordered to close for violating the rules.”\n\nWorkers walk to the Lusail Stadium -- one of the 2022 Qatar World Cup stadiums -- in Lusail on December 20, 2019. Hassan Ammar/AP\n\nIskander said a heat point of 32.1C WBGT was “already dangerous.”\n\n“Working at the physical intensity that construction workers do in Qatar for any amount of time at that temperature is damaging to the body,” she explained.\n\n“The regulation relied on the assumption that workers would be able to self-pace and rest as needed whenever they experienced heat stress. Anyone who has ever spent any amount of time on a Qatari construction site knows that workers have no ability to self-pace.”\n\nKnight adds: “The fact investigations into migrant workers deaths are often not happening precludes the possibility of greater protections being implemented because if you don’t know what is really happening to these people how can you then implement and enforce effective measures to increase their protection?”\n\nFor the majority of his time in Qatar, Hari said he felt sad. He would watch planes take off during his six months tending the airport gardens and question why he was in the country. But he had paid 90,000 Nepali rupees ($685) to a Nepali recruitment company that facilitated his move. He was also told, he says, by the company he had joined that he would have had to pay 2,000 to 3,000 Riyal ($549-$823) to buy himself out of his contract.\n\nHis friends, he said, counseled him as he continued to work long, lonely days for, Hari says, not enough money to live and save for his family. Amnesty International says many migrants pay high fees to “unscrupulous recruitment agents in their home country” which make the workers scared to leave their jobs when they get to Qatar.\n\nNow, he is a father-of-two, and work is plowing fields in Nepal as a tractor driver, but Hari hopes one day to work abroad again, his heart set on Malaysia. “I don’t want my children to go through what I did. I want to build a house, buy some land. That’s what I am thinking. But let’s see what God has planned,” he says.\n\n‘Our dreams never came true’\n\nSunit has been back in Nepal since August after working just eight months in Qatar. He had expected to be there for two years, but the collapse of the construction company he worked for meant he and many others returned with money still owed to them, he says. He struggles to find work in Nepal, meaning feeding his two children and paying school fees is difficult.\n\nHe had dreamed of watching World Cup matches from the rooftop of the hotel he had helped build. One of the stadiums – the name of which he does not know – was a 10-minute walk from the hotel. “We used to talk about it,” he says of the World Cup. “But we had to return, and our dreams never came true. The stadium activities were visible from the hotel. We could see the stadium from the hotel rooftop.”\n\nIn helping construct the city center hotel, the name of which he doesn’t remember, he would carry bags of plaster mix and cement, weighing from 30 to 50 kilos, on his shoulders up to 10 to 12 floors, he says.\n\n“The lift was rarely functional. Some people couldn’t carry it and dropped it halfway. If you don’t finish your job, you were threatened saying the salary would be deducted for that day,” he says. “The foreman used to complain that we were taking water breaks as soon as we got to work. They used to threaten us saying: ‘We will not pay you for the day.’ We said: ‘Go ahead. We are humans, we need to drink water.’\n\n“It was very hot. It used to take 1.5 to two hours to get to the top. I used to get tired. I used to stop on the way. Then proceed again slowly. Yes, the supervisors used to yell at us. But what could we do?”\n\nHe says he had paid an agent in Nepal 240,000 Nepali rupees (around $1,840) before leaving for Qatar. He says he has filed a case with the police about the agent as he had been unable to fulfill his two-year contract, but there have been no developments. He says the owners of the company he worked for in Qatar were arrested because they did not pay laborers. The company did not immediately respond to CNN’s request for comment, neither did it respond to questions from the Business & Human Rights Centre, an advocacy group, about protests over unpaid wages.\n\nQatar has expanded its airport, constructed new hotels, and rail and highways over the last decade. Britta Pedersen/picture alliance/Getty Images\n\nFor a month, he says, he was in his accommodation with no work or money to buy food – he borrowed to eat – so he and his fellow workers called the police, who brought food with them.\n\n“The police came again after 10-15 days and said we have arrested the company people. (The police) distributed food again,” he says. “They told us the company has collapsed and the government will send all the workers back home.”\n\n“I’m extremely sad,” he adds. “I mean, it is what it is. Nothing would change by regretting it. I get mad (at the company) but what can I do? Even if I had tried to fight back, it would have been my loss.”\n\nThe SC said it has established what it claims is a “first-of-its-kind” Workers’ Welfare Forum, which it said allowed workers to elect a representative on their behalf and, when companies failed to comply with the WWF, it steps in, demands better and alerts the authorities.\n\nSince 2016, the SC said 69 contractors had been demobilized, 235 contractors placed on a watch list and a further seven blacklisted. “We understand there is always room for improvement,” the statement added.\n\n‘Expertise and heroism’\n\nQatar, a peninsula smaller than Connecticut and the smallest World Cup host in history, is set to host an estimated 1.5 million fans over the month-long tournament, which begins on November 20. There are already reports of accommodation concerns for such a vast number of visitors.\n\nThe spotlight is no doubt on this Gulf state, as has progressively been the case since it was controversially awarded the tournament over a decade ago – though Qatari officials have previously “strongly denied” to CNN the allegations of bribery which has surrounded its bid.\n\nSuch attention has brought about reforms, significantly dismantling the Kafala system which gives companies and private citizens control over migrant workers’ employment and immigration status.\n\nIn Qatar, migrant workers can now change jobs freely without permission from their employer. But Knight adds: “Another aspect of the Kafala system, the criminal charge of absconding still exists, and this, along with other tools that are still available to employers, means that, fundamentally, the power balance between workers and employers, the imbalance remains great.”\n\nKnight says unpaid wages is still an issue as the wage protection system “lacks enforcement mechanisms,” while she also says employers can cancel a worker’s ID at a “push of a button,” meaning they risk arrest and deportation. Additionally, labor committees intended to help workers are under-resourced and “lack the capacity to deal with the number of cases that are coming to them.”\n\nMigrant laborers work at a construction site at the Aspire Zone in Doha on March 26, 2016. Naseem Zeitoon/Reuters/FILE\n\nGhimire agrees that there have been a few positive changes to employment laws but adds that it is “more show and tell.”\n\n“Many workers who work in construction are untouched, so there’s still exploitation going on,” he tells CNN.\n\nQatar’s government official told CNN work remained to be done but that “systemic reform does not happen overnight, and shifting the behavior of every company takes time as is the case with any country around the world.\n\n“Over the last decade, Qatar has done more than any other country in the region to strengthen the rights of foreign workers, and we will continue to work in close consultation with international partners to strengthen reforms and enforcement.”\n\nHuman Rights Watch’s #PayUpFIFA campaign wants Qatar and FIFA to pay at least $440 million – an amount equal to the prize money being awarded at the World Cup – to the families of migrant workers who have been harmed or killed in preparation for the tournament.\n\nFamilies of workers who have died face uncertain futures, HRW says, especially children. Those who survived and returned home, cheated of wages or injured, remain trapped in debt, it says, “with dire consequences for their families.”\n\nGhimire says compensation is key, but so too is making the world aware of what has taken place to make this tournament happen.\n\n“People are concerned about clothing brands, and the meat they eat, but what about mega events? Isn’t it time we ask how this was possible?” he asks.\n\n“Everyone who will watch should know at what cost this was even possible and how workers were treated. Players should know, sponsors should know.\n\n“Would it be the same situation if it was European workers dying in Qatar? If it was Argentinean workers, would Argentina be concerned about playing?\n\n“Because it’s migrant workers from poor south Asian countries, they’re invisible people. Forced labor, death of workers, while making a World Cup is unacceptable. As a football fan, it makes me sad; as a lawyer, it makes me really disappointed.”\n\nEarlier this month, Qatar’s Labor Minister Ali bin Samikh Al Marri rejected the prospect of a remedy fund.\n\nA Qatar government official said the country’s Workers’ Support and Insurance Fund was “effective in providing compensation for workers and their families” with the fund reimbursing workers with more than $350 million so far this year.\n\nIn terms of the SC’s efforts to ensure repayment of recruitment fees, as of December 2021, workers have received $22.6 million, with an additional $5.7 million committed by contractors, according to FIFA.\n\nLast month, FIFA’s Deputy Secretary General Alasdair Bell said “compensation is certainly something that we’re interested in progressing.”\n\nA general view shows the exterior of the Al-Thumama Stadium in Doha -- one of eight stadiums that will host World Cup matches KARIM JAAFAR/AFP/AFP via Getty Images\n\nIt has been widely reported that FIFA has urged nations participating in the World Cup to focus on football when the tournament kicks off.\n\nFIFA confirmed to CNN that a letter signed by FIFA President Gianni Infantino and the governing body’s secretary general Fatma Samoura was sent out on November 3 to the 32 nations participating in the global showpiece but would not divulge the contents. However, a number of European federations have issued a joint statement saying they would campaign at the tournament on human rights and for a migrant workers center and a compensation fund for migrant workers.\n\nThe motto for Qatar’s bid team in 2010 was ‘Expect Amazing.’ In many ways, this year’s World Cup has replicated that maxim.\n\nAs NYU’s Iskander says: “One of the things that is not really covered in the coverage of the World Cup and the coverage of this enormous construction boom is the expertise and heroism of the workers who built it.\n\n“They built buildings that were unimaginable to everyone, including the engineers and designers, until they were built. They performed acts of bravery that are unsung. They operated at levels of technical complexity and sophistication that are unparalleled. And yet their contribution to building the World Cup is really rarely featured, downplayed.\n\n“They are represented, generally speaking, as exploited and oppressed. And it’s true that they have been exploited and oppressed, but they are also the master craftsmen that built this Cup, and they are enormously proud of what they have built.”\n\nHosting this tournament has undoubtedly put Qatar under the global spotlight. The question is whether the world can enjoy watching what the migrant workers built, knowing the true cost of this billion-dollar extravaganza.", "authors": ["Aimee Lewis Pramod Acharya Sugam Pokharel", "Aimee Lewis", "Pramod Acharya", "Sugam Pokharel"], "publish_date": "2022/11/17"}, {"url": "https://www.usatoday.com/story/life/tv/2018/11/20/netflix-december-infinity-war-roma-ellens-stand-up-special/2050175002/", "title": "Netflix in December: 'Infinity War,' 'Roma,' Ellen's stand-up special", "text": "After last month's deluge of cheesy holiday films, Netflix is offering up titles in December more likely to appease a serious cinephile.\n\nWhat should film-festival fans add to their queue? For starters, there's Oscar winner Alfonso Cuaron's drama \"Roma,\" Oscar winner Susanne Bier's star-studded thriller \"Bird Box\" and \"Dumplin',\" a musical comedy with Jennifer Aniston.\n\nAlso available in December: Andy Serkis' live-action \"Mowgli\" movie, Marvel's \"Avengers: Infinity War,\" an Ellen DeGeneres comedy special and \"Springsteen on Broadway,\" just after the smash ends its Broadway run.\n\nBelow is the full list of what's coming and going, with descriptions of Netflix's original content. (And here's our November list.)\n\nDec. 1\n\n8 Mile\n\nAstro Boy\n\n\n\nBattle (Netflix Film) A Nordic dance flick for \"Step Up\" fans.\n\n\n\nBride of Chucky\n\nChristine\n\nCloudy with a Chance of Meatballs\n\n\n\nCrossroads: One Two Jaga (Netflix Film) In this Malaysian crime drama, an abused domestic worker tries to escape.\n\n\n\nFriday\n\nFriday After Next\n\nHellboy\n\nMan vs Wild with Sunny Leone: Season 1\n\nMeet Joe Black\n\n\n\nMemories of the Alhambra (Netflix Original, streaming weekly on Saturdays) A suspenseful, romantic Korean series about CEO and a woman who owns a hostel.\n\n\n\nMy Bloody Valentine\n\nNext Friday\n\nReindeer Games\n\nSeven Pounds\n\nShaun of the Dead\n\nTerminator Salvation\n\nThe Big Lebowski\n\nThe Last Dragon\n\nThe Man Who Knew Too Little\n\nDec. 2\n\nThe Lobster\n\nDec. 3\n\nBlue Planet II: Season 1\n\nHero Mask (Netflix Original) Anime series about mysterious bio-masks that has a trailer with plenty of close-up shots of beverages and cell phones\n\nThe Sound of Your Heart: Reboot Season 2 (Netflix Original) The Korean comedy follows Cho Seok and his family.\n\nDec. 4\n\nDistrict 9\n\nDec. 6\n\nHappy!: Season 1\n\nDec. 7\n\n5 Star Christmas (Netflix Film) An Italian comedy that mixes politics, scandal and the holidays.\n\nBad Blood (Netflix Original) A crime drama inspired by the true story of the Canada-based Rizzuto family.\n\nDogs of Berlin (Netflix Film) Two cops join team up to search for a killer after a German soccer star is murdered.\n\nDumplin' (Netflix Film) Jennifer Aniston stars as an ex-beauty queen mom to Danielle Macdonald's Willowdean, who enters a pageant out of spite.\n\nFree Rein: The Twelve Neighs of Christmas (Netflix Original) A British kids' show about about a holiday ball and a family secret.\n\nMowgli: Legend of the Jungle (Netflix Film) The other live-action \"Jungle Book\" film. The first was directed by Jon Favreau; this one's from Andy Serkis and follows Mowgli as he's confronted with his human origins.\n\nNailed It! Holiday! (Netflix Original) A festive version of the cooking competition show.\n\nNeo Yokio: Pink Christmas (Netflix Original) The animated series, featuring the voices of Jaden Smith, Jude Law and Tavi Gevinson, has a Secret Santa competition.\n\nPine Gap (Netflix Original) An Australian show set at an intelligence facility in remote Alice Springs\n\nReMastered: Who Killed Jam Master Jay? (Netflix Original) The music documentary series covers the mysterious murder of Run D.M.C. DJ Jam Master Jay.\n\nSuper Monsters and the Wish Star (Netflix Original) The animated children's show celebrates Christmas.\n\nThe American Meme (Netflix Original) The documentary, which premiered at Tribeca Film Festival, tracks the rise (and fall) of social-media stars such as Paris Hilton and Josh \"The Fat Jew\" Ostrovsky.\n\nThe Hook Up Plan (Plan Coeur) (Netflix Original) In this French comedy series, Elsa's friends come up with an unusual plan for helping their perpetually-single bud: Secretly set her up with a male escort.\n\nThe Ranch: Part 6 (Netflix Original)The comedy series returns as Ashton Kutcher's Colt prepares to become a dad.\n\nDec. 9\n\nSin senos sí hay paraíso: Season 3\n\nDec. 10\n\nMichael Jackson's This Is It\n\nDec. 11\n\nVir Das: Losing It (Netflix Original) Indian stand-up comic Vir Das talks travel, religion and more.\n\nDec. 12\n\nBack Street Girls: Gokudols (Netflix Original) In this anime series with a wild premise, three brothers from a crime syndicate are forced to alter their bodies and form a J-Pop girl group.\n\nOut of Many, One (Netflix Original) This documentary follows legal immigrants preparing for naturalization tests in America.\n\nDec. 13\n\nWanted: Season 3 (Netflix Original) In its third season, Lola goes to Australia in a witness protection program.\n\nDec. 14\n\nChilling Adventures of Sabrina: \"A Midwinter's Tale\" (Netflix Original) Kiernan Shipka's half-witch is back for more devilish fun.\n\nCuckoo: Season 4 (Netflix Original) In this British comedy, Dale (Taylor Lautner) tries a new career.\n\nDance & Sing with True: Songs (Netflix Original) The animated Canadian show wants kids to sing and dance.\n\nFuller House: Season 4 (Netflix Original) The Tanner-Fuller-Gibblers are back, as DJ and Steve rekindle their old flame.\n\nInside the Real Narcos: Series 1 (Netflix Original) In the docuseries, an ex-Special Forces commando interviews cartel members.\n\nInside the World’s Toughest Prisons: Season 3 (Netflix Original) Investigative journalist Raphael Rowe visits prisons in Colombia, Costa Rica, Romania and Norway.\n\nPrince of Peoria: A Christmas Moose Miracle (Netflix Original) A story for kids about a snowed-in bowling alley and a Christmas moose.\n\nRoma (Netflix Film) Oscar winner Alfonso Cuarón directs this black-and-white Oscar contender about a middle-class family in Mexico City.\n\nSunderland Til I Die (Netflix Original) A docuseries that follows the Sutherland English soccer club.\n\nThe Fix (Netflix Original) A panel of comedians come up with solutions to real-world problems.\n\nThe Innocent Man (Netflix Original) A docuseries based on John Grisham's book of the same name, focused on two horrific crimes committed in the small town of Ada, Oklahoma in the 1980s.\n\nThe Protector (Netflix Original) Turkish actor Çagatay Ulusoy stars as a man with new mystical powers trying to solve the mystery of his past.\n\nTidelands (Netflix Original) An ominous Australian show with an ex-con who returns to her fishing village filled with secrets.\n\nTravelers: Season 3 (Netflix Original) The Canadian sci-fi drama about four people tracked by a federal agent.\n\nVoltron: Legendary Defender: Season 8 (Netflix Original) This animated \"Power Rangers\"-style kids' series focuses on five heroes and their flying robot lions.\n\nDec. 16\n\nBaby Mama\n\nKill the Messenger\n\nOne Day\n\nSpringsteen on Broadway (Netflix Original) A filmed version of Bruce Springsteen's one-man acoustic Broadway show.\n\nThe Theory of Everything\n\nDec. 18\n\nBaki (Netflix Original) In the Japanese anime series, martial-arts champion Baki Hanma trains to surpass his father.\n\nEllen DeGeneres: Relatable (Netflix Original) Talk-show host DeGeneres' new stand-up special.\n\nTerrace House: Opening New Doors: Part 5 (Netflix Original) The Japanese \"Real World\"-style reality series continues with a possible love triangle.\n\nDec. 21\n\n3Below: Tales of Arcadia (Netflix Original) A sci-fi cartoon created by Guillermo del Toro about two royal teen aliens who crash-land in Arcadia.\n\n7 Days Out (Netflix Original) The docuseries captures behind-the-scenes drama from the week leading up to events including the Kentucky Derby.\n\nBack With the Ex (Netflix Original) A reality show that follows reuniting exes.\n\nBad Seeds (Netflix Film) A French movie about a scam artist who finds redemption.\n\nBird Box (Netflix Film) Sandra Bullock, Trevante Rhodes and John Malkovich star in a post-apocalyptic thriller adapted from the novel.\n\nWolf (Boru) (Netflix Original) A Turkish series about a special security unit.\n\nDerry Girls (Netflix Original) A comedy series set in Northern Ireland in the early 1990s about a group of teens.\n\nDiablero (Netflix Original) A horror series set in Mexico City about a young priest who enlists the help of a demon hunter and a paranormal expert.\n\nGreenleaf: Season 3\n\nLast Hope: Part 2 (Netflix Original) The anime series about an ecological disaster continues.\n\nPerfume (Netflix Original) A German thriller about a perfumer who kills female students at a boarding school to distill their essence.\n\nSirius the Jaeger (Netflix Original) An anime series about people who secretly hunt vampires.\n\nStruggle: The Life and Lost Art of Szukalski (Netflix Film) Polish artist Stanisław Szukalski's life story is discovered by undergound L.A. artists.\n\nTales by Light: Season 3 (Netflix Original) The series about photographers explores neighborhoods of India, the reefs of Indonesia, and the back country of Australia.\n\nThe Casketeers (Netflix Original) A New Zealand reality show about a funeral-home business.\n\nDec. 24\n\nHi Score Girl (Netflix Original) An anime series about a gamer who meets his (unlikely) match at an arcade.\n\nThe Magicians: Season 3\n\nDec. 25\n\nWatership Down: Limited Series (Netflix Original) James McAvoy, Nicholas Hoult, John Boyega voice characters in this animated series about rabbits, inspired by the Richard Adams novel.\n\nAnthony Bourdain: Parts Unknown: Season 11\n\nMarvel Studios' Avengers: Infinity War\n\nDec. 26\n\nAlexa & Katie: Season 2 (Netflix Original) The show about high school best friends.\n\nYou\n\nDec. 28\n\nInstant Hotel (Netflix Original) Australian reality-travel show that features homeowners competing for the title of best \"Instant Hotel.\"\n\nLa noche de 12 anos (Netflix Film) The future president of Uruguay holds three political prisoners captive.\n\nSelection Day (Netflix Original) An Indian series about a boy who tries out for a cricket team.\n\nWhen Angels Sleep (Netflix Film) A string of dark events are set in motion by a businessman, who falls asleep at the wheel and hits a woman.\n\nYummy Mummies (Netflix Original) An Australian reality series about the extravagant lifestyles of four expectant mothers preparing for newborns.\n\nDec. 30\n\nThe Autopsy of Jane Doe\n\nDec. 31\n\nThe Bill Murray Stories: Life Lessons Learned From a Mythical Man\n\nAnd here's everything expiring in December\n\nLeaving Dec. 1\n\nCabin Fever\n\nCabin Fever 2: Spring Fever\n\nGroundhog Day\n\nHappily N'Ever After\n\nHappily N'Ever After 2: Snow White\n\nHellbound: Hellraiser II\n\nHellraiser\n\nSons of Anarchy: Season 1\n\nSons of Anarchy: Season 2\n\nSons of Anarchy: Season 3\n\nSons of Anarchy: Season 4\n\nSons of Anarchy: Season 5\n\nSons of Anarchy: Season 6\n\nSons of Anarchy: Season 7\n\nSpider-Man 3\n\nSpy Hard\n\nStephen King's Children of the Corn\n\nSwept Under\n\nThe Covenant\n\nThe Game\n\nLeaving Dec. 4\n\nAir Bud: Seventh Inning Fetch\n\nAir Bud: Spikes Back\n\nAir Bud: World Pup\n\nAir Buddies\n\nCars Toon: Mater's Tall Tales\n\nSpooky Buddies\n\nTarzan & Jane\n\nThe Brave Little Toaster Goes to Mars\n\nThe Brave Little Toaster to the Rescue\n\nThe Crimson Wing: Mystery of the Flamingos\n\nThe Search for Santa Paws\n\nTinker Bell\n\nTinker Bell and the Great Fairy Rescue\n\nTinker Bell and the Lost Treasure\n\nLeaving Dec. 7\n\nTrolls\n\nLeaving Dec. 10\n\nBattle Royale\n\nBattle Royale 2\n\nTeeth\n\nLeaving Dec. 15\n\nStep Up 2: The Streets\n\nLeaving Dec. 16\n\nTinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy\n\nLeaving Dec. 17\n\nBeverly Hills Chihuahua 2\n\nLeaving Dec. 19\n\nIp Man: The Final Fight\n\nLeaving Dec. 20\n\nFood, Inc.\n\nI Give It a Year\n\nMoana\n\nLeaving Dec. 22\n\nSpotlight\n\nLeaving Dec. 25\n\nPirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl\n\nLeaving Dec. 31\n\nTroy", "authors": [], "publish_date": "2018/11/20"}, {"url": "https://www.theweek.co.uk/news/sport/football/959708/pros-and-cons-of-var", "title": "Pros and cons of VAR in football | The Week", "text": "The English football referees’ body has apologised to Arsenal after “human error” was to blame for an incorrect VAR decision that allowed Brentford’s equaliser to stand in last weekend’s Premier League game.\n\nFormer top referee Howard Webb, who is now in charge of Premier League officials, also apologised to Brighton after they had a goal disallowed for offside against Crystal Palace because VAR guidelines were wrongly drawn.\n\nThe twin controversies have put VAR “once again under the microscope”. The technology is facing scrutiny “from fans and managers alike”, said the Independent after a survey for Sky Sports found that 67% of fans believe VAR makes watching football less enjoyable.\n\nSubscribe to The Week Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives. SUBSCRIBE & SAVE Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox. From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox. Sign up\n\n1. Pro: can help referees\n\nVAR was introduced to football in the early 2010s to minimise human error and help referees make the right decision. Standing for “video assistant referee”, it allows certain incidents to be reviewed by the main referee or by the VAR team, helping the correct decisions to be made.\n\nThe VAR team helps referees in four scenarios: goals and offences leading up to a goal; penalty decisions and offences leading up to a penalty decision; direct red card incidents and mistaken identity, explained Fifa. A wrong decision in these scenarios can swing a game, so supporters hope it will make the game fairer.\n\n2. Con: disrupts the game\n\nWhen there is a potential goal or penalty, the referee has to pause the match and review the footage on a screen. Sometimes, this process takes several minutes, which disrupts the flow of the match and means players stand around waiting, which can impair their performance. VAR is “taking the spontaneity away from the game”, wrote former Liverpool striker Stan Collymore for Caught Offside.\n\n“It’s clear that football is fairer but it’s also clear that VAR has had an impact on the flow of the game,” David Elleray, a former Premier League referee, told Four Four Two. “Inevitably if you are going to stop the game to look at a replay, that involves stopping the flow of the game.”\n\n3. Pro: more excitement\n\nVAR has “helped to add an extra layer of excitement to matches”, said Digital Mahbub. It argued that “the suspense of waiting for a decision from the VAR officials can often be just as thrilling as watching the match itself”.\n\nLegendary referee Pierluigi Collina also feels that the technology increases the thrill of the game, said Goal. “I don’t think VAR kills the excitement of a goal celebration, if anything it increases the level of excitement,” he said. “You get to celebrate twice, when scoring and when it’s confirmed.”\n\n4. Con: produces mistakes\n\nVAR has not eliminated mistakes from the game. Last weekend alone, offside checks surrounding key goals “cost Arsenal and Brighton victories” while Chelsea were “controversially not awarded a penalty in their London derby against West Ham”, said the Independent.\n\nReferees chief Howard Webb contacted Arsenal and Brighton to “acknowledge and explain” the “significant errors”. Last December, the BBC noted that Premier League video assistant referees had made a number of “incorrect interventions” this season and “missed another six incidents when they should have stepped in”.\n\n5. Pro: greater player discipline\n\nSupporters of VAR argue that the enhanced scrutiny of players has led to greater discipline on the field. “Behaviour is better,” Elleray told Four Four Two.\n\nHe added that there has been a “significant reduction” in diving, a “general reduction in players mobbing and arguing with referees” and “fewer players getting away with violence on the field behind the referee’s back”.\n\n6. Con: dehumanises the game\n\n“One of football’s charms is that it’s an unpredictable sport”, where “anything can happen” and “part of this is due to human error – whether it’s a mistake by a player, coach or referee,” said Digital Mahbub. VAR “takes away from this element of unpredictability” and detracts from the “human element of the game”, it added.\n\nThis dehumanising element could lead to poorer refereeing, believes Collymore. “We’ve now got a situation where referees are having their natural skills blunted because they know they can always rely on VAR,” he wrote.", "authors": ["Chas Newkey-Burden", "The Week Uk", "Harriet Marsden", "The Week Us", "Mike Starling", "The Week Staff", "Social Links Navigation"], "publish_date": "2023/02/16"}]}
+{"question_id": "20240119_9", "search_time": "2024/01/19/23:35", "search_result": [{"url": "https://www.usatoday.com/story/graphics/2023/07/12/malaria-cases-florida-texas-explained/70400044007/", "title": "Malaria cases in Florida and Texas prompt CDC warning: What to ...", "text": "At least eight cases of locally acquired malaria have been reported in the U.S. over the past two months, the first time the disease has had a local spread in 20 years.\n\nA public health alert was issued by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in June to advise doctors, public health authorities and the public about the risk.\n\nSeven of the cases were identified in Sarasota County, Florida, and one was identified in Cameron County, Texas. None of the patients had traveled outside the state before falling ill.\n\nCan’t see our graphics? Click to reload.\n\nHow often is malaria seen in the U.S.?\n\nMalaria was declared eliminated as a major national public health problem in 1951. Now about 2,000 malaria cases are reported in the U.S. each year, typically in returning travelers. Florida and Texas identified 156 cases of malaria total in 2021; all were from returned travelers.\n\nRhoel Dinglasan, a professor of infectious diseases at the University of Florida’s College of Veterinary Medicine, told the Sarasota Herald-Tribune that cases of locally acquired malaria are not common. The last outbreak of malaria cases in the country was in 2003, when Palm Beach County recorded eight such cases.\n\nWhere is malaria most common?\n\nMalaria is still a significant global problem even though it has been eradicated in many nations, including in the U.S., and there is no known method of transmission.\n\nThe majority of malaria cases and fatalities are found in Africa, where plasmodium faciparum, the most dangerous and widespread malaria parasite, is common. Only a few locations in other regions have transmission.\n\nHow is malaria spread?\n\nMalaria is a serious and sometimes life-threatening disease caused by the bite of a female mosquito from the genus Anopheles, the vector that transmits malaria.\n\nMost mosquitoes don’t carry disease. Those that do are called vectors. Among vector-borne diseases: West Nile virus, encephalitis, malaria, dengue fever and chikungunya in humans, or heartworm parasites in dogs.\n\nHow it can spread to humans:\n\nWhen a mosquito bites\n\nA stealth attack: A mosquito releases a substance in its saliva to numb the skin so people don’t feel its bite.\n\nInfection: Diseases such as malaria are found in the mosquito's saliva.\n\nFeeding: A mosquito uses its proboscis to pierce the skin and locate a blood vessel. The mosquito releases substances that prevent blood from clotting so it can feed longer. Mosquitoes can feed up to 10 minutes.\n\nThe itch: The immune system releases histamine to fight the presence of the invading bodies in the skin. The skin swells, making a red itchy bump after a mosquito bite.\n\nWhat are the signs and symptoms of malaria?\n\nChills, fever, headache, nausea, body aches and diarrhea are a few of the common malaria symptoms, which are similar to those of the flu, common cold and COVID-19.\n\nThe most common symptoms are fever, chills, headaches, muscle aches and fatigue. These symptoms typically occur seven to 30 days after people are infected with the parasite. However, if the infection is untreated, more severe symptoms may appear, including impaired consciousness, difficulty breathing, convulsions, abnormal bleeding and more, which can ultimately lead to death.\n\nHow do you protect yourself against malaria?\n\nThe CDC recommends using \"mosquito avoidance measures\" when going outside, including:\n\nUsing EPA-approved mosquito repellent on skin and clothes.\n\nWearing long-sleeved shirts and pants, especially at night.\n\nStaying in well-screened areas.\n\nSleeping under an insecticide-treated bed net when camping.\n\nWhen traveling out of the country, especially to sub-Saharan Africa, the Indian subcontinent, Southeast Asia or tropical South and Central America, consult your doctor about what vaccines and medicines you can take to prevent diseases. Antimalarials help prevent malaria and are available only by prescription.\n\nContributing: Cheryl McCloud of the Florida Digital Optimization Team and Anne Snabes of the Sarasota Herald-Tribune; The Associated Press", "authors": [], "publish_date": "2023/07/12"}, {"url": "https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/50-states/2021/12/03/rockefeller-christmas-snake-burglar-truman-library-news-around-states/49471921/", "title": "50 States", "text": "From USA TODAY Network and wire reports\n\nAlabama\n\nMontgomery: Republican Gov. Kay Ivey recognized Ashley M. Jones, the state’s first Black poet laureate, a creative writing teacher who delves into inequality and the difficulty of being Black in America, in the same building where Southern delegates voted to form the Confederacy 160 years ago. Standing in the white-domed Capitol, Ivey presented Jones with a commendation for the honor, bestowed earlier this year by the Alabama Writers Cooperative for a four-year term that begins in January. “Everyone in this room, and I would add folks around the country, are proud of you for being honored with this well-deserved, historic recognition,” Ivey told Jones during the ceremony. As poet laureate, Jones will advocate for poetry and writing in general during lectures and appearances at schools, libraries and other institutions. “I am committed to making space for all of us who write,” she said. Jones’ appointment is “pretty revolutionary,” said Jeanie Thompson, an author and executive director of the Alabama Writers Forum. “She brings a strong statement, but she brings a lot of balance,” said Thompson. “And so I think that she will have things to say that people will hear.”\n\nAlaska\n\nAnchorage: The remains of a man found on Fire Island just west of Anchorage in 1989 have been identified through DNA and genome sequencing, Alaska State Troopers said. Troopers said the victim was Michael Allison Beavers, who owned an excavation business in Chugiak. He was reported missing in 1980. The decadeslong investigation started when human remains were discovered July 24, 1989. An autopsy concluded it was a Caucasian male between the ages of 35 and 50, and evidence found on the remains indicated the death was criminal, troopers said. Officials said it appeared the remains had been on the beach for at least a year, but the date of death couldn’t be determined. A DNA profile entered into the national missing persons database in 2003 came back with no match. Earlier this year, the Alaska Bureau of Investigation Cold Case Investigation Unit reopened the case. Bone samples retained in the case were sent to a private lab, where DNA was extracted and genome sequencing was used to create a comprehensive DNA profile. Beavers’ spouse reported him missing two months after he was last seen alive, in November 1979. Beavers, 40, left his home in Chugiak to travel to Seattle by car to contact a business associate. He never arrived, troopers said. The investigation into his disappearance stalled and closed in 1982. Ten years later, he was declared dead. Troopers said the investigation into his death continues, and anyone with information about his disappearance and death should contact authorities.\n\nArizona\n\nPhoenix: A 25-foot-tall white pine installed in the state Capitol’s executive tower lobby was lit for the first time Wednesday by Gov. Doug Ducey during a celebration marking the start of the holiday season. The lighting of the Capitol tree is an annual tradition and brings together schoolchildren, state workers and the governor. This year’s celebration featured Christmas carols sung by students from Chandler High School’s choir, the Treblemakers. Last year’s tree lighting ceremony was forced to be held virtually because of the coronavirus pandemic. Ducey cheered the return to an in-person ceremony, noting at the time of last year’s lighting, vaccines were not available and the state’s economy was just starting to revive from effects of the pandemic shutdowns.\n\nArkansas\n\nLittle Rock: A federal appeals court upheld the 20-year prison sentence for a former pathologist at an Arkansas veterans hospital who pleaded guilty to involuntary manslaughter in the death of a patient he misdiagnosed. The three-judge panel of the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals rejected arguments by Robert Levy’s attorneys that the sentence was unreasonable. Levy pleaded guilty to misdiagnosing a patient with small cell carcinoma who died after being treated for a type of cancer he didn’t have. Levy falsified the patient’s medical record to state that a second pathologist agreed with his diagnosis, according to a plea agreement. Levy was fired from the Veterans Health Care System of the Ozarks in Fayetteville in April 2018. VA officials said in 2019 that outside pathologists reviewed nearly 34,000 cases handled by Levy and found more than 3,000 errors or missed diagnoses dating to 2005.\n\nCalifornia\n\nRiverside: Police are looking for a man dubbed the “snake burglar” who wriggled his way through a Southern California business and fled with several thousands dollars. Surveillance video showed the man slithering on his belly at the Rustic Roots salon in Riverside at about 5 a.m. last Friday after apparently getting into the business through a rooftop fire escape. “It just gave me chills up my spine,” owner Lori Hajj told KNBC-TV. Hajj said the thief she called the “snake burglar” stole hundreds of dollars worth of products, cash from the register and a safe with more than $8,000 inside. A security guard who was installing a new alarm system at the salon told KNBC-TV that the crook had been trying successfully to avoid a motion sensor. The same man might have tried to burglarize other businesses previously, including a local pizza parlor where security video showed a man crawling on his belly, the station said.\n\nColorado\n\nFort Collins:Rocky Mountain National Park will have a timed-entry permit system for the third straight season, pending approval from the National Park Service. The park is proposing the system for 2022 with minor tweaks to what was implemented in 2021. The third-most visited national park implemented the pilot system in 2020 to address visitor congestion and resource damage. The park’s timed-entry permit system has been polarizing, with some visitors enjoying less congestion and others complaining about the restrictions that curtail spontaneous trips. Through August, the last month for which visitation numbers were available, the park saw nearly 3.3 million visitors compared with 2.2 million during the same time in 2020. In 2019, the park saw nearly 4.7 million visitors over the entire year. Park spokesperson Kyle Patterson said the park is continually adjusting the system based on data it has collected to help balance visitor experience with resource protection.\n\nConnecticut\n\nHartford: Connecticut collected about $1.7 million during its first partial month of legalized online gambling and sports wagering, Gov. Ned Lamont said. The figures represent the state’s share of revenue collected Oct. 12-31. Roughly $1.2 million came from the state’s portion of online casino gambling revenue generated by the Mashantucket Pequot and Mohegan tribes, and approximately $513,000 came from sports betting revenue generated by the tribes and the Connecticut Lottery Corporation. The money will be deposited into the state’s general fund. Under the state’s new legalized system, Connecticut collects 13.75% of gross gambling revenue from sports wagering, and 18% from online casino gambling until 2026, when the rate increases to 20%. The state does not receive any payments on sports wagers placed at the southeastern Connecticut casinos owned by the two tribes, which currently have opened temporary sports book facilities.\n\nDelaware\n\nDover: Children can now visit inmates at Delaware correctional facilities for the first time since the coronavirus pandemic began, correction officials said. The Delaware Department of Correction announced in a news release Tuesday that in-person visits at all of its facilities have been expanded to include children and youth under 18. The department said it’s making the change as COVID-19 vaccination expands to include children and aggressive COVID-19 mitigation measures continue in the correctional system. Visiting children must be accompanied by an adult visitor and inmate visits are limited to either one adult or one adult and one child. The department said all in-person inmate visits must be scheduled in advance through the facility and all visits are subject to COVID-19 screening. Commissioner Monroe B. Hudson Jr. emphasized that video visitation is available in all Delaware prison facilities and was expanded early in the COVID-19 pandemic.\n\nDistrict of Columbia\n\nWashington:When United flight 2701 from Chicago landed at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport on Wednesday afternoon, it became the first commercial flight to use 100% sustainable aviation fuel, WUSA-TV reported. It was an important milestone as the travel industry works to fight its contributions to climate change. “Today’s SAF flight is not only a significant milestone for efforts to decarbonize our industry, but when combined with the surge in commitments to produce and purchase alternative fuels, we’re demonstrating the scalable and impactful way companies can join together and play a role in addressing the biggest challenge of our lifetimes,” said United CEO Scott Kirby. The demonstration flight departed O’Hare Airport at 1 p.m. CST carrying 100 passengers, with an arrival time of 4 p.m. EST. The flight used 500 gallons of SAF -- a clean alternative to jet fuel -- in one engine and 500 gallons of jet fuel in the other. According to United, airlines are only allowed to use a maximum of 50% SAF on board, meaning past flights using SAF were a combination of the alternative fuel with conventional jet fuel. United Airlines has set a goal of being 100% green by reducing its GHG emissions 100% by 2050, without relying on traditional carbon offsets. To work towards this goal the company says it plans to buy 1.5 billion gallons of SAF; so far this year they’ve purchased more than 7 million gallons through the Eco-Skies Alliance program.\n\nFlorida\n\nMiami: The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Miami is making face coverings optional for unvaccinated and partially vaccinated students whose parents sign opt-out paperwork. The archdiocese made the announcement Tuesday, citing community COVID-19 statistics and the advice of physician advisors, the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Miami-Dade County Department of Health. The CDC recommends mask-wearing in public indoor settings, including schools, in areas of substantial or high community transmission. As of Wednesday, Florida was the only state in the nation where transmission was low in nearly every county, according to the CDC’s COVID-19 data tracker. Face masks were already optional for fully vaccinated students and teachers who provided vaccination cards to the school or were confirmed through the FL SHOTS database, the archdiocese said in a statement. Public schools in Miami-Dade and Broward counties allowed parents to opt their children out of wearing masks in early November. If the data trends negatively again, archdiocese spokeswoman Mary Ross Agosta said measures will be put back in place.\n\nGeorgia\n\nGrovetown:A nutrition manager at Cedar Ridge Elementary School has been arrested on charges of possession of methamphetamine found at the school, according to a press release from the Grovetown Department of Public Safety. At approximately 8:30 a.m., the department responded to the school where a small amount of methamphetamine was found in an employee restroom in the kitchen. After an investigation, the department believed it belonged to Kelley Nile, the nutritional manager. The Richmond County Sheriff’s Office K-9 Division responded to the campus and discovered an additional user amount of methamphetamine in the center console of Nile’s vehicle. Nile was arrested on charges of possession of schedule II narcotics and transported to the Columbia County Detention Center. The Columbia County School District said Nile is no longer employed by the school system. The school is in the process of notifying staff and parents about the situation.\n\nHawaii\n\nHonolulu: The Hawaii State Department of Health said a laboratory has detected petroleum product in a water sample from an elementary school near Pearl Harbor amid heightened concerns that fuel from a massive Navy storage facility could contaminate Oahu’s water supply. The department said the test result from a University of Hawaii lab is preliminary, and it’s not yet known what type of petroleum was in the water. The sample was taken Tuesday at Red Hill Elementary School. The department is still awaiting test results of samples sent to a lab in California. For three days, hundreds of residents in Navy housing complained of a fuel-like odor coming from their tap water. Some have said they suffered from stomach pain and headaches. The department said all complaints have come from people using the Navy’s water system, and not from anyone who gets their water from Honolulu’s municipal water utility. The Navy and the utility have wells that draw on the Moanalua-Waimalu aquifer, which is located 100 feet below the Navy’s fuel storage tanks at Red Hill. The Navy on Sunday shut down a Red Hill well that draws water from the aquifer out of an “abundance of caution,” a spokesperson said. The department has advised all those using the Navy’s water not to drink their tap water. It’s recommending that those who can smell fuel in their water not to use it for bathing, washing dishes or laundry. The system provides water to about 93,000 people living in and near Pearl Harbor.\n\nIdaho\n\nSugar City: State wildlife officials have euthanized three lion cubs in southeastern Idaho. Officials with the Idaho Department of Fish and Game captured and euthanized the cubs on Friday after they appeared in the backyards of homes in Sugar City. The cubs had been in the area for several days before being captured by wildlife officials. Idaho Department of Fish and Game spokesman James Brower told the East Idaho News that the mother was nowhere to be found, and the cubs were in poor health. It’s not known what happened to the mother. “We did a pretty thorough examination of these cubs, and they were fairly emaciated,” Brower said. “They were in really poor body condition, so they were not very healthy. There’s no rehabilitation center or place that you can take them to. They would have not made it on their own. They would have starved to death. They were pretty young.”\n\nIllinois\n\nChicago: The city dropped its lawsuit against the police union in its fight over city employee COVID-19 vaccine orders, saying the complaint became unnecessary as more officers complied. The move follows a judge’s ruling last month to suspend an end-of-the-year city deadline for police officers to get vaccinated. Still, Mayor Lori Lightfoot vowed Wednesday that if union leaders revived talk of an “illegal work stoppage” over the mandate, the city would return to court. The city sued the Fraternal Order of Police Lodge 7 in October, accusing President John Catanzara of encouraging an “illegal strike.” The city said those who didn’t comply with the vaccine mandate would be placed on “no-pay status.” In public statements and on social media, Catanzara encouraged police to disobey the order. The union also sued. Lightfoot and police leaders said the mandate was put in place to protect officers and the public. More than 460 law enforcement officers have died of COVID-19, including four in Chicago, according to the Officer Down Memorial Page.\n\nIndiana\n\nLafayette:Six African penguins died at the Columbian Park Zoo after falling ill with avian malaria, zoo officials said. The zoo announced Tuesday that the penguins died despite around-the-clock care that included anti-malarial medications intended to halt their infections. Zoo Director Neil Dale said in a news release that the zoo’s three remaining African penguins were in critical condition after also contracting the illness, the Journal & Courier reported. Avian malaria is a parasitic disease caused by a “plasmodium” that’s transmitted through the bites of infected mosquitos, the zoo said. This disease only affects birds and is not transmissible to humans or other zoo animals. Dale said the first African penguin fell ill on Oct. 24 and despite the zoo veterinary team’s efforts, it died four days later. Five other penguins later died. The zoo’s Penguin Cove exhibit opened at the zoo in July after being pushed back several times because of the COIVD-19 pandemic. Dale said the zoo is working with the exhibit’s design team and continuing to consult experts for preventative measures that would help ward off exposures to the illness.\n\nIowa\n\nCedar Rapids: Former television news anchor Tiffany O’Donnell has been elected mayor of Cedar Rapids. O’Donnell garnered 68% of the vote to businesswoman Amara Andrews’ 32% in Tuesday’s runoff election. The runoff was triggered when no candidate reached a majority 50% of the vote in the Nov. 2 general election. O’Donnell, a former news anchor for television station KGAN and chief executive of Iowa-based women’s leadership group Women Lead Change, campaigned on finishing cleanup from last year’s derecho, fixing city streets and accelerating flood recovery. O’Donnell will take office in January at the end of incumbent Mayor Brad Hart’s term.\n\nKansas\n\nWichita: A lawsuit filed against a Wichita car dealership by the wife of a police officer injured when he was run over by a sport utility vehicle from the business has been settled for an undisclosed amount. Officer Brian Arterburn was critically injured in February 2017 when he was hit by an SUV driver while putting down stop sticks to stop the vehicle as police chased it. Arterburn’s wife, fellow Wichita police officer Claudale Arterburn, sued Eddy’s Chevrolet Cadillac, its owners and the driver of the SUV, Justin Terrazas. The dealership has said that the vehicle was stolen and that it has “no clear understanding” of how Terrazas came to have it in his possession, the Wichita Eagle reported. But the lawsuit alleged Eddy’s Chevrolet Cadillac gave Terrazas access to the vehicle and did not report the car was stolen for two months before the chase, despite being told it was being used for criminal activity. Terrazas pleaded guilty to charges in the case and was sentenced to nearly 29 years in prison. The lawsuit, which had sought $75 million in actual and punitive damages, had been set to go to trial before the settlement was announced Tuesday.\n\nKentucky\n\nLouisville:Gov. Andy Beshear said he will propose devoting $10 million to support an expansion of Waterfront Park into western Louisville. The 22-acre park expansion will connect downtown and West Louisville along the Ohio River in the state’s largest city, officials said. The total cost of the expansion is $50 million. “For so many people in this city, Waterfront Park is not just a place, it’s an experience,” Beshear said. “It’s the backdrop for some of their happiest moments with family and friends. It’s time that this experience is accessible to all members of the Louisville community.” Beshear will submit his budget proposals to the legislature early next year. The park expansion site will be in the Portland neighborhood within West Louisville. The expansion will include plazas, gardens and an observation pier at the river’s edge that can accommodate events, performances and other gatherings.\n\nLouisiana\n\nBaton Rouge:In two short weeks, Miss Louisiana, Julia Claire Williams, will compete on the national stage for the title of Miss America. “I really am most looking forward to visiting with all of the state title holders,” Williams said. “They’re such kind, strong, compassionate, impactful, young women, and to stand amongst them to compete for this job is such an honor.” The competition, which takes place Dec. 16 at the Mohegan Sun Casino in Uncasville, Connecticut. The centennial Miss America competition was set to take place last year, but it was canceled because of the pandemic. Williams works as an emergency room scribe for St. Francis Medical Center in Monroe. She is a graduate of University of Louisiana Monroe and hails from Kinder in the southwest part of the state. Williams said she has enjoyed fulfilling the role of Miss Louisiana, including her social impact initiative, which focuses on serving disadvantaged and disabled youth. Although there isn’t one specific facet she has enjoyed more than the others, she said the job has helped her grow as a person. Through her experience, Williams said she has increased her public speaking skills and grown in her adaptability.\n\nMaine\n\nKennebunk: The federal government is providing a small meat processor in Maine with $200,000 to help rebuild from a devastating fire last year. The U.S. Department of Agriculture is giving the money to Nest & Mullen LLC of Kennebunk, Democratic Rep. Chellie Pingree said Tuesday. The fire destroyed a processing plant in September 2020. The grant will help the business recover and rebuild, Pingree said. She said the fire “not only destroyed their plant, but it shook the foundation of their entire business and threatened their livelihood.” Nest & Mullen is a five-generation farm and butcher shop, Pingree said. The money is through USDA’s Meat and Poultry Inspection Readiness Grant program. The agency announced $32 million in grants to dozens of processing facilities earlier in the week.\n\nMaryland\n\nAnnapolis: Gov. Larry Hogan outlined preparation plans in the state for the omicron variant of COVID-19, urging people to get vaccinated and to get a booster shot if enough time has gone by since they have been vaccinated. The governor spoke at a news conference not long after after the White House announced that a person in California who had been vaccinated against COVID-19 became the first in the U.S. to have an identified case of the omicron variant. The state’s Board of Public Works approved an emergency procurement Wednesday to acquire additional special reagents and supplies to further expand the state’s capacity to track and detect variants of the coronavirus. The board also voted to extend the state’s genomic sequencing agreements to track various mutations of the coronavirus with the University of Maryland and Johns Hopkins University. Through agreements with the University of Maryland and Johns Hopkins University, Maryland is now sequencing at nearly three times the level recommended by public health experts, the governor’s office said.\n\nMassachusetts\n\nBoston: Massachusetts is deploying three mobile units to administer monoclonal antibody treatment to high-risk individuals who have been exposed to or have COVID-19, Gov. Charlie Baker said. The clinics have the capacity to treat up to 500 patients a week with therapies that can help reduce the severity of the disease and keep COVID-19-positive individuals from being hospitalized. Two of the new mobile units – currently in Fall River and Holyoke – began administering monoclonal antibody treatment to patients last week, according to the administration. A third unit is set to be deployed to Everett on Friday. The mobile clinics will increase access to monoclonal antibody treatment in Massachusetts, according to Baker. The mobile clinics can be relocated based on demand. Referral from a health care provider is required for treatment at any of the three new mobile clinics. Treatment will be provided at no cost to the patient and offered regardless of immigration status or health insurance. Patients should talk to their doctor about whether monoclonal antibody treatment is right for them.\n\nMichigan\n\nGrand Rapids: An 11-year-old girl who survived a plane crash that killed her father and three other people was released Wednesday from a rehabilitation hospital. “She’s Laney, she’s great and she’s our miracle,” said Christie Perdue of Gaylord, referring to her daughter Laney. Laney was one of five people in a plane that crashed on Beaver Island off Michigan’s northern Lower Peninsula on Nov. 13. The family believes Laney survived because her father, Mike, shielded her during the crash. Laney was released from Mary Free Bed Rehabilitation Hospital in Grand Rapids. “We’ve gone from no walking to a wheelchair to a walker and now to crutches,” Christie Perdue told WOOD-TV. “Her goal was to go home on crutches.” Mike Perdue died, along with the pilot and a couple. The crash is being investigated by a federal transportation agency. “Our community has just surrounded us with love,” Christie Perdue said. “Laney’s getting letters from schools all over Michigan, letters from New York and Minnesota, and we are just so grateful.”\n\nMinnesota\n\nSt. Paul: The Minnesota Department of Health said it’s not approving anxiety disorders as a qualifying condition for medical marijuana, unlike neighboring North Dakota and three other states. State Health Commissioner Jan Malcolm said there’s not enough scientific evidence of benefits of medical cannabis use when compared to the possibility of “unintended consequences.” No new conditions will be added to the existing list of 17 qualifying health issues. “We received many comments from health care practitioners treating patients with anxiety disorder, and they urged us to not approve it as a qualifying medical condition,” Malcolm said. North Dakota added anxiety disorders to its accepted uses two years ago, when it immediately became the most commonly cited condition. Minnesota did agree to add infused edibles in the form of gummies and chews to a list of approved products that includes pills, vapor oil, liquids, topicals, powdered mixtures, and orally dissolvable medicines like lozenges. “Expanding delivery methods to gummies and chews will mean more options for patients who cannot tolerate current available forms of medical cannabis,” Malcolm said.\n\nMississippi\n\nTupelo: A downtown Tupelo neighborhood has joined the National Register of Historic Places. Advocates learned about the designation in late September, the Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal reported. The largely residential area includes hundreds of parcels on about 163 acres of land. Chris Grimes, vice president of the Historic Downtown Neighborhood Association, helped organize the effort. Grimes owns a historic home in the newly designated neighborhood that dates to 1870 and will now be able to apply for tax credits for some of the restoration work that’s underway, the Daily Journal reported. He had initially sought National Register designation only for his home, but the Mississippi Department of Archives & History thought other homes should be included, according to the newspaper. Downtown Tupelo and other neighborhoods in the city already have the designation. “Believe it or not, it’s easier to get a neighborhood on the register than it is to get an individual home,” Grimes said. Mississippi has more than 1,300 listings in the register, the nation’s official list of sites, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their significance.\n\nMissouri\n\nIndependence:The Harry S. Truman Presidential Library & Museum was scheduled to reopen with limited hours Thursday. The museum will initially reopen on Thursdays through Saturdays from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. for those who bought advance tickets online. Visitors will be required to wear masks. The museum reopened in July after a two-year renovation project but was closed again in October when COVID-19 cases began to increase in Jackson County. “The pandemic has presented a lot of challenges, but we are prepared and anxious to open our doors to make history come to life for our visitors,” museum Director Kurt Graham said. The nearly $30 million renovation was the most extensive project at the museum since it was built in 1957. It offers more exhibits and artifacts, along with interactive exhibits, and a new layout that walks visitors through Truman’s life from his Missouri childhood through his presidency and his later years.\n\nMontana\n\nBillings: Wildlife workers and volunteers scrambled Wednesday to save trout and other fish stranded by an abrupt drop in water levels on a river that’s renowned among anglers. A malfunctioning gate that lets water out of Hebgen Dam just west of Yellowstone National Park caused flows into the Madison River to plummet early Tuesday, according to dam operator NorthWestern Energy. That left side channels cut off from the main river and some areas with no water. Some fish have died, according to outfitters who provided photos of fish lying on exposed rock beds that normally would be covered with water. More fish are at risk in the cut-off side channels, fly fishing shop owner Kelly Galloup said. Galloup said bigger trout likely moved to deeper pools as water levels dropped. But he expected a significant impact on fish born last year that were too small to escape the sudden drop in flows. There was no immediate estimate of the number of fish stranded, but Galloup said hundreds had been rescued Tuesday.\n\nNebraska\n\nOmaha: The number of people hospitalized in Nebraska with the coronavirus continues to climb and reached 555 on Tuesday, which was the highest since last winter. The state said 14% of the hospitalized patients were between the ages of 20 and 44, and doctors at several of Nebraska’s largest hospitals said younger patients have been showing up in intensive care units more often. Although the number of hospitalizations remains well below last fall’s peak of 987, the state’s hospital capacity is strained because hospitals were busy with other patients before COVID-19 cases increased this fall. The state said only 13% of the adult ICU beds and 20% of the pediatric ICU beds were available Tuesday. Dr. Matthew Donahue, the acting state epidemiologist, said unvaccinated Nebraskans are 10 times more likely to be hospitalized than people who have been vaccinated. He said the spread of the coronavirus’ highly contagious delta variant has fueled the rise in cases. The seven-day rolling average of daily new cases in Nebraska decreased over the past two weeks, going from about 864 per day on Nov. 15 to about 771 per day on Monday. But the number remains high.\n\nNevada\n\nReno: A union for drivers and the operator of metro Reno’s transit bus system said they have reached a tentative agreement to settle a contract dispute that dramatically reduced service during the past three weeks. Officials of Teamsters Local 533 and Keolis International said Tuesday normal service would resume immediately if the agreement is approved by a vote of represented employees later this week. Terms of the proposed settlement were not immediately available. Only a handful of routes ran during the strike, leaving thousands of riders without public transportation. Teamsters 533 President Gary Watson said some issues between the union and Keolis remained unresolved but that union officials were hopeful that those can be resolved in the coming months. Keolis Vice President Mike Ake said the tentative agreement resulted from productive negotiation sessions held over the weekend. The strike began Nov. 9 after the union rejected the “best and last offer” proposed by Keolis, which operates the system for the Regional Transportation Commission of Washoe County.\n\nNew Hampshire\n\nExeter:The 23rd annual Festival of Trees benefitting the Community Children’s Fund kicked off in-person Wednesday morning at the Town Hall after a fully virtual event last year. The event was spread out over two days in an effort to manage the number of visitors. Bidding on the 51 Christmas trees donated and decorated by local businesses was done online. Organizers said they were elated to be able to restart the event in-person at the Town Hall after a year marred by the pandemic. The Christmas trees, all donated by Ace Hardware, feature a variety of goodies for the lucky winners ranging from candy to Guinness beer. Foss Motors has a double donation tree where the dealership will match the buyer’s bid up to $2,000 to be donated to a charity of the buyer’s choosing. And, as always, there is the gift card tree, which features gift certificates from local businesses totaling $2,800.\n\nNew Jersey\n\nTrenton: Republican lawmakers scorned statehouse rules requiring proof of either COVID-19 vaccination or a negative test to enter the building and sought to halt the mandate with a lawsuit. Assembly and Senate Republicans, who are in the minority, sued late Wednesday seeking to stop the requirement and set the stage for a confrontation with law enforcement officials. That’s because both chambers have scheduled votes for the afternoon, when legislators are expected to gather to cast their votes. GOP Assembly member Brian Bergen walked into the statehouse complex unstopped by officials and didn’t show proof required under the policy set by the State Capitol Joint Management Commission, the panel made up of administration and legislative officials that sets rules for the building. “It’s unfair and completely discriminatory policy. they’re essentially creating two classes of people, vaccinated and unvaccinated,” he said in an interview. Legislators who don’t follow the protocol won’t be permitted into the legislative chambers, according to Assembly Speaker Craig Coughlin’s spokesperson Kevin McArdle, who added that leaders have spoken with state police and the attorney general’s office.\n\nNew Mexico\n\nSanta Fe: Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham said she will pursue a 7% pay increase for educators and staff at K-12 public schools, as well as higher minimum salaries for teachers at various career stages. The proposal would boost salaries for more than 50,000 public school workers across the state at an annual cost of about $280 million. The Legislature convenes in January to craft a general fund spending plan for the fiscal year that starts July 1. The governor’s office estimated the proposed changes would increase the statewide average for teacher pay to just over $64,000 a year. New Mexico’s minimum teacher salaries would increase to between $50,000 and $70,000, depending on experience and certifications. Current minimums ranging from $41,000 to $60,000 were set in 2019. The proposed changes would bring New Mexico roughly in line with the recent national average for teacher pay of about $64,000.\n\nNew York\n\nNew York City: The holly, jolly, best time of the year got a light-filled launch Wednesday, when the towering Christmas tree at Rockefeller Center was officially turned on. The 79-foot Norway spruce, covered with more than 50,000 lights in a rainbow of colors and bearing a crystal-covered, 900-pound star, was lit in a midtown Manhattan ceremony again open to the public, in contrast with last year’s virus-impacted event. The lighting was televised on NBC and hosted by NBC “Today” anchors Al Roker, Savannah Guthrie, Hoda Kotb and Craig Melvin. Among the musical performances were Harry Connick Jr., Norah Jones, Brad Paisley and Alessia Cara. The high-kicking Radio City Rockettes were also part of the celebration. This year’s tree came from Elkton, Maryland, where it stood for more than 80 years outside a family home. The first Christmas tree was placed in Rockefeller Center by men working there in 1931.\n\nNorth Carolina\n\nRaleigh: Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper vetoed legislation that would bar officials from counting mail-in absentee ballots received after Election Day, even if their envelopes were postmarked on or before that date. Cooper’s veto was expected, given that Republicans pushed through the measure on party lines. Any GOP attempt to override his veto also is likely to fail given that Republicans majorities in both the House and Senate aren’t veto-proof. Republicans haven’t overturned any of Cooper’s previous 12 vetoes this year. Current law says envelopes postmarked by the day of the primary or general election can count if they are received within a three-day grace period. Republicans insist the bill would boost confidence in election outcomes by the public and help the media call results more quickly.\n\nNorth Dakota\n\nBismarck:Gov. Doug Burgum said the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration has granted his request for another extension of the hours of service waiver for drivers of commercial vehicles transporting water and livestock feed to help North Dakota livestock producers affected by continuing drought conditions. Burgum first granted a similar 30-day waiver in an executive order Sept. 22, and the FMCSA previously extended the waiver through Nov. 23. Under the new extension, the waiver will remain in effect through Dec. 24 or until the end of the emergency, whichever is earlier. Thursday’s U.S. Drought Monitor report showed 9% of North Dakota remains in extreme drought, mostly in the northwest corner, 33% is in severe drought, 30% is in moderate drought and 21% is rated as abnormally dry.\n\nOhio\n\nColumbus:The Ohio Police & Fire Pension Fund is asking lawmakers to boost the required employer contribution rates to the retirement system. The fund is backing legislation that would increase employer contribution rates to 26.5% of payroll for police and firefighters, up from 19.5% and 24%, respectively. An estimate for how much that would cost Ohio’s 900 local police and fire departments was not immediately available. “I think that the employers, mayors, etc, understand the essential nature of recruiting and retaining public safety officers – not just through COVID but we’ve had a lot of social unrest,” said fund Director Mary Beth Foley. “So we need them and they need a defined benefit plan that they can rely upon, they need disability benefits to be ensured.” The employer contribution was last increased in 1986. Foley said the goal is to move legislation, which has yet to be introduced, through the House and Senate by December 2022. Over the past eight years, employee contribution rates increased by 2.25% to 12.25% and retirees have been forced to pay more for health care benefits.\n\nOklahoma\n\nOklahoma City: A human skull found in southwestern Oklahoma 16 years ago has been identified as that of a missing Muskogee woman, the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation said. The skull is that of Rebecca Jean Boyd, who was 29 when she disappeared in 2002, the OSBI said. The skull, found in a field by a farmer in Kiowa County in July 2005, was known only as Kiowa Jane Doe. “We are happy that Rebecca’s family has her back and can give her the proper burial that she deserves,” said OSBI Director Ricky Adams. “Now our Cold Case Unit is going to determine how she ended up in that field and who is responsible.” No other remains have been found and a suspected cause of death has not been determined, according to OSBI spokeswoman Brook Arbeitman. “We have a lot of questions that need to be answered,” Arbeitman said. “The first step was to get her identified.” Arbeitman said Boyd was visiting relatives in Lawton when she was last seen on July 26, 2002. Boyd was reported missing four days later and was identified when the skull matched a DNA profile of Boyd that had been entered into a national missing persons database.\n\nOregon\n\nSalem: A Canadian energy company canceled a controversial natural gas pipeline and marine export terminal on the southern Oregon coast after failing to obtain all necessary state permits. Opponents of the Jordan Cove project, which would have created the first liquefied natural gas export terminal on the West Coast in the lower 48 states, rejoiced at the news. The marine export terminal would have been located at Coos Bay, with a 230-mile feeder pipeline crossing southern Oregon. Many landowners, Indian tribes and environmentalists had objected, saying the project by Calgary-based Pembina Pipeline Corp. could spoil the environment and would have contributed to global warming by producing greenhouse gases. In 2019, protesters filled the Oregon State Capitol and occupied the governor’s office until they were hauled away by state police. Supporters of the project to ship U.S. and Canadian natural gas to Asia said it would create jobs and help the economy. The Coos Bay City Council last year approved dredging part of the bay to increase the width and depth of the shipping channel. The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission approved the project in March 2020. Democratic Gov. Kate Brown threatened to go to court to stop the project if it didn’t obtain every permit required from state and local agencies. The Oregon Department of Environmental Quality denied a water quality certification for the project, and the Department of State Lands refused to grant another extension to Pembina to file documents in its application for a permit to dredge sediment out of Coos Bay.\n\nPennsylvania\n\nHarrisburg: TV stations in Philadelphia, New York City and Cleveland said they are taking down the “Dr. Oz Show,” now that the show’s host, Mehmet Oz, has formally become a candidate for U.S. Senate in Pennsylvania. The stations were compelled by the Federal Communications Commission’s “equal time” rules that give rival candidates the ability to request matching air time. Oz, 61, will bring his unrivaled name recognition and wealth to a wide-open race that is expected to be among the nation’s most competitive and could determine control of the Senate in next year’s election. This is the celebrity heart surgeon’s first run for public office, but he is facing a crowded Republican primary. The longtime New Jersey resident said he moved to Pennsylvania a year ago.\n\nRhode Island\n\nPortsmouth: An animal shelter has tripled the reward it is offering to $15,500 for help identifying the people who abandoned two dogs found by the side of a road in Portsmouth on Thanksgiving morning. The Potter League for Animals is offering the reward for information about the people who left the two female dogs, WPRI-TV reported. Police said the dogs appeared to be “lethargic and emaciated,” when they were found near a sports complex. They were treated by an emergency veterinarian. One of the dogs had to be euthanized because of her poor health, police said. The animal shelter initially offered a $5,000 reward but contributions from anonymous donors increased the amount of the reward, the station reported. Anyone with information can call Portsmouth police.\n\nSouth Carolina\n\nCharleston: Laura Cantral, the executive director of the Coastal Conservation League, one of South Carolina’s most influential environmental groups, is stepping down, prompting a nationwide search for her replacement. Cantral is leaving at the end of December, the organization said in a Wednesday news release. Cantral took over the organization four years ago after the Conservation League’s founder and longtime leader Dana Beach stepped down. The group has worked to oppose offshore drilling, preserve fragile coastal ecosystems against development and advocate to protect other natural resources along the state’s coast. The organization said Cantral is departing for personal family reasons and will move to Atlanta next year. The group’s board of directors will begin searching for a replacement in the coming weeks.\n\nSouth Dakota\n\nWagner:Wagner High School principal and activities director Neil Goster, who was accused of making racist comments toward Native Americans last summer, resigned more than two weeks ago, along with his wife, Cindy, who was a fourth-grade teacher. In a special school board meeting in Wagner two weeks ago, the Goters’ resignations from the Wagner Community School District were accepted by the board in a 5-0 vote. Two board members were absent at the time of the vote. Local residents called on Neil Goter to resign in July and August after LaJuanda Stands and Looks Back alleged in a formal letter that Goter made racist comments to her and other Indigenous people in the town on the Yankton Sioux Reservation. Stands and Looks Back alleged that on July 24, Goter told her and a group of Native American women at a golf course that “my face is so red, I must be Native American.” She was told administrative action was taken by the district after her allegations, but it’s unknown what action was made. According to the Department of Education’s Teacher 411 webpage, Neil and Cindy Goter’s teaching certificates are still active until July 2026. Superintendent Matt Yost would not comment on the story when reached by the Argus Leader. Attempts to reach both Neil and Cindy Goter at their listed phone numbers and email addresses were unsuccessful.\n\nTennessee\n\nSewanee: Reuben Brigety, the University of the South’s vice chancellor and president, said he will resign later this month and would accept a position as U.S. ambassador to South Africa if offered. In a letter Wednesday, Brigety said he decided to leave the post Dec. 21. He wrote that he would accept a nomination for the ambassador job if President Joe Biden nominates him, saying news reports have indicated Biden intends to do so. Brigety, a former U.S. ambassador to the African Union, said “it would be unfair to prolong any uncertainty at the University.” The White House has not yet announced a nomination. Additionally, the role requires Senate confirmation. “I have been profoundly honored to serve as the 17th vice-chancellor of the University of the South, and I had expected to serve Sewanee for a long time to come,” Brigety wrote. “Yet I also know that I would not decline my obligation to serve my country if asked by the president of the United States.” Brigety took office in June 2020 as the first African American vice chancellor at the university also known as Sewanee. He previously served as dean of the Elliott School of International Affairs at George Washington University.\n\nTexas\n\nHouston: An appeals court halted a federal judge’s order that stopped Texas from enforcing its ban on mask mandates in the state’s schools, allowing the prohibition to remain in effect. In a 15-page ruling, the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans granted a request by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton to stay the ruling by U.S. District Judge Lee Yeakel. The appeals court on Nov. 24 had granted an administrative stay while it issued a formal ruling on Paxton’s request. The 5th Circuit’s ruling on Wednesday means Yeakel’s decision will be on hold while the case goes through the appeals process. The appeals court will ultimately issue a final ruling on his order. The federal judge ruled on Nov. 10 that the ban ordered by Republican Gov. Greg Abbott through an executive order violated a federal law protecting disabled students’ access to public education. The nonprofit advocacy group Disability Rights Texas, which had filed the lawsuit that prompted Yeakel’s ruling, argued Abbott’s ban prohibited accommodations for disabled children particularly vulnerable to COVID-19. In granting the stay, the appeals court said that Paxton would likely win in his appeal, the students represented by Disability Rights Texas likely do not have standing to challenge the ban and the students and the group had not exhausted all remedies under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, a federal law that makes available a free public education to eligible U.S. children with disabilities.\n\nUtah\n\nSt. George: Nate Brooksby was selected as the Washington County sheriff after the local Republican Party gathered in a special election to decide who would replace Sheriff Cory Pulsipher, who retired because of health problems. Brooksby, who had been the department’s chief deputy, beat out Jared Redfearn with 106 out of 140 votes. The position opened outside of the regular election cycle after Pulsipher announced he would be retiring effective Wednesday. This isn’t the only change in the department leadership, as Undersheriff James Standley also retired this fall. After Standley left the department, Brooksby was appointed to replace him as undersheriff by Pulsipher so Brooksby would be “brought up to speed” on the department’s budget and projects, according to a press release.\n\nVermont\n\nColchester: More than 300 Vermont National Guard soldiers are beginning to return to the state, many after nearly a year deployed overseas. The first of the soldiers returned on Wednesday. All are scheduled to be home by Dec. 10. The 172nd Law Enforcement Detachment deployed in January 2021 to support the U.S. Europe Command. Soldiers of the 3rd Battalion of the 172nd Infantry (Mountain) departed in February for the U.S. Central Command. The two units were the first of several to deploy throughout the first half of 2021, with a total of more than 950 Vermonters deploying to various locations across Europe, Africa and Southwest Asia. The soldiers of the the law enforcement detachment operated as the primary law enforcement element on Mihail Kogalniceanu Air Base in Romania. The soldiers from the 3rd Battalion participated in a variety of missions, including assisting with security at the Kabul during the August evacuations from Afghanistan.\n\nVirginia\n\nRichmond: Virginia has launched a new system to improve the response to mental health emergencies. The Marcus Alert system launched Wednesday in five regions in the state, news outlets reported. The system is named for Marcus-David Peters, who was fatally shot in 2018 by police after he charged an officer amid a behavioral health crisis. It will start as a pilot program in Richmond, Virginia Beach, Prince William County, Bristol and adjacent Washington County, and five counties in the northern Piedmont. It must expand to all parts of the state by July 1, 2026. It’s part of a rollout of new services financed by Virginia’s Medicaid program to help people in behavioral crises in their communities to avoid sending them to state mental hospitals, private emergency rooms and juvenile detention centers. The system aims to use regional call centers to alert mental health teams to potential psychiatric emergencies, quickly assess risks and dispatch professionals to help the person in crisis by persuasion instead of force.\n\nWashington\n\nOlympia: Republican state Sen. Keith Wagoner said he plans to challenge newly appointed Democratic Secretary of State Steve Hobbs in next year’s election. Hobbs was sworn into office Nov. 22 following his appointment by Gov. Jay Inslee to replace Kim Wyman, a Republican. Wyman – the fifth consecutive GOP secretary of state in Washington dating to 1965 – resigned to take a key election security job in the Biden administration. Wagoner said voters have long shown a preference for a Republican secretary of state and Inslee failed to recognize that by naming Hobbs, who was a Democratic state senator since 2007. Hobbs’ appointment lasts until the November 2022 election, which will determine who serves the remaining two years of Wyman’s four-year term. Hobbs said he plans to enter that race.\n\nWest Virginia\n\nHuntington: Union maintenance and service workers at Cabell Huntington Hospital ratified a contract late Wednesday to end a month-old strike, the hospital announced. Members of the Service Employees International Union District 119 ratified the three-year contract covering more than 900 workers at the hospital, which said in a statement that employees could likely begin returning to work as soon as Friday. The statement did not disclose details of the contract, which Dr. Kevin Yingling, the hospital’s president, called “fair and equitable.” Under an earlier offer, the hospital had asked union members to begin paying health insurance premiums. “We value all of our employees as each plays an important role in delivering reliable, quality care to our patients,” said hospital Chief Operating Officer Tim Martin. “We are committed to being the best employer in the region with outstanding wages and benefits and this contract confirms that. We look forward to welcoming back our coworkers and resuming normal operations.”\n\nWisconsin\n\nMilwaukee:FPC Live, a division of Madison-based Frank Productions and one of the world's largest concert promoters, announced plans to operate a built-from-scratch music venue in the Historic Third Ward, adjacent to the southern end of Maier Festival Park. Actually, it would be two venues – an 800-person-capacity room and a 4,000-person- capacity room – with separate entrances, both housed in the same 108,000-square-foot facility. Pending approvals, including from the Historic Third Ward Architectural Review Board and the City of Milwaukee Board of Harbor Commissioners, construction on the venue could begin in early 2022 and would open in the second half of 2023. The new concert venue would be the latest in Milwaukee's entertainment-building boom. The Milwaukee Bucks' Fiserv Forum, constructed for $524 million, opened in 2018. This year saw the openings of the Bradley Symphony Center, following a $90 million renovation of the Warner Grand Theatre, and the reopening of Summerfest's American Family Insurance Amphitheater after a $51.3 million upgrade.\n\nWyoming\n\nCheyenne: Gov. Mark Gordon made state District Court judge John G. Fenn his first appointment to the state Supreme Court. Fenn has served on the Fourth Judicial District bench for Johnson and Sheridan counties since 2007. He previously was an attorney in private practice in Sheridan for 13 years. Fenn’s experience as a judge has earned him respect in Wyoming’s legal community, Gordon said in a statement Thursday. “He has shown himself to be keenly aware of the impact of Wyoming Supreme Court decisions, not only on the law, but also with particular attention to the consequences for the individuals involved in these cases,” Gordon said. Fenn replaces Justice Michael Davis, who is retiring, and will begin on the state high court on Jan. 17. Fenn is a graduate of Big Piney High School and holds undergraduate and law degrees from the University of Wyoming. He helped develop Wyoming’s new Chancery Court created by legislation signed by Gordon in 2019, according to the governor’s office.", "authors": [], "publish_date": "2021/12/03"}, {"url": "https://www.theweek.co.uk/news/science-health/953978/the-experts-designing-a-single-vaccine-to-defeat-all-covid-19-variants", "title": "The experts designing a single vaccine to defeat all Covid-19 ...", "text": "University of Cambridge researchers Lara Marks and Ankur Mutreja spoke to key players in the global push to create a vaccine that protects against every possible mutation of the virus\n\nSars-CoV-2, the virus responsible for Covid-19, has turned the world upside down. Experts have predicted that it will claim the lives of between nine million and 18 million worldwide. This is in addition to destroying the livelihoods, mental health and education of countless others. The pandemic will probably wreak havoc for many years to come, despite the remarkable speed of vaccine development. This is not helped by the emergence of new variants sweeping the world, which pose a serious threat to the success of vaccination and upcoming treatments.\n\nIt is difficult to predict the future pattern of Sars-CoV-2. Many scientists believe it will continue to circulate in pockets around the globe, meaning that it will become endemic in the same way as flu. In this context, the number of infections remains relatively constant with occasional flare-ups that run the danger of turning into a pandemic. A lot depends on how widely the population around the world can be vaccinated and how long immunity lasts after natural infection or vaccination.\n\nSubscribe to The Week Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives. SUBSCRIBE & SAVE Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox. From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox. Sign up\n\nLong term, the best solution would be to develop a universal vaccine - one that would help protect against all current variants of the coronavirus and any others that arise in the future. Without it, the world runs the risk of recurrent pandemics.\n\nGiven the difficulties encountered in creating a universal flu vaccine, this may seem a tall order. But a number of scientists believe it is possible based on the rapid development of the Sars-CoV-2 vaccines.\n\nCovid-19 is in fact the third major infectious disease outbreak to have been triggered in the last two decades by a new coronavirus jumping from animals into humans, the other two being Sars and Mers.\n\nTo get a sense of how far a pan-coronavirus vaccine has progressed, we spoke to a number of key players in the field. We are both experts in this area but come at it from very different angles – Lara Marks is a historian of medicine with an interest in biotechnology and vaccines, while Ankur Mutreja has experience in tracking outbreaks and developing vaccines for infectious diseases. From our conversations, there appear to be a number of encouraging vaccine candidates on the horizon - it is even possible that one could be developed for use in humans within 12 months.\n\n‘The holy grail’\n\nOne of the first people we spoke to was Richard Hatchett, the CEO of the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (Cepi). Set up in 2017, Cepi is a global partnership between public, private, philanthropic and civil society organisations that aims to compress the development of vaccines against emerging infectious diseases into 100 days - a third of the time achieved with the first Covid-19 vaccines.\n\nEnvisaging equitable access to vaccines for all countries, in January 2021, Cepi announced it would raise and invest US$3.5bn in vaccine research and development to strengthen global preparedness to pandemics, of which $200m has been put aside to develop a universal coronavirus vaccine. Such a vaccine would offer protection against a broad range of coronaviruses, regardless of their variants. This would reduce the need to modify the vaccine on a regular basis.\n\nHatchett described these vaccines as the “holy grail”. But he argued it may take years of investment. He said: “If you want to grow a tree, the best thing to have done is to have planted it 20 years ago. And if you didn’t do that, then the next best thing is to plant it today.”\n\nWhen asked about what the best vaccine would be going forward to deal with SARS-CoV-2, Hatchett replied: “We do not actually know specifically yet. This is really our first engagement with this virus, obviously, and we’ve watched it expand and unfold over time…\n\n“We’re still gathering data and gaining experience on this. I think we need to have some humility about what we know currently and what we can know. We just have to be vigilant.”\n\nWhy is Sars-CoV-2 mutating?\n\nNone of the scientists we interviewed were surprised to see Sars-CoV-2 mutating. All viruses mutate. They often undergo random genetic changes because the virus replication machinery is not perfect. It is a bit like a game of “telephone” where children repeat what they thought they heard, making mistakes all along the way so that the final message is very different from the original one. Whenever a virus develops one or more mutations, it is considered a “variant” of the original virus.\n\nThe mutation process helps viruses to adapt and survive any onslaught from the host’s immune system, vaccination or drug treatment and natural competition. Viruses change faster when under such pressures.\n\nScientists have been monitoring the genetic variations in Sars-CoV-2 since the start of the pandemic. They do this by sequencing the total RNA (genome) of the virus collected from patient samples. The genome is the complete set of genetic instructions an organism needs to function and thrive.\n\nScientists in China managed to sequence the first Sars-CoV-2 genome just one week after the first patient was hospitalised with unusual pneumonia in Wuhan. First drafted on 5 January 2020, the sequence revealed the virus to be a close relative of Sars-CoV-1, a human coronavirus which caused an outbreak of a severe respiratory disease Sars that first appeared in China in 2002 and then spread to many other countries. It also resembled a Sars-like coronavirus found in bats.\n\nComprising a single-strand of RNA, the Sars-CoV-2 genome turned out to be the longest genome of any known RNA virus. With the aid of sequencing, scientists were quickly able to pinpoint the genes that carry the instructions for the spike protein, the part of the virus that helps it to invade human cells. This became an important target for the development of Covid-19 vaccine.\n\nInitial genome sequencing data suggested that Sars-CoV-2 mutated much slower than most other RNA viruses, being half the rate of the virus responsible for flu and a quarter of that found for HIV. But its mutation rate has gathered speed over time, helped by the large reservoir of people it has infected and selection pressures.\n\nNot all mutations are bad news. In some cases, they weaken the virus, with the variant disappearing without a trace. But in other cases, they enable the virus to enter a host’s cells more easily or to escape the immune system more effectively, making it more difficult to prevent and treat.\n\nSo far, five new variants of concern have emerged with Sars-CoV-2. The first (alpha) was detected in southeast England in September 2020. Others were found shortly thereafter in South Africa (beta), Brazil (gamma), India (delta) and Peru (lambda). What is troubling about these new variants is that they are more transmissible, making them spread faster, which increases the likelihood of reinfection and a resurgence in cases. Every Sars-CoV-2 virus out there today is a variation of the original and new variants will continue to appear.\n\nPreliminary research suggests that the first-generation of vaccines offer some protection against the new variants, helping to reduce severe disease and hospitalisation. However, they will probably become less effective over time as the virus mutates further and the immunity that people have gained, either through vaccination or natural infection, wanes.\n\nLooking for weak spots\n\nIn terms of a universal coronavirus vaccine, the ultimate question, Hatchett believes, is whether there are any weak spots that are “conserved across coronaviruses as a viral family to which you can develop immune responses that effectively protect you”.\n\nThe key issue in creating a universal vaccine is how broad a coverage the vaccine should offer. This was also pointed out to us by Andrew Ward at the Scripps Research Institute in California. As he put it, “creating a universal vaccine is itself highly challenging. For example, scientists have tried for years but not yet succeeded in developing a universal vaccine for flu.\n\n“Nor have they yet managed to create one for HIV. In part, this is because the surface proteins found on these viruses frequently change their appearance. This makes it difficult for our immune system to recognise the virus.”\n\nBut scientists have made enormous advances in recent years in understanding the interaction between the immune system and viruses that cause flu and HIV. They are now deploying this knowledge to build a universal vaccine for coronaviruses, which do not change as fast.\n\nA long history of vaccine innovation\n\nOne of the reasons for optimism with a universal coronavirus vaccine is the successful development of the Sars-CoV-2 vaccine. Made in record time, the foundation for the vaccine was laid many years ago. Until the 1980s, most vaccines were developed by modifying a virus or bacteria to make it no longer dangerous. This was achieved by weakening or inactivating the pathogen so that it could be injected safely to stimulate an immune response. While highly successful for protecting against a host diseases like measles, polio, rabies and chickenpox, this approach didn’t prove effective in all diseases.\n\nBy the 1980s, vaccine production stood on the cusp of change, helped by the emergence of biotechnology. Where this was first successfully applied was in the development of a vaccine against hepatitis B, which is estimated to cause more deaths worldwide than TB, HIV or malaria.\n\nThe first hepatitis B vaccine was developed by Maurice Hilleman at Merck. Approved in 1981, it was the first vaccine to protect against cancer. Chronic hepatitis B is a major cause of liver cancer. In fact, it is second only to tobacco as a human carcinogen. What was novel about the hepatitis B vaccine was that instead of using the whole hepatitis B virus, which was difficult to grow in the laboratory, it used only a coat surface particle of the virus. This was a major breakthrough for vaccine technology.\n\nAnother vaccine that uses virus particles is the one against the human papillomavirus (HPV) that causes cervical cancer, a disease that globally kills 260,000 women every year. First licensed in 2005, the HPV vaccine took years to develop. It consists of tiny proteins that look like the outside of four types of real HPV produced in yeast.\n\nSynthetic vaccines\n\nVaccine technology underwent a further revolution following the outbreak of the swine flu pandemic that swept the world for 19 months from January 2009. The pandemic killed between 151,700 and 575,400 people worldwide. Caused by an H1N1 influenza virus, the episode was an important reminder of the speed that pandemics can strike and the chaos they can sow. It was also a salutary lesson for companies who developed hundreds of millions of licensed vaccine doses to counter the pandemic. Although achieved within just six months, a historical record, this was not fast enough - by then, the peak of infections had passed.\n\nPart of the delay was because of the time it took to grow enough of the virus in eggs or cultured mammalian cells. Another method, using genetic engineering to produce the virus, proved much faster, but was hampered by regulatory hurdles. Determined to accelerate vaccine availability for future pandemics, from 2011, vaccine experts put in place a new strategy that took advantage of advances in genomics and the open sharing of electronic sequence data. Coupled with a new ability to synthesise genes, these tools gave scientists the power to design genome segments from a virus to prepare vaccines to train the body to recognise and target a real virus if it invaded.\n\nCritically, the new synthetic approach moved vaccine development away from the time-consuming process of isolating and shipping viruses between different sites and then growing them at scale. All that was needed was to download the relevant sequence data from the internet and synthesise the right genes to generate relevant viral components to start vaccine development. Speed was not the only advantage the new method offered. It also reduced any potential biohazard risks involved in manufacturing the vaccine.\n\nAttention was also paid to making the testing process more efficient. Usually the slowest part of vaccine development, such testing often takes years to complete. Tests are first conducted in animals, to assess the safety, the strength of the immune response stimulated and protective efficacy of the vaccine candidate. Once this is done it is tested in humans.\n\nHuman trials are run in three phases, each with increasing numbers of people and escalating costs. One means to reduce the time needed and cut costs was to take advantage of new biomarkers. These provided a means to measure both normal and pathological processes as well as responses to a drug. Such biomarkers made it possible to determine the toxicity and efficacy of a candidate much earlier in the clinical trial process and to run multiple trials in parallel without compromising on safety.\n\nIn 2011, a group of scientists from the companies Novartis and Synthetic Genomics, as well as the Craig Venter Institute (a non-profit research organisation), proved they could develop a vaccine candidate in a matter of days.\n\nTheir approach was first successfully put to the test in March 2013, when Chinese health officials reported a novel strain of avian influenza had infected three people. Within just a week of gaining access to the virus’s genome sequence, the Novartis team, headed by Rino Rappoli, managed to create a fully synthetic RNA-based vaccine ready for pre-clinical testing, which proved safe and elicited a good immune response.\n\nMarking the switch from what Rappouli calls “analogue vaccines” to “digital vaccines”, the 2013 work provided a template for when Covid-19 was declared a pandemic on 11 March 2020. The first dose of the Covid-19 vaccine candidate, developed by Moderna, was ready for phase I testing in humans by 16 March 2020. Many other vaccine candidates soon entered the pipeline thereafter.\n\nNew understandings\n\nWhat also helped propel the first Covid-19 vaccines forward was the explosion in knowledge about the atomic structure of proteins found on the surface of viruses and antibodies that bound to them. According to Ward, this was greatly helped by advances in cryo-electron microscopy which as he says “opened up the door for HIV and other pathogens”. With the technique, Ward and his colleagues discovered that coronaviruses gained entry and fused with human cells with the help of a small loop of amino acids, called S-2P, on the top of their spike proteins. This laid an important foundation for creating the Covid-19 vaccines.\n\nAnother critical development was the discovery of broadly neutralising antibodies (bNAbs). First isolated in the early 1990s in the serum of people living with HIV-1, these antibodies only appear in some people after years of infection. Such antibodies have the advantage that they can neutralise multiple diverse strains of the virus in one stroke.\n\nFinding the bNAbs, critically, opened up a new avenue for vaccine design. In particular, it offered the possibility of creating a universal vaccine against flu and also a vaccine for HIV which so far has been difficult to do because it mutates so fast. Several groups had already made progress in this field before Covid-19 struck, which they quickly turned towards coronaviruses. Their goal was to create a vaccine to stimulate the production of bNAbs targeting the receptor binding domain (RBD) located on the coronavirus’ spike protein.\n\nOne approach, outlined to us by Barton Haynes, an immunologist at Duke University, involves attaching little bits of the RBD, from multiple coronaviruses, to a protein nanoparticle for use as a vaccine candidate. Promisingly, this was shown in monkeys to not only block Sars-CoV-2 and its new concerning variants but also Sars-CoV-1 and a group of bat coronaviruses which could spill over to humans in the future.\n\nAnother potential vaccine was described to us by Pamela Bjorkman, a structural immunologist at the Caltech. Her team developed it based on a virus particle platform first devised at Oxford University, in 2016.\n\nShe said: “Their vaccine presents many different RBD fragments, from a variety of animal coronaviruses, grafted onto small proteins attached to a nanoparticle scaffolding. Tests in mice showed a single dose of the vaccine could neutralise multiple human and animal coronaviruses, including ones not included in the vaccine design.”\n\nAccording to our interview with Jonathan Heeney, a comparative pathologist at the the University of Cambridge, his group has also developed a promising broad coverage coronavirus vaccine. Based on detailed screening of the virus’s structure they have synthesised DNA constructs to plug into conventional vaccine platforms and the latest mRNA vaccine technology.\n\nThe vector is specially designed not to trigger unintentional hyper-inflammatory responses, which can sometimes be life threatening. In animal studies, their candidate provided protection against a variety of sarbecoviruses, which cover Sars-CoV-1, Sars-CoV-2 and many bat coronaviruses.\n\nAll three outlined approaches have yet to be tested in humans. The Cambridge one is set to enter phase 1 trials in the autumn and the one at Duke University is nearing that milestone too. Both the Cambridge and Caltech candidates have the attraction that they can be produced as a heat-stable and freeze-dried powder. This will make their storage and distribution much easier than the current mRNA vaccines (Moderna and Pfizer). It will also make production much cheaper, which is vital to ensuring equitable access to the vaccine across the world and bringing the pandemic under control.\n\nNew pandemics\n\nWhile scientists have the tools to develop a pan-coronavirus vaccine within a year, its creation would not be the end of the story. Growing population density, human mobility and ecological change means that the world will continue to face the threat of new pandemics.\n\nMeeting this challenge will require a high degree of outbreak vigilance, political will and international cooperation as well as continued investment in vaccine development well beyond the end of the Covid-19 pandemic. As the World Health Organization (WHO) put it in September 2020, “a global pandemic requires a world effort to end it - none of us will be safe until everyone is safe”.\n\nAccess to vaccines is also only one arm of what is needed to combat pandemics. What Sars-CoV-2 has also taught us is the importance of rapid frontline genomic sequencing on the ground to swiftly detect newly emerging threats. As Hatchett argues, the key to radically reducing epidemic and pandemic risk to the world is through “earlier detection, earlier sequencing, and earlier more tailored public health responses”.\n\nLara Marks, visiting research fellow, history of biomedical sciences, University of Cambridge, and Ankur Mutreja, group leader, global health (infectious diseases), University of Cambridge.\n\nThis article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons licence. Read the original article.", "authors": ["The Week Staff", "The Week Uk", "Chas Newkey-Burden", "Arion Mcnicoll", "Devika Rao", "The Week Us", "Keumars Afifi-Sabet", "Social Links Navigation"], "publish_date": "2021/08/31"}]}
+{"question_id": "20240119_10", "search_time": "2024/01/19/23:35", "search_result": [{"url": "https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/elections/presidential/caucus/2024/01/09/iowa-caucuses-how-all-7-republican-candidates-could-succeed-or-fall-short-trump-desantis-haley/71919590007/", "title": "How each Republican candidate can win the Iowa Caucuses or fall ...", "text": "Iowa Republicans will caucus Jan. 15 to select their choice for a presidential nominee and kick off a contentious primary election calendar.\n\nFormer President Donald Trump, facing 91 criminal charges across four different cases, is waging an unprecedented campaign as the faraway front-runner.\n\nFlorida Gov. Ron DeSantis and former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley, both former allies of Trump, have for weeks battled for second place, lobbing attacks at each other as they aim to position themselves as the leading alternative to Trump.\n\nAuthor and entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy is running a near-nonstop campaign blitz focused on passing the baton to a younger leader of the party.\n\nAnd the remainder of the field — former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson and Texas pastor Ryan Binkley — are fighting to remain in the conversation come caucus night.\n\nPrep for the polls: See who is running for president and compare where they stand on key issues in our Voter Guide\n\nHere's a rundown on where each candidate stands according to our recent polling; what their path to success in the Iowa Caucuses looks like; how they could fall short; and a key insight into every one of their campaigns.\n\nFormer President Donald Trump\n\nWhere he stands: 48% in January's Des Moines Register/NBC News/Mediacom Iowa Poll, leading the field by 28 percentage points.\n\nHis path to victory: Trump's assertion throughout this cycle comes to fruition — a landslide victory in which he eclipses 50% of the vote, while none of his challengers stands out or gains significant ground.\n\nHis campaign's organizing operation turns out longtime loyalists and first-time caucusgoers alike, proving its competence compared to his scattered 2016 operation. Barring a late surge by a rival in the following early states, Trump rolls into New Hampshire and beyond looking like the all-but-assured nominee.\n\nHow he could fall short: The Trump campaign's turnout strategy flops, failing to turn out supporters in high numbers while the ground game of DeSantis or Haley or both pays off and accelerates them into competition.\n\nFailing to win the caucuses with such a significant polling lead just weeks out would be unprecedented, but even a close margin between Trump and one or both of his challengers could give them the momentum to pull off an upset in New Hampshire and turn the race upside down.\n\nA key number: 56%, the percentage of first-time caucusgoers who named Trump as their first-choice candidate in January's Iowa Poll. That's down from 63% in December, but still dwarfs the 13% support among first-time caucusgoers for DeSantis and 14% for Haley.\n\nRead more on Donald Trump:\n\nFormer UN Ambassador Nikki Haley\n\nWhere she stands: 20% first-choice support in January's Iowa Poll, second place.\n\nThe path to victory: A late winter surge continues for Haley through Caucus Day, separating her from a bitter back-and-forth with DeSantis and elevating her to a competitive position as the leading challenger to Trump.\n\nHaley's increasingly sharp attacks against DeSantis (and to a lesser extent, Trump), combined with a well-financed field operation courtesy of the Koch political network, allow her to push through criticisms from the right and prepare for New Hampshire, where recent polling has shown her chipping away at Trump's lead.\n\nHow she could fall short: The former ambassador and governor's pitch as the best option to beat President Joe Biden in the general election doesn't resonate with Iowans, and those not backing Trump instead flock to DeSantis.\n\nHaley will head to New Hampshire hoping that, in her words, which were quickly criticized by DeSantis, voters in that state \"correct\" Iowans' decision.\n\nA key number: $24 million, how much Haley's campaign said they fundraised in the last three months of 2023. It's more than double what she raised in any other quarter thus far in the campaign, a sign that her campaign has seen a boost in national attention and an indication that she aims to stick around regardless of Iowa's results.\n\nRead more on Nikki Haley:\n\nFlorida Gov. Ron DeSantis\n\nWhere he stands: 16% first-choice support in January's Iowa Poll, third place.\n\nThe path to victory: DeSantis' laser focus on Iowa pays off — harnessing a massive super PAC organizing effort and connections with evangelical leaders to surge late and emerge as the Trump alternative of choice.\n\nHis ability to earn the support of some of Iowa's most prominent conservative leaders — Gov. Kim Reynolds, Family Leader CEO Bob Vander Plaats, radio host Steve Deace and others — and a near-constant campaign with visits to all 99 counties provide the last-minute break from the pack the governor has been seeking for months.\n\nHow he could fall short: DeSantis' struggle to gain traction in Iowa continues until the very end, with the support from state GOP leaders and ample spending failing to result in a competitive finish.\n\nFueled by a bump of national interest over the winter, Haley instead cements herself as the leading alternative to Trump, and DeSantis' lack of significant investment in future states makes a path to the nomination difficult.\n\nA key number: 812,000, how many homes in Iowa the pro-DeSantis super PAC says it had knocked doors on as of late December. If DeSantis ends up with a favorable result, it will be in part because of the PAC's massive dump of resources throughout the state.\n\nRead more on Ron DeSantis:\n\nEntrepreneur and author Vivek Ramaswamy\n\nWhere he stands: 8% first-choice support in January's Iowa Poll, fourth place.\n\nThe path to victory: Ramaswamy's pitch to Iowans who typically don't show up for the caucuses in large numbers — independents, young voters and Libertarians among them — sees success, as he outperforms his low polling marks throughout the race.\n\nThe author and entrepreneur's hard-line proposals for mass government layoffs and eliminations of major agencies, as well as near-unlimited self-funding that fueled months of campaigning in Iowa, allow him to hang around the race a while longer.\n\nHow he could fall short: Ramaswamy's onslaught of campaign events and self-funding are for naught, as his targeted groups of caucusgoers don't show up on Jan. 15.\n\nHis pitch as the \"next generation\" of Trump's \"America First\" movement doesn't resonate, with potential supporters instead turning out for Trump himself.\n\nA key number: 318, the number of events Ramaswamy has held in Iowa from February 2022 through Jan. 2, according to a list provided by the campaign to the Register.\n\nRead more on Vivek Ramaswamy:\n\nFormer Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson\n\nWhere he stands: 1% first-choice support in January's Iowa Poll, tied for fifth place.\n\nThe path to victory: Hutchinson, who at several points during this caucus cycle has been openly booed by Republican crowds, is able to pull off an unlikely last-minute surge, spurred by consolidating anti-Trump Republicans seeking a more moderate option.\n\nHow he could fall short: Hutchinson has pitched himself as a candidate open to bipartisanship, recently conducting a \"Return to Normal\" campaign swing, but it's not what Iowans are looking for. He fails to chart in the caucuses.\n\nA key number: Four, the number of Republican debates Hutchinson has failed to qualify for since making the stage at the first debate in August.\n\nRead more on Asa Hutchinson:\n\nTexas pastor Ryan Binkley\n\nWhere he stands: 1% first-choice support in January's Iowa Poll, tied for fifth place.\n\nThe path to victory: Binkley's faith focus and willingness to spend money despite his nonexistent support in polls allows him to attract undecided voters in the final days of the race.\n\nHow he could fall short: His status as a political outsider does not resonate with Iowans, as he fails to gain any traction and leaves Iowa with no notable support.\n\nA key number: 0%, which Binkley polled at for three straight Iowa Polls before cracking 1% in January.\n\nRead more on Ryan Binkley:\n\nGalen Bacharier covers politics for the Register. Reach him at gbacharier@registermedia.com or (573) 219-7440, and follow him on Twitter @galenbacharier.", "authors": [], "publish_date": "2024/01/09"}, {"url": "https://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/columnist/2024/01/18/trump-iowa-caucus-win-bad-voters-election/72256913007/", "title": "Donald Trump cruises, to the detriment of the Iowa Caucuses, America", "text": "Never before had it been so cold on caucus night. Never before had the margin of victory for a Republican been so large. And long before that margin was known, never before had the voting felt so perfunctory.\n\nThese superlatives can be a bit overdone – Monday was just the ninth competitive Republican presidential caucus in Iowa, ever – but the unprecedented factors combined to produce considerably less anticipation than usually accompanies the caucuses and their minds-can-be-changed-in-front-of-your-eyes dynamic.\n\nThe oft-explained virtue of Iowa is supposed to be the opportunity for lesser-known candidates to speak face to face with voters and gain a foothold without having to raise a prohibitive amount of money. That is of course not to say that Iowans should always pick a “nobody.”\n\nBut 2024’s overwhelming endorsement of Trump by over 50% of caucusgoers meant Iowa Republicans ultimately contributed nothing useful to the campaign.\n\nGOP should be winning big in 2024:But that 'landslide' win in Iowa could spell trouble for Trump – and Republicans\n\nDonald Trump, unfit for the presidency, shows organizational competence\n\nTrump’s rocket launch toward the Republican presidential nomination has more pressing consequences, too, of course.\n\nHe has proved over and over again that his vengeful temperament is poorly matched to the pressures of the White House. Many of the political achievements he touts from his first term, in particular his Supreme Court nominations, are undistinguishable from what most Republicans in his position might have done – and even at that, the candidates who came up short Monday have pointed, fairly, to many goals he did not achieve.\n\nHe does not think about the world in terms of influencing through persuasion. Instead, he repeatedly chooses to pursue raw authority that enables his bullying, best exemplified in his role in the riot as part of wild attempts to avoid Congress certifying President Joe Biden’s victory on Jan. 6, 2021.\n\nHe and his team demonstrated organizational competence leading up to Monday that they lacked in 2016, when Trump lost the caucuses to Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas. At the caucus I attended Monday – one of hundreds of simultaneous gatherings in Iowa – the surrogate supporting Trump in person was Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey; he came all that way to deliver mostly the same script that Trump’s campaign distributed to its precinct captains.\n\nThe news media have reported on detailed plans that party operatives are preparing for a second Trump term to implement abhorrent hard-line tactics on, most notably, border enforcement and treatment of migrants. A better-organized Trump is a more dangerous Trump.\n\nTrump's chaos prompts a search for alternatives\n\nBut most Iowans at the caucuses see Trump differently, perhaps as a means to an end for their goals or as someone who prompts political opponents to write frothing paragraphs like the two preceding this one.\n\nNone of the northwest Des Moines residents I happened to speak with Monday said they were caucusing for Trump, but most were ready to vote for him in November if it came to that.\n\nBrad Evans, an accountant, said he has been caucusing since the 1970s. He didn’t know as he walked toward the registration table whom he would support.\n\nOf Trump, he said, “They’re just harassing him. If he becomes president, they will give him a parking ticket for putting Air Force One on the airport tarmac. … So, do we want four more years of that?”\n\nIs Trump inevitable?How GOP can change course after Iowa.\n\nMelissa McDonald, who works for the Veterans Affairs Department, said she liked what Nikki Haley says about trying to reduce budget deficits and manage inflation. She voted for Trump in the 2020 election but said he was “too chaotic,” even though she liked his policies.\n\nThe biggest surprise: The news media's unforced error with an early race call\n\nMonday was a still night, if cold, with road conditions vastly improved from Friday and Saturday, somewhat negating that concern for the credibility of the caucuses.\n\nTurnout was less than two-thirds of Republicans’ high-water mark in 2016, but the the expected Trump rout seems likely to have influenced that, too.\n\nWhat marred the evening the most were decisions by major networks and The Associated Press to foolishly declare a winner based on survey data and a handful of reported results long before voting even began at most caucuses. (The USA TODAY Network, which includes the Register, relies on the AP to call races.)\n\nThe media’s usual rules for this sort of thing prescribe waiting until polls close so as not to influence any voter into thinking their vote is worthless. While that dynamic is different and much harder to measure for the caucuses, that doesn’t excuse the self-inflicted blow to assessments of journalists’ prudence.\n\nDeSantis, Haley find more success in urban counties but still fall well short\n\nTrump was most dominant in rural Iowa; in numerous counties, he collected two-thirds or more of all the votes.\n\nIn urban areas, most people voted for somebody other than the former president.\n\nTwo precincts held their GOP caucuses at First Church of the Open Bible, where the Rev. Josh Bingaman is pastor. He and his wife, Zia, supported Ron DeSantis.\n\n“We were actually there when he announced his campaign here in Des Moines,” Josh Bingaman said. They met with other candidates, too, but “he’s been our favorite,” said Zia Bingaman. Her husband concluded: “He gets things done. I think that he doesn't have the same kind of problems and issues that surround Trump. I really love, as a Christian, his strong stance for things like pro-life.”\n\nKasey Ninneman, 42, said he voted for Joe Biden in 2020 and was supporting Nikki Haley because “she’s not Donald Trump” and was the most sensible of the Republican field. Ninneman said he would not vote for Biden again; his handling of the war in Gaza is one of the reasons. Monday was his first time at a Republican caucus.\n\n“I'm surprised that Trump still has the support that he does,” Ninneman said.\n\nLucas Grundmeier is the opinion editor at the Des Moines Register, where this column first published.", "authors": [], "publish_date": "2024/01/18"}, {"url": "https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/elections/2024/01/15/donald-trump-loss-2024-iowa-caucus/72207402007/", "title": "Donald Trump risks a loss in Iowa – even if he wins the 2024 caucus", "text": "INDIANOLA, Iowa – After years of investigations, indictments and other unprecedented legal and political problems, former President Donald Trump on Monday will start to find out whether actual voters will validate his huge leads in polls.\n\nAs the Iowa caucuses roll around Monday night, Trump and his aides say they hope to win by a record margin − and maybe even exceed 50% support.\n\nBut at the same time, they know anything short of a blowout will be seen by opponents as a sign of potential weakness in the former president's bid to reclaim the White House. Trump on Sunday seemed to both set his own goal of 50% support in Iowa, while also downplaying the potential target.\n\nIn a brief meeting with Iowa \"caucus captains,\" Trump told his supporters that \"there seems to be something about 50%\" while also accusing naysayers of setting a \"high expectation\" so they can pounce if he falls short.\n\n\"If we don't do that, let 'em criticize us, right?\" Trump said. \"Let's see if we can get to 50%.\"\n\nPrep for the polls: See who is running for president and compare where they stand on key issues in our Voter Guide\n\nHere's what you need to know about Trump's strategy to clear key hurdles in the Hawkeye State on Monday:\n\nWhat do Iowa polls say before the Iowa Caucus – and New Hampshire primary?\n\nRecent polls show Trump is in striking distance of his 50% goal.\n\nThe final Des Moines Register/NBC News/Mediacom Iowa Poll released late Saturday gave Trump 48%, well ahead of former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley (20%) and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (16%).\n\nTrump's challengers, meanwhile, predicted better-than-expected results that will carry the fight to primaries in New Hampshire on Jan. 23 and South Carolina on Feb. 24.\n\nHaley in particular has moved up in polls in New Hampshire, and she has made clear she plans to derail the former president there and in her home state of South Carolina.\n\n\"We want to come out of Iowa looking strong,\" Haley said on \"Fox News Sunday.\" \"We want to come out of New Hampshire strong. We want to come out in South Carolina strong.\"\n\nDeSantis, speaking on ABC's \"This Week,\" said Trump will be a poor general election candidate because of all the \"distractions\" that surround him, from indictments in four criminal cases to fallout from the attempted insurrection on Jan. 6, 2021.\n\n\"You're going to have criminal trials,\" DeSantis said. \"You're going to have a lot of focus on things like January 6th by the media. And I think that ends up focusing the election on things that are going to be advantageous for Democrats.\"\n\nHow's the weather?\n\nTrump does have to win crucial primaries and caucuses, like New Hampshire and Iowa's contests, to recapture the Republican presidential nomination.\n\nBut Monday's caucuses in Iowa bring at least two concerns: Bad weather and the fact that the Trump campaign is banking on first-time caucusgoers who may be less likely to brave below-zero temperatures and icy roads.\n\n\"Dress warmly tomorrow night,\" Trump told supporters at a \"commit to caucus\" rally Sunday in Indianola, Iowa\n\n\"You can't sit home,\" Trump also told Iowans on Sunday. \"If you're sick as a dog … even if you vote and then pass away, it's worth it.\"\n\nTrump himself canceled scheduled events this weekend because of winter storms.\n\n'He's going to fight to the end'\n\nDespite the dangerous conditions, Trump backers who saw him in Indianola said they are confident their leader will prevail in Iowa and the rest of the nation.\n\nTerri Rothwell, 69, a semi-retiree from Norwalk, predicted that no matter how well Trump does, opponents and the media will say it is below expectations – but that doesn't matter to his supporters.\n\n\"He's the chosen one,\" Rothwell said. \"He's the one voters want to see in place.\"\n\nThe weather could affect turnout, she and others said, but that applies to all the candidates.\n\nKathy DeAngelo, 71, a retired computer programmer from Indianola, said she likes the way Trump fights his enemies, including prosecutors in the criminal cases he faces.\n\n\"He's not going to give up,\" she said. \"He's going to fight to the end.\"\n\nRep. Derrick Van Orden, R-Iowa, who also spoke at the Indianola rally, said any kind of victory in Iowa would propel Trump through the primaries.\n\n\"It starts the ball rolling,\" Orden said.\n\nDonald Trump lashes out at Vivek Ramaswamy ahead of Iowa Caucus\n\nBut Trump and his aides said they are still scratching for every vote in Iowa, which explains his new attacks on entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy. The Ohio businessman is the candidate most aligned with him in the Republican field.\n\nOver the weekend, Trump hit Ramaswamy for making an unfounded claim that \"the system\" will prevent Trump from being nominated, and instead anoint Haley as the Republican leader.\n\n“Very sly, but a vote for Vivek is a vote for the ‘other side,’” Trump said on his Truth Social platform. “Don’t get duped by this.”\n\nBut Ramaswamy hit back in a post on X, formerly Twitter, saying “I don’t think friendly fire is helpful.\"\n\nA record win in Iowa?\n\nBut why is Trump aiming for more than 50% support among Iowa caucusgoers on Monday? The former president and his aides have long said that they are aiming for a record margin in an Iowa Republican caucus.\n\nThe current mark is 12.8%. Kansas Sen. Bob Dole carried 37.4% in the 1988 caucuses against Christian broadcaster Pat Robertson (24.6%) and then-Vice President George H.W Bush (18.6%).\n\nNotably, Dole did not win the Republican presidential nomination that year, eventually losing to Bush, who won the presidency\n\nTrump also did not win the Iowa caucuses in 2016, losing to Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas. The then-New York businessman recovered to win the nomination and the White House.", "authors": [], "publish_date": "2024/01/15"}, {"url": "https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/elections/2024/01/15/iowa-caucus-live-updates-2024/72192316007/", "title": "Iowa Caucus replay: Catch up after Trump won, DeSantis followed", "text": "Former President Donald Trump clinched victory in the Iowa Caucuses on Monday, celebrating a quick win over his Republican rivals.\n\nFlorida Gov. Ron DeSantis secured second place ahead of former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley and entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy. The political newcomer on Monday suspended his longshot 2024 bid after the caucuses came to a close, telling supporters there was \"no path\" forward for his campaign\n\nCatch up with the USA TODAY Network's live coverage of the Iowa Caucuses here. Our reporters in Iowa and across the country talked to caucusgoers, leaders and organizers to answer your questions and bring you key updates.\n\nVivek Ramaswamy suspends presidential campaign, endorses Donald Trump\n\nVivek Ramaswamy is dropping out of the presidential race, his campaign spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin confirmed Monday night.\n\nPrep for the polls: See who is running for president and compare where they stand on key issues in our Voter Guide\n\n\"There's no path for me to be the next president, absent things we don't want to see happen in this country,\" he said in a speech announcing that he was suspending his campaign after a 4th place finish in the Iowa Caucuses.\n\nRamaswamy said the next president must be an \"America First\" president. He said he would throw his support behind Donald Trump. As he announced he was ending his bid, Ramaswamy had 8,093 votes, or 7.7%, in the Republican Iowa Caucuses, with 91% of votes reporting.\n\nRamaswamy held the most events in Iowa, which he did by far – 323 scheduled public events, according to the Des Moines Register's Candidate Tracker. His campaign says he visited every one of Iowa's 99 counties at least twice and visited many counties three or more times. He's found curious crowds but few die-hard supporters.\n\nRamaswamy, 38, told supporters during a campaign stop in Clive on Monday that his parents came to the U.S. from India with no money, he said. Now he’s founded companies worth billions of dollars, has a wife and two sons and is living the American Dream, Ramaswamy said.\n\n– Des Moines Register\n\nRon DeSantis finishes in second place behind Donald Trump\n\nRon DeSantis won second place in the Iowa Caucuses Monday night, trailing GOP frontrunner Donald Trump.\n\nThe Florida governor was competing with Nikki Haley for a second-place finish in the Hawkeye State.\n\n– Marina Pitofsky\n\nDonald Trump touts win\n\nDonald Trump took on a conciliatory approach in his victory, complimenting his opponents and saying \"we want to come together.\"\n\nHe joked about how close the second place battle was, though he did not name Nikki Haley or Ron DeSantis. He did give a specific shout out to Vivek Ramaswamy, with whom he has been feuding in recent days.\n\nBut the former president ultimately looked to November's general election.\n\n“This is the first, because the big night is going to be in November when we take back our country,” he said.\n\n– David Jackson\n\nDonald Trump set to speak in Des Moines soon\n\nDonald Trump, who the Associated Press and other organizations have declared the winner of the Iowa Caucuses, will address supporters at his campaign's watch party in Des Moines at 9:30 p.m. CT, a senior advisor said.\n\n– Galen Bacharier\n\nDonald Trump's supporters celebrate victory\n\nTrump backers at the Iowa Events Center in Des Moines, Iowa, said they were a little surprised at the quick call on Monday night, but not shocked.\n\n\"Everybody knew he was going to win, so it's not too surprising,\" said Vickie Froehlich, 69, a farmer from Kenyon, Minn., who drove down for the festivities.\n\nFroehlich scoffed at the notion that the fast call was some kind of \"election interference.\"\n\n\"People were already at the caucuses,\" she said. \"They knew how they were all going to vote.\"\n\n– David Jackson\n\nDonald Trump watch party in Des Moines fills up with supporters\n\nDonald Trump's supporters have filled the auditorium at the Iowa Events Center in Des Moines, with a couple hundred people mingling and watching a Fox News broadcast of the results on two projectors.\n\nHundreds of press are filling the risers and tables in the back of the auditorium.\n\nAn early call of the caucuses by major networks and news organizations meant that when the race was called for Trump, there were no supporters present to react.–Galen Bacharier\n\nPrecinct near Des Moines sees high level of new Republican registrations\n\nA caucus site just outside Iowa’s capital of Des Moines ran out of registration forms at one point Monday night, as almost 40% of caucusgoers there registered as Republicans. Precinct chair Jim McClure said he heard some say they were previously Democrats or Independents, while others said they had just never registered with the party before. In the past, this new registration number has been closer to 20% of caucusgoers, McClure said. There were 244 Iowans attending the caucus at Beaver Creek Elementary School on Monday night. McClure said the delay was minimal, though, as a school employee quickly photocopied additional forms.\n\n–Savannah Kuchar\n\nDisruption at Des Moines-area caucus site\n\nA video posted to X, formerly Twitter, appeared to show a disruption at a caucus site at Timberline School in Waukee, Iowa.\n\nThe video, posted by Republican Florida state Sen. Blaise Ingoglia, showed a man who shouted “How dare you do this on Martin Luther King Day,” before he was grabbed by people and escorted out.\n\nRep. Wesley Hunt of Texas later posted on X he was making a speech in support of Trump when the man interrupted and shouted Trump was \"racist.\"\n\n\"But on this day, of all days, Martin Luther King Day, the people of Iowa, just like President Trump judge me not by the color of my skin but by the content of my character,\" Hunt said.\n\n–Phillip Sitter\n\nDonald Trump 'honored' by the early call – and says nice things about opponents\n\nThe former president didn't mind the quick call of the Iowa caucuses.\n\n\"I feel great,\" Trump told Fox News Digital in a post-win interview. \"I am greatly honored by such an early call.\"\n\nTrump was in such a good mood that he had some nice things to say about his rivals (though not by name).\n\n\"It really is an honor that, minutes after, they’ve announced I’ve won - against very credible competition- great competition, actually,\" Trump said.\n\n–David Jackson\n\nHow did Donald Trump win so fast?\n\nNot even an hour after doors closed, the Associated Press called the 2024 Iowa Caucuses for Donald Trump at just 7:31pm local time. With just eight counties reporting their results, the winner was determined by a combination of entrance polling and results from a survey of planned voters run by AP.\n\nThe eight counties with results in were, according to AP, similar in demographics and political ideology of other large precincts yet to be counted.\n\nThe AP made their call based on this data as well as analysis from elections experts, researchers, and professional race callers.\n\nUSA TODAY called the Iowa victory for Trump based on AP’s analysis and call.\n\n– Sam Woodward\n\nRon DeSantis spokesperson alleges early race calling is 'election interference'\n\nRon DeSantis' campaign immediately criticized Trump's quick victory on Monday.\n\n\"It is absolutely outrageous that the media would participate in election interference by calling the race before tens of thousands of Iowans even had a chance to vote. The media is in the tank for Trump and this is the most egregious example yet,\" Andrew Romeo, DeSantis' campaign spokesperson, said in a statement.\n\n-Kim Norvell\n\nDonald Trump Jr. says ‘a win is a win is a win’ after his father declares victory in Iowa Caucus\n\nDonald Trump Jr. said “a win is a win is a win” for his father, regardless of the margin of victory Monday night.\n\nHe said Donald Trump’s opponents were trying to drag out the primary process by creating unrealistic expectations, pointing out that the record margin of victory in a contested Republican caucus is Bob Dole’s 12-point win.\n\n“I’d love to have it be a good victory,” he told reporters at the Franklin Jr. High caucus site in Des Moines. “But everyone says he’s gonna win by statistically impossible margins. And then if he does one point less than that – which would be an absolute drubbing – they’ll say, ‘He underperformed! There’s blood in the water!’”\n\n–Stephen Gruber-Miller\n\nNikki Haley and Donald Trump Jr. give dueling speeches at Des Moines caucus site\n\nNikki Haley and Donald Trump Jr. addressed caucusgoers Monday night with competing speeches at Franklin Jr. High in Des Moines.\n\nHaley urged caucusgoers to choose “a new generational leader” to lead the party, saying “You don’t defeat Democrat chaos with Republican chaos.”\n\n“I trust all of you. Iowans do their homework. They know their issues,” she added. “But more than that, you’re patriotic, God-fearing, hardworking Americans and this is your chance to show the power of your voice. And this is your chance to lead the way to get our country back on track.”\n\nTrump spoke after Haley at the caucus site, telling the crowd that the country was in good shape when his father was president. He accused Haley of wanting to involve the U.S. military in conflicts around the world.\n\n“If they want to be in every war in the history of the world, they should vote for Nikki Haley,” he said. “If they want to get back to peace and prosperity the choice is clear that it’s Trump.”\n\n– Stephen Gruber-Miller\n\nDonald Trump wins Iowa Caucus\n\nDonald Trump is projected to win the Iowa Caucus, according to the Associated Press and a slate of other outlets.\n\n– Marina Pitofsky\n\nWhat is my Iowa precinct number?\n\nIowans can find their designated caucus precinct through the Iowa Secretary of State website here.\n\nThey will be asked to enter their home ZIP code and address. After filling out their information, they’ll receive the address of the nearest polling site and directions.\n\nTo find the location of their precinct through the state’s GOP website click here and then on one of Iowa’s 99 counties.\n\nCaucusgoers must be a registered voter and registered Republican to participate. If they are not yet registered they can do so in-person at the caucus site.\n\n– Anthony Robledo\n\nIowa caucus results: GOP chair says it 'might be midnight,' but they’ll be patient with process\n\nIn the face of extreme winter weather conditions across the state, Iowa GOP Chairman Jeff Kaufmann said precinct chairs will be patient as Iowans travel to each caucus location.\n\n“It might be midnight that we have every single piece of data come in,” said Kaufmann, speaking to reporters about an hour before caucus sites were expected to open.\n\n“Certainly I would rather get those results later than have anybody hurry up beyond where they feel comfortable,” he added.\n\nKaufmann said they have asked Iowans to arrive at caucus sites as early as possible. He went on to say that while some sites have had to change locations due to weather and icy roads, they have not had any closures.\n\n“I’m perfectly comfortable with what is going on right now,” Kaufmann said.\n\n– Savannah Kuchar\n\nTrump motorcade arrives at caucus site\n\nDonald Trump is set to speak at a caucus site at Horizon Events Center in Clive, Iowa, with his presidential motorcade arriving just after 7 p.m.\n\nVivek Ramaswamy and Asa Hutchinson also were to address caucusgoers there.\n\n– Galen Bacharie\n\nWhat time is it in Iowa right now?\n\nThe entire state of Iowa is in Central time.\n\nVoting will begin there at 7 p.m., meaning 8 p.m. Eastern time and 5 p.m. Pacific time.\n\nThe state’s GOP chair has said it could take hours to know the ultimate outcome of the Iowa caucus, potentially until midnight in the Hawkeye State.\n\n– Savannah Kuchar\n\nRon DeSantis speaks at caucus sites in Dubuque, Iowa\n\nRon DeSantis blitzed the state on last time on Caucus Day and is ending an Iowa campaign that could make or break his presidential ambitions with pitches to voters at two Caucus sites in Dubuque.\n\nDeSantis was scheduled to speak at the Dubuque Roosevelt Middle School and Dubuque Table Mound Elementary School Caucus sites.\n\nHe also held campaign events in Seargent Bluff, Council Bluffs, and Cedar Rapids Monday.\n\n– Zac Anderson\n\nDoes every state have a caucus?\n\nNot every U.S. state holds a caucus. While some state parties, like Iowa, hold caucuses, other areas conduct presidential primary elections.\n\nThe following states will hold caucuses ahead of the 2024 General Election:\n\nIowa (Republicans on Jan. 15)\n\nNevada Republican s on Feb. 8 that will decide the state's delegates, though there is also a state-run Republican primary on Feb. 6)\n\non Feb. 8 that will decide the state's delegates, though there is also a state-run Republican primary on Feb. 6) Missouri (Republicans on March 2)\n\nIdaho (Republicans on March 2. Democrats on May 23)\n\nNorth Dakota (Republicans on March 4)\n\nUtah (Republicans on March 5)\n\nHawaii (Republicans on March 12)\n\nAlaska (No date yet for Republicans)\n\nThe following U.S. territories will also hold caucuses this year:\n\nThe Virgin Islands (Republicans on Feb. 8. No date yet for Democrats)\n\nAmerican Samoa (Democrats on March 5. No date yet for Republicans)\n\nNorthern Mariana Islands (No date yet for Republicans)– Anthony Robledo\n\nThe coldest caucus in Iowa history: Here’s your weather update\n\nOf the 1,675 precincts, none have closed despite marking the coldest caucus day with extreme winter weather conditions across the state.\n\nAs Iowans travel to their polling locations, the National Weather Service reports that parts of the state will experience life-threatening wind chills, in Des Moines, as low as 30 below. Most of the state is under a windchill warning, continuing into Tuesday.\n\nThe Iowa Department of Transportation reports most northern parts of the state are having normal winter conditions. In areas around Cedar Rapids and Iowa City, roads are covered in snow, slush and ice. Most roads in the southern part of the state are partially covered in snow with windy conditions expected to drift.\n\n– Sam Woodward\n\nWhy is the Iowa caucus so important for the election?\n\nFor 50 years, Iowans have gathered in school gymnasiums, community centers and family living rooms to kick off the nation's presidential nominating process, wielding their outsized influence to winnow and shape the field of contenders.\n\nAhead of each caucus, presidential candidates flood the state for months, if not years, to try to woo Iowans and gain their support. The national and international media descends on the state, ready to derive meaning from caucus night results.\n\n– Brianne Pfannenstiel\n\nWho is winning the election so far?\n\nDonald Trump has long led the Republican field, both in state and national surveys.\n\nIn a Real Clear Politics average of national Republican polls, Trump leads the group of GOP hopefuls with 61.4% Nikki Haley trails the former president with 12%, and DeSantis has garnered 10.7%\n\n– Marina Pitofsky\n\nIowa poll finds a Donald Trump conviction would be no big deal to most GOP caucusgoers\n\nFormer President Donald Trump is running an unprecedented campaign for the White House as he faces 91 criminal charges, bouncing between rallies and court appearances.\n\nDepending on how his four ongoing court battles proceed, he could be convicted of a crime before the general election in 2024. But just ahead of the first-in-the-nation Iowa Caucuses Monday, a majority of likely Republican caucusgoers say a Trump conviction would not affect their support, a new Des Moines Register/NBC News/Mediacom Iowa Poll finds.\n\nSixty-one percent say a potential conviction “does not matter” in determining their general election support for him. Nineteen percent say a conviction would make them more likely to support Trump, and 18% say it would make them less likely. Two percent say they are not sure.\n\n–Galen Bacharier\n\nDonald Trump stays low-key on caucus night\n\nUnless you count social media, Donald Trump spent the daylight hours of Iowa caucus day out of the public eye.\n\nReporters did catch the former president briefly at a hotel, where he predicted that \"we're going to have a great night.\"The Trump campaign, meanwhile, set up a post-caucus party at the Iowa Events Center.\n\n– David Jackson\n\nNikki Haley on immigration, the economy\n\nNikki Haley is trailing frontrunner Donald Trump in the race for the Republican nomination for president by 34 percentage points, a recent Suffolk University poll showed.\n\nThe former U.N. ambassador has cited her deep knowledge of world affairs and record of economic growth as governor throughout her campaign. She stays true to traditional Republican views on reducing government regulation, calling for tax cuts and a balancing the nation's budget, even coining the slogan “it’s time for an accountant in the White House.”\n\nHaley has vocalized that she views China as America’s biggest adversary by calling to end trade relations and eliminating Chinese investment in U.S. companies and universities. She has also distinguished herself from some of her rivals with her unapologetic support in continuing to aid Ukraine in its fight against Russia.\n\nAs the daughter of two Indian immigrants, Haley has vowed to improve legal immigration pathways and address the over 11 million estimated undocumented immigrants living in the U.S. As president, she pledges to crack down on illegal immigration at the U.S. southern border by once again requiring asylum seekers stay in the bordering country during their immigration proceedings and defunding cities that don’t enforce certain immigration laws.\n\n– Anthony Robledo\n\nRon DeSantis's campaign promises\n\nRon DeSantis entered the 2024 race last May, casting himself as an alternative to Donald Trump and a staunch conservative not afraid to partake in culture war battles.\n\nDeSantis has marked his time as governor with sweeping education bills adding fire to the flame of culture wars surrounding gender identity and parents’ rights in the state and more. He has been outspoken in his opposition against critical race theory, signing legislation to ban it and saying he had a mission to dismantle the so-called “woke” agenda in schools.\n\nHis support for Ukraine stops short of sending troops overseas and instead proposes to send them to the southern border. DeSantis said he supports the use of deadly force to secure the area from some illegal immigrants entering through the Mexican border.\n\nOn the first day of his potential presidency, DeSantis said he would reverse President Joe Biden's signature \"Bidenomics\" policies by slashing government spending and extending Trump-era tax cuts to achieve a goal of 3% economic growth for the country.\n\nAs governor, DeSantis signed a six-week abortion ban.\n\n– Sam Woodward\n\nIs there a Democratic caucus in Iowa?\n\nYes, Democrats will hold a caucus in Iowa this year too, which President Joe Biden is currently expected to win.\n\nBut Democrats will not be choosing a presidential candidate in-person on Jan. 15. Instead, they will be conducting party business, including electing delegates and alternate delegates to county conventions, electing county central committee members and submitting platform resolutions for county conventions.\n\nIn an effort to simplify their process and make it more inclusive, Iowa Democrats have moved to an entirely mail-in system of casting their presidential preferences. Iowa Democrats can request an absentee presidential preference card, which functions like a ballot, that they can fill out and return to the state party until March 5, when results will be announced.\n\nThe last day to submit a request for a preference card is Feb. 19. Cards can be requested online at iowademocrats.org/caucus.\n\n− Des Moines Register staff\n\nDonald Trump on the issues\n\nDonald Trump is the clear frontrunner in the race to secure the Republican nomination for president, even as he faces 91 charges across four criminal cases.\n\nTrump has made the cases a central focus of his reelection campaign, arguing he is being targeted and pledging to use the powers of the federal government to investigate alleged wrongdoing by his political opponents.\n\nHe has also pledged to ramp up deportations and arrests at the southern border, institute a more isolationist foreign policy approach and rejuvenate the economy by increasing oil drilling and reducing regulations.\n\nTrump has slammed crime in cities and floated using the military to crack down on protestors. He is opposed to most legislation aimed at slowing climate change. In Iowa, he has been more moderate on abortion, calling a six-week abortion ban like one that passed in the state a “horrible thing.”\n\nTrump has largely left the Iowa Caucuses famous retail politicking to his competitors, making only 22 public visits to the state the entire campaign cycle. However, he remained 32 percentage points ahead of the rest of the field in a December Iowa Poll.\n\n– Riley Beggin\n\nVivek Ramaswamy's political views\n\nVivek Ramaswamy, 38, is aiming to win Monday's caucuses by holding the most events in Iowa, which he did by far — 323 scheduled public events, according to the Des Moines Register's Candidate Tracker.\n\nAn Ohio native, Ramaswamy is a biotech entrepreneur who founded Roivant Sciences. He has written multiple books, including “Woke, Inc.: Inside Corporate America's Social Justice Scam” which describes capitalism as an invisible force in politics. He has criticized what he calls a “national identity crisis,” instead touting “faith, patriotism and hard work.”\n\nRamaswamy has also often noted on the campaign trail that he is the first millennial to run for president as a Republican.\n\nHe has proposed shutting down the Department of Education and redistributing that money back to parents. On immigration, he supports deporting swaths of undocumented immigrants and has balked at a path to legal citizenship for them. Ramaswamy has repeatedly opposed a federal abortion ban but has supported six-week bans in individual states with exceptions for rape, incest and severe medical emergencies.\n\n– Rachel Looker\n\nWhy Nikki Haley's supporters aren’t worried – but excited – about a potential second-place finish in Iowa\n\nRepublican presidential candidates made their final pushes in Iowa this weekend as the state gears up for Monday’s critical caucuses.\n\nNikki Haley enters caucus day with a 4-point lead ahead of Ron DeSantis, according to the latest Des Moines Register/NBC News/Mediacom poll. But she still trails Iowa’s expected winner, former Donald Trump, by almost 30 percentage points.\n\nHer likely barrel towards a second-place finish is not concerning her most fervent supporters, who came out to see her in treacherous weather that swept below zero degrees.\n\n– Savannah Kuchar\n\nDonald Trump risks a loss in Iowa – even if he wins the 2024 caucus. Here's how.\n\nAfter years of investigations, indictments and other unprecedented legal and political problems, former President Donald Trump on Monday will start to find out whether actual voters will validate his huge leads in polls.\n\nAs the Iowa caucuses roll around Monday night, Trump and his aides say they hope to win by a record margin − and maybe even exceed 50% support.\n\nBut at the same time, they know anything short of a blowout will be seen by opponents as a sign of potential weakness in the former president's bid to reclaim the White House. Trump on Sunday seemed to both set his own goal of 50% support in Iowa, while also downplaying the potential target.\n\n– David Jackson\n\nWhat is a caucus and how does it work?\n\nIn an election, a caucus refers to a group of party supporters meeting to choose their candidate in the months leading up to an election. They are run at the district, county or precinct level.\n\nCaucus participants give speeches and work to persuade other party members to support their candidates. Then, participants cast their votes either via secret ballot or as they're divided into groups based on who they support. Votes are counted in front of all caucus participants, tallied and sent to the state party.\n\n– Sam Woodward\n\nWhat’s the difference between a caucus and a primary?\n\nStates can choose whether to have a caucus or a primary to allow voters to choose their party’s nominee for president. In both cases, a candidate gets a number of delegates at the national party convention based on a percentage of the vote they received in that state.\n\nPrimaries are elections organized by the state, whereas caucuses are in-person meetings organized by political parties. Voters have to be a registered party member to participate.\n\nWhile primary voters fill out a secret ballot much like a general election, caucusgoers hear speeches from their neighbors on behalf of the candidates.\n\nAfterward, caucus attendees write down their preferred candidate on a slip of paper usually left blank. Each precinct tallies ballots and reports the total to the state party.\n\n– Riley Beggin\n\nWhen will Iowa caucus results be in?\n\nIowa Republicans are expecting a smooth night on Monday as they report caucus results from 1,657 precincts around the state, in contrast to issues that plagued Democrats' caucuses in 2020 and prevented reports of timely and accurate results.\n\nPatrick Stewart, a consultant for the Republican Party of Iowa, told reporters ahead of the 2024 contest that results from the smallest precincts, where only a few people show up to caucus, should be available about 30 minutes or so after their 7 p.m. start. Results from larger precincts should begin coming in over the next few hours.\n\nBut, historically, Iowa's caucus results haven't always been known right away on night.\n\n− Stephen Gruber-Miller\n\nHow does the Iowa caucus work?\n\nIowa caucusgoers on Monday will hold a binding vote for the party's presidential nominee and elect delegates to county conventions.\n\nVoters can visit 1,657 caucus sites throughout Iowa.\n\nVoting is done with a secret ballot with no set list of candidates to choose from. Some caucus sites provide pre-printed names of major candidates and a write-in option but most of the time voters write the name of the candidate on a blank paper sheet.\n\nThe event does not require a minimum threshold to qualify for delegates. Delegates will attend this summer's Republican National Convention in Milwaukee, where the Republican Party's official nominee will be chosen.\n\n– Anthony Robledo\n\nYes, there's Iowa Caucus merch\n\nDes Moines-based retailer Raygun once again has merchandise related to the Iowa Caucuses ready for shoppers wanting to memorialize the day with a witty T-shirt. Raygun, a popular stop for Iowa Caucus-visitors, has several new sarcastic designs available for purchase online and in stores.\n\nThose include a T-shirt with the phrase, “What the hell is a caucus? And where the hell is Iowa?” Other designs include shirt “Election 2024: Welp, I guess we’re doing this again\" and a button that reads “Iowa Caucuses: They’re Letting Us Do This Again?!”\n\nOwner Mike Draper told the Des Moines Register last week that the designs were inspired by a quote overheard on a New York subway and emailed to Raygun.More merchandise will be dependent on what happens out of the Iowa Caucuses, Draper explained.In 2020, Raygun produced a shirt faster than the Iowa Democratic Party was able to announce results after widespread reporting problems caused a significant delay.\n\n– Paris Barraza\n\nWhen does the Iowa caucus end?\n\nThe Iowa Caucus doesn't have a pre-set time when election officials are expected to announce a winner. The caucuses will start at 7 p.m. CT, and officials and organizers across the state are expected to give regular updates on their progress.\n\nBut keep in mind that, historically, Iowa's caucus results haven't always been known right away on election night.\n\n– Marina Pitofsky, Stephen Gruber-Miller\n\nWhat happens after the Iowa Caucus?\n\nThe Iowa Caucus is a pivotal presidential contest, but it leads into other primaries and caucuses across the country. After the Iowa Caucuses end, here are the next races where Republican candidates will face off for support.\n\nJan. 23: New Hampshire primary\n\nFeb. 8: Nevada caucus, Virgin Islands caucus\n\nFeb. 24: South Carolina primary\n\n– Marina Pitofsky\n\nRon DeSantis says he's not dropping out after Iowa\n\nHours before the official start of the Iowa Caucuses, Ron DeSantis and allies are busy swatting down suggestions that he should drop out if he does poorly in Iowa.\n\n\"We're going on with this,\" DeSantis told MSNBC. \"We've been built for the long haul. It's all about the accumulation of delegates.\"\n\n– David Jackson\n\nWhy each Republican candidate can win the Iowa Caucuses. (And why they can't)\n\nCaucus night is nearly here, and the campaigns are setting expectations for caucus night.\n\nDonald Trump, Nikki Haley, Ron DeSantis, Vivek Ramaswamy, Asa Hutchinson, Ryan Binkley – each has carved a path to victory in the Iowa Caucuses to collect the state's 40 delegates. But each has their weaknesses.\n\nHere's a rundown on where each candidate stands according to our January Iowa Poll; what their path to success in the Iowa Caucuses looks like; how they could fall short; and a key insight into every one of their campaigns.\n\n–Galen Bacharier\n\nVivek Ramaswamy shrugs off Donald Trump attack\n\nOne day after Donald Trump warned his supporters not to caucus for Vivek Ramaswamy during Monday's Iowa Caucuses, Ramaswamy said he would not engage with the former president.\n\nRamaswamy held five events Sunday, one day before Iowa's first-in-the-nation caucuses. During a briefing with reporters Sunday morning after an event in Ankeny, Ramaswamy called Trump's attack bad campaign advice.\n\nRamaswamy, 38, told reporters that he respects \"the heck out of Donald Trump\" and would support Trump if he gets the Republican nomination.\n\n“It was probably an unfortunate move by his campaign advisers,” Ramaswamy said of Trump’s post. “I think he probably got bad advice. I don’t think friendly fire within our America First movement is helpful, and I’m not going to hold it against him. I’m not going to criticize him in response because he was an excellent president.\"\n\n-Philip Joens\n\nWho are the Republican candidates?\n\nRon DeSantis: DeSantis serves as the 46th governor of Florida. While in law school, DeSantis joined the U.S. Navy as a JAG officer, later deploying to Iraq for active duty. Before his run for governor, he served in the House of Representatives as a congressman for Florida's 6th district for three terms from 2013 to 2018.\n\nDeSantis serves as the 46th governor of Florida. While in law school, DeSantis joined the U.S. Navy as a JAG officer, later deploying to Iraq for active duty. Before his run for governor, he served in the House of Representatives as a congressman for Florida's 6th district for three terms from 2013 to 2018. Nikki Haley: Haley started her political career in South Carolina's state legislature, where she served for 6 years before mounting a successful campaign for the governor's office in 2010. In 2016, former President Donald Trump nominated Haley to be U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, a position she held for a year before unexpectedly stepping down in 2018.\n\nHaley started her political career in South Carolina's state legislature, where she served for 6 years before mounting a successful campaign for the governor's office in 2010. In 2016, former President Donald Trump nominated Haley to be U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, a position she held for a year before unexpectedly stepping down in 2018. Asa Hutchinson : Hutchinson was first elected to the U.S. House of Representatives to serve Arkansas' 3rd district in 1997. He served until 2001 when he was appointed director for the Drug Enforcement Administration and later undersecretary for the Department of Homeland Security for former President George W. Bush's administration. After leaving Washington, he was elected 46th Governor of Arkansas. He served for two terms, from 2015 to 2023.\n\n: Hutchinson was first elected to the U.S. House of Representatives to serve Arkansas' 3rd district in 1997. He served until 2001 when he was appointed director for the Drug Enforcement Administration and later undersecretary for the Department of Homeland Security for former President George W. Bush's administration. After leaving Washington, he was elected 46th Governor of Arkansas. He served for two terms, from 2015 to 2023. Vivek Ramaswamy : Ramaswamy is a former biotech investor who founded the pharmaceutical research company Roivant Sciences in 2014. He stepped down as CEO in 2021 after going more public with his opposition to ESG and 'woke' politics in the corporate sector. He moved on to found Strive Asset Management, before stepping down to dedicate time to his 2024 run.\n\n: Ramaswamy is a former biotech investor who founded the pharmaceutical research company Roivant Sciences in 2014. He stepped down as CEO in 2021 after going more public with his opposition to ESG and 'woke' politics in the corporate sector. He moved on to found Strive Asset Management, before stepping down to dedicate time to his 2024 run. Donald Trump: Prior to 2016, Trump dabbled in politics, often sounding off on issues like the birther movement. However, he was still primarily known for real estate and his forays into reality television, famously starring in \"The Apprentice.\" In 2016, Trump won the White House, serving a full four-year term before being defeated by Biden in his reelection bid.–Anna Kaufman & Veronica Bravo\n\nTrump began Iowa caucus day with another blast at Ramaswamy\n\n\"A VOTE FOR VIVEK IS A WASTED VOTE,\" Trump said in an all-caps post on Truth Social, maintaining an attack plan that began over the weekend.\n\nTrump and allies said Ramaswamy is trying to keep their Iowa margin down by cutting into their vote.\n\n\"I LIKE VIVEK, BUT HE PLAYED IT TOO 'CUTE' WITH US,\" Trump said in his post.\n\nTrump used his second post to attack higher-polling rivals, Nikki Haley and Ron DeSantis.\n\n=David Jackson\n\nWho is projected to win? The Iowa Poll offers a snapshot of the state of the race\n\nFormer president Donald Trump shows a commanding lead among Republican candidates, but a Des Moines Register/NBC News/Mediacom Iowa Poll released Saturday showed Haley pulling ahead of DeSantis for the second-place spot for the first time. She has shown more upward momentum than any other candidate in the caucus cycle.\n\nIn addition his strides ahead of the other candidates, Trump may have more dedicated supporters. Poll results show that 82% of respondents who picked Trump as their first choice candidate said their mind was made up. For DeSantis and Haley supporters, that contingency came in at 64% and 63% respectively.\n\nStill, polls show man Republican caucusgoers aren't wild about MAGA, a movement referencing Trump's \"Make American Great Again\" slogan. Thirty-eight percent of poll respondents said they have neutral feelings about the MAGA movement, and 17% say they are “anti-MAGA.”\n\n– Brianne Pfannenstiel, Michaela Ramm & Kinsey Crowley\n\nMost GOP caucusgoers aren’t wild about MAGA, Iowa Poll shows\n\nWhile former President Donald Trump has built a commanding lead with likely Republican caucusgoers in Iowa, less than half identify with his MAGA brand, according to a new Des Moines Register/NBC News/Mediacom Iowa Poll.\n\nForty percent of Iowans who plan to caucus for Republicans Monday say they align with the MAGA identity, a reference to Trump’s “Make America Great Again” slogan, which has sometimes become synonymous with conservative politics.\n\nEighteen percent of likely Republican caucusgoers say they consider themselves “ultra MAGA,” and 22% say they identify as “just regular MAGA” supporters.\n\nOf the anti-Maga contingent, 60% plan to vote for U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley, who has coalesced the never-Trump contingent into her camp of supporters.\n\n-Galen Bacharier\n\nIowa weather today: What's the forecast for Caucus day?\n\nWhile Monday's caucus is expected to be the coldest on record, there won't be much new snow.\n\nAccuWeather meteorologist Kerry Schwindenhammer said there will be very little precipitation, with conditions mainly dry with a mix of clouds and sunshine. Snow from last week's blizzard remains across much of the state, though Schwindenhammer expects conditions will ease today.\n\nWinds in northwestern Iowa are expected to move at 10 to 20 mph. However, the arctic air will make being outside brutal nonetheless.\n\n“This kind of cold can be downright dangerous. It's not a time to go outside and wear a light jacket, you're going to want to bundle up,\" Schwindenhammer said. \"Wear all the layers you need to wear in order to stay warm here. And the less time you can spend outdoors, the better.\"\n\n– Anthony Robledo\n\nLatest forecast: Bundle up for subzero temps, coldest caucus on record\n\nBitterly frigid temperatures and subzero wind chills throughout Iowa will test caucusgoer's willingness to support their favorite presidential candidates today.\n\nMonday is expected to be the coldest Iowa Caucus since it began in 1972. The low at the first caucuses was four degrees below zero, with a wind chill of 26 degrees below zero. The high that day was 25 degrees.\n\nThe forecast for today calls for a high of zero degrees, according to AccuWeather meteorologist Kerry Schwindenhammer. But temperatures, he said, could feel like 20 to 25 degrees below zero — or even 30 degrees below zero in some spots.– Anthony Robledo\n\nWhen is the Iowa caucus?\n\nThe Iowa caucuses are scheduled for Jan. 15, starting at 7 p.m.\n\nThe Democratic and Republican contests are operating differently this year. Catch up with the the Des Moines Register, part of the USA TODAY Network, on what you need to know about the races.\n\n– Marina Pitofsky", "authors": [], "publish_date": "2024/01/15"}, {"url": "https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/elections/presidential/caucus/2016/01/30/donald-trump-reclaims-lead-latest-iowa-poll/79562322/", "title": "Donald Trump reclaims lead in latest Iowa Poll", "text": "Jennifer Jacobs\n\njejacobs@dmreg.com\n\n© COPYRIGHT 2016, DES MOINES REGISTER AND TRIBUNE COMPANY\n\nDonald Trump has muscled ahead in Iowa, regaining his lead on the brink of the first votes being cast in the 2016 presidential race.\n\nTrump stands at 28 percent, while rival Ted Cruz has slid to 23 percent. But there’s still a strong case for Cruz in this race — he’s more popular and respected than Trump, the final Des Moines Register/Bloomberg Politics Iowa Poll shows.\n\n“The drill-down shows, if anything, stronger alignment with Cruz than Trump, except for the horse race,” said J. Ann Selzer, the pollster for the Iowa Poll.\n\nMainstream Republicans, faced with seeing governors Jeb Bush and Chris Christie stalling and the grim reality looming of a victory by a smash-mouth game show host or an ultra-conservative obstructionist, have gravitated toward Marco Rubio. The young-looking, first-term U.S. senator from Florida is now at 15 percent. Still, Trump gets more of their support.\n\n“Donald Trump could win Iowa,” said Stuart Stevens, a Maryland-based GOP strategist who has worked on five presidential campaigns but is neutral this election cycle. “But he has little room for error. He is almost no one's second choice.”\n\nMORE ON THE IOWA POLL\n\nRubio and Cruz, in contrast, are popular backup selections.\n\nAnother sign of a possible cliffhanger Monday night: Although just 9 percent of likely GOP caucusgoers haven't yet made a choice, they're part of the 45 percent who could be persuaded to change their minds in the final hours before the nation fires the starting gun on 2016 presidential voting at 7 p.m. in Iowa.\n\nTrump excels with voters who have never participated in the caucuses. But the poll, conducted Tuesday through Friday, detects no flood of fresh voters.