Clark County News Now

Multiple Itinerary Changes For Norwegian Cruise Line Ship – Cruise Hive https://clarkcountynewsnow.com/multiple-itinerary-changes-for-norwegian-cruise-line-ship-cruise-hive/ Guests booked on the upcoming Panama Canal transit of Norwegian Cruise Line’s Norwegian Joy have been notified of several port of call changes for the 15-night repositioning cruise setting sail February 24, 2023. Some ports are dropped, other added, and some port times changed on the rearranged itinerary. Norwegian Joy Cruise Itinerary Change The February 24, 2023 Los Angeles to Miami sailing of Norwegian Joy has been dramatically altered from its previously published schedule. In an email to travel partners, Norwegian Cruise Line announced the change. “We are committed to delivering exceptional vacation experiences around the world,” the email read. “As such, it is always our intention to maintain original itineraries. However, at times, unforeseen circumstances require us to make modifications.” Multiple modifications have been made to the Breakaway-class Norwegian Joy‘s itinerary. Ports of call in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico; San Juan del Sur, Nicaragua; and Puntarenas, Costa Rica have been completely removed from the schedule. Norwegian Joy was scheduled to visit Puerto Vallarta on Monday, February 27; San Juan del Sur on Friday, March 3; and Puntarenas on Saturday, March 4. Photo Credit: Igor Grochev / Shutterstock.com In addition to dropping port visits, the ship’s planned call in Puerto Quetzal, Guatemala has been altered. The ship was previously expected to be in port from 7 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Thursday, March 2, but the time in port has been extended three hours, from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. No changes to other scheduled ports on the itinerary have been announced. Other ports of call for the sailing include Cabo San Lucas, Mexico; Cartagena, Colombia; and George Town, Grand Cayman, before the ship arrives in Miami on Saturday, March 11. New Port Stops Added To make up for the missing ports, Acapulco, Mexico has been added to the ship’s itinerary on Tuesday, February 28, from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., which was previously a day at sea. Now, that day at sea will be the day the ship was originally scheduled for Puerto Vallarta. Similarly, an overnight visit to Panama City, Panama has been added to the itinerary from 6 p.m. on Saturday, March 4 through 11:59 p.m. on Sunday, March 5. Photo Credit: Debbie Ann Powell / Shutterstock.com Both ports of call can be amazing destinations, giving guests new opportunities to explore unique cultures and colorful port communities. Because the full transit of the Panama Canal is a highlight of the cruise itinerary, the option to explore Panama City, on the southern (Pacific) side of the canal for more than a full day will be a special treat. This lengthy visit gives travelers a unique way to immerse themselves in the distinctive traits of the canal region. Why So Many Changes? Norwegian Cruise Line has not offered any clarification about why Norwegian Joy‘s itinerary has been so dramatically changed, other than citing “unforeseen circumstances.” Guests booked on similar Panama Canal transits or Central American visits for Norwegian Joy and other Norwegian Cruise Line ships are reporting similar changes, but no overall explanation. It is possible that rising crime in the region could be a factor for the port alterations. On October 4, 2022, the U.S. Department of State Department issued a travel warning for Costa Rica, advising “increased caution” when traveling to the country due to increased crime. Similarly, the government of Canada likewise issued a travel advisory on October 6 urging “a high degree of caution” if traveling to the region due to crime. Photo Credit: Prath / Shutterstock On October 5, 2022, the U.S. Department of State issued a similar warning for Nicaragua, advising that tourists “reconsider travel” to the country due to “limited healthcare availability and arbitrary enforcement of laws.” The government of Canada also encourages “a high degree of caution” if visiting Nicaragua at this time. Tourists are often targeted for petty crime such as muggings, pickpocketing, or theft, but more violent crimes including assault and kidnapping are also possible. While such instances are rare, cruise lines prefer to use a cautious approach to ensure their guests and crew members are protected. Cruise lines may also make itinerary changes based on overall schedules to keep from overcrowding port communities, or damage or maintenance to port facilities and docks may keep ships from visiting as planned. No matter where a cruise ship is scheduled to visit or when it may be in port, cruise lines hope their guests have a great time, with plenty of tour options to explore and to feel safe while they do so.

Fed Voiced Determination At Last Meeting To Curb Inflation – 69News WFMZ-TV https://clarkcountynewsnow.com/fed-voiced-determination-at-last-meeting-to-curb-inflation-69news-wfmz-tv/ If you know of local business openings or closings, please notify us here. PREVIOUS OPENINGS AND CLOSINGS – The Palmer Township Board of Supervisors denied a conditional use for two warehouses proposed by developer Abe Atiyeh. – B. Braun bought Starboard Medical’s Clif-FIX line of devices that secure catheters for an undisclosed price. – The Lowhill Township Planning Commission denied a plan for a warehouse at 7503 Kernsville Road, saying it would change the character of the rural township. – Just A Dream Frozen Yogurt in Forks Township closed its doors after 10 years. – Khanisa’s Pudding Bar held a grand opening at its new Downtown Allentown Market location after having moved from Easton. – Mussel Polymers Inc. says its glue for bonding carbon and synthetic fibers is a big step toward creating lighter and stronger fiber-reinforced materials. – Poke Bar 25 & Bubble Tea in the Shops at Bethlehem (the Giant shopping center on Easton Avenue in Bethlehem Township, on the border with the City of Bethlehem) will open in late November or early December.  – The former Rosanna’s Restaurant in Bethlehem, which closed in February, will reopen as a deli and bar called Rosa’s Corner. – Victaulic has expanded in Tennessee with the acquisition of Tennessee Metal Fabricating, price not disclosed. – The old Forks Diner will be serving auto-repair customers by early spring of 2023 with a six-bay garage known as Wrenchtec. – Lehigh County-based Shift4 Payments stepped in to help the owners of Better on the Bone Butcher and Deli in Pottstown finally open their doors. – Mid Penn Bank opened a new, bigger location in Blue Bell. – Balloon Junction held a grand opening in Pottsville for its store offering custom balloon creations. – Rentschler’s Ice Cream has reopened just a few doors down from its former location in Ringtown after it was destroyed by a fire in February. – Mill Street Aesthetics, a day spa and skincare boutique, held a grand opening in Belvidere, New Jersey. – Provident Financial Services agreed to acquire Lakeland Bancorp in a stock deal valued at $1.3 billion, creating a bank that will hold 4% of the deposits in New Jersey.

Diabetes Burnout? Join Healthy Living With Diabetes – Merrillfotonews https://clarkcountynewsnow.com/diabetes-burnout-join-healthy-living-with-diabetes-merrillfotonews/ Many people who manage diabetes on a daily basis find themselves on a roller coaster ride of emotions. One day they may feel frustrated, because their blood sugar levels are out of control, or because the foods they once ate now have to be modified or better controlled. Another day they worry about future complications or they feel an extreme sense of guilt, as they wonder if the decisions they made last night at the holiday party caused those high blood sugar levels this morning. It’s a vicious cycle. And yet … There are good days, when they are on top of the world: They had a good doctor’s visit or their A1C is within a good range and they’re starting to realize how food, physical activity, and stress affect their blood sugar levels. Feeling this way about diabetes is understandable, and it’s natural for anyone that has been diagnosed with an ongoing health condition. The Aging and Disability Resource Center (ARDC) will hold a Healthy Living with Diabetes program on Wednesdays, Oct. 26- Nov. 30 from 9:30 a.m. -12:00 p.m. in Merrill. This class provides an opportunity to learn more about diabetes, some of the tools that can help keep blood sugar levels in range, how to practice self care, get the support needed from healthcare professionals, and talk with friends, family, and others who manage diabetes. Learn how to take action, keep up to date on new/existing treatment options, and pay attention to signals from the body and how it responds to certain foods, physical activity, stress, or lack of sleep. Pre-registration is required. Call the ADRC-CW at 888.486.9545 for more information or to pre-register.