\n\nA victory for Trump would give him a huge head start toward the nomination, paving the way for him to achieve the unprecedented feat of winning both the first caucus voting in Iowa and the first primary in New Hampshire. A second-place finish for Cruz could make his path to the nomination difficult. He was expected to dominate in Iowa, where fellow religious conservatives make up a bigger bloc than in many other states.\n\nThe rest of the GOP field is struggling, the poll shows.\n\nBen Carson has dropped to 10 percent, remaining in double digits but with his lowest support since May.\n\nRand Paul remains at 5 percent.\n\nChristie is still at 3 percent.\n\nWith 2 percent each: Bush, Carly Fiorina, Mike Huckabee, John Kasich and Rick Santorum.\n\nAn irreverent New York real estate mogul and reality TV icon, Trump hasn’t been a front-runner in an Iowa Poll since August, when he had 23 percent support. Carson, a mild-mannered retired brain surgeon and inspirational book author, snatched the crown from Trump in October with 28 percent, but has since collapsed to fourth place.\n\nCruz, a Texas U.S. senator and anti-Washington crusader, streaked to the poll's zenith with 31 percent in December, but his 10-point edge over Trump eroded as his presidential rivals attacked him as a shape-shifter on issues, a faux Christian and an illegitimate American citizen. And on Jan. 19, Iowa’s powerful establishment Republican governor condemned him as a danger to the state’s agriculture economy.\n\nAfter months of under-performing in a state where he is perceived as palatable to both establishment and anti-establishment voters, Rubio is up 3 percentage points since early January. But there's no indication of a surge: His support declined during the four days of polling.\n\nThe new Iowa Poll of 602 likely Republican caucusgoers was conducted Jan. 26-29 by Selzer & Co. of Des Moines. The margin of error is plus or minus 4 percentage points.\n\nGet ready to caucus, how to follow live results\n\nHere are some highlights:\n\n1. Nothing in this poll forecasts a groundswell of new people.\n\nJust 40 percent of the likely GOP electorate is made up of first-time caucusgoers, which is on par with the 38 percent of first-time caucusgoers reflected in 2012 entrance polling.\n\nIn 2008, the year Democrats ignited passions outside a tight circle of party activists, entrance polling showed 57 percent of Democrats hadn't caucused before.\n\nTrump leads both with Iowans who say they’ll definitely vote and those who will probably vote. “Turnout seems not to affect him,\" Selzer said. \"Either way, he seems on solid ground.”\n\nAmong first-time caucusgoers, Trump has a 16-point lead. But the universe of experienced caucusgoers is bigger, where Cruz has a 3-point lead.\n\n2. If evangelicals turn out with the same force as in 2012, the race will be closer.\n\nThis poll shows 47 percent of likely Republican caucusgoers identify themselves as evangelical or born-again Christians. Entrance polling four years ago measured 57 percent.\n\nWhen Selzer rejiggered the new Iowa Poll results to reflect a hypothetical 60 percent evangelical turnout, the race tightens: Trump gets 26 percent of their support, and Cruz gets 25 percent.\n\n3. Is Trump’s lead so solid in Iowa that, as he put it, he could just about shoot somebody and get away with it?\n\nHe's up 6 percentage points since the early-January Iowa Poll.\n\nHis supporters are hardened in their bunkers: 71 percent say their minds are made up, 10 points higher than for Cruz supporters.\n\nAnother number that jumps off the page in an election where many Republican voters cite national security as their top issues: 50 percent of likely caucusgoers say Trump would be most feared by enemies of the United States. Twenty-one percent name Cruz. Rubio is viewed as an amateur in this area, with only 5 percent.\n\nTrump’s voters have said they want him to stick it to The Man — and he’s seen as a better change agent than Cruz and a stronger leader.\n\n4. There are niggling worries about Trump.\n\nHe’s not the most knowledgeable or most experienced in the race, likely caucusgoers say.\n\nThat’s Cruz.\n\nTrump isn’t the most respected by leaders of countries friendly to the United States.\n\nThat’s Cruz.\n\nWhat dents Trump most: his comfort with use of eminent domain and past statements that he favors abortion rights.\n\nIt bothers 60 percent of likely caucusgoers that Trump supports using government powers to seize property. It bothers 56 percent that he supported abortion rights in the past and would not have banned late-term abortions.\n\nQuestions about his familiarity with the Bible troubles 36 percent, and his bankruptcy filings for four businesses bugs 34 percent.\n\nNegatives about Trump show up in his favorability rating: He’s above water by only his famous hair-do, with 50 percent who view him positively and 47 percent who think negatively about him.\n\n“I don't think that bodes well for him moving ahead. Ultimately, a nominee must move to unite the party as other candidates drop out,” Stevens said.\n\nTrump is upside-down with women (40 percent positive, 58 percent think negatively about him) and voters who consider themselves in the evangelical lane (42 percent positive, 56 percent negative).\n\n“One thing is clear: Trump is a very unusual candidate for a primary,” Stevens said.\n\n18 hours on the Iowa caucuses campaign trail\n\n5. Cruz’s downward spiral continues: He’s down 8 points since early December.\n\n“The trend is your friend in the last days of a campaign, and Cruz is not on a good trend,” Stevens said. “That would scare the hell out of me if I were in Cruz's camp.”\n\nIf the vote had been in early January like it was during the 2012 presidential election cycle, Cruz appeared headed to a caucus win, leading in Iowa polling and buoyed by the endorsements of U.S. Rep. Steve King and Christian conservative leader Bob Vander Plaats.\n\nBut now, even in King's congressional district, where social conservatives dominate and Trump has visited just three times, Trump is up by 1 point. Cruz, in contrast, has stopped in every county in the state.\n\nCruz’s favorability has dropped 11 percentage points, from 76 percent to 65 percent, since early January.\n\n6. But Cruz is stronger than Trump, if you look beyond the horse-race numbers.\n\nThere’s an appreciation for Cruz even among those who aren’t intending to vote for him, Selzer said.\n\nCruz has the greatest depth of knowledge and experience in the field, a plurality of likely caucusgoers say.\n\nGOP caucusgoers are more comfortable with Cruz winning the nomination, becoming president and representing the United States to the world than they are with Trump.\n\nIf the race eventually comes down to two Republicans, 53 percent say they would prefer Cruz as the nominee, not Trump. Just 35 percent would choose Trump in a one-on-one contest with Cruz.\n\n“Shake this all together and throw it out on the dice board, and I would predict that Cruz will win,” Stevens said.\n\n7. If Iowa Republicans didn’t like Trump's decision to skip this week's debate, there’s little sign they’re holding it against him.\n\nForty-six percent of likely caucusgoers say they don’t care that he boycotted Fox News’ event, the final match-up before the vote.\n\nJust 29 percent say they disapprove, while 24 approve of Trump's choice, which was announced the day this poll went into the field.\n\n8. Gov. Terry Branstad's call for Cruz's defeat doesn't appear to hurt him.\n\nSeventy-seven percent say it makes no difference to them that less than two weeks before the vote, the Iowa governor publicly described Cruz as \"the biggest opponent of renewable fuels\" and a politician who \"could be very damaging to our state.\"\n\nEleven percent say Branstad's opposition makes them less likely to support Cruz, but that's balanced by the 11 percent who say they're actually more likely to back Cruz thanks to Branstad.\n\n9. Should rivals have turned their fire on Trump earlier?\n\nAlmost everyone saw their favorability rating take a hit, the poll shows. Cruz’s is down 11 points, as is Christie’s. Bush’s dropped 6 points, Paul’s 5 points, Trump’s 4 points, Rubio’s 3 points, and Carson’s 1 point.\n\nThe explosion of end-of-the-race attacks and negative TV ads likely contributed.\n\nIf Cruz pulls up short on Monday, the question will linger: Was his earlier strategy to embrace Trump a mistake?\n\nFor months, Cruz refused to criticize Trump, in an apparent bid to avoid his ire and inherit his support when Trump faltered. But Trump didn’t falter. He ruthlessly turned his howitzers on Cruz, most notably for his birth in Canada and his Wall Street loans.\n\n“One of this cycle's great mysteries is why both Ted Cruz and Jeb Bush didn't provide more information to voters earlier about Donald Trump,” Stevens said.\n\nBoth had super PACs with vast resources, but they were largely silent as Trump grew in strength.\n\n“By trying to be Trump's best friend, Cruz was feeding the alligator, hoping it would eat him last,” Stevens said. “That never works.”\n\n10. If voters change their mind at the last minute, Cruz benefits most.\n\nAmong Carson's backers, a plurality name Cruz as their second choice. The same is true of Trump's voters, and of Rubio's voters.\n\nAmong those who could still be persuaded to pick a different candidate, it’s a very close race, with Cruz leading, then Trump and Rubio right behind.\n\nAbout the poll\n\nThe Iowa Poll, conducted January 26-29 for The Des Moines Register and Bloomberg Politics by Selzer & Co. of Des Moines, is based on telephone interviews with 602 registered Iowa voters who say they definitely or probably will attend the 2016 Republican caucuses and 602 registered voters who say they definitely or probably will attend the 2016 Democratic caucuses.\n\nInterviewers contacted 3,019 randomly selected active voters from the Iowa secretary of state’s voter registration list by telephone. Responses were adjusted by age, sex and congressional district to reflect all active voters in the voter registration list.\n\nQuestions based on the subsamples of 602 likely Democratic caucus attendees or 602 likely Republican caucus attendees each have a maximum margin of error of plus or minus 4.0 percentage points. This means that if this survey were repeated using the same questions and the same methodology, 19 times out of 20, the findings would not vary from the percentages shown here by more than plus or minus 4.0 percentage points. Results based on smaller samples of respondents — such as by gender or age — have a larger margin of error.\n\nRepublishing the copyright Iowa Poll without credit to The Des Moines Register and Bloomberg Politics is prohibited.", "authors": [], "publish_date": "2016/01/30"}, {"url": "https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/elections/2024/01/14/donald-trump-says-its-worth-it-to-vote-in-iowa-caucus/72226921007/", "title": "Donald Trump urges supporters to caucus even if they 'pass away ...", "text": "Former President Donald Trump made a final plea for supporters Sunday afternoon to show up in the frigid cold to caucus for him, revisiting familiar lines of attack against his political opponents while tempering expectations of his predicted margin of victory.\n\n\"You can't sit home,\" Trump said. \"If you're sick as a dog … even if you vote and then pass away, it's worth it.\"\n\nTrump, who was scheduled to hold four in-person rallies throughout the state this weekend before scrapping three because of an extended blizzard, spoke to a packed Simpson College auditorium after supporters stood in line for hours in wind chills that reached the mid-negative 40s.\n\n\"If this is any indication, the storm has had zero effect,\" Trump said. \"You're very hearty people, I've heard that.\"\n\nThe former president assembled a cadre of celebrity endorsers and members of Congress backing him for the final push in Iowa, including WWE star Kane, British politician Nigel Farage and longtime Iowa wrestling coach Dan Gable.\n\nPrep for the polls: See who is running for president and compare where they stand on key issues in our Voter Guide\n\nHaving previously voiced concerns about his large polling lead making supporters complacent, Trump asked supporters in no uncertain terms to show up to their caucus sites tomorrow night — no matter what.\n\nIowa Caucus 2024 live updates:Trump, Haley and other 2024 Republicans rally before crucial contest\n\nTrump donned white-and-gold 'caucus captain' hats\n\nAs Trump met with volunteers at Hotel Fort Des Moines on Sunday morning, donning one of the campaign's custom white-and-gold \"caucus captain\" hats, he remarked that he didn't believe he would eclipse 50% of the vote on Caucus Day.\n\n\"There seems to be something about 50, I don't know if we break 50,\" Trump said.\n\nHe pointed to the record Republican margin of victory in the caucuses (a 12-point win by Bob Dole in 1996), a number advisers cited in recent days as a benchmark for what they would consider a successful night.\n\nThe 50% mark, Trump argued, was set by press and analysts to set him up for disappointment.\n\n\"I think they're doing it so that they can set a high expectation,\" Trump said. \"So if we end with 49%, which would be about 25 points bigger than anyone else has ever gotten, they can say 'it was a failure.'\"\n\nTrump has set sky-high expectations throughout the campaign in Iowa, matching his unprecedented lead in polling as the faraway front-runner.\n\nEx-rival Marco Rubio endorses Donald Trump\n\nTrump received a surprising endorsement from Sen. Marco Rubio on Sunday.\n\nOnce an ex-rival who called Trump \"a con artist,\" the U.S. senator from Florida expressed admiration for a few things the candidate did as president, such as expanding the child tax credit and levying sanctions against Cuba and Venezuela.\n\n\"We had a President who didn’t cave to special interests or let bureaucrats block us,\" Rubio said in a statement shared by the Trump 2024 campaign.\n\nNorth Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum also endorsed Trump as a special guest at his Indianola, Iowa, rally. Burgum, who dropped out of the race in December, said Trump promises to \"deliver energy dominance\" to the nation.\n\nGOP rivals urge voters to consider new party frontrunner\n\nFormer Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson said his fellow GOP candidates need to urge the country to head in a different direction than making Trump the party's nominee.\n\n\"And if someone does not say that, then ... we're basically saying he's going to be a great nominee for us,\" Hutchinson said at his meet and greet on Sunday at Jethro's BBQ in Ames, Iowa. \"One person in America who really likes the poll numbers where they see Donald Trump 28 points ahead is Joe Biden. He's sitting there loving it because that's the one chance he has to win.\"\n\nHutchinson is polling at 1%, according to the latest Des Moines Register/NBC News/Mediacom Iowa Poll that places Trump at 48% and former U.N. ambassador Nikki Haley at second place with 20%.\n\nFlorida Gov. Ron DeSantis also warned voters on Sunday when he was asked to give his closing arguments in an interview with ABC’s \"This Week.\" The Florida governor said Trump is \"running for his issues\" while he’s “running for your issues and your family's issues.\"", "authors": [], "publish_date": "2024/01/14"}, {"url": "https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2018/12/15/iowa-poll-caucuses-2020-joe-biden-bernie-sanders-beto-orourke-elizabeth-warren-register-cnn-democrat/2326989002/", "title": "Iowa Poll: Biden, Sanders top early look at possible 2020 caucus field", "text": "© Copyright 2018, Des Moines Register and Tribune Co.\n\nDES MOINES, Iowa – Joe Biden and Bernie Sanders top the list of potential presidential candidates preferred by Iowa's likely Democratic caucusgoers, reflecting their belief that it will take political experience to defeat President Donald Trump in 2020.\n\nThe results are part of a new Des Moines Register/CNN/Mediacom Iowa Poll, setting the stage for the contest that will sweep across Iowa in the next 14 months.\n\nA massive field of Democratic candidates representing the full spectrum of political experience is beginning to take shape. Nearly half of poll respondents in the first-in-the-nation presidential caucus state — 49 percent — say the right person to defeat Trump should be a \"seasoned political hand\" rather than a \"newcomer.\"\n\nThe poll of 455 likely Democratic caucusgoers has a margin of error of plus or minus 4.6 percentage points. It was conducted Dec. 10 through 13.\n\nPrep for the polls: See who is running for president and compare where they stand on key issues in our Voter Guide\n\nMore from the Iowa Poll:\n\nWarm welcome to familiar faces\n\nFormer Vice President Biden – who campaigned for president in Iowa ahead of the 1988 and 2008 caucuses and was first elected to the U.S. Senate in 1972 – tops the list of 20 declared and possible candidates tested in the poll. Thirty-two percent of respondents say he is their first choice for president.\n\nSanders, the senator from Vermont who narrowly lost in the 2016 Iowa caucuses to eventual nominee Hillary Clinton, follows Biden with 19 percent.\n\n\"This is obviously a warm welcome to some people who are really familiar to caucusgoers in the state,\" said J. Ann Selzer, president of Selzer & Co., the firm that conducted the poll. \"But there’s also some welcoming of newcomers who are only now starting to come to the state and get to know the people who could shape their future.\"\n\nThirty-six percent of poll respondents say a political \"newcomer\" is best suited to defeat the president.\n\nIn that role, Iowans currently favor Beto O’Rourke, the retiring U.S. representative from Texas who narrowly lost a U.S. Senate race to sitting Republican Ted Cruz. Though he lost, O'Rourke raised unprecedented amounts of money and drew national attention.\n\nO’Rourke earns support from 11 percent of respondents, who say he's their first choice for president.\n\nEight percent say Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren is their first choice. No other candidate tops 5 percent.\n\nName ID benefits Biden, Sanders\n\nThis early in the process, Biden’s and Sanders’ strong showings are due, in large part, to high name recognition, Selzer said.\n\n\"This is not Joe Biden’s first rodeo – or second rodeo, for that matter,\" she said.\n\nEighty-two percent of likely Democratic caucusgoers say they have a favorable view of Biden, and 15 percent view him unfavorably. Just 4 percent are unsure, signaling they don’t know enough to form an opinion about him.\n\nSanders rates similarly: 74 percent view him favorably, 22 percent unfavorably and just 4 percent are unsure.\n\nNeither have yet confirmed they plan to run for president.\n\nBiden said he plans to decide in the next two months, calling himself \"the most qualified person in the country to be president.\" According to a report from the New York Times, Sanders recently indicated in a private meeting with Warren that he’s likely to run, though he has not publicly discussed a timeline for making such a decision.\n\nMatt Paul, a longtime Iowa political operative who ran Hillary Clinton’s 2016 Iowa campaign as state director, said potential candidates who take an early lead in polling may face more hurdles than others who initially poll lower.\n\n\"It will create an expectation that these campaigns will have to meet and exceed for the next – what are we, 14 months away?\" he said. \"That’s not just a long time, but an eternity, in campaign days.\"\n\nThe 2020 Iowa caucuses are set for Feb. 3.\n\nHillary Zirbel, a 25-year-old retail worker from Sioux City, says Biden is her first choice for president, followed by Sanders.\n\n\"I think that (Biden) would represent the country well and, unlike Donald Trump, he’s more political and he has more experience,\" she said.\n\nZirbel is among the 54 percent of respondents who say they care more about nominating a candidate with a strong chance of defeating Donald Trump than about picking the candidate who best aligns with their political views.\n\nForty percent of respondents say it’s most important that the winner of the caucuses shares their positions on major issues.\n\n\"My reaction to that is it’s entirely a reaction to Donald Trump in this experiment, with an outsider who’s never been involved in politics or government before and, from a Democrat’s perspective, how disastrous that’s been for the country,\" said Norm Sterzenbach, a former executive director of the Iowa Democratic Party. \"It seems like Iowa Democrats are not interested in taking a chance again.\"\n\nSterzenbach said he had anticipated that newer, fresher names like Kamala Harris, Cory Booker and O’Rourke would shine early on in the caucus process but then ultimately give way to the more experienced and seasoned candidates closer to caucus day.\n\nA second tier of candidates emerges\n\nAfter Biden, Sanders, O’Rourke and Warren, a second tier of candidates is currently garnering support in the mid-single digits. They include:\n\nAmong those candidates, Booker and Harris fare slightly better when factoring in poll respondents who name them as their second choice. The two senators each garnered support from 11 percent of respondents, who list them as either their first or second choice.\n\nSecond choices have been important in the Democrats' caucus night process because if a caucusgoer's first choice fails to advance, the caucusgoer then has to make another choice.\n\nAdding first and second choices elevates Booker and Harris over Bloomberg, who gets 6 percent, and Klobuchar, who gets 5 percent.\n\nHallie Shera-Bergman, a 53-year-old Swan resident, said of Booker: \"I like that he’s passionate about just standing up for people of color and for people of so many mixed backgrounds. It’s just so needed right now, and he’s just so passionate about stopping this culture of hatred that has just sprung up.\"\n\nShera-Bergman listed O’Rourke as her second choice and said she is also interested in Harris. Overall, she hopes to see a newcomer garner support in the Iowa caucuses and beyond.\n\nSome candidates bank on early-and-often campaign style\n\nA dozen other potential and declared candidates earn support from 1 percent of respondents or less. But history shows Iowa is a place where anyone can win, Selzer said.\n\n\"If Bernie Sanders taught us anything in 2016, it’s that you can start with nothing and do everything but win,\" she said. \"He started at 3 percent. So take a look at all of those who are in those low single digits – with the right set of circumstances, what we know is anyone can come to Iowa and win. Anyone.\"\n\nSome, like U.S. Rep. John Delaney of Maryland, have taken to heart the mantra that those who want to succeed in Iowa show up early and often.\n\nDelaney, who declared his candidacy in October 2017, has already completed his first 99-county tour of the state and has aired more than $1.5 million in television ads.\n\nBut despite all the time and effort he’s put into campaigning here, Delaney so far is failing to gain traction. Twenty-five percent of respondents view him favorably, 11 percent view him unfavorably and 64 percent are unsure. About 1 percent of respondents name him as their first or second choice for president.\n\nCalifornia Rep. Eric Swalwell is another possible contender who has committed considerable time and resources to Iowa: He’s made 13 trips to the state and is scheduled to return next week, he’s leveraged his leadership PAC to contribute more than $100,000 to Iowa Democrats, and he sent staff and volunteers to Iowa ahead of the midterms.\n\nOthers who poll at or below 1 percent include: Ohio Sen. Sherrod Brown, Montana Gov. Steve Bullock, former U.S. Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Julian Castro, Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti, New York Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper, former U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder, Washington Gov. Jay Inslee and activist Tom Steyer.\n\nWith 14 months until Iowans caucus in February 2020, the field is likely to shift dramatically in the coming months as candidates formally launch their campaigns.\n\n\"We’re at the very beginning of an unknown future,\" Selzer said.\n\nAbout the Poll\n\nThe Iowa Poll, conducted Dec. 10-13, 2018, for the Des Moines Register, CNN and Mediacom by Selzer & Co. of Des Moines, is based on telephone interviews with 455 registered voters in Iowa who say they will definitely or probably participate in the 2020 Democratic caucuses.\n\nInterviewers with Quantel Research contacted 1,838 randomly selected active voters from the Iowa secretary of state’s voter registration list by telephone. The sample was supplemented with additional phone number lookups. Interviews were administered in English. Responses for all contacts were adjusted by age and congressional district to reflect their proportions among active voters in the list.\n\nQuestions based on the sample of 455 voters likely to attend the 2020 Iowa Democratic caucuses have a maximum margin of error of plus or minus 4.6 percentage points. This means that if this survey were repeated using the same questions and the same methodology, 19 times out of 20, the findings would not vary from the true population value by more than plus or minus 4.6 percentage points. Results based on smaller samples of respondents — such as by gender or age — have a larger margin of error.\n\nRepublishing the copyright Iowa Poll without credit to the Des Moines Register, CNN and Mediacom is prohibited.", "authors": [], "publish_date": "2018/12/15"}, {"url": "https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/elections/2019/11/22/iowa-caucuses-when-have-recent-caucus-winners-surged-polls/4270487002/", "title": "When have recent Iowa caucus winners surged in the polls? Hint ...", "text": "DES MOINES — First-place finishers for the past four Iowa caucus cycles — with the exception of Hillary Clinton in 2016 — all surged ahead sometime in the final months before the caucus, from November through January.\n\nThat’s good news for South Bend, Indiana, Mayor Pete Buttigieg, who jumped 16 percentage points from September to lead the pack in November’s Des Moines Register/CNN/Mediacom Iowa Poll, conducted by Selzer & Co. He is the first choice of 25% of likely Democratic caucusgoers.\n\nThat jump is an even more pronounced surge than Barack Obama’s in 2007, when the Illinois senator jumped 6 percentage points from October to November, then another 4 points in December. Buttigieg has been drawing parallels between himself and Obama.\n\nBut a November surge also doesn't assure a victory.\n\nIn caucus cycles since 2004, only three candidates who were first in the November Iowa Poll — Clinton, Obama and Mike Huckabee — won their party's caucus a few months later. The three other candidates who went on to win the caucus had not yet captured the lead in November, and sometimes trailed by large margins. Ted Cruz was in third place in October 2016, and John Kerry was in third in November 2004. Rick Santorum was tied for sixth in November 2011.\n\nPrep for the polls: See who is running for president and compare where they stand on key issues in our Voter Guide\n\n► More: Iowa Caucuses Results History: 1972 to 2016\n\nFormer U.S. Rep. Dave Nagle, an Iowa Democrat, said a last-minute surge is the key to a successful caucus campaign. It’s a maxim that’s become known in Iowa politics as the “Nagle Rule.”\n\n“There are three rules to success in Iowa,” Nagle said in a phone interview. “Rule No. 1 is: Organize. Rule No. 2 is: Organize. Rule No. 3 is: You get hot at the end.”\n\nWith two and a half months left before the Feb. 3, 2020, caucuses, Democratic presidential hopefuls have plenty of time to “get hot” and move up, even within a shifting field.\n\nThe ups and downs of a November surge\n\nButtigieg’s trajectory in Iowa so far resembles the path U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz took to win the 2016 Republican caucus.\n\nCruz was polling comfortably near the rest of the pack in the summer of 2015, though he lagged significantly behind early favorites Ben Carson, a neurosurgeon, and businessman Donald Trump. In the October 2015 Iowa Poll, 10% of likely Republican caucusgoers chose Cruz as their first choice, ranking him third.\n\nButtigieg started this autumn in a similar place. In the September Iowa Poll, he was fourth, with 9% of likely Democratic caucusgoers naming him as their first choice for president. Buttigieg was 13 percentage points behind the poll leader, U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, at 22%.\n\nBoth Cruz and Buttigieg leaped over previously leading candidates in a single poll. Cruz’s support skyrocketed to 31% in the 2015 December poll, overtaking both Trump and Carson.\n\nFrom the early December poll through the February caucus, Cruz struggled somewhat to keep his momentum. In early January, his support had fallen to 25% and then to 23% in a poll right before the caucuses, when he trailed Trump by 5 points.\n\nCruz won the Republican 2016 Iowa caucuses, with 27.6% of the vote.\n\nBut sometimes a mid-fall surge dissipates as quickly as it began.\n\nIn the 2012 race, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich shot to 25% and first place in a November poll of likely Republican caucusgoers, after polling at fifth place with 7% in October.\n\nThe lead disappeared by the end of December, when he fell back to 12%. Gingrich was a distant fourth on caucus night.\n\n\"The caucuses are replete with stories (of candidates) who've gotten out early and then came under closer public scrutiny and couldn't maintain their position as the front-runner,” Nagle said.\n\n“I think, if I were, for example, looking at Mayor Buttigieg right now, I'd be a little worried. It's November. You don't want to be hot in November because then you become a target,\" he said. \"What you want to do is become hot in the last two weeks of January.\"\n\nGetting hot at the end\n\nAs Gingrich enjoyed his moment on top of the polls, former U.S. Sen. Rick Santorum of Pennsylvania lay in wait. In that same November 2011 poll, Santorum garnered just 6% of the vote, tied with Texas Gov. Rick Perry in sixth place.\n\nSantorum languished in early Iowa Polls. In June, October and November 2011, he gained only 2 percentage points, moving up from 4%. He was not leading among any demographic groups. He did not poll highest on any questions of positive or negative attributes.\n\n“Conservatives have kept talking up the chances of the former Pennsylvania senator, who has spent more time in the state than any other candidate,” former Register political columnist Kathie Obradovich wrote one month before the 2012 caucus. “He’s just not a factor, and there’s not much time left.”\n\nSantorum and his family had moved temporarily to Iowa over the summer of 2011. While he didn’t seem to be gaining traction among voters, he had campaigned in all 99 counties in Iowa.\n\nIn the final Iowa Poll, published just days before the caucus, Santorum found his stride: He shot up to third place, with 15% of the respondents ranking him as their first choice.\n\n“The former Pennsylvania senator embodies the old political saw: Work like hell and get lucky at the end,” Obradovich wrote in a column published two days before the 2012 caucuses. “He’s logged over 100 days in Iowa, more than any other candidate, toiling in virtual obscurity.”\n\nSantorum and Mitt Romney, the former Massachusetts governor, who had been a strong contender since the summer before, were nearly tied in returns on caucus night. Initially the caucuses were called in favor of Romney by 8 votes, but two weeks and a recount later, the Iowa Republican Party announced that Santorum had a 34-vote advantage.\n\n\"If you're in this race, until the second week of January, it's not late,” Nagle said. “The second week of January is when you want to start looking to who's moving up and who's falling back.\"\n\nWhat it means for 2020 hopefuls\n\nOne factor that might make a late surge more difficult this cycle: The race is more stratified at this point than most. After Buttigieg comes a tight pack of Warren at 16% and U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont and former Vice President Joe Biden, both at 15%. U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota is at 6%. Everyone else is at 3% or under.\n\nStill, candidates in previous cycles have picked up well over a dozen percentage points from November polls to caucus night. Santorum’s jump from the November poll to the actual result was nearly 19 percentage points. John Kerry, the 2004 Democratic nominee, climbed 22 percentage points from a November poll to his caucus results.\n\nIf a struggling 2020 candidate picks up just 10 percentage points over the next two months, that candidate could be in the running for one of the three coveted tickets out of Iowa.\n\nSince the modern Iowa presidential caucuses began in 1972, with just one exception, no candidate in either party has gone on to win the nomination without placing first, second or third when Iowa has held contested caucuses. The exception: In 2008, eventual nominee John McCain was barely edged into fourth place in Iowa.\n\n\"There's still time,” Nagle said of low-polling candidates. “Is it likely? No. But it's not unprecedented.\"\n\nA closer look at surges in the past four caucus cycles\n\nHillary Clinton stayed at the top of 2015 and 2016 Iowa Polls, as rival Bernie Sanders climbed steadily closer. The final poll before the caucus had Clinton just 3 points above Sanders, 45% to 42%.\n\nTed Cruz surged in December, taking first place with 31%. No November poll was conducted in 2016. Cruz lost his polling lead in a late January poll as Donald Trump climbed, but more votes went to Cruz on caucus night.\n\nRick Santorum was tied for sixth place in November 2011. He shot up in the December poll to 15%, though he still lagged behind leaders Ron Paul and Mitt Romney. The late momentum carried through caucus night, when he was virtually tied with Romney for first place — and later declared the winner.\n\nMike Huckabee surged in the late November 2007 Iowa Poll from third place, with 12%, to first place, with 29%. The poll was published in early December, one month before Huckabee won the caucus with 34.4% of the vote.\n\nBarack Obama led the Iowa Poll for the first time in November 2007, with 26% of the respondents marking him as their first choice. He widened his lead over opponents Hillary Clinton and John Edwards in the late December poll, ultimately winning the caucuses by a nearly 8-point margin\n\nJohn Kerry was third place in November 2003, behind Democratic leaders Howard Dean and Dick Gephardt. He leapt to first in a January 2004 poll, from 15% to 26%, then won the caucus.\n\nKatie Akin is a politics reporter for the Register. Reach her at kakin@registermedia.com or at 515-284-8041. Follow her on Twitter at @katie_akin.", "authors": [], "publish_date": "2019/11/22"}, {"url": "https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/elections/2024/01/16/iowa-caucus-trump-win-republicans/72166285007/", "title": "Donald Trump scores huge political comeback with historic Iowa ...", "text": "Eight years after he lost the Iowa caucuses − and three years after his White House tenure ended in electoral defeat and Capitol Hill violence − Donald Trump on Monday launched the political year by scoring the biggest victory in the history of the Iowa caucuses.\n\nThe GOP is Trump's party now.\n\nHis striking comeback after the political chaos of Jan. 6 doesn't guarantee he will claim the presidential nomination at the Republican National Convention in Wisconsin this summer. But his unprecedented 51% finish, crushing Ron DeSantis and Nikki Haley by 30 percentage points, left his would-be challengers scrambling to articulate a credible path to slow Trump's roll.\n\nGoodbye, Iowa. Hello, New Hampshire.\n\n\"This is really time for our country to come together,\" Trump said in a victory speech in Des Moines that sounded as though he was turning to the general election against President Joe Biden, the Republican Party already consolidated. \"It would be so nice if we could come together and straighten out the world and straighten out the problems.\"\n\nPrep for the polls: See who is running for president and compare where they stand on key issues in our Voter Guide\n\nDuring the Iowa campaign, he had derided DeSantis and Haley. Now he praised them. \"I think they both actually did very well,\" he said, and he mentioned the number of calls he was getting from Republican officials newly eager to endorse him. \"And we love them all,\" he said.\n\nWhat gives Haley hope?\n\nThere's this: Iowa has a sorry record in signaling the Republican presidential nominee. In the last seven contested caucuses, five of the winners failed to win the nomination, much less the White House. In 2016, for one, Texas Sen. Ted Cruz edged Trump.\n\nThat's why Haley told an audience last week that New Hampshire \"corrects\" Iowa − a comment she made to a New Hampshire audience, naturally, not an Iowa one.\n\nThe former U.N. ambassador finished a disappointing third, at 19.1%, just an edge behind DeSantis, the Florida governor, at 21.2%. His distant second place was disappointing, too, and their near-tie was a messy finish for both contenders. She hopes her competitiveness as a Trump alternative gives her momentum into New Hampshire and its first-in-the-nation primary, which has a history of surprise.\n\n\"When you look at how we're doing in New Hampshire, in South Carolina and beyond, I can safely say, tonight, Iowa made this Republican primary a two-person race,\" she told her supporters, congratulating Trump but not mentioning DeSantis. She then tied Trump to Biden as aging leaders who are \"consumed by the past.\"\n\n\"America deserves better,\" she went on. \"Our campaign is the last, best hope of stopping the Trump-Biden nightmare.\"\n\nThe decision last week by former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, a fierce Trump critic, to suspend his campaign could give her a bit of a boost. She's been endorsed by the state's governor, Chris Sununu.\n\nThat said, before Iowa's vote, Trump was leading Haley in New Hampshire 43.4% to 30.3% in recent statewide polls averaged by fivethirtyeight.com. He led her 46%-26% in a USA TODAY/Boston Globe/Suffolk University poll last week.\n\nIf Trump isn't tripped in New Hampshire, it's hard to spot another potential opening anytime soon. He leads Haley by more than 2-1 in her home state of South Carolina, the next primary. He leads DeSantis by 9-1 in the Nevada caucuses that follow.\n\nDeSantis' dilemma: He bet the farm on Iowa\n\nWhen he entered the race, the two-term governor of Florida was seen as the strongest prospect to challenge Trump. He repeatedly vowed to beat the former president in Iowa.\n\nAs his campaign foundered, DeSantis focused his resources on Iowa. His credentials as a cultural warrior in Florida were considered a good fit with Iowa's conservative electorate, and he was endorsed by Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds. He made a stop in each of the state's 99 counties in what is known as \"the full Grassley,\" named after the Iowa senator who has made his travels even to the state's smallest and most isolated areas his trademark.\n\nWith all that, DeSantis' failure to finish even a decisive second raised questions about how long he can raise money and attract support to keep his campaign alive.\n\n\"They threw everything but the kitchen sink at us,\" he told his supporters after it was clear he would finish second, not third. His manner was ebullient. \"In spite of all that they threw at us, everybody against us, we got our ticket punched out of Iowa.\"\n\nEntrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy, a political newcomer with this race, didn't get his ticket punched out of Iowa. After finishing in single digits, at 7.7%, he announced he was suspending his campaign and endorsing Trump. Former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson fared even worse, at less than 1%. He suspended his campaign Tuesday morning.\n\nTrump's stunning sweep\n\nWhat made Trump's victory so stunning was not only its size but also its sweep.\n\nThe Associated Press declared him the winner just 31 minutes after the caucus had started at 7 p.m. Central time, though the magnitude of the Trump wave wasn't clear until the thousands of paper ballots were filled out, counted and reported hours later.\n\nAccording to surveys of voters as they entered the caucus sites at community halls and school gymnasiums across the state, Trump led among those who described themselves as \"very conservative\" − more than half of the total electorate, higher than in the 2016 caucuses − and among those who said they were independents. He led among those with college degrees by a small margin and among those without them by a huge one.\n\nTwo-thirds said they believed Trump's debunked allegation that Joe Biden wasn't legitimately elected president in 2020.\n\nBut there was a warning flag for Trump, too. Nearly a third of Republican caucusgoers said they would view him as unfit for the presidency if he were convicted of a crime.\n\nHe now faces 91 felony charges in four indictments, two in federal court and two in state courts, in New York and Georgia.\n\nHe left Iowa after claiming victory to fly to New York to attend in person the opening of a trial that will determine what additional damages he must pay writer E. Jean Carroll for defaming her after she accused him of rape. Last spring, another jury awarded her about $5 million for sexual assault.\n\nHistory's lesson\n\nSince the advent of presidential primaries in modern times, no candidate in either party who has carried both the Iowa caucuses and the New Hampshire primary had been denied their party's nomination.\n\nIf Trump manages to complete that one-two punch, the chances of wrestling the nomination from his hands go from being a long-shot upset to a Hail-Mary pass.\n\nWill this race still be meaningfully contested by Super Tuesday on March 5?\n\nCheck back next week.", "authors": [], "publish_date": "2024/01/16"}, {"url": "https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/elections/2024/01/14/live-updates-iowa-caucus-2024-republicans/72192067007/", "title": "Iowa Caucus 2024: Trump, Haley and other 2024 Republicans rally ...", "text": "The Iowa Caucus is almost here.\n\nThe crucial early primary contest has long had the power to reshape a presidential race, tripping up frontrunners and giving a boost to fierce political rivals. This year, former President Donald Trump's Republican challengers tried to make inroads with Hawkeye State caucusgoers, even as Iowa faces extreme conditions with temperatures sweeping below 0 degrees.\n\nBut how did Iowa's contest becoming a critical hurdle for White House hopefuls? How are Republican candidates making their final pitches?\n\nCatch up with the USA TODAY Network's live coverage of the upcoming Iowa Caucus as Iowans make their 2024 picks.\n\nIowa Poll finds a Donald Trump conviction would be no big deal to most GOP caucusgoers\n\nFormer President Donald Trump is running an unprecedented campaign for the White House as he faces 91 criminal charges, bouncing between rallies and court appearances.\n\nPrep for the polls: See who is running for president and compare where they stand on key issues in our Voter Guide\n\nDepending on how his four ongoing court battles proceed, he could be convicted of a crime before the general election in 2024. But just ahead of the first-in-the-nation Iowa Caucuses Monday, a majority of likely Republican caucusgoers say a Trump conviction would not affect their support, a new Des Moines Register/NBC News/Mediacom Iowa Poll finds.\n\nSixty-one percent say a potential conviction “does not matter” in determining their general election support for him. Nineteen percent say a conviction would make them more likely to support Trump, and 18% say it would make them less likely. Two percent say they are not sure.\n\n-Galen Bacharier\n\nRyan Binkley interrupted by comedy group in Iowa\n\nPolitical comedian duo “The Good Liars” interrupted another Republican presidential candidate’s event on Sunday — that of Texas businessman and pastor Ryan Binkley. The duo previously interrupted events over the weekend by GOP candidates Ron DeSantis and Vivek Ramaswamy.\n\nAt Binkley’s Sunday night event at a hotel near Des Moines International Airport, one of the duo approached the stage as Binkley was speaking and said, “There’s a candidate that really needs your vote, and that candidate is me because I need to become president and pardon myself,” seemingly a reference to frontrunner and former President Donald Trump.\n\n“The Good Liars” were drowned out by chants of Binkley supports — of whom there were around 45 at the event, including family and campaign staff — and escorted out.\n\n“I’ll give you a minute, but not right now,” Binkley told them.\n\nAs for his electoral path forward through and after Iowa, Binkley told his supporters, “We’re going to make a move tomorrow night.”\n\nHe viewed his low position in polls as a sign that there’s only room to improve and said “something’s missing” from the other candidates, be it in their character, message, style or platform.\n\n“My goal is to surprise Iowa,” Binkley told the Register after he spoke on Sunday. “Can we come out with 2, 3, 4, 5%? I think that would be significant for us,” he added.\n\n− Phillip Sitter\n\nLibertarians pitch presidential candidacies on caucus eve\n\nLibertarian hopefuls,, also caucusing Monday, held a debate at a pizza restaurant in Des Moines, Iowa, on Sunday.\n\nModerated by Marco Battaglia, a former Libertarian candidate for Iowa attorney general and governor, the debate featured presidential candidates economist Mike ter Maat, tech entrepreneur Lars Mapstead, former candidate for the Georgia Senate Chase Oliver, and Joshua Smith. It was open to the public — a last ditch effort to encourage voters to caucus for the third party.\n\nIowa Libertarians earned enough support in 2022 to qualify as an official state political party for the 2024 election. Their candidate for president must take home at least 2% in the general election for the state party to keep its status. The Libertarian Party of Iowa will hold caucuses across the state at 6:30 p.m. Monday.\n\n\"Stop wasting your vote. If you are voting for someone that does not represent your principles and your ethics and your values, you are wasting your vote,\" ter Maat said to the near-empty pizzeria.\n\n\"I don't want to hear anybody tell me, 'Hey, these Republicans care about out liberties,'\" Smith said. \"No they don't. They are not our friends. They don't care about our values or morals. They don't care about the individual sovereignty of your own body. All they care about is money.\"\n\n-Addison Lathers\n\nVivek Ramaswamy shrugs off Donald Trump attack\n\nOne day after former President Donald Trump warned his supporters not to caucus for Vivek Ramaswamy during Monday's Iowa Caucuses, Ramaswamy said he would not engage with the former president.\n\nRamaswamy held five events Sunday, one day before Iowa's first-in-the-nation caucuses. During a briefing with reporters Sunday morning after an event in Ankeny, Iowa, Ramaswamy called Trump's attack bad campaign advice.\n\nRamaswamy, 38, told reporters that he respects \"the heck out of Donald Trump\" and would support Trump if he gets the Republican nomination.\n\n“It was probably an unfortunate move by his campaign advisers,” Ramaswamy said of Trump’s post. “I think he probably got bad advice. I don’t think friendly fire within our America First movement is helpful, and I’m not going to hold it against him. I’m not going to criticize him in response because he was an excellent president.\"\n\n– Philip Joens\n\nVivek Ramaswamy calls for armed guards in schools following Iowa shooting\n\nVivek Ramaswamy on Sunday offered his condolences to Perry High School Principal Dan Marburger's family and Perry's residents. Marburger died earlier in the day, over a week after he was injured in a shooting at the high school.\n\nIn a podcast during the latest Republican debate, Ramaswamy said three armed security guards were needed in each school across the country. As a reporter told Ramaswamy about Marburger’s death Sunday, he changed his stance slightly. One armed security guard could deter, but not stop shootings at schools, Ramaswamy said.\n\nSo he would like to see three armed security guards in most schools and up to five armed security guards in larger schools, the Ohio entrepreneur argued.\n\n“We apply more security in our airports, in our banks and many of our shopping malls than we do in our own schools, and I think that’s a failure,” Ramaswamy said. “Our most-valuable national asset is our children and the people taking the effort to educate those children. The least we can do as a country.”\n\n– Philip Joens\n\nNikki Haley: 'Lift up the Perry community in prayer' after Iowa principal dies following shooting\n\nHaley began her campaign event in Adel, Iowa, asking the crowd to \"lift up the Perry community in prayer\" after the death of Perry High School Principal Dan Marburger Sunday.\n\nMarburger was shot multiple times during a school shooting earlier this month while trying to distract the 17-year-old shooter, who killed an 11-year-old student and wounded 11 others.\n\n\"What happened in Perry, whenever you turn on the TV, it doesn’t matter what state it is, it still hurts,\" Haley said. \"And we still feel it. Our hearts still drop. And today, my heart dropped again when I heard that we lost Dan Marburger. This principal was a hero. He saved lives.\"\n\nHaley said Marburger's actions are a reminder of the good people who step up in tragic circumstances. She asked the crowd to thank the teachers, the law enforcement officers and other officials who responded to the shooting that day.\n\n\"First there’s shock and then there’s sadness and then there’s healing,\" Haley said. \"So as they go through this process, let’s not forget it because it happened one day and went off the TV. Let’s remember that this is going to be a process for them and we need to continue to pray for them.\"\n\n– Stephen Gruber-Miller\n\nConservative lawmaker hypes up Nikki Haley in Adel, Iowa\n\nRep. Ralph Norman, R-S.C., a Freedom Caucus member who has endorsed Nikki Haley, said the one word he'd use to describe Haley is \"courage.\"\n\nHe recalled Haley's 2010 campaign for governor of South Carolina, where she was an underdog who went on to win the election. He said she can do the same this year.\n\n\"We cannot lose this election,\" he said. \"She is the only candidate that can get independents, that can get females, minorities. She’s got the total package. And she’s got the vision and does what she says.\"\n\n– Stephen Gruber-Miller\n\nRon DeSantis addresses Perry shooting in Cedar Rapids\n\nFlorida Gov. Ron DeSantis defended his record on gun legislation Sunday during an event at the Chrome Horse Saloon in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.\n\nAbout 100 people attended the campaign stop, where a student was among those who asked DeSantis questions after his stump speech. The question was inaudible from the back of the room, but appeared to be about the shooting earlier this month at Perry High School and DeSantis’ gun policies.\n\nDeSantis passed a bill in Florida eliminating the requirement to get a permit to carry a concealed weapon. Supporters of the legislation call it “constitutional carry.”\n\n“I don’t think there’s any connection between constitutional carry and what happened in Perry,” DeSantis said. “That was an underage student that was not even in lawful possession of a firearm.”\n\nDeSantis received applause when he later declared: “You don’t need a permission slip from the government to be able to exercise your constitutional right.”\n\n– Zac Anderson\n\nDonald Trump gets endorsement from ex-rival Marco Rubio\n\nDonald Trump's campaign is trotting out endorsements a day before the Iowa caucuses – including one from a former rival who once upon a time described Trump as \"a con artist.\"\n\nSen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., one of the candidates who lost the 2016 Republican presidential race to Trump, said Sunday he liked many of the things the former president did in office, such as an expanded child tax credit and sanctions of Cuba and Venezuela.\n\n\"We had a President who didn’t cave to special interests or let bureaucrats block us,\" Rubio said in a statement put out by the Trump 2024 campaign.\n\n– David Jackson\n\nIowa Caucuses:Presidential candidates make their final pitches ahead of Caucus Day\n\nWhat time does the Iowa Caucus start?\n\n7 p.m.\n\nState parties advise caucusgoers to get to their caucus site early to be sure they're properly registered and inside on time. Doors open at 6 p.m.\n\n– Des Moines Register\n\nAsa Hutchinson is making his 'last arguments' to the Iowa 'jury'\n\nAsa Hutchinson, once the U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Arkansas and governor of the same state, is making his closing arguments to prospective Iowa caucusgoers ahead of the Iowa Caucus on Monday night.\n\n\"You have to make the case that our country needs to go a different direction than Donald Trump. And if someone does not say that then ... we're basically saying he's going to be a great nominee for us,\" Hutchinson said during his meet and greet on Sunday at Jethro's BBQ in Ames, Iowa.\n\nThe latest Des Moines Register/NBC News/Mediacom Iowa Poll had Hutchinson at 1%, far below the frontrunner Donald Trump at 48% and second place Nikki Haley at 20%.\n\n\"One person in America who really likes the poll numbers where they see Donald Trump 28 points ahead is Joe Biden. He's sitting there loving it because that's the one chance he has to win,\" he said.\n\nHutchinson continued to say he believes Republicans can still win the general election if they have the right nominee. \"And that's the case I have to make,\" he said.\n\n– Virginia Barreda\n\n'Even if you vote and then pass away, it's worth it,' Donald Trump tells Iowans\n\nFormer President Donald Trump made a final plea for supporters Sunday afternoon to show up in the frigid cold to caucus for him, revisiting familiar lines of attack against his political opponents while tempering expectations of his expected margin of victory.\n\n\"You can't sit home,\" Trump said. \"If you're sick as a dog … even if you vote and then pass away, it's worth it.\"\n\nTrump, who was scheduled to hold four in-person rallies throughout the state this weekend before scrapping three because of an extended blizzard, spoke to a packed Simpson College auditorium after supporters stood in line for hours in wind chills that reached the mid-negative 40s.\n\n\"If this is any indication, the storm has had zero effect,\" Trump said. \"You're very hearty people, I've heard that.\"\n\n– Galen Bacharier\n\n'Women for Nikki' lead enthusiastic crowd waiting for Nikki Haley\n\nA crowd of women in fuchsia feather boas and \"Women for Nikki\" T-shirts cheered \"Nikki's in the house!\" while waiting the former governor's entrance at an event in Ames, Iowa, Sunday afternoon.\n\nAmong an audience packed into the backroom of Jethro's BBQ, the women also held up signs and led chants of \"Nikki! Nikki!\" The Ames gathering is one of Nikki Haley's final campaign stops in the state before caucuses begin Monday.\n\n– Savannah Kuchar\n\n'Heartbreaking news': Nikki Haley comments on Perry High School principal's death after Iowa shooting\n\nNikki Haley praised Perry High School Principal Dan Marburger, who died Sunday morning, 10 days after he was shot multiple times during a school shooting.\n\nMarburger has been widely praised for his heroism. He was attacked while trying to distract the 17-year-old shooter, who killed an 11-year-old students and wounded six others.\n\n\"Heartbreaking news out of Perry this morning,\" Haley shared on social media. \"Principal Marburger was a hero who dedicated himself to setting his students up for success and ultimately gave his life to protect them. Rest in peace.\"\n\n− Stephen Gruber-Miller\n\nBeyond Iowa: Donald Trump's rally veers from crucial caucuses\n\nWhile he spent some of his speech on Sunday urging Iowans to caucus for him, Trump spent a good chunk of his rally on rhetorical ticks he has used for months − and even years.\n\nFrom re-reciting the lyrics of the song \"The Snake\" − a text he uses to criticize immigrants − to joking that he has been indicted more times than mobster Al Capone, Trump devoted parts of his speech to topics that have little, if anything, to do with Iowa.\n\n\"In conclusion ... we're having a good time,\" Trump said toward the end of a speech that lasted a little more than 100 minutes. He also blasted former House Speaker Paul Ryan, calling the one-time vice presidential candidate a member of a failed Republican establishment.\n\nThe former president's walk down memory lane additionally included talk about how he awarded medals to radio talk show icon Rush Limbaugh and Iowa wrestling legend Dan Gable.\n\n− David Jackson\n\nNorth Dakota's Doug Burgum endorses Donald Trump\n\nDonald Trump introduced a special guest at his Indianola, Iowa, rally on Sunday: Former presidential candidate and North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum.\n\nBurgum endorsed the former president, telling a crowd of Trump's supporters that the longtime Republican frontrunner will \"deliver energy dominance\" to the nation. Energy policy was a centerpiece of Burgum's longshot 2024 bid.\n\n− David Jackson\n\nIowa caucus results: When will a winner be announced?\n\nIowa Republicans are expecting a smooth night on Monday as they report caucus results from 1,657 precincts around the state, in contrast to issues that plagued Democrats' caucuses in 2020 and prevented reports of timely and accurate results.\n\nPatrick Stewart, a consultant for the Republican Party of Iowa, told reporters ahead of the crucial contest that results from the smallest precincts, where only a few people show up to caucus, should be available about 30 minutes or so after the caucuses' 7 p.m. start. Results from larger precincts should begin coming in over the next few hours.\n\nBut, historically, Iowa's caucus results haven't always been known right away on caucus night.\n\n− Stephen Gruber-Miller\n\nWhat happens at the Iowa caucus?\n\nIowa caucus-goers will hold a binding vote for the party's presidential nominee at designated caucus sites and elect delegates to county conventions. The event does not require a minimum threshold to qualify for delegates.\n\nDelegates will attend this summer's Republican National Convention in Milwaukee, where the party's nominee will be chosen.\n\nThe Iowa caucus voting is done with a secret ballot with no set list of candidates to choose from as voters can choose candidate they want. Some caucus sites provide pre-printed names of major candidates and a write-in option but most of the time voters write the name of the candidate on a blank paper sheet.\n\n− Anthony Robledo\n\nNikki Haley promotes resume in Iowa’s race for second place\n\nAfter canceling an in-person event Sunday morning in Dubuque, Iowa, due to extreme weather conditions, former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley held a telephone town hall on Sunday. One caller, Bryce from Dubuque, asked Haley what to tell people who might be deciding between supporting her and backing Florida Ron DeSantis.\n\n“Ron has been a good governor,” Haley began, before touting her own record as the former governor of South Carolina.\n\nShe also detailed her time as the ambassador to the United Nations and her experience as a military spouse, arguing she is overall more qualified for the presidency than some of her rivals.\n\n“There are no foregone conclusions,” Haley said at the end of the virtual event. “We’re already moving up in the polls. Everybody else is moving down. We see the surge.”\n\nA Des Moines Register/NBC News/Mediacom Iowa Poll this weekend showed Haley moving ahead of DeSantis by four percentage points, while still trailing former President Donald Trump by almost 30.\n\n−Savannah Kuchar\n\nComedy group interrupts Vivek Ramaswamy's speech\n\nA day after attempting to present Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis with a “participation trophy,” members of the comedy duo \"The Good Liars\" took a turn at entrepreneur and author Vivek Ramaswamy during his Sunday morning speech in Ankeny.\n\nIt was difficult to hear what they told the Republican presidential candidate. But as Ramaswamy typically does with protesters, he told the men they could ask a question respectfully later. When they continued to interrupt, Ramaswamy said, \"Then you can get the hell out.\" The men were then led out of the event.\n\n\"The Good Liars\" comedy duo has been comprised of Jason Selvig and Davram Stiefler since 2011. They are known for interrupting political events. On Saturday, a video of the duo went viral after they interrupted DeSantis with the trophy, and said he would not become president.\n\nRamaswamy has been part of several contentious exchanges with protesters over the past week. On Wednesday, protesters with the Sunrise Movement, a group which advocates to mitigates the effects of climate change, were removed after interrupting a Ramaswamy event in the Iowa State Capitol Rotunda.\n\nSunrise Movement protesters showed up to a Ramaswamy speech on Friday night in West Des Moines and were removed on three separate occasions.\n\n− Paige Windsor\n\nIs there a Democratic caucus in Iowa?\n\nYes, Democrats will hold a caucus in Iowa this year too, which President Joe Biden is currently expected to win.\n\nBut Democrats will not be choosing a presidential candidate in-person on Jan. 15. Instead, they will be conducting party business, including electing delegates and alternate delegates to county conventions, electing county central committee members and submitting platform resolutions for county conventions.\n\nIn an effort to simplify their process and make it more inclusive, Iowa Democrats have moved to an entirely mail-in system of casting their presidential preferences. Iowa Democrats can request an absentee presidential preference card, which functions like a ballot, that they can fill out and return to the state party until March 5, when results will be announced.\n\nThe last day to submit a request for a preference card is Feb. 19. Cards can be requested online at iowademocrats.org/caucus.\n\n− Des Moines Register staff\n\nRon DeSantis blasts Donald Trump ahead of Iowa caucus\n\nFlorida Gov. Ron DeSantis hit out at former President Donald Trump on Sunday, issuing a warning to Republican voters just one day before the crucial Iowa Caucuses.\n\nDeSantis in an interview with ABC’s “This Week” was asked to deliver his closing argument to Iowa voters on the eve of the first GOP contest of the 2024 presidential election. The Florida governor said the former president is “running for his issues,” while he’s “running for your issues and your family's issues.”\n\nDeSantis accused the former president of failing to deliver on his signature 2016 and 2020 campaign promises, such as building a wall along America’s southern border. He also accused Trump of being distracted by his four sets of criminal charges, investigations into the Capitol riot on Jan. 6 and other legal challenges.\n\n“I think that ends up focusing the election on things that are going to be advantageous for Democrats because you're not going to be talking about the border. You're not going to be talking about the economy. You're going to be talking about all these things to make the election a referendum on Donald Trump,” DeSantis said.\n\n− Marina Pitofsky\n\nDonald Trump interrupted at Iowa rally\n\nA woman yelled at Trump during his Indianola, Iowa, rally for \"taking in millions,\" presumably a reference to foreign countries who checked into Trump hotels during his presidency.\n\nAs the crowd responded with chants of \"Trump, Trump, Trump,\" the former president said \"go home to Mommy.\"\n\nAs other 2024 candidates have encountered, protestors also called Trump a \"climate criminal.\" They were booed by the crowd as Trump responded, \"Go home to mommy, your mommy's waiting. ... So young.\"\n\n− Paige Windsor, David Jackson\n\nDonald Trump to caucusgoers: 'Dress warmly'\n\nDonald Trump has taken the stage in a small but crowded ballroom at Simpson College in Indianola, Iowa − and issued a caucus warning about the weather.\n\n\"Dress warmly tomorrow night,\" he told supporters.\n\nThis is Trump's only scheduled public speech on Sunday, though he has a \"tele-rally\" set for later in the day. Temperatures in the Iowa city dropped to -10 degrees Sunday afternoon.\n\n− David Jackson\n\nDonald Trump greets volunteers at Des Moines hotel before heading to rally\n\nThe former president met with campaign volunteers on Sunday morning, before his motorcade departed for a rally in Indianola south of the capital city.\n\nTrump, donning a white-and-gold \"caucus captain\" hat in addition to his usual blue suit and red tie, remarked that some observers have predicted he might eclipse 50% of support on caucus night. He pointed to the record Republican margin of victory in the Iowa caucuses – a 12-point win by Bob Dole in 1996.\n\nTrump has frequently set sky-high expectations on the caucus trail, telling supporters to show up for a \"historic\" and \"landslide\" victory on Monday. The new Iowa Poll released Saturday night showed him leading the field by 28 percentage points.\n\nHe also tempered his concerns about turnout in the weather, with snow mostly passed but wind chills expecting to result in record-low temperatures for a caucus night: \"We seem to have a lot of good enthusiasm,\" Trump said. \"I don't know, maybe the weather is not going to be that big a deal.\"\n\n– Galen Bacharier\n\nAfter slipping to third place in Des Moines Register Poll, Ron DeSantis says Iowans ‘roll their eyes at these polls’\n\nFlorida Gov. Ron DeSantis told WHO 13 News on Sunday that he’s skeptical about the latest Des Moines Register/NBC News/Mediacom Iowa Poll, where 16% of likely Republican caucusgoers selected him as their first-choice candidate.\n\n“I think a lot of the Iowans, they just roll their eyes at these polls. I mean, the idea that you’re gonna know in a caucus with negative-20-degree temperatures what that electorate’s gonna look like, you just can’t do it,” DeSantis said. “So it’s basically shooting into the wind.”\n\nDeSantis and his endorsers have waved away poll results for months, telling crowds in Iowa that polls are part of a “media narrative” that Trump is unbeatable. In a Sunday email, the DeSantis campaign assured its donors and supporters that the Register’s Iowa Poll has “an incredibly bad track record of predicting the results of the Iowa Caucus.” The email notes that Donald Trump was ahead in the final Iowa poll before the 2016 caucus, but Ted Cruz was the victor on caucus night.\n\nCruz and Trump were within just five percentage points of each other in the final poll before the 2016 caucus. As gold-standard pollster J. Ann Selzer said then: “The drill-down shows, if anything, stronger alignment with Cruz than Trump, except for the horse race.”\n\nIn this year’s pre-caucus poll, Trump is the first-choice candidate for 48% of likely Republican caucusgoers. That puts him 28 percentage points ahead of Nikki Haley and 32 percentage points ahead of DeSantis.\n\nIn the history of the Iowa Poll, no candidate with a double-digit lead over second place has gone on to lose the caucuses.\n\n“I’ve been down big right before an election and won before. So we’re doing it right,” DeSantis said on WHO. “Our voters are going to turn out. They are gonna be there and they’re excited to be there.”\n\n— Katie Akin, Tim Webber\n\nNikki Haley pulls ahead of DeSantis for second place in Iowa poll, Donald Trump leads\n\nDonald Trump retains a commanding lead in the final Des Moines Register/NBC News/Mediacom Iowa Poll before Monday’s caucuses, with Nikki Haley sliding past Ron DeSantis into second place.\n\nThe former president is the first choice of 48% of likely Republican caucusgoers, while former United Nations Ambassador Haley is at 20% and Florida Gov. DeSantis drops to 16%. No other candidate reaches double digits.\n\nThe poll of 705 likely Republican caucus goers was conducted Jan. 7-12 by Selzer & Co. It has a margin of error of plus or minus 3.7 percentage points.\n\n– Stephen Gruber-Miller\n\n‘Looking for momentum’: Nikki Haley supporter says Iowa is just the beginning\n\nSanford Owens, 67, travelled to Iowa from Portland, Oregon, to support Haley during the caucus. Yet, he said he doesn’t expect her to come out on top.\n\n“I think she’s going to have a good showing, but no I don’t think she’s going to win. I think Trump will win,” Owens said.\n\nThinking Iowans will already be “pre-set” on a candidate, Owens said he believes Monday's outcome will simply get “the ball rolling” for Haley heading into the New Hampshire primary next week.\n\n“We’re looking for momentum,” Owens said. “If Nikki gets momentum into New Hampshire, I think we’re going to do extremely well.”\n\nA registered Republican and foreign policy officer for 25 years, Owens said he started supporting the former UN ambassador about a month or two ago, largely due to her stances on overseas issues, including aid to Ukraine.\n\n– Savannah Kuchar\n\nA very low high in Iowa as the candidates campaign\n\nThe overnight temperature at Des Moines International Airport on Saturday into Sunday, minus 17 degrees, didn't set a record. But the forecast daytime high Sunday could match the coldest high for Jan. 14: 9 degrees below zero.\n\nThe last time Iowa shivered through a high that low on Jan. 14 was in 1888, 136 years ago, Allan Curtis, a meteorologist at the National Weather Service in Johnston, said Sunday morning. With gusty winds, the wind chill could hover around minus 40.\n\nRegardless, campaign events are set today for all the Republican presidential candidates.\n\n– Bill Steiden\n\nNikki Haley wins endorsement from former Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan\n\nNikki Haley of South Carolina picked up an endorsement Sunday from a fellow former Republican governor: Larry Hogan of Maryland.\n\n\"It's time for the party to get behind Nikki Haley,\" Hogan said on CNN's \"State of the Union,\" claiming she has \"momentum\" in her uphill primary battle against frontrunner Donald Trump, with whom Hogan has repeatedly clashed.\n\nHogan who considered a 2024 presidential run of his own, also had discouraging words for Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and other Trump challengers.\n\nHogan on X, formerly Twitter, said: \"Since I decided not to run for president, I've been saying that we don't want to see a multi-car pile-up that would just enable Donald Trump.\"\n\n– David Jackson\n\nWhich campaign events are still on? Our Candidate Tracker has all the updates\n\nRepublican presidential candidates have been canceling events right and left in recent days because of a massive blizzard blanketing Iowa.\n\nSnow started falling in Des Moines just before midnight on Friday, and travel was not advised in the Des Moines metro area or areas to the east ahead of the weekend.\n\nSo, what's still being held with the Iowa Caucuses just one day away? The exclusive Des Moines Register Candidate Tracker has all the latest information.\n\nYou can find all the presidential candidates' public visits in Iowa through Caucus Day.\n\nThis year’s Iowa Caucus race has been remarkably, and for some, frustratingly, static — with the winner seeming all but certain.\n\nBut Iowa Republicans say there's still plenty of drama and intrigue to be gleaned on caucus night.\n\nWhat can the results in Sioux County tell us about the fractured nature of modern evangelicals? And what does it mean if Nikki Haley can pull off a win in central Iowa's Webster County?\n\nThere are nine questions on our mind going into Caucus Day, and what their answers might say about the state of the Republican race for president.\n\n− Brianne Pfannenstiel\n\nMore Nikki Haley supporters would vote for Joe Biden over Donald Trump, Iowa poll says\n\nLikely Republican caucusgoers in Iowa who support former United Nations Ambassador Nikki Haley are more skeptical than other caucusgoers that former President Donald Trump, beset by legal challenges, would be able to win the general election — and they’re more likely to vote for President Joe Biden instead of Trump in November.\n\nA new Des Moines Register/NBC News/Mediacom Iowa Poll asked likely Republican caucusgoers how they would vote in this year’s general election, if front-runner Trump is the Republican nominee. Most respondents, 71%, say they would vote for Trump if November is a Trump-Biden rematch, while 11% say they would vote for Biden.\n\nSix percent of likely Republican caucusgoers say they would vote for independent candidate Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., and 8% say they would vote for some other third-party candidate. One percent say they would not vote, and 3% aren’t sure.\n\n– Katie Akin\n\nWhen is the Iowa Caucus?\n\nThe Iowa Caucuses are scheduled for Jan. 15, starting at 7 p.m.\n\nThe Democratic and Republican contests function function differently. Catch up the the Des Moines Register, part of the USA TODAY Network, on what you need to know about the caucuses.\n\n– Marina Pitofsky\n\nWhy does the Iowa Caucus matter?\n\nFor 50 years, Iowans have gathered in school gymnasiums, community centers and family living rooms to kick off the nation's presidential nominating process, wielding their outsized influence to winnow and shape the field of contenders.\n\nAhead of each caucus, presidential candidates flood the state for months, if not years, to try to woo Iowans and gain their support. The national and international media descends on the state, ready to derive meaning from caucus night results.\n\n– Brianne Pfannenstiel\n\nWhat is a caucus?\n\nA political caucus is simply a group of people with shared priorities or beliefs. But the Iowa Caucuses are local meetings held across the Hawkeye state where people can conduct party business and tally support for a presidential nominee.\n\nThe caucuses also kick off a months-long process to select individuals to serve as delegates to the national party conventions this summer.\n\n− Associated Press", "authors": [], "publish_date": "2024/01/14"}]}
+{"question_id": "20240119_11", "search_time": "2024/01/19/23:35", "search_result": []}
+{"question_id": "20240119_12", "search_time": "2024/01/19/23:35", "search_result": [{"url": "https://www.cnn.com/2022/04/06/politics/linda-fagan-us-coast-guard/index.html", "title": "Adm. Linda Fagan: Biden administration nominates first woman to ...", "text": "CNN —\n\nPresident Joe Biden has nominated Adm. Linda Fagan to serve as the next commandant of the US Coast Guard.\n\nIf confirmed, Fagan would be the first woman to lead a US armed service and to lead the Coast Guard.\n\nFagan currently serves as the No 2. in the US Coast Guard, a role she’s held since June 2021.\n\nHer nomination will be under consideration by the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation.\n\nDemocratic Sen. Maria Cantwell of Washington, the committee’s chair, praised Fagan’s nomination and said it will “inspire generations of American women to strive to serve at the highest level in the Armed Forces.”\n\nCantwell and Democratic Sen. Tammy Baldwin of Wisconsin had written to Biden on Friday, requesting the “prompt nomination” of the Coast Guard commandant while noting that the current commandant is required to retire on May 31.\n\n“Given the time required to confirm the nomination in the Senate, it is imperative that we receive the official as soon as possible. Ensuring continuity of leadership is of the utmost importance to our national and economic security,” the two senators wrote.\n\nIf confirmed, Fagan would become the 27th Commandant during a change of command ceremony scheduled for June 1 in Washington. Adm. Karl Schultz, the current commandant, will retire after the ceremony.\n\nIn a Twitter post Tuesday, Republicans on the committee said that Biden has “finally nominated an outstanding leader” for the Coast Guard and that it’s “important for the Commerce Committee to proceed efficiently so the Coast Guard is not left without a leader.”\n\nFagan has 36 years of Coast Guard service and has served on all seven continents, according to her military biography.\n\nAs the Coast Guard’s vice commandant, Fagan was the service’s first female four-star admiral.\n\nShe most recently served as the commander of the Coast Guard Pacific Area and also served on the icebreaker USCGC POLAR STAR. Fagan also was the first woman to serve as commander of Sector New York. As the longest serving active duty Marine Safety Officer, she was recognized as the Coast Guard’s first Gold Ancient Trident.\n\n“Admiral Fagan is an exceptional senior Coast Guard officer and nominee, possessing the keen intellect, the depth of operational experience, and the well-honed leadership and managerial acumen to serve with distinction as our Service’s 27th Commandant,” Schultz said in a statement.\n\nHomeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said Fagan is “a tremendous leader, trailblazer, and respected public servant who will lead the Coast Guard across its critical missions with honor.”\n\nHe urged the Senate to swiftly confirm Fagan.", "authors": ["Veronica Stracqualursi"], "publish_date": "2022/04/06"}, {"url": "https://www.cnn.com/2022/08/06/politics/michael-langley-marines-black-four-star-general/index.html", "title": "Lt. Gen. Michael Langley becomes Marines' first Black four-star ...", "text": "CNN —\n\nUS Marine Corps Lt. Gen. Michael Langley was promoted to the rank of general in a ceremony Saturday, becoming the first Black four-star general in the military branch’s 246-year history.\n\nLangley will take command of the US Africa Command, which oversees the nation’s military presence in Africa, in a change of command ceremony at its Germany headquarters on Monday.\n\nSpeaking after the ceremony at Marine Barracks in Washington, DC, Langley said he was “humbled and honored for the opportunity to take on the stewardship of command of AFRICOM” as a four-star general.\n\n“But the milestone and what it means to the Corps is quite essential. Not just because the mark in history, but what it will affect going forward, especially for those younger across society that want to aspire and look at the Marine Corps as an opportunity,” he added.\n\nLangley was nominated by President Joe Biden for the promotion in June. The US Senate confirmed his promotion to four-star general by a voice vote earlier this week.\n\nIn remarks during Saturday’s ceremony, Langley paid homage to “those who have gone before,” recognizing Frederick C. Branch, the first commissioned Black Marine, and the Montford Point Marines, the first African Americans to enlist in the Marines who trained at a segregated facility in Montford Point, North Carolina.\n\nHe also spoke of the importance of diversity in the military to “maintain a decisive advantage over our strategic competitors.”\n\nThe Marine Corps had refused to recruit African Americans and other minorities until a 1941 executive order signed by President Franklin D. Roosevelt that “forced the Corps, despite objections from its leadership,” to start recruiting Black Marines the following year.\n\nBorn in Shreveport, Louisiana, Langley graduated from the University of Texas at Arlington and has served with the Marine Corps since 1985.\n\nHe has commanded at every level and served in multiple continents, being deployed to countries such as Japan and Afghanistan over the course of his career.\n\nHe most recently served as commander of the US Marine Corps Forces Command and Marine Forces Northern Command and as commanding general of Fleet Marine Force Atlantic.", "authors": ["Veronica Stracqualursi"], "publish_date": "2022/08/06"}, {"url": "https://www.cnn.com/2022/12/21/politics/patriot-missiles-ukraine/index.html", "title": "Patriot missile systems will help Ukraine's defense but experts ...", "text": "CNN —\n\nThe US announced this week that it is providing a Patriot missile battery to Ukraine — but experts say that while it will be a valuable addition to the beleaguered country’s air defense, it’s not a cure-all.\n\nThe US announced a new aid package to Ukraine on Tuesday, which included the “first-ever transfer to Ukraine of the Patriot Air and Missile Defense System, capable of bringing down cruise missiles, short range ballistic missiles, and aircraft at a significantly higher ceiling than previously provided air defense systems,” according to a State Department spokesperson. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky traveled to the US on Wednesday to celebrate the transfer with US President Joe Biden.\n\n“It increases accuracy, it increases the kill rate, so it really does exactly what you want it to do which is protection on the ground on very specific targets,” retired Maj. Gen. James “Spider” Marks previously told CNN of the system’s capabilities.\n\nThe Patriot’s radar system combines “surveillance, tracking, and engagement functions in one unit,” a description from the Center for Strategic International Studies (CSIS) says, which makes it stand out among other air defense systems. The system’s engagements with incoming aerial threats are “nearly autonomous” aside from needing a “final launch decision” from the humans operating it.\n\nUkraine has repeatedly asked for the US Army’s Patriot – an acronym for Phased Array Tracking Radar for intercept on Target – system, as it is considered one of the most capable long-range air defense systems on the market. And though the US did not fulfill the request for the first 10 months of the war, a senior administration official told CNN that the “reality of what is going on” on the ground in Ukraine influenced their decision to do so.\n\nIn recent weeks, the Russian military has increasingly attacked Ukraine’s power grid and infrastructure as winter approached and the temperatures dropped. Zelensky told Biden that “Russian missile terror” had knocked out roughly half of Ukraine’s energy infrastructure.\n\nThose attacks have only further fueled Ukraine’s asks for the Patriot. In fact, the Army calls the Patriot system the service’s “most advanced air defense system,” which can intercept “any aerial threat” under “any weather conditions.”\n\nRetired Lt. Gen. Mark Hertling, former commander of US Army Europe, told CNN that there is likely some unrealistic expectations about what a Patriot battery will be able to do for Ukraine. It won’t, for example, be available to use immediately after the US agrees to provide it — it takes months to train troops on how to use the complex system, Hertling said, adding that training US troops to serve as maintainers or repairmen takes around a year. And it won’t be able to provide blanket cover for the entire country.\n\n“These systems don’t pick up and move around the battlefield,” Hertling said. “You put them in place somewhere that defends your most strategic target, like a city, like Kyiv. If anyone thinks this is going to be a system that is spread across a 500-mile border between Ukraine and Russia, they just don’t know how the system operates.”\n\nIndeed, Tom Karako, director of the Missile Defense Project at CSIS, told CNN that the Patriot is “not a game-changer” because it is “still only able to defend a relatively small piece of dirt.”\n\nNot to mention the significant logistical needs; just one battery is operated by roughly 90 soldiers, and includes computers, an engagement control system, a phased array radar, power generating equipment, and “up to eight launchers,” according to the Army.\n\nCSIS recently said in a report that the missile rounds for the Patriot come in at roughly $4 million each. Rounds that expensive likely won’t be used to shoot down every missile Russia launches toward Ukraine, Hertling said.\n\n“This is not a system that will go after drones or smaller ballistic missiles,” he said. “Can it do that? Absolutely. But when you’re talking about knocking down a $20,000 drone, or a $100,000 ballistic missile that Russia buys, with a $3-5 million rocket, that doesn’t give you much of a return on the investment. What it can do it free up the low and medium systems to go after those kind of targets.”\n\nThe system has been purchased by other US allies, including Israel, Germany, and Japan, and was sent to Poland in an effort to help them defend themselves against Russia as it invaded Ukraine on its border. The US military made clear in March when the Patriot system was sent to Poland that it was purely for defensive purposes of NATO territory and “will in no way support any offensive operations.”\n\nAnd in Ukraine’s case, Hertling says offensive operations are far more important than the Patriot system. CNN first reported last month that the US was considering a dramatic increase in the training provided to Ukrainian forces by instructing as many as 2,500 troops a month at a US base in Germany. The Pentagon said this month that combined arms training of battalion-sized elements, which will include infantry maneuvers and live fire exercises, would begin in January.\n\n“The Patriots are a defensive, anti-ballistic and anti-aircraft weapon system, with the emphasis on defensive,” Hertling said. “You don’t win wars with defensive capabilities. You win wars with offensive capabilities.”", "authors": ["Haley Britzky"], "publish_date": "2022/12/21"}, {"url": "https://www.cnn.com/2022/05/31/asia/china-taiwan-invasion-scenarios-analysis-intl-hnk-ml/index.html", "title": "China has the power to take Taiwan, but it would cost an extremely ...", "text": "Seoul, South Korea CNN —\n\nOn his first trip to Asia as United States President last week, Joe Biden gave his strongest warning yet to Beijing that Washington was committed to defending Taiwan militarily in the event of an attack from China.\n\nBiden’s comments, which compared a potential Chinese attack on Taiwan to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, appeared to deviate from Washington’s decades-old policy of “strategic ambiguity” on the issue and seemingly raised the possibility of a military clash between US and Chinese forces.\n\nIt’s the third time Biden has made similar remarks since taking office and, just as on the other two occasions, they were quickly walked back by the White House – which insists its policy has not changed. However, it inevitably raises the question: if China tries to take Taiwan, are the United States and its allies able to stop it?\n\nAnd the alarming answer is: Quite possibly not. Analysts say China has more troops, more missiles and more ships than Taiwan or its possible supporters, like the US or Japan, could bring to a fight. That means that if China is absolutely determined to take the island it probably can.\n\nBut there’s a caveat; while China could likely prevail, any victory would come at an extremely bloody price for both Beijing and its adversaries.\n\nMany analysts say an invasion of Taiwan would be more dangerous and complex than the Allied D-Day landings in France in World War II. US government documents put the number of killed, injured and missing from both sides during the almost three-month-long Normandy campaign at almost half a million troops.\n\nAnd the civilian carnage could be far, far worse.\n\nTaiwan’s population of 24 million people is packed into dense urban areas like the capital Taipei, with an average of 9,575 people per square kilometer. Compare that to Mariupol, Ukraine – devastated in the war with Russia – and with an average of 2,690 people per square kilometer.\n\nDespite its numerical advantages in sea-, air- and land-based forces in the region, China has Achilles heels in each arena of war that would force Beijing to think long and hard about whether an invasion is worth the overwhelming human cost.\n\nHere are some scenarios of how a Chinese invasion might play out:\n\nThe naval war\n\nChina has the world’s largest navy, with around 360 combat vessels – bigger than the US’ fleet of just under 300 ships.\n\nBeijing also has the world’s most-advanced merchant fleet, a large coast guard and, experts say, a maritime militia – fishing boats unofficially aligned with the military – giving it access to hundreds of additional vessels that could be used to transport the hundreds of thousands of troops that analysts say China would need for an amphibious invasion.\n\nAnd those troops would need massive amounts of supplies.\n\n“For Beijing to have reasonable prospects of victory, the PLA (People’s Liberation Army) would have to move thousands of tanks, artillery guns, armored personnel vehicles, and rocket launchers across with the troops. Mountains of equipment and lakes of fuel would have to cross with them,” Ian Easton, a senior director at the Project 2049 Institute, wrote in The Diplomat last year.\n\nGetting a force of that size across the 110 miles (177 kilometers) of the Taiwan Strait would be a long, dangerous mission during which those vessels carrying the troops and equipment would be sitting ducks.\n\n“The thought about China invading Taiwan, that’s a massacre for the Chinese navy,” said Phillips O’Brien, professor of strategic studies at the University of St. Andrews in Scotland.\n\nThat’s because Taiwan has been stocking up on cheap and effective land-based anti-ship missiles, similar to the Neptunes Ukraine used to sink the Russian cruiser Moskva in the Black Sea in April.\n\n“Taiwan is mass-producing these things. And they’re small, it’s not like (China) can take them all out,” O’Brien said.\n\n“What’s cheap is a surface-to-ship missile, what’s expensive is a ship.”\n\nThe Chinese guided-missile destroyer Changsha returns to a port in Sanya City, China, in March 2017. Zeng Tao/Xinhua/Getty Images\n\nStill, China could – given its numerical advantage – simply decide the losses were worth it, pointed out Thomas Shugart, a former US Navy submarine captain and now an analyst at the Center for a New American Security.\n\n“There’s gonna be hundreds if not thousands of (Chinese) vessels there to soak up those (Taiwanese) missiles,” Shugart said.\n\nMissiles aside, China would face massive logistical hurdles in landing enough soldiers. Conventional military wisdom holds that an attacking force should outnumber defenders 3 to 1.\n\n“With a potential defending force of 450,000 Taiwanese today … China would need over 1.2 million soldiers (out of a total active force of more than 2 million) that would have to be transported in many thousands of ships,” Howard Ullman, a former US Navy officer and professor at the US Naval War College, wrote in a February essay for the Atlantic Council.\n\nHe estimated such an operation would take weeks and that despite China’s maritime strength, it “simply lacks the military capability and capacity to launch a full-scale amphibious invasion of Taiwan for the foreseeable future.”\n\nAircraft carrier killers\n\nSome of the problems that would face China’s navy in Taiwan would also face any US naval force sent to defend the island.\n\nThe US Navy sees its aircraft carriers and amphibious assault ships, bristling with F-35 and F/A-18 jets, as its spear in the Pacific and would have a numerical advantage in this area. The US has 11 carriers in total, compared to China’s two. However, only about half are combat ready at any one time and even these might be vulnerable.\n\nO’Brien and others point out that the People’s Liberation Army has more than 2,000 conventionally armed missiles, many of which it has developed with the US Navy’s prized aircraft carriers in mind.\n\nOf particular concern would be China’s DF-26 and DF-21D – touted by Beijing’s state-run Global Times tabloid in 2020 as “aircraft carrier killers” and the “world’s first ballistic missiles capable of targeting large and medium-sized vessels.”\n\nAs O’Brien puts it, “The US better be careful thinking about, in any kind of war environment, sending carrier battle groups close to China … If you’re fighting a state-to-state war, you���re going to stay far away from shore.”\n\nOthers are more confident in the US carriers.\n\nRear Adm. Jeffery Anderson, the commander of the US Navy’s Carrier Strike Group Three centered on the carrier USS Abraham Lincoln, recently told CNN his ships are more than ready to deal with the kind of missiles that sank the Moskva.\n\n“One thing I do know about our US ships is they’re extremely survivable. Not only are they lethal, but they are extremely survivable,” he said.\n\nA Chinese air force fighter jet takes off during training exercises in 2017. Liu Chang/Xinhua/Getty Images\n\nThe air war\n\nChina is likely to seek air superiority early into any conflict, analysts say, and may feel it has an advantage in the skies.\n\nFlight Global’s 2022 directory of the world’s air forces shows the PLA with almost 1,600 combat aircraft, compared to Taiwan’s fewer than 300. The directory shows the US with more than 2,700 combat aircraft, but those cover the world while China’s are all in the region.\n\nVideo Ad Feedback Taiwan holds ceremony for advanced F-16V fighter jets 02:11 - Source: CNN\n\nIn the air war, China also will have learned from Russia’s failures in Ukraine – where Moscow took months assembling its ground forces yet failed to soften up the terrain for them with a bombing campaign – and is more likely to emulate the “shock and awe” bombardments that preceded the US’ invasions of Iraq.\n\n“I’m sure the PLA is learning from what they’re seeing,” Shugart said. “You can read open-source translations of their strategic documents. They learned very carefully from what we did in Desert Storm and Kosovo.”\n\nBut even in the air China would face significant difficulties.\n\nA guided-missile-armed J-20 stealth fighter jet of the Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA) Air Force performs at Airshow China 2018. Shu ying/Imagine China/Reuters\n\nRussia’s failure to quickly seize control of the skies in Ukraine initially dumbfounded many analysts. Some put the failure down to the cheap antiaircraft missiles Western militaries have supplied to Kyiv.\n\nTaiwan has deals with the United States to supply it with Stinger antiaircraft missiles and Patriot missile defense batteries. And it also has been investing heavily in its own missile production facilities over the past three years in a project, when completed this summer, will see its missile production capabilities triple, according to a Janes report in March.\n\nOn the other hand, China would have an advantage over the US due to its closeness to Taiwan.\n\nA recent war game run by the Center for a New American Security concluded that an aerial conflict between the US and China would likely end in stalemate.\n\nCommenting on the result to Air Force Magazine, Lt. Gen. S. Clinton Hinote, US Air Force deputy chief of staff for strategy, integration and requirements, said that while the US was used to dominating the skies some factors weren’t in its favor.\n\nChina had “invested in modern aircraft and weapons to fight us,” he noted, and US forces would also face the “tyranny of distance” – most of the US air power used in the war game operated out of the Philippines, about 500 miles (800 kilometers) away.\n\nThe war game simulated Chinese forces beginning their campaign by trying to take out the nearest US bases in places like Guam and Japan.\n\nHinote likened that move to Japan’s attack on Pearl Harbor in December 1941, saying China would be motivated by “many of the same reasons.”\n\n“The attack is designed to give Chinese forces the time they need to invade and present the world with a fait accompli,” he told the magazine.\n\nChina has a growing arsenal of short-, medium- and intermediate range ballistic missiles that can reach these far-flung targets.\n\nAs of 2020, the PLA had at least 425 missile launchers capable of hitting those US bases, according to the China Power project at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.\n\nA Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA) soldier fires an anti-tank rocket during a live-fire military exercise in Wuzhong, Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region, China in 2019. Reuters\n\nThe ground war\n\nEven in a scenario where China was willing to take these risks and managed to get a significant amount of troops ashore, its forces would then face another uphill battle.\n\nTaiwan has about 150,000 troops and 2.5 million reservists – and its entire national defense strategy is based on countering a Chinese invasion.\n\nLike their counterparts in Ukraine the Taiwanese would have the advantage of home turf, knowing the ground and being highly motivated to defend it.\n\nFirst, the PLA would need to find a decent landing spot – ideally close to both the mainland and a strategic city such as Taipei with nearby port and airport facilities. Experts have identified just 14 beaches that would fit the bill and Taiwan is well aware of which ones those are. Its engineers have spent decades digging tunnels and bunkers to protect them.\n\nTaiwan’s troops would also be relatively fresh compared to their Chinese counterparts, who would be drained from the journey over and would still need to push through the island’s western mud flats and mountains, with only narrow roads to assist them, toward Taipei.\n\nChinese troops could be dropped in from the air, but a lack of paratroopers in the PLA makes it unlikely.\n\nAnother problem for Chinese troops would be their lack of battlefield experience. The last time the PLA was in active combat was in 1979, when China fought a brief border war with Vietnam.\n\nSoldiers of Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA) fire a mortar during a live-fire military exercise in Anhui province, China May 22, 2021. cnsphoto/Reuters\n\nIn that effort, China “really got a bloody nose, it was not very successful operation,” said Bonnie Glaser, director of the Asia program at the German Marshall Fund of the United States.\n\n“So China’s military today is not battle tested, and it could suffer great losses, if it indeed attacked Taiwan,” Glaser said.\n\nOthers pointed out that even battle-tested troops could struggle against a well-motivated defensive force – noting that the Russian military was bogged down in Ukraine despite its recent fighting experience in Syria and Georgia.\n\nStill, as with the other scenarios, it is not only Chinese forces that might be handicapped by a lack of experience. Taiwan’s troops have also not been tested, and depending on the scenario, there are holes in even the US’ experience. As Shugart put it: “There is not a single US naval officer who has sunk another ship in combat.”\n\nWhat are the chances China attacks?\n\nGlaser, the German Marshall Fund analyst, thinks a Chinese invasion of Taiwan is unlikely.\n\n“I think that the PLA lacks full confidence that it can seize and control Taiwan. The PLA itself talks about some of the deficiencies in its capability,” she said.\n\n“And obviously, the war in Ukraine highlights some of the challenges that China could face; it is certainly much harder to launch a war 100 miles across a body of water than it is across land borders, (such as those) between Russia and Ukraine,” she said.\n\nShe noted that the strong Ukrainian resistance may be giving Taiwan’s people reason to fight for their land.\n\n“Given how Ukraine has really demonstrated a very high morale and willingness to defend its freedoms … I think that this is likely to change the calculus of not only military leaders in China, but hopefully also of (Chinese leader) Xi Jinping personally,” she said.\n\nO’Brien, the University of St. Andrews professor, wrote in The Spectator this year that any war over Taiwan would lead to devastating losses on all sides, something that should make their leaders tread carefully before committing troops.\n\n“If the Ukrainian war teaches us anything, it is that war is almost always a rash choice. Don’t underestimate your opponent, and don’t assume your systems will all work that well.”\n\nA Chinese amy tank takes part in military drills in 2018. Mladen Antonov/AFP/Getty Images\n\nAny other option?\n\nOf course, the PLA has options other than a full-blown invasion.\n\nThese include taking outlying Taiwanese islands or imposing a quarantine on the main island, Robert Blackwill and Philip Zelikow wrote last year in a report for the Council on Foreign Relations.\n\nVideo Ad Feedback Residents of Taipei on edge about China after Russia invades Ukraine 02:52 - Source: CNN\n\nPossible PLA targets could be Taiping Island, Taiwan’s most far-flung outpost in the South China Sea; the tiny Pratas Island, a small outpost 170 nautical miles (320 kilometers) southeast of Hong Kong; Kinmen and Matsu islands, tiny territories just a few miles off mainland China’s coast; or Penghu in the Taiwan Strait.\n\nWhile a PLA victory of any of the four is almost assured, it could come at the cost of galvanizing support for Taiwan in the rest of the world – much as Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has united the West against it.\n\nBlackwill and Zelikow said the quarantine option might be more effective.\n\n“In a quarantine scenario, the Chinese government would effectively take control of the air and sea borders of Taiwan,” they wrote. “The Chinese government would run effectively a clearance operation offshore or in the air to screen incoming ships and aircraft. The screeners could then wave along what they regarded as innocent traffic.”\n\nAnything regarded as belligerent, such as US military aid for Taiwan, could be blocked or confiscated as a violation of Chinese sovereignty, they say. Meanwhile, China could allow the Taiwan government to function as normal except for foreign affairs.\n\nThis option would have an advantage in China’s eyes: the ball would be in the US’ court as to whether to use force to end the quarantine. Then it would be the US that would have to consider whether to risk a war that could cost countless lives.", "authors": ["Brad Lendon Ivan Watson", "Brad Lendon", "Ivan Watson"], "publish_date": "2022/05/31"}, {"url": "https://www.cnn.com/2022/12/22/world/gallery/photos-this-week-december-15-december-22/index.html", "title": "Photos this week: December 15-December 22 | CNN", "text": "Ten months after his country was invaded by Russia, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky flew to Washington, DC, for a historic wartime visit.\n\nZelensky's visit to Washington marked his first trip outside Ukraine since the invasion. \"I hope my words of respect and gratitude resonate in each American heart,\" Zelensky said during a joint meeting of Congress. But alongside his gratitude was a plea for more help, emphasizing that his armed forces are outnumbered and outgunned by the Russian military even as they fight on.\n\nEarlier Wednesday, the Ukrainian leader visited the White House, where he met with President Joe Biden and held a joint news conference, during which the duo displayed a united front on their approach to the war.\n\nBiden officially announced the United States will send an additional $1.8 billion package of assistance to Ukraine, which will include the Patriot missile defense system that Zelensky had been requesting for months.\n\n\n\nHere are some of the stories that made headlines over the past week, as well as some photos that caught our eye.", "authors": [], "publish_date": "2022/12/22"}, {"url": "https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation-now/2015/12/26/marine-corps-uniform-changes-expected-year/77929040/?hootPostID=1b95a036ee92a0d4b426d4723f55f16b", "title": "Marine Corps uniform changes expected this year", "text": "Matthew L. Schehl\n\nThe Marine Corps Times\n\nMajor changes for Marine Corps uniforms are in the pipeline.\n\nSwitching to “bravos” or “charlies” and doing away with desert camouflage utility uniforms are two proposals currently on the table, based in part on a survey of Marines conducted over the summer by the Marine Corps Uniform Board.\n\nMarine Corps officials declined to comment on the results, as final decisions are still pending, but Marines’ input will be taken into account, according to board manager Mary Boyt.\n\n“The survey results will be briefed at the formal Uniform Board meeting during the deliberation phase of the process and will be briefed to the commandant and his staff in conjunction with the formal Uniform Board recommendation on the issues,” she said at the time.\n\nOn Dec. 14, the board also released details of its most recent uniform meeting, authorizing the wear of lock and twist hairstyles for women and clarifying sleeve-rolling regulations for desert MARPAT cammies, inserting the requirement that the rolls must be “snug to the arm.”\n\nMarines relax rules on lock, twist hairstyles\n\nTwo potential changes were disapproved by the commandant, according to Marine administrative message 622/15, including wearing the Sam Browne Belt for officers and an issued first set of woodland cammies that require wearing brushed brass pin-on enlisted ranks.\n\nThe uniform survey, which concluded Aug. 9, asked Marines to vote on three potential uniform changes: adopting a new seasonal uniform policy, removing desert cammies from the required gear list and adopting a new dress blue coat for women.\n\nThere are three recommendations being considered for seasonal uniform changes.\n\nThe first is giving force-level commanders authority to make the call on which uniform of the day their Marines should wear based on the climate in their area of operation.\n\nCurrent policy dictates that Marines across the globe are on the same uniform cycle: desert cammies for the spring and summer and woodlands over fall and winter.\n\nBut a second option is to take combat utility uniforms out of the required seasonal rotation altogether, delegating the decision of which uniform to wear to local commanders based on climate and training requirements.\n\nArmy retires green service uniform after 61 years\n\nGoing this route would allow Marines aboard Twentynine Palms, California, to wear desert cammies year-round, while those stationed in Okinawa, Japan, could be in woodlands all year, for example.\n\nThe final recommendation is to scrap combat utility uniforms as the uniform of the day in favor of the service uniform.\n\n“Bravos” or “charlies” would become the universal daily uniform, versus the weekly “service uniform Fridays” Marines currently wear.\n\nCammies would still be worn in the field, during training, on deployments or any work environment detrimental to the formal uniform.\n\nThe second major uniform change being considered is whether to get rid of the desert MARPAT uniform as a minimum sea bag requirement.\n\nThe switch would mean a return to a requirement for four woodland uniforms, resulting in a standardized uniform and financial savings for the Corps.\n\nIn 2006, Marines began deploying to combat zones wearing flame resistant gear instead of the desert cammies in order to mitigate the threat from improvised explosive devices. For Marines who still require desert pattern uniforms, there are enough of these to go around for the immediate future.\n\nThe last issue Marines voted on was changing the women’s dress blue coat, with the options of keeping the current design, switching to a new unisex design or wearing the new design only for special assignments.\n\nThe new design is almost identical to the current dress blue coat worn by men, including a high mandarin collar but lacking breast and hip pockets.\n\nNavy Secretary Ray Mabus has also called for a gender-neutral, “iconic” uniform for Marines.\n\nIn a speech at the Naval Academy in May, he touted his initiative to issue common uniform items across the Navy and Marine Corps as important to cohesion and morale.\n\n“We are not trying to make women look like men, but make everybody look like a U.S. sailor or Marine,” Mabus said during a question-and-answer session following his speech.", "authors": [], "publish_date": "2015/12/26"}, {"url": "https://www.usatoday.com/story/entertainment/holidays/2023/11/02/veterans-day-2023-parades-events-phoenix/71241829007/", "title": "Veterans Day 2023: Parades and ceremonies in Phoenix", "text": "Veterans Day 2023 is almost here and U.S. military members will be celebrated and recognized for their service and sacrifices. There will be parades, community events and special performances throughout metro Phoenix on and around Nov. 11.\n\nVeterans Day falls on a Saturday this year, but observances will take place beginning Sunday, Nov. 5.\n\nThere will be parades in Phoenix, Tempe, Mesa and Surprise. Ceremonies to honor veterans and active military members will take place at the Heard Museum in Phoenix, Scottsdale Center for the Performing Arts, Gilbert Regional Park and the Sun Bowl Amphitheater in Sun City.\n\nVeterans Day 2023:Find free meals, discounts and deals at these metro Phoenix restaurants\n\nWhen is Veterans Day?\n\nVeterans Day is observed on Nov. 11. It recognizes the armistice during World War I between Germany and the Allies, which took effect on the 11th hour — Paris time — of the 11th day of the 11th month in 1918. According to the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs website, President Woodrow Wilson proclaimed Nov. 11, 1919, as the first commemoration of Armistice Day.\n\nWhen Congress passed an act in 1938, Nov. 11 became a holiday dedicated to Armistice Day and WWI veterans.\n\n“In 1954, after World War II had required the greatest mobilization of soldiers, sailors, Marines and airmen in the nation’s history, after American forces had fought aggression in Korea, the 83rd Congress, at the urging of the veterans service organizations, amended the Act of 1938 by striking out the word ‘Armistice’ and inserting in its place the word ‘veterans,’” reads the VA’s website on the history of Veterans Day.\n\nNow, Veterans Day is “a celebration to honor America's veterans for their patriotism, love of country and willingness to serve and sacrifice for the common good.”\n\nWhat is the difference between Memorial Day and Veterans Day?\n\nMemorial Day and Veterans Day both recognize those who have served in the U.S military.\n\nMemorial Day is celebrated on the last Monday of May each year. It’s a day to honor U.S. military members who died on active duty. Veterans Day encompasses all service members.\n\nIs Veterans Day a federal holiday?\n\nVeterans Day is a federal holiday. Mail is not delivered; courts and nonessential federal and city offices are closed; banks and public schools are typically closed. Some public transportation options may be affected as well.\n\nVeterans Day 2023 events in metro Phoenix\n\nSun City Veterans Day Tribute\n\nThe annual Sun City Veterans Day Tribute will feature the Ahwatukee Foothills Concert Band and Youth Chorus. The event is for Recreation Centers of Sun City members, cardholders and escorted guests. Bring lawn chairs or a blanket.\n\nDetails: 4 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 5. Sun Bowl Amphitheater, 10220 N. 107th Ave., Sun City. Free. suncityaz.org.\n\nGilbert Veterans Day Ceremony\n\nThe 19th annual Veterans Day Ceremony will take place at Gilbert Regional Park with a classic and custom car show, guest speakers, musical performances and more. Lawn seating will be available and guests are encouraged to bring a blanket or a lawn chair. Food trucks will be on site.\n\nDetails: 3-7 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 9. Gilbert Regional Park, 3005 E. Queen Creek Road, Gilbert. Free. gilbertaz.com.\n\nBig band concert at Scottsdale Center for the Performing Arts\n\nThe Jazz Ambassadors is the official touring big band of the U.S. Army that formed in 1969. The 19-member ensemble plays big band swing to bebop, Latin, contemporary jazz and more. They'll be playing a concert in advance of Veterans Day in Scottsdale.\n\nDetails: 6 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 9. Scottsdale Center for the Performing Arts, 7380 E. Second St. Free. scottsdaleperformingarts.org.\n\nSurprise Veterans Day Parade\n\nThe ninth annual Surprise Veterans Day Parade will honor service men and women. The Surprise Police Department will serve a pancake breakfast from 7:30-9:30 a.m. at Surprise Stadium and the parade will kick off at 10 a.m.\n\nDetails: 7:30 a.m. Saturday, Nov. 11. Surprise Recreation Campus, 15960 N. Bullard Ave. Parade is free; pancake breakfast costs $7. surpriseaz.gov.\n\nFountain Hills Veterans Day Ceremony\n\nThe Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 7507 will host a Veterans Day ceremony at the Fountain Hills Veterans Memorial. It's a joint effort of the Veterans Service Organizations in Fountain Hills, the American Legion Post 58, Marine Corps League Detachment 1439 and VFW Post 7507.\n\nVeterans Heritage Program's Storyteller of the Year Frank Lambert will be the keynote speaker. Lambert served as company commander of Company D, 1st Cavalry Division, in Vietnam from 1967-1968. He was awarded the Combat Infantryman's Badge, the Silver Star, the Soldier's Medal, three Bronze Stars with Valor and two Purple Hearts.\n\nDetails: 9 a.m. Saturday, Nov. 11. Fountain Hills Veterans Memorial at Fountain Park, 7166 E. El Lago Blvd. Free.\n\nVeterans Day Tribute at The Heard Museum\n\nThe Heard Museum opened the nation's first memorial to commemorate more than three centuries of American Indian military service in 2012. This year will mark the 11th celebration of the American Indian Veteran National Memorial with live music, veteran artists, films, Native dances, exhibitions and more.\n\nDetails: 10 a.m.-8 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 11. Heard Museum, 2301 N. Central Ave., Phoenix. Free. heard.org.\n\nAnthem Veterans Day Ceremony\n\nThe Anthem Veterans Day Ceremony will honor the service of all veterans and their families. The ceremony will end at 11:11 a.m. in honor of Armistice with the sun's rays shining through the Anthem Veterans Memorial's five military branch pillars onto the Great Seal of the United States.\n\nDetails: 10 a.m.-11:15 a.m. Saturday, Nov. 11. Veterans Memorial, 41703 N. Gavilan Peak Parkway, Anthem. Free. onlineatanthem.com.\n\nTempe Veterans Day Parade\n\nThe annual Tempe Veterans Day Parade will begin at ASU Gammage and make its way north on Mill Avenue before ending at Tempe Beach Park. Participants will include Tempe City Council members, Boy Scout and Girl Scout troops, local school marching bands, veterans groups and more.\n\nDetails: 10 a.m. Saturday, Nov. 11. ASU Gammage, at 12th Street and Mill Avenue, Tempe. Free. downtowntempe.com.\n\nPhoenix Veterans Day Parade\n\nThe Phoenix Veterans Day Parade began in 1997 to honor the contributions of U.S. veterans and build a patriotic community spirit. Among the eight Arizona veterans named as grand marshals is Thomas Begay, a Navajo Code Talker in World War II. The celebrity grand marshal is Kim Alexis, a supermodel in the 1980s.\n\nThe parade will head south on Central Avenue from Montebello Drive to Camelback Road, turning east on Camelback Road to Seventh Street, then south on Seventh Street and ending at Indian School Road.\n\nDetails: 11 a.m.-1 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 11. Free. honoringamericasveterans.org.\n\nEast Valley Veterans Parade\n\nThe East Valley Veterans Parade provides an opportunity for the community to honor local military members and their families. The theme is \"Vietnam Valor\" to recognize the 50th anniversary of the end of the Vietnam War.\n\nThe parade begins at Center Street and University Drive and runs south on Center Street to First Street, where it will turn west and continue to Robson.\n\nDetails: 11 a.m. Saturday, Nov. 11. Center Street and University Drive, Mesa. Free. evvp.org.\n\nMore Local Events:A cheeky pants-off light rail ride is coming back to Phoenix. How to join in (or miss it)\n\nMeredith G. White is the entertainment reporter for The Arizona Republic |azcentral.com. You can find her on Facebook as Meredith G. White, on Instagram and Twitter as @meredithgwhite, and email her atmeredith.white@arizonarepublic.com.\n\nSupport local journalism. Subscribe to azcentral.com today.", "authors": [], "publish_date": "2023/11/02"}, {"url": "https://www.cnn.com/2022/04/21/us/reedy-creek-walt-disney-florida/index.html", "title": "Reedy Creek: Why Disney has its own government in Florida and ...", "text": "Editor’s Note: This story was originally published on April 21, 2022. It has been updated to reflect Florida’s 2023 special legislative session.\n\nCNN —\n\nDisney’s Orlando-area theme parks and who will govern them are under renewed scrutiny in Florida – the latest in a yearlong spat between Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis and the state’s largest private employer.\n\nLawmakers have returned to Tallahassee for a special session called in part to address what happens to Disney’s special taxing district, called the Reedy Creek Improvement District, after they previously passed legislation dissolving it, which was supposed to take effect in June.\n\nState Republicans on Monday unveiled a bill to turn over control of Disney’s special taxing district to a five-member board hand-picked by DeSantis and rebrand Reedy Creek the “Central Florida Tourism Oversight District.”\n\nThe move to take over Reedy Creek comes after DeSantis sparred last year with Disney over a bill to restrict certain classroom instruction about sexual orientation and gender identity.\n\nHere’s a look at the history of Reedy Creek, why it has become the focus of another special legislative session in Florida, and how proposed changes would give DeSantis more control.\n\nWhat is Reedy Creek?\n\nReedy Creek is the name for the Reedy Creek Improvement District, a special purpose district created by state law in May 1967 that gives The Walt Disney Company governmental control over the land in and around its central Florida theme parks. The district sits southwest of Orlando.\n\nAt the time, the land was little more than uninhabited pasture and swamp, according to Reedy Creek’s website. With the special purpose district, Disney took over responsibility for providing municipal services like power, water, roads and fire protection – but was also freed from dealing with legal red tape or paying taxes for services that benefited the broader public.\n\nAccording to Richard Foglesong, the author of the book “Married to the Mouse: Walt Disney World and Orlando,” Disney had previously had issues with the government of Anaheim, California, at its Disneyland park, completed a decade earlier. With those issues in mind, Disney pushed for a special purpose district in Florida that would give the company the ability to self-govern.\n\nIn exchange, Florida became the home base for Disney World and its millions of tourists.\n\n“Florida needed Disney more than Disney needed Florida,” Foglesong told CNN.\n\nToday, the Reedy Creek special district encompasses about 25,000 acres in Orange and Osceola counties, including four theme parks, two water parks, one sports complex, 175 lane miles of roadway, 67 miles of waterway, and the cities of Bay Lake and Lake Buena Vista, its website says.\n\n“The cooperation and commitment between the Reedy Creek Improvement District and Walt Disney World Company is as strong today as it was when the District was created in 1967,” the Reedy Creek website states. “The result is an example of how a working partnership between business and government can be prosperous for both sides.”\n\nWhy is this an issue now?\n\nLast year, DeSantis challenged lawmakers to unravel the 55-year-old Reedy Creek Improvement Act as part of a special legislative session and ultimately signed a bill that would sunset the district on June 1.\n\nLawmakers left town without a plan to unwind a half-century of Disney control or for how to ensure Orange and Osceola county residents wouldn’t be on the hook for funding Reedy Creek services or its $1 billion in debt. Amid the fallout, Reedy Creek told its bondholders that Florida could not dissolve the district without assuming its debts.\n\nDeSantis repeatedly offered assurances that taxpayers wouldn’t have to pick up the tab.\n\nNow, GOP lawmakers have returned to the state Capitol and are trying to breath new life into the taxing district and keep many of its special powers. The final page of the 189-page bill proposed Monday states: “The Reedy Creek Improvement District is not dissolved as of June 1, 2023, but continues in full force and effect under its new name.”\n\nThe Republican-controlled legislature is likely to pass the proposed changes within the next couple of weeks and the governor is supportive of them.\n\nWhat are lawmakers proposing?\n\nThe bill, introduced Monday by state Rep. Fred Hawkins, seeks to limit the damage that could be done to Disney, one of the state’s most vital tourism engines, and to taxpayers.\n\nThe measure guarantees that the changes to Reedy Creek will not affect the district’s existing debt or any other contracts.\n\nInstead of ending the district, the proposed legislation would rebrand it as the “Central Florida Tourism Oversight District” and curb some of its powers, including the ability to build an airport or a nuclear power plant.\n\nThe board, previously made up of Reedy Creek landowners with close ties to Disney, will instead become a five-member board of supervisors appointed by the governor. The bill makes clear that none of the appointees chosen by the governor can be recent Disney employees or their relatives, nor that of a competitor. The state Senate, where Republicans hold a super majority, would have final approval of the appointees.\n\n“These actions ensure a state-controlled district accountable to the people instead of a corporate-controlled kingdom,” DeSantis spokesman Jeremy Redfern said.\n\nWhat has Disney said?\n\nDisney said Monday it is watching the bill.\n\nIn a statement to CNN, Jeff Vahle, the president of Walt Disney World Resort, said the company is “monitoring the progression of the draft legislation, which is complex given the long history of the Reedy Creek Improvement District.”\n\n“Disney works under a number of different models and jurisdictions around the world, and regardless of the outcome, we remain committed to providing the highest quality experience for the millions of guests who visit each year,” Vahle said.\n\nWhat does this have to do with Florida schools?\n\nReedy Creek has been tied to the feud between DeSantis, who has widely been seen as a potential 2024 GOP presidential contender, and Disney over a measure that bans certain instruction about sexual orientation and gender identity in the classroom.\n\nThe “Parental Rights in Education” bill – which critics have dubbed the “Don’t Say Gay” bill – was signed into law last March and prohibits schools from teaching children about sexual orientation or gender identity “in a manner that is not age-appropriate or developmentally appropriate.” The legislation also allows parents to bring lawsuits against a school district for potential violations.\n\nThe law’s vague language and the threat of parental lawsuits have raised fears that it will lead to discrimination against LGBTQ students and will have a chilling effect on classroom discussion. DeSantis spokesperson Christina Pushaw said on Twitter last year that the legislation would protect kids from “groomers,” a slang term for pedophiles, and described those who oppose the law as “probably groomers.”\n\nBob Chapek, the then-CEO of Disney, which employs 75,000 people in Florida, initially declined to condemn the law last year but reversed course after facing employee criticism. A company spokesperson then released a statement stating its goal was for the law to be repealed by the legislature or struck down in the courts.\n\n“Florida’s HB 1557, also known as the ‘Don’t Say Gay’ bill, should never have passed and should never have been signed into law,” the March 2022 statement said. The company said it was “dedicated to standing up for the rights and safety of LGBTQ+ members of the Disney family, as well as the LGBTQ+ community in Florida and across the country.”", "authors": ["Eric Levenson Dianne Gallagher Steve Contorno Jack Forrest", "Eric Levenson", "Dianne Gallagher", "Steve Contorno", "Jack Forrest"], "publish_date": "2022/04/21"}, {"url": "https://www.cnn.com/2022/06/25/asia/china-navy-aircraft-carrier-analysis-intl-hnk-ml-dst/index.html", "title": "Never mind China's new aircraft carrier, these are the ships the US ...", "text": "Seoul, South Korea CNN —\n\nChina made a big statement about its naval ambitions with the recent launch of its third and most advanced aircraft carrier.\n\nThe Fujian – by far China’s biggest, most modern and most powerful aircraft carrier to date – is the 80,000-ton jewel in the crown of a military expansion that has seen Beijing grow its navy into the world’s largest.\n\nIts new combat systems – such as an electromagnetic catapult-assisted launch system – show China is fast catching up with the United States, experts say, and will give it the ability to launch more aircraft, more quickly, and with more ammunition.\n\nThat should be enough to give any would-be opponent pause for thought, especially given China’s increasing aggression in its territorial disputes with Japan in the East China Sea, a host of Southeast Asian nations in the South China Sea, and its repeated harassment of the self-governed island of Taiwan – where it has pointedly refused to rule out an invasion.\n\nChina's third aircraft carrier, the Fujian, at Jiangnan Shipyard on June 17. Li Tang/VCG/Getty Images\n\nStill, while the launch of the Fujian amid much fanfare was clearly meant as a message to Beijing’s rivals, analysts caution against swallowing too much of the hype just yet.\n\nFirstly, the Fujian likely won’t be operational for another three to four years, said Carl Schuster, a former US Navy captain and former director of operations at the US Pacific Command’s Joint Intelligence Center. And even when it is operational, its size will make it an obvious target – any enemy will be keenly aware that sinking such an iconic vessel would be as much of a morale blow as a military disaster for China.\n\nThe launch ceremony for China's third aircraft carrier, the Fujian, at Jiangnan Shipyard in Shanghai, on June 17. Li Tang/VCG/Getty Images\n\nThen there is the simple fact that, impressive as they seem, aircraft carriers aren’t necessarily best suited to what experts see as the most plausible conflict scenarios in the near future – including clashes in the East and South China Seas and an invasion of Taiwan.\n\nEssentially, experts say, the Fujian might be China’s biggest ship, but it’s probably not the biggest problem on the minds of US naval commanders right now.\n\nHere are four types of ship at China’s disposal that arguably pose a far greater threat to US naval dominance.\n\nChina's type 055 guided-missile destroyer Nanchang in the Western Pacific on October 19, 2021. Sun Zifa/China News Service/Getty Images\n\nType 055 destroyer\n\nLaunched in 2017, these 13,000-ton stealth guided-missile destroyers are considered by many to be the most powerful surface combatants in the world.\n\nThe Type 055, big enough to be considered a cruiser by NATO standards, is equipped with 112 vertical launch tubes that can used to fire everything from anti-ship missiles to long-range land-attack missiles.\n\n“This ship in particular has a sophisticated design, stealth features, radars, and a large missile inventory. It is larger and more powerful than most US, Japanese, and South Korean destroyers,” RAND Corp. senior analyst Timothy Heath told CNN in 2018, when Beijing launched two of the warships in a single day – a testament to China’s impressive shipbuilding capabilities.\n\nA US Congressional Research Service report in March said at least 10 Type 055s are thought to have been launched or are under construction.\n\nThe deployment of the Lhasa, the second of Beijing’s five active Type 055s, to the Sea of Japan for drills amid growing tensions over Taiwan, was championed by China’s state-run Global Times tabloid last week.\n\n“The ship has achieved full operational capability and demonstrated its capabilities in deterring possible foreign military interference in the Taiwan Strait at a time when the US and Japan have been repeatedly provoking China over the Taiwan question,” the Global Times reported.\n\nThe potency of the Type 055 was underlined in footage that emerged on social media in April. It showed one launching what naval analyst H I Sutton said was a hypersonic YJ-21 anti-ship ballistic missile – a weapon often referred to as a “carrier killer.”\n\nGlobal Times played down the footage, describing the missiles as part of the country’s defensive strategy.\n\n“If the US does not make military provocations against China, including over the Taiwan question, it does not need to worry about the missiles,” it said.\n\nChina's Liaoning aircraft carrier is accompanied by navy frigates and submarines during an exercise in the South China Sea. Li Gang/AP\n\nType 039 submarine\n\nThese Yuan-class submarines are almost silent diesel-electric-powered boats with capabilities that could prove tough for US military planners to deal with.\n\nBeijing has built 17 of the Type 39A/B subs, with plans to increase that total to 25 in the next three years, according to the US Defense Department’s 2021 report to Congress on China’s military power.\n\n“The Type 039 SSs provide formidable ‘defense in depth’” in waters close to China, “and they appear to be developing some capability to engage” US forces farther out to sea, Schuster said.\n\nThe subs are equipped with air independent propulsion (AIP), which means they do not need to surface as frequently to get the air required for diesel combustion, which can then power their batteries.\n\n“When operating on batteries, AIP-equipped submarines are almost silent, with the only noise coming from the shaft bearings, propeller, and flow around the hull,” US Navy officers Michael Walker and Austin Krusz wrote in a 2018 report for the US Naval Institute’s Proceedings magazine.\n\nChina is pushing to launch more of the super-quiet subs, which are armed with anti-ship cruise missiles, the Defense Department report said.\n\nOne potent method of attack used by the Type 039 is to fire a “wake-homing” torpedo across the stern, or back, of a target vessel. The torpedo then follows in the wake of the target ship before exploding near its propulsion and steering systems.\n\nBecause surface ships detect submarines and torpedoes by sound waves, wake-homing torpedoes are particularly tough to defend against.\n\nThe advances in Chinese submarines come just as the US Navy is experiencing trouble with its anti-submarine capabilities.\n\nChief of Naval Operations Adm. Michael Gilday told Congress last month that the service wants to scrap nine of its littoral combat ships, some of the newest ships in the US fleet, because their anti-submarine systems “did not work out technically.”\n\nA merchant ferry at Yantai Port in Shandong province of China. Tang Ke/VCG/Getty Images\n\nMerchant ferries\n\nMerchant ferries might not be the first thing that springs to mind when you think about deadly naval capabilities – but therein lies their power.\n\nTo invade Taiwan, China would likely need to transport an invading force of hundreds of thousands of men – some analysts have suggested more than a million would be needed.\n\nVarious analysts – and US government reports – have concluded the People’s Liberation Army’s (PLA) naval fleet is not up to that task.\n\nBut what China does have is a massive fleet of civilian ferries that could be swiftly converted for military use – and according to some, may even have been designed for just that possibility.\n\n“China’s biggest ferry shipbuilder stated publicly in 2015 that one of its largest roll-on/roll-off ferries was built for dual military and civilian purposes, and one of China’s largest ferry operators has been similarly described as having a dual civil-military development philosophy,” Thomas Shugart, a former US Navy submarine commander now a fellow at the Center for a New American Security, wrote in a 2021 essay for War on the Rocks.\n\nHe added that civilian ferry companies operating in the Yellow and South China Seas have already been organized into PLA auxiliary units.\n\nCrunching the numbers, said Shugart, was staggering. He estimated that using civilian ships would give China an extra 1.1 million displacement tonnes. That figure is more than three times the displacement tonnage of all of China’s amphibious assault ships put together. And if China tapped Hong Kong’s roll-on/roll-off vehicle carriers it could gain an extra 370,000 tonnes of sealift, according to Shugart.\n\nIs that enough to take Taiwan by force?\n\nThat is hard to know. But Shugart said it did answer one question.\n\n“How many transport (ships) does the Chinese military have? Very probably, more than you might think.”\n\nChinese vessels moored at Whitsun Reef in the South China Sea in 2021. AP\n\nMaritime militia\n\nFerries aren’t the only supposedly civilian vessels military planners have on their radars.\n\nExperts also accuse China of creating a maritime militia, made up of more than a hundred vessels supposedly engaged in commercial fishing, to enforce its wishes in disputed seas.\n\nThe militia – which Beijing denies even exists – is made up of at least 122 vessels and likely as many as 174, according to the Center for Strategic and International Studies.\n\nBut the actual number could be even greater. Various experts suspected the militia’s involvement when more than 200 Chinese fishing boats crowded the waters around Whitsun Reef in the South China Sea in early 2021. The reef is claimed by both China and the Philippines, which described the presence of the boats as a “clear provocative action.”\n\n“The People’s Armed Forces Maritime Militia don’t fish,” Schuster told CNN last year. “They have automatic weapons aboard and reinforced hulls, making them very dangerous at close range. Also, they have a top speed of around 18-22 knots, making them faster than 90% of the world’s fishing boats.”\n\nThe militia has two main parts: professional militia boats and actual fishing boats employed by the Chinese military under a subsidy scheme, according to a November report from the Asia Maritime Transparency Initiative at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS).\n\nThe professionals lead such activities as harassing foreign drilling ships or blocking foreign fishing boats, and the subsidized fishers bring pressure in numbers, the CSIS report said.\n\nAnd with the world’s largest fishing fleet, China has plenty of reserves to call on.\n\nAbout that carrier again\n\nStill, none of this is to say that the launch of the Fujian is not a significant moment.\n\nAs in the US, aircraft carriers will in time become the centerpiece of the PLA’s navy – and a symbol of what the modern Chinese military is capable of, Schuster said.\n\n“Fujian’s launch should be viewed for what it portends rather than its limited immediate impact,” Schuster said.\n\n“China has now launched three carriers and brought two into full operational status during a period where the US Navy has struggled to bring one new unit to full operational status,” he said.\n\nSchuster was referring to the USS Gerald Ford, a supercarrier that has been plagued by problems since its commissioning in 2017 (by which time it was already three years late).\n\nThe supercarrier is yet to make its first operational deployment, though that is expected this fall.\n\nMeanwhile, China forges ahead.\n\n“They are building their navy at a faster rate than the US and all of its allies,” Schuster said.\n\n“Imperfect, but a good foundation.”", "authors": ["Brad Lendon"], "publish_date": "2022/06/25"}, {"url": "https://www.cnn.com/2022/05/23/politics/biden-taiwan-china-japan-intl-hnk/index.html", "title": "Biden says US would respond 'militarily' if China attacked Taiwan ...", "text": "Tokyo CNN —\n\nPresident Joe Biden said Monday that the United States would intervene militarily if China attempts to take Taiwan by force, a warning that appeared to deviate from the deliberate ambiguity traditionally held by Washington.\n\nThe White House quickly downplayed the comments, saying they don’t reflect a change in US policy. It’s the third time in recent months – including during a CNN town hall in October – that Biden has said the US would protect Taiwan from a Chinese attack, only to have the White House walk back those remarks.\n\nDuring a joint news conference with Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida in Tokyo, Biden was asked if the US would be willing to go further to help Taiwan in the event of an invasion than it did with Ukraine.\n\n“You didn’t want to get involved in the Ukraine conflict militarily for obvious reasons. Are you willing to get involved militarily to defend Taiwan if it comes to that?” a reporter asked.\n\n“Yes,” Biden replied. “That’s the commitment we made.”\n\n“We agree with the One China policy. We signed on to it, and all the attendant agreements made from there, but the idea that it can be taken by force, just taken by force, is (just not) appropriate,” he said.\n\nUnder the “One China” policy, the US acknowledges China’s position that Taiwan is part of China, but has never officially recognized Beijing’s claim to the self-governing island of 23 million. The US provides Taiwan defensive weapons, but has remained intentionally ambiguous on whether it would intervene militarily in the event of a Chinese attack.\n\nVideo Ad Feedback Biden's balancing act amid tensions between mainland China and Taiwan 02:41 - Source: CNN\n\nBiden’s strong warning was made right on China’s doorstep during his first trip to Asia as President. The visit is aimed at uniting allies and partners to counter China’s rising influence. It also came a day before Biden is scheduled to attend the second in-person summit of the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue (Quad) – an informal grouping between the US, Japan, Australia and India that has alarmed Beijing.\n\nSeveral of Biden’s top administration officials were caught off-guard by the remarks, several aides told CNN, adding that they were not expecting Biden to be so unequivocal.\n\nIn a statement following Biden’s comments, a White House official said the US’ official position remained unchanged.\n\n“As the President said, our policy has not changed. He reiterated our One China policy and our commitment to peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait. He also reiterated our commitment under the Taiwan Relations Act to provide Taiwan with the military means to defend itself,” the official said.\n\nWithin hours, China had expressed its “strong dissatisfaction and firm opposition” to Biden’s comments, saying it will not allow any external force to interfere in its “internal affairs.”\n\n“On issues concerning China’s sovereignty and territorial integrity and other core interests, there is no room for compromise,” said Wang Wenbin, a spokesman for the Chinese Foreign Ministry.\n\n“We urged the US side to earnestly follow the One China principle … be cautious in words and deeds on the Taiwan issue, and not send any wrong signal to pro-Taiwan independence and separatist forces — so it won’t cause serious damage to the situation across the Taiwan Strait and China-US relations.”\n\nChina’s Taiwan Affairs Office spokesperson Zhu Fenglian added, “We urge the US to stop saying or doing anything in violation of the one-China principle and the three China-US Joint Communiqués. … Those who play with fire will certainly burn themselves.”\n\nTaiwan lies fewer than 110 miles (177 kilometers) off the coast of China. For more than 70 years the two sides have been governed separately, but that hasn’t stopped China’s ruling Communist Party from claiming the island as its own — despite having never controlled it.\n\nChinese leader Xi Jinping has said that “reunification” between China and Taiwan is inevitable and refused to rule out the use of force. Tensions between Beijing and Taipei are at the highest they’ve been in recent decades, with the Chinese military sending record numbers of war planes near the island.\n\nJoanne Ou, a spokesperson for Taiwan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, told CNN that it “expresses sincere welcome and gratitude to President Biden and the United States government for reiterating its rock solid commitment to Taiwan.”\n\nBiden compares potential invasion of Taiwan to Ukraine war\n\nBiden on Monday compared a potential invasion of Taiwan by China to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine earlier this year, warning, “It will dislocate the entire region,” and emphasizing “Russia has to pay a long-term price for its actions.”\n\n“And the reason I bother to say this, not just about Ukraine – if, in fact, after all (Russian President Vladimir Putin has) done, there’s a rapprochement … between the Ukrainians and Russia, and these sanctions are not continued to be sustained in many ways, then what signal does that send to China about the cost of attempting, attempting to take Taiwan by force?”\n\nBiden said that China is “already flirting with danger right now by flying so close and all the maneuvers they’re undertaking.”\n\n“But the United States is committed, we made a commitment, we support the One China policy, we support all we’ve done in the past, but that does not mean, it does not mean that China has the ability, has the, excuse me, jurisdiction to go in and use force to take over Taiwan,” he added.\n\nAt the press conference, Kishida also reaffirmed the importance of peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait.\n\n“Attempts to change the status quo by force, like Russia’s aggression against Ukraine, should never be tolerated in the Indo-Pacific, above all, in East Asia,” he said.\n\n“As the regional security environment becomes increasingly severe, I reaffirmed with President Biden that we need to speedily strengthen the deterrence and response of the Japan-US alliance,” he said, adding that he conveyed his determination to “fundamentally strengthen Japan’s defense capability.”\n\nThis story has been updated with additional reporting and reaction.", "authors": ["Kevin Liptak Donald Judd Nectar Gan", "Kevin Liptak", "Donald Judd", "Nectar Gan"], "publish_date": "2022/05/23"}]}
+{"question_id": "20240119_13", "search_time": "2024/01/19/23:35", "search_result": [{"url": "https://www.cnn.com/2022/12/26/politics/george-santos-admits-embellishing-resume/index.html", "title": "Rep.-elect George Santos admits to lying about bio, but says he still ...", "text": "CNN —\n\nGOP Rep.-elect George Santos of New York admitted in two separate interviews on Monday to lying about parts of his resume but claimed that he hasn’t committed any crimes and intends to serve in Congress.\n\nSantos has faced scrutiny over discrepancies in his employment and education history, as well as other public claims he has made about his biography. In interviews with WABC radio and the New York Post – the first times Santos has spoken publicly about the controversy – he acknowledged that he had fabricated some facts.\n\n“I am not a criminal. Not here, not abroad, in any jurisdiction in the world have I ever committed any crimes,” Santos said in an interview with WABC radio host John Catsimatidis.\n\n“To get down to the nit and gritty, I’m not a fraud. I’m not a criminal who defrauded the entire country and made up this fictional character and ran for Congress. I’ve been around a long time. I mean, a lot of people know me. They know who I am. They’ve done business dealings with me,” he added.\n\n“I’m not going to make excuses for this, but a lot of people overstate in their resumes, or twist a little bit. … I’m not saying I’m not guilty of that,” he said.\n\nSantos also admitted that he never worked directly for the financial firms Citigroup and Goldman Sachs, as he has previously suggested, but claimed that he did do work for them through his company, telling the New York Post it was a “poor choice of words” to say he worked for them.\n\nHe also told the Post that he didn’t graduate from any college or university, despite claiming he had degrees from Baruch College and New York University.\n\nVideo Ad Feedback Reporter who broke the inconsistencies of GOP Rep.-elect Santos' resume says there's more to explore 06:35 - Source: CNN\n\n“I didn’t graduate from any institution of higher learning. I’m embarrassed and sorry for having embellished my resume,” he told the Post, adding that he owns up to that and that “we do stupid things in life.”\n\nHe told WABC, “I want to make sure that if I disappointed anyone by resume embellishment, I am sorry.”\n\nThe New York Times first revealed last week that Santos’ biography appeared to be partly fictional. CNN confirmed details of that reporting, including about his college education and employment history.\n\nCNN’s KFile also reported last week that claims by Santos that his grandparents “survived the Holocaust” as Ukrainian Jewish refugees from Belgium who changed their surname are contradicted by sources including family trees compiled by genealogy websites, records on Jewish refugees and interviews with multiple genealogists. A lawyer for Santos had declined to comment to CNN.\n\n“I never claimed to be Jewish,” Santos told the Post. “I am Catholic. Because I learned my maternal family had a Jewish background I said I was ‘Jew-ish.’”\n\nSantos had said he was “very proud” of his “Jewish heritage” as recently as a late November 2022 appearance with the Jewish News Syndicate.\n\nCNN has reached out to House GOP leadership and the National Republican Congressional Committee in the wake of Santos’ admissions. House GOP leadership was silent amid last week’s revelations. Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy would not answer CNN’s questions Thursday when asked if he was concerned about apparent misrepresentations.\n\nSantos defeated Democrat Robert Zimmerman in a newly drawn district covering parts of Queens and some nearby Long Island suburbs, flipping control to Republicans, who dominated the New York suburbs on their way to winning a House majority.\n\nIt was Santos’ second run – he lost to Democratic Rep. Tom Suozzi in 2020 – and most of the criticism he faced during his recent campaign centered on his attendance of former President Donald Trump’s rally in Washington on January 6, 2021, and a video in which he claimed to have written a “nice check” to help alleged rioters with their legal fees.\n\nThis story has been updated with additional context.", "authors": ["Kyle Blaine"], "publish_date": "2022/12/26"}, {"url": "https://www.cnn.com/2022/03/22/business/new-teamsters-president-sean-obrien/index.html", "title": "This new Teamsters union boss could start the biggest strike in ...", "text": "New York CNN Business —\n\nYou might not know Sean O’Brien. But he is poised to shake up the US economy in a way no one else has in recent memory.\n\nO’Brien was sworn in Tuesday as the new general president of the 1.3-million member International Brotherhood of Teamsters, succeeding James Hoffa, son of the union’s most infamous president. The younger Hoffa held the job 23 years, far longer than his father ran the union.\n\nO’Brien, a self-described “militant,” is vowing to take a much harsher line with employers than his predecessor did. And that could lead to a strike at the nation’s largest union employer when the Teamsters’ UPS (UPS) contract expires on July 31 2023.\n\nIf that happens, it would be the nation’s largest and most disruptive strike in several decades.\n\nWilling to ‘pull the trigger’\n\nThe Teamsters union no longer has a chokehold on the nation’s trucking system, as it did in the 1960s when Hoffa’s father ran it. But it still represents 327,000 employees at UPS, by far the nation’s largest trucking and supply management company.\n\nSean O'Brien, the new general president of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, speaks during a union meeting in this November 2021 file photo. MediaNews Group/Boston Herald/Getty Images\n\nO’Brien seems to be spoiling for a fight. “You don’t go into any situation wanting a strike,” he told CNN Business this week. “But these employers have to understand we’re not going to be afraid to pull that trigger if necessary.”\n\nHe points to UPS’s record profits and the union’s $350 million strike fund in discussing the dynamics of upcoming talks, negotiations that he intends to lead himself, something his predecessors never did.\n\n“UPS has been successful. We’re going to capitalize on that success,” O’Brien said. “People are sick of seeing these corporations making billions in profits and not sharing the wealth.”\n\nDespite record profits UPS says it needs a competitive deal\n\nUPS wouldn’t comment directly on O’Brien’s stance, but said the company believes it can find a way to work with the union.\n\n“UPS and the Teamsters have worked cooperatively for almost 100 years to meet the needs of UPS employees, customers and the communities where we live and work,” the company said in a statement to CNN Business. “We believe we’ll continue to find common ground with the Teamsters and reach an agreement that’s good for everyone involved.”\n\nThe company statement seems to imply it will not agree to undo some of its gains in previous contracts that upset critics of Teamster leadership like O’Brien, such as the two-tier wage system for some union members at UPS.\n\n“The delivery and logistics industry is becoming more and more competitive. Our focus during negotiations will be to agree on a contract that provides the flexibility UPS needs to maintain its industry-leading track record of reliable service,” the company added.\n\nA strike ‘almost certain’\n\nSome outside observers believe a strike at UPS next year is unavoidable.\n\n“I don’t have a crystal ball, but unless UPS is reading the writing on the wall, a strike is almost certain,” said Todd Vachon, an assistant professor and director of labor education at Rutgers University.\n\nVachon points to other recent strikes, where workers rejected lucrative tentative pacts between their own union leadership and company management.\n\nLast year, about 10,000 members of the United Auto Workers union twice voted down such agreements at farm and construction equipment maker John Deere & Co. (DE), as that company was reporting record profits. Union members stayed on strike for five weeks before finally accepting a deal that gave them an immediate 10% raise, an $8,500 signing bonus, additional fixed raises, lump sum payments and cost-of-living raises.\n\n“I think these upcoming UPS talks rhymes a lot with John Deere,” Vachon said. O’Brien’s election is just the latest sign of growing militancy among rank-and-file union members, he added.\n\nThe current contract at UPS was put place in 2018 over the objections of 54% of rank-and-file Teamsters who voted against it. The union’s rules at the time allowed the pact to go into effect if fewer than two-thirds of all members participated in the ratification vote.\n\nThe unpopular deal was a major factor in O’Brien’s election in November. He defeated a Hoffa-backed candidate after Hoffa chose not to seek another term.\n\nBrown trucks carrying 6% of US GDP\n\nA strike at UPS would be big enough to take a bite out of the overall US economy. UPS estimates its trucks carry more than 6% of the US gross domestic product, the broadest measure of the nation’s economic activity. The company also handles 2% of global GDP.\n\nUPS has grown significantly since its last strike, a 16-day walkout in 1997, when the union represented 180,000 employees. It was the largest US work stoppage in 30 years, according to Labor Department statistics.\n\nA UPS strike now would be the largest in decades— and perhaps the largest US strike ever against a single corporation.\n\nO’Brien’s background is far different from James Hoffa’s, who was a union lawyer before becoming president. O’Brien is a fourth generation Teamster who joined the union at age 18 as a heavy-equipment driver in the greater Boston area.\n\n“One thing is we’ll have a leader who has worked his way up through the rank and file,” O’Brien said when asked about the biggest difference between him and his predecessor.\n\nO’Brien is pleased by recent signs of strength in the US labor movement, and believes the current environment is likely to be a tipping point in labor-management relations after years of unions accepting concessions, such as two-tier wage systems.\n\n“There’s an appetite to fight the boss,” O’Brien said. “[Workers] want to reap the benefits of their labor and not be a victim of the bottom line of a balance sheet.”", "authors": ["Chris Isidore"], "publish_date": "2022/03/22"}, {"url": "https://www.cnn.com/2022/11/25/asia/anwar-ibrahim-malaysia-new-prime-minister-explainer-intl-hnk/index.html", "title": "Anwar Ibrahim: Malaysian prime minister's remarkable rise prisoner ...", "text": "CNN —\n\nIt’s a political journey decades in the making – the transformation of a young student firebrand into an icon of democracy and eventually the leader of his country, via two stints in jail.\n\nNow age 75, Anwar Ibrahim has finally realized his dream by becoming the 10th prime minister of Malaysia.\n\nAnd in his first words after being sworn in on Thursday, he made clear he intends not to dwell on the divisions of the past, but focus on the future with a cabinet that will include his former political foes.\n\n“This is a national unity government and all are welcome on condition (they) accept the fundamental rules: good governance, no corruption and a Malaysia for all Malaysians,” Anwar said as he pledged to heal a racially divided nation, fight corruption and revive an economy still struggling to recover from the pandemic.\n\n“No one should be marginalized under my administration,” he vowed.\n\nAnwar’s appointment comes nearly a week after a tumultuous general election that resulted in the first hung parliament in Malaysian history.\n\nHis reformist and multi-ethnic Pakatan Harapan coalition won the most seats in last week’s vote – 82 – but failed to reach a simple majority needed to form a government, meaning Anwar could only be appointed after the intervention of the Malaysian king.\n\nObservers say he will have his work cut out if he is to bridge the divisions that have seen him named the fourth prime minister since 2018, when a landmark election dumped the Barisan Nasional coalition out of power for the first time since independence amid anger over a multibillion-dollar financial scandal at the state investment fund.\n\n“This has been by far, the most fragmented, volatile and dangerous period ever in Malaysian politics,” said political commentator Ei Sun Oh. “While many applaud the appointment of a progressive and reformist candidate, it won’t be the end to problems.”\n\n“Political wranglings and infighting will still continue and Anwar has the task of having to heal profound wounds and gaps between the progressives and conservatives,” he added.\n\nAnwar’s rise\n\nBorn on August 10, 1947 on the island of Penang, Anwar began his political career as a student activist leading various Muslim youth groups in Kuala Lumpur. He was arrested at one point over his role in leading demonstrations against rural poverty and hunger.\n\nYears later, he surprised many by making a foray into mainstream politics, joining the Malay nationalist party UMNO (United Malays National Organisation) led by then-prime minister Mahathir Mohamad – a man who would become both Anwar’s mentor and nemesis.\n\nAnwar Ibrahim delivers a speech during a campaign rally for Pakatan Harapan in Kuala Lumpur on November 17, 2022. Mat Zain/NurPhoto/Getty Images\n\nAnwar’s rise within the party was rapid and he was soon elevated to various high-ranking ministerial positions, becoming deputy prime minister in 1993.\n\nAt this point, Anwar was widely expected to succeed Mahathir, but the two men began to clash over issues including corruption and the economy.\n\nTensions further strained as the 1997 Asian financial crisis battered the country and in 1998 Anwar was fired from Mahathir’s Cabinet and expelled from UMNO.\n\nHe then began leading public protests against Mahathir – a move that signaled the start of a new pro-democracy movement.\n\nFall from power and jail\n\nThat same year, Anwar was arrested and detained without trial, and was charged with corruption and sodomy. Even if consensual, sodomy is an offense punishable by up to 20 years in prison in Muslim-majority Malaysia.\n\nHe has always strongly denied the charges, claiming they were politically motivated, but that has not stopped them from plaguing his political career ever since.\n\nHis subsequent jailing sparked violent street protests, with supporters comparing his plight to that of Nelson Mandela.\n\nThat first conviction was overturned by a court in 2004, a year after two-time leader Mahathir left office for the first time, but it was not the last time Anwar would find himself behind bars.\n\nAfter his return as an opposition figure, more allegations of sodomy were made against him and – following a protracted court battle that took place over a period of years – returned to jail in 2014.\n\nWhat happened next is perhaps one of the most remarkable turnarounds in the country’s political history.\n\nIn a stunning twist – with Anwar still behind bars – he and Mahathir joined forces for the 2018 election in a bid to topple the government of Najib Razak, whose administration had become embroiled in a corruption scandal surrounding the state investment fund 1 Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB).\n\nAs part of his campaign pledge, Mahathir vowed that should they succeed he would free Anwar and even step aside for him after a couple of years in power. Mahathir stuck to the first promise – a royal pardon freed Anwar soon after the election – but he backtracked on the second, a U-turn that split their supporters and fed the stalemate that has dogged all efforts to form a stable government since.\n\nChallenges ahead\n\nAmong his first pledges as Malaysia’s new prime minister, Anwar said he “would not take” a salary as a show of solidarity with Malaysians struggling with the rising cost of living.\n\nHe also promised to help the country embrace multi-culturalism.\n\nMalaysia has long adopted a policy of institutionalized affirmative action favoring the ethnic Malay majority over its sizable Chinese Malaysian and Indian Malaysian minorities.\n\nAnd overcoming decades of polarization over race, religion and reform in the Muslim-majority nation will not come easy – not least because experts do not rule out attempts by rivals in his new government to topple his leadership.\n\nWhile two-thirds of Anwar’s cabinet will be made up of members of his Pakatan Harapan reformist coalition, in a gesture of national unity he has agreed that the remaining posts will be given to members of the regional Gabungan Rakyat Sabah party and – perhaps more surprisingly – representatives of the Barisan Nasional coalition, which includes several UMNO politicians that he did so much to topple.\n\n“He is entering a very uneasy political alliance in a fragmented landscape,” said Oh, the political commentator.\n\n“The recent election results have only showed how divided the country is.\n\n“He now has the difficult job of navigating and balancing the progressive sectors with the conservative religious forces.”\n\nAnwar's swearing-in ceremony takes place at the National Palace in Kuala Lumpur on November 24, 2022. Mohd Rasfan/Pool/AFP/Getty Images\n\nInternationally, rights groups have welcomed Anwar’s appointment and his pledge to prioritize human rights and democracy.\n\n“This is a leader who has personally suffered massive politically motivated injustices,” said Phil Robertson, Asia deputy director of Human Rights Watch.\n\nRobertson said the rights group hoped Anwar would “bring reforms to laws and regulations that have been used in the past to criminalize peaceful exercise of civil and political rights,” pointing to issues like discrimination against transgender and gay communities, the treatment of migrant workers and child marriage and refugee laws.\n\n“One hopes that lessons have been learned from the previous Pakatan Harapan government, which faltered after two years in power,” Robertson said.\n\n“We hope that Anwar will move forward with his vision, recognize that he was elected to act on his programs and policies, and implement his mandate.”\n\nAnd domestically, at least for now, the celebratory mood continues amid optimism that years of political chaos and uncertainty may finally be in the past.\n\n“Malaysians can be hopeful that the discord that risks spiraling out of control gets to lose some oxygen now – or at least it won’t be coming from hardline nationalists within UMNO for the time being,” said Malaysian journalist Amirul Ruslan, adding that “Unlike Mahathir, I can see (Anwar) transitioning policies away from being race-centric.”\n\nDescribing Anwar’s new government, comprising former enemies, as “unprecedented”, he added: “Anwar is the right man for our divided country.”", "authors": ["Heather Chen"], "publish_date": "2022/11/25"}, {"url": "https://www.cnn.com/2022/06/06/asia/china-pacific-islands-wang-yi-intl-hnk/index.html", "title": "Why the sparsely-populated South Pacific islands have become the ...", "text": "Hong Kong CNN —\n\nThe island nations that stretch across the South Pacific – sparsely populated atolls and volcanic archipelagos, known more for tourism than lucrative natural resources – may not seem, at first glance, to be a major geopolitical prize.\n\nYet, Pacific Island countries have become the latest arena for a great power contest between the United States and China.\n\nChinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi and Samoa Prime Minister Fiame Naomi Mata'afa attend an agreement signing ceremony in Apia. Vaitogi Asuisui Matafeo/Samoa Observer/AFP/Getty Images\n\nThat contest was thrown into sharp focus in recent days, as China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi completed a 10-day tour of eight countries to promote cooperation and a sweeping, regional security and economic proposal with the potential to significantly ramp up Beijing’s role in the South Pacific.\n\nWang’s trip, and news of that proposed deal, sent the powers with longstanding relationships in the South Pacific – Australia, New Zealand, and the United States – scrambling, with Washington pledging last week to intensify its own support of the region and Canberra dispatching its foreign minister on a dueling diplomatic tour.\n\nSome Pacific Island leaders pushed back on the posturing, stressing instead the importance of other issues, such as climate change, with Fiji’s Prime Minister Josaia Voreqe Bainimarama noting that, “geopolitical point scoring means less than little to anyone whose community is slipping beneath the rising seas.”\n\nChina’s bid for a larger, regional pact ultimately didn’t win backing at a 10-country meeting last week, but Wang did leave behind a clear message of China’s interest in the region – and heightened concerns that these island nations, which carry a history of strategic importance, will have little choice but to navigate the rising tensions between major powers.\n\nIsland hopping\n\nFrom the vantage point of Washington and Canberra, Beijing is bolstering ties with capitals across the South Pacific, so it can potentially seek to parlay infrastructure deals, or even seemingly modest security agreements, into a military foothold.\n\nThat would drive a wedge into the two countries’ military presence in the South Pacific, where the US maintains military bases and a Compact of Free Association with the Federated States of Micronesia (FSM), the Republic of the Marshall Islands (RMI), and the Republic of Palau, which gives it military operating rights over the airspace and waters of these nations.\n\nAustralia operates its own navy in the region and has long maintained defense and security ties with neighboring island governments, including on peacekeeping and military training. Both Australia and New Zealand are part of regional and bilateral security pacts in the Pacific.\n\nThe region was included in a joint statement between US President Joe Biden and New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern last week, which voiced concern about “the establishment of a persistent military presence in the Pacific by a state that does not share our values.”\n\nAnd for the US and Australia threats to the regional status quo have echos of World War II, when the islands were used by imperial Japan to threaten Australia, before becoming part of an American “island hopping” offensive that ultimately played into the turning tide in the Pacific.\n\n“The islands sit astride a key passageway for US and Australian naval ships and merchant ships,” said Timothy Heath, a senior international defense researcher at the RAND Corporation in Arlington.\n\n“If China could establish (military) basing rights, it could deploy warships and aircraft temporarily to the islands. (Its) ships and airplanes could threaten US and Australian ships and aircraft that passed by,” he said, adding that even a boosted presence, short of a military one, could help China “collect sensitive intelligence on US and Australian military operations.”\n\nWinning friends\n\nChina’s interest in building rapport with the Pacific Islands countries is not new. In the early 2000s, as the US was turning its attention toward perceived threats in the Middle East, a newly outward-looking China was starting on a path to become an economic and diplomatic partner for Pacific island countries – not least of all as it sought to win friends away from Taiwan, which is now only formally recognized by four of 14 South Pacific nations, after the Solomon Islands and Kiribati switched allegiance to China in 2019.\n\nIn recent years, as Beijing has pursued a more assertive foreign policy and expanded development funding globally in a bid to enhance its international sway, its visibility in the Pacific Islands, too, has grown. China has backed widely publicized projects in some Pacific Island countries – a national sports stadium to host the Pacific Games in the Solomon Islands, highways in Papua New Guinea, bridges in Fiji – and sent high-level envoys to the region, including two visits from Chinese leader Xi Jinping, once in 2014 and again in 2018. It’s also become a major trading partner for Pacific Island economies.\n\nChina's ambassador to the Solomon Islands Li Ming and Solomons Prime Pinister Manasseh Sogavare at the opening ceremony of a China-funded national stadium complex in Honiara on April 22, 2022. Mavis Podokolo/AFP/Getty Images\n\nAnd while Australia has remained the top aid donor in the region for the past five years, according to data collected by the Australian think tank Lowy Institute, experts say that in some parts, perceptions are that China is a more expedient partner than traditional donors.\n\n“There is an assumption that China will do more,” said Celsus Talifilu, a political adviser based in Solomon Island’s Malaita Province, who has been an outspoken critic of how the national government has handled its recent relations with China.\n\n“It may be that our politicians are thinking that it’s easier to deal with China in terms of implementing things on the ground quickly, in comparison to other donors that have been in the Solomons for a long time yet have been very slow,” he told CNN.\n\nContainment concerns\n\nBeijing’s aggressive behavior in the South China Sea and its steadily expanding navy have changed how Washington views China’s diplomacy and outreach, including in the South Pacific.\n\nConcerns that Beijing may have military ambitions in the region were fueled in April after China and the Solomon Islands signed a security agreement, sparking fears of creating an opening for China to establish a military presence in the country.\n\nWang, the foreign minister, has been quick to deny China’s latest moves have had a military angle, saying flatly of the Solomons deal that Beijing did not intend to build military bases and calling on observers “not to be too anxious” about China’s overall aims in the region, where he said it has “no intention of scrambling for influence.”