Sports World Reacts To Surprising Randy Johnson News – The Spun https://clarkcountynewsnow.com/sports-world-reacts-to-surprising-randy-johnson-news-the-spun/ 19 Jul 2001: Pitcher Randy Johnson #51 of the Arizona Diamondbacks throwing the ball during the game against the San Diego Padres at Qualcomm Park in San Diego, California. The Diamondbacks defeated the Padres 3-0.Mandatory Credit: Jeff Gross /Allsport Even though Randy Johnson’s MLB career has been over for a while, the Hall of Fame pitcher isn’t staying away from sports. On Wednesday, a photo of Johnson working as a photographer at an NFL game is going viral.  “Learned today that Randy Johnson is now a professional photographer (??) and shoots NFL games (???),” tweeted Business Insider’s Sophie Kleeman, who shared the picture. The 6-foot-11 Johnson shooting games on an NFL sideline is a surprising sight, but also something that a lot of people seem to be very happy about. “I love this. Life doesn’t end when your time as an athlete ends. Go start a new life and dominate,” tweeted former NFL player Jay Richardson. “I tried to profile Randy in 2019 about his photography career because he also takes pics at rock concerts (like Iron Maiden),” said FOX Sports’ Charlotte Wilder. “He didn’t want to talk but here’s his amazing logo.” Johnson’s photography logo features a dead bird, an ode to his famous fastball which killed a poor flying creature during spring training many years ago.  Overall, the reactions to this Johnson news have been overwhelmingly positive. You can view all of Randy Johnson’s photography work here.

Meta Chief Marne Levine Says Metaverse Will Be ‘game Changer For Women’ – Fortune https://clarkcountynewsnow.com/meta-chief-marne-levine-says-metaverse-will-be-game-changer-for-women-fortune/ Meta announced on Tuesday that its metaverse avatars will have legs, but it remains uncertain if that will also be true for the company’s $70 billion bet on a virtual world. Meta’s decision to go all-in on the Metaverse has caused its stock price to tank and led to ridicule from many quarters—but that hasn’t dampened the enthusiasm of chief business officer Marne Levine, who predicts the technology will especially benefit one segment of the population. “It’s particularly going to be a game changer for women,” Levine said at Fortune’s Most Powerful Women conference in an interview with Fortune editor-in-chief Alyson Shontell. “Because it levels up the technology, it also levels the playing field.” Levine’s observation on gender parity concluded a big day for the company. At Tuesday’s flagship Meta Connect event, the company described its plans for getting its metaverse into the mainstream. For now, those plans include a $1,499.99 Meta Quest Pro VR headset (available for purchase October 25) and a partnership with Microsoft that will let users attend Teams meetings as a cowboy hat-donning avatar. And the event’s big reveal: a fall sweater-clad Mark Zuckerberg avatar showed off his new knees (“Seriously, legs are hard!” he exclaimed).  In her talk with Shontell, Levine explained that Meta’s metaverse will benefit women inadvertently; studies show women prefer remote jobs, and Meta’s metaverse technology would make remote labor feel less remote. She said simulative technology like eye contact, sidebar conversations and whiteboarding during avatar-led meetings would make remote workers feel like they’re in “actual meetings.” As the metaverse and virtual reality are relatively new technologies, there are no large-scale studies that show whether these emerging technologies will be positive or detrimental to women. That said, anecdotal evidence is not all positive—when Meta first opened its metaverse, one user reported being groped by a stranger. Now Meta has “community guides” meandering around the metaverse to answer questions and enforce the code of conduct that bans things like sexual assault. Many speculate Meta is pushing metaverse as a result of Apple’s privacy changes that have driven up the costs of acquiring customers by Instagram and Facebook ads. Levine acknowledged this: “Apple made a bunch of changes on their platform, and it changed the way businesses big and small are able to find new customers.” She said her main goal is helping these businesses generate profitability, though did not tie this objective to marketing in the metaverse. Levine worked in government and tech before jumping to Meta in 2010. After graduating from Harvard Business School in 2005, Levine worked in the U.S. Department of the Treasury followed by years as chief of staff for  Harvard President Larry Summers’ and at the National Economic Council before starting as Facebook’s first-ever vice president for global public policy in 2010. She moved up the company to serve as Instagram’s COO. In June 2021, she landed in her current role as Meta Chief Business Officer, overseeing all revenue generating initiatives (read: everything). Levine also responded to Meta’s sinking stock, corporate morale around hiring freezes and the media’s skepticism around its $70 billion investment into virtual reality. “People at Meta–they genuinely have this mindset, which is that things are going to change and evolve,” said Levine. “If you’re not comfortable with that, it’s probably not the right place for you.” Sign up for the Fortune Features email list so you don’t miss our biggest features, exclusive interviews, and investigations.

Huawei Smartwatch Update Doesn’t Look Like It Has Got Something New To Brag About – The Tech Outlook https://clarkcountynewsnow.com/huawei-smartwatch-update-doesnt-look-like-it-has-got-something-new-to-brag-about-the-tech-outlook/ Taking time is better than coming up with a similar update, isn’t it? Because Huawei brands seem to be less patient in terms of updates. Recently it has come with update 2.1.0.417 and it was launched just weeks after another update. 2.1.0.415 was an earlier update and let’s see what features Huawei smartwatch users will get. It’s very likely to arrive by the October end but users who have started observing this update in their Huawei smartwatches are residing in countries like Turkey. The change log notes support for the Running Ability Index (RAI) tool for indoor running has been added to the GT 3 Pro. Fitness freaks need not worry about the data; they can simply access the report about their endurance and running form. This feature is not something very new for Huawei users, even earlier updates had this feature but it’s unclear among users why they are saying it to have something new. Let’s hop onto a second new update that is really super cool to brag about. The feature belongs to alarms that would let you set 10 alarms at the same time. As per the information from Huawei if you want to get access to these updates you need to have the newest version of the Health app. You will have to take a while to download and restart it.

Crypto Prices Are Higher Ahead Of Key Inflation Data, Bitcoin Holds At $19,000 – CNBC https://clarkcountynewsnow.com/crypto-prices-are-higher-ahead-of-key-inflation-data-bitcoin-holds-at-19000-cnbc/ Ether has hugely outperformed bitcoin since both cryptocurrencies formed a bottom in June 2022. Ether’s superior gains have come as investors anticipate a major upgrade to the ethereum blockchain called “the merge.” Yuriko Nakao | Getty Images Cryptocurrencies were slightly higher on Wednesday after investors shrugged off a higher-than-expected inflation report in anticipation of another key inflation indicator due to come out on Thursday. The price of bitcoin edged higher by about 0.4% and was trading at $19,072.00, while ether rose 0.6% to $1,290.73. The September producer price index, a gauge of final-demand wholesale prices, came in higher than expected, suggesting to investors that the Federal Reserve is likely to continue aggressively hiking rates until inflation comes down. Crypto and equities investors alike are looking forward to Thursday’s consumer price index report. Defiance ETFs CEO and chief investment officer Sylvia Jablonski called the PPI report a “benign” reading that investors are neither overly disappointed nor overly excited about. Bitcoin and ether have traded in a narrow range for about a month, with bitcoin “stuck” in the $19,000 level, and their moves have been largely macro led as the crypto industry quietly builds new narratives for the next bull run. “Until we get past tomorrow’s CPI read and this earnings season, and get more color from the Fed, crypto and equities will stay in this trading range and a lot of the investor funds that typically go into the market will remain on the sidelines,” she told CNBC. “There is a sense that we’re closer to the bottom than not, but there also isn’t this urgency to get in from a lot of investors because of the short-term uncertainty,” she added. “Until then, crypto and any kind of growth assets remain in purgatory.”

U.S. May Block Russian Aluminum Imports -Source – Reuters https://clarkcountynewsnow.com/u-s-may-block-russian-aluminum-imports-source-reuters/ WASHINGTON, Oct 12 (Reuters) – The Biden administration is weighing restricting imports of Russian aluminum as it charts possible responses to Moscow’s military escalation in Ukraine, a person briefed on the conversations told Reuters. Such a move, which has not been finalized, would likely boost global prices for the metal used in a wide range of consumer products and could reverse a previous White House stance that such sanctions could wreak havoc on global markets. “We’re always considering all options,” said a White House official. “There is no movement on this as of now.” Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com The Treasury and Commerce departments did not immediately respond to requests for comment from Reuters. The administration’s choices include an outright ban, raising tariffs to levels so punitive they would constitute an effective ban, or sanctioning United Co Rusal International PJSC, the company also known as Rusal that produces Russia’s metal, according to Bloomberg, which first reported the conversations about an aluminum ban earlier on Wednesday. Rusal (RUAL.MM), the world’s largest aluminum producer outside China, did not immediately reply to a Reuters’ request for comment. Russian attacks using more than 100 missiles have killed at least 26 people across Ukraine since Monday, when Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered what he called retaliatory strikes against Ukraine for an explosion on a bridge. “It’s brutal, it’s beyond the pale,” President Joe Biden said on Wednesday, a day after he pledged ongoing assistance to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy. Shares of U.S.-based aluminum producer Alcoa Corp (AA.N) were last trading up 5.1% in New York, following the report. Shares of Rio Tinto Plc (RIO.L), which produces aluminum as well as iron ore, copper and other metals, fell about 1% on Wednesday in London. Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com Reporting by Trevor Hunnicutt; Additional reporting by Ernest Scheyder, Katharine Jackson, Chris Gallagher and Daphne Psaledakis; Editing by Tim Ahmann, Nick Macfie, Mark Porter and Deepa Babington Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Tech Startup Almacena Raises $3.4 Million For Green Coffee Marketplace – Daily Coffee News https://clarkcountynewsnow.com/tech-startup-almacena-raises-3-4-million-for-green-coffee-marketplace-daily-coffee-news/ Daily Coffee News Staff | October 12, 2022 Dutch technology startup Almacena says it has raised €3.5 million ($3.39 USD, as of this writing) for the further development of a digital green coffee platform and marketplace focused on African coffees. The investment was led by the Bulgarian firm Eleven with participation from Greece-based VentureFriends and United States-based Acequia Capital. According to an announcement from Amsterdam-based Almacena today, part of the investment will go towards expanding the company’s coffee marketplace to buyers in the United States. Founded by Dimo Yanchev and Karl Robijns in 2018, Almacena officially launched its online coffee marketplace in 2021, supported by offices in The Netherlands, Belgium and six East African coffee-producing companies. The company pitches benefits both to coffee buyers and coffee producer groups by promoting traceability through digital transactions, direct negotiations and online contracts. “We believe that in the future commodity trading will be disbanded to allow for service competition, direct procurement and value redistribution,” Yanchev said in an announcement of the funding round. “Almacena aims to lead that change, starting with coffee. This round will help us to prove on a global basis that disintermediation in agriculture supply chains works. Almacena is joins a growing group of tech-focused companies, largely concentrated in the coffee-buying world of the global north, that has received venture capital funding for online green coffee marketplaces or platforms. According to Almacena, the marketplace currently has more than 160 coffee cooperatives comprising some 300,000 coffee farmers in its system. Does your coffee business have news to share? Let DCN’s editors know.  Daily Coffee News Staff Tags: Acequia Capital, Almacena, Amsterdam, Bulgaria, Dimo Yanchev, e-commerce, Eleven, fundraising, green coffee, Karl Robijns, The Netherlands, venture capital, VentureFriends

Cowlitz County Officials Revisit Disaster Events In Free Podcast. First Up: The 60th-Anniversary Of The Columbus Day Storm – The Daily News https://clarkcountynewsnow.com/cowlitz-county-officials-revisit-disaster-events-in-free-podcast-first-up-the-60th-anniversary-of-the-columbus-day-storm-the-daily-news/ It was 60 years ago today that a typhoon-turned-extratropical cyclone named Freda headed up the West Coast, wreaking havoc from California to Vancouver, B.C. To partly mark the six decades since the Columbus Day Storm, the Cowlitz County Historical Society and Department of Emergency Management teamed up to launch the first few episodes of a podcast series centered around revisiting historic local disasters and explaining how people can prepare for similar events today. The first two episodes are available for free on the website for the Cowlitz Podcast Network, a service through the local radio network of KLOG, KUKN and The Blitz that offers podcast training and hosts episodes. Cowlitz County Department of Emergency Management Coordinator Larry Hembree said the podcast’s goal is to show why preparing for the next big wind storm, flood, wildfire or even volcano eruption is crucial to the area. “People tend to not want to prepare,” he said. “We want to highlight why it’s important.” During the storm on Oct. 12, 1962, the 16th Avenue Safeway sign in Longview was destroyed, the city of Kelso’s repair building was left in shambles and downed trees littered Kessler Boulevard around Lake Sacajawea. A historylink.org article says 16 people were injured by flying debris in Longview, and the city’s civic center collapsed. The National Weather Service designated the event as Washington’s worst weather disaster in the 20th century, the article says, killing more than 50 people. The city of Kelso’s repair shop lays damaged after the Columbus Day Storm in 1962.  Cowlitz County Historical Museum, Contributed In the podcast episodes, Hembree and Cowlitz County Historical Museum Director Joseph Govednik interview locals who witnessed the storm first hand and shared their memories, including retired Cowlitz County Sheriff Mark Nelson recalling his family piling in their station wagon to leave their home, stopping frequently down Clark Creek Road to remove downed trees from the roadway. Others tell tales of a fearful pet who dug a hole through an outside wall to seek shelter inside, and a Kelso football team that ventured more than six hours home from an away game in Aberdeen through downed trees after the storm. A punter kicked the ball that day, only to have to fly backwards, about 30 yards. Govednik said Longview’s damages totalled the equivalent of $2.2 million in today’s figures. A The Daily News article in the Oct. 13 and 14, 1962, edition refers to the storm as “Ferocious Freda.” By Oct. 15, reports by The Daily News say 70% of local power was restored, and Longview and Kelso schools were open, while rural schools were closed. A photo shows a Kelso home split in two from a downed tree from the storm, which produced up to 120 mph winds in Portland. Airplanes are overturned in Cowlitz County after the Columbus Day Storm in 1962. Cowlitz County Historical Museum, Contributed Hembree said tips for current storm preparedness include stocking nonperishable food and extra fuel for generators in case the electricity goes out for long periods. He said to tell people when you list them as emergency contacts so they know to possibly expect calls. Get local news delivered to your inbox! Subscribe to our Daily Headlines newsletter.