\n\n“China and developing countries realizing common development and prosperity will make the world fairer, more harmonious and stable,” Wang said, following a meeting with Pacific Island leaders last week.\n\nMany observers say Beijing may be a long way from a military foothold, but agree that expanding its presence overseas would be a logical next step for an ambitious power like China.\n\n“As China grows it is little wonder that the Chinese security interest in the (South Pacific) region will also grow,” said Denghua Zhang, a research fellow at The Australia National University’s Coral Bell School of Asia Pacific Affairs in Canberra.\n\nOne driver may be concerns, often discussed by Chinese scholars and strategists, of China being enclosed by the US and its allies. This has bolstered the concept of breaking the “island chains” viewed as hemming China in, in particular, with military bases on islands near China and in the Pacific, according to Zhang. These include US military bases in Japan and Guam, and a military presence in the Philippines.\n\nIn an analysis the US Indo-Pacific strategy published last year, Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences senior researcher Liu Ming and co-authors expressed this concern, writing: “The [American] principle of containment is to politically isolate China throughout the region by expanding a network of allies and partners, so as to draw more “Indo-Pacific” countries into the US camp.”\n\nBlue Pacific\n\nChina’s growing outreach has left other powers on the back foot – scrambling to energize their presence, from Australia’s “Step-Up” policy and New Zealand’s “Pacific Reset,” both in 2018, to Washington’s “Pacific Pledge” a year later.\n\n“They’ve all developed these new initiatives for the Pacific … essentially amounting to the same thing, wanting to ensure that they remain the partners of choice and China is not gaining the upper hand,” said Sandra Tarte, an associate professor in the University of the South Pacific’s School of Law and Social Sciences in Fiji.\n\nTo some extent, there is an upshot for the Pacific Island countries: as these powers try and outdo the other, this can bring more focus to and leverage for local governments.\n\n“The Pacific Island people … are not new to global, geopolitical competition,” said Tarcisius Kabutaulaka, associate professor of Pacific Islands Studies at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa.\n\nVanuatu's Prime Minister Bob Loughman Weibur and visiting Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi pose with officials following a signing ceremony for agreements between the two countries in the capital city Port Vila on June 1, 2022. Ginny Stein/AFP/Getty Images\n\nHe points back to the 1800s when the islands were the focus of colonial competition through to the Cold War, where there was pressure for nascent Pacific Island countries to shun Soviet advances. But as time goes on – and if US-China tensions continue to rise – the balancing act may become more difficult, Kabutaulaka said.\n\nThat may have been one factor in why the sweeping pact conceived of by Beijing did not ultimately come to pass last week. Another may be the region’s “Blue Pacific” concept, which emphasizes collective decision-making about the region through consultation with all members.\n\n“Our position was that you cannot have regional agreement when the region hasn’t met to discuss it,” Samoa’s Prime Minister Fiame Naomi Mata’afa said Thursday.\n\nWang did sign a number of bilateral deals including on areas of economic cooperation, disaster management and policing equipment. But even without a deal – this time – competition and varying views on engaging with China could chip away at cohesion in the region, said Kabutaulaka.\n\n“I’m concerned that geopolitical competition will … affect the strong regional bond.”", "authors": ["Simone Mccarthy"], "publish_date": "2022/06/06"}, {"url": "https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/elections/2023/11/07/election-day-2023-live-updates/71408643007/", "title": "2023 election replay: Ohio backs abortion measure, Democrats win ...", "text": "Americans from coast to coast voted in Tuesday's off-year election, making their voices heard on controversial ballot measures, competitive governor's races and more.\n\nDemocrats won several victories Tuesday night, after Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear was reelected, Ohio voters passed a ballot measure to protect abortion rights in the state and Democrats in Virginia won control of the state's Senate and House of Delegates.\n\nBut Republicans won in Mississippi, after Democratic candidate Brandon Presley conceded the state's governor race to Gov. Tate Reeves, the Republican incumbent.\n\nGet our On Politics newsletter: Get the latest politics news from D.C. and around the nation\n\nCatch up with all of USA TODAY's live coverage of Election Day 2023 here.\n\nPrep for the polls: See who is running for president and compare where they stand on key issues in our Voter Guide\n\nMississippi Republican Gov. Tate Reeves defeats Democratic challenger Brandon Presley\n\nRepublican Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves won reelection on Tuesday, officially defeating Democratic challenger candidate Brandon Presley.\n\nReeves was favored in part because he – like other Southern Republicans – cast his opponent as a tool of national Democrats who support abortion rights and other policies rejected by conservatives from coast to coast.\n\n\"Joe Biden and his buddies have funded his campaign,\" Reeves said last week during his debate with Presley, which was marked by insults and interruptions.\n\n– David Jackson\n\nAnother blow to Youngkin: Virginia Democrats win House majority\n\nDemocrats in Virginia took the House of Delegates majority back from Republicans Tuesday, dealing Gov. Glenn Youngkin a major setback.\n\nYoungkin had rallied Republicans in the state behind a vision of a red Virginia and total Republican legislature. Democrats already put a stop to the governor's plans earlier on election night by holding their state Senate majority.\n\n− Savannah Kuchar\n\nBiden fares better than Youngkin on Virginia election night\n\nPresident Joe Biden released his list of Virginia endorsements over the weekend, including 23 Democrats running for both the House of Delegates and state Senate. Each faced competitive match ups against Youngkin-backed Republicans.\n\nBy midnight Tuesday, 16 of those races had been called, and all but one were wins for Biden's picks.\n\n− Savannah Kuchar\n\nPresley concedes race, congratulates Reeves\n\nAround 10:45 p.m. Tuesday, Democratic candidate Brandon Presley came to greet his supporters. He said he came up a little short on votes. Presley thanked his supporters and said the campaign was not about him.\n\n\"So many of you laid so much on the line to do this,\" he said.\n\nMinutes before, Presley spoke with Gov. Tate Reeves and congratulated him on the win.\n\n— Lici Beveridge\n\nDemocrats declare success in Virginia\n\nDemocrats Tuesday effectively won Virginia by holding on to their state Senate majority and officially stunting Gov. Glenn Youngkin and Republicans’ plans for a red Virginia.\n\nDemocrats had said they were “cautiously optimistic” heading into Election Day, particularly about their chances in the upper chamber. The deciding seat was called just before midnight Tuesday.\n\nTheir success means Youngkin will have an uphill battle with his proposed 15-week abortion limit, which Democrats in the state already blocked in January. Candidates on the left made abortion a top campaign message in 2023, and the final outcome could be a bellwether for 2024.\n\nHeather Williams, interim president of the Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee, said Monday that Democrats would consider winning just one chamber “a huge win.”\n\n“With this victory, Gov. Youngkin has been denied a governing trifecta and our newly elected majority stands ready to defend Virginia from Republican extremism,” Williams said in a statement Tuesday evening.\n\nThe House of Delegates majority has yet to be called, though Democrats currently lead in that chamber as well.\n\n– Savannah Kuchar\n\nMember of ‘Central Park Five’ elected to NYC council\n\nYusef Salaam, one of the \"Central Park Five\" who was exonerated for a 1989 attack on a jogger, won election Tuesday to be a member of the New York City Council. Salaam ran unopposed.\n\nThen a New York-based real estate magnate, Donald Trump called for Salaam's execution, taking out a newspaper ad calling on New York state to re-institute the death penalty.\n\nSalaam and four other Black and Latino men were imprisoned after being wrongfully convicted for the 1989 rape and beating of a white jogger in Central Park. DNA evidence exonerated Salaam and the other co-defendants.\n\n– David Jackson\n\nMom of daughter killed in Robb Elementary School shooting loses Uvalde mayor race\n\nCody Smith won the Uvalde, Texas, mayoral race. He defeated Kimberly Mata-Rubio, whose 10-year-old daughter Lexi Rubio was killed during the shooting at Robb Elementary School last year.\n\nSmith will succeed Mayor Don McLaughlin, who is stepping down after nearly 10 years leading the city to pursue a seat in the Texas House.\n\nHis campaign has called for “better communications among police agencies and mobilizing volunteers from the community to help those in need,” according to the New York Times.\n\n− Sudiksha Kochi\n\nVirginia Democrat makes history as state’s first transgender senator\n\nDanica Roem became Virginia’s first, and the country’s second ever, openly transgender state senator. Roem won her race in northern Virginia by defeating Republican opponent Bill Woolf by about four points.\n\nThe former journalist entered politics in 2017, when she became the first transgender state legislator in Virginia. Having served three terms in the Virginia House of Delegates, Roem ran for a state Senate seat following statewide redistricting ahead of 2023.\n\n– Savannah Kuchar\n\nOhio voters approve ballot measure to legalize marijuana\n\nOhio voters have voted to legalize recreational marijuana in the Buckeye State.\n\nIssue 2 would allow adults 21 and older to buy, possess and grow cannabis. Products would be taxed 10% on top of the state sales tax, with revenue going into four pots: a social equity and jobs program, municipalities with dispensaries, a substance abuse fund and administrative costs.\n\nIt would also allow medical marijuana businesses in Ohio to grow, process or sell recreational products.\n\n– Haley BeMiller\n\nBiden praises Ohio abortion rights vote, says 'MAGA lost'\n\nPresident Joe Biden has been busy this election night.\n\nThe White House said Biden phoned Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear \"to congratulate him on his re-election win tonight.\"\n\nBiden also hailed Ohio's approval of a constitutional amendment protecting abortion rights.\n\n\"My Administration will continue to protect access to reproductive health care,\" said Biden, who plans to make abortion a key issue in his 2024 re-election campaign.\n\nBiden also appeared to take aim at former President Donald Trump on election night, sharing in a post on X, formerly known as Twitter \"Across the country tonight, democracy won and MAGA lost.\"\n\n– David Jackson\n\nOhio voters approve abortion ballot measure\n\nOhio voters on Tuesday approved a ballot measure to protect abortion rights until viability - typically around 24 weeks gestation - and the right to access contraception, fertility treatment and other services in the state.\n\nSince the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade last year, abortion rights activists have been on a winning streak, with voters in six other states either passing measures to protect abortion access or rejecting efforts to restrict it.\n\nThe move sends a strong signal ahead of the 2024 election, when multiple other states will consider similar measures.\n\n– Sudiksha Kochi\n\nAndy Beshear wins Kentucky governor race\n\nDemocratic incumbent Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear won a second term on Tuesday, defeating Republican challenger Daniel Cameron.\n\nBeshear is one of the most popular governors across the country. Experts told USA TODAY ahead of Election Day that Beshear's charm coupled with incumbency would be the irresistible force that gave him an edge going into Tuesday.\n\n\"I'd like to think that it's about doing a good job, working as hard as you can every day and caring about people because we've been through a ton,\" Beshear told USA TODAY in an interview when asked about his first-term high marks.\n\n– Phillip M. Bailey\n\nDemocrat Cherelle Parker wins Philadelphia mayor race\n\nDemocrat Cherelle Parker, a former member of the Philadelphia City Council, was elected to serve as the city's 100th mayor on Tuesday. She will also make history as the first woman to hold the office.\n\nParker faced off against Republican David Oh in the general election.\n\n– Marina Pitofsky\n\nPennsylvania precincts open an extra hour after bomb threat\n\nTwo precincts in a Philadelphia suburb will remain open another hour after a bomb threat forced people in a polling place to evacuate.\n\nA Delaware County, Pennsylvania, spokesperson says the county solicitor sought and won the extension from a judge after a threat forced the evacuation of the two precincts. Polls will remain open there until 9 p.m. Eastern time.\n\nThe state’s top-of-the-ticket race is an open seat for state Supreme Court, which could play an important role in settling legal challenges in the 2024 presidential election in the battleground state.\n\n– Associated Press\n\nRhode Island makes history after electing its first Black representative\n\nDemocrat Gabriel Amo made history after winning Rhode Island’s 1st Congressional District Tuesday. He will be the state's first Black representative to Congress\n\nHe competed against Republican candidate Gerry Leonard for former Democratic Rep. David Cicilline’s seat. Cicilline stepped down this summer to become president and CEO of the Rhode Island Foundation, according to the Associated Press.\n\nAmo most recently served as the deputy director of the White House Office of Intergovernmental Affairs under the Biden administration. – Sudiksha Kochi\n\nOhio Issue 2 election results: Voters consider marijuana ballot measure\n\nAn effort to legalize recreational marijuana in Ohio is passing, according to unofficial early votes.\n\nIssue 2 would allow adults 21 and older to buy, possess and grow cannabis. Products would be taxed 10% on top of the state sales tax, with revenue going into four pots: a social equity and jobs program, municipalities with dispensaries, a substance abuse fund and administrative costs.\n\nIt would allow medical marijuana businesses in Ohio to grow, process or sell recreational products, among other priorities.\n\n– Haley BeMiller\n\nGovernor elections in 2023\n\nVoters in two states are selecting their state’s next governor Tuesday night:\n\nKentucky: Incumbent Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear is running against Republican challenger Daniel Cameron.\n\nMississippi: Incumbent Republican Gov. Tate Reeves is running against Democratic challenger Brandon Presley. Gwendolyn Gray is also running as an independent in the race.\n\nLouisiana held a gubernatorial election last month in which Republican Jeff Landry won the governor’s mansion in a race against Democrat Shawn Wilson.\n\n– Rachel Looker\n\nRhode Island could make history tonight by electing its first Black representative\n\nThe race between Democratic candidate Gabe Amo and Republican candidate Gerry Leonard for Rhode Island’s first congressional district seat could make history.\n\nThe two candidates are competing for former Democratic Rep. David Cicilline’s seat after he stepped down earlier this year to become president and CEO of the Rhode Island Foundation, according to the Associated Press.\n\nIf Amo is elected, he could be the state’s first Black representative to Congress. He most recently served as the deputy director of the White House Office of Intergovernmental Affairs under the Biden administration.\n\n– SudEiksha Kochi\n\nMississippi election results: Some precincts given extra time due to ballot issues\n\nMany voting precincts in Hinds County have been given a one-hour extension to 8 p.m. to allow more people time to vote, according to the Mississippi Democratic Party. Party Chairman Cheikh Taylor said that extension could be changed to 9 p.m., but that has not been confirmed yet.\n\nSome locations in the county ran out of ballots, and the Hinds County Election Commission was in the process of trying to print more ballots and deliver them as time was running out on voting Tuesday afternoon, according to Pete Perry of the Hinds County Republican Party.\n\nAs many as nine precincts have run out of ballots.\n\n– Mississippi Clarion Ledger\n\nWhen is the next presidential election? Tonight is a prelude to Nov. 5, 2024\n\nThe political world is looking at these off-year elections for signs of what might happen in one year's time: The next presidential election on Nov. 5, 2024.\n\nPresident Joe Biden, Republican presidential candidates like former President Donald Trump and their aides are already analyzing how various issues will play out, from abortion rights to Trumpism.\n\n– David Jackson\n\nVirginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin continues to avoid talking 2024\n\nVirginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin again sidestepped questions about a potential last-minute presidential bid, telling CNN Tuesday night he is “humbled” by the inquiries but “laser focused” on his state.\n\nYoungkin also dodged committing to endorse former President Donald Trump in 2024.\n\n“After polls close, I’m not going to endorse anyone,” Youngkin said. “I think the voters should choose who the nominee is, and then of course I will support the Republican nominee.”\n\n– Savannah Kuchar\n\nThree critical races for Joe Biden to watch\n\nOne year out from the 2024 presidential election, the outcomes of Tuesday's off-year elections in a handful of states could provide major clues for President Joe Biden's road ahead.\n\nHere are three races you can bet the White House will be watching closely tonight:\n\nOhio: Ohio voters will vote on Issue 1, which would change the Ohio Constitution to add abortion protections. Abortion rights are an issue Biden and Democrats are looking to campaign on in 2024.\n\nVirginia: In another bellwether on the power of abortion politics, control of Virginia's state legislature is up for grabs.\n\nKentucky: Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear, a rare Democrat leading a southern state, is by some metrics the most popular Democratic governor in the country. Yet he is in a fight to stave off Republican challenger Daniel Cameron, Kentucky's attorney general.– Joey Garrison\n\nActivists eye Black voter turnout in Mississippi after repeal of Jim Crow-era law\n\nMississippi is holding its first gubernatorial election since the overturning of a Jim Crow-era measure in Mississippi’s 1890 state constitution that targeted the power of Black voters.\n\nThe measure required any individual running for state office to win the majority of the popular vote and a majority of the state’s 122 House districts to be elected. If no candidate was able to do both, then the Mississippi House decided on the election outcome.\n\nIn 2020, voters repealed the system, instead requiring candidates to receive only a majority of the popular vote to get elected in the state.\n\n\"Now that it's just a popular vote, then the influence of the Black vote means more,\" said Charles V. Taylor Jr., the executive director of the Mississippi state conference of the NAACP.\n\n– Sudiksha Kochi\n\nPolls close in parts of Kentucky\n\nPolls have closed in parts of Kentucky as voters consider whether to reelect Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear or replace him with Republican Daniel Cameron.\n\nMuch of Beshear’s first term was dominated by his response to a series of natural disasters and the pandemic. But his reelection campaign often focused on dire warnings about the future of abortion rights.\n\nCameron would be the nation’s first Black Republican to be elected governor if he wins. He has reaffirmed his support for the current Kentucky law, which bans all abortions except when carried out to save a pregnant woman’s life or to prevent a disabling injury.\n\n– Associated Press\n\nBallots run out at several Mississippi county precincts\n\nMultiple locations in Hinds County, Mississippi, ran out of ballots, and the Hinds County Election Commission was in the process of trying to print more ballots and deliver them as time was running out on voting Tuesday afternoon, according to Pete Perry of the Hinds County Republican Party.\n\nAs many as nine precincts have run out of ballots.\n\n\"The election commission did not print enough ballots for the precincts. That's the bottom line,\" Perry said. \"Folks have been standing in line for hours waiting to vote and many of them have left.\"\n\nBoth Republicans and Democrats are discussing options for keeping polls open after the 7 p.m. deadline.\n\n– Ross Reily\n\nVirginia election results: What's at stake this year?\n\nAbortion has emerged as a key voter concern in Virginia in 2023. Democrats have warned that a red Virginia would lead to further abortion restrictions, while Republicans defend their proposed 15-week limit, with exceptions, as a “common sense” compromise.\n\nOut of a list of issues ranging from crime to taxes, abortion was second most top of mind for voters in a Christopher Newport University Wason Center poll last month.\n\nNext on that list: K-12 education.\n\nVirginia Republicans have campaigned on “parents’ rights\" in education, a rallying cry that began in the state during Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s successful 2021 gubernatorial campaign.\n\n– Savannah Kuchar\n\nDan McCaffery vs. Carolyn Carluccio: Pennsylvania’s state Supreme Court race could shape 2024\n\nThis year, Democratic candidate Dan McCaffery and Republican candidate Carolyn Carluccio are competing for a spot on Pennsylvania’s state Supreme Court.\n\nIn recent years, lawsuits over voting disputes and allegations of election fraud have rocked Pennsylvania. After the 2020 election, former President Donald Trump’s campaign filed a lawsuit alleging Philadelphia officials violated state law while ballots were being tallied, which the Pennsylvania Supreme Court dismissed.\n\nWhoever is elected to the state's Supreme Court this year could be crucial, as fights could play out again in Pennsylvania in 2024.\n\nThe court has a 4-2 Democratic majority after the death of Justice Max Baer. If Carluccio were to be elected, the majority balance between parties wouldn’t change. But there have been cases where justices have deadlocked, even with a Democratic majority.\n\n– Sudiksha Kochi\n\nKy election results: Will the race for governor map out a blueprint for a Trump, Biden rematch?\n\nRepublican Daniel Cameron is competing against Democratic incumbent Andy Beshear in Kentucky's governor race on Tuesday.\n\nRepublicans rule Kentucky politically, yet its liberal-leaning governor remains one of the country's most popular figures, even as the national Democratic brand takes a nosedive in the state.\n\nThose close to Cameron, who is a protege of Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., believe making this race a proxy battle for next year's likely presidential election rematch between President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump is the better counterpunch to the governor's popularity.\n\n– Phillip M. Bailey\n\nDisinformation, AI and poll-worker problems: How elections this week could preview 2024\n\nElection experts told USA TODAY several statewide elections on Tuesday − which include governor races in Kentucky and Mississippi − could preview challenges that might arise during the 2024 presidential election.\n\nThat includes whether states can overcome challenges to recruit poll workers, adapt to voting law changes, maintain high voter turnout levels and combat the spread of disinformation.\n\n“There are elections all around the country that I think serve kind of as a bellwether for how next year will go,” said Tammy Patrick, CEO for programs at the National Association of Election Officials.\n\n− Rachel Looker and Joey Garrison\n\nWhat is today's election?\n\nThe 2023 election is what's known as an off-year election. It's not a year where voters will cast their ballots for a presidential candidate.\n\nThey also won't weigh in on a \"midterm\" race, which usually comes halfway into a president's term and can serve as a referendum on the commander in chief. .\n\nBut that doesn't mean there aren't contentious elections this year. From ballot measures on abortion rights and marijuana legalization, to competitive legislative races, Americans will still make their voices heard Tuesday night.\n\n– Marina Pitofsky\n\nWhen do polls close?\n\nIt depends on your state or local area. Here's a look at some of the poll schedules across the country:\n\nIn Ohio, voters must cast ballots at their designated polling place between the hours of 6:30 a.m. and 7:30 p.m.\n\nIn Kentucky, polls open at 6 a.m. and close at 6 p.m.\n\nIn Virginia, polling hours are from 6 a.m. until 7 p.m.\n\n− Marina Pitofsky\n\nKentucky man allegedly threatens voters\n\nA Louisville man was arrested Tuesday after allegedly damaging a machine and threatening voters at a polling location on Election Day. The incident took place just after 9:15 a.m. Tuesday, according to area police.\n\nOfficers who responded found a man on the scene who was \"making threatening gestures toward voters\" while \"wielding a flag attached to a fishing pole.\" The man, identified by police as 40-year-old Jacen Cockerell, is also accused of damaging a voting machine by ripping off a printer that was attached to it.\n\nCockerell is charged with tampering/destruction of a voting machine and interfering with an election, both felonies, along with two misdemeanor counts of menacing.\n\n− Lucas Aulbach\n\nVirginia race results may be close and slow to come\n\nAll eyes might be on Virginia, but the country could have to be patient for the state’s final results.\n\nWith the state's deadline for mail in ballots at noon on Monday and some races potentially coming down to a tight margin, there's a “strong likelihood” that the outcome will not be set by the end of Election Day, said Heather Williams, interim president of the Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee.\n\n“These races are on a razor's edge,” Williams said in a press conference Monday. “We want to prepare you all for a long wait.”\n\nIt could be a waiting game then to see if Gov. Glenn Youngkin and Republicans are successful in their push to turn the state legislature red, or whether Democrats there manage to hold their state Senate majority.\n\n− Savannah Kuchar\n\nMother of 10-year-old girl killed in Uvalde school shooting runs for mayor\n\nKimberly Mata-Rubio, whose 10-year-old daughter Lexi Rubio was killed during the shooting at Robb Elementary School last year, is running for mayor of Uvalde in this year’s election.\n\nMata-Rubio, 34, is seeking to succeed Mayor Don McLaughlin, who is stepping down after nearly 10 years leading the city to pursue a seat in the Texas House.\n\n“I grieve for the woman you would have become and all the difference you would have made in this world,” Mata-Rubio wrote on X when she announced her run. “I grieve for the woman I was when you were still here. But, one part of me still exist, I am still your mom. I will honor your life with action. This is only the beginning.\n\n− Ryan Autullo and Sudiksha Kochi\n\nColorado voters consider Proposition HH\n\nIn the Centennial State, voters will weigh in on a measure known as Proposition HH.\n\nThe proposal asks whether voters want the state to keep some amount of surplus tax revenue that Colorado's constitution requires be refunded to taxpayers. In exchange, the measure would lower property tax rates for a decade. A portion of the funds the state retains would be spent on education and rental assistance.\n\nThe proposal was introduced by Democratic Gov. Jared Polis and Democratic lawmakers.\n\n– Associated Press\n\nVirginia sends a 2024 signal\n\nVirginia might be the country's modern bellwether, with their constituents having a near-perfect track record for picking recent national election winners. But before 2024's national elections can officially begin, voters and activists from both parties in the state say they're focused on winning this year.\n\nSenators and representatives from the Virginia State Senate and House of Delegates are all up for reelection for the first time in four years.\n\nYoungkin and other Virginia Republicans hope to hold their majority in the state House and flip their Senate red, much like the national GOP aspires to keep the U.S. House of Representatives and take back the majority in the Senate. But Democrats are hoping to block Youngkin's conservative agenda into 2024 and beyond.\n\n– Savannah Kuchar\n\nOhio election results: Abortion ballot measure in the Buckeye State\n\nThe eyes of the nation are on Ohio as voters in the state head to decide on an abortion ballot measure that has the potential to rock the state and send a message to the rest of the country.\n\nOhio voters will consider Issue 1, a measure that would enshrine abortion rights in the state's constitution through viability, typically around 24 weeks gestation. After that, a doctor could perform an abortion to save the life or health of the pregnant patient.\n\nOhio is the only state to have an abortion measure on the ballot this fall.\n\n– Sudiksha Kochi\n\nArkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders makes Election Day endorsement for Donald Trump\n\nA southern governor, who is not up for election today, still told voters she's endorsing Donald Trump for another term as president.\n\nArkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders, Trump's former White House press secretary, said \"it’s not a question between right versus left anymore.\"\n\nSanders is scheduled to attend Trump's rally on Wednesday in Hialeah, Fla., opposite the third Republican primary debate in neighboring Miami.\n\n– David Jackson\n\nKentucky Democrats edge out Republicans in early voting\n\nThe 2023 election is Kentucky’s first gubernatorial contest where three days of early voting were approved, and it appears Democrats were more eager this year.\n\nIn the closely watched race between incumbent Andy Beshear and Republican challenger Daniel Cameron, which is seen as a harbinger for 2024, a total of 260,324 people cast a ballot through no-excuse, in-person voting, according to the secretary of state’s office.\n\nOf those, 133,169 ballots, or 51.2%, were Democrats versus 112,398, or 43.2%, who were Republicans. Beshear’s party did even better when other forms of early voting − such as mail-in ballots and excused in-person voting − were taken into account.\n\nPolling shows Beshear and Cameron, the state’s attorney general, are tied at 47%.\n\n– Phillip M. Bailey\n\nHouston election results: Mayoral race draws high-profile candidates, national interest\n\nThe nation’s fourth most populous city is electing a new mayor out of a crowded field of 18 candidates. The seat was previously held by Sylvester Turner, who reached his term limit.\n\nDemocratic lawmakers U.S. Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee and state Sen. John Whitmire have emerged as the frontrunners in the race, both touting their extensive experience, according to the Associated Press. The race has been focused on crime, infrastructure and impending budget problems.\n\nAccording to The Texas Tribune, Whitmire outpaced Jackson Lee in funds, but Jackson Lee landed endorsements from powerhouse Democrats like Nancy Pelosi and Hillary Clinton.\n\n–Kinsey Crowley\n\nIn Florida, all eyes are on Orlando for mayor, House rep. primary elections\n\nThree challengers are running against Orlando Mayor incumbent Buddy Dyer, who has held the position since 2003, longer than anyone in the city's history. He has said it will be his last 4-year term if he wins.\n\nThe three candidates running against Dyer are:\n\nSam Ings , retired Orlando Police Department Captain and former Orlando city commissioner\n\n, retired Orlando Police Department Captain and former Orlando city commissioner Tony Vargas , business owner and fitness trainer\n\n, business owner and fitness trainer Steve Dixon, former marine and defense industry executive\n\nA special primary election is also being held for Florida House District 35, which covers most of the greater Orlando area. Republican Fred Hawkins won the seat handily in 2022 before stepping down to become the president of South Florida State College.\n\n– C. A. Bridges, USA TODAY NETWORK - Florida\n\nTaylor Swift calls on fans to vote on Election Day\n\nPop icon Taylor Swift has summoned her loyal faction of fans to get out and vote.\n\n“Voters gonna vote!” Swift said in an Instagram story posted Tuesday morning.\n\n“It’s election Day! If you’re registered in Colorado, Kentucky, Maine, Mississippi, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania Texas or Virginia, it’s time to use your voice,” the post said to her 275 million Instagram followers. She also provided a link to Vote.org, encouraging people to learn what is on their ballot before arriving at the polls.\n\nSwift has been working with Vote.org for several years. She helped drive 35,000 people to register to vote through the organization on National Voter Registration Day in September after posting an Instagram story about it.\n\n–Emily DeLetter\n\nConstitutional amendments on ballot in Texas as voters weigh historic budget measures\n\nTexans will be voting on 14 statewide constitutional amendments, plus a few local propositions for Travis County, where Austin is located.\n\nMany proposed statewide changes came out of a contentious budget negotiation process earlier this year, during which lawmakers fought over the best way to get the $33 billion budget surplus back to taxpayers.\n\nHere are some highlights of Texas' proposed constitutional amendments:\n\nPrevent a wealth tax: Proposition 3 would prohibit an individual wealth or net worth tax — in other words, a tax on the value of one's assets minus liabilities. Texas does not have such a tax.\n\nProposition 3 would prohibit an individual wealth or net worth tax — in other words, a tax on the value of one's assets minus liabilities. Texas does not have such a tax. University research funding: Proposition 5 would expand funding for research grants for Texas public universities, with hopes of elevating national prominence and boosting state economy.\n\nProposition 5 would expand funding for research grants for Texas public universities, with hopes of elevating national prominence and boosting state economy. Electricity plants: This amendment would create a $5 billion state energy fund to provide loans or grants to companies to build or upgrade electricity generating plants.\n\nThis amendment would create a $5 billion state energy fund to provide loans or grants to companies to build or upgrade electricity generating plants. Retired teacher cost-of-living adjustment: Proposition 9 authorizes the first permanent cost-of-living adjustments for retired teachers in nearly two decades, as approved by the Legislature earlier this year.\n\nProposition 9 authorizes the first permanent cost-of-living adjustments for retired teachers in nearly two decades, as approved by the Legislature earlier this year. Medical manufacturer tax break: Proposition 10 would allow the state to exempt medical or biomedical equipment manufacturers from paying property taxes on their inventory and equipment used in the manufacturing process.\n\nProposition 10 would allow the state to exempt medical or biomedical equipment manufacturers from paying property taxes on their inventory and equipment used in the manufacturing process. Raise retirement age for judges: Proposition 13 would raise the mandatory retirement age for state judges from 75 to 79.\n\n–Bianca Moreno-Paz, Jesus Vidales, Hogan Gore; Austin American-Statesman\n\nDaniel McCaffery and Carolyn Carluccio face off in Pennsylvania state Supreme Court election, Cherelle Parker and David Oh compete in Philadelphia mayoral race\n\nIn Pennsylvania, voters will weigh in on who should fill an open seat on the state’s Supreme Court following the death of Chief Justice Max Baer last year.\n\nDemocrat Daniel McCaffery and Republican Carolyn Carluccio are vying for the seat to join the court that with Baer gave Democrats a 5-2 majority. The court currently has four Democrat and two Republican justices. The results of the election could provide insight on where the swing state could go for the 2024 races.\n\nIn Philadelphia, a Black woman is poised to become the first woman and the 100th mayor of the city. Cherelle Parker won the crowded Democratic primary in May and faces Republican David Oh in the general election.\n\n- Anthony Robledo, USA TODAY; Associated Press\n\nFearful of voter fraud? Officials aim to earn your trust in 2024\n\nWASHINGTON − Ahead of another election cycle that is already shaping up to be contentious, federal and state election officials are in the midst of campaigns of their own to reassure wary voters about the integrity of casting their ballots.\n\nThey are recruiting poll workers, certifying voting machines and hosting lessons on how election systems work in community centers, classrooms and libraries.\n\nThe steps are needed, experts say, to restore voters' confidence in a system that, despite some flaws and outspoken election deniers, was mostly trustworthy and secure in the first place.\n\nThose fraud claims, in part, gave rise to calls for major overhauls of election systems in some states led mostly by Republican lawmakers. Some, particularly voters of color, were already skeptical of a system with a history of discrimination that hasn't always been open to them. New laws to restrict access has fueled that mistrust, experts said.\n\nMuch of the work of assuring voters will fall to local elections officials, experts said. Americans have more trust in their local election systems, which they’re more familiar with, according to the nonpartisan Pew Research Center.\n\n\"People know their local election officials. They know when they go to city or town hall that they trust the people that work there,'' said Rob Rock, Rhode Island's deputy secretary of state. \"It's really important to make sure that people understand the process.''\n\n–Deborah Barfield Berry and Terry Collins\n\nRead the story:Fearful of voter fraud? Here's what officials are doing now to earn your trust in 2024.\n\nMississippi election results: Can a cousin of Elvis Presley make a deep-red state competitive?\n\nDemocrats looking to regain long-lost political ground in the South have a unique opportunity this week: In Mississippi, of all places.\n\nDemocratic gubernatorial candidate Brandon Presley is making a surprisingly strong run at incumbent GOP Gov. Tate Reeves in one of the most Republican states in the nation, much less the South.\n\nPresley, a member of the Mississippi Public Service Commission, is threatening an upset with the kind of campaign that many southern Democrats run these days: Play up economic issues for middle class voters, play down social issues like abortion and distance yourself from the national Democratic Party.\n\n– David Jackson\n\nWhy there are no NBA games on Election Day again this year\n\nFor the second consecutive season, there will be no NBA games scheduled for Election Day as the league encourages fans and the community to vote on Nov. 7 in the United States.\n\nThe NBA has shared resources from voting organizations and highlighted the civic engagement work of teams in their markets ahead of Election Day.\n\nPlayers around the NBA have each worn specialized warmup shirts promoting the importance of voting. The league, players and teams have also shared various voting resources on their social media channels leading up to Tuesday.\n\nThe NBA has often taken a strong stance on several key social issues in the past. The decision to take Election Day off is the latest gesture the league has implemented to encourage fans to create change by hitting the polls and casting their ballots.\n\n-Cody Taylor\n\nThese are the races to watch\n\nThere are four separate fields on Tuesday where voters can have an impact, including an abortion amendment in Ohio and a surprising nail-biter for governor in Mississippi.\n\nOther elections that might have national ramifications are the Virginia legislative races, where Gov. Glenn Youngkin (still mentioned as a possible presidential contender) is looking to consolidate power on his conservative agenda.\n\nThere is also Kentucky, where Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear is looking to fend off a Republican foe in a state the GOP has dominated.\n\n– Phillip M. Bailey", "authors": [], "publish_date": "2023/11/07"}, {"url": "https://www.cnn.com/2022/05/21/australia/australia-election-results-morrison-albanese-intl-hnk/index.html", "title": "Australia election results: Labor leader Anthony Albanese will be the ...", "text": "Brisbane, Australia CNN —\n\nAustralian voters have delivered a sharp rebuke to the center-right government, ending nine years of conservative rule, in favor of the center-left opposition that promised stronger action on climate change.\n\nAustralian Labor Party leader Anthony Albanese claimed victory Saturday, though it was unclear as counting continued if his party would have the 76 seats required to form a majority.\n\nEarly counting showed a strong swing towards Greens candidates and Independents who demanded emissions cuts far above the commitments made by the ruling conservative coalition.\n\nAmanda McKenzie, CEO of the research group the Climate Council, declared climate action the winner of the vote.\n\n“Millions of Australians have put climate first. Now, it’s time for a radical reset on how this great nation of ours acts upon the climate challenge,” she said in a statement.\n\nOther than climate, this election focused on the character of the leaders. Incumbent Scott Morrison. was deeply unpopular with voters and seemed to acknowledge as much when he admitted during the last week of the campaign that he had been a “bit of a bulldozer.” He was referring to making hard decisions during the pandemic and severing a submarine deal with France, but it reflected claims about his leadership style as being more authoritarian than collaborative.\n\nSpeaking to his supporters late Saturday night, Morrison said he had called Albanese and congratulated him on his election victory. “I’ve always believed in Australians and their judgment, and I’ve always been prepared to accept their verdict,” he said.\n\nJust before midnight, Albanese walked out to to cheers from his supporters and said he would seek to unite the nation. “I will work every day to bring Australians together. And I will lead a government worthy of the people of Australia.”\n\nHe added: “I can promise all Australians this no matter how you voted today, the government I lead will respect every one of you every day.”\n\nScott Morrison, flanked by his wife and daughters as he concede defeat to Labor leader Anthony Albanese. Asanka Ratnayake/Getty Images\n\nWhat Albanese will do as Prime Minister?\n\nOne of Albanese’s first priorities as Prime Minister will be to rebuild relations with foreign leaders he says Morrison has neglected in recent years. They include Pacific Island leaders, including the Solomon Islands whose leader signed a security pact with Beijing, stoking fears that China plans to build its first military base in the Pacific.\n\nOn Tuesday, Albanese intends to travel Tokyo with Foreign Minister Penny Wong for talks with Quad members from the United States, India and Japan, where they’ll discuss priorities to safeguard free passage in the Indo-Pacific.\n\nThe climate crisis was one of the defining issues of the election, as one of the few points of difference between the coalition and Labor, and a key concern of voters, according to polls.\n\nMarija Taflaga, lecturer in politics and international relations at the Australian National University, said the swing towards the Greens was remarkable. “I think everyone has been taken by surprise by these results…I think it will mean there will be greater and faster action on climate change more broadly.”\n\nLabor has promised to cut emissions by 43% by 2030 and to reach net zero by 2050, partly by strengthening the mechanism used to pressure companies to make cuts.\n\nBut research institute Climate Analytics says Labor’s plans aren’t ambitious enough to keep global temperature rise within 1.5 degrees Celsius, as outlined in the Paris Agreement.\n\nLabor’s policies are more consistent with a rise of 2 degrees Celsius, the institute said, marginally better than the coalition’s plan.\n\nTo speed up the transition to renewable energy, Labor plans to modernize Australia’s energy grid and roll out solar banks and community batteries. But despite its net zero commitment, Labor says it’ll approve new coal projects if they’re environmentally and economically viable.\n\nIn inner-city seats, results show voters threw their support behind Independents, mostly highly-educated female candidates standing on a platform of higher cuts to greenhouse emissions and integrity in government. They targeted traditionally safe Liberal seats, challenging voters to take a stand on decades of government inaction.\n\nAlbanese is supporting a rise in the minimum wage of 5.1%, though he doesn’t have the power to impose it, only leeway to submit a recommendation to the Fair Work Commission that the minimum wage keeps pace with inflation.\n\nAustralian Prime Minister Scott Morrison and his wife Jenny cast their votes at a polling booth in Sydney on Saturday. Mark Baker/AP\n\nA modest upbringing to PM\n\nAlbanese often refers to his background as the son of a single mother to demonstrate his commitment to making life better for struggling Australians.\n\nHis mother, Maryanne, suffered rheumatoid arthritis and lived on disability benefits while she raised him alone in council housing in the 1960s.\n\n“It gave me a determination each and every day to help the people like I was growing up to have a better life. And I think that’s what Australians want,” he told the National Press Club in January.\n\nAlbanese repeatedly credited his mother for her strength during his campaign, most recently on Friday when he paid tribute to a “incredible woman.”\n\n“She’d be proud as punch because she made the courageous decision in 1963 to keep a child that she had out of wedlock,” he said.\n\nAlbanese’s father was a steward on a cruise ship, and the new Australian Prime Minister was born of a brief liaison that was scandalous at the time for a single Catholic woman.\n\nSo she told him that his father had died to spare him the truth, he said.\n\n“That was a tough decision,” he said. “It says something about the pressure that was placed on women and pressures that are still placed on women when faced with difficult circumstances. The fact that that young kid is now running for Prime Minister says a lot about her and her courage, but it also says a lot about this country.”\n\nAlbanese may have won over Australians, but one of his challenges as Prime Minister will be to unite the factions of his party, said Zareh Ghazarian, a lecturer in politics at Monash University.\n\n“He’s presented himself as someone who’s going to be a level-headed leader. The challenge that he will have is getting on top of and keeping on top of the Labor party caucus,” he said.\n\nAlbanese served as a minister in the previous Labor government under prime ministers Kevin Rudd and Julia Gillard, before taking over as Labor leader after the party’s most recent election loss in 2019.\n\nThat loss knocked the wind out of Labor and they returned to this election campaign with more modest promises to avoid scaring off voters worried about radical change.\n\nPaul Williams, a political scientist with Griffith University, said Albanese lacked experience in major portfolios but predicted he would “grow into the job.”\n\n“I think it will be a steep learning curve for Albanese because he hasn’t had a very senior portfolio like treasurer or foreign affairs minister. And he’s going to be thrown into the mix of the Quad meeting next week. So it’s going to be baptism by fire,” he said.\n\nAlbanese said he hoped his win would show young Australians that “the doors of opportunity are open to us all.”\n\n“Every parent wants more for the next generation than they had. My mother dreamt of a better life for me. And I hope that my journey in life inspires Australians to reach for the stars.”", "authors": ["Hilary Whiteman"], "publish_date": "2022/05/21"}, {"url": "https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2022/08/15/donald-trump-adviser-michael-flynn-may-going-after-local-gop-leader/10329812002/", "title": "Michael Flynn tried to overturn an election. Now he's trying to oust ...", "text": "Gen. Michael Flynn led efforts to overturn President Joe Biden's victory. Now he's targeting a much lower profile elected official as he tries to overthrow the GOP leader in his home county, adding to the conservative push during the Trump years to move the party to the right.\n\nFormer President Donald Trump's first national security adviser, Flynn is one of the most prominent national figures in the GOP and continues to travel the country promoting conservative causes. He also has taken a strong interest in local politics.\n\nPrep for the polls: See who is running for president and compare where they stand on key issues in our Voter Guide", "authors": [], "publish_date": "2022/08/15"}, {"url": "https://www.cnn.com/2022/07/13/asia/sri-lanka-crisis-rajapaksa-flee-protest-intl-hnk/index.html", "title": "Gotabaya Rajapaksa: How Sri Lanka's runaway President went from ...", "text": "CNN —\n\nThey were once seen as heroes of the nation, the almost mythical warrior-king leaders who defeated the separatists in a bloody civil war.\n\nYet the final days of Sri Lanka’s Rajapaksa dynasty tell a very different tale.\n\nIn the early hours of Wednesday, embattled President Gotabaya Rajapaksa made a hurried exit from the South Asian nation, days after thousands of angry protesters broke into his official residence, swam in his pool, and demanded he finally go.\n\nHe had been expected to resign later that day, but Gotabaya Rajapaksa didn’t wait around to make it official. Instead, before dawn, he boarded a military plane leaving Colombo, the commercial capital of the crisis-hit country, and fled to the Maldives.\n\nHis departure is a historic moment for the island nation of 22 million, which the Rajapaksas had ruled with an iron fist for much of the past two decades before losing the faith of their once adoring citizens.\n\n“The sight of Gotabaya Rajapaksa fleeing Sri lanka on an air force plane represents (the downfall) of this family,” said Ganeshan Wignaraja, senior research associate at the British think tank, ODI Global.\n\n“Their legacy I don’t think is a positive one. But one hopes that Sri Lanka will move on in a new direction.”\n\nWith jubilant Sri Lankans still swimming in the presidential pool, singing in the presidential dining room and dancing around the opulent presidential grounds, it is clear many share that optimism – at least for now.\n\nWhat happens during the next 24 hours will do much to determine the country’s future, with Rajapaksa’s long-term intentions remaining as yet unclear.\n\nProtesters at Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa's official residence in Colombo on July 12. Arun Sankar/AFP/Getty Images\n\nThe rise of the Rajapaksas\n\nAs the country takes its first steps in its brave new era, experts say it would do well to consider what went wrong with the last one – starting with the rise and fall of the Rajapaksas.\n\nGotabaya Rajapaksa is not the first member of the family to have been president. His brother Mahinda Rajapaksa, who like Gotabaya was widely considered a “war hero” among the majority population, was elected President in 2005 and achieved near legendary status in 2009 when he declared victory in the 26-year civil war against the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam rebels.\n\nFormer Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa, left, and his brother Basil Rajapaksa, right, during a campaign in the suburb of Kirillawala, Sri Lanka, on April 4, 2010. Chamila Karunarathne/AP\n\nThat victory gave Mahinda Rajapaksa an almost inexhaustible well of political capital to draw on and he would go on to enjoy a 10-year grip on power during which he was venerated by Sri Lanka’s Sinhalese Buddhist majority. He was popularly referred to as “appachchi” – the father of the nation – and people would often bow when he walked past and fear for him when he was unwell.\n\nFor much of his term, Mahinda Rajapaksa ran Sri Lanka like a family business, appointing his brothers to key positions; Gotabaya as Defense Secretary, Basil as Minister of Economic Development, and Chamal as the Speaker of Parliament.\n\nMahinda Rajapaksa, left, with his brother, Gotabaya Rajapaksa in Colombo, Sri Lanka, in 2019. Tharaka Basnayaka/NurPhoto/Getty Images\n\nAnd while the good times were rolling, despite gripes about nepotism, the brothers remained popular. The country saw years of growth, fueled by the government’s vast borrowing from overseas to fund public services.\n\nBut the good times weren’t to last.\n\nBrief hiatus and comeback\n\nWhile the civil war did much to create Mahinda Rajapaksa’s legend, it also contained the first signs of his downfall.\n\nAccording to a 2011 United Nations report, government troops were responsible for abuses including the intentional shelling of civilians, summary executions, rape, and blocking food and medicine from reaching affected communities. The UN report said “a number of credible sources have estimated there could have been as many as 40,000 civilian deaths.”\n\nMahinda Rajapaksa’s government has always vehemently denied such allegations.\n\nHowever, its problems began to mount.\n\nThe human rights concerns went beyond the war. Political opponents accused Mahinda Rajapaksa of giving tacit approval to far-right Buddhist groups and Sri Lanka’s Muslim and Tamil minorities feared a wider crackdown on their communities.\n\nAt the same time, anger at Mahinda’s perceived cronyism grew as signs of economic trouble emerged and it became clear that there would be a price to pay for the government’s earlier largesse.\n\nBy 2015, Sri Lanka owed China $8 billion, and Sri Lankan government officials predicted that accumulated foreign debt – both owed to China and other countries – would eat up 94% of the country’s GDP.\n\nThat year, Mahinda Rajapaksa lost a close presidential election to his one-time health minister.\n\n“Sri Lanka is a democratic country and people were shocked at that extent of attempting cronyism,” Wignaraja said. “This combination of (nepotism) and mismanaging the economy… people were upset they elected these people.”\n\nThat might have been enough to finish off a lesser dynasty, but not the Rajapaksas.\n\nGotabaya Rajapaksa with his wife Ayoma, on the outskirts of Colombo, Sri Lanka, in 2019. Eranga Jayawardena/AP\n\nIn April 2019, Islamic militants killed at least 290 people in a string of bombings at churches and luxury hotels. A panicked country turned back to the one family they knew that had a proven record on national security.\n\nIn November of that year, Gotabaya Rajapaksa was elected as the country’s new President. And like his brother, he saw governing as a family affair.\n\n“People have once again imposed their full confidence in us,” Mahinda Rajapaksa said after a landslide victory in parliamentary elections a year later.\n\n“We will fulfill their aspirations and will always value the confidence they have placed in us.”\n\nGotabaya appointed Mahinda Rajapaksa shortly after.\n\n‘Fall from grace’\n\nStill, as had happened to his brother, cracks began to emerge in Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s presidency as questions over his government’s economic management continued to grow.\n\nExperts say Sri Lanka’s economic problems were not entirely the government’s fault – but its woes were made worse by a series of bad decisions.\n\nMurtaza Jafferjee, chair of Colombo-based think tank Advocata Institute, said the vast borrowing spree Sri Lanka embarked on to fund its public service coincided with a series of hammer blows to the Sri Lankan economy, from natural disasters such as heavy monsoons, to man-made ones.\n\nFacing a massive deficit, Rajapaksa slashed taxes in a doomed attempt to stimulate the economy.\n\nBut the move backfired, instead hitting government revenue. Ratings agencies then downgraded Sri Lanka to near default levels, meaning the country lost access to overseas markets. Sri Lanka then had to use its foreign exchange reserves to pay off government debt. This affected imports of fuel and other essentials, which sent prices soaring.\n\nOn the streets, the Rajapaksa’s once adoring public found themselves unable to feed their families or fuel their vehicles. Now people must queue for hours for fuel, often clashing with police and military as they wait. Supermarkets shelves are barren. Medicine supplies are running dangerously low.\n\nAnd it is the Rajapaksas they blame. For months, angry Sri Lankans have taken to the streets, accusing Gotabaya and Mahinda Rajapaksa of mismanaging the economy.\n\nPeople throng President Gotabaya Rajapaksa's official residence three days after it was stormed by anti government protesters in Colombo, Sri Lanka, on July 12. Rafiq Maqbool/AP\n\nThose protests began peacefully but turned violent in May, prompting Mahinda Rajapaksa to resign as Prime Minister. But his decision did little to quell frustrations – and his brother remained in power as the President.\n\nFor weeks Gotabaya clung on, apparently unwilling to let the dynasty fall. But ultimately he had no choice, as the lavish home he once used to entertain power brokers was taken over by crowds escaping the heat in his sparkling swimming pool and holding picnics on his sprawling lawn.\n\nAs Wignaraja pointed out, the imagery was a fitting end to an era.\n\n“You have this idea that the ruling elite are living very lavishly, while being very corrupt, and the ordinary person is in grave difficulty,” Wignaraja said.\n\n“To go from being perceived as heroes, to being chased out of your own home is unthinkable. It’s a complete fall from grace.”", "authors": ["Rhea Mogul"], "publish_date": "2022/07/13"}, {"url": "https://www.cnn.com/2022/05/15/australia/australia-election-xi-jinping-china-relations-intl-hnk-dst/index.html", "title": "Australia election: Xi Jinping looms large over political campaign ...", "text": "Brisbane, Australia CNN —\n\nThe faces of Australian election candidates are plastered on campaign posters across the country – but there’s one face that stands out, and it belongs to Xi Jinping.\n\nThe Chinese leader, though not a participant in any modern democracy, has become a familiar presence in a campaign dogged by allegations of foreign interference and partly fought on issues of national security.\n\nXi’s face is not only on billboards, his name has come up in press conferences, interviews, and election debates between Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison, who leads a Liberal-National coalition, and the Labor Party leader who wants to replace him, Anthony Albanese.\n\n“Xi has changed the nature of the Chinese Communist Party … It’s more forward leaning. It’s more aggressive. And that means that Australia, of course, must respond,” said Albanese during a leaders’ debate, in words that appeared to echo the government’s hardline stance.\n\nBefore the federal election campaign even started, accusations were being hurled that China wanted a Labor win. One week out from the vote on May 21, public opinion polls – though notoriously unreliable – suggest that it may actually happen, putting a Labor government in power for the first time since 2013.\n\nHow that may change Australia’s relationship with China has been a common question ahead of the vote. The coalition has suggested Labor will be soft on China – a serious accusation by a government whose defense minister recently warned that, in order to preserve peace, Australia must “prepare for war.”\n\nOn paper, it seems there is little difference between both major parties on foreign policy. Labor says it’s committed to the AUKUS security pact, the deal Morrison struck with the United States and United Kingdom, to the detriment of Australia’s relations with France. And both support the Quad, the loose four-way alliance between Australia, the US, India and Japan that is set to meet in Tokyo next week, after the election.\n\nIt’s not clear yet who will attend on Australia’s behalf, but analysts say that person faces a tough challenge when it comes to China – especially after a bitter election campaign that has put Xi and his intentions front and center.\n\nAustralian opposition leader Anthony Albanese and Prime Minister Scott Morrison debate on live television ahead of the federal election, during the second leaders' debate on May 8. James Brickwood/Pool/Getty Images\n\nThe unraveling of relations\n\nChina was always going to play a role in the Australian election, as a regional heavyweight with significant trade ties to a smaller nation that it relies on for iron ore and coal, if not other sanctioned exports.\n\nXi’s rise to power in China neatly aligns with the coalition’s latest stint in government – both took office in 2013, and since then relations have deteriorated, most rapidly in the last six years.\n\nSome of the angst stretches back to 2016, when links emerged between a senior Labor senator and a wealthy Chinese businessmen, prompting a closer inspection of alleged foreign political interference. Under then Liberal Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull, laws were passed preventing foreigners from donating to Australian political campaigns, among other measures, and a ban was imposed on Chinese telecoms giants Huawei and ZTE from building Australia’s 5G network. After the 5G ban, China’s foreign affairs spokesman urged the country to “abandon (its) ideological prejudices.”\n\nRelations soured further in 2020 when the Australian government – then led by Morrison – called for an investigation into the origins of Covid-19. China responded with sanctions against Australian exports, including beef, barley, wine, and rock lobster.\n\nCharles Edel, the inaugural Australia Chair and a senior adviser at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), said China’s aim was to make Australia more compliant, but it hasn’t worked.\n\n“It has had the opposite effect,” he said. “It hardened public attitudes in Australia and pushed Canberra to lead the charge against China’s coercive actions.”\n\nAccording to the Lowy Institute’s 2021 poll of Australians on China, the vast majority were negative about China’s system of government and China’s military activity in the region, though they were positive about China’s people and Chinese culture. China’s tacit support of Russia’s actions in Ukraine has also hardened attitudes, and the Australian government has rushed to supply Ukraine with tanks, coal, and humanitarian aid.\n\nWhile sanctions have undoubtedly hurt Australian businesses, the loss of the Chinese market forced some to diversify and they’ve found replacement markets. China meanwhile continues to buy Australia’s iron ore at near record prices. So in that respect, Australia hasn’t lost.\n\nIn fact, Edel says Australia’s tough response to Beijing’s coercion has created another model for other countries in the region to follow.\n\n“Australia has reacted to a deteriorating strategic environment by investing in its own capabilities, increasing its cooperation with the United States, and reaching out to strengthen its connections with other countries in the region,” he said. “Pursuing a proactive foreign policy while investing in its own resilience offers a model for other states under pressure from revisionist powers.”\n\nChances of a reset\n\nBut there’s no consensus on the success of the Morrison government’s approach to China. During the election campaign, even as the coalition touted its superior experience in foreign affairs, Beijing signed a security pact with the Solomon Islands, a Pacific Island nation that also has a security deal with Canberra.\n\nSuddenly the specter of a Chinese military base on a nation just 2,000 kilometers (1,600 miles) from Australia’s shores became a live election issue – even as the Solomon Islands and Beijing denied they had any such plans. The issue was so contentious that in the first few weeks of the campaign mentions of China and the Solomon Islands outpaced that of climate change across Australian media, according to media monitors Isentia.\n\nLabor slammed the deal as “a massive foreign policy failure” that occurred despite warnings that Honiara was moving closer to China. In the heat of an election campaign, it suits Labor to call out the coalition’s foreign policy failings – in fact, the timing of the deal was so opportune for Labor that Home Minister Karen Andrews speculated, without evidence, that it was deliberately timed by Beijing to fall just weeks before the vote – a claim Labor attacked as “unhinged.”\n\nEarly voting has begun in Australia's federal election ahead of the official polling day on May 21. Mark Baker/AP\n\nBoth sides say “China has changed.” In recent years, Beijing has stepped up the militarization of the South China Sea, committed alleged human rights abuses against the minority Uyghur population in Xinjiang, and clamped down on freedoms in Hong Kong, where police recently arrested a 90-year-old cardinal under national security laws.\n\nBut James Laurenceson, director of the Australia-China Relations Institute, said the Morrison government must accept some responsibility for deteriorating relations.\n\n“Rhetoric and posturing and a lack of diplomacy has actually played a pretty major role in how we got there,” he said.\n\n“We haven’t just protected our sovereignty. We’ve gone out on a limb in front of any other country in the region to, I would argue, be pretty provocative,” he said, citing Defense Minister Peter Dutton’s comment that Australia should “prepare for war” as one example.\n\nLaurenceson doesn’t see relations with Beijing improving under a re-elected Morrison government. “I think they have given up on the Morrison government,” he said, but added that a Labor win wouldn’t necessarily mean a reset either.\n\n“No one’s talking about going back to the way the world was five years ago. But putting our relationship on a less adversarial stance, I think that’s within our capacity. And I think Labor has options where it can make some subtle shifts in its diplomacy and that will make that a realistic option.”\n\nIn an opinion piece published in Australian media last week, China’s ambassador to Australia, Xiao Qian, said Canberra should not see “China’s rise” as a threat.\n\n“The cooperation between China and the South Pacific island countries is conducive to people’s well-being on both sides and regional prosperity and stability, and will by no means threaten Australia’s security,” he wrote.\n\nWhere to from here\n\nUnder Australian law, there are no rules on truth in political advertising, so using Xi’s image on posters claiming he supports candidates of various political persuasions is entirely legal.\n\nXi’s face is not only on ads alleging he supports Labor but also on billboards claiming he’s backing a Liberal candidate, as well as at least one independent. Appealing to Xi, it seems, is the highest political insult.\n\nA poster that claims Chinese President Xi Jinping backs a Liberal candidate. Drew Pavlou/ Democratic Alliance\n\nAndrew Hughes, a marketing expert at the Australian National University, says Australia is known as the “Wild West” when it comes to political advertising, but the use of China in this campaign had nonetheless been remarkable.\n\n“It’s actually more noticeable, I think, in this election than I’ve ever seen the use of a foreign government in election campaigns outside wartime,” Hughes said.\n\nHughes said the coalition was using China to establish the connection in people’s minds that “Labor equals fear,” though he questioned the effectiveness of that strategy with an audience with only half an eye on the issues.\n\n“Most people don’t have that level of engagement with politics in the first place to make that messaging effective. Hence why (the coalition) is probably going a little bit more negative, and a little bit harder on things.”\n\nEdel, from CSIS, said no matter who wins, Australia has a better chance of improving its relationship if it stands its ground, and that’s possible under either leadership.\n\n“While there may be differences in tone and approach, both parties now support increasing Australia’s defense budget, working more closely with the United States and other like-minded countries, countering China’s push into the Pacific, calling out Beijing’s egregious human rights violations, and taking actions to protect Australia’s democracy,” he said.\n\nHowever, Laurenceson said a calmer approach and the realization that Australia can’t dictate China’s relationships in the Pacific would go a long way towards putting the relationship on a firmer footing.\n\n“There’s a track record of overreaction and panic, that’s for sure. And how does that actually help you respond?” he said. “Having a strategy with a goal of denying the Beijing enhanced relationships in the region is just ridiculous. It’s unrealistic. So yes, let’s take it seriously, let’s respond with a clear strategy. But let’s make sure our assessments and our strategy are at least based on reality.”", "authors": ["Hilary Whiteman"], "publish_date": "2022/05/15"}, {"url": "https://www.cnn.com/2022/12/29/politics/george-santos-house-gop-silence/index.html", "title": "Analysis: House GOP leadership silent as incoming congressman's ...", "text": "CNN —\n\nThere’s a cloud hanging over Republicans’ takeover of the House next week – and for once, it’s not former President Donald Trump.\n\nCongressman-elect George Santos, whose victory in a New York district last month was key to the GOP flipping the chamber, insists he’s coming to Congress despite admitting this week to fabricating key parts of his biography. There’s a growing range of probes into his lies, with CNN reporting Wednesday night that federal prosecutors in New York are investigating his finances and local prosecutors are “looking into” his fabrications.\n\nThose falsehoods – several more of which CNN’s KFile uncovered on Wednesday – combined with Santos’ defiance and Republican leadership’s silence are setting up the GOP for a fraught first week in power.\n\nGOP leadership hasn’t even acknowledged the controversy, which is leading to fears among some of Santos’ fellow incoming congressmen from the Empire State that his issues could overshadow Republicans’ ascent to power.\n\n“Attempts to blame others or minimize his actions are only making things worse and a complete distraction from the task at hand,” Rep.-elect Mike Lawler said in a statement on Wednesday.\n\n“New Yorkers deserve the truth and House Republicans deserve an opportunity to govern without this distraction,” said Rep.-elect Nick LaLota, who was elected to a Long Island district, in a statement Tuesday in which he called for an ethics investigation “and, if necessary, law enforcement” involvement.\n\nHouse GOP leader Kevin McCarthy, who has not returned CNN’s requests for comment about Santos, has been focused on trying to secure the votes for the speakership next month. That task became harder after Republicans won a narrower majority than he had hoped, a slim margin that will empower the conference’s most extreme members. Asking Santos to step down could cost him a vote in his already tenuous quest to reach 218.\n\nBut by not addressing the New York Republican’s lies, McCarthy may risk looking like he’s not in control of his party before ever taking the speaker’s gavel.\n\nVideo Ad Feedback Analysis: Why a decades-old federal law could be Santos' undoing 01:40 - Source: CNN\n\nProsecutors ‘looking into’ Santos’ lies as more false claims emerge\n\nHouse Republicans’ path to the majority this year ran through New York, which was a bright spot for the party in an otherwise disappointing midterm performance. While falling short of their anticipated “red wave,” the GOP flipped four Democratic seats in the Empire State – one of which was the 3rd District that Santos carried by about 8 points.\n\nIt emerged on Wednesday that he made even more false claims about his family history, work history and education, according to a KFile review of statements made in his 2022 and 2020 congressional campaigns. Santos has not responded to CNN’s repeated requests for comment.\n\nSantos admitted to the New York Post on Monday that he didn’t “graduate from any institution of higher learning,” despite his biography at times listing an education at Baruch College and New York University. He also admitted that he never worked directly for the financial firms Citigroup and Goldman Sachs, as he has previously suggested, but claimed that he did do work for them through his company, telling the Post it was a “poor choice of words” to say he worked for them.\n\nThe Nassau County district attorney’s office said Wednesday it is “looking into” the fabrications.\n\n“No one is above the law and if a crime was committed in this county, we will prosecute it,” District Attorney Anne Donnelly, a Republican, said in a statement.\n\nProsecutors in the US attorney’s office in the Eastern District of New York are investigating Santos’ finances, a source familiar with the matter told CNN later Wednesday. Santos has faced questions over his wealth and loans totaling more than $700,000 he made to his successful 2022 campaign.\n\nSantos told Semafor on Wednesday that he made his money through “capital introduction” and “deal making” for “high net worth individuals.” CBS News first reported the probe and the US attorney’s office declined to comment.\n\nVideo Ad Feedback He lost to Santos. Hear him weigh in on his opponent's lies 02:46 - Source: CNN\n\nRepublicans condemn Santos but leadership’s silence is deafening\n\nThe condemnations from three incoming House Republicans – all of whom won in competitive territory – look like an effort to distance themselves from a troubled neighbor, while implicitly trying to pave the way for leadership to speak up. The claims from Santos that have earned the sharpest rebuke have been those about his proclaimed Jewish identity.\n\nSantos said in an appearance on a Fox News digital show in February that his maternal grandparents changed their Jewish last name from Zabrovsky – a claim for which there is no evidence and that records contradict, KFile reported on Wednesday.\n\nThat followed last week’s KFile revelations that Santos’ claims that his grandparents “survived the Holocaust” as Ukrainian Jewish refugees from Belgium who changed their surname are contradicted by sources including family trees compiled by genealogy websites, records on Jewish refugees and interviews with multiple genealogists.\n\nHis explanation has quickly become the source of mockery.\n\n“I never claimed to be Jewish,” Santos told the New York Post. “I am Catholic. Because I learned my maternal family had a Jewish background, I said I was ‘Jew-ish.’”\n\nAnd yet, Santos described himself as a “proud American Jew” in a document shared with Jewish groups during the campaign, which was first reported by the Forward and confirmed by CNN this week.\n\nThe backlash came swiftly from local corners of the GOP and quickly went to larger influential groups.\n\n“I am deeply disappointed in Mr. Santos, and I expected more than just a blanket apology,” Nassau County GOP Chair Joseph G. Cairo, Jr., said in a statement Tuesday. “The damage that his lies have caused to many people, especially those who have been impacted by the Holocaust, are profound.”\n\n“His fabrications regarding the Holocaust and his family’s history are particularly hurtful,” Rep.-elect Anthony D’Esposito of New York added in his own statement.\n\nAnd Matt Brooks, the CEO of the Republican Jewish Coalition – a powerful player in GOP national politics – said on Tuesday that Santos had “deceived us” and “will not be welcome at any future RJC event.”\n\nBut a week and a half after the initial revelations, most Republicans currently serving in the House are quiet, at least publicly.\n\nWith Congress out of session for the holidays, reporters can’t catch lawmakers in hallways of the Capitol. But they’ll be back next week, and it’s only a matter of time before members face pointed questions.\n\nOne member speaking up for Santos is Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene – not necessarily the defender that a New York Republican, whose district voted for President Joe Biden by 8 points in 2020, probably wants in his corner.\n\n“I think we Republicans should give George Santos a chance and see how he legislates and votes, not treat him the same as the left is,” the Georgia Republican wrote on Twitter.\n\nWhen Greene was stripped of her committee assignments early last year, in the wake of incendiary and violent past statements that had recently been unearthed, it was the Democratic-controlled House (along with 11 Republicans) who made that happen – not GOP leadership. And once again, leadership seems to be looking past the problem.\n\nVideo Ad Feedback 'Did I embellish my resume? Yes I did': GOP Rep.-elect speaks out about lying 01:04 - Source: CNN\n\nTrumpian tactics\n\nSantos brought this upon himself – and yet, like the former president who still wields major influence over the House GOP, he seems eager to deflect responsibility. At one point, he has even tried to explain away his actions by casting himself as a victim of America’s elites.\n\nIn a bizarre interview with City and State on Monday, he spoke about having “the weight of the world” on his shoulders over the past week as news organizations have pored over his background. He then said “elitists” had looked down on him for working in customer service, seeming to suggest that’s why he omitted that experience and fabricated others on his resume.\n\nAlthough there’s no evidence he’s ever been convicted of a crime, Santos has tried to obfuscate on the issue. He was charged with embezzlement in a Brazilian court, as the New York Times first reported last week and CNN confirmed on Wednesday, according to case records from the Rio de Janeiro Court of Justice. Court records from 2013, however, state that the charge was archived after court summons went unanswered and they were unable to locate Santos.\n\n“I am not a criminal here – not here or in Brazil or any jurisdiction in the world,” Santos told the Post on Monday.\n\nIn another classic Trump move, he pivoted to attacking Biden and Democrats in a Tuesday interview on Fox’s “Tucker Carlson Tonight” when the guest host, former Democratic Rep. Tulsi Gabbard, pressed him on the meaning of “integrity” and asked, “Do you have no shame?”\n\nBut in trying to defend the discrepancies in his record, Santos then made a statement that Gabbard seized on for the way it could offend the everyday Americans he claims to have so much affinity for.\n\n“We can have this discussion that’s going to go way above the American people’s head, but that’s not what I campaigned on,” Santos said.\n\nAs Gabbard rightly pointed out in that interview, he’s not the only politician – from either party – whose background, as they’ve presented it, has received scrutiny. Santos is clearly leaning into the unpopularity of the institution he’s planning to join as he tries to defend his record.\n\n“I challenge all 434 members of Congress, aside myself, in the House, to go through the same litany test I just went through last week,” he told City and State. “Open yourselves up to the media. Let them dig deep and pull in your deepest secrets. If we did that, we wouldn’t have a single congressman in the House. And I bet you, we wouldn’t have a single senator in the Senate.”\n\nJust 22% of Americans approved of Congress in Gallup’s latest survey this fall. Santos claims his policy work is what will matter, but so far, he – and his party’s leadership – aren’t doing much to bring up those numbers.", "authors": ["Simone Pathe"], "publish_date": "2022/12/29"}]}
+{"question_id": "20240119_14", "search_time": "2024/01/19/23:35", "search_result": [{"url": "https://www.cnn.com/2022/11/15/politics/trump-2024-presidential-bid/index.html", "title": "Donald Trump announces a White House bid for 2024 | CNN Politics", "text": "CNN —\n\nFormer President Donald Trump, aiming to become only the second commander-in-chief ever elected to two nonconsecutive terms, announced Tuesday night that he will seek the Republican presidential nomination in 2024.\n\n“In order to make America great and glorious again, I am tonight announcing my candidacy for president of the United States,” Trump told a crowd gathered at Mar-a-Lago, his waterfront estate in Florida, where his campaign will be headquartered.\n\nSurrounded by allies, advisers, and conservative influencers, Trump delivered a relatively subdued speech, rife with spurious and exaggerated claims about his four years in office. Despite a historically divisive presidency and his own role in inciting an attack on the US Capitol on January 6, 2021, Trump aimed to evoke nostalgia for his time in office, frequently contrasting his first-term accomplishments with the Biden administration’s policies and the current economic climate. Many of those perceived accomplishments – from strict immigration actions to corporate tax cuts and religious freedom initiatives – remain deeply polarizing to this day.\n\nAs Trump spoke to a roomful of Republicans who expect him to face primary challengers in the coming months, he also claimed the party cannot afford to nominate “a politician or conventional candidate” if it wants to win back the White House.\n\n“This will not be my campaign, this will be our campaign all together,” Trump said.\n\nTrump’s long-awaited campaign comes as he tries to reclaim the spotlight following the GOP’s underwhelming midterm elections performance – including the losses of several Trump-endorsed election deniers – and the subsequent blame game that has unfolded since Election Day. Republicans failed to gain a Senate majority, came up short in their efforts to fill several statewide seats, and have yet to secure a House majority, with only 215 races called in their favor so far out of the 218 needed, developments that have forced Trump and other party leaders into a defensive posture as they face reproval from within their ranks.\n\nTrump’s paperwork establishing his candidacy landed with the Federal Election Committee shortly before he delivered his announcement at Mar-a-Lago.\n\nTo the delight of aides and allies who have long advised him to mount a forward-looking campaign, he spent only a fraction of his remarks repeating his lies about the 2020 election. Though he advocated for the use of paper ballots and likened America’s election system to that of “third world countries,” Trump also tried at times to broaden his grievances – lamenting the “massive corruption” and “entrenched interests” that in his view have consumed Washington. Many of Trump’s top advisers have expressed concern that his fixation on promoting conspiracies about the last presidential election would make it harder for him to win a national election in 2024.\n\nThroughout the hour-long speech, Trump made clear that he wants his campaign to be seen by Republicans as a sacrificial undertaking.\n\n“Anyone who truly seeks to take on this rigged and corrupt system will be faced with a storm of fire that only a few could understand,” he said at one point, describing the legal and emotional toll his presidency and post-presidential period has taken on his family members.\n\nOn the heels of last week’s midterm elections, Trump has been blamed for elevating flawed candidates who spent too much time parroting his claims about election fraud, alienating key voters and ultimately leading to their defeats. He attempted to counter that criticism on Tuesday, noting that Republicans appear poised to retake the House majority and touting at least one Trump-endorsed candidate, Kevin Kiley of California. At one point, Trump appeared to blame his party’s midterm performance on voters not yet realizing “the total effect of the suffering” after two years of Democratic control in Washington.\n\n“I have no doubt that by 2024, it will sadly be much worse and they will see clearly what has happened and is happening to our country – and the voting will be much different,” he claimed.\n\nBeating others to the punch\n\nTrump is betting that his first-out-of-the gate strategy will fend off potential primary rivals and give him an early advantage with deep-pocketed donors, aides say. He is widely expected to be challenged by both conservative and moderate Republicans, though the calculus of some presidential hopefuls could change now that he is running. Others – like his former Vice President, Mike Pence – may proceed anyway.\n\nTrump’s third presidential bid also coincides with a period of heightened legal peril as Justice Department officials investigating him and his associates revisit the prospect of indictments in their Trump-related probes. The former president is currently being investigated for his activities before and during the January 6, 2021, attack on the US Capitol and his retention of classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago estate after he left office. While Trump is counting on an easy path to the GOP nomination with his sustained support among the party’s base, his announcement is likely to dash the hopes of party leaders who have longed for fresh talent. In particular, top Republicans have been paying close attention to the next moves of Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, who won his reelection contest with a 19-point margin of victory and considerable support from minority and independent voters. Some Republican leaders may try to scuttle Trump’s campaign by elevating or encouraging alternative candidates, including DeSantis, who has been quietly laying the groundwork for a possible White House bid of his own.\n\nOf course, any countereffort to inhibit Trump’s path to the nomination is likely to prove difficult. Despite his myriad legal entanglements and the stain of January 6, the twice-impeached 45th president remains immensely popular among most Republican voters and boasts a deep connection with his core backers that could prove difficult for other GOP hopefuls to replicate or weaken. Even leading conservatives who disliked Trump’s pugnacious politics and heterodox policies stuck with him as president because he helped solidify the rightward shift of the US Supreme Court with his nominations – one of the most far-reaching aspects of his legacy, which resulted in the conservative court majority’s deeply polarizing June decision to end federal abortion rights. In fact, while Trump ended his first term with the lowest approval rating of any president, Republicans viewed him favorably, according to a May NBC News poll. That alone could give Trump a significant edge over primary opponents whom voters are still familiarizing themselves with.\n\nAmong those potential competitors is Pence, who would likely benefit from high name recognition due to his role as vice president. Pence, who has been preparing for a possible White House run in 2024, is sure to face an uphill battle courting Trump’s most loyal supporters, many of whom soured on the former vice president after he declined to overstep his congressional authority and block certification of now-President Joe Biden’s 2020 victory. Trump could also find himself pitted against DeSantis, who has risen to hero status among cultural conservatives and who is widely considered a more polished version of Trump. Even some of the former president’s advisers have voiced similar observations to CNN, noting that DeSantis also made inroads with major Republican donors during his quest for reelection and built a mountain of goodwill with GOP leaders by campaigning for federal and statewide Republican candidates in the middle of his own race.\n\nBeyond his potential rivals, Trump has another roadblock in his path as the House select committee continues to investigate his role in January 6, 2021, and Justice Department officials weigh whether to issue criminal charges. The committee, which subpoenaed him for testimony and documents in October and which Trump is now battling in court, held public hearings throughout the summer and early fall featuring depositions from those in Trump’s inner circle at the White House – including members of his family – that detailed his public and private efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election results through a sustained pressure campaign on numerous local, state and federal officials, and on his own vice president.\n\nBut Trump’s desire to announce his campaign early can be especially traced to the FBI search of Mar-a-Lago, which advisers say further emboldened his decision to mount what he believes will be a triumphant political comeback. The day after the search, the former president fielded calls from allies advising him to accelerate his 2024 timeline. That night, he huddled with House lawmakers in the Republican Study Committee and told them he’d “made up his mind” about launching a bid, though some of those same House Republicans later convinced him to wait until after the midterm elections to announce his next move.\n\nFew of those lawmakers were present for Trump’s speech on Tuesday, choosing to remain in Washington as House Republicans conducted their leadership elections and the party continues to grapple with its failures in highly prized midterm races. Rather, the room was filled with prominent election deniers like MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell, several of Trump’s attorneys, and past and present aides. Before he entered the room on Tuesday alongside former first lady Melania Trump, several members of the ex-president’s family were also seen filtering into the ballroom, including Eric and Lara Trump, his son Barron, his son-in-law Jared Kushner, and Kimberly Guilfoyle, who is engaged to Donald Trump Jr. His eldest son was notably missing, along with daughter Ivanka, , who has since said she will no longer be involved in the political arena. A source close to Donald Trump Jr. said he was stuck on a hunting trip in the mountain west and unable to catch a flight back to Florida in time for his father’s announcement. Other guests included longtime Trump adviser Roger Stone; outgoing North Carolina Rep. Madison Cawthorn; former congressman and the current CEO of Trump’s Truth Social app Devin Nunes; and his chief political adviser Susie Wiles.\n\nPreparing for 2024\n\nFrom the moment Trump left Washington, defeated and disgraced, in January 2021, he began plotting a return to power – devoting the bulk of his time to building a political operation intended for this moment. With assistance from numerous former aides and advisers, he continued the aggressive fundraising tactics that had become a marker of his 2020 campaign, amassing a colossal war chest ahead of the 2022 midterm elections, and worked diligently to elect steadfast allies in both Congress and state legislatures across the country.\n\nWhile maintaining a home base in Florida, he also regularly jet-setted across the country for campaign rallies that afforded him crucial face time with his base and with candidates he bet would become valuable allies in the US Senate and House.\n\nThrough it all, Trump continued to falsely insist that the 2020 election was stolen from him, indulging in far-flung conspiracy theories about voter fraud and pressuring Republican leaders across the party’s election apparatus to endorse changes that would curtail voting rights.\n\nTrump’s aides were pleased earlier this fall when his public appearances and rally speeches gradually became more focused on rising crime, immigration and economic woes – key themes throughout the midterm cycle and issues they hope will enable him to draw a compelling contrast with Biden as he begins this next chapter. Allies of the former president have long said that he views the 2024 contest as an opportunity to regain what he believes is his: another four years in the Oval Office.\n\nBut there is no guarantee that Trump will glide easily to a nonconsecutive second term. In fact, it could be quite difficult.\n\nNot only does history offer just one example of such a feat (defeated in 1888 after his first term, President Grover Cleveland was elected again in 1892), no previously impeached president has ever run again for office. Trump was first impeached in 2019 on charges of abuse of power and obstruction of justice, and then again in 2021 for inciting the riot at the US Capitol. Though he was acquitted by the Senate both times, 10 House Republicans broke with their party the second time around to join Democrats in a vote to impeach him. Seven Republican senators voted to convict him at his Senate trial.\n\nTrump has also been the subject of a bevy of lawsuits and investigations, including a New York state investigation and a separate Manhattan district attorney criminal probe into his company’s finances, a Georgia county probe into his efforts to overturn Biden’s election win in the state, and separate Justice Department probes into his campaign’s scheme to put forth fake electors in battleground states and his decision to bring classified materials with him to Mar-a-Lago upon leaving office.\n\nTrump’s actions since he left Washington have, for the most part, signaled his interest in an eventual return. While most former presidents go quietly into retirement – resurfacing to assist their parties during midterm cycles or for the opening of their presidential libraries – Trump bucked tradition to instead plot the comeback he now hopes to make. Despite its distance from Washington, Trump’s Mar-a-Lago club has transformed into a new hub for Republicans and a home base for his political machine. Assisted by a small group of paid staffers, he has hosted numerous candidate and committee fundraisers and seen a rotating cast of party leaders and congressional hopefuls filter through its gilded hallways in the hopes of nabbing his endorsement or reingratiating themselves with his base. Trump’s schedule has enabled him to build close relationships with party leaders and fringe figures – from House GOP leader Kevin McCarthy of California to Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia – whose support in a contested primary could ultimately help him clear the field. Many of the aides who have been with him since he left the White House are expected to continue on as campaign hands, as the former president and his de facto chief of staff, longtime Florida GOP strategist Wiles, aim to maintain a lean operation much like the early days of his 2016 presidential campaign. Among those who are likely to be involved are Wiles, Taylor Budowich, Chris LaCivita, Steven Cheung, Justin Caporale and Brian Jack. Brad Parscale, who managed part of Trump’s failed 2020 campaign will not be part of his 2024 operation, nor will Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner, who was deeply involved in his quest for reelection.\n\nTime in office\n\nAs president, Trump faced criticism over several of his actions, especially his management of the worst public health crisis in nearly a century – the Covid-19 pandemic – though his administration helped facilitate the development of vaccines to treat the novel coronavirus in record time. He also was blasted by critics over his handling of Hurricane Maria, which devastated Puerto Rico in 2017; the White nationalist rally, also in 2017, in Charlottesville, Virginia, where Heather Heyer was killed while walking with a group of counterprotesters; and Black Lives Matter protests.\n\nWhile in office, Trump signed sweeping tax cuts into law, enacted controversial hard-line immigration policies, including a policy that separated migrant children from their families and one known as “Remain in Mexico,” which the US Supreme Court ruled in June could be ended by his successor, and appointed hundreds of federal judges with deep conservative credentials. He also successfully nominated three Supreme Court justices, whose decisions this year as part of the court’s majority have shifted American society and laws rightward on issues such as abortion, guns, religious freedom and climate change.\n\nThe former real estate businessman and reality TV star was first elected to office in 2016, beating out a wide field of more than a dozen GOP candidates in an ugly primary, and then prevailing over former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in a contentious general election, despite sexual misconduct allegations that would have typically been campaign-ending.\n\nAs president, Trump was an impulsive leader, who dispensed with long-standing norms, often announcing policy and Cabinet personnel changes on Twitter. (He was ultimately banned from the platform following the US Capitol riot and was later barred from Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube as well.)\n\nHe pushed an “America First” foreign policy approach, pulling the US out of international agreements such as the Paris climate accord and the Iran nuclear deal, a pair of controversial moves that were decried by many of America’s top European allies.\n\nCORRECTION: An earlier version of this story mistakenly said who was likely to be involved in the Trump campaign. Brad Parscale will not be involved in the 2024 operation. It has also been updated to correctly characterize former President Donald Trump’s position on paper ballots, fix the spelling of Justin Caporale and reflect additional developments.", "authors": ["Gaborr Kristen Holmes Veronica Stracqualursi", "Kristen Holmes", "Veronica Stracqualursi"], "publish_date": "2022/11/15"}, {"url": "https://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/news/2023/12/28/why-apple-watch-banned-us/72047175007/", "title": "Why did Apple Watch get banned in US? Latest news on controversy", "text": "The most advanced Apple Watch models will be back on sale this week after a federal appeals court temporarily blocked a sweeping import ban on the devices amid a dispute with the Biden administration.\n\nThe Apple Watch Series 9 and Apple Watch Ultra 2 are now available at U.S. stores and can be purchased online starting Thursday at 3 p.m. ET, according to the tech company. The device's blood oxygen feature is still included.\n\nHere's everything to know about the controversy surrounding the Apple Watch models.\n\nWhy did Apple Watch get banned?\n\nThe Apple Watch Series 9 and Apple Watch Ultra 2 were banned after California health tech companies, Masimo and Cercacor Laboratories, accused Apple of infringing on its patent for a blood-oxygen tracking technology. Masimo's 2021 complaint led to the Oct. 26 ITC order.\n\n\"The decision to exclude certain foreign-made models of the Apple Watch demonstrates that even the world's most powerful company must abide by the law,” Masimo previously said in an emailed statement.\n\nApple filed two lawsuits against Masimo last year accusing the company of infringing patents with its own smartwatch.\n\nWhy did Biden administration uphold ban?\n\nAmbassador Katherine Tai declined to reverse the ITC decision on Tuesday after finding that Apple infringed Masimo's and Cercacor's patents \"after careful consultations\", according to a release by the Office of the United States Trade Representative.\n\nApple filed an emergency request to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit to halt the ban, Reuters reported.\n\nWhen will the Apple Watch models be back on sale?\n\nThe Apple Watch Series 9 and Apple Watch Ultra 2 were made available at U.S. stores Wednesday and can be purchased online starting Thursday at 3 p.m. ET, according to the tech company.\n\n“We are thrilled to return the full Apple Watch lineup to customers in time for the new year,\" Apple said in a statement Wednesday.\n\nThe return follows the Biden administration announcement Tuesday it would uphold the U.S. International Trade Commission order banning the sale of the two smart watches.\n\n\"Apple’s teams have worked tirelessly over many years to develop technology that empowers users with industry-leading health, wellness and safety features and we are pleased the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit has stayed the exclusion order while it considers our request to stay the order pending our full appeal,\" Apple's statement added.\n\nWhat is the blood oxygen feature?\n\nThe Apple Watches' Blood Oxygen app, only available in certain regions, allows users to measure oxygen levels of their blood on-demand directly from your wrist, according to the company.\n\n\"Measurements taken with the Blood Oxygen app are not intended for medical use and are only designed for general fitness and wellness purposes,\" Apple said on their support website.\n\nContributing: Kinsey Crowley & Bailey Schulz", "authors": [], "publish_date": "2023/12/28"}, {"url": "https://www.cnn.com/2022/12/16/tech/tiktok-ban-users/index.html", "title": "TikTok might be too big to ban, no matter what lawmakers say | CNN ...", "text": "CNN —\n\nIn July 2020, the same month former President Donald Trump said he would ban TikTok in the United States, Callie Goodwin of Columbia, South Carolina, posted her first video on the app to promote the small business she had started out of her garage during the pandemic.\n\nInspired by a neighbor dropping off some brownies and a handwritten note for her while she was in quarantine, Goodwin decided to launch a pre-stamped greeting cards company called Sparks of Joy Co. A few months later, a TikTok influencer with some two million followers shared one of Goodwin’s cards on her account and Goodwin saw her business take off.\n\nGoodwin, now 28, told CNN that more than 90% of her orders currently come from people who discover her business through TikTok. “If it were to get banned, I would see business plummeting,” Goodwin told CNN. “I would lose most of my sales.”\n\nFor much of the past two years, talk of an outright TikTok ban seemed to recede. TikTok outlasted the Trump administration and only saw its popularity continue to grow. It was the top downloaded app in the United States last year, and remains the top downloaded app year-to-date in 2022, according to data from analytics firm Sensor Tower. In the process, TikTok, which said it had 100 million US users as of 2020, became even more central to American culture and to livelihoods of influencers and business owners like Goodwin.\n\nBut suddenly, the future of TikTok in the United States appears more uncertain than at any point since July 2020. A growing number of Republican governors have recently announced bans on TikTok for state employees on government devices, including from multiple states on Thursday alone. State attorneys general and a Republican commissioner at the Federal Communications Commission have each pressured Apple and Google to take tougher measures with the app. And a trio of US lawmakers led by Sen. Marco Rubio, the top Republican on the Senate Intelligence Committee, introduced a bill earlier this week that once again seeks to block TikTok in the US due to the parent company’s base in China.\n\nCallie Goodwin launched a small business shortly before Trump first said he would ban the app. Two years later, she said a TikTok ban would cause her to \"lose most of my sales.\" Courtesy Callie Goodwin\n\nThe renewed political scrutiny comes amid a broader, ongoing reckoning over the impact that TikTok and other social media platforms have on their youngest users. There have been recent debates over whether TikTok’s content is age-appropriate for teens as well as fears that its algorithms may lead users to potentially harmful subject matter, including posts related to suicide and eating disorders.\n\nAt the same time, TikTok has come under fire in Washington for its ties to China through its parent company. The criticism ramped up earlier this year after a Buzzfeed News report said some US user data has been repeatedly accessed from China, and cited one employee who allegedly said, “Everything is seen in China.” TikTok, for its part, has confirmed US user data can be accessed by some employees in China.\n\nTikTok has been negotiating for years with the US government and the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) on a potential deal that addresses the lingering national security concerns and allows the app to continue operating in the United States. Recently, there have been reports of delays in those negotiations.\n\nThe tremendous reach of TikTok may only make it harder to ban the service outright, some national security experts say. Even some TikTok critics have hedged on whether a ban is the right approach. Sen. Josh Hawley, who authored a bill to ban TikTok from US government devices, said this week he would be “fine” if the US government and TikTok reached a deal to safeguard US users’ data. “But if they don’t do that,” Hawley said, “then I think we’re going to have to look at more stringent measures.”\n\nAs lawmakers have renewed calls for tougher action to be taken with the app, some of its users who have built their livelihoods and found a sense of community on the app say they can’t imagine an America without it.\n\nTikTok now drives culinary habits (including a 200% jump in Feta sales at one grocery store after a baked pasta dish went viral); countless fashion and beauty crazes (from “skin cycling” to “glazed donut nails”), and propels new and old music (including the 1980s song “Break My Stride”) to the top of streaming charts. A significant percentage of US politicians campaigned on the app ahead of the midterm elections. And legacy news organizations like the 176-year-old Associated Press have recently joined TikTok to reach new audiences.\n\nKahlil Greene. Laurie Gomez\n\n“So many people, myself included, are always on TikTok,” Kahlil Greene, 22, of New Haven, Connecticut, told CNN. “That’s where we get our entertainment from, our news from, our musical taste from, our social inside jokes we make with friends come from memes that started on TikTok.”\n\nGreene, who is known as the “Gen Z historian” across social media, has amassed more than 580,000 followers on TikTok by documenting social and cultural issues. Greene’s following on TikTok even garnered the attention of the Biden administration. Greene was among the handful of TikTokers who were recently invited to a White House press briefing on the Russian invasion of Ukraine.\n\n“So much of our culture and lives are driven by TikTok now that it’s not just something you can rip away easily,” he said.\n\n“Too big to fail”\n\nTikTok has simultaneously tried to ease concerns about its impact on Americans and their data while also working to expand its footprint in the country.\n\nThe company, which is owned by Beijing-based Bytedance, has committed to moving its US user data to Oracle’s cloud platform and to taking other steps to isolate US user data from other parts of its business. TikTok said last week that it would restructure its US-focused content moderation, policy and legal teams under a special group within the company led by US-based officials and walled off organizationally from other teams focused on the rest of the world.\n\nIn response to the bill calling for a ban, a TikTok spokesperson said: “It’s troubling that rather than encouraging the Administration to conclude its national security review of TikTok, some members of Congress have decided to push for a politically-motivated ban that will do nothing to advance the national security of the United States.”\n\nA growing number of state and federal lawmakers are attempting to crack down on TikTok, including some who are calling for an outright ban. Tom Brenner/Reuters\n\n“We will continue to brief members of Congress on the plans that have been developed under the oversight of our country’s top national security agencies—plans that we are well underway in implementing—to further secure our platform in the United States,” the statement added.\n\nThe company is also stressing its broad popularity. “TikTok is loved by millions of Americans who use the platform to learn, grow their businesses, and connect with creative content that brings them joy,” the spokesperson said.\n\nNow, the company is taking steps to keep growing its reach. At a time when major tech giants including Meta and Twitter are slashing staff, TikTok is still hiring American engineers. TikTok also appears be to taking aim at a chunk of Amazon’s e-commerce empire by seeking to build out its own warehousing network in the United States, a flurry of recent job postings indicates.\n\nThe challenge for the federal government “is it’s almost like TikTok is too big to fail,” said Rick Sofield, a partner at Vinson & Elkins L.L.P., who focuses on national security reviews, export controls and economic sanctions. “I think their minds are made up that ByteDance owning TikTok is a national security concern – the reason that we’ve been hung up is it’s too big to fail, and they’re trying to figure out a soft landing.”\n\n“There’s a whole lot of things I think that would have to happen first, before there’s a ban,” he added.\n\nA livelihood and a lifeline\n\nFor Adrianna Wise, 30, TikTok hasn’t just been “essential” for building her bakery in Columbus, Ohio, it’s also been a critical tool that lets her reach young Black and brown people in her community and share knowledge and tips on how to build a business.\n\n“I see the impact that I’m having when I go out into the community and people are like, ‘Oh my gosh, I follow you TikTok,’” Wise, who is co-founder of Coco’s Confectionary Kitchen, told CNN. “I had a little girl a few weeks ago tell me, ‘It was just so cool because you have hair like me, and you’re on TikTok and you have so many views!’”\n\nAdrianna Wise says TikTok allows her to reach young Black and brown people in her community. \"A lot of them are learning the skills and the tools they need to be able to create and cultivate their own businesses on platforms like TikTok, if not exclusively on TikTok,\" she said. Courtesy Adrianna Wise\n\n“A lot of them are learning the skills and the tools they need to be able to create and cultivate their own businesses on platforms like TikTok, if not exclusively on TikTok,” she said.\n\nGoodwin, the Sparks of Joy Co. founder, similarly says a TikTok ban would not only be devastating for her business, but also for her sense of community. She candidly documents her mental health journey via TikTok and has built a support system via the platform. “My best friend in the world right now, I met on TikTok,” she said. “We’re practically family at this point.”\n\n“TikTok is way more than just dancing videos or lip-syncing videos. It really has so many different niches, and you can find community in any of them,” Goodwin told CNN. “So if it were to go away, it would be it would be a great loss.”\n\nDespite the hullaballoo, Greene, the Gen Z historian, says he is not particularly worried about a potential TikTok ban – even though he acknowledges it could cause a hit to his income and sponsorship deals. If anything, he says the folks in government calling for a ban don’t seem to be aware of how central it is to the lives of people in his generation.\n\nHootie Hurley, 23, a Los Angeles-based full-time creator with more than 1.3 million followers on TikTok, told CNN that he now makes most of his income through his TikTok following. Courtesy Hootie Hurley\n\n“Generally speaking, the side of the argument that’s like super against TikTok, super alarmist about what it means, hasn’t done a great job communicating that message,” he said. Greene views “data privacy concerns” as “more of a buzzword than a tangible fear.”\n\n“We grew up in a generation where our data was always public,” he said, “and we always put our lives on social media.”\n\nHootie Hurley, 23, a Los Angeles-based full-time creator with more than 1.3 million followers on TikTok, told CNN that he now makes most of his income through his TikTok following. While a ban would be “very scary” for him and his livelihood,” Hurley said he and other TikTok creators are more focused on entertaining their audience than stressing about it – especially after weathering the first ban threats back in 2020.\n\n“If the government ever did ban it,” he said, “everybody would actually be very, very surprised.”", "authors": ["Catherine Thorbecke"], "publish_date": "2022/12/16"}, {"url": "https://www.cnn.com/2022/08/02/tech/tiktok-lawmakers-explainer/index.html", "title": "TikTok's ties to China are once again under fire in Washington ...", "text": "CNN Business —\n\nTwo years after then-President Donald Trump said he would ban TikTok in the United States through an executive order, the short-form video platform is once again under scrutiny in Washington. And the underlying issue remains largely the same: TikTok’s ties to China through its parent company, Bytedance.\n\nA growing number of US lawmakers are calling for the Biden administration to take action against TikTok, citing apparent national security and data privacy concerns. The criticism stems from a Buzzfeed News report in June that said some US user data has been repeatedly accessed from China. The reporting cited leaked audio recordings of dozens of internal TikTok meetings, including one where a TikTok employee allegedly said, “Everything is seen in China.”\n\nIn a response to the report, TikTok previously said it “has consistently maintained that our engineers in locations outside of the US, including China, can be granted access to US user data on an as-needed basis under those strict controls.” A TikTok executive testified before a Senate panel last year that it doesn’t share information with the Chinese government and that a US-based security team decides who can access US user data from China.\n\nThe renewed pressure on TikTok comes as the platform’s influence continues to grow in the United States. After Trump left office, the Biden administration revoked the executive order and largely walked back official attempts to ban TikTok. Last year, TikTok said it topped 1 billion monthly active users globally, and more than 100 million users are said to be in the United States, according to some market research estimates. Activity on the app continues to shape the news cycle, popular music, culinary trends and more in the country. Meanwhile, other US social media giants continue to imitate TikTok’s features in an effort to compete.\n\nFormer President Donald Trump sits during a meeting in the Cabinet Room of the White House in Washington, D.C., Doug Mills/The New York Times/Bloomberg/Getty Images\n\nSome critics previously blasted Trump’s crusade against the fast-growing video app as political theater rooted in xenophobia, and called out Trump’s odd suggestion that the United States should get a “cut” of any deal if it forced the app’s sale to an American firm. But the latest round of pressure from lawmakers on both sides of the aisle shows how the national security issue continues to plague TikTok in the United States, even under a new administration.\n\nHere’s what you should know about the latest scrutiny of TikTok and Bytedance along the Beltway.\n\nWhat lawmakers are saying about TikTok\n\nA range of US lawmakers and officials have in recent months called for new investigations into TikTok’s data storage practices or even for the app to be yanked off US app stores.\n\nA coalition of GOP senators led by Tom Cotton of Arkansas sent a letter in June to Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen calling for answers about actions the Biden administration is taking to combat the “the national security and privacy risks posed by TikTok.” A separate group of Republican senators led by Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee also sent a letter of questions to TikTok’s CEO, Shou Zi Chew. The senators said the recent media reports “confirm what lawmakers long suspected about TikTok and its parent company, ByteDance — they are using their access to a treasure trove of US consumer data to surveil Americans.”\n\nMeanwhile, a bipartisan group of lawmakers on the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence urged the Federal Trade Commission to formally investigate TikTok and ByteDance. “In light of repeated misrepresentations by TikTok concerning its data security, data processing, and corporate governance practices, we urge you to act promptly on this matter,” the letter signed by Mark Warner of Virginia and Marco Rubio of Florida stated.\n\nA logo of ByteDance at its office in Beijing, China July 7, 2020. Thomas Suen/Reuters\n\nIn a letter, a member of the Federal Communications Commission urged Apple and Google to remove TikTok from their app stores. FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr claimed that ByteDance was “beholden” to the Chinese government, and “required by law to comply” with the Chinese government’s surveillance demands. The letter was widely reported on, despite the fact that the FCC has no role in overseeing app stores.\n\nIn a letter responding to Blackburn and others, Chew said: “We have not provided US user data to the [Communist Party of China], nor would we if asked.”\n\nHow TikTok has responded\n\nAmid the recent uproar, TikTok announced that it has moved its US user data to Oracle’s cloud platform so that “100% of US user traffic” is now hosted by the cloud provider, potentially addressing national security concerns.\n\nIn his letter to lawmakers, which mentioned the shift to Oracle, Chew said the broader goal for the company’s data security efforts is to build trust and “make substantive progress toward compliance with a final agreement with the US Government that will fully safeguard user data and US national security interests.”\n\nAdobe Stock\n\nChew didn’t name any specific groups within the US government, but the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) has been investigating TikTok since 2019. The government body, however, has not provided any recent updates on its investigation. Citing anonymous sources, Reuters recently reported that CFIUS has been in “extensive discussions with TikTok on security issues.” Representatives for CFIUS did not immediately respond to a request for comment.\n\nTikTok also recently pledged to offer researchers more transparency about activity on the platform, including access for a select group to its API, or application programming interface.\n\n“We know that just saying ‘trust us’ is not enough,” TikTok chief operating officer Vanessa Pappas said in a blog post announcing the planned update. “That’s why long ago we made an important commitment to transparency, particularly when it comes to how we moderate and recommend content.”\n\nWhy the national security concerns won’t go away\n\nWhile TikTok has long pushed back at the national security concerns as “unfounded,” the concerns persist.\n\n“The fact that the Chinese government, if it really wants to, can make any company in its borders comply with data access requests, I think is really at the root of a lot of these concerns about TikTok,” said Justin Sherman, a nonresident fellow at the Atlantic Council’s Cyber Statecraft Initiative.\n\n“There are real national security questions being asked,” Sherman added, but there are also issues with galvanizing much of the conversation around anti-China rhetoric.\n\nFocusing too narrowly on the national origin of an app’s owner, or just on a single company, only looks at one way that data can be accessed, Sherman said. As a result, it loses all the other ways that data flows through advertisers, brokers and much more.\n\n“It’s good to have this kind of attention” on data privacy and security issues, Sherman said. “But if all you’re doing is writing letters about specific companies and not actually writing and testing laws and regulations to control for risks, in the long run, nothing’s really going to change too much.”", "authors": ["Catherine Thorbecke"], "publish_date": "2022/08/02"}, {"url": "https://www.cnn.com/2022/07/01/politics/what-is-the-supreme-court-how-does-it-work/index.html", "title": "What is the Supreme Court and why does it have so much power ...", "text": "Editor’s Note: A previous version of this story appeared on March 26, 2012.\n\nCNN —\n\nWith recent decisions on abortion, gun control, religious freedom and the environment, the US Supreme Court once again reasserted its central role in America.\n\nThe nine justices are unelected, serve for life and until recently were all White men. But their actions have helped define the American way of life for more than two centuries.\n\nHere are several common questions about the court, its makeup and its power:\n\nWhat does the Supreme Court do?\n\nIn essence, the court decides if laws and government actions are constitutional and outlines the breadth and limits of government.\n\nWhen a case reaches the Supreme Court, typically through a process of several years, it’s important because the precedent the majority opinion sets is then the standard by which future laws are measured. That’s due to the principle of “stare decisis,” Latin for “to stand by a decision,” where a current court should be bound by previous rulings.\n\nAre Supreme Court decisions final?\n\nYes, in the sense that they can’t be overturned by another body.\n\nBut no, in the sense that the court can overturn or change its own precedent over time, as it did with odious decisions allowing racial segregation or with last month’s reversal of the 1973 decision in Roe v. Wade, which had guarantee the constitutional right to obtain an abortion.\n\nCan Congress overrule decisions?\n\nNot directly, but Congress can pass laws that respond to rulings.\n\nFor instance, the court ruled in 2007 that Lilly Ledbetter had not filed an equal pay discrimination complaint within the allowed time period (because she had not discovered the discrepancy until years later). President Barack Obama signed a law in 2009 that eliminated those previous restrictions.\n\nWhat about amending the Constitution?\n\nThe Supreme Court interprets the Constitution, so amending the document changes how the court is able to rule. But amending the Constitution is a herculean political task requiring, in theory, mass public support, which doesn’t exist for either party at the moment.\n\nAre Supreme Court justices elected?\n\nNo. They’re appointed by the president, and then sent to the Senate to be confirmed.\n\nHow many justices are there and who appointed them?\n\nNine. Each has an equal vote.\n\nChief Justice John Roberts (George W. Bush, 2005).\n\nJustice Clarence Thomas (George H.W. Bush, 1991).\n\nJustice Samuel Alito (GWB, 2006).\n\nJustice Sonia Sotomayor (Barack Obama, 2009).\n\nJustice Elena Kagan (Obama, 2010).\n\nJustice Neil Gorsuch (Donald Trump, 2017).\n\nJustice Brett Kavanaugh (Trump, 2018).\n\nJustice Amy Coney Barrett (Trump, 2020).\n\nJustice Ketanji Brown Jackson (Joe Biden, 2022).\n\nWhy do some presidents get to appoint more than others?\n\nLuck and politics. Presidents Bill Clinton, George W. Bush and Obama each served for eight years and got two justices confirmed each.\n\nTrump served one term and appointed three: one because Obama’s final nominee in 2016 was blocked by Republicans, one due to a retirement and one, just before the 2020 presidential election, due to the death of liberal Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg.\n\nAre there any requirements to be a justice?\n\nNo. It’s most common for nominees to now have strong legal pedigrees (Ivy League law school, experience clerking for previous justices or experience on federal appeals courts) but none of that is required.\n\nKagan was a Harvard Law professor and solicitor general (a top Justice Department attorney) but was never a judge. The late Chief Justice Earl Warren had been the governor of California.\n\nAre Supreme Court justices appointed for life?\n\nYes, as are the judges for other federal courts, and they can serve until death or retirement. It means they’re in theory insulated from the whims of the political branches. But it doesn’t make the justices popular: Current polls show that fewer than one-third of Americans have confidence in the court.\n\nCan Supreme Court justices be removed?\n\nYes, via impeachment – the same process used to remove a US president. The House would vote to impeach, and the Senate would have a trial and vote on whether to remove the justice. It’s never happened for a Supreme Court justice, however.\n\nWhat is ‘court packing’?\n\nThe Constitution doesn’t say how many justices the court must have, but the number has been set at nine since the mid-19th century and codified into law since. In theory, the president can nominate and the Senate can confirm more justices to swing the court in a desired direction.\n\nPresident Franklin Delano Roosevelt suggested this in the 1930s after the court had struck down many of his “New Deal” policies. Recently faced with a court that has six conservatives and three liberals, Democratic politicians have suggested adding several more justices to tilt the balance of power.\n\nHow does the court work?\n\nThe Supreme Court first met in 1790, as the highest court in the judicial branch of government. The justices are led by the chief justice of the United States (that’s the official title). The court has occupied its current building in Washington only since 1935. Previously, it borrowed space in Senate chambers in the US Capitol.\n\nTraditionally, each term begins the first Monday in October, and final opinions are usually issued by late June. Justices divide their time between “sittings,” where they hear cases and issue decisions, and “recesses,” where they meet in private to write their decisions and consider other business before the court.\n\nIn the courtroom, justices are seated by seniority, with the chief justice in the middle and the junior-most justices on the outside. Before public arguments and private conferences, where decisions are discussed, the nine members all shake hands as a show of harmony of purpose.\n\nAs the gavel sounds and the justices are seated, the marshal shouts the traditional welcome, which reads: “Oyez! Oyez! Oyez! All persons having business before the honorable, the Supreme Court of the United States, are admonished to draw near and give their attention, for the court is now sitting. God save the United States and this honorable court.”\n\nSince most cases involve appellate review of decisions by other courts, there are no juries or witnesses, just lawyers from both sides addressing the bench. The arguments usually last about an hour, and lawyers from both sides very often have their prepared oral briefs interrupted by pointed questions from justices. In recent years, the court has given each justice five minutes to ask questions, going in order from the chief justice to the most junior.\n\nThis give-and-take, question-and-answer repartee requires lawyers to think concisely and logically on their feet. And the tone of the questioning often gives insight into a justice’s thinking, a barometer of his/her decision-making.\n\nAfter the arguments, conferences are scheduled, where justices discuss and vote on the cases. In these closed-door sessions, the nine members are alone. No clerks or staff are allowed. No transcripts are kept.\n\nJustices spend much of their time reviewing the cases and writing opinions. And they must decide which cases they will hear in open court. When asked just before her 2006 retirement what the jurists do most of the time, Justice Sandra Day O’Connor said bluntly, “We read. We read on average 1,500 pages a day. We read. Sometimes we write.” Added Justice Antonin Scalia: “We try to squeeze in a little time for thinking.”\n\nCameras are not allowed, and until the Covid-19 pandemic, live audio for oral arguments wasn’t available either, meaning that the actions of nine men and women that can impact every aspect of American life happen in the shadows.", "authors": ["Dan Berman"], "publish_date": "2022/07/01"}, {"url": "https://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/news/2023/12/26/new-apple-watch-banned-in-us/72032095007/", "title": "Apple Watch ban remains in US after Biden admin ruling: What to ...", "text": "The Biden administration announced Tuesday it will uphold a U.S. International Trade Commission order banning the sale of certain Apple Watches.\n\nAccording to a release by the Office of the United States Trade Representative, Ambassador Katherine Tai declined to reverse an Oct. 26 ITC decision that found a blood-oxygen tracking feature in Apple Watches infringed on existing patents.\n\nApple did not immediately respond to USA TODAY's request for comment, but Reuters reported that Apple filed an emergency request to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit to halt the ban.\n\nHere is what else to know about the Apple Watch ban.\n\nMore:Apple announces new MacBook Pros, chips at 'Scary Fast' event\n\nWhy are Apple Watches banned?\n\nThe ban comes after two California-based health technology companies, Masimo and Cercacor Laboratories, accused Apple of infringing on its patent for a blood-oxygen tracking technology.\n\nMasimo filed a complaint in 2021, leading to the ITC order.\n\n\"The decision to exclude certain foreign-made models of the Apple Watch demonstrates that even the world's most powerful company must abide by the law,” Masimo said in an emailed statement, USA TODAY previously reported.\n\nApple has also accused Masimo of infringing patents and filed two lawsuits against the company last year after Masimo launched its own smartwatch.\n\nWhat Apple Watch models are banned?\n\nThe Apple Watch Series 9 and Apple Watch Ultra 2.\n\nThe watches, which launched in September, were no longer available in the U.S. online Dec. 21 and were yanked from shelves Dec. 24.\n\nThe Blood Oxygen feature is available on the Apple Watch Series 6 or later, excluding the Apple Watch SE.\n\nThe order will have no impact on Apple Watches already purchased.\n\nWhat will happen next?\n\nAccording to Reuters, the U.S. Customs and Border Protection is set to decide whether or not redesigined watches infringe on Masimo's patents by Jan. 12.\n\n\"We strongly disagree with the USITC decision and resulting exclusion order, and are taking all measures to return Apple Watch Series 9 and Apple Watch Ultra 2 to customers in the U.S. as soon as possible,\" Apple said in a Tuesday statement shared with Reuters.", "authors": [], "publish_date": "2023/12/26"}, {"url": "https://www.cnn.com/2022/04/27/politics/trevor-reed-russia/index.html", "title": "Trevor Reed: American released from Russia in prisoner swap ...", "text": "Washington CNN —\n\nAmerican Trevor Reed, a US citizen and former Marine who had been detained in Russia since 2019, is back in the United States, his mother Paula Reed tweeted early Thursday.\n\nReed was released in a prisoner swap Wednesday.\n\n“It’s been (a) very exciting day for the Reed family,” Paula Reed tweeted. “Trevor is back in the USA.”\n\nThe release ended a nearly three-year ordeal for Reed, who was sentenced to nine years in prison in July 2020 for endangering the “life and health” of Russian police officers in an altercation. Reed and his family have denied the charges against him.\n\nIn her tweet, Paula Reed also advocated for the release of Paul Whelan, a US citizen and former Marine who was detained at a Moscow hotel in December 2018 and arrested on espionage charges, which he has consistently and vehemently denied.\n\nReed’s release will not impact the US approach to the war in Ukraine, senior administration officials said.\n\nHis release came after months of effort by the US government, officials said, and was particularly urgent given concerns about Reed’s health. It was ultimately secured through a prisoner swap for Russian citizen Konstantin Yaroshenko.\n\nThe exchange took place in Turkey on Wednesday, Trevor’s parents, Paula and Joey Reed, previously told CNN.\n\nThe couple, who spoke to their son by phone shortly after the prisoner exchange, said he had been subdued. “The first phone call we got, he did not sound like himself,” Paula Reed said Wednesday evening at a news conference outside their home in Granbury, Texas.\n\nShe said his spirits seemed better by the time they received a second call from him later in the day: “He still looks terrible, but he sounded better. He sounded more like himself.”\n\nTrevor Reed, who was detained in Russia for nearly three years, saw Yaroshenko on the tarmac during the prisoner swap but did not say anything to him, according to his father.\n\n“Trevor quickly told us that they – the American plane pulled up next to the Russian plane, and they walked both prisoners across at the same time like you see in the movies,” Joey Reed said earlier on CNN’s “New Day.”\n\nThe Reeds said they had also spoken to President Joe Biden on Wednesday and expressed their gratitude.\n\n“I heard in the voices of Trevor’s parents how much they’ve worried about his health and missed his presence,” Biden said in a statement. “And I was delighted to be able to share with them the good news about Trevor’s freedom.”\n\nAsked by CNN’s Kaitlan Collins on Wednesday whether he had been surprised by Reed’s release given Russia’s ongoing invasion of Ukraine, Biden said: “I did it.” The President, pressed on how, continued, “I raised it,” adding, “Three months ago.”\n\nWhite House press secretary Jen Psaki told Collins earlier Wednesday that the President waited to notify the Reed family of their son’s freedom due to “not wanting to put anyone in a position of putting that at risk – even people who are excited and joyful and looking forward to the news.”\n\nPressed on whether Russia was able to extract any other conditions from the US aside from a one-to-one prisoner swap, Psaki told CNN, “There were no other conditions that I’m aware of,” later adding, “This was about one issue and topic and I don’t think we should read into it further.”\n\n‘Months and months’ of negotiations\n\nReed’s release was the result of “months and months of hard careful work across the US government” on the matter, a senior administration official said, noting that “the conversations on this particular issue have accelerated recently to get us to this point.”\n\nOne driving factor was concern for Reed’s health. His family has expressed worry about his likely exposure to tuberculosis as well as lingering effects from having Covid-19.\n\nThe official, speaking to reporters on a background call Wednesday, said that “ultimately, those negotiations led the President to have to make a very hard decision with a decision to commute the sentence of Konstantin Yaroshenko, a Russian smuggler convicted of conspiring to import cocaine.”\n\nYaroshenko is a Russian pilot who had been detained in Liberia by undercover US Drug Enforcement Agency agents on May 28, 2010, and brought to the US, according to Russian state news agency TASS. He was convicted of drug smuggling in 2011 and sentenced to 20 years in prison, which he had been serving at the Federal Correctional Institution in Danbury, Connecticut. He has denied the charges against him.\n\nRussia’s Foreign Ministry had previously raised the possibility that Yaroshenko could be returned “in exchange for any American national” held in Russia.\n\nThe official did not provide details about how or why Yaroshenko was chosen for the swap, but noted that he had served the majority of his US sentence and is now in Russian custody.\n\n“This is a tough call for a President. President Biden made it to bring home an American whose health was a source of an intense concern, and to deliver on his commitment to resolve these hard cases and reunite Americans with their loved ones,” the official said.\n\nPaula Reed spoke Wednesday with CNN’s Brianna Keilar on “New Day.”\n\n“I’m going to try not to cry, because he doesn’t want me to cry,” Reed’s mother, Paula, told CNN’s Brianna Keilar on “New Day” Wednesday. “Obviously, I’m going to cry a little bit, give him a big hug, and just, you know, give him hugs, and it will be the four of us together again (for the first time) in a few years, so it’s going to be great.”\n\nReed’s father previously told CNN he believed it was likely Reed was suffering from tuberculosis, that he was coughing up blood and also had a broken rib. He said Reed went to a prison hospital but did not receive treatment and was then sent back to solitary confinement.\n\nAs Reed started a second hunger strike in protest of his treatment by Russian authorities, Reed’s parents went to protest outside of the White House in the hopes of securing a meeting with the President.\n\nThe Reeds ultimately did meet with the President at the White House for about a half hour last month.\n\n2 other Americans still detained in Russia\n\nWednesday’s release also brought renewed attention to the case of Whelan. He was convicted and sentenced in June 2020 to 16 years in prison in a trial US officials denounced as unfair.\n\nLast June, he told CNN of the grim conditions of the remote labor camp where he works in a clothing factory he called a “sweatshop” and said obtaining medical care is “very difficult.”\n\nIn his statement welcoming Reed’s release, Biden said his administration “won’t stop” until Whelan is home.\n\nThe Whelan family expressed happiness at Reed’s release but said it was a day of “varied emotions” and questions for them.\n\n“Unfortunately, time is not on Paul’s side. Our parents are literally not getting any younger. Our hope remains that Paul will be home so they may see him once more. But each day that hope dims,” his brother David Whelan said in a statement Wednesday.\n\nMeanwhile, US basketball star Brittney Griner remains detained in Russia after she was arrested in February on allegations of drug smuggling. A Moscow court recently extended her detention until May 19, according to Russian state news agency TASS.\n\nWhile her legal team has had access to her and was able to see her several times a week throughout her detention, a US official from the US embassy in Moscow was finally granted consular access to Griner in late March, and said they found her to be in “good condition.”\n\nNed Price, a State Department spokesman, told CNN’s Jim Sciutto on Wednesday that the cases remain top priorities for the US.\n\nPsaki echoed Price’s sentiment, saying Wednesday that the White House will “continue to do everything they can” to secure the release of Whelan, Griner and other Americans still detained in Russia.\n\nThis story has been updated with additional background information and reaction.", "authors": ["Jennifer Hansler Kylie Atwood Radina Gigova Anna Chernova", "Jennifer Hansler", "Kylie Atwood", "Radina Gigova", "Anna Chernova"], "publish_date": "2022/04/27"}, {"url": "https://www.cnn.com/2022/06/06/energy/record-gas-prices-causes/index.html", "title": "Why US gas prices are at a record and why they'll stay high for a ...", "text": "New York CNN Business —\n\nRussia’s invasion of Ukraine is a major reason that US drivers are paying record prices for gasoline. But it’s not the only cause of the spike.\n\nNumerous factors are pushing prices up, with regular gasoline hitting a record $4.40 a gallon Wednesday according to AAA’s survey.\n\nGas prices were already expected to breach the $4 a gallon mark for the first time since 2008, with or without shots fired in Eastern Europe or economic sanctions imposed on Russia.\n\n“I think we reach $5 somewhere between this weekend and Juneteenth/Father’s Day weekend,” he said.\n\nIt was back in March that prices first broke the record of $4.11 a gallon, which had stood since 2008. That now seems like the good old days: The national average has been rising steadily for the past month, setting 27 records in the last 28 days.\n\nMore than one out of every five gas stations nationwide is now charging more than $5 a gallon for regular, and just more than half are charging $4.75.\n\nThere are 10 states, plus Washington, DC, where the average price is already at $5 or more: Alaska, Arizona, California, Hawaii, Indiana, Michigan, Illinois, Nevada, Oregon and Washington. Several more are within a penny of $5, so those states’ prices are likely only a day or two at most from crossing the mark.\n\nBut prices aren’t likely to fall much whenever they do start to retreat. And Kloza expects they could once again set a record after schools let out and drivers start hitting the road for vacations next month.\n\n“Anything goes from June 20 to Labor Day,” Kloza said. “We could certainly see the national average approach $6.”\n\nHere’s what’s behind the record price surge:\n\nRussia’s invasion of Ukraine\n\nRussia is one of the largest oil exporters on the planet. In December it sent nearly 8 million barrels of oil and other petroleum products to global markets, 5 million of them as crude oil.\n\nVery little of that went to the United States. In 2021 Europe got 60% of the oil and 20% went to China. But oil is priced on global commodity markets, so the loss of Russian oil affects prices around the globe no matter where it is used.\n\nThe concerns about disrupting global markets led Western nations to initially exempt Russian oil and natural gas from the sanctions they put in place to protest the invasion.\n\nBut in March the United States announced a formal ban on all Russian energy imports. The UK government, too, said it will phase out Russian oil imports by the end of 2022 and also explore ways to end natural gas imports. And Germany announced earlier this month it will support an EU ban on Russian oil. Russia’s oil is slowly and steadily being removed from global markets.\n\nChina lockdowns ending\n\nOne factor keeping oil prices somewhat in check has been the surge of Covid cases, and strict lockdown rules in much of the country. That was a major drag on demand for oil.\n\nBut as the Covid surge has started to retreat, the lockdowns are being lifted in major cities such as Shanghai. And more demand without increased supply can only drive up prices.\n\nVideo Ad Feedback This is what determines the price of gas 01:57 - Source: CNN\n\nLess oil and gas from other sources\n\nOil prices plunged when pandemic-related stay-at-home orders around the world crushed demand in the spring of 2020, and crude briefly traded at negative prices. In response, OPEC and its allies, including Russia, agreed to slash production as a way to support prices. And even when demand returned sooner than expected, they kept production targets low.\n\nUS oil companies don’t adhere to those types of nationally mandated production targets. But they have been reluctant or unable to resume producing oil at pre-pandemic levels amid concerns that tougher environmental rules could cut future demand. Many of those stricter rules have been scaled back or failed to become law.\n\n“The Biden administration is suddenly interested in more drilling, not less,” Robert McNally, president of consulting firm Rapidan Energy Group, said earlier this spring. “People are more worried about high oil prices than anything else.”\n\nIt takes time to scale up production, particularly when oil companies are facing the same supply chain and hiring challenges as thousands of other US businesses.\n\n“They can’t find people, and can’t find equipment,” McNally added. “It’s not like they’re available at a premium price. They’re just not available.”\n\nOil stocks have generally lagged the broader market over the last two years, at least until the recent run-up in prices. Oil company executives would rather find ways to boost their share price than increase production.\n\n“Oil and gas companies do not want to drill more,” Pavel Molchanov, an analyst at Raymond James, said earlier this spring. “They are under pressure from the financial community to pay more dividends, to do more share buybacks, instead of the proverbial ‘drill baby drill,’ which is the way they would have done things 10 years ago. Corporate strategy has fundamentally changed.”\n\nOne of the starkest examples: ExxonMobil (XOM) last month announced first quarter profits of $8.8 billion, more than triple the level of a year ago when excluding special items. It also announced a $30 billion share repurchase plan, far more than the $21 billion to $24 billion it expects to spend on all capital investment, including searching for new oil.\n\nNot only is oil production lagging behind pre-pandemic levels, US refining capacity is falling. Today, about 1 million fewer barrels of oil a day are available to be processed into gasoline, diesel, jet fuel and other petroleum-based products.\n\nState and federal environmental rules are prompting some refineries to switch from oil to lower carbon renewable fuels. Some companies are closing older refineries rather than investing what it would cost to retool to keep them operating, especially with massive new refineries set to open overseas in Asia, the Middle East and Africa in 2023.\n\nAnd the fact that diesel and jet fuel prices are up far more than gasoline prices shows that refiners are shifting more of their production to those products.\n\n“Economics mandate you make more jet and diesel fuel to the detriment of gasoline,” said Kloza.\n\nAnd with prices in Europe even higher than in the United States, both Canadian and US oil producers have increased exports of oil and gasoline to the continent. That has also limited the US supply.\n\nStrong demand for gas\n\nBut supply is only part of the equation for prices. Demand is the other key, and while it’s very strong right now, it’s still not back to pre-pandemic levels.\n\nVideo Ad Feedback How to save money on gas by being more fuel efficient 01:40 - Source: CNN\n\nThe US economy had record job growth in 2021, and while those gains have slowed, they remain historically strong. Demand is getting another boost as the many employees who have been working from home for much of the last two years return to the office.\n\nThe start of the summer travel season on Memorial Day weekend is likely to spark the typical annual increases in demand for gas and jet fuel. US airlines all report very strong bookings for summer travel, even with airfares climbing above pre-pandemic levels.\n\nThe end of the Omicron surge and the removal of many Covid restrictions is encouraging people to get out of the house for more shopping, entertainment and travel. US trips in passenger vehicles have increased 10% since the beginning of this year, according to the mobility research firm Inrix.\n\n“Come hell or high gas prices, people are going to take vacations,” said Kloza.\n\nCommuting may remain down slightly. Many who plan to return to the office will be there only three or four days a week, and the total number of jobs is still slightly below 2019 levels. But there will be periods, most likely this summer, with higher demand for gas than during comparable periods before the pandemic, Kloza predicts.\n\n“Even before Ukraine, I was expecting to break the record,” Kloza said. “Now it’s a question of how much we break the record by.”", "authors": ["Chris Isidore"], "publish_date": "2022/06/06"}, {"url": "https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/2023/09/13/fance-iphone-12-ban-radiation-levels/70843800007/", "title": "iPhone 12 radiation level prompts ban in France. Don't freak out yet.", "text": "A French watchdog agency says Apple’s iPhone 12 emits too much electromagnetic radiation and should be withdrawn from the market, a claim the tech giant disputes.\n\nTests conducted by France's National Frequency Agency (ANFR) found the iPhone 12's specific absorption rate (SAR) ‒ which measures radiofrequency energy absorbed by a body ‒ exceeds standards set by the European Union, prompting the agency to order Apple to halt iPhone 12 sales and update the iPhone 12 devices in use.\n\n“Instruction has been given to the ANFR’s sworn officers to check that the iPhone 12 is no longer offered for sale in all distribution channels in France,” reads a Tuesday statement from the agency. If Apple fails to \"deploy all available means\" to comply with the SAR limit, the agency threatened to recall every iPhone 12 sold in France.\n\nThe news was announced the same day Apple unveiled the iPhone 15.\n\nA potential 'snowball effect'\n\nEuropean regulations say a phone that is handheld or in a pants pocket should have no more than 4 watts per kilogram of electromagnetic energy absorption, but testing by the ANFR found the iPhone 12 exceeded the limit by more than 40% at 5.74 watts per kilogram. The phone met the radiation threshold for devices kept in a jacket pocket or bag.\n\nFrance’s digital minister Jean-Noel Barrot told the newspaper Le Parisien that the agency's data would be shared with regulators in other EU member states, which could have a “snowball effect,” according to Reuters. He told the paper that Apple is expected to respond within two weeks.\n\nApple did not immediately respond to a comment request from USA TODAY but told Reuters that the iPhone 12 was certified by multiple international bodies and said it provided several internal and third-party lab results that showed the phone complied with the French agency’s standards.\n\nNew iPhone 15 will use USB-C chargers:What to know about Apple's charging cord switch\n\nShould I be worried about cell phone radiation?\n\nTesting found the iPhone 12 was emitting radiation levels \"slightly above\" the allowed threshold, with levels more than 10 times lower than the level at which there could be a health risk, according to a post that France’s digital minister Jean-Noel Barrot made on X, formerly Twitter. Even so, he said France wants Apple to comply with its rules.\n\nThe World Health Organization notes that “to date, no adverse health effects have been established as being caused by mobile phone use.” In 2011, the organization classified radiofrequency electromagnetic fields as “possibly carcinogenic to humans” ‒ a category for agents where there is limited or inadequate evidence of carcinogenicity in humans.\n\nWhile the human body does absorb energy from devices that emit radiofrequency radiation, research so far suggests cellphone use does not cause brain or other kinds of cancer in humans and the radiofrequencies are too low to damage DNA, according to the National Cancer Institute, a division of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.\n\nHow do I check my iPhone radiation?\n\nSmartphone users can find information about the SAR of cellphones produced and marketed within the previous one to two years on the Federal Communications Commission’s website by entering the phone’s FCC ID number, which can typically be found on the phone’s case, in the phone’s settings or by contacting the manufacturer.", "authors": [], "publish_date": "2023/09/13"}, {"url": "https://www.usatoday.com/story/life/2014/11/24/moto-costume-quest-sleeping-dogs-review-technobubble/70049588/", "title": "Technobubble Wrap: Costumed kids, sleeping dogs & Moto X", "text": "Reno\n\nAfter I get home from work, I usually pick up my dog in my arms, open the front door and just stand on the porch for a couple of minutes.\n\nWhy? I'm not sure, to be honest.\n\nAll I know is that I did it at first because my dog was pawing the sliding door to the backyard one time, but I couldn't let him out because the sprinklers just finished, well, sprinkling.\n\nSo, I carried him to the front door, stepped on the porch and just stood there for a bit to calm him down.\n\nSince then, he would always greet me when I arrive and then motion toward the front door. So, I go ahead and carry the little bugger to the porch while he calmly plots world domination or whatever it is dogs think of when they wistfully look in the distance.\n\nRealizing that I just got peer-pressured by a dog to do this little ritual is, admittedly, kind of sad. Then again, the thought that my neighbors likely are creeped out by the sight of a strange dude looking out in the distance while carrying a toy poodle that's also looking into the distance makes it all worth it.\n\nYou don't mess with crazy.\n\nNow, onward to this week's game and gadget reviews.\n\nI WANT CANDY: 'COSTUME QUEST 2'\n\nNot to brag but I must say I looked pretty cool when I went trick or treating for the first time. Yes, I know that sounds like an oxymoron but I was a freaking ninja, darn it. I practically blended with my environment like pepperoni on pizza sauce.\n\nLooking back, however, dressing with a costume that makes you hard to see by motorists on a sugar high probably isn't the smartest decision for Halloween. Heck, I'm just glad I didn't get hit by car.\n\nI'll also admit that as cool as my ninja costume was, it doesn't lay a candle in the wind to the costumes used by the kids in \"Costume Quest 2.\" The followup up to Double Fine Production's adorable game from 2010, Costume Quest 2 retains a lot of the charm of the original. Once again, you play as cheeky siblings Reynold and Wren as they unravel yet another Halloween mystery that involves the future. This time, a candy-hating dentist manages to alter time and get Halloween costumes banned. I have got to make sure I tell this story to my dentist.\n\nLike the first game, Costume Quest 2 uses a turn-based system that's similar to the one employed by classic Japanese RPGs. Costumes also remain a source of power, allowing you to transform into either powerful warriors or, uh, an overgrown piece of candy corn. The much maligned candy corn remains a hoot as it pretty much just stands there doing nothing while providing excellent battle commentary. It'll make you laugh, even as you curse its uselessness in the face of battle.\n\nThe regular costumes, meanwhile, have varying skills depending on the type, which include a superhero, pterodactyl and the kind of clown Joe Pesci was talking about in Goodfellas. Timing moves to match a screen prompt play a big role in the game, allowing you to dish out stronger attacks or reduce damage. Special moves are also timing-based and vary from damage to healing. Although the prompts add an extra layer of interactivity to the game, they can be tiring after extended play. The general RPG grindiness also can feel repetitive after some time.\n\nStill, funny dialogue, charming characters, a solid RPG mechanic and things to do on the side make Costume Quest 2 a good game. If you enjoyed the original or love classic JRPGs, you'll want to take a bite out of this one.\n\n*Review based on PS4 version of \"Costume Quest 2.\"\n\nRating: 4 out of 5\n\nCost: $15; consoles and PC\n\nHERE, BOY: SLEEPING DOGS' BARKS AGAIN\n\nBeing more of a lover than a fighter, I absolutely abhor violence.\n\nThen again, that did not stop me from naming the original \"Sleeping Dogs\" as one of my top games of 2014. Part \"Grand Theft Auto\" and part \"True Crime, Sleeping Dogs\" chronicled the tale of Wei Shen, an undercover cop who infiltrates the Hong Kong triad Sun On Yee. It doesn't take long before Shen is deeply embedded in the gangs and finds himself walking a fine line between being a cop and a criminal.\n\nFast forward to today and \"Sleeping Dogs\" wakes up yet again in the form of \"Sleeping Dogs: Definitive Edition.\" Like the \"Tomb Raider: Definitive Edition,\" Sleeping Dogs re-release features fine-tuned graphics to take advantage of the extra muscle of the PS4 and Xbox One, in addition to the PC. It also includes the DLC released for the original game.\n\nThe combat system remains one of the highlights for \"Sleeping Dogs.\" In fact, I still consider it the best combat system I've seen in an open world game by far, to the point that engaging in combat in \"Grand Theft Auto V\" feels quite lacking.\n\nUnlike the Tomb Raider re-release, however, \"Sleeping Dogs' Definitive Edition\" doesn't come with the same level of graphical polish for characters and environs. Granted, the game still looks nicer than it did on previous-gen consoles. Character faces look crisp with rain effects at night looking especially impressive. At the same time, some of the environs also can look bland and lack detail. I also noticed some occasional screen shaking during cut scenes that involve closeups of characters' faces.\n\nOverall, \"Sleeping Dogs\" remains a solid title but whether or not you should get it really depends on your situation. Although Tomb Raider added enough changes to make it worth getting even for those who already had the original, Sleeping Dogs: Definitive Edition might not have enough new stuff to make it worth a return visit. For folks who have never played the game before, however, the Definitive Edition provides a great chance to experience a good open world action game for the first time.\n\n*Review based on Xbox One copy of \"Sleeping Dogs: Definitive Edition\"\n\nCost: $60; PC, PS4 and Xbox One\n\nRating: 3.5 out of 5\n\nMOTOROLA'S FLAGSHIP MOTO X IMPRESSES\n\nHello, again, Moto.\n\nWith a lot of entries in the Android smartphone pool, standing out from the rest of the pack is like trying to look unique at Burning Man.\n\nYou've got Samsung's perennial bestsellers such as the Galaxy S5, flashy lookers such as the HTC One M8 and favorites among Android geeks such as the Nexus 6.\n\nIn comparison, Motorola has yet to produce a phone that comes close to the mindshare that its original Razr garnered. A catchy marketing campaign and slogan helped with its Droid phones. Ultimately, however, Motorola's tenuous financial position in the first decade of the new millennium impacted its ability to consistently produce compelling phones.\n\nThis makes the arrival of the second-generation Moto X much welcome news for fans of the brand. Thanks to an excellent build combined with a solid feature set, Motorola's flagship phone does a great job in elbowing its way into the upper echelon of Android smartphones.\n\nAlthough its face employs the basic design seen in phones such as the Galaxy, viewing the 2014 Moto X from other angles reveals a unique look. Wrapping the sides of the phone is a curvy metal frame that looks quite nice compared to the plain rounded edges of the iPhone 6. Meanwhile, the review unit I tested came with a bamboo back, which provides an almost therapeutic feel that makes the Moto X a joy to hold.\n\nAudio is excellent as well for the Moto X which places its speaker on the front of the phone as opposed to the more unnatural spots employed by the Galaxy and iPhone 6. It's not quite as robust as the M8's BoomSound speaker but it's plenty powerful and provides a better overall audio experience than Samsung's or Apple's current flagship phones.\n\nThe display is also top notch, serving up crisp video and tack-sharp images. The Moto X also uses a motion sensor to display the lock screen from sleep mode if you wave your hands over it. About the only gripe I really have with the phone from a hardware perspective is the camera. Although the camera does a good job in taking photos or video outdoors during the day, it isn't quite as solid as say, the iPhone 6 in low-light situations. In terms of software, the Verizon Moto X unit I reviewed came with Android 4.4 KitKat, so it wasn't rocking the new Android 5 Lollipop yet. Speeds were quick and zippy on Verizon's 4G LTE network in my area and played YouTube videos with no lag. Outgoing and incoming calls also sounded good. Motorola's interactive 3D Spotlight Stories also were fun to watch and should please fans of Pixar and old Warner Bros. shorts.\n\nUltimately, the Moto X marks Motorola's return to making compelling phones. Not only is it a solid device. It's easily one of the best Android smartphones out there.\n\nRating: 4.5 out of 5", "authors": [], "publish_date": "2014/11/24"}]}