What COVID-19 Precautions Should People Take For International Travel? – WAPT Jackson https://clarkcountynewsnow.com/what-covid-19-precautions-should-people-take-for-international-travel-wapt-jackson/ Last week, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced it would no longer be maintaining a country-by-country travel advisory of COVID-19 risk. Instead of assessing the level of COVID-19 infection in each country, the CDC will post notices only when there are new variants or other situations that would change its travel recommendations.What does the CDC’s change mean and how should people assess the risk of international travel? What precautions should they take, and how can they best prepare for a trip? Are there specific considerations for those who want to resume cruising? And what about domestic travel, especially coming into colder months?CNN Medical Analyst Dr. Leana Wen, an emergency physician and professor of health policy and management at the George Washington University Milken Institute School of Public Health, is addressing these questions. She is also author of “Lifelines: A Doctor’s Journey in the Fight for Public Health.”CNN: What does it mean that the CDC is no longer maintaining country-by-country COVID-19 travel advisories? Dr. Leana Wen: The CDC has long maintained health travel advisories on its website. The CDC advises travelers to be wary of areas experiencing outbreaks of yellow fever, dengue, cholera, Ebola and other infectious diseases.During the pandemic, the agency also stratified countries based on their level of COVID-19 infection. This was meant to assist people planning trips understand to what extent COVID-19 was circulating in various parts of the world, and for travelers to avoid nonessential travel in areas undergoing coronavirus surges.However, there was some concern about the travel advisories. Not all countries maintained accurate or up-to-date numbers. At different points over the last two and a half years, there were many parts of the United States with higher rates of COVID-19 than countries in the CDC’s “avoid nonessential travel” category. In addition, after vaccines became widely available in the United States, there has been a growing sense that the primary risk determinant should no longer be primarily based on coronavirus levels — as long as vaccines were protecting people from hospitalization.This CDC decision does not mean that the agency will stop tracking COVID-19 altogether. The CDC will alert the public if there is a new concerning variant emerging. It would also flag if countries are hit so hard by the coronavirus or other diseases that their health care infrastructure is overwhelmed. But infection levels alone are not going to trigger an increase in warning levels moving forward.CNN: How can people go about assessing their risk of international travel? Wen: The key question is to ask if whether you are up to date on the COVID-19 vaccine, meaning that you have received the new bivalent booster. If so, you are very well-protected from severe illness due to COVID-19.Some individuals may have decided to hold off on the updated booster. If you have recently had COVID-19, it would be reasonable to wait three months, as reinfection is unlikely during this time. Also, the updated booster is not yet available for children under 12. Kids in general are much less likely to become severely ill compared with adults — and if they are vaccinated or have recently contracted the coronavirus, they are very unlikely to become severely ill even without any booster.Your age and presence of underlying medical conditions are also factors. Those who are immunocompromised should ask their doctor whether they are eligible for the preventive antibody Evusheld. People 65 and older and people who have chronic medical conditions should also inquire, in advance of a trip, whether they would be eligible for treatments such as Paxlovid and/or monoclonal antibodies if they were to contract COVID-19 while abroad. If so, these are additional considerations in planning travel: Will the location you’re going to have these treatments available? If you become severely ill and need hospitalization, is there good health care readily accessible?Finally, remember that the primary purpose of the coronavirus vaccines is to protect against severe disease. They also reduce the risk of infection compared with individuals who are unvaccinated or not boosted, but they do not prevent it altogether. Those who wish to reduce their risk of infection should take additional precautions, such as wearing high-quality N95 or equivalent masks in indoor settings like airports, train stations, restaurants and other crowded venues.CNN: What precautions should people they take while traveling, and how can they best prepare for their trip?Wen: Again, getting vaccinated with the new COVID-19 booster is the first and most important step. Make sure to get the vaccine at least 10 days prior to travel. You should get the flu vaccine, too. The influenza vaccine can be given at the same time as the COVID-19 vaccine.Bring plenty of coronavirus tests with you — at least two for each family member traveling. That way, you can test if you develop symptoms or find out that you have a significant exposure.Know what treatments you are eligible for. Some physicians may be willing to prescribe Paxlovid to you just in case you contract COVID-19 on your trip. Others may not — in which case, know which treatments you would get if you do end up with the coronavirus. Have a plan for how to access treatments.Do pharmacies need a doctor’s prescription, or can you just walk in and get Paxlovid? Are there reliable, high-quality hospitals in case you become severely ill? And will your insurance or other coverage cover health care costs in another country? Travel insurance is generally a good idea, though not all policies cover delays or cancellations due to COVID-19, so be sure to check.Also, find out what are rules for each country you’re going to. Many countries have lifted vaccine and testing requirements, but they are still in place in some.CNN: Are there specific considerations for those who want to resume cruising? Wen: The CDC lifted its COVID-19 risk warning for cruise travel in May. Some cruise lines have also been relaxing previously strict vaccine and testing protocols. This means people traveling on cruises must be prepared to encounter COVID-19. This doesn’t mean you shouldn’t go, but you need to assess your individual risk and the value of a cruise vacation. Many people will say they accept the risk of contracting the coronavirus because of how much being onboard matters to them. If you are vaccinated and up to date on boosters, the chance of severe illness is probably very low, so this is a reasonable decision.Others might decide on different modes of international travel. A cruise where thousands of people are freely associating while maskless with one another is very different from, say, a beach vacation in one location where all meals are outdoors, or a self-catered trip where you’d mask in indoor settings like trains and museums. Those who wish to continuing avoiding the coronavirus can choose a more cautious approach while still resuming travel.CNN: What’s your advice for domestic travel, especially coming into colder months?Wen: The key recommendation for being up to date on vaccines still applies, as does my advice to bring plenty of tests and to know what treatments you’d get and from where.We’ve entered a point with COVID-19 where we’ve recognized that this virus is going to be with us for many years to come. That means taking advantage of the many tools at our disposal to protect us, while also going back to the pre-pandemic activities we love — including travel. Last week, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced it would no longer be maintaining a country-by-country travel advisory of COVID-19 risk. Instead of assessing the level of COVID-19 infection in each country, the CDC will post notices only when there are new variants or other situations that would change its travel recommendations. What does the CDC’s change mean and how should people assess the risk of international travel? What precautions should they take, and how can they best prepare for a trip? Are there specific considerations for those who want to resume cruising? And what about domestic travel, especially coming into colder months? CNN Medical Analyst Dr. Leana Wen, an emergency physician and professor of health policy and management at the George Washington University Milken Institute School of Public Health, is addressing these questions. She is also author of “Lifelines: A Doctor’s Journey in the Fight for Public Health.” CNN: What does it mean that the CDC is no longer maintaining country-by-country COVID-19 travel advisories? Dr. Leana Wen: The CDC has long maintained health travel advisories on its website. The CDC advises travelers to be wary of areas experiencing outbreaks of yellow fever, dengue, cholera, Ebola and other infectious diseases. During the pandemic, the agency also stratified countries based on their level of COVID-19 infection. This was meant to assist people planning trips understand to what extent COVID-19 was circulating in various parts of the world, and for travelers to avoid nonessential travel in areas undergoing coronavirus surges. However, there was some concern about the travel advisories. Not all countries maintained accurate or up-to-date numbers. At different points over the last two and a half years, there were many parts of the United States with higher rates of COVID-19 than countries in the CDC’s “avoid nonessential travel” category. In addition, after vaccines became widely available in the United States, there has been a growing sense that the primary risk determinant should no longer be primarily based on coronavirus levels — as long as vaccines were protecting p...

Cookie Dough Maker Hires President – Food Business News https://clarkcountynewsnow.com/cookie-dough-maker-hires-president-food-business-news/ NEW YORK — Sweet Loren’s, a better-for-you baked foods company whose products include safe-to-eat raw, pre-portioned ready-to-bake cookie dough, has hired Doug Radi as its first president. Mr. Radi has more than 25 years of experience in the food and consumer products industry, most recently as chief executive officer of Rudi’s Organic Bakery for the past nine months. Earlier, he was CEO of Good Karma Foods, Inc. since December 2014. Before joining Good Karma he was with Rudi’s for seven years in a variety of roles, including general manager, senior vice president of marketing and conventional channel sales, and vice president of marketing. Earlier, he was marketing director for Silk soy milk at WhiteWave Foods, brand manager at Horizon Organic, senior brand manager at Frito-Lay and associate brand manager at Bayer Consumer Care. Mr. Radi is a board member of the Plant Based Foods Association and former president of Naturally Boulder. “Loren has built a fabulous brand,” Mr. Radi said. “The company is on a strong financial footing and a great trajectory. We have truly innovative products that are disrupting a category and she’s proven that the market exists for better-for-you baked goods. I am delighted to be joining at such a pivotal moment as the brand plans for accelerated expansion and exciting new product launches in 2023.” In addition, Sweet Loren’s has named Robyn DeFina as senior vice president of marketing, effective Oct. 24. In her new role she will oversee all aspects of marketing from core brand management to demand generation, new product development and consumer acquisition. Ms. DeFina most recently was vice president of sales and marketing at Sugar Bowl Bakery for the past two-plus years, and before that she was vice president of brand marketing at Once Upon A Farm. She spent nearly 10 years at Annie’s Inc. in a variety of roles, including marketing director, senior brand manager of snacks and senior brand manager of meals. Earlier, she was associate brand manager at LeapFrog and associate product manager at Stonyfield Farm. “Sweet Loren’s is a marketer’s dream,” Ms. DeFina said. “A fast-growing brand that is single-handedly disrupting a sleepy category with amazing products. There is so much potential for significant growth. I cannot wait to get started, and my first priority is our Q1 launch plans.” Founded in 2012 by Loren Castle, the independent and female-owned brand has grown exponentially and is now operating with mass distribution. According to Sweet Loren’s, the company has 80% market share of the better-for-you cookie dough category.

Experts Ponder Hurdles To Nutritional Health At CRN Conference – Natural Products INSIDER https://clarkcountynewsnow.com/experts-ponder-hurdles-to-nutritional-health-at-crn-conference-natural-products-insider/ PHOENIX—At its core, the mission of natural food and beverage brands, and dietary supplement companies, is to move along a continuum from essential health to prevention of degenerative diseases to optimal living to an enhanced life. The recipe to start on this path is pretty well documented, if surprisingly accessible. Sleep well. Get up and move. Drink water. Eat fruits and vegetables to get your essential vitamins and minerals. As if. “Grandma has been saying forever to eat our veggies and we still don’t eat our veggies,” said Floyd Chilton, Ph.D., director of the Center for Precision Nutrition and Wellness at the University of Arizona, at the annual Council for Responsible Nutrition (CRN) conference in Phoenix on Oct. 11. “We should have gotten to the point of exhaustion that we are not doing anything to modify that.” Only about one in four Americans consumes the daily recommendation of five to nine fruit and vegetable servings every day. Even that sounds like a bit of a reach—unless you start counting ketchup as a vegetable. The promise and potholes may come from the appeal of scientific investigation. While the mainstream, pharma-based American model may look at nutrition science as a “soft” science, there is no doubt that positive nutrition can both prevent diseases and improve overall vitality. “Essential health is where our dietary guidelines are. We’re not trying to prevent (nutrient deficiency diseases) scurvy and pellagra and beri beri,” said Emili Ho, Ph.D., director of the Linus Pauling Institute, at the CRN conference. “Optimal health is much more than about preventing deficiencies and disease. How do we think about optimal health?” Science can sell. It’s not the end-all and be-all, and sometimes the science gets misinterpreted in the popular press, and sometimes the message is enough to turn consumers all the way off. “The complaint I always hear is the nutritionist says one thing and then says another thing later,” said Barbara Shukitt-Hale, Ph.D., at the Neuroscience and Aging Laboratory at Tufts University. “We need to be consistent over time. Eggs are good for you; eggs are not good for you.” Shukitt-Hale has conducted reams of research, mostly on rats, investigating simple nutritional interventions on aging animals. “All our animal studies showed us that nutritional interventions can reverse deficits in learning and memory and declines in motor behaviors,” she said at CRN’s conference. “These are easily achievable quantities of berry fruits like blueberries and strawberries, which can improve some aspects of cognition in healthy older adults.” Shukitt-Hale said one-half cup to two cups a day of blueberries and strawberries have been shown to reverse some age-related deficits in cognition as well as preserve function among the healthy geriatric set. Sounds easy, right? And yet. “A lot of the time,” said Shukitt-Hale, “the message gets mixed up.” Who’s to bless and who’s to blame? How can the message of simple nutritional intake leading to better lives break through? “It’s like you put six keys in a lock and you have to turn them simultaneously for the lock to open,” said Stephen Lindemann, Ph.D., assistant professor in the department of food science and nutrition science at Purdue University. “So branding is extraordinarily complex.” Maybe a middle-aged shopper is thinking about forestalling chronic diseases, but a young professional is more interested in powering through the afternoon, and a mother just wants to make sure her toddler does not get sick. And certain diverse communities have different health concerns, be it outsized incidence of obesity or diabetes. Lindemann advocates research targeting these groups to make nutrition resonate with those communities. And then, Lindemann says, the onus is on brands to communicate that message. Another way might be to just go stealth with the message because otherwise it might not take. Too many Americans would rather experience the salty crunch of a chip than the crisp sweetness of an apple. And who knows what to do to get a vegetable to taste anything like a burger with bacon? “The approach,” said the University of Arizona’s Chilton, “is to treat everyone like toddlers and hide the veggies. We need to deliver the health benefits in a way that palatability is not impacted. It’s a challenge from a food science perspective, but we need to get vegetables in a product without them being expected and declined.” You have your marching orders.