+{"question_id": "20240119_15", "search_time": "2024/01/19/23:35", "search_result": [{"url": "https://www.cnn.com/2022/09/20/china/china-clone-arctic-wolf-conservation-intl-hnk-scn/index.html", "title": "Chinese researchers clone an Arctic wolf in 'landmark' conservation ...", "text": "Hong Kong CNN —\n\nResearchers in China have cloned a wild Arctic wolf – and they’re hoping the controversial genetic technology can now be used to help save other species under threat as the world edges toward an extinction crisis.\n\nOn Monday, the Beijing-based company Sinogene Biotechnology unveiled the female wolf clone, named Maya by scientists, marking 100 days since she was born on June 10.\n\nMaya, a grey-brown pup with a bushy tail, is in healthy condition, said the company. During a news conference, it showed videos of Maya playing and resting.\n\n“After two years of painstaking efforts, the arctic wolf was cloned successfully. It is the first case of its kind in the world,” said Mi Jidong, the company’s general manager, at the news conference, according to Chinese state media.\n\nThe Arctic wolf, also known as the white wolf or polar wolf, is a subspecies of grey wolf native to the High Arctic tundra, in Canada’s northern Arctic Archipelago. Its conservation status – the metric used to determine how close a species is to extinction – is considered low risk, since its Arctic habitat is remote enough to evade hunters, according to the World Wildlife Fund. But climate change is increasingly threatening its food supply, while human development like roads and pipelines are encroaching on its territory.\n\nSinogene launched its Arctic wolf cloning project in 2020, in collaboration with the polar theme park Harbin Polarland, it said in a statement posted on the Twitter-like platform Weibo.\n\nTo create Maya, the company used a process called somatic cell nuclear transfer – the same technique that was used to create the first-ever mammal clone, Dolly the sheep, in 1996.\n\nFirst, they used a skin sample from the original Arctic wolf – also called Maya, introduced from Canada to Harbin Polarland – to retrieve “donor cells,” which are then injected into a female dog’s egg and carried by a surrogate mother.\n\nThe scientists were able to create 85 such embryos, which were transferred into the uteri of seven beagles – resulting in the birth of one healthy Arctic wolf, the newly cloned Maya, according to state media.\n\nThe company said in its Weibo post that a second cloned arctic wolf is expected to be born soon.\n\n“Cloning technology provides a good entry point for the protection of endangered wild animals, which is a great contribution to the protection of biodiversity,” said He Zhenming, director of the Institute for Laboratory Animal Resources of China’s National Institute for Food and Drug Control, in the Weibo post.\n\nHe added that the successful cloning of Maya was a “landmark event, which is of great significance to the world’s wildlife protection and the restoration of endangered species,” according to the post.\n\nSinogene said it will also begin working with the Beijing Wildlife Park to research more cloning technology and applications, as well as conducting research on the conservation and breeding of rare and endangered animals in China.\n\nThe original Maya died of old age in 2021, according to Global Times. The cloned Maya is now living with her beagle surrogate mother, and will later be housed in Harbin Polarland, open to the public.\n\nExtinction crisis\n\nIt’s not the first time cloning technology has been used by conservation scientists.\n\nIn Malaysia, where every Sumatran rhino has died, scientists are hoping to use frozen tissues and cells to give birth to new rhinos using surrogate mothers. And in late 2020, American scientists successfully cloned an endangered wild black-footed ferret, once thought to be globally extinct.\n\nOther scientists are betting on gene editing technology instead – with one team in Australia trying to edit cells from a marsupial to recreate its close relative, the extinct Tasmanian tiger.\n\nThese efforts are growing as scientists around the world race to save endangered species, as the Earth nears what is widely considered to be its sixth mass extinction.\n\nThere have been five mass extinction events in history, each wiping out between 70% and 95% of the species of plants, animals and microorganisms. The most recent, 66 million years ago, saw dinosaurs disappear.\n\nThis sixth mass extinction would be unique, in that it’s being driven by humans – who have already wiped out hundreds of species through wildlife trade, pollution, habitat loss and the use of toxic substances.\n\nA 2020 study found that about a third of all plants and animals could face extinction by 2070 – and things could get even worse if greenhouse gas emissions continue rising rapidly.\n\nBut many of these new conservation efforts have also courted controversy, with questions raised about the ethics and health implications of cloning and gene editing.\n\nIn Maya’s case, one scientist told the Global Times, more research is needed on whether cloning can cause potential health risks. There also needs to be more guidelines set to determine appropriate use of the technology, he added – such as only cloning extinct or highly endangered species.", "authors": ["Jessie Yeung"], "publish_date": "2022/09/20"}, {"url": "https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/2018/01/24/scientists-successfully-clone-monkeys-humans-next/109775790/", "title": "Scientists successfully clone monkeys; could humans be next?", "text": "Malcolm Ritter\n\nAP SCIENCE WRITER\n\nNEW YORK – For the first time, researchers have used the cloning method that produced Dolly the sheep to create healthy monkeys, bringing science an important step closer to being able to do the same with humans.\n\nSince Dolly’s birth in 1996, scientists have cloned nearly two dozen kinds of mammals, including dogs, cats, pigs, cows and polo ponies, and have also created human embryos with this method. But until now, they have been unable to make babies this way in primates, the category that includes monkeys, apes and people.\n\n“The barrier of cloning primate species is now overcome,” declared Muming Poo of the Chinese Academy of Sciences in Shanghai.\n\nIn a paper released Wednesday by the journal Cell, he and his colleagues announced that they successfully created two macaques. The female baby monkeys, about 7 and 8 weeks old, are named Zhong Zhong and Hua Hua.\n\n“It’s been a long road,” said one scientist who tried and failed to make monkeys and was not involved in the new research, Shoukhrat Mitalipov of Oregon Health & Science University. “Finally, they did it.”\n\nIn principle, Poo said, the feat means humans can be cloned. But he said his team has no intention of doing that. Mainstream scientists generally oppose making human babies by cloning, and Poo said society would ban it for ethical reasons.\n\nInstead, he said, the goal is to create lots of genetically identical monkeys for use in medical research, where they would be particularly valuable because they are more like humans than other lab animals such as mice or rats.\n\nThe process is still very inefficient – it took 127 eggs to get the two babies – and so far it has succeeded only by starting with a monkey fetus. The scientists failed to produce healthy babies from an adult monkey, though they are still trying and are awaiting the outcome of some pregnancies. Dolly caused a sensation because she was the first mammal cloned from an adult.\n\nThe procedure was technically challenging. Essentially, the Chinese scientists removed the DNA-containing nucleus from monkey eggs and replaced it with DNA from the monkey fetus. These reconstituted eggs grew and divided, finally becoming an early embryo, which was then placed into female monkeys to grow to birth.\n\nThe scientists implanted 79 embryos to produce the two babies. Still, the approach succeeded where others had failed. Poo said that was because of improvements in lab techniques and because researchers added two substances that helped reprogram the DNA from the fetus. That let the DNA abandon its job in the fetus, which involves things like helping to make collagen, and take on the new task of creating an entire monkey.\n\nThe Chinese researchers said cloning of fetal cells could be combined with gene editing techniques to produce large numbers of monkeys with certain genetic defects that cause disease in people. The animals could then be used to study such diseases and test treatments. The researchers said their initial targets will be Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s.\n\nMitalipov, noting the Chinese failed to produce healthy babies from adult cells, said he suspects attempts to clone babies from a human adult would also fail. “I don’t think it would be advisable to anyone to even think about it,” he said.\n\nJose Cibelli, a scientist at Michigan State University, said it might be technically possible someday, but “criminal” to try now because of the suffering caused by the many lost pregnancies the process entails.\n\nIf the procedure became efficient enough in monkeys, he said, society could face “a big ethical dilemma” over whether to adapt it for humans. The key step of transferring DNA might be combined with gene editing to correct genetic disorders in embryos, allowing healthy babies to be born, he said.\n\nOf course, the familiar image of human cloning involves making a copy of someone already born. That might be possible someday, but “I don’t think it should be pursued,” said researcher Dieter Egli of Columbia University. “I can’t think of a strong benefit.”\n\nHenry Greely, a Stanford University law professor who specializes in the implications of biomedical technologies, said the strongest argument he can think of would be the desire of grieving parents to produce a genetic duplicate of a dead child. But he doubts that’s a compelling enough reason to undertake the extensive and costly effort needed to get such a procedure approved, at least for “decades and decades.”\n\nMarcy Darnovsky, executive director of the Center for Genetics and Society in Berkeley, California, called it unethical to subject that new child to “the psychological and emotional risks of living under the shadow of its genetic predecessor.” Human cloning could also require many women to donate eggs and to serve as surrogates, she said.\n\nAt the moment, because of safety concerns, federal regulators in the U.S. would not allow making a human baby by cloning, and international scientific groups also oppose it, said biomedical ethics expert Insoo Hyun of Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland.\n\nPeople for the Ethical Treatment of Animals condemned the monkey-cloning experiments.\n\n“Cloning is a horror show: a waste of lives, time and money – and the suffering that such experiments cause is unimaginable,” PETA Senior Vice President Kathy Guillermo said in a statement.", "authors": [], "publish_date": "2018/01/24"}, {"url": "https://www.cnn.com/2022/03/31/world/frozen-zoo-save-species-scn-c2e-spc-intl/index.html", "title": "How 'frozen zoos' could save dying species | CNN", "text": "CNN —\n\nWhen Kurt Benirschke started collecting skin samples from rare and endangered animals in 1972, he didn’t have a firm plan on what to do with them. As a researcher at the University of California San Diego, he believed that one day the tools would be developed to use them to save those animals. A few years later, he moved his collection to San Diego Zoo, and called it the Frozen Zoo.\n\n“Famously, there was a poster that hung above the Frozen Zoo with a quote that said, ‘You must collect things for reasons you don’t yet understand,’” says Oliver Ryder, a geneticist at San Diego Zoo and an early collaborator with Benirschke. “We felt that we were stewards of this growing collection that was going to have value to the future in ways we weren’t able to appreciate then.”\n\nBenirschke passed away in 2018, but his efforts are very much alive. Today, the Frozen Zoo is the world’s largest animal cryobank, with samples from over 10,500 individual animals from 1,220 species.\n\nFor a long time, it was the only project of its kind; in recent years, however, similar conservation efforts have sprouted around the world, and the tools that Benirschke didn’t yet have are now available. At the same time, the clock is ticking for many species at risk.\n\nOliver Ryder is director of conservation genetics at the San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance and a geneticist at the Frozen Zoo. Ken Bohn\n\n‘An irreplaceable repository of very rare animals’\n\nSince 1970, populations of mammals, birds, amphibians, reptiles and fish have fallen by 68% on average, according to the WWF Living Planet Report 2020. The report also states that as a result of loss of habitat due to human activities, one million species – animals and plants – are threatened with extinction over the coming decades and centuries.\n\nWith the current rate of biodiversity loss, some scientists believe preserving samples from species that might not be here tomorrow is no longer a visionary endeavor, but a scientific must-do.\n\nRelated story: How honey is helping to save the spectacled bear\n\n“As the effort built up, we realized that we were collecting an irreplaceable repository of very rare animals,” says Ryder. “Because we have cells in the Frozen Zoo, we can now apply new techniques and new technologies to extend our understanding, and learn more information that’s of direct relevance to preventing extinction in endangered species.”\n\nSince the Frozen Zoo was founded, Ryder says, many milestones have been reached in the field of genetics, starting with the cloning of the first animal – a sheep named Dolly – in 1996. Starting in 2001, four endangered species have been cloned using genetic material from the Frozen Zoo: the Indian Gaur, a humpbacked Asian wild ox; the Banteng, a Southeast-Asian species of cattle; Przewalski’s horse, once found throughout Mongolia and extinct in the wild until recently; and the Black-footed ferret, which was believed to be extinct in the wild until it resurfaced in 1981, but was then almost wiped out by an epidemic.\n\nIn 2001, an Indian gaur was born, cloned using genetic material from the Frozen Zoo and gestated in a domestic cow. Adobe Stock\n\nGenetic rescue\n\nAlthough cloning isn’t perfect – the cloned Indian Gaur only survived for 48 hours – it’s a useful tool to help save endangered species, because it can increase genetic diversity. When the population of a species dwindles, the remaining animals are forced to inbreed and the genetic pool shrinks, further threatening survival. But the cloned Black-footed ferrets, for example, were born in 2020 from samples collected in 1988, which meant that their genetic profile was much more varied than the current population.\n\n“In a species of animals, the genetic diversity is what gives it its resilience, its ability to bounce back from natural catastrophes, virus attacks, disease attacks. That’s because if there are more different types of genetics in a species, there is a higher chance that some will survive,” explains Brendon Noble, a professor of regenerative medicine at the University of Westminster in London and chair of the board at The Frozen Ark, a UK-based animal cryobank.\n\nThe Frozen Ark was founded in 2004, with a similar intent to the Frozen Zoo but with a different structure: rather than a single collection tied to one institution, it is a distributed network of over two dozen institutions such as zoos, museums and universities spread all over the world, each sharing its own collection and knowledge.\n\nWhile the Frozen Ark has more samples than the Frozen Zoo – 48,000 from 5,500 species – about 90% of them are made up of DNA rather than live cells, which are used differently and must be stored at much lower temperatures.\n\nDNA samples can’t be used to clone an animal but are essential to capture the genetic blueprint of species that might disappear. “That information can be used for a whole range of different scientific studies, from cancer research to understanding recovery processes such as limb regrowth,” says Lisa Yon, an associate professor of zoo and wildlife medicine at the University of Nottingham and a scientific advisor at the Frozen Ark. “By saving these resources we will allow not only current scientists, but future generations of scientists to make all kinds of new discoveries.”\n\n\n\nAt San Diego Frozen Zoo, samples are kept in cryotanks. \"The collection is duplicated; periodically we take samples out and move them to another facility, so that all of the cells are not in one place,\" says Oliver Ryder. San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance\n\nA cell by any other name\n\nFreezing cells involves a more delicate process than with DNA, to avoid the formation of ice crystals when cells are frozen to -320 degrees Fahrenheit (-196 Celsius). Different cells require different freezing procedures, too; for example, amphibian cells are difficult to freeze properly and therefore are severely underrepresented in cryobanks. And some of the technologies that would make the best use of cell lines still need to be perfected.\n\nRelated story: ‘If we can make a space station fly, we can save the planet’\n\n“A lot of stuff that we want to do we can’t do yet,” says Tullis Matson of Nature’s Safe, a UK-based cryobank that collects live cells and gametes (sperm and eggs). He predicts that in the next 10 to 30 years it will be possible to turn these cells into pluripotent stem cells, which can be reprogrammed to produce sperm and eggs.\n\nOnce that’s possible, an embryo could be created from the sperm and egg, and then implanted in a surrogate individual from an endangered species, once again providing much needed genetic diversity.\n\nTullis Matson founded Nature's Safe in November 2020. \"It's a safety net,\" he says. Eva-Maira Broomer. ©Horse Power Creative and Nature's SAFE, 2020.\n\nThe technique also opens up the prospect of reviving fully extinct species – by using surrogates from the most genetically similar surviving animals. “We do have cells preserved from extinct species, but that’s not really the reason we do this,” says Ryder. “We’ve been asked to preserve cells from some of the last individuals in a species – or literally the last individual – and we do that, but we don’t really expect that we’re going to be able to bring species back from extinction from a single animal.”\n\nThe challenges ahead\n\nThe accelerating climate crisis will put ecosystems under further pressure, making the work of cryobanks even more important. “I see cryopreservation as the absolute cornerstone of conservation. We’re facing the sixth mass extinction as we speak, and we need to be able to give future generations a way of bringing these species back to life,” says Matson.\n\nMany of the problems facing these projects are of a practical nature. “Safeguarding the Frozen Zoo far into the future is one of the biggest challenges,” says Frozen Zoo curator Marlys Houck. “We want to continue to collect more samples while ensuring that the ones we already have will be there beyond our lifetime. This includes making sure there is dedicated funding for liquid nitrogen [for freezing DNA] and replacement of the cryotanks as they age.”\n\nMarlys Houck, curator of the Frozen Zoo, has been working to save the northern white rhino from extinction, and is planning to use southern white rhinos as surrogates for northern white rhino embryos. \"There are many challenges ahead, but researchers are optimistic that a northern white rhino calf could be born from these processes within 10 to 20 years,\" she says. Ken Bohn\n\nOne of the main challenges will be convincing conservation agencies that cryobanking is a valid strategy and worth funding. “Many of us are doing this without any tangible support beyond donations or grants, with no national or government support,” says Yon. “Cryobanking is increasingly being recognized as a vital resource, so it’s a bit mystifying that there isn’t more funding support.”\n\nRead: Meet the women racing to save the northern white rhino from extinction\n\nFinally, all researchers agree that a tighter collaboration between all cryobanks is necessary to succeed. “The task is enormous, nobody can do this on their own,” says Matson. “There’s a million species at risk. We need 50 different genetic samples from each, so that means 50 million samples; for each of those, we need five vials for each sample, so that’s hundreds of millions of samples that need to be stored.”\n\nRyder says he’s working to develop a global network to bank the material that’s already been collected.\n\n“If we had a conversation with the future, they would say, please save as much biodiversity as you can, now. Period,” he adds. “And they would say, do that by all means available.”", "authors": ["Jacopo Prisco"], "publish_date": "2022/03/31"}, {"url": "https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/history/2015/07/09/throwback-thursday-this-week-in-history-july9/29872977/", "title": "Forrest Gump, 'Lean On Me' top history this week", "text": "Jazzy Quick\n\npnj.com\n\nJuly 5 - 11\n\n%23ThrowbackThursday%3A This week in history\n\nThis week in history, from July 5 - 11, has had pivotal moments that influenced more than just Pensacola and Florida, but America and our current way of life.\n\nHere is a brief snapshot of important U.S. historical events, from a Red Sox scandal to Elvis Presley's big break to the crash of Skylab to the first woman executed in America to the historic 1999 Women's World Cup win by the American team.\n\nInformation collected and reproduced from Pensapedia, History.com, smithsonianmag.com, and This Day in U.S. Military History.\n\nJULY 5\n\n1921 – The Red Sox are accused of throwing World Series, and after Judge Hugo Friend denies a motion to quash the indictments against the major league baseball players, a trial begins with jury selection. The Chicago White Sox players, including stars Shoeless Joe Jackson, Buck Weaver, and Eddie Cicotte, subsequently became known as the \"Black Sox\" after the scandal was revealed.\n\n1954 – Elvis Presley records \"That's All Right (Mama).\"\n\n1975 – Arthur Ashe defeats the heavily favored Jimmy Connors to become the first black man ever to win Wimbledon, the most coveted championship in tennis.\n\n1996 – Dolly the sheep – the first mammal to have been successfully cloned from an adult cell – is born at the Roslin Institute in Scotland.\n\nJULY 6\n\n1942 – In Nazi-occupied Holland, 13-year-old Jewish diarist Anne Frank and her family are forced to take refuge in a secret sealed-off area of an Amsterdam warehouse. The day before, Anne's older sister, Margot, had received a call-up notice to be deported to a Nazi \"work camp.\"\n\n1976 – In Annapolis, Maryland, the United States Naval Academy admits women for the first time in its history with the induction of 81 female midshipmen. In May 1980, Elizabeth Anne Rowe became the first woman member of the class to graduate. Four years later, Kristine Holderied became the first female midshipman to graduate at the top of her class.\n\n1988– An explosion rips through an oil rig in the North Sea, killing 167 workers. It was the worst offshore oil rig disaster in history to that date.\n\n1994 – The movie Forrest Gump opens in U.S. theaters. A huge box-office success, the film starred Tom Hanks in the title role of Forrest, a good-hearted man with a low I.Q. who winds up at the center of key cultural and historical events of the second half of the 20th century.\n\nJULY 7\n\n1865 – Mary Surratt is first woman executed by the U.S. federal government for her role as a conspirator in Abraham Lincoln's assassination.\n\n1930 – Construction of the Hoover Dam begins. Over the next five years, a total of 21,000 men would work ceaselessly to produce what would be the largest dam of its time, as well as one of the largest man-made structures in the world.\n\n1981 – President Ronald Reagan nominates Sandra Day O'Connor, an Arizona court of appeals judge, to be the first woman Supreme Court justice in U.S. history. On September 21, the Senate unanimously approved her appointment to the nation's highest court, and on September 25 she was sworn in by Chief Justice Warren Burger.\n\n1995 – The space shuttle \"Atlantis\" landed at Cape Canaveral, Florida, bringing back American astronaut Norman Thagard, who'd spent three and a-half months aboard the Russian space station \"Mir.\"\n\n2000 – Eight weeks to the day after the fourth-generation NASCAR driver Adam Petty was killed during practice at the New Hampshire International Speedway in Loudon, New Hampshire, the driver Kenny Irwin Jr. dies at the same speedway, near the exact same spot, after his car slams into the wall at 150 mph during a practice run.\n\n2006 – Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest, an adventure film starring Johnny Depp, Orlando Bloom and Keira Knightley, opens in theaters across America. The movie, the second in the Pirates of the Caribbean series, was part of a multi-billion dollar Disney franchise that included theme park rides, video games and books.\n\nJULY 8\n\n1959 – Maj. Dale R. Ruis and Master Sgt. Chester M. Ovnand become the first Americans killed in the U.S. phase of the Vietnam War when guerrillas strike a Military Assistance Advisory Group (MAAG) compound in Bien Hoa, 20 miles northeast of Saigon.\n\n1972 – Bill Withers stepped into a recording studio for the very first time at the age of 32, and two years later, he'd written and recorded one of the most beloved pop songs of the modern era: \"Lean On Me,\" which began its first stay at #1 on the pop charts on this day in 1972.\n\nJULY 9\n\n1777 – New York elects Brigadier General George Clinton as the first governor of the independent state of New York. Clinton would go on to become New York's longest-serving governor, as well as the longest-serving governor in the United States, holding the post until 1795, and again from 1801 to 1804. In 1805, he was elected vice president of the United States, a position he held under Presidents Thomas Jefferson and James Madison, until his death in 1812.\n\n1918 – Two trains collide outside Nashville, Tennessee, killing 101 people. Despite the high death toll, the story was mainly ignored by the national press.\n\n1992 – The space shuttle Columbia landed at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, ending a two-week mission.\n\n2006 – The Fiat 500 Club Italia, an organization formed in appreciation of the iconic car produced by the automaker Fiat, holds what the Guinness Book of World Records will call the world's largest parade of Fiat cars, between Villanova d'Albenga and Garlenda, Italy.\n\nJULY 10\n\n1763 – Colonel Augustine Prevost sails from Havana, Cuba with four ships and 350 men on their way to accept the transfer of Florida from Spain to Great Britain.\n\n1925 – In Dayton, Tennessee, the so-called \"Monkey Trial\" begins with John Thomas Scopes, a young high school science teacher, is accused of teaching evolution in violation of a Tennessee state law.\n\n1962 – The communications satellite Telstar was launched from Cape Canaveral, Florida, beaming live television from Europe to the United States.\n\n1999 – The U.S. women's soccer team defeats China to win their second Women's World Cup. The game ended in a 5-4 shootout after 120 scoreless minutes: 90 tightly played minutes of regulation dictated by the United States and 30 tense minutes of overtime largely controlled by the Chinese. The title game was played at the Rose Bowl in southern California in front of 90,185 fans, the largest crowd ever to attend a women's sporting event to that date.\n\nJULY 11\n\n1864 – A landing party from U.S.S. James L. Davis, Acting Master Griswold, destroyed Confederate salt works near Tampa, Florida. The works were capable of producing some 150 bushels of salt per day. On the 16th of July a similar raid near Tampa was carried out in which a salt work consisting of four boilers was destroyed.\n\n1914 – In his major league debut, George Herman \"Babe\" Ruth pitches seven strong innings to lead the Boston Red Sox over the Cleveland Indians, 4-3.\n\n1916 – In a ceremony at the White House, President Woodrow Wilson signs the Federal Aid Road Act. The law established a national policy of federal aid for highways.\n\n1979 – Parts of Skylab, America's first space station, come crashing down on Australia and into the Indian Ocean five years after the last manned Skylab mission ended. No one was injured.\n\n2010 – After a two-year manhunt, 19-year-old Colton Harris-Moore of Washington state is arrested following a high-speed boat chase in the Bahamas. Harris-Moore was suspected of stealing an airplane in Indiana and crash-landing it in the Bahamas the week before. Nicknamed the \"Barefoot Bandit\" for going shoeless during some of his alleged crimes, the teen was a suspect in scores of other burglaries in the United States and Canada, where he was accused of swiping everything from potato chips to credit cards, small planes, boats and cars. During his time as a fugitive, Harris-Moore gained a cult-like following online, with fans viewing him as a folk hero and praising his brazenness and his uncanny ability to elude law-enforcement officials.\n\nHistoric Photo Galleries:\n\nClassic Blue Angels\n\nPre-1920s aerials\n\nPalafox Street", "authors": [], "publish_date": "2015/07/09"}, {"url": "https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2014/04/19/cloning-stem-cell/7887719/", "title": "Stem cell research fuels more debate on cloning", "text": "Karen Weintraub\n\nSpecial for USA TODAY\n\nA study published this week has reawakened debate over the government's need to regulate human cloning.\n\nIn a paper in the journal Cell Stem Cell, researchers took the nucleus of skin cells from 35 and 75 year old men, and produced cloned human embryos. From those they were able to generate embryonic stem cells, valued because they can then be teased into becoming any tissues the body might need.\n\nThe researchers are quick to point out that they would never try to implant that embryo in a woman. Instead, the cells will be used for research purposes with an eye toward developing medical therapies. The promise of stem cells has long been that they could be used to grow tissues the body needs to treat ailments ranging from Parkinson's to spinal cord injuries. Creating stem cells from a cloned embryo presumably would create tissues that wouldn't be rejected by the person who donated skin cells initially.\n\nBut advocacy groups on opposite ends of the political spectrum said Friday that the study is a reminder of the need for government to step in before someone tries to extend this technique to engineer a human clone.\n\nAnimal cloning has been possible since Dolly the sheep was born in 1996, but human cloning has long been considered nearly as impossible as it is unethical. The new paper, which builds on and confirms a study published last year using a similar technique, resolves technical hurdles along the path to human cloning.\n\n\"The science is no longer theoretical,\" said Jeremy Gruber, president of the Council for Responsible Genetics, a New York City-based bioethics organization. \"We need to start putting laws into place to identify where the line should be drawn in terms of governance of these techniques.\"\n\nGruber's organization, along with the Berkeley, Calif.-based Center for Genetics and Society, both oppose the use of cloning for human reproduction, but support cloning for the purpose of creating embryonic stem cells to be used in research.\n\nThe Washington-based Family Research Council, a conservative think tank and lobbying group, opposes all cloning regardless of its purpose. A bill to that effect has been proposed by the current House, but not the Senate, said David Prentice, senior fellow for life sciences at the Family Research Council.\n\nThe new study though not aimed at human cloning, makes it more likely that someone else will try to clone a baby, Prentice said. Allowing any cloning, even for research, \"allows people to perfect that method so they have good embryonic clones that can be gestated to birth.\"\n\nSeveral scientists dismissed that argument, saying that it remains impossible to clone a baby.\n\n\"That's just nonsense,\" said stem cell scientist Rudolf Jaenisch, at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the Whitehead Institute. Even in animals, cloning remains challenging, with most clones showing abnormalities and dying early; and human cloning would be far more difficult, he said.\n\nThe new paper is more important scientifically than practically, Jaenisch said. The study showed that scientists could reproduce work published last year by researchers in Oregon who used skin cells from a patient to create a cloned embryo and from the cloned embryos derived embryonic stem cells. The fact that cells can be turned into embryonic ones and then made into embryos has been published, Jaenisch said, but it's always useful in science to show that results can be repeated.\n\nEmbryonic stem cells created from clones are mainly useful for research purposes, said Robert Lanza, a co-author on the new paper and chief scientific officer at Advanced Cell Technology, a Massachusetts-based biotech company involved in stem cell research and regenerative medicine.\n\nCreating stem cells in this way is too cumbersome to treat vast numbers of patients, he said. Instead, his company and other clinical researchers are looking to help patients through a non-cloning technique that derives stem cells from adult cells. That approach does not involve embryos, has not raised ethical questions and is expected to be far more practical, he said.\n\nLanza said he believes cloning should be allowed only for creating cells in a dish, not a person.\n\n\"The key is not to prevent millions of people from benefiting, but to put in appropriate safeguards so they are not abused,\" he said.", "authors": [], "publish_date": "2014/04/19"}, {"url": "https://www.cnn.com/2022/09/24/world/dart-science-newsletter-wt-scn/index.html", "title": "NASA mission to reveal first look at asteroid, then slam into it | CNN", "text": "A version of this story appeared in CNN’s Wonder Theory science newsletter. To get it in your inbox, sign up for free here.\n\nCNN —\n\nGet ready to see an asteroid’s tiny moon for the first time. Then, watch as a spacecraft deliberately crashes into it.\n\nThis scenario sounds like a sci-fi plot, but the NASA Double Asteroid Redirection Test, happening Monday, is a real-life mission. It aims to be humanity’s first attempt at deflecting an asteroid – without blowing it up, “Armageddon” style.\n\nThe spacecraft won’t obliterate Dimorphos, the moon orbiting the asteroid Didymos, but it’s large enough to leave an impact crater. If all goes well, DART will slightly change the motion of a celestial body in space in a stunning first.\n\nThe mission results could shape the way humans respond to any future space rocks with the potential to collide with the planet. Despite this extraordinary event taking place 6.8 million miles (11 million kilometers) away from Earth, we’ll get to see it play out in real time.\n\nDefying gravity\n\nAn illustration shows the DART spacecraft and LICIACube prior to impact at the Didymos system. Steve Gribben/Johns Hopkins APL/NASA\n\nMonday’s encounter will reveal Dimorphos in striking detail.\n\nIn the last hour before impact, expected to occur at 7:14 p.m. ET, DART’s camera will send back images at a rate of one per second, providing a live stream of its approach. Pinpricks of light will slowly come into focus as Didymos and Dimorphos take shape.\n\nThe surface of Dimorphos will get sharper and sharper. And when DART slams into the moon at 13,421 miles per hour (21,600 kilometers per hour), our view will disappear.\n\nWish you could see the collision from another perspective? The Italian Space Agency’s LICIACube will act as DART’s photojournalist, following behind the spacecraft and capturing images and video that will show the whole story.\n\nDino-mite!\n\nFossil eggs are providing insight into what life was like for dinosaurs before a massive asteroid strike wiped them out.\n\nResearchers studied more than 1,000 fossilized dinosaur eggs recovered from the Shanyang basin in central China. The eggs came from only two groups, the toothless oviraptors and duck-billed hadrosaurs, suggesting low biodiversity.\n\nIt’s possible that dinosaur species were already struggling to survive about 66 million years ago as their diversity waned.\n\nOther researchers still think the asteroid strike was the true driver of dinosaur extinction, not to mention a series of massive volcanic eruptions – and they suggest that if those cataclysmic events hadn’t happened, dinosaurs might still rule the planet.\n\nCuriosities\n\nArctic wolves at Harbin Polarland are shown in Harbin, China, on November 22, 2017. Xinhua News Agency/Getty Images\n\nResearchers in China have cloned a wild Arctic wolf. Sinogene Biotechnology unveiled the female wolf pup, named Maya, on Monday – and the Beijing-based company is hoping this method could save other species.\n\nWildlife conservationists consider the Arctic wolf, like the ones at Harbin Polarland in Harbin, China, pictured above, at low risk of extinction, but the climate crisis and human encroachment could change that.\n\nTo create Maya, scientists applied the same technique used in 1996 that led to Dolly the sheep, the first mammal cloned from an adult cell. The wolf pup was born from a surrogate beagle mother.\n\nBut some experts warn about the health and ethical concerns of controversial conservation efforts like cloning.\n\nAcross the universe\n\nThe James Webb Space Telescope’s new image of Neptune has showcased the most distant planet in our solar system and its hard-to-detect rings in a fresh light.\n\nWebb also focused its instruments on the blinding light of Mars, one of the brightest objects in our night sky.\n\nAnd don’t count out NASA’s InSight mission just yet. Despite gloomy predictions that the stationary lander would already have fallen silent on Mars, InSight is still operating. Listen to the sounds of space rocks crashing into Mars, as recorded by the lander.\n\nWild kingdom\n\nOur senses create order out of the world, help us survive and reveal some of the natural beauty that surrounds us. kev303/iStockphoto/Getty Images\n\nEver wondered what it might be like to experience the world as an animal?\n\nDogs socialize via scent, and eels discern their environment through electricity. Bats use echolocation to navigate.\n\nAll creatures live in their own “sensory bubble” called the umwelt, a species-specific reality that is crucial to their survival, according to award-winning science journalist Ed Yong.\n\nYou won’t want to miss this week’s episode of Chasing Life, a podcast hosted by CNN Chief Medical Correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta. He and Yong take you on a journey through the mysterious senses that exist in the animal kingdom.\n\nAnd can you guess how many ants live on Earth? Scientists shared a new estimate this week, and it boggles the mind.\n\nTake note\n\nDon’t miss these highlights:\n\n– The Artemis I mega moon rocket met all of its objectives during a crucial fueling test despite some leaks. But the rocket won’t launch Tuesday as planned due to concerns over Tropical Storm Ian.\n\n– Cue the pumpkin spice and everything nice: Fall is finally here for those who live in the Northern Hemisphere. Drought might have an impact on the foliage colors, depending on where you live.\n\n– Astronomers have uncovered more about the origin of a fast radio burst in space, along with new mysteries.\n\nAnd keep an eye on the night sky because Jupiter will make its closest approach to Earth in 59 years on Monday, appearing bigger and brighter.", "authors": ["Ashley Strickland"], "publish_date": "2022/09/24"}]}
+{"question_id": "20240119_16", "search_time": "2024/01/19/23:35", "search_result": [{"url": "https://www.cnn.com/2022/02/18/politics/treasury-banks-russia-cyber-meeting/index.html", "title": "US officials prep big banks for potential Russian hacking as ...", "text": "Washington CNN —\n\nOfficials from multiple US agencies met Thursday with executives from big US banks to discuss how they might respond to Russian hacking threats as US officials warn that Russia could invade Ukraine at any time, five people briefed on the meeting told CNN.\n\nThe meeting — which covered how to defend against potential Russia-backed hacking attempts against US financial institutions should the Biden administration sanction Russian entities — shows how US officials continue to see cyberspace as a domain of risk so long as the Ukraine crisis drags on. It comes as other critical infrastructure sectors, such as electric utilities, are on alert for any Russian activity.\n\nThe meeting came as President Joe Biden and his top officials spent the day laying out dire warnings about the potential for a Russian invasion. With an estimated 150,000 Russian troops positioned around the Ukrainian border, it was a day that underscored palpable concern that the pathway to a diplomatic off-ramp was growing exceedingly narrow.\n\nBiden said Friday that he was convinced Russian President Vladimir Putin has made the decision to invade Ukraine, but emphasized that room for diplomacy remains.\n\nThe administration’s warnings have coincided with efforts to lay the groundwork for an array of sanctions the US and allies have promised would be deployed in the event of Russian military action.\n\nOfficials from the White House, Treasury Department, FBI and US Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) attended the cybersecurity meeting Thursday, the people familiar with the meeting said. Executives from JPMorgan Chase and Citigroup, which is the only US bank currently operating in Ukraine, were invited.\n\n“We have good insight into Russian capabilities, or those of aligned actors, based on past actions, so we’ve approached this [process] with those in mind,” one US official told CNN.\n\nUS officials such as CISA Director Jen Easterly continue to say there are “no specific credible threats to the US homeland’ stemming from the Russian military’s surrounding Ukraine. But officials are also preaching vigilance and, as CNN reported Monday, asking private executives to lower their thresholds for reporting suspicious digital activity to the government.\n\nAs US officials keep a close eye for any Russian hacking activity on US networks, they moved quickly on Friday to blame Russia’s GRU military intelligence agency for a cyberattack that temporarily blocked access to the websites of Ukrainian banks this week.\n\nThe banking sector got a lesson in the cyber risks that can come with geopolitics in 2012 and 2013, when, following Western sanctions on Iran’s nuclear program, Iranian hackers overwhelmed the websites of dozens of US banks with phony traffic, costing tens of millions of dollars in lost business.\n\nThe experience has loomed large in the minds of cybersecurity executives at US financial institutions, which have strengthened their defenses in recent years. Experts consider the financial and electric sectors two of the more mature in its cyber defenses.\n\nA Treasury spokesperson declined to comment on Thursday’s meeting. JPMorgan Chase and Citigroup declined to comment.\n\nA senior administration official told CNN that the White House and federal agencies have been preparing since November for “any potential disruptions to our critical infrastructure and possible impacts to individuals and communities.”\n\n‘Tabletop exercises’\n\nThe potential cyber threat has also featured in so-called “tabletop” exercises that have taken place inside the administration in recent months, as officials across the government have met to game out response possibilities that come with Russian escalation and potential invasion.\n\n“We have created a process for agencies to quickly assess the impact of cyber [and] physical incidents and to inform the White House of the same,” the official added.\n\nOne tipping point that could trigger Russia-backed hacking against US organizations is if the Biden administration imposes the “swift and severe” sanctions that officials have been promising if Russia further invades Ukraine.\n\nUS officials have sought input on potential market effects of any new sanctions, which officials have suggested would go further than any package prior, with potential targets ranging from financial institutions and networks to export controls designed to impair critical Russian economic sectors reliant on American software and equipment.\n\nAs tensions in the last several days have ratcheted up to their highest level yet, the tempo of the work to plan for what may occur in the wake of sanctions being put into place, already at a high level, has also increased, one official said.\n\nGrid regulator tells utilities to be at ‘highest possible level’ of preparedness\n\nFederal officials and executives from key sectors like banking and energy have been keeping a close eye on any potential spillover effects from US-Russia tensions over Ukraine. Those preparations included an Energy Department briefing on the history of Russian cyber capabilities in December for America’s largest utilities, and a previous classified briefing from Treasury for big banks, CNN previously reported.\n\nNorth American electric utilities should be at their “highest possible level” of preparedness for “potential Russia-linked cyber and disinformation activity” in light of US-Russia tensions over Ukraine, the North American grid regulator said in an advisory to the power sector this week obtained by CNN.\n\nThe North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC) – a not-for-profit regulatory authority backed by the US and Canadian governments – said it was unaware of a “specific, credible threat to the North American electricity industry from Russia [or associated threat actors].”\n\nBut the regulator said it was making a “proactive recommendation” for the electric industry to be vigilant for any anomalous cyber activity.\n\n“During these heightened tensions, NERC recommends that entities adopt the highest possible security posture for their most critical system assets and have response, mitigation, and staffing plans in place for this escalating conflict,” NERC said.\n\nNERC regularly tracks various cyber threats and communicates with utilities about them.\n\nThe electric sector has also in the last year deployed additional threat-detection tools on the more sensitive industrial control systems that help deliver power as part of a US government-backed initiative.\n\n“If one of us gets punched in the face, all of us know about it,” said Robert M. Lee, CEO of industrial cybersecurity firm Dragos, of the greater visibility of threats in the sector.\n\nUS electric utilities and officials have also carefully studied cyberattacks in 2015 and 2016 that cut power in parts of Ukraine, and which the Justice Department later blamed on Russia’s GRU.\n\nThe Department of Energy and the Pentagon’s research arm have in recent years hosted a series of drills for US grid operators to drill for mock cyberattacks modeled after the Ukrainian incident.\n\nPatrick C. Miller, the CEO and owner of Oregon-based Ampere Industrial Security, said the NERC alert was in that spirit of preparing for advanced cyberattacks.\n\nThe Ukraine cyberattacks in 2015 and 2016 “established the fact that power systems” are now fair game for adversaries, Miller told CNN.", "authors": ["Sean Lyngaas Phil Mattingly", "Sean Lyngaas", "Phil Mattingly"], "publish_date": "2022/02/18"}, {"url": "https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/business/2014/08/27/reports-jpmorgan-hack-attack/14706545/", "title": "FBI investigates JPMorgan hack attack", "text": "Jon Swartz, Elizabeth Weise and Kevin Johnson\n\nUSA TODAY\n\nSAN FRANCISCO – JPMorgan Chase and at least four other financial institutions were hacked recently in a series of coordinated attacks, a federal law enforcement official told USA TODAY.\n\nThe source, who was not authorized to comment publicly, said investigators believe Russian hackers were the source of the attacks. What is less clear is whether the attacks were prompted by U.S. sanctions against the Russian government.\n\nThe sophisticated cyberattack resulted in the loss of sensitive data, Bloomberg.com said, citing security experts.\n\nCompanies \"of our size unfortunately experience cyberattacks nearly every day,\" JPMorgan spokeswoman Trish Wexler said in a statement without confirming the reports. \"We have multiple layers of defense to counteract any threats and constantly monitor fraud levels.\"\n\nFBI spokesman Paul Bresson said the agency is \"working with the United States Secret Service to determine the scope of recently reported cyber attacks against several American financial institutions.\"\n\nHackers broke into the networks of the banks, where they siphoned data, including account information. Several security firms are conducting digital forensics of the breached computer networks, The New York Times reported.\n\nIt remains unknown whether the digital intruders were financially motivated or part of an espionage campaign.\n\n\"The ability to overcome the typical financial defense-in-depth strategy outlined by JPMorgan points to capabilities that go beyond criminal activity and are in the realm of nation state capabilities,\" said security expert Phil Lieberman, CEO of Lieberman Software.\n\nA report on The Wall Street Journal's website said particulars about the incident — when it began, whom it impacted and its potential costs — were unclear.\n\nThough there's no indication the two are linked, computer security firm Proofpoint on Aug. 21 reported a large-scale computer attack campaign targeting JP Morgan Chase customers.\n\nThe Sunnyvale, Calif.-based company reported multiple examples of a credential phishing campaign in which authentic-looking e-mails encouraged users to click a link to see a secure message from JP Morgan.\n\nWhen they did, they were asked to enter their credentials. The Web page was hosted on a server in Moscow and installed a so-called Trojan-program onto their computer, allowing the attackers to compromise the user's computer\n\nProofpoint identified several other active campaigns that appeared to be run by the same attackers, each of which attempted to install the same Trojan software.\n\nContributing: Jessica Guynn", "authors": [], "publish_date": "2014/08/27"}, {"url": "https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2014/10/20/secret-service-fbi-hack-cybersecuurity/17615029/", "title": "Officials warn 500 million financial records hacked", "text": "Erin Kelly\n\nUSA TODAY\n\nWASHINGTON — Federal officials warned companies Monday that hackers have stolen more than 500 million financial records over the past 12 months, essentially breaking into banks without ever entering a building.\n\n\"We're in a day when a person can commit about 15,000 bank robberies sitting in their basement,\" said Robert Anderson, executive assistant director of the FBI's Criminal Cyber Response and Services Branch.\n\nThe U.S. financial sector is one of the most targeted in the world, FBI and Secret Service officials told business leaders at a cybersecurity event organized by the Financial Services Roundtable. The event came in the wake of mass hacking attacks against Target, Home Depot, JPMorgan Chase and other financial institutions.\n\n\"You're going to be hacked,\" Joseph Demarest, assistant director of the FBI's cyberdivision, told the business leaders. \"Have a plan.\"\n\nNearly 439 million records were stolen in the past six months, said Supervisory Special Agent Jason Truppi of the FBI. Nearly 519 million records were stolen in the past 12 months, he said.\n\nAbout 35% of the thefts were from website breaches, 22% were from cyberespionage, 14% occurred at the point of sale when someone bought something at a retail store, and 9% came when someone swiped a credit or debit card, the FBI said.\n\nAbout 110 million Americans — equivalent to about 50% of U.S. adults — have had their personal data exposed in some form in the past year, said Tim Pawlenty, president of the Financial Services Roundtable and the former governor of Minnesota.\n\nAbout 80% of hacking victims in the business community didn't even realize they'd been hacked until they were told by government investigators, vendors or customers, according to a recent study by Verizon cited by Pawlenty.\n\nBusinesses need to reach out to the FBI and Secret Service for tips on how to protect their data before something happens, agents said. If a business is hacked, company officials need to contact government agents rather than trying to keep the attack quiet and deal with it internally, the FBI said. \"No one is going to solve this problem on their own,\" said Supervisory Special Agent Thomas Grasso of the FBI. \"This is something we all need to work together on.\"\n\nFBI and Secret Service officials say they have taken down international hackers with the help of U.S. companies and international law enforcement allies overseas. Agents said many of the attacks against U.S. companies are done by cybercriminals in other nations.\n\nOne Romanian hacker was lured to Boston by Secret Service Special Agent Matt O'Neill, who used the Internet to pose as a woman and invite the cybercriminal on a trip to the USA to enjoy gambling and romance. \"He was quite surprised that I was the one meeting him when he arrived,\" said O'Neill, who worked on the case for months.\n\nThe man was arrested and is serving seven years in a U.S. prison. Romanian authorities extradited one of his co-conspirators to the USA, reflecting stronger partnerships between U.S. law enforcement authorities and U.S. allies to catch hackers.\n\n\"Five years ago, we would have focused on whether the (hacker) was in the United States where we could get our hands on them,\" Grasso said. \"Today, we're going to team up with our overseas law enforcement partners and go after them.\"\n\nCongress could help by passing cybersecurity legislation to update surveillance laws and give federal agents greater authority to go after cybercriminals, Pawlenty said. The House has passed a bill that the Senate has not taken up. The Senate has taken a piecemeal approach, approving one bill that would make it easier for the Department of Homeland Security to hire cybersecurity experts.\n\n\"Our government and our businesses are in a daily fight against hackers,\" Pawlenty said. \"It's getting increasingly concerning, and it needs to be met with action by Congress.\"", "authors": [], "publish_date": "2014/10/20"}, {"url": "https://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/2020/01/01/phishing-attempts-look-real-but-theres-always-giveaway/2775646001/", "title": "Phishing attempts look real, but there's always a giveaway.", "text": "When Chase bank e-mails you to warn of a fraud alert to your account, you pay attention.\n\nBut when your work e-mail is associated with a card you don't have, and when the return address isn't from Chase, it's so obvious a fraudulent e-mail that we laugh it off.\n\nBut it looked and felt real. So much so, I wanted to just quickly show it to you and flag it, to make sure you don't fall victim to this phishing attempt.\n\nRemember, one click on the e-mail, and the hackers can take control of our digital lives. That's what happened to Hillary Clinton's campaign manager for the 2016 election that led to the hack of her e-mails. He got a bogus e-mail that looked like it was from Google, asking John Podesta to update his credentials in what's called a \"spear-phishing\" attack.\" One click, and Wikileaks got access to the campaign e-mails.\n\nWhat to look for? Let us spell out the ways.\n\nLearn more: Best credit cards of 2023\n\nBogus e-mail address\n\nAdmin@vagaro is not how Chase bank would sign an e-mail. That's your first giveaway. (Vagaro is actually a reservation type search engine for businesses, to help customers book appointments.)\n\nDear Customer\n\nBanks address us by our name.\n\nYour Card\n\nThe e-mail doesn't spell out the four last digits of your credit card number, because it doesn't have it. It would like to, though.\n\nPhony charges\n\nThat you wouldn't recognize. Have you shopped at Top Up B.V. lately? Of course not. The hacker wants you to click the \"No\" button badly.\n\nYes and No\n\nThis is where the phishing attempt lives. Click No or Yes, and it's goodbye digital identity.\n\nSafety!:Your 2020 checklist: 6 steps to a safer digital life\n\nKender:2020 is a great time to make these 5 easy New Year's tech resolutions\n\nBelow, take a look at an actual fraud alert from Chase (yup, I've gotten them, but not from successful phishing, just fraud at retail.)\n\nNotice how I'm addressed by name, the bank uses the last four digits of my card (long since canceled.) and what you can't see in the e-mail is a long paragraph vouching for the validity of the e-mail.\n\n\"If you have concerns about the authenticity of this message, please visit chase.com/CustomerService for options on how to contact us, or call the phone number on the back of your credit card and reference the Chase Library Code.\"\n\nChase also offers a link to read more about suspicious e-mails, https://www.chase.com/digital/fraud-security. One big tip from Chase is to activate alerts, so can get texts as well as e-mails and double the odds that these are legit.\n\nBut before you click on anything, check the return address, please. And for double precaution, calling the bank with a response is surely your safest way of communicating.\n\nHave questions about online safety? We're here to help. Reach out to me on Twitter, where I'm @jeffersongraham", "authors": [], "publish_date": "2020/01/01"}, {"url": "https://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/columnist/komando/2014/10/17/tech-tips/17288715/", "title": "Q and A: Get the lowest airfare", "text": "Kim Komando\n\nSpecial for USA TODAY\n\nQ. I want to use up some vacation time soon, but I don't want to spend a bundle on plane tickets. Do you have any advice?\n\nA. Buy on the right day. Late Monday night and early Tuesday morning are often the time you'll see the best deals. You can also save big if you fly in the middle of the week, early in the morning or later at night. Of course, it helps to find tickets and buy only through the right sites. Click here for the sites I recommend along with more money-saving advice.\n\n• Safe online banking\n\nQ. After hearing about the JPMorgan Chase hack, I'm kind of paranoid about banking online. Am I just being silly?\n\nA. No, a healthy dose of caution about doing anything online is a good thing. You just need to channel it into productive security measures. When you bank online, do it at home on a computer, network, and gadget you know is secure. In situations where you have to bank on the go, be to use your bank's app on a smartphone or tablet over a cellular connection.\n\n• Amazon shopping tricks\n\nQ. I went on Amazon to buy gift but it was out of stock. I don't want to keep checking back every day. Is there an easier way to know when it's available again?\n\nA. Go back to the item page and next to the product's title click the \"Email me\" button. When it is back in stock, you'll get an email. Simple!\n\n• Speed up an old PC\n\nQ. My PC is beyond major league slow. Is there a trick to speeding it up or should I get a new one?\n\nA. If your computer is more than four years old, consider getting a new one. But first, you can try speeding up the one you have. Use a program like Autoruns to weed out unneeded startup programs. This will help your system boot faster and run a bit smoother. See if your hard drive is full and what is filling it up with a program like WinDirStat. You can move large files to an external drive or delete them.\n\n• Lock down Facebook\n\nQ. I'm getting back on Facebook after being away for a year. I'm getting used to the new look, but I'm not sure what to make of the changes to the privacy settings. I don't want to change the wrong thing. What do I need to do?\n\nA. Start with the most important setting. Log in to Facebook and in the upper-right corner click the padlock icon. Click \"Who can see my stuff?\" and then set \"Who can see my future posts?\" to \"Friends.\" That will cover everything you post in the future. You can also use the \"View As\" link two items down to see what your profile looks like to the public. That way you can see what isn't private and change it. Of course, Facebook has plenty more privacy settings you'll want to tweak as well.\n\nOn the Kim Komando Show, the nation's largest weekend radio talk show, Kim takes calls and dispenses advice on today's digital lifestyle, from smartphones and tablets to online privacy and data hacks. For her daily tips, newsletters and more, visitwww.komando.com. E-mail her at techcomments@usatoday.com.\n\n", "authors": [], "publish_date": "2014/10/17"}, {"url": "https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/business/2014/08/28/jpmorgan-chase-bank-hack/14730183/", "title": "New cyberattack on banks 'very sophisticated'", "text": "Mike Snider and Kevin Johnson\n\nUSA TODAY\n\nThe cyberattacks on JPMorgan Chase and at least four other institutions were \"very sophisticated\" and were likely state-sponsored, the chairman of the House Intelligence Committee said Thursday.\n\nThe nation's largest bank said earlier in the day that it was working with the FBI and other authorities to determine the scope of a hacking attack that hit financial institutions. It said it is not seeing unusual fraud activity.\n\nThe other firms involved have not been identified.\n\nRep. Mike Rogers, R-Mich., the Intelligence Committee chairman who has been briefed on the attacks, described the intrusions on \"multiple\" financial institutions as \"very sophisticated.''\n\nThe level of sophistication \"takes a very special skill set,\" he said, and indicates that \"clearly, either they were aided by or conducted by a state sponsor.''\n\nWhile Rogers described Russia operators as among the \"most capable,'' he declined to comment on the source of the attacks nor did he identify how many institutions were involved.\n\nHowever, a federal law enforcement official, not authorized to comment publicly, told USA TODAY that at least four banks were hacked recently in a series of coordinated attacks that law enforcement officials believe were carried out by Russian hackers. It's unknown whether the Russian government played a role..\n\n\"This is a very real and dangerous threat and it's only going to get worse,'' Rogers said. \"We've been admiring the advanced sophistication of these actions long enough. Now, it's time to do something about it.\"\n\nThe Financial Times reported on its website Thursday that it interviewed people familiar with the matter who say the attacks were focused on commercial banks. Wall Street investment banks including Goldman Sachs, which have been the targets of previous attempts to steal data or disrupt services, were unaffected, the FT's story said.\n\nAlthough serious, those informed sources told the Financial Times that there was nothing to suggest that this new attack achieved anything of the magnitude of last year's data breach at Target, the retailer, which saw the theft of millions of cardholders' information.\n\nHowever, some sensitive data was lost in the attack, Bloomberg.com said, citing unnamed security experts.\n\nSophisticated cyberattacks against financial institutions have become \"an everyday occurrence\" and are just another part of the cost of doing business today, said Alexander Southwell, a former computer crime prosecutor who is now co-chair of the information technology group at Gibson Dunn & Crutcher, a Los Angeles-based law firm.\n\nAs a result, most banks are well-prepared. \"The work of cybersecurity is often like 'Whac-A-Mole,' with new threats regularly emerging, followed by efforts to stop those threats, which then leads to threats emerging in different ways,\" Southwell said. \"This attack may simply be another round in that 'game.' \"\n\nJPMorgan suggests that customers contact the bank if they detect any suspicious activity on their accounts. All of the bank's cards have full liability protection for consumers against fraud. \"As we learn more, we will contact anyone we determine may have been impacted by this,\" bank spokesman Michael Fusco said.\n\nIt remains unknown whether the digital intruders were financially motivated or part of an espionage campaign.\n\n\"The ability to overcome the typical financial defense-in-depth strategy outlined by JPMorgan points to capabilities that go beyond criminal activity and are in the realm of nation-state capabilities,\" said security expert Phil Lieberman, CEO of Lieberman Software.\n\nJPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon said in the firm's 2013 annual report to shareholders that it has bolstered its cyberdefenses. This year, JPMorgan Chase will spend more than $250 million and devote about 1,000 people to cybersecurity, he said. The company is also building three regional state-of-the-art cybersecurity operations centers.\n\n\"We're making good progress on these and other efforts, but cyberattacks are growing every day in strength and velocity across the globe,\" Dimon said. \"It is going to be a continual and likely never-ending battle to stay ahead of it — and, unfortunately, not every battle will be won.\"\n\nJPMorgan Chase customers were targeted in a large-scale computer attack Aug. 21 reported by computer security firm Proofpoint, but there's no indication that this and the most recent attack are linked.\n\nThe Sunnyvale, Calif.-based data security firm reported multiple examples of a credential phishing campaign in which authentic-looking e-mails encouraged users to click a link to see a secure message from JPMorgan.\n\nWhen they did, they were asked to enter their credentials. The Web page was hosted on a server in Moscow and installed a so-called Trojan-program onto their computer, allowing the attackers to compromise the user's computer.\n\nProofpoint identified several other active campaigns that appeared to be run by the same attackers, each of which attempted to install the same Trojan software.\n\nContributing: Jon Swartz, Elizabeth Weise and Jessica Guynn", "authors": [], "publish_date": "2014/08/28"}, {"url": "https://www.cnn.com/2022/12/26/investing/crypto-scams-fbi-tips/index.html", "title": "Beware the 'pig butchering' crypto scam sweeping across America ...", "text": "New York CNN —\n\nThe FBI says America has a “pig butchering” problem. And it’s costing victims millions of dollars.\n\n“We’re not talking about what’s going on at farms,” said Frank Fisher, public affairs specialist at the bureau’s Albuquerque division. “We’re talking about a cryptocurrency investment scam that is sweeping the country.”\n\nThe term pig butchering refers to an unsuspecting victim — the “pig” — being tricked by scammers into forking over money for a promised high rate of return.\n\nScammers “fatten up the pig by getting the victim to think that they’re investing in something and get them to move money into cryptocurrency,” says Santa Clara County, California, district attorney Jeff Rosen, whose office manages a multi-agency task force combating technology-related crimes.\n\nOnce criminals “fatten up” their victims’ digital wallets, they steal the money, Rosen says.\n\nA simple and dangerous approach\n\nPig butchering operations typically begin with a rudimentary approach, Rosen tells CNN: Scammers blast out millions of unsolicited messages each day to unsuspecting victims via text message and social media, often with an innocuous note like, “Hi, how are you?”\n\nThe scammer operating under a false identity builds a relationship with the victim, sometimes over just a few weeks, before suggesting the victim “invest” in cryptocurrency.\n\nOne technique involves assuring a victim that the scammer has made significant profits in cryptocurrency, persuading the victim they shouldn’t miss out on the benefits of cryptocurrency investments.\n\nThose who fall for the scam are coaxed into sending more and more money, and even provided with fictitious financial statements that make it appear their investments have made a substantial return.\n\n“This is where the ‘fattening up of the pig’ comes in,” Rosen says. Eventually, “you become a little suspicious. You try contacting the person that contacted you online and ask for your money back. [But] that person has ghosted you.”\n\nBeware the holidays\n\nRosen says the holiday season is an especially lucrative time for scammers as they often prey on people who may be feeling lonely.\n\nAnd while the initial approach is uncomplicated, Rosen says the actual scamming operations his team has investigated — which typically operate overseas including in Cambodia and China — involve highly sophisticated methods.\n\n“They’ve been trained by psychologists to try to figure out the best way to manipulate people,” he says. “You’re dealing with people that are going to use different psychological techniques to make you vulnerable and to get you interested in parting with your money.”\n\nExperts say basic awareness and diligence are key to guarding against online predators.\n\n“Be very careful when you go on social media and dating apps and somebody starts developing a relationship with you, and wants you to start investing,” says the FBI’s Fisher. “Don’t get butchered.”\n\n‘Another dead ringer’\n\nAs shoppers spend billions online this holiday season, the FBI says it has also seen a rise in scams involving the mega-retailer Amazon. “Online criminals’ scams are only limited by their imagination, and they have an impeccable sense of timing,” says Fisher.\n\nIn one type of scam, “somebody calls you and purports to be from Amazon or another wholesaler distributor, and they say there’s a problem with your credit card,” Fisher adds. The scammer then asks for a new credit card number.\n\nAnother variation of the Amazon scam involves a criminal calling a potential victim and indicating a suspicious purchase has been flagged on the user’s account, which has resulted in the suspension of purchasing privileges. The victim is asked to make a payment via credit card right then to reinstate the account.\n\n“Sometimes, they’ll even threaten to report you to law enforcement regarding your purchase,” Fisher says. “Another dead ringer. Do not fall for this scam.”\n\nAmazon’s security team advises consumers that the company will never ask a customer for personal information, and users should not respond to emails requesting account data or personally identifiable details.\n\nThe company said in a statement that it has worked to remove thousands of online phishing websites and phone numbers associated with impersonation scams, and has referred suspected scammers to law enforcement agencies worldwide.\n\n“Scammers who attempt to impersonate Amazon put consumers at risk,” said Dharmesh Mehta, Amazon’s vice president of Selling Partner Services. “Although these scams take place outside our store, we will continue to invest in protecting consumers and educating the public on how to avoid scams.”\n\nTargeting the elderly\n\nThe FBI says other types of scams on the rise this holiday season are largely aimed at defrauding senior citizens. “Scammers tend to focus on the elderly because they know they’re trusting, and they know older Americans usually have more money,” says Fisher.\n\nIn so-called sweepstakes scams, victims are contacted and congratulated for winning a sweepstakes prize, but they are told that they must first send money to cover taxes and processing fees that can be exorbitant.\n\nLegitimate “sweepstakes will not do that,” says Fisher. “They will not make you pay in advance to collect your money.”\n\nThere were approximately 60 fake sweepstakes victims in New Mexico alone last year whose collective losses totaled $1 million, he says.\n\nThe FBI suggests people check in with elderly relatives and friends about their online habits and whether they may have been targeted by cyber criminals.\n\n“If somebody has approached them and wants to be their friend and develop a relationship,” Fisher says, “ask questions.”", "authors": ["Josh Campbell"], "publish_date": "2022/12/26"}, {"url": "https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/local/2015/09/30/lessons-lead-high-paying-city-jobs/73115910/", "title": "Lessons lead to high-paying city jobs", "text": "KEN MAMMARELLA\n\nSpecial to The News Journal\n\nWILMINGTON For the 20 students in Zip Code Wilmington’s first boot camp, the future looks something like this: for(int i =0; i < answer.length; i++){system.out.print ln (answer[i]);}.\n\nIt also looks like this: Start school at 6:30 a.m. Stay after 10 p.m. Show up on weekends, too.\n\nAnd it looks like this: Wilmington is a place to learn, live, work and prosper.\n\n“We want to bring energy downtown,” said head of school Anthony Pisapia. “Get an education, get work, get entertained. Part of the reason for the name is about the revitalization of the city.”\n\nZip Code Wilmington is a nonprofit, started in 2014 by school president Jim Stewart, and cousins Ben duPont and Porter Schutt. It trains software developers in Java, Javascript, .Net and AngularJS. The resultant skills can generate six-figure salaries – and apps to support businesses and improve life.\n\nOr, in a lesson one random school day, software to identify the people you want around you when zombies attack. The topic sounds fictional, but the idea behind it is functional: Learn how to rank the properties and attributes of items in a list. Thinking about zombie fodder makes the project come alive.\n\nNew Delaware Met charter school decides not to close\n\nState auditor: two charter schools broke spending rules\n\n“It’s fun, and the coding is keeping my interest,” said student Wayne T. Hansen II, a former banker who had earlier blogged that “homework hurts the soul.”\n\nOr as student Marzuwq Muhammad, a band manager who ran a freelance computer repair service for many years, put it, “Frustration is part of this. It’s all part of learning.”\n\nThey’re “so driven, so hungry,” Pisapia said of the inaugural class, selected from 132 applicants.\n\nThe founders tried but failed to lure a similar school to Wilmington. So they started their own, with Barclays, Capital One, Chatham Financial, Corporation Service Co., Hacker Rank, JPMorgan Chase among its partners, according to zipcodewilmington.com. It also has state funding and support. Another nonprofit, called Tech Impact, manages and operates the school.\n\nThe partners helped develop the curriculum so graduates would have the skills that these and other local businesses need. “We’re looking for their passion,” said Matt Ritz, of Chatham Financial.\n\n“We wanted to do something to help Wilmington,” said Stewart. “We live in Wilmington. We care.” And they knew local firms needed coding experts.”\n\nThe DuPont Co. “had difficulty filling jobs. We were founded in the 1800s and discovered in the last 10 years that we’re a technology company,” DuPont said.\n\nThese jobs, according to figures on the school’s website, start at $55,000, and the school’s target is for $100,000 salaries for its graduates. “We’re going to find you a kick-ass job,” duPont told the students at a welcome reception. “And show the rest of Wilmington, Delaware, what’s possible.”\n\nThe first class includes students with computer-laden résumés. It also includes Joel Guevara, who learned about it because he was working as a carpenter in its Market Street building. Seth Young earned a living as an online poker player. Samantha Kraft was a Manayunk tobacconist when she met Tariq Hook, the school’s Java director. But dig deeper, and you’ll find tech skills for them, too.\n\nZip Code is a 12-week boot camp, as contrasted to a lengthy college curriculum.\n\n“In three months here, you can get what might take six years in college,” said Young, a Newark resident.\n\nStudent Sean Strauss of Pike Creek is familiar with the intensity of boot camp, from one where he lost 60 pounds. “You buckle down and make things happen,” he said. “You jump in.”\n\nThe classroom is an open space, with six sets of tables in two rows, although the students will often wheel their chairs into different configurations – in arcs around the instructor or in small, informal groups to help each other. Or maybe they’ll work from the floor, with their MacBooks on their laps.\n\nOffices, meeting rooms (with only one bean bag so far), a room with cubbies for all their backpacks and a lunchroom providing at least nine pots of coffee a day flank the classroom space.\n\nMastering these programming languages is not intuitive. “I’m passionate about things that are not widely understood,” said Luke Bonilla, a Pike Creek resident who was a preservation and operations specialist at Apple for three years. “And coding is like that. It’s like poetry, too.”\n\n“You need to have your “aha” moment before it makes sense,” said Strauss, a magazine editor. “Like when Neo starting seeing the Matrix.” That sci-fi observation aside, he offered this real-world assessment: The school is “an amazing initiative. It will change my life.”\n\nThey help each other , too. So when Kelsey Murphy, a sales and settlement coordinator for Schell Brothers, said that she understands how a program works but not how to create it on her own, a classmate explained. Such camaraderie is why they come in early, stay late and ask for “side project Saturdays.” In the first, they worked on a currency converter for dollars, gold and bitcoins.\n\n“They’re more engaged with ownership,” Hook said. “They build what they find useful.”\n\nMurphy, who plans on returning to a Rehoboth Beach homebuilder in an enhanced role, is one of four female students. “We don’t have a lot of mentors. You have to take it on yourself,” she said of the tech industry’s male domination. “It’s intimidating and exciting. You’re creating your own path.”\n\nThe boot camp costs $12,000, payable in cash or as $2,000, plus a 26-week paid apprenticeship, for those who qualify.\n\n“Coding boot camps didn’t even exist four years ago,” Bloomberg BusinessWeek wrote in May, but there are now more than 80, and they graduated more than 6,000 students in 2014. Six months after graduation, “59 percent report a salary increase, averaging $23,000.”\n\nStewart said Zip Code Wilmington’s goal is to graduate 100 students a year, and it is considering a summer camp and customized training for local companies.\n\nStudents in the first class range in age from Evan Thomas Maron, a 22-year-old Delaware College of Art and Design graduate who has just moved back to Wilmington, to Middletown business consultant Paul Watson, 47. They’re approaching it from differing life experiences. Maron hopes he can figure out how make more efficient the thousands of drawings needed for quality animation. Watson, recognizing how his business has evolved, hopes to make a good living in a new career.\n\n“Coding is the wave of the future,” said student James Eyre of Kennett Square, Pennsylvania, who has two college degrees and a background in bioinformatics. “Computers are everywhere. And we need people to process information that’s coming at us every day and get what want.”\n\nHeavy rain, then maybe a hurricane, in our forecast\n\nPardo: ‘I hit a tree branch or something’", "authors": [], "publish_date": "2015/09/30"}, {"url": "https://www.cnn.com/2022/06/22/investing/jpmorgan-layoffs-mortgages/index.html", "title": "JPMorgan lays off hundreds of employees in mortgage division as ...", "text": "1. How relevant is this ad to you?\n\nVideo player was slow to load content Video content never loaded Ad froze or did not finish loading Video content did not start after ad Audio on ad was too loud Other issues", "authors": ["Matt Egan"], "publish_date": "2022/06/22"}, {"url": "http://www.usatoday.com/story/money/2020/07/02/scams-glitches-scare-bank-customers-who-notice-money-missing/3284926001/", "title": "Scams, glitches scare bank customers who notice that money is ...", "text": "A social media storm kicked up this month as Chase banking customers panicked when it seemed as if money vanished from their bank accounts.\n\nSome consumers who expected to be paid via direct deposit claimed during the weekend Twitterstorm that they still had not seen the money yet.\n\nOddly enough, some other consumers reported on social media that they were spotting an extra $2,500 or so in their Chase bank accounts – money that didn't belong to them.\n\nChase's response on Twitter was: \"We know some customers (are) reporting seeing incorrect balances in their checking account overnight. This was caused by a technical issue that delayed updates on what displayed on Chase Mobile & Chase Online. We resolved this issue as of 9AM ET and accounts now show current balances.\"\n\nCarlene Lule, a spokesperson for JPMorgan Chase, said the technical problem delayed the bank for several hours from posting updated information that consumers could see online or via their mobile app.\n\nLearn more: Best current CD rates\n\n\"There’s nothing consumers need to do,\" Lule said Monday. \"As always, customers can email or call us if they see transactions on their accounts they don’t recognize.\"\n\nChase, the country's largest bank, did not give any specific details relating the the glitch, leaving many wondering just what did happen.\n\nCoronavirus treatments:COVID-19 drug remdesivir priced at $390 per vial for some patients, $520 for others\n\nSurviving during the pandemic:A national mask mandate could lower virus infections and help recovery\n\nThough the incident may be a short-lived snag, consumers cannot afford to be too complacent these days when it comes to bank security.\n\nThe coronavirus pandemic has made Americans increasingly reliant on handling their bank accounts online and via mobile apps. We're using mobile apps for everything from cashing checks to transferring money to someone else to splitting a check at dinner or paying a bill.\n\nAmid stay-at-home orders nationwide, many bank branches didn't allow walk-up traffic and were available to customers only by appointment. So mobile banking is a welcome alternative and may continue to be one for some time.\n\nMobile banking is attracting many novice customers now, too, and they might not be familiar with some scams.\n\n\"Studies of U.S. financial data indicate a 50% surge in mobile banking since the beginning of 2020,\" according to an FBI alert about cybercrime.\n\nYet the FBI is warning that we've got to watch out for:\n\nFake banking apps\n\nBad actors are designing apps that impersonate the real apps of real banks. The goal is to trick you into entering your login credentials.\n\n\"These apps provide an error message after the attempted login,\" the FBI warned.\n\nThe fake app later will use smartphone permission requests to obtain and bypass security codes texted to users.\n\n\"U.S. security research organizations report that in 2018, nearly 65,000 fake apps were detected on major app stores, making this one of the fastest growing sectors of smartphone-based fraud,\" the FBI said.\n\nPhishing attacks\n\nNot surprisingly, hackers are out to steal your banking credentials through sophisticated phishing attacks as more people work from home amid the pandemic.\n\nAnd frankly, there may be more money to steal as Economic Impact Payments began steadily arriving in bank accounts since April. Even jobless benefits can become a target because they have provided a flow of cash when state benefits are combined with a $600 extra weekly payment from the federal government.\n\n\"We're seeing fraudsters trying to take advantage of the fear and uncertainty surrounding the pandemic,\" said Paul Benda, senior vice president of risk and cybersecurity policy at the American Bankers Association.\n\nBenda would expect phishing attempts designed to harvest bank account information to heat up further if Congress approves a second round of stimulus checks.\n\n\"Any time there's a lot of money flowing from one place to another, the fraudsters try to intercept it,\" he said.\n\nIn general, con artists might attempt to send you an email claiming that a bank rejected depositing your stimulus payment, and the email could suggest you need to click on a link to fix the problem.\n\nIf you click on the link, of course, you're possibly downloading malware or being directed to a malicious website.\n\nIf you go to one of these fake sites and input your account number and password, the criminal has it now and can log in on the legitimate site.\n\nPhishing campaigns in the past have even spoofed the login pages of some Canadian banks. Phony sites could trick customers into entering a username and password to help a criminal access a bank account and steal money from it.\n\nBanks and others are trying to detect fraud early on, as well.\n\nIn 2018, banks stopped $22.3 billion in fraud attempts, according to the American Bankers Association’s 2019 Deposit Account Fraud Survey report. The industry group said banks’ prevention measures stopped nearly $9 out of every $10 of attempted fraud.\n\nEven so, it's up to the consumer to be skeptical and try to spot any trouble, too. Sometimes, you need to pay extra attention to your bank statements, especially when fraudulent activity is seeing an increase.\n\nConsumers need to use a two-factor authentication when they access banking via an app to secure accounts against compromise, the FBI said.\n\nWhat you don't want to do is act in haste if you get an email that seems to be alerting you to trouble. The con artists will always engineer a way to make you act quickly before you might suspect fraud.\n\nSo a phishing email might suggest that it's urgent that you act now if you want to avoid being locked out of your bank account. Again, don't click on any links or call any phone numbers listed in that email. Call your bank directly to see if there is a problem.\n\nAnd review your bank statements regularly.\n\nBank of America, for example, has sent notices in the past month to some of its customers that stressed that it's the customer's responsibility to examine their statements \"carefully and promptly.\" Customers need to raise questions when necessary about any errors with electronic transactions or withdrawals.\n\n\"You are in the best position to discover errors and unauthorized transactions on your account.\"\n\nAccording to federal regulations, customers must notify banks in writing of suspected problems or unauthorized transactions within specific timeframes in order to be fully protected against losses. You'd need to check your deposit agreement for a specific time to report problems.\n\nWhen it comes to errors involving your debit card or other electronic transactions such as a direct deposit, under the law you must dispute an error within 60 days of the first bank statement that shows the error.\n\n\"You may raise the dispute either in writing or orally, but the bank can ask that you send a written confirmation of the dispute within 10 days of an oral dispute. It may be a good idea to submit a dispute in writing so that you have a record of it,\" according to the National Consumer Law Center.\n\nScams, no doubt, will keep spreading in light of all the stress that consumers face in the COVID-19 era. Increasingly, you've got to keep an eye on your bank account too.\n\nContactSusan Tompor atstompor@freepress.com. Follow her on Twitter@tompor. Read more on business and sign up for our business newsletter.", "authors": [], "publish_date": "2020/07/02"}]}
+{"question_id": "20240119_17", "search_time": "2024/01/19/23:35", "search_result": [{"url": "https://www.cnn.com/2022/03/29/us/ukrainians-us-mexico-border-cec/index.html", "title": "US is welcoming Ukrainians at the border but turning away others ...", "text": "CNN —\n\nGroups of Ukrainian families at the US-Mexico border are getting the chance to do something most asylum-seeking migrants haven’t been allowed to do for years: cross legally into the United States.\n\nA memo obtained by CNN instructs officers at the border to consider exempting Ukrainians on a case-by-case basis from the public health restrictions the US has used to block migrants from entering the country since the early days of the pandemic.\n\nIt’s significant that only Ukrainians were singled out in the recent Department of Homeland Security memo.\n\nAnd it’s drawing attention from some immigrant rights advocates, who argue the way the US government is responding to the arrival of Ukrainians illustrates how political the US immigration system can be and highlights a racist double standard in how the US treats migrants.\n\n“The disparate treatment is really mind-blowing. The cases that we’ve seen denied for Black and brown migrants are life-and-death cases,” says Erika Pinheiro, litigation and policy director of Al Otro Lado, an organization that provides aid to migrants and refugees. “We’re talking children who might die are being denied entry.”\n\nPinheiro and other advocates who spoke with CNN stress that Ukrainians fleeing war deserve the chance to seek safety in the United States. But so do many others in desperate circumstances.\n\n“We support and welcome the Ukrainian community,” says Guerline Jozef, executive director of the Haitian Bridge Alliance. “Our goal is to be able to make sure that the same humanity that is being afforded to our Ukrainian community members is afforded to other people as well.”\n\nWhat witnesses describe at the border\n\nAsked about allegations of a double standard, a DHS spokesperson says exemptions to the public health restrictions at the border have been – and still are – granted on a case-by-case basis “to particularly vulnerable individuals of all nationalities for humanitarian reasons.”\n\nThe memo that suggests considering Ukrainians for exemptions notes that “the unjustified Russian war of aggression in Ukraine has created a humanitarian crisis.”\n\nAdvocates say they’ve seen an uptick in Ukrainians showing up at the US-Mexico border over the past year. But the numbers are still far smaller than the millions of Ukrainian refugees who’ve been fleeing to European countries.\n\nThese Ukrainians trying to reach the United States have generally flown to Mexico, where it’s easy to obtain a visa to travel, and then gone to ports of entry along the US southern border, Jessica Bolter of the Migration Policy Institute told CNN earlier this month.\n\nVehicles are lined up at the San Ysidro Port of Entry to cross into the United States on March 21. Mario Tama/Getty Images\n\nFrom October 2021 through February, CBP encountered just over 1,300 Ukrainians along the US southern border, according to agency data. Once taken into custody, the Ukrainians have largely been processed and allowed to remain in the US while they pursue their asylum claims.\n\nWe don’t yet have official statistics about how many Ukrainians have been allowed to cross at ports of entry in the past month – or how that data compares to other nationalities. DHS declined to provide that data to CNN, stating that those numbers will be released next month.\n\nBut in recent weeks, lawyers and advocates who work with migrants at the border say they repeatedly saw US authorities letting Ukrainians cross while turning away people of other nationalities. A CNN team in Tijuana also recently saw several Ukrainian families allowed to cross after being turned away earlier, while two Russian couples said they were turned away and told to wait.\n\nShe sees skin color as ‘a major factor’\n\nFor weeks human rights advocates and reporters who’ve documented the treatment of refugees in Europe have noted how many countries rolling out the welcome mat for Ukrainians have been indifferent at best, and hostile at worst, to Syrian refugees and others seeking safety.\n\nNow advocates who work along the US-Mexico border are making similar observations.\n\nJozef says she couldn’t help but think of the disparities when she saw the new guidance issued about Ukrainians at the border, and how quickly the US government granted humanitarian deportation protection to Ukrainians.\n\nShe thought of the many Haitians she says have been stuck in Tijuana – some for months, some for years – facing discrimination and dangerous living conditions but blocked from crossing the border and getting help. She thought of the many thousands of other Haitians who’ve been sent back on deportation and expulsion flights since President Biden took office. And she thought of Cameroonians, their country also devastated by war, who’ve been pushing for the same humanitarian deportation protections for more than a year.\n\nHaitian migrant Dor Louis Hermann holds his 3-year-old son Aadam Jr. at a makeshift camp near the pedestrian border bridge in Tijuana in July. Emilio Espejel/AP\n\n“The little boy from Ukraine is a hero, but what of the 11-year-old from Haiti?” she says. “Skin color unfortunately is a major factor in who gets protected … Why do we have to continuously beg for validation of our humanity?”\n\nMany Haitians, she says, have been forced to flee circumstances – including extreme poverty and violent crime – that she views as just as devastating as a military invasion.\n\n“We have entire neighborhoods displaced due to gang and political violence…in addition to natural disasters and climate change,” she says.\n\nRussians also have recently been turned away\n\nIn recent days at a border crossing in Tijuana, as an increasing number of Ukrainians and Russians have showed up, Erika Pinheiro says the scene has been striking.\n\n“Once the Ukrainians and Russians get to Mexico, they help each other,” she says. “To me it’s really touching to see that, because they’re putting aside the fact that their countries are in conflict to keep each other safe.”\n\nUkrainian families, Pinheiro says, were generally allowed to cross in recent days, while migrants from numerous other countries were turned away. That included dozens of Russians, who camped near the port of entry and hoped officials would eventually let them through.\n\nVideo Ad Feedback 'An unreachable dream for many': How a Trump-era policy keeps Ukraine refugees stuck at the Mexican border 03:44 - Source: CNN\n\nWhen a CNN team spoke with some of the Russians who’d been turned back at the border earlier this month, they said they feared persecution after speaking out against Russian President Vladimir Putin’s government.\n\nPinheiro says the Russians were eventually forced to leave their encampment but were later allowed to cross the border. Other media reports have emerged in recent days of Russians being turned away.\n\nDHS declined to provide data on how many Russians have been permitted to cross over the past month, or how many have been turned back, stating that those numbers would be released next month.\n\nA public health policy at the border has led to more than 1 million expulsions\n\nThe Trump administration announced public health restrictions at its borders with Mexico and Canada in March 2020, claiming that the coronavirus pandemic made it necessary to block migrants from entering the country to prevent the spread of Covid-19.\n\nSince then, under the policy, known as “Title 42” for the US code invoked in its implementation, authorities say they’ve expelled would-be migrants at the border more than 1.7 million times. Exactly how many people have been impacted isn’t clear, since that figure includes people who’ve tried multiple times to cross.\n\nSince its inception, immigrant rights groups have been decrying Title 42 as racist and xenophobic. They’ve argued officials are using the pandemic as a pretext to block migrants from seeking asylum in the United States – and that the vast majority of those impacted are people of color.\n\nThere’s been increasing pressure from immigrant rights groups and Democratic lawmakers to end it.\n\nBut the policy remains in place more than a year into Biden’s presidency. Recently behind the scenes, as the pandemic landscape evolves, discussions in the Biden administration about terminating the public health order have picked up speed, three sources familiar with the discussions told CNN.\n\nAdvocates argue it’s long past time to end the policy and overhaul the way migrants are being treated at the border, but it’s unclear whether that will happen any time soon.\n\nWe’ve seen disparate treatment of immigrants from different countries before\n\nIn the complex US immigration system, global politics are among many factors shaping the decisions officials make. And the United States has a long history of disparate treatment of immigrants from different parts of the world.\n\nSometimes policies have favored refugees from certain countries over others.\n\nFor decades, Cubans who stepped foot on US soil were immediately deemed to be in the country legally, no matter how they got here, with government policies granting them benefits like food stamps, Medicaid, housing assistance and work permits soon after their arrival. The Obama administration ended that policy in 2017.\n\nJust last year, as Kabul fell under Taliban rule, the United States airlifted more than 70,000 Afghans into the country as part of Operation Allies Welcome.\n\nIn the 1980s, the US rejected many asylum applications from Central Americans fleeing right-wing governments backed by the United States. Religious leaders at the time formed the Sanctuary Movement to protect Salvadorans and Guatemalans from deportation when the US government failed to grant them refuge.\n\nIn addition to political considerations, advocates along the US-Mexico border say it’s impossible to ignore how race affects the way policies are shaped and laws are enforced.\n\nTwo families, two different responses at the border\n\nBlaine Bookey says she’s currently representing two families who illustrate how differently cases at the border can be handled.\n\nIn one recent instance, she says she met a Ukrainian woman at the border who was crying after she and her three children were turned back.\n\nBookey, legal director of the Center for Gender and Refugee Studies in San Francisco, helped bring publicity to the case and says she also filed a written request to officials asking them to let the family cross.\n\nAs media coverage and public pressure mounted, that woman and her children were allowed to cross the next day, Bookey says. Now they’re living with family members in California, she says, and trying to sort out their next steps in the United States.\n\nA woman from Ukraine stands with her children before crossing into the United States. U.S. authorities allowed the woman and her three children to seek asylum on March 10, a reversal from a day earlier when she was denied entry. Gregory Bull/AP\n\nBut Bookey says a Haitian family she met in Tijuana “in very similar circumstances” hasn’t been as lucky.\n\nThey were also fleeing dangerous conditions in their home country, she says, and also have family in the United States ready to receive them.\n\nBut late last year, before the Ukrainian family had even set out on their journey, the three Haitian children and their parents were turned away at the border after arriving, Bookey says. Recently, with Bookey’s help, they filed a new request for an exemption.\n\nThey remain stuck in Tijuana with no end in sight.\n\nOne daughter is suffering from a worsening skin condition, Bookey says, and needs medical attention.\n\n“They’re not doing very well at all. They’re living in a shelter that’s totally squalid conditions. The daughter is really suffering. She’s crying, not sleeping. She has an infection and fevers,” Bookey says.\n\nWhy one advocate sees signs of hope\n\nBookey and other advocates who spoke with CNN stress that Ukrainians fleeing war and Russians fleeing a repressive government deserve the chance to seek safety in the United States.\n\n“You see this kind of swift recognition of Ukrainians. We’re really happy about that. That was the right call,” Bookey says. “But then there’s all these other families that have been languishing there for months, some of which are even in more dire circumstances.”\n\nPinheiro says she sees signs of hope in the way officials appear to be handling Ukrainians’ cases.\n\n“It demonstrates what’s possible when Americans can come together to welcome refugees,” she says.\n\nThe system, she says, actually could work for everyone. She hopes that soon it will.", "authors": ["Catherine E. Shoichet"], "publish_date": "2022/03/29"}, {"url": "https://www.cnn.com/2022/10/20/politics/immigration-migrants-biden-border-policy/index.html", "title": "Biden's immigration policy failures lead to frustration and finger ...", "text": "CNN —\n\nThe Department of Homeland Security put together a plan months ago to deal with thousands of migrants arriving at the border: flying some of them to cities deeper inside the US for processing.\n\nBut the plan is dead for now, officials tell CNN, in part after the White House grew hesitant over the complicated logistics.\n\nIt has been an endless cycle since President Joe Biden took office, according to multiple administration officials and sources close to the White House. Agency officials dream up a plan but then struggle to get White House approval, even as the problem compounds and Republicans step up their criticism.\n\nFrustration is mounting, too, especially among those on the front lines.\n\n“Everything seems to influence each other,” one Homeland Security official told CNN. “Things develop. People change their minds. They lose one battle, and they do this instead.”\n\n“I think they’re at the point where it’s Hail Mary after Hail Mary,” the official added.\n\nAs border arrests remain high, officials are grappling with how to stem the flow of migration – resulting in a constant churn of ideas, including processing migrants further from the border.\n\n“Interior assistance and community support is something the White House is only serious about discussing when encounter rates rise,” another Homeland Security official told CNN, adding that additional big policy changes aren’t expected until after the midterm election.\n\nThe process is often bogged down by a back and forth between the White House and DHS. The department, under pressure to mitigate the situation on the US-Mexico border, floats proposals to the White House, which in turn asks for additional information, fueling frustrations between the two, sources told CNN. Disagreements and questions over policy, including interior processing, also bubble up among officials within DHS.\n\n“These are areas that have we have been working through together,” a source familiar with internal discussions said, adding that there may be varying opinions across agencies as well as within them.\n\n“There are always differences of opinions to work through,” the source added.\n\nAnd last week, one significant plan came to fruition: The administration announced a humanitarian parole program for Venezuelan migrants while also expanding the use of the controversial Trump-era pandemic emergency restriction on the border.\n\n“Encouraging robust debate, hearing different ideas, and getting lots of expertise before making policy decisions that impact millions of lives is a feature, not a bug,” said Abdullah Hasan, a White House spokesperson, in a statement. “And it is through this smart, deliberative, and collaborative approach that we have seen significant progress in rebuilding the immigration system the prior Administration gutted.”\n\nA DHS spokesperson maintained the administration is “unified,” and defended the administration’s response to what it called a “broken and dismantled immigration system” it inherited from the Trump administration.\n\n“This Administration is unified in its commitment to enforce our laws and secure our border, while building a safe, orderly, and humane immigration system; discussion and a diversity of ideas are not just expected but essential as we develop real solutions on an issue of this complexity,” the spokesperson said.\n\n“The administration has effectively managed an unprecedented number of noncitizens seeking to enter the United States, interdicted more drugs, and disrupted more smuggling operations than ever before, all while reversing the cruel and harmful policies of the prior administration,” the spokesperson added.\n\nOngoing political challenge for administration\n\nImmigration was among the first issues Biden faced when a surge of unaccompanied minors caught the administration flatfooted in the first months of his presidency. That crisis, officials say, along with the growing number of migrants at the border continues to loom over the administration’s immigration agenda.\n\n“The paralysis on the border has impacted their whole agenda,” one source close to the White House said.\n\nRepublican governors, meanwhile, have sent migrants to Democratic-led cities as an affront to Democrats and to the White House – bringing the issue of immigration to the forefront of national discussion and drawing fierce criticism from immigrant advocates, city officials and the Biden administration.\n\nImmigrant advocates and Democrats have also slammed the administration over its increased emphasis on enforcement and most recently, moving to turn back thousands of Venezuelan migrants arriving at the US-Mexico border under the Trump-era Title 42.\n\n“Expanding Title 42 to now include Venezuelans adds salt to an open wound while further eroding our asylum system that President Biden promised to restore,” said Democratic Sen. Bob Menendez of New Jersey in a statement.\n\nRe-opening ports of entry to asylum seekers in an orderly way using, for example, a Customs and Border Protection application and opening centers that house multiple federal agencies to process migrants are among the other options that have been circulated for months, according to a source familiar with the discussions.\n\nThe White House has received briefings from DHS about plans for the joint processing centers, the source familiar with internal discussions told CNN, describing it as the normal course of business.\n\n“You get an appropriation from Congress, you work to meet the directions of that appropriation in ways that also match with the priorities that the secretary of Homeland Security has set, likely or in some way in coordination with the White House,” the source said.\n\nOther policies have moved forward, like a regulation that allows asylum officers to hear and decide asylum claims – cases that are usually assigned to immigration judges – when migrants present at the US southern border and a dedicated immigration court docket for migrant families. Both of those policies were laid out in an immigration blueprint released by the White House last year.\n\nSurge in Venezuelan migrants\n\nConcerns over increasing border arrests is in part based on mass movement across the Western Hemisphere, where thousands of migrants, particularly Venezuelans, are fleeing deteriorating conditions.\n\nPoor economic conditions, food shortages and limited access to health care, for example, are increasingly pushing Venezuelans to leave, posing an urgent challenge for the Biden administration. More than 6 million Venezuelans have fled their country, matching Ukraine in the number of displaced people and surpassing Syria, according to the United Nations.\n\nOver recent weeks, around 1,000 Venezuelans were apprehended along the US-Mexico border daily, according to a Homeland Security official. To compare, just under 1,000 Venezuelans arrived at the US southern border in the entire month of February 2021, US government data shows.\n\nHomeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas reiterated last week that Venezuelan migrants shouldn’t cross the border unlawfully, citing instead the humanitarian parole program.\n\n“These actions make clear that there is a lawful and orderly way for Venezuelans to enter the United States, and lawful entry is the only way,” he said in a statement. “Those who attempt to cross the southern border of the United States illegally will be returned to Mexico and will be ineligible for this process in the future.”\n\nAdministration officials have also been working closely with countries across the Western Hemisphere to try to manage the flow of migration north and set up protections closer to migrant origin countries.\n\nBut the myriad of considerations and federal agencies involved in immigration often results in an arduous decision-making process.\n\n“A big challenge for this issue is that it sits on the cracks of a whole set of structures at the White House,” said a former Obama administration official. “It is a highly complicated process and that all is just dealing with logistic management of moving people around. Let alone, the expansion of alternative avenues for people to have access to relief.”\n\nThat’s become exacerbated by the politically charged environment and attention on solving the crisis in the near term.\n\n“Much of the focus, and much of the public focus, is on the short-term emergency and how do you manage the movement of people,” said Cecilia Munoz, the former director of the White House Domestic Policy Council under President Barack Obama, noting that Congress also hasn’t provided any new tools to the government.\n\n“Every decision is fraught because the Republicans have made it so clear that they intend to make political payout of the situation. No decision is just about the merits of the action contemplated. All of it has political resonance,” Munoz said.", "authors": ["Priscilla Alvarez"], "publish_date": "2022/10/20"}, {"url": "https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/border-issues/2019/11/22/remain-in-mexico-expanding-tucson-border-migrant-protection-protocols/4272371002/", "title": "'Remain in Mexico' expanding to Tucson border", "text": "TUCSON — President Donald Trump's administration is expanding its controversial Migrant Protection Protocols — more commonly known as \"Remain in Mexico\" — to the remaining portions of the Arizona-Mexico border near Tucson, the last major stretch of the southwestern U.S. border without the program.\n\nU.S. Customs and Border Protection will begin busing asylum-seeking migrants apprehended in the Tucson Sector, which spans Cochise, Santa Cruz and Pima counties, for nearly 300 miles to El Paso.\n\nFrom there, they will be processed and sent to neighboring Ciudad Juárez, Mexico, to await the outcome of their asylum proceedings.\n\nThe U.S. Department of Homeland Security confirmed the expansion Friday evening. In an emailed statement, the department said it was \"strengthening\" the program in the Tucson Sector in response to \"emerging trends and threats\" from smuggling groups at the border.\n\n“We’re strengthening our MPP program in Tucson sector and Del Rio sector because what we’ve seen as we’ve tracked these flows is they’re going in these sectors where MPP is maybe not as strong as it could be,” Acting Homeland Security Secretary Chad Wolf said in a written statement.\n\nPrep for the polls: See who is running for president and compare where they stand on key issues in our Voter Guide\n\n“So we��re continuing to reassess that and putting in and strengthening those measures, and we’ll see them move elsewhere, but that’s part of what Border Patrol does, what CBP does and what DHS does,” he said.\n\nStill-unanswered questions remain about how the expansion will work. Chief among them, how many migrants will be bused to El Paso each day? Will the program apply only to migrants apprehended by Border Patrol in the Tucson Sector and not those who presented their claims at the ports of entry?\n\nIn a tweet Friday morning, after his visit to the Texas border in the Rio Grande Valley, Wolf also expressed his support for the program, saying it \"works\" and \"is a game-changer\" in addressing the ongoing border crisis.\n\n\"Great job by all who are helping make this program stronger,\" Wolf wrote.\n\nThe expansion, first reported by the Washington Post, has also been confirmed by nonprofits working with migrants in southern Arizona, such as the Kino Border Initiative in Ambos Nogales. They expressed their opposition, highlighting concerns over security and legal access for migrants sent back to Mexico through the program.\n\n\"CBP (Customs and Border Protection) is intentionally transferring people away from places where services exist and placing thousands of asylum-seekers in harm’s way, exposing them to suffering and danger, and blocking them from seeking safety,\" the nonprofit said in a written statement.\n\n\"This expansion of Remain in Mexico is another of the Trump administration’s many systematic attempts to block an individual’s right to seek asylum. The violations against asylum must be ended decisively and immediately,\" the statement continued.\n\nMore than 50,000 asylum seekers this year have been sent back to wait at one of six designated Mexican border cities. None of those cities is along Arizona's border with Mexico.\n\nAgents in the Yuma Sector, which covers the western third of the state's border, have transported more than 4,830 migrants since March about 50 miles east to Calexico, California, to be sent back to Mexicali as part of \"Remain in Mexico.\"\n\nThe expansion into the Tucson Sector means that the Trump administration will have effectively implemented the program at all of the busiest routes along the U.S.-Mexico border.\n\nIn the past year, border agents in the Tucson Sector have detained significantly fewer migrant families than agents in neighboring areas like El Paso and Yuma, both of which have the program.\n\nBut as the numbers of family apprehensions decreased in those two areas, they began to increase in the Tucson Sector, according to statistics from Customs and Border Protection.\n\nIn October, Tucson was the only sector along the entire border that saw an increase in the arrival of families. Agents apprehended 2,373 migrants traveling as a family unit, slightly more than El Paso and almost six times more than in Yuma.\n\nShelter operators in Tucson who help migrants released by the federal government said on Friday they would wait a few weeks to see how the new policy change would impact them.\n\nEarlier this year, those shelters began to receive migrant families that the Border Patrol bused from El Paso to Tucson, after the number of apprehensions overwhelmed officials there. That practice continued until the summer.\n\nTeresa Cavendish is with Catholic Community Services of Southern Arizona, which operates Casa Alitas, the largest permanent shelter in Tucson. She said the shelter had seen an increase in the number of migrants released into its custody in the past few weeks, consistent with the increase in apprehensions at the border.\n\nAfter hearing about the expansion, she contacted immigration and border officials she works with daily, who confirmed it.\n\nCavendish said she was deeply troubled by it, especially considering many of the hardships migrants face on the way to the United States, only to be sent back to Mexico. She also expressed health concerns as temperatures begin to drop along the border region.\n\n\"As we enter the flu season ... these migrant families ... are going to be exposed to things like the flu, like the chicken pox, like other things that could have been avoided if they had the opportunity to enter the United States,\" she said.\n\nGretchen Lopez, who runs the Inn Project, another permanent shelter for released migrants in Tucson, said she was still expecting to receive released migrants later in the day.\n\nShe said she also expected to see a decline in releases in the coming weeks as the program got underway in the Tucson area, and more migrants were instead bused to El Paso.\n\n\"It just sounds so horrible and it's so heartbreaking to me because like every day we're reading articles about how bad it is in Tijuana, how bad it is in Ciudad Juárez, how bad everything is in those places,\" Lopez said.\n\nThe Trump administration's Migrant Protection Protocols program has faced mounting criticism about the safety and security that returned migrants face in the Mexican border cities.\n\nReports of kidnappings, extortion and violence targeting migrants returned under the program have surfaced along the entire border.\n\nJuárez, where migrants detained in the Tucson area would end up, has already received more than 15,000 migrants, the most of any Mexican border city. The local government opened a shelter for them at a former maquiladora earlier this year, but it hasn't been enough.\n\nThousands more migrants sent back under \"Remain in Mexico\" are staying at overflowing, smaller shelters mostly run by churches, or living in squalid conditions in poorer neighborhoods of the city.\n\nHave any news tips or story ideas about the U.S.-Mexico border? Reach the reporter at rafael.carranza@arizonarepublic.com, or follow him on Twitter at @RafaelCarranza.\n\nSupport local journalism. Subscribe to azcentral.com today.", "authors": [], "publish_date": "2019/11/22"}, {"url": "https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/2020/09/24/covid-19-border-restrictions-weigh-el-paso-juarez/5825999002/", "title": "COVID-19 border restrictions weigh on El Paso, Juarez", "text": "Blanca Escalante spends much of her time taking care of seniors, crisscrossing between work and family obligations on both sides of the U.S.-Mexico border.\n\nThe 53-year-old works weeknights assisting an elderly couple in El Paso, where she lives as a legal permanent resident. On weekends, she helps her sister in Juárez care for their 84-year-old mother — a commitment that has become increasingly onerous as travel restrictions at the border head into a seventh month.\n\n\"My mother and sister have a tourist visa and can't cross,\" Escalante said. \"So I'm the one that has to go there.\n\n\"I don't go to drink beer. I don't go to shop,\" she said. \"I go to take care of my mother. For me, it's essential. I can't not go.\"\n\nAs family and financial obligations mount for those whose lives bridge the U.S.-Mexico divide, so does the pressure to cross the border — even at the risk of unpredictable lines, record-long wait times and rapidly shifting border policies that some worry could leave them trapped on one side or the other.\n\nThe added misery on the border could endure until a COVID-19 vaccine is widely available, not expected until after mid-2021.\n\nPresident Donald Trump first restricted travel at the U.S.-Mexico border March 21 to slow the spread of COVID-19, limiting crossings to U.S. citizens and permanent residents for \"essential\" visits only, for work, school or health care.\n\nThe partial closure has divided the lives of Borderland families in ways few could have imagined before the pandemic.\n\nThe sort of family visit Escalante makes doesn't fall into the U.S. government's category of \"essential\" travel, but she says her responsibilities weigh heavily.\n\n\"My son is afraid they'll close the bridges on me,\" she said. \"We're all afraid. But it's my mother. I have to go see her.\"\n\nSome trips across the border are worth the risk\n\nEscalante and thousands of others continue to cross despite the anxiety and helplessness. A pesar del coraje — despite the fury — they feel at not knowing whether their commute home might be the equivalent of the 40 minutes from El Paso to Las Cruces or five hours to Lubbock.\n\nMore:Border wait times surge at El Paso crossing as CBP cracks down on 'non-essential' travel\n\nLeonardo Escobosa, a 22-year-old economics graduate of the University of Texas at El Paso, fell in love a year ago with Yailin Espinoza, 23, who lives in Juárez. They spent five months of the pandemic apart, hoping the government would loosen the restrictions. Finally, in August, Escobosa decided to risk crossing.\n\nHe surprised Espinoza by arriving earlier than she expected at her mother's house, with flowers.\n\n\"We hugged each other for like five minutes there on the sidewalk,\" said Escobosa, who had almost zero physical contact with anyone since the pandemic set in. \"I felt completely relieved. I needed a hug from my girlfriend.\"\n\nMore than once, 25-year-old Grecia Luna arrived late to work at an El Paso coffee shop after the restrictions made bridge wait times less predictable. The dual citizen found independence working on the U.S. side of the border while living with roommates in Juárez, where she grew up. The coffee shop, Fahrenheit 180, didn't survive the pandemic and she lost her job.\n\n“It was a stressful situation from the moment I would leave my house,” Luna said. “You have to organize your time around the border crossing. When I’m there waiting, I feel as if I’m getting older.”\n\nIf there is a measure of how intertwined lives are in El Paso and Juárez and other border communities, it may be this: After U.S. Customs and Border Protection intensified the crackdown on \"non-essential\" crossings in August, wait times skyrocketed to six, seven or eight hours.\n\nAnd crossings barely budged, according to CBP.\n\n\"The efforts to reduce non-essential travel are resulting in longer-than-normal wait times, especially during weekend and off-peak periods,\" said Hector Mancha, who oversees ports of entry as director of field operations for CBP's El Paso field office. \"Despite this, it appears many members of our community continue to travel in numbers consistent to what we experienced before this initiative was implemented. We hope that members of our community reassess their need to cross the border and limit their trips accordingly for the common good.\"\n\nAugust crossing data isn't yet available. But personal vehicle crossings at El Paso's international bridges dropped hard after the restrictions were put in place, to fewer than 400,000 crossings in April from a monthly average between 900,000 to 1.2 million, according to the Borderplex Business Barometer, a monthly analysis produced by UTEP researchers. By June, the latest month for which data is available, they were up to 550,000.\n\nRep. Veronica Escobar (D-El Paso) said she has been advocating for a binational testing strategy that would allow border communities to co-exist safely.\n\n\"The fact that this effort (to close bridge lanes) hasn’t worked proves how deeply interconnected our communities are,\" she said. \"We should refocus our efforts on a bi-national COVID plan. Trying to create extra hardship for people isn’t going to solve the problem.\"\n\nThe weekend of the crackdown, Escalante endured an eight-hour bridge line overnight, with her daughter at the wheel. Escobosa spent Saturday with his girlfriend, then six hours on Sunday locked in his car, inching north toward the international line.\n\n\"It's a feeling of helplessness,\" Escalante said. \"CBP didn't even ask why we went.\"\n\nEscobosa said of Espinoza, \"I love her and I want to spend as much time as I can with her. If it’s raining, if there’s lightning, if I have to make a 12-hour line, nothing is going to change. I will still want to spend time with her.”\n\n'We thought it would be temporary'\n\nOn the second-to-last Friday in March, Downtown El Paso was breezy, cool and uncharacteristically empty.\n\nThe city's stay-at-home order was still four days off. But that morning, the Department of Homeland Security announced that it would restrict travel at the U.S.-Mexico border, starting at midnight.\n\n\"It was shocking and we thought it would be temporary,\" said Estefanía Casteñeda Pérez, a PhD candidate at the University of California Los Angeles who conducts research on transborder communities. \"People had to choose for the first time which side of the border they were going to stay in.\"\n\nOvernight, the borderline — long regarded in border communities as little more than a threshold to home — suddenly hardened.\n\nThere was widespread confusion for days about whether Mexico had closed its border to U.S. citizens (it hadn't) or whether Juárez residents with a tourist card could cross to the U.S. for \"essential\" reasons (they couldn't).\n\nThe young couple, Escobosa and Espinoza, remained hopeful. “Time would go by and we would still hope to see each other next month,” Espinoza said.\n\nIn practice, six months on, the restrictions still bar most Mexican nationals from crossing the land border, including those who hold a tourist visa, while U.S. citizens and permanent residents face increased scrutiny by CBP at ports of entry.\n\nBut the restrictions didn't end there.\n\nSince the pandemic began, the Trump administration has floated or taken additional measures to curb movement at the U.S.-Mexico border, using the contagion to justify reducing legal cross-border flows.\n\nIn July, the Trump administration threatened to bar international students from living in the U.S. while taking fall classes online, a policy it rescinded after facing a rash of lawsuits by universities. The University of Texas at El Paso vowed to defend its students' ability to stay in the U.S. — but fear kept many from daring to go home to Mexico or other countries.\n\nMore:Trump administration drops rule barring foreign students from taking online-only classes\n\nThen, in mid-August, the Trump administration drafted a proposal that could have blocked U.S. citizens and permanent residents from returning to the U.S. at the Mexican border. That proposal, on dubious legal footing, never left the draft stage.\n\nBut 10 days later, U.S. Customs and Border Protection announced it would crack down on non-essential travel at ports of entry at the U.S.-Mexico border. In El Paso, CBP closed all but two lanes at three major international bridges on a weekend, catching many unawares and provoking wait times that ballooned to six, seven and eight hours.\n\nEscalante said the changes — both threatened and real — make her nervous.\n\nShe isn't crossing as often as she used to, she said. She won't go to Juárez during weekdays for fear of missing work; but, in her experience since the crackdown, weekends are when the wait times are worst.\n\n\"Last weekend, I sent money to my mother,\" she said. \"And I am praying that she doesn't fall ill.\"\n\nEscobosa has resorted to logistical gymnastics to make his relationship work.\n\nHe plans for the uncertainty, he said — keeps the gas tank full, checks the oil in his car, thinks hours ahead about what awaits him.\n\n“I don’t know if I’m going to cross in two hours or if I’m going to cross in six hours,” Escobosa said. “Why do we have to get to the point that I can’t eat or drink anything three hours before because I fear not knowing how long I’ll be there (at the bridge)?”\n\nLuna, looking for a new job in El Paso despite the complications, doesn't know what to make of the future.\n\n“I’m in the middle and I can’t control this situation,” Luna said. “I feel like less and less is in my hands to know where I will be able to work and live.”\n\nNo relief in sight\n\nAs the pandemic wears on, the \"temporary\" restrictions are renewed like clockwork. Each month the Department of Homeland Security extends them another month. The restrictions currently run through Oct. 21.\n\nIn El Paso, Mayor Dee Margo said he recognizes the toll the restrictions are taking on Borderland residents and the city's businesses, especially Downtown.\n\nHe said he has advocated for reducing wait times at the border but favors holding the restrictions in place until both sides have the pandemic under better control. He worries that tourist visa holders in Juárez would seek medical care in El Paso, where hospitals have been under intense strain for months.\n\n\"I’m very concerned,\" he said, about the ongoing impacts. \"This pandemic has a physical cost, a financial cost and a mental health cost on both sides.\n\n\"Until we get our arms around the pandemic and we have a vaccine, I don’t know what we can do. Our hospital capacity is my concern here in El Paso,\" he said.\n\nThe decision to reduce or remove the restrictions lies at the federal level, in the hands of the Trump administration and Department of Homeland Security.\n\nThe Trump administration's premise of keeping COVID-19 out of the U.S. by locking down the land border — when the disease exists on both sides and flights are still moving between Mexico City and airports nationwide — is \"completely irrational in public health terms,\" said Joe Heyman, director of the Center for Inter-American Border Studies at UTEP.\n\nHeyman has reviewed policies on binational approaches to combating contagious disease at the border, including how Mexico and the U.S. handle tuberculosis.\n\n\"What we do with contagious diseases takes a lot of effort,\" he said. \"It requires tracking individuals, quarantining individuals, and not whole countries or whole cities.\"\n\nThe partial closure, he said, \"doesn’t constitute a meaningful health measure. It does make people at the border miserable.\"\n\nBorderland residents are accustomed to adapting to the policies of governments in Washington, D.C., and Mexico City — policies that govern when and how El Pasoans and Juarenses can see each other.\n\nEscobosa and Espinoza said they aren't giving up.\n\nFor the five months they spent apart, the couple said they felt as if they were in a long-distance relationship despite living less than 20 miles apart. They fill in the time spent apart with video calls and text messages.\n\n“I feel a little bit guilty because in these times I can’t do a lot from my part,” Espinoza said, wishing she could still go to El Paso.\n\n“Now it takes more money, more time and a bigger effort,” Escobosa said. “We’ve been together for one year and three months and despite all the trouble we’re trying to do everything possible to keep seeing each other.”\n\nLauren Villagran can be reached at lvillagran@elpasotimes.com.", "authors": [], "publish_date": "2020/09/24"}, {"url": "https://www.cnn.com/2022/02/19/us/robot-dogs-us-mexico-border-patrol-cec/index.html", "title": "Robot dogs could patrol the US-Mexico border | CNN", "text": "CNN —\n\nThe photos look like a scene out of science fiction: Robot dogs patrolling the US-Mexico border, climbing over harsh terrain to search for threats and contraband.\n\nBut these images are real.\n\nThe Department of Homeland Security recently released them as it revealed details about how it’s testing the technology.\n\nOfficials praised the robots’ potential as a “force multiplier” that could boost Border Patrol agents’ safety by reducing their exposure to life-threatening hazards. An article touting the tests on the DHS Science and Technology Directorate’s website notes that someday the dogs, officially known as Automated Ground Surveillance Vehicles, could become “a CBP agent or officer’s best friend.”\n\n“Don’t be surprised,” it says, “if in the future we see robot ‘Fido’ out in the field, walking side-by-side with CBP personnel.”\n\nBut the details about the testing did seem to catch some people by surprise, sparking a flurry of reactions on social media comparing the images to dystopian scenes from sci-fi shows like “Black Mirror.”\n\n“This really felt like a slap in the face,” says Vicki Gaubeca, director of the Southern Border Communities Coalition, an umbrella group that slams the initiative as an “alarming and outrageous” waste of taxpayer money that would be better spent developing systems to hold Border Patrol agents accountable.\n\nGaubeca describes herself as a lover of technology and dogs (she has five). But she says she sees nothing cute in the government’s recent descriptions of robot dogs lending a “helping paw.” For years her organization has warned that militarization along the border puts communities and migrants at risk. And this, she says, is just the latest troubling example.\n\n“There are other technologies that they’re already using that we feel like they should cut back on, and yet they’re adding on another type of surveillance technology that’s frightening, to be honest,” Gaubeca says. “This certainly seems like it’s something that’s built for something very aggressive, like the theaters of war, rather than in a community.”\n\nGhost Robotics, the Philadelphia-based company that makes the robots DHS teams have been testing, says there’s nothing to be afraid of.\n\n“We’re focused on doing the right thing. We want to do the right thing for the national security and for the country,” CEO Jiren Parikh says.\n\nA Department of Homeland Security spokesman says the project remains in the research and development phase, with no timetable for the dogs’ deployment.\n\nIn the meantime, there are plenty of serious issues this technology is bringing to the surface.\n\nThere’s a difference between science fiction and reality\n\nSometimes cute and sometimes creepy, robot dogs have been captivating Americans’ imaginations for decades, long before videos of Boston Dynamics’ four-legged robots dancing to Motown and BTS started going viral.\n\nThey’ve been symbols of futuristic innovation – and ominous harbingers of what could happen if technology falls into the wrong hands.\n\nIn 1940, Westinghouse displayed a 60-pound aluminum-skinned dog at the World’s Fair named Sparko that could walk, bark and sit. In the 1960s, the Jetsons’ futuristic cartoon family briefly adopted a nuclear-powered electronic dog, Lectronimo, before deciding to donate him to the police department.\n\nMenacing mechanical hounds hunted down fugitives in Ray Bradbury’s dystopian 1953 novel “Fahrenheit 451.” In 2017, an episode of “Black Mirror” featured terrifying robot guard dogs who chase and kill people.\n\nBut Parikh, Ghost Robotics’ CEO, says there’s a big gap between the way robot dogs are portrayed in science fiction – and sometimes skewered on social media – and the reality of the technology.\n\n“It’s a battery-operated computer that moves around on four legs that literally stops operating in four hours. There’s no way they’re going to be taking over anything,” he says.\n\nAnd, he notes, “it’s a robot that’s remotely controlled by a human in the middle.”\n\nThis handout image shows Ghost Robotics' Vision 60 robot dog along the US-Mexico border. Ghost Robotics/AFP/Getty Images\n\nBut still, Parikh says his company’s robots do provide a number of advantages in border zones. US Customs and Border Protection is patrolling a huge geographic area, he notes, often under harsh conditions.\n\n“This is a good way of technology adding value,” he says, “filling in the holes.”\n\nDuring testing of the 100-pound robots, different types of cameras and sensors were mounted on them, transmitting real-time data to humans operating them via laptop or hand-held remote, DHS said.\n\nTeams first tested them on asphalt, grass and hills in Lorton, Virginia, then tested them in more realistic scenarios in El Paso, Texas, where they walked up hills, down ravines and over rocks. The El Paso testing simulated sentry duty and inspections. And exercises also included maneuvers in tight spaces, high heat and low-oxygen conditions, “situations that are especially dangerous for CBP agents and officers,” DHS said.\n\nDHS Science & Technology program manager Brenda Long describes the dogs as a “great fit,” given CBP’s broad mission and the many risks its personnel face.\n\n“The southern border can be an inhospitable place for man and beast, and that is exactly why a machine may excel there,” she said in the department’s press release.\n\nAdvocates at the border say they already felt under siege\n\nCommunity advocates at the border have long accused the US government of militarizing the region and using excessive surveillance. And the announcement of the robot dog testing doesn’t help matters, Gaubeca says\n\n“Border communities already feel over-surveilled, over-militarized, and yet they trot out this new technology and boast about it at a time when families are worried about how to get food on their tables and inflation,” she says. “And it completely disregards the border communities as a community. It’s like they fail to acknowledge that we’re human beings on both sides.”\n\nFor Gaubeca, it boils down to how resources are allocated.\n\n“It’s a use of technology that creates more problems and doesn’t solve what we see as being the issue, which is how do we make this agency accountable, and how do we create a more humanitarian and efficient system at the border?” she says. “They should spend the money on something that is more humanitarian and effective, rather than intimidating.”\n\nThe Biden administration has said it wants to create a more efficient, humane, orderly system at the border, but “this completely contradicts that sentiment,” she says.\n\nGhost Robotics has partnered with the US Defense Department in the past. And Parikh noted he’d just gotten off the phone with Ukraine’s defense ministry before speaking with CNN this week. But he said the robot dogs on the US border aren’t part of a military effort – and any suggestion that they are is silly.\n\nThis image released by the US Air Force in 2020 shows US Air Force Staff Sgt Carmen Pontello introducing Hammer, a working dog, to the Ghost Robotics Vision 60 at Scott Air Force Base in Illinois. Shannon Moorehead/US Air Force/AFP/Getty Images\n\n“It’s just another sensor carrier. It’s really at a distance…. It’s really for sensing around the environment. It’s not really interacting with people. That’s not what it’s made for. There’s no weapons on it,” he says. “It’s not being militarized for the border. It’s not stopping people, saying ‘don’t go here.’ It can’t do that. It’s a small robot.”\n\nThe technology, he says, is designed to keep people safe. But could it ever be used against migrants at the border?\n\n“That’s not even come up ever,” Parikh says. “It’s not even a remote use case that’s ever discussed or talked about.”\n\nPeople can’t even agree about “a basic physical wall that’s made of concrete and metal,” he says.\n\n“Do we really think we’re going to start weaponizing robots? It’s silly to do that. I don’t think that’s in the DNA of America either,” Parikh says. “We live in a country that has so many rules and regulatory requirements in place that things like this are just remote and virtually impossible without the say of the populace.”\n\nParikh says Ghost Robotics regularly works with legislators as well as government agencies.\n\n“This is not done in a vacuum …. It has to go through processes and rules. Everything we do, everything, gets questioned. Everyone has the ability to question what we’re doing.”\n\nThis isn’t just about the border\n\nWhen Greg Nojeim heard about the robot dogs, his mind filled with questions. Chief among them: Has anyone studied their impact on privacy?\n\n“The border has become a testing ground for new and intrusive surveillance technology,” says Nojeim, co-director of the security and surveillance project at the Center for Democracy and Technology.\n\nAnd in many cases, he says, the law hasn’t caught up with the developing technology.\n\n“Once the platform becomes accepted, believe me, new uses will be developed. It’s inevitable. And I don’t think we’re ready as a society to say, this use is permissible, this is not. I don’t think that legislatures are ready to say this is permissible, this use is not. … I’m concerned that the technology is getting ahead of the law.”\n\nA robot dog scans a desert landscape with its camera and sensor while on sentry duty in this handout photo provided by the Department of Homeland Security. DHS\n\nHe says when that happens, civil liberties suffer. And that, he says, should matter to everyone, whether you live near the border or not.\n\nAs a recent Los Angeles Times opinion column noted, surveillance technologies that start out at the border often make their way into other parts of the country.\n\nFacial recognition technology is one recent example, Nojeim says.\n\n“That technology has now spread to some police departments, and people are finding that it doesn’t identify people as well as it could, and that people of color are being misidentified at alarming rates,” he says.\n\nIf robot dogs start patrolling the border, Nojeim says, it’s only a matter of time before they could show up in your community, too.", "authors": ["Catherine E. Shoichet"], "publish_date": "2022/02/19"}, {"url": "https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2022/11/27/murder-trial-laredo-border-patrol-agent-juan-david-ortiz/10762769002/", "title": "Murder trial of a Border Patrol agent rekindles questions over agency", "text": "LAREDO, Texas – It’s the breakfast rush at La Finca Bruncheria & Cafe, and waiters hurry plates of pancakes and huevos rancheros to tables of Mexican businessmen in shiny suits, chatting families and locals.\n\nBehind the bar, bartender Angie Martinez draws up latte art and pours glasses of papaya juice.\n\nAsked about the U.S. Border Patrol agent about to go on trial for murder, she stops mid-pour.\n\n“You mean the one who killed his girlfriend?” she says.\n\nNo, the other one.\n\n“The one who killed the Guatemalan woman?”\n\nNot that one, either.\n\n“Oh, the one who killed the four women?”\n\nJuan David Ortiz, 39, the former Border Patrol intel supervisor charged with killing four women over 12 days here in September 2018, is set to go on trial beginning Monday. The murders stunned this border community and raised questions about the agency’s ability to police its own ranks.\n\nOrtiz's case, plus the string of other agents accused of murder just months before him, are not the only issues casting a shadow over the agency's longtime presence in Laredo.\n\nHis trial arrives as agents face historically high number of migrants crossing the Southwest border, especially in Texas. U.S. border authorities encountered more than 2 million migrants in fiscal 2022, some of whom repeatedly tried to cross the border – more than any other year on record, according to CBP statistics.\n\nThis month, Chris Magnus resigned as CBP commissioner after facing criticism from the Biden administration on how he was confronting the high number of crossings.\n\nFor years, CBP has also struggled with fully investigating and disciplining its own agents for using excessive force on the job, said Roxanna Altholz, co-director of the International Human Rights Law Clinic at the University of California, Berkeley, School of Law. Federal law prohibits victims from successfully filing civil lawsuits against Border Patrol agents, making accountability of them even more difficult, she said.\n\nA succession of cross-border shootings over the years has proven how challenging it is to punish Border Patrol agents for misdeeds, she said.\n\n\"There's lots to be concerned about,\" Altholz said.\n\nWhile the string of deadly incidents involving border agents doesn't represent the hundreds of law-abiding employees of the Border Patrol’s Laredo Sector, it has darkened the city’s perception of the agency, said Jerry Thompson, a historian and author at Texas A&M International University in Laredo.\n\n“It’s changed a lot,” Thompson said. “There’s less respect today than there was 20 years ago, less reverence, less admiration.”\n\nA deadly year for Laredo\n\nThe Laredo Sector, which spans about 136 miles of riverfront on the Southwest border and encompasses 96 counties stretching to northeast Texas, was ensnared in a series of high-profile cases involving agents over a five-month period in 2018.\n\nIn April 2018, police arrested Ronald Anthony Burgos-Aviles, 33, a Border Patrol agent in Laredo, and charged him with the murders of Grizelda Hernandez, 27, and her 1-year-old son, Dominic. Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty and his trial is tentatively set for January.\n\nA month later, a U.S. Border Patrol agent shot and killed Guatemalan migrant Claudia Patricia Gómez González, 20, after she crossed the U.S.-Mexico border and hid in a vacant lot with other migrants in the nearby enclave of Rio Bravo. The ACLU of Texas in 2020 filed a lawsuit against the agent on behalf of Gómez under the Federal Tort Claims Act for wrongful death, among other charges. The lawsuit was paused later that year when the FBI began investigating the incident.\n\nThen, in September 2018, prosecutors allege, Ortiz picked up four women along Laredo’s San Bernardo Avenue, drove them out to remote corners of the county and shot them with his government-issued handgun before dumping their bodies along dirt roads. All the victims were U.S. citizens and alleged sex workers who lived and worked along San Bernardo.\n\nOrtiz was arrested after a fifth would-be victim allegedly escaped from his vehicle and alerted police.\n\nHe has pleaded not guilty to the charges and has been held in an isolated wing of the Webb County Jail. His trial begins on Monday in a San Antonio courtroom.\n\nA spokeswoman with U.S. Customs and Border Protection, which oversees Border Patrol, declined to comment on the Ortiz trial, saying the agency doesn't comment on pending litigation. A representative with the Laredo chapter of the national Border Patrol union also did not respond to a request for comment.\n\nMore:Texas, Florida put migrants on buses to NYC. Here's what happens when they get there\n\nListen:A special podcast serial, 'Killed Through the Border Fence'\n\nBorder Patrol: A presence and an opportunity\n\nIn Laredo and other border communities, the dark-green-uniformed agents are omnipresent: Border Patrol agents are fathers, brothers, Little League coaches and churchgoers. They mentor area youth, participate in outreach programs at area schools and help out in local fundraisers.\n\nIn a city where the poverty rate is twice as high as the national average and high-paying jobs are hard to come by, a position with the Border Patrol is considered a coveted career. The uniformed agents are regularly seen lunching at local Pollo Palenque grilled chicken restaurants or pumping gas.\n\nMaria Elena Guerra, who runs the online news portal LareDOSnews.com, has a nephew who works as a diesel mechanic for the Border Patrol and a niece who works in administration for the sector and knows several other people who work at the agency.\n\nThough people didn’t automatically think all agents could be capable of such crimes, the case involving Ortiz did leave a strong impression on the community, she said.\n\n“There was a huge amount of sympathy for the women [victims] and their families and how their lives were taken,” Guerra said. Ortiz “was very clever and intelligent, how he kept his cover while they were looking for him … He was somebody’s neighbor in a nice house in a nice neighborhood. That was the shocking part of it.”\n\nThe Ortiz murder trial\n\nThe stories of the four women and Ortiz’s alleged involvement with them will begin to unfurl Monday, as prosecutors argue their case and call witnesses in his trial – perhaps the most high-profile of the recent incidents involving Border Patrol agents in Laredo.\n\nOrtiz was a 10-year veteran of the agency and a Navy corpsman who served in the Iraq war. In court filings, prosecutors allege he killed the four women – Melissa Ramirez, Claudine Luera, Guiselda Cantu and Janelle Ortiz – from Sept. 3 through 15 in 2018, befriending them, driving them out of town and shooting them with his agency-issued .40 caliber HK P2000 semiautomatic pistol. A motive is still unknown.\n\nA fifth would-be victim – Ericka Peña – was similarly picked up but allegedly fought her way out of Ortiz’s pickup truck as he drew his gun on her and alerted a nearby state trooper. Ortiz was arrested a short while later.\n\nThe ensuing four years saw Ortiz switch defense teams, delays brought on by the pandemic and a litany of pre-trial motions, including a request for change of trial venue by Ortiz’s attorneys. The motion was granted, moving the trial from Laredo to San Antonio. Last month, prosecutors announced their intention to forgo the death penalty and instead pursue life in prison without parole.\n\nA key part of the trial will focus on whether Ortiz used his position as an intel supervisor with Border Patrol to deflect the murder investigation and stay a step ahead of police.\n\nImmigrant advocates will be watching the case closely to see whether Border Patrol officials could have done anything to prevent the killings, said Pedro Rios, a San Diego-based advocate with the American Friends Service Committee, an advocacy group.\n\n\"My concern would be whether (Ortiz) was involved with any type of behavior or took any action that should have raised alarms with colleagues,\" he said. \"And if that took place, whether his colleagues could have stopped this murder spree from happening.\"\n\nSandra Rocha Taylor, owner of the PanAmerican Courts Inn & Café on San Bernardo Avenue, said several of the victims lived on her property, and she would see them on occasion. She's also married to a recently retired Border Patrol agent who spent more than three decades with the agency.\n\nLike others in Laredo, she stressed that the actions of a few agents don’t represent the agency as a whole. But the back-to-back-to-back killings involving Border Patrol agents stunned the community, she said. “It caught everyone off guard,” Rocha Taylor said.\n\nShe followed the Ortiz case in its early stages, hoping answers would emerge to explain the crimes. The delay in having a trial has been frustrating, she said.\n\n“It’s like someone died and you still can’t bury them,” Rocha Taylor said. “That’s how it feels.”\n\nA community watches\n\nMartinez, the bartender, said she began paying attention to the controversies surrounding Border Patrol after the arrest of Burgos-Aviles because the victim in that case lived a few blocks from her cousin’s house. The Ortiz case stunned her even more.\n\n“Why would he kill them? You’re representing the United States government and you take those women’s lives?” she said. “We have less confidence today (in Border Patrol) than we did before.”\n\nNot everyone agrees.\n\nThe vast majority of Border Patrol agents are law-abiding and risk their own lives on a daily basis to combat criminals and keep communities safe, said George Altgelt, a Laredo lawyer who represents Border Patrol agents in civil cases.\n\nThe agents he's spoken to don't support suspects like Ortiz or Burgos-Aviles and recoil from excessive violence to vulnerable populations, he said.\n\nThe agents work in dangerous conditions, often running into the brush at night to pursue smugglers or rescue stranded migrants, then return home to be law-abiding members of the community, he said.\n\n\"In the end, they end up rescuing so many more people than the general public knows about,\" Altgelt said.\n\nAltgelt said he regularly rides his mountain bike along a wooded trail near the border and is comforted to see the green-uniformed agents patrolling the area.\n\n\"A lot of agents are our friends, our next door neighbors,\" he said. \"There is a consensus that we’re glad we have law enforcement out here keeping an eye on things.\"\n\nThompson, the TAMIU professor, said he and a friend recently counted the number of local, state and federal law enforcement agencies with a presence in Laredo and came up with 13.\n\nThe strong presence of gun-wearing officers in town is generally accepted in Laredo. But when agents harm those they've vowed to protect, it causes resentment not easily reversed, Thompson said.\n\nDistrust of Border Patrol deepened further last year, he said, when horse-mounted agents repelled Haitian families as they waded across the Rio Grande into the United States in nearby Del Rio, Texas, he said. The incident was captured by news photographers and drew widespread condemnation.\n\n\"Border patrol has been in deep doo-doo here time and time again,\" Thompson said.\n\nAna Sotelo, aunt of Cantu, one of the victims in the Ortiz case, has attended more than a dozen pre-trial hearings over the past four years. She, like other families of victims, said she's been frustrated by how long it's taken to bring the case to court.\n\nA verdict will help her bring closure, she said. But the pain – toward Ortiz and Border Patrol in general – will linger.\n\n\"The feelings will still be there,\" she said, \"and will be there for a long time.\"\n\nFollow Jervis on Twitter: @MrRJervis.", "authors": [], "publish_date": "2022/11/27"}, {"url": "https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/health/2022/12/14/states-challenge-biden-administration-drug-imports-canada/10890258002/", "title": "Colorado is latest state to push Biden on drug imports from Canada", "text": "Phil Galewitz\n\nKaiser Health News\n\nThe Biden administration is facing mounting pressure from states to let them import medicine from Canada to help lower prescription drug costs.\n\nColorado on Dec. 5 became at least the fourth state to seek federal permission to use the strategy, following Florida, New Hampshire and New Mexico.\n\nPresident Joe Biden has endorsed the approach, but his administration has yet to greenlight a state plan.\n\n“States have done the work, and the only thing preventing them from going ahead is the Biden administration,” said Jane Horvath, a health policy consultant who has worked with states on importation plans.\n\nHealth and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra told KHN on Dec. 5 that the Biden administration welcomed applications for drug importation programs from Colorado and other states. But he would not pledge that the FDA would rule on any application in 2023.\n\nAsked what his message was to states, he said: “Sign up and submit an application, and we will take a look and see if you are able to get through the process.”\n\nBuyers in the United States pay among the highest prices in the world for brand-name pharmaceuticals. Drugs are generally less expensive in neighboring Canada, where the government controls prices.\n\nUnder President Donald Trump, the U.S. government declared that importing drugs from Canada could be done safely — satisfying a condition spelled out in a 2003 federal drug importation law. The Trump administration finalized rules in September 2020 for states to apply.\n\nMore:Is prescription copay assistance contributing to rising drug prices? Why buyers should beware.\n\nDuring his campaign for the White House, Biden said he would allow consumers to import prescription drugs from other countries if the federal government certified those drugs as safe.\n\nAfter Biden took office in 2021, he ordered the FDA to work with states to import prescription drugs from Canada. In a speech last year about how he was going to reduce drug prices, he cited estimates by Colorado about how much money people in the state could save through importation.\n\nDespite the administration’s public show of support, early applicants have been frustrated by the FDA’s inaction.\n\nIn August, almost two years after submitting its drug proposal, Florida sued the federal government, accusing the Biden administration of slow-walking its review. The federal government denied the accusation. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, a potential Republican presidential contender for 2024, has championed the state’s effort.\n\nIn November, about three months after Florida sued, the FDA sent Florida a 15-page letter asking it to fill dozens of gaps in its plan. The letter asked whether the state wanted to withdraw its application and submit another.\n\nIn a December court filing, Florida said “suddenly conjuring so many supposed defects” in its proposal was another “stall tactic” by the government.\n\nNew Hampshire Health and Human Services Department spokesperson Jake Leon said New Hampshire’s proposal was rejected because it did not identify a Canadian wholesaler that would provide the drugs. He said the FDA told the state it could reapply when it found one.\n\nNew Mexico remains in discussions with the FDA, said David Morgan, a state Health Department spokesperson.\n\nOther states have signaled interest in importation but have yet to seek federal approval.\n\nThe drug industry, wary that a government-organized importation program could eat into its profits, opposes the strategy and has argued it would circumvent controls that keep drugs safe in the United States.\n\nThe Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America, the drug industry lobby known as PhRMA, sued the federal government in 2020 to block drug importation. That lawsuit is still pending. The Biden administration has argued in court that the lawsuit is invalid because it’s unclear when, if ever, the administration would approve a state’s importation plan.\n\nHalf of ambulance rides yield surprise medical bills. What's being done to protect people?\n\nMany brand-name drugs sold in the U.S. are already made abroad. In addition, millions of Americans have purchased lower-priced drugs from Canada and overseas through online pharmacies and by visiting other countries.\n\nColorado officials said their proposal aims to save residents and employers an average of 65% off the cost of dozens of medications, including drugs for diabetes, asthma and cancer.\n\nKim Bimestefer, executive director of the Colorado Department of Health Care Policy & Financing, told KHN the state wants to disrupt the current drug pricing system in which manufacturers can charge as much as the market will bear. The FDA told state officials it would take the agency six months to review its proposal, she said.\n\nColorado’s proposed plan would use an Ontario, Canada, wholesaler to send drugs through the border at Buffalo, New York, to an importer headquartered in Boise, Idaho.\n\nThe drugs would be tested by an Ohio laboratory before being sent to pharmacies in Colorado and then sold to residents and employers.\n\nColorado will add safety checks for drugs brought in from Canada that go beyond those for drugs sold in the United States, Bimestefer said. “We are highly confident of their quality and bullish on the savings,” she said of the Canadian drugs.\n\nColorado’s application said the state’s importation strategy faces not only resistance from drug manufacturers but also concerns on the part of pharmacies and the Canadian government.\n\nCanadian officials have opposed U.S. import plans because they fear the efforts could lead to drug shortages in Canada. However, Bimestefer said Colorado would bring in drugs only if ample supply exists for both countries.\n\nThe Colorado Business Group on Health, which includes large employers, strongly favors importation but realizes the Biden administration is under pressure from groups that profit from the status quo, said Robert Smith, the coalition’s executive director. He called concerns about patient safety a “red herring.”\n\n“The one thing we know about health care is that it is driven by economic self-interests,” he said.\n\nKHN (Kaiser Health News) is a national newsroom that produces in-depth journalism about health issues. Together with Policy Analysis and Polling, KHN is one of the three major operating programs at KFF (Kaiser Family Foundation). KFF is an endowed nonprofit organization providing information on health issues to the nation.\n\n'Eat what you kill':How a fentanyl drugmaker bribed doctors, harmed patients and collected millions\n\nMore:With America's attention on COVID-19, drugmakers are quietly raising US prescription prices", "authors": [], "publish_date": "2022/12/14"}, {"url": "https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/columnists/mike-kelly/2017/04/28/100-days-later-road-trip-through-divided-nation/100968046/", "title": "100 days later: Road trip through a divided nation", "text": "Mike Kelly, Record Columnist, @MikeKellyColumn\n\nHow best to take the pulse of America as President Donald J. Trump completes his first 100 days in office?\n\nThe calculations of pollsters are one method. So are the judgments of pundits and the pronouncements of politicians from both parties.\n\nChris Pedota, a photographer and videographer for The Record and NorthJersey.com, and I adopted a different game plan when we left Northern New Jersey recently in a rental car packed with video cameras, recorders and laptops, and a GPS device mounted on the dashboard.\n\nOur goal: To listen to the voices of ordinary people.\n\nWe drove to distinct corners of four states that offer unique windows into the current mood of America and the challenges facing Trump’s presidency ― Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Ohio and New Jersey. We traveled quickly, visiting five diverse communities in just six days, each one presenting a snapshot of the sometimes troubled, yet often uplifting heart of America.\n\nFROM THE EDITOR:A note about '100 days later'\n\nTRUMP'S FIRST 100 DAYS:The hits, the misses and the effect on NJ\n\nMIKE KELLY:A journey through forgotten America\n\nOur journey began in a café at the edge of the civil war battlefield in Gettysburg, Pa., only a few hundred yards from the cemetery where Abraham Lincoln delivered his famous 1863 address praising “government of the people, by the people, for the people” and just a mile from the conference center where Trump last October pledged to \"heal the divisions\" of the country and proposed an ambitious to-do list for his first 100 days in office.\n\nIn between, we spoke with cops and clerics, machinists and funeral planners, teachers and steel workers, coal miners and hot dog vendors, new parents and grandparents — close to 50 people in all. We met new immigrants who yearned for a place in America, and old immigrants and the children of immigrants who wondered where their nation is headed. Plenty of people echoed Trump’s slogan, “Make America great again.” We also heard others who felt Trump has been an abject failure so far.\n\nWhat we found was a nation divided ― that’s for certain. But in connecting the dots of hope and unhappiness, we also discovered that America’s divisions are complicated and often blurred. It became clear that the simplistic red-blue, Republican-Democratic fissures that frame America’s national political dialogue ― and the strategies of most political campaigns ― don’t always mesh neatly with the dreams and disappointments of ordinary people.\n\nTrump supporters and critics alike told us that America’s political establishment ― including the media ― failed to recognize the depth of voters’ dissatisfaction and, in some cases, hardened anger over where America was going. At the same time, however, we also discovered a “purple” nation of nuanced viewpoints that often blended elements of Trump’s vision with that of Hillary Clinton and other progressives.\n\nIn Wallington, for instance, we found a former illegal immigrant who became a citizen and now praises Trump’s get-tough immigration policies, including even the building of a border wall with Mexico ― but not if it means breaking up families. In Keyser, W.Va., we found an Army veteran who praised Trump’s promise to build up the military but not if it leads to more overseas deployments for U.S. soldiers.\n\nIn short, we traversed a complicated landscape ― one filled with a deep sadness, occasionally anchored in hope for better days. We encountered many people from across the political spectrum who yearn for change but aren’t sure how change will come and whether Trump can deliver it.\n\nGettysburg, Pa: The promise\n\nElizabeth “Betsy” Hower gazed across the lush grass of the Civil War battlefield at the edge of this southern Pennsylvania town.\n\nShe pointed to a row of trees where Union and Confederate soldiers clashed in what historians say was a turning point in the nation’s Civil War. For Hower, this was a personal story ― a story that still defines her vision of America.\n\n“There,” she said, “that’s where one of my relatives was captured.”\n\nHower, 70, a substitute teacher in the local public schools here and a dyed-in-the-red Republican campaign volunteer, points out that nine of her relatives fought for the Union at Gettysburg ― including Aaron Dunkle, a soldier in a Philadelphia-based militia who was captured by Confederates and dispatched to a southern prisoner-of-war camp. Another eight ancestors fought in the Revolutionary War, she said, and her own son, a captain in the Army, was wounded in Baghdad during the Iraq war.\n\n“I’m an American,” she said proudly.\n\nThat statement, Hower said, explains why she became an ardent supporter of Trump’s presidential campaign ― and still supports his “America First” pledge despite a lack of accomplishments in the first 100 days of his presidency.\n\nHower believes Trump embodies an important promise to bring basic values back to America.\n\nLast October, she stood in the crowd at the Eisenhower Hotel and Conference Center in Gettysburg and listened as Trump shared his\n\n“Contract with the American Voter,” a list of more than two dozen promises he planned to fulfill in his first 100 days in office.\n\n“I am asking the American people to rise above the noise and the clutter of our broken politics and to embrace that great faith and optimism that has always been the central ingredient in the American character,” Trump told the crowd. “I am asking you to dream big.”\n\nHower dreamed that day. In Trump, she recognized a transformative figure with the potential to make history.\n\n“I was thrilled,” Hower said.\n\nAmong the highlights of his contract, Trump promised to repeal the Affordable Care Act, or Obamacare; to build a wall on the Mexican border; to block federal funds for so-called Sanctuary Cities; to bolster veterans’ services and child care; to enact tax measures that he said would create 25 million new jobs; to lift dozens of federal regulatory rules and to renegotiate or cancel several trade agreements.\n\nNow, 100 days into Trump’s presidency, Hower shrugged as she considered how little Trump has actually accomplished.\n\nHower said Americans need to be patient with the new president ― and Trump seems to agree. Last week, he called the 100-day deadline “an artificial barrier” and “ridiculous standard” that is “not very meaningful.”\n\n“He’s done an awesome job,” Hower said ― a sentiment that is reflected in national polls that show Trump still claims widespread support from his base.\n\nBut Hower acknowledged that Trump has stumbled in the early months of his term.\n\n“He’s working. I’ll give him credit for that,” Hower said, then adding: “The man is learning on the job. Mr. Trump has never done this before.”\n\nAs for Trump’s record low approval ratings, Hower added: “I don’t believe in polls.”\n\nA short walk from the battlefield, Graham Weaver, 73, pulled a book from a shelf in his home library of almost 9,000 volumes ― many on the Civil War. He knows all too well how combative politics can be. In the 1970s, he served as a Republican congressional aide. Now he is a Gettysburg borough councilman.\n\nWeaver agrees that Trump has not started well, especially with his failed attempt to repeal the Affordable Care Act.\n\n“But it’s not for lack of trying,” Weaver said.\n\nLike Hower’s view, Weaver’s observations reflect a widespread belief among Trump’s base that the nation should be more patient with the new president. But Weaver offered a twist ― that Trump should ignore the 100-day standard and take more time on health care reform and other complicated measures.\n\n“He’s been trying to do everything he can within a very short time frame,” Weaver said. “Haste makes waste.”\n\nWeaver and his wife pay $1,300 a month in health care premiums. A neighbor, who is self-employed, pays $3,000 a month for himself, his wife and three young children.\n\n“That’s $36,000 a year. That’s a huge whack for a family,” Weaver said ― and a monumental challenge for Trump, who has pledged to find a way to lower costs.\n\n“I think he’s up to handling this,” Weaver said of Trump. “It takes a while to get up and running. I’m willing to give him more time.”\n\nAcross town, Zach Brillhart sat on the porch of a coffee shop a block from the rooming house where Lincoln reportedly tinkered with the final draft of his Gettysburg Address.\n\nBrillhart understands the sense of history in his hometown ―and the historical nature of Trump’s presidency.\n\nBut he also sees his place in that story as a contradiction of sorts.\n\nBrillhart, 20, a business student at Mount St. Mary’s University in Emmitsburg, Md., is a founding member of Gettysburg’s Young Conservative’s club, which ardently supported Trump.\n\nIn Brillhart’s case, the moniker is somewhat misleading.\n\nBrillhart is a fiscal conservative, but on several divisive social issues ― he supports abortion rights and gay marriage ― he could easily be mistaken for a progressive.\n\nThese sorts of nuanced views are not often reflected in national polls, especially surveys of young voters. Brillhart knows that.\n\nHe believes the Republican Party needs an overhaul. And he feels Trump is the kind of leader to do that.\n\nBut that sort of overhaul was not part of the “contract” that Trump outlined in Gettysburg last October, nor was a call for flexibility on social issues.\n\nBrillhart knows that too. He sees his country heading in a new direction ― led, in part, by the adaptable views of his generation. But will Trump lead the party in that new direction or will he be a stumbling block?\n\nBrillhart doesn’t know.\n\n“The issues our country is facing,” he said, “now have consequences that will affect my generation for years to come.”\n\nKeyser, W.Va.: Waiting for a savior\n\nIt’s almost 2 p.m., and Johnny Caffrey is sitting on the front porch of his rented rental home wondering about his future.\n\nA tractor-trailer rumbled past, trailing a dusty whirlwind. Then it was quiet again. In the distance, Caffrey could hear the soft gurgling of the Potomac River.\n\nHere in Keyser, a tiny hamlet of roughly 5,500 residents tucked into a narrow crease in the Appalachian Mountains, almost 43 percent of families live in poverty, earning less than $25,000 a year. As if that’s not bad enough, Keyser is also grappling with a rise in heroin addiction in a state that leads the nation in overdose deaths from prescription drugs.\n\nCaffrey grew up in Paterson and moved to Keyser 16 years ago when his father landed a job in a chicken slaughterhouse. Now 31, married and the father of two daughters, Cafferty is looking for a new job after being laid off as mail sorter at a post office across the Potomac in Maryland.\n\nLast fall, amid the hurly-burly of the presidential race, Caffrey saw Trump as a savior ― for his town and for himself.\n\n“He’s a businessman, Caffrey said. “He knows how to make money. He can make money for people. That’s what we need for our country.”\n\nSuch faith in Trump’s image as a business mogul helped to propel him to the White House. But now, 100 days into Trump’s presidency, Caffrey is starting to wonder about the man in whom he invested so much hope.\n\nCaffrey ticked off a litany of problems ― most of them obvious to anyone who has been following the news.\n\nHe mentioned health care, and Trump’s failure to unite Republicans in Congress behind his plan to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act. He mentioned the firing of 59 missiles ― each costing more than $1 million ― at a Syrian Air Force base. Caffrey wondered if the missile strike was a waste of money ― money that could be spent on job training in Keyser, for instance.\n\nAnd then he wondered where he will be in 10 years.\n\n“Hopefully not here,” Caffrey said.\n\nThe brief conversation, on a balmy day as white and pink dogwoods bloomed along the narrow mountain roads, reflects the ingrown sense of despair and bitterness at how economic prosperity continues to elude poor communities like Keyser.\n\nThe town, which calls itself the “Friendliest Town in the U.S.A,” once was a haven for coal miners. Now, with mining jobs scarce and following layoffs at a paper mill and a factory that makes wooden pallets, the biggest employer is a Walmart at the edge of town.\n\n“There is a big divide in our country, but that divide is between urban and rural people,” said Gary Howell. A Keyser native and a Republican member of the West Virginia House of Delegates, Howell helped run campaign efforts for Trump in Mineral County, where Keyser is the county seat. Only two decades ago, West Virginia was solidly Democratic. Today, both houses of the state legislature are controlled by Republicans after almost 80 years of Democratic rule. Republicans now also hold all three of the state’s congressional seats, along with one U.S. Senate seat. Democrats still hold the other Senate seat, along with the governorship.\n\nTo Howell, who runs a business that sells race car parts, the slow Democrat-to-Republican transformation reflects the sort of change that led to Trump’s election.\n\n“A lot of it is the work issue,” he said. “When people don’t have a job, people despair and turn to drugs.”\n\nAt roughly 6 percent, unemployment in West Virginia is about two percentage points higher than the national average. That may seem small, but in a state where finding a high-paying job can be an odyssey, the sense of bitterness over shuttered factories and coal mines seems to color almost every conversation.\n\nLike Johnny Caffrey, many residents talk of wanting to be somewhere else.\n\n“I see myself in Ireland,” said Harley Schenck, 21, who concedes that he does not have the money for a flight.\n\nAlso like Caffrey, Schenck is looking for a job. As he daydreamed about moving to Ireland, he stood on a sidewalk outside the home of a friend, Paula Brooks, 24.\n\nA dog named Daisy pulled on a leash attached to a broken porch post. Brooks’ year-old daughter, Angel, played in the dirt that once was a front lawn. Two other friends sat on a couch on the porch.\n\nBrooks mentioned that thieves had broken into her home a few days earlier.\n\n“They stole the copper wiring to my washing machine,” she said. “They sell it to buy drugs.”\n\nHer voice trailed off and she looked at Angel.\n\n“This is the same house that I grew up in,” Brooks said. “Years ago, my mom used to let me run around the streets. I can’t let my kid do that now. It’s not safe.”\n\nMore than 20 miles away, Austin Berg sat in the guard shack of a coal mine. Up the hill, a conveyor belt funneled coal into a pyramid-like pile that would later be loaded onto trucks and carried to a nearby power plant that supplies electricity to Washington, D.C.\n\nThe radio bristled. A voice from deep in the six miles of mine tunnels asked about the staffing of miners that day.\n\nBerg, 22, the grandson of a coal miner, stuffed a wad of Copenhagen Wintergreen chewing tobacco into his cheek and listened.\n\nWhen he was 19, Berg landed a job in another coal mine. A year later, he was laid off.\n\nBerg bounced among a series of odd jobs, mostly as a construction laborer. A month after Trump’s inauguration, Berg was called to work at a coal mine, to the guard shack where he keeps track of visitors and trucks. He hopes to be working in the mine within a few months ― yearning, as he puts it, “to be back underground.”\n\nHe credits Trump for his good fortune.\n\n“I support Trump,” he says. “He brings jobs.”\n\nBack in Keyser, Sam and Mariah Sarver stopped by the former tavern they are converting into a bakery. The couple’s daughters ― Emma, 5, and Sophia, 3 ― sat at a table playing with dolls.\n\nMariah, 26, grew up in Keyser, then left for culinary school in Pittsburgh, where she met Sam, now 30, a Maryland state trooper. Returning to her hometown after a few years away was a shock, Mariah said.\n\nLayoffs were common. Drug use was rampant. Main Street was now home to two thrift stores and a pawn shop amid a smattering of vacant storefronts.\n\nThe Sarvers blame President Barack Obama and political elites in Washington for the plight of small towns like Keyser.\n\nCan Trump change things?\n\nMariah smiled and nodded.\n\n“He a businessman,” Mariah said. “We need someone to take care of the smaller businesses. I think he’s going to make sure that the little guys are taken care of.\n\nYoungstown, Ohio: The broken dream\n\nThe United Baptist Church was rocking with song ― and bitterness.\n\nIt was another Sunday in this faded steel town that Bruce Springsteen once eulogized. In the church sanctuary on the north side of the city, a trio of women walked forward and sang about finding “true love” from the “beauty in my brokenness.”\n\nUp a flight of stairs, in an office where he was putting the final touches on his weekly sermon, the Rev. Michael Harrison bristled at the mention of Donald Trump. There is no beauty in Trump, he said ― or in Youngstown’s brokenness.\n\nOnce bursting with more than 800 members, the Union Baptist congregation is down to 400, mostly due to members leaving Youngstown in search of new jobs after the steel industry shut down, Harrison said.