Bally Sports Midwest, 101 ESPN Release 2022-23 Broadcast Schedule – Ozark Radio News https://clarkcountynewsnow.com/bally-sports-midwest-101-espn-release-2022-23-broadcast-schedule-ozark-radio-news/ ST. LOUIS – The St. Louis Blues, along with broadcast partners Bally Sports Midwest and 101 ESPN, announced today the team’s broadcast schedule for the 2022-23 season. Bally Sports Midwest will televise 69 regular-season games in its 26th season as the home of the Blues. The remaining 13 Blues games will air as part of the NHL’s national TV package. Regular-season coverage starts Saturday (Oct. 15) at 6 p.m. with an extended one-hour pregame show leading into the 7 p.m. season opener at Enterprise Center. Bally Sports Midwest is widely available on cable providers such as Spectrum (Channel 824) as well as satellite and streaming TV providers throughout the region. Blues programming also streams live on the Bally Sports app and BallySports.com for fans who sign in with their pay-TV login and password. For channel numbers and additional information on how to watch the Blues this season, please visit stlouisblues.com/watch or BallySports.com. In addition, there’s a new option to watch Blues hockey: Bally Sports+. The new stand-alone streaming service launched Sept. 26. For more information or to sign up for Bally Sports+, visit BallySportsPlus.com. The Bally Sports Midwest broadcast team will continue to feature John Kelly as the play-by-play announcer and Darren Pang as lead analyst. When Pang fulfills national TV responsibilities, former Blues defenseman Jamie Rivers will fill in as analyst alongside Kelly. Hall-of-Famer Bernie Federko and Rivers will serve as analysts on the Blues Live pregame and postgame shows as well as intermission reports. Blues local TV ratings have ranked in the top five among U.S. NHL teams each of the last nine seasons, including No. 2 in 2021-22, according to Nielsen Media Research. In its fourth season as the Blues radio partner, 101 ESPN will broadcast every game on the radio, 101espn.com and the 101 mobile app, or one of the Blues’ 17 affiliates throughout Missouri, Southern Illinois and Paducah, Kentucky. Chris Kerber and Joey Vitale will return to call the action on 101 ESPN. Each game on 101 ESPN will feature a one-hour pregame show as well as extended postgame shows with great guests and analysts to breakdown Blues games, as well as big news from around the NHL. As the Blues’ Flagship station, 101 ESPN produces 17 regularly-scheduled weekly segments featuring call-ins from Head Coach Craig Berube on The Fast Lane and Robert Thomas on The Opening Drive, “The Blues Booth” with a Blues broadcaster every weekday morning at 8:15, and Rivers and 105.7 The Point’s Donny Fandango bring fans the “Last Minute Blues Podcast” twice a week while “Blues Rewind” will air once a week at 6 p.m. on 101 ESPN. Fans will also hear additional weekly Blues content throughout the Hubbard family on KSHE, The Point, The Arch & WIL.

Persona 6 Should Explore The Future The Metaverse – TheGamer https://clarkcountynewsnow.com/persona-6-should-explore-the-future-the-metaverse-thegamer/ Persona’s demonic realm is called the metaverse, but what if it explored the tech metaverse The word ‘metaverse’ has been in the zeitgeist a lot recently. It seems to be used primarily by businesses with no real idea of how online communities or gaming spaces work, in a fellow-kids-style attempt to muscle in on the moolah. They stand there in their Music Band shirt, skateboard over their shoulder, talking about the brave new frontiers of progress when what they’re describing is a terrible Walmart advert inside of Roblox. When Persona 5 used the word metaverse, it was a metaphysical universe. A world within the world where demons and dark desires lay, infecting humanity, corrupting their hearts. Persona 6 needs to go back to the metaverse, only this time, it should be the crappy Walmart metaverse. Persona’s last two entries have explored society’s engagement with technology. In Persona 4, the window to the metaverse is a television screen. In Persona 5, a decade later, it’s your mobile phone. Society has changed how it engages with pop culture, shifting from the television in our living rooms to the phone in our palms. Phones have gone from being a convenient way to keep in touch with people to being the most central piece of technology in our lives. We still use them to keep in touch, but rarely as phones – far more often as texts, or DMs, or even emails. We live our lives on our phones, we socialise on our phones, we’re entertained and informed by our phones, we can’t go to the toilet without a phone in our hands. Persona 5’s depiction of how teenagers use phones is already dated five years on, and Persona 6 offers a chance to delve deeper. In Persona 5, phones are mainly used for texting and for GPS maps. The Phantom Thieves access the metaverse through apps, but there are few other apps that get any use. Even the way fans get in touch with the Phantom Thieves is through the outdated concept of a message board. The emergence of influencers, content creators, a new layer of celebrity, and a new way to communicate across the internet is exactly the sort of thing you’d expect Persona and its politicised teenage angst to explore. I’ve already made the case for why our protagonist should be an influencer, but the more I hear uninformed outsiders bleat about the benefits of the metaverse because it can allow you to do what VRChat and Second Life did a decade ago, the more I want to see Persona’s take on it. The internet will become increasingly important to how we not only communicate in the future, but how we live our lives. In ten or so years time, we may have something that ticks whatever boxes we may have for the existence of the metaverse, but they will be shaped by user interaction, by social trends, and most importantly, by young people. They will not be created from above by CEOs suggesting you might be able to wander the aisles of a supermarket in VR, or attend business meetings with avatars that resemble PS2 graphics. We’re not quite there yet, so there’s a lot of room for imagination, if Persona 6 decides to go that way, as well as for critique of the botched attempts of megacorps to wade in on trends of the youngest generation and turn them into soulless money-spinners. A reveal for Persona 6 is surely imminent, especially with the 25th anniversary segments out of the way and, with Persona 5 Royal coming to Xbox, PC, and Switch this month, the long tail of Persona 5 has finally stopped wagging. It’s time to look towards the future. One way or another, that probably means the metaverse. Next: Jennifer Hale Being Confirmed As Bayonetta Is More Exciting Than Any Trailer

Ed Harding Brought Haunt To Halloween – The Opinion Tribune https://clarkcountynewsnow.com/ed-harding-brought-haunt-to-halloween-the-opinion-tribune/ When I think of the late Ed Harding, who passed away last January, several things come to mind, most notably his outgoing and friendly demeanor, generosity, outstanding photography skills and last but not least, his love of Halloween. For nearly four decades Ed was our community’s Mr. Halloween –  the guy who put the haunt into the season by turning his garage into “Harding’s House Of Horrors,”  a haunted house that attracted children and adults from across the community who were looking for a good scare. Ed didn’t charge an admission to go through his haunt, but he did accept free-will offerings that were donated to a local cause or organization, usually the Glenwood Booster Club. During an interview I conducted with Ed about this time last year, he talked about the history of his haunted house and how much it had grown over a nearly 40-year period. “It started with a talking pumpkin,” he said. “We had a lot of fun with that. The trick-or-treaters were talking to it. So, the next year, I thought, ‘Well, I’ll do a little display instead of just a talking pumpkin.’” That “ little display” evolved and grew over the years and eventually became an all-out haunted house featuring not only the ghouls, ghosts, goblins and creepy characters you’d expect to encounter at a haunt, but also some high-tech gadgets and creatures Ed created and installed himself. Last year, he added an awesome smoke-blowing dinosaur dragon. Harding’s House of Horror’s was a traditional Halloween stop for many Glenwood children and families through the years. In addition to staging his haunted house, Ed also established a Halloween photo booth for youngsters who were trick or treating around Glenwood’s Town Square during Square Crow Days. Although there will be no haunted house in Ed’s garage this year, the photo booth tradition will live on at Square Crow Days and the entire event on Saturday, Oct. 22 (9 – 11 a.m.) is being dedicated in his honor. The photo booth will be outside City Hall. “This year, with the blessing of the family, we would like to dedicate the Square Crow Days in honor of Ed. It seems perfectly fitting,” Square Crow Days organizer Emily Prickett said in a recent post on the Friends of Ed Harding Facebook page. The promotional flyer for Square Crow Days says, “We are honored to dedicate this year’s Square Crow Days celebration to Mr. Ed Harding. He loved our community, photography and all things spooky. We always looked forward to him capturing the best moments from this event.” Indeed he did. In fact, Ed captured the best moments from every event he photographed – spooky, athletic or otherwise.