\n\nYes, President Trump promised to resurrect the steel plants along Youngstown’s Mahoning River and along the Ohio River ― a string of plants in towns such as Campbell, Struthers, Steubenville, Wellsville, Salineville, Tiltonsville and Yorkville that are now shuttered or demolished.\n\nRiding through these communities now is like passing through ghost towns in the Old West. Weeds spring from vast parking lots at the shuttered factories and mills. Small trees grow through broken windows. A few railroad cars sit on rusting rails. Nearby, discarded pieces of rusty steel litter the dirt as if they were the bones of prehistoric animals that had been there for centuries.\n\nAnd in the background ― empty factories stretching more than a half-mile along the waterfront.\n\nTo see this is numbing. For the Rev. Harrison, it’s also a deep source of anger.\n\n“I don’t see Donald Trump's influence anywhere,” Harrison says. “I hear a lot of promises. He was promising steel would come back. But those promises don’t seem to have much credibility to them.”\n\nHow Youngstown died is a long story that transcends the decades of industrial collapse in what is now called America’s Rust Belt.\n\nTrump won Ohio. But in cities like Youngstown, where he lost to Hillary Clinton, he is seen not as a savior but as a huckster. In Youngstown, residents have heard too many promises from politicians, both Republican and Democratic.\n\nTo Harrison, who grew up 55 miles to the east in Akron, Ohio — once a major hub of tire manufacturing, though most of the plants have since shuttered — Trump is just another rich guy who has little connection with people who are struggling.\n\n“I don’t believe he can deliver,” said Harrison, who supported Clinton. “His agenda favors the rich and powerful rather than the common person. How can you run a nation and forget about the poorest of the poorest?”\n\nA few hours after Harrison delivered his sermon, Ron George walked his Great Dane puppy, Cash, along the edge of the remains of the Youngstown Sheet and Tube factory in neighboring Campbell, Ohio ― a six-story, windowless hulk of a building that stretches almost a mile along the Mahoning River.\n\nGeorge landed his first job in the plant in 1964, raking in $14 an hour while working the coke ovens. Within a few years, he was making more than $20 an hour ― enough to buy a home.\n\nAs George described it, he was living the American Dream ― a steady job, a decent income and all manner of benefits.\n\nIn the 1970s, however, the dream began to fade. More than a half-dozen major steel plants closed. Dozens of ancillary factories closed, too.\n\nGeorge, whose grandparents immigrated from Syria, voted for Clinton ― “reluctantly,” he said. He favored her Democratic primary rival, Bernie Sanders, and even liked some of Trump’s policies.\n\nBut Trump’s promise to revive the steel industry strikes him as akin to the hot air that blew from the coke furnaces that George once worked.\n\n“When the mills left this community, it was tragic,” George said. “A lot of people lost their homes. A lot of people didn’t know what to do. But that’s time gone by. You’re not going to bring the mills back. It’s not happening.”\n\nSouthward, down the Ohio River in Yorkville, Eleanor Puskas still dreams.\n\nShe is 81 now. And the old R.G. Steel plant still dominates her town ― only now it is an empty building of peeling paint and dusty walkways.\n\nAs she pushed a steel cart filled with groceries on a recent evening, Puskas stopped on a corner by the ripped and faded awning of Di Carlo’s Pizza.\n\nThere is no pizza now. Di Carlo’s closed years ago, along with Bob’s BBQ across the street. When the steel mill closed, the customers disappeared too.\n\nPuskas’ father worked in the plant. So did her mother ― during World War II when most of the men served in the military.\n\nShe turned and pointed to a vacant lot ― the site of the restaurant her father opened after he retired. “Dad had his orchestra there,” she said, her voice falling off.\n\nPuskas voted for Trump, believing that he might restore the kinds of factories that were the foundation of her town, and other towns in Ohio.\n\n“I was a Democrat until I voted for Donald Trump,” she said. “I truly believe what he is promising. He’s going to make America the people’s America.”\n\nPuskas pulled her black wool coat tighter to fight off the damp wind. She started to push her cart, then stopped after a few feet and looked back at the empty steel mill.\n\n“It was the heart of our town,” she said. “Now it’s gone.”\n\nHazleton, Pa.: The immigration challenge\n\nEdison Espinosa sees himself as part of a long tradition in Hazelton, Pa. ― another immigrant who worked hard and built a life for himself in a place that was named an “All-America City” a half-century ago because it found ways to adjust to change.\n\nEspinosa just didn’t bargain on being part of massive social change in his new home.\n\nMost American cities are magnets for immigrants ― a tradition that evokes images of the Statue of Liberty and ships teeming with what Emma Lazarus described as “huddled masses yearning to breathe free.”\n\nBut few communities have been affected as significantly as Hazleton.\n\nOnce a coal mining hub in central Pennsylvania’s hills, Hazleton bustled in the 1940s with the kind of social life and economic prosperity that seemed to drip off the canvas of a Norman Rockwell painting.\n\nVibrant stores lined the city’s business district. Church steeples poked above the city skyline. Crowds packed the local stadium for high school football games. And the city’s population ― 38,000 at its peak in the 1940s ― was overwhelmingly white, with many families tracing their ancestors to Eastern Europe.\n\nAfter World War II, the coal mines closed or reduced their workforce. Hazleton’s population shrunk by half. By the turn of the century, however, Hazleton began to grow again ― but not with white coal miners.\n\nWith a meatpacking plant, chocolate factory and a string of warehouses dotting the surrounding hills, Hazleton became a magnet for Latino immigrants, many of whom had left Northern New Jersey in search of minimum-wage jobs.\n\nToday, about half of Hazleton’s 25,200 residents are Latino. City officials say as many as 60 percent are Dominicans from Paterson or the Bronx, with a large influx of weekend visitors arriving on jitney buses.\n\nOne of the regular visitors is Paterson’s police director, Jerry Speziale, who also serves as Hazleton’s police chief.\n\n“It’s the typical migration scenario,” Speziale said of the influx of Latinos to Hazleton. “As Italians went into West Paterson, they told other Italians. It’s the same with Hispanic immigrants in Hazleton.”\n\nBut this migration is also a story of two cultures ― a tale that plays out each day on Hazleton’s streets, where salsa music blares from cars that pass a Ukrainian Catholic Church or a locksmith with a distinctly Polish name on its sign, and then stop at a bodega that sells plantains and guava.\n\nThis new blending of cultures ― and the occasional clash ― takes place against the backdrop of Donald Trump’s call for tough regulations to curtail illegal immigration.\n\nIn the middle are people like Edison Espinosa. His immigration journey, he said, is a story of success that is not often reflected in America’s national debate over immigration.\n\nEspinosa’s family came to America from the Dominican Republic in the 1990s with legal visas. After settling in the Bronx, the Espinosas moved to Hazleton in 2002 because homes were more affordable.\n\nEspinosa’s father left the family and returned to the Dominican Republic. To make ends meet in Hazleton, Espinosa’s mother worked in the chocolate factory. When he was old enough, Espinosa landed a job there himself. Then he moved up to an office supplies factory.\n\nThen, with a wife and an 18-month-old daughter to support, he opened his own business that installs tinted windows and custom stereos in cars.\n\nEspinosa, 34, praises Trump’s promise of a national economic revival. He also agrees with Trump’s immigration policies ― up to a point.\n\nEspinosa wants to crack down on undocumented immigration and criminals. “But I don’t think we should break up families,” he said.\n\nThat view might seem surprising given that polls suggest Latinos generally resent Trump’s immigration policies, with little of the variation that Espinosa offers.\n\nBut Espinosa’s position illustrates how America’s immigration debate may be more complicated than polls suggest ― and that even some immigrants support strict rules to stop people, particularly criminals, from entering the country illegally, but not to the point where the restrictions hurt children.\n\nJust a short walk from Espinosa’s store, Joe and Lucille Nemeth settled into a booth at Jimmy’s Café.\n\nJoe, who is 86 and the son of Czech immigrants, retired from a local foam-making factory. His father labored in a coal mine. Lucille, 88 and the daughter of Italian immigrants, worked in a school cafeteria. Her father also worked in a coal mine.\n\nIn many ways, the Nemeths' family history mirrors Edwin Espinosa’s immigrant experience. And like Espinosa, the Nemeths agree with Trump’s plan to crack down on illegal immigrants and criminals, but not if it means breaking up families.\n\nIn his second-floor office in City Hall, Mayor Jeff Cusat, the grandson of a Sicilian immigrant whose name was shortened from “Cusati” by a customs officer at Ellis Island, agrees that the nation’s immigration debate is far more complicated than Trump suggests, and that there is plenty of room for common ground.\n\nHillary Clinton won Hazleton ― but by less than 100 votes out of more than 8,000 votes cast. Perhaps reflecting the political divide in his city, Cusat, a Republican who presides over a Democratic City Council, declined to say whether he supported Trump in the presidential election.\n\n“I never told anybody who I voted for,” he said. “It’s nobody’s business.\n\nThat said, Cusat is not worried about the political fissures of his nation or even the occasional culture clash in his suddenly diverse city.\n\n“You need division or it wouldn’t be America,” he said.\n\nAs for the new immigrants in Hazleton, Cusat remembers his own family’s story of arriving from a foreign nation and having to learn a new language and new customs ― and then figure out how to make a living.\n\n“To me it was exactly the same as it was 100 years ago,” he said. “History repeats itself.\"\n\nWallington, N.J.: A Democratic town flips for Trump\n\nOnce upon a time, the tiny southern Bergen County borough of Wallington was a Democratic bastion, delivering solid margins for the party in elections great and small.\n\nThen came Donald Trump.\n\nIn last November’s presidential election, Trump carried Wallington by a margin of 14 percentage points, winning 54 percent of the votes to Democrat Hillary Clinton’s 40 percent. It was the first time in decades that a Republican presidential nominee had carried the borough.\n\nTrump’s victory in Wallington did not make national news. But it was significant nonetheless.\n\nOnly four years earlier, President Barack Obama took 54 percent of the town’s votes, beating Republican Mitt Romney by 12 percentage points.\n\nWhat happened?\n\nWallington, which has a median household income of $55,547, epitomizes small-town America. It’s a community of corner delis, of neighborhood taverns, of monuments that list the names of all the residents who served in America’s wars.\n\nBut in some ways, Wallington also felt forgotten ― left behind as other parts of the nation prospered.\n\nFor years, the century-old Eighth Street bridge over the Passaic River rusted and decayed. In recent years, it vibrated violently when heavy trucks rolled over its steel span. But New Jersey’s government continually washed its hands of the problem, claiming there was no money to fix the bridge.\n\nThen Trump was elected with a promise to repair the nation’s deteriorating bridges, roads, airports, rail lines and other infrastructure.\n\nAnd then, money suddenly appeared to replace the Eighth Avenue bridge.\n\nTrump played absolutely no role in helping to appropriate funds for the bridge repairs. But the symbolism was not lost on Wallington’s residents, many of whom said they supported Trump because they wanted a change in the way government responded to problems.\n\nThe demand for change is reflected in a wide variety of issues on voters’ minds, from immigration to tax relief, and residents here welcomed Trump’s outspoken political style. And while Trump has clearly experienced his share of troubles during his first 100 days, some of his supporters in the newly Republican town of Wallington are willing to forgive him.\n\nWitold T. Baginski, the borough clerk since 1999, said he was not surprised that Wallington switched political allegiances. There was no great shift in attitude, he said, no massive social problem that caused voters to suddenly look at their own beliefs and then throw their support to another political party.\n\nThe reason, Baginski said, was simple.\n\n“It was a need for change,” he said. “People wanted a change. They’re tired of the same old.”\n\nMeet Jolanta Szyszko. She is 45 and the manager of a small tavern on the western edge of Wallington, only a few blocks from the Eighth Street bridge.\n\nSzyszko immigrated to the United States from Poland in 1991 and did not wait long to swear her allegiance to her new homeland as an American citizen.\n\nBut she waited until last November to exercise her most basic right of citizenship ― to vote.\n\n“It was Donald Trump,” she said on a recent afternoon. “I voted for him because this country needs change.”\n\n“I want this country to be as good as it was before,” Szyszko added. “Right now it’s not good.”\n\nSzyszko wonders if her son ― a 22-year-old computer programming student at Bergen Community College ― will have the same opportunities she had. She wonders whether America has become too protective of illegal immigrants. And she wonders if Trump’s critics are being too hard on him.\n\n“He’s honest,” Szyszko said. “He doesn’t care what people say. He doesn’t care about the outcome if they like it or not. He says what he thinks. He might be making mistakes, but at least he’s honest about it.\n\nThat sense of forgiveness is common among Trump’s supporters, polls say. And in large measure, it may also explain why even some Democrats are willing to give Trump a degree of leeway in his first 100 days.\n\nDemocrats like Jose Heredia, for instance.\n\nHeredia arrived in the United States from the Dominican Republic in 1992, a year after Jolanta Szyszko came from Poland.\n\nNow 51, Heredia considers himself a success. He runs a tire repair business on Wallington’s south end.\n\nHe voted for Clinton last November, but he wasn’t entirely thrilled about her candidacy. For that reason, he said, he is willing to give Trump a chance.\n\n“He talks a lot,” Heredia said of Trump. “But in some ways, I agree with him.”\n\nAnyway, Heredia added, it was time for change.\n\n“Something has to be changed in this country,” he said. “America has to be like it was before. Somebody has to do something different.”\n\nAs he spoke inside a noisy, cramped office at the back of his tire repair shop, Heredia sounded more like a Republican than a Democrat. He even agreed with some of Trump’s immigration policies.\n\n“We have to control our borders,” he said. “We don’t know who is coming. If everything continues like this, we would be out of control.”\n\nBut Heredia does not agree with Trump’s plan for a wall on the U.S.-Mexico border.\n\n“Too much money,” he said.\n\nAnd said he wished the new president wouldn’t tweet so much or speak off the cuff.\n\n“Think about it,” he said, “before you talk.”\n\nThese first 100 days have been bumpy, but Heredia said there should be a lesson somewhere for Trump. Whether he will listen remains to be seen.\n\nEmail: kellym@northjersey.com", "authors": [], "publish_date": "2017/04/28"}, {"url": "https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/onpolitics/2017/04/29/what-happened-in-the-first-100-days-of-trump-presidency/100944988/", "title": "Diary of Trump's first 100 days: Highlights of an unconventional ...", "text": "USA TODAY\n\nDay 1: Jan. 20\n\nTrump is sworn in as president at noon on the West Front of the U.S. Capitol. In his first Oval Office appearance, before heading to inaugural balls, he signs an executive order directing agencies to find ways to \"ease the burden\" of Obamacare.\n\nDay 2: Jan. 21\n\nTrump makes an appearance at CIA headquarters, expressing his support for the intelligence community while attacking the media for reporting that he had a \"feud\" with them over investigations into Russian hacking and the election. He also criticizes media coverage of his inauguration, echoed later by press secretary Sean Spicer in an angry briefing room debut. Meanwhile, millions of people join Women's March protests around the world, including in Washington.\n\nDay 3: Jan. 22\n\nTrump starts the day with tweets touting his inauguration TV ratings and weighing in on the weekend protests against him: \"Watched protests yesterday but was under the impression that we just had an election! Why didn't these people vote?\" Top aide Kellyanne Conway makes waves with a Meet the Press appearance in which she says Spicer \"gave alternative facts\" in his press briefing in regard to inauguration crowd sizes.\n\nPrep for the polls: See who is running for president and compare where they stand on key issues in our Voter Guide\n\nDay 4: Jan. 23\n\nTrump signs three presidential directives: withdrawing U.S. support for a Pacific trade deal; imposing a hiring freeze in civilian agencies; and restoring the so-called Mexico City policy that prohibits U.S. aid from supporting international groups that promote abortion. In a meeting with congressional leaders, Trump revives claims of voter fraud, blaming his popular vote loss on 3 million to 5 million people voting illegally.\n\nDay 5: Jan. 24\n\nTrump signs five executive actions on energy and infrastructure projects, including two memoranda intended to expedite the Keystone XL and Dakota Access pipelines. In a late-night tweet, he references plans to address one of his key campaign promises the following day: \"Big day planned on NATIONAL SECURITY tomorrow. Among many other things, we will build the wall!\"\n\nDay 6: Jan. 25\n\nTrump starts the day with tweets vowing a \"major investigation\" into alleged voter fraud. In the afternoon, he visits the Department of Homeland Security and signs executive actions aimed at building a wall on the Mexican border and clamping down on \"sanctuary cities.\"\n\nDay 7: Jan. 26\n\nTrump floats a proposal for a 20% tax on imports from Mexico to pay for his planned border wall. His plans for the wall drive a divide between the two countries and lead Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto to cancel a meeting between the two leaders. Trump takes his first Air Force One ride, traveling to Philadelphia to speak at the GOP congressional retreat.\n\nDay 8: Jan. 27\n\nTrump has an hourlong phone call with Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto. He has his first official meeting with a foreign leader, British Prime Minister Theresa May. During their news conference, Trump declines to say whether he supports a reduction of sanctions against Russia. He visits the Pentagon to charge his new Defense secretary with rebuilding the military and announce an executive action to clamp down on refugee admissions in the U.S.\n\nDay 9: Jan. 28\n\nTrump's executive order from the previous evening — which suspends the U.S. refugee program for 120 days, bans all immigrants from seven Muslim countries for 90 days, and orders the administration to develop \"extreme vetting\" measures — causes reverberations across the country, with stranded travelers, airport protests and legal challenges. The president makes a round of phone calls to world leaders, including Russian President Vladimir Putin. Trump also signs more executive orders: one to reorganize the National Security Council, another to strengthen ethics rules for the executive branch, and a third directing the military to present him a plan to defeat the Islamic State.\n\nDay 10: Jan. 29\n\nTrump, the target of protests, lawsuits and global criticism over his new refugee policy, takes to social media to defend it as a counter-terrorism measure. Some congressional Republicans suggest the order may have been too broad and hastily written. The president also faces blowback after giving chief strategist Steve Bannon an elevated role on the National Security Council.\n\nDay 11: Jan. 30\n\nAmid continued criticism over his temporary travel ban, Trump says that stopping terrorism involves hard choices and adds that he's following through on campaign pledges. Former president Barack Obama's office releases a statement that applauds those protesting the ban. That evening, acting Attorney General Sally Yates, a holdover from the Obama administration, says she won't defend the president’s travel ban in court. Three hours later, the White House announces that she's been relieved of her duties.\n\nDay 12: Jan. 31\n\nThe morning after firing his acting attorney general, Trump mocks his Democratic congressional critics and demands that the Senate confirm his attorney general pick, Alabama Sen. Jeff Sessions. He meets with drugmakers and pledges to cut taxes and streamline regulations for the pharmaceutical industry in a bid to drive down drug prices. The president caps off the day with his long-awaited Supreme Court nomination, announcing his selection of Neil Gorsuch to fill the seat of the late Justice Antonin Scalia.\n\nDay 13: Feb. 1\n\nTrump says the Senate should \"go nuclear\" and eliminate Democratic filibuster rights if that's what it takes to confirm Gorsuch. His nomination of Betsy DeVos for Education secretary takes a hit when two Republican senators say they'll vote against her. The president makes an unannounced trip to a Delaware military base to receive the remains of a Navy SEAL killed during a counter-terrorism raid.\n\nDay 14: Feb. 2\n\nIn remarks at the National Prayer Breakfast, Trump references leaked conversations between himself and Mexican and Australian leaders, telling attendees not to worry about his \"tough phone calls\" and that the country has to be \"tougher\" in meeting its challenges. He raises eyebrows by also asking for prayers for his Apprentice successor, Arnold Schwarzenegger, and the show's ratings, which Trump said have gone \"down the tubes\" in his absence. And he vows to make good on his promise to overturn the so-called Johnson Amendment, which bans public charities — including churches — from campaigning for or against a candidate for elected office.\n\nDay 15: Feb. 3\n\nThe Trump administration imposes new sanctions on Iranian individuals and companies, citing the Tehran government's missile tests and support for rebels in Yemen. The president signs executive actions rolling back key financial regulations of the Obama era, including restrictions on Wall Street banks and on financial advisers who sell clients expensive financial products with higher commissions.\n\nDay 16: Feb. 4\n\nTrump spends his weekend at Mar-a-Lago, the \"Winter White House.\" He asks a federal court to overturn a Seattle judge’s injunction halting his immigration ban, after he criticized the judge’s ruling as “ridiculous” and a “terrible decision.” In excerpts of a Fox News interview with Bill O'Reilly set to air before the Super Bowl the following day, Trump reiterates his desire to improve relations with Russia and dismisses concerns that Putin is a “killer.”\n\nDay 17: Feb 5\n\nTrump continues to attack the federal judge who voided his travel ban. \"Just cannot believe a judge would put our country in such peril,\" he tweets. \"If something happens blame him and court system. People pouring in. Bad!\" As the Justice Department appeals the judge's decision, Trump also tweets that he has \"instructed Homeland Security to check people coming into our country VERY CAREFULLY. The courts are making the job very difficult!\"\n\nDay 18: Feb. 6\n\nAs an appeals court reviews his travel ban, Trump claims that the public is with him, despite polls indicating otherwise. \"Any negative polls are fake news, just like the CNN, ABC, NBC polls in the election,\" Trump tweets. \"Sorry, people want border security and extreme vetting.\" In a visit to the headquarters of the U.S. Central Command in Tampa, Trump tells troops he is 100% behind them in the fight against \"radical Islamic terrorism\" and claims that \"in many cases the very, very dishonest press doesn’t want to report\" on terrorist attacks.\n\nDay 19: Feb. 7\n\nTrump tells a group of county sheriffs that he will help them fight terrorism and illegal immigration, and he vows to take his travel ban all the way to the Supreme Court if necessary. DeVos is confirmed as Education secretary after a contentious battle in the Senate, with Vice President Pence breaking a 50-50 tie vote. Later that day, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals hears oral arguments over a lower court's decision to halt Trump's travel ban.\n\nDay 20: Feb. 8\n\nTrump urges the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to uphold his travel ban, arguing that national security is at stake and suggesting that judges sometimes act politically. The president attacks Nordstrom for dropping daughter Ivanka's fashion line, drawing criticism for mixing government and his family's business interests. The Senate debate on the Sessions attorney general nomination turns ugly after Democratic Sen. Elizabeth Warren is silenced by the GOP during a speech for \"impugning\" Sessions.\n\nDay 21: Feb. 9\n\nTrump accuses Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., of distorting what Gorsuch said about the president's attacks on judges, even though administration officials and fellow senators confirm the gist of Gorsuch's comments. The president also uses Twitter to attack Sen. John McCain over his criticism of the White House calling the Yemen raid a “huge success.\" Watchdog groups file ethics complaints against Conway for promoting Ivanka Trump's fashion line during a TV interview. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit weighs in that evening, refusing to reinstate Trump's travel ban.\n\nDay 22: Feb. 10\n\nIn a joint news conference with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, Trump reaffirms the U.S. commitment to the defense of Japan but says both countries need to contribute more to military cooperation. He says he’ll take action the following week to strengthen border security in the wake of the appeals court ruling against his travel ban, but he declines to specify what that action might be. Meanwhile, a federal judge in Virginia blasts his travel ban, citing a lack of evidence that travelers from the seven Muslim-majority countries represent a specific threat.\n\nDay 23: Feb. 11\n\nTrump golfs with Abe at Trump National Jupiter Golf Club in Florida, while Melania Trump and Abe’s wife, Akie, spend the morning touring the Morikami Museum and Japanese Gardens in Palm Beach County. It's a relatively quiet day for the president on Twitter, with Trump vowing that cost estimates for his border wall will \"come WAY DOWN\" once he is involved with design and negotiations.\n\nDay 24: Feb. 12\n\nTrump takes to Twitter in the morning to again defend his travel ban. In Sunday show appearances, policy adviser Stephen Miller says the president is assessing all of his legal options on the ban, ranging from appealing to the Supreme Court to revising the executive order.\n\nDay 25: Feb. 13\n\nAfter a day filled with mounting questions and criticism, National Security Adviser Michael Flynn resigns, citing \"incomplete information\" that he provided White House officials about his dealings with the Russian ambassador. Earlier that day, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau visits the White House. Trump pledges \"bridges of commerce\" with Canada and says he wants relatively minor changes to NAFTA, adding that most of his problems with the trade deal involve the third partner, Mexico.\n\nDay 26: Feb. 14\n\nIn the aftermath of Flynn's exit, Spicer says Trump knew for more than two weeks that Flynn lied about his contact with a Russian ambassador and demanded his resignation because he could no longer trust him. That night, The New York Times reports that phone records and intercepted calls show members of Trump's campaign team \"had repeated contacts with senior Russian intelligence officials in the year before the election.\"\n\nDay 27: Feb. 15\n\nAmid the renewed questions about contacts between Trump's associates and Russia regarding the 2016 election, the president denounces \"conspiracy theories\" about his relationship with the Russians and said \"illegal\" news leaks brought down Flynn. Trump hosts Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the White House for a series of meetings. Andrew Puzder, the president’s embattled pick to become Labor secretary, withdraws his nomination.\n\nDay 28: Feb. 16\n\nIn a lengthy, fiery, wide-ranging news conference, Trump defends his administration as a \"fine-tuned machine,\" laments the \"mess\" he inherited from his predecessor and excoriates the \"fake news\" media. He says he asked Flynn to resign because he misled Pence about his phone calls to the Russian ambassador, but Trump says he didn't believe Flynn did anything wrong by making the calls and faults leakers for providing contents of the intercepted calls to the media.\n\nDay 29: Feb. 17\n\nThe Associated Press reports on the details of an internal Department of Homeland Security memo from January that proposes calling up as many as 100,000 National Guard troops to round up undocumented immigrants; it draws an angry response from the White House, with Spicer calling the AP report \"100% not true\" and insisting the memo is “not a White House document.” Trump conducts his first presidential visit beyond the Beltway with a stop in the Boeing facility in North Charleston, S.C., where he stresses his \"America First\" trade and economic policies.\n\nDay 30: Feb. 18\n\nTrump kicks off his third straight weekend at Mar-a-Lago seeking to calm reports of turmoil within his administration. \"Don't believe the main stream (fake news) media.The White House is running VERY WELL. I inherited a MESS and am in the process of fixing it,\" he tweets that morning. He holds a campaign-style rally in the evening in Melbourne, Fla.\n\nDay 31: Feb. 19\n\nTrump is ridiculed for apparently denouncing a non-existent terrorist attack in Sweden in his rally the night before but says he was referring to a Fox News report on violence in Sweden allegedly perpetrated by refugees. In New York City, more than a thousand people protest Trump's travel ban in the \"I Am A Muslim Too\" rally.\n\nDay 32: Feb. 20\n\nAcross the country, anti-Trump activists mark Presidents Day with “Not My Presidents Day” protests. The president spends the holiday at Mar-a-Lago and announces that Army Lt. Gen. H.R. McMaster will be his new national security adviser, replacing Flynn.\n\nDay 33: Feb. 21\n\nTrump speaks out against a series of bomb threats to Jewish community centers across the nation after coming under fire for sidestepping earlier opportunities to condemn several anti-Semitic acts since he took office. The Department of Homeland Security issues new directives to increase deportations among the country's 11 million undocumented immigrants.\n\nDay 34: Feb. 22\n\nTrump and his aides say they’ll roll out a proposed budget, a revamped health care plan and a new tax reform package over the following two months. The president, while meeting with budget officials, doesn't give specifics, but he tells reporters that \"our moral duty to the taxpayer requires us to make our government leaner and more accountable” and “we must do a lot more with less.” Later that evening, the Trump administration issues new guidance on transgender students' restroom use, rolling back the policies put in place by the Obama administration last year.\n\nDay 35: Feb. 23\n\nTrump meets with manufacturing executives at the White House and later holds a listening session on human trafficking. The Conservative Political Action Conference kicks off just outside of Washington. White House Chief of Staff Reince Priebus and Bannon make a joint appearance at the annual confab, in which they dispute media reports casting them as rivals and say they are working together to advance the president's agenda.\n\nDay 36: Feb. 24\n\nTrump starts off the day criticizing FBI \"leakers\" as he and aides push back on news reports that his chief of staff asked the bureau to \"knock down\" stories about investigations into possible contacts between Trump campaign associates and Russian officials. At his CPAC speech later that morning, Trump launches into a full-throated attack on journalism, saying some reporters make up unnamed sources for \"fake news\" and describing the media as \"the enemy\" of the American people. News organizations protest a White House decision that afternoon to hold a news briefing by invitation only.\n\nDay 37: Feb. 25\n\nThe president takes to Twitter in the morning with further complaints about the media. “The media has not reported that the National Debt in my first month went down by $12 billion vs a $200 billion increase in Obama first mo,” he tweets. In the evening, he announces via Twitter that he will not attend the annual White House Correspondents' Association Dinner in April.\n\nDay 38: Feb. 26\n\nThe president tweets that the Democratic National Committee election \"was of course, totally 'rigged' \" and takes another swing at the media, tweeting, \"Russia talk is FAKE NEWS put out by the Dems, and played up by the media, in order to mask the big election defeat and the illegal leaks!\" In the evening, Trump hosts the nation's governors for an annual dinner at the White House.\n\nDay 39: Feb. 27\n\nTrump signs off on top-line numbers in a budget outline that bolsters military spending while making deep cuts to other federal agencies. \"This defense spending increase will be offset and paid for by finding greater savings and efficiencies across the federal government,\" he says. \"We're going to do more with less.\" The president rejects the idea of a special prosecutor to look into Russian connections during the election and says, “I haven’t called Russia in 10 years.\"\n\nDay 40: Feb. 28\n\nTrump uses his first address to Congress to proclaim American greatness and push an ambitious agenda of economic nationalism, declaring, \"The time for small thinking is over. The time for trivial fights is behind us.\" He opens the possibility of a comprehensive immigration deal, pitches $1 trillion for \"Buy American, Hire American\" infrastructure spending, and says he will propose \"historic\" tax cuts. Earlier that day, the president signs executive orders targeting a water-protection rule and elevating an initiative on historically black colleges and universities.\n\nDay 41: March 1\n\nA day after Trump struck a more conciliatory tone in his address to Congress, critics predict he'll revert back to the more combative and divisive approach that characterized much of his first month in office. Aides, however, say the president is focused on enacting his campaign agenda. White House Deputy Counsel Stefan Passantino says in a letter that Conway did nothing \"nefarious\" when she promoted Ivanka Trump's fashion line on television and that a White House inquiry \"concluded that Ms. Conway acted inadvertently and is highly unlikely to do so again.\"\n\nDay 42: March 2\n\nThe news of Sessions' 2016 meetings with the Russian ambassador, contradicting his testimony during his confirmation hearing that he had no contact with the Russian government during the campaign, dominates the day. Trump says he \"wasn't aware at all\" of the meetings. Speaking to reporters during a tour of the USS Gerald Ford in Newport News, Va., the president says he still had \"total\" confidence in his attorney general. Later that afternoon, Session recuses himself from the Russia investigation.\n\nDay 43: March 3\n\nSeeking to get past stories about Sessions and Russia, Trump spends the day visiting a school in Florida. He uses Twitter to express his displeasure with Democrats, knocking them over his full Cabinet having not yet been approved and calling Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer a \"hypocrite\" in a tweet displaying a 2003 photo of Schumer and Putin.\n\nDay 44: March 4\n\nIn a morning tweetstorm, Trump accuses Obama of wiretapping him at Trump Tower prior to the November election: \"Terrible! Just found out that Obama had my 'wires tapped' in Trump Tower just before the victory. Nothing found. This is McCarthyism!\" the president tweets. An Obama spokesman rejects the accusation as \"simply false.\" Thousands of Trump supporters convene near Trump Tower and in other cities around the U.S. in what organizers bill as \"March 4 Trump\" demonstrations on behalf of the president.\n\nDay 45: March 5\n\nIn the morning, the president calls for a congressional investigation of his claims that Obama had him wiretapped during the election — while critics accuse Trump of trying to distract from the investigation into his own relationship with Russia. That evening, news reports indicate that FBI Director James Comey over the weekend sought a public rebuke from the Justice Department of Trump's wiretapping claim.\n\nDay 46: March 6\n\nTrump issues the long-awaited revised version of his travel ban, which no longer restricts travel from Iraq, one of the seven majority Muslim countries listed in his original order. The new order, set to take effect 10 days afterward, includes Iran, Libya, Somalia, Syria, Sudan and Yemen as part of the 90-day ban. Meanwhile, when White House deputy press secretary Sarah Sanders is asked on ABC's Good Morning America whether the president accepts Comey's statement that Obama did not authorize any wiretaps, she says: \"You know, I don't think he does.\"\n\nDay 47: March 7\n\nTrump kicks off the day by using Twitter to again bash Obama — this time in a false claim about Guantanamo Bay prisoner releases. He also denies reports of dissension within his staff. \"Don't let the FAKE NEWS tell you that there is big infighting in the Trump Admin,\" the president tweets. He praises the House GOP health care bill amid pushback from conservatives attacking the new plan. \"We're going to do something that is great,\" the president says during a meeting with House deputy whips. The plan is \"complicated, but it's very simple ... it's called good health care.\"\n\nDay 48: March 8\n\nWhile refusing to confirm or deny the authenticity of CIA documents released by WikiLeaks, Spicer says that \"this alleged leak should concern every single American in terms of the impact it has on our national security\" and says there's a \"massive, massive difference\" between exposing the emails of Clinton campaign chairman John Podesta and other Democratic officials, and leaking national security secrets. The president dines with former foe Sen. Ted Cruz. Sens. Lindsey Graham and Sheldon Whitehouse send a letter to the FBI director and acting deputy attorney general asking for specific information on Trump's wiretapping accusation against Obama.\n\nDay 49: March 9\n\nTrump meets with his National Economic Council and representatives of community banks. As GOP leaders try to quell concerns about the new health care legislation, the president tweets, \"Despite what you hear in the press, healthcare is coming along great. We are talking to many groups and it will end in a beautiful picture!\" Meanwhile, legal challenges mount from several states for Trump's revised travel ban.\n\nDay 50: March 10\n\nAs the president reaches the halfway point of his first 100 days, administration officials kick off a plan to use social media and interviews to promote \"50 days of action.\" Trump meets with House committee leaders and predicts a fairly rapid approval of the GOP health care bill. \"This is the time we’re going to get it done,\" he says. \"I think it’s just something that’s going to happen very shortly.\" He welcomes a better-than-expected jobs report showing that the economy added 235,000 jobs the previous month.\n\nDay 51: March 11\n\nTrump has lunch with a group of White House staff and Cabinet members at Trump National Golf Club in Sterling, Va. His administration moves forward with plans to dismiss 46 U.S. attorneys held over from the Obama administration amid criticism, and news reports emerge that an intruder was arrested on the White House grounds after scaling a fence the previous evening.\n\nDay 52: March 12\n\nTrump administration officials mount a vigorous defense of their effort to repeal and replace Obamacare while bracing for what could be a skeptical assessment from the Congressional Budget Office the next day. Speaking on NBC's Meet the Press, Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price says the bill would lead to \"more people covered than are covered right now, and at an average cost that is less.\"\n\nDay 53: March 13\n\nThe CBO releases its analysis of the GOP health plan, determining that the bill would lead to 14 million fewer Americans with insurance by 2018 and 24 million by 2026. Price calls the projections \"just not believable.\" Trump launches an ambitious effort to reorganize the federal government, signing an executive order that he said would \"make it less wasteful and more productive.\"\n\nDay 54: March 14\n\nA senior White House official confirms that Trump paid $38 million in taxes in 2005 on an income of more than $150 million. The rare acknowledgement came in anticipation of a report by MSNBC's Rachel Maddow in which she disclosed a portion of the return. The news capped off an otherwise relatively quite day for the president during which Spicer pushed back against the CBO analysis of the Obamacare repeal and Trump hosted the deputy crown prince of Saudi Arabia for lunch in the State Dining Room.\n\nDay 55: March 15\n\nA federal judge in Hawaii issues a nationwide halt to Trump's second travel ban. Earlier that day, the president spars on Twitter with journalist David Cay Johnston over the previous night's leaked tax return, tweeting, \"Does anybody really believe that a reporter, who nobody ever heard of, 'went to his mailbox' and found my tax returns?\" Trump also travels to Detroit to speak to autoworkers before heading to a rally in Nashville.\n\nDay 56: March 16\n\nIn his first formal budget proposal to Congress, Trump seeks to increase defense spending by $54 billion and offsets that with cuts to non-defense spending, including steep cuts to education, environmental protection, health and human services and foreign aid. Senate Intelligence Committee leaders say in a statement that there are \"no indications that Trump Tower was the subject of surveillance,\" a day after the House Intelligence panel offered a similar assessment. Trump also meets with Irish leader Enda Kenny and attends the Friends of Ireland Luncheon on Capitol Hill.\n\nDay 57: March 17\n\nDisputing media reports that the GOP health care bill is in political trouble, Trump says he is \"100% behind\" the plan and is working with skeptical conservatives. He welcomes German Chancellor Angela Merkel to the White House after months of back-and-forth between the two leaders. During their news conference, Trump again defends his surveillance allegations. \"At least we have something in common, perhaps,\" he says, referencing past disclosures during the Obama administration that Merkel's cellphone had been monitored.\n\nDay 58: March 18\n\nThe president spends the weekend at Mar-a-Lago. In a pair of morning tweets, Trump lashes out at the media and Germany: \"Despite what you have heard from the FAKE NEWS, I had a GREAT meeting with German Chancellor Angela Merkel. Nevertheless, Germany owes ... vast sums of money to NATO & the United States must be paid more for the powerful, and very expensive, defense it provides to Germany!\" Meanwhile, at the White House, the Secret Service apprehends a person who jumped a bike rack near the security perimeter.\n\nDay 59: March 19\n\nA day before a high-stakes hearing featuring Comey's testimony, the leaders of the House Intelligence Committee say on Sunday talk shows that there's no evidence to back Trump's claims that Obama wiretapped him, though the committee's chairman, Rep. Devin Nunes, says investigators are looking at other types of possible surveillance of Trump and his aides during the campaign.\n\nDay 60: March 20\n\nAppearing before the House Intelligence Committee, Comey says the FBI and DOJ have \"no information to support’’ Trump’s assertions that Obama wiretapped him, and he also confirms for the first time publicly that the FBI is investigating Russian interference in the election. Trump heads to Kentucky to take part in a rally to build support for the GOP health care bill.\n\nDay 61: March 21\n\nThe morning after congressional Republicans released a modified version of their health care legislation seeking to win more conservative votes, Trump meets with GOP lawmakers on Capitol Hill, emphasizing how important it is that they stay united to pass the legislation. The president also signs a $19.5 billion bill to fund NASA programs and reaffirm what he called a \"national commitment\" to \"human space exploration.\"\n\nDay 62: March 22\n\nThe White House dismisses a report that Trump's former campaign chairman, Paul Manafort, received a $10 million contract a decade ago to advance the interests of Putin. Nunes says communications involving members of Trump's transition group were \"incidentally collected'' by intelligence officials after the election. The president meets with members of the Congressional Black Caucus, and negotiations continue over the looming health care vote in the House.\n\nDay 63: March 23\n\nIn a setback to Trump and Speaker Paul Ryan's efforts to repeal Obamacare, the House postpones its vote on the bill as negotiations continue with both conservative and moderate groups. The president touts the House Intelligence chairman's assertion that spy agencies engaged in \"incidental collection\" of Trump associates' communications, saying it's evidence to support his claim that Obama \"wiretapped\" Trump Tower. Trump also holds a listening session on health care at the White House with truckers and trucking CEOs.\n\nDay 64: March 24\n\nAs the Obamacare repeal bill bleeds GOP support ahead of its rescheduled vote, Ryan pulls the legislation from consideration — a major bump in the road for Trump's campaign promise to repeal and replace the health care law. The president blames the bill's failure on the lack of Democratic support. Earlier that day, Trump signs a permit to allow the construction of the Keystone XL pipeline, calling it \"a great day for American jobs.\"\n\nDay 65: March 25\n\nThe morning after Republicans' Obamacare repeal plan fell apart in Congress, Trump tweets, \"ObamaCare will explode and we will all get together and piece together a great healthcare plan for THE PEOPLE. Do not worry!\" The president stays in the D.C. area for the weekend, venturing to Trump National Golf Club in Sterling, Va.\n\nDay 66: March 26\n\nTrump takes aim at the House Freedom Caucus in a morning tweet: \"Democrats are smiling in D.C. that the Freedom Caucus, with the help of Club For Growth and Heritage, have saved Planned Parenthood & Ocare!\" In Sunday show appearances, Priebus and budget director Mick Mulvaney say Trump has not blamed Ryan for the failure of the Obamacare repeal bill.\n\nDay 67: March 27\n\nTrump taps son-in-law Jared Kushner to lead a new White House office designed to bring ideas from the private sector into the federal government. The president rolls back more Obama-era regulations, signing four bills that reverse rules on education, land use and federal purchasing, and he holds a meeting at the White House with female small-business owners.\n\nDay 68: March 28\n\nTrump signs an executive order on energy independence, a sweeping repudiation of Obama-era environmental initiatives that substitutes a strategy of combating climate change through international cooperation for an America-first energy policy. Nunes faces pressure to recuse himself or step down as leader of the investigation of Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential election.\n\nDay 69: March 29\n\nThe president kicks off the day with complaints on Twitter about the media. \"Remember when the failing @nytimes apologized to its subscribers, right after the election, because their coverage was so wrong. Now worse!\" he tweets. Trump later holds an opioid abuse listening session, joined by New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, leader of the White House's new commission to combat the opioid crisis.\n\nDay 70: March 30\n\nTrump takes to Twitter to threaten the conservative group that opposed him on health care: \"The Freedom Caucus will hurt the entire Republican agenda if they don't get on the team, & fast. We must fight them, & Dems, in 2018! \" Later that day, The New York Times reports that two White House officials played a role in providing intelligence reports to Nunes. The president meets with Denmark’s prime minister, Lars Lokke Rasmussen.\n\nDay 71: March 31\n\nWhile Trump encourages Flynn to offer testimony to investigators in exchange for immunity, congressional leaders investigating Russia's interference in the election signal that it's too early to consider such an agreement. Trump promises to crack down on \"foreign importers that cheat\" with two executive orders that he said would lead to a historic reversal of the nation's trade deficit.\n\nDay 72: April 1\n\nTrump kicks off another Saturday with tweets attacking the media, with NBC's Chuck Todd as the target: \"When will Sleepy Eyes Chuck Todd and @NBCNews start talking about the Obama SURVEILLANCE SCANDAL and stop with the Fake Trump/Russia story?\" The president also uses Twitter to praise a New York Times article on Obamacare, though he still describes the newspaper as \"failing.\"\n\nDay 73: April 2\n\nTrump expresses confidence, both on social media and at the golf course, that he and aides can resurrect their attempt to repeal Obamacare. Before hitting the links with one of his critics on health care, Republican Sen. Rand Paul, the president tweets: \"Anybody (especially Fake News media) who thinks that Repeal & Replace of ObamaCare is dead does not know the love and strength in R Party!\"\n\nDay 74: April 3\n\nTrump welcomes Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi to the White House, praises him for doing a \"fantastic job,\" and solicits his help in the fight against terrorism. The president donates $78,333.32 — his salary since taking office — to the National Park Service. Senate Democrats reach the threshold required to block Gorsuch's confirmation, setting up a major Senate rules change later in the week for the GOP to advance the Supreme Court nomination.\n\nDay 75: April 4\n\nFormer national security adviser Susan Rice, appearing on MSNBC, says she didn't seek to \"unmask\" the names of Trump associates for political purposes. Meanwhile, in a statement on a chemical attack in Syria, Trump blames the Assad regime and calls it a consequence of the Obama administration’s “weakness and irresolution.” The president promotes his \"America First\" domestic plan at the North America’s Building Trades Unions national legislative conference.\n\nDay 76: April 5\n\nA senior White House official confirms Trump has removed Bannon from the National Security Council and says Bannon was given the post as a check on Flynn. In an interview with The New York Times, Trump floats the possibility that Rice committed a crime, but he provides no evidence. In a news conference with Jordan's King Abdullah, the president denounces the chemical attack in Syria and suggests his administration will develop a new policy toward Bashar al-Assad's government.\n\nDay 77: April 6\n\nTrump orders a cruise missile strike against Syria, saying \"no child of God should ever suffer\" the horror of the chemical weapons attack Syria launched on its own people. Earlier that day, Trump meets with Wounded Warriors at the White House before heading to Mar-a-Lago to host a summit with Chinese President Xi Jinping, and Senate Republicans invoke the \"nuclear option\" to strip Democrats of their power to block Trump's Supreme Court nominee from being confirmed.\n\nDay 78: April 7\n\nTrump's decision to strike Syria in retaliation for a chemical weapons attack draws wide political support, though some lawmakers say he should have consulted with Congress, while Russia said the strike would undermine international cooperation. The president concludes his meetings with the Chinese president at Mar-a-Lago, and his Supreme Court nominee is confirmed by the Senate.\n\nDay 79: April 8\n\nTrump does not rule out additional military action against Syria, telling Congress that he was acting \"in the vital national security and foreign policy interests of the United States\" when he ordered the launch of cruise missiles at a Syrian air field. He provides his justification in a letter to Congress under the War Powers Resolution. Kushner and Bannon hold a negotiation session to try to mend a rift that triggered speculation about a White House staff shakeup.\n\nDay 80: April 9\n\nAdministration officials confirm that Trump will ask K.T. McFarland to step down as deputy national security adviser and serve instead as ambassador to Singapore, giving McMaster a chance to pick his own lieutenant. The president heads back to D.C. in the afternoon following a weekend at Mar-a-Lago.\n\nDay 81: April 10\n\nTrump takes part in the swearing-in ceremony for Gorsuch. The White House echoes its threat of additional missile strikes against Syria if Assad's government again uses chemical weapons, and Trump aides say the administration is reworking its tax reform plan and doesn't know whether it can put together a final proposal before Congress' August recess.\n\nDay 82: April 11\n\nSpicer makes waves during the daily briefing when he states, while comparing Assad and Adolf Hitler, that Hitler \"didn't even use chemical weapons.\" He attempts to clarify by saying Hitler \"was not using the gas on his own people the same way that Assad is doing.\" In a second attempt to clarify, he says he was \"trying to draw a contrast of the tactic of using airplanes to drop chemical weapons on innocent people.\" Meanwhile, the White House says there's overwhelming evidence that Syria used a sarin nerve agent to attack opponents of the government and that Russia is trying to help Assad's government cover up the illegal use of chemical weapons.\n\nDay 83: April 12\n\nTrump meets with NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg and says at a press conference afterward that he's satisfied that NATO has responded to the criticism he leveled at it during his campaign: \"I said it was obsolete. It is no longer obsolete.\" He also says relations with Russia \"may be at an all-time low\" following Syria's use of chemical weapons the previous week and the U.S. airstrike that followed.\n\nDay 84: April 13\n\nThe U.S. military announces an attack on an Islamic State tunnel complex in Afghanistan, and Trump says he endorsed the strike. Asked about the use of the \"mother of all bombs,\" Trump says \"what I do is I authorize my military. ... We have given them total authorization and that’s what they’re doing and frankly that’s why they’ve been so successful lately.\" The president tweets on foreign policy, including on North Korea: \"I have great confidence that China will properly deal with North Korea. If they are unable to do so, the U.S., with its allies, will! U.S.A.\"\n\nDay 85: April 14\n\nTrump hits the golf course at Mar-a-Lago as he and his aides braced for what North Korea calls a \"big event.\" Administration officials say they are hopeful that China can dissuade its communist neighbor from conducting a nuclear explosion or a missile test. The Trump administration says records of visitors to the White House will stay secret until at least five years after Trump leaves office, a reversal of policy quickly denounced by advocates of transparent government.\n\nDay 86: April 15\n\nNorth Korea attempts to launch a new missile, but the device blows up almost immediately. Pence arrives in Seoul hours after the failed missile test and says U.S. resolve to support and defend South Korea is unwavering \"in these troubled times.\" Meanwhile, thousands of protesters gather in U.S. cities for Tax Day rallies and marches, demanding that Trump release his tax returns.\n\nDay 87: April 16\n\nThe Trump administration takes a low-key approach to the previous day's failed missile test in North Korea and continues to express hope that China will rein in its nuclear-armed neighbor. The president says he's unimpressed with tax protests over the weekend and indicates he has no plans to release his tax returns anytime soon. \"Someone should look into who paid for the small organized rallies yesterday. The election is over!\" Trump tweets. He returns to D.C. after spending Easter weekend in Mar-a-Lago.\n\nDay 88: April 17\n\nTrump marks his first Easter Egg Roll by defending his record in office. \"We will be stronger and bigger and better as a nation than ever before and we are right on track,\" he says during remarks on the South Portico balcony. The White House declines to detail Trump's future strategy toward North Korea, even as its government threatens more missile tests. \"I think that the action that he took in Syria shows that when appropriate this president will take decisive action,\" Spicer says.\n\nDay 89: April 18\n\nTrump heads to Snap-On Tools in Kenosha, Wis., to speak about manufacturing and sign a \"Buy American, Hire American\" executive order. The order clamps down on guest worker visas and requires agencies to buy more goods and services from U.S. companies and workers. Watchdog group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington expands a lawsuit against the president, adding new plaintiffs who claim they are hurt by the \"unfair\" advantage he enjoys in the hotel and restaurant industry.\n\nDay 90: April 19\n\nWith the closely watched special election in Georgia headed to a runoff, Trump pats himself on the back: \"Despite major outside money, FAKE media support and eleven Republican candidates, BIG \"R\" win with runoff in Georgia. Glad to be of help!\" he tweets. He signs the Veterans Choice Program Extension and Improvement Act and welcomes the Super Bowl champion New England Patriots to the White House.\n\nDay 91: April 20\n\nThe Trump administration launches an investigation into whether steel imports threaten national security, a move aimed at China's growing dominance in steel production. The president welcomes Italian Prime Minister Paolo Gentiloni to the White House. During their joint press conference, Trump says he's confident he can block North Korea's nuclear program, get a health care bill though the House, and avoid a looming government shutdown.\n\nDay 92: April 21\n\nWith a little over a week before Trump hits the 100-day mark of his presidency, he tweets, \"No matter how much I accomplish during the ridiculous standard of the first 100 days, & it has been a lot (including S.C.), media will kill!\" Trump aims to dismantle even more financial regulations with executive orders, directing Treasury officials to take another look at tax rules and oversight of \"too big to fail\" financial institutions. The president also says he intends to unveil a tax reform plan the following week.\n\nDay 93: April 22\n\nTrump announces his plans for the night of the annual dinner of White House correspondents — and the 100th day of his presidency. \"Next Saturday night I will be holding a BIG rally in Pennsylvania. Look forward to it!\" he tweets. He makes his his first official visit to Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, awarding a Purple Heart to a soldier injured in Afghanistan. People take part in protests across the country as part of the the March for Science.\n\nDay 94: April 23\n\nAs the 100-day mark approaches, Trump and his staff plan a busy week of events — including a new tax reform outline, a renewed effort to get a health care bill through the House, a high-profile National Rifle Association speech and a 100th day rally in Pennsylvania — all topped by the need for a new spending bill to keep the government open.\n\nDay 95: April 24\n\nTrump speaks with astronauts aboard the International Space Station, lauding NASA's work and praising a crew member who set a record for longest time spent in space. As his administration slaps new sanctions on Syria, Trump tells a group of U.N. diplomats that they need to work harder to confront the Syrian government and other \"serious and growing threats\" such as North Korea. He attempts to atone for past blunders on the history of the Holocaust with a strongly worded Week of Remembrance proclamation, pledging that \"we must never forget\" the annihilation of 6 million Jews by Nazi Germany.\n\nDay 96: April 25\n\nTrump vows to fight anti-Semitic violence during a ceremony at the U.S. Capitol to commemorate the memory of the Holocaust. \"Those who deny the Holocaust are an accomplice to this horrible evil, and we will never be silent,\" Trump says. Later that day, the president expresses confidence that he'll be able to build a wall along the Southwest border but stops short of saying whether he would insist that money to finance the barrier be included in a new spending bill to keep the government open past the end of the week.\n\nDay 97: April 26\n\nTrump signs an executive order calling into question the future of more than two dozen national monuments proclaimed by the last three presidents to set aside millions of acres from development. The administration pitches a tax reform outline calling for big corporate rate cuts, a simpler tax code and big increases in standard deductions. After briefing senators at a White House meeting, members of Trump's national security team said they're trying to coerce North Korea into giving up its nuclear weapons program by cutting off foreign money they need to finance it.\n\nDay 98: April 27\n\nTrump signs an executive order seeking to provide more protections to whistle-blowers at the Department of Veterans Affairs. A week after directing a wide-ranging investigation into whether foreign steel poses a threat to U.S. national security, Trump signs an order doing the same for aluminum. He welcomes Argentinian President Mauricio Macri and first lady Juliana Awada to the White House.\n\nDay 99: April 28\n\nCongress passes a stopgap funding bill to keep the government open another week, eliminating the threat of a shutdown starting on Trump's 100th day in office. He signs an executive order that could eventually open up Arctic waters and millions of coastal acres off U.S. shores to oil and gas drilling. He heads to Atlanta to speak at the National Rifle Association convention, where he vows to defend gun rights and reminisces about his election victory.\n\nDay 100: April 29\n\nTrump is set to hold a campaign rally in Harrisburg, Pa., as White House correspondents hold their annual dinner in Washington that is traditionally attended by the president.\n\nContributing: Katie Smith, David Jackson, Gregory Korte, Donovan Slack\n\nUSA TODAY coverage of Trump's first 100 days:\n\n100 days into Trump presidency, Americans are united on this: They're divided\n\nTrump’s 5 biggest wins and losses in Congress in his first 100 days\n\nOne Republican congressman's wild ride on the Trump train\n\nIn Gettysburg speech, Trump made 100 days of promises. Did he keep them?\n\nPence's first 100 days: He's stayed above the fray, but what does that say about his influence?\n\nThe Trump years: Hope, fear, elation and angst in 100 days\n\nNo regrets: 100% approval at 100 days from these Trump voters\n\nChuck Schumer, President Trump don't talk much in first 100 days\n\nWhat did Trump tweet in his first 100 days?\n\nAnalysis: A bumpy 100 days for Trump? Just wait for the 1,361 to follow\n\nRonald Reagan to Donald Trump: Comparing first 100 days of last six presidents\n\nUSA TODAY roundtable: Advice for Trump? Take a deep breath", "authors": [], "publish_date": "2017/04/29"}, {"url": "https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/50-states/2019/07/19/barbie-tupac-scorpions-red-vines-news-around-states/39702985/", "title": "News from around our 50 states", "text": "From USA TODAY Network and wire reports\n\nAlabama\n\nCullman: An underwater forest with trees as tall as 60 feet has been hampering the search for the body of a woman who was thrown off a boat about two weeks ago. The Cullman Times reports many trees weren’t cut down as workers created Smith Lake near Birmingham more than 50 years ago. Phil Hutchens, a member of the Cullman County Sheriff’s Office dive team, says standing timber is now complicating the search for 26-year-old Kelsey Nicole Starling of Birmingham, who’s been missing since two boats collided on the night of July 4. Starling was thrown from one of them. One of the drivers is charged with boating under the influence. Teams haven’t been able to find any trace of Starling.\n\nAlaska\n\nIgiugig: This tiny Alaska Native village is adopting an emerging technology to transform the power of a local river into a renewable energy source. The village council in Igiugig is the first tribal entity in the nation licensed by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to harness river water that’s not connected to a dam. An underwater generator will be installed in coming days in the Kvichak River, part of a salmon-rich system that also provides subsistence food for the community of 70. Officials with Portland, Maine-based Ocean Renewable Power Co. say a trial river run of the RivGen Power System gives them confidence the system will not harm adult fish. Igiugig Village Council President AlexAnna Salmon says the generator is expected to greatly reduce reliance on costly diesel fuel.\n\nArizona\n\nPhoenix: Barbie – the iconic Mattel doll, arguably one of the world’s original influencers – is Instagramming her way across Arizona this week. The @BarbieStyle account has partnered with Visit Arizona to showcase travel in the Grand Canyon State. Her post Wednesday shows her and a pal visiting Antelope Canyon, on the Navajo Reservation just east of Page. Before that, she posed at the internationally famous Horseshoe Bend, a dramatic curve in the Colorado River that can be seen from an overlook a few miles south of Page. Barbie’s first stop in the state was the Phoenix area, where she lounged by the pool at Mountain Shadows Resort in Paradise Valley. Skyler Scott, spokeswoman for Mountain Shadows, says the Barbie photo taken there was not Photoshopped. A crew came to the resort, and Scott says it was fun to watch the detail and planning that went into the post.\n\nArkansas\n\nLittle Rock: A nonprofit plans to develop an online database of opioid-related overdoses in the state. Arkansas Drug Director Kirk Lane said Wednesday that the Arkansas Foundation for Medical Care is spearheading the project. He noted the database will give policymakers accurate information they can use for grants and prevention efforts. The Arkansas Democrat-Gazette reports the Justice Department awarded the state a nearly $1 million grant to fund the project. It’s expected the public database will be ready for use within six months. Gina Redford, the foundation’s analytics manager, said the database will only include information on overdoses involving opioids, which include prescription painkillers such as oxycodone and fentanyl along with heroin. Data out Wednesday from the Centers for Disease Control shows Arkansas had at least 433 fatal drug overdoses in 2018.\n\nCalifornia\n\nOakland: An animal rescue group is asking for help caring for 89 baby snowy egrets and black-crowned night herons left homeless last week after a tree fell downtown. International Bird Rescue said Wednesday that it needs donations and volunteers to help feed and care for the baby birds rescued after an old ficus tree serving as a rookery split in half and partially fell last week, said JD Bergeron, the group’s executive director. The group is caring for 89 young birds and eggs rescued from the tree, including 50 snowy egrets and 22 black-crowned night herons. It also rescued 17 eggs that need intensive care and round-the-clock support. Another 20 birds died when the tree fell. The rescue group was already taking care of more than 200 Bay Area water birds at its busy hospital in the city of Fairfield, Bergeron said.\n\nColorado\n\nDenver: Officials say greenhouse gas emissions in the state peaked in 2010 and have been in decline since. Colorado Air Pollution Control Division Director Gary Kaufman says the rate of decline has been small, but it’s expected to increase by 2030. The data is included in the Department of Public Health and Environment’s draft inventory of the state’s greenhouse gases. The report projects 125.5 million metric tons of carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide and other gases will be emitted in the state in 2020. That’s down from nearly 127 million metric tons in 2015 and 133 million metric tons in 2010. A new state law aims to cut emissions to at least 90% of 2005 levels, or about 113 million metric tons, by 2050. Officials project the state will still be well above that goal in 2030.\n\nConnecticut\n\nHartford: Prisons officials say errors by nurses at the state women’s prison have caused five inmate methadone overdoses in recent months. The Department of Correction tells the Hartford Courant none of the overdoses at the York Correctional Institution in East Lyme was fatal. Two inmates had to be revived with an opioid overdose reversal drug. One York nurse was fired in connection with two of the errors, and three overdoses remain under investigation. Agency spokeswoman Karen Martucci says 300 inmates at York were on methadone treatment last year. She says while the percentage of dosing errors “is extremely low,” the department is reviewing the methadone distribution program and adding safeguards to prevent similar incidents. Prison workers union officials have warned of dangerous understaffing at state prisons.\n\nDelaware\n\nWilmington:Ladybug Music Festival, believed to be the country’s largest annual celebration of women in music, has kicked off, bringing with it a new local beer, along with almost 60 acts performing at 15 locations around town. The event Thursday and Friday includes a headlining set paying tribute to the “Ladybugs of Soul,” including Aretha Franklin, Tina Turner, Whitney Houston and Chaka Khan. To celebration the occasion, Stitch House Brewery has released its first canned beer, made in collaboration with Milford’s Mispillion River Brewing. Ladybug Rose Lager is an easy-drinking raspberry- and rose hip-infused lager with a light 4% ABV. The cans, which boast Ladybug’s eye-popping colors of pink and yellow, are also sold by the case or in four-packs.\n\nDistrict of Columbia\n\nWashington: Protesters angered by the federal detainment of migrants at the U.S.-Mexico border blocked access to the Immigration and Customs Enforcement headquarters in the city this week and staged a sit-in. News outlets reports at least 10 sit-in demonstrators were arrested and charged with unlawful entry. Dozens marched from the National Mall to the agency’s site around lunchtime Tuesday, stopping federal workers from returning to their desks. The demonstration went on for hours as attendees sang and carried signs saying “Never again is now” and “Never again means close the concentration camps.” The protest was one in a string of similar demonstrations outside ICE facilities nationwide during which protesters called for the dissolution of ICE and an end to crowded detainment centers at the U.S.-Mexico border.\n\nFlorida\n\nWest Palm Beach: Officials are hoping a continuous loop of children’s songs played throughout the night will keep homeless people from sleeping on the patio of a city-owned rental banquet facility. West Palm Beach parks and recreation director Leah Rockwell tells the Palm Beach Post they’re trying to discourage people from sleeping outside the glass-walled Waterfront Lake Pavilion, which she says rakes in some $240,000 annually from events. The loop of “Baby Shark” and “Raining Tacos” is a temporary fix to keep homeless people off the patio. Rockwell says the city wants to formalize hours for the facility, which should make trespassing laws easier to enforce. Illaya Champion tells the Post “it’s wrong” to chase people away with music. He says he’ll still sleep there, but “it’s on and on, the same songs.”\n\nGeorgia\n\nSavannah: Coastal Georgia’s largest county wants to help residents prepare for an emergency during hurricane season. The Chatham County Emergency Management Agency in Savannah plans to hold a free “Citizen Hurricane Academy” this weekend. The program includes presentations by meteorologists, local emergency planners and other experts on how evacuation decisions are made, how to prepare financially for a disaster and some basic first aid tips for use in emergencies. The Atlantic hurricane season began June 1 and runs until Dec. 1. Coastal Georgia evacuated for Hurricane Matthew in 2017 and Hurricane Irma in 2018. Both storms brought damaging wind and flooding to Georgia’s 100-mile coast. Hurricane Michael caused extensive damage farther inland last year.\n\nHawaii\n\nKailua-Kona: A developer has agreed to cancel a planned condominium project to preserve a surfing area. West Hawaii Today reports the landowner has agreed to work toward building a public space rather than the proposed five-story residence near the Banyans, a popular surfing spot on the north side of Holualoa Bay. Property owner Kilohana Makai LLC met in a second mediation session last week with people involved in a case challenging plans for the condominium. A spokesman says Kilohana Makai will work over the next year to 15 months to convert the 14,450-square-foot lot on the Big Island into a community space. Officials say Hawaii County could buy the property via a commission that maintains a list of properties considered “worthy of preservation.”\n\nIdaho\n\nPocatello: Beekeepers and maintenance workers have removed roughly 30,000 bees that built a massive hive inside an Idaho State University campus landmark. The Idaho State Journal reports the bees were safely transported from the stone-and-wood Swanson Arch to a hive box at a nearby farm last Friday. Beekeeper Sarah Hofeldt says the bees were surprisingly docile, and no one was stung during the extraction. Hofeldt was safely able to remove the queen bee from the hive by hand without the use of smoke. She says the smokers can calm the bees but also can make it more difficult to move the bees into a transport container, which can increase bee fatalities. ISU students traditionally walk through the arch upon entering and graduating from the university.\n\nIllinois\n\nSpringfield: A woman who recently got a 1993 postcard in her mailbox has tracked down the man who sent it to his children more than two decades ago. Kim Draper’s story about the mysterious Hong Kong postcard was first published in The State Journal-Register in Springfield. Masrour Kizilbash sent the postcard to his family while working overseas in 1993. He told the newspaper that he was “fascinated with the area” and wanted to share his experiences. Kizilbash’s family was living in Springfield at the time. He always figured they had received the postcard. With the help of social media, Draper learned that a son now lives in suburban Chicago. A reunion with the postcard is planned. Officials say it likely got tied up in Hong Kong or might have been stuck in old equipment.\n\nIndiana\n\nIndianapolis: The state’s attorney general has reversed himself and decided against appealing a federal judge’s decision to block a state law that would ban a second-trimester abortion procedure. A judge granted a preliminary injunction last month sought by doctors who perform dilation-and-evacuation abortions. Republican Attorney General Curtis Hill said after that ruling that he would try to have the injunction lifted, but he announced Wednesday that his office would concentrate on arguing that the law is constitutional. That decision means the law can’t be enforced while court proceedings continue. The law passed this spring by the Republican-dominated Legislature calls the abortion procedure “dismemberment abortion.”\n\nIowa\n\nIowa City: The director of the state’s social services agency was a huge fan of the late rapper Tupac Shakur, and he frequently let his subordinates know it. Emails obtained by the Associated Press show that Iowa Department of Human Services Director Jerry Foxhoven routinely sent messages to employees lauding Shakur’s music and lyrics even after at least one complained to lawmakers. Then last month, he sent another such email to all 4,300 agency employees. He was abruptly ousted from his job the next work day. Foxhoven, 66, told employees he had been a huge fan of the hip-hop artist for years. He hosted weekly “Tupac Fridays” to play his music in the office. He traded lyrics with employees and marked his own 65th birthday with Shakur-themed cookies, including ones decorated with the words “Thug life.”\n\nKansas\n\nWichita: Authorities say a lab technician “fudged” the test results of sewage treatment plant wastewater that is dumped into the Arkansas River. The Wichita Eagle reports Director of Public Works Alan King said Tuesday that the city caught the error during a spot check and immediately reported it to the Kansas Department of Health and Environment. The employee has since resigned. The problematic test results falsely reported how much organic and inorganic substance is floating in the water. It’s generally used as an indicator of sediment or silt in the water. King says Wichita’s permits shouldn’t be affected, and there was no danger to the public. Results from around the same time as the false one show that the city likely stayed within an acceptable range.\n\nKentucky\n\nFrankfort: A new list of rankings from a high-profile polling organization is giving a big red thumbs-down to Gov. Matt Bevin. Kentucky’s chief executive is the least popular in the nation among voters in their own state, according to Morning Consult’s Q2 rankings, with a 56% disapproval rating vs. just 32% who approve. Bevin notably has ground to make up among voters in his own party, with an election looming in November. The governor faces a 40% disapproval rating among fellow Republicans in Kentucky, after a May primary election in which GOP challenger Robert Goforth, a state representative, scored 39% of the in-party vote to Bevin’s 52%. His net approval among Kentucky voters, according to the Morning Consult poll, sits at -24 overall, which breaks down to +11 among Republicans, -63 among Democrats and -26 among independents.\n\nLouisiana\n\nNew Orleans: A favorite local confection is making a comeback seven years after a devastating fire. Louisiana’s economic development office announced Thursday that Hubig’s Pies will be produced again next year in suburban Jefferson Parish. Hubig’s made hand-sized turnovers with a glazed crust and fillings of chocolate, coconut or any of a variety of fruits. Wrapped in white paper labeled with a caricature of a chef known as Savory Simon, the pies were prominent for decades at retail checkout counters, including grocery and hardware stores. A 2012 fire gutted Hubig’s longtime bakery in New Orleans’ Marigny neighborhood. Production will resume in Jefferson Parish after a $1.37 million investment in a manufacturing facility. The state says Hubig’s will distribute pies from the Louisiana-Texas line to the Mobile, Alabama, area.\n\nMaine\n\nKennebunkport: A curious visitor to a train museum that resembled a white throw pillow or perhaps a lost toupee turned out to be a rare albino porcupine. The young rodent turned up Tuesday at Seashore Trolley Museum in Kennebunkport, perplexing the staff, who sought help identifying it via social media. The consensus was that it’s an albino porcupine. The Portland Press Herald reports the animal appeared to be a baby because its quills had not yet hardened. A spokeswoman for the museum said midday Wednesday that it hadn’t yet been seen again, but it was assumed to be lurking in the area. Porcupines are common in Maine, though albino ones certainly aren’t. About 1 in every 10,000 of the species is an albino porcupine.\n\nMaryland\n\nBaltimore: An audit says a possible infusion of $3.2 million in state funds and savings from a shortened season may not be enough to save the cash-strapped Baltimore Symphony Orchestra. The Baltimore Sun reports the SC&H Group audit released Tuesday says both methods would only temporarily help BSO unless additional revenue streams are established. It says it’s unclear if the orchestra will survive the year. The audit considered the possible state emergency funding, which Gov. Larry Hogan refused to partially release this year, citing concerns that the state could soon face a $961 million deficit. Hogan signaled in May that he might not release the first installment of the funds, leading the orchestra to abruptly cancel its summer series and lock out musicians amid ongoing contract negotiations.\n\nMassachusetts\n\nCape Cod: A citizens group is calling for eliminating federal protections for seals as officials seek ways to protect beachgoers from great white sharks. Peter Howell, a founder of the Seal Action Committee, says the Nantucket-based group wants Congress to amend the federal Marine Mammal Protection Act so that species can be removed from the law’s list of protected animals if their populations have sufficiently rebounded. “We’re not anti-seal. We’re not trying to eliminate them. We’re just trying to manage them in the interest of the larger ecosystem,” he said Wednesday as the group spoke before the Barnstable County Commissioners, which oversees Cape Cod’s regional government. The region’s seal population – estimated in the hundreds of thousands – has been blamed for drawing droves of great white sharks in recent years. Seals are the favored meal for the powerful predators.\n\nMichigan\n\nTraverse City: Three historic Great Lakes lighthouses owned by the federal government are going on the auction block. They include Lake Huron’s Poe Reef Lighthouse, 6 miles east of Cheboygan, Michigan, which guides ships through a hazardous channel. The Ontonagon Breakwater Lighthouse is the westernmost lighthouse in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, perched at the entrance of the channel leading to the Ontonagon River from Lake Superior. The Superior Entry Lighthouse sits on a sandbar between Superior, Wisconsin, and Duluth, Minnesota. The U.S. General Services Administration is offering the lighthouses through an online auction. Their lighting mechanisms will continue aiding navigation and will remain the U.S. Coast Guard’s property. Proceeds from public lighthouse sales help pay to preserve and maintain those that remain active.\n\nMinnesota\n\nSt. Paul: The developers of a proposed copper-nickel mine near the Boundary Waters plan to use a potentially safer dry method of storing mine waste instead of the kind of wet tailings pond more common in the industry. Twin Metals Minnesota said Thursday that its underground mine near Ely would use “dry stack” storage for waste rock, calling it the most environmentally friendly approach for the site. The method contrasts with the conventional tailings basin at the planned PolyMet mine, which will be contained by an earthen dam. While environmentalists pushed for dry stack storage at PolyMet, they’re criticizing Twin Metals because the waste would sit just a couple of miles upstream from the Boundary Waters. Twin Metals plans to release its formal mine plan in the coming months, triggering a lengthy environmental review.\n\nMississippi\n\nJackson: The American Civil Liberties Union of Mississippi is asking 16 cities to eliminate local laws that penalize panhandling. The organization says in a news release that the request is part of a national effort that includes work by the National Law Center of Homelessness & Poverty. A federal appeals court in 2015 ruled that an ordinance in Springfield, Illinois, that penalized people for begging for money in public places is unconstitutional. ACLU of Mississippi says that since last year, four cities in the state have repealed panhandling ordinances – Ridgeland, Meridian, Starkville and Southaven. It’s asking other cities to do the same – Brandon, Clarksdale, Cleveland, Clinton, Corinth, Greenville, Greenwood, Grenada, Gulfport, Horn Lake, Jackson, Long Beach, Natchez, Olive Branch, Pascagoula and Vicksburg.\n\nMissouri\n\nKansas City: The U.S. Department of Agriculture now says less than 40% of the researchers whose jobs are being transferred from Washington, D.C., to Kansas City will make the move to the Midwest. The Kansas City Star reports U.S. Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue announced in June that the USDA would move more than 550 jobs to Kansas City. A USDA spokesperson told The Star on Tuesday that 145 workers will follow their jobs to Kansas City, while 250 will leave the agency. Members of the Kansas and Missouri congressional delegations and the states’ governors praised the USDA’s move, saying the research agencies are a good fit for their region. But critics argued that moving them will make it harder for federal policymakers to get objective research.\n\nMontana\n\nBillings: Wildlife officials say evidence of an invasive clam that can out-compete native species has been found for the first time in a state water body. Fish, Wildlife and Parks officials say Asian clam shells were recently found near the boat ramp at Lake Elmo State Park in Billings. The discovery was made by participants in a training session on the detection of aquatic invasive species. No live clams were found. The quarter-sized mollusks are smaller than native clams that live in Montana. In large enough numbers, officials say they can clog screens on irrigation pumps or other water intakes. Since being discovered in Washington state’s Columbia River in 1938, Asian clams have spread to almost every state.\n\nNebraska\n\nLincoln: Plant science students at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln are still taught to phenotype by hand, wading into muddy fields to record the differences in physical characteristics between varying corn hybrids with a small set of tools and a pen and notebook. But technology is on track to render that human work obsolete. A team of UNL plant scientists and biological systems engineers have built an automated system capable of detecting an individual corn leaf and grasping it with robotic precision to screen its temperature, chlorophyll and water content in less than a minute, the Lincoln Journal Star reports. Building a robot to automate the processes took years, as the team had to build a system that could identify the leaf from a corn or soybean plant, then direct a robotic arm where to reach and how to grab it for a battery of measurements, says Abbas Atefi, a Ph.D. candidate in biological systems engineering.\n\nNevada\n\nReno: Lake Tahoe is almost entirely full. For weeks, the roughly 1,644-foot-deep alpine lake – the second deepest in the U.S. – has been within an inch of its maximum allowed surface elevation of 6,229.1 feet above sea level. As of late last week, its surface elevation was 6,229.03 feet above sea level. For Chad Blanchard, the federal water master in Reno responsible for managing Tahoe’s waters, it’s the longest he’s ever seen the lake stay this high. “This is a rare year,” he says. “I’ve been doing this for 26 years, and we’ve had big (snow) years, but this one is unique as far as being up within an inch of being full, and it’s just hanging there ... it’s a product of still having so much snow up there.” Despite a good amount of snow still coating the peaks around Tahoe, Blanchard doesn’t expect the lake level to rise much more, with summertime surface evaporation starting to pick up.\n\nNew Hampshire\n\nMilan: The Nansen Ski Jump has been placed on the National Register of Historic Places. Built in 1938, the 65-meter ski jump was the largest in the U.S. at the time, and it retains most of its original design. Officials said Wednesday that it was placed on the register because of its architecture and its place in U.S. sports history. Over the decades, Nansen was site of National Ski Jumping Championships, Olympic Ski Jumping qualifying events and U.S. Nordic combined championships. The ski jump was part of a planned bid by New Hampshire to host the 1944 Winter Olympics with cross-country skiing in Berlin, alpine events at Cannon, figure skating in Conway and bobsledding on Mount Madison. The games were canceled due to World War II.\n\nNew Jersey\n\nEast Newark: Famed restaurant Tops Diner will soon be demolished and rebuilt in the same spot, with new space three times the current size. Tops, which opened in 1942, has been approved for expansion by the Hudson County Planning Board. Owners Jimmy and John Golemis, whose father, George, bought the diner in 1972, could not be reached for comment on the expansion. Tops Diner has been named the “most iconic” restaurant in New Jersey by Thrillist; was ranked the best diner in the country by Time Out magazine; and was listed as the most famous restaurant in the state by Insider. According to reports from NJ.com and The Jersey Journal, the new space will feature 296 seats (up from 180), 160 parking spaces and outdoor seating. Tops Diner says construction will take at minimum four to six weeks, during which Tops will be closed.\n\nNew Mexico\n\nSanta Fe: Thousands of small campaign contributions have helped propel former CIA operative and author Valerie Plame to the financial lead in a crowded primary for an open congressional seat in 2020. The Democrat raised $236,000 in May and June, according to disclosure forms and a statement from the campaign. Among notable donors were actor Bryan Cranston of “Breaking Bad” and Naomi Watts, who portrayed Plame in the 2010 film about her involvement in political jousting at the start of the Iraq War under President George W. Bush. In a field of eight primary contenders, Plame is the only national figure. Her identity as a CIA operative was leaked by an official in President George W. Bush’s administration in an effort to discredit her then-husband, diplomat Joe Wilson, a critic of the war in Iraq.\n\nNew York\n\nVernon: Woodstock 50 organizers have applied again for a permit to hold their festival at an upstate horse track, a day after losing an appeal for a previous denial. Town of Vernon officials say the application was submitted Wednesday. Woodstock 50 was previously denied a permit twice last week by the town. An appeal of the denial was upheld Tuesday night by the central New York town’s planning board. The Vernon Downs racetrack and casino became a possible alternative site for Woodstock 50 after the original venue, Watkins Glen International, pulled out. Woodstock 50 did not respond to a request for comment. Oneida County Sheriff Robert Maciol warned Thursday that “there is no practical or logistical possibility that this event could occur without significant risk to public safety.”\n\nNorth Carolina\n\nHatteras: Sea turtles have again set a record for nesting at the Cape Hatteras National Seashore. A news release from the National Park Service says that with more than a month to go before the nesting season typically winds down, rangers discovered the 326th nest Monday. The previous record of 325 was set in 2016. As of Tuesday, there are 317 loggerhead nests, 11 green sea turtle nests and one Kemp’s Ridley nest. Tracy Ziegler, chief of resource management and science for National Parks of Eastern North Carolina, says it’s estimated that almost 11,000 sea turtle eggs have been deposited in beaches on Bodie, Hatteras and Ocracoke islands.\n\nNorth Dakota\n\nBismarck: The state has sued the federal government to recover the $38 million the state spent policing protests against the Dakota Access oil pipeline. Attorney General Wayne Stenehjem says he filed the lawsuit Thursday against the Army Corps of Engineers. He says the agency didn’t respond to an administrative claim he filed one year ago. The agency did not immediately return calls seeking comment. Stenehjem says the Corps allowed protesters to illegally camp without a permit on federal land along the Missouri River in southern North Dakota and failed to maintain law and order. The Corps has said protesters weren’t evicted due to free speech reasons. The pipeline carries oil from North Dakota through South Dakota and Iowa to a shipping point in Illinois.\n\nOhio\n\nColumbus: The Republican-led Legislature has passed a measure that would allow farmers and university researchers to grow industrial hemp and would legalize sales of hemp-derived cannabidiol oil, or CBD. Federal legislation last year removed hemp from the list of federally controlled substances and now treats the low-THC version of the cannabis plant like other agricultural crops. But existing Ohio law doesn’t differentiate between marijuana and hemp. The newly passed Ohio legislation would allow for cultivation of hemp as long as it contains less than 0.3% THC, the cannabis compound that gives marijuana its high. It would be regulated by the state. The measure was sent to GOP Gov. Mike DeWine for consideration. It would take effect immediately if he signs it.\n\nOklahoma\n\nOklahoma City: Oklahoma County has joined over 50 other cities and counties in the state to prosecute drug companies for damages caused by the opioid epidemic. The Oklahoman reports that all three county commissioners voted Wednesday to approve a contract with the Fulmer Sill law firm to sue opioid manufacturers. The decision comes at the end of the state’s trial against consumer products giant Johnson & Johnson, which alleges the company and its subsidiaries created a public nuisance by aggressively promoting the highly addictive drugs. Oklahoma could receive up to $17.5 billion in abatement costs. Commissioner Kevin Calvey says the opioid crisis has increased the county’s costs in policing, jailing and providing treatment services to residents. Fulmer Sill lawyers say they expect to pursue “tens of millions of dollars” for the county.\n\nOregon\n\nKeizer: Four scorpions were brought to the Keizer Fire District after a woman found the abandoned arachnids inside a Red Vines licorice container near a playground at an area park Wednesday. A mother picked them up around noon and brought them to the fire district. Keizer Fire District Chief Jeff Cowan says the arachnids were confirmed to be Pacific Northwest forest scorpions, a species native to the Willamette Valley. The species is not aggressive. Though they can sting, they prefer to play dead when disturbed. The scorpions were then given to the Oregon Department of Agriculture, which maintains a staff of professional entomologists. Cowan says under the entomologists’ care, the scorpions will travel for outreach events such as the Oregon State Fair.\n\nPennsylvania\n\nWilkes-Barre: City officials have removed a public monument that included a recently added brick sponsored by a Ku Klux Klan affiliate. The Citizens’ Voice reports the column monument in Public Square was taken down three weeks after a brick was placed on it bearing the name of the East Coast Knights, a KKK chapter that has recruited in Wilkes-Barre. Harrisburg citizen activist Gene Stilp tried to chisel it off last week, resulting in a disorderly conduct charge, which he says he plans to fight. The monument was installed in 2008. Supporters could purchase engraved bricks for $35. Wilkes-Barre Mayor Tony George tells the paper it was time to tear down the monument, which he says wouldn’t have survived ongoing renovations to Public Square.\n\nRhode Island\n\nCranston: The state’s prison population is continuing to shrink as the percentage of older inmates rises. WPRI reports a 2018 Department of Corrections Population Report indicates 1 in 4 adults in the state’s correctional institutions in 2018 was over the age of 50, with more than 7% over 60. The 2009 population report disclosed that 17% of inmates were over 50, and 5% were over 60. The department says it categorizes inmates 50 and older as geriatric. The American Civil Liberties Union is also watching the aging prison population closely. Steve Brown, executive director of the ACLU of Rhode Island, says everyone “should be concerned as taxpayers.” Data compiled by the nonprofit projects the number of elderly inmates to triple in the next 15 years.\n\nSouth Carolina\n\nGreenville: The Greenville County Council has moved forward on a roughly $40million plan to relocate state offices from some expensive real estate downtown to a pair of office buildings near Haywood Mall. The decision at Tuesday night’s council meeting means the county is moving forward with the $1 billion commercial and residential redevelopment of County Square that council members first approved more than a year ago. The purchase price for the buildings, formerly part of the Fluor Corp. campus, will be $33.1 million, according to council members. The county will spend an additional $5 million to $8 million up-fitting the buildings for county and state services, according to a memo circulated to council members last March.\n\nSouth Dakota\n\nSioux Falls: Dozens of children up to age 5 in the Sioux Falls School District and five rural districts now have access to mental health support in a way they never did before thanks to a $2 million grant given to Southeastern Behavioral Healthcare. The five-year grant from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration establishes the South Dakota Early Childhood Mental Health Collaborative to help Southeast Behavioral Health therapists reach an under-served population, what some call a “mental health desert,” through a partnership with South Dakota State University and federal school readiness programs like Head Start. And it will also develop some of the state’s first fully certified specialists in play therapy to help children discover healthy social and emotional coping skills, Southeastern officials said.\n\nTennessee\n\nMemphis: If famed local dive bar Earnestine & Hazel’s didn’t have enough haunted lore swirling around it already, bones of an unknown origin tumbling out of the walls and landing at the feet of construction crews serve as one more paranormal episode the historic bar can now tout. Diversified Builders crews have resumed restoration work after a Wednesday night scare when bones fell out of a wall they were repairing. The contracting company’s vice president, Chris Tigner, says word got out quickly, and someone alerted police and inaccurately told them a body was in the bar. Police and fire crews swarmed the site about 11 p.m., Tigner says. There was no body, and no one can say with certainty what organism the bones originated from. Caitlin Chittom, owner of Earnestine & Hazel’s, says they’ve been sent away for identification.\n\nTexas\n\nAustin: A former judge who served on the state’s highest criminal court has denounced President Donald Trump in announcing her decision to leave the Republican Party. The Austin American-Statesman reports retired Texas Court of Criminal Appeals Judge Elsa Alcala announced her decision on Facebook. Alcala said in the Facebook post that even accepting that Trump has had some successes, “at his core, his ideology is racism.” Alcala said she can no longer support the GOP and will be voting in the 2020 Democratic primary. She was appointed to the court by Gov. Rick Perry in 2011 and spent 20 years as a GOP judge. Alcala’s announcement follows Trump’s tweets that four Democratic freshmen should “go back” to their home countries – though all are citizens, and three were born in the United States.\n\nUtah\n\nSalt Lake City: Wildlife officials say reports of bears coming down from the mountains and rummaging through backyards and campgrounds throughout the state have more than doubled this year. Faith Jolley with the Division of Wildlife Resources said Wednesday that her agency has already received more than 25 reports of black bears getting into trash cans and campsites, mostly in central Utah. In 2018 the DWR recorded 27 total bear encounters. None resulted in serious injury. The sharp increase can be attributed to a larger bear population and a wet spring that kept the bears hibernating longer than usual. State biologists say these factors have made bears bolder in searching for food. Jolley says residents can “bearproof��� their surroundings by regularly cleaning their trash cans and storing food in locked cars while camping.\n\nVermont\n\nBurlington: The Vermont Mozart Festival will not have a summer concert series this year. WCAX-TV reports that the organization said in a Facebook post this week that it is “currently reviewing opportunities and evaluating all options for the future, but will not have a summer season this year.” It didn’t say why. The festival, which celebrates the music of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, has struggled in recent years. It shut down in 2010 due to financial troubles. Then it was revived under new leadership, with partnership with communities and including food offerings and youth sports.\n\nVirginia\n\nRichmond: A limited-edition license plate is being offered to celebrate the University of Virginia men’s basketball team’s 2019 national championship. The state Department of Motor Vehicles worked with UVA to offer a license plate featuring the national champion’s logo. The plate is now available for purchase at any DMV customer service center, mobile office or online. It costs $25 annually, plus the cost of the registration, and can be personalized for $10. UVA license plates are part of the DMV’s revenue-sharing program, with $15 of the $25 fee returned to the university to support student scholarships. UVA has received more than $1.9 million from the program since it was established in 1992. The DMV also offers license plates as ornamental souvenirs. The $10 plates cannot be used on motor vehicles.\n\nWashington\n\nOlympia: The state Transportation Commission is expected to vote this year on a proposal to replace the gas tax with a pay-per-mile system. The vote will take place Dec. 17, after the commission is expected to receive a report in October from a panel that has studied the new type of tax, The Olympian reports. Any recommendation voted on by the commission will then be passed on to the Legislature to consider during its next session, which starts in January. Commission chairman Jerry Litt says he expects many state residents would pay more under a pay-per-mile tax, which the state calls a “road usage charge.” Sen. Rebecca Saldana, vice chairwoman of the Senate Transportation Committee, says the state is considering such a charge because she says more fuel-efficient vehicles have eroded the state’s ability to rely long term on the gas tax for transportation needs.\n\nWest Virginia\n\nCharleston: A permanent prescription drug disposal site is being placed at the Capitol so people wanting to dispose of medication can do so all year. There has already been a collection site at the Capitol for National Prescription Drug Take-Back Day, but the new location is permanent. West Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrisey announced the plan Wednesday and said it is in collaboration with the Capitol Police. Morrisey says the use of disposal sites can affect substance abuse rates by reducing the number of available pills. This disposal site is at the Division of Protective Services Office in Building 1, Room 152-A.\n\nWisconsin\n\nMadison: Gov. Tony Evers has signed a bill that creates new tiers of sign language interpreters. The bill he signed Wednesday establishes criteria for new advanced and intermediate licenses for both deaf and hearing interpreters and requires the state Department of Public Safety to determine the scope of practice for each level. One of the bill’s chief Assembly sponsors, Democrat Jonathan Brostoff, refused to cut his hair for a year and a half as a stunt to pressure Republican legislative leaders to consider the proposal. His hair had ballooned into a thick, curly mop by the time the Assembly and Senate passed the proposal in June. He cut his hair days later.\n\nWyoming\n\nThermopolis: The skeleton of a nearly 3-foot-tall cousin of the velociraptor is now on display at the Wyoming Dinosaur Center. The Rock Springs Rocket-Miner reports the museum in Thermopolis opened a new permanent exhibit featuring the fossils and full-size reproduction of the dinosaur informally known as Lori. Paleontologists discovered Lori, whose scientific name is Hesperornithoides miessleri, in a formation dating to the late Jurassic period near Douglas in 2001. Center paleontologist Bill Wahl says Lori is the earliest troodontid that has been found in North America. It’s also the smallest dinosaur that has been found in Wyoming. Troodontids are bird-like predators that have sickle-like claws.\n\nFrom USA TODAY Network and wire reports", "authors": [], "publish_date": "2019/07/19"}]}
+{"question_id": "20240119_18", "search_time": "2024/01/19/23:36", "search_result": [{"url": "https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/nfl/2024/01/14/rams-lions-wild-card-live-updates-score-highlights/72179245007/", "title": "Rams vs. Lions wild card playoff highlights: Detroit wins first ...", "text": "Party like it’s 1992, Detroit. The Lions have won a playoff game.\n\nThe No. 3-seeded Detroit Lions defeated the No. 6 Los Angeles Rams, 24-23, Sunday in the NFC wild-card round at Ford Field. The Lions' first playoff win since Jan. 5, 1992 ended the NFL's longest postseason victory drought.\n\nThe first half featured offensive fireworks, with both teams trading blows. The scoring exchanges were in the form of field goals in the second half. And in the end, it was the Lions who made the plays to move on. They will host the winner of Monday’s Tampa Bay Buccaneers-Philadelphia Eagles wild-card matchup in next weekend’s divisional round.\n\nWith the victory, the Lions spoiled the return of Matthew Stafford. Now quarterbacking the Rams, Stafford returned to the confines in which he spent the first 12 seasons of his career. The Lions drafted him No. 1 overall in 2009. The Lions traded Stafford for Jared Goff and a bevy of draft selections in January 2020. He won the Rams a Super Bowl in his first season with his new team. Another regime change had befallen the Lions. Said new regime agreed to part with a city’s favorite adopted son. It’s complicated.\n\nSo in the end, it was Goff who knelt and raised his arms in the air as the seconds ticket off the clock and the sellout crowd — many of whom arrived an hour prior to kickoff. Goff was the one who had revenge, knocking out his former team, as he was 22 of 27 for 277 yards and a touchdown.\n\nNFL STATS CENTRAL: The latest NFL scores, schedules, odds, stats and more.\n\nDetroit scored touchdowns on its first three possessions of the game — drives of 75, 70 and 69 yards — and racked up 16 first downs on the way.\n\nRookie tight end Sam LaPorta, a week removed from suffering an MCL injury that appeared serious, not only played. He scored a touchdown and finished with three catches for 14 yards. Amon-Ra St. Brown was the No. 1 receiver he has proven to be, as he caught seven balls for 110 yards. Both running backs — free agent signee David Montgomery and 2023 first-round pick Jahmyr Gibbs — found the end zone.\n\nThe defense stood up a trio of Rams drives that reached the end zone.\n\nAll of that to snap a nine-game losing streak in the playoffs. The Motor City Exaltation. — Chris Bumbaca\n\nLions vs. Rams highlights\n\nJared Goff threw for a touchdown and completed a game-sealing first down against the team that cast him away, and the Lions won a playoff game for the first time in 32 years, beating Matthew Stafford and the Rams.\n\nWINNERS\n\nThe long-suffering city of Detroit: It was their first playoff win since 1992, more than 30 years ago. It was their second since 1957. In fact, the Lions are no longer the NFL franchise with the longest postseason drought, handing that distinction over to the Miami Dolphins, who are now at 23 seasons.\n\nThe NBC broadcast cameras showed fans in tears as the final seconds ticked off the clock. Lions fans deserve this victory. And while the Lions may have wanted a rematch with Dallas after the controversial Week 17 loss, Detroit will actually get the chance to host another postseason game because the Cowboys lost to the Packers. So gear up, Detroit, you have another one coming up, against the victor of Monday night’s game between the Eagles and Buccaneers.\n\nAidan Hutchinson: A solid second season continued for Lions defensive end Aidan Hutchinson, a player who may be blossoming into a star before our eyes. After receiving a Pro Bowl nomination for an 11.5-sack season with three forced fumbled, Hutchinson was a force against the Rams, generating six tackles, two sacks and five quarterback hits.\n\nAnd if his spin move wasn’t already on scouting reports, it should be now.\n\nLOSERS\n\nThe Rams in the red zone: This was the difference in the game. The L.A. Rams moved the ball at will, churning out 425 yards of total offense and outgaining Detroit by 91 yards. Matthew Stafford, playing against his old team, threw for 367 yards. But, when the Rams marched it into the red zone, they left points on the field. Los Angeles failed to convert any of their three trips inside the 20 and, as a result, kicked three field goals that were each fewer than 30 yards. The Lions, by comparison, turned all three of their red zone attempts into touchdowns.\n\nIs the window closing for the Rams? This, more than anything, should be considered a hold. Because the Rams do have an infusion of young talent that it can ride to success. But the team also must answer difficult questions on key veterans and succession plans. Matthew Stafford turns 36 next month and has taken significant punishment over the years. The Rams must protect him but also figure out his eventual replacement. All-world defensive tackle Aaron Donald recorded another first-team All-Pro season — his eighth — but he will be 33 in May. Even receiver Cooper Kupp, who is just two years removed from one of the most prolific seasons in NFL history, looked every bit of 30 and has seen his production decline steadily over the past couple of years. — Lorenzo Reyes\n\nRams: 23\n\nLions: 24\n\nFirst quarter\n\nLions touchdown (9:30) — David Montgomery, 1-yard run (Michael Badgley extra point)\n\nRams field goal (4:26) — Brett Maher, 24 yards\n\nLions touchdown (1:31) — Jahmyr Gibbs, 10-yard run (Michael Badgley extra point)\n\nSecond quarter\n\nRams touchdown (13:24) — Puka Nacua, 50-yard pass from Matthew Stafford (Brett Maher extra point)\n\nLions touchdown (7:12) — Sam LaPorta, 2-yard pass from Jared Goff (Michael Badgley extra point)\n\nRams touchdown (4:02) — Tutu Atwell, 38-yard pass from Matthew Stafford (Brett Maher extra point)\n\nThird quarter\n\nLions field goal (8:41) — Michael Badgley, 54 yards\n\nRams field goal (2:33) — Brett Maher, 27 yards\n\nFourth quarter\n\nRams field goal — Brett Maher, 27 yards\n\nMatthew Stafford, Rams miss chance to take lead as Lions defense stands\n\nWas it pass interference or not?\n\nIt appeared Lions cornerback Cameron Sutton tugged on Rams receiver Puka Nacua’s jersey on a pivotal play on third down. But the refs let the players play.\n\nStafford’s pass to Nacua was too high, and the Lions defense forced the Rams to punt.\n\nThe Lions are hanging onto a 24-23 lead with 4:07 left in this game.\n\nFor a playoff game with a 21-17 halftime score, the defense from both sides has emerged in the second half. — Safid Deen\n\nKristin Juszczyk makes Lions jacket for Taylor Lautner\n\nNo matter who they root for, celebrity NFL fans have one thing in common: They’re all wearing jackets created by Kristin Juszczyk, wife of San Francisco 49ers fullback Kyle Juszczyk.\n\nA day after Taylor Swift caused a frenzy with her custom-made jacket, \"Twilight\" star Taylor Lautner was sporting a similar one at the Detroit Lions game Sunday night. Lautner’s featured the name and No. 97 of Lions defensive end Aidan Hutchinson.\n\nAnd like Swift’s, this jacket came with a backstory, too.\n\nJuszczyk posted on Instagram earlier Sunday that she’d had “something so fun planned for the Lions game” but the jacket was stuck in Tennessee. She then asked if someone at FedEx could “help me pull off a miracle.” A few hours later, she posted a video of Lautner, a Michigan native and diehard Lions fan, opening the jacket on the field and putting it on before the game.\n\nFedEx had hand-delivered the jacket, Juszczyk said.\n\n“You are an actual mastermind and I am so here for it,” Lautner said in a comment.\n\n“YOU ARE A ROCKSTAR,” Lautner’s wife added.\n\nJuszczyk has been creating custom puffer jackets and vests throughout the season, but Swift put her talent on display nationally Saturday night.\n\nJuszczyk had made a jacket for Brittany Mahomes, wife of Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes, featuring his name and number, and made a similar one for Swift with boyfriend Travis Kelce’s name and No. 87. Juszczyk sent both jackets to Mahomes, who passed the Kelce one on to Swift, and the two women wore them Saturday night as the wind chill dipped below zero. — Nancy Armour\n\nPuka Nacua sets another record\n\nRams rookie wide receiver Puka Nacua can add his name to another record.\n\nThe Rams wideout has nine catches for 181 receiving yards midway through the fourth quarter. Nacua’s 181 receiving yards are the most by a rookie in a playoff game.\n\nNacua’s had a record-breaking rookie campaign. The 2023 fifth-round pick broke NFL regular-season records for most catches (105) and receiving yards (1,486) by a rookie wide receiver. — Tyler Dragon\n\nDetroit goes three and out, punts back to Los Angeles\n\nThe Lions had a chance to march down the field and put this game on ice.\n\nThey punted back to the Rams instead.\n\nA three-and-out by the Lions offense barely shaved a minute of the clock, and the Rams have the ball again with 7:18 left in the game.\n\nAfter scoring on four of their first five possession with three touchdowns, the Lions have punted on back-to-back drives – the latter being their first three-and-out of the game. — Safid Deen\n\nLions 24, Rams 23: Rams settle for another field goal\n\nBend don’t break. That’s how the Lions offense has been operating for most of the game.\n\nLos Angeles kicker Brett Maher kicked another short field goal – this one from 29 yards away – to cut the Lions’ lead to one, 24-23, with 8:10 to go in the game. All three of Maher’s field goals have been less than 30 yards.\n\nThe Rams have not scored upon reaching the red zone in tall three of their positions that have reached there. The drive took six minutes, 43 seconds. — Chris Bumbaca\n\nMatthew Stafford, Puka Nacua both return after injuries\n\nMatthew Stafford’s Detroit return took an abrupt turn.\n\nThe Los Angeles Rams quarterback was hit hard after he tossed a pass to wide receiver Cooper Kupp on third down with 3:35 remaining in the third quarter. As Stafford was following through, he was hit to the ground by Lions edge rusher Aidan Hutchinson and defensive tackle Alim McNeill.\n\nStafford grimaced and clutched his side as he gingerly came off the field.\n\nThe Rams settled for 27-yard field goal.\n\nStafford was checked out by the Rams’ medical staff in the blue tent on the sideline.\n\nThe Rams quarterback eventually checked out of the blue tent and was seen warming up on the sideline.\n\nThe veteran quarterback return in the team’s next series.\n\nPuka Nacua was also injured during the Rams’ drive and returned to the game after being evaluated. — Tyler Dragon\n\nLions 24, Rams 20: Brett Maher trims Detroit's lead\n\nLos Angeles went 66 yards all the way to the Detroit 9-yard line, but Sean McVay took the points with a field goal once again instead of tying the game. The Rams trailed 24-20 with 2:33 left in the third quarter. Rookie tight end Davis Allen had a 22-yard catch for the biggest play of the drive.\n\nBy it’s end, however, the Rams were holding their breath as Matthew Stafford walked off the field shaken up. — Chris Bumbaca\n\nLions 24, Rams 17: Detroit adds field goal\n\nThe second half has gotten off to a slow start, compared to the first half.\n\nBut a field goal left Lions coach Dan Campbell and Rams coach Sean McVay happy.\n\nLions kicker Michael Badgley connected on a 54-yard kick to give Detroit a 24-17 lead with 8:41 left in the third quarter.\n\nCampbell was content coming away with points after a long kick, while McVay was happy to hold Detroit to three points after three touchdowns on four possessions in the first half.\n\nIt’s a one-score game in Detroit. — Safid Deen\n\nSo much for a warm welcome back.\n\nLos Angeles Rams quarterback Matthew Stafford was booed by Detroit fans on Sunday as he emerged from the tunnel before the team kicked off its NFC wild-card playoff game against the Lions.\n\nThe boo birds continued as Stafford took the field for the Rams’ opening series. They persisted as the Los Angeles offense gathered together in a hurdle before the unit's first play of the game. — Tyler Dragon\n\nLions head into halftime with four-point lead\n\nThe Lions have a 21-17 lead at halftime in their first home playoff game in 30 years.\n\nDetroit scored touchdowns on its first three possessions in what was an electric first half.\n\nJared Goff has 194 passing yards and one touchdown. Running backs David Montgomery and Jahmyr Gibbs have combined for 69 rushing yards and two touchdowns.\n\nBut Matthew Stafford and the Rams are keeping the game close. Stafford’s been sharp in his Detroit return. The 35-year-old delivered a few clutch throws and engineered two 70-plus touchdown drives to keep the Rams within striking distance.\n\nOffensive rookie of the year candidate Puka Nacua tallied five receptions, 106 yards and a touchdown in the first half.\n\nRams safety Quentin Lake leads all players with eight tackles at the half. — Tyler Dragon\n\nLions 21, Rams 17: Tutu Atwell flips into end zone\n\nThe first half of trading punches continued with the Rams finding the end zone and bringing them within 21-17 4:02 until halftime.\n\nMatthew Stafford zipped in a throw just past the outstretched arms of Lions cornerback Kindle Vildor, who dove for the pass breakup, into the hands of receiver TuTu Atwell. All Atwell had to do was turn upfield and run past the goal line, but he added a flip into the end zone for some flair.\n\nThe Rams converted a fourth down on the previous play thanks to a Stafford completion to Cooper Kupp. — Chris Bumbaca\n\nLions 21, Rams 10: Jared Goff finds Sam LaPorta on fourth-and-goal\n\nLions coach Dan Campbell saw the spot of the ball on fourth-and-1 at the 2-yard line, and offensive lineman Dan Skipper successfully reported eligible.\n\nAnd the Lions cashed in the end zone again.\n\nJared Goff found tight end SamLaPorta on a slant near the back of the end zone for the Lions’ third touchdown of the game to take a 21-10 lead over the Rams.\n\nThe Lions were inside the 5 and did not want to settle for a field goal, especially after the Rams scored a 50-yard touchdown on the previous drive. Detroit’s aggressiveness paid off into an 11-point lead with 7:12 left until halftime. — Safid Deen\n\nLions 14 Rams 10: Puka Nacua, Matthew Stafford hook up for long TD\n\nWell, that was fast.\n\nRams quarterback Matthew Stafford found rookie receiver Puka Nacua open for a 50-yard touchdown early in the second quarter to narrow the score.\n\nIt was the response Los Angeles needed after a roaring start by the Lions in this game. Stafford is 7 of 10 for 119 yards, while Nacua has 85 yards on four catches. — Safid Deen\n\nLions lead 14-3 after first quarter\n\nThe Detroit Lions have a 14-3 lead over the visiting Los Angeles Rams after the first quarter of their wildcard playoff game.\n\nLions quarterback Jared Goff is off to a 9-of-9 start with 111 yards, leading two touchdown drives – one each for running backs David Montgomery and Jahmyr Gibbs.\n\nThe Rams are driving to begin the second quarter, and stalled out in the red zone on their first possession, leading to a field goal.\n\nLions fans have also welcomed former quarterback Matthew Stafford, in his third season with the Rams, with boos in the first quarter. — Safid Deen\n\nLions 14, Rams 3: Jahmyr Gibbs extends Lions' lead\n\nTwo drives, and two touchdowns by the Detroit Lions.\n\nLions running back Jahmyr Gibbs scored on a 10-yard run to give Detroit a 14-3 lead with 1:31 left in the first quarter.\n\nGibbs had a 14-yard run on the drive, while receiver Josh Reynolds had catches of 10 and 33 yards on the drive to fuel Detroit.\n\nLions quarterback Jared Goff has started the game 9 for 9 with 111 yards, while Reynolds has 75 yards on four catches. — Safid Deen\n\nLions 7, Rams 3: Rams get field goal, Matthew Stafford booed\n\nMatthew Stafford started the Rams’ opening drive 4-of-4 passing, but the quarterback had three straight incompletions in the red zone as the team had to settle for a short 24-yard field goal.\n\nRams WR Puka Nacua had two catches for 25 yards in the team’s opening drive.\n\nStafford, who spent his first 12 years in Detroit, was booed by the home crowd when he entered the game for the first time. — Tyler Dragon\n\nLions 7, Rams 0: Detroit strikes first on opening drive\n\nThe Lions offense didn’t show any jitters in the franchise’s first home playoff game in 30 years.\n\nDetroit moved the ball right down the field on a 10-play, 75-yard drive. Quarterback Jared Goff was a perfect 5-of-5 passing in the Lions’ opening series. Running back David Montgomery had five carries for 24 yards, including a 1-yard touchdown run up the middle to give the Lions an early 7-0 lead in the first quarter. — Tyler Dragon\n\nRams vs. Lions game time\n\nStart time: 8:15 p.m. ET\n\nThe Rams vs. Lions wild-card playoff game is set to kick off at 8:15 p.m. ET. The game will be held at Ford Field in Detroit.\n\nHow to watch Lions vs. Rams\n\nTV: NBC\n\nStreaming: Peacock\n\nBetting odds for Lions vs. Rams\n\nThe Lions are favorites to defeat the Rams, according to the BetMGM NFL odds. Looking to wager? Check out the best mobile sports betting apps offering NFL betting promos in 2023, including the new ESPN BET app and the Fanatics Sportsbook promo code.\n\nSpread: Lions (-3)\n\nMoneyline: Lions (-165); Rams (+140)\n\nOver/under: 53\n\nNot interested in this game? Our guide to NFL betting odds, picks and spreads has you covered with the full slate of playoff action. You can also look ahead to the big game with the best Super Bowl betting promos.\n\nIf you’re new to sports betting, don’t worry. We have tips for beginners on how to place a bet online. And USA TODAY readers can claim exclusive promos and bonus codes with these online sportsbooks and sports betting sites.\n\nPredictions for Lions vs. Rams\n\nUSA TODAY Sports' staff picks for the game:\n\nLorenzo Reyes: Rams 24, Lions 21 — The Lions have waited a long time to host a playoff game, but I think this is a spot where the Rams could play spoiler. Matthew Stafford finished the regular season strong, while Detroit’s offense has slowed some. And the Rams, despite having a very young core on defense, can still generate pressure through the middle of the line, thanks to, yes, Aaron Donald, but also Defensive Rookie of the Year candidate Kobie Turner.\n\n— The Lions have waited a long time to host a playoff game, but I think this is a spot where the Rams could play spoiler. Matthew Stafford finished the regular season strong, while Detroit’s offense has slowed some. And the Rams, despite having a very young core on defense, can still generate pressure through the middle of the line, thanks to, yes, Aaron Donald, but also Defensive Rookie of the Year candidate Kobie Turner. Tyler Dragon: Lions 27, Rams 23 — Matthew Stafford returns to Detroit to face his former team, and Jared Goff has a chance at redemption against the club that traded him. There are a lot of storylines in this one. However, the Lions haven’t hosted a playoff game in 30 years, and they don’t have a playoff victory since Jan. 5, 1992. Detroit fans are starving for some playoff success. There’s going to be a party in Motown if they win.\n\n— Matthew Stafford returns to Detroit to face his former team, and Jared Goff has a chance at redemption against the club that traded him. There are a lot of storylines in this one. However, the Lions haven’t hosted a playoff game in 30 years, and they don’t have a playoff victory since Jan. 5, 1992. Detroit fans are starving for some playoff success. There’s going to be a party in Motown if they win. Safid Deen: Lions 30, Rams 23 — Matt Stafford’s return to Detroit makes this matchup intriguing but the Lions will make it a rude homecoming for him. Dan Campbell’s crew has been waiting for this moment all season, and the Rams won’t know what hit them on Sunday night.\n\n— Matt Stafford’s return to Detroit makes this matchup intriguing but the Lions will make it a rude homecoming for him. Dan Campbell’s crew has been waiting for this moment all season, and the Rams won’t know what hit them on Sunday night. Victoria Hernandez: Lions 28, Rams 24 — Despite inconsistent play in the middle of the season, Detroit proved in the end that they are a fierce force. The Rams have some playmakers, but Ford Field will be fired up with fans who need something to believe in besides the lowly Pistons. Jared Goff ultimately rains on Matthew Stafford's homecoming parade.\n\n— Despite inconsistent play in the middle of the season, Detroit proved in the end that they are a fierce force. The Rams have some playmakers, but Ford Field will be fired up with fans who need something to believe in besides the lowly Pistons. Jared Goff ultimately rains on Matthew Stafford's homecoming parade. Jordan Mendoza: Rams 26, Lions 24 — This is going to be an emotional game with Matthew Stafford returning to Detroit. He’ll want to show out in front of his former crowd, and he has a good chance to do so against a suspect pass defense. The Lions want to end their playoff win drought, but Los Angeles pulls off the shocker on the road to end Detroit’s successful season.\n\nWell, look who has a chance to get the last laugh now, Dallas Cowboys.\n\nThat's right, how about the Detroit Lions!\n\nWhy is that? Well, thanks to the Cowboys stunning blowout upset loss to the rival Green Bay Packers in the Sunday late afternoon game, the Lions are guaranteed to earn a second home playoff game next week, should they win their first postseason game in 32 years on Sunday night. — Marlowe Alter, Detroit Free Press\n\nRams vs. Lions inactives: Sam LaPorta active for Detroit\n\nBreakout rookie tight end Sam LaPorta (knee), who was injured in the Lions' regular-season finale, will play in the team's first home playoff game in 30 years. LaPorta returned to practice on Friday and was listed as questionable heading into Sunday night's wild-card game.\n\nRams' inactive players:\n\nDB Jordan Fuller\n\nWR Tyler Johnson\n\nRB Zach Evans\n\nLB Ochaun Mathis\n\nLB Troy Reeder\n\nOL Warren McClendon Jr.\n\nLions' inactive players:\n\nCB Steve Gilmore\n\nDL Charles Harris\n\nQB Hendon Hooker (third QB)\n\nDL Brodric Martin\n\nLB Julian Okwara\n\nWR Kalif Raymond\n\nWhen the Los Angeles Rams visit the Detroit Lions in the wild-card round Sunday night, one of the best rookies of the NFL season will be in the national spotlight in Rams receiver Puka Nacua.\n\nThe late-round selection in the 2023 NFL draft has burst onto the scene for Sean McVay's team, emerging as not only a top receiving option on the offense, but one of the best pass catchers in the league. — Jordan Mendoza\n\nSunday night’s Los Angeles Rams vs. Detroit Lions wild-card matchup has so many storylines it could be a Hollywood script.\n\nDetroit hasn’t hosted a postseason game in 30 years. The Lions haven’t won a playoff game since Jan. 5, 1992. It’s the NFL’s longest active playoff win drought. Matthew Stafford is part of the Lions’ wretched playoff history. Stafford spent 12 years in Detroit and went 0-3 in the playoffs. Stafford’s postseason misfortune all changed on Jan. 30, 2021 — when the Lions agreed to ship him to Los Angeles in a blockbuster trade with the Rams that also sent Jared Goff to the Lions in exchange. In Stafford’s first season with the Rams, the quarterback reached the pinnacle of the sport. Meanwhile, Detroit’s postseason win drought continued. — Tyler Dragon\n\nThe Detroit rapper — real name Marshall Mathers — posted a video on NBC's X feed asking the former Lions quarterback to let his former team win Sunday night vs. his current team, the Rams.\n\n\"Stafford. What'd I say?,\" Eminem starts in the video, donning a No. 20 custom Barry Sanders king hooded sweatshirt. — Amy Huschka, Detroit Free Press\n\nIt’s already hard enough to make the NFL playoffs, but it’s even tougher to get a win in the postseason, and for some teams, it’s been awhile since they’ve tasted a playoff victory.\n\nWith one playoff win since the 1957 NFL championship game, it should come as no surprise that the Lions own the league's longest playoff win drought. — Jordan Mendoza\n\nThe Curse of Bobby Layne has been engrained in the folklore of the Detroit Lions for more than 60 years as a way to explain their unmatched ability to fail.\n\nLayne, who helped lead the Lions to three NFL championships during his tenure from 1950-58, famously cursed the Lions with bad luck after the organization traded him one season after its last championship in 1957.\n\nThe curse was never confirmed by anyone else but as the Lions have lived up to the prophecy with only one playoff win since 1957, the story has become entrenched into the fabric of Detroit sports history. — Jared Ramsey, Detroit Free Press\n\nRams' playoff history\n\nThe Rams are 26-27 in playoff games. The franchise has appeared in five Super Bowls, winning two (Super Bowl XXXIV and Super Bowl LVI). The Super Bowl 56 win was the Rams' last playoff appearance. Prior to the Super Bowl era, the Rams won two NFL championships (1945 and 1951).\n\nLions' playoff history\n\nThe Lions are 7-13 in playoff games. The team is among four teams that have never appeared in a Super Bowl and 12 team that have never won a Super Bowl. The Lions' playoff win came during the 1991 season, when Detroit defeated Dallas in the divisional playoff round. Prior to the Super Bowl era, the Lions won four NFL championships (1935, 1952, 1953 and 1957).\n\nThe Detroit Lions have won one NFL playoff game in the Super Bowl era.\n\nI was there at the Silverdome 32 years ago, covering the game for the Lansing State Journal as a sidebar and notebook reporter – just a 21-year-old college student.\n\nLooking back 30-plus years, receiving the responsibility to cover Lions games at the Silverdome was as surreal as it was motivational as it was educational as it was preposterous. — Jeff Zillgitt\n\nDo you like football? Then you'll enjoy getting our NFL newsletter delivered to your inbox. 📲\n\nWe occasionally recommend interesting products and services. If you make a purchase by clicking one of the links, we may earn an affiliate fee. USA TODAY operates independently, and this doesn’t influence our coverage.\n\nGannett may earn revenue from sports betting operators for audience referrals to betting services. Sports betting operators have no influence over nor are any such revenues in any way dependent on or linked to the newsrooms or news coverage. Terms apply, see operator site for Terms and Conditions. If you or someone you know has a gambling problem, help is available. Call the National Council on Problem Gambling 24/7 at 1-800-GAMBLER (NJ, OH), 1-800-522-4700 (CO), 1-800-BETS-OFF (IA), 1-800-9-WITH-IT (IN). Must be 21 or older to gamble. Sports betting and gambling are not legal in all locations. Be sure to comply with laws applicable where you reside.", "authors": [], "publish_date": "2024/01/14"}, {"url": "https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/nfl/2024/01/14/jared-goff-leads-lions-to-first-playoff-win-in-32-years-24-23-over-matthew-stafford-and-the-rams/72229182007/", "title": "Jared Goff leads Lions to first playoff win in 32 years, 24-23 over ...", "text": "LARRY LAGE\n\nAP\n\nDETROIT (AP) — Jared Goff lifted his arms in the air, encouraging Ford Field fans to get even louder, before taking the final snap to end his long-suffering franchise's skid in the playoffs.\n\nThe crowd delivered, approaching the decibel level of a siren.\n\nGoff came through, too.\n\nGoff threw for a touchdown and completed a pass for a victory-sealing first down against the team that cast him away, and the Detroit Lions won a playoff game for the first time in 32 years, beating Matthew Stafford and the Los Angeles Rams 24-23 on Sunday night.\n\nThe Lions (13-5) ended a nine-game postseason losing streak — the longest in NFL history — that dated to a victory over Dallas on Jan. 5, 1992. They lost a home playoff game two years later and hadn’t hosted one since.\n\nNFL STATS CENTRAL: The latest NFL scores, schedules, odds, stats and more.\n\n“It means a whole lot to this city,” Goff said. “We knew what it meant when this season started to get into the playoffs and then to get this win. And, you know, it’s just the beginning for us. We’ve got some run left.”\n\nDetroit, the NFC's No. 3 seed, will have two home playoff games for the first time in franchise history, hosting either Tampa Bay or Philadelphia in the divisional round next Sunday. Second-seeded Dallas was routed by Green Bay.\n\nThe Rams (10-8) had a chance to take the lead late in the fourth quarter, but Detroit’s defense denied them. A holding penalty pushed Los Angeles out of field goal range, and Stafford — the Lions’ longtime quarterback who won a Super Bowl after he was traded to the Rams — threw incomplete on fourth down.\n\nOn the first play after the two-minute warning, Goff hit Amon-Ra St. Brown for 11 yards, allowing the Lions to run out the clock — much to the delight of long-suffering fans who witnessed the franchise’s second postseason victory since winning the 1957 NFL title.\n\n“That’s the best home atmosphere I’ve ever played in, and I expect next week will top that,” Goff said.\n\nAgainst the franchise he once led to the Super Bowl, Goff was 22 of 27 for 277 yards and threw a 2-yard touchdown pass to rookie tight end Sam LaPorta that put Detroit ahead 21-10 midway through the second quarter.\n\nThe Lions acquired Goff and a pair of first-round picks for Stafford three years ago.\n\n“Jared was really efficient. You could see the command that he has,” said Rams coach Sean McVay, whose relationship with Goff soured before the trade. “There's a lot made of it, but I'm really happy for him. We wanted to come away with a win, but he's done a great job.”\n\nStafford, who played most of the game with a bandaged and bloody hand after he slammed it into a defender's helmet, finished 25 of 36 for 367 yards with two touchdowns.\n\n“I wouldn't want anyone else as our quarterback other than Matthew Stafford,” McVay said. “He was outstanding. He was gritty. He was gutsy and made tough throw after tough throw. The rush was barreling down on him, and he stood in there and was dropping dimes all day.”\n\nDetroit drafted Stafford No. 1 overall in 2009 and while he put up gaudy statistics, he didn't win a playoff game in his 12 seasons. Stafford hugged dozens of Detroit's players and staff members after the game.\n\n“I’m happy for the players,” he said. “I’m happy for those guys.”\n\nRecord-breaking rookie Puka Nacua had nine receptions for 181 yards and a touchdown for the Rams.\n\nDavid Montgomery and rookie Jahmyr Gibbs each had a rushing TD for the Lions, and St. Brown had seven receptions for 110 yards.\n\nAfter trailing by 11 points, the Rams got within 21-17 at halftime thanks to Stafford’s 50-yard touchdown pass to Nacua and his 38-yarder to Tutu Atwell.\n\nMichael Badgley’s season-long, 54-yard field goal — the longest of his postseason career, and tied for the longest in Detroit's playoff history — gave the Lions a seven-point lead midway through the third quarter.\n\nThe Rams moved the ball at will for much of the game, but had to settle for short field goals by Brett Maher to get within 24-23 with 8:10 remaining.\n\n“The difference in the game was the red area,” McVay said.\n\nStafford has made a career of fourth-quarter comebacks, a fact the fans at Ford Field were well aware of. With a chance to put the Rams ahead for the first time, he led a drive to the Detroit 34, but the Lions' defense forced him backwards from there.\n\nDetroit took over with 4:07 to go, and Los Angeles had only one timeout left after calling two earlier in the half to cope with the crowd noise. That allowed Goff to take a knee after his throw to St. Brown.\n\nThe Lions started strong and looked as fired up as their long-suffering fans, with rapper and Motor City native Eminem in the house along with Hall of Famers Barry Sanders and Calvin Johnson.\n\n“When we came out for pregame warmups, it was already buzzing,\" Campbell said.\n\nThe fans showered Stafford with boos when he ran onto the field, where he posed for a pregame photo with his wife and their daughters, and chanted “Jar-ed Goff! Jar-ed Goff” for the Lions’ quarterback.\n\n“Going into this game, I had two things I was playing for: I was playing for my teammates and I was playing for the city,” said Hutchinson, who grew up in suburban Detroit and starred at Michigan. \"This city has been so deserving of this for so long, and we’re going to keep it up.”\n\nINJURIES\n\nRams: Stafford’s right hand was taped up after it was cut in the second quarter and he walked off the field slowly after getting hit by two Lions late in the third. He said he hurt his ribs and head on the play. ... RB Kyren Williams had a hand injury in the fourth quarter. ... TE Tyler Higbee limped off the field, favoring his right leg, after taking a low hit in the fourth. ... S Jordan Fuller, the team’s second-leading tackler, was ruled out after being listed as questionable with an ankle injury.\n\nLions: WR/KR Kalif Raymond, TE James Mitchell and CB Jerry Jacobs were inactive.\n\n___\n\nAP NFL: https://apnews.com/hub/NFL", "authors": [], "publish_date": "2024/01/14"}, {"url": "https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/nfl/columnist/nate-davis/2023/01/22/nfl-divisional-round-playoffs-scores-32-things-we-learned/11074639002/", "title": "NFL scores, more divisional round playoffs: Changing of guard at QB", "text": "PHILADELPHIA – As much as No. 1-seeded playoff teams have struggled in recent years, the second round of this year's postseason was kinder to them. Relatively.\n\nThe Kansas City Chiefs and Philadelphia Eagles won Saturday, ending what had been a four-game losing streak for top seeds going back to the 2020 playoffs. Philly's previously battered players looked rejuvenated and should be primed for their pending visit from the San Francisco 49ers, who dispatched the Dallas Cowboys on Sunday for their 12th consecutive victory.\n\nQB Patrick Mahomes' ankle injury obviously looms as a setback for the Chiefs, however, at least they won't travel to Atlanta for a neutral site AFC championship game and instead host the Cincinnati Bengals in a rematch of last year's game at Arrowhead Stadium after Cincy eliminated the Buffalo Bills. Recovering at home and avoiding an extra flight bode as well as anything for Mahomes as he desperately tries to get healthy enough to play.\n\nOtherwise? Let's hope the NFL gives us a better script for next week after what was more or less a Super Bowl 57 quarterfinal round dud.\n\nSATURDAY'S WINNERS, LOSERS:No. 1 seeds advance at expense of Giants, Jaguars\n\nNFL STATS CENTRAL: The latest NFL scores, schedules, odds, stats and more.\n\nNATE DAVIS:Health improving, Eagles send message to rest of NFL with demolition of Giants\n\nOnward ...\n\nThe 32 things we learned from the 2022 NFL season's divisional playoff round:\n\n1. The number of NFL postseason games that have been staged at Atlanta's Mercedes-Benz Stadium, which was occupied by the Falcons in 2017.\n\n1a. That game was Super Bowl 53, when the New England Patriots beat the Los Angeles Rams 13-3. Sorry, ATL.\n\n1b. That figure won't change after the Bengals negated the relocation of the AFC title round, a contingency created by the league after the Damar Hamlin situation eliminated Buffalo's path to the conference's top seed.\n\n1c. The NFL announced Friday that more than 50,000 tickets were purchased in less than a day when a Bills-Chiefs playoff redux was viable. Cincinnati QB Joe Burrow advised the league \"Better send them refunds\" after Sunday's victory in Western New York.\n\n2. Years in a row the Bengals and Chiefs have met with a Super Bowl spot on the line. Cincinnati prevailed 27-24 in overtime last season in one of Mahomes' worst postseason outings, which included a pair of second-half INTs.\n\n3. The number of times the Bengals have beaten Mahomes in the three games where Burrow has opposed him as Cincinnati's QB1. Next Sunday will be the teams' fourth meeting in the past 13 months.\n\n4. The Bengals are the only franchise among the NFL's version of the Final Four without a Super Bowl victory.\n\n5. The number of times the Bills have come up short of the Super Bowl during five playoff trips in head coach Sean McDermott's six seasons with the team. Take social media for what it's worth, but numerous members of \"Bills Mafia\" stepped out Sunday and openly wondered if McDermott gets too conservative in the postseason and whether Buffalo can take the next step with him at the helm. McDermott's playoff record now stands at 4-5.\n\n6. The Eagles are trying to win their second Super Bowl in a six-season span. Their 38-7 win Saturday occurred on the five-year anniversary of their 38-7 win against the Minnesota Vikings in the 2017 NFC championship game.\n\n7. The Giants fell to 6-9 in the divisional round, the only layer of the playoffs in which they're below .500 during the Super Bowl era (since 1966).\n\n8. The number of times Buffalo was penalized Sunday (for 60 yards), just another area where the Bills fell short on a day when they were utterly dominated by Cincinnati.\n\n8a. Also the number of times the Bills' Josh Allen ran the ball Sunday – most on the team and a continued indicator of what seems to be the team's over-reliance on its quarterback.\n\n9. The number of times the 49ers and Cowboys have met in the postseason, tied for most all time (Packers-49ers, Rams-Cowboys). San Francisco improved to 4-5 against Dallas in the playoffs.\n\n9a. Overall, the teams are 19-19-1 in 39 meetings all-time.\n\n9b. The Niners' 36th all-time postseason victory is tied with Dallas, the Green Bay Packers and Pittsburgh Steelers for second most all time. Only the Patriots, with 37, have more.\n\n10. The number of rookie quarterbacks to start in the divisional round since the 1970 AFL-NFL merger, the 49ers' Brock Purdy being the newest example. The most recent after Purdy? The Cowboys' Dak Prescott six years ago.\n\n11. Prescott, 29, was the oldest quarterback to make it to this year's divisional round. The average age of the eight quarterbacks (25 years, 278 days) who started this weekend was the youngest in the divisional round since the merger, and only the second occurrence – the other being 2004 – when no QB1 north of 30 was under center.\n\n11a. But shoutout to 37-year-old Kansas City QB2 Chad Henne, who was instrumental to the team's win over the Jacksonville Jaguars – orchestrating a Chiefs playoff record 98-yard drive, capped by a TD pass to TE Travis Kelce – while Mahomes' ankle injury was medically evaluated in the second quarter.\n\n12. The number of times Mahomes and Kelce have connected for a TD in the playoffs. Only Tom Brady and Rob Gronkowski have more (15) as teammates.\n\n13. Next Sunday will be Mahomes' 13th playoff start – he's vowing to play through the high ankle sprain he suffered Saturday – and 11th at Kansas City's Arrowhead Stadium, where he's 8-2.\n\n14. Burrow is 3-0 in road playoff starts and hopes to improve to 2-0 at Arrowhead.\n\n15. The number of playoff games that have been played at Buffalo's Highmark Stadium. Sunday was only the second one the Bills lost – and the first in more than 26 years.\n\n16. The number of times since the merger that a team has gone 3-0 against one opponent in a single season, the Eagles being the most recent to do it (against the New York Giants).\n\n17. Jaguars QB Trevor Lawrence's 37-game winning streak in games played on Saturday – which spanned his time at Cartersville (Georgia) High School, Clemson and the previous two weekends in Duval County – ended in Kansas City.\n\n18. By the end of Sunday's game, the Bills were down to their fifth- and sixth-string safeties. Hamlin replaced injured Micah Hyde in September. Jordan Poyer and Dean Marlowe were hurt against the Bengals.\n\n19. The Giants and Jaguars made this the seventh consecutive divisional round featuring at least two teams that missed the playoffs the previous season.\n\n20. Purdy, who is one win from becoming the first rookie quarterback to start a Super Bowl, is set to become the fifth since the merger to start a championship game.\n\n21. Dallas K Brett Maher's five missed extra points (in four playoff games and 11 attempts) are the second most in postseason history.\n\n21a. Roy Gerela missed six of 43 attempts over the span of 15 games with the Houston Oilers and Steel Curtain Steelers.\n\n22. San Francisco's Robbie Gould has made all 67 of his career playoff kicks, perfect on 38 extra-point attempts and 29 field goals.\n\n23. Purdy's age.\n\n24. Age of Eagles QB Jalen Hurts.\n\n25. The NFC championship game will have the lowest combined age of two starting quarterbacks in the Super Bowl era.\n\n26. The 49ers and Eagles have previously met just once in the postseason, a 14-0 San Francisco victory in a wild-card matchup in 1996.\n\n26a. But Purdy and Hurts have locked horns before, Hurts' Oklahoma Sooners holding off Purdy's Iowa State Cyclones 42-41 in 2019. Each accounted for more than 330 yards of total offense and five TDs.\n\n26b. Hurts is among nine OU alums who could be in action next weekend.\n\n27. The number of consecutive seasons in which Dallas has failed to reach the NFC title game.\n\n28. Last year, road teams went 3-1 in the divisional round. This year, home teams went 3-1.\n\n29. Hurts and Giants counterpart Daniel Jones were the first opposing quarterbacks in playoff history to rush for at least 600 yards apiece in the regular season – and both eclipsed 700. They combined for 58 yards on the ground Saturday.\n\n30. Allen and Burrow combined for 57 rushing yards Sunday.\n\n31. Dallas' Dalton Schultz, who became the first tight end in team history with multiple TD catches in a playoff game during the wild-card round, caught another Sunday. His three TD grabs in one postseason tied the team record.\n\n32. Your other prime-time network options Sunday – opposite Cowboys-49ers on FOX – included \"Iron Man\" on ABC and \"Top Gun\" on CBS. Tempting – \"Top Gun\" in particular – given the divisional round's fairly low entertainment quotient. Here's hoping \"Championship Sunday\" is redemptive.\n\n32a. After all, the NFL just can't afford \"Top Gun,\" even in all of its 36-year-old glory – yet younger than Brady and Aaron Rodgers – to be outshining its latest iteration of top guns. (Fortunately for the league, you have to pay for cable or streaming to see \"Top Gun: Maverick,\" or else there might be real trouble afoot.)\n\n***\n\nFollow USA TODAY Sports' Nate Davis on Twitter @ByNateDavis.", "authors": [], "publish_date": "2023/01/22"}, {"url": "https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/nfl/2024/01/15/goff-leads-lions-past-stafford-rams-24-23-detroit-s-first-playoff-win-in-32-years/72229435007/", "title": "Goff leads Lions past Stafford, Rams 24-23, Detroit's first playoff win ...", "text": "AP\n\nDETROIT (AP) — Jared Goff threw for a touchdown and completed a game-sealing first down against the team that cast him away, and the Detroit Lions won a playoff game for the first time in 32 years, beating Matthew Stafford and the Los Angeles Rams 24-23 on Sunday night.\n\nThe Lions (13-5) ended a nine-game postseason losing streak — the longest in NFL history — that dated to a victory over Dallas on Jan. 5, 1992.\n\nDetroit will have two home playoff games for the first time in franchise history, hosting either Tampa Bay or Philadelphia in the divisional round next Sunday.\n\nThe Rams (10-8) had a chance to take the lead late in the fourth quarter, but Detroit’s defense held. A holding penalty pushed Los Angeles out of field goal range, and Stafford — the Lions’ longtime quarterback who won a Super Bowl after he was traded to the Rams — threw incomplete on fourth down.\n\nOn the first play after the two-minute warning, Goff hit Amon-Ra St. Brown for 11 yards, allowing the Lions to run out the clock. Goff was 22 of 27 for 277 yards.\n\nNFL STATS CENTRAL: The latest NFL scores, schedules, odds, stats and more.\n\nStafford, who played most of the game with a bandaged and bloody hand, finished 25 of 36 for 367 yards with two touchdowns. Record-breaking rookie Puka Nacua had nine receptions for 181 yards and a TD.\n\nPACKERS 48, COWBOYS 32\n\nARLINGTON, Texas (AP) — Jordan Love threw for three touchdowns, Aaron Jones ran for three more, and Green Bay stunned Dallas in a wild-card playoff game.\n\nDarnell Savage returned an interception 64 yards for a score for the Packers, who handed the Cowboys their first home loss since the 2022 opener.\n\nRomeo Doubs had a career-high 151 yards receiving a week after being hospitalized with a chest injury. Love was 16 of 21 for 272 yards and had a near-perfect passer rating in his playoff debut.\n\nGreen Bay (10-8), the first No. 7 seed to win a playoff game since the NFL expanded the postseason field in 2020, will visit top-seeded San Francisco in the divisional round next weekend.\n\nDak Prescott threw two interceptions before three mostly meaningless touchdown passes in another playoff flop for him and the No. 2 seed Cowboys (12-6).\n\n___\n\nAP NFL: https://apnews.com/hub/nfl", "authors": [], "publish_date": "2024/01/15"}, {"url": "https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/nfl/columnist/nate-davis/2023/01/08/nfl-week-18-scores-32-things-we-learned-playoffs-set/11012259002/", "title": "NFL scores, more Week 18: 32 things we learned; NFL playoffs set", "text": "The 32 things we learned from Week 18 of the 2022 NFL season:\n\n1. Six days removed from Buffalo Bills S Damar Hamlin's terrifying on-field collapse after he suffered cardiac arrest, how nice was it to get back to full-blown football this weekend – with an alert and recovering Hamlin watching from his hospital room?\n\n2. Hamlin was clearly in thoughts and prayers around the league ... not to mention his No. 3 adorning T-shirts (which also read \"Love For Damar\") of players, coaches and staffers while getting spotlighted in blue and red on the 30-yard lines of stadiums throughout the country.\n\n3. The Jacksonville Jaguars and Tennessee Titans convened at midfield for a pregame prayer honoring Hamlin on Saturday night prior to kicking off their AFC South title game.\n\nNFL SATURDAY WINNERS, LOSERS:Damar Hamlin, defense and punters loom large\n\nNFL STATS CENTRAL: The latest NFL scores, schedules, odds, stats and more.\n\n4. But hard to imagine anything much better than the Bills returning the opening kickoff for a touchdown against the New England Patriots – Buffalo's first play since Hamlin went down midway through the first quarter of last Monday's game with the Cincinnati Bengals.\n\n4a. Buffalo's Nyheim Hines actually took a pair of kickoffs to the house in the Bills' 35-23 win over New England, the first time a player had done that in more than 12 years.\n\n5. After the NFL canceled the Bills-Bengals Week 17 game on Thursday night, the league went to unprecedented lengths to build in scenarios that would create some level of fairness given the massive playoff implications the Buffalo-Cincinnati contest carried. However, no coin flip will be needed to determine a host city in the wild-card round, and only one scenario remains for a potential neutral-site AFC championship game – if the Bills are matched up with the top-seeded Kansas City Chiefs.\n\n6. The league will begin exploring neutral site venues in earnest this week now that that possibility is viable. Detroit and Indianapolis have been floated as possibilities, while Las Vegas Raiders owner Mark Davis has also offered up Sin City's Allegiant Stadium as an alternative. “We are here for the NFL if they need us,” Davis said Friday.\n\n7. Sunday's best celebration? Had to be the one from Indianapolis Colts S Rodney Thomas II, a high school teammate of Hamlin's, after he picked off a pass against the Houston Texans.\n\n7a. Sunday's second-best celebration? How about Cincinnati RB Joe Mixon sarcastically tossing a coin in the end zone? Not needed now as the Bengals will host the Ravens again next week ... and it remains to be seen if Baltimore will have QB Lamar Jackson once the playoffs begin.\n\n8. Bengals QB Joe Burrow threw his 35th TD pass of the season Sunday, a new team record. He'd previously set the record Monday night in the first quarter against Buffalo ... but that TD was wiped out by the game's cancellation.\n\n8a. Prior to that, Burrow had set the single-season franchise mark of 34 TD passes ... last year.\n\n9. It took longer than expected, but the Philadelphia Eagles finally sewed up the NFC's top seed and the home-field advantage and first-round bye that come with it. The last time Philly won the conference's regular-season crown was 2017 ... then they went on to win Super Bowl 52, their first championship since 1960.\n\n10. The Eagles' 14 regular-season wins are the most in franchise's 90-season history.\n\n11. The Pittsburgh Steelers (9-8) missed out on the postseason field by a tiebreaker but did avert coach Mike Tomlin's first losing season by winning six of their final seven games. Pittsburgh's 19 consecutive campaigns without a sub-.500 record are now two shy of the Dallas Cowboys' 21-year non-losing run between 1965 and '85 under Hall of Fame coach Tom Landry.\n\nTB12. Tampa Bay Buccaneers QB Tom Brady, who set single-season NFL records Sunday for pass attempts (733) and completions (490), is a member of his 19th divisional champion, and his Bucs will host the Cowboys on wild-card weekend – specifically on \"Monday Night Football.\"\n\nTB12a. Brady is 7-0 all-time against Dallas, including a 19-3 win to open the 2022 season.\n\n13. TB12's former team, the Patriots, was eliminated from the playoff race and have not won the AFC East since Brady bolted following the 2019 season.\n\n14. Congrats to Atlanta rookie QB Desmond Ridder, whose first two NFL TD passes enabled the Falcons to beat the Bucs 30-17 on Sunday.\n\n15. In the five seasons since Patrick Mahomes became the starting quarterback in 2018, the Chiefs have earned the AFC's No. 1 playoff seed three times and have secured a first-round bye on four occasions.\n\n16. Los Angeles Chargers RB Austin Ekeler finished with a team record 107 catches.\n\n17. Chargers QB Justin Herbert threw his 24th and 25th TD passes on the season, allowing him to join Peyton Manning as the only players ever with at least 25 in each of their first three NFL seasons.\n\n18. Of course, it's definitely worth wondering why Herbert, Ekeler and other key Bolts were playing in a game that had no bearing on their playoff seeding ... especially since WR Mike Williams was carted off with a back injury. Ekeler even wound up making two tackles on lost Chargers fumbles, one of them his own. Not great, Brandon Staley.\n\n19. With rookie QB3 Skylar Thompson at the helm, the Miami Dolphins didn't score a touchdown Sunday – nor did they surrender one – but their 11-6 victory over the New York Jets was enough to secure the AFC's final playoff berth.\n\n20. The Fins have not won a playoff game in more than 22 years, the longest drought without a postseason win in the AFC.\n\n21. Only the Detroit Lions, who last won a playoff game following the 1991 season, have a longer dry spell.\n\n22. Naturally, the game of the day occurred between the also-ran Texans and Colts, arguably the league's two worst teams. But credit the Texans, who clawed to a 32-31 victory, including the game-winning two-point conversion in the final minute, even though the win cost them the No. 1 pick of the 2023 draft.\n\n22a. Wasn't enough to save Lovie Smith's job, the Texans firing their head coach late Sunday night.\n\n23. So what will the Chicago Bears do with that No. 1 selection, the first time they've held it since 1947? There's sure to be trade chatter given they already seem to have their franchise quarterback in Justin Fields. But if they stick and pick? Get to know Georgia DT Jalen Carter and Alabama OLB Will Anderson Jr., Chicago fans.\n\n24. In case you're counting, that's seven TD catches in the past four games for San Francisco 49ers TE George Kittle. Would seem to portend good things in the postseason for the NFC's No. 2 seed.\n\n25. In case you're counting, that's seven consecutive games with at least one interception for Cowboys QB Dak Prescott. Would seem to portend ominous things in postseason for the NFC's No. 5 seed, who must travel to Tampa next Monday.\n\n26. The AFC South champion Jaguars are the first team since the 2008 Dolphins to win a division the season after having the league's worst record.\n\n26a. This marks the 18th time in the past 20 seasons at least one team has won its division the season after finishing in last place or tied for last.\n\n27. This is also the 33rd consecutive season at least four teams qualified for the playoffs the season after failing to reach them. The Baltimore Ravens, Jacksonville, Chargers, Miami, Minnesota Vikings, New York Giants and Seattle Seahawks all missed postseason in 2021.\n\n28. RB Josh Jacobs and WR Davante Adams of the Raiders became the first teammates this century with 1,500 yards rushing and receiving, respectively.\n\n28a. The last 1,500-yard rushing/receiving teammates were Hall of Famers Edgerrin James and Marvin Harrison for the 1999 Colts.\n\n29. Memo to the New Orleans Saints: You have great uniforms ... but you should not be wearing the all-white pants with black jerseys. Don't let us see this again.\n\n30. Shoutout to Carolina Panthers interim HC Steve Wilks, who went 6-6 after inheriting a squad that looked like roadkill after Matt Rhule was fired following a 1-4 start.\n\n31. Have we seen the last of Rams coach Sean McVay on LA's sideline? If the whispers are true and he opts to move on from the franchise with which he won the Lombardi Trophy last season, his final campaign would be the worst ever for a defending Super Bowl champion. The Rams' 12 losses are two more than any other team endured the year after a Super Sunday triumph.\n\n32. Lastly, but most certainly not least, a salute to retiring Arizona Cardinals star J.J. Watt, who collected two sacks in his 160th (playoffs included) game. His 12½ sacks in 2022 were Watt's second most in the past seven seasons.\n\n32a. But it must be reiterated that, even though Watt is almost a surefire first-ballot Hall of Famer in 2028, he should be remembered as a better person than football player.\n\n***\n\nFollow USA TODAY Sports' Nate Davis on Twitter @ByNateDavis.", "authors": [], "publish_date": "2023/01/08"}, {"url": "https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/nfl/2023/11/22/typical-nfl-also-rans-surge-toward-playoff-position-in-topsy-turvy-season/71675188007/", "title": "Typical NFL also-rans surge toward playoff position in topsy-turvy ...", "text": "JOSH DUBOW\n\nAP\n\nInside the Numbers dives into NFL statistics, streaks and trends each week. For more Inside the Numbers, head here.\n\n___\n\nThe way this NFL season is going so far, there's a decent chance there could be a first-time Super Bowl participant for the first time since the 2008 season when Arizona became the 28th franchise to reach the big game.\n\nThat left four franchises without a Super Bowl berth and all of them currently have winning records and are off to some of their best starts in years.\n\nDetroit (8-2), Cleveland (7-3), Jacksonville (7-3) and Houston (6-4) are all currently in playoff position with a chance to end their droughts.\n\nNFL STATS CENTRAL: The latest NFL scores, schedules, odds, stats and more.\n\nThe success-starved Lions are in the best shape after winning at least eight of their first 10 games for the first time since 1962. Detroit has won just one playoff game since winning the NFL championship in 1957, nearly a decade before the first Super Bowl was played following the 1966 season.\n\nThe Browns have the longest drought without a division title having last won one in 1989 and have won only one playoff game since returning as an expansion team in 1999. Cleveland is tied for its best record after 10 games since starting 8-2 in 1994 when Bill Belichick coached the team.\n\nThe Jaguars are tied for their best record after 10 games since starting 9-1 in 1999 when they went to the AFC title game — one of three times they got knocked out a game shy of the Super Bowl.\n\nThe Texans have never made it past the divisional round since becoming an expansion team in 2002 but are looking more and more like a contender each week thanks to the play of rookie quarterback C.J. Stroud.\n\nThis season is the first time that these four star-crossed franchises all have had a winning record at the same time and there has never been a season when more than two of those franchises made the playoffs.\n\nPatrick Mahomes and the Kansas City Chiefs are in a rare second-half slump.\n\nKansas City has gone three straight games without scoring a point in the second half for the team’s longest drought since at least 1991. In Mahomes’ first five seasons as quarterback, the Chiefs were held scoreless in the second half only twice.\n\nOnly two teams in the past 30 seasons have made the playoffs in a season when they went scoreless in the second half in three straight games but both ended up as Super Bowl champions: the 2000 Baltimore Ravens and the 2015 Denver Broncos.\n\nFor the season, the Chiefs have scored just 53 points in the second half for the third fewest for any team through 10 games in the past 10 seasons with only the 2016 Browns (51) and the 2019 Dolphins (37) scoring fewer.\n\nCleveland's Dorian Thompson-Robinson and Tommy DeVito of the New York Giants are the latest rookie QBs to get into the winning column.\n\nThey raised the number of rookie quarterbacks to earn a win in a start this season to nine, the most in a non-replacement player season since starts began being tracked in 1950.\n\nThere have been a record 10 rookie QB starters this season with Arizona's Clayton Tune the only won who hasn't been credited with a win.\n\nDeVito's victory was particularly noteworthy as he managed to throw three TD passes and post a 137.7 passer rating despite getting sacked nine times against Washington.\n\nThat was the second highest rating since the merger for a player who was sacked at least nine times, trailing only the 141.1 for Seattle's Dave Krieg against Kansas City in 1990. DeVito had the 88th game since the merger with a QB taking at least nine sacks with the first 87 combining for a 64.1 passer rating in those games.\n\nSan Francisco quarterback Brock Purdy is on one of the most efficient two-game stretches ever for an NFL quarterback.\n\nPurdy is 40 for 51 for 629 yards, six TDs, no interceptions and a 157.3 passer rating the past two weeks for the highest passer rating ever in a two-start stretch.\n\nPurdy is the seventh player to have a passer rating of at least 145 in two straight games with at least 20 attempts and the first to do it since Drew Brees in 2018.\n\nPurdy had a perfect 158.3 passer rating on Sunday, joining Joe Montana as the only 49ers quarterbacks ever to do that in a game with at least 15 pass attempts.\n\nPurdy had the 25th game with a perfect rating and at least 25 attempts with Josh Allen the last to do it in Week 4 against Miami.\n\nDallas cornerback DaRon Bland has developed into quite the scoring threat.\n\nBland tied an NFL record last week by returning his fourth interception for a touchdown this season. Bland joined Eric Allen (1993), Jim Kearney (1972) and Hall of Famer Ken Houston (1971) as the only players in NFL history to do that in a season. Bland has seven more games to take sole possession of the record.\n\nBland has scored as many TDs on pass plays as several top pass catchers in the league with his four TDs the same number as Davante Adams and DeAndre Hopkins have scored. He has more TDs on pass plays than the entire wide receiver groups for the Jets and Browns, who have three each.\n\n___\n\nAP NFL: https://apnews.com/hub/nfl", "authors": [], "publish_date": "2023/11/22"}, {"url": "https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/columnist/nancy-armour/2023/09/05/jorge-vilda-fired-two-weeks-after-spain-coach-wins-first-world-cup-title/70765910007/", "title": "Coach Jorge Vilda fired 2 weeks after Spain wins first World Cup title", "text": "An hour after Spain won its first World Cup title, the federation posted a triumphant tribute to its problematic coach, proclaiming \"Vilda in.\"\n\nTwo weeks later, it's Vilda out.\n\nJorge Vilda is finally gone, dismissed Tuesday by interim Spain federation president Pedro Rocha as the organization tries to clean up the considerable mess of its own making. Since Rocha can't fire Luis Rubiales, who is suspended pending an investigation of his sexual harassment of all-time leading scorer Jenni Hermoso and overall gross behavior, getting rid of Vilda is the next-best way to quiet the worldwide chorus criticizing Spain's federation for its toxic and misogynistic culture.\n\nNot that you would know this, however. In its statement announcing Vilda's dismissal, both as Spain's coach and its sporting director, the federation lavished him with praise. It valued his \"impeccable personal and sporting conduct\" — no word on if this includes his fawning applause after Rubiales' defiant defense of his behavior and refusal to resign — and said he was a \"promoter of the values ​​of respect and fair play in football.\"\n\nExcept when it came to his own players, of course.\n\nNevertheless, with Vilda out of the way and Rubiales suspended for at least 90 days, it clears the way for Spain's players, who boycotted the team after winning the World Cup, to return for all-important Nations League matches later this month.\n\nBut it still leaves many, many questions.\n\nWho is Jorge Vilda?\n\nHe's the son of Angel Vilda, who has considerable influence in Spanish soccer and was once coach of Spain's Under-19 team. Jorge Vilda served as an assistant to his father and as coach of the U-15 team, then moved up to head coach of the U-19 team when his father retired.\n\nVilda was elevated to lead the senior team in 2015. (Replacing Ignacio Quereda, who'd been accused by his players of verbal abuse, homophobia and a general culture of fear. What is it with men in power in Spain's federation, anyway?) Vilda also was named sporting director, giving him power over the entire women's program.\n\nHe led Spain to the round of 16 at the 2019 World Cup, and its first-ever title with last month's 1-0 victory over England in the final of the tournament in Australia and New Zealand.\n\nWhy is Vilda problematic?\n\nSpain has arguably the best player pipeline in the world, but it is largely the work of the domestic clubs. Barcelona in particular. After both youth teams won World Cup titles with coaches other than Vilda, and Spain crashed out of last summer's European championship with a lackluster performance, questions were raised about how good a coach Vilda actually was and whether Spain was succeeding in spite of him.\n\nSpain's players voiced their concerns after Euros, specifically noting Vilda's heavy handedness, overwork, treatment of injuries and roster choices. When nothing changed, 15 of the 23 sent identical emails to the federation last September, saying they would not play for the team again unless there was an improvement in conditions. Hermoso and two-time Ballon d'Or winner Alexia Putellas didn't send emails, but publicly expressed support for their teammates.\n\nThe federation responded by effectively blackballing the players, saying they would only be allowed back if they agreed to “accept their mistake and ask for forgiveness.” Several of the players did ask to rejoin the team, only to have Vilda use the World Cup roster to exact his revenge. He took only three of the 15 players, along with Putellas and Hermoso.\n\nVilda refused during the World Cup to address the players' complaints, though he did say several times how hard this year had been for him.\n\nIs that why Vilda was fired?\n\nHahahahahaha, no. He was fired because Spain's federation — all of Spanish society, really — is undergoing a reckoning prompted by Rubiales' behavior after the World Cup final. And because the furor was considered a potential threat to Spain's joint bid with Morocco and Portugal for the men's World Cup in 2030.\n\nRubiales was seen grabbing his crotch while standing next to Spain's queen and her teenaged daughter. Then, during the victory ceremony, Rubiales grabbed Hermoso's head and kissed her without her consent, and told the team in the locker room he planned to marry Spain's all-time leading scorer. Hermoso later said she felt as if she'd been assaulted, saying, \"what happened was sexist, impulsive, out of place, and non-consensual.”\n\nWhile the federation has been roundly criticized for its dismissive treatment of female players — it ignored its women's program for decades, and still doesn't treat it equally to its men — the Rubiales scandal has prompted debate on whether this is the actions of a few bad actors or a reflection of Spanish society as a whole.\n\nWhat's the link between Vilda and Rubiales?\n\nVilda and his father — he's got a lot of influence, remember? — were supporters of Rubiales' bid for the federation presidency. When Rubiales made his defiant speech to the federation convention Aug. 25, insisting he'd done nothing wrong and saying he would never resign, Vilda was seen applauding enthusiastically.\n\nRubiales, in turn, gave Vilda his unconditional support. He even offered Vilda a new contract during his rant.\n\nNow what? And who is Montse Tomé?\n\nMontse Tomé is Spain's new coach, the first woman to head the national team in its history. She'd been an assistant on Vilda's staff since 2018, but quit in protest with several other coaches and staff members last month after Rubiales refused to resign.\n\nThe question is will Tomé have a team to coach.\n\nWorld Cup champions said they would not play again until \"the team's leaders resign,\" potentially threatening Spain's chances of a first-ever Olympic appearance. Spain's next game is Sept. 21 against Sweden in the Nations League, which is being used to determine which two European teams join host France at next summer’s Paris Olympics.\n\nThe four group winners advance to the Nations League semifinals, with the finalists qualifying for Paris. If France makes the Nations League final, the team that wins the third-place game would get Europe’s last spot.\n\nSpain is in a group with Sweden, which finished third at the World Cup, Switzerland and Italy. That would seem to make the game against Sweden critical for Spain’s hopes of qualifying for its first Olympics.\n\nWith Vilda gone and Rubiales suspended, it seems to clear the way for the players to return.\n\nAre Vilda and Rubiales done?\n\nNever underestimate the ability of the privileged to recover from a scandal that should be their undoing. Soccer is no different than other sports, and some desperate country is sure to see Vilda as its chance to make quick improvement in a game that's growing by the minute.\n\nAs for Rubiales, his future is murkier. The federation initially seemed ready to stand behind him, going so far as to post statements defaming Hermoso. Since FIFA and Spain's sports authorities announced separate investigations of Rubiales, however, the federation is throwing him under the bus.\n\nIn a statement before Vilda's dismissal was announced, Rocha apologized for the controversy and its overshadowing of the women's World Cup title. He also said the federation \"is providing all the documentary and administrative support required by both disciplinary bodies in order to have a definitive resolution as soon as possible to repair the damage caused.\"\n\nRocha also said the regional federations, which last week asked for Rubiales' resignation, are doing a review of their policies to make sure a similar embarrassment doesn't occur in the future.\n\n\"They firmly and unanimously commit to have in the coming days a whole set of actions to improve the governance of the Spanish Football federation and to repair, as far as possible, the damage caused,\" Rocha said in his statement.\n\n\"Finally, we want to once more congratulate our national team for their historic win, recognizing the impact and legacy that their victory will have in the future of Spanish football,\" Rocha said. \"We are convinced that millions of people of all ages were inspired by their spirit, and we cannot be prouder of the way they have conducted themselves, both on and off the pitch. In due course, it is our intention to give the spotlight back to them and to celebrate their achievement in the way that they deserve.\"\n\nNowhere in the two-page statement does Rocha mention Hermoso by name.\n\nFollow USA TODAY Sports columnist Nancy Armour on social media @nrarmour.", "authors": [], "publish_date": "2023/09/05"}, {"url": "https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/nfl/2024/01/18/lions-host-bucs-in-divisional-round-aiming-to-win-2-playoff-games-in-season-for-1st-time-since-1957/72273643007/", "title": "Lions host Bucs in divisional round, aiming to win 2 playoff games in ...", "text": "LARRY LAGE\n\nAP\n\nDETROIT (AP) — The Detroit Lions and their fans waited a long time to celebrate as they did last week after beating the Los Angeles Rams in the wild-card round.\n\nTampa Bay, meanwhile, is used to being part of the party this time of year.\n\nThe Lions won their first playoff game in 32 years, taking advantage of hosting a postseason game for the first time in three decades.\n\nDetroit has two home games in the same playoffs for the first time in franchise history, improving its chances to earn two postseason victories in a season for the first time since winning the 1957 NFL title.\n\nThe Buccaneers are the only NFC team in the playoffs for a fourth straight year and their win over Philadelphia was their sixth in the postseason during the span, a total that trails only the defending champion Kansas City Chiefs since 2020.\n\nNFL STATS CENTRAL: The latest NFL scores, schedules, odds, stats and more.\n\nNFC North champion Detroit is determined to move a step closer toward potentially reaching the Super Bowl for the first time with a win Sunday in the divisional round against NFC South champion Tampa Bay, which won it all for a second time in Super Bowl 55 with Tom Brady at quarterback.\n\nLions offensive tackle Taylor Decker, in his eighth season with the long-suffering franchise, is simply thankful he stuck around long enough to experience the thrill of the 24-23 win over the Rams.\n\n“That's one of the beautiful things about sports, is to be able to see things through,” Decker said. “I'm just proud that I got to be a part of something special.”\n\nTHEY'RE BOTH NO. 1\n\nDetroit's Jared Goff and Tampa Bay's Baker Mayfield were No. 1 overall picks two years apart — for other teams — and have had their share of success in the playoffs.\n\nWith fans at Ford Field chanting, “Jar-ed Goff! Jar-ed Goff!” early and often in last week's win against former Lions quarterback Matthew Stafford and the Rams, the eighth-year pro was efficient and effective.\n\nGoff completed his first 10 passes and finished 22 of 27 with 277 yards and a touchdown.\n\n“He's a really good quarterback — one of the best I’ve seen on film,” Tampa Bay cornerback Zyon McCollum said.\n\nMayfield, drafted by Cleveland in 2018, had perhaps the best season for his fourth team in three years. He had career highs with 4,044 yards passing and 28 touchdown passes in the regular season and became the first Buccaneers quarterback to throw for at least 300 yards and three touchdowns in a postseason game.\n\n“He looks like he’s having fun like he was in college,” Tampa Bay coach Todd Bowles said. “He’s going out there playing free and playing carefree. It’s really helping him, and it’s really helping us.”\n\nLions defensive back C.J. Gardner-Johnson took a verbal swipe at Mayfield last week when he praised Tampa Bay's receivers, saying they would be a great group if they had a good quarterback.\n\nMayfield returned some kind words and added a shot.\n\n“He’s a good player,” Mayfield said. \"But yeah, he’s just got to do a little more film study.”\n\nSACK DANCE\n\nDetroit defensive end Aidan Hutchinson has a chance to join a select list of players with multiple sacks in four or more consecutive games, including the playoffs. Simeon Rice had at least two sacks in five straight games while Hall of Famers Reggie White and Kevin Greene pulled off the feat in four consecutive games.\n\nTampa Bay rookie YaYa Diaby, a third-round pick from Louisville, has 7 1/2 sacks to lead a defense that has seven players with at least four sacks.\n\nUNDERDOG MENTALITY\n\nTampa Bay is a 6 1/2-point underdog, according to FanDuel Sportsbook, after dominating the Eagles as a 2 1/2-point underdog.\n\n“It doesn’t surprise us at all,\" Bowles said. “We don’t even worry about it anymore. We kind of laugh when we see it.”\n\nTHE PREVIOUS MATCHUP\n\nGoff threw for 353 yards and two touchdowns to help Detroit win 20-6 at Tampa Bay in Week 6. The Lions played the entire game without rookie running back Jahmyr Gibbs and veteran running back David Montgomery was out for two-plus quarters.\n\nMayfield was 19 of 37 passes for 206 yards with no touchdowns and one interception against the Lions.\n\n___\n\nAP Sports Writer Fred Goodall contributed.\n\n___\n\nAP NFL: https://apnews.com/hub/nfl", "authors": [], "publish_date": "2024/01/18"}, {"url": "https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/columnist/mike-freeman/2024/01/16/lions-detroit-playoffs-nfl/72231349007/", "title": "Detroit Lions are getting back at haters in NFL playoffs", "text": "Donald Trump, not so long ago, did something many politicians, and others, have done for years: he trashed the city of Detroit.\n\nActually, in an interview with Sean Hannity, he disparaged a number of majority-Black cities because, well, that's what he does. He said Chicago was \"worse than Afghanistan.\" Trump added: \"We have cities that are worse, in some cases far worse. Take a look at Detroit. Take a look at what's happening in Oakland. Take a look at what's happening in Baltimore.\"\n\nThe response from those city's defenders was swift. One was Gretchen Whitmer, the Michigan governor, who said: \"Michiganders know better.\"\n\nDetroit has been a punching bag of the right for decades. Said Rush Limbaugh in 2013: \"The town has been a Petri dish of everything the Democrat party stands for. You have massive welfare states where citizens are given things left and right in order to buy their votes. You have no opposition whatsoever.\"\n\nThe city, like many others, has definite problems, to be sure, but the attacks on Detroit are often chock full of bad faith. The fact Detroit is a majority-Black city is part of that bad faith attack. Notice that when Trump mentions problem cities he doesn't talk about high crime rates in red states.\n\nNFL STATS CENTRAL: The latest NFL scores, schedules, odds, stats and more.\n\nThis brings us to the remarkable story of the Lions. The true America's Team. A legit underdog story.\n\nOne of the things you heard constantly from Lions players after the franchise won its first playoff game in 32 years by beating the Rams was how happy players were for the city. You heard it from them over and over and over again.\n\n\"It means a whole lot to this city,\" quarterback Jared Goff said. \"We knew what it meant when this season started to get into the playoffs and then to get this win. And, you know, it’s just the beginning for us. We’ve got some run left.\"\n\nYou have to fully understand what's happening here. It's not just the win on the field that makes this story so incredible. It's what the win stands for. Part of it, in essence, is a middle finger to the people who have disparaged Detroit. Not just the Lions but the city. Detroit has, again, produced something special after constantly being told how incapable it was of doing that.\n\nThe franchise has felt some semblance of this type of pride before. No, not like this, but close. The Lions have historically been so downtrodden that the team late during the 1991 season celebrated being in first place in the division. Not winning the division. Just being in first place with a 9-4 record in November of that year. At that point the Lions hadn't had a winning record since 1983.\n\n\"This is a very special day in Lions history,\" said tackle Lomas Brown, at that point in his seventh season with the Lions, after the team beat the Bears. \"It feels strange to be in first place.\"\n\n\"I'll tell you the difference between the Lions of the past and the Lions now,\" defensive lineman Jerry Ball said then. \"The players have different standards. (Before) they didn't care too much. They just wanted their paychecks. But we've gotten that bad blood out of here.\"\n\nNFL wild-card playoff winners, losers from Sunday: Long-suffering Lions party it up\n\nThis is how far the Lions have come. From celebrating being in first place late in the season, to celebrating a playoff win, and all the while, Detroit has never left their side. The Lions didn't leave the city's side.\n\nBrown used to talk a great deal about his affection for the city. I always believed that a number of Lions players felt like they needed to defend it from the constant attacks. I don't think that's changed. In fact, it might be even more pronounced.\n\nDetroit isn't without flaws but it's also not the hell people who hate majority-Black cities want it to be. It has heart and guts. It beats the odds and will surprise you when you least expect it. It has beautiful qualities that people like Trump can't, or won't, see. In other words, it's just like the team it loves.", "authors": [], "publish_date": "2024/01/16"}, {"url": "https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/nfl/lions/2024/01/18/detroit-lions-jared-goff-baker-mayfield-top-picks-teams-quit-on/72255510007/", "title": "Jared Goff vs. Baker Mayfield matchup of No. 1 picks who teams quit ...", "text": "This Sunday, two former No. 1 overall picks in the NFL draft will meet at Ford Field, fresh off career-defining wins.\n\nThey just won't be playing for the teams who drafted them.\n\nJared Goff and Baker Mayfield — both cast off in dramatic fashion by the franchises who once viewed them as the saviors — just led their new teams to playoff wins. Goff, the Detroit Lions QB, just so happened to do it against the team that gave up on him, and led the team to its first playoff win in 32 years.\n\nNFL STATS CENTRAL: The latest NFL scores, schedules, odds, stats and more.", "authors": [], "publish_date": "2024/01/18"}]}
+{"question_id": "20240119_19", "search_time": "2024/01/19/23:36", "search_result": [{"url": "https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/local/2020/12/30/st-cloud-food-beverage-taxes-down-19-hotel-taxes-down-50-in-2020-pandemic/4061714001/", "title": "St. Cloud food, beverage taxes down 19%, hotel taxes down 50%", "text": "ST. CLOUD — As COVID-19 spread through the St. Cloud community this year, fewer people attended schools, booked hotel rooms or visited local restaurants.\n\nAs a result, the city's sales tax ledgers are down more than $1 million as of the end of October.\n\nThe food and beverage tax — which applies to takeout, prepared deli items, and fare from bars and restaurants — is down 19% from last year, from about $1.34 million in October 2019 to $1.09 million this year.\n\nSt. Cloud Finance Director Ruth Wipper anticipates the tax could be down close to nearly 23% when November and December taxes are included.\n\n\"The normal logic to do projections doesn't quite apply this year,\" Wipper said. \"I would expect we would see it lower than the October collections simply because of the indoor dining ban and the fact that outdoor dining isn't very viable right now, whereas sometimes there's a lag in collections.\n\n\"So what we received in October probably still contained some outdoor dining, along with the allowed indoor dining,\" she continued.\n\nThe last two months of the year are usually good for indoor restaurants because people celebrate holiday parties or make a pit stop while out shopping. This year, regulations to limit the spread of COVID-19 prohibited indoor dining and large gatherings.\n\nThe nearly 20% decrease in city taxes is a direct reflection of how St. Cloud bars and restaurants are faring. Collectively, sales at dining establishments and places with prepared food are down about 1/5 from last year.\n\nMORE:The restaurants the St. Cloud metro lost and gained in 2020\n\n\"It could vary by individual business, certainly,\" Wipper said. \"That would equate to the sales being down but not necessarily true for each individual business. I think some are up and some are down.\"\n\nThe anticipated annual drop in sales taxes is particularly significant because it will likely be three or four times what the decline was during the Great Recession; the city saw a 6% decrease in food and beverage taxes in 2008.\n\n\"This is a very different economic situation than the Great Recession,\" Wipper said. \"A recession is kind of more of a slow decline for a lot of governmental revenues. This was — bam — doors shut. And that's very different.\"\n\nPandemic restrictions also canceled weddings, conferences and athletic tournaments so the city's hotel/motel tax also saw a hit of about 50% from last year as of the end of October.\n\nIn 2019, the city had earned about $1.4 million in hotel/motel taxes by the end of October; this year, the city has earned about $678,000.\n\nThe city uses food and beverage taxes to pay for debt service on projects at River's Edge Convention Center and other city-owned facilities such as the Paramount and Municipal Athletic Complex.\n\nStory continues below\n\nThe hotel/motel taxes are used for operations at the convention center and convention and visitor's bureau, with a small amount going to the MAC and city-owned gardens. Because of the revenue decline, the city is not funding the convention coordinator and facilities director positions in 2021.\n\nThe city has also seen declines in fees from water and electrical usage during the pandemic.\n\n\"Those have kind of bounced around,\" Wipper said. \"In the beginning of the pandemic, they were down. Then it was a nice, dry spring and everybody was at home watering their lawns so water sales were pretty strong. But the last time we talked about it, the public utilities director said we are down about a million gallons a day in water sales as you look at schools, hotels, campus — lots of big water users — closed.\"\n\nRevenue from the city's parking system is also down $1 million from last year.\n\nOne bright spot is the city's half-percent local option sales tax, which funds regional projects.\n\n\"Year-to-date we were down only about 2.5% compared to the previous year,\" Wipper said. \"But we had a very strong November/December last year and I don't think we will have as strong (of a November/December) this year. I'm thinking we're going to end up being down about 5% on local area sales tax.\"\n\nPandemic restrictions do not impact this tax as much, given the 2018 Supreme Court ruling South Dakota v. Wayfair, which found states can charge tax on purchases made from out-of-state sellers.\n\n\"All internet sales are subject to local area sales tax, so anything anyone is buying online is now subject to the area sales tax,\" Wipper said. \"That has helped lessen the impact of some of the stores being closed.\"\n\nThe pandemic caused an $8.5 million shortfall in the 2020 budget — and officials built the anticipated shortfall into the 2021 budget, which is 2% less than the 2020 budget.\n\n\"We have anticipated what we hope is a worst case scenario — but who knows these days,\" Wipper said. \"We tried to budget for a worst case scenario and hope that we're wrong.\"\n\nCity officials anticipate the first half of 2021 looking similar to the end of 2020 in terms of sales tax revenue, given the lag before a majority of people are vaccinated and people can begin eating and drinking outside again.\n\n\"That's a long way off,\" Wipper said. \"It's really easy to add things back into a budget but it's much harder in June and cut something else out of it.\n\n\"So we tried to come in super conservative on our estimate. If we're lucky, we'll be wrong and be able to put some things back in or put some more in the reserves as the year goes on.\"\n\nJenny Berg is the cities and schools reporter for the St. Cloud Times. Reach her at 320-259-3680 or jberg@stcloudtimes.com. Follow her on Twitter @bergjenny.\n\nSupport local journalism. Subscribe to sctimes.com today.", "authors": [], "publish_date": "2020/12/30"}, {"url": "https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/2020/04/23/coronavirus-pandemic-target-online-growth-due-covid-19/3007311001/", "title": "Target digital sales make significant gains because of COVID-19 ...", "text": "Target's digital sales grew by more than 100% in March and are up 275% in April as consumers ordered more essentials and groceries online for delivery and pickup amid the coronavirus pandemic.\n\nThough online growth accelerated dramatically, the Minneapolis-based retailer announced Thursday that in-store sales started to soften as millions sheltered in place.\n\nIn categories such as food and beverage and essentials, sales were up 20% in March. Apparel and accessory sales dropped by similar margins. Apparel is down more than 40% month-to-date in April.\n\nShares of Target fell 2.8% Thursday and closed at $103.86.\n\n\"Consumer behaviors continue to change dramatically, particularly as public health officials have told Americans to minimize their time in stores,\" Target CEO Brian Cornell said in a call with reporters to discuss the retailer's COVID-19 response.\n\nYour money is important: Money advice delivered right to your inbox. Sign up here.\n\nOnline sales were up and total company comparable sales were up more than 7%. Target is spending $300 million in temporary benefits, wages and bonuses for workers, a COVID-19 measure announced in March that was scheduled to last at least until May 2.\n\nTarget said Thursday that it is extending the $2-an-hour temporary wage increase for employees and a paid leave program for workers most susceptible to the coronavirus until May 30. Employees 65 and older, pregnant or with underlying medical conditions can access paid leave for up to 30 days.\n\n'Thank you, coronavirus helpers':First responders, health care workers can shop during special hours, get discounts\n\nCOVID-19 worker safety:Amazon and Target workers plan 'sickouts' over coronavirus safety concerns\n\nWhen thousands of other retailers have had to temporarily shutter stores or switch to a purely online model, Target has reduced hours at its nearly 1,900 stores, dedicated shopping time for vulnerable guests, installed plexiglass partitions and started to limit the number of shoppers in stores to promote social distancing as of April 4.\n\nThat hasn't been enough to placate all workers. Target Workers Unite, an employee activist group, announced this week that some workers plan a mass sickout May 1 because they don't feel the efforts go far enough to prioritize their safety.\n\n\"I think the majority of our team feels as if we're doing everything possible to protect them, to make sure we're creating a safe environment for our team and our guests, and we'll continue to make sure we focus on that throughout the pandemic,\" Cornell said.\n\nOther measures Target has taken include staffing drive-up curbside pickup and hiring 80,000 workers for its Shipt grocery delivery service.\n\n\"In April, we've seen weeks when drive-up volume was up to seven times greater than normal and single days in which order pickup volume was twice as high as Cyber Monday,\" Cornell said of the contactless shopping options.\n\nCornell said the shift toward digital is \"likely to be long lasting as guests continue to weather the crisis\" and they develop new routines from being home with their families.\n\n\"We certainly expect that there's going to be changes consumers are going to make in how they live, how they shop, how they work and what they value,\" Cornell said. \"We better make sure that we're agile enough to respond to those changes. We recognize that there's going to be several more months where there's going to be significant concern, as we work through this pandemic.\"\n\nFollow USA TODAY reporter Kelly Tyko on Twitter: @KellyTyko\n\nShare your thoughts with USA TODAY\n\nFill out the form below or through this link for possible inclusion in USA TODAY's continuing COVID-19 coverage.", "authors": [], "publish_date": "2020/04/23"}, {"url": "https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/2020/08/15/coronavirus-colorado-covid-19-fort-collins-sales-tax-revenue-grocery-liquor-stores/3338428001/", "title": "Strong sales at liquor, grocery stores during COVID-19 a bright spot ...", "text": "Are you managing pandemic stress and anxiety with a \"quarantini\" every evening? If so, you're in good company.\n\nAs bars and restaurants closed at the start of Colorado's COVID-19 outbreak and many residents began to indulge a bit more at home, sales at liquor, convenience and grocery stores soared. It was the one bright spot in an otherwise dreary retail picture that began five months ago.\n\nLiquor, grocery and convenience stores, considered essential businesses, were allowed to stay open even as restaurants and bars were shuttered.\n\nCustomers rewarded them with bursting sales in March that have tempered slightly. It's been a welcome boon to the stores' and city's coffers.\n\nLAST MONTH: Hardware stores help sales tax collections in Fort Collins\n\nAt Wilbur's Total Beverage, 2201 S. College Ave., home deliveries exploded from up to 12 per day to 150. Curbside pickup ballooned to 250 per day as owner Mat Dinsmore hired more help to manage the new business model.\n\nBusiness is leveling off as the city settles into a new normal. There's no more panic buying out of fear liquor stores will be shut down, Dinsmore said.\n\nIn Fort Collins, grocery, convenience and liquor stores generate about $45 million in monthly taxable sales, which results in more than $1 million in tax revenue that helps pay for everything from parks to police.\n\nAfter suffering a more than 20% drop in sales tax revenue in May — reflecting purchases made in April, the first full month of shutdowns — tax revenue has stabilized somewhat.\n\nFor June sales reported in July, tax collections were down just 3.8% from a year earlier, a negative trend for the last three months, but much improved from the start of the pandemic.\n\n\"We're pleased and surprised and confused\" by the numbers, said Fort Collins interim chief financial officer Travis Storin. \"It's not a bad thing, but something we are seeking to understand\" better.\n\nFederal aid that flowed in to Fort Collins through the CARES Act (up to $2,400 per couple and $600 in weekly unemployment benefits) plus the Paycheck Protection Program for small businesses \"put money directly in the hands of residents and, in some cases, businesses,\" Storin said.\n\nBusiness:Pobre Panchos Mexican restaurant sold after 50 years in north Fort Collins\n\n\"We know it stimulated the economy ... what still is to be determined is to what extent is the federal stimulus propping this up or not.\" And what happens now that the money has expired.\n\nThe federal unemployment payments ran out in July and Congress has yet to agree on an extension. President Donald Trump signed an executive order last week allowing $400 in additional benefits, with states on the hook for paying 25% of that. Critics have argued the president lacks the authority to issue the executive order.\n\nStory continues below graphics\n\nIs Fort Collins in an economic bubble?\n\nThe national gross domestic product is down nearly 33% from prior years, what Storin said was the worst quarter on record. \"We're not seeing that in Fort Collins or in many cases along the Front Range. It's that piece that keeps us curious.\"\n\nWoodward Saunders, owner of Liquor Kabinet in west Fort Collins, said the shutdown, while horrible for bars and restaurants, \"has been a little bit of a blessing\" for his neighborhood store.\n\n\"We're getting a lot of revenue from the bars being closed,\" he said. \"We hate to take that from them, but if there's a way we can keep people happy staying home, we'll be there for them.\"\n\nFALLOUT: CSU borrows $230 million to cover bond payments during lean times\n\nWhere other stores may slow down in summer when college students go home, Liquor Kabinet, at the corner of Overland Trail and Prospect Road, is always busy. It's one of the last liquor stores en route to Horsetooth Reservoir.\n\nAt Mulberry Max, the number of people shopping at the liquor store, 460 S. College Ave., didn't increase significantly, but customers spent more per trip. The trajectory has started leveling off, General Manager Josh Beard said.\n\nGrocery, liquor and convenience stores generated $1.4 million in sales tax revenue in July (based on June sales), up 11% from a year ago. In May (based on April sales), they generated $1.28 million, up only 2.5% from the previous year.\n\n\"It's a pretty anxiety-producing time, and a lot of people turn to alcohol to help them with that to varying degrees,\" Beard said. \"We're seeing an increase in business due to people's self-management of their own stress, for better or worse.\"\n\nKinks in the supply chain\n\nSupply chain hiccups are causing stock issues with beer and boxed wine, Beard said. \"With more people drinking at home and less at the bar, breweries' demand for cans has skyrocketed,\" resulting in a beer can bottleneck up the supply chain.\n\n\"This will play out over the next few months as customers will be seeing smaller selections of their favorite brews. Breweries are having to decide which beers are more important to package and which need to get cut in the short term.\"\n\nDinsmore has the same problem. He had no Mexican beer for two months and there was a national can shortage.\n\nINDUSTRY: Woodward sales plunge during COVID-19 pandemic\n\n\"When COVID hit, (breweries) quit kegging beer,\" he said, and canned cocktails were in short supply. \"Some weeks we'd order 200 cases and get 10.\"\n\nA month ago he ordered 1,500 cases from Coors and got 380. \"It's just an oddity of life,\" Dinsmore said. \"Between distribution issues and cans, all of a sudden no one was drinking at a bar or restaurant, everyone was drinking cans or bottles and it created kinks in the supply chain.\"\n\nNow Beard worries about the return of Colorado State University students next week and balancing revenue and responsibility.\n\n\"Although a lot of them are very responsible young people, I'm concerned about the few making bad choices and throwing parties that are too big and what role we are playing in that,\" Beard said. \"We are trying to encourage them to make good choices, but we are wondering how that will play out.\"\n\nSlow return to shopping\n\nOverall, the city's hardest-hit retailers remain clothing retailers, restaurants and bars. Bars that don't serve food are still shut down, and restaurants are open at about half capacity.\n\nRestaurants and bars reported $33.7 million in taxable sales in July (for June sales), down nearly 20% from a year ago, as they struggle with consumers' comfort levels and mandates that limit the number of diners inside and outside.\n\nBut, like the city's total tax collections, the picture is starting to improve slightly. Restaurant and bar revenue nationwide has slumped more than 26%, while Fort Collins' establishments are down about 20%.\n\nJuly's report is an improvement over the prior two months, when sales were down more than 28% in June (for May sales) and down about 43% in May (for April sales).\n\nCoronavirus in Colorado:Fort Collins to consider $13 million budget cut for 2021 as COVID-19 toll persists\n\nAs summer slowly fades into fall, restaurateurs are worried about winter, when it's too cold to be outside.\n\n\"It's a question of what happens when the weather changes and we lose these patios,\" said Dwight Hall of CooperSmith's in Old Town Square.\n\n\"We have a lot of 'what if' scenarios, but things are changing so fast, it's been difficult to know which direction to go.\"\n\nWhile customers are eager to be on the patio this summer, they have not hesitated to eat inside on rainy days, he said.\n\nEven if his dining rooms are full while accounting for social distancing, he'll only be able to serve only a fraction of previous years' customer base during the pandemic.\n\n\"My gut says we'll probably be dealing with this for a little while,\" Hall said. \"We need to figure out a way to get through with the current model until next summer. I don't think the headwinds will ease up anytime soon.\"\n\nPat Ferrier is a senior reporter covering business, health care and growth issues in Northern Colorado. Contact her at patferrier@coloradoan.com. Please support her work and that of other Coloradoan journalists by purchasing a subscription today.", "authors": [], "publish_date": "2020/08/15"}, {"url": "https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/mlb/brewers/2022/08/25/whats-blame-brewers-big-attendance-drop-2022/7865188001/", "title": "What's to blame for Brewers big attendance drop in 2022?", "text": "Even as the smallest market in Major League Baseball, the Milwaukee Brewers have routinely drawn crowds like a big-timer.\n\nThey've been 10th or higher in MLB attendance in each of their competitive seasons: 2017, 2018, 2019 and even 2021, when COVID-19 meddled with ballpark capacities for the first half of the year.\n\nBut a gaze across the seating bowl during games this year will catch a lot more forest green than usual.\n\nThe Brewers entered Wednesday 14th in MLB, drawing 30,359 fans per game — a drop of 15.9% compared to 2019 (the last season of \"normal\" attendance regulations throughout the year) and 14% compared to 2018. The former number is the seventh-biggest drop in MLB and the latter is ninth, outpacing most teams that have maintained a similar plane of competitiveness in that window.\n\nMajor League Baseball, still recovering from the COVID-19 pandemic and already seeing a decline in attendance each year from 2015 to 2019, has pushed about 5.2% fewer fans through its turnstiles this year than in 2019 and 6.7% fewer than 2018.\n\nHOT STOVE UPDATES: MLB free agency: Ranking and tracking the top players available.\n\nSo why is Milwaukee worse off than most MLB teams?\n\nWith the Chicago Cubs headed into town for a three-game series and Milwaukee still in the playoff hunt, Milwaukee would usually be on the precipice of three weekend sellouts. But 2022 is different.\n\nMore:We asked readers why they went to fewer Brewers games, and these five reasons kept coming up\n\nBrewers president Rick Schlesinger pointed out that the current projection between 2.5 million and 2.6 million fans for the year would still put the Brewers in the top half of baseball.\n\n\"Any comparison to our 2019 season where we drew more than 2.9 million fans (after finishing in 2018) one game shy of reaching the World Series will necessarily fall short in light of the disruptions to our business caused by the pandemic, restricted attendance and a delayed start to the 2022 season.\"\n\nThe 2019 season marked the fourth-highest attendance in franchise history, so to use it as the initial bar seems a tad unfair. But why would Milwaukee see bigger declines than elsewhere?\n\nIs the price to attend a Brewers game too high?\n\nThose noticing the attendance decline might immediately point to low-hanging fruit when considering a team's drop in attendance: Either the team just isn't as fun to follow or the prices to attend have become too high.\n\nFor now, let's set aside the inevitable snark over the Brewers' recent slide as a crowd deterrent. Although not running away with the division as they did in 2021 and not yet engaged in the high-stakes thrill rides that were the Septembers 2018 and 2019, the Brewers have maintained 8-12 games above .500 for most of the year and remain one of seven bona fide playoff contenders for six National League playoff spots.\n\nAnd while prices for any big-league ballpark experience are debatably too high for an average family, Milwaukee's median prices for tickets and parking would rank 11th-cheapest in baseball, behind the Royals, Angels, Reds, Phillies, Marlins, Tigers, Orioles, Rockies, Twins and Cardinals.\n\nThat median cost for a family of four with tickets and parking: $163.60. Across MLB, you'll find a wide range, with the Red Sox at the top of that list ($346) and the Royals at the bottom ($113).\n\nTheoretically, a family of four can even attend most Sunday Brewers games for as low as $39 plus fees, with $6 tickets to Bernie's Terrace and $15 advance-pay general parking.\n\nConcessions at the field do come at a high cost, though American Family Field allows for fans to bring in sealed non-alcoholic beverages and small food items.\n\nAccording to data gathered by Chris Hartweg of the independent website Team Marketing Report based in Chicago, the lowest available cost for a beer at AmFam ($9) was more expensive than all but seven other MLB stadiums, a soda ($6) was more expensive than all but six other stadiums and a hot dog ($6.75) was more expensive than all but three other locations.\n\nThen again, ESPN's data on a per-ounce basis places the Brewers among the most affordable 10 to 12 teams for domestic light beer, soda and water.\n\nThe average fan might not see one particularly big factor\n\nSchlesinger pointed to something else most fans don't see.\n\n\"One material factor that differentiates us from other markets is group sales,\" he said. \"In a normal year, we would sell approximately 600,000 group tickets. This year, we will finish at approximately 400,000. If we were experiencing an average year of group sales, our attendance rank would be in the right around 10th in all of baseball, which is consistent with a normal season for us.\"\n\nThe Brewers have had as much success with group sales as anyone in baseball, thanks in part to the certainty of staying on schedule on account of a retractable roof. But with businesses still operating remotely or on a hybrid basis, most companies aren't seeking group outings.\n\n\"In addition, there are companies that are still not 100% comfortable organizing groups to be in large-capacity events,\" Schlesinger said. \"The good news is that we are seeing a shift in these trends. Fans are more comfortable now visiting large-capacity venues, and even for companies that continue to work remotely, they are placing an even higher value on gathering their employees together for social outings.\"\n\nSchlesinger said season-ticket packages and individual sales remain strong, but the late start to the 2022 season because of baseball's labor dispute also hurt the ticket office, delaying the start of individual ticket sales. The Brewers were slated to open the season at home with six games (all since relocated elsewhere in the schedule), one of 11 teams that were expected to start the season with multiple home series.\n\nDid the pandemic hit smaller sports markets harder?\n\nCleveland, a team in first place in the American League Central, has drawn just 17,191 per game this year. Minnesota, the team hot on Cleveland's heels, is at 22,590. Both have open-air stadiums, so it stands to reason attendance might fluctuate thanks to unpredictable spring weather more so than in Milwaukee. Their declines outpace even Milwaukee.\n\nCleveland has lost 21.9% compared to 2019 and a staggering 29% of fans compared to 2018, even though this year's team is only slightly off the pace of winning that the 2018 and 2019 teams enjoyed.\n\nMinnesota's decline is 20.2% compared to last year (just 8% compared to 2018), though the 2019 team won 101 games and surely drew well as a result. The 2018 team finished below .500.\n\nOther \"small\" markets such as Arizona (25.2% drop from 2019), Cincinnati (17.8%), Kansas City (12.5%) and Pittsburgh (11.7%) outpace the average, but that's not universally consistent. Tampa Bay (5.3%), albeit working with smaller total numbers of fans overall, hasn't declined as rapidly, while Baltimore and Detroit have gained fans compared to 2019 (though both drew poorly that season as the two worst teams in baseball and both are down compared to 2018).\n\nOakland, embroiled in a possible relocation saga and other issues deflating fan interest, has seen the largest fan decline compared to 2019 at 54%, miles ahead of second-worst Arizona.\n\nThe Cubs are bad. That should be a good thing, right?\n\nIt wouldn't be uncommon for Cubs fans to take some credit for the Brewers' successful attendance showing, even if their presence hasn't produced a significant impact on Milwaukee's top-10 attendance status. Trust us, we checked.\n\nBut despite Brewers fans happily embracing a down season for Chicago, it doesn't help at the ticket office that the Cubs have been a non-factor in the National League Central standings this year. In six games against Chicago at American Family Field, the Brewers have drawn an average of 34,450 fans — among the best crowds of the season, but not the boon they've been in other years.\n\nIn 2019, a year when Chicago was a winning ballclub (though not a playoff team), Cubs games brought in 40,377 fans per contest.\n\nAre the Brewers just not as fun as before?\n\nThe Atlanta Braves saw skyrocketing attendance in the early 1990s when the team rose to prominence, then again with the opening of Turner Field in 1997, but also a steady decline in the years that followed, even as the Braves went to the playoffs 11 straight years and 14 out of 15.\n\nHave the Brewers started to bore fans with success? Or, is it simply a team that can't inspire the same fervor as past years, particularly because this year's team came in as the odds-on favorite to win the division, and yet the Brewers haven't played well enough to make a playoff berth certain?\n\n\"We don’t believe that extended patterns of winning dials back the enthusiasm; we do think it dials up the expectations,\" Schlesinger said, adding that in past years, such as 2008, simply contending was enough to raise the temperature of Brewers fever in Milwaukee, and that era has passed.\n\n\"Have expectations changed? Sure, both for our fans and for the organization,\" he added. \"Making the postseason is a major accomplishment, but we have higher aspirations. Success brings higher expectations, and if we can hand pick a challenge to face, that’s one we’ll take any day.\"\n\nNine teams have seen attendance gains from 2019, including squads in Toronto, San Diego, Atlanta, Seattle and the White Sox in Chicago, so even in the post-COVID environment, it's possible to ward off declining attendance. Most of those increases can be explained by team improvement.\n\nWhat can the Brewers do to get fans back?\n\nSchlesinger said upgrades to American Family Field, including the X-Golf addition to the club level in left field, will hopefully help turn the tide. He said they're doing their best to listen to fans.\n\nSchlesinger pointed to a beefed-up food and beverage delivery service at the stadium as an improvement, plus the residual benefit of reconnecting with the community in a post-COVID landscape.\n\n\"We have had more opportunities to connect players with fans directly this year, whether that’s though community appearances or initiatives like we have with players picking up bar and restaurant tabs around town, and we will continue to bring those engagement experiences back into the daily mix,\" he said. \"We are re-imagining our ticket discount programs, exploring postgame events and examining our all fan giveaways beyond the traditional bobbleheads.\"\n\nIf group sales are indeed the biggest culprit, then the situation figures to slowly correct itself as businesses return to in-person events.\n\nAnother deep playoff run wouldn't hurt, either.\n\nJR Radcliffe can be reached at (262) 361-9141 or jradcliffe@gannett.com. Follow him on Twitter at @JRRadcliffe.", "authors": [], "publish_date": "2022/08/25"}, {"url": "https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/local/2022/11/09/liquor-sales-going-up-asheville-sees-big-increase-abc-store-revenues/69626466007/", "title": "Liquor sales on the rise? Asheville sees 30% increase in ABC ...", "text": "ASHEVILLE - The city reaps the largest share of the spoils when it comes to liquor sales in Asheville, and its fiscal year 2022 Alcohol and Beverage Control revenues saw a $824,368 spike, or 29.7%, over the previous year.\n\nMark Combs, general manager of the Asheville ABC Board, said the reason was plain: after bar and restaurant sales dipped at the height of the pandemic, \"they're back,\" with a 52.75% increase in mixed beverage sales over fiscal year 2021.\n\n\"(When COVID) restrictions ended in 2022, we did the best mixed beverage sales ever, in history,\" Combs said. “People basically hung from the chandeliers when the COVID restrictions ended. (They) traveled, they went to restaurants, they went to bars and just let it all hang out, and that made it an incredible year.”\n\nPrevious coverage:\n\nFood & Brew News: Cold Mountain beer release celebration, gourmet popcorn, cheese giveaway\n\nMixed beverage sales account for alcohol sold to permittees, such as restaurants, bars, hotels and other businesses. Retail sales at Asheville's nine liquor stores account for the rest.\n\nOf the ABC Board's net profits, 25% goes to the county, but the bulk of it, 75%, is distributed to the city.\n\nABC Revenues for the City of Asheville:\n\nFY19: $2,568,132.21\n\nFY20: $2,422,956.17\n\nFY21: $2,773,557.90\n\nFY22: $3,597,925.12\n\nCombs said Asheville has the highest ratio of mixed beverage to retail sales in the state, typically around 35%, driven by the area's strong tourism and its rash of restaurants and bars.\n\nIn fiscal years 2020 and 2021, under the duress of COVID and subsequent shutdowns, mixed beverage sales dropped 19%. But despite those hits, ABC sales in Asheville never truly flagged, as retail sales offset the decline.\n\n\"Retail sales kept us from dying,\" Combs said.\n\nMore:11th District voter turnout in Asheville, WNC among highest: US House election data\n\nMore:Who is running in Asheville, Buncombe? Candidate list, election dates; voting started\n\nMore:Meet the 6 candidates running for Asheville City Council. Who should get your vote?\n\nOverall Asheville ABC sales:\n\nFY20: $39.9 million\n\nFY21: $44.5 million\n\nFY22: $50.3 million\n\nWill trends continue?\n\nABC revenues were presented to Asheville City Council Oct. 25 by Budget Manager Taylor Floyd.\n\n\"We saw some really significant growth in our share of ABC revenues in the last fiscal year,” Floyd said. Despite this, he said the city doesn't expect the trend to continue.\n\nMore:Master plan for DuPont State Recreational Forest moves forward as visitation soars\n\nAsheville food scene:An emerging Asheville chef brings Burmese cuisine to the table\n\nCombs said he anticipates ABC revenues will remain consistent with fiscal year 2022 as expenses rise. Inflation is driving up liquor and personnel costs, which could impact distributions.\n\n“I don’t think it’s going to climb as fast as it did last year,” Combs said, but he also does not anticipate a drop.\n\nSarah Honosky is the city government reporter for the Asheville Citizen Times, part of the USA TODAY Network. News Tips? Email shonosky@citizentimes.com or message on Twitter at @slhonosky.", "authors": [], "publish_date": "2022/11/09"}, {"url": "https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/2020/03/12/salem-oregon-residents-prepare-worst-coronavirus-pandemic-deaths/5012731002/", "title": "Salem, Oregon residents prepare for the worst of coronavirus outbreak", "text": "As Coronavirus continues its spread in Oregon with four new presumptive positive cases announced Wednesday, local residents and business are finding various ways to cope with the reality and the worry of a new pandemic disease.\n\nNew cases in both Marion and Polk counties were announced Wednesday — the first identified case in Polk and the second case in Marion County — bringing the state total to 19.\n\nOne of the two Marion County presumptive positive cases is currently a patient at Salem Health, according to hospital spokesperson Elijah Penner.\n\nSalem restaurants are carrying on business as usual, but are noting some drop in traffic as locals choose to stay in or order take-out.\n\nSome businesses are struggling to find replacement products for those made in China.\n\nEntertainment venues are cleaning often and planning for the show to go on.\n\nTrack coronavirus:Interactive map shows cases in Oregon\n\nLocal hospitals are not seeing a considerable rise in patients and continue to ask those who are not having an emergency, but who still need medical care, to call their primary care or urgent care clinic before going in.\n\nSalem-Keizer Public Schools does not have any confirmed coronavirus cases, but the district is taking additional cleaning measures in schools and on buses, and providing resources on when to go to school and when to see a doctor.\n\nHere are several examples of how Salem-area residents are responding:\n\nEvent, entertainment venues\n\nFor Salem's Riverfront Carousel, it's business as usual — just with more sanitation.\n\nStaff is washing their hands regularly and sanitizing poles, door handles and other surfaces every hour on the hour, operations manager Bryan Eldridge said. On the weekends, when the carousel is busier, they will sanitize every 30 minutes.\n\n\"We're up and rolling and still open for fun,\" Eldridge said. \"As of right now, I think things are good, and we have a pretty good handle on everything.\"\n\nThe goal is to keep the facility clean and safe for customers. And, as of now, they don't plan to cancel any upcoming events. They plan to be in full swing for spring break unless something new develops.\n\nUPDATING:Salem-area events affected by Gov. Kate Brown's event restrictions\n\nLisa Joyce, the executive director of Pentacle Theatre, sent out an email to those on their mailing list, saying they are following the recommended protocols from the CDC and other agencies, which includes increasing the frequency of cleaning, sanitizing seat arms and ensuring soap is well-stocked in bathrooms, among other measures.\n\nPentacle Theatre also offers a ticket exchange policy with no additional fees for those who do not feel well enough to attend a show. People can contact the theater at 503-485-4300 or tickets@pentacletheatre.org to be assisted by staff.\n\nThe Elsinore Theatre published a statement to their website encouraging staff, volunteers and patrons to stay home if they don't feel well.\n\nExecutive director Tom Fohn said their northwest tour of \"Disenchanted!\" is scheduled to hit the road in Washington this week. The musical has stops scheduled in both Wenatchee and Tacoma over the next several days.\n\n\"The biggest thing for us is the safety of our crew and our team and making sure that everyone feels comfortable,\" Fohn said. \"These are very unusual times, and the industry itself feels paralyzed.\"\n\nRestaurants\n\nThough business continues as usual for many restaurants, some have noted a decline in traffic as local residents opt to stay in instead of dining out, while others are noting an increase in to-go orders.\n\nMitch Teal who, along with his wife Cathy Teal, owns two area locations of Brew Coffee & Tap House, said: \"For us it is more of a slow down in new visitors.\"\n\nWe have seen a slowing in the percentage of sales increases compared to pre-virus concerns.\"\n\nThe couple has increased sanitation efforts and coached employees on best practices for not catching or spreading viruses.\n\n\"It may smell a bit more like sanitizer at Brew now, but people seem to appreciate the extra effort.\"\n\nTanachai Hanidhikul owns Thai Orchid in downtown Salem. They're open normal hours and taking precautions to sanitize restroom doors, the entrance and other \"high-touch\" areas.\n\n\"For our sales, it seems dine-in customers are a little bit less than usual. Our to-go and delivery seem to be normal or slightly better.\"\n\nSassy Onion owner Kevin Boyles said some catering clients have canceled events. He's also noticed Sassy Onion cafes \"located in office buildings have seen a significant drop in sales where our guests are office personnel and being asked to work from home when possible.\"\n\n\"The paranoia associated with COVID-19 has definitely impacted our business, and I fear it will get worse before it gets better. We have posted signs provided by Oregon Restaurant and Lodging Association that communicate symptoms and preventative measures we are taking to help prevent the spread of COVID-19. In addition, we are continuing to follow the Health Departments guidelines which does not allow for sick employees to work in any food service establishment.\"\n\nJonathan Jones, who owns Epilogue Kitchen & Bar with his wife Maura Ryan, has been shaken by news of longstanding Seattle restaurants forced to close permanently, citing the pandemic's impact.\n\nIt's alarming, he said, \"The shocking speed at which a couple restaurants went from open to closed permanently, and the number of restaurants 'closed indefinitely.' These were not young places, either. They’re established eateries with followings.\"\n\nThe couple has decided to abbreviate the hours at their nearly-year-old restaurant, opening at 5 p.m. (instead of their typical 4 p.m.) and suspending late-night service. They're also planning to shrink their wine list, holding off on new wine purchasing.\n\n\"This is to hopefully weather the coming storm of slow / no business that is almost certainly headed our way,\" Jones said.\n\nTena O’Sullivan, co-owner of Sisters Irish Bistro in the Reed Opera House, also is looking into limiting hours.\n\n\"We are looking at closing earlier in the evening and possibly not opening in the afternoon because there’s no business and that is difficult,\" O'Sullivan said.\n\nEven with St. Patrick's Day around the corner, O'Sullvan said, \"This past Friday and Saturday was the lowest we have ever seen with our business.\"\n\nThomas Ghinazzi, chef-owner of the newly opened Earth & Sea restaurant in Carlton had a winemaker dinner scheduled with Veronique Drouhin of Maison Joseph Drouhin \"that we have to cancel due to travel restrictions and cancellations.\"\n\nSmall businesses\n\nSalem's small business community also is feeling the pinch. Local hot sauce company Hoss Soss has hit a production bottleneck, literally.\n\nOwners Matt Kuerbis and Catharine Sutherland are struggling to continue production of their \"heat you can handle\" sauces because their co-packer, the company that produces and bottles their products, can’t secure a supply of the 6-ounce wide neck glass bottles they use.\n\n\"This appears to be due to coronavirus supply chain problems in China,\" said Sutherland. \"We are reaching out independently to other glass suppliers and hearing the same thing.\"\n\nThey're being told it might be months before shipments of bottles manufactured in China are released.\n\nBest Damn BBQ Sauce owner Mike White has postponed plans to hire a company to conduct tastings of his products at area grocers, because \"nobody will probably sample in public for the next month. I plan to demo pretty hard in May which is National BBQ Month ... but we will see if COVID-19 is still a major threat. This could be a problem for sales at farmers' markets if the virus keeps its path of destruction.\"\n\nAmy Church, owner of Willamette Valley Kitchen Company, continues with normal classes and sales at the moment, but said, \"It is definitely a scary time for retailers as we anticipate difficulties receiving many of our products which originate in China over the coming months. I have always attempted to stock American-made products in my store as much as possible, but for the items we sell, there is not always a US-made option. I can only hope that the virus is nearing an end in China and there will only be limited delays getting needed products over the summer and into fall.\"\n\nNursing homes\n\nFollowing Gov. Kate Brown’s executive order signed Tuesday, DHS is directing nursing and assisted care facilities to take extra measures to protect their elderly residents, who are considered a high-risk group.\n\nHollie Fowler, senior director of marketing and product development with senior care provider Prestige Care, said the care communities are restricting visitor access to one to two \"essential visitors,\" which include vendors and suppliers.\n\nThe company has 34 Oregon assisted care facilities — including one on Orchard Heights Road and one on Skyline Road — and more than 70 locations nationally.\n\nFowler said the communities are encouraging family members to contact the residents via phone, email, Skype and FaceTime to limit exposure.\n\nCommunity administrators are regularly taking resident and staff temperatures and staff is disinfecting all \"high-touch\" areas and surfaces every two to four hours, she said.\n\nThose who do visit are required to undergo “rigorous screening,” such as asking them if they've traveled internationally or been exposed to anyone who has traveled internationally.\n\nStaff is discouraging outside entertainment or \"enrichment programs\" from entering the communities, though officials say they are continuing to provide entertainment for residents internally.\n\nCherriots\n\nWhile ridership has stayed relatively the same, 32 out of 167 Cherriots Shop and Ride service reservations were canceled in the past week, according to Cherriots director of communications Patricia Feeny.\n\nShop and Ride is a service aimed at helping seniors and people with disabilities get to designated store locations such as Walmart and Fred Meyer.\n\nBus maintenance staff also has increased detailed cleaning, attacking \"common touchpoints\" such as handrails, dashboards, seats and operator cab areas with sanitation wipes.\n\nStarting March 6, crews began spraying virus-killing disinfectant solution in all buses each night, Feeny said.\n\n“It’s just another precaution to keep up with what we need to to keep the bus as clean as possible,” she said.\n\nAdditionally, the service began a staff hand-washing campaign last week. Bus operators also have started wearing gloves and buses are equipped with more hand sanitizer and wipes.\n\nFeeny said at this point, the bus service is proceeding with its regular routes, but will consider reduced service if operators fall ill and there is not enough staff to cover routes.\n\n“We are not at that point yet, but we will be prepared if we need to take that action,” she said.\n\nCustomers can view up-to-date information on bus routes on the Cherriots website or call customer service at 503-588-2877.\n\nSpirit Mountain Casino\n\nAt Spirit Mountain Casino in Grand Ronde, staff has begun cleaning each slot machine and gaming area every hour.\n\nThe maintenance staff has tripled the cleaning schedules of community areas such as bathrooms and beverage counters and are using an electrostatic sanitizing system each day throughout the property.\n\nThe staff also has tripled the amount of hand sanitizer stations throughout the property and is \"strongly encouraging\" guests to wash their hands. Casino officials are asking any employees who have flu-like symptoms to stay home.\n\nCasino shuttle services for Coyote Club members and all restaurants on the property are running normally.\n\nHealth clinics are not busier due to concerns about COVID-19, said Kelly Rowe, executive director health services for the Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde\n\n\"We’re always busy,\" Rowe said. \"And it’s flu season so we have a lot of people who are coming in with flu-like symptoms, colds, (and for) regular walk-in care.\"\n\nThe clinic staff is taking many of the same measures as they do for every flu season, \"there's just heightened awareness around it right now,\" she said\n\n\"Housekeeping staff is coming through not just making sure our clinical rooms are clean, but our waiting areas and check-in areas. All of our staff are doing spot cleaning.\"\n\nThe clinic also is using algorithms from the CDC to identify if somebody is high-risk and requires testing. So far, the clinic has not had a patient that is high-risk and required any COVID-19 testing, Rowe said.\n\nOregon Department of Corrections\n\nNo inmates at the Oregon Department of Corrections have tested positive for the coronavirus, said prison officials. One adult in custody was tested, but the result was negative.\n\nOf the 14,435 inmates in Oregon, almost one-third are over the age of 46. Salem’s four prisons house about 3,600 inmates.\n\nCorrections Director Colette Peters is a member of Gov. Kate Brown’s coronavirus response team and is working with other agencies to prepare for the spread of the virus.\n\nThe department has a plan in place to continue operations should an emergency — like an epidemic spreading to inmates or employees — occur.\n\nPrison health services are reaching out to vulnerable inmate populations for monitoring and education on social distancing, sanitation and coronavirus symptoms.\n\n“DOC is performing continual surveillance for influenza-like illnesses at each institution,” prison officials said in a statement.\n\nAt this time, no patients under observation have shown symptoms that would compel COVID-19 testing.\n\n“We are especially concerned about the elderly and immunocompromised patients under our care, and no clinically progressive influenza-like illness are occurring in that population either at this time,” officials said.\n\nSalem-Keizer Public Schools\n\nSalem-Keizer Public Schools does not have any confirmed coronavirus cases.\n\nThe district is taking some preventative precautions, including additional cleaning measures in schools and on buses, and providing resources on when to go to school and when to see a doctor.\n\nConcerning an employee who recently returned from a trip to Italy, district communications director Lillian Govus said the individual does not have any signs of illness and was cleared by the Oregon Health Authority to return to work.\n\nShe was asked why the employee didn't just work from home, to which she said, \"If we start making determinations against (the county and state agencies') guidance, it creates opportunities where we're not letting industry professionals guide that response.\"\n\nGovus said it's important they know where to draw the line. For example, she said the district has had some parents requesting to not send their children to schools with \"Chinese kids.\"\n\n\"Do we do that to ease their fears?\" she said.\n\nAttendance rates in the district don't seem to be affected by news of the virus. Until Monday, Govus said attendance rates were actually slightly higher than this same time last year.\n\nOn Monday, attendance rates did slightly drop, she said, but district officials are unsure how many were excused versus unexcused. Keeping a child home while healthy counts as an unexcused absence.\n\nGovus said there also is research that suggests keeping kids home from school reduces their safety if they need to access mental health supports, food, medical care for special needs and more.\n\nEmergency responders\n\nSalem Fire Chief Mike Niblock said his department is working with the lead health agencies. Two weeks ago, they activated their emerging infectious disease protocol response. 911 dispatchers are now asking screening questions to ensure responders have correct personal protective equipment.\n\nNiblock said during the bird flu outbreak, the department invested in pandemic supply of gowns and masks.\n\n“We have a very large supply of those types of things,” he said. “Every apparatus is equipped with 10 PPE kits with gloves.”\n\nTheir key goal is limiting exposure and getting patients the care they need, Niblock said.\n\n“Right now we have everything we need to respond to this,” he said.\n\nSalem, Stayton, Silverton hospitals\n\nDespite Oregon's 19 presumptive positive COVID-19 cases, Salem Health and Santiam Hospital officials said they have not seen any considerable increase in patient visits.\n\nSantiam Hospital in Stayton acquired lab kits to collect specimens from patients for suspected cases on Friday, but doctors said no samples have been sent to the state, according to Lauren Benjamin, Santiam Hospital marketing/ PR and physician recruitment coordinator.\n\nSalem Health officials did not disclose how many specimens were sent to the Oregon State Public Health Laboratory and said the hospital will only collect specimens when patients meet OHA criteria.\n\nLegacy Silverton Medical Center officials referred all questions to the Centers for Disease Control.\n\nSantiam Hospital occupancy is around 42%, which is not unusual, Benjamin said.\n\n\"Clearly we’re in the flu season,\" Benjamin said. \"I think that’s something to point out. And if you haven’t been vaccinated for the typical flu virus, you should probably get vaccinated.\"\n\nSalem and Santiam hospital officials say they're continuing to follow cleaning protocols to ensure sanitation is up to standards.\n\nCoronavirus is spreading in the US. Here's everything to know, from symptoms to how to protect yourself\n\nSalem Health also is keeping volunteers informed about COVID-19 developments and asking that they take everyday precautions, according to Elijah Penner, Salem Health public information officer.\n\n\"I think the most important thing is for people to be aware we’re here for (the patients) and that we can help support them and any healthcare needs that come their way,\" Benjamin said. \"We’re ready ... if something did happen that is more serious.\"\n\nOfficials urge patients who are not having an emergency, but who still need medical care, to call their primary care or urgent care clinic before going in.\n\nThis allows staff to screen patients over the phone or at the car side to help reduce the risk of spreading germs, Penner said. People who have mild symptoms should stay home and treat their illness as they would any other viral infection.\n\nIf someone is experiencing a medical emergency, they should call 911 or go to the nearest ER.", "authors": [], "publish_date": "2020/03/12"}, {"url": "https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/2021/02/20/covid-19-stripped-millions-rockford-illinois-restaurants/4448775001/", "title": "COVID-19 stripped millions from Rockford, Illinois, restaurants", "text": "Food and beverage tax revenue dropped 15%\n\nSome restaurants report 4th quarter losses up to 60%\n\nROCKFORD — Rathskeller Rockford reopened its doors under new ownership Oct. 4, breathing new life into an iconic northwest side eatery that had closed the previous December.\n\nWhile traditional German cuisine, baked goods and cold beer are once again being served up in the shadow of the Auburn and Main streets roundabout, business is still hindered by restrictions put into place to stop the spread of the novel coronavirus.", "authors": [], "publish_date": "2021/02/20"}, {"url": "https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/new-jersey/2020/07/30/nj-lottery-hurt-covid-19-small-jackpots-state-get-money-back/5545782002/", "title": "NJ lottery hurt from COVID-19, small jackpots, state to get money back", "text": "After a massive drop in revenues during the COVID-19 pandemic, New Jersey has one, albeit small, financial bright spot ahead: Rather than spending at least $13 million to pay a bonus to the private company running the lottery, that company will pay a multimillion-dollar penalty to the state for failing to meet its sales targets.\n\nSluggish ticket sales due to the coronavirus and smaller jackpots in the Mega Millions and Powerball games led to a down fiscal year 2020, James Carey, executive director of the Lottery Commission, said Thursday. Sales through the end of June were $3.2 billion, a nearly 8% drop compared to $3.49 billion in 2019, he said.\n\nThe lower sales means Northstar New Jersey, a gaming conglomerate that runs the sales and marketing of the lottery, hasn't been able to deliver money it had promised to the state. Under its 15-year contract, Northstar agreed to send $1.08 billion back, a percentage of overall sales that goes toward the public employee pension fund. But it had contributed just $937 million through June, Carey said.\n\nBecause the figures have not been audited yet, Carey said it's unclear how much Northstar will owe. The state had set aside $13 million toward an incentive payment, but since that won't happen, the money will go toward the pension fund.\n\nIn recent years the state has paid Northstar bonuses and fees upwards of $100 million for strong sales meeting benchmarks of the contract. But the dropoff means Northstar will owe an unknown shortfall payment to make up for the losses.\n\n\"The pandemic undoubtedly had an influence in this year’s results, but the sales of the multi-state games were the primary factor and statistically you’d like to see better results from them,\" Carey said, referring to Mega Millions and Powerball, which are played in most states.\n\nThose games had several large jackpots in the 2019 fiscal year, which meant that players kept buying tickets without hitting the grand prize, increasing sales. There were far fewer large jackpots in the past year, Carey said.\n\nLast week:$124 million Mega Millions winning ticket sold in New Jersey\n\nNew Jersey:Thousands of New Jersey workers have waited months for unemployment help, with no answer\n\nOn top of that, the lockdown orders issued by Gov. Phil Murphy in response to the coronavirus put a large dent in ticket sales for March and April, Carey said. In April, for example, sales of all games dropped 29%, or $63 million, from the year before, according to lottery commission documents.\n\nThose lagging sales contributed to a financially painful period from which the state is still trying to recover. The Murphy administration projected a revenue shortfall for this year and the 2021 fiscal year of $10 billion and plans to borrow $9.9 billion to compensate, though taxpayers would spend decades repaying that with interest.\n\nThe pandemic forced Murphy and lawmakers to extend the 2020 fiscal year past its June 30 deadline to Sept. 30. But the contract with Northstar kept the 12-month fiscal year, which means 2020 ended for the company last month.\n\nAlthough poor lottery sales negatively affect the state, it at least added some protections to recoup money. The administration renegotiated the contract with Northstar last year to lower the incentives and raise the performance targets of the conglomerate.\n\nThat adjustment came two years after the Trenton bureau of the USA TODAY Network Atlantic Group reported that the previous administration failed to do so when Northstar added new styles of games that triggered renegotiations for more favorable terms. The updated contract is expected to save the state up to $100 million over the next decade.\n\nThe audited figures are expected to be complete between October and December, Carey said.\n\nAlthough sales have rebounded in recent months, Carey said there's \"an element of uncertainty\" going forward because of the pandemic. A second wave is expected in the fall and it could trigger more strict measures that drag down ticket sales.\n\n\"We don’t know where the economy and where the world will go in the next couple of months,\" Carey said, adding that the \"fiscal year was a challenging year and we’re going to work hard to do better in the coming year and see what happens.\"\n\nDustin Racioppi is a reporter in the New Jersey Statehouse. For unlimited access to his work covering New Jersey’s governor and political power structure, please subscribe or activate your digital account today.\n\nEmail: racioppi@northjersey.com Twitter: @dracioppi", "authors": [], "publish_date": "2020/07/30"}, {"url": "https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/2020/08/28/kentucky-derby-2020-will-make-history-ways-businesses-felt-pain/3436175001/", "title": "Kentucky Derby 2020 will make history for ways businesses felt pain", "text": "LOUISVILLE, Ky. — In a typical year, Ladyfingers catering hauls truckloads of beef tenderloin, appetizers and dessert trays through the back door at the Barnstable Brown gala on Derby Eve.\n\nIt serves 7,000 meals at Thunder Over Louisville corporate parties.\n\nAnd during the frenzied two weeks leading into the Kentucky Derby, its payroll triples to more than 170 chefs, bar managers, servers and drivers.", "authors": [], "publish_date": "2020/08/28"}, {"url": "https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/local/2021/02/14/petition-asks-clemson-loosen-covid-rules-bars-and-restaurants/4376347001/", "title": "Petition asks Clemson to loosen COVID rules at bars and restaurants", "text": "For nearly a year, Clemson students and the places where they party have become lightning rods for the debate over financial versus personal health as the coronavirus raged. And in Clemson, where college students are the largest economic driver, the impact has been devastating, according to hospitality merchants and workers.\n\nThe economic challenges led Clemson student and bartender Jay Gwinn to launch a petition to ask the Clemson City Council to change the COVID restrictions in the city to match statewide mandates, which would remove the mask mandate and allow bar patrons to stand while eating and drinking.", "authors": [], "publish_date": "2021/02/14"}]}
+{"question_id": "20240119_20", "search_time": "2024/01/19/23:36", "search_result": [{"url": "https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/local/2023/01/21/delaware-state-campus-security-after-protest-tony-allen-sexual-assault/69827772007/", "title": "Delaware State gives next steps for campus security after protest", "text": "They shut down a campus street for hours. Hundreds surrounded the public safety building to protest against university police and the handling of sexual assault cases. They packed an entire auditorium for a town hall meeting that stretched nearly nine hours long.\n\nThis week, students demanded to feel safe on their Delaware State University campus. Now, they're starting to see the next steps from their school.\n\n\"Your bravery and strength are clear and compelling,\" said President Tony Allen in a statement Friday evening, following the town hall that ended around 3 a.m. the same day. \"Now is an opportunity for us to support you better and with the care and compassion you should expect.\"\n\nAllen outlined what he stressed to be \"initial steps\" for the Dover institution. These measures join the president's previously shared plan to pair university experts with a student coalition, the counseling center, police and the Title IX office to create “sexual assault awareness activities and interventions” on campus.\n\nSome new steps\n\nAssigning Deputy Chief Joi Simmons as the university's “ Sexual Assault Awareness officer .” Allen noted she has extensive training in sexual assault education, investigations and survivor services.\n\n.” Allen noted she has extensive training in sexual assault education, investigations and survivor services. Upgrading security to include lighting throughout the main campus and DSU Downtown — including the emergency blue lights system .\n\n— including the . Ensuring that the existing public safety escort service is “fulfilling the needs of students.”\n\nEnhancing camera use on campus and in the residence halls . Allen did not specify further where these cameras would be located.\n\n. Allen did not specify further where these cameras would be located. Extending counseling hours to Monday through Friday, 8:30 a.m. to 7 p.m., and Saturday, 9 a.m. to noon, through the end of February — at which point Allen says DSU will reassess its regular hours. Additionally, virtual health services are available . This will join special support groups for students who are survivors or allies, he said.\n\n. This will join special support groups for students who are survivors or allies, he said. Allen also plans to convene the first in a series of “mandatory sensitivity trainings” for the entire university community throughout the remainder of this semester.\n\nMore:Delaware State responds to protest cries with town hall meeting — but closed it to public\n\nStill growing:Colleges are shrinking. But HBCUs like Delaware State are riding a wave of their own\n\nWhy were Delaware State students protesting?\n\nCalls without answers, long times spent waiting for response, avoiding stairwells, fear of walking alone at night — students had a lot to say about campus safety. And they found a megaphone to do it.\n\nHundreds of students protested in Dover on Wednesday afternoon, Jan. 18, calling for change within the Delaware State University Police Department. The protest pushed into the late afternoon.\n\nStudents called for better response times, better training and more transparent handling of sexual assault cases by the Delaware State University Police Department. Several said they do not feel safe on campus. Others fear more sexual assaults are going unreported because they say they are not taken seriously.\n\nBackground:Delaware State students protest for more action, better response from university police\n\nThe university responded with a town hall meeting, set for 6 p.m. the next evening in the Education and Humanities Theatre. Media was barred from attending. Parents also told Delaware Online they were unable to attend.\n\nThe meeting would end up stretching nearly nine hours in the night, several students said Friday. Ending by about 3 a.m., the packed house heard emotional testimony, firsthand accounts and cries that the meeting be a first step to more action.\n\nThe university community now absorbs some early steps in what their president deemed a long-term effort.\n\n\"I want to emphasize that these are initial steps, aimed at immediately improving our current practices,\" he wrote Friday evening. \"We will work closely with the coalition as we build out our long-term plan.\"\n\nHave a story to share? Kelly Powers is a culture reporter for the How We Live team — covering race, culture and equity for the USA TODAY Network's Northeast Region and Delaware Online. Contact her at kepowers@gannett.com or (484) 466-9121, and follow her on Twitter @kpowers01.", "authors": [], "publish_date": "2023/01/21"}, {"url": "https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/2016/12/14/goldfish-infestation-costs-wilmington-320000/95421448/", "title": "Goldfish infestation costs Wilmington $320,000", "text": "Christina Jedra\n\nThe News Journal\n\nThe restoration project is budgeted at $320,000.\n\nPublic Works responded after neighbors alerted them about the fish population.\n\nThe fish were multiplying and overwhelming the park's ecosystem, a city official said.\n\nThe city of Wilmington is spending over $300,000 to restore a pond that was overrun by up to 600 pounds of goldfish.\n\n\"It was an orange mass of fish,\" said Sean Duffy, the water division director for the Public Works Department.\n\nThe fish, Asian carp commonly owned as pets, were 4 to 6 inches long each, Duffy estimated. Feeding time was a sight to see, said Sally O'Byrne, who lives across the street from the pond at Cool Spring Park.\n\n\"When the guys would throw bread in, there would be a golden mound that would rise up out of the water,\" she said.\n\nThe city started work about three weeks ago to drain the water and remove the fish and overgrown plants from the pond, which is over an acre in area and up to 10 feet deep, Duffy said. It is different from Cool Spring reservoir, which sits underground at the park, but not directly under the pond.\n\nThe fish, an invasive species, had to go because without a predator, they overwhelm the ecosystem.\n\n\"You start losing diversity,\" Duffy said.\n\nCarp are \"fast-growing, aggressive and adaptable\" fish that are invading waters throughout the United States and hogging resources from native species, according to the National Wildlife Federation.\n\nCool Spring Park used to have 13 species of dragonflies and damselflies, said O'Byrne, who has a master's degree in environmental planning and assisted in the park's design. Now, she said those creatures are rare.\n\nAlison C. Etinoff, the contractor managing the restoration project, said some of the fish removed were as small as an inch long and some weighed as much as a pound. With swimmers of different sizes, she said it’s impossible to know how many there were.\n\n“We lost count,” she said.\n\nDuffy said “approximately 500 to 600 pound of goldfish were removed (about 4,000 fish).”\n\nDuffy said all they can do is hypothesize about what caused the infestation.\n\n\"Some people may think, ‘There's no fish in here. Why don't we put them in there and make it more attractive?'\" Duffy said. \"And some people have fish they just don't want and don't want to kill them. They figure there’s a big body of water. Why not put them in there?\"\n\nThe city learned of the problem over a year ago when neighbors complained, Duffy said.\n\n\"When we saw the number of fish, and they were just multiplying, we realized we were heading toward a catastrophe,\" he said.\n\nO'Byrne said the waste produced by the fish acted as a fertilizer for the cattails at the edge of the pond.\n\n\"They were growing so tall that you couldn’t even get a view of the pond from the areas around it,\" Duffy said.\n\nClara Zahradnik, who lives nearby, said the swarm of fish attracted fowl like a blue heron and a snowy egret.\n\n\"It would be this yellow-orange swirl. It was quite spectacular,\" she said. \"They weren’t gobbling up the fish fast enough.\"\n\nThe $320,000 budgeted to restore the pond was taken from the water and sewer budget for fiscal year 2017, Duffy said. It will cover the cost of draining and refilling the pond, replanting native plants and stocking the pond with native fish, such as bluegill and largemouth bass, which will \"prevent a population explosion of goldfish if they were ever introduced again,\" Duffy said.\n\nThe park is slated to reopen by May.\n\n\"So much money was spent because mistakes were made,\" O'Byrne said.\n\nThe park area was previously an open reservoir dating back to the 1870s. The most recent incarnation of the park was opened to the public in 2009, Duffy said.\n\nO'Byrne commended the park's design but said there were problems with ongoing care.\n\n\"It incorporated native plants that would be good for amphibians and dragonflies,\" she said. \"But the maintenance crew was weeding it out. They didn’t recognize the plants. ... It was a problem of supervision and training.\"\n\nThe outcome for the removed fish appears grim.\n\nThe fish have been \"rehomed,\" Duffy said, but he doesn't know where all of them went.\n\n\"Some went to places they could continue to live and thrive,\" he said, but added, \"I don't believe the entire population ended up finding new homes.\"\n\nThough initially the plan was to donate some of the fish to the Tri-State Bird Rescue & Research, Duffy said “the facility could not receive them due to full capacity, so the fish were repurposed.”\n\nDuffy said the experience has been an educational one for his Public Works Department.\n\n\"What we’ve learned is there’s a certain amount of ongoing maintenance (required),\" he said. \"We'll probably have it in our new plan, but when we built the pond, we weren’t anticipating some of these issues.\"\n\nO'Byrne said the situation is a lesson for residents, too.\n\n\"If the person who first put those first three fish in the lake, if he’d gotten rid of them in a humane way, none of this would’ve happened,\" she said. \"Somehow people value their pets over other wildlife.\"\n\nContact Christina Jedra at cjedra@delawareonline.com, (302) 324-2837 or on Twitter @ChristinaJedra.", "authors": [], "publish_date": "2016/12/14"}, {"url": "https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/crime/2023/07/07/bethany-beach-police-arrest-3-teen-crowd-fight-fireworks-boardwalk/70391239007/", "title": "Bethany Beach police arrest 3 after fight, fireworks lit on boardwalk", "text": "Bethany Beach is enforcing an 11 p.m. juvenile curfew after a large crowd of teenagers caused chaos on the boardwalk Wednesday night and three were arrested.\n\nAround 10:15 p.m. Wednesday, police spotted two males fighting on the beach at Garfield Parkway, surrounded by over 300 teenagers “chanting, yelling and enticing\" them, according to a Bethany Beach Police Department news release.\n\nOfficers separated the two males and while they were taking statements, police said, another teen tried to remove a baton from an officer’s hip.\n\n“The officer was able to retain his weapons and give chase,” the news release said.\n\nThe 18-year-old Newark male was then taken into custody, and as officers walked him up the ramp to the boardwalk, “the volatile crowd of teenagers began chanting and enticing officers,” according to police.\n\nThe crowd moved from the beach to the boardwalk in the area of the bandstand, where someone lit “an extremely large ground base sprinkler firework display,” damaging the boardwalk, according to the news release.\n\nMore:How legislation will prevent restaurants from ever being built in Cape Henlopen State Park\n\n“The unknown suspect caused a chaotic situation where (approximately) 100 subjects fled the area to prevent themselves from being burned and struck by the active fireworks display,” the post said.\n\nA few minutes later, another suspect “lit an explosive, mortar style firework display that caused significant panic and distress to the crowds congregated on the boardwalk,” according to the post.\n\nThe firework sprayed in a 50-yard radius and numerous people were struck and burned, police said. A 17-year-old suffered “burn marks along her left hip/rib cage,” according to police. She was treated on the scene.\n\nSecurity and body camera footage allowed police to identify the suspects who lit the fireworks, the post said. An 18-year-old male from Falls Church, Virginia, was taken into custody without incident, while the other suspect, an 18-year-old male from Selbyville, fled but was later taken into custody, police said.\n\nMore:What to know and do at the Delaware beaches this weekend\n\nAll three teens were charged with various misdemeanors.\n\nNeither Bethany Beach police nor Town Manager Cliff Graviet immediately returned calls. Police Chief Michael Redmon was placed on administrative leave in May after he was charged with DUI.\n\n\"Parents,\" the Bethany Beach Police Department said in a Facebook post Thursday, \"Let's do better. This is unacceptable to our Town, businesses, hotels, and guests.\"\n\nThe same post said police \"bumped our juvenile curfew\" to 11 p.m., but according to the Bethany Beach Town Code, an 11 p.m. curfew for anyone under 18 was already in place.\n\nThe Bethany-Fenwick Area Chamber of Commerce's slogan is \"The Quiet Resorts.\" Incidents involving unruly teens are uncommon in Bethany Beach compared with, for example, Dewey Beach, which just last month was dealing with crowds of \"June bugs,\" or recent high school graduates.\n\nShannon Marvel McNaught reports on Sussex County and beyond. Reach her at smcnaught@gannett.com or on Twitter @MarvelMcNaught", "authors": [], "publish_date": "2023/07/07"}, {"url": "https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/traffic/2016/07/03/septa-regional-rail-defect-could-affect-tuesday-commute/86662648/", "title": "SEPTA Regional Rail defect could affect Tuesday commute", "text": "Brittany Horn\n\nThe News Journal\n\nA defect discovered in about one-third of SEPTA's Regional Rail fleet may affect commuters heading from Wilmington to Philadelphia come Tuesday morning.\n\nWith fewer rail cars on the tracks, SEPTA will implement its modified Saturday schedule starting Tuesday, but will add more rush-hour trips to make up for the reduced number of trains, officials said Sunday. Rush-hour service will be at 30-minute intervals on most lines, according to SEPTA, but commuters should expect more crowded trains.\n\nAll 120 Silverliner Vs, which SEPTA got between 2010 and 2013, are out of commission after structural \"fatigue cracks\" were discovered in steel equalizer beams Friday. Further inspection found similar cracks under most of the trains inspected this weekend, said SEPTA General Manager Jeff Knueppel, and within 24 hours, all Silverliner Vs were removed from service.\n\nThe cracks mean that the trains will likely remain out of service through August until all necessary repairs and replacements can be made, he said.\n\nWilmington residents rally to end violence\n\nFinal details regarding the new schedule, slated to start Tuesday, have not been released, though more details are expected Monday afternoon. SEPTA officials said they are working to find alternative solutions to the transit problem.\n\nIn the meantime, Regional Rail riders can use other modes of transportation like buses, trolleys and subways, which will honor Weekly and Monthly TrailPasses, according to SEPTA.\n\nContact Brittany Horn at (302) 324-2771 or bhorn@delawareonline.com. Follow her on Twitter at @brittanyhorn.", "authors": [], "publish_date": "2016/07/03"}, {"url": "https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/crime/2022/08/19/wilmington-bank-wsfs-vice-president-hit-stray-bullet-has-died-carr9e-mondell/65410901007/", "title": "Wilmington bank vice president who was hit by stray bullet has died", "text": "EDITOR’S NOTE: Earlier versions of this story had an error. One person has died from Tuesday’s double shooting.\n\nA senior vice president at WSFS Bank died overnight after being shot Tuesday while driving in the 600 block of N. Washington St. in Wilmington, multiple sources confirmed Friday.\n\nCarrie Mondell, senior vice president and director of operational risk management at WSFS, was shot three blocks from the bank's corporate headquarters at 500 Delaware Ave. Sources with knowledge of the Tuesday evening incident said she was on her way home when she was struck by a stray bullet.\n\n\"She was an innocent bystander,\" said a woman near where the shooting occurred. Neither she nor anyone else spoken to on Friday wanted their names used.\n\nWilmington police identified the fatal victim as Mondell on Monday — three days after confirming she had died from her injuries. Mondell, along with an unidentified 22-year-old man, was shot shortly before 5 p.m. Tuesday on the 700 block of N. Washington St., according to police.\n\nThe two, who were not together, were taken to an area hospital in critical condition.\n\n\"She succumbed to her injuries overnight last night – between Thursday night and Friday morning,\" Wilmington police spokesman David Karas said in an email, after hours of prodding multiple officials for an update.\n\nKaras said the 22-year-old gunshot victim remains in critical condition as of Monday afternoon.\n\nCity police on Wednesday identified the victim of a Sunday night shooting as 19-year-old Marell Lowe.\n\nRELATED:Police identify 19-year-old killed in Wilmington shooting Sunday night\n\nRECENT:Wilmington Police investigating apparent shooting outside West Center City McDonald's\n\nWSFS chairman, president and CEO Rodger Levenson said they are devastated.\n\n“It’s impossible to put into words the grief and shock we all feel. She was a caring and passionate person who served WSFS for more than 14 years,\" Levenson said in an emailed statement. \"Carrie loved and supported her family and many friends. At this time, we ask to respect the privacy of the family and our associates as they grieve this tragic loss.\"\n\nOn Friday morning, two officers stood near where the shooting occurred, speaking to an officer in an unmarked police SUV. All of them left shortly before noon.\n\nMondell was in her car when she was shot through the passenger side, said one woman.\n\nSeveral people said police pulled Mondell out of the vehicle. A neighbor gave an officer a towel to try and help stop her bleeding until paramedics arrived.\n\nA woman said the male shot was standing at Seventh and Washington streets, near a boarded-up building. She pointed to her forehead to show where the bullet struck him.\n\nWilmington Mayor Mike Purzycki released a statement Friday afternoon condemning the \"senseless\" violence.\n\n“After a year of the lowest amount of violent crime in recent memory, this latest shooting incident is another painful reminder of how much work lies before us to reduce the gun violence that has gripped our nation,\" Purzycki said. \"We will continue to work with our law enforcement partners to apprehend the perpetrators of these senseless crimes caused by illegal gun use and remove them once and for all from our streets and neighborhoods. While it is no solace to the grieving families, I am confident that by employing best strategies we will continue to reduce the scourge of violence in our city.”\n\nMondell is the 12th person to die from gunfire this year in Wilmington.\n\nThe number of shootings this year is considerably lower than last year, which saw a record number of homicides by gunfire.\n\nSo far this year, 75 people have been shot in Wilmington, 12 fatally. Last year at the same time, 105 people had been shot – 24 of them fatally.", "authors": [], "publish_date": "2022/08/19"}, {"url": "https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/business/2018/08/03/amid-lawsuits-and-higher-costs-chemours-shoveling-cash-onto-shareholders/896896002/", "title": "Amid lawsuits and higher costs, Chemours is shoveling cash onto ...", "text": "Amid billion-dollar pollution lawsuits and high materials costs, Delaware-based Chemours is shoveling cash onto shareholders.\n\nThe chemical company and DuPont spin-off announced late Thursday that it will repurchase $750 million worth of company stock by 2020 and increase its dividend by nearly 50 percent to 25 cents per share.\n\nThe moves comes after Chemours' stock price had been stuck in a rut for a year, dipping to a 12-month low earlier this month.\n\nAcknowledging Chemours' low valuation, CEO Mark Vergnano on Friday said investors inaccurately have viewed his company as a lumbering, mature entity that primarily produces pigments, called TiO2.\n\nHe does not believe that the numerous environmental lawsuits Chemours faces in North Carolina, West Virginia, and New Jersey are depressing the stock value.\n\n\"I think we get tagged with being a TiO2 stock,\" he said. \"But TiO2 is just one of our three businesses.\"\n\nAfter Thursday's announcement, investors snapped up company shares, causing the stock price to spike more than 10 percent by midday Friday. While welcome, the dividend and share repurchases were not designed to juice Chemours' stagnant price, Vergnano said\n\nOn Thursday evening, Chemours reported that it earned $281 million during the second quarter of 2018, up 75 percent from a year earlier. The strong earnings were driven by the performance of its environmentally friendly refrigerant, Opteon, with sales in Europe surging as countries ditch older varieties.\n\n\"Opteon continues to be a growth engine for fluoroproducts,\" Vergnano told analysts on Friday, referencing the company's largest division.\n\nStill, many analysts were skeptical about the company's future, and peppered Vergnano with questions about rising costs of raw materials.\n\nJohn McNulty of BMO Capital Markets asked how the Delaware company will negotiate \"raw material inflation\" from sources around the world.\n\nVergnano said \"value stabilization contracts\" with suppliers will deflect some price increases, while Chemours will raise prices on its own product.\n\nChemours, headquartered in downtown Wilmington, employs about 1,000 people in Delaware.\n\nMan who stole Chemours trade secrets deported to Canada\n\nChemours' GenX pollution worries spread to West Virginia\n\nFormer DuPonters say Chemours tricked them out of severance money\n\nPollution costs\n\nDuring its past year of stock turmoil, Chemours has been hit with numerous regulatory actions and lawsuits over water, soil and air contamination at plants throughout the Eastern United States. Liabilities from pollution have been a concern that has lingered over the company since it spun off from DuPont in 2015.\n\nDuring Friday's earnings call, Vergnano said the company had spent $35 million during the second quarter of 2018 to clean wastewater at its sprawling, 2,150-acre, Fayetteville, North, Carolina plant, which produces Teflon and related products.\n\nChemours also is spending another $100 million for a pollution control system for the plant. It will be operational at the end of 2019, the company said.\n\nThe issue is over releases of a chemical, called GenX. into the air and into the Cape Fear River, which provides drinking water for a region of more than 200,000 people.\n\nThe chemical – which replaced its toxic cousin, PFOA, a decade ago – first was found in North Carolina water about a year ago. The company since has been hit with multiple lawsuits filed by a county government, a water utility and residents.\n\nNorth Carolina regulators also partially revoked a wastewater permit last fall for the company's Fayetteville plant. They referred the pollution matter to the state Bureau of Investigation “to determine if there is evidence of criminal violations.”\n\nWhile GenX has been touted as a safe alternative to PFOA, critics say it also is toxic.\n\n“It seems that every day we learn more about the danger these substances (GenX) pose and the extent of Dupont’s and Chemours’ callous disregard for the lives of thousands of North Carolinians,” attorney Ted Leopold said in a statement in January.\n\nAsked last year if potential liabilities linked with environmental lawsuits could derail what appears to be a promising future, Vergnano said, \"At this point, no. I mean, we're taking all of these all very seriously.\"\n\nPotential costs from GenX's precursor also may loom in the future for the company.\n\nIn early 2017, DuPont and Chemours arrived at the two-thirds-of-a-billion-dollar settlement over PFOA, with residents who lived near a West Virginia plant. The chemical has been linked to kidney and testicular cancers, thyroid disease, hypertension and other illnesses.\n\nAnalysts saw the deal as a positive step because it lent a degree of certainty to the company after being plagued by a cloud of potential litigation from thousands of legal claims.\n\nBut, in June, a federal report was published that concluded that PFOA could be hazardous at a fraction of the concentration in drinking water that today triggers a health advisory.\n\nOn Friday, Vergnano would not say whether he agrees with the conclusions of the report.\n\n“That’s an area that we want to engage in but I’m not ready to say anything more about that,” he said.\n\nChemours' sales of fluoroproducts, which include Teflon and refrigeration products, totaled nearly $2.7 billion for the company in 2017.\n\nThe company has spent nearly $1 million during the past year in federal lobbying. The company had targeted only members of Congress until July, when it began to lobby the EPA directly, according to federal disclosure reports.\n\nContact Karl Baker at kbaker@delawareonline.com or (302) 324-2329. Follow him on Twitter @kbaker6.", "authors": [], "publish_date": "2018/08/03"}, {"url": "https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/crime/2021/07/06/swavy-death-dancing-tiktok-star-babyface-s-shooting-victim-wilmington-delaware/7872252002/", "title": "Swavy death: Dancing TikTok star ID'd as shooting victim in ...", "text": "Matima Miller, known online by the name Swavy, has been identified as the victim of a Monday morning homicide in Wilmington's Southbridge neighborhood.\n\nIn the hours after Miller's death, many on the internet reacted with sadness, saying the dancing TikTok star Swavy had been shot and killed even before police identified the victim. Miller's TikTok account, @babyface.s, has more than 2.5 million followers, and an Instagram account linked to Miller has more than 370,000 followers.\n\nPolice responded to the 700 block of Elbert Place at about 10:42 a.m. Monday and found the 19-year-old Miller with a gunshot wound. He was taken to the hospital, where he died, police said.\n\nA popular YouTube user, Kid Maury, shared a video Monday night to his more than 600,000 subscribers, saying his friend Swavy had been shot and killed.\n\nMiller's last TikTok video, posted late Sunday or early Monday, had nearly 5 million views as of Tuesday morning, with more than 160,000 comments, many acknowledging his death.\n\n\"Fly high,\" many commenters wrote.\n\nCommenters Monday and Tuesday on Miller's last Instagram post, a picture taken at what appears to be a Wawa, were wishing the same.\n\nMiller's TikTok page featured many videos of him dancing and playing paintball.\n\nWilmington police have not released any additional information about the Monday morning shooting as of early Tuesday, other than to confirm Miller's identity.\n\nMiller's family declined to speak with reporters Tuesday.\n\nThere were still signs that something tragic had occurred in the 700 block of Elbert Place early Tuesday morning.\n\nBlue and silver mylar balloons were tethered to a metal pole that had a section of yellow crime tape tied to it. Not far from that, a longer strand of the crime tape snaked through the shrubs and lawns of the homes.\n\nA bouquet of blue and white flowers accompanied 22 lit candles placed outside a door of a house on Elbert Place. More than a dozen white tealight candles were also on the doorway’s landing.\n\nA person watching from a second-story window quickly dropped out of sight when reporters tried to get their attention.\n\nA man and woman walked by looking at the candles but didn’t want to speak. They said they didn’t know what had happened.\n\n“It’s sad,” said another woman who’d walked out of her home. “It’s a loss for our community.”\n\nDid you know Matima Miller, better known as Swavy, and want to talk to us to contribute to an obituary? Please email Jeff Neiburg at jneiburg@delawareonline.com. Or Amanda Fries at afries@delawareonline.com.", "authors": [], "publish_date": "2021/07/06"}, {"url": "https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/health/2018/04/16/free-tampons-prison-delaware-bill/506203002/", "title": "At Delaware's women's prison, tampons will cost you", "text": "An inmate going through her menstrual cycle at Baylor Women's Correctional Institution must ask a guard for sanitary pads.\n\nShe will be given six MaxiThin sanitary napkins per request, to prevent hoarding, bartering and using the napkins in other ways.\n\nBut if any of the 349 inmates want tampons, they have to pay, and that can be expensive for women who can make as little as 18 cents an hour in prison jobs.\n\nA 20-count package of Tampax tampons costs $4.74 at the commissary while an 18-count package of Always Maxi Pads with Wings is $4.74. Twenty pantyliners go for $1.20.\n\nIf you can't seepoll question, refresh the page\n\nAlthough the prison provides free pads, some former inmates and advocates say female inmates should have access to free tampons. Many make their own out of the pads they receive, which critics of the current policy says is an unsanitary idea.\n\nSen. Margaret Rose Henry, D-Wilmington, has introduced a bill in the state Legislature that would require the Department of Correction to provide free tampons, in addition to the already free pads, to female inmates who are bleeding. It has not yet gone to a committee hearing.\n\nHenry believes that since most prisons are run by men, they are \"not as sensitive to the issues that women face.\"\n\nThere's now no legislation that requires the Department of Correction to provide feminine hygiene products, but it's DOC policy to provide free sanitary napkins, said department spokeswoman Jayme Gravell.\n\nDOC officials worry that providing free tampons to inmates could result in an inmate getting toxic shock syndrome, a potentially life-threatening bacterial infection that can occur if a woman leaves a tampon in for too long.\n\n“There’s certain risks associated with providing tampons,\" Gravell said. \"And until we feel comfortable that they’re going to be used appropriately, we’re going to issue the napkins.”\n\nIn recent months, a handful of states, including Maryland, have introduced legislation that would also require prisons to provide free feminine hygiene products. Arizona lawmakers are considering a bill that would give inmates an unlimited supply of menstrual products, including pads, tampons, cups and sponges. It will cost that state about $80,000 a year.\n\nLast year, the Federal Bureau of Prisons released a memo requiring federal prisons to provide free menstrual pads and tampons to female inmates.\n\nDonial Fayson, who was at Baylor from 2001 to 2009, said she rarely saw women buy tampons when she worked at the commissary while in prison.\n\nInstead, she watched women make their own tampons by splitting the pad and taking the stuffing out. They would roll and fold it, twisting a knot at the end.\n\n\"Women are creative,\" she said.\n\nLincoln resident Krystle Blackwell, whose cousin is currently incarcerated at Baylor, said her cousin has written to her about how inmates \"have to make our own tampons by scraping the pads.\"\n\nBlackwell, who describes herself as an advocate for Baylor inmates, said her cousin and other people she knows at Baylor have told her that the inmates who buy tampons are typically the ones who work.\n\nAlthough Fayson preferred to use pads while at Baylor, she said it was hard for women to buy tampons if they didn't have money. When working at Baylor, she said she made about 18 cents an hour.\n\nGravell, the DOC spokeswoman, said inmate workers can make an average of $15 to $20 a month, based on the number of hours they've worked.\n\nActing Warden Dorene Fields and Acting Deputy Warden Brian Emig said they have not heard of inmates using pads to make tampons.\n\n\"That said, it doesn’t mean it hasn’t happened because the women use private bathrooms and we have no way to verify how the hygiene items are used,\" Gravelle said.\n\nNationally, there have been some cases of toxic shock syndrome at prisons that have provided free tampons, Gravell said. She said the DOC is not aware of any inmates experiencing toxic shock syndrome while in custody.\n\nSome prisons that provide free tampons have also experienced plumbing issues, because inmates will flush used tampons down the toilet, Gravell said.\n\nEmig said inmates are given six sanitary napkins at a time to avoid stockpiling. Inmates have been known to swap hygiene products for other items, or use them as a form of currency.\n\nGuards have also seen inmates use sanitary napkins to cover vents and toilet seats as well as use the adhesive to stick things on walls, Emig said.\n\nBut inmates are not limited to six sanitary napkins per cycle, he said. They can ask for more at any time.\n\n“We never deny the issuance of a sanitary napkin, but we also at the same time have to make sure they’re being used for the right reasons,” Emig said.\n\nHenry, the Senate majority leader, first heard of this issue when a Delawarean called her. After doing research, she was surprised to learn women had to pay for tampons.\n\nThe bill is still awaiting consideration from a committee. Henry said a fiscal review is being done to figure out how much it would cost the state to provide tampons at no charge.\n\nShe believes the current national spotlight on women's rights and the #MeToo moment further emphasizes that \"it's a humane thing to do.\"\n\n\"We want people to be healthy and clean in prison,\" Henry said. \"It's part of self-worth and self-esteem. Women are at a disadvantage because we have this additional burden that men don't have.\"\n\nPaulette Rappa, executive director of The Way Home Program, a Georgetown nonprofit that helps formerly inmates transition back into their communities, said it's \"surprising this has to be a law.\"\n\n\"These are the invisible people,\" she said of inmates. \"For us to have to pause and even consider to make this a law, shows how invisible they have become. They are still citizens and they are still human beings.\"\n\nRappa said she has heard from former inmates that when there is a shortage of female hygiene products, tampons are bartered among inmates. She said they can become a \"premier item\" in prison.\n\nFayson, now a web developer based in Kansas, believes incarcerated women should have access to quality female hygiene products. But some people believe inmates should lose all their rights when they enter prison, she said.\n\n\"I'm still a woman at the end of the day,\" Fayson said. \"And I still want to take care of myself.\"\n\nContact Meredith Newman at (302) 324-2386 or at mnewman@delawareonline.com. Follow her on Twitter at @merenewman.", "authors": [], "publish_date": "2018/04/16"}, {"url": "https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/mlb/phillies/2022/06/02/phillies-save-season-after-bryce-harper-jean-segura-injuries-joe-girardi-job/7457379001/", "title": "Phillies save season after Bryce Harper, Jean Segura injuries", "text": "PHILADELPHIA – So the Phillies season has come down to this, here, in Game No. 51, not yet one-third of the way through the season:\n\nThey had to win Wednesday night. It was that simple.\n\nThe Mets had already won earlier in the day, putting them 13 games ahead of the Phillies in the NL East. The Phillies were already seven games back for the third and final wildcard spot.\n\nEverything was on the verge of falling apart.\n\nThe Phillies had already lost five in a row and 12 of 16, including three straight in extra innings. Phillies manager Joe Girardi was already facing questions about getting fired. The players were facing questions about their determination and enthusiasm.\n\nHOT STOVE UPDATES: MLB free agency: Ranking and tracking the top players available.\n\nEAGLES CHANGES:New roles for Jason Kelce, Fletcher Cox? Ranking Eagles most important storylines for OTAs\n\nAnd management was facing questions about a flawed and expensive roster, with the fourth-highest payroll in baseball at around $230 million.\n\nNone of that is going away, even after their unlikely 6-5 win over the San Francisco Giants on Wednesday left them 12½ games behind the Mets.\n\n\"I think we really needed it bad,\" Girardi said about the win.\n\nAnd yes, the Phillies played that way.\n\nBefore the game, Girardi revealed that second baseman Jean Segura will miss the next 10-12 weeks with a broken finger. Soon after, Bryce Harper was scratched from the lineup with a sore right forearm.\n\nPhillies left fielder Kyle Schwarber called it \"kind of a little gut punch there.\"\n\nThen Aaron Nola imploded, allowing five runs to start the sixth inning, putting the Phillies in a 5-2 hole.\n\nThe season was about three innings away from falling apart.\n\nThen shortstop Nick Maton, called up earlier Wednesday to replace Segura, hit a two-run homer in the bottom of the sixth. Two batters later, Schwarber hit another two-run homer.\n\nJust like that, the Phillies were back in front.\n\nOf course, the bullpen still had to close it out. That included closer Corey Knebel, who had given up ninth-inning homers in two straight games. Perhaps sensing another collapse, many fans started leaving their seats as Knebel jogged in from the bullpen.\n\nThis time, Knebel came through, retiring the Giants in order to preserve the victory. The fans who stayed stood and cheered, letting out a collective sigh of relief.\n\nPerhaps the Phillies did, too, knowing that they just might have saved their season, on June 1, with 111 games left to play.\n\nThey tried small-ball, manufacturing a run in the third on three singles and a stolen base, then scoring another in the fifth on a safety squeeze by Maton.\n\nIt was 2-0, and Nola was cruising.\n\nHe had thrown 58 pitches through five innings. But, of course, we have seen this movie before. Nola started the sixth by giving up two straight doubles and a single. Then he hit a batter and gave up a three-run homer to Wilmer Flores.\n\nJust like that, the Phillies were down 5-2.\n\n\"I made some bad pitches, some bad two-strike pitches,\" Nola said. \"I just hung that curve to Flores.\"\n\nMaton, Schwarber and the bullpen bailed him out.\n\nBut one win does not solve the Phillies' problems.\n\nThe Phillies will have to replace Segura at second base for the long haul as Girardi said he might not return until September. So far, the options are Maton, rookie Bryson Stott, who had two hits Wednesday to raise his average to .143, and journeyman Johan Camargo.\n\nIdeally, Stott would have been sent down to the minor leagues by now in order to play every day. But with Segura joining shortstop Didi Gregorius on the injured list, the Phillies have no choice but to keep him with the big-league club for depth.\n\nGregorius is expected back in the coming days.\n\nThat’s just one of the Phillies' problems. They're last in the National League in defensive runs saved, according to Baseball Info Solutions. The bullpen ERA is 4.17, among the worst in baseball.\n\nAnd even with his 12 homers, Schwarber is still hitting just .192 while batting leadoff. J.T. Realmuto is mired in a season-long slump. Nick Castellanos had gone 18 games without a homer before hitting two earlier in the week.\n\nHarper has been by far the Phillies' most consistent player, hitting .303 with 10 homers and 32 RBIs. But he hasn't played the outfield since mid-April, and likely won't for the rest of the season because of an elbow injury that would have ended his season if not for the National League instituting the designated hitter rule this season.\n\nGirardi said after the game that Harper's forearm soreness is not related to his elbow issues, and that he hopes Harper will be back on Friday when the Phillies open a three-game series against the Los Angeles Angels.\n\nBut who knows how much longer Harper can keep playing through his pain.\n\n\"I think we all know what the deal is there,\" Schwarber said. \"The guy’s going out grinding every single day. It’s obviously really nice when he’s in the lineup, and the days that he can’t go, we have to find a way to do our thing.\"\n\nThe Phillie need Harper, just like they need Schwarber, Castellanos and Realmuto.\n\nCombined, those four players account for $624 million in salary for the life of their contracts.\n\nThey're supposed to carry the team with their offense, to overcome the defensive shortcomings and the much-maligned bullpen.\n\nThat hasn't happened, at least not consistently enough. That explains the Phillies' 22-29 record. And it also explains why they were so desperate for a win not even one-third of the way through the season.\n\n\"Do I believe that the record shows who we are as a team? No, I do not believe that,\" Schwarber said. \"I think we’re better. But we do have to find a way to win baseball games.\n\n\"At the end of the day, that’s what it’s about – winning baseball games.\"\n\nThe Phillies need to do much more of that. Somehow.\n\nContact Martin Frank at mfrank@delawareonline.com. Follow on Twitter @Mfranknfl.", "authors": [], "publish_date": "2022/06/02"}, {"url": "https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/2021/01/22/nicola-pizza-aims-spring-2022-opening-coastal-highway/6672330002/", "title": "Nicola Pizza aims for spring 2022 opening on Coastal Highway near ...", "text": "Nicola Pizza is hoping to complete its move from downtown Rehoboth Beach to Coastal Highway near Lewes by spring 2022.\n\nDemolition has begun on the self-storage facility at 17501 Coastal Highway, and the Sussex County Planning and Zoning Commission has approved Nicola's preliminary site plan.\n\nIt details a two-story, 9,640 square-foot restaurant. The almost 2-acre property will include 144 parking spaces and a 1,726-square-foot deck.\n\nMuch like Nicola's on Rehoboth Avenue, the new building will feature a takeout window. It will also have an outdoor fire pit.\n\nThe parking lot will connect to both Coastal Highway and Savannah Road. Traffic will enter and exit from Savannah Road at Ocean One Plaza, which Nicola's Caggiano family also owns.\n\nRELATED:Why do major restaurants like Nicola Pizza leave downtown Rehoboth Beach?\n\nPlanning and Zoning Commissioner Kim Hoey Stevenson asked planners to start a dialogue with the adjacent Arby’s property owners, where a private road connects Arby’s to the light at Savannah Road and Village Main Boulevard.\n\nArby’s is not legally obligated to allow Nicola’s to share the road, but Hoey Stevenson noted the request should be made.\n\n“If there was a lot of traffic, it would be safer if they could go out where the light is,” she said.\n\nNIcola Vice President Nick Caggiano Jr. said they don’t have a definite construction timeline yet, but hope to open in spring 2022.\n\nREHOBOTH:Why did the Rehoboth Beach Patrol's top lifeguard resign?\n\nThe downtown Nicola Pizzas, two separate restaurants on Rehoboth Avenue and First Street that connect at the back, are being sold. Caggiano said settlement will happen in April but declined to name the buyer.\n\nNicola announced their departure from downtown Rehoboth Beach in August after almost 50 years in \"The Nation's Summer Capital.\"\n\nNick Caggiano Sr. said the move was a \"no-brainer\" after the property next to Ocean One Plaza went up for sale. The Caggianos also own another adjacent property and business, Home 2 Suites by Hilton.\n\n\"Everything is going to be under one property,\" Caggiano Sr. told Delmarva Now in November. \"If that property was not available right next to me, I would probably say I would not move.\"\n\nMORE:Former UD pitcher sentenced to additional year in prison on sex charge\n\nGumboro residents want answers to weeklong police activity down dirt road", "authors": [], "publish_date": "2021/01/22"}]}
+{"question_id": "20240119_21", "search_time": "2024/01/19/23:36", "search_result": [{"url": "https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/business/2023/05/01/food-bank-of-delaware-building-67000-square-foot-facility-milford-with-garden-job-training/70160197007/", "title": "Food Bank of Delaware building 67,000-square-foot facility in Milford", "text": "The Food Bank of Delaware's new 67,000-square-foot Milford facility is more than four times larger than its current building.\n\nThe new warehouse will serve Kent and Sussex counties where food distribution has increased 79% in the past five years.\n\nThe property will include job training classrooms, a café open to the public where food service students can work and a 3.5-acre garden.\n\nOver the past five years, food distribution in Kent and Sussex counties from the Food Bank of Delaware’s Milford branch increased 79%, so where do you store all that food?\n\nSome is delivered to the nonprofit’s other facility in Glasgow, which cuts the space available for items being distributed in New Castle County.\n\nWith more items to sort and pack, more volunteers are needed along with space to accommodate them.\n\nMeanwhile, the Food Bank is trying to help people learn job skills, with training to work in restaurants, cafeterias and warehouses.\n\nWith all the needs, the nonprofit had to rent an additional building.\n\nBut now with donations, grants and government support, the Food Bank is expanding operations in Milford in a big way.\n\nA 67,000-square-foot facility under construction on Delaware Veterans Boulevard west of Route 113 is more than four times larger than the current 16,000-square-foot facility on Mattlind Way. Groundbreaking was held Sept. 29, and completion is set for this fall.\n\n“This is more than just a building – it symbolizes hope for so many,” said Food Bank of Delaware president and chief executive officer Cathy Kanefsky.\n\nAbout $5 million is needed to complete the $34 million project. For information on donating, see the Food Bank's website or call 302-294-0185.\n\nNeed for food at an all-time high in Delaware\n\nAlthough many pandemic-era assistance programs have ended, the number of people having difficulty affording food keeps increasing.\n\nIn fiscal year 2019, the Food Bank distributed more than 8.6 million pounds of food from its Newark and Milford locations. In fiscal year 2022, that number jumped to about 16.5 million pounds.\n\nThe new building will provide space to store and distribute an estimated 9.7 million additional pounds. That includes 3.7 million more pounds of fresh foods with the new refrigerated space.\n\nWhile donations from community food drives remain strong, items provided by the U.S. Department of Agriculture have decreased with an end to extra assistance during the pandemic. So the Food Bank has to buy more.\n\n“We purchased more food in the past year than at any point in the history of our organization,” said Chad Robinson, the Food Bank’s director of external affairs. “The need is significantly higher than before the pandemic.”\n\nThe demand is fueled by: the population increase, the end of extra SNAP assistance (formerly food stamps) that had been given during the pandemic, and inflation that’s the highest in decades, said Food Bank communications director Kim Turner.\n\nMore:Inflation is crushing Delawareans: Here's how are your neighbors cope\n\nThe nonprofit distributes some items at its centers in Glasgow and Milford, but mostly through a network of partners including state service centers, community food pantries, churches and other organizations.\n\nThe Food Bank also still holds monthly drive-thru distributions in each county that served thousands during the pandemic, but those large-scale events are scheduled to end in June.\n\nMore:4,000 families served at drive-thru food pantries after food assistance drops\n\nIn addition to food storage, plans include garden, café, job training\n\nThe warehouse will have nine loading bays and storage space two stories tall for fresh and nonperishable foods, with refrigerator and freezer cases, but the new facility will meet a variety of other needs.\n\n“We do more than provide food,” said Kanefsky. “We provide hope for a better tomorrow. This building will allow us to … help our neighbors find long-term economic stability through job skills training, financial coaching and more.”\n\nThe property will include:\n\nA classroom and hands-on training space for job skills programs in culinary arts and warehouse logistics. The Food Bank has added a culinary skills program for adults with disabilities in addition to the existing food service industry training program. In the warehouse program, students receive training in how a warehouse operates, working machinery and driving a forklift.\n\nA café, open to the public for breakfast and lunch, to provide employment and training opportunities to graduates of the culinary arts program.\n\nA pantry area where people in need can pick out food similar to a grocery store. For those who prefer contactless delivery, the pantry will have a drive-up loading bay.\n\nA 4,000-square-foot room where volunteers can sort and pack food, with an area for volunteer orientation sessions. Last year, the Milford facility had 3,443 volunteer visits and a total of 9,358 hours donated\n\nOffices on the second floor for the staff.\n\nA 3.5-acre garden with greenhouses and an orchard along with a packing barn. The nonprofit is planning partnerships with nearby facilities, the Delaware Veterans Home and the Boys & Girls Club, with volunteer opportunities in the garden, education for students and a place for veterans to enjoy a tranquil spot outdoors.\n\nWhat's going to happen to the current Milford Food Bank facility? It's already been sold, and the nonprofit is renting it until the new building is finished.\n\nReporter Ben Mace covers real estate and development news. Reach him at rmace@gannett.com.", "authors": [], "publish_date": "2023/05/01"}, {"url": "https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/coronavirus-in-delaware/2020/03/18/food-bank-delaware-sets-up-emergency-pantries-starting-wednesday-morning/2863429001/", "title": "Food Bank of Delaware sets up emergency pantries starting ...", "text": "We are providing this content free as a public service to readers during the coronavirus outbreak. Please support the work we're doing by subscribing to Delaware Online.\n\nThe coronavirus pandemic has created a lot of uncertainty.\n\nSome are wondering what new cancellations each day will bring. Some are wondering whether they will be quarantined. Others are wondering where their next meal will come from.\n\nTo help alleviate food concerns, Food Bank of Delaware is hosting three drive-thru emergency food pantries, beginning Wednesday morning in Wilmington. That will be held in the Chase Center parking lot on Wilmington's riverfront at 11 a.m.\n\nRESTAURANTS SHUTTERING:Delaware restaurants say takeout, delivery won't help them survive coronavirus shutdown\n\nUPDATE:Confirmed Delaware coronavirus cases rise to 19 Wednesday morning\n\nParticipants are asked to stay in their vehicles and have their trunk cleared out, organizers said. They also must bring a picture ID — any official state or county-issued ID will work — and proof of Delaware residency, such as a piece of mail with their name on it.\n\n\"We will provide food assistance to anyone who can provide those two items,\" organizers wrote on Facebook. Proof of U.S. citizenship is not required.\n\nThe emergency pantry is intended for anyone who needs assistance. Anyone who \"is not making (their) typical paycheck is allowed; attendees don't have to be designated low-income.\"\n\nFood bank officials are asking that people don't walk up to the pantry. For those who do not have a car, organizers are referring them to Delaware 211. They can call 211, 1-800-560-3372, text 898-211 or visit delaware211.org.\n\nTHERE'S HOPE:Yes, coronavirus is changing life as we know it. But 'we'll get through it,' locals say\n\nTwo additional emergency food pantries will also be set up in Kent and Sussex counties.\n\nThe Sussex County emergency food pantry will be held Thursday at 11 a.m. at Crossroads Community Church on State Forest Road in Georgetown, while the Kent one will be held Friday at 11 a.m. at Legislative Hall in Dover.\n\nThe same requirements apply.\n\nFood Bank of Delaware also said its pantries in Newark and Milford remain open, but the organization has instituted drive-up practices.\n\nFor more information, visit the food bank's Facebook page, which can be found at: facebook.com/FoodBankofDE.\n\nVideographer Damian Giletto contributed to this story. Send story tips or ideas to Isabel Hughes at ihughes@delawareonline.com or 302-324-2785. For all things breaking news, follow her on Twitter at @izzihughes_", "authors": [], "publish_date": "2020/03/18"}, {"url": "https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/2022/01/13/food-bank-delawares-home-delivery-program-serving-those-need/9120334002/", "title": "The Food Bank of Delaware's home delivery program serving those ...", "text": "The sharp rise in home deliveries during the pandemic has extended to food packages for those in need.\n\nThe Food Bank of Delaware has partnered with DoorDash and Amazon in a pilot program for free home delivery of food boxes of food.\n\nWith people using online services to order daily essentials or medical supplies, the increased need for food delivery during the pandemic was no different. Delivery became a lifeline for many.\n\n“It was a convenience before, and then it became a necessity,” said Cathy Kanefsky, president and CEO of the Food Bank of Delaware.\n\nThe Food Bank of Delaware typically distributes 8-10 million pounds of food per year.\n\nAmidst the pandemic, they distributed 15,536,854 pounds during the last fiscal year alone, with New Castle County fulfilling most of that need, followed by Kent County and Sussex County.\n\nAccording to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, over 38 million people in the United States don't have access to enough food. This is a drastic increase from the 13.8 million, or 10.5%, of U.S. households that were food insecure in 2020 and 2019.\n\nIn Delaware, 114,190 individuals may have needed help with food in 2021.\n\n“Obviously, we know that people in Delaware need us. There are too many people that are food insecure,” Kanefsky said. “That demand means we have to get more food out, and how are we going to do that?”\n\nThe answer to that is utilizing delivery services to reach more people, she said.\n\nThe delivery program currently operates out of two of the food bank’s locations in Glasgow and Wilmington and offers food delivery through DoorDash to Delaware residents living within a 15-mile radius of these facilities.\n\nFor those living outside of the radius, the Amazon home delivery program can be used.\n\nUsing the home delivery program website, an order for up to two food packages can be placed for delivery or pickup each week.\n\nOrders can be placed “ASAP” or scheduled for a later time at checkout. Immediate orders usually take about an hour to be delivered.\n\nWhile the program is still taking off, ordering windows will vary based on location, and delivery windows will be limited.\n\nThe AmazonFlex delivery portion of the program began in July of 2020 and has made over 12,000 deliveries totaling 169,000 meals.\n\n“One of the things we wanna highlight with this is you’re giving people so much more flexibility and dignity,” said Bettina Stix, Amazon director of Right Now Needs and Disaster Relief. “It’s an enormous convenience game for recipients.”\n\nThrough DoorDash, 784 deliveries have been made since the company's partnership with the food bank began in July of 2021.\n\nIn September, DoorDash’s Project DASH celebrated its 1,000,000 delivery to those in need through this partnership. The New Castle recipient was a single mother of two twins with autism, and the package was presented by Delaware's first lady, Tracey Quillen Carney.\n\n“There’s two huge stigma issues: Some people might not be comfortable saying ‘I need help’ or they don’t have a way to get there,” said Brittany Graunke, director of DoorDash Drive's Government and Non-profit team. “We really recognized that food banks had to innovate during the pandemic.”\n\nThrough a survey they conducted with the food bank in which they assessed whether community members were comfortable with online deliveries and able to do so, they found that many were eager to try the program and excited about how easy the process was, she said, adding that their overall goal is to serve more individuals across the state.\n\nBoth services pick up the food packages the same way they would other delivery orders and the packages come with an order receipt that is nondescript and similar to that of restaurant takeout or grocery deliveries.\n\nAlthough the DoorDash delivery operates only in New Castle County, the Food Bank of Delaware’s Milford location will join the efforts later this month.\n\nMilford location details:After record year of need, Food Bank of Delaware plans expansion in Milford\n\nA new food bank location in Milford, across from the organization's current pantry facility, will start construction in May and is expected to open at the end of summer in 2023.\n\nPlans to create more food bank delivery hubs across the rest of the state are also in the works.\n\n“There’s not a pocket of Delaware that’s not touched. You can’t find a 15-mile radius where someone is not food insecure. Our goal is to reach all of Delaware,” Kanefsky said.", "authors": [], "publish_date": "2022/01/13"}, {"url": "https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/2021/03/25/food-bank-delaware-gives-out-17-million-pounds-food-first-year-pandemic/6965644002/", "title": "Food Bank of Delaware gives out 17 million pounds of food in first ...", "text": "In March 2020, more than a thousand cars flooded to the Chase Center in Wilmington as people tried to get a box of free food for their families. Many of them had lost their jobs as businesses were forced to shutter.\n\nThe cars backed up onto I-95 for the Food Bank of Delaware's first emergency food drive during the pandemic.\n\nOne year later, the Food Bank of Delaware has distributed nearly 18 million pounds of food to families across the state — a record number. It supplied nearly 6 million more pounds to families compared with the same time period last year.\n\n\"I have been here at the food bank since 2008. I was here right when the great recession hit, and what we have experienced over the past year cannot even compare to that,\" Kim Turner, a spokesperson for the Food Bank, said.\n\nFrom March 16, 2020, to March 16 of this year, the Food Bank of Delaware distributed 17.9 million pounds of food, serving 42,847 households at 33 mass drive-thru events and 34,706 visits to its pantry centers in Newark and Milford.\n\nDuring the previous time period last year, the bank gave out 12 million pounds of food.\n\nBefore the pandemic, Turner said there were about 121,000 food-insecure Delawareans. Now, she expects there are more than 164,000.\n\n\"People who were already struggling prior to the pandemic, I think the pandemic made those struggles even worse for those people,\" she said. \"There were so many people who essentially went from having a job to not having a job overnight.\"\n\nRECORDS SET:In a year filled with 'a lot of hardship,' Delawareans seek food banks in record numbers\n\nThe Food Bank was flooded with donations soon after the pandemic began, but they have leveled off since then. Turner said the community \"stepped up\" with food and monetary donations to help them serve as many families as they have.\n\n\"We were overwhelmed with the generosity from the community. People were so generous, whether they sent $5 or $5,000,\" she said. \"People always support basic needs, but when you have a crisis like this, it's so heightened.\"\n\nThe Food Bank's efforts during the pandemic were supported by 16,364 volunteer visits accounting for 47,618 volunteer hours.\n\nAlthough donations and volunteers from the community were helpful, CARES Act funding is what was critical to the Food Bank's COVID-19 relief efforts.\n\nTurner said they received more than $2 million in support, which they used to purchase needed food and equipment.\n\nLooking at the year ahead, Turner doesn't think they will give out 17.9 million pounds of food again, but she expects it will be close.\n\nFOR SUBSCRIBERS:How Delaware's low unemployment benefits take an 'exhausting,' 'depressing' toll\n\nThe Food Bank of Delaware is part of the national nonprofit Feeding America, which predicts that the food bank's relief efforts will be needed for another 18 to 24 months, as the economy slowly recovers.\n\nTurner is hopeful the federal government's expanded Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits and stimulus checks will help ease the economic burden on families, but she knows their services will still be needed.\n\n\"Those people aren't going to disappear. Our goal is always to get people to a point of self-sufficiency when they no longer need our services,\" Turner said. \"But we know there are crisis situations, and unfortunately, there are a lot of people who don't make a living wage.\"", "authors": [], "publish_date": "2021/03/25"}, {"url": "https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/2023/03/14/snap-benefits-end-delaware-food-bank-braced-for-the-worst/69990350007/", "title": "SNAP benefits end, Delaware Food Bank braced for the worst", "text": "With federal food assistance rolling back and inflation still on the rise, the Delaware Food Bank has been busier than ever and they anticipate demand to continue to grow.\n\nThe federal government announced in January that extra SNAP benefits, formerly known as food stamps, were set to expire nationwide at the end of February. These emergency allotments have been in place since around the start of the pandemic.\n\nNearly 124,000 Delawareans have relied on this extra federal stipend for the past three years, which granted recipients the maximum amount of benefits for their household size. People received their last emergency allotment Feb. 28.\n\nA study from the Urban Institute estimated that these emergency allotments kept over 4 million people out of poverty nationwide, including tens of thousands in Delaware.\n\nBackground:Food banks bracing as pandemic SNAP benefits end in Delaware next month\n\nFamilies reliant on the SNAP program will now receive their \"normal\" stipend dating back to pre-pandemic days, dependent on the size of their family, income and expenses. Some individuals will now be receiving as little as $23 a month.\n\nHow to get help\n\nThe Food Bank will be returning to the drive-thru events held during the height of the pandemic. Starting the last week of March, around the same time SNAP families would have received the monthly installment of additional aid.\n\nDrives will be held in each county:\n\nSussex County: March 27 at 10:00 a.m. at the Crossroad Community Church\n\nKent County: March 29 at 10:00 a.m. at the Dover Motor Speedway\n\nNew Castle County: March 31 at 10:00 a.m. at DelTech Stanton\n\nOver 100 volunteers will be working these events, with the help of Delaware's Department of Transportation to ensure people are getting help as quickly as possible. The Food Bank estimates that over 1,000 households will be served at each of these distributions.\n\nThe events are first-come-first-serve, but individuals can still pre-register. Proof of Delaware residence is required.\n\nIf you can't make the food drives, there are other options available. Delawareans can reach out to the state's 2-1-1 line for essential resources, and go to the DHSS website to check their benefit registration.\n\nThe Food Bank also distributes to food closets throughout the state, for more details on where to get help the Food Bank has details on their website.\n\n2022 food distribution by the numbers\n\nMobile pantries in the state were visited over 74,000 times\n\nOver 6 million pounds of food were distributed\n\nNewark and Milford centers were visited over 34,000 times combined\n\n175,000 meal kits were distributed to children in need\n\nPressures on Delaware Food Bank\n\nThe Delaware Food Bank saw major drops in food donations during the pandemic that have lingered to this day, mostly due to supply-chain issues and inflationary restrictions on donors. Last year, donations were down by more than 2.5 million pounds of food.\n\n\"We're seeing more people now than we did at the height of the pandemic,\" said Kim Turner, communications director for the Delaware Food Bank. \"In January and February 2023 we were seeing an average of 1,050 people per week. That's a 74% increase compared to last year.\"\n\nMore:Cheaper utility bills to arrive in Delaware on April 1\n\nBefore the pandemic began, the Food Bank purchased just under $490,000 worth of food. At the end of last year, that number rose to $4.7 million.\n\nTurner said the Food Bank is hoping its distribution events at the end of the month will provide community members with the help that they need to ease the transition back to \"normal\" SNAP benefits amidst historic inflation.\n\nThe state will be providing $3.2 million in aid to ease the transition.\n\nHow to help\n\nAccording to Turner, every dollar donated to the Food Bank provides three meals to people in need. Volunteer and donation information is available on the Delaware Food Bank's website.\n\nFood donations can be dropped off at either the Newark or Milford facilities.\n\nLike knowing what stores, restaurants and developments are coming and going in Delaware? Join our Facebook group What's Going There in Delaware and subscribe to our What's Going There in Delaware newsletter.\n\nContact Molly McVety at mmcvety@delawareonline.com. Follow her on Twitter @mollymcvety.", "authors": [], "publish_date": "2023/03/14"}, {"url": "https://www.usatoday.com/story/life/2014/10/18/organizations-seeking-holiday-help/17516915/", "title": "These organizations are seeking holiday help", "text": "Annual Warming Tree The members of the Ladies Auxiliary of Greenwood Memorial VFW Post 7478 are conducting their annual project to provide elementary school children with warm outer wear. Their wish list includes: new socks for girls and boys, gloves and/or mittens, scarves, hats and caps, new sweatshirts, and new or good, gently used coats that have been cleaned and repaired if needed. Drop off items at 102 Maryland Ave. in Greenwood no later than Nov. 15. (302) 349-4220.\n\nChristmas for the Veterans Christmas Troubadour Ministry is holding a fundraising drive to provide Walmart gift cards to the residents of the Delaware Center for Homeless Veterans. Donations are requested in $25 increments and should be made before Dec. 12. Mail checks to Troubadour Ministry, P. O. Box 13201, Wilmington DE 19850 – write “Veterans” on the memo line – or donate online at troubadourministry.org. Go to the Donate tab, type “veteran’s Christmas” in the Payment Notes box. You can use your Pay Pal account or a credit card. Follow the instructions on the donate page. (302) 322-1177, suestude@hotmail.com.\n\nClaymont Food Closet Donations of food for the holidays and volunteers to help assemble and deliver food baskets are needed. Drop off donations at 3301 Green St. in Claymont. The address is behind and a part of the Claymont Community Center. Claymont Community Center, 3301 Green St., Claymont. (302) 764-7997.\n\nDART Stuff The Bus Thanksgiving Food Drive DART First State food drive benefits the Food Bank of Delaware. Collection sites for non-perishable food items are: 8 a.m.-6 p.m. Nov. 10, Walmart, 939 N. DuPont Highway, Milford, and Acme, North Dover Center, Dover; 8 a.m.-5 p.m. Nov. 12, Acme, Fairfax Shopping Center, Route 202, Wilmington; 7 a.m.-5 p.m. Nov. 13, and 7 a.m.-1 p.m. Nov. 14, Rodney Square, Market Street side, Wilmington. At each collection site, DART First State will be available to help stuff the bus and will provide public transit and Food Bank information to visitors. Items needed include cornflakes, toasted oat rings, powdered milk, parmalat long life milk, evaporated milk, Swiss Whey D’lite, applesauce, pancake mix, orange juice, apple juice, beef stew, spaghetti sauce/meat, spaghetti wheels, chicken noodle soup, macaroni and cheese, peanut butter, pancake syrup, chicken and dumplings, canned tuna, pork and beans, mixed vegetables, sweet potatoes, instant mashed potatoes, whole white potatoes, sliced white potatoes, whole kernel corn, cut green beans, garbanzo beans, navy beans, pinto beans, kidney beans, jams, jellies, preserves, all other soup/stews, all other canned meats, all other canned vegetables, all other canned fruit, cooking/vegetable oils, laundry detergents, paper products, diapers, personal care and pet food. DartFirstState.com, (800) 652-3278.\n\nFood Bank of DelawareThanksgiving Food/Funds Drive The hunger-relief organization asks for the community’s help collecting food items and monetary donations in order to create 4,000 Thanksgiving meal boxes for families in need. Most-needed non-perishable food items include juice, coffee/tea, cereal/oatmeal, canned hams, cornbread/bread/muffin mix, gravy packets/canned gravy, stuffing, sweet potatoes/yams, vegetables, and fruits, apple sauce, cranberry sauce, pumpkin, shelf-stable milk and boxed pudding. Frozen turkeys can be dropped off to the Newark or Milford facailies: 14 Garfield Way, Newark, (302) 292-1305; 1040 Mattlind Way, Milford, (302) 424-3301. Donations for Thanksgiving must be received by Nov. 7. Food received after that date will be distributed to the food bank’s network of Hunger-Relief Program Partners.Households in need of holiday food assistance should call the Delaware Helpline by dialing 2-1-1 or (800) 464-4357. Nov. 7.\n\nHoliday Food Bank Collection at Community Powered FCU All Community Powered credit union locations will accept contributions of non-perishable food items during regular business hours through Nov. 3. Need items include hog and cold cereals, 8-ounce shelf-stable milk, peanut butter, canned vegetables and fruits, past and rice, canned meats and spaghetti sauce. Locations are 1758 Pulaski Highway, Bear; 01 Eagle Run Road, Newark; 3670 Kirkwood Highway, Wilmington; 4 Quigley Blvd., New Castle; and 630 MLK Blvd., Wilmington. (302) 368-2396, cpwrfcu.org.\n\nHoliday Food Drive The Newark Area Welfare Committee is planning to assemble approximately 400 boxes of food for needy families and senior citizens in the greater Newark area this December. The group also hopes to assemble 150 To-Go bags for the Empowerment Center in Newark. Items needed by Dec. 18 include frozen turkeys and canned/non-perishable food such as breakfast foods, desserts, peanut butter and jelly, fruit, pasta, tuna, and soup. Call Beverly Stoudt at (302) 368-9354 to arrange pick up of donated food and turkeys. Volunteers also are need to help pick up and sort donated food Dec. 18, to help pack food boxes on Dec. 19 and to help with food box distribution Dec. 20. Volunteers should report to First Presbyterian Church, 292 W. Main St., Newark. Monetary donations can be sent to: P.O. Box 925, Newark, DE 19715.\n\nPajama Program Pajama Program-Delaware Chapter collects new pajamas and new books for Delaware children in need. Donations are delivered to many local organizations, including Children and Families First, Child Inc., Catholic Charities and Kind to Kids, as well as various homeless shelters, domestic violence shelters and a local Title 1 school. Visit pajamaprogram.org to fill out a form to learn how to organize a pajama drive or to donate. Visit the the group’s wish list at Amazaon.com. Email questions to Stacey Paranczak at stacey@pajamaprogram.org.\n\nTurkey Dinner Drive Peace Zones Inc. is collecting non-perishable food times for its Thanksgiving Turkey drive. Needed items include cranberry sauce, canned vegetables, canned fruits, cake mixes, canned gravy, stuffing mix and similar items. The deadline to drop off non-perishable food items at 249 E. Main St., Suite-7 in Newark is Nov. 14. Also, help is needed to pick up frozen turkeys (302) 737-0900 ext. 10.\n\nThe News Journal plans to run this list every Sunday during October, November and December, as space is available. To have your organization’s drive or event included, please send an email to events@delawareonline.com and include the name of the organization, exactly what it’s collecting, where the food or clothing will be used, what deadlines are – and whether you need volunteers for help sort, deliver or otherwise serve. For more information, please call please call Deb Lucas at (302) 324-2852.", "authors": [], "publish_date": "2014/10/18"}, {"url": "https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/local/2020/03/19/food-bank-delaware-host-drive-thru-pantry-georgetown-thursday/2870544001/", "title": "Food Bank of Delaware to host drive-thru pantry in Georgetown ...", "text": "We are providing this content free as a public service to readers during the coronavirus outbreak. Please support the work we're doing by subscribing to Delaware Online.\n\nEditor's note: The location of the Dover drive-thru on Friday has been changed to Dover International Speedway.\n\nThe Food Bank of Delaware will host its second emergency drive-thru food pantry at Crossroads Community Church in Georgetown at 11 a.m. Thursday.\n\nParticipants are asked to stay in their vehicles and have their trunk cleared out, organizers said. They also must bring a picture ID – any official state or county-issued ID will work – and proof of Delaware residency, such as a piece of mail with their name on it.\n\n\"We will provide food assistance to anyone who can provide those two items,\" organizers wrote on Facebook. Proof of U.S. citizenship is not required.\n\nCrossroads Church is at 20684 State Forest Road in Georgetown.\n\nLines to get to the mobile pantry stretched onto nearby roads Thursday.\n\nA third emergency drive-thru pantry event will be held at Dover International Speedway at 11 a.m. on Friday. The same guidelines apply, and people should enter through the main entrance of Dover Downs Hotel & Casino.\n\nThe first, held at the Chase Center on the Riverfront in Wilmington, was able to get food to more than 1,200 people. But the line was so long that it backed up onto Interstate-95, and late-comers had to be turned away 15 minutes after the drive-thru started, Delaware Online/The News Journal reported.\n\nCORONAVIRUS HELPERS:Places to get help, give help\n\nCORONAVIRUS IN DELAWARE:Our full coverage\n\nThe emergency pantry is intended for anyone who needs assistance. Anyone who \"is not making (their) typical paycheck is allowed; attendees don't have to be designated low-income.\"\n\nFood bank officials are asking that people don't walk up to the pantry. For those who do not have a car, organizers are referring them to Delaware 211. They can call 211, 1-800-560-3372, text 898-211 or visit delaware211.org.\n\nFood Bank of Delaware also said its pantries in Newark and Milford remain open, but the organization has instituted drive-up practices. For more information, go to the Food Bank's Facebook page at facebook.com/FoodBankofDE.\n\nSend story tips or ideas to Isabel Hughes at ihughes@delawareonline.com or 302-324-2785. For all things breaking news, follow her on Twitter at @izzihughes_. Contact reporter Maddy Lauria at (302) 345-0608, mlauria@delawareonline.com or on Twitter @MaddyinMilford.", "authors": [], "publish_date": "2020/03/19"}, {"url": "https://www.usatoday.com/story/life/2016/11/04/food-clothing-toys-sought-holiday-charity-drives/93309730/", "title": "Delaware holiday charity drives: food, clothing, toys sought", "text": "Betsy Price\n\nThe News Journal\n\nDelaware-area charities and churches are gearing up their annual holiday drives for clothing, food, toys and other items.\n\nHere’s a list of some of them we already know about.\n\nIf you’d like to have your drive included in this list, please email information that can be copied and pasted to beprice@delawareonline.com about the event, including specifically what is sought, when, where it should be delivered, the deadline, who benefits, who is sponsoring the drive, where drop-off points are and a daytime phone number for an organizer.\n\nWe plan to print a list every week in the Sunday News Journal, space allowing, and publish it at delawareonline.com through the end of the year.\n\nDART Stuff the Bus! collection starts Monday\n\nDART’s Stuff the Bus! collection of nonperishable food for the Delaware Food Bank starts Monday at 8 a.m., running until 6 p.m., at the Wal-Mart at 939 N. Du Pont Highway in Milford and Acme in the North Dover Center in Dover. Other collection days and sites include Tuesday, 8 a.m.-5 p.m. at Acme in the Fairfax Shopping Center on U.S. 202, Fairfax; Thursday, 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. in Rodney Square, Market Street side, Wilmington; Friday, 7 a.m. to 1 p.m., Rodney Square, Market Street side, Wilmington; and – new this year – Saturday, 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., Acme, Suburban Plaza, 100 Suburban Drive, Newark.\n\nSome of the most-needed holiday items include evaporated milk/shelf-stable milk; canned pumpkin; applesauce; juice; corn muffin mix; mashed potatoes; gravy; and canned sweet potatoes, peas and corn.\n\nJay Leno on Biden's sick burnout: 'It was fun'\n\nNew eats: Brandywine Hundred diner; Newark southern Indian restaurant\n\nFood Bank, One Warm Coat head to Whitehall Saturday\n\nThe Food Bank of Delaware and One Warm Coat join the Town of Whitehall’s Fall Festival of Giving on Nov. 12, from noon to 3 p.m. The free event is open to the public and offers an afternoon of family-friendly fun, live music and games. Visitors are encouraged to bring donations of coats and/or nonperishable food items.\n\nNeighborhood House food drive underway\n\nThe Neighborhood House food drive for the holiday is underway and will run through Dec 20. Cereal, canned milk, pancake mix/syrup, peanut butter/jelly, tuna fish, mac and cheese in the box, pasta/sauce and assorted canned vegetables are sought. For more information, call Kelly Lacy at (302) 658-5404 between 8 a.m. and 5:30 p.m. Donations may be dropped off at 1218 B St., Wilmington.\n\nSunday Breakfast Mission’s 2016 ‘60 Ton Challenge’ food drive\n\nThe Sunday Breakfast Mission’s holiday food drive is being marketed as a “60 Ton Challenge” that will help feed homeless men, women, boys and girls.\n\nNonperishable beef stew, boxed stuffing, canned ham, canned spam, canned beef, canned chicken, cereal, cranberry sauce, drink mix, fruit, jelly, mac and cheese, pasta, peanut butter, pie filling, potatoes, instant pudding or gelatin, soup, spaghetti sauce, stuffing, tomatoes, tuna, vegetables and yams are needed.\n\nFollow the challenge on @sundaybreakfastmission. Donations are accepted at 110 Poplar St., Wilmington. For more information, call (302) 652-8314.\n\nCounty urges support for AFSCME Needy Family Fund\n\nNew Castle County is asking residents to support AFSCME Local Union 459’s Needy Family Fund by donating food at county libraries and offices for its annual Thanksgiving Dinner Drive. Food packages will be delivered Nov. 22 to 75 needy families. Donations may be dropped off at New Castle County Government Center, 87 Read’s Way near New Castle; Conner Building, 187A Old Churchmans Road near New Castle; Appoquinimink Community Library, 651 N. Broad St., Middletown; Bear Library, Governor’s Square Shopping Center, Del. 7 and U.S. 40; Brandywine Hundred Library, 1300 Foulk Road; Claymont Library, 400 Lenape Way; Hockessin Library, 1023 Valley Road; Kirkwood Library, 6000 Kirkwood Highway, Milltown area; Newark Free Library, 750 Library Ave.; Woodlawn Library, 202 W. Ninth St., Wilmington.\n\nDonations also will be welcomed after Thanksgiving in drop-off containers at the same sites for Local 459’s Holiday Food Drive with deliveries in late December. For more information, call President John Spence at (302) 521-9275, Event Chairperson Steven Klinefelter at (302) 395-5839 or Linda Levy at (302) 395-5804.\n\nHe gave pro golf a shot, but his best score was her\n\n'Shooter' star Ryan Phillippe eying Bethany Beach buy\n\nWilmington Church of God collecting donations for needy families\n\nThe Church Of God at 313 N. Broom St. in Wilmington is collecting donations for needy families during the holidays. The church now runs a weekly after-school program, pantry and homeless outreach ministry. For more information, call Pastor David Andino at (610) 848-0849 or (646) 399-8513 or email him at Revandino7@yahoo.com\n\nFirst State Church of Christ seeks food and clothing donations\n\nThe LuDivina Foundation at First State Church of Christ is accepting donations for food and clothing until Dec. 20. The church is at 307 A St., Wilmington. For more information, contact Mike Reyes at (302) 607-9019.\n\nAdas Kodesch Shel Emeth Synagogue is collecting new, used shoes\n\nAdas Kodesch Shel Emeth Synagogue is collecting new and gently used shoes of all types (men’s, women’s, children’s, dress, casual, sports, etc.) to be distributed to those in need in communities throughout the world, including in the U.S.\n\nShoes can be dropped off at the synagogue at 4412 Washington Blvd., Wilmington. The shoe drive is ongoing and will continue into 2017. For more information or to arrange for pick up of larger quantities, please call the AKSE office at (302) 762-2705.\n\nCounty police winter coat and canned food drive\n\nThe New Castle County Division of Police’s Community Service Unit is hosting its fourth annual Winter Coat and Canned Food Drive on Dec. 17 from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. This event is held at the Garfield Park PAL at 26 Karlyn Drive in New Castle. Collection bins will be located in the lobby of NCCPD at 3601 N. Du Pont Highway, New Castle. Contact Cpl. Kristen Hester at (302) 395-8059 with questions.\n\nBTL, Hanover turkey baskets\n\nThe BTL Foundation and the Hanover Presbyterian Church in Wilmington will once again offer free turkey baskets to needy families of four or more. The distribution will take place at the Hanover Presbyterian Church at 1801 N. Jefferson St., Wilmington. Food closet norms will be observed. To register for a free turkey basket, call (302) 658-5115 on Nov. 14 starting 9 a.m. Do not leave a voice mail. Donations of frozen turkeys and canned goods are accepted at the church anytime from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Monday through Friday. Tax-deductible contributions and checks can be sent to the BTL Foundation, 114 Mettenet Court, Hockessin, DE 19707.\n\nState hospital, health center seek ‘adoption,’ gifts for residents\n\nThe Delaware Hospital for the Chronically Ill in Smyrna and the Governor Bacon Health Center in Delaware City are seeking support from the community in “adopting” residents for the holidays who have little family involvement or support. The state suggests three ways to help: Adopt-A-Resident (Donors are provided with the identification code and wish list of a resident); Monetary donation: (Leave a gift card or check and so the staff can shop for residents); General donation: (Purchase items from a list of suggested gift items that will be emailed to you or picked up in the lobby). For more information and to participate, email Jennifer.Bobel@state.de.us or call (302) 223-1011 and let her know your name, how you would like to help and how to contact you.\n\nFood Bank will collect holiday food through Dec. 20\n\nThe Delaware Food Bank will be seeking a variety of food items for the holidays through Dec. 20.\n\nIt is particularly interested in canned sweet potatoes, canned peas, canned corn, evaporated milk, canned pumpkin, applesauce, coffee/tea bags corn muffin mix, canned gravy, mashed potatoes, graham cracker crust, turkey pans and frozen turkeys (those must be dropped off to Newark or Milford warehouses).\n\nGroups who collect more than 20 boxes/bags of donated food may make arrangements with the Food Bank of Delaware to have donations picked up. In an effort to save money on transportation costs, the Food Bank asks that donations of fewer than 20 bags/boxes be dropped off at the organization’s Newark or Milford facilities:\n\nThe food bank offices are at 14 Garfield Way, Newark (302) 292-1305 and 1040 Mattlind Way, Milford (302) 424-3301. They are open Monday through Friday from 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m.\n\nFor more information, please go to www.fbd.org/holiday-food-drives.", "authors": [], "publish_date": "2016/11/04"}, {"url": "https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/education/2023/07/18/delaware-culinary-program-gets-adults-with-disabilities-in-the-kitchen/70399644007/", "title": "Delaware culinary program gets adults with disabilities in the kitchen", "text": "Lashaunda Lynch is used to her limits being assumed.\n\nThe Seaford native grew up in rural Sussex County, itching to help in the kitchen by about 12 years old. Lynch’s mom taught her as much as she could, nursing the interest and hoping Lynch would keep finding ways to be independent. Other outlets for the interest never seemed quite in reach.", "authors": [], "publish_date": "2023/07/18"}, {"url": "https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/education/2017/08/23/food-bank-culinary-school-trains-parolees-immigrants/590221001/", "title": "At Delaware nonprofit, cooking provides second chance", "text": "Editor's note: This story has been updated to include The Culinary School's new chef instructor, Sean McNeice.\n\nIt was 2014 and a shy, reserved Kasha Allen was out on probation, ready to get a job and move on with her life.\n\nIt wouldn't be easy, she knew. Sure, someone might hire her, but likely for the wrong reasons. They'd assume she was desperate for work, eager to do anything for a quick buck.\n\nSTORY:Punkin Chunkin canceled in light of pending lawsuit\n\nSTORY:Several blocks of Wilmington's downtown closed and without power\n\nIn reality, Allen had passion. She wanted to be a professional chef and work for a restaurant that looked at her and saw her drive, not her criminal background.\n\nShe's like a lot of the adults that go through the Food Bank of Delaware's Culinary School, President and CEO Patricia Beebe said.\n\n\"It's just kind of mind-blowing to me that we work with a population that people say 'All we know how to do is incarcerate them,' \" she said. \"I really feel like I can make a difference in people's lives with what we are doing as an organization.\"\n\nThat's one of the reasons Beebe started The Culinary School in the first place. Launched in 2002, it has since been certified as a trade school by the Delaware Department of Education and has graduated more than 565 students, many of whom have gone on to get full-time jobs.\n\nUnder the guidance of Executive Chef Tim Hunter and Chef Instructors Tish Badamshin, who teaches classes in Milford, and Sean McNeice, who teaches in Newark, the program provides valuable job training to unemployed and underemployed adults, adults with disabilities and individuals re-entering society from Delaware’s Department of Correction.\n\nThe 14-week program includes 12 weeks of hands-on training in basic and high-end kitchen skills, safe food handling and life lessons. Students also have the opportunity to become ServSafe certified, which many restaurants now require.\n\nThe class culminates with a two-week paid internship at a food service company. Students not only are able to prove their skills and attain hands-on experience but also increase their chances of attaining full-time employment from the experience.\n\nBeebe, who has been with the Food Bank for 20 years, said the program ties in perfectly to the nonprofit's mission and goal: to feed the hungry.\n\n\"I took over (the Food Bank) from an organization that was doing a great job of making food available to the people in Delaware,\" Beebe said, looking back to when she first became president.\n\nBut she wanted to go deeper and look at why so many people needed food in the first place.\n\nUltimately, it comes down to jobs, she said. To help solve the food crisis, the organization would also have to address unemployment.\n\nAnd so The Culinary School was born. At the time, The Food Bank of Delaware was the first food bank in the country to host such a program. Today, it is the only food bank to operate a culinary school in two locations.\n\nA fresh start\n\nAllen was 21 when she was arrested in 2013. Today, she is 26 and runs her own catering business. It was her parole officer that first told her about The Culinary School.\n\nShe interned at Domaine Hudson in Wilmington and has also worked at 8th and Union Kitchen. She was a line cook at a local Denny's, and today, in addition to catering, runs a small hot dog cart for the Food Bank during lunch in the Newark industrial park.\n\n\"You have a whole organization rooting for you,\" Allen said of starting her own catering company.\n\nJust a few years ago, she wasn't sure if she'd ever even get a job.\n\nOther students are new to the United States and are looking for steady employment, such as 21-year-old Romario Brown, who moved here from Jamaica about five months ago.\n\nHe's wanted to be a chef since he was 7 and this month started working for The Metro Diner in Newark.\n\n\"I went in for an internship and instead I got a job,\" he said excitedly.\n\nOn Wednesday, he was making a sweet-and-sour Jamaican fish dish as part of his kitchen finals. Nearby, Alberta Siamah was making creamed corn, sauteed pork and fried potatoes.\n\nSiamah, from Ghana, has three children, ages 2, 3 and 4, and next week will start a full-time job cooking for Christiana Care Health System. Previously, she was studying information technology at Wilmington University.\n\nHunter, executive chef for the culinary school, said those interested don't need a food background.\n\n\"They don't really have to have cooking experience to get here,\" he said. \"They just have to have the passion to work in the business.\"\n\nRestaurants are flexible, as well, he said, and many are willing to hire students who know the basics. From there, they can work with them and train them on their menus.\n\n\"Your background doesn't matter,\" Hunter said. \"We just need someone to show up, on time, every day.\"\n\nContact Jessica Bies at (302) 324-2881 or jbies@delawareonline.com. Follow her on Twitter @jessicajbies.\n\nApply for the program\n\nThe next round of The Food Bank's Culinary School classes in both Newark andMilton begin Monday, Sept. 25. Applications are currently being accepted.\n\nStudents interested in applying must have a high school diploma or GED with a ninth-grade reading and math level. The cost to attend is $5,700, though it is rare that students actually pay tuition and they often receive scholarships and grants.\n\nFor more information or to apply, visit www.fbd.org/the-culinary-school or contact Jessica Neal (New Castle County) at (302) 292-1305 ext. 265 or jneal@fbd.org or Ruthann Messick (Kent and Sussex Counties) at (302) 424-3301 ext. 107 or rmessick@fbd.org.\n\nStudents are also referred to the program through the Delaware Department of Labor, Delaware Division of Vocational Rehabilitation, Department of Corrections and other community-based organizations.\n\nMore workforce training on the way\n\nWhen the Food Bank of Delaware moves into its new facility in the Pencader Corporate Center off Del. 896 this upcoming spring, it will expand its workforce training program, president and CEO Patricia Beebe said.\n\nNot only will The Culinary School offer additional classes, but the Food Bank will begin offering a warehouse logistics program and agricultural apprenticeships.\n\nIt will work with Amazon, which has in the past donated to the food bank, to offer some of the training and will take advantage of its new five-acre farm to provide agriculture experience. The Food Bank also plans on starting a CSA, from which residents can buy shares of fresh produce.", "authors": [], "publish_date": "2017/08/23"}]}