Crypto Ecosystem Becomes More Developed Thus Less Decentralized: Morgan Stanley – Seeking Alpha https://clarkcountynewsnow.com/crypto-ecosystem-becomes-more-developed-thus-less-decentralized-morgan-stanley-seeking-alpha/ TU IS Morgan Stanley analyst Sheena Shah argued Wednesday that the cryptocurrency ecosystem is becoming more centralized, though the underlying blockchains remain decentralized. That’s partly because the “reliance of the running of a large portion of the blockchain on a single or small group of cloud service providers becomes a non-negligible risk to consider,” Shah wrote in a note to clients. For instance, 65% of ethereum’s (ETH-USD) nodes are hosted by a cloud provider, with Amazon Web Services accounting for half of them, the note said. And problems could emerge if service providers decide to censor certain participants or crypto products, or if there are lengthy server outages. “The crypto ecosystem has evolved over recent years with many applications, code, services and companies feeding into the underlying decentralized blockchains, which we would argue is causing parts of the broader crypto ecosystem to become less decentralised and more dependent on individual services,” Shah explained. As part of ether’s (ETH-USD) centralization issue, 60% of the blockchain’s validators are managed by just four companies, Shah pointed out. Note that since ether’s transition to Proof-of-Stake from Proof-of-Work in mid-September, transactions have been approved by validators, canceling out the need for miners as part of the software update. Another reason why the crypto world is becoming less decentralized is because the ecosystem has developed crypto-focused, regulation-friendly products that attract users, hence it’s “starting to look more like the centralised banking world,” the note said. TradFi is simultaneously rolling out crypto products to offer services such as custody for their clients. The Bank of New York Mellon (BK), for example, recently allowed some of its U.S.-based clients to hold and transfer bitcoin (BTC-USD) and ether (ETH-USD). SA contributor The Digital Trend believes ether is the No. 1 commodity to hold for the next 10 years.

Top U.S. General Suggests Russian Strikes On Civilians Are War Crimes – Reuters https://clarkcountynewsnow.com/top-u-s-general-suggests-russian-strikes-on-civilians-are-war-crimes-reuters/ BRUSSELS, Oct 12 (Reuters) – The top U.S. general on Wednesday condemned indiscriminate Russian missile strikes on Ukraine that killed civilians, suggesting they met the definition of war crimes under the international rules of war. “Russia has deliberately struck civilian infrastructure with the purpose of harming civilians,” Army General Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told a news briefing at NATO headquarters in Brussels. “They have targeted the elderly, the women, and the children of Ukraine. Indiscriminate and deliberate attacks on civilian targets is a war crime in the international rules of war.” Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com Reporting by Phil Stewart, Sabine Siebold, Philip Blenkinsop Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Georgia Tech Softball, Army ROTC Conduct Leadership Training At Fort Benning | News Center – Georgia Tech News Center https://clarkcountynewsnow.com/georgia-tech-softball-army-rotc-conduct-leadership-training-at-fort-benning-news-center-georgia-tech-news-center/ The Yellow Jackets softball team, along with a few of the cadets from the battalion, split into squads to tackle two different training events: the Field Leaders Reaction Course and the Speed Course. Georgia Tech Softball players train with Georgia Tech ROTC cadets at Fort Benning On Sept. 24, the Army Reserve Officer Training Corps’ (Army ROTC) Stinger Battalion invited the Georgia Tech softball team out for a day of leadership and team-building exercises. The core focus of the Army ROTC is to develop future leaders through discipline and training events. The Yellow Jackets softball team, along with a few of the cadets from the battalion, split into squads to tackle two different training events: the Field Leaders Reaction Course (FLRC) and the Speed Course. The day began with a brief explanation of the values of leadership in the Army and how the squads would be assessed during the first event. Next, the squads split off to begin the FLRC. Each squad rotated through mission obstacles that required quick thinking and teamwork. For each iteration, a different squad leader was in charge. The obstacles ranged from moving a casualty across treacherous gaps to delivering payloads across makeshift bridges. Each of the iterations was graded by a senior cadet from the program. “It was awesome working with Tech’s softball team and sharing leadership knowledge with them,” said cadet Jay Fluet, who helped grade participants during the exercises. “One of the best skills you can gain from the Army is how to lead a group of your peers, and getting to share what I’ve spent three years learning and developing felt like coming full circle.” In the Speed Course, the squads tested their teamwork and leadership skills in a fast-paced, endurance-based challenge. The course featured obstacles that required the squads to climb, crawl, and sprint while maintaining integrity and motivating their teammates. The course also required the squads to memorize a puzzle at the beginning and then reproduce it at the end, after pushing their physical limits, to test their mental agility. Following the Speed Course, the cadets and team members came back together to watch a demonstration by the United States Army Marksmanship Unit in skeet and trap shooting. In addition to an entertaining and informative presentation, two units of Olympic athlete-soldiers spoke about their experiences, pursuing their goals, and techniques to build perseverance. “I think we learned a lot about each other and our communication and teamwork strategies,” said Yellow Jackets infielder Meghan Cassidy. The opportunity to develop leadership skills and teamwork was invaluable, and the team embraced the Army spirit of pushing through difficult circumstances and excelling in stressful environments. “I’m glad we all got to come together as a team for this opportunity,” said catcher Emma Kauf. “It was really cool working with the cadets and meeting a lot of new people.”

Get Ready For The Boys Coaches Tournament With Our Primer – Courier Post https://clarkcountynewsnow.com/get-ready-for-the-boys-coaches-tournament-with-our-primer-courier-post/ Seven years have passed since the South Jersey Coaches Tournament had a repeat champion, and the team in position to reverse that trend this season is Cinnaminson, which emerged from the field last year to end another long streak; the Pirates’ win was their first since 1979. The journey to the 2022 championship will get underway this weekend with eight first-round games. The field (16) Florence at (1) Rancocas Valley; (9) Washington Township at (8) Egg Harbor Township; (12) Cherry Hill West at (5) Middle Township; (13) Hammonton at (4) Shawnee. (14) St. Augustine at (3) Cherokee; (11) West Deptford at (6) Kingsway; (10) Cherry Hill East at (7) Haddon Township; (15) Gloucester Tech at (2) Cinnaminson. Best first-round game Cherry Hill West at Middle Township is intriguing. The defending South Jersey Group 3 champion Lions are unbeaten in their last five games and have conceded just one goal over that stretch. They’ve had close losses to Rancocas Valley and Shawnee, and a 1-1 draw with Cherokee and – just like this time last season – are one signature win from stepping into South Jersey’s elite. Peter Graffeo has five goals in his last five games and seven for the season. Middle Township is 12-0 for the first time since 2013, when the Panthers opened with 13 straight wins and reached the Coaches Tournament quarterfinals. Steven Berrodin has seven multi-goal games and 20 goals for the season, and the Panthers are just as good in front of their own net – senior goalkeeper Devin Bock has put up seven clean sheets this season. This game is a proving ground of sorts for the Panthers, who opened with close wins over Hammonton and West Deptford, but have only faced one team with a winning record since. Middle’s last 10 opponents have a combined 26-72-4 record. Long shot St. Augustine is seeded 14th and its results this season have been all over the chart. The Hermits got off to a 6-0-1 start that included wins over Delran, Hammonton and Egg Harbor Township, but dropped return games to the Red Devils and Eagles. They’ve shown they can put a big effort together, but four in a row? Impact players Rancocas Valley: Owen Sugra, junior. He’s not among the goalscorers every day, because he plays mostly defensive mid, but Rancocas Valley’s control of the midfield play starts with him. Cinnaminson: Aidan Quinn-Wright, senior. He moves between midfield and forward for the Pirates and just seems to have a knack for scoring important goals. Cherokee: Chris Meder, senior. Crucial to the Chiefs’ build-up and a good finisher, with six goals and five assists this season. Shawnee: Matt Quinn, senior. This team graduated 15 players last season, so new leadership was going to be needed. Quinn, a defender, was one of the people who stepped in to fill that need, and Shawnee has shut out four opponents. Middle Township: Steven Berrodin, senior. He’s sitting right at 50 career goals. He had 24 as a junior and figures to top that this season. He has 20 in his first 12 games. Kingsway: Zach Webb, senior: He’s taken a bigger role in the Dragons’ defense this season and also come forward to be a presence in the box on restarts. He’s got two goals and three assists. Haddon Township: Luke Chatten, senior: As strong a presence in the midfield as you’ll find in South Jersey. He has 13 goals and 11 assists this season. Egg Harbor Township: Lucas Lainez, senior: Doesn’t have great offensive numbers, but his ability to beat defenders one-on-one makes him crucial to the Eagles’ buildup, and his speed and willingness to work on defense means he’s solid on both ends. Washington Township: Savien Castro, senior: It’s harder work this year, because he doesn’t have the outstanding midfield the Minutemen had last year – but he’s still a hard worker in the final third and a good finisher, with eight goals this season. Cherry Hill East: Alec Herring, senior: He has five goals this season from his midfield position, including one in each of the last three games. West Deptford: Josh Owen, senior: seven saves in a 1-0 win over Delsea on Oct. 8. The Eagles have conceded just nine times this season, and only once in the month of October. Cherry Hill West: Leo Orefice, junior: has six clean sheets to his credit and the Lions have allowed just four goals all season. Hammonton: John Waddell, junior: the leading scorer for the Blue Devils, with eight goals and seven assists. St. Augustine: Alex Clark, sophomore: Scored the winner in the Hermits’ 2-1 victory over Delran early this season and remains the team’s leading scorer, with six goals and three assists. Gloucester Tech: Noah Heins, senior: His seven goals leads the Cheetahs, who have wins over Kingsway and Clearview to their credit; scored in both of those games. Florence: Chris Krall, senior: Has a goal or an assist in every Florence game this season; 12 goals and eight assists in total. Streaks Washington Township was the last back-to-back winner, in 2013 and 2014. … Cinnaminson’s win last year ended a 42-year drought and was the second for the Pirates. … The most frequent winner is Shawnee, which has won the tournament 12 times, but hasn’t won since 2006. … Eastern has won the girls’ tournament five times and is the top seed this year – which is bad news for Moorestown, St. Augustine, Washington Township, Rancocas Valley and Cherry Hill East, because every year that’s ended with Eastern as the girls’ champ has yielded a different boys’ champ. … Last time the same school took the boys and girls crowns? It’s only happened once – Shawnee in 2003. Predictions Nah, not going there. Let’s watch it and enjoy it. John A. Lewis is a sports writer for the Burlington County Times, the Courier Post and the Vineland Daily Journal. E-mail him at jlewis@thebct.com. Please consider supporting local journalism with a subscription.

Perspective | How To Deal With An Airline Or Hotel Chatbot — And How To Get A Human – The Washington Post https://clarkcountynewsnow.com/perspective-how-to-deal-with-an-airline-or-hotel-chatbot-and-how-to-get-a-human-the-washington-post/ If it feels like you’re talking to a robot when you contact your airline, car rental company or hotel, it’s because you probably are. During the pandemic, the travel industry rushed to build contactless customer service systems to handle inquiries. It may have gone too far. Chatbots and form responses generated by artificial intelligence are more common than ever, experts and travelers told me by email. They allow companies to save money by hiring fewer call-center employees and speeding up the resolution process. And while there are advantages for companies, customers aren’t always making a connection with the new technology. A client survey conducted by Zendesk, which provides customer service communications, found that conversations increased across several channels that relied on automation last year. The highest growth is on social media (up 32 percent) and on WhatsApp (up 370 percent). “Self-service,” says Mike Gozzo, Zendesk’s senior vice president of product, “is the future of customer service.” That bothers travelers like Kent Sharrar, an airline worker based in Phoenix. He recently had interactions with chatbots at a car rental company and a hotel that left him with an empty feeling. Both quickly addressed his query with an automated apology and an offer of compensation. “But my goal is not to get compensation,” he says, after a rental car in poor condition and a charge from a canceled hotel room. “It’s to smooth out the bumps in the road for future experiences.” So what caused the rise of automation in travel? First, the pandemic forced many travel companies do a top-to-bottom review of their customer service systems. They wanted to cut costs as travel slowed significantly and ensure minimum contact between customers and employees. Then there was the Great Resignation, which led to large-scale customer service problems last summer. For many companies, implementing AI was the solution. “Bots don’t call in sick, and they don’t resign,” says Matt Edic, chief experience officer at IntelePeer, a provider of automation systems. How do you know if you’re dealing with an automated system? “Usually, the service itself may make it clear that it is a bot,” explains Rajeev Shrivastava, CEO of VisitorsCoverage.com, a travel insurance marketplace. But if it doesn’t, you can usually figure it out quickly because of the speed of the response (it’s faster than a human) and the type of response (it’s scripted and doesn’t make typos). Chatbots can test your patience. Matthew Carter, an attorney based in Las Vegas, recently contacted his online travel agency to inquire about a reservation and said it quickly became evident that he was talking to a computer program. “At one point, I mentioned the airline I was using — Peach Airlines in Japan,” he says. “And she responded, ‘Is Peach your travel agent?’ I was genuinely flabbergasted. Supposedly she had the flights pulled up in front of her. So either she wasn’t paying attention, or she was clueless.” But there are also benefits to automation. A carefully programmed chatbot can efficiently deliver information and answer basic questions, says Steve Schwab, CEO of Casago, a vacation rental company. And best of all, it’s always on. “It guarantees a response,” he says. “No matter the time.” Automated systems can also fix some problems much faster than a person, says Gadi Shamia, CEO of Replicant, a contact center automation company. “For example, automation can handle rescheduling for a passenger who missed their flight,” he says. “That gives an agent more time to help a family book hotel accommodations when their red-eye is canceled.” Still, I worry about over-automation and losing the personal touch. I’ve seen too many gibberish responses generated by AI. “People like talking to people, not robots,” says Francois Gouelo, CEO of Enso Connect, a provider of AI services for the hospitality industry. “That’s why it’s important to not only implement automation solutions in hospitality businesses but build an entire guest experience strategy, planning how technology complements the human capital.” In other words, don’t forget the people. If you’re stuck in a conversation with a bot that doesn’t know the difference between “Peach” the airline and “Peach” your travel agent — and believe me, you’ll know when you are — there are ways to get a person. Words like “representative,” or “agent,” or even “help” can send your case to a real human. If you’re dealing with a scripted reply by email and need to get a response, you may need to start a new conversation with a manager by email to override the system. Automation seems to be an unstoppable trend. Tausif Khiani, a vice president in charge of hospitality at consulting firm Capgemini Americas, says his research confirms that hospitality brands increased customer engagement levels with A.I. and chatbots. But enough is enough. “The next generation of travelers want the ability and choice to interact with both people and technology,” he says. “The key is to switch between the two seamlessly.” What’s the solution? Sharrar, the airline employee from Phoenix, thinks more human staff — not fewer — is the answer. Maybe, he says, you can overdo the automation. Maybe we’ll find out during the upcoming holiday travel season.

AP Top Business News At 10:27 A.m. EDT – WTMJ https://clarkcountynewsnow.com/ap-top-business-news-at-1027-a-m-edt-wtmj/ AP Top Business News at 10:27 a.m. EDT  WTMJ

Healthy Living With USA Health: Breast Cancer Genetics – Fox 10 News https://clarkcountynewsnow.com/healthy-living-with-usa-health-breast-cancer-genetics-fox-10-news/ Cassie Gurganus, C.G.C., certified genetic counselor at the USA Health