+{"question_id": "20240119_22", "search_time": "2024/01/19/23:36", "search_result": [{"url": "https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/small-business/2024/01/12/sales-at-delaware-farmers-markets-top-4-million-for-first-time-as-markets-become-community-events/72176793007/", "title": "Sales at Delaware farmers markets top $4 million for first time", "text": "Sales in 2023 totaled about $4.1 million, surpassing the previous record by more than $400,000.\n\nFresh produce made up 52% of total sales in 2023, with the remainder coming from products such as meats, cheeses, jellies, breads, salsa, eggs and honey.\n\nSome markets offer live entertainment, kids' games and crafts, recipes and food trucks.\n\nSales at Delaware farmers markets set a record in 2023 with over $4 million in revenue.\n\nMarket organizers said while the fresh fruits and vegetables are the initial draw, the friendships and community spirit keep people coming back, leading to the increasing revenue.\n\nThe $4,144,951 in sales statewide breaks the record set in 2022 by $437,136, the Delaware Department of Agriculture announced on Jan. 9.", "authors": [], "publish_date": "2024/01/12"}, {"url": "https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/local/maryland/2020/05/05/coronavirus-maryland-delaware-virginia-farms-demand-high-for-locally-grown-food-farmers-markets-csa/3012777001/", "title": "Delmarva farms fill gaps in food supply. Farmers markets and pickup ...", "text": "SALISBURY, Md. — Designated essential businesses in Maryland, but ordered to close in Delaware and Virginia. Then, allowed to reopen in Virginia.\n\nState policies during the coronavirus pandemic regarding farmers markets have confused and upset members of the local agriculture community, even as an early spring heralds produce and the pandemic empties grocery store shelves.\n\nThe closures have prompted some local growers to throw considerable time and effort into pivoting their business norms to fit with their state's pandemic rules. For some, the efforts are paying off: Many farms are seeing more business than ever.\n\nSubscriptions to Community Supported Agriculture boxes and delivery services are soaring, and some farmers markets have applied social distancing rules in order to keep operating, said Niamh Shortt, field school director for Future Harvest CASA, a regional nonprofit focused on sustainable agriculture.\n\n\"It’s been a pretty wild time, actually, for the local farming community because demand is really high for local foods,\" said Shortt, who has been involved in the Delmarva Peninsula agricultural community for seven years. \"It’s exciting for the farmers who are in a position to be able to absorb those customers.\"\n\nBut for the small-scale growers who can't afford to redesign their operations and who face a ban on farmers markets, the pandemic has been a disaster, said Helaine Harris, president of the Historic Lewes Farmer's Market.\n\n\"We’re very, very frustrated that at a time when we should most be encouraging and supporting farmers markets, they’re not being supported by the state of Delaware,\" Harris said.\n\nAdapting to coronavirus circumstances\n\nNatalie McGill and Stewart Lundy, who operate Perennial Roots Farm in Accomack County, Virginia, said they are currently doing double the business they were at this time last year.\n\nPerennial Roots grows non-GMO, open-pollinated heirloom plants and raises heritage breed pigs, sheep, geese, ducks, chickens, rabbits and turkeys.\n\nUsually, Perennial Roots sells its produce and meats at about five markets per week and makes sales to shops and restaurants, but since the pandemic it has switched to a CSA and an online store that the couple built in just two weeks.\n\nShares in the CSA quickly sold out, and they had to create a waiting list, the couple said. Local delivery for the CSA shares has received a \"really positive\" response and they are taking extra precautions to make sure even elderly customers who fear the virus most are able to get groceries stress-free.\n\n\"Every time there’s a health outbreak or a recall, it never affects small farmers … this has been true all along, and now people are starting to — people are having to — recognize it,\" Lundy said.\n\nKeeping things safe and sanitary is important for the farmers themselves, too.\n\n\"We’re feeding too many people to risk one of us getting contaminated,\" McGill said.\n\nThe local farm model is, by nature, pretty suited to a pandemic, and CSAs especially are safe ways to get food, Shortt said. Very few people touch the food as it goes from the farm to your table, and ordering it online for pickup means no need to venture into an enclosed, potentially germy space (like a grocery store).\n\nTo connect people with local growers in their area, Future Harvest created an interactive map of farmers and markets across the Chesapeake Bay region.\n\n\"We’re learning that there is nothing like a pandemic to drive home the importance of a robust, regional food system and the healthy, safe, local food such a system can dish up,\" wrote Future Harvest executive director Dena Leibman on the nonprofit's website.\n\nLikewise for Matt and Stefanie Barfield, who operate Chesterfield Heirlooms in Pittsville, Maryland. The pandemic created challenges that forced innovation.\n\nNormally, Chesterfield Heirlooms makes most of its money from selling wholesale to local restaurants. With restaurant sales wiped out by the pandemic's closures, the couple built an on-farm pickup service from scratch, growing from zero to over 100 orders in just about a month, Matt Barfield said.\n\nThe process has included a big learning curve but helped the business greatly, Barfield said.\n\n\"It is tough — it takes a lot more to run that part of the business than it does the wholesale outlets,\" he said. \"It takes a lot more management to put that phase of the operation into play. But without it, we’d be in trouble.\"\n\nBarfield said he feels now the business is filling two roles: as a provider of niche products (most of the vegetables are from pre-1940 heirloom seeds) and as a filler of gaps in the industrial food system.\n\nThe changes forced by the coronavirus pandemic will actually stick around after life goes back to normal — and the farmers hope the customer increase will, too.\n\n\"Really we’re competing on quality,\" Barfield said. \"We think that the flavor and the quality of the product, once it’s all said and done and ... everything gets stabilized, the folks who had a chance to try it will be like, 'Wow, local really does taste better. There is a difference.' \"\n\nFor McGill and Lundy, switching to the CSA model allows them to spend more time doing what they love — farming — instead of standing under a tent at a farmers market most days of the week. They intend to keep it.\n\n\"We are exactly where we’re supposed to be in this moment,\" McGill said.\n\nDelaware farmers shut out of market\n\nOperating a farmers market during a pandemic is tricky, but Future Harvests is helping markets create and implement new safety rules, Shortt said.\n\nA pandemic-friendly farmers market involves adding visual guidelines to help with distancing, not allowing customers to touch the merchandise, and requiring face masks. There also needs to be effort made in controlling the perimeter, in order to prevent too many people from congregating at a time.\n\nRules need to be strict, as some markets still operating have found attendees show up and simply don't follow them, Shortt said.\n\nAnd, under pandemic rules, social aspects of a market, like musicians, tastings or chef demos, are definitely cancelled.\n\n\"People have to understand the true nature of what a farmers market is,\" Harris said. \"I think people love the sociability of it … talking to a farmer and meeting their friends there. But the basic point of a farmers market is to deliver food products to customers.\"\n\nSome farmers markets, like the Camden Avenue Farmers Market in Salisbury, are seeing more customers than normal, Shortt said.\n\nFor Chesterfield Heirlooms, it has been \"a blessing\" that they can continue to sell their vegetables at the Camden market after their restaurant sales disappeared. It makes up the difference that their new pickup service doesn't cover, Barfield said.\n\nIn Delaware, markets have been banned since mid-March and are likely to remain closed until at least May 15, if not longer.\n\nHarris and associates have been working hard on a plan for Delaware to reopen farmers markets across the state safely. But there is no certainty that their efforts will succeed.\n\n\"We don’t think the farmers markets should have ever not been considered essential services,\" Harris said. \"Farmers markets are food distribution services ... (but) we’re being seen as social venues.\"\n\nMore:Keeping optimistic: Delaware farmers markets plan for delayed openings amid coronavirus\n\nThere are 35 growers who usually depend on the Historic Lewes Farmers Market to sell their produce, Harris said.\n\nGiven the situation, Harris said some are wondering whether to plant at all.\n\nFinancing a pivot\n\nPivoting on a dime to develop a website, increase sanitation or change product packaging has created new costs for small farmers, some of whom don't know if they will come out of this in the black or in the red, Shortt said.\n\nMany Delaware farmers have been hit hard, Harris said. Growers whose suffering is particularly acute are those who don't sell food products — people who grow flowers for weddings, for example, Shortt said.\n\n\"We are working with them, but it’s not a panacea — (pivoting) is a hard, hard thing for farmers to do,\" Harris said.\n\nThe decision of whether to pass these costs forward to consumers is up to the individual farmer. For many, the conversation about rethinking prices is happening, Shortt said.\n\n\"There is a real, sincere understanding on the part of the farmers that many people are losing their jobs,\" Shortt said. \"It’s a morally conflicting situation.\"\n\nThat's why, as of May 11, Future Harvest is launching a fund to help farmers weather market changes caused by the pandemic and bring food to the community at a low cost.\n\nMore:Chincoteague Manna Cafe switches to mobile food service - photos\n\nThe \"Feed the Need Fund\" is raising money to provide mini-grants, ranging from $500 to $5,000, to farmers who make some of their product more affordable. The intention is to make sure farmers get paid for the food they grow while making it accessible to more members of the community, Shortt said.\n\nMethods that might qualify for a grant include offering sliding scales on CSA orders and home deliveries, or providing free produce to local food banks and pantries.\n\nThe U.S. Department of Agriculture is also running a program of support for food banks, but what makes the Feed the Need Fund different is its flexibility: Farmers who don't live in a community with a food bank can still receive a grant by lowering their prices another way, Shortt said.\n\nBetween the efforts of the local farm community to help those in need and to provide sanitary food to those who seek it, there's a hope that a pandemic-fueled increase in awareness of local farms and local produce could translate to more federal and state assistance for the often-overlooked small-scale grower, Shortt said.\n\n\"This crisis shows how important local farms really are,\" she said.\n\nJulia Rentsch is the environmental watchdog reporter for Delmarva Now. Send her an email at jrentsch@delmarvanow.com.", "authors": [], "publish_date": "2020/05/05"}, {"url": "https://www.usatoday.com/story/life/food/2023/05/10/delaware-eats-patricia-taloricos-weekly-newsletter-delaware-online-sign-up/70201155007/", "title": "Delaware Eats, Patricia Talorico's weekly newsletter is a must-read", "text": "If you love food and love Delaware-inspired food even more, Wednesdays should be your favorite day of the week.\n\nThat’s when Delaware Eats would land in your inbox if you sign up for this weekly newsletter just bursting with fresh ideas about dining out, cooking in (or ordering in, because there’s no shame in that).\n\nAward-winning reporter Patricia Talorico recently revamped her newsletter, and it’s stuffed with bite-sized goodness – not just highlights of our recent and always robust dining coverage, but lots of exclusive-to-the-newsletter tips about eating, drinking, cooking, ingredient hunting and much more.\n\nThis week’s newsletter has great suggestions for treating mom right on her special day. Patricia also dishes about a favorite guilty TV pleasure, how to score fresh strawberries at the farmers market, that first really great lobster roll of the season, and how best to enjoy the Wilmington Flower Market.\n\nWe caught up with her recently to learn more about what inspires Delaware Eats:\n\nQ: Share with us some of your background covering food in Delaware.\n\nA: I grew up mostly in Delaware. We moved here when I was a child, and I went to school here, and have been at the paper for more than 30 years. I’ve been covering food since ’97 – maybe even before then, in the ‘90s as the Food Network was starting to gain steam. I have met nearly all the major players in the business, everyone from Julia Child to Jacques Pépin to Rachael Ray to Anthony Bourdain.\n\nQ: You’ve been recognized by the James Beard Foundation for your food journalism ...\n\nA: I have two James Beard Award nominations, and I lost to a writer from the New York Times and to the San Francisco Chronicle, so that’s not too shabby.\n\nBig week for local journalism:Delaware Online rakes in 30 regional journalism awards. Read the winning work for 2022.\n\nQ: What makes covering food in Delaware so special?\n\nA: Well, it’s the Mid-Atlantic region, so you are getting this great seafood. If you are in Wilmington, you are only an hour and a half from the beach, great crab. There’s a great agricultural community in the state, so a lot of chefs here have really been taking advantage of that for more than 10 years, more like 20. There’s great farmers markets. … It’s small, and it’s one of its greatest strengths, as you can get to know the owner and the chef, and not everybody but it’s pretty accessible I would think. And the president of the United States is from Delaware, so you can’t get much better than that.\n\nQ: What’s your favorite type of food story to tell?\n\nA: Really, just like the chef/owners, the mom and pops, the pizza guy I wrote about today … a young guy or woman just getting started in their craft, and sharing something new. If you think you know it, maybe you don’t know it all. So sharing something that people don’t know, all these little, hidden gems.\n\nQ: You write a lot about cooking at home. Are you more of a favorite recipe cook or an improvisational cook?\n\nA: I do both. I like to study a cuisine and then really try to perfect it. For a while, it was Indian food, then it was Mexican especially moles, and always Italian food. I’ve traveled to Italy a lot, and I can make a pretty mean risotto. From there, you can do your own improvising.\n\nQ: What is your favorite cookbook you go back to again and again?\n\nA: “How to Cook Everything” by Mark Bittman ... it’s like falling apart, I use it so much. He has recipes for the best blueberry muffins and the best brownies. I still use “The Joy of Cooking.” Sheila Lukins – I still use that a lot.\n\nQ: Your newsletter includes a lot of juicy tidbits about food on TV. Do you think you like those shows more because of your job?\n\nA: I don’t know if it’s just my job. I see it and I think, “Can I use that?” Nora Ephron said everything is material; you are always looking for inspiration and I’m always going to zero in on the food. But when it comes to food TV, I don’t like yelling and that kind of stuff. I still watch “Top Chef,” and I watch (“Lidia's Kitchen”) once in a while. I watch Jacques Pépin on Instagram or Facebook.\n\nQ: What is the most Delaware meal you’ve ever had?\n\nA: That’s a great question. Maybe a Capriotti’s Bobbie. … Definitely, a crab cake and corn on the cob in the summer. Any kind of crabs especially that someone caught themselves and served up like a backyard crab fest. And in Sussex, definitely the BBQ chicken by the firefighters. That’s very Delaware. And chicken and slippery dumplings … in a butter bean gravy.\n\nQ: Summer’s on its way. What fresh ingredient are you most looking forward to?\n\nA: Tomatoes, and then corn.\n\nQ: What do you most want people to know about your newsletter?\n\nA: With Delaware Eats, we’re trying to give them something extra, something you are not already reading on Delaware Online.\n\nTo sign up for Delaware Eats, visit profile.delawareonline.com/newsletters/delaware-eats.", "authors": [], "publish_date": "2023/05/10"}, {"url": "https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/food/2023/12/01/cantaloupe-salmonella-outbreak-recalls-trader-joes-kroger-sprouts/71766049007/", "title": "More cantaloupe recalls: Check cut fruit products sold at Trader ...", "text": "Another company has issued recalls connected to a string of cantaloupe-related salmonella infections, according to the FDA.\n\nThe FDA and CDC have initiated an investigation into the contaminated cantaloupe fruits that have been linked to 61 hospitalizations and two deaths in recent weeks. As part of this, several distributors and grocery stores have issued warnings and recalls about both whole cantaloupes and fresh fruit-based products that may contain tainted products.\n\nThe latest recall comes from GHGA, LLC, which distributes some fresh-cut fruit products using cantaloupe from Sofia Produce, LLC dba Trufresh, which had prior issued their own salmonella-based recall.\n\nThe impacted products were sold at Kroger, Trader Joe's and Sprouts stores in several states mostly throughout November. The FDA has released a full set of images and lot numbers to reference, so it's best to check your fridge and freezer now if you might have some affected produce.\n\nWhat cut fruit products are being recalled?\n\nFresh-cut fruit products such as fruit trays and cups are recalled if they contain potentially contaminated cantaloupe. The FDA has specified the following products and sell-by dates:\n\nSprouts Farmers Market brand\n\n10 and 20 ounce Apple Fruit Medley\n\n20 ounce Assorted Fruit Spears\n\n32 ounce Fruit Tray\n\n10 ounce Tropical FruitBlendWith sell-by dates 11/1/23-11/8/23.\n\nTrader Joe’s brand\n\n1 pound Cantaloupe Chunks\n\n16 ounce Fruitful MedleyWith sell-by dates 11/1/23-11/8/23.\n\nNon-branded Krogers products\n\n9 ounce Cantaloupe Chunks with Tajin\n\n18 ounce Cantaloupe Chunks\n\n18 ounce Fruit Medley\n\n73 ounce Large Fruit Tray\n\n73.5 ounce Large Fruit Tray with Dip\n\n18 ounce Mixed Melon\n\n32 ounce Fruit Bowl\n\n9 ounce Mixed Melon with Tajin\n\n9 ounce Cantaloupe Chunks\n\n9 ounce Fruit Medley\n\n26 ounce Small Fruit Tray\n\n26.75 ounce Small Fruit Tray with Dip\n\n9 ounce Mixed MelonWith sell-by dates 10/28/2023-11/4/23.\n\nCDC, FDA investigate:More cantaloupe products recalled over possible salmonella contamination\n\nWhere were the recalled products sold?\n\nThe fresh-cut fruit products containing recalled cantaloupe were distributed by Kroger, Trader Joe's and Sprouts stores in several states. These include:\n\nKroger stores in Alabama and Georgia\n\nin Alabama and Georgia Sprouts stores in Alabama, Georgia, North Carolina and South Carolina\n\nin Alabama, Georgia, North Carolina and South Carolina Trader Joe’s stores in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, South Carolina and Tennessee\n\nCantaloupe recalls\n\nThe Centers for Disease Control has issued a series of warnings in recent weeks over concerns of cantaloupes potentially being contaminated with samonella. The agency reported at least 61 people have been hospitalized and two have died across 34 impacted states. Another 117 illnesses related to the outbreak were also reported as of Friday.\n\nThe following products have been recalled, as per the CDC:\n\nPacific Trellis Fruit/Dulcinea Farms voluntarily recalled nearly 4,900 cases of its \"Malichita\" brand whole cantaloupes due to the ongoing investigation of Malichita-brand cantaloupe for salmonella. The company distributed the cantaloupes between Oct. 18-26 in California, Illinois, Oklahoma, Texas and Wisconsin across various supermarkets, according to the FDA.\n\nvoluntarily recalled nearly 4,900 cases of its \"Malichita\" brand whole cantaloupes due to the ongoing investigation of Malichita-brand cantaloupe for salmonella. The company distributed the cantaloupes between Oct. 18-26 in California, Illinois, Oklahoma, Texas and Wisconsin across various supermarkets, according to the FDA. CF Dallas LLC recalled packages of their Freshness Guaranteed and RaceTrac brands of fresh-cut fruit packages on Wednesday.\n\nrecalled packages of their Freshness Guaranteed and RaceTrac brands of fresh-cut fruit packages on Wednesday. Sofia Produce LLC , which operates under Trufresh, recalled all sizes of fresh cantaloupe with a label that says \"Malichita\" on Nov. 15. The recalled cantaloupes were sold between Oct. 16-23.\n\n, which operates under Trufresh, recalled all sizes of fresh cantaloupe with a label that says \"Malichita\" on Nov. 15. The recalled cantaloupes were sold between Oct. 16-23. Aldi also announced a recall on cantaloupe, cut cantaloupe and pineapple spears in clamshell packaging with best-by dates between Oct. 27-31.\n\nalso announced a recall on cantaloupe, cut cantaloupe and pineapple spears in clamshell packaging with best-by dates between Oct. 27-31. Vinyard Fruit and Vegetable Company initiated a voluntary recall of all fresh-cut cantaloupe products. The recall includes a dozen fresh-cut products containing cantaloupes distributed in Oklahoma from Oct. 30 to Nov. 10.\n\ninitiated a voluntary recall of all fresh-cut cantaloupe products. The recall includes a dozen fresh-cut products containing cantaloupes distributed in Oklahoma from Oct. 30 to Nov. 10. Kwik Trip, Inc. initiated a voluntary recall of three varieties of fresh-cut fruit cup and tray products because they contain cantaloupe that is potentially contaminated with salmonella. The recall includes the fresh-cut fruit cup and tray products containing cantaloupe with sell-by dates of November 4, 2023, through December 3, 2023.\n\nSafety precautions for contaminated fruit\n\nWhile all GHGA products associated with the recall have expired, the FDA has advised consumers who have purchased these items and frozen them for later use not to consume them and instead to dispose of them immediately or return the items to their local store for a full refund.\n\nThe CDC has likewise issued guidance for handling potentially contaminated fruits if you find them in your home:\n\nDo not eat pre-cut cantaloupes if you don’t know whether Malichita or Rudy brand cantaloupes were used. This includes cantaloupe chunks and fruit mixes with cantaloupes at restaurants and grocery stores.\n\nDo not eat any recalled whole or pre-cut cantaloupe products. If you have any, throw them away or return them to the store. If the whole cantaloupe does not have a sticker, check with the store to make sure it is not a Malichita or Rudy brand cantaloupe.\n\nWash items and surfaces that may have touched the cantaloupe using hot soapy water or a dishwasher.\n\nSymptoms of salmonella\n\nSalmonella is a bacteria that can cause serious and sometimes fatal infections in young children, frail or elderly people, and others with weakened immune systems, according to the FDA. The signs of salmonella poisoning include:\n\nBloody diarrhea or diarrhea that lasts more than three days without improving.\n\nDiarrhea and a fever over 102 degrees Fahrenheit.\n\nNausea and vomiting, especially if it prevents you from keeping liquids down.\n\nSigns of dehydration, including: dry mouth and throat, infrequent peeing and feeling dizzy when standing up.\n\nStomach cramps.\n\nThese symptoms most commonly occur between six hours and six days after exposure. Though most people recover in four to seven days, those with weakened immune systems, including children younger than 5 and adults over 65, may experience more severe symptoms that require medical treatment or hospitalization.\n\nContributing: Saman Shafiq, USA TODAY", "authors": [], "publish_date": "2023/12/01"}, {"url": "https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/2023/11/23/open-closed-thanksgiving-2023-stores-restaurants-grocery/71666474007/", "title": "What's open Thanksgiving 2023? Starbucks, Kroger open; Walmart ...", "text": "Whether you're looking to pick up some last-minute groceries, grab a quick bite to eat or go shopping, consumers will have options this Thanksgiving.\n\nWhile some national retailers and grocery stores, like Costco and Target, will be closed on Thursday, others like Kroger and Big Lots will be open, albeit some with reduced hours.\n\nMore retailers have moved away from opening their stores on the holiday, a nod to a change in consumer habits and as a way for employers to demonstrate care to their workers, experts told USA TODAY.\n\nHere's everything you need to know about what's open and closed on Thursday, Nov. 23. It's best to check with your local store or restaurant online before leaving home, as hours and closures can vary by location.\n\nRestaurants open on Thanksgiving:Details on Starbucks, McDonald's, fast food, more\n\nBank and post office hours:Are banks and post offices open on Thanksgiving and Black Friday? Here's what to know\n\nIs Walmart open on Thanksgiving?\n\nAll Walmart stores will be closed on Thanksgiving.\n\nIs Target open on Thanksgiving?\n\nNo, all Target stores will be closed on Thanksgiving this year.\n\nAre Costco and Sam's Club open on Thanksgiving?\n\nBoth Costco and Sam's Club will be closed on Thanksgiving this year.\n\nWill Home Depot, Lowe's or Ace Hardware be open on Thanksgiving?\n\nAll Home Depot and Lowe's stores will be closed on Thanksgiving this year.\n\nAce Hardware stores are independently owned and operated, so hours vary by location. However, an \"overwhelming majority\" of their stores will be closed on Thanksgiving, the company told USA TODAY.\n\nAre pharmacies like CVS and Walgreens open on Thanksgiving?\n\nMost CVS stores will be open regular hours, however some stores may be closed or have limited hours, the company told USA TODAY.\n\nWalgreens announced Nov. 16 that for the first time in company history, most of its locations will be closed on Thanksgiving. According to the company, 24-hour locations will remain open.\n\nIt is always best to check your local store's hours before going. You can find your local CVS here and Walgreens here.\n\nIs the post office open on Thanksgiving and Black Friday? Will mail be delivered?\n\nThe U.S. Postal Service not be delivering mail on Thursday, Nov. 23, nor will retail services be available, the agency told USA TODAY.\n\nMail delivery and retail services will resume their normal operations on Friday.\n\nAre UPS and FedEx open on Thanksgiving?\n\nBoth UPS and FedEx stores will be closed on Thanksgiving in 2023. Both companies also will not be delivering packages on Thursday.\n\nBoth companies will resume regular operations on Friday.\n\nAre banks open on Thanksgiving?\n\nBanks will be closed on Thanksgiving. Branches of Wells Fargo, Bank of America, Capital One, Citibank, PNC, Truist and more will not open their branches Thursday, the companies told USA TODAY.\n\nBranches will be open their regular hours on Friday.\n\nHoliday shopping:In the mood for holiday shopping? Beware, this year more stores are closed on Thanksgiving\n\nWhich retail stores are open and closed on Thanksgiving?\n\nOpen:\n\nBass Pro Shop (9 a.m. to 6 p.m.)\n\nCabela's (9 a.m. to 6 p.m.)\n\nBig Lots (7 a.m. to 9 p.m.)\n\nClosed:\n\nOffice Depot\n\nOfficeMax\n\nStaples\n\nMacy's (some Macy's store hours vary by location, so it is best to check with your local store regarding their specific hours)\n\nNordstrom\n\nJC Penny\n\nTJ Maxx\n\nMarshall's\n\nHomeGoods\n\nBest Buy\n\nDick's Sporting Goods\n\nBelk\n\nKohl's\n\nIKEA\n\nVictoria's Secret\n\nBarnes & Noble\n\nREI\n\nBurlington Coat Factory\n\nFive Below\n\nOld Navy: A small numbers of Old Navy stores in select markets will be open\n\nGap\n\nH&M\n\nSephora: Store hours vary by region and location, so check with your local store\n\nPetSmart\n\nWhich grocery stores are open and closed on Thanksgiving?\n\nOpen: All grocery stores below will be operating under adjusted hours unless noted otherwise. It is always best to check with your local store and pharmacy hours before visiting.\n\nAll stores in the Kroger family of stores will be open, however most will close in the early evening. The Kroger family of stores includes: Baker’s, City Market, Dillons, Food 4 Less, Foods Co, Fred Meyer, Fry’s, Gerbes, Jay C Food Store, King Soopers, Kroger, Mariano’s, Metro Market, Pay-Less Super Markets, Pick’n Save, QFC, Ralphs, Ruler, Smith’s Food and Drug.\n\nMeijer: Open 6 a.m. to 5 p.m.\n\nSafeway: Pharmacy may be closed or have adjusted hours\n\nAlbertsons: Pharmacy may be closed or have adjusted hours\n\nJewel-Osco: Pharmacy may be closed or have adjusted hours\n\nACME: Pharmacy may be closed or have adjusted hours\n\nShaw's: Pharmacy may be closed or have adjusted hours\n\nVons: Pharmacy may be closed or have adjusted hours\n\nTom Thumb: Pharmacy may be closed or have adjusted hours\n\nSprouts Farmers Market: 7 a.m. to 2 p.m.\n\nWegman's: Stores will close at 4 p.m.\n\nGiant Eagle: Stores will close at 3 p.m.; Pharmacies will be closed\n\nWhole Foods: Many stores are open with modified hours. You can check your local store's hours here.\n\nFood Lion: Most stores will be closing at 3 p.m., however a few select stores in Virginia (Lynchburg, Blacksburg and Charlottesville) will close at 4 p.m.\n\nClosed:\n\nPublix\n\nTrader Joe's\n\nAldi\n\nThanksgiving prices:What is the average cost of a Thanksgiving meal? We're breaking down what you need to know\n\nWhich restaurants are open and closed on Thanksgiving?\n\nAll restaurants and major chains below will be open regular business hours unless noted otherwise.\n\nStarbucks: Store hours vary by location. You can find hours for a specific store using the Starbucks app or here.\n\nDunkin': Most locations will be open. Store hours vary by location. Customers can check hours for their local Dunkin' using the Dunkin' app or the online store locator.\n\nTaco Bell: Hours vary by location, but you can check your local Taco Bell's hours here.\n\nCracker Barrel\n\nBurger King: Holiday hours vary by location\n\nPopeyes: Holiday hours vary by location\n\nKrispy Kreme: All locations will close at 2 p.m.\n\nIHOP: Holiday hours vary by location\n\nWaffle House\n\nFogo de Chão\n\nWhite Castle: All restaurants will close at 3 p.m.\n\nGolden Corral: Open from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m., although restaurants in some markets will stay open later\n\nHooters\n\nRed Lobster: Hours vary by location\n\nWhataburger\n\nClosed: All restaurants listed below will be closed on Thanksgiving, unless otherwise noted.", "authors": [], "publish_date": "2023/11/23"}, {"url": "https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/2021/03/12/indoor-farmers-market-black-swamp-artisanal-market-open-downtown-dover/4651536001/", "title": "Farm-fresh foods, handmade crafts to be featured at downtown ...", "text": "Justin and Tara Brant are assembling a stable of vendors for an indoor farmers market in downtown Dover.\n\nThey plan to open Black Swamp Artisanal Market in April in a 1,200-square-foot store at 204 W. Loockerman St., leading a team of more than 30 vendors offering farm-fresh meats, eggs, vegetables, flowers, honey, ice cream and baked goods along with handcrafted soaps, lotions, jewelry and furniture.\n\n“Our goal is to highlight local crafters and producers,” Justin Brant said.\n\nThe market is named after their farm in Felton, and they named their farm after the road it’s on.\n\nThe Brants started raising pigs and chickens two years ago, and they joined the Delaware Farm Bureau. Tara Brant is a registered nurse, retired from the Army, while Justin Brant serves in the Navy but looks to farm full-time soon.\n\nLast year they started selling their pork and eggs at markets, including the Capital City Farmers Market in Dover.\n\n“Tara and I always thought about opening our own store, but we didn’t have the time and worried that we wouldn’t have enough besides pork and eggs,” Justin Brant said.\n\nThen they were contacted by Diane Laird and other representatives from the Downtown Dover Partnership and Unlock the Block.\n\n“They said, ‘We’ve got this idea for this space in Dover that’s vacant, and looking at your website and what you do, we think you’d be a good fit,’” Justin Brant said. “They definitely put the seed in our mind. Tara and I have watered it and grown it, but they’ve really been helping us out.”\n\nThe artisanal market concept was developed through Unlock the Block, a program with the goal of reducing vacancies by supporting entrepreneurs in the downtown business district, said Laird, the DDP executive director and co-chair of Unlock the Block.\n\n“Small-business owners are the foundation of every successful downtown community,” Laird said. “Even amidst a world pandemic, Justin and Tara have been carefully planning and strategizing – discussing architecturals, finalizing contracts, working with vendors, selecting displays – all to ensure a high quality, successful venture next to the Bayard Pharmacy.”\n\nA team that comprises Unlock the Block, including Cindy Small, business adviser for the Small Business Development Center, is providing assistance to the couple.\n\n“Small businesses are the cornerstone of Delaware’s economy and this marketplace creates the opportunity not only for Black Swamp Farmstead, but for several other small businesses that will make up this cooperative,” Small said. “It’s a win-win-win situation for the businesses, residents and Dover.”\n\nWill Grimes, Neighborhood Revitalization coordinator and NCALL/Restoring Central Dover representative, said the market is filling a need.\n\n“We know the community will be so enthused about the variety of goods they’ll be offering right here in the downtown,” he said.\n\nMORE DOVER NEWS:Celebrity photographer from Dover works on 'Love & Hip Hop,' 'Black Ink'\n\n“Artisanal” means made in a traditional or non-mechanized way, not from a factory.\n\n“The products are grown or raised locally – homemade, handcrafted,” Justin Brant said. “The vendors are sourcing the items for their products as sustainably as they can. These are people making their own cheese, butter, bread, cakes and canning their own jelly.”\n\nThe Brants have received verbal commitments from about 35 vendors.\n\n“This team approach will allow us to bring high-quality products all under one roof, and weather will certainly not affect operations as it sometimes does with the outdoor farmers markets,” Justin Brant said.\n\nThe market will have the look of one store, but each vendor will label their product with their company logo and information.\n\nThe Brants, members of the Farmers-Veterans Coalition, will display the products on custom wood furniture made by Fortitude Furnishings, owned by a U.S. Marine Corps veteran in Georgetown, and that furniture will also be for sale.\n\nWorkshops and demonstrations\n\nTara Brant said she and several vendors will offer workshops and demonstrations at the market, so customers can learn how to make some of the products themselves.\n\n“I make soaps and lotions from natural ingredients and will be pleased to share that process in the store,” she said.\n\nOther ideas include workshops on making wreaths, candles or floral arrangements.\n\nJocelyn Bottomley of Fat Cat Farms will offer how-to programs in addition to selling her sourdough English muffins and seasonal heirloom vegetables and flowers at the market.\n\n“We plan on providing workshops and demos on ‘farmsteading’ with topics including food preservation, bread baking and seed starting,” she said.", "authors": [], "publish_date": "2021/03/12"}, {"url": "https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/food/2023/11/28/salmonella-cantaloupe-recall-2023-brands/71728702007/", "title": "Salmonella outbreak linked to cantaloupes: Here's what we know", "text": "At least two people have died and 45 people have been hospitalized in a salmonella outbreak in cantaloupes across 32 states, the Centers for Disease Control said Friday.\n\nCantaloupes from several brands, including those sold at Aldi, have been recalled as the CDC works with the Food and Drug Administration to investigate the outbreak.\n\nThe FDA has advised consumers, businesses and restaurants to check cantaloupes they have to see if they have been recalled. If someone has a recalled cantaloupe or if they are unsure if a cantaloupe has been recalled, they are advised to throw it away or return it and sanitize any surfaces that may be contaminated.\n\nHow many illnesses, deaths are linked to the outbreak?\n\n99 illnesses and 45 hospitalizations have been linked to the salmonella outbreak said the CDC Friday, while 2 deaths were reported.\n\nThe most recently reported illness occurred on November 10, though the agency notes that illnesses can take three to four weeks to be determined as a part of an outbreak.\n\nUSA TODAY recall database:Search here for recalls on cars, food and other products\n\nWhich states are impacted?\n\nThe salmonella outbreak has been reported in 32 states including Arkansas, Arizona, California, Colorado, Georgia, Iowa, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Massachusetts, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Mississippi, North Carolina, Nebraska, New Jersey, Nevada, New York, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Tennesse, Texas, Utah, Virginia, Washington and Wisconsin.\n\nMinnesota has the largest number of sickened people with 13 of the 99 cases reported nationwide, according to CDC data.\n\nWhen was the first salmonella case reported?\n\nThe first case was reported on October 17, 2023, per CDC data, while the highest number of cases were reported on October 24, 2023.\n\nWhich brands have recalled cantaloupes?\n\nThe following products have been recalled, as per the CDC:\n\nPacific Trellis Fruit/Dulcinea Farms voluntarily recalled nearly 4,900 cases of its \"Malichita\" brand whole cantaloupes due to the ongoing investigation of Malichita-brand cantaloupe for salmonella. The company distributed the cantaloupes between Oct. 18-26 in California, Illinois, Oklahoma, Texas and Wisconsin across various supermarkets, according to the FDA. Consumers should look out for corrugated cartons with a price look-up sticker labeled as \"Malichita.\" Pacific said it hadn't received any reports of people being sick as of Friday.\n\nvoluntarily recalled nearly 4,900 cases of its \"Malichita\" brand whole cantaloupes due to the ongoing investigation of Malichita-brand cantaloupe for salmonella. The company distributed the cantaloupes between Oct. 18-26 in California, Illinois, Oklahoma, Texas and Wisconsin across various supermarkets, according to the FDA. Consumers should look out for corrugated cartons with a price look-up sticker labeled as \"Malichita.\" Pacific said it hadn't received any reports of people being sick as of Friday. CF Dallas LLC recalled packages of their Freshness Guaranteed and RaceTrac brands of fresh cut fruit packages on Wednesday.\n\nrecalled packages of their Freshness Guaranteed and RaceTrac brands of fresh cut fruit packages on Wednesday. Sofia Produce LLC , which operates under the name Trufresh , recalled all sizes of fresh cantaloupe with a label that says \"Malichita\" on Nov. 15. The recalled cantaloupes were sold between Oct. 16-23.\n\n, which operates under the name , recalled all sizes of fresh cantaloupe with a label that says \"Malichita\" on Nov. 15. The recalled cantaloupes were sold between Oct. 16-23. Aldi also announced a recall on cantaloupe, cut cantaloupe and pineapple spears in clamshell packaging with best-by dates between Oct. 27-31.\n\nalso announced a recall on cantaloupe, cut cantaloupe and pineapple spears in clamshell packaging with best-by dates between Oct. 27-31. Vinyard Fruit and Vegetable Company initiated a voluntary recall of all fresh-cut cantaloupe product. The recall includes a dozen fresh-cut products containing cantaloupes distributed in Oklahoma from Oct. 30 to Nov. 10.\n\nFruit pouches recalled:Lead poisoning sickens more children, 52 total\n\nWhat are the symptoms of salmonella?\n\nSalmonella is a bacterium that affects the intestines of people and animals, according to the CDC. People can get the salmonella infection from eating or drinking contaminated food and water or by touching infected animals, their feces, or their environment.\n\nSalmonella symptoms include:\n\nBloody diarrhea or diarrhea that lasts more than three days without improving\n\nDiarrhea and fever over 102 degrees Fahrenheit\n\nExcessive vomiting, especially if it prevents you from keeping liquids down\n\nSigns of dehydration, including dry mouth and throat, infrequent peeing and feeling dizzy when standing up\n\nStomach cramps\n\nFeeling dizzy when standing up\n\nSymptoms usually start 6 hours to 6 days after swallowing the bacteria, says the CDC. Most people recover without treatment after 4 to 7 days. The CDC recommends getting in touch with a healthcare provider if symptoms persist or get worse.\n\nIs it safe to eat cantaloupe?\n\nThe CDC has advised against consuming, selling or serving recalled fruit. However, they have not issued any warnings against completely avoiding the fruit.\n\nListeriaWilcox Ice Cream recalls multiple products after listeria found in batch of mint chip\n\nContributing: James Powel, Gabe Hauari, USA TODAY\n\nSaman Shafiq is a trending news reporter for USA TODAY. Reach her at sshafiq@gannett.com and follow her on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter @saman_shafiq7.", "authors": [], "publish_date": "2023/11/28"}, {"url": "https://www.usatoday.com/story/life/food/2018/01/23/vegan-chef-offers-hot-foods-buffet-newark/1036087001/", "title": "Vegan chef offers hot foods buffet in Newark", "text": "Nicole Marie Karam took slow steps when she decided to become a vegan.\n\n\"I had a lot of friends who were vegan,\" says the Wilmington University instructor, who teaches introduction to critical thinking and empowerment strategy online classes. \"And my friends who are vegan are really happy.\n\n\"But, I was one of those people who was like, 'I could never go vegan. I need meat. I need cheese.' It was gradual.\"\n\nFirst, she gave up chicken. And then, fast food.\n\nKaram next phased out red meat and pork.\n\n\"I went pescatarian,\" she says, meaning her mainly vegetarian meals consisted of no meat, but she did eat fish.\n\nKaram says she began to feel better and had more energy. She ultimately gave up all fish, along with dairy and eggs.\n\nAs her diet changed, Karam, now celebrating her sixth year anniversary as a vegan, found herself spending, and enjoying, more time in the kitchen and at local farmers markets.\n\n\"I taught myself everything I know. I started reading recipes. I was a terrible cook before I went vegan.\"\n\nKaram began cooking vegan dishes for the Delaware Local Food Exchange. The store, in Wilmington's Trolley Square, sells certified organic, organically grown and pesticide-free foods as well as seasonal produce. It supports the farming community.\n\n\"It made me passionate about local foods.\"\n\nShe founded Yay, Nomz! a vegan food and events company. Karam now cooks plant-based dishes for various community events and festivals.\n\nShe offers cooking demonstrations and holds pop-up dining events. Sometimes, Karam shows up at Liquid Alchemy, a local meads and ciders company and tasting room in Wilmington. She also has done food events at The 3rd Place, a community gathering space in Wilmington's Cool Spring/Tilton neighborhood.\n\nTwo months ago, Karam created a hot food vegan buffet at Cafe 67, the in-house eatery at the Newark Natural Foods store at 230 E. Main St. in the Newark Shopping Center. She already prepares wraps, sandwiches and other foods for the store's grab-and-go case.\n\nMORE: Local chefs share secrets at monthly hands-on cooking classes\n\nMORE: 'Cutting-edge comfort cuisine' at Wilmington's Movable Feast\n\nThe vegan hot bar at the cafe is now available on Saturdays and Sundays, beginning at around 11:30 a.m. It usually runs until 4 p.m. \"or until all the food sells out,\" she says. The cost is $8.99 per pound.\n\nKaram starts cooking on weekend mornings around 8 a.m. and she seldom has the same offerings.\n\n\"I like to switch it up.\" She makes about five vegan dishes for the hot bar, although it might eventually expand.\n\n\"It's not super busy during the weekends,\" she says. (It's now winter break for some student customers who shop at the store and attend the nearby University of Delaware.)\n\nHot bar dishes have included a vegan quiche with a variety of vegetables including onions, peppers and kale. Karam only uses a small amount of oil in her cooking and likes fresh herbs like rosemary and sage. The batter is made with chickpea powder. She adds nutritional yeast, a nutty-tasting ingredient, that gives the quiche a cheesy flavor. The yeast is frequently used as a cheese substitute in vegan dishes.\n\nOther dishes have included butternut squash mac and \"cheese,\" (but, of course, Karam doesn't use any cheese), tofu scramble and some kind of cooked greens.\n\nShe tries to keep most dishes gluten free, soy free and nut free.\n\n\"We're catering to so many people who have allergies,\" Karam says, but admits not every dish at the hot bar is gluten free.\n\n\"I can't do a gluten-free pasta dish in the hot bar. It just falls apart.\"\n\nKaram's most popular dish – and one that's available on a regular basis at Cafe 67 – is a lentil loaf topped with a maple ketchup glaze.\n\nShe makes the loaf using French lentils, short grain brown rice, hemp seeds, organic onions, celery, carrots, sometimes cabbage and fresh sage. It's pressed into a loaf pan, sliced and served with the maple ketchup glaze.\n\nThis past Sunday from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m., Karam cooked for the first Funky Funday Vegan Brunch at Newark Natural Foods.\n\nAs local musicians performed, customers could serve themselves from the vegan, gluten- and soy-free hot foods bar that included sweet potato shepherd's pie, whipped potatoes with gravy, sautéed greens, chickpea Thai curry, pineapple fried rice, corn chowder, and veggie lentil soup.\n\nThe inaugural event was a big success and Karam is hoping the brunch, with the live music, becomes a monthly event.\n\nKaram says following a vegan diet has become easier than ever before.\n\n\"There are so many great alternatives.\"\n\nShe says vegan products can be found at Acme, ShopRite and BJ's stores and at her family's store, Zahra International Food Market in the Newark Shopping Center, which specializes in Greek and Turkish foods.\n\nShe likes that Kid Shelleen's Charcoal House & Saloon in Wilmington now serves a vegan garden burger ($13.95) made with a Beyond veggie patty, vegan mayonnaise, bibb lettuce, tomatoes and red onion.\n\nDrop Squad Kitchen at the Wilmington Riverfront is another good choice for vegan meals, Karam says.\n\n\"I want to put together a vegan dining guide. There's a lot of good places,\" she says, adding Maharaja Indian Restaurant on Old Capitol Trail near Newark, is vegan-friendly, as is Sakura Japanese Sushi in Elsmere.\n\nContact Patricia Talorico at (302) 324-2861 or ptalorico@delawareonline.com and on Twitter @pattytalorico\n\n\n\n", "authors": [], "publish_date": "2018/01/23"}, {"url": "https://www.cnn.com/2022/11/02/business/avocados-surplus-inflation-price-relief/index.html", "title": "Grocery prices are soaring. But this food favorite is getting cheaper", "text": "New York CNNBusiness —\n\nThere’s at least one item in the grocery store that is getting less expensive: avocados.\n\nA significant supply glut of the buttery fruit has triggered a drop in wholesale prices, sending store prices lower as well.\n\nWith the overall cost of grocery items up a stunning 13% compared to last year, cheaper avocados couldn’t come at a better time for inflation-weary households desperate to catch a break on their shopping bills.\n\nAfter surging in the first-half of 2022, the wholesale price for a carton of 48 mid-sized avocados has dropped 35% to under $30 year-over-year, down 67% from the peak reached in the last week of June, said David Magana, senior fresh produce analyst with Rabo AgriFinance.\n\nAt the store level, the average unit price for avocados also has reversed course, declining 2.6% in September from a year ago. That’s a big drop from the 31% year-over-year spike seen in July and August’s 13.9% bump, according to the latest numbers from market research firm NielsenIQ, which tracks point of sale data from retailers.\n\nWhat has flipped the switch on the cost of avocados?\n\nA glut of global avocado supply has triggered a significant drop in prices. Rachel Wisniewski/The Washington Post/Getty Images\n\nA confluence of multifaceted issues — including geopolitics — has led to an overabundance of the fruit, said Richard Kottmeyer, managing director of food, agriculture and beverage with FTI Consulting.\n\nAs prices cool off, so many avocados are floating around right now that in some instances they are being given away for free.\n\n“It’s one of those odd situations where this extreme oversupply of avocados is only possible because of a perfect storm of Black Swan events,” Kottmeyer said. “For consumers, avocados right now are the green lining to the storm clouds of food inflation.”\n\nLast month in Philadelphia, local food distribution nonprofit Sharing Excess held a three-day event to hand out thousands of surplus avocados to anyone who wanted them. More than 300,000 free avocados were claimed in under three hours, according to The Philadelphia Inquirer.\n\nPerfect storm\n\nBumper avocado crops around the globe are leading the supply boom.\n\nThe US avocado market is dominated by Hass avocados from Mexico, which accounts for 92% of supply. A much smaller percentage of avocados come from Peru and from farms in California and Florida.\n\n“In the first half of 2022, avocado shipments from Mexico were 25% lower compared to the record-high shipments we saw in 2021,” said Magana.\n\nShoppers saw a surge in prices for avocados in February after a brief suspension of imports from Michoacan in Western Mexico following a threat to a US official there. The ban was lifted a week later and imports resumed.\n\nAvocados from Mexico account for over 90% of the supply in the US. Luis Antonio Rojas/Bloomberg/Getty Images\n\nIn April, Texas implemented heightened border inspections of commercial trucks carrying produce and other commodities from Mexico, which further delayed avocado shipments to the US. Those regulations were quickly lifted, but not before causing a further run-up in store prices.\n\nAs shipments began to flow following the stoppages, Mexican farmers were also experiencing a better harvest than expected this year.\n\n“Most of the time, avocado crops alternate the yield year to year. So a big crop one year is followed by a smaller crop the next,” said Magana. But sometimes farms get a back-to-back high-yield seasons, as is happening this year.\n\nLayered on top of that are bumper global avocado crops, in such key producing countries as Australia and Peru, that are clashing with geopolitics in a way that has amplified the oversupply, Kottmeyer said.\n\n“Essentially, the US gets most [of its] avocados from Mexico and Peru. Bumper crops would usually be sold across the globe,” he said. “Europe has significant food inflation, so when avocado prices got high earlier this year, the demand went down in that market.”\n\nChina, another big market, is dealing with pandemic-related shutdowns, port congestion and closures. The Russia-Ukraine conflict, too, has hurt exports and shipments of avocados into and around Europe, he said.\n\n“Much of the avocado oversupply has wound up in US,” Kottmeyer said. Avocados have about a three to four week shelf life, longer than most fruits and vegetables, which allows them to be more easily and quickly diverted to other markets, he added.\n\nHow long will it last?\n\nGood news for consumers: The avocado glut should last at least into the middle of 2023, said Magana.\n\n“We can’t predict weather changes, however. A spike in temperatures or a sudden drop can impact production,” he said.\n\nAvocados are enjoying unprecedented popularity lately and are popping up in menu items such as avocado toast and in burgers. Blake Nissen/The Boston Globe/Getty Images\n\nAvocados are already enjoying unprecedented popularity and are popping up in unexpected ways in menu and grocery items — everything from avocado toast and burgers to grilled avocados and avocado oil for cooking and in salad dressings.\n\n“Demand for avocados is certainly not decreasing,” said Kottmeyer “The Super Bowl is the biggest consumption event for avocado, but we’re certainly seeing many more eating occasions for it.”", "authors": ["Parija Kavilanz"], "publish_date": "2022/11/02"}, {"url": "https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/2023/12/13/grocery-stores-open-closed-christmas-2023/71905810007/", "title": "Are Costco, Kroger, Publix, Aldi open on Christmas 2023? See ...", "text": "If you need to make a last-minute trip to the grocery store to grab something for your Christmas gathering, you may be out of luck this year.\n\nSome grocery store chains open with limited hours on holidays such as Thanksgiving and the Fourth of July, but that will not be the case for Christmas in 2023.\n\nSeveral grocery stores, including popular chains such as Kroger, Walmart and Trader Joe's, have announced they will be closed on Dec. 25 to allow their employees to enjoy quality time with their loved ones.\n\nSome chains will also have limited hours on Christmas Eve, so it is best to check with your local store for specific holiday operating hours.\n\nHere's everything you need to know about which grocery stores will be open and closed on Christmas in 2023.\n\nAre banks open on Christmas?:Are post offices, banks, shipping services open on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day 2023?\n\nIs Walmart open on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day?\n\nNo, all Walmart stores will be closed on Dec. 25, the company told USA TODAY.\n\nStores will be open from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Christmas Eve.\n\nIs Costco open on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day?\n\nAll Costco warehouse locations will be closed on Christmas.\n\nWarehouses will be open from 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Christmas Eve, according to the company's website.\n\nIs Sam's Club open on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day?\n\nAll Sam's Club locations will also be closed on Christmas, but stores will be open until 6 p.m. on Christmas Eve.\n\nIs Kroger open on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day?\n\nAll stores in the Kroger family of companies will be closed on Christmas. They will be open regular hours on Christmas Eve, according to the company.\n\nThe Kroger family of stores includes: Baker’s, City Market, Dillons, Food 4 Less, Foods Co, Fred Meyer, Fry’s, Gerbes, Jay C Food Store, King Soopers, Kroger, Mariano’s, Metro Market, Pay-Less Super Markets, Pick’n Save, QFC, Ralphs, Ruler, Smith’s Food and Drug.\n\nIt is best to check with your local store for more specific information about their holiday hours.\n\nIs Trader Joe's open on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day?\n\nAll Trader Joe's stores will be closed on Dec. 25, according to the company's website.\n\nStores will be open until 5 p.m. on Christmas Eve.\n\nIs Whole Foods open on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day?\n\nNo, all Whole Foods stores will be closed on Christmas, the company told USA TODAY.\n\nStores will be open with limited hours on Christmas Eve. It is best to check with your local store for more specific information about their holiday hours.\n\nDecember is here:Will there be a white Christmas in 2023? Experts weigh in.\n\nIs Target open on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day?\n\nAll Target stores will be closed on Christmas this year.\n\nMost stores will be open until 8 p.m. on Christmas Eve, the company told USA TODAY.\n\nIs Aldi open on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day?\n\nNo, Aldi stores will be closed on Dec. 25 this year.\n\nMost stores will be open on Christmas Eve with limited hours. Check with your local store regarding their holiday hours.\n\nIs Publix open on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day?\n\nAll Publix stores will be closed on Christmas and stores will close at 7 p.m. on Christmas Eve, the company told USA TODAY.\n\nGrocery stores closed on Christmas\n\nAll grocery stores below will be closed unless noted otherwise.", "authors": [], "publish_date": "2023/12/13"}]}
+{"question_id": "20240119_23", "search_time": "2024/01/19/23:36", "search_result": [{"url": "https://www.usatoday.com/story/entertainment/2018/12/31/calendar-2019-delaware-things-do/2374339002/", "title": "Fill up that 2019 calendar: There's plenty to do in Delaware", "text": "The calendar is about to turn.\n\nHoliday shopping, proper dinners and Santa Claus are just a memory and now we're staring at a new year. (Funny how that happens every time, eh?)\n\nWith the stress of the season melting away day by day, it's time to shift focus to 2019 — and stress-free fun.\n\nWe here at The News Journal had our news elves compile 19 arts and entertainment events, openings and anniversaries that are heading our way and worth your time.\n\nHere's what their big ears and tiny hands came up with.\n\n1. The Delaware State Fair turns 100: One of Delaware's largest events of the year is turning the big 1-0-0! The Harrington-based fair will host a centennial celebration throughout its run in 2019. Want a jump-start on the anniversary fun? Hit the fairgrounds Jan. 12 for the fair's centennial license plate auction at 3 p.m. Fifty-four of the special Delaware plates that bear the state fair 100th anniversary logo will be up for grabs.\n\n2. \"Hamilton\" does Philly: The smash Broadway musical from Lin-Manuel Miranda heads south to Philadelphia's Forrest Theatre from Aug. 27 to Nov. 17. While the subscription packages are already sold out, the rest of the tickets have not yet gone on sale. If you don't want to throw away your shot, go to kimmelcenter.org and sign up for ticket updates to be among the first to know.\n\n3. The Franklin Institute debuts \"Marvel: Universe of Super Heroes\": Kids of all sizes will like this trip to the museum. Opening April 13, this new exhibit will offer up more than 300 artifacts from Marvel Comics, including pages, costumes and props. Organizers say to expect \"a fully immersive design with life-size scenes straight from the comic world,\" rare comics and artwork, including original art for Spider-Man’s origin story. They add: \"Interactive elements including the opportunity to travel through the mysterious mirror dimension of Doctor Strange, digitally transform into Iron Man and pose for selfies alongside life-size representations of Black Panther, Spider-Man and other iconic Marvel characters.\"\n\n4. The opening of Wilmington's DE.CO Food Hall: When will this happen? Your guess is as good as ours. The $3.5-million project — a collaboration between Wilmington's Buccini/Pollin Group and Seawall Development, a company that developed Baltimore’s R. House food hall — was supposed to be open by late 2018. Heck, in August they floated in a newsletter that \"almost all of the stalls are full with chefs working on building their menus and kitchens, but we can't say who just yet!\" Whenever it does open at the DuPont Building (10th and Orange), the 12,000-square-foot space, able to seat 250, should especially be buzzing during the downtown lunch rush. Eight different kitchens are expected, along with a bar. Officials say it certainly won't be open by spring, but chef announcements should start riolling out in the first squartyer of the year.\n\n5. “Costuming THE CROWN”opens at Winterthur: Opening March 30 and running into early 2020, Winterthur Museum, Garden & Library will host a dream exhibition for fans of the Netflix series \"The Crown.\" Get up close and personal with 40 costumes from the show, which snagged an Emmy Award for Claire Foy, who played Queen Elizabeth II on the program. (The show returns for a third season in 2019.) Everything from Queen Elizabeth’s coronation robe to Princess Margaret’s wedding dress will be represented.\n\n6. The opening of U.S. 301: The new cashless toll road is expected to open Jan.1. If you don't have E-Z Pass, you'll get a bill in the mail because your license plate is scanned as you drive by. The new $636 million interstate, which runs 15 miles from Del. 1 to the Delaware/Maryland border, has four lanes. More than 14,000 vehicles are expected each day when cars start rumbling down the long-awaited roadway.\n\n7. Opening of Wilmington's 76ers Fieldhouse: If you have been counting the days until you could finally root for the Delaware Blue Coats in their new Wilmington home, keep counting. The NBA G league team, formerly the Delaware 87ers, had hoped to christen the 76ers Fieldhouse on U.S. 13 on Jan. 4. Construction delays at the $30 million, 2,500-person arena have pushed that moment back to Jan. 23. In the meantime, the Blue Coats will play Jan. 9 and 11 at the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia.\n\n8. Food Bank of Delaware moves: The nonprofit agency that fights hunger in Delaware is now ready to make the leap. The Food Bank of Delaware will move its warehouse from a 42,500-square-foot facility in Ogeltown to a new 80,000-square foot home at 222 Lake Drive in Pencader Corporate Center in nearby Glasgow. They purchased the building three years ago and are currently retrofitting it. It will also house their culinary school, which will be able to double in size. Donate at fbd.org to help fill the new warehouse.\n\n9. Delaware Art Museum's new Loper exhibit: The work of late Wilmington artist Edward Loper Sr. will sit alongside that of his son Edward Loper Jr. for a new exhibit called \"The Loper Tradition.\" Starting March 23, their paintings will be paired for the first time, drawn from the collections of the Delaware Art Museum, other public institutions, local corporations and private individuals. The elder Loper, who died in 2011 at 95, broke racial barriers as the first African-American to have a painting accepted at what is now the Delaware Art Museum.\n\n10. New-look Firefly Music Festival debuts with AEG as sole owner: Four years after concert giant AEG partnered with Firefly's founders Red Frog Events, AEG bought out Red Frog earlier this year and is running the show solo. Its first big move — announcing the 2019 Dover lineup — was somewhat underwhelming, with plenty of fans griping about the lineup headed by Panic! at the Disco, Travis Scott and Post Malone. (Not that whining about the lineup doesn't happen every year.) The real verdict will come June 21-23 when The Woodlands fills up and the beats start to drop.\n\n11. The 40th anniversary of Yuletide at Winterthur: The annual holiday tour of Henry Francis du Pont’s mansion marks its fourth decade starting in November. This past year's tour included everything from an 18-room dollhouse mansion to a display of antique Santas.\n\n12. Cupid’s Undie Run at The Queen: Get your tighty-whities ready for a good cause. You're invited to prance around Wilmington's Market Street in your underwear on Feb. 16 to raise money for The Children's Tumor Foundation, which fights the genetic disorder neurofibromatosis. Wilmington joins 39 other cities as an estimated 12,000 pantsless people will run nationwide, leaving little to the imagination. Registration costs $35 (cupids.org) to join the fun at The Queen in Wilmington.\n\n13. Delaware Theatre Company does \"Honk!: An Ugly Ducking Musical\": The average age of the theatergoer at DTC will drop a bit April 17 to May 12 when this musical adaptation of Hans Christian Andersen's \"The Ugly Duckling\" comes to Wilmington to delight the kiddos. \"Honk!,\" which has had more than 8,000 productions in its 25-year history, won the 2000 Laurence Olivier Award for Best New Musical.\n\n14. A decision on the future of Dewey Beach's northbeach: It's been more than two months since we were supposed to have a decision on the waterfront club owned by Dewey Beach Lions Club. A membership vote was held in late October to determine who would run the spot in early 2020 when the current lease runs up. Why is everyone so interested? Not only is it an iconic, hard-partying bar that draws major crowds in the summer, but two of the town's biggest bar owners are gunning for the property, pitting current owners Highway One Group against the team from The Starboard. Dewey Beach Lions Club has not returned calls for an update since the October vote.\n\n15. Sea Witch Halloween & Fiddlers' Festival turns 30: The three-day free Halloween festival that brings everyone back to the beach for boos instead of barbecues will have its 30th anniversary Oct. 25-27. Rehoboth and Dewey beaches will be filled with families for the weekend's costume parades, bonfires, broom-tossing contests, beach games and fiddlers' festival.\n\n16. Brandywine Creek State Park unveils “social hikes”: Have you ever wanted to go for a hike and had no one to join you? Well, this is just for you. The park has a new offering called \"social hikes\" starting Jan. 5 at 1 p.m. The free event starts at the Nature Center where everyone gathers before heading off for an hourlong walk and conversation is encouraged. Two others are currently scheduled: Jan. 19 and Feb. 2.\n\n17. OperaDelaware’s 2019 Festival: This year's theme is \"In Opera We Trust\" with a trio of legal-themed shows April 27 to May 4. First up is \"Dead Man Walking,\" based on the book Sister Jean Prejean. Written by Jake Heggie, this is different than the film adaption but still focuses on an inmate on death row and his spiritual adviser. The second is \"Scalia/Ginsburg\" by composer Derrick Wang. The one-act opera delves into the friendship between Supreme Court Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg and the late Antonin Scalia. To round out the festival, check out Gilbert & Sullivan's courtroom comedy \"Trial By Jury.\"\n\n18. Middletown gets its own Two Stones Pub: That's right. The guys behind 2SP Brewing Co. — the brewery that recently made a collaborative coffee stout with Wawa — are opening their fourth brewpub in Delaware. Located in Hedgelawn Plaza off U.S. 301, owners say the taps will be flowing at the 4,766-square-foot, 200-person watering hole and restaurant by March or April. The Middletown location will join other Delaware Two Stones Pub locations in Hockessin, Brandywine Hundred and the Newark area.\n\n19. Dover International Speedway celebrates 50 years of NASCAR: It was July 6, 1969 when NASCAR driver Richard Petty won the first NASCAR race on the Monster Mile. For 2019, the track will feature two NASCAR triple-header weekends (May 3-5 and Oct. 4-6). Every Monster Trophy in 2019 will be gold-colored as a symbol of the 50th and both weekends will feature special appearances by legendary drivers, free concerts and an expanded game-filled FanZone to help mark the occasion.\n\nContact Ryan Cormier of The News Journal at rcormier@delawareonline.com or (302) 324-2863. Follow him on Facebook (@ryancormier), Twitter (@ryancormier) and Instagram (@ryancormier).\n\nMore from Ryan Cormier:\n\nThis bartender and former Marine transforms into 'Motorcycle Santa' for kids in need\n\nFirefly '19: Super-huge headliners? Nope. Top-tier female acts? Not at all.\n\nAss Kicken Chickens: New Dewey Beach beer a hit with UD fans", "authors": [], "publish_date": "2018/12/31"}, {"url": "https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/2017/03/22/dupont-gives-hotel-art-3-area-museums-united-way/99486618/", "title": "DuPont gives hotel art to 3 area museums, United Way", "text": "Betsy Price, Margie Fishman, and Jeff Mordock\n\nThe News Journal\n\nThe DuPont Co. announced Wednesday it has donated key pieces of its hotel art collection to three area museums and is giving 400 other works to United Way of Delaware to sell as a fundraiser.\n\nThe move ensures that paintings by area artists such as N.C., Andrew and Jamie Wyeth as well as Frank Schoonover and Ed Loper will remain in Delaware, on view, for generations to come.\n\nSplitting the major paintings are the Delaware Art Museum, which took 13 pieces; the Hagley Museum and Library, which chose six; and the Brandywine River Museum of Art, which chose three.\n\nDuPont, which began buying art for the hotel in 1937, did not disclose the collection's value and would not discuss terms of the donations. But museum spokesmen said one of the requirements was that while the art could be stored and undergo conservation treatments, it must be displayed for the public to see, not sequestered in private rooms.\n\nDelaware Art Museum director Sam Sweet praised DuPont's sense of community responsibility, pointing out that during the past 80 years the paintings essentially have been guests at thousands of family dinners and parties at the hotel.\n\n\"So many people have personal connections to the work,\" Sweet said. \"We were just delighted to be able to work with DuPont to make sure these pieces stay in the community and make sure they are part of people's lives. This is a great way to strengthen our collection, not just to the works and the artist, but to the individuals who have had these works as part of their family celebrations at the hotel.\"\n\n“People have the availability to visit their old friends,” added Jill MacKenzie, Hagley’s director of audience engagement.\n\nThe donation follows last month's announcement that DuPont had sold its hotel business to Buccini/Pollin, a Wilmington-based developer. Under the agreement, Buccini’s Washington, D.C.-based management affiliate, PM Hotel Group, assumes control of the 217-room hotel’s operations. A price was not disclosed.\n\nDuPont had owned and operated the 12-story Italian Renaissance building for much of its 104-year existence. “The Hotel” has been considered Wilmington’s “front door” ever since it opened in 1913. Its internationally known Green Room restaurant and stately Gold Ballroom will continue to operate, according to Buccini officials.\n\nSeparately, DuPont is exploring the sale of its 525-acre country club on Rockland Road in Rockland ahead of a proposed $130 billion merger with the Dow Chemical Co. later this year.\n\n“DuPont is pleased to make this significant gift to the Wilmington community,” Richard C. Olson, senior vice president, DuPont Corporate Services, said in a press release. “These outstanding museums will ensure the care and conservation of important works from our collection so that the public can enjoy them for generations to come. Our gift to United Way of Delaware continues a partnership that spans more than 70 years and will help support programs that benefit more than 100,000 Delawareans each year.”\n\nDuPont is following a different path than Wilmington Public Library, which in 2009 put a series of N.C. Wyeth's \"Robinson Crusoe\" paintings on sale to help fund a restoration and renovation. The paintings eventually sold for about half of what the library hoped they would bring.\n\nKey among the Hotel du Pont art pieces is \"Island Funeral,\" painted by N.C. Wyeth using blue-green pigments created by DuPont Co. It hung on the wall in the Brandywine Room at the hotel. It will go to the Brandywine River Museum of Art. The museum also will receive Andrew Wyeth's \"Master of the Fox Hounds\" and Jamie Wyeth's \"White House.\"\n\nHagley, which specializes in collecting business records and functions as the DuPont archive, chose first among the works, selecting pieces of historical importance to the company and the area. The site of the gunpowder works founded by E.I. du Pont in 1802, Hagley picked “Eleutherian Mills” and “Brandywine Village” by Andrew Wyeth, “Brandywine Valley Industries Hagley Yards” by Bayard Taylor Berndt, “The Brandywine” by Frank Jefferies, “Rockland Houses” by Charles Colombo and “Three Brothers, Three Presidents: Pierre du Pont, Irenee du Pont and Lammot du Pont” by an unknown artist.\n\nThe Delaware Art Museum will get Andrew Wyeth's \"The Big Chimney,\" among others including Andrew Wyeth’s “New Castle Ferry,” “Buttonwood Tree” and “The Crystal Lamp”; N.C. Wyeth’s “'Stand away from that girl!’ repeated de Spain harshly, backing the words with a step forward”; Carolyn Wyeth’s “Wild Tiger Lily”; Harvey T. Dunn’s “When the Whaling Fleet Cleared for the Caribes”; John Koch's “Garden at Wilmington”; John W. McCoy’s “Small Craft Storm Warning (Electrical Tower on a Hill)”; Frank Earle Schoonover’s “October Comes”; “Edward Loper Sr.’s “Elfreth’s Alley”; Ann Wyeth McCoy’s “The Overhang”; and Helen Coolidge Woodring's “The White Unicorn.”\n\nThe 400 paintings donated to the United Way of Delaware come from the hotel collection, the Chemours building and other properties. Those works are expected to be sold for fixed prices at an event in late April or early May. The first hours of the sale will be open exclusively to DuPont and Chemours employees, before the general public is invited in, said Michelle Taylor, United Way's president and chief executive officer.\n\nThe United Way, which has never before received an art donation of this magnitude, is still working to appraise individual pieces, valued at a couple hundred dollars to more than $1,000 apiece, Taylor said. Some of the most expensive pieces, which Taylor did not immediately identify, could be auctioned online if they don't sell locally. The United Way hopes to raise $100,000 from the sale, Taylor said, with proceeds benefiting elementary school reading programs.\n\nOne of the most famous and visible pieces of art, a Howard Pyle painting of a powder wagon and DuPont gunpowder called \"Conestoga Powder Wagon\" that hung in the hotel lobby, was not offered to the museums and will be taken to DuPont headquarters because of its historical connection, museum directors said.\n\nArtist Jamie Wyeth on Wednesday praised DuPont for keeping the works that represent the Brandywine School tradition in the area. Wyeth said the company never approached him about taking some of the paintings. But he was most excited that N.C. Wyeth’s “Island Funeral,” depicting his beloved Maine seascape, would join the Brandywine River Museum of Art’s core collection.\n\n“This is wonderful,” Wyeth said. “I thought they’d go on the auction block.\"\n\n“My only sadness is that I always enjoyed going to the Brandywine Room and looking at the paintings,\" he said. A collection by three generations of the Wyeth family previously was displayed in the Brandywine & Christina rooms.\n\nBy donating the paintings, DuPont will save millions of dollars in taxes. A donation spares the company from paying corporate income tax on a sale's proceeds and also provides DuPont with deductible donations to charity. DuPont, a $66 billion company, would have had a sale taxed at the United States' top corporate tax rate of 35 percent. Because the paintings don't generate any income for DuPont, donating the collection was a smart move, according to Jordon Rosen, a Wilmington accountant who specializes in business taxes at Belfint Lyons & Shuman.\n\n\"Basically, they are saving on the capital gains tax, and they are getting fair market value for their deduction,\" Rosen said.\n\nBecause the United Way and the museums are tax-exempt organizations, they don't have to worry about taxes on sales, either.\n\n\"It's win-win for the organizations,\" Rosen said.\n\nDuPont officials declined to comment on the size of the current hotel collection, but it was large enough for a special exhibit at the Delaware Museum of Art in 1981.\n\nWashington-based historian and museum consultant Redmond Barnett said hotels are not as well known for art collections as are banks. Corporations such as Deutsche Bank and UBS have amassed tens of thousands of artworks. Locally, Bank of America, Wilmington Trust Co. and Christiana Health System all have used fine art to grace their lobbies, office corridors and executive suites.\n\nWhen WSFS Bank sold its downtown Wilmington building, for instance, the bank in 2007 donated a massive mural by N.C. Wyeth, \"Apotheosis of the Family,\" to the Delaware Historical Society.\n\nDuPont epitomized corporate support of arts and culture for a century until the company's contraction in the 1990s. Today, many of Delaware's arts organizations, including the Delaware Art Museum, the Playhouse and the Delaware Symphony Orchestra, credit their success to DuPont family members' ardent support.\n\nThe latest round of DuPont donations still came as a big surprise to the museums, directors said.\n\nThey were first approached in February, said Thomas Padon, executive director of the Brandywine River Museum of Art.\n\nHagley made its selections based on the historical significance of the paintings’ subject matter and their ties to DuPont corporate history, MacKenzie said.\n\n“Those six are really six gems for Hagley,\" she said. \"They give such a wonderful window into what this area was like.”\n\nThe works will be evaluated by Hagley conservators later this month. Then, they may be put on display as a group on the second floor of Hagley’s Visitor Center, MacKenzie said.\n\nAfter Hagley made its choices, the Brandywine River Museum and Delaware Art Museum worked together to look through 65 possible choices, Padon and Sweet said.\n\nThey found the process easy. Each wanted pieces that extended the collection of their artists or filled gaps in those collections.\n\nPadon wanted \"Island Funeral,\" for example, because of the time period it was painted by N.C. Wyeth, because it was painted in his studio now on museum property and because of its story about its connections to the chemistry of the DuPont Co.\n\nN.C. painted the work at a time when he was taking fewer illustration commissions and working more on fine art.\n\n\"I think it’s certainly the masterpiece of N.C.’s later period in his career,\" Padon said. \"It's stunning.\" With this acquisition, the museum now has about five of the late Maine works, Padon said.\n\nJamie Wyeth also noted that the donations would help the Delaware Art Museum rebound from one of its most tumultuous periods. In 2014, the Delaware museum board approved selling four seminal works of art to retire the museum’s $19.8 million debt. The move resulted in sanctions from national museum groups, compromising the Delaware museum’s ability to receive loaned works from other institutions.\n\nSweet is currently working with the American Alliance of Museums and the Association of Art Museum Directors for reaccreditation and to lift the sanctions, a Delaware Art Museum spokeswoman said.\n\nSweet said DuPont's donation honors the museum's role in the community and recognizes that it can \"steer these works into the future for the community and care for them and keep them here.\"\n\nSometimes, the works will bring the museum double benefits. The Delaware Art Museum took Loper’s “Elfreth’s Alley.\" Loper was a prominent African-American artist. His work will hang near Andrew Wyeth's painting of the same street scene, Sweet said.\n\nContact Betsy Price at (302) 324-2884 or beprice@delawareonline.com. Contact Margie Fishman at (302) 324-2882 or mfishman@delawareonline.com. Contact Jeff Mordock at (302) 324-2786 or jmordock@delawareonline.com.", "authors": [], "publish_date": "2017/03/22"}, {"url": "https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/local/2015/11/25/high-school-report-nov/76137920/", "title": "High School Report Nov. 26", "text": "Appo\n\nAppoquinimink\n\nAppoquinimink High School student Casey Wolhar was highlighted by the Boys and Girls Club for her contributions through her senior project. Wolhar created a fundraiser to support the Boys and Girls Club's Pegasus Artworks Program by making and selling decorative holiday bottles. She set a goal of $2,000 and has already raised $1,400 toward that goal. To order a bottle or for more information, please contact Renee Wolhar at rwolhar@verizon.net.\n\nThe school’s Cheer Team has been honored by the Christiana Health System for their contribution to the Helen F. Graham Cancer Center & Research Institute. The varsity and junior varsity cheer squads worked together to sell pink breast-cancer awareness T-shirts. Led by Head Coach Brooke Martin, the team sold nearly 300 shirts and were able to donate $1,000.\n\nBrandywine\n\nBrandywine\n\nHigh school seniors continue to work with counsellors to get college applications in.\n\nStudents, their family and friends are invited to attend a High School Career Seminar hosted by the Philadelphia Flyers Dec. 8. Those who attend will get the chance to meet with guest speakers to talk about what it's like to work with such a popular sports organization. Contact Asher Halbert at asher_halbert@comcastspectacor.com for more information.\n\n– Shannon Donovan\n\nMount Pleasant\n\nMount Pleasant High School senior Kate Walker signed a letter of intent to play field hockey at the University of Michigan beginning next fall. She was joined by family, friends, teammates and Mount Pleasant and Brandywine School District staff for the signing in the school library Nov. 16.\n\nMath League's first meet was successful, with the group tying for second place at Archmere Academy. Their second meet is Dec. 1 at Brandywine High School.\n\n91.7 WMPH broadcasted Mount Pleasant's home football games on both the radio and online at www.wmph.net this past season, concluding with Mount's Nov. 7 win over Howard High School of Technology. Play-by-play and color commentary was provided by senior Quincy Vaughn and sophomore Jakayla Allen. WMPH plans to air a basketball game in the future, and possibly baseball games in the spring.\n\n–Hannah Gray\n\nChristina\n\nChristiana\n\nOn Nov. 14, the Christiana High School Marching Band performed its best show of the season, receiving an overall rating of superior at the New Castle County Band Festival. It is the highest rating given, and this was the sixth year in a row that the CHS’s Marching Band received a superior rating. A crowd of 1,000 spectators cheered during the entire show.\n\nThe school will use a $15,000 grant and a $19,800 grant from the Delaware Department of Education's Office of Career and Technical Education (CTE) to develop a three-year computer science pathway and a three-year engineering pathway starting in the fall of 2016. The program prepares students for further education and careers in engineering and engineering technology.\n\nGlasgow\n\nThe Glasgow Wrestling Team will hold a fundraising night at Friendly's Restaurant in People's Plaza Dec. 1 from 5 p.m. to 9 p.m. No flyer is needed, and all purchases, even take out orders, will help support the team.\n\nThe Glasgow High School Swim Team will host its Annual Winter Craft Fair Dec. 12, from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Vendor space is available. Contact Dave Kohan at (302) 631-5600 Ext. 15421 or c/o Glasgow High School 1901 S. College Avenue, Newark, DE 19702, david.kohan@christina.k12.de.us, 302-631-5600 Ext. 15421.\n\nThe Glasgow Cares Initiative helped raise awareness about breast cancer Nov. 20 during the annual Staff versus Student \"Pink Out\" Basketball game. The money raised was donated to the American Cancer Society.\n\nMegan Sellers, a senior at Glasgow High School, has been elected Delaware Career Association state treasurer. As a member of the ;eadership Team, Sellers has been invited to attend the National Student Leadership Academy hosted by Jobs for America's Graduates in Washington, D.C., from Dec. 3-6.\n\nCongratulations to seniors Edgar Mena, Mark Harris, Donte Williams, Jai'nova Maple, Jahmar Wolford, William Ricks and Dominic McDonald, who played their last football game for the Dragons Nov. 14.\n\nIn varsity volleyball, the team finished 3-12. Congratulations to seniors Ashley Brogan, Rebekah Ahlstrom, Sha'Quell Brown, Celeya Byrd, Margaret Rowles, Stephanie Turk and Shuma Medley.\n\nIn field hockey, the team recognized seniors Edna Adejuwon, Jasmine Barcus, Farida Mohammed, Riley Rhodes and Jillian Rupp.\n\nIn varsity soccer, the team finished the season 6-9, and the team finished in 2nd place in the conference. It included seniors Utife Affia, Michael Murphy, Daniel Gonzalez, Charles Ndikum, Angel Martinez-Tlaseca, Tanner Fonjweng, Jesus Ayala-Pena and Hector Flores.\n\nThe men’s and women’s cross country runners finished 2nd in their conference with seniors Paris Taylor, Desire Singleton, Braulio Florentino, Simeon Dailey, Jawarr Grant and Darius Blalock.\n\nThe cheerleading team had a great season showing sportsmanship and amazing spirit with seniors Rachel Bolden, Jasmine Foster, Dyamond Holmes, Myasia Killian, Siani Martin, Anya McKenzie, Schalece Newell, Nyla Richardson, Desire Singleton and Unique Snow.\n\nThe school’s marching band also had a great season, placing in the top three in several competitions this season. They are saying good-bye to seniors Amethyst Lee, Caitlin Wilson, Carlos Grau, Hannah Walters, Madison Smith, Mileny Almodovar, Matthew Styles, Michael Leonard, Nick Al-Choklachy and Ryan Lester.\n\nNewark\n\nNewark High School held its annual Orchestra Concert Thursday.\n\nThe men's lacrosse team held a fundraiser on Nov. 20 at Claymont Steak House.\n\nOn Saturday, the Newark men's basketball team and the Newark Fellowship of Christian Athletes hosted a free one-hour basketball clinic called \"Hoops for Hunger.\" After the session, the FCA provided families that signed up with a complete Thanksgiving dinner.\n\nThe school will use a $15,000 grant from the Delaware Department of Education's Office of Career and Technical Education (CTE) of to develop new computer science courses.\n\nRed Clay\n\nCab Calloway\n\nJi Seong-Ho, a refugee from North Korea, spoke to Cab Calloway students about his 6,000 mile journey out of North Korea. The presentation, which took place Nov. 12, was part of an effort to highlight the human rights issues in the communist country. The visit was organized by Brian DiSabatino.\n\n– Meredith Lindsey\n\nCharter\n\nThe Jefferson Council collected canned goods and turkeys for the annual turkey drive, benefiting low-income Delawareans, mainly senior citizens and families.\n\nThe school’s annual Quidditch event was Friday. Quidditch is a sport in the Harry Potter books. All proceeds benefited the Save The Children Foundation, an organization that provides children around the world with \"a healthy start, the opportunity to learn, and protection from harm.\"\n\n– Vilas Annavarapu\n\nConrad\n\nNearly two dozen Conrad students were appointed to All-Conference Athletes: first team, Dara Spavlik; field hockey, Sarah Bessel; field hockey, Wynnsome Gadson; field hockey, Katie Dick; field hockey, Lindsay Burg; volleyball, Heather McClure; cross country, Lee-MaximChance; second team, Sarai Flores; field hockey, Breanne Owens; field hockey, Anna Fleetwood; field hockey, Alyssa Faville; volleyball, Johan Silvestre; soccer, Troy Ellis; soccer, Dean Marsh; honorable mentions include Cesar Hernandez; soccer, Nathan Marsh; soccer, Amiya Rattley; volleyball, Aspen Morehead; volleyball, Felicia Mayers; field hockey, Jessica Mah.\n\nThe school recently held its annual High School Choice Open House and it was a rousing success.\n\nOn Nov. 13, Conrad nursing technology students went on a field trip with teacher Heather Groseclose to Bear to study fingerprinting and DNA analysis used on criminals to solve crimes and murders. They were also fingerprinted themselves to experience first-hand how the process works. The trip was part of their preparation for clinicals due to begin Dec. 7.\n\n– Cole McLaughlin\n\nDickinson\n\nThe fall play, “Where There's a Will There's a Murder,” was performed last weekend in the school auditorium. The murder mystery, starring sophomore Sofia Rose as the female lead, and junior Erik Xaxni in the male lead, was directed by drama teacher Katie Gee.\n\nJunior International Baccalaureate student Arlene Opio and performing arts teacher Matt Jufer are sponsoring the school's Holiday Snowcase Dec. 9 at 7 p.m. in the auditorium. Donations of new and unused toys or a $5 donation will be collected for Toys for Tots. Auditions are Tuesday after school in the chorus room. See Opio or Jufer for details or to sign up to audition.\n\nToys will also be collected in the office for a holiday toy drive from now until Friday, Dec. 11. Toys should be new and unwrapped and can be dropped off in the main office. All proceeds will go to Kind to Kids. See senior Nazia Chowdhury for details.\n\nCharter\n\nNewark Charter\n\nThis year's Global Contexts for Leadership classes have been very busy. With multiple fundraising events, they raised a sizable amount of money at the Newark Charter School Homecoming Weekend Tailgate. Sophomores are raising money to get a former child-soldier to speak, while the junior class is working on their capstone projects. GCL is centered around service and learning. They are already planning exciting events such as a Disaster Preparedness Night, led by Jon Hyson; a pet adoption day, organized by Zoe McFadden; and a Genocide Awareness Night, coordinated by Luci Ostheimer, Sam Roberts and Megan McCormick.\n\nThe annual school auction was held Nov. 14, a huge fundraising opportunity for the school, made possible by donations from school families and staff.\n\n– Makenna Higgins\n\nPrivate\n\nArchmere\n\nFollowing a 3-0 victory over Charter, the Archmere volleyball team was headed to the semifinals of the DIAA State Tournament Nov. 12, with a game at St. Mark's versus Padua. Zoe Akoto led the Auks with 12 kills and 7 digs. But it was a balanced effort from the entire front row as Archmere posted a total of 39 kills. Archmere's momentum continued into the next two sets as they held the Force at a distance to take the night in a three-set sweep\n\n– Kylie Lavelle and Frances Buckley\n\nCaravel\n\nCaravel Academy's Relay for Life organization got off to an awesome start this year with its Fall Festival. The haunted hallway was the most popular attraction. The costume contest saw many great entries but ultimately selected two winners: an adorable scarecrow and a beautiful gypsy. The festival raised hundreds of dollars, which RFL will put toward its donation to the American Cancer Society later this school year. The organization’s other efforts have included bake sales, concession stands and the sale of \"ghost grams\" around Halloween. The main event will be May 13.\n\n– Cady Vasaturo\n\nSalesianum\n\nSalesianum began Spirit Week with a wide range of events from house competitions featuring games like a life-size Hungry Hungry Hippos and Big Ball, a giant seven foot soccer ball. The homecoming dance ended the week with 1,100 students dancing to the beats of DJ Z under the big tent. With the Paris attacks happening just a few hours before the dance, students observed a moment of silence to pray for peace and healing. Salesianum student council member James Blackwell made a guest appearance on the DJ table to rap one of his infamous verses to make the crowd go wild.\n\nOn Nov. 17 Salesianum hosted a Breakfast Series conference called “The Pope, The Church and the World” with guest lecturer Msgr. Kevin W. Irwin from Catholic University of America. Irwin talked about the Pope's stances on marriage, climate and Catholic education. Regarding said the Catholic Education system is key to the Catholic identity and integrity that it upholds.\n\n– Kevin Brown\n\nSanford\n\nThree senior scholar-athletes signed their National Letters of Intent last week in the Irene S. duPont Library. Center-midfielder and captain of the field hockey team Carter Ayars will play field hockey at the University of Louisville. Mikey Dixon will attend Quinnipiac University in the fall as a member of the men's basketball team. Taylor Sparks-Faulkner signed to play basketball at Florida Southern College.\n\nThe Service Club's canned food drive was to end Tuesday and the donations would be delivered to the Food Bank of Delaware to help with their \"Thanksgiving for All\" program, which delivers meal boxes 2,500 families throughout the state.\n\nRehearsals began last week for the musical \"Mame.\" Set during World War II, this musical focuses on the extravagant life of Mame Dennis as played by senior Jordan McMillan. The show will be performed Feb. 11-14 in the newly renovated Geipel Center.\n\nThe B+ Dodgeball Tournament sponsored earlier this month by the junior class officers raised more than $700 for the B+ Foundation.\n\n– Kimmie Riorden\n\nSt. Elizabeth\n\nSt. Elizabeth High School junior Kailee Crozier was named Student of the Week for Nov. 16 for mastering a monologue for the Cedar Street Players' presentation of “All I Really Needed to Know I Learned in Kindergarten” in just one week. Crozier owned the stage with just a mirror and her interpretation of life.\n\nThe Maroon & Gold Athlete for the week of Nov. 16 is a visible and valuable presence on campus with a talent for technology and solving complex problems, junior Declan Kennard. A consistent honor roll student and new member of National Honor Society, he demonstrates character, scholarship, leadership and service. He served as a technical assistant for the fall show and was part of the Code for Good team at JP Morgan Chase. He also was a member of the cross country team, exhibiting the Benedictine balance of work and study.\n\nOn Nov. 19, 32 students were inducted into the National Honor Society: seniors Elisa Hackendorn and Joshua O'Donnell and juniors Jake Barks, Maya Blackwell, Mason Bondrowski, Peter Brush, Alexa Cruz, Hedi Cui, Abigayle Gant, David Hazelton, Johnathan Hendricks, Alfred Holliday, Brandon Holly, Madeline Hornung, Declan Kennard, Kevin Marchioni, Andrew Mazalewski, Megan McLaughlin, Robert Miller, Jack Newswanger, Madelynn Norris, Juliana Owens, Joseph Pritchard, Alyssa San Diego, Madison Schulz, Luna Sheng, Thomas Shield, Kellen Sweeney, Angelo Tuono, Sophia Vivolo, Maria Whiting and Emma Yerger. They joined current NHS members Marc Brown (president), Anjenee Cannon, Christopher Carver, Stephanie Charney, Dylan Gerstley (vice president), Alex Hantman, Ashley Kleinhomer, Nathaniel Kohl, Doreen Liu, Brian Marchioni, Jillian McAndrew (secretary), Nicholas Moffitt, John Paul Moryc (treasurer), Rafael Parra, Masoom Patel, Mitali Patel, Daniel Patterson, Michael Ricci, Bridget Rizzo, Aika San Diego, Matthew Spychalski, Tiara Tanzilli, Leighton Trimarco and Jeannette Veasey, all of whom are seniors.\n\nSeniors Christopher Carver and Alex Hantman participated in the DIAA senior all-star soccer game Nov. 20.\n\nSophomore T'Kel Brown has been selected to participate in the annual Hugh O'Brian Youth Leadership (HOBY) Seminar that will take place at Wesley College in June 2016. Sophomore Ya-Kyra Smith-Hines was selected as an alternate. The HOBY Leadership Seminars are designed for high school sophomores to recognize and hone their leadership talents and abilities.\n\nSt. Elizabeth's Academic Bowl team is off to an undefeated start. Seniors Marc Brown and John Paul Moryc and junior Johnathan Hendricks have captained the team in its 2-0 start, defeating Padua and Ursuline academies. Senior Brian Marchioni answered the final question against Padua to win the match, prompting coach and teacher Patrick Jordan to praise Marchioni's \"walk-off\" heroics.\n\n– Dylan Gerstley\n\nSt. Mark's\n\nSaint Mark's High School Theater Department presented “The Game's Afoot or Holmes for the Holidays” by Ken Ludwig last weekend.\n\nOn Nov. 12, Saint Mark's National Honor Society held one of its two biannual blood drives in the gym. More than 65 donors were scheduled and 50 members of the honor society worked it.\n\nThe girls’ cross country team ended their season with a fifth lace finish at the DIAA state meet on Saturday. Senior Analise Kaminski concluded her Saint Mark's career with a 4th place finish in a season-best 19:15. She now holds both the No. 1 and No. 2 fastest times at Killen's Pond in school history. Kaminski led Saint Mark's in all 42 races during her running career, a first for the school. Sophomore Lauren Augustynowicz led a team of senior Brenna Marzano, sophomore Cameron Johnson and freshman Kacey Tramont, who all finished in the top 10. Junior Ally Walls and sophomore Ana Dacey also competed well.\n\nThe senior Mathletes crushed their opponents Nov. 3, scoring 28 points to the closest team's 16. The team was led by Tony Chutong and Nathaniel Spagnolo who scored perfect 6's. Ben Daghir, Zach Hopkins and Mike Hanling also performed well. Opposing teams were Newark Charter, Newark, Glasgow and Hodgson high schools. The next meet is Dec. 1 at Newark Charter.\n\nMore than 160 students earned first and second academic honors for the first quarter of the school year.\n\nTall Oaks\n\nOn Nov. 7, Tall Oaks' debate team traveled to Virginia to participate in a tournament at Summit Christian Academy. Juniors Megan McGraw and Calvin Pozsonyi placed second in the varsity division, sophomore Josita Marshall and a student from New Covenant Christian Academy were undefeated and placed first in the junior varsity division, and sophomores Luke Sherman and Brandan Leauby placed third in the junior varsity division.\n\nTall Oaks' annual Harvest Dinner was held on Nov. 9 for donors to the school. Donors were treated to a four-course dinner and presentations from administration, current parents and alumni. High school students served as greeters, kitchen helpers and servers during the event and ended the evening by singing the Doxology and Psalm 119X.\n\nTall Oaks' Fall Sports Awards night was Nov. 13. Fall athletes were recognized and honors were awarded. For junior varsity volleyball, junior Jordan Hunt received the Leadership Award, and freshman Alexee Gray was named Best All-Around Player. For varsity volleyball, sophomore Talitha Issavi received the Barnabas Award for her encouragement of the team throughout the season, sophomore Naomi Mengel was named Most Improved Player, and sophomore Josita Marshall was named Best All-Around Player. For cross country, sophomore Jessie Silver was named Top Female Runner, junior Ben Schneider was named Top Male Runner, and freshman Josh Deitrich received the Coach's Award.\n\nTall Oaks eighth-grader Sam McGarvey will play the White King in the Carousel Performing Arts Center musical production of “Alice in Wonderland.” The performances will be held at the Willowdale Chapel in Kennett Square, Pennsylvania, in January.\n\n– Naomi Mengel\n\nTatnall\n\nThree seniors have committed to become college student-athletes. David Crossland '16 and Elena Hurd '16 both recently signed a National Letter of Intent. In the fall, Crossland will swim at Auburn University while Hurd will compete as an equestrian at Texas Christian University. Additionally, Scott Battaglia '16 will continue his tennis career at St. Joseph's University in the fall. !\n\nOn Nov. 14, the Tatnall Cross Country team competed in the Delaware Division II State Championships, sweeping the Division II and solo titles. The 2015 Division II team championship was the 12th consecutive state cross country title for the Tatnall girls and the boys' 10th cross country state title in the past 12 years. During the race, Joey Garrett '16 won his first individual state title, covering the 5k course in 16.05. Keelin Hays '19 also claimed her first individual state championship title in 17.57, a time matched by only one other female runner in the later Division I race.\n\nDuring the state championship day, each member of the team and all Tatnall parents wore a circular sticker over their left chest with the letter “E” to remind them they were running for Steve, Teresa, Sean and Ryan Esmond, who were poisoned on vacation. The Tatnall team wanted the Esmonds to know that they are not forgotten and the effort they put into winning the championship was in their honor and with their hopes of continued improvement.\n\nRecently, Tatnall alums Katie Kobasa '12 and Christina Zeszut '12 met with Tatnall students who were visiting the University of Delaware's Biomedical Engineering Club. During the visit, Kobasa and Zeszut spoke with the students about biomedical engineering applications, careers and projects. The students also had the opportunity to participate in an EKG reading using an EKG circuit board created at The University of Delaware.\n\nTome\n\nBasketball tryouts for the girls' and boys' varsity and JV teams were held Nov. 9-10, with practices starting soon after.\n\nThe annual Fall Sports Awards were held Nov. 13 following a spaghetti dinner fundraiser cooked and served by the students going on the Promise in Sight mission trip to Nicaragua in January. These students include seniors Frank Donley, Gabby Szymanski,Olivia Palmeri,Max Pierce,Joe Llewellyn, and Sydney Tristani, as well as juniors Nick Hughes, Alli Martinie,Alex Williams and Hannah Miller. Recent Tome graduates Scott and Mark Blumberg will also be returning to help on the trip. Students are also raising funds for the trip through the sale of $1 cider donuts from Milburn Orchards every Wednesday morning in the cafeteria.\n\nThe Upper School Student Council has also been busy planning the annual high school field trip. So far, the ski trip is in the lead, with Hershey Park a close second and the Washington, D.C., trip to the National Zoo and downtown area not far behind.\n\nHolly Ball, a holiday volleyball tournament between the high school homerooms, will take place Dec. 17 during seventh period in the gym; freshmen are to dress as reindeer, sophomores as snowmen, juniors as elves, and seniors as Santas.\n\n– Gabriela Rivero\n\nTower Hill\n\nTower Hill is adding a squash team to the list of athletic opportunities for students. Tryouts were last week, and the best players were selected by Ed Chilton and Ray Chan-a-Su, two highly skilled local pros. The team is still in the process of creating a schedule, and questions should go to Director of Athletics Jack Holloway.\n\nOn Friday, the first Thanksgiving Town Meeting was held from 11:30 a.m. to 12 p.m. The entire school community gathered to celebrate gratitude, and prepare for Thanksgiving break.\n\nThe Blue-Gold Fashion Show and International Dinner will be Dec. 5. The International Dinner, which features cuisine from multiple cultures, will be held at 6:30 p.m. in the dining hall. The Blue-Gold Fashion Show will be held at 7:30 p.m. in the Pierre. S. Dupont Theatre. Proceeds will benefit Delaware Foundation for Reaching Citizens with Intellectual disABILITIES, an organization committed to raising funds and awareness to support programs that improve the lives of Delaware citizens with intellectual disabilities.\n\nNov. 13 and Nov. 14 was an exciting weekend for Tower Hill athletics. The football team upset Wilmington Friends, winning the Delaware Independent School Conference Championship. The next day, field hockey, soccer and cross country all had exciting contests. Field hockey defeated Polytech, soccer beat Carave, and cross country competed in the DIAA Championships, in which sophomore Hudson Pepper placed fifth.\n\n– Jade Olurin\n\nUrsuline\n\nThe sophomore theology class created children's books about biblical parables and read them to the first and second grade students. After that, the students worked on Thanksgiving crafts together.\n\nKailyn Kampert '16 was named one of eight state finalists for the Wendy's High School Heisman Award. She was chosen based on her outstanding athletic and academic performances and achievements throughout high school.\n\nAlyssa Irons '16 earned an athletic scholarship to Southern Connecticut State University. She was awarded more than $136,000 over four years of study.\n\nThis week, Bella Tuo '17 was able to share her artwork at National Portfolio Day. Admissions personnel from schools including Parsons, Pratt and the Union School of Art were available to give her feedback.\n\nOn Nov. 14, Ursuline's cross-country team placed seventh in Division II at the DIAA State Championship Meet.\n\nOn Nov. 16, the volleyball team defeated Padua in the DIAA State Volleyball consolation game at the Bob Carpenter Center.\n\nThe field hockey team finished their season with a 10-5-1 record and was seeded 13th in the DIAA State Tournament.\n\n– Lauren DePiero\n\nWilmington Christian\n\nHeadmaster Bill Stevens was to be the speaker for the the school’s Thanksgiving Chapel Wednesday. Many school alumni attended. There also was a Parking Lot dedication ceremony.\n\nDec. 1 brings the High School Poetry Out Loud Competition from 8 a.m. to 11 a.m. The winner of the competition will represent the school in the state competition in February.\n\nAlso on Dec. 1, the High School Math League will participate in their second meet.\n\nDec 2 is another WCS Welcome Wednesday from 9 a.m. to 11 a.m.\n\nCollections for WCS' annual Christmas Food Drive have begun. Tables are set up in the school lobby for canned and boxed goods donations. Donations from the community are welcome.\n\n– Robin Foster\n\nWilmington Friends\n\nThe annual Model Organization of American States (MOAS) trip starts Wednesday and goes until Dec. 4. Twenty-four Wilmington Friends students will be traveling to Washington, D.C., to learn about politics in the American hemisphere while representing Haiti and Uruguay. Head Delegate of the Haitian delegation is senior Jodi Lessner. Head Delegate of the Uruguay delegation is junior Andrew Jaworski. Clerks are seniors Nolan Delaney and Emilio Ergueta. Serving in leadership roles are senior Joslyn Gardner, vice president, and junior Simone Veale, vice chair of the First Committee.\n\nAt the WFS Geography Championship Nov. 11, Maggie Coons defended her middle school title from last year by taking the championship as a freshman.\n\nOn Monday, the college guidance office will host its annual \"Kick Off for College\" program. The event is required for juniors, with interested parents and guardians also encouraged to attend.\n\nThe Home and School Association's Gifts and Greens Sale will be Dec. 3. The sale will include candles and flowering plants, as well as school items and spirit wear.\n\n– Jodi Lessner", "authors": [], "publish_date": "2015/11/25"}]}
+{"question_id": "20240119_24", "search_time": "2024/01/19/23:36", "search_result": [{"url": "https://www.usatoday.com/story/entertainment/2023/07/27/the-white-lotus-delaware-connections-aubrey-plaza-meredith-tucker/70413269007/", "title": "Who cast Aubrey Plaza in 'The White Lotus'? This Delawarean, also ...", "text": "Editor's note: This story has been updated to reflect the rescheduling of the Emmy Awards.\n\nMeredith Tucker didn't have her sights set on Hollywood while working at West Coast Video in Brandywine Hundred's Branmar Plaza the summer after graduating from Brandywine High School.\n\nWhen customers asked for a good film, she invariably would end her recommendation by telling them what other films the actors and actresses were in.", "authors": [], "publish_date": "2023/07/27"}, {"url": "https://www.usatoday.com/story/life/reviewed/2023/02/27/sag-awards-2023-style-sally-field-lifetime-achievement/11357186002/", "title": "SAG Awards 2023 style: Sally Field accepts Lifetime Achievement ...", "text": "— Recommendations are independently chosen by Reviewed's editors. Purchases made through the links below may earn us and our publishing partners a commission.\n\nThe 29th Screen Actors Guild Awards took place on Sunday, February 26 at the Fairmont Century Plaza in Los Angeles and celebrated the best in film and television. The ceremony offered viral moments like Aubrey Plaza and Jenna Ortega embracing their monotone candor together and huge wins for screen sirens like Jennifer Coolidge earning Best Female Actor in a Drama Series for her role in White Lotus, following her supporting actress wins at the 2022 Emmy Awards and 2023 Golden Globes. Emotions ran especially high when Sally Field accepted the SAG Lifetime Achievement Award from Andrew Garfield, her The Amazing Spider-Man co-star and on-screen nephew.\n\n►Jenna Ortega: Shop Ortega's goth glam look from the 2023 SAG Awards red carpet\n\n►SAG Awards 2023: Jessica Chastain, Jamie Lee Curtis, Zendaya glam up for the red carpet\n\nOver the last six decades, Field has received awards for her work in films like Norma Rae and Lincoln, and television shows like ER and Brothers & Sisters. Field has acted alongside legends like Jeff Bridges and the late Robin Williams but there was something poetic and heartfelt about her Marvel Comics co-star presenting Field with the enormous honor at the SAG Awards. Field and Garfield portrayed the iconic Aunt May and Peter Parker duo in 2012's The Amazing Spider-Man and the 2014 sequel. Their on-screen relationship clearly bled into real life with Garfield praising Field's talent, brilliance, humor and heart.\n\nSo, what are we wearing? Subscribe to Reviewed’s weekly Style Check newsletter to get the answers from stylish people.\n\nSally Field's glamorous Oscar de la Renta SAG Awards red carpet style\n\nAfter Garfield's heartfelt presentation, the two embraced and the actress basked in her rightfully-earned spotlight. Field wore a dramatic, floor-length Oscar de la Renta dress with delicate black sequined embroidery and sheer accents, coupled with Fred Leighton jewelry and iconic black frames. The sheer trend can be translated into many different looks, but we love this lace Oscar de la Renta gown from Nordstrom if you're looking for a super sophisticated style.\n\nAs for the specs, GlassesUSA has tons of similar styles including these Ray-Ban frames to help you emulate Sally Field.\n\n►Nordstrom: We found the 10 best pairs of Veja sneakers to shop at Nordstrom\n\nField looked stunning at the 2023 SAG Awards and her acceptance speech was notably just as beautiful. “I’ve been Mrs. Doubtfire’s employer, Forrest Gump’s mother and Spiderman’s aunt. There is not a day I don’t feel quietly thrilled to call myself an actor,” Field told the star-studded audience.\n\nThe product experts at Reviewed have all your shopping needs covered. Follow Reviewed on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, TikTok or Flipboard for the latest deals, product reviews and more.\n\nPrices were accurate at the time this article was published but may change over time.", "authors": [], "publish_date": "2023/02/27"}, {"url": "https://www.usatoday.com/story/entertainment/2022/06/16/nantucket-film-festival-movie-climate-change-oscar-barry-jenkins-turturro-ben-stiller-vasconcellos/7545931001/", "title": "Nantucket Film Festival: Movies, stars, climate change, Oscar winner", "text": "Starting at 7 p.m. Wednesday, June 22, the opening night of the five-day Nantucket Film Festival, an art projection will light up the back of a harborside scallop shanty off Easy Street. The five-minute video, playing over and over for more than two hours, will share a vision of the island’s possible future as climate change takes its toll with storm surges and sea level rise.\n\nThe “Rising Above” art focus on the island’s working waterfront, and its history of “resilience” and coming together to adapt to change, was originally shown last fall as a joint project between ReMain Nantucket, the Envision Resilience Nantucket Challenge, the Nantucket Dreamland theater, digital media designer Michael Clark and art director Heather Macleod.\n\nEnvironment-oriented films have long been a film festival priority popular with audiences, says festival producer Jaclyn Wohl, and seeing “Rising Above” back then helped to inspire pushing forward something more formal for this summer.\n\nSo the “Green Carpet Cinema” initiative begins this year as part of the festival’s screening of 36 feature films — evenly split between narratives and documentaries — and dozens of short films June 22-27 at the Dreamland downtown. The festival will also offer awards to top moviemaking voices who include Oscar winner Barry Jenkins and actor/director John Turturro; host celebrities like Ben Stiller and Peter Farrelly at talks; and hold a variety of special events.\n\nFor “Green Carpet Cinema,” there will be four films and a panel discussion as well as that one-night art installation. The organizers’ goal: Having the festival be an “active participant in the conversation” about how climate change impacts sea levels, weather and more on Nantucket and beyond.\n\nComing up:A Broadway/TV star, CCTP's female writers, a big dance anniversary & more arts news\n\n“Of course it has global consequences, but I think particularly that the people on Nantucket are really engaged with matters relating to environmentalism,” says Lori Donnelly, the festival’s head of programming. The new initiative “seemed to be a great fit with what's going on in the documentary filmmaking world and with the concerns that our audiences have.”\n\nThe festival — back fully in person this year and largely at the Dreamland, with masking encouraged — has multiple stories to tell, though. Sparking the climate change discussion is just part of what’s being offered, and Donnelly and Wohl shared some of the highlights (more information on all events: https://nantucketfilmfestival.org/):\n\nBarry Jenkins\n\nJenkins, who wrote and directed 2016’s “Moonlight,” winner of Oscars for Best Picture and Screenplay, will receive the Screenwriters Tribute. “He's somebody that we have wanted here probably since ‘Moonlight,’” Wohl says. “His work is incredibly relevant and powerful and he really speaks to my generation and generations coming up. Just his voice and what he’s got in the pipeline as well, it truly embodies the type of screenwriter that we want to highlight.”\n\nJenkins was also Oscar-nominated for writing 2018’s “If Beale Street Could Talk” and won numerous accolades for co-writing and directing all 10 episodes of the adaptation of Pulitzer Prize-winner Colson Whitehead’s “The Underground Railroad.”\n\n“I don't think there's any other American filmmaker today that's so attuned to these torrents of emotion — love, pain, disillusionment,\" Donnelly says. \"And the way that he orchestrates his film infuses it with this romance, this sentiment, this poeticism. He's really remarkable and stands head and shoulders above American filmmakers, right right now. (There’s) certainly a case to be made for him being one of the top five filmmakers in America right now.”\n\nJohn Turturro\n\nWohl called Turturro “another powerhouse.” The Nantucket festival will present its Compass Rose Award for Career Achievement to the Emmy Award-winning actor, screenwriter, director, and producer for his body of work over 35 years.\n\nTurturro's long list of acting credits include “Do the Right Thing,” “Jungle Fever,” “The Color of Money,” “Quiz Show,” “The Good Shepherd,” “The Big Lebowski,” “Barton Fink” and “The Batman.” His drecting/writing work includes “Mac,” “Illuminata” and “Romance & Cigarettes.”\n\nMore:Reading ideas: Local lore, family, dogs part of 5 new books by Cape Cod authors\n\nTurturro’s TV work includes an Emmy Award for “Monk,” the current “Severance” — directed and executive-produced by Stiller, who will present the Nantucket award — “Monday Night Mayhem” and “The Bronx is Burning.” On June 24, he will present a staged reading from his new script “Howard Beach” and be featured for an “In Their Shoes Conversation….” Turturro and Stiller will screen an episode of “Severance” on June 25, followed by a Q&A.\n\nWith his vast filmography, “he's the ideal person that you would want to honor as a screenwriter in a storytelling festival,\" Wohl says. \"He’s just brilliant.”\n\nCooper Raiff\n\nCooper Raiff will receive the New Voices in Screenwriting Award, and there will be a screening of his “Cha Cha Real Smooth” film, which is only his second. Donnelly called the new film “a timeless, in a sense, coming-of-age story” about a young, unmoored man just out of college who is looking for connection and finds it in a single mother of an autistic daughter.\n\nThe movie was bought for distribution at the Sundance Film Festival, Wohl says, for the second-highest-ever amount after last year’s “Coda,” which went on to win the Best Picture Oscar – and was written and directed by Sian Heder, a past recipient of this Nantucket award.\n\n“Cooper is definitely an up and comer, and from the looks of it, he’s really going to have quite a career ahead of him,” Donnelly says.\n\nRamin Bahrani\n\nRamin Bahrani will receive the award for Special Achievement in Documentary Storytelling, even though, Donnelly points out, he’s primarily known as a features director. Bahrani will be on-island with “2nd Chance,” his first documentary, which is an exploration of the life and legacy of the inventor of the modern-day bulletproof vest who shot himself 192 times to prove his product worked.\n\n“You can still see those (feature) threads in terms of (Bahrani's) storytelling. (The movie) really at times feels like a traditional narrative, the way he paints these really larger-than-life characters in his film and way that he is able to develop this relationship,” Donnelly says. “The interviews are astonishing for a variety of reasons, but Ramin for nearly 20 years is another American filmmaker and filmmaker of color who is doing really phenomenal work.”\n\nCivil rights\n\nAn issue that Donnelly says is of particular interest to her is “diversity and inclusivity and things related to civil rights and people’s rights.”\n\nChief among the films that reflect this is centerpiece film “Breaking” (formerly titled “892”), which stars John Boyega as a former soldier who is unable to work because of PTSD and goes to extreme lengths to get the attention of an unhelpful veterans services program. The movie features the last performance of Michael K. Williams.\n\n“It’s a taut film with very much John Boyega’s performance at the forefront,” Donnelly says, though she notes of Williams, “That man’s charisma and his dynamism — whenever he’s on screen, I just don’t want to look at anything else.”\n\nDocumentary “Kaepernick & America” is about football player Colin Kaepernick’s national anthem protests and reactions to them. It's about how, Donnelly says, “the simple gesture of kneeling at a game became this huge firestorm and and became a symbol of of obviously something much larger, and then dovetails into the Black Lives Matter movement. It’s a really informative doc and it’s one of my favorites.”\n\n‘A summer vibe’\n\nBesides more issue-oriented films and documentaries, the festival offers several comedies and what Wohl describes as more “lighthearted” films. One is closing film “Linoleum,” starring Jim Gaffigan as a host of a failing children's science show who tries to fulfill his childhood dream of becoming an astronaut by building a rocket ship in his garage.\n\nShe also recommends two films starring Aubrey Plaza: “Emily, the Criminal,” about a desperate woman who becomes a “dummy shopper” buying goods with stolen credit cards; and Spotlight Film “Spin Me Round,” about an Italian restaurant chain manager’s trip to Italy that turns from romantic getaway to catastrophe.\n\nDonnelly adds the suggestion of “Official Competition,” starring Penélope Cruz and Antonio Banderas in a satire on the movie industry.\n\nGreen Carpet Cinema\n\nThere are four movies in this new category and the festival’s opening film is “Fire of Love,” director Sara Dosa’s true story of daring French volcanologists who chased eruptions around the world. Dosa will be part of a conversation about sustainability and climate change with Maria Mitchell Association visiting scientist Rich Blundell and Cecil Barron Jensen of ReMain Nantucket, hosted by Marc Skivrsky.\n\nFocusing on climate change was “ really a mission that we started coming out of the pandemic and (with the festival) turning 25, and that we really want to be perceived as having in the community and in the industry,” Wohl says. “Blundell’s main focus of his science is actually ‘big history’ and so it is the story of the Earth and how it relates to our mission of being a screenwriter and storytelling festival. So (the presentation is) talking about the big history of the world and the Earth and how we move forward and how the Earth is telling its story.”\n\nComing up:More summer music: Acts announced for Provincetown, Bourne, Vineyard shows\n\nThe other three films address different aspects of environmental change, Donnelly says, and they are: Becky Hutner’s “Fashion Reimagined,” about designer Amy Powney’s mission to create a sustainable collection; “The Territory,” Alex Pritz’s film about a network of Brazilian farmers who seize an area of protected Indigenous territory; and “To the End,” Rachel Lears’ film about four young women of color elected to Congress and fighting for a Green New Deal.\n\nThat last movie “features AOC (U.S. Rep Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-New York) at the forefront, and it's a film that really gets you up close into their lives individually, but also as they're helping to shape this movement,” Donnelly says. “It's scary, but absolutely you walk away and you feel that you know that these women who are so passionate about what they're doing can be real motivators for change.”\n\nSpecial events and more star power\n\nReturning events will be “Morning Coffee With…” chats and garden parties, which will include the “Late Night Storytelling” favorite, with guests to be announced. Other celebrities involved with events will include Chris Matthews (“Hardball”), NPR’s Ophira Eisenberg, Tom Cavanaugh (TV’s “The Flash”), Lulu Wang (“The Farewell”) and George Pelecanos (“The Wire,” “The Deuce”).\n\nFor families\n\nAs in past years, the Nantucket festival will screen the new Pixar movie, this time “Lightyear,” an origin story for “Toy Story” favorite Buzz Lightyear. Also on tap for kids is “Marcel the Shell With Shoes On,” with actress Jenny Slate, the main voice talent, on island; and a Kids Short program of short films.\n\nNantucket high and middle school students will be able to present the short narrative and documentary films they’ve produced through a festival off-season program in “Teen View Showcase,” which includes a Q&A.\n\nA new, free community event will be Skate Jam, happening from 12:30 to 1:30 p.m. June 25, where watchers and participants can join Nora Vasconcellos, professional skateboarding star of the feature documentary “Skate Dreams.” Donnelly says Vasconcellos is “at the forefront of women skating, pretty much the face of women skating right now so it’s a big deal to have her here.”\n\nShe’ll be joined by some other professional skateboarders, and there will be giveaways and ice cream.\n\nContact Kathi Scrizzi Driscoll at kdriscoll@capecodonline.com. Follow on Twitter: @KathiSDCCT.", "authors": [], "publish_date": "2022/06/16"}, {"url": "https://www.usatoday.com/story/life/entertainment/arts/2019/06/05/palm-springs-area-things-do-upcoming-pool-parties-shows-june/1353795001/", "title": "Palm Springs area things to do: Upcoming pool parties, shows in June", "text": "The Desert Sun is relaunching its community calendar! Use it as your go-to guide for fun and interesting goings-on in the Coachella Valley.\n\nDo you want to submit an event to the community calendar?\n\nInclusion in The Desert Sun’s community calendar is solely at the editors’ discretion. Priority is given to free, community-oriented events. To submit an event for consideration, send an email to events@desertsun.com with a brief description. Include the following: name of event; date of event; location of event; time of event; charge, if any; phone number or website for further information. Please attach a photo.\n\nJune 1\n\nDance with Miss Lindsay\n\nAs part of the June series at the Annenberg Theater, Broadway hits from ‘Mamma Mia!’ and ‘Little Shop of Horrors’ will accompany classics from programs such as ‘La Esmeralda,’ ‘Le Corsaire,’ and the ‘Young Persons Guide to Orchestra & Ballets.’ $28 - $30.\n\nSaturday: Annenberg Theater at Palm Springs Art Museum (101 N. Museum Dr., Palm Springs) 6 p.m.; psmuseum.org; (760) 325-4490.\n\nPalm Springs Firefighters Association’s Fish Fry\n\nThe 88th annual fish fry will include fried trout, corn on the cob, coleslaw and more. Featuring live music and dancing. Suitable for the whole family. $10.\n\nSaturday: Ruth Hardy Park (700 E. Tamarisk Rd., Palm Springs) 6-10 p.m.; palmspringsca.gov.\n\nHerstories from the Desert\n\nPassing down women’s heritage through elder’s storytelling. The annual event emphasizes one aspect of women’s values. Featuring elder storytellers, books, performances, a marketplace and more. $25-$75.\n\nSaturday: Hotel PASEO (45400 Larkspur Lane, Palm Desert) 8 a.m.; herstoryinthedesert.com; 760-844-9648.\n\nDayclubbing\n\nThe nonprofit radio station Dulab presents a day of drinks and food by the pool, featuring music from Dulab DJs and Daddy Differently. Free to hotel guests & Swim Club Members.\n\nSaturday: Ace Hotel & Swim Club (701 E. Palm Canyon Dr., Palm Springs) Noon-5 p.m.; acehotel.com; 760-325-9900.\n\nJune 2\n\nWorld Environment Day\n\nJoin the environmental networking and brainstorming session at the seventh annual World Environment Day celebration. The event will also feature an environmental art exhibition and contest awards ceremony. Live music from Symara Stone and aerial arts by Flowbox Circus will be provided. Local chefs will be present for farm-to-table food demonstrations. Live animal encounters from The Living Desert and face painting will be available. Free.\n\nSunday: The Palm Springs Pavilion (402 S. Pavilion Way, Palm Springs) 2-5 p.m.; yoursustainablecity.com; 760-808-2288.\n\nCV Music Awards\n\nThe seventh annual local music awards ceremony will feature performances from Keisha D, Giselle Woo & The Night Owls and more. For every ticket sold, Paul Rodgers will donate $5 to be shared between local charities. $25-$50.\n\nSunday: Hotel Zoso (150 S. Indian Canyon Dr., Palm Springs) 5-9 p.m.; hotelzosopalmsprings.com; 760-325-9676.\n\nJune 3\n\nYouth Futsal\n\nDesert Futsal is a variation of soccer on the Freedom Park basketball courts. Wear indoor soccer shoes or tennis shoes, no cleats. Ages 10-16. Free.\n\nMonday: Freedom Park (77-400 Country Club Dr., Palm Desert) 6:30-8 p.m.; facebook.com/desertstreetsoccer.\n\nTable Tennis\n\nImprove quickness, hand-eye coordination and focus by partaking in a game of table tennis. Bring your own paddle. Free with a Get Fit Pass or a $5 drop-in fee.\n\nMonday: Palm Desert Community Center (43-900 San Pablo Avenue, Palm Desert) Noon- 3 p.m.; myrecreationdistrict.com; 760-568-9697.\n\nNew Moon Vibrational Chakra Healing\n\nCelebrate the new moon with Joshua Pena of Transform Within Yoga, who will lead the session with a pure quartz crystal singing bowl that emits vibrational frequencies. Free.\n\nMonday: Ace Hotel & Swim Club (701 E. Palm Canyon Dr., Palm Springs) 7 p.m.; acehotel.com; 760-325-9900.\n\nJune 4\n\nNight at the Ballpark\n\nRancho Mirage residents can watch a free baseball game at the Palm Springs Stadium. Witness Palm Springs Power take on the OC Pirates, and enjoy a complimentary hot dog, bag of chips and a soda or bottled water. Proof of Rancho Mirage residency is required. Tickets can be picked up from City Hall or at the stadium on the night of. Free.\n\nTuesday: Palm Springs Stadium (1901 E. Baristo Road, Palm Springs) Gates open at 6 p.m., game starts at 7:05 p.m.; ranchomirageca.gov; 760-324-4511.\n\nTONY Awards Preview\n\nThe Filmmakers' Gallery and QUADZ Palm Springs holds a Tony Awards preview, featuring the nominees for the 2019 Tony Awards, as well as highlights from previous years. Free.\n\nTuesday: QUADZ Palm Springs (200 S. Indian Canyon Dr., Palm Springs) 5- 8:30 p.m.; visitpalmsprings.com; 760-778-4326.\n\nCVASA Laser Oasis Fundraiser Night\n\nCoachella Valley Autism Society takes over Laser Oasis for a fundraiser featuring laser tag, ropes course, arcades and more. Free.\n\nTuesday: Laser Oasis (46-805 Dune Palms Rd., La Quinta) 4-9 p.m.; cvasa.org; 760-772-1000.\n\nJune 5\n\nChicago Singalong\n\nA singalong screening of the film “Chicago” (2002) will be shown following a themed cocktail party. Singalong to the classics such as “All that Jazz,” and “Cell Block Tango.” Come dressed in your favorite Chicago themed costume to get in the spirit. $15.\n\nWednesday: Camelot Theatres (2300 E Baristo Rd., Palm Springs) 6-9:30 p.m.; camelottheatres.com; 760-325-6565.\n\nOpen Mic\n\nThis beginner-friendly open mic session welcomes all kinds of performers, from comedians to singers. Free.\n\nWednesday: The Hood Bar and Pizza (74-360 Highway 111, Palm Desert) 8-10 p.m.; hoodbarandpizza.com; 760-636-5220.\n\nJune 6\n\nDisaster Preparedness Training\n\nDesert Care Network hosts a free, hands-on disaster preparedness training presented by doctors, nurses and other emergency medical staff. The training will feature emergency skills including how to stop bleeding, wound packing, first aid and hands-only CPR. Free.\n\nThursday: Desert Regional Medical Center (1150 N. Indian Canyon Dr., Palm Springs) 10 a.m.- 1 p.m.; desertcarenetwork.com; 833-310-2440.\n\nBig Country Thursdays\n\nJoin Randy Houston and The Big 106 radio for a night of line dancing, two step and dance lessons. The night also will have food and drink specials available. Houston will play country hits and there will be live music. 21+. Free.\n\nThursday: LIT Lounge at Fantasy Springs Casino (84-245 Indio Springs Drive, Indio) 7 p.m.- midnight; fantasyspringsresort.com; 760-342-5000.\n\nOpen Mic Cabaret Dinner Show\n\nJoel Baker is the pianist for this weekly cabaret dinner show. Each week features entertainers from across the Coachella Valley. Guests are welcome to singalong or just be entertained by the music while enjoying a dinner served with wine or beer. No cover charge.\n\nThursday: Frankie's Italian Bakery (68-845 Perez Rd., Ste. H30, Cathedral City) 7-9:30 p.m.; visitgreaterpalmsprings.com; 760-770-1300.\n\nJune 7\n\nSplash House\n\nPerformances from the likes of Justice, Jai Wolf and Pete Tong take place alongside swimming pools at The Renaissance, Riviera and Saguaro hotels. The three-day party also features after-hour parties at the Palm Springs Air Museum, with performances by Shiba San, Dusky and Kidnap. 21+. $45-$205.\n\nFriday: Participating hotels in the Palm Springs area and Palm Springs Air Museum (745 N. Gene Autry Trail, Palm Springs); splashhouse.com; 855-943-5418.\n\nIce Skating Under the Lights\n\nExperience ice skating while dancing to music. This family-friendly event takes place every Friday and Saturday. $7 admission plus $3 skate rental.\n\nFriday: Desert Ice Castle (68-600 Perez Rd., Cathedral City) 7-9 p.m.; visitgreaterpalmsprings.com; 760-322-4422.\n\nObservatory Tours\n\nGather insight into the world of astrology and the night sky while you tour the observatory. This family-friendly event allows you to observe objects more than 50 million light-years away. Free.\n\nFriday: Rancho Mirage Library and Observatory (71-100 Highway 111, Rancho Mirage) 9 a.m. and 3 p.m.; ranchomiragelibrary.org; 760-341-7323.\n\nJune 8\n\n60's Party\n\nThis party features live go-go dancers, dance contests and performances by Maryse Nicole and more. A pre-party includes a photo booth as well as fashion and mod make-up tips. Dress as your favorite 1960s icon. $10-$15.\n\nSaturday: Venus De Fido (73-600 Alessandro Dr., Palm Desert) 6-11 p.m.; venusdefido.com; 760-834-7070.\n\nGuided Nature Walks\n\nSan Jacinto State Park volunteers offer guided nature walks every Saturday and Sunday through September 1. Choose between the Desert View Trail, a 1.5-mile walk, and the Long Valley Nature Trail, a 0.75-mile loop. Both trails are easy in difficulty and suitable for families. No advance registration is required. Free with Tramway admission. $16.95-$25.95.\n\nSaturday: Palm Springs Aerial Tramway (1 Tram Way, Palm Springs) First walk starts at 11 a.m.; pstramway.com; 888-515-8726.\n\nElvis Tribute: The Early Years\n\nScot Bruce has performed his 1950s-era Elvis show all over the U.S. and worldwide. Enjoy the sounds of “Love Me Tender,” “Blue Suede Shoes” and more. $30-$35.\n\nSaturday: Purple Room Supper Club (1900 E Palm Canyon Dr., Palm Springs) 8 p.m.; purpleroompalmsprings.com; 760-422-4422.\n\nJune 9\n\nSoaring to Glory\n\nExperience the West Coast premiere of the book \"Soaring to Glory: A Tuskegee Airman’s Firsthand Account of WWII,\" by U.S. Air Force retiree Lieutenant Colonel Harry T. Stewart Jr. The presentation is followed by a meet-and-greet and book signing. Free with admission. $10.50-$17.50.\n\nSaturday: Palm Springs Air Museum (745 North Gene Autry Trail, Palm Springs) 1 p.m.; palmspringsairmuseum.org; 760-778-6262.\n\nPatty Griffin\n\nAmerican singer-songwriter and musician Patty Griffin performs folk music hits such as “River” and “Where I Come From.” $30.\n\nSunday: Pappy & Harriet's (53688 Pioneertown Rd., Pioneertown) 8 p.m.; pappyandharriets.com; 760-365-5956.\n\nThe Desert Divas Drag Brunch\n\nSingalong to comedy Broadway music with your drag queen host, Vanity Halston. Providing lighthearted fun and high-energy performances, this brunch is a great way to celebrate birthdays, bachelorette parties and more. $25.\n\nSunday: Rio Azul Mexican Bar & Grill (350 S. Indian Canyon Drive, Palm Springs) 11 a.m.; rioazulpalmsprings.com; 760-992-5641.\n\nArtwalk\n\nThirty local vendors set up booths featuring art, jewelry, doughnuts, handmade goods and more for sale. Free.\n\nSunday: Westfield Palm Desert (72-840 Highway 111, Palm Desert) 1-5 p.m.; westfield.com/palmdesert; 760-641-4655.\n\nJune 10\n\nPalm Springs Scavenger Hunt: Art and Infamy\n\n\"Let’s Roam\" gives you a virtual tour of the hidden gems and entertaining spots located around Palm Springs. It may prompt questions such as, \"How does the Palm Springs Art Museum embrace rocks and sand?\" and \"What's so unconventional about the Convention Center's design?\" Use the Let’s Roam app to access the tour, answer trivia questions and more. $11.\n\nMonday: Starting at Palm Springs Art Museum (101 N. Museum Dr., Palm Springs) 8 a.m.-10 p.m.; letsroam.com; 833-202-7626.\n\nCVASA Group Music Therapy\n\nFor children living with autism, music therapy can help increase social interaction skills, and fine and gross motor control, in addition to assisting with basic educational goals. These skills are developed while singing, dancing and playing instruments. Open for kids with autism and their siblings between the ages of 3 and 10. Free.\n\nMonday: CVASA Resource Center- RAP Foundation Building (41-550 Eclectic St., Palm Desert) 5-6 p.m.; cvasa.org; 760-772-1000.\n\nJune 11\n\nScreenplay Workshop: Killer first pages\n\nThe Desert Screenwriter’s Guild is holding a work session on “Writing a First Page that will blow them away!” hosted by Desert Screenwriter’s Guild member and script consultant Kristin Johnson. RSVP is required to Janeil Austin: 760-861-1134 or DSG.inc@aol.com. $15 for non-members.\n\nTuesday: Community Room at the Palm Desert Library (73-300 Fred Waring Dr., Palm Desert) 10:30 a.m.-1p.m.; desertscreenwritersguild.com; 760-861-1134\n\nLGBT Dine Out Group\n\nEnjoy dinner as you meet new friends from the LGBT community in the Palm Springs area. Open to all LGBTQ+ as well as straight supporters. No cover charge.\n\nTuesday: Eight4Nine Restaurant & Lounge (849 N. Palm Canyon Dr., Palm Springs) 6:30- 8:30 p.m.; gaydesertguide.com; 760-325-8490\n\nPage to Stage!\n\nChildren's entertainer Christopher T. Magician brings performance art-themed books to life. Specializing in comedy magic, the library variety show provides entertainment for the whole family. Free.\n\nTuesday: Cabazon Community Library (50425 Carmen Ave, Cabazon) Noon-1 p.m.; christophertmagician.com; ​​562-888-9930.\n\nJune 12\n\n“Baby Jane?” with Billy Clift\n\nThe Filmmakers' Gallery hosts Emmy-nominated writer, producer and director Billy Clift for a conversation about his film, \"Baby Jane?\" The night starts with a cocktail party and hors d'oeuvres, followed by a competition for the best Baby Jane look-a-like. The winner receives a signed DVD copy of the film, in addition to a pair of tickets to The Filmmakers' Gallery's July screening event. \"Baby Jane?\" screens at 8 p.m. $18.\n\nWednesday: The Palm Springs Cultural Center (2300 E. Baristo Road, Palm Springs,) 6-10 p.m.;eventbrite.com; 760-325-2582.\n\nIt’s Showtime at Your Library\n\nMusician Craig Newton performs as part of the \"It’s Showtime at Your Library,\" program at the Palm Springs Library. Newton provides a multicultural journey through America's musical heritage. The program offers free new books to pre-K through 12th grade students each week. Adults also receive a voucher towards a used book when they check in weekly to the program. Free.\n\nWednesday: Youth Room at Palm Springs Public Library (300 S. Sunrise Way, Palm Springs) 10:30 a.m.; palmspringslibrary.org; 760-322- 7323.\n\nJune 13\n\nStonewall Humanitarian Awards\n\nThese awards are hosted by Transgender Health and Wellness Center and emcee’d by Ethylina Canne with special entertainment from Laith Ashley and guest speaker Ann Walker. The event honors those who help to improve equality in the Coachella Valley. Awardees include Anthony Velasco and L-Fund. $50-$100.\n\nThursday: Palm Springs Cultural Center (2300 E. Baristo Rd., Palm Springs) 7-9 p.m.; palmspringsculturalcenter.org; 760-325-2582.\n\nPalm Springs VillageFest\n\nThe weekly street market starts an hour later for summer. Enjoy handmade art, unique food and locally produced goods from more than 200 booths. Dog-friendly. Free.\n\nThursday: Palm Canyon Drive (between Baristo Rd. and Amado Rd., Palm Springs) 7-10 p.m.; villagefest.org; 760-320-3781.\n\n\"Brave New Worlds: Explorations of Space\"\n\nFeaturing artwork from five female artists, the exhibition includes film and video, neon paintings, sculptures and more. Inspired by the natural resources found in Southern California, the work portrays the artists' understandings of the connection between the body and the external world. Free admission on Thursday evenings; otherwise $6-$14.\n\nThursday: Palm Springs Art Museum (101 Museum Drive, Palm Springs) 4-8 p.m.; psmuseum.org; 760-322-4800.\n\n\"Anime Your Way\" with Carlos Nieto III\n\nCarlos Nieto III guides teens in learning to draw anime. Nieto uses simple techniques and steps to create anime easily. 6th-12th grade. Free.\n\nThursday: The Learning Center at Palm Springs Public Library (300 S. Sunrise Way, Palm Springs) 3:30 p.m.; palmspringslibrary.org; 760-322-7323.\n\nJune 14\n\nArts & Crafts with Sarah of the Coachella Valley Art Scene\n\nSarah Scheideman, founder of the Coachella Valley Art Scene, leads arts and crafts activities for all ages. Decorate jewelry and accessories, create aromatherapy, and more.\n\nFriday: Rocco's Electric at The Saguaro Palm Springs (1800 E Palm Canyon Dr., Palm Springs) 6-9 p.m.; thesaguaro.com/palm-springs; 760-323-1711.\n\nJoshua Tree Pride\n\nA gallery opening at ARTTRAP kicks off the Pride festival. Saturday features a mermaid march, music from the likes of Probe 7, comedy from Shann Carr, a poetry slam and more. A Stonewall one-act will be performed to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Stonewall riots. Friday through Sunday, events taking place throughout the day.\n\nFriday: Most events at The Shops at Zanny’s (61-877 Twentynine Palms Hwy., Joshua Tree) jtpride.org.\n\nArtist Lecture: Richard Arnold\n\nFocusing on Joshua Tree National Park and other areas in remote locations, photographer and journalist Richard Arnold discusses his background and shows his exploration to the local deserts and mountains through his photographs. $5.\n\nFriday: Old Schoolhouse Museum (6760 National Park Dr., Twentynine Palms) 7 p.m.; 29palmshistorical.com; 760-367-5535.\n\nLive Entertainment\n\nThis show features local musicians such as Aaron Alexander, Fun with Dick and Jane, Vinny Berry, Lance Reibsomer, Jack Ruvio and more. Free.\n\nFriday: The Vine Wine Bar (74-868 Country Club Dr., Ste. 103, Palm Desert) 6-9 p.m.; thevinewinebar.com; 760-341-9463.\n\nJune 15\n\nJuneteenth in the Coachella Valley\n\nThe 12th annual event celebrates African American Freedom Day, or Emancipation Day. Honoring African American culture and heritage, the celebration includes a dinner and awards ceremony. The theme for the night is “Standing on the Shoulders of our Ancestors,” with a dress code of summer casual white. Funds raised benefit Family Health & Support Network’s Building Resilience in African American Families prevention and early intervention programs. $55-$75.\n\nSaturday: Indio Performing Arts Center (45175 Fargo Street, Indio) 7 p.m.; juneteenthcv.com; 760-340-2442.\n\nBayanihan Barrio Fiesta\n\nFilipino-American Association of Coachella Valley celebrates Philippine Independence Day with raffles, giveaways, dancing, a buffet dinner and more. Fundraising benefits Filipino-American Association of Coachella Valley and The IDDEA Foundation Scholarship Programs in the U.S. and the Philippines. $20-$35, children under 4 free.\n\nSaturday: Demuth Park Community Center (3601 East Mesquite Ave., Palm Springs) 3-11 p.m.; allevents.in; 760-320-6430.\n\nLady Luck\n\nPerforming music of all genres, the ladies of Lady Luck bring their experiences of performing on Broadway, Hollywood, London’s West End and the Las Vegas Strip to Palm Springs. $30-$35.\n\nSaturday: The Purple Room at Club Trinidad Resort (1900 E. Palm Canyon Dr., Palm Springs) 6 p.m.; ladyluckgroup.com; 760-322-4422.\n\nPalm Springs Indoor Certified Farmers' Market\n\nThe weekly farmers' market takes place inside the Palm Springs Pavilion through September 21. Pick up your favorite summer varieties of fruits and vegetables, plus items from the new bakery and freshly made smoothies. Live music is provided by local groups. Free.\n\nSaturday: Palm Springs Pavilion (402 S. Pavilion Way, Palm Springs) 8 a.m.-noon; certifiedfarmersmarkets.org; 844–732-7628.\n\nVinyl DJ Set\n\nHouse music and hip-hop blends are provided by female vinyl DJ SHASTA every first and third Saturday.\n\nSaturday: Hilton Palm Springs (400 E. Tahquitz Canyon Way, Palm Springs) 9 p.m.-1 a.m.; visitgreaterpalmsprings.com; 760-318-8512.\n\nThe Idyllwild Western Steampunk Faire\n\nCelebrate all things steampunk and western at this two-day fair. Activities throughout the day include a barbecue and chili cook-off, carnival games, craft beer, western and steampunk crafters and more. Live music will be provided by local musicians. Open to all ages. Free.\n\nSaturday and Sunday: The Fort (54225 N. Circle Dr., Idyllwild) 10 a.m.-7 p.m.; facebook.com/idyllwildwesternsteampunkfaire.\n\nJune 16\n\nDisco Relief: A Tropical Disco House Party\n\nThis Ibiza-themed pool party takes place as part of the monthly “Disco Relief” series at ARRIVE hotel. “House Your Disco” DJ Alex Harrington supplies house and disco tracks to add to the island mood. 21+. $10.\n\nSunday: ARRIVE (1551 N. Palm Canyon Dr., Palm Springs) Noon; arrivehotels.com/palmsprings; 760-227-7037.\n\nPaint Nite\n\nTreat dad to a night of painting! Decorate a large beer mug, shot glass or pair of wine glasses to keep. RSVP required. $37.\n\nSunday: Vine Wine Bar (74-868 Country Club Dr., Ste. 103, Palm Desert) 4-6 p.m.; thevinewinebar.com; 760-413-5808.\n\n\"Sun Dream\" Pool Party\n\nListen to chilled out music for a Sunday afternoon by the pool, with a live DJ set from Champagne Machine Gun and The Saguaro resident DJs. 21+. RSVP is required, free admission prior to 12:30 p.m.; $15 with RSVP; $20 at the door after 12:30 p.m.\n\nSunday: The Saguaro Palm Springs (1800 E. Palm Canyon Dr., Palm Springs) 11 a.m.-5 p.m.; thesaguaro.com; 760-323-1711.\n\nJune 17\n\nLip Sync Battle\n\nBattle it out against your friends as you perform to your favorite song. Song choices and time-slots are first-come, first-served. Ages 13-17. Free.\n\nMonday: La Quinta Public Library (78-275 Calle Tampico, La Quinta) 4-5:30 p.m.; coachellavalleykids.com; 760-564-4767.\n\nJune 18\n\nPalm Springs International Short Film Festival\n\nThe 25th anniversary of Palm Springs International ShortFest brings 369 films to the silver screens in the Palm Springs Cultural Center June 18-24. Opening night features a film screening, followed by a party among vintage aircrafts at the Palm Springs Air Museum. DJ Gingee performs a live set to get the party started. Lulu’s California Bistro will provide food and drinks. $60.\n\nTuesday: Camelot Theatres (2300 E. Baristo Rd, Palm Springs) Screening at Camelot Theatres: 6:30 p.m.; reception at Palm Springs Air Museum: 8:30-10:30 p.m.; psfilmfest.org; 760-322-2930\n\nSummer Movie Camp: The Lego Movie\n\nWatch family favorites every Tuesday and Thursday until Aug. 15. This week, \"The Lego Movie\" screens. Look out for special character appearances and meet-and-greet showings. A free toy will be gifted with any food and drink combo. Free.\n\nTuesday: Westfield Palm Desert (72-840 Highway 111, Palm Desert) 10 a.m.; Westfield.com; 760-346-2121\n\nKundalini Yoga for Transformation\n\nKRI-certified Kundalini yoga instructor Barry Raccio raises body, mind and spirit awareness through different exercises. The exploration of breathwork (pranayam), mantras (chanting), meditation and a kriya (excercises) is suitable for all levels. $10.\n\nTuesday: Crystal Fantasy (268 N. Palm Canyon Dr., Palm Springs) 5:30-6:30 p.m.; barryraccioyoga.com; 760-600-0328\n\nJune 19\n\nKids Night Out\n\nEnjoy a family night out featuring prizes, live music and entertainment for children 12 and under. The prize draw includes tickets to Palm Springs Power baseball games, Escape Room Palm Springs and Shakey’s Pizza. Every Wednesday, June 21 through July 31. No cover charge.\n\nWednesday: Las Casuelas Terraza (222 S. Palm Canyon Dr., Palm Springs) 6-10 p.m.; lascasuelas.com; 760-325-2794\n\nLights, Camera, Animals!\n\nPacific Animal Productions hosts an evening of natural stars in the animal kingdom as part of the Showtime at Your Library series. The evening will be informative and include audience participation activities. Free.\n\nWednesday: Cathedral City Library (33-520 Date Palm Dr., Cathedral City) 6-7 p.m.; coachellavalleykids.com; 760-328-4262\n\nSummer Reading: Noteworthy Puppets\n\n\"Three Little Pigs: The Puppet Musical\" shows as part of the Summer Reading series. The musical teaches the lesson that “hard work and dedication pay off.” Pre-K through grade 5. Free.\n\nWednesday: Palm Springs Public Library (300 S. Sunrise Way, Palm Springs) 10:30-11:30 a.m.; palmspringsca.gov; 760-322-7323\n\n'Dawn of the Dead': 40th Anniversary Celebration\n\nMarking the 40th anniversary of the U.S. release date, enjoy a special screening of the 1978 \"Dawn of the Dead\" film. Free.\n\nWednesday: Mary Pickford Theatre is D'Place (36-850 Pickfair St., Cathedral City) 6-9 p.m.; facebook.com\n\nJune 20\n\nSalsa and Western Dance Party and Lessons\n\nProfessional ballroom dance instructor Ms. MC Callaghan teaches the group simple steps to learn salsa or western dance. No dance partner required. Walk-ins welcome. $20.\n\nThursday: Fortun's Kitchen + Bar (78-085 Avenida La Fonda, La Quinta) 7-9:30 p.m.; facebook.com; 760-238-1498.\n\nRosé Wine Tasting\n\nTry out new wines as part of Dead or Alive’s wine club. Experience seven rosé options from two importers, Kermit Lynch and Rosenthal, from across France, Italy and Spain. Free for Dead or Alive wine club members and $25 for non-members.\n\nThursday: Dead or Alive Bar (150 E. Palm Canyon Dr., Palm Springs) 5-8 p.m.; deadoralivebar.com; 760-864-7193\n\nLet's Talk- Route 66 with Koz Mraz\n\nMoto-photojournalist and award-winning writer Koz Mraz shares his insights on adventures on and around the famous Route 66 highway. Free.\n\nThursday: La Quinta Museum (77-885 Avenida Montezuma, La Quinta) 4-5 p.m.; playinlaquinta.com; 760-777-7170\n\nJune 21\n\nSip & Shop: ‘A Night at the Disco’\n\nFind vintage treasures at 15% off the ticket prices while dancing to disco music. Seventies attire is encouraged. Small bites and beverages will be served.\n\nFriday: Antique Galleries of Palm Springs (505 E. Industrial Pl., Palm Springs) 5-8 p.m.; antiquegalleriespalmsprings.com; 760-322-8740\n\nSalsa at The Saguaro\n\nLearn to dance salsa and bachata with instructors William Carpenter and Eden Fleming. Beginners are welcome . 21+. $10.\n\nFriday: The Saguaro (1800 E. Palm Canyon Dr., Palm Springs) First class at 7:30 p.m.; thesaguaro.com; 760-323-1711\n\nLet's Do Lunch\n\nEnjoy games, artwork, exercise, workshops and more. \"Organic Sol\" performs a variety of genres, including jazz, R&B and funk. Lunch is provided. Free for over 60s. $5 under 60.\n\nFriday: Cathedral City Senior Center (37171 W. Buddy Rogers Ave., Cathedral City) Noon-2 p.m.; facebook.com; 760-325-4088\n\nSummer Camp: Movie Night\n\nWatch a screening of the ’90s favorite “Toys” starring Robin Williams. Enjoy the classic while lounging in the pool under the stars. Open to all ages. Free.\n\nFriday: The Saguaro (1800 E. Palm Canyon Dr., Palm Springs) 7-9 p.m.; thesaguaro.com; 760-323-1711\n\nJune 22\n\nPS I 10VE YOU\n\nCelebrate Ace Hotel & Swim Club’s 10th year in the desert with a weekend lineup of DJs, printmaking workshops, comedy shows and more. DJs performing live sets include C Love, Kate McCabe and Lovefingers. DJ sets and workshops take place June 21 through 23. Free.\n\nSaturday: Ace Hotel & Swim Club (701 E. Palm Canyon Dr., Palm Springs) Noon-midnight; acehotel.com; 760-325-9900\n\nSteve Augeri Live\n\n“Journey” former lead singer Steve Augeri performs his signature blend of rock and soul. The show will feature classic Journey songs in addition to more recent solo hits. $25-$35.\n\nSaturday: Agua Caliente Resort Casino Spa (32-250 Bob Hope Dr., Rancho Mirage) 8-11p.m.; hotwatercasino.com; 888-999-1995\n\nMoonsville Collective\n\nAmericana String Band stands firm in the traditions of old time, folk, country, and rhythm and blues. $15.\n\nSaturday: Pappy & Harriet's (53688 Pioneertown Rd., Pioneertown) 8-11 p.m.; pappyandharriets.com; 760-365-5956\n\nYucca Man Shakedown - Summer Solstice Celebration\n\nCelebrate the summer solstice with the sixth annual Yucca Man Shakedown. This two-day solstice celebration features beer, tacos and live entertainment from bands such as The Blank Tapes, The Freeks and DJ Captain Dave. Suggested donation of $20.\n\nSaturday: Gatos Trail Recording Studio (1733 Surrey Ave., Yucca Valley) 5 p.m.; eventbrite.com; 323-899-8289\n\nOzzy Tribute at The RockYard\n\nExperience live music in the style of Ozzy Osborne at the outdoor amphitheater. This tribute act performs hits from Black Sabbath and Osborne’s solo career, all in costume to add to the experience. 18+. Free.\n\nSaturday: RockYard at Fantasy Springs Resort Casino (84-245 Indio Springs Dr., Indio) 7:30 p.m.; fantasyspringsresort.com; 800-827-2946\n\nMadonna Bar - MadameX Launch\n\nDress up in your favorite Madonna-era clothing to dance all night to Madonna hits, supplied by DJ Ray Isaac. Must register and show barcode. $15 cash at the door.\n\nSaturday: Hotel Zoso (150 S. Indian Canyon Dr., Palm Springs) 8 p.m.; facebook.com/pg/KGAY1065; 760-340-6880\n\nAJ Lambert - The Best of Sinatra's Concept Albums\n\nLambert brings her own unique voice to her grandfather Frank Sinatra’s songs, performing classics such as “In The Wee Small Hours Of The Morning,” “I’ll Never Smile Again” and more. $30-$35.\n\nSaturday: The Purple Room (1900 E. Palm Canyon Dr., Palm Springs) 8 p.m.; purpleroompalmsprings.com; 760-322-4422\n\nJune 23\n\nHabits For Happiness\n\nBe sure to bring your mat for a day of yoga, sound bath, meditation and more. Speakers will be present to talk about making daily healthy habits to enhance overall quality of life. $24.\n\nSunday: Makerville Studio (70-101 Highway 74, Mountain Center) 9 a.m.-1 p.m.; makervillestudio.com; 612-483-0993\n\nBring on the Country with Brian Scott\n\nThe star of ABC’s Karaoke Battle USA, Brian Scott performs country classics as part of the “After Sunday Brunch Singer Series.” Free.\n\nSunday: AMP Sports Lounge (68-718 E. Palm Canyon Dr., Ste. 201, Cathedral City) 4-6 p.m.; facebook.com; 760-699-7090\n\nAcoustic Afternoon\n\nAdam Gainey and Yochee are just two of the performances you can see during the afternoon of acoustic music. Hosted by Uncle Ben, the afternoon will also feature crafted beer. All ages. Free.\n\nSunday: Coachella Valley Brewing Co. (30-640 Gunther St., Thousand Palms) 3-5:30 p.m.; facebook.com; 760-343-5973.\n\nLife Drawing Session\n\nStarting with 2- to 3-minute poses and moving on to 25 minutes, the live model will sit, stand and recline. This session is unstructured and not instructor-led. Bring your own lunch, and drawing or painting supplies. $20.\n\nSunday: Create Center for the Arts (73-733 Fred Waring Drive #100, Palm Desert) 10:30 a.m.-2:30 p.m.; createcenterforthearts.org; 760-834-8318.\n\nJune 24\n\nRemembering Stonewall June Mixer\n\nCelebrate the 50th anniversary of the Stonewall riots with a block party featuring live music, entertainment, guest speakers and more. The night will include a \"progressive passport,\" which enters attendees in a prize draw. A Stonewall commemoration will take place at 7 p.m., consisting of a brief program, key note speakers and entertainment. Free.\n\nMonday: Arenas Road (302 E. Arenas Rd., Palm Springs) 5-7:30 p.m.; desertbusinessassociation.org; 760-904-4589\n\nPiece of the Pie\n\nBirba takes part in Pride Month by contributing 100% of proceeds of a special \"Pride Pizza\" to benefit Coachella Valley programs and Palm Springs Pride. No cover charge.\n\nMonday: Birba (622 N. Palm Canyon Dr., Palm Springs) 5:30-10:30 p.m.; birbaps.com; 760-327-5678\n\nMonday Matinee Movie\n\nThe color remake of the 1955 Alfred Hitchcock movie “The Man Who Knew Too Much” plays as part of the Monday Matinee series at Palm Desert Library. Free.\n\nMonday: The Community Room at Palm Desert Library (73-300 Fred Waring Dr., Palm Desert) 2-4 p.m.; rivlib.net; 760-346-6552\n\nMighty Sweet Monday Nights\n\nThe Mighty Sweet Nothings perform country music on the patio. Bring your dancing boots to make it into a night of country fun. Free.\n\nMonday: Casuelas Café (73-703 Highway 111, Palm Desert) 5:30-9 p.m.; casuelascafe.com; 760-568-0011\n\nScott Wilkie Band\n\nJazz pianist Scott Wilkie and his band perform with a night of jazz compositions. $30.\n\nMonday: Coachella Valley Repertory (68-510 E. Palm Canyon Drive, Cathedral City) 7 p.m.; cvrep.org; 760-296-2966\n\nMonday Movies for Teen Summer Reading\n\nWatch “Guardians of the Galaxy” as part of the Monday Movies series. Enjoy free popcorn while it lasts. Free.\n\nMonday: Cathedral City Library (33-520 Date Palm Drive, Cathedral City) 3-5 p.m.; discovercathedralcity.com; 760-328-4262\n\nLearn & Create a Garden\n\nFind new ways to look after your plants and learn facts about the benefits of gardening, plants and more. Plant your own flower to take home with you. Free.\n\nMonday: Desert Hot Springs Library (11-691 West Dr., Desert Hot Springs) 3-4 p.m.; facebook.com/events; 760-329-5926\n\nMystic Monday\n\nWith more than 25 years of experience reading tarot, Audrey Alison, a member of the International Academy of Astrology and The American Federation of Astrologers, conducts tarot readings $40-$80.\n\nMonday: Ace Hotel & Swim Club (701 E. Palm Canyon Drive, Palm Springs) 4-8 p.m.; acehotel.com/palmsprings; 760-325-9900\n\nJune 25\n\nCity of Coachella’s SoCal Cannabis Summit\n\nLearn about the cannabis industry in the Coachella Valley through keynote speakers, including Lori Ajax, chief of the Bureau of Cannabis Control. The two-day summit also includes interactive sessions, a business-to-business exhibition and a panel discussion covering licensing and permitting. Entry to the exhibit hall and \"compliance after licensing\" workshop are free. Summit $75.\n\nTuesday: Fantasy Springs Resort Casino (84-245 Indio Springs Pkwy., Indio) 8-6 p.m.; coachellacannabissummit.com; 760-327-9708 ext. 24\n\nDream Funding\n\nThe Desert Screenwriter’s Guild hosts a \"Dream Funding\" event with filmmaker Alexia Anastasio, who will talk about crowdfunding for filmmakers. RSVP is required to Janeil Austin: 760-861-1134 or DSG.inc@aol.com. $15 for non-members.\n\nTuesday: Community Room at the Palm Desert Library (73-300 Fred Waring Drive, Palm Desert) 10:30 a.m.-1p.m.; desertscreenwritersguild.com; 760-861-1134\n\nIndustry Night Stand Up Comedy\n\nDacoda Miracle hosts a night of laughter with comedians Kevin Tienken and Evan Cassidy. Specials for service industry workers. Free.\n\nTuesday: AMP Sports Lounge (68-718 E. Palm Canyon Drive, Ste. 201, Cathedral City) 8-10 p.m.; facebook.com/events; 760-699-7090\n\nBig Show Tuesday: Billy Bonkers Magic Show\n\nThe show features magic, slapstick comedy and audience participation. Free.\n\nTuesday: The Community Room at Rancho Mirage Public Library (71-100 Highway 111, Rancho Mirage) 11 a.m.-noon; ranchomiragelibrary.evanced.info; 760-341-7323\n\nJune 26\n\nSummer Reading: Auntie Kayte\n\nAuntie Kayte transforms the audience into pirates, princesses and more with the aid of props and costumes from her treasure chest. Catchy songs about self-confidence, creative thinking and responsibility will have the audience singing along. Pre-K through grade 5. Free.\n\nWednesday: The Youth Room at Palm Springs Public Library (300 S. Sunrise Way, Palm Springs) 10:30-11:30 a.m.; palmspringsca.gov; 760-322-7323\n\nTai chi\n\nSifu Lea guides participants in reducing stress, improving balance and strength, as well as reducing pain using Tai chi. The class is suitable for beginning, intermediate or advanced levels. Learn the skills to practice at home during the summer. $3 for Cathedral City Senior Center members, $5 for non members.\n\nWednesday: Cathedral City Senior Center (37-171 W. Buddy Rogers Ave., Cathedral City) 1-3:30 p.m.; facebook.com/events; 760-328-9327\n\nJune 27\n\nGames, Friends and Fun\n\nMembers of the LGBTQ+ community are invited to make new friends while playing board games every second Friday and fourth Thursday. Free.\n\nThursday: The LGBT Community Center of the Desert (1301 N. Palm Canyon Dr., Ste. 301, Palm Springs) 6-7:30 p.m.; thecenterps.org; 760-416-7790\n\nMovies in the Park\n\nBring outdoor chairs, blankets and snacks to enjoy a showing of \"Hotel Transylvania\" in the park. Family friendly. Free.\n\nThursday: Luckie Park ( 5885 Luckie Ave., Twentynine Palms) 7:30-8:45 p.m. showing; twentynine-palms.ca.us; 760-367-6799\n\nJune 28\n\nSlice of Summer Concert\n\nThe Hi-Desert Master Chorus performs a selection of quintessentially summer songs, from both contemporary and classic eras. $15-$26.\n\nFriday: Hi-Desert Cultural Center, Blak Box Theater (61-231 Highway 62, Joshua Tree) 7:30-9 p.m.; hidesertculturalcenter.org; 760-366-3777\n\nGene Evaro Jr. Birthday Celebration with Whiskerman\n\nCelebrate the birthday of Gene Evaro Jr., frontman in the soul, folk, electronic and funk band from Joshua Tree. Featuring live music from both Gene Evaro Jr. and Oakland band Whiskerman. $15.\n\nFriday: Pappy & Harriet's (53-688 Pioneertown Rd., Pioneertown) 8-11 p.m.; facebook.com/events; 760-365-5956\n\nTribute to the Beatles\n\nGet the Beatles experience with Paperback Writer performing iconic hits, including \"Let It Be\" and tracks from \"Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band\" as part of the \"The Next Best Thing II\" tribute concert series. $10-$150.\n\nFriday: Spotlight 29 Casino (46-200 Harrison Pl., Coachella) 8-10 p.m.; spotlight29.com; 760-775-5566\n\nCoachella Valley Salsa Social Dancer Competition\n\nDesert Royalty Dance Company hosts a night of performances, workshops and social dancing. In the open-level salsa and bachata competition, the winner takes home passes to the first annual Phoenix Salsa Bachata Festival, taking place in late August. Wine and sangria will be provided. Social tickets $15, class and social tickets $20.\n\nFriday: Beyond the Beat Dance Studio (41-990 Cook St., Palm Desert) 7 p.m.-3 a.m.; facebook.com/events; 442-227-2081\n\nDive-In Movie Series\n\nRelax as you watch the 1993 classic \"Cool Runnings\" poolside as part of the Dive-In Movie series. Complimentary candy will be provided. Free.\n\nFriday: ARRIVE (1551 N. Palm Canyon Dr., Palm Springs) 7-9 p.m.; arrivehotels.com/palmsprings; 760-227-7037\n\nJune 29\n\nWild West Show\n\nThe show takes a humorous view on how the Old West could have been, with the help of an Old West gunfighter troupe. Watch the lively show take place on the streets where Hollywood movies were once filmed, including \"The Cisco Kid\" and \"Annie Oakley.\" Free.\n\nSaturday: Mane Street Stampede (53-613 Mane St., Pioneertown) 2:30-3 p.m.; facebook.com/events; 760-366-3333\n\nTasty Brews Heavy Music at The Brewery\n\nInstigator, Sticky Doll and Sleazy Cortez all perform live as part of the \"Tasty Brews Heavy Music\" series. All ages. Free.\n\nSaturday: Coachella Valley Brewing Co. (30-640 Gunther St., Thousand Palms) 6-9:30 p.m.; facebook.com/events; 760-343-5973\n\nSummer Rap Jam\n\nFeaturing former 213 rapper and Dr. Dre’s half-brother, Warren G. Performances also include the Ying Yang Twins, known for collaborating with Lil Jon on the 2002 track “Get Low,” as well as Grammy-nominated rapper Petey Pablo. 21+. $30-$45.\n\nSaturday: Spotlight 29 Casino (46-200 Harrison Pl., Coachella) 8-11 p.m.; spotlight29.com; 760-775-5566\n\nThe Soul Shakedown Party!\n\nClifton Weaver aka DJ Soft Touch performs a set of raw funk, heavy soul, vintage R&B, and more. 21+. Free.\n\nSaturday: The Alibi Palm Springs (369 N. Palm Canyon Drive, Palm Springs) 10 p.m.-2 a.m.; thealibipalmsprings.com; 760-656-1525\n\nThe Un-Bowl-ievable Tournament\n\nUnited Way of the Desert hosts a family-friendly bowling tournament with extra entertainment including a raffle, 50/50 drawing, corn hole toss for prizes and more. Funds raised benefit the Raising A Reader program. Team of four, including a drink ticket, lunch, t-shirt and team prizes, for $200.\n\nSaturday: Palm Springs Lanes (68-051 Ramon Rd., Cathedral City) 11 a.m.-3 p.m.; facebook.com/events; 760-324-8204\n\nMovie: Cloverfield\n\nTake a break from the heat and watch the feature film \"Cloverfield\" as part of the Indio Library Movie Night. Free.\n\nSaturday: Indio Library (200 Civic Center Mall, Indio) 3:15-5:45 p.m.; facebook.com/events; 760-347-2383\n\nBrightDyed Tie Dye\n\nLearn the art and beauty of tie dye as you decorate your own t-shirt & bandana. Suitable for all ages. $20.\n\nSaturday: Jiva Collections (71-800 Highway 111, Ste. A113, Rancho Mirage) 6:30-9:30 p.m.; facebook.com/events;760-779-5522\n\nCut the Cord: Streaming Basics\n\nLibrarian Scott Biegen explains how to get rid of cable and teaches the basics of streaming TV, music and games. Attendees present for the whole lecture have the chance win a free Fire TV stick with Alexa voice remote. Free.\n\nSaturday: The Learning Center at Palm Springs Public Library (300 S. Sunrise Way, Palm Springs) 2-4 p.m.; palmspringsca.gov; 760-322- 7323\n\nJune 30\n\nLavender Festival\n\nThis is the last day to celebrate the harvest season with lavender-inspired dishes to taste, live music, horse-drawn hay wagon guided tours and more. Browse the organic marketplace to purchase honey, fresh bouquets, lavender-stuffed toys or other organic items. Children under 12 are free. $8- $15.\n\nSunday: Highland Springs Ranch & Inn (10-600 Highland Springs Ave., Cherry Valley) 10 a.m.- 6 p.m.; hsresort.com/thelavenderfestival; 951-845-1151\n\nNew Moon Yoga\n\nYoga instructor Symara Stone teaches yoga by the pool as a way to zen out and relax. Free.\n\nSunday: ARRIVE (1551 N. Palm Canyon Dr., Palm Springs) 8-9 a.m.; arrivehotels.com/palmsprings; 760-227-7037", "authors": [], "publish_date": "2019/06/05"}, {"url": "https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/local/arizona/2019/05/24/arizona-war-dead-casualty-list-men-and-women-who-died-service/3640947002/", "title": "Arizona war dead: Complete list of the men and women who died in ...", "text": "Arizona Republic\n\nAlmost 3,000 Arizonans have died in America’s wars since 1917, giving their lives in service to their country.\n\nThey fell in Europe, the South Pacific, Korea, Vietnam, Afghanistan, Iraq and other lands far from the desert and pine of their home state.\n\nAlmost 200 have died in 21st century conflicts.\n\nIn their memory, we publish this list — so we never forget their sacrifice.\n\nWhile care has been taken to include all the names of Arizona war dead, we acknowledge the inevitability of error. Please send any updates to accuracy@arizonarepublic.com.\n\nIraq, Afghanistan | Desert Storm | Vietnam | Korea | WWII, Navy | WWII, Army | WWI\n\nRECENT CONFLICTS\n\n2018\n\nAlexander Conrad, U.S. Army Staff Sergeant, June 8, 2018\n\nConrad, 26, was among four people wounded in an attack by enemy troops in Somalia. Conrad died of injuries sustained from a mortar blast from al-Shabab militants, a terrorist group affiliated with Al Queda. He served as a noncommissioned human intelligence officer enlisted in the Army’s 3rd Special Forces Group based in Fort Bragg, North Carolina. Conrad was an Arizona native and played football and soccer at Chandler’s Hamilton High School. He was posthumously awarded the Purple Heart and the Meritorious Service Medal.\n\nRobert W. Jones, U.S. Army Specialist, Jan. 6, 2018\n\nJones, 21, died while serving as part of NATO’s Kosovo forces. Jones was a military police dog handler assigned to the 131st Military Working Dog Detachment, 709th Military Police Battalion, 18th Military Police Brigade based in Germany. He was from Vail, Arizona, and joined the Army in August 2015.\n\n2016\n\nKevin J. McEnroe, U.S. Army Staff Sergeant, Nov. 4, 2016\n\nMcEnroe, 30, was among three service members killed in Jordan when they came under fire while entering a Jordanian military base during Operation Inherent Resolve. McEnroe was a Green Beret from the 5th Special Forces Group with more than eight years of service. He was serving in his third oversees tour. McEnroe was born in Colorado, but moved with his family to Tucson in 1995. McEnroe decided to join the Army when he was in his second year at University of Colorado, Boulder.\n\nIraq and Afghanistan\n\nCharlie Keating, Special Warfare Operator 1st Class, U.S. Navy\n\nMay 3, 2016: Charlie Keating, 31, was killed after Islamic State militants penetrated Kurdish defensive lines and launched an attack with small arms and car bombs. He was an Arizona native and an acclaimed distance runner for Arcadia High School in Phoenix. He was the grandson of Charles Keating Jr. The Navy announced he would receive a posthumous promotion to chief petty officer.\n\n2015\n\nCarlos Carrasco\n\nOct. 2, 2015: Carlos Carrasco, 27, was one of five civilians killed alongside six airmen when the C-130J Super Hercules aircraft they were riding in crashed just after takeoff at Jalalabad Airfield in Afghanistan. He was working as an unmanned aerial vehicle and mechanical technician for Northrop Grumman Corp. Carrasco was raised in Tombstone, graduated from Tombstone High School in 2006 and earned degrees in avionics and unmanned aerial vehicle technology from Cochise College. He lived in Sierra Vista.\n\n2014\n\nWyatt Martin, Specialist, U.S. Army, Dec. 12, 2014\n\nMartin, 22, died in Parwan province, Afghanistan, when the vehicle he was riding in struck an improvised explosive device. He was a combat engineer who attended Skyline High School in Mesa, lived in Mesa and planned to attend Michigan State University to become a fish and game officer.\n\nMartin Barreras, Command Sergeant Major, U.S. Army, May 13, 2014\n\nBarreras, 49, died in Texas of wounds suffered during a May 6 attack in Harat Province, Afghanistan, when his unit was attacked with small-arms fire. He was from Tucson.\n\n2013\n\nJoshua Silverman, Chief Warrant Officer 2, U.S. Army, Dec. 18, 2013\n\nSilverman, 35, was a UH-60m Black Hawk pilot and one of six soldiers killed in a helicopter crash in Now Bahar, Afghanistan. He was a Scottsdale native and it was his first deployment.\n\nJonam Russell, First Lieutenant, U.S. Army, July 23, 2013\n\nRussell was killed while walking during patrol in the Wardak Province in Afghanistan, the Arizona State University Army Reserve Officers' Training Corps said. It wasn't clear how he was killed. Russell was an Arizona solider and graduated from ASU.\n\nJustin Sisson, Second Lieutenant, U.S. Army, June 3, 2013\n\nLee Sisson 23, of Phoenix, died June 3 in Tsamkani, Afghanistan, after encountering an improvised explosive device while on patrol in Tsamkani, Afghanistan.\n\nNicholas McCaskill, Command Sergeant Major, U.S. Army, April 6, 2013\n\nMcCaskill, 41, died April 6, 2013, during a suicide attack in Afghanistan while working as a private security contractor, according to the Tucson Sentinel. He grew up in California, had served as an Air Force pararescuer and was a reservist at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base in Tucson, according to the Orange County Register.\n\nChristian Michael Pike, Chief Petty Officer, U.S. Navy, March 13, 2013\n\nPike, 31 of Peoria, died in a military hospital in Germany of wounds he suffered in Maiwand District, Afghanistan, Pentagon officials said. He was conducting stability operations. Pike was assigned to a West Coast-based Naval Special Warfare unit.\n\nJonathan Davis, Staff Sergeant, U.S. Marines, Feb. 22, 2013\n\nDavis, 34, of Kayenta, died in Helmand province, Afghanistan, from wounds suffered in a combat operation. He was assigned to Headquarters Battalion, 32nd Georgian Liaison Team, Regimental Combat Team 7, 1st Marine Division.\n\n2012\n\nRyan Savard, Sergeant First Class, U.S. Army, Oct. 13, 2012\n\nSavard of Sierra Vista was killed by small-arms fire in Khanabad District, Afghanistan, on Oct. 13. He was 29 and it was his fifth deployment. He was born in Salt Lake City, Utah, and graduated from Buena High School in Sierra Vista in 2001.\n\nOrion Sparks, Staff Sergeant, U.S. Army, Sept. 26, 2012\n\nSparks of Tucson was killed Sept. 26 in Pul-E Alam, Afghanistan, when his unit was attacked by a suicide bomber. He was 29.\n\nRichard L. Berry, Staff Sergeant, U.S. Army, July 22, 2012\n\nBerry, 27, of Scottsdale, died in Kandahar, Afghanistan, of wounds suffered from an enemy improvised explosive device. He was assigned to the 508th Special Troops Battalion, 4th Brigade Combat Team, 82nd Airborne Division, Fort Bragg, N.C.\n\nCarl E. Hammar, Staff Sergeant, U.S. Army, July 14, 2012\n\nHammar, 24, of Lake Havasu City, died in Khost province, Afghanistan, of wounds suffered from enemy small-arms fire. Hammar was assigned to 1st Battalion, 501st Infantry Regiment, 4th Airborne Brigade Combat Team, 25th Infantry Division, Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson, Alaska.\n\nBarett W. McNabb, Sergeant First Class, U.S. Army, June 12, 2012\n\nMcNabb, 33, of Chino Valley, died in Khakrez, Afghanistan, of wounds suffered when he was attacked by an enemy improvised explosive device.\n\nAlejo R. Thompson, First Lieutenant, U.S. Army, May 11, 2012\n\nThompson, 30, of Yuma, died in Bagram, Afghanistan, when enemy forces attacked his unit with small-arms fire. He was assigned to the 1st Battalion, 12th Infantry Regiment, 4th Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division, Fort Carson, Colo.\n\nKyler L. Estrada, Petty Officer Third Class, U.S. Navy, Feb. 14, 2012\n\nEstrada, 21, of Queen Creek, died as the result of a non-combat-related training incident in Djibouti. Estrada, a Navy hospital corpsman, was assigned to the 11th Marine Expeditionary Unit based at Camp Pendleton, Calif.\n\nPhillip D. McGeath, Corporal, U.S. Marine Corps, Jan. 18, 2012\n\nMcGeath, 25, of Glendale, died in Helmand province, Afghanistan, while conducting combat operations. He was assigned to the 1st Battalion, 6th Marines, 2nd Marine Division, II Marine Expeditionary Force, Camp Lejeune, N.C.\n\n2011\n\nJohnathan Bryant McCain, Sergeant First Class, U.S. Army, Nov. 13, 2011\n\nMcCain, 38, of Mesa, died of injuries suffered after encountering an improvised explosive device while on mounted patrol in the Kandahar province of Afghanistan. He was assigned to the 1st Battalion, 5th Infantry Regiment, 1st Stryker Brigade Combat Team, Fort Wainwright, Alaska.\n\nMichael Davis Elm, Specialist, U.S. Army, Oct. 14, 2011\n\nElm, 25, of Phoenix, died of wounds suffered when insurgents attacked his unit with an improvised explosive device in Afghanistan. He was assigned to Company A, 1st Battalion, 26th Infantry Regiment, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, Fort Knox, Ky.\n\nDonald Vincent Stacy, Staff Sergeant, U.S. Army, June 28, 2011\n\nStacy, 23, of Avondale, died of injuries sustained when he encountered an improvised explosive device while on patrol in the Kandahar province of Afghanistan. Stacy was assigned to Company B, 1st Battalion, 505th Parachute Infantry REGT, 3 Brigade Combat Team, 82nd Airborne Division, Fort Bragg, N.C.\n\nMartin Ramon Apolinar, Sergeant First Class, U.S. Army, May 29, 2011\n\nApolinar, 28, of Glendale, died of wounds suffered when enemy forces attacked his unit with an improvised explosive device in Wardak province, Afghanistan. The Green Beret was assigned to Company C, 3rd Battalion, Fort Bragg, N.C.\n\nJohn Corey Johnson, Private First Class, U.S. Army, May 27, 2011\n\nJohnson, 28, of Phoenix, died of wounds suffered when insurgents attacked his unit with small-arms fire in the Kandahar province of Afghanistan. He was assigned to Company C, 1st Battalion, 32nd Infantry Regiment, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, Fort Drum, N.Y.\n\nChristian Anthony Saracho Garcia, Staff Sergeant, U.S. Army, April 2, 2011\n\nGarcia, 30, of Goodyear, died of wounds suffered when enemy forces attacked his position with indirect fire in Babil, Iraq. He was assigned to Maintenance troop, regimental support squadron, Fort Hood, Texas.\n\nDustin James Feldhaus, Specialist, U.S. Army, March 29, 2011\n\nFeldhaus, 20, of Peoria, died of wounds suffered when enemy forces attacked his unit with small-arms fire in the Konar province of Afghanistan. He was assigned to Company C, 2nd Battalion, 327th Infantry Regiment, 1st Brigade Combat Team, Fort Campbell, Ky.\n\n2010\n\nAaron Brett Cruttenden, Sergeant, U.S. Army, Nov. 7, 2010\n\nCruttenden, 25, of Mesa, died of wounds suffered when insurgents attacked his unit with small-arms fire in the Kunar province of Afghanistan. He was assigned to the 161st Engineer Company, 27th Engineer Battalion, 20th Engineer Brigade, Fort Bragg, N.C.\n\nRandy Rashad Braggs, Lance Corporal, U.S. Marine Corps, Nov. 6, 2010\n\nBraggs, 21, of Sierra Vista, died while conducting combat operations in the Helmand province of Afghanistan. He was assigned to 3rd Battalion 5th MAR, Regimental Combat Team-2, I Marine Expeditionary Force (FWD), 1st Marine Division, Camp Pendleton, Calif. Braggs enlisted in the Marine Corps in March 2009. He was deployed with his battalion at the end of September 2010.\n\nMatthew James Broehm, Lance Corporal, U.S. Marine Corps, Nov. 4, 2010\n\nBroehm, 22, of Flagstaff, died during a small-arms attack at a patrol base in the Helmand province of Afghanistan. He was assigned to Unit-3/5, Regimental Combat Team-2, 1st Marine Division (FWD), I Marine Expeditionary Force (FWD) (Parent CMD: 1st Marine Division).\n\nTodd Monroe Harris, Sergeant First Class, U.S. Army, Nov. 3, 2010\n\nHarris, 37, of Tucson, died of injuries suffered when insurgents attacked his unit with small-arms fire in Afghanistan. He was assigned to Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 1st Battalion, 87th Infantry Regiment, 1st Brigade Combat Team, Fort Drum, N.Y.\n\nBarbara Vieyra, Private First Class, U.S. Army, Sept. 18, 2010\n\nVieyra, 22, of Mesa, died of injuries suffered when her Army military-police unit was attacked with an improvised explosive device and rocket-propelled grenade fire in the Kunar province of Afghanistan. She was assigned to the 64th Military Police Company, 720th MP Battalion, 89th MP Brigade, Fort Hood, Texas.\n\nMartin Anthony Lugo, Sergeant, U.S. Army, Aug. 19, 2010\n\nLugo, 24, died when insurgents attacked his unit with an improvised explosive device in Puli Alam, Afghanistan. He was assigned to Company C, 1st Battalion, 75th Ranger Regiment, Hunter Army Airfield, Fort Stewart, Ga.\n\nChristopher James Moon, Specialist, U.S. Army, July 13, 2010\n\nMoon, 20, of Tucson, died of injuries sustained when he encountered an improvised explosive device in Afghanistan. He was assigned to Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 2nd Battalion, 508th Infantry Regiment, 4th Brigade Combat Team, Fort Bragg, N.C.\n\nJohn Michael Rogers, Sergeant, U.S. Army, June 27, 2010\n\nRogers, 26, of Scottsdale, died June 27, 2010, from injuries sustained during a non-combat-related incident at Forward Operating Base Blessing in the Kunar province of Afghanistan. He was assigned to Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 1st Battalion, 327th Infantry Regiment, 1st Brigade Combat Team, Fort Campbell, Ky. Rogers entered the Army in June 2004 and arrived at Fort Campbell in April 2009, according to the U.S. Department of Defense.\n\nChristian Michael Adams, Specialist, U.S. Army, June 11, 2010\n\nAdams, 26, died in a non-combat-related incident in Afghanistan. He was assigned to Forward Support Company, 20th Engineer Battalion, 36th Engineer Brigade, Fort Hood, Texas.\n\nGlen Jacob Whetten, Sergeant First Class, U.S. Army, March 12, 2010\n\nWhetten, 31, of Mesa, died when enemy forces attacked his vehicle with an improvised explosive device near Kandahar, Afghanistan. He was assigned to 1st Brigade, 1st Infantry Division, Afghanistan Team, Fort Riley, Kan.\n\nAlejandro Jay Yazzie, Lance Corporal, U.S. Marine Corps., Feb. 16, 2010\n\nYazzie, 23, of Rock Point, died of injuries suffered from enemy fire during a joint patrol and firefight in Helmand province, Afghanistan. He was assigned to 1st Combat Engineer Battalion, (Regimental Combat Team-7, Marine Expeditionary Brigade -A FWD) 1st Marine Division, Camp Pendleton, Calif.\n\nRobert John Donevski, Specialist, U.S. Army, Jan. 16, 2010\n\nDonevski, 19, of Sun City, died of gunshot wounds suffered when a small band of Taliban insurgents ambushed his unit in Abad, Afghanistan. He was assigned to Company B, 2nd Battalion, 12th Infantry, 4th Brigade Combat Team, Fort Carson, Colo.\n\n2009\n\nThomas D. Rabjohn, SSG, National Guard, Oct. 3, 2009\n\nRabjohn, 39, of Litchfield Park, died of wounds suffered when an explosive device detonated in Wardak Province, Afghanistan. Rabjon, a Phoenix police officer since 2002, was assigned to the 363rd Ordnance Company (Explosive Ordnance Disposal), Arizona National Guard, Coolidge.\n\nCory Justin Jenkins, Captain, U.S. Army, Aug. 25, 2009\n\nJenkins, 30, born in Mesa and a Mesa High School graduate, was killed in Sha Wali Kot, Afghanistan, while serving as a physician assistant. He died of wounds sustained when enemy forces attacked his armored vehicle with an improvised explosive device. Three other men died in the attack. Jenkins was assigned to the 1st Battalion, 17th Infantry Regiment, 5th Stryker Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division, Fort Lewis, Wash.\n\nSteven Hutchison, Major, U.S. Army, May 10, 2009\n\nHutchison, 60, of Scottsdale, died in Basrah of wounds suffered when an improvised explosive device detonated near his vehicle in Al Farr, Iraq. He was assigned to the 2nd Battalion, 34th Armor Regiment, 1st Brigade Combat Team, 1st Infantry Division, Fort Riley, Kan.\n\nAdam J. Hardt, Private First Class, U.S. Army, March 22, 2009\n\nHardt, 19, of Avondale, died at Forward Operating Base Airborne in Wardak province, Afghanistan, of injuries suffered from a non-combat-related incident. He was assigned to the 2nd Battalion, 87th Infantry Regiment, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 10th Mountain Division (Light Infantry), Fort Drum, N.Y.\n\nTimothy L. Bowles, Staff Sergeant, U.S. Air Force, March 15, 2009\n\nBowles, 24, of Tucson, died near Kot, Afghanistan, of wounds suffered when his vehicle encountered an improvised explosive device. He was assigned to the 3rd Logistics Readiness Squadron, Elmendorf Air Force Base, Alaska.\n\nDavid L. Hurt, Master Sergeant, U.S. Army, Feb. 20, 2009\n\nHurt, 36, of Tucson, died in Kandahar, Afghanistan, from his wounds when his vehicle was struck by an improvised explosive device followed by a small-arms-fire attack by enemy forces. Hurt was assigned to 1st Battalion, 3rd Special Forces Group (Airborne), Fort Bragg, N.C.\n\nAlbert R. Jex, Private First Class, U.S. Army, Feb. 9, 2009\n\nJex, 23, of Phoenix, died in Mosul, Iraq, of wounds suffered when an improvised explosive device detonated near his vehicle. Three other soldiers also died. All were assigned to the 3rd Battalion, 8th Cavalry Regiment, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Cavalry Division, Fort Hood, Texas.\n\n2008\n\nCharles P. Gaffney Jr., Corporal, U.S. Army, Dec. 24, 2008\n\nGaffney, 42, of Phoenix, died in Paktika, Afghanistan, when his combat outpost received enemy rocket fire. He was assigned to the 2nd Battalion, 506th Infantry Regiment, 4th Brigade Combat Team, 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault), Fort Campbell, Ky.\n\nJoseph F. Gonzales, Private, U.S. Army, Sept. 20, 2008\n\nGonzales, 18, of Tucson, died in the Korengal Valley, Afghanistan, of wounds suffered when his vehicle encountered an improvised explosive device. Gonzales was assigned to the 1st Battalion, 26th Infantry Regiment, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Infantry Division, Fort Hood, Texas.\n\nRobert C. Hammett, Chief Warrant Officer, U.S. Army, June 24, 2008\n\nHammett, 39, of Tucson, died in Baghdad, Iraq, of wounds suffered from a bomb blast. Chief Warrant Officer Hammett was assigned to the 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division, Fort Carson, Colo.\n\nDustin K. Burnett, Hospitalman, U.S. Navy, June 20, 2008\n\nBurnett, 19, of Fort Mohave, died while conducting combat operations in Farah province, Afghanistan. Hospitalman Burnett was assigned to First Marine Division Detachment, Twentynine Palms, Calif.\n\nJohn K. Daggett, Sergeant, U.S. Army, May 15, 2008\n\nDaggett, 21, of Phoenix, died in Halifax, Canada, of wounds suffered May 1 in Baghdad, Iraq, when a rocket-propelled grenade struck his vehicle. He was assigned to the 1st Battalion, 14th Infantry Regiment, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 25th Infantry Division, Schofield Barracks, Hawaii.\n\nVictor M. Cota, Sergeant, U.S. Army, May 14, 2008\n\nCota, 33, of Tucson, died in Baghdad, Iraq, of wounds suffered when his vehicle encountered an improvised explosive device in Kadamiyah, Iraq, on May 13. He was assigned to the Special Troops Battalion, 4th Infantry Division, Fort Hood, Texas.\n\nAra T. Deysie, Private First Class, U.S. Army, May 9, 2008\n\nDeysie, 18, of Parker, died in Paktia province, Afghanistan, of wounds suffered when his unit came under rocket-propelled-grenade fire. He was assigned to the 1st Squadron, 61st Cavalry Regiment, 4th Brigade Combat Team, 101st Airborne Division, Fort Campbell, Ky.\n\nCorey L. Hicks, Private, U.S. Army, May 2, 2008\n\nHicks, 22, of Glendale, died in Baghdad, Iraq, of wounds suffered when his vehicle encountered an improvised explosive device. He was assigned to the 1st Battalion, 66th Armor Regiment, 1st Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division, Fort Hood, Texas.\n\nTenzin L. Samten, Private First Class, U.S. Army, March 12, 2008\n\nSamten, 33, of Prescott, died in Tallil, Iraq, of wounds suffered when his vehicle was hit by indirect fire. Samten was assigned to the 7th Special Troops Battalion, 7th Sustainment Brigade, 10th Mountain Division (Light Infantry), Fort Eustis, Va.\n\nErnesto G. Cimarrusti, Staff Sergeant, U.S. Army, March 10, 2008\n\nCimarrusti, 25, of Douglas, died of wounds sustained during a suicide bomb attack in central Baghdad. Cimarrusti graduated from Douglas High School in 2000 and was on his third tour in Iraq. He is survived by his wife, Illiana, and his daughter, Vivianaiy. Cimarrusti was assigned to the 3rd Infantry Division at Fort Stewart, Ga.\n\n2007\n\nHugo V. Mendoza, Specialist, U.S. Army, Oct. 25, 2007\n\nMendoza, 29, of Glendale, died of wounds sustained when he and another soldier came in contact with enemy forces using rocket-propelled-grenade, machine-gun and small-arms fire during combat operations in Korengal Valley, Afghanistan. Mendoza was assigned to the 2nd Battalion, 503rd Airborne Infantry Regiment, 173rd Airborne Brigade Combat Team, Vicenza, Italy.\n\nMykel F. Miller, Private First Class, U.S. Army, Sept. 6, 2007\n\nMiller, 19, of Phoenix, died in Zabul province, Afghanistan, of wounds sustained during combat operations. He was assigned to the 1st Battalion, 158th Infantry Regiment, Arizona Army National Guard Phoenix.\n\nFrank M. Sandoval, Sergeant, U.S. Army, June 18, 2007\n\nSandoval, 27, of Yuma, died in Palo Alto, Calif., of wounds sustained when his unit was attacked by insurgents using small-arms fire on Nov. 28, 2005, in Tikrit, Iraq. He was assigned to the 2nd Battalion, 5th Artillery, Fort Sill, Okla.\n\nCaleb P. Christopher, Sergeant, U.S. Army, June 3, 2007\n\nChristopher, 25, of Chandler, died in Baghdad, Iraq, of wounds suffered when an improvised explosive device detonated near his vehicle. He was assigned to the 1st Battalion, 8th Cavalry Regiment, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Cavalry Division, Fort Hood, Texas.\n\nCharles R. Browning, Sergeant, U.S. Army, June 1, 2007\n\nBrowning, 31, of Tucson, died in Mehtar Lam, Afghanistan, of wounds suffered when an improvised explosive device detonated near his vehicle. He was assigned to Company B, 1st Battalion, 158th Infantry Regiment, Arizona National Guard, Gilbert.\n\nAnthony D. Ewing, Sergeant, U.S. Army, May 28, 2007\n\nEwing, 22, of Phoenix, died in Abu Sayda, Iraq, of wounds suffered when his vehicle was struck by an improvised explosive device. Four other soldiers also died in the blast. They were assigned to the 6th Squadron, 9th Cavalry Regiment, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Cavalry Division, Fort Hood, Texas.\n\nCoty J. Phelps, Specialist, U.S. Army, May 17, 2007\n\nPhelps, 20, of Kingman, died in Iskandariya, Iraq, of wounds suffered when an improvised explosive device detonated near his vehicle. Two other soldiers were also killed in the blast. Phelps was assigned to the 725th Brigade Support Battalion, 4th Brigade Combat Team, 25th Infantry Division, Fort Richardson, Alaska.\n\nChristopher N. Gonzalez, Sergeant, U.S. Army, May 14, 2007\n\nGonzalez, 25, of Winslow, died in Salman Pak, Iraq, of wounds suffered when his unit came in contact with enemy forces using an improvised explosive device and small-arms fire. They were assigned to the 1st Battalion, 15th Infantry Regiment, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 3rd Infantry Division, Fort Benning, Ga.\n\nAnthony J. Sausto, Private, U.S. Army, May 10, 2007\n\nSausto, 22, of Lake Havasu City, died in Baghdad, Iraq, of wounds suffered from enemy small-arms fire. He was assigned to the 1st Battalion, 38th Infantry Regiment, 4th Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division, Fort Lewis, Wash.\n\nBrice A. Pearson, Sergeant, U.S. Army, April 23, 2007\n\nPearson, 32, of Phoenix, died in As Sadah, Iraq, of wounds suffered during a suicide truck bombing in Diyala province northeast of Baghdad. Nine other soldiers in Pearson's unit were also killed in the blast. Another 11 soldiers were wounded. The action was the single deadliest attack for the storied 82nd Airborne Division in nearly 40 years. All were assigned to the 5th Squadron, 73rd Cavalry Regiment, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 82nd Airborne Division, Fort Bragg, N.C.\n\nIsmael G. Solorio, Specialist, U.S. Army, April 9, 2007\n\nSolorio, 21, of San Luis, died in Baghdad, Iraq, when an improvised explosive device detonated near his vehicle. Two other soldiers also died in the blast. Solorio was assigned to the 2nd Battalion, 17th Field Artillery Regiment, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 2nd Infantry Division, Fort Carson, Colo.\n\nRyan S. Dallam, Specialist, U.S. Army, April 6, 2007\n\nDallam, 24, of Show Low (born Norman, Okla.), died in Baghdad, Iraq, when an improvised explosive device detonated near his vehicle during combat operations. He was assigned to the 1st Battalion, 18th Infantry Regiment, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Infantry Division, Schweinfurt, Germany.\n\nDamian Lopez Rodriguez, Private, U.S. Army, April 6, 2007\n\nLopez Rodriguez, 19, of Tucson, died in Baghdad, Iraq, when an improvised explosive device detonated near his vehicle during combat operations. He was assigned to the 1st Battalion, 18th Infantry Regiment, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Infantry Division, Schweinfurt, Germany.\n\nChristopher R. Brevard, Sergeant First Class, U.S. Army, March 16, 2007\n\nBrevard, 31, of Phoenix, died in Baghdad, Iraq, of wounds suffered when an improvised explosive device detonated near his unit. Brevard was assigned to the 1st Battalion, 501st Infantry Regiment, 4th Airborne Brigade Combat Team, 25th Infantry Division, Fort Richardson, Alaska.\n\nDarrel D. Kasson, Staff Sergeant, U.S. Army, March 4, 2007\n\nKasson, 43, of Florence, died in Tikrit, Iraq, of wounds suffered when an improvised explosive device detonated near his vehicle at Bayji, Iraq. Kasson was deployed with the Arizona Army National Guard's Phoenix-based 259th Engineer Company and was a member of Alpha Battery, 2-180th Field Artillery Battalion. The 259th Company left Arizona for Camp Shelby, Miss., in August 2006 for training until they deployed to Iraq in November 2006.\n\nClinton W. Ahlquist, Sergeant, U.S. Marines, Feb. 20, 2007\n\nAhlquist, 23, of Creede, Colo., died while conducting combat operations in Al Anbar province, Iraq. Ahlquist lived in Scottsdale before moving to Colorado to attend high school. He was assigned to 2nd Battalion, 4th Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division, I Marine Expeditionary Force, Camp Pendleton, Calif.\n\nKelly D. Youngblood, Private, U.S. Army, Feb. 18, 2007\n\nYoungblood, 19, of Mesa, was killed in action after being hit by enemy sniper fire near Ramadi, Iraq. He was killed less than three weeks into his deployment to Iraq. Youngblood attended McClintock High School in Tempe and Rhodes Junior High in Mesa. He was assigned to the 3rd Battalion, 69th Armor Regiment, 1st Brigade Combat Team, 3rd Infantry Division, Fort Stewart, Ga.\n\nHershel D. McCants, Chief Warrant Officer, U.S. Army, Feb. 18, 2007\n\nMcCants, 33, of Medford, Ore., was one of seven soldiers who died when a Chinook helicopter they were flying in crashed in Zabul province, southeastern Afghanistan. McCants was the co-pilot. He enlisted in the Army from Phoenix where he reportedly attended high school. McCants was assigned to the 2nd Battalion, 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment (known as the \"Night Stalkers\"), Fort Campbell, Ky.\n\nAlan E. McPeek, Specialist, U.S. Army, Feb. 2, 2007\n\nMcPeek, 20, of Tucson, died in Ramadi, Iraq, of injuries sustained from small-arms fire when he and another soldier engaged with enemy forces. He is the fifth former student at Marana Mountain View High School in Tucson to die in Iraq or Afghanistan. McPeek was assigned to the 16th Engineer Battalion, 1st Brigade Combat Team, 1st Armored Division, Giessen, Germany.\n\nVictor M. Langarica, Corporal, U.S. Army, Jan. 20, 2007\n\nLangarica, 29, of Decatur, Ga., was one of a dozen soldiers killed when their UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter crashed in Baghdad. Langarica, a single father, was assigned to the 86th Signal Battalion at Fort Huachuca near Sierra Vista. He is the second Fort Huachuca soldier claimed by the Iraq War.\n\nRussell P. Borea, Sergeant First Class, U.S. Army, Jan. 19, 2007\n\nBorea, 38, of El Paso, Texas, died of injuries suffered in Mosul when an improvised explosive device detonated near his Humvee during combat operations. Borea moved to Tucson with his family when he was a child. He is a 1986 graduate of Catalina High School in Tucson. Borea was assigned to the 2nd Battalion, 7th Cavalry Regiment, 4th Brigade Combat Team, 1st Cavalry Division, Fort Bliss, Texas.\n\nCollin R. Schockmel, Specialist, U.S. Army, Jan. 16, 2007\n\nSchockmel, 19, of Richwood, Texas, died in Ar Ramadi, Iraq, of wounds suffered when his unit came in contact with enemy forces using grenades during security and observation operations. He and his family moved to Sierra Vista in 1996 where he attended high school. Schockmel was assigned to the 1st Battalion, 9th Infantry Regiment, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 2nd Infantry Division, Fort Carson, Colo.\n\nStephen J. Raderstorf, Corporal, U.S. Army, Jan. 7, 2007\n\nRaderstorf, 21, of Peoria, died in Balad, Iraq, of wounds sustained during combat operations. He was assigned to the 3rd Battalion, 8th Cavalry Regiment, 3rd Brigade, 1st Cavalry Division, Fort Hood, Texas.\n\n2006\n\nAron C. Blum, Sergeant, U.S. Marines, Dec. 28, 2006\n\nBlum, 22, of Tucson, died at the Naval Medical Center, San Diego, Calif., of a non-hostile cause after being evacuated from Al Anbar province, Iraq, on Dec. 8. Blum was assigned to Marine Aerial Refueler Transport Squadron 352, Marine Aircraft Group 11, 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing, I Marine Expeditionary Force, Marine Corps Air Station, Miramar, Calif.\n\nDavid R. Staats, Staff Sergeant, U.S. Army, Dec. 16, 2006\n\nStaats, 30, of Glendale, died in Taji, Iraq. He was one of three soldiers who died of injuries suffered when their Humvee struck an improvised explosive device while on mounted patrol in Taji. Staats joined the Army after graduating from Cactus High School in Glendale where he played football. As an adult, Staats considered Pueblo, Colo., to be his home. Staats was assigned to the 1st Squadron, 7th Cavalry Regiment, 1st Brigade, 1st Cavalry Division, Fort Hood, Texas. David's father, Roger Staats, 65, of Peoria, was fatally beaten by an attacker on Jan. 28, 2007. Roger Staats spent 23 years in the Air Force and retired in 1985 at Luke Air Force Base.\n\nBudd M. Cote, Lance Corporal, U.S. Marines, Dec. 11, 2006\n\nCote, 21, of Marana, died while conducting combat operations in Al Anbar province, Iraq. He was killed with two other Marines. Cote was assigned to Marine Wing Support Squadron 373, Marine Wing Support Group 37, 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing, I Marine Expeditionary Force, Marine Corps Air Station Miramar, Calif.\n\nBilly B. Farris, Corporal, U.S. Army, Dec. 3, 2006\n\nFarris, 20, of Bapchule, died in Taji, Iraq, of injuries suffered when an improvised explosive device detonated near his vehicle while conducting escort operations. Farris was assigned to the 5th Battalion, 20th Infantry Regiment, 3rd Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division, Fort Lewis, Wash.\n\nTroy L. Gilbert, Major, U.S. Air Force, Nov. 27, 2006\n\nGilbert, 34, of Litchfield Park, died when his F-16C fighter crashed 20 miles northwest of Baghdad, Iraq. He was engaged in support of coalition ground combat operations. Gilbert was previously carried as \"Duty Status Whereabouts Unknown\" until positive DNA identification of remains from the crash site were confirmed. Gilbert was assigned to the 309th Fighter Squadron, Luke Air Force Base, and deployed to the 332nd Expeditionary Wing, Balad Air Force Base, Iraq.\n\nReece D. Moreno, Private, U.S. Army, Nov. 24, 2006\n\nMoreno, 19, of Prescott, died of injuries suffered in a non-combat-related incident in Balad, Iraq. Moreno was assigned to the 92 Engineer Battalion, 3rd Sustainment Brigade, 3rd Infantry Division, Fort Stewart, Ga.\n\nDouglas C. Desjardins, Specialist, U.S. Army, Nov. 5, 2006\n\nDesjardins, 24, of Mesa, died in Ar Ramadi, Iraq, of injuries suffered when an improvised explosive device detonated near his M1A1 Abrams tank during combat operations. Desjardins was assigned to the 2nd Battalion, 37th Armor Regiment, 1st Brigade Combat Team, 1st Armored Division, Ray Barracks, Giessen, Germany.\n\nJason D. Whitehouse, Staff Sergeant, U.S. Marines, Nov. 2, 2006\n\nWhitehouse, 27, of Phoenix, died while conducting combat operations in Al Anbar province, Iraq. He was assigned to 2nd Intelligence Battalion, II Marine Expeditionary Force, Camp Lejeune, N.C.\n\nRyan E. Haupt, Staff Sergeant, U.S. Army, Oct. 17, 2006\n\nHaupt, 24, of Phoenix, died in Baqubah, Iraq, from injuries suffered when an improvised explosive device detonated near his vehicle. Two other soldiers in the vehicle were also killed in the blast. The soldiers were assigned to the 1st Battalion, 68th Armor Regiment, 3rd Heavy Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division, Fort Carson, Colo.\n\nNicholas R. Sowinski, Sergeant, U.S. Army, Oct. 11, 2006\n\nSowinski, 25, of Tempe, died in Baghdad, Iraq, from injuries suffered when an improvised explosive device detonated near his vehicle. Sowinski was assigned to the 4th Squadron, 14th Cavalry Regiment, 172nd Stryker Brigade Combat Team, Fort Wainwright, Alaska.\n\nRaymond S. Armijo, Specialist, U.S. Army, Oct. 2, 2006\n\nArmijo, 22, of Phoenix, died in Taji, Iraq, of injuries sustained when an improvised explosive device detonated near his vehicle. Three other soldiers were also killed in the blast. All four soldiers were assigned to the 7th Squadron, 10th Cavalry Regiment, 1st Brigade, 4th Infantry Division, Fort Hood, Texas.\n\nCasey L. Mellen, Corporal, U.S. Army, Sept. 25, 2006\n\nMellen, 21, of Huachuca City, died in Balad, Iraq, of injuries suffered when his mounted patrol came in contact with enemy forces using small-arms fire during combat operations in Mosul, Iraq. Mellen was assigned to the 5th Battalion, 20th Infantry Regiment, 3rd Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division (Stryker Brigade Combat Team), Fort Lewis, Wash. Mellen was the 11th soldier from Fort Lewis to die in Iraq in 2006.\n\nJason L. Merrill, Sergeant, U.S. Army, Sept. 3, 2006\n\nMerrill, 22, of Mesa, died of injuries suffered when an improvised explosive device detonated near his vehicle during combat operations against enemy forces in Baghdad, Iraq. Merrill was assigned to the 1st Battalion, 26th Infantry Regiment, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Infantry Division, Wurzburg, Germany.\n\nChadwick T. Kenyon, Hospitalman, U.S. Navy, Aug. 20, 2006\n\nChadwick Kenyon, 20, of Tucson, died of injuries suffered when his vehicle was struck by an improvised explosive device while conducting combat operations against enemy forces in the Al Anbar province, Iraq. Kenyon was assigned to the 3rd Light Armored Reconnaissance Battalion, 1st Marine Division, I Marine Expeditionary Force, Twentynine Palms, Calif.\n\nMark R. Vecchione, Sergeant, U.S. Army, July 18, 2006\n\nVecchione, 25, of Tucson, died in Ar Ramadi, Iraq, of injuries sustained when an improvised explosive device detonated near his M1A1 Abrams tank. Vecchione was assigned to the 1st Battalion, 37th Armor Regiment, 1st Armored Division, Friedberg, Germany.\n\nDamien M. Montoya, Specialist, U.S. Army, July 9, 2006\n\nMontoya, 21, of Holbrook, died in Baghdad, Iraq, from a non-combat-related cause. Montoya was assigned to the 3rd Battalion, 67th Armor Regiment, 4th Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division, Fort Hood, Texas.\n\nBrandon J. Webb, Lance Corporal, U.S. Marines, June 20, 2006\n\nWebb, 20, was killed in action while conducting combat operations in Al Anbar province, Iraq. He was assigned to 1st Battalion, 1st Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division, I Marine Expeditionary Force, Camp Pendleton, Calif. Webb was raised in the East Valley and graduated from Red Mountain High School in Mesa in 2004.\n\nDavid N. Crombie, Private First Class, U.S. Army, June 7, 2006\n\nCrombie, 19, was killed in Ar Ramadi, Iraq, when an improvised explosive device detonated near his Humvee vehicle during combat operations. Crombie, a 2004 Cibola High School graduate in Yuma, was assigned to the 2nd Battalion, 6th Infantry Regiment, Baumholder, Germany.\n\nMichael D. Stover, Major, U.S. Marines, June 3, 2006\n\nStover, 43, of Mansfield, Ohio, died from a non-hostile incident in Al Anbar province, Iraq. He was assigned to Marine Wing Support Squadron-371, Marine Wing Support Group-37, 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing, I Marine Expeditionary Force, Marine Corps Air Station Yuma.\n\nChristopher M. Eckhardt, Private First Class, U.S. Army, May 3, 2006\n\nEckhardt, 19, of Phoenix, died in Taji, Iraq, from a non-combat-related cause. Eckhardt was assigned to the 4th Battalion, 42nd Field Artillery, 1st Brigade, 4th Infantry Division, Fort Hood, Texas.\n\nPatrick A. Tinnell, Private First Class, U.S. Army, April 19, 2006\n\nTinnell, 25, of Lake Havasu City, died in As Siniyah, Iraq, when a vehicle-borne improvised explosive device detonated during a dismounted combat patrol. Tinnell was assigned to the 1st Battalion, 187th Infantry Regiment, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault), Fort Campbell, Ky.\n\nJoseph J. Duenas, Private First Class, U.S. Army, March 30, 2006\n\nDuenas, 23, of Mesa, died in Kirkuk province, Iraq, from non-combat-related injuries while returning from combat operations. Duenas was assigned to the 1st Battalion, 327th Infantry, 1st Brigade Combat Team, 101 Airborne Division (Air Assault), Fort Campbell, Ky.\n\nJohn J. Thornton, Lance Corporal, U.S. Marine Corps, Feb. 25, 2006\n\nThornton, 22, of Phoenix, died of wounds received as a result of an enemy mortar attack in Ar Ramadi, Iraq. He was assigned to 3rd Battalion, 7th Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division, I Marine Expeditionary Force, Twentynine Palms, Calif. During Operation Iraqi Freedom, his unit was attached to 2nd Marine Division, II Marine Expeditionary Force (Forward).\n\nBrandon S. Schuck, Corporal, U.S. Marine Corps, Feb. 6, 2006\n\nSchuck, 21, of Safford, died from an improvised explosive device while conducting combat operations against enemy forces in Baghdad, Iraq. He was assigned to the 8th Engineer Support Battalion, 2nd Marine Logistics Group, II Marine Expeditionary Force, Camp Lejeune, N.C.\n\n2005\n\nJohn M. Holmason, Lance Corporal, U.S. Marine Corps, Dec. 1, 2005\n\nHolmason of Surprise died from an improvised explosive device while conducting combat operations against enemy forces in Fallujah, Iraq. Nine other Marines from the same unit were also killed. Holmason was assigned to 2nd Battalion, 7th Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division, I Marine Expeditionary Force, Twentynine Palms, Calif. During Operation Iraqi Freedom, their unit was attached to 2nd Marine Division, II Marine Expeditionary Force (Forward).\n\nJames Witkowski, Sergeant, U.S. Army, Oct. 26, 2005\n\nWitkowski, 32, of Surprise, died near Ashraf, Iraq, of injuries sustained there earlier that day when an improvised explosive device detonated near his Humvee during convoy operations. Witkowski was assigned to the Army Reserve's 729th Transportation Company, Fresno, Calif.\n\nChristopher M. Poston, Lance Corporal, U.S. Marines, Oct. 17, 2005\n\nPoston, 20, of Glendale, was killed in a non-hostile vehicle accident in Hit, Iraq. He was assigned to Battalion Landing Team 2nd Battalion, 1st Marine Regiment, 13th Marine Expeditionary Unit, I Marine Expeditionary Force, Camp Pendleton, Calif.\n\nThomas H. Byrd, Specialist, U.S. Army, Oct. 15, 2005\n\nByrd, 21, of Cochise, was killed when an improvised explosive device detonated near his M2A2 Bradley Fighting Vehicle during combat operations. Four other soldiers also were killed. Byrd was assigned to the 2nd Battalion, 69th Armor Regiment, 3rd Brigade, 3rd Infantry Division, Fort Benning, Ga.\n\nScott J. Mullen, Specialist, U.S. Army, Oct. 14, 2005\n\nMullen, 22, of Tucson, died in Makati City, the Republic of the Philippines, of injuries sustained there from a non-combat-related accident on Oct. 13. Mullen was assigned to the 5th Battalion, 4th Psychological Operations Group, U.S. Army Civil Affairs and Psychological Operations Command, Fort Bragg, N.C., in support of Operation Enduring Freedom.\n\nKenneth E. Hunt Jr., Master Sergeant, U.S. Marines, Oct. 12, 2005\n\nHunt, 40, of Tucson, died from wounds at Brooke Army Medical Center in San Antonio, Texas. Hunt was injured July 24, 2005, when the vehicle he was riding in struck an anti-tank mine while conducting combat operations against enemy forces in Al Taqaddum, Iraq. Hunt was assigned to Marine Wing Support Group 37, 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing, I Marine Expeditionary Force, Marine Corps Air Station Yuma.\n\nJeremiah W. Robinson, Specialist, U.S. Army, Oct. 6, 2005\n\nRobinson, 20, of Mesa, died in Baghdad, Iraq, of injuries sustained there on Oct. 5, when an improvised explosive device detonated near his Humvee during convoy operations. Robinson was assigned to the Army National Guard's 860th Military Police Company, Phoenix.\n\nHoward P. Allen, Sergeant, U.S. Army, Sept. 26, 2005\n\nAllen, 31, of Mesa, was killed in Baghdad, Iraq, when an improvised explosive device detonated near his Humvee. Allen was assigned to the Army National Guard's 860th Military Police Company based in Phoenix.\n\nKenneth G. Ross, Sergeant, U.S. Army, Sept. 25, 2005\n\nRoss, 24, of Peoria, was one of five soldiers who were killed in a remote, mountainous area southwest of Deh Chopan, Afghanistan, when their CH-47 Chinook helicopter crashed. Ross graduated from Mountain View High School in the Marana Unified School District in Tucson. He was assigned to the Army's 7th Battalion, 159th Aviation Regiment, Giebelstadt, Germany.\n\nRobert N. Martens, Hospitalman, U.S. Navy, Sept. 6, 2005\n\nMartens, 20, of Queen Creek, died from injuries sustained as a passenger when his Humvee rolled over in a crash near Al Qaim, Iraq. During Operation Iraqi Freedom, Martens was assigned to II Marine Division, Camp Lejeune, N.C., as a U.S. Navy corpsman.\n\nSeferino J. Reyna, Private First Class, U.S. Army, Aug. 7, 2005\n\nReyna, 20, of Phoenix, died in Taji, Iraq, when an improvised explosive device detonated near his military vehicle. Reyna was assigned to the 70th Engineer Battalion, 3rd Brigade, 1st Armored Division, Fort Riley, Kan.\n\nKevin B. Joyce, Lance Corporal, U.S. Marine Corps, June 25, 2005\n\nJoyce, 19, of Ganado, died after falling into the Pech River while conducting combat operations in Afghanistan. A large-scale search ensued and his body was recovered nine days later near Torkham Gate, Afghanistan. Joyce was assigned to 2nd Battalion, 3rd Marine Regiment, 3rd Marine Division, III Marine Expeditionary Force, Kaneohe Bay, Hawaii.\n\nJeremy J. Fresques, Captain, U.S. Air Force, May 30, 2005\n\nFresques, 26, of Clarkdale, was killed on Memorial Day when the Iraqi Air Force Comp Air 7SL aircraft they were aboard crashed in eastern Diyala province during an operational mission. The aircraft belonged to the 3rd Squadron of the Iraqi Air Force and is a single-engine high-winged aircraft used for both surveillance and transport of personnel. The crash occurred near Jalula, about 50 miles northeast of Ba’qubah, Iraq. Fresques, a 2001 Air Force Academy graduate and former triathlon athlete, was assigned to the 23rd Special Tactics Squadron, Hurlburt Field, Fla. Three other members of the squadron also died in the crash.\n\nRussell J. Verdugo, Staff Sergeant, U.S. Army, May 23, 2005\n\nVerdugo, 34, of Phoenix, died in Baghdad, Iraq, when an improvised explosive device detonated as he was responding to a report of an improvised explosive device. Verdugo was assigned to the 767th Ordnance Company, Fort McNair, Washington, D.C.\n\nKenneth J. Schall, Sergeant, U.S. Army, May 22, 2005\n\nSchall, 22, of Peoria, died in Yusafiyah, Iraq, when the Humvee in which he was riding was involved in an accident. Schall was assigned to the 2nd Battalion, 70th Armor Regiment, 3rd Brigade, 1st Armored Division, Fort Riley, Kan.\n\nMichael A. Marzano, Sergeant, U.S. Marine Corps, May 7, 2005\n\nMarzano, 28, who attended Glendale Community College, was killed by an explosion caused by a vehicle-borne improvised explosive device while conducting combat operations in Hadithah, Iraq. Marzano, a Marine reservist, was assigned to the 3rd Battalion, 25th Marine Regiment, 4th Marine Division. His company is based in Phoenix. As part of Operation Iraqi Freedom, Marzano's unit was attached to 2nd Marine Division, II Marine Expeditionary Force.\n\nMarty G. Mortenson, Lance Corporal, U.S. Marine Corps, April 20, 2005\n\nMortenson, 22, of Flagstaff, was killed by the detonation of an improvised explosive device while conducting combat operations in Ar Ramadi, Iraq. Mortenson was assigned to 1st Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division, I Marine Expeditionary Force, Camp Pendleton, Calif. As part of Operation Iraqi Freedom, their unit was attached to the 2nd Marine Division, II Marine Expeditionary Force.\n\nSam W. Huff, Private First Class, U.S. Army, April 18, 2005\n\nHuff, 18, of Tucson, died in Baghdad, Iraq, of injuries sustained on April 17 in Baghdad, when an improvised explosive device detonated near her Humvee. Huff was assigned to the 170th Military Police Company, 504th Military Police Battalion, 42nd Military Police Brigade, Fort Lewis, Wash.\n\nJoseph L. Knott, Private, U.S. Army, April 17, 2005\n\nKnott, 21, of Yuma, was killed in Baghdad, Iraq, when his convoy was attacked by enemy forces using small-arms fire and an improvised explosive device. Knott was assigned to the 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment, Fort Carson, Colo.\n\nNicholas E. Wilson, Specialist, U.S. Army, March 11, 2005\n\nWilson, 21, of Glendale, was killed in Ar Ramadi, Iraq, while conducting a roving patrol when his military vehicle rolled into a water-filled ditch after the shoulder of the road he was on collapsed. Wilson was assigned to 1st Battalion, 9th Infantry Regiment, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 2nd Infantry Division, Camp Casey, South Korea.\n\nFrank B. Hernandez, Sergeant, U.S. Army, Feb. 17, 2005\n\nHernandez, 21, of Phoenix, was killed in Tal Afar, Iraq, when an improvised explosive device detonated near his vehicle. Hernandez was assigned to 2nd Squadron, 14th Cavalry Regiment, 1st Brigade, 25th Infantry Division, Stryker Brigade Combat Team, Fort Lewis, Wash.\n\nMichael W. Finke Jr., Sergeant, U.S. Marine Corps, Jan. 26, 2005\n\nFinke Jr., 28, of Glendale, was killed when the CH-53E helicopter he was in crashed near Ar Rutbah, Iraq. He was assigned to 1st Battalion, 3rd Marine Regiment, 3rd Marine Division, III Marine Expeditionary Force, Marine Corps Base Hawaii.\n\nBrian A. Mack, Sergeant First Class, U.S. Army, Jan. 13, 2005\n\nMack, 36, of Phoenix, was killed in Mosul, Iraq, when his military vehicle was hit by an improvised explosive device. Mack was assigned to the 3rd Battalion, 21st Infantry Regiment, 25th Infantry Division based at Fort Lewis, Wash.\n\n2004\n\nJason E. Smith, Lance Corporal, U.S. Marine Corps, Dec. 31, 2004\n\nSmith, 21, of Phoenix, was killed as a result of hostile action in Al Anbar province, Iraq. Smith was assigned to 1st Light Armored Reconnaissance Battalion, 1st Marine Division, I Marine Expeditionary Force, Camp Pendleton, Calif.\n\nTina S. Time, Sergeant, U.S. Army, Dec. 13, 2004\n\nTime, 22, from Tucson, was killed near Cedar, Iraq, when she was involved in a vehicle accident. Time, assigned to the Army Reserve's 208th Transportation Co., was killed in a head-on crash during a dust storm in southeast Iraq. She is believed to be the first female American Samoan killed while serving in the war. Her tour was set to end in two months.\n\nJoshua E. Lucero, Lance Corporal, U.S. Marine Corps, Nov. 25, 2004\n\nLucero, 19, of Phoenix, was killed in Al Anbar province, Iraq, as a result of hostile fire. Lucero was assigned to 2nd Combat Engineer Battalion, 2nd Marine Division, II Marine Expeditionary Force, Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune, N.C.\n\nMichael A. Downey, Corporal, U.S. Marine Corps, Nov. 19, 2004\n\nDowney, 21, died at National Naval Medical Center, Bethesda, Md., from wounds received as a result of enemy action on Nov. 11 in Al Anbar province, Iraq. Downey was assigned to 1st Battalion, 3rd Marine Regiment, 3rd Marine Division, III Marine Expeditionary Force, Marine Corps Base Hawaii.\n\nChristopher J. Lapka, Corporal, U.S. Marine Corps, Oct. 30, 2004\n\nLapka of Tempe died as a result of enemy action in Al Anbar province, Iraq. He was assigned to 1st Battalion, 3rd Marine Regiment, 3rd Marine Division, III Marine Expeditionary Force, Marine Corps Base Hawaii.\n\nAndrew C. Ehrlich, Specialist, U.S. Army, Oct. 18, 2004\n\nEhrlich, 21, of Mesa, died in Muqdadiyah, Iraq, of non-combat-related injuries. Ehrlich was assigned to the 2nd Battalion, 2nd Infantry Regiment, 1st Infantry Division, Vilseck, Germany.\n\nMichael G. Owen, Sergeant, U.S. Army, Oct. 15, 2004\n\nOwen, 31, of Phoenix, died in Karabilah, Iraq, when a vehicle-borne improvised explosive device detonated near his vehicle. Owen was assigned to the Army's 9th Psychological Operations Battalion, 4th Psychological Operations Group (Airborne) from Fort Bragg, N.C.\n\nBrian S. Hobbs, Staff Sergeant, U.S. Army, Oct. 14, 2004\n\nHobbs, 28, of Mesa, was killed in Miam Do, Afghanistan, during Operation Enduring Freedom, when an improvised explosive device detonated near his dismounted patrol. Hobbs was assigned to the 2nd Battalion, 5th Infantry, 25th Infantry Division (Light), Schofield Barracks, Hawaii.\n\nCarson J. Ramsey, Private, U.S. Army, Oct. 10, 2004\n\nRamsey, 22, of Winkelman, died in Baghdad, Iraq, when a vehicle-borne improvised explosive device detonated near his military vehicle. Ramsey was assigned to the Army's 2nd Battalion, 8th Cavalry Regiment, 1st Cavalry Division, Fort Hood, Texas.\n\nTyler Prewitt, Sergeant, U.S. Army, Sept. 28, 2004\n\nPrewitt, 22, a former Phoenix College baseball player who decided to join the Army after the 9/11 terrorist attacks, died of wounds suffered in Iraq. Prewitt, a field medic who had also served in Bosnia, was wounded when a rocket-propelled grenade struck the vehicle he was riding in at an unknown location.\n\nRobert O. Unruh, Specialist, U.S. Army, Sept. 25, 2004\n\nUnruh, 25, of Tucson, was killed in Al Anbar province, Iraq, when enemy forces using small-arms fire attacked his unit. Unruh was assigned to the 44th Engineer Battalion, Camp Howze, South Korea.\n\nCarl Thomas, Sergeant, U.S. Army, Sept. 13, 2004\n\nThomas, 29, of Phoenix, was killed when an improvised explosive device detonated near his observation post. Thomas, an eight-year Army veteran, was assigned to the 1st Battalion, 12th Calvary Regiment of the 1st Cavalry Division, based in Fort Hood, Texas. Thomas was a 1995 graduate of Maryvale High School in west Phoenix.\n\nMichael J. Halal, Lance Corporal, U.S. Marine Corps, Sept. 13, 2004\n\nHalal, 22, of Glendale, became the 30th Arizonan to die in the Iraq War. Halal, a Marine machine gunner, perished in a non-combat vehicle accident when it rolled over in Al Anbar province. Halal had expected to return home in less than four months.\n\nJoseph C. McCarthy, Lance Corporal, U.S. Marine Corps, Sept. 6, 2004\n\nMcCarthy, 21, of St. Johns, and six other soldiers were killed near Fallujah, Iraq, by an attacker who detonated a car bomb. In a newspaper photo last spring that received wide circulation, McCarthy was seen hunched down on a dusty Iraqi road with his automatic weapon slung over his shoulder, handing a piece of candy to a smiling child. He told a reporter of his personal mission to win the hearts and minds of the people.\n\nQuinn Keith, Lance Corporal, U.S. Marine Corps, Sept. 6, 2004\n\nKeith, 21, of Page, was killed by a suicide bomber in Fallujah, Iraq. Keith was one of seven Marines slain by an attacker who detonated an explosives-laden vehicle outside Fallujah.\n\nEdward T. Reeder, Gunnery Sergeant, U.S. Marine Corps, Aug. 24, 2004\n\nReeder, 32, of Camp Verde, died in Iraq's Al Anbar province after his Humvee flipped over and ejected him when it was struck by a tank. Reeder was born in Flagstaff and grew up on northern and central Arizona ranches. He joined the Marines after graduating from high school in Camp Verde in 1990. He was assigned to the Headquarters and Service Battalion, 1st Force Service Support Group, 1st Marine Expeditionary Force at Camp Pendleton. He is survived by a wife and two children.\n\nHarry N. Shondee, Jr., Private First Class, U.S. Army, Aug. 3, 2004\n\nShondee, 19, of Ganado, died of injuries suffered a day earlier when his military vehicle was hit by a homemade bomb while he was on patrol in Baghdad, Iraq, with another soldier from Arizona who was also killed. He was assigned to the Army's 2nd Battalion, 12th Armored Cavalry Regiment, 1st Cavalry Division, in Fort Hood, Texas.\n\nJustin B. Onwordi, Specialist, U.S. Army, Aug. 2, 2004\n\nOnwordi, 28, of Chandler, was killed when his military vehicle was hit by a homemade bomb while he was on patrol in Baghdad with another soldier from Arizona who was also killed. Onwordi was assigned to the Army's 2nd Battalion, 12th Armored Cavalry Regiment, 1st Cavalry Division, in Fort Hood, Texas. Onwordi was the brother of Chibuzor \"Uzor\" Onwordi, 36, professional trainer, owner of the U-Zone fitness center in Tempe.\n\nJeffrey David Lawrence, Corporal, U.S. Marine Corps, July 6, 2004\n\nLawrence, 22, was killed with other three Marines when their vehicle struck an anti-tank mine on the outskirts of Fallujah, Iraq. Lawrence had graduated in 2000 from Palo Verde High Magnet School in Tucson, where he was the quarterback on the football team and served in the ROTC. He was assigned to 2nd Light Armored Reconnaissance Battalion, 2nd Marine Division, II Marine Expeditionary Force.\n\nDominique J. Nicolas, Corporal, U.S. Marine Corps, May 26, 2004\n\nNicolas, 25, was killed by hostile fire during a mission in Anbar province in Iraq. Nicolas, of Maricopa, was a combat engineer with the First Marine Expeditionary Force. He was stationed at Camp Pendleton, Calif., and joined the Marines in August 2001.\n\nJames Holmes, Specialist, U.S. Army, May 8, 2004\n\nHolmes, 28, died five days after being seriously injured by an explosive device while driving an armored Humvee in Iraq. Holmes enlisted in the Army National Guard after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. He had volunteered to serve in Iraq with the 141st Engineer Combat Battalion. Holmes graduated from Peoria's Centennial High School in 1994 and from Arizona State University in 2000.\n\nPat Tillman, Corporal, U.S. Army, April 22, 2004\n\nTillman, 27, was killed by friendly fire while on a mission to counter al-Qaida and Taliban insurgents in Afghanistan. His U.S. Army Rangers unit was on patrol with Afghan militia soldiers in the Khost province, a mountainous region bordering Pakistan. Tillman played for Arizona State University and then four seasons with the Arizona Cardinals before enlisting in May 2002.\n\nRobert P. Zurheide Jr., Lance Corporal, U.S. Marine Corps, April 12, 2004\n\nZurheide, 20, was killed as a result of hostile fire in Iraq's Al Anbar province. Zurheide, a graduate of Tucson's Desert View High School, joined the Marine Corps in 2001 and was stationed at Camp Pendleton, Calif. Zurheide's father is a former Marine, and a younger brother also joined the Marines. Zurheide left for his second tour of Iraq just before his second wedding anniversary and was killed less than a month before his wife, Elena, was due to deliver their first child.\n\nLee Duane Todacheene, Sergeant, U.S. Army, April 5, 2004\n\nTodacheene, 29, was killed during a surprise attack in Iraq. A member of the Army's 1st Infantry Division medic unit, Todacheene was stationed in Schweinfurt, Germany. Todacheene was the nephew of Navajo Vice President Frank Dayish Jr. He is believed to be the first Navajo killed in the Iraq War, and the 20th Arizonan to die in Operation Iraqi Freedom.\n\nMatthew Laskowski, Chief Warrant Officer, U.S. Army, Feb. 25, 2004\n\nLaskowski, 32, was killed in Habbinayah, Iraq, when the OH-58 helicopter in which he was piloting crashed into the Euphrates River about 120 miles northwest of Baghdad. Laskowski, who grew up in Phoenix and graduated from Maryvale High School, was assigned to the 4th Squadron, Outlaw Troop, 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment, Fort Carson, Colo.\n\nMichael M. Merila, Specialist, U.S. Army, Feb. 16, 2004\n\nMerila, 23, was fatally wounded in a roadside bombing in Talifar, Iraq. Merila died while being flown to an Army combat support hospital. He was assigned to the Headquarters and Headquarters Troop, 1st Squadron, 14th Cavalry Regiment in Fort Lewis, Wash. Merila was a 1998 graduate of Buena High School.\n\nElijah Tai Wah Wong, Sergeant, U.S. Army, Feb. 9, 2004\n\nWong, 42, was killed in an explosion at Sinjar, Iraq. Wong, of Mesa, was moving unexploded ordnance, rocket-propelled grenades and mortar rounds to a demolition site when they detonated. He was the first Arizona National Guardsman to die in Operation Iraqi Freedom. Wong was part of the 363rd Explosive Ordnance Company in Casa Grande.\n\n2003\n\nEric F. Cooke, Command Sergeant Major, U.S. Army, Dec. 24, 2003\n\nCooke, 43, was killed near Baghdad on Christmas Eve when his convoy vehicle struck a roadside bomb. Cooke, of Scottsdale, was assigned to 1st Brigade, 1st Armored Division, based in Friedberg, Germany. Cooke had grown up in Tempe and Scottsdale before entering the Army in 1978. He fought in the 1991 Persian Gulf War, earning a Bronze Star.\n\nBenjamin Biskie, Sergeant, U.S. Army, Dec. 24, 2003\n\nBiskie, 27, died along with two other soldiers when their convoy vehicle was struck by an explosive while traveling on a highway near Samarra, Iraq. Biskie was a combat engineer for the 5th Engineer Battalion. He had attended the Tucson Junior Academy until his junior year, when he moved with his mother to Ohio.\n\nChristopher G. Nason, Chief Warrant Officer, U.S. Army, Nov. 23, 2003\n\nNason, 39, was killed in a traffic accident in northern Iraq. Nason was a passenger in a vehicle that was struck head on by a civilian tanker truck between Mosul and Dihok. Nason had been assigned to the 306th Military Intelligence Battalion at Fort Huachuca.\n\nIsaac Campoy, Specialist, U.S. Army, Oct. 28, 2003\n\nCampoy, 21, was killed when his tank apparently hit a land mine about 45 miles north of Baghdad. Campoy had graduated from Douglas High School in 2001. He was assigned to the 4th Infantry Division, 3rd Battalion, 67th Armor Regiment.\n\nSpencer Karol, Specialist, U.S. Army, Oct. 6, 2003\n\nKarol, 20, was killed when his vehicle detonated a land mine and rolled over as he was out collecting information on enemy combatants. He was assigned to the 165th Military Intelligence Battalion in Ar Ramadi, Iraq. Karol graduated from Holbrook High School and lived in nearby Woodruff.\n\nAlyssa R. Peterson, Specialist, U.S. Army, Sept. 15, 2003\n\nPeterson, 27, died at Tal Afar Air Base in northwestern Iraq from a gunshot wound to the head. An Army criminal-investigations report concluded Peterson killed herself with her M4 service rifle. Peterson, of Flagstaff, was fluent in Arabic and conducted interrogations and translated enemy documents. She was assigned to C Company, 311th Military Intelligence Battalion of the 101st Airborne Division.\n\nSean Cataudella, Sergeant, U.S. Army, Aug. 30, 2003\n\nCataudella, 28, was killed in Baqubah, Iraq, when the military vehicle he was driving hit an embankment and rolled into a canal. Cataudella graduated from Tucson's Rincon High School. He was assigned to 1st Squadron, 10th Cavalry Regiment, 4th Infantry Division.\n\nJoshua McIntosh, Seaman, U.S. Navy, June 26, 2003\n\nMcIntosh, 22, died in Karbala, Iraq, of a non-hostile gunshot wound. McIntosh, of Kingman, was assigned to the 3rd Battalion, 7th Marine Regiment at the Marine Air Ground Combat Center.\n\nDavid Sisung, Petty Officer Third Class, U.S. Navy, June 6, 2003\n\nSisung, 21, died of a heart attack while serving on the USS Nimitz in the Persian Gulf. \"He saw more of the world than his family and friends, but he wanted to be with his family and friends,\" said his mother, Roberta Brown, of Phoenix. \"He really missed us like we missed him.\" Sisung was born in Syracuse, N.Y., and moved to Phoenix in 1988. He enlisted in the Navy in 1999 and served as a storekeeper. He is survived by his wife.\n\nNate Caldwell, Specialist, U.S. Army, May 21, 2003\n\nCaldwell, 27, died in Baghdad, Iraq, when the Humvee in which he was riding rolled over. He was crushed after being thrown from the vehicle. Caldwell had graduated from Phoenix's Maryvale High School in 1994. He was a tank mechanic for the Bravo Company, 404th Air Support Battalion, 4th Infantry Division.\n\nWilliam T. Latham, Staff Sergeant, U.S. Army, May 18, 2003\n\nLatham, 29, was taking part in a raid near the Syrian border when he was wounded by a freak ricochet from his own cavalry troop's fire. He was evacuated back to Walter Reed Army Hospital in Washington, D.C., where he died on June 19, 2003. Latham, 29, joined the Army after his junior year at Kingman High School and was assigned to Eagle Troop, 2nd Squadron, 3rd Armored Regiment.\n\nRaymond Losano, Airman First Class, U.S. Air Force, April 28, 2003\n\nLosano, 24, died of wounds suffered in a firefight with Taliban holdouts near Shkin Fire Base in eastern Afghanistan. Losano, who attended high school and community college in Tucson, was part of the 14th Air Support Operation Squadron.\n\nLori Piestewa, Private First Class, U.S. Army, April 4, 2003\n\nPiestewa, 23, was classified as missing in action after enemy soldiers ambushed her unit in March 2003. She was declared dead on April 4, 2003. Piestewa was a member of the Hopi Tribe, whose reservation is near the Navajo Reservation community of Tuba City. She was a single mother raising two toddlers.\n\nNathan D. White, Lieutenant, U.S. Navy, April 2, 2003\n\nWhite, 30, was killed when his Navy F/A-18C Hornet fighter was shot down over Karbala, Iraq, in a friendly-fire incident. White grew up in Abilene, Texas, but listed his hometown as Mesa, where he was living in 1997 or 1998 when he decided to attend Officers Candidate School. He was assigned to Strike Fighter Squadrom One Nine Five in Japan and deployed with Carrier Air Wing Five aboard the USS Kitty Hawk aircraft carrier.\n\nFernando Padilla-Ramirez, Sergeant, U.S. Marine Corps, March 28, 2003\n\nPadilla-Ramirez, 26, was listed as missing in action during fighting near Nasiriyah, Iraq, on March 28, 2003. His remains were located and identified April 10. Padilla-Ramirez, born in San Luis Rio Colorado, Mexico, became a naturalized citizen in 2001. He was assigned to Marine Wing Support Squadron 371 at the Marine Corps Air Station in Yuma.\n\nMike Williams, Lance Corporal, U.S. Marine Corps, March 23, 2003\n\nWilliams, 31, who started a flooring business in Phoenix, was killed in fighting near Nasiriyah, Iraq. He was out in front of his unit during an assault on a critical bridge when his unit was ambushed and cut off from the main unit. He was serving as a forward observer for a 60mm mortar unit with the 1st Battalion, 2nd Marine Regiment, 2nd Marine Division.\n\nJay T. Aubin, Captain, U.S. Marine Corps, March 20, 2003\n\nAubin was one of the first American casualties of Operation Iraqi Freedom. Aubin, 36, was killed when the CH-46E Sea Knight helicopter he was flying crashed in Kuwait. Aubin was stationed at Marine Corps Air Station Yuma as an instructor with Marine Aviation Weapons and Tactics Squadron One.\n\nDesert Storm\n\nFelix, Eliseo C., Avondale\n\nCunningham, James B., Glendale\n\nNoline, Michael A., Phoenix\n\nPack, Aaron Alan, Phoenix\n\nFails, Dorothy Lee, Taylor\n\nVietnam\n\nAdair, Dallas Tyler Jr., Mesa\n\nAdikai, Alvin Jr., Window Rock\n\nAguayo, Oscar Jr., Phoenix\n\nAguilar, James Daniel, Heights\n\nAguirre, Filberto Jr., Tucson\n\nAlbright, Buck Edward, Tempe\n\nAlday, Frank Tisnero, Phoenix\n\nAllen, Henry Gerhardt, Phoenix\n\nAllenberg, James Pattee, Phoenix\n\nAllred, Orin Larry, Grande\n\nAlvarez, Esteban Morales, Tucson\n\nAlvarez, Jose Ricardo L., Tucson\n\nAlyea, Walter John, Phoenix\n\nAnderson, Gary John, Tucson\n\nAnderson, Lee E., Phoenix\n\nAnderson, Robert Keith, Chandler\n\nAndrade, Richard, Flagstaff\n\nAndrews, Robert Lee Jr., Phoenix\n\nAndreyka, Theodore E. Jr., Phoenix\n\nApolinar, Fortino James, Prescott\n\nApplegate, Paul Orben, Tucson\n\nAragon, Joseph Manuel, Phoenix\n\nArkie, Vallance Galen, Parker\n\nArlentino, Dudney Nelson, Coolidge\n\nArmstrong, Walter Lee, Tucson\n\nArnn, John Oliver, Kingman\n\nArnold, Roy Lee, Phoenix\n\nArrington, Joseph Phillip, Phoenix\n\nAsplund, Marcus Ray, Phoenix\n\nAtwell, William Albert, Ajo\n\nAustin, Albert Delgado Jr., Mesa\n\nAustin, Oscar Palmer, Phoenix\n\nBabcock, Ronald Lester, Tucson\n\nBailey, Larry Eugene, Phoenix\n\nBaker, Vincent B., Flagstaff\n\nBanks, Henry Duane, Prescott\n\nBarefield, Bobby Joe, Mesa\n\nBarnes, Allen Roy, Aguila\n\nBarnes, William Acker, Phoenix\n\nBarnett, Benjamin Franklin, Phoenix\n\nBarriga, Arturo, Phoenix\n\nBarton, James Eugene, Flagstaff\n\nBateman, Mark Andrew, Oracle\n\nBates, Brian William, Phoenix\n\nBates, Paul Jennings Jr., Mesa\n\nBautista, Jesus Estrada, Tucson\n\nBay, Ronald Stephen, Phoenix\n\nBayne, Michael John, Phoenix\n\nBeach, Sam Festis Jr., Glendale\n\nBecker, James Francis, Phoenix\n\nBegody, Harold L., Tuba City\n\nBell, Oscar Charlie Jr., Tucson\n\nBennett, Anthony Lee, Cottonwood\n\nBennett, Wayne, Scottsdale\n\nBennett, William Raymond, Cottonwood\n\nBenton, Robert Daniel, Tempe\n\nBia, Michael Howard, Window Rock\n\nBilducia, Conrado F., Winkelman\n\nBiles, Michael Lynn, Phoenix\n\nBillie, Larry Rogers, Chinle\n\nBirch, Joel Ray, Phoenix\n\nBisjak, Howard Robert, Chino Valley\n\nBlackwater, Dwight Thomas, Phoenix\n\nBlackwell, Kenneth G., Tucson\n\nBlanchette, Michael R., Phoenix\n\nBludworth, Michael Vernon, Phoenix\n\nBoehm, Bradley Wainwright, Phoenix\n\nBohannon, Edward Jean, Phoenix\n\nBois, Claire Ronald Alan, Tucson\n\nBojorquez, Sisto Bojorquez, Eloy\n\nBond, David Arthur, Phoenix\n\nBonillas, Guillermo T., Tucson\n\nBorg, Michael Royce, Tucson\n\nBorieo, Richard David, Phoenix\n\nBoyce, John Franklin, Scottsdale\n\nBoykins, Randy Ronell, Phoenix\n\nBraxton, James Harold, Phoenix\n\nBrenner, Larry Ray, Phoenix\n\nBrinkoetter, James Albert, Phoenix\n\nBroadston, Scotty Ray, Lake Havasu City\n\nBrown, Anthony Bartow, Tucson\n\nBrown, Donald Alan, Phoenix\n\nBrown, James Ronald, Phoenix\n\nBrown, James Scott, Prescott\n\nBrown, Rick Samuel, Mesa\n\nBrownlee, Kenneth Duane, Yuma\n\nBryant, William J. Jr., Phoenix\n\nBurns, John Patrick, Tucson\n\nBurnside, Derrill Lee, Kingman\n\nByassee, Norman Kelly, Litchfield Park\n\nCaamano, Leonard Olguin, Tucson\n\nCalderon, Richard Torres, Silverbell\n\nCaldwell, Joe, Tucson\n\nCampbell, Steve Daniel, Phoenix\n\nCanales, David Joseph, Sierra Vista\n\nCannon, Francis Eugene, Phoenix\n\nCarabeo, Leonard, Bisbee\n\nCardenas, Joe Candelaria R., Phoenix\n\nCarlborg, Alan George, Scottsdale\n\nCarlson, Richard Theodore, Glendale\n\nCarrasco, Ralph, Phoenix\n\nCarrillo, Joe Jr., Tucson\n\nCarter, Jack David, Scottsdale\n\nCasey, Tom Gayle, Phoenix\n\nCassell, Robin Bern, Ft. Huachuca\n\nCates, William Lloyd, Stanfield\n\nChaira, Francisco Peraza, Tempe\n\nChaves, Allen Fred, Winslow\n\nChavez, Robert L., Yuma\n\nChester, Alvin, Window Rock\n\nChiago, Gregory Burkhart, Phoenix\n\nChilders, Melvin Ronald, Phoenix\n\nChristman, Jerry Nolan, Williams\n\nChristman, Lawrence Paul, Phoenix\n\nChristopher, Adolphus, Tucson\n\nCintineo, Giacomo James, Phoenix\n\nClark, Jesse Lewis II, Phoenix\n\nClark, Richard Garland, Phoenix\n\nClassen, Earl Thomas, Phoenix\n\nClaw, Peter Yazzie, Kayenta\n\nClifford, William Henry, Tucson\n\nCobb, Theron Wallace, Tucson\n\nCochran, Larry Alan, Phoenix\n\nCoffey, Steven Lynn, Yuma\n\nCoffin, Jeffrey Alan, Flagstaff\n\nCoker, James Lee, Phoenix\n\nCole, Jon, Florence\n\nCollins, Billy G., Phoenix\n\nCollums, Bobby G., Helena\n\nConley, Green, Phoenix\n\nConry, John Timothy, Phoenix\n\nContreras, Richard Aguirre, Hayden\n\nCook, Jimmy Lee, Phoenix\n\nCook, Ronald John, Phoenix\n\nCoons, Clifford Kent, Pomerene\n\nCornelius, Johnnie Clayton, Williams AFB\n\nCornwell, Leroy Jason III, Tucson\n\nCorpus, David Joseph, Glendale\n\nCourtright, Michael Eugene, Phoenix\n\nCox, John Davies Jr., Tucson\n\nCribb, Edward Bernard, Cactus\n\nCrick, Dale Eugene, Flagstaff\n\nCrider, Russell Duane, Parker\n\nCronin, James Russell, Tucson\n\nCrook, Elliott, Phoenix\n\nCrow, James Dennis, Phoenix\n\nCruz, Tony, Phoenix\n\nCurran, James R., Phoenix\n\nCurran, John Dehaas, Phoenix\n\nCzechowski, John Louis Jr., Mesa\n\nDale, Bennie, Wide Ruins\n\nDale, Charles Alva, Phoenix\n\nDaniel, Fred Jacobo, Mesa\n\nDaniels, Russell Glen, Phoenix\n\nDarling, Dennis Thomas, Phoenix\n\nDavidson, Charles Allen, Tucson\n\nDavis, Donald Allen, Wickenburg\n\nDavis, Floyd Robert, Whiteriver\n\nDavis, Gary Lynn, Phoenix\n\nDavis, Harry K., Tucson\n\nDavis, James Mark, Flagstaff\n\nDavis, Leonard Douglas, Bisbee\n\nDavis, Leonard Ray, Phoenix\n\nDavis, Wesley Wayne, Queen Creek\n\nDaw, Jerry Lorenzo, Tonalea\n\nDe Masi, Michael Armond, Mesa\n\nDe Wallace, Dixie, Phoenix\n\nDeal, Floyd Andrew, Globe\n\nDees, Jerry Richard, Phoenix\n\nDelaney, James Perry, Willow\n\nDellecker, Henry Floyd, Phoenix\n\nDelozier, John Adrian, Tucson\n\nDenipah, Daniel Dee, Tuba City\n\nDenney, Alan Wayne, Phoenix\n\nDent, Bruce James, Williams\n\nDeschamps, Ramon, Tempe\n\nDianda, Casimiro, Yuma\n\nDickerson, William Clint, Willcox\n\nDimmer, Michael Phillip, Glendale\n\nDominguez, Frank L., Mesa\n\nDominguez, Michael J., Unknown\n\nDorsett, Roy Geread, Superior\n\nDowning, John Leslie, Phoenix\n\nDrane, John Wilbur, Phoenix\n\nDraper, Robert Dale, Morenci\n\nDraper, Wilfred, Phoenix\n\nDrye, Jack Lee, Phoenix\n\nDunagan, Michael Dennis, Safford\n\nDundas, Steven William, Prescott\n\nDunlap, William Charles, Tucson\n\nDusch, George Edward, Phoenix\n\nEcklund, Arthur Gene, Phoenix\n\nElias, Juan Angel, Tucson\n\nEllis, Donald Ray, Florence\n\nElmore, Donald Robert, Buckeye\n\nEmbrey, Richard Lynn, Warren\n\nEngelman, Richard George, Nogales\n\nEnos, Leonard Arvin, Scottsdale\n\nEnright, Robert Earl, Phoenix\n\nEpperson, Roy Allen, Phoenix\n\nErnsberger, Randall Wayne, Phoenix\n\nFelkins, Wilburn Daniel, Phoenix\n\nCOLUMN:Who was Luke Air Force Based named after?\n\nFelts, Dan Owen, Flagstaff\n\nFenter, Charles Frederick, Tucson\n\nFenton, James Williard, Prescott\n\nFiesler, Robert Nathan, Bisbee\n\nFigueroa, Anthony H. Jr., Tempe\n\nFincher, Donald B., Waldo\n\nFlores, Manuel Solares, Phoenix\n\nFlores, Robert Lee, Parker\n\nFoote, Walter Bruce, Safford\n\nFourmentin, Gregg R., Scottsdale\n\nFrancisco, Patrick Phillip, Stanfield\n\nFrazer, Fredrick Harry, Wickenburg\n\nFrench, Dennis, Tucson\n\nFritz, Leonard Eugene, Superior\n\nFults, Lawrence Arthur Jr., Tucson\n\nFurch, Joe Henry, Phoenix\n\nGallego, Michael, Tucson\n\nGalvez, Tom, Grande\n\nGarcia, Arthur Martinez Jr., Mammoth\n\nGarcia, Clive Jr., Morenci\n\nGarcia, Juan Manuel, Mammoth\n\nGarcia, Larry Robert, Eloy\n\nGarcia, Steven Vargas, Phoenix\n\nGault, Clinton Monroe Jr., Eloy\n\nGayne, Jeffrey Lee, Phoenix\n\nGeraghty, Merrill Thomas, Mesa\n\nGifford, William Gary, Phoenix\n\nGilliland, Dennis Elbert, Globe\n\nGodfrey, Johnny Howard, Phoenix\n\nGoff, Stanley Arthur, Tolleson\n\nGomez, Jessie Yutze, Tempe\n\nGonzales, Gerardo Holquin, Tucson\n\nGonzalez, Jose Luis, Miami\n\nGosney, Durward Dean, Phoenix\n\nGoss, Clarence Eugene, Willcox\n\nGossett, William O., Phoenix\n\nGraves, Gary Everett, San Manuel\n\nGray, Dale Alan, Mesa\n\nGray, James, Chandler\n\nGreen, Jerry L., Tucson\n\nGreen, Kenneth Leon, Roosevelt\n\nGrijalva, Geronimo Lopez, Douglas\n\nGrisby, Gary Bernard, Tucson\n\nHain, Robert Paul, Phoenix\n\nHall, Gary C., Clinton\n\nHamblin, Ronald B., Phoenix\n\nHamilton, William Eugene, Scottsdale\n\nHankins, Bruce Lynn, Tempe\n\nHanna, Donald Ray, Scottsdale\n\nHarbottle, James Lavern, Flagstaff\n\nHardy, Charles McRae, Tempe\n\nHardy, Lincoln, Phoenix\n\nHarmon, Carey Dean, Lake Havasu City\n\nHarrington, John Dee, Phoenix\n\nHarrison, Chip Russell, Phoenix\n\nHaskins, John Merle, Ehrenberg\n\nHathaway, Stephen Worth, Tucson\n\nHawk, Randall Lee, Phoenix\n\nHawkins, Robert Lewis, Tucson\n\nHawkins, Thomas G., Phoenix\n\nHawthorne, Gene, Lupton\n\nHaynes, John Ona, Tucson\n\nHeisser, Kenneth Harold, Phoenix\n\nHenling, Richard Ray, Holbrook\n\nHenry, Daniel Lee, Phoenix\n\nHenry, George D. Jr., Jonesboro\n\nHepner, Stephen Thomas, Glendale\n\nHernandez, Alex James, Tucson\n\nHernandez, Humberto R., Mesa\n\nHerrera, Frank G., Mesa\n\nHicks, Donald, Tonalea\n\nHickson, Leonard Martin, Fort Defiance\n\nHiggins, Edwin Ray, Glendale\n\nHiggins, Roy John Jr., Phoenix\n\nHill, John Walter III, Valentine\n\nHill, Michael Alan, Cottonwood\n\nHiller, Michael James, Phoenix\n\nHills, Clarence S., Gilbert\n\nHimes, Jack Landen, Phoenix\n\nHoagland, George A. III, Phoenix\n\nHobbs, Larry L., Prescott\n\nHogan, Gary Lee, Phoenix\n\nHolck, Paul Alan, Avondale\n\nHollister, John Frederick, Tucson\n\nHollmen, William Harry, Prescott\n\nHolmes, Allan William, Phoenix\n\nHolton, Stanley Gene, Phoenix\n\nHood, Terrance Lee, Yuma\n\nHopkins, Leroy Jr., Florence\n\nHopper, Earl Pearson Jr., Phoenix\n\nHowell, James Riley, Tucson\n\nHuelskamp, Ronald James, Mesa\n\nHuff, Jackie Eugene, Peoria\n\nHughes, John Howard, Phoenix\n\nHulse, Richard David, Flagstaff\n\nHunt, Bob Clarence Jr., Tucson\n\nHunt, Leigh Wallace, Tempe\n\nHurd, Jerry Alan, Casa Grande\n\nHuskon, Benny Leo, Leupp\n\nIngram, Allen Wade, San Manuel\n\nJackson, Ralford John, Tuba City\n\nJamison, Jan Dwain, Phoenix\n\nJauregui, David Cruz, Flagstaff\n\nJeffords, Derrell B., Phoenix\n\nJensen, Frank Alfred, Holbrook\n\nJimenez, Jose Francisco, Red Rock\n\nJohnson, Darrell Lee, Phoenix\n\nJohnson, David Alvin, Prescott\n\nJohnson, David Arthur, Yuma\n\nJohnson, Rog, Phoenix\n\nJohnston, David William, Tucson\n\nJones, Jerrell Ray, Superior\n\nJones, Michael Bruce, Mohave\n\nJordan, Lawrence William, Tucson\n\nJordan, William Arlin, Prescott\n\nKalina, Edward Charles, Phoenix\n\nKee, Wilson Begay, Chinle\n\nKelley, Victor Bruce, Tucson\n\nKersey, J. D. William, Phoenix\n\nKing, Bradford Stanley, Clifton\n\nKinsey, Joe Edward, Glendale\n\nKirksey, James Walter, Chandler\n\nKiser, William Brooks, Phoenix\n\nKnepper, Warren Orison Jr., Tucson\n\nKnight, Billy Melton, Ganado\n\nKoester, Joel Frederick, Phoenix\n\nKonigsfeld, Philip Lorne, Tucson\n\nKonopa, Carl Raymond, Phoenix\n\nKosik, Joseph III, Tucson\n\nKrisell, James Lee, Glendale\n\nKroehler, Kenneth Richard, Phoenix\n\nKuvik, Gene Lawrence, Maricopa\n\nLackey, Vernon Harvic, Phoenix\n\nLadensack, Robert Joseph, Phoenix\n\nLambert, Steve Nathaniel, Phoenix\n\nLamprecht, Mark August, Douglas\n\nLaser, James Dale, Arlington\n\nLaszlo, Joseph, Phoenix\n\nLathon, James, Earle\n\nLauffer, Billy Lane, Tucson\n\nLaurence, Joe Robert, Willcox\n\nLawson, William Roy, Tucson\n\nLee, Bill Gregory, Tucson\n\nLee, Dennis Varis, Mesa\n\nLee, James Andrew, Globe\n\nLee, Ned, Flagstaff\n\nLee, Robert, Phoenix\n\nLegleu, Samuel, Nogales\n\nLehman, Millard Wesley, Naco\n\nLentz, Edward Martin, Tucson\n\nLerma, Geronimo, Buckeye\n\nLeyva, Frank Montano, El Mirage\n\nLitherland Thomas Edward, Phoenix\n\nLittleton, John Wayne, Flagstaff\n\nLitzler, James William, Flagstaff\n\nLong Robert, Orrie, Mesa\n\nLongdail, Dennis Lee, Yuma\n\nLopez, Eddie Cesario, Clifton\n\nLopez, Perfecto Nunez, Peoria\n\nLopez, Robert Dias, Tolleson\n\nLopez, Robert Francisco, Phoenix\n\nLubbehusen, Gerald Martin, Phoenix\n\nLucas, Michael Richard, Glendale\n\nLukenbach, Max Duane, Tucson\n\nLumpkins, Larry Richard, Phoenix\n\nLund, Arnold Atwood, Phoenix\n\nLutrick, Darrell Leroy, Casa Grande\n\nLyons, Joseph Walter, Phoenix\n\nMachado, Francisco Jr., Phoenix\n\nMadrid, Ernest, McNary\n\nMakin, Allen Theodore II, Buckeye\n\nMaloney, Oscar, Tuba City\n\nMansfield, Patrick Leroy, Tucson\n\nMarquez, Geraldo, Laveen\n\nMarrietta, Harold Joseph, Sacaton\n\nMartin, Clifford B. Jr., Tucson\n\nMartin, Edwin Woods Jr., Polacca\n\nMartin, William Everett, Prescott\n\nMason, Daniel, Phoenix\n\nMcChesney, John T. III, Phoenix\n\nMcCullough, Ronald James, Phoenix\n\nMcGinnis, Christopher M., Phoenix\n\nMcIntosh, Randall Lee, Phoenix\n\nMedeguari, Rene, Douglas\n\nMelius, John Sterling, Phoenix\n\nMendenhall, Thomas Deal, Phoenix\n\nMendez, Salvador Joe, Casa Grande\n\nMendoza, Albert Manuel, Superior\n\nMerrett, James Allen, Phoenix\n\nMesquita, Fernando Olivas, Phoenix\n\nMesser, Darryl, Tolleson\n\nMeyer, Arthur William, Tucson\n\nMiller, Marshall Gregory, Phoenix\n\nMiller, Michael Andrew, Tucson\n\nMolina, Simon Rosalino, Queen Creek\n\nMoncavage, David John, Scottsdale\n\nMoncayo, Jose Roberto, Morenci\n\nMonroe, Charles Caleb, Tucson\n\nMontano, Francisco Andrew, Tucson\n\nMontgomery, William John, Leupp\n\nMontijo, Michael, Tombstone\n\nMontoya, Manuel Tomas, Duncan\n\nMoore, Elgan Leroy, Scottsdale\n\nMorales, Antonio Ruiz, Phoenix\n\nMoreno, Alfred Jr., Phoenix\n\nMoreno, Jose Luis, Douglas\n\nMoreno, Miguel Ortega, Phoenix\n\nMorton, Douglas George, Phoenix\n\nMorton, Matthew Edward Jr., Phoenix\n\nMuir, James, Tucson\n\nMunoz, Rojelio Olivan II, Mesa\n\nMurrietta, Frank A., Phoenix\n\nNead, Elwood Franklin Jr., Pima\n\nNewton, Melvin Dew, Flagstaff\n\nNewville, Van Harold, Phoenix\n\nNieto, Jesus Diez Jr., Phoenix\n\nNorvell, Raymond Frank, Phoenix\n\nNorvelle, Clyde L. Jr., Tucson\n\nNorzagaray, Salvador Lopez, Nogales\n\nO'Brien, Arthur Alen, Tolleson\n\nO'Brien, Willard Donald, Tucson\n\nO'Connor, Mortimer Lelane, Tucson\n\nOchoa, Jesus, Tucson\n\nOchoa, Ralph Richard, Tucson\n\nOgden, Russell Kevin, Apache Junction\n\nOgilvie, Gordon Wilson, Bakersfield\n\nOlea, Francisco Herrera, Ajo\n\nOlson, Erick Owen, Tucson\n\nOrozco, Tony Salazar Jr., Winslow\n\nOrtiz, Antonio Olivarez, Pirtleville\n\nOviedo, Michael Leslie, Phoenix\n\nOwen, John Wilson, Payson\n\nOxley, James Edward, Winslow\n\nPahissa, William Anthony, Tucson\n\nParker, Michael Lee, Phoenix\n\nParks, Calvin Alan, Tucson\n\nParton, John Edward, Douglas\n\nPashano, Jack Poola, Polacca\n\nPatten, Jimmie, San Carlos\n\nPatterson, Daniel Charles, Phoenix\n\nPatterson, William Wesley, Casa Grande\n\nPaulsen, Michael, Tucson\n\nPearson, Bruce Fuller, Williams\n\nPena, John L., Tucson\n\nPennington, Fred Melvin, Tucson\n\nPerkins, David Drake, Coolidge\n\nPerry, Elmer Reid, Tucson\n\nPete, Franklin Danny Jr., Sacaton\n\nPickett, Darrel Monroe, Buckeye\n\nPike, Dennis Stanley, Badgad\n\nPolanco, Jose Ybarra Jr., Tucson\n\nPolesetsky, Bruce, Phoenix\n\nPorovich, Steve, Tucson\n\nPowell, Larry Dean, Hillside\n\nPowers, Lowell Stephen, Scottsdale\n\nPuls, Robert Lawrence, Phoenix\n\nQuesney, Jose Manuel, Tucson\n\nQuintero, Fernando Mendoza, Globe\n\nRamirez, Armando, Willcox\n\nRamirez, Richard Jr., McNeal\n\nRamirez, Roberto Mendoza, Peoria\n\nRandall, John Michael, Phoenix\n\nRaper, Alvin Louis, Sierra Vista\n\nRasmussen, John William, Glendale\n\nRazo, Frank Ambrose, Cottonwood\n\nReed, Guy Richard, Mesa\n\nReid, Jon Eric, Phoenix\n\nReinhold, Michael J., Page\n\nRendon, Guadalupe, Casa Grande\n\nReyes, Gilbert, Ashfork\n\nReynolds, James Stephen Jr., Litchfield Park\n\nRhine, Richard Allen, Holbrook\n\nRhoades, Frederick Paul, Phoenix\n\nRice, Dennis Kelly, Phoenix\n\nRich, John Allan, Mesa\n\nRidenour, Edwin Michael, Yuma\n\nRiter, James Lee, Phoenix\n\nRizo, Albert Martinez, Glendale\n\nRoberts, James Aaron F. Jr., Tucson\n\nRoberts, John J., Prescott\n\nRobinette, Charles Edward, Tucson\n\nRobinson, Charles David, Phoenix\n\nRobinson, Jerry Lynn, Phoenix\n\nRodriguez, Joe Stelo, Tucson\n\nRodriguez, Paul M. Jr., Tucson\n\nRomero, Michael Andrew, Sells\n\nRomero, Robert Anthony, Douglas\n\nRomero, Robert Luis, Superior\n\nRomo, John Roger, Phoenix\n\nRosenstock, Mark Lamont, Phoenix\n\nRoush, Samuel Emmerson, Tucson\n\nRowland, Richard Lee Jr., Phoenix\n\nRoybal, Thomas Michael Jr., Phoenix\n\nRuiz, Peter George, Ajo\n\nSaavedra, Robert, Nogales\n\nSalcido, George Arthur, Benson\n\nSalinas, Antonio Montano, Douglas\n\nSanchez, Paul Frank, Globe\n\nSanchez, Rudolpho, Phoenix\n\nSandoval, Randall Jack, Tucson\n\nSanta Cruz, Jose Angel, Glendale\n\nSantor, Robert Paul, Fort Huachuca\n\nScarborough, James Arthur, Mesa\n\nSchaffer, David Thomas, Phoenix\n\nSchibi, James Lee, Winslow\n\nSchoenewald, David Charles, Phoenix\n\nSchrader, Ronald Bruce, Tucson\n\nSchwarz, Donald Edwin, Lakeside\n\nScorsone, George Anthony, Tumacacori\n\nScott, Greg Bradford, Phoenix\n\nSedillo, Juan Natividad, McNary\n\nSegar, Calvin Russell, Bisbee\n\nSerna, Herman, Buckeye\n\nSershon, Laurence G., Phoenix\n\nSexton, Jeffrey Ross, Maricopa\n\nSharpe, William A. Jr., Tucson\n\nShaver, Clinton William Jr., Tucson\n\nShevlin, Hugh John, Tucson\n\nShockey, Robert L., Phoenix\n\nShrum, William Lawrence, Phoenix\n\nSilvas, Jorge Alvarado, Douglas\n\nSimmons, Billy Joe, Phoenix\n\nSimmons, James Charles Dan, Eloy\n\nSinn, Bradley Louis, Phoenix\n\nSiqueiros, Manuel Mendoza, Nogales\n\nSkaggs, Harold Alonzo, Phoenix\n\nSlim, Jimmie Farrell, Cow Springs\n\nSlocum, William Scott, Phoenix\n\nSmith, Andrew William, Phoenix\n\nSmith, Terrence Glen, Phoenix\n\nSmolik, Vernon Kenneth Jr., Tucson\n\nSolano, Mike Anthony, Tucson\n\nSolis, David Tobias, Winslow\n\nSoto, Bravie, Somerton\n\nSouthard, Charles A. III, Pierce\n\nSowers, Charles Henry II, Phoenix\n\nStaddon, Peter Bruce, Phoenix\n\nStaley, Robert E., Phoenix\n\nStands, Daniel Gilbert Jr., Phoenix\n\nStanley, Richard Allen, Phoenix\n\nStevens, John Warner Jr., Phoenix\n\nStewart, Gregory William, Tucson\n\nStockett, Richard Lee, Mesa\n\nStowe, Jeffrey Charles, Winslow\n\nStrahl, Richard William, Glendale\n\nStubbs, Billy Ray, Lakeside\n\nSudduth, Robert Thomas, Tucson\n\nSuter, Jerry Timothy, Mesa\n\nSutton, Frank, Phoenix\n\nTarkington, Curtis Ray, Scottsdale\n\nTedrick, Warren Gambiel Jr., Tempe\n\nTen, Huskie Yazzie B., Pinon\n\nTerrell, Alva Ray, Elfrida\n\nTersteege, Paul Francis, Tucson\n\nThomas, James Calven, Safford\n\nThompson, Richard Lewis Jr., Tucson\n\nThrasher, John Douglas, Phoenix\n\nThursby, Richard Allen, Bisbee\n\nTillou, John Frederick Jr., Yuma\n\nTodd, George Albert, Tucson\n\nTompkins, Phillip Warren, Globe\n\nTorres, Manuel Romero, Phoenix\n\nToschik, Mark Joseph, Phoenix\n\nToth, William Charles, Scottsdale\n\nTrujillo, Jacob Romo, Tucson\n\nTsosie, Albert, Chinle\n\nTsosie, Lee Dino, Cross Canyon\n\nTuohy, Jackie Allen, Phoenix\n\nTurner, John Michael, Casa Grande\n\nUrias, David Soqui, Phoenix\n\nValdez, Modesto, Phoenix\n\nValencia, Rosalio, Tucson\n\nValenzuela, Pedro, Guadalupe\n\nValenzuela, Rodolfo, Chandler\n\nValle, Manuel Burrola, Tucson\n\nValo, Henry Louis Jr., Phoenix\n\nVan Fredenberg, Allen John, Phoenix\n\nVan Loon, Frank C. Jr., Phoenix\n\nVance, Kerry Laverne, Show Low\n\nVarner, Harry Kay, Phoenix\n\nVasquez, Jose Maria, Coolidge\n\nVasquez, Martin Mendoza, Phoenix\n\nVerno, John Arthur, Phoenix\n\nVillalobos, Henry Estrella, Phoenix\n\nWahl, Johnnie Mitchell, Tucson\n\nWalker, Bradley A., Flagstaff\n\nWalling, Charles Milton, Phoenix\n\nWalters, Craig Collins, Tucson\n\nWebster, David O'Neil, Phoenix\n\nWeeks, Curtis Miller Jr., Yuma\n\nWeitzel, George Martin, Phoenix\n\nWest, Larry Joe, Morenci\n\nWheeler, James Atlee, Tucson\n\nWhite, Donald Merle Jr., Phoenix\n\nWhite, Fred Donald, Phoenix\n\nWhite, Samuel Marlar Jr., Tucson\n\nWhitehead, William J., Tucson\n\nWhitmer, Alfred Van, Morenci\n\nWilbanks, Leslie Joe, Gila Bend\n\nWilkes, Eulis Neil Jr., Yuma\n\nWillett, Franklin David, Hereford\n\nWilliams, Robert Jr., Tucson\n\nWilson, John Thomas, Phoenix\n\nWilson, John William, Tucson\n\nWilson, Robert Laurence, Tucson\n\nWilson, William Neil, Duncan\n\nWise, Joseph Robert, Nogales\n\nWood, Delbert Roy, Phoenix\n\nWoodland, Douglas Mead, Scottsdale\n\nWoolridge, Thomas Alphonse, Tucson\n\nWorley, Don Franklin, Bald Knob\n\nWright, Jeffery Lynn, Flagstaff\n\nYazzie, Leonard Lee, Pinon\n\nYbarra, Manuel Gutierrez, Superior\n\nYcoco, George Rojas, Douglas\n\nYescas Antonio Gilberto, Prescott\n\nYoakum, David Lewis, Tucson\n\nYoung, Robert Earnest, Silverbell\n\nZeleski, Philip Edward, Phoenix\n\nZigalla, Leonard James, Mesa\n\nZody, Richard Lee, Phoenix\n\nKorea\n\nAbbott, John D., Maricopa\n\nAdams, John Q., Maricopa\n\nAlaniz, Robert G., Maricopa\n\nAldana, Gerardo R., Cochise\n\nAldridge, Harry H., Maricopa\n\nAlvarado, Santos V., Pinal\n\nAnderson, Billy W., Maricopa\n\nAnderson, Richard E., Maricopa\n\nArmenta, Joaquin A., Hayden\n\nAstor, Wilford, Gila\n\nAviles, William D., Pima\n\nBaca, Frank S., Apache\n\nBazan, Jesus C., Gila\n\nBeal, Edward N, Cochise\n\nBeal, Lawrence, Tucson\n\nBenitez, Richard C., Pima\n\nBigham, Donald Gaile, Tucson\n\nBologna, Joseph M., Maricopa\n\nBowie, Frank, Pinal\n\nBrock, James B., Maricopa\n\nBurnette, Gibson, Navajo\n\nBurruel, Ernest E., Pima\n\nBushman, Warren M., Navajo\n\nCaballero, Eduardo, Santa Cruz\n\nCabanbam, Theodore, Maricopa\n\nCajero, Carlos M., Pima\n\nCalvert, Robert R., Maricopa\n\nCamacho, Raul 0., Pima\n\nCampos, Jose C. Jr., Arizona\n\nCanfield, Robert Durham Jr., Phoenix\n\nCantarella, Salvato, Maricopa\n\nCarrasco, Jesus Rodriquis, Tucson\n\nCarroll, Aubrey D., Yuma\n\nCarroll, James W., Pima\n\nCastaneda, Arthur C., Yavapai\n\nChambers, Grady L., Coconino\n\nChee, Joseph, Apache\n\nChegay, George, Show Low\n\nCherf, Thomas J., Show Low\n\nChristian, Jimmy L., Maricopa\n\nCohoe, Max H., Apache\n\nComolli, Charlie L., Pima\n\nConnor, Jefferson L., Maricopa\n\nContreras, Liandro, Cochise\n\nCook, Theodore Amos, Phoenix\n\nCrawford, Robert L., Yavapai\n\nCrum, Charles M., Yavapai\n\nCutte,r Fred, Yuma\n\nDavis, Mervin H., Graham\n\nDeeme,r George R., Maricopa\n\nDelgado, Pedro A., Yuma\n\nDennis, Frank S., Maricopa\n\nDoyle, Frank A., Arizona\n\nDuarte, Bernardino, Maricopa\n\nDuarte, Rodolfo V., Pima\n\nDupuy, Glen M., Pima\n\nDurham, Charles H., Mohave\n\nEberwein, John 0., Gila\n\nEcholes, Calvin C., Maricopa\n\nEdwards, Odis W., Pinal\n\nEiler, Richard 0., Pima\n\nEmbach, John Henry, Arizona\n\nEmerson, Bob J., Maricopa\n\nEncinas, Richard C., Cochise\n\nEnos, Gordon F., Maricopa\n\nEsquer, Librado E., Cochise\n\nFawcett, Harold M., Maricopa\n\nFowler, Samuel R., Pima\n\nFulkerson, Vernon E., Pima\n\nGaitan, Jesse M., Maricopa\n\nGallego, Gilbert G., Maricopa\n\nGarcia, Eddie M., Pima\n\nGarcia, Guillermo G., Pinal\n\nGarcia, Porfirio H., Yavapai\n\nGastelo, Henry A., Maricopa\n\nGatewood, Tommy, Fort Defiance\n\nGia, George, Apache\n\nGibbens, William H., Pima\n\nGoldston, Jack L., Maricopa\n\nGomez, Gustavo K., Maricopa\n\nGonzales, George C., Maricopa\n\nGonzales, Pedro Velasco, Phoenix\n\nGonzalez, Ignacio Salazar, Tempe\n\nGreen, Allen R., Yuma\n\nGreenwall, Cecil L., Cochise\n\nGriego, Simon, Maricopa\n\nHall, Tommie L., Maricopa\n\nHammond, James D., Yuma\n\nHarris, Robert L., Phoenix\n\nHernandez, Manuel B., Coconino\n\nHiggins, Edward D., Yuma\n\nHill, Thomas H., Navajo\n\nHodges, William E., Maricopa\n\nHolenbeck, Glenn P., Yuma\n\nHornsby, Glen W., Maricopa\n\nHubbard, Raymond Claude, Tucson\n\nHudgens, James Robert, Tucson\n\nHylton, Billy E., Maricopa\n\nIslas, Raul R., Pima\n\nJarvis, Donald R., Maricopa\n\nJennings, Ray L., Phoenix\n\nJones, Marvin W., Maricopa\n\nJones, William Herbert, Tucson\n\nJordan, James, Coconino\n\nKakar, Carlos S., Pinal\n\nKluttz, Lewis C., Coconino\n\nKnipe, Roy J., Yuma\n\nLacey, Robert Oliver, Phoenix\n\nLambrecht, Peter D., Tucson\n\nLara, Luis P., Cochise\n\nLaskowsky, Franklin, Maricopa\n\nLauterbach, Bob Alfred, Phoenix\n\nLay, Carl S., Maricopa\n\nLocklar, James R., Gila\n\nLopez, Alfonso E., Tucson\n\nLopez, Edward E., Pinal\n\nLopez, Raymond P., Santa Cruz\n\nMaldonado, Luciano, Maricopa\n\nManuel, Delmer R., Maricopa\n\nMartin, Robert Jr., Tucson\n\nMartin, Robert L.., Coconino\n\nMartinez, Ernest L., Maricopa\n\nMassey, George C. Jr., Maricopa\n\nMaston, Verlin Dean, Higley\n\nMata, Frank C., Pima\n\nMay, Gus, Gila\n\nMayo, Gene R., Maricopa\n\nMcAfee, Johnson Jr., Laveen\n\nMendoza, Jerry J., Maricopa\n\nMesa, Norberto N., Tucson\n\nMiguel, Harry, Pinal\n\nMiguel, Lloyd L., Pinal\n\nMonks, Billy J., Maricopa\n\nMontana, Manuel V., Maricopa\n\nMoore, Jack S., Maricopa\n\nMorales, Ben R., Cochise\n\nMorales, David 0., Maricopa\n\nMorales, John A., Maricopa\n\nMoreno, Joe G., Pima\n\nMoreno, Manuel Hernandez, Nogales\n\nMorris, John P., Mohave\n\nMullins, Preston Jr., Pima\n\nMurdock, Dale, Graham\n\nNash, William R., Maricopa\n\nNetterblad, John M., Miami\n\nNez, Felix R., Apache\n\nNickles, Richard Lee, Tucson\n\nNobles, Wayne 0., Maricopa\n\nNogales, Roberto V., Pima\n\nOchoa, Alberto, Pima\n\nOchoa, Heradio, Pima\n\nOchoa, Marcos M., Pima\n\nOrtega, John E., Maricopa\n\nOrtegas, Juan P., Pima\n\nOsborn, James W. Jr., Maricopa\n\nPaden, Jerome J., Yuma\n\nPaden, Raymond E., Maricopa\n\nPadilla, Alexander Beck, Tucson\n\nParker, Leroy, Yuma\n\nPerez, Joe C., Greenlee\n\nPlumb, Reed Edwin, Phoenix\n\nPortillo, Henry Bustamente, Arizona\n\nQuintana, Manuel M., Graham\n\nRamirez, Arthur C., Pima\n\nRamirez, Emilio Antonio, Tucson\n\nRapee, John B., Maricopa\n\nRemer, Clarence, Pima\n\nReyes, Guadalupe R., Pinal\n\nRhoads, Edward W., Apache\n\nRichardson, Paul E., Maricopa\n\nRico, Frank, Pima\n\nRipley, Lawrence Thomas, Phoenix\n\nRivera, Juan, Yavapai\n\nRivero, Armando F., Santa Cruz\n\nRobertson, Corbett B., Tucson\n\nRodriguez, Leonardo, Cochise\n\nRodriguez, Roddy E., Maricopa\n\nRomero, Rosendo G., Coconino\n\nRoosevelt, Franklin, Navajo\n\nRoss, Calvin L., Maricopa\n\nRussell, Earl, Maricopa\n\nRye, James David, Mountainberg\n\nSaenz, Ralph V., Maricopa\n\nSanchez, Gregorio G., Pima\n\nSanders, Leonard C., Maricopa\n\nSandoval, Leopold, Apache\n\nSaxton, Gilbert D., Pima\n\nSchaeffer, Malcolm Joseph, Tucson\n\nSegobia, Oscar G., Cochise\n\nSegura, George P., Pima\n\nSerna, Anthony D., Navajo\n\nShelton, Gilman Lee, Tucson\n\nShipman, Clyde W., Yuma\n\nShurbet, Wayne C., Maricopa\n\nSifuentes, Daniel T., Pima\n\nSmith, Clifton E., Pinal\n\nSmith, Edward H., Pima\n\nSmith, James L., Maricopa\n\nSmith, Luis, Santa Cruz\n\nSoto, Antonio M., Pima\n\nStedman, Gerald F., Arizona\n\nStone, Neil R., Maricopa\n\nTaft, James Richard, East Phoenix\n\nTaggart, Robert B., Maricopa\n\nTallsalt, Howard, Tonalea\n\nTaylor, James M., Maricopa\n\nTellez, Augustine, Maricopa\n\nTeran, Roberto, Pima\n\nThatcher, Billy R., Aztec\n\nThatcher, Billy Ray, Aztec\n\nTully, John Ruben, Phoenix\n\nTumlinson, Carl D., Maricopa\n\nTurner, Ronald L., Pima\n\nTurner, Roy David, Phoenix\n\nUrbalejo, Antonio Yanes, Tucson\n\nValdenegro, Gilbert U., Tucson\n\nValenzuela, Joe Mascareno, Tucson\n\nVan Elsberg, Charle, Navajo\n\nVarela, Julio S., Santa Cruz\n\nVejar, Frank G., Cochise\n\nVilla, John Rojas, Glendale\n\nVillalva, Robert C., Coconino\n\nVillareal, Alfonso, Maricopa\n\nVillaverde, Ernest, Pinal\n\nVillegas, Angel, Santa Cruz\n\nWalker, William H., Pima\n\nWard, Frank M., Pima\n\nWells, Harvey L., Maricopa\n\nWelsh, Harley, Yuma\n\nWhelan, Francis E., Cochise\n\nWillaims, Fred, Pima\n\nWilliams, Jack Vernon, Higley\n\nWilliams, Leslie Conrad, Phoenix\n\nWood, William E, Maricopa\n\nWoodruff, William M., Pinal\n\nWright, Spurgeon, Higley\n\nYanez, Felix M., Cochise\n\nYates, John C., Maricopa\n\nZea, Donald D., Navajo\n\nWORLD WAR II, Navy\n\nand MARINE CORPS\n\nAbad, Basil Martinez, Miami\n\nAllen, Lonnie, San Carlos\n\nAllison, Robert E., Scottsdale\n\nAndersen, Wesley W., Litchfield Park\n\nAnderson, Truman Green, Tolleson\n\nArney, Buford Young, Florence\n\nAshley, Felix, Fort Deflance\n\nAskew, Earl Miles Robertson, Phoenix\n\nBaca, Jose, Florence\n\nBailey, Harry F., Winslow\n\nBailey, John Billy, Bisbee\n\nBaker, Lester Leroy, Tucson\n\nBasden, Orval, Phoenix\n\nBeck, Harold Henry, Phoenix\n\nBegay, Paul, Kayenta\n\nBell, Robert Edwin, Douglas\n\nBennett, James L., Phoenix\n\nBertie, George Allan, Jr., Phoenix\n\nBiye, Walter Key, Fort Defiance\n\nBlack, Billy M., Tiger\n\nBlair, Allison H., Somerton\n\nBogle, William Blythe, Tucson\n\nBoozer, Edward LeRoy, Yuma\n\nBorough, John Ralyea, Ajo\n\nBrodie, Bunton Hardin (Missing in Action)\n\nBrown, Marcus, Bisbee\n\nBurdette, Snyder, San Carlos\n\nBurke, Floyd Buster, Phoenix\n\nBurkett, Arthur Kello, Hayden\n\nBurt, Joseph W. Jr., Globe\n\nBushong, John Richard, Phoenix\n\nButler, John C., Phoenix\n\nCalhoun, Oscar Oliver, Phoenix\n\nCarr, Lorraine Golden, Wellton\n\nCarrillo, Stephen Thomas, Scottsdale\n\nCarter, Henry C., Winslow\n\nCastillo, Trinle R., Phoenix\n\nChandler, John Bliss (Missing in Action)\n\nChaparro, Ramon, Tucson\n\nChapman, Billy Ross, Tempe\n\nChase, Joseph Perry, Phoenix\n\nClah, George, Indian Wells\n\nClayton, James William, Phoenix\n\nCleveland, Charles Thomas, Bisbee\n\nCobb, John Wesley, Kingman\n\nCocio, William C., Tucson\n\nCollins, Vorous W., Globe\n\nCollom, Perry Aubrey, Somerton\n\nCook, Archie Kennedy, Globe\n\nCrandall, Rex F., Litchfield Park\n\nCremeens, Louis Edward, Yuma\n\nCrosby, George Lorenzo, Phoenix\n\nCummins, Harold Vernon, Warren\n\nCunningham, Charles H. (Missing in Action)\n\nCurtis, Herbert William, Tucson\n\nCurtis, Lamar, Globe\n\nDarter, James, Casa Grande\n\nd'Autremont, Charles, Tucson\n\nDavenport, Robert Elmer, Jerome\n\nDavies, James L., Phoenix\n\nDavis, Charles A., Safford\n\nDe La Rosa, Antonio Urquides, Tucson\n\nDelaney, Don K., Phoenix\n\nDennison, Joseph John Jr., Phoenix\n\nDenton, John J., Phoenix\n\nDickerson, Guy B. Jr. (Missing in Action)\n\nDindinger, Robert Ernest, Florence\n\nDunlap, Calvin Campbell, Phoenix\n\nEarl, Thayer Wade, Phoenix\n\nEdwards, William Alessandro, Sedona\n\nEikner, James C. Jr., Hayden\n\nEnnefer, Paul Raymond, Mesa\n\nEscalante, Antonio Portugal, Superior\n\nEscalante, Cipriano R., Tempe\n\nEshelman, John William, Cave Creek\n\nEstes, Rex G., Phoenix\n\nEustace, Milton Jack, Yuma\n\nFanchette, Robert Q., Tucson\n\nFausset, Eugene Raymond, Peoria\n\nFaust, Joseph David, Buckeye\n\nFees, Everett Francis (Missing in Action)\n\nFelton, Russell B., Winslow\n\nFigueroa, Frederick Bracamonte, Tucson\n\nFlynn, Robert Morris, Prescott\n\nFoster, Victor Wayne, Bisbee\n\nFranklin, Morris Drake Jr. (Missing in Action)\n\nFreitag, Norman Richard, Tolleson\n\nFugate, Jerald Wayne, Glendale\n\nGastelum, William, Superior\n\nGerle, George Thomas, Phoenix\n\nGifford, Vernal C., Phoenix\n\nGilbert, George Hellworth, Casa Grande\n\nGonzales, Ermino, Winslow\n\nGottschalf, Sidney M., Phoenix\n\nGray, W.E. Reul, Casa Grande\n\nGrayard, William Phillip, Holbrook\n\nGreen, Howard Charles, Jr., Yuma\n\nGreene, Donald L., Phoenix\n\nGreenhaw, Charles L. D., Phoenix\n\nGregg, Ira Noble, Phoenix\n\nGunason, Robert W., Tucson\n\nHadra, Ernest, Phoenix\n\nHall, John Phillip, Phoenix\n\nHallmark, Floyd V., Tortilla Flat\n\nHamberlin, Bernard M., Mesa\n\nHandwerk, William Harold, Phoenix\n\nHarding, William Ray, Phoenix\n\nHardy, George A., Tucson\n\nHardy, John Ellis, Tucson\n\nHarris, Edward (Missing in Action)\n\nHart, William Lester, Coolidge\n\nHaun, Harold H. (Missing in Action)\n\nHazlett, Paul Boyd, Litchfield Park\n\nHedrick, John William, Prescott\n\nHenderson, Raymond Wesley, Clifton\n\nHendricks, Carl Brown, Mesa\n\nHenricks, Marion Leslie, Cactus\n\nHenson, Archie Lewis (Missing in Action)\n\nHerman, Bob D., Chandler\n\nHildebrand, John Kenneth, Tucson\n\nHill, Melvin L., Tucson\n\nHollowell, George Sanford, Phoenix\n\nHorrocks, James William, Noglaes\n\nHousewood, Johnson, Fort Deflance\n\nHoward, Edwin A., Phoenix\n\nHudgeons, Leo Elber, Coolidge\n\nHughes, Roy Edward, Lowell\n\nHunt, Paul R., Snowflake\n\nHunt, Quince A., Snowflake\n\nIverson, George C., Mt. Trumbull\n\nJacobson, John A., Duncan\n\nJacovo, Arthur, Phoenix\n\nJarnagin, Merle R., Glendale\n\nJensen, Lawrence C. Jr., Phoenix\n\nJohnson, Carl Spencer, Phoenix\n\nJohnson, George Royal, Phoenix\n\nJones, John M., Tucson\n\nJones, Kenneth Malcolm, Cave Creek\n\nJones, Lambert Alvin Jr., Miami\n\nJuan, Herman C., Scottsdale\n\nKeenan, John Frederick, Tucson\n\nKeith, George Richard, Phoenix\n\nKempe, Jack Loren, St. Johns\n\nKendall, Leonard F., Casa Grande\n\nKennedy, Dale W., Phoenix\n\nKeohen, James F., Phoenix\n\nKing, Arthur Godwyn, Buckeye\n\nKinser, John A., Casa Grande\n\nKirk, Leo, , Ganado\n\nKnight, John J. Jr., Phoenix\n\nKnight, Lester, Glendale\n\nLamb, Nash Laruc, Phoenix\n\nLambert, Lester Lee, Kingman\n\nLargo, Phillip Dean, Phoenix\n\nLarson, Corwin T., Lakeside\n\nLassiter, Eugene Quay, Coolidge\n\nLenz, Paul Dunbar, Tucson\n\nLerma, Eugene Samaniego, Elroy\n\nLewis, Kenneth L., Laveen\n\nLoges, Walter Wallace, Phoenix\n\nLopez, Manual R., Tucson\n\nLowell, Hervey W., Tucson\n\nLowrey, David C. Jr. (Missing in Action)\n\nLowrey, David Crockett Jr., Flagstaff\n\nLucio, Gregorio, Morenci\n\nLungershausen, John Frank, Phoenix\n\nLynch, Floyd A., Phoenix\n\nMadrid, Antonio Martinez, Jerome\n\nMahan, Doyle Clinton, Phoenix\n\nMaldonado, Alex Jerez, Glendale\n\nManning, Robert E., Tucson\n\nMarich, Mike M. (Missing in Action)\n\nMartinez, Jose, Fort Deflance\n\nMast, Albert Charles, Tucson\n\nMathews, Eugene Olen, Mesa\n\nMcCulley, Robert Arthur, Phoenix\n\nMcDaniel, Laurel G., Phoenix\n\nMcEuen, Sam L., Tucson\n\nMcGahan, James E. (Missing in Action)\n\nMcGrath, Thomas Patrick, Tucson\n\nMeredith, John Harold, Safford\n\nMiller, Charles Junior, Tucson\n\nMiller, Harold Eynon, Douglas\n\nMiller, Thomas Rudolph, Phoenix\n\nMiller, Willard C., Morenci\n\nMills, Robert Ray, Show Low\n\nMontierth, Dan I., Phoenix\n\nMoore, Charles Alvin, Phoenix\n\nMoore, Cornelius S., Tucson\n\nMoore, Harley Edward, Phoenix\n\nMoore, Hugh Harding, Glendale\n\nMorris, Joshua, Komatke\n\nMoss, Gentry D., Marana\n\nMurphy, James Joseph, Bisbee\n\nMurray, Lawrence Edwin, Phoenix\n\nMuse, Virgil, Douglas\n\nNarcho, Marvin Lester, Tucson\n\nNations, Allen, Bisbee\n\nNelson, Claude Egbert Jr., Phoenix\n\nNelson, Sern Calvin, Phoenix\n\nNichols, Earl E., Naco\n\nNicoll, Don Carlos Jr., Mesa\n\nNivin, William Fossett, Phoenix\n\nNorzagaray, Anibal J., Tucson\n\nNotah, Willie Anthony, Fort Deflance\n\nNye, Paul W., Prescott\n\nOliver, Henry S., Phoenix\n\nOrth, Louis Richard, Douglas\n\nOverstreet, Rufus Miller Jr., Tucson\n\nREAD: Arizona's connection to iconic flag-raising at Iwo Jima during WWII\n\nPaul, Irving, Tucson\n\nPayan, Samuel, Tempe\n\nPeck, Hubert A. (Missing in Action)\n\nPerea, Alexander P., Phoenix\n\nPerez, Jesus Marquez, Mesa\n\nPetty, Forrest, Miami\n\nPierpaoli, Robert James Jr. (Missing in Action)\n\nPollard, Harry S., Ajo\n\nPorter, James Teel, Litchfield Park\n\nPrice, John W., Phoenix\n\nPrice, Thurman W. Jr., Eloy\n\nPriest, James Sidney, Phoenix\n\nPyeatt, Merl Andrew, Payson\n\nQuigg, Jack L., Phoenix\n\nRamos, Joe S., Globe\n\nRawson, George H., Flagstaff\n\nRiggs, Russell Babbitt, Miami\n\nRoberts, J. L., Buckeye\n\nRobles, Joe Angel, Phoenix\n\nRobles, Merardo D., Tucson\n\nRodriguez, Frank Wesley, Morenci\n\nRogers, Kent Byron, Phoenix\n\nRogers, Mervin M. (Missing in Action)\n\nRogers, Mervin M., Central\n\nRunnels, Ardian N., Phoenix\n\nRussell, William Louis, Phoenix\n\nRutkowski, Frank Joseph, Mayer\n\nRyan, Kenneth John, Phoenix\n\nSaffell, Morris Franklin, Springerville\n\nSaliba, George, Peoria\n\nSamuels, Jack S., Fort Huachus\n\nSanchez, Fred Luciano, Tempe\n\nSanchez, Julius Cesar, Tucson\n\nSandoval, Juan Delgado, Phoenix\n\nScholl, William Franklin Jr., Ajo\n\nSchulze, Hermann J., Tucson\n\nScott, Charles Duane, Phoenix\n\nScott, Oliver Linvey, Phoenix\n\nSedillo, James C., Flagstaff\n\nSeeley, Francis B., Tucson\n\nSheek, Andrew Ellison, Lowell\n\nShelton, Wayne, Yuma\n\nSimmons, William Walter, Globe\n\nSkeen, Harvey Leroy, Miami\n\nSkjonsby, Verne L. (Missing in Action)\n\nSmith, Buddy, Camp Verde\n\nSmith, Ralph Milton Jr., Ajo\n\nSoza, Baudello, Phoenix\n\nStapley, James Norman, Mesa\n\nStapp, Billie, Tucson\n\nStevenson, Loomis, Phoenix\n\nStewart, John Perry, Phoenix\n\nStoddard, Edward, Phoenix\n\nStoia, Elmer Constantine, Phoenix\n\nTalbott, Russell S., Phoenix\n\nTapia, Albert G., Globe\n\nTatlock, James Edward, Phoenix\n\nTempleton, W.R. (Missing in Action)\n\nThomas, James Walter, Phoenix\n\nTingle, Jack Bascom, Buckeye\n\nTosh, Bill Hugh, Tempe\n\nTravis, Byron Earl, Phoenix\n\nUrton, William Reeves, Coolidge\n\nVan Horn, James Randolf, Tucson\n\nWade, Wayne V., Phoenix\n\nWall, William Joseph, Miami\n\nWalters, Robert Gerald, Phoenix\n\nWatkins, Owen Weldon Jr., Phoenix\n\nWebb, William Henry, Bisbee\n\nWharton, Wesley James, Phoenix\n\nWhitaker, Charles R., Glendale\n\nWhite, James G., Phoenix\n\nWilkinson, Arthur William, Phoenix\n\nWilliams, Frank Michael, Phoenix\n\nWilliams, Jack Eben, Phoenix\n\nWilliams, James Houston, Phoenix\n\nWillis, Jasper, Fort Thomas\n\nWilsford, Clyde Douglas, Phoenix\n\nWindom, Homer Clester, Eloy\n\nWinsor, Andrew N., Thatcher\n\nWood, Earl E., Lowell\n\nWright, Paul Raymond, Phoenix\n\nWrinch, Robert Warwick, Phoenix\n\nYanez, Andrew Paz, Phoenix\n\nYoung, Lew Davis, Douglas\n\nWORLD WAR II, Army\n\nAbril, Carlos C., Mariciopa\n\nAcedo, Usbaldo C., Pima\n\nAcosta, Bruno V., Maricopa\n\nActon, William J., Gila\n\nAcuna, Edward B., Pima\n\nAdams, Frank W., Graham\n\nAday, Ralph, Navajo\n\nAdcock, Thomas A., Maricopa\n\nAguilar, Gilbert N., Maricopa\n\nAguirre, Filiberto S., Pima\n\nAhrens, Conwalt F., Pima\n\nAlcaraz, Ysmael U., Maricopa\n\nAlexander, Alfred, Yuma\n\nAlford, Fred S., Santa Cruz\n\nAllen Paul K., Pima\n\nAllgood, Norman D., Yuma\n\nAlsop, Wilber R. Jr., Maricopa\n\nAlspach, Corwin E., Maricopa\n\nAlspach, Thomas N., Maricopa\n\nAltaha, Thomas, Navajo\n\nAlvarez, Ernest T., State at large\n\nAlvarez, Gregorio R., Gila\n\nAlvarez, Jesus P., Santa Cruz\n\nAlvarez, Jose A., Pima\n\nAlvarez, Julian T., Maricopa\n\nAlvarez, Tony J., Pima\n\nAmberson, James P., Gila\n\nAnderson, Glenn P., Maricopa\n\nAnderson, Herbert E., Maricopa\n\nAndrews, Lloyd J. Jr., Maricopa\n\nAngle, Ambrose B. Jr., Maricopa\n\nAngle, Henry Jr., Maricopa\n\nAnton, Willscott, Maricopa\n\nAntone, Alonzo, Pima\n\nAntonio, Haskell, Pinal\n\nApodaca, Juan C., Maricopa\n\nApodaca, Ralph, Coconino\n\nApostolos, Frank C., Santa Cruz\n\nAraiza, Felipe M., Gila\n\nAraki, Masashi, Pinal\n\nArchambeau, Guy L., Navajo\n\nArchdale, Percy J., Mohave\n\nArino, Joe J., Santa Cruz\n\nAros, Candido S., Pima\n\nArredondo, F.C., Maricopa\n\nArriola, Frank B. Jr., Pima\n\nArriola, Vicente, Gila\n\nArtherholt, Delbert, Maricopa\n\nAult, Guy H., Maricopa\n\nAusterman, Chester V., Maricopa\n\nAyala, Feliciano P., Maricopa\n\nAyres, Francis H., Maricopa\n\nAyze, Earl, Apache\n\nBaber, James H., Maricopa\n\nBaca Joe, Z., Coconino\n\nBaca, Isidro, Apache\n\nBaca, Mike P., Navajo\n\nBaird, Joe P., Maricopa\n\nBaker, Don Jr., Maricopa\n\nBaker, Lemuel C., Pima\n\nBaker, Loy F., Coconino\n\nBaleman, Bert F., Mohave\n\nBanashley, Frank, Navajo\n\nBarber, Robert, Maricopa\n\nBarker, Bobby J., Pima\n\nBarney, Hulick, Maricopa\n\nBarrasso, Louis A Jr., Pima\n\nBasurto, Ricardo C., Pima\n\nBates, Raymond, Gila\n\nBeattie, James, Maricopa\n\nBeck, Allan G., Greenlee\n\nBeck, Richard A., Pima\n\nBedoya, Atalfo O., Yuma\n\nBeeman, William F. Jr., Pima\n\nBeeson, Clarence S., Navajo\n\nBegay, Cussie, Ap", "authors": [], "publish_date": "2019/05/24"}]}
+{"question_id": "20240119_25", "search_time": "2024/01/19/23:36", "search_result": []}
+{"question_id": "20240119_26", "search_time": "2024/01/19/23:36", "search_result": []}
+{"question_id": "20240119_27", "search_time": "2024/01/19/23:36", "search_result": [{"url": "https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/high-school/2022/11/17/delaware-high-school-girls-volleyball-all-state-team-announced/69654513007/", "title": "Delaware high school girls volleyball: All-State team announced", "text": "Saint Mark’s outside hitter Julia Yurkovich is the Player of the Year and leads the girls volleyball All-State team selected by the Delaware High School Volleyball Coaches Association.\n\nYurkovich, a 5-foot-11 senior, reached 800 career kills on Oct. 29 in the regular-season finale against Ursuline. The Presbyterian College signee then led the Spartans (17-2) to the championship match of the DIAA Girls Volleyball Tournament, where they lost 3-0 to Tower Hill.\n\nShe is one of eight players on the first team, along with Tower Hill senior Chloe Sachs, Smyrna junior Anna Richardson, Caravel senior Laila Glover, Newark Charter senior McKenna Ritchie, Wilmington Friends senior Jocelyn Nathan, Delmarva Christian sophomore Elaina Millaway and Saint Mark’s junior Taylor Holly.\n\nMichael Sachs, who guided Tower Hill to an 18-2 season and the school’s first girls volleyball state championship, was named the Coach of the Year.\n\nThe Odessa Ducks, who improved from 6-9 to 9-6 in their second varsity season, received the Sportsmanship Award.\n\nContact Brad Myers at bmyers@delawareonline.com. Follow on Twitter: @BradMyersTNJ\n\nAll-State girls volleyball team\n\nFirst team\n\nJulia Yurkovich, sr., Saint Mark’s, Player of the Year\n\nChloe Sachs, sr., Tower Hill\n\nAnna Richardson, jr., Smyrna\n\nLaila Glover, sr., Caravel\n\nMcKenna Ritchie, sr., Newark Charter\n\nJocelyn Nathan, sr., Wilmington Friends\n\nElaina Millaway, so., Delmarva Christian\n\nTaylor Holly, jr., Saint Mark’s\n\nSecond team\n\nAva Borcky, jr., Saint Mark’s; Katherine Kuehl, jr., Archmere; Alexis Parkinson, jr., Appoquinimink; Molly Pietlock, jr., Tower Hill; Alexandra Mardesich, sr., Caesar Rodney; Eliza Schneider, jr., Red Lion Christian; Camryn Ehlers, sr., Indian River; Janiece Lumpkin, sr., Middletown.\n\nThird team\n\nMeghan Mumford, jr., Tower Hill; Nancy Evans, sr., Tatnall; Ellie Millaway, sr., Delmarva Christian; Carly Timblin, jr., Smyrna; Megan Smith, sr., Cape Henlopen; Hannah Kelley, sr., Ursuline; Lila Sieler, sr., Newark Charter; Amanda Quinn, sr., Padua; Kate Hines, so., DMA; Alayna Dorst, sr., Middletown; Madelyn Way, fr., Saint Mark’s.\n\nCoach of the Year – Michael Sachs, Tower Hill.\n\nSportsmanship Award – Odessa.", "authors": [], "publish_date": "2022/11/17"}, {"url": "https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/high-school/2024/01/17/smyrna-volleyball-state-champs-team-of-the-year-delaware/72164622007/", "title": "Smyrna volleyball state champs are team of the year in Delaware", "text": "In their most important huddle of the season, it was the player Smyrna volleyball had leaned on all year who took charge.\n\nThe Eagles had just dropped the third set of the state championship match against Ursuline, a back-and-forth affair the Raiders clinched 30-28 after warding off three match points. Smyrna head coach Danny Wandless was nervous. The Eagles still led two sets to one, but momentum flows like the breeze in volleyball.\n\nAnna Richardson, however, was unphased. Her calming effect in the huddle kept the team relaxed. They focused on having fun and turned in their most dominant set of the match to become state champions.\n\nDelaware has crowned a girls volleyball state champion every year since 1975. Smyrna is the first team from below the canal to win.\n\nFor that achievement, the Smyrna girls volleyball team has been named the team of the year by the Delaware Sportswriters and Broadcasters Association. They are the first volleyball team to earn the honor, which has been awarded every year since 1999. The Eagles will be honored at the annual DSBA banquet on Feb. 19 at Riverfront Events at the Hyatt Hotel on the Wilmington Riverfront.\n\nReflecting on the championship win two months later, Wandless credited the school district and the Smyrna community who rallied around the team. Local firehouses blew their horns as the Eagles left town for the University of Delaware's Bob Carpenter Center, the site of the tournament finals. Police escorted them the entire way. Inside the Carpenter Center, Smyrna had the largest and most vocal fan base of the semifinalist schools.\n\n\"Doing something that we had never done before, our community just surrounded us,\" Wandless said. \"We felt like we were not alone.\"\n\nIn 2022, Smyrna lost in the quarterfinals to eventual state champion Tower Hill in a 3-0 match Wandless felt was closer than the score indicated. With most of the team returning, the goal was to go at least one round further in the state tournament.\n\nEverything Smyrna did on the court started with Richardson, who entered the season as Delaware Online/The News Journal's no. 1 ranked player and ended it as the state coach's association Player of the Year and the Delaware Gatorade Player of the Year.\n\n\"That's a lot of weight to be on somebody's shoulders,\" Wandless said of the preseason ranking. \"Her talent and ability on the court was huge for us, but she also made people around her better. There's no letting down. She's focused. She's going to bring it every time.\"\n\nMaryPat Kwoka, Charter of Wilmington's head coach and a fixture in Delaware volleyball over the past three decades as the leader of several schools and programs, previously coached Richardson and most of the Smyrna rotation on Premier Volleyball club teams.\n\n\"She kept everything in control,\" Kwoka said of Richardson and her 20-kill state final performance. \"She took over the game.\"\n\nEliza Schneider, a second-team All-State selection as a junior at Red Lion Christian, transferred to Smyrna for her senior year, which gave Smyrna \"dual weapons\" and strong \"A and B\" lines, Wandless said. Senior Elise Carter joined Schneider and Richardson on the 2023 All-State teams. Opposing coaches also credited setter Abigayle Osborne and libero Carly Timblin.\n\nWhen Smyrna met Caesar Rodney in the state tournament semifinals, Delaware was assured of having its first-ever finalist from downstate. The sport has been traditionally dominated by northern New Castle County private schools. Saint Mark's and Ursuline had won 15 of the 22 state championships since the turn of the century. Only Tower Hill, Padua, Charter of Wilmington and Delaware Military Academy had broken their collective string of victories.\n\nAfter the match, Wandless and Caesar Rodney head coach Jake Bluhm, who earned the distinction of Coach of the Year from the coach's association, credited the growth of the game downstate to the increased number of out-of-season club team opportunities.\n\nThe group of Richardson, Schneider, Carter, Osborne and Timblin have played together throughout their childhoods.\n\n\"There's definitely been more competition and it's gotten harder, but so has our team — we've gotten better as the years have gone on,\" Richardson said after the Caesar Rodney match.\n\nWandless said he is honored Smyrna is the team that \"opened the door\" for downstate schools. He praised the comraderie between coaches across the state, saying their rarely shy from sharing tidbits on how to improve their programs.\n\nPremier Volleyball, the club Kwoka leads, has twice as many teams as it did a decade ago. The club instructs kindergarten-aged kids to high school seniors at a variety of skill levels. It's one of several programs that has experienced recent growth and has helped improve the level of competition across the state.\n\n\"It's grown the sport tremendously,\" Kwoka said.\n\nAdded Kwoka, \"I think it's well deserved. They've definitely blown everybody's mind. ... I think Smyrna is going to start to be known as a volleyball school.\"\n\nContact Brandon Holveck at bholveck@delawareonline.com. Follow him on X and Instagram @holveck_brandon. Follow him on TikTok @bholveck.", "authors": [], "publish_date": "2024/01/17"}, {"url": "https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/high-school/2023/08/07/delaware-high-school-girls-sports-top-40-athlete-rankings-2022-2023/70470127007/", "title": "Delaware high school girls sports: Overall top 40 athlete rankings", "text": "With fall season practices for the 2023-24 school year right around the corner, it’s time to close the book on 2022-23.\n\nThe best way to do that is with our overall ranking of Delaware high school athletes, across all sports.\n\nHere is our take on the Top 40 girls from the past school year. Every one of them played a key role — many times the leading role — on successful teams. Many of them won championships, were the Player of the Year in their sport or earned All-State honors. Some of them even thrived in multiple sports.", "authors": [], "publish_date": "2023/08/07"}, {"url": "https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/high-school/volleyball/2023/05/06/fhsaa-beach-volleyball-new-smyrna-beach-last-local-team-playoffs/70168204007/", "title": "FHSAA beach volleyball: New Smyrna Beach is last local team in ...", "text": "DAYTONA BEACH — Jonathan Cunningham told his team not to take this for granted.\n\nThe New Smyrna Beach Barracudas beat Spruce Creek 5-0 Friday at DME Academy. They improved to a perfect 24-0 and advanced to the state quarterfinals in Tallahassee for the second season in a row.\n\nAfter winning the first Florida High School Athletic Association beach volleyball championship last spring, winning has become normal for the Barracudas. All in a day’s work. Still, each victory matters, especially this time of year.", "authors": [], "publish_date": "2023/05/06"}, {"url": "https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/highschool/sports-awards/2023/09/05/2023-2024-usa-today-high-school-sports-awards-girls-soccer-watch-list/70765413007/", "title": "2023-2024 USA TODAY High School Sports Awards Girls Soccer ...", "text": "USA TODAY\n\nThe USA TODAY High School Sports Awards is pleased to announce its watch list for 2023-24 USA TODAY HSSA Girls Soccer Player of the Year!\n\nThis initial list includes 50 current student-athletes who meet the nomination criteria for this year’s national Girls Soccer Player of the Year award. These athletes were either nominees in last year’s national show, or athletes who were seriously considered based on season-wide performance, state championships and any other state, regional and/or national recognition.\n\nWatch last year's full show: 2023 USA TODAY High School Sports Awards\n\nHere's a little more about this year's program and how it works:\n\nThe official 2023-24 USA TODAY HSSA Girls Soccer Team will be announced later this spring. All 25 final team members will be honored as nominees for national Girls Soccer Player of the Year. The winner will be revealed during the fourth annual USA TODAY High School Sports Awards. Visit the event website for updates leading up to this summer's on-demand event, and to view all of the award winners from last year's show!\n\nNote: The purpose of this watch list is to track eligible nominees for this year’s national show. Athletes could be removed from this list if they no longer play for their high school team (either by choice or injury), or if their high school no longer participates in a state-sanctioned championship tournament for this sport.\n\nWho else should we be tracking for national Girls Soccer Player of the Year?\n\nThis watch list is only a starting point. All student-athletes who compete for state-sanctioned interscholastic championships are eligible for our program. Player of the Year suggestions can be submitted to both roleary@usatventures.com and BFontana@usatventures.com.\n\n2023-24 USA TODAY HSSA Girls Soccer Watch List:\n\nRyleigh Acosta — SR, M | Mariner High School | Cape Coral, Florida\n\nAshlyn Anderson — SO, F | Carmel High School | Carmel, Indiana\n\nAlex Barry — SR, F | Immaculate Heart Academy | Township of Washington, New Jersey\n\nEllie Bishop — JR, F | North Kingstown High School | North Kingstown, Rhode Island\n\nGracie Brown — SR, M | Morgantown High School | Morgantown, West Virginia\n\nGabby Chan — SR, F | Albertus Magnus High School | Bardonia, New York\n\nCloe Chase — SR, M | Marist High School | Eugene, Oregon\n\nHailee Christensen — SR, F | Harrisburg High School | Harrisburg, South Dakota\n\nCarly Ann Cormack — SR, M | Punahou School | Honolulu, Hawaii\n\nLana Djuranovic — SR, M | Scarborough High School | Carly Ann Cormack, Maine\n\nEllie Felt — SR, M/F | Sunset High School | Portland, Oregon\n\nKennedy Fuller — SR, M | Carroll High School | Southlake, Texas\n\nNarissa Fults — SR, F | Norman North High School | Norman, Oklahoma\n\nFaith George — SR, F | Santa Margarita Catholic High School | Santa Margarita, California\n\nAddison Halpern — JR, F | Rutgers Preparatory School | Somerset, New Jersey\n\nJordyn Hardeman — JR, M/D | Midlothian High School | Midlothian, Texas\n\nEllie Hodsden — JR, F | Dripping Springs High School | Dripping Springs, Texas\n\nKayla Hurley — SR, M/F | Bentonville High School | Bentonville, Arkansas\n\nFaith Johnston — JR, M/F | Parkview Baptist School | Baton Rouge, Louisiana\n\nCharlotte Kohler — SR, M | St. Francis High School | Mountain View, California\n\nEmma Kucal — JR, F | Cumberland High School | Cumberland, Rhode Island\n\nAva Labocki — SR, F | Granville High School | Granville, Ohio\n\nAva Magnuson — SO, F | Sutton High School | Sutton, Massachusetts\n\nAllison Marshall — SR, F | Gretna High School | Gretna, Nebraska\n\nZoe Matthews — JR, F | Carroll Senior High School | Southlake, Texas\n\nSofia Nehro — SR, G | Skyline High School | Ann Arbor, Michigan\n\nMaddie Padelski — JR, M | Nolensville High School | Nolensville, Tennessee\n\nChloe Pecor — SR, F | Champlain Valley Union High School | Hinesburg, Vermont\n\nNevaeh Peregrina — SR, M | Ogden High School | Ogden, Utah\n\nEmerson Perrin — SR, M | Minot High School | Minot, North Dakota\n\nAlexa Pino — JR, F | St. Joseph High School | Trumbull, Connecticut\n\nGabby Riley — SR, M/F | Middletown High School | Middletown, Delaware\n\nAshley Roni — SR, F | Skyline High School | Sammamish, Washington\n\nAnna Sikorski — SR, M/F | Muskego High School | Muskego, Wisconsin\n\nSammy Smith — SR, M/F | Boise High School | Boise, Idaho\n\nAudrey Smith — SR, F | Fort Zumwalt South High School | St Peters, Missouri\n\nLiv Stott — SR, D | Bearden High School | Knoxville, Tennessee\n\nAmelia Streberger — SR, M | Grosse Pointe North High School | Grosse Pointe Woods, Michigan\n\nTaylor Suarez — SR, F | Ardrey Kell High School | Charlotte, North Carolina\n\nIvy Tolbert — SR, M | Commerce High School | Commerce, Georgia\n\nPeyton Trayer — SO, G | Santa Margarita Catholic High School | Santa Margarita, California\n\nLinda Ullmark — SR, M | Nichols School | Buffalo, New York\n\nHailey Wade — SR, G | Hamilton Southeastern High School | Fishers, Indiana\n\nSolai Washington — SR, F | Chamblee High School | Chamblee, Georgia\n\nLily White — SR, M | The Benjamin School | North Palm Beach, Florida\n\nKelly White — SR, G | Boca Raton Community High School | Boca Raton, Florida\n\nJordan Whiteaker — SR, D | Dakota Ridge High School | Littleton, Colorado\n\nKami Winger — SR, D | Colgan Senior High School | Manassas, Virginia\n\nIsabella Winn — SR, M | Ridgewood High School | Ridgewood, New Jersey\n\nDesiree Zapata — SR, F | Smyrna High School | Smyrna, Delaware", "authors": [], "publish_date": "2023/09/05"}, {"url": "https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/high-school/volleyball/2023/08/17/2023-high-school-volleyball-volusia-flagler-teams-to-watch/70581597007/", "title": "5 high school volleyball teams to watch in the Volusia, Flagler area", "text": "Coach Rhea Simon, what are your first impressions of your DeLand Bulldogs this year?\n\n“I think we’re really good. That’s the long and short of it.”\n\nYes, DeLand should be really good this year. Again. They went 19-9, captured their third straight district championship and made the longest postseason run of any local team outside of state-winning New Smyrna Beach last fall.", "authors": [], "publish_date": "2023/08/17"}, {"url": "https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/high-school/volleyball/2021/08/24/high-school-volleyball-10-top-players-volusia-flagler-st-johns-area-ponte-vedra-new-smyrna-bartram/8216324002/", "title": "High school volleyball: 10 top players in Volusia-Flagler-St. Johns ...", "text": "Prep volleyball returns to the court this week with games set to start Tuesday throughout most of the Volusia-Flagler-St. Johns area.\n\nLast season provided plenty of competition with top schools like DeLand and New Smyrna Beach each winning at least 15 games. Seabreeze also broke a playoff drought, returning for the first time since 2012.", "authors": [], "publish_date": "2021/08/24"}, {"url": "https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/high-school/volleyball/2022/05/05/high-school-beach-volleyball-bishop-kenny-ready-inaugural-fhsaa-tournament/9569314002/", "title": "High school beach volleyball: Bishop Kenny ready for inaugural ...", "text": "Bishop Kenny's Tina Nika already helped raise a state volleyball trophy last year.\n\nThe senior and her Crusaders teammates might be one weekend away from repeating the feat on the sand.\n\n\"It's feeling like an incredible blessing, honestly,\" she said. \"We put in so much time and energy and sacrifice into our program.\"\n\nBishop Kenny is chasing the chance to enter the history books as the first officially-recognized Florida High School Athletic Association beach volleyball champions at the inaugural state tournament on Friday and Saturday in Tallahassee.\n\nBishop Kenny and 15 other schools are gathering at the Florida State University Beach Volleyball Courts, playing up to two matches per day — regional semis and finals Friday, followed by state semifinals and the championship Saturday.\n\nSand stars:Beach volleyball charts new course of sun, fun in Northeast Florida high school sports\n\nFirst Coast Varsity Weekly:Magic moments for Myjai Sanders, Jordan Jackson at NFL Draft\n\nA year after the FHSAA officially sanctioned a state tournament in the sport, Bishop Kenny begins its trek to Tallahassee in the top five of the national rankings and eager to become the state's first indoor-outdoor champions.\n\n\"It's very, very exciting,\" Bishop Kenny coach Suzanne Winkler said. \"We've waited for this moment for a whole year now.\"\n\nThey're no stranger to the championship thrill. Several players on BK's senior-heavy squad lined up for the Crusaders on the Class 4A indoor volleyball championship team of 2020, when they defeated 20-time state champion Cardinal Gibbons 29-27, 25-18, 17-25, 25-20.\n\n\"It's pretty crazy, already having two opportunities as a sophomore,\" said Claudia Stockard, among the BK players in pursuit of a second championship. \"I was really nervous getting thrown onto the varsity as a freshman last year [indoors] and having to work extra hard in practice, but it was all worth it in the end when we won.\"\n\nOn the beach, Bishop Kenny has made the most of contrasting styles. A classic example is the pair of Nika, a senior who normally plays libero indoors, and sophomore Stockard, a middle blocker.\n\n\"I'm just a very fiery, passionate player, and Claudia is as well, but she brings that goofy side to her,\" Nika said. \"So whenever I'm too serious, she'll just make me laugh and get me right back into it.\"\n\nIn Tallahassee, the schedule of events turns particularly hectic.\n\nThe Crusaders take on Tallahassee Leon bright and early Friday, an 8 a.m. start that ranks among the earliest for any high school sports. If they win, they'll play again at 4 p.m. against New Smyrna Beach or Ocala Trinity Catholic for the regional championship.\n\nThen comes a state semifinal at 10 a.m. Saturday, ahead of a possible match for the FHSAA title at 3 p.m. Saturday.\n\nThat's a lot of volleyball.\n\n\"It's going to be a lot of self-discipline and hydrating and just keeping that focal point of energy conservation, especially when you get into those longevity matches in the span of a day,\" Winkler said.\n\nStill, the Crusaders have cause for confidence. Not only have they honed their skills on the sand for years — Bishop Kenny's installation of beach volleyball courts on campus predates the FHSAA's official recognition of the sport for several years — but they've already shown they can compete with anyone in the Sunshine State.\n\nLast spring, on the sand, Bishop Kenny finished second in the Sunshine State Athletic Conference beach volleyball finals, before the FHSAA began its tournament.\n\nThe only team to defeat Bishop Kenny this year was New Smyrna Beach, a 3-2 contest on March 5 in which both teams were below full strength. But the Crusaders turned the tables on their Volusia County rivals on March 29, also by a 3-2 count.\n\n\"That defeat motivated us even more to come out with that fire, and just to know that there's going to be teams that are just as good as us,\" Nika said. \"It all just comes down to who wants it more and who wants to put in the work harder.\"\n\nIn the FHSAA format, which matches teams in five pairs on the sand, depth is crucial.\n\nWinkler said the previous New Smyrna Beach encounter particularly helped Bishop Kenny prepare its less experienced players for championship-level competition.\n\n\"I think it was just a great growing point for the girls to realize that we do have a lot of great depth and a lot of our younger players got to play, and we were still right there,\" Winkler said. \"That was a moment where we realized we could push our younger players to kind of make this one complete team, and we're just having a lot of fun with it.\"\n\nThere's a real chance that the Region 1 victor on Friday will end up carrying home the state trophy. The MaxPreps national rankings list Bishop Kenny third in the United States and New Smyrna Beach fifth. Along with Miami Westminster Christian and Oviedo Hagerty, they're among the pre-tournament favorites.\n\nChampions in the gym in 2020. Is the sand next in 2022?\n\n\"For these girls, it's just getting back there, really trying to be where we were last year and if possible to take that next step,\" Winkler said.\n\nClayton Freeman covers high school sports and more for the Florida Times-Union. Follow him on Twitter at @CFreemanJAX.", "authors": [], "publish_date": "2022/05/05"}, {"url": "https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/high-school/volleyball/2022/11/06/high-school-volleyball-new-smyrna-beach-barracudas-heads-2022-state-championship-land-o-lakes-viera/8256801001/", "title": "High school volleyball: New Smyrna Beach heads to state ...", "text": "NEW SMYRNA BEACH — Kaelyn Fredette-Huffman and four other New Smyrna Beach Barracudas had been in this situation before.\n\nSix months ago, they won a state semifinals match in beach volleyball, sending themselves to the state championship. Saturday, those five and the rest of their indoor volleyball teammates had an opportunity to do the same.", "authors": [], "publish_date": "2022/11/06"}, {"url": "https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/2023/08/01/delawares-greatest-125-coaches-100-to-76/70115133007/", "title": "Delaware's greatest 125 coaches: 100 to 76", "text": "Delaware has a splendid sports history.\n\nDuring the last two years, Delaware Online/The News Journal has capsulized the First State's prolific past with two epic lists.\n\nLast year, we published a collection of Delaware's all-time 100 greatest teams, a compendium of winners who left the most indelible marks on teammates, fans and followers.\n\nThat followed our 2021 recognition of the state's 100 most accomplished athletes. It was a tribute to more than a century's worth of icons who graced our landscape by excelling at their games, scoring victories, stirring emotions and instilling memories.\n\nThose athletes and teams, of course, needed coaches. Now, we have assembled an honor roll for them. Many guided the athletes and teams on our previous lists.", "authors": [], "publish_date": "2023/08/01"}]}
+{"question_id": "20240119_28", "search_time": "2024/01/19/23:37", "search_result": [{"url": "https://www.usatoday.com/story/entertainment/2023/09/15/phish-newest-music-festival-dover-delaware-august-2024/70833324007/", "title": "Phish to bring newest music festival to Dover in August 2024", "text": "\"I feel like I can ride a bicycle to it,\" jokes Brandywine Hundred's Justin Knott\n\n\"I'm actually nervous about it,\" says Wilmington's Andrew Stewart. \"I just have butterflies for some reason.\"\n\nWhen University of Delaware graduate John Yocca first saw the rumor that the jam band Phish was bringing its first festival in almost a decade to Delaware, a phrase jumped into his mind: \"Always book on rumors.\"\n\nFans know that the Phish community is deep and has tentacles that reach into the band's official orbit, sometimes leaking big news on message boards.", "authors": [], "publish_date": "2023/09/15"}, {"url": "https://www.usatoday.com/story/entertainment/2023/09/12/phish-announced-coming-to-firefly-festival-grounds-for-new-2024-event/70699590007/", "title": "Phish jam band hooked for new Delaware 2024 event at Firefly ...", "text": "CORRECTION: Glen Close is a ticket package that's been offered at Phish's Curveball festival in Watkins Glen, New York. A previous version of the story listed it as a campground.\n\nWord on the street is the jam band Phish is performing at Firefly Music Festival's stomping grounds (The Woodlands of Dover) next summer.\n\nThe source?\n\nPhish made the announcement just before noon Tuesday on Facebook that they're bringing a new, four-day festival to The Woodlands of Dover on Aug. 15 to 18, 2024.\n\n\"More info about tickets, camping, Glen Close and travel packages coming later this fall. Make sure you’re signed up for the Phish Update to hear about it first (via email + our shiny new SMS list). Sign up at phish.com/update,\" Phish announced on Facebook.\n\nGlen Close is a ticket package that's been offered at Phish's Curveball festival in Watkins Glen, New York.\n\nThis new Phish festival coming to The Woodlands isn't connected to Firefly.\n\nPhish has ties to Firefly organizers\n\nThe legendary band has a pre-existing business relationship with Firefly producers AEG. The Firefly organizers have promoted Phish's annual events at Dick’s Sporting Goods Park in Commerce City, Colorado.\n\nHas Phish played Delaware?\n\nIt was Feb. 1993 when Phish first performed in Delaware, dedicating the song \"Lawn Boy\" to First State fans who paid $18 each to get in.\n\nJerry Garcia was still alive, the Grateful Dead were on the road and Phish hadn't been unofficially anointed as the scene's new center point.\n\nThe Vermont-bred band led by singer/guitarist Trey Anastasio was building an organic fan base on the road, touring heavily. Phish returned to the Bob Carpenter Center in Newark just 14 months later for another show on April 18, 1994.\n\nAnastasio also returned to Delaware for a solo acoustic show at The Grand in Wilmington on Feb. 13, 2018.\n\nWhat events are at The Woodlands?\n\nThe Woodlands are owned by Dover Motor Speedway, which hosts annual NASCAR festivities at the site. The Speedway also leases the events at the site like Firefly, a festival that took this year off because organizers decided to recalibrate for a return in 2024.\n\nPhish-to-Delaware rumors started weeks ago\n\nStarting on Aug. 14, posts were circulating on Reddit and on the forum section for Phish.net about Phish possibly playing in/throwing their own music festival in The Woodlands in 2024.\n\nA clever Phish fan even fabricated a link to what was touted as a Delaware Online article about the rumor, which was shared on Phish.net on Aug. 14. The fake link actually led to a YouTube video by the Disco Biscuits.\n\nSome fans on both sites thought it smelled Phishy that the jam band would be a part of a new Dover festival in The Woodlands. But they also were holding out hope that it was true.\n\n\"Not to be another rumor spreading guy ... but my wife and I sat next to a guy at MSG (Madison Square Garden) who told us this exact same thing,\" a fan wrote on Phish.net in August.\n\nThe Phish fan continued to say, \"There's a high chance it's total BS,\" while pointing out that the buzz from this discussion might encourage Phish to play Delaware in the future.\n\n\"This is so out of left field that it makes me think that it might be true,\" another fan wrote on Phish.net forum.\n\nPhish fans roast Biden, Delaware\n\nThe initial Phish conversation sparked several Delaware jokes across both social forums last month, including a few involving President Joe Biden.\n\n\"Biden's pulling major strings to make this happen. A special counsel will be assigned to investigate,\" a Biden conspiracy theorist wrote. \"Hunter will be setting up on shake down,\" another person replied.\n\n\"Delaware still exists?\" a commenter added.\n\n\"Surprised to find that [Phish rumor] from here in central CT, Dover is the same drive time as Watkins Glen,\" a jokester said.\n\nPhish splash on tour\n\nPhish is currently on tour this fall. Their next gig is Bridgestone Arena in Nashville on Friday, Oct. 6. They'll play eight shows and end at the United Center in Chicago on Sunday, Oct. 15.\n\nMeanwhile, Trey Anastasio is also on a fall tour and his next show is at Harvest Music Festival in New Brunswick, Canada, on Wednesday, Sept. 13.\n\nPhish will pick back up for its Riviera Maya 2024 tour. The tour starts on Wednesday, Feb. 21, 2024 and will feature the band playing four straight nights at Moon Palace Cancun in Mexico.\n\nFor information about tickets to Phish's upcoming Dover event, visit Phish.com.\n\nNews Journal reporter Ryan Cormier rcormier@delawareonline.com contributed to this report.\n\nAre you coming to the Mondegreen festival and have a cool Phish story to tell? Please email lifestyle reporter Andre Lamar at alamar@gannett.com. Consider signing up for his weekly newsletter, DO Delaware, at delawareonline.com/newsletters.\n\nMore Delaware Phish news\n\nPhish fans have over 40 hotel options:Rooms to book for Mondegreen festival in Woodlands Dover\n\nPhish reveal tickets for Mondegreen :Details on new Dover festival\n\n7 things for Phish fans to know: Before coming to The Woodlands Dover 2024 four-day festival\n\nFirefly wouldn't exist without Phish:Here's why, and what fans should know about The Woodlands before Mondegreen", "authors": [], "publish_date": "2023/09/12"}, {"url": "https://www.usatoday.com/story/entertainment/2023/12/27/phish-aubrey-plaza-jimmie-allen-hip-hop-more-major-delaware-highlights-to-recap-crazy-2023/71830876007/", "title": "Phish, Aubrey Plaza & more Delaware highlights to recap a crazy ...", "text": "While many of us are struggling just to jog, time is zooming by on speed skates this year.\n\nIf you need to catch up on the big stories in Delaware entertainment from this year, or if you want a refresher, we've got you covered.\n\nHere's a story that blends all of these entertainment highlights into one stout smoothie of cultural information.", "authors": [], "publish_date": "2023/12/27"}, {"url": "https://www.usatoday.com/story/entertainment/2024/01/12/phish-facts-before-jam-band-plays-summer-delaware-festival-in-woodlands-dover/72176099007/", "title": "10 Phish facts before they play Delaware festival in Woodlands Dover", "text": "The legendary jam band Phish is as polarizing as fanny packs, comedian Amy Schumer, and pineapple pizza.\n\nThis popular crew from Vermont has been grooving listeners since the 1980s.\n\nThey're on pace to reel in a big school of Phish fans for their new four-day festival, called Mondegreen, in The Woodlands of Dover from Thursday, Aug. 15, to Sunday, Aug. 18.\n\nMeanwhile, here are some interesting Phish facts for folks to dive into about the band.\n\nFans receive macaroni from Phish\n\nThere are lots of unique ways to make DIY music shakers. Phish fans discovered this when the band handed them boxes of macaroni to be used for percussion tools when they played Slade Hall at the University of Vermont on Sept. 27, 1985, according to Phish.net, the popular Phish forum where fans leaked the band's Woodlands festival a month before Phish officially went public.\n\nPhish plays vacuum cleaner in concert\n\nDrummer Jon Fishman is skilled at playing melodies on a vacuum cleaner. There are multiple videos of him on YouTube holding a vacuum hose to his mouth and creating quirky sounds with it during his vacuum solo. One YouTube video is titled “Phish 11-30-19 Vacuum Solo.”\n\nLead singer Trey Anastasio can play drums\n\nWhen Fishman is doing his vacuum solo, who's on the drums? Lead singer Trey Anastasio has filled in for his bandmate behind a drum set. Anastasio joins a unique list of singers who also play drums like Dave Grohl (who has vacationed in Rehoboth Beach), Ringo Starr, Teddy Pendergrass and Phil Collins. You can watch Anastasio in action in the above vacuum solo video.\n\nPhish's hot dog is in Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, not the band\n\nFor years there's been a debate whether Phish will ever be inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. There honestly isn't a clear answer. The irony is the band has a famous hot-dog prop that's featured at the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in Ohio. The band first rode the iconic hot dog at their Boston Garden concert on Dec 31, 1994.\n\nPage McConnell's dad developed Tylenol\n\nBorn in nearby Philadelphia and raised in New Jersey, keyboardist Page McConnell was destined to make musical medicine that would heal the masses. His dad, Jack, worked for the McNeil Pharmaceutical Co. (later Johnson & Johnson) and helped develop Tylenol, according to a 2007 report by ABC.\n\nPhish co-founder becomes a politician\n\nNot all Phish members can be branded as one-dimensional musicians, especially percussionist Jon Fishman (who inspired the band's name, according to encyclopedia.com). Fishman's résumé also includes becoming a politician as he drummed up excitement in his hometown of Lincolnville, Maine, after becoming the newest selectman to win an election to the five-member select board in 2017.\n\nDress-wearing Phish member does movie with Bernie Sanders\n\nFishman has had a knack for wearing doughnut dresses in concert over the years. That might explain why he's credited as playing Ginger the \"transvestite\" drummer\" in the 1999 film \"My X-Girlfriend's Wedding Reception,\" per IMDB. Another Vermont legend in the film is Fishman's friend Sen. Bernie Sanders, who plays a rabbi in the flick. Fishman is a longtime supporter of Sanders and endorsed him when he was on the campaign trail in 2016.\n\nWho is the fifth member of Phish?\n\nIt's common for bands to embrace members who aren't one of the group's founding musicians. But it's unusual when that adopted member is the lighting guy. Chris Kuroda, the band's lighting director, is the fifth official star Phish in the group. (It even says so on the band's website.)\n\nPhish college thesis is on improvisation\n\nThe ability to ad-lib in concert is a cornerstone for Phish. McConnell takes it seriously, so much so that he based his senior thesis around it when he attended Goddard College in Vermont. His thesis, which was published in 1987, was titled \"The Art of Improvisation,\" per McConnell's bio.\n\nPhish has a 'Triple Nipple'\n\nThe jam band references nipples getting sliced in three songs, a theme nicknamed the \"Triple Nipple.\" In the song \"Fee,\" the band sings: \"Floyd is dead; he's nothing but a ripple/Cause Milly took that paper/And sliced him on the nipple.\"\n\nThere's also the tune \"Sloth\":\n\n“I'm So bad. He's so nasty Ain't got no friends. Real out-casty Stay out of my way. End up a cripple I'll take this piece of paper. [Cross?] your nipple.”\n\nThe third song about nipples is \"Punch You in The Eye\":\n\n\"Well it seems you didn't like my face I quickly learned that Prussia was an evil place They tied me to a chair with a giant clip And held a piece of paper to my tender nip.\"\n\nAre you coming to the Mondegreen festival and have a cool Phish story to tell? Please email lifestyle reporter Andre Lamar at alamar@gannett.com. Consider signing up for his weekly newsletter, DO Delaware, at delawareonline.com/newsletters.\n\nMore Delaware Phish news\n\nPhish fans have over 40 hotel options: Rooms to book for Mondegreen festival in Woodlands Dover\n\nTicket prices for Mondegreen revealed:Details on Phish's new Dover festival\n\n7 things for Phish fans to know: Before coming to The Woodlands Dover 2024 four-day festival\n\nFirefly wouldn't exist without Phish: Here's why, and what fans should know about The Woodlands before Mondegreen", "authors": [], "publish_date": "2024/01/12"}, {"url": "https://www.usatoday.com/story/entertainment/2024/01/02/phish-festival-woodlands-wrestlemania-40-philadelphia-excite-delaware-fans-in-2024/72029174007/", "title": "Phish festival, WrestleMania fever & more excite Delaware fans in ...", "text": "Who in their right mind in Delaware is already thinking about can't-miss festivals for 2024? It's the type of person who messed around and found out that events do sell out.\n\nTo avoid that drama, you can get an early start on planning your schedule for 14 sweet festive events located in and around the First State in 2024.", "authors": [], "publish_date": "2024/01/02"}]}
+{"question_id": "20240119_29", "search_time": "2024/01/19/23:37", "search_result": [{"url": "https://www.cnn.com/2022/03/10/entertainment/emilio-delgado-obituary/index.html", "title": "Emilio Delgado, 'Sesame Street's' Luis for more than 40 years, has ...", "text": "CNN —\n\nEmilio Delgado, who spent more than 40 years entertaining generations of children playing the Fix-It Shop owner Luis on “Sesame Street,” has died, according to his manager.\n\nHe was 81.\n\n“We are saddened by the news of Emilio’s passing. Emilio was an immense talent who brought so much joy and smiles to his fans. He will be missed by many and we know his legacy will live on. Our thoughts are with his loved ones, including his wife, Carole,” Robert Attermann, CEO of A3 Artists Agency, told CNN in a statement.\n\nThe actor died Thursday at his home in New York City. He had been diagnosed with multiple myeloma, a blood cancer, in 2020, according to a report from TMZ, citing his wife.\n\nDelgado had remained active in theater, starring in “Quixote Nuevo,” a version of “Don Quixote,” before the pandemic struck in early 2020. His extensive stage work included serving as artistic director of the Barrio Theatre Ensemble of East Los Angeles.\n\nStill, he’ll be best remembered for the popular children’s program. Delgado had cited the PBS show’s importance as a cultural touchstone in the way people of color were depicted on TV.\n\n“For the first time on television, they showed Latinos as real human beings,” Delgado told the Houston Chronicle in 2020. “We weren’t dope addicts. We weren’t maids or prostitutes, which were the way we were being shown in television and in film. Here, on ‘Sesame Street,’ there were different people who spoke different languages and ate interesting foods, and they were all Americans.”\n\n“A beloved member of the Sesame family for over 50 years, his warmth and humor invited children to share a friendship that has echoed through generations,” Sesame Workshop said of Delgado in a statement to CNN. “At the forefront of representation, Emilio proudly laid claim to the ‘record for the longest-running role for a Mexican-American in a TV series.’ We are so grateful he shared his talents with us and with the world.”\n\nBeyond “Sesame Street,” Delgado appeared in such series as “Law & Order,” and early in his career in the dramas “Lou Grant” and “Falcon Crest.” He also co-starred in the 1975 TV movie “I Will Fight No More Forever,” a true story about Nez Perce Native American leader Chief Joseph.\n\nDelgado was born in Calexico, Calif., but raised by his grandparents on the other side of the US-Mexican border in Mexicali.", "authors": ["Brian Lowry"], "publish_date": "2022/03/10"}, {"url": "https://www.usatoday.com/story/archives/2006/09/14/18651881/75721668/", "title": "1865-1881", "text": "Daily Record\n\nYorkDailyRecord\n\nJan 25, 2005 —\n\n1865: York\n\nOrphanage established\n\nThe York community's most prominent citizens create the Children's Home of York to house and train orphans of Civil War soldiers. Two years later, they build a four-story red brick building on the corner of East Philadelphia and Pine streets. This building would serve as home for more than 3,000 orphans and children from broken homes until its demolition in 1973. Other youngsters under the Children's Home care are farmed out to county families. Young residents at the home spend decades living within its walls, except for walking in groups to Sunday school. They live highly structured lives in frugal surroundings, leaving little room for individuality. In the minds of those running the home, such institutional life works. By the turn of the century, the home has cared for 550 children and \"only 30 of them have not done us credit,\" the board reported. Facing the loss of state aid, the home ended a restriction in its charter that prohibited admission of blacks in 1959. For decades in the 20th century, Mr. and Mrs. Percy B. Cooper served as superintendents. \"They all come back home to see what's going on,\" Mrs. Cooper commented in 1948. \"They're just like our own children.\"\n\n1866: York\n\nFarmers Market opens doors\n\nThe Farmers Market opens on West Market Street. The location points to sufficient population growth on the west side of the Codorus to support a large indoor market, York's first. Today, Farmers Market is a key piece in a city plan to turn West Market into an antiques district. It is one of the York area's three operating markets. The Central Market in York and the New Eastern Market in Springettsbury Township are the other two. The City Market house, constructed in 1878, was torn down in 1963. A market in West York has been converted to other uses. Colebrook-Terry used the building at West Philadelphia Street and Carlisle Avenue as a sewing factory until recently.\n\n1867: Minneapolis\n\nPhotographer, ex-slave settles\n\nWilliam Goodridge, the ex-slave who became a prominent York businessman, is settled in Minneapolis, where he dies in 1873. Glenalvin, William's eldest son, dies there in 1867. The Goodridge sons, Wallace and William, and other family members live in Saginaw, Mich. There, they carry on William's business and photographic legacy. By the time Wallace dies in 1922, the three brothers have become part of a small group of black men to pioneer as professional photographers in America. One scholar said their \"work was most definitely in the mainstream of the development of photography as a profession and as an art form in the nineteenth century.\"\n\n1867: York\n\nSmall beats Small in vote\n\nDavid Small squares off against David Small in the election for York's chief burgess. David Small wins. The winner is the Democratic incumbent who owns The York Gazette. David Etter Small, the Republican railroad car manufacturer, finishes 317 votes short. While often confused today, people in York could tell these two members of the prominent 19th-century York family apart. An industrial accident claimed David E. Small's right arm in 1853. This cost him a much-desired opportunity to fight for the Union Army. \"If I can bring down a partridge with my gun,\" he said, \"I certainly can shoot well enough to go to the defence of my country.\"\n\n1867: Goldsboro\n\nPrizefight disrupts area\n\nSamuel Collyer of Baltimore and John McGlade of New York, accompanied by several hundred \"roughs,\" duke it out in a field near Goldsboro. York County's sheriff and a posse try to break up the prizefight, but the bullies accompanying the fighters keep them at bay. Collyer wins the one-hour, 47-round fight and $2,000. The Baltimore contingent carries home a reported $200,000 in wagers. The visitors perpetrate various outrages on passengers and those at the stations on their train rides home. \"It was a disgraceful and demoralizing affair,\" one historian commented. A newspaper concurred: \"The whole affair happening under the nose of two governments, within a few miles of the state capital, was one of the most disgraceful in the history of this Commonwealth.\" Goldsboro does not see such excitement again until the accident at the neighboring Three Mile Island nuclear power plant in 1979. Some residents evacuated town while national media descended on Goldsboro to cover the event.\n\n1867: Dallastown\n\nAyres family faces tragedy\n\nLong before young Jessica McClure was dramatically rescued from a Texas well in the 1980s, heroic York County diggers work to uncover 18-year-old Smith Ayres from a collapsed well. Ayres descends 60 feet into a Dallastown well to retrieve a bucket. On his way up, the walls caves in, and he cries, \"For God's sake, take me out.\" Workers construct a frame to guard themselves against harm. After 26 hours, the diggers reach the youth's lifeless body. It is thought the rope bearing Ayres caught a stone in the wall about 20 feet from the bottom. Just a few years earlier, the Ayres family suffered through another distressing event: Samuel, Smith's father, died in a Confederate Civil War prison.\n\n1868: Hanover\n\nGrant makes side trip\n\nNewly elected President U.S. Grant stops in Hanover on his way to his first Gettysburg visit. A defective locomotive causes the unscheduled stop. Grant makes a few remarks to an audience, largely praising the performance of Union commanders in the Battle of Gettysburg. Gen. George Meade directed Union troops at Gettysburg, while Grant was negotiating the surrender of Vicksburg in Mississippi. Grant later became Meade's boss as military commander of all Union troops.\n\n1868: Wrightsville\n\nBridge makes comeback\n\nThe third Wrightsville bridge over the Susquehanna River opens to rail, wagon and pedestrian traffic. The span replaces the structure burned to keep the Confederate Army from crossing. County residents have depended on ferry service to make connections with points east in the five years since the bridge burned. Two iron spans connect in the middle to prevent any future fire from devastating the entire bridge.\n\n1869: Washington, D.C.\n\nYork man caught in Booth scheme\n\nThe government grants a York native a pardon after he serves about four years of hard labor in Florida's Fort Jefferson for a role in the assassination of President Abraham Lincoln. Actor John Wilkes Booth asked Ned Spangler, an acquaintance and stagehand at Ford's Theatre, to hold his horse for a few minutes. \"Booth had failed to mention to him that he intended to shoot President Abraham Lincoln, a fact Spangler found difficult to prove to a jury,\" a newspaper reported many years later. Spangler, a 40-year-old descendant of Baltzer Spangler, one of York's fathers, probably knew Booth since 1853. Booth came to York to attend a local academy. Spangler, a carpenter, helped build a house for the Booth family in Maryland. Spangler unsuccessfully argued that he arranged for another person to hold Booth's horse because his duties as a scene changer required his attention inside. After leaving prison, Spangler lives out the remaining six years of his life in the Maryland home of Dr. Samuel Mudd. Mudd was implicated in the conspiracy for treating Booth. He meets Spangler in prison. Nettie Mudd, Samuel's wife, describes Ned Spangler: \"His greatest pleasure seemed to be found in extended kindness to others and particularly children, of whom he was very fond.\" Today, part of an exhibit at Ford's Theatre is devoted to Ned Spangler, listed as Edman Spangler.\n\n1869: Franklintown\n\nTown aims for national fame\n\nFranklintown, located along the Harrisburg to Baltimore pike, incorporates. This sleepy borough is sometimes called Buttstown after one of the town's founders. Martin Carl, father of future two-time York Burgess Jere Carl, buys a mercantile business and establishes a post office. In recent times, the borough spent time in the national spotlight by passing an ordinance requiring residents to own firearms. The unenforced ordinance came on the heels of the attempted assassination of President Ronald Reagan, as council sought to uphold the right to bear arms. \"As far as I'm concerned, it's one of those things that somebody thought was a good idea at the time,\" Frankintown Council President Marvin J. Wilson said in 1993. Wilson did not see a practical purpose for the law.\n\n1870: York\n\nGraduates make good\n\nWilliam H. Shelley, a former student and teacher at York County Academy, is the first principal at the newly founded York High. Flora B. Hays and Edward B. Stair, members of the first graduating class in 1872, make long-term community contributions. Hays later teaches in York public schools, and Stair becomes an executive at Farmers National Bank. Mary Kell, one of four original faculty members, teaches in York schools until 1904. The high school moves to a new building on West Philadelphia Street in 1872. The original building still stands on South Duke Street, outliving its successor, a victim of a fire in 1942.\n\n1870: York\n\nPaper changes over years\n\nThe York Daily, the county's first daily newspaper, starts publication. The Daily attempts to steer a middle ground between the Republicans and Democrats, a change from the usual partisan approach to producing a local newspaper. The Daily does not have the staying power of The York Dispatch and The York Gazette, later its daily competitors. The Dispatch purchased The Daily in 1904. The Gazette bought the newspaper from its competitor, The Dispatch, in 1918 and became known as The York Gazette and Daily. The Daily's name re-emerged in 1970, when new owners of the former York Gazette named their paper, the York Daily Record. The Record came from the York Legal Record, previously published by The York Gazette and still in operation today.\n\n1871: Railroad\n\nTown named appropriately\n\nRailroad, whose name matches its primary reason for existence, is formed. The borough serves many years before and after its incorporation as a depot for Shrewsbury on the Northern Central Railroad. It boasts industries of its own, including a tannery, grist mill, brewery, brandy distillery and a furniture company. Frederick Helb, the borough's first chief burgess, is a force behind several of these interests. The Helb name is particularly connected with brewing and bottling. Theodore, Helb's son, operated the domed Keystone Brewery in York, the county's best-known brewery. At the turn of the century, the six-story-high brewery shipped its product across the nation. Prohibition closed the Helb brewery. It re-opened in 1933 and closed in 1950. The massive structure at the corner of Queen and King streets was demolished in 1952. Back in Railroad, Helb's death in 1905 and the decline of the railroad turns the town into a sleepy roadside community. Today, the York County Heritage Rail/Trail has sparked new service-oriented business interests.\n\n1872: Hanover\n\nSquare sees changes\n\nOfficials order a makeover for the center of Hanover's Center Square several times over the years. The 60-year-old market sheds in the square, scene of heavy fighting in the Battle of Hanover, are torn down to make way for a fountain in 1872. The fountain was moved to Wirt Park in 1904 to make way for The Picket, a statue honoring HanoverÕs war dead. The fountain eventually was sold to a Florida resort. The Picket was unveiled with fanfare and visits from Gov. Samuel W. Pennypacker and Battle of Hanover survivors in 1905. The bronze equestrian statue was moved from the middle of the square to its northeast part in 1968. There, the mounted soldier sits today, accompanied by Iron Mike, the statue of the dog that has accompanied The Picket since the 1950s. In the 1990s, Hanover officials attempted to lighten the traffic load in the square through development of Eisenhower Drive.\n\n1873: York\n\nSmall start for college\n\nSamuel Small, the S. Small in merchant P.A. and S. Small, helps found York Collegiate Institute. The school moves into new quarters in 1887 after a fire destroyed its building two years before. It joins with the York County Academy in a reciprocal teaching agreement in 1929. The two institutions evolve into York Junior College in 1941 and close their doors to secondary education seven years later. With the growth of public secondary education across the United States, the two private schools follow the path of many others by converting into a post-secondary institution. In 1959, York College starts calling a site along County Club Road, its present location, home. The golf course of the Out Door Country Club previously occupied the site. With the introduction of bachelor degree programs, the college becomes known as York College of Pennsylvania in 1968. Today, national college-rating publications regularly list York College as one of the best values and most efficiently operated liberal arts schools in the north.\n\n1874: Red Lion\n\nRailroad starts for long haul\n\nThe Peach Bottom Railway opens between York and Red Lion. The rail line runs to Delta two years later. The narrow-gauge railway hauls slate from Delta and cigars and furniture from factories along its right of way. In 1901, the now-York Southern Railroad merged with Baltimore and Lehigh Railway to become known as the Maryland and Pennsylvania Railroad. The \"Ma and Pa\" followed winding Muddy Creek, making the route 77.2 miles. The distance between York and Baltimore is 49 miles. The railroad serviced southeastern York County for 80 years before freight service was suspended in 1954 and passenger service soon thereafter. Emons Transportation Group of York later absorbed the Ma and Pa. The railroad's buildings still stand in Muddy Creek Forks. The Maryland and Pennsylvania Railroad Preservation Society purchased 31 acres of the village that grew up around the railroad complex in Muddy Creek Forks in 1992. Since then, the 100-plus members have been converting it into a living-history museum. The site includes the turn-of-the-century Alexander M. Grove store, roller mills and grain elevator and scale house.\n\n1874: York\n\nFighting more than fire\n\nCompetitiveness among York's fire departments flares one evening. Laurel and Vigilant firefighters end up in a fracas after responding to a fire in George Hay's pig pen. Laurel firefighters believe they are sprayed intentionally with water from the Vigilant's steamer. Firefighters from both departments square off, mixing Hay and a police officer named \"Selack\" into their fight. The firefighters spray water, throw stones and use a discarded table leg as a club. Henry Brown, one of the fighting firefighters, is treated for a gash in his forehead. An account of the melee in a city fire department history ends: \"The origin of the fire in the straw is not known.\"\n\n1874: York\n\nYork Int'l elects its first president\n\nS. Morgan Smith is elected president at the first stockholders meeting of York Manufacturing Company, future York International. The company initially makes washing machines, but it soon produces ice-making machines and later air conditioning equipment. The scope of the company's products has grown. One of York International's recent projects was chilling the Chunnel -- the English Channel Tunnel. Smith, pastor of York's First Moravian Church from 1861-66, leaves York Manufacturing in 1880 and later forms S. Morgan Smith Company. Waterwheels, an early company product, gave way to massive turbines sold around the world. Allis-Chalmers acquired Smith in 1959. Today, two companies are heirs to Smith. Voith Hydro continues to make hydraulic turbines. Precision Components fabricates vessels to contain and ship radioactive material and chemical weapons.\n\nc. 1875: Hanover Junction\n\nIce cream a major industry\n\nCornelius Gladfelter builds an ice cream plant in Hanover Junction, one of several in the vicinity. Gladfelter and other ice cream makers dam up creeks and harvest blocks of ice from the resulting pond in the winter. If the ice house is close enough to a creek, the ice is floated inside. Sawdust and leaves are placed between blocks, insulating the ice so it wonÕt melt during the summer. Area dairy farmers supply milk to the ice cream makers, who ship their product in tubs covered with ice on the Northern Central Railroad to Baltimore. Many ice cream makers set up parlors to sell their wares to local folks.\n\n1875: York\n\nFiremen lose a link to past\n\nMichael Edwards Sr., a member of YorkÕs Laurel Fire Company since its birth in 1790, dies at the age of 108. \"He was the representative fireman of the past,\" a fire department history states, \"the connecting link between the fire department of ladders, bucket, basket and hand engine brigade, and the firemen and their apparatus today.\" Many people at the funeral comment that it is unusual to see four sons as old as Edwards' at a funeral. The ages ranged from more than 50 years in age to 70 years-plus.\n\n1875: Red Lion\n\nRed Lion woman prospers\n\nYears before women are granted the right to vote, a Red Lion woman becomes widely respected for her ability to get things done. Catherine Meyer builds a general store, saloon, post office and railroad station in 1875, 10 years after her husband died. The \"Mother of Red Lion\" plays a part in her town's incorporation as a borough, although she is not eligible to vote or hold public office. The Red Lion Cemetery and Fairmount Park, sitting on some of the highest populated ground in the county, are located on former Meyer land. \"For nearly half a century she was the leading business spirit of the prosperous cigar manufacturing center (Red Lion),\" a newspaper said in 1914, five years before Meyer's death. \"Businessmen of York and the county recognized her ability and esteemed her for the unalterable integrity, the good sense and judgment she showed in all transactions.\"\n\n1876: York\n\nDispatch starts as a weekly\n\nHiram Young, owner of the weekly True Democrat, starts a daily newspaper, The York Dispatch. Young arrived in York about 12 years before and started publishing his weekly. The York Dispatch follows its weekly predecessor by aligning itself with Republican politics for about 115 years.\n\n1876: York\n\nYork celebrates U.S. centennial\n\nYork begins a day-long celebration of the nation's centennial. Festivities begin at 12:01 a.m. on July 4, when the bells in the borough ring in chorus for an hour. Festivities end with an 8:30 p.m. fireworks show that causes one York resident to observe: \"That evening excelled anything attempted before in the history of York when it comes to celebrations.\" Henry Lee Fisher writes a 100-stanza poem about county life to commemorate the event. He writes in German, and York resident Henry Barratt liberally illustrates the work. It is dedicated, \"To the honest, virtuous, intelligent and patriotic Pennsylvania Germans this humble effort to illustrate their manners, customs and general mode of life in their own dialect, is respectfully inscribed by the author.\"\n\n1877: York County\n\nCounty spared epidemics\n\nCounty residents enjoyed good health the past few years and have remained \"remarkably free\" from epidemics. The York County Medical Society reports common diseases are pleurisy, pneumonia, rheumatism and typhoid fever. \"The people are industrious, intelligent, healthy and temperate and generally live to a ripe old age,\" the 4-year-old society said.\n\n1877: York\n\nSynagogue lays its foundation\n\nA new Hebrew Reformed congregation meets in homes and rented quarters for 30 years before a cornerstone for a building is laid at the corner of South Beaver Street and Newton Avenue in 1906. Rabbis William Roseman of Baltimore and J. Rosenthal of Lancaster officiate in a ceremony attended by the congregation and a large number of people from gentile congregations in the community. The congregation, known as Temple Beth Israel today, worships in Spring Garden Township. Leopold Rosenbaum, Joseph Lustic and Ivan Trattner organize an Orthodox Jewish congregation in 1883. The present-day Ohev Sholom (Lovers of Peace) congregation evolved from this York congregation. The congregation built a house of worship at the corner of West Princess and South Water (Pershing) streets in 1904. The congregation meets today in a synagogue in Spring Garden Township. The Young Men's Hebrew Association, a social and cultural organization, formed in 1910. The organization incorporated as the Jewish Community Center in 1925. Today, it serves people of all ages and faiths.\n\n1878: York\n\nFarmers markets move indoors\n\nConstruction begins on the York City Market, for years one of the largest covered markets in Pennsylvania. The market, sporting a Gothic design, features a 140-foot-high tower. This indoor marketplace, as well as the Penn Street Farmers Market built in 1866, helps replace the open air Centre Square market sheds as the place for farmers to turn their excess goods into cash. The new market house, located at South Duke Street and East College Avenue, also serves as an exhibition center. York school students and Gov. Henry M. Hoyt attend a county Horticultural and Industrial Association exhibition in 1879. The City Market was demolished in 1963 to make way for a gas station.\n\n1878: York\n\nFire companies built in city\n\nThe Laurel Fire Co. completes a station at the northeast corner of East King and South Duke streets in York. The Rex Hook and Ladder Co. constructs its station next door 10 years later. The buildings house the fire companies to this day. The Rex forms, in part, because some believe that a section of the York Collegiate Institute could have been saved if the borough had a hook and ladder truck to fight the fire. The institute was destroyed by fire in 1885. \"Spectamur Agendo\" appears above the Laurel's bay door, meaning, \"Let us be judged by our actions.\"\n\n1879: West Manchester Township\n\nTeachers set robust agenda\n\nThe topics on the program of the township Teachers Institute could have been on a 20th-century teachers' meeting agenda. They include: a morning-long discussion of school discipline; an afternoon session on how to teach reading; and an evening discussion on the relationship between parent and teacher. The institute urges all township teachers to attend the important meeting.\n\n1879: Hanover\n\nFirefighters mull equipment\n\nThe Hanover Fire Department debates whether to purchase an engine that deploys water or a chemical to extinguish flames. Chemical fire engines are coming into use because they require no water source and can be deployed more quickly because no hydrant hookup is necessary. Chemicals also minimize damage to property compared to water. Firefighters agree on one thing: a new \"fire extinguishing apparatus\" is needed.\n\n1879: Lancaster County\n\nMarietta girl's honor is saved\n\nSamuel Sprenkle of York tries to entice a Marietta girl to York under the pretext of doing housework. Townspeople discover that he actually wants her to work in a house of ill repute. Concerned citizens accost the man on his way to the train with the girl and tell him to get out of town. Sprenkle reaches into his pocket as if to pull a revolver but is advised he should leave town before he is arrested. He jumps on the train and quickly departs. A Marietta newspaper advises Sprenkle to make himself scarce or \"he may have a wooden, legless horse to ride, and tight-fitting black coat of tar and feathers to wear.\"\n\n1880: York\n\nPopulation booms in city\n\nBeginning this decade, York kicks off 50 years of population growth that causes the census to climb from 13, 940 in 1880 to 55, 254 in 1930. The newcomers arrive from cities and the South and include many blacks and people of foreign origin seeking employment in factories. York gains unprecedented racial diversity.\n\n1880: York\n\nSmall opens early hospital\n\nSamuel Small, founder of York Collegiate Institute, doesn't stop there. He provides the force behind organization of York Hospital and Dispensary, one of the first 200 hospitals in the United States. Small purchases a piece of property on West College Avenue and spearheads a $70, 000 fund drive to construct the building still standing on the banks of the Codorus Creek. The building is occupied in the spring of 1881. The cost to patients: board, fuel and light, $4 to $6 per week; add washing, $1; add nurse's services, $3. With a common founder, these two key county institutions forge a working relationship, which continues to this day.\n\n1881: York County\n\nHistorian Gibson becomes judge\n\nCounty voters elect John Gibson as judge to replace his uncle, Robert J. Fisher. Fisher, dominant force on the county judicial scene for the past 30 years, chooses not to seek re-election. Mary L. Fisher, the judge's wife, gaines prominence, too. She writes widely about her experiences nursing wounded soldiers during the Civil War. Gibson is best remembered today for his historical work as the author of an extensive county history, published in 1886.\n\n1881: York\n\nOpera house is a smash\n\nJohn Sleeper Clarke, brother-in-law of Edwin Booth, stars in the opening act of the York Opera House. Booth stars in \"Toodles\" and \"The Widow Hunt.\" \"The large and fashionable audience present was delighted with the performance,\" a newspaper reported. Before its opening, friends and opponents spar over the appropriateness of entertainment the opera house would bring to the community. Opponents also fight the decision to hold a York High School commencement in the new theater. As the years passed, opposition cooled. The annual meeting of county teachers and evangelistic meetings of Dwight Moody and Ira Sankey used the facility.\n\n1881: York County\n\nSaying good-bye to Garfield\n\nAbout 50 children, carrying bouquets and baskets of flowers, march in twos to the Northern Central Railroad tracks in York. They join an estimated 6, 000 others to observe the passing of the train bearing the body of assassinated U. S. President James A. Garfield. \"Lest the gesture of standing in silence with bared heads should seem too meagre in its expression of bereavement such as this, billows of flowers had been strewn between the tracks and floral wreaths were brought to be tossed aboard the coaches,\" a newspaper later reported. Chauncey F. Black is prepared to use his new telephone from his home near the track to alert townspeople of the approaching train. The message would be delivered to courthouse custodian John D. Gallatin, who would ring the county building's bell as a signal. The train passes through, and the crowd then gathers up the flowers and coins placed on the rail, now flattened souvenirs. ÒThat was York's goodby (sic) to James A. Garfield, the second of the nation's martyred presidents,\" the newspaper said.", "authors": [], "publish_date": "2006/09/14"}, {"url": "https://www.cnn.com/2022/10/14/sport/mlb-bruce-sutter-obit-spt/index.html", "title": "Bruce Sutter, baseball Hall of Fame closer and pioneer of split-finger ...", "text": "CNN —\n\nBaseball Hall of Fame reliever Bruce Sutter, who saved his career while popularizing the split-finger fastball, has died at the age of 69, Major League Baseball announced Friday.\n\nMLB commissioner Rob Manfred called Sutter’s 12-year career in which he led the National League five times in saves an “incredible baseball success story.”\n\n“Bruce ascended from being a non-drafted free agent to the heights of Baseball by pioneering the split-fingered fastball. That pitch not only led him to the Major Leagues, but also made him a Cy Young Award winner with the Cubs and a World Series Champion with the 1982 Cardinals,” Manfred said. “Bruce was the first pitcher to reach the Hall of Fame without starting a game, and he was one of the key figures who foreshadowed how the use of relievers would evolve.”\n\nAccording to the National Baseball Hall of Fame, Sutter was a “struggling minor league pitcher with an injured arm” when Cubs minor league pitching coach Fred Martin taught him the split-finger fastball – in which the thumb pushes the ball out from between wide-spread fingers – in the spring of 1973.\n\n“Fortunately for me, it clicked right away,” Sutter said at his National Baseball Hall of Fame induction in 2006.\n\nThe deceiving pitch looks like a fastball before quickly diving as it arrives at home plate.\n\nSutter made his major league debut with the Chicago Cubs in 1976. He would win the 1979 National League Cy Young Award when he saved a league-record-tying 37 games.\n\nHe was traded to the St. Louis Cardinals before the 1981 season, where he featured as the team’s closer and notably recorded the final out in Game 7 of the 1982 World Series to clinch the title for the Cardinals.\n\nBetween 1979 and 1984, Sutter led the league in saves each year except 1983, and he recorded 300 career saves, which ranked third at the time of his 1989 retirement. He ended his career with the Atlanta Braves where he battled arm injuries.\n\n“He had the best makeup of any closer I’ve ever seen,” St. Louis manager Whitey Herzog said of Sutter, according to the Hall of Fame. “He just cut the percentages down for me from 27 outs a game to 21.”\n\nBruce Sutter changed the game with his split-fingered fastball. His legacy will be preserved forever in Cooperstown.https://t.co/CReC6l614O pic.twitter.com/KtSCFdUHK6 — National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum ⚾ (@baseballhall) October 14, 2022\n\nWhen Sutter was inducted into the Hall of Fame, he was the fourth reliever to be enshrined.\n\n“When I played, I never needed the spotlight, nor did I want it,” he said during his induction speech. “I simply wanted to play baseball and be respected by my teammates and the opposing players.\n\nBruce Sutter waves to the crowd during the 2018 home opener game between the St. Louis Cardinals and the Arizona Diamondbacks on April 05, 2018 at Bush Stadium. Jimmy Simmons/Icon Sportswire/AP\n\n“So today my name (Howard Bruce Sutter) goes on this plaque. This day is not about me. It’s about the many people who have helped me along the way.”\n\nCardinals owner Bill DeWitt Jr. sent his condolences to the Sutter family on behalf of the organization.\n\n“Bruce was a fan favorite during his years in St. Louis and in the years to follow, and he will always be remembered for his 1982 World Series-clinching save and signature split-fingered pitch,” DeWitt said. “He was a true pioneer in the game, changing the role of the late-inning reliever.”", "authors": ["Homero De La Fuente Steve Almasy", "Homero De La Fuente", "Steve Almasy"], "publish_date": "2022/10/14"}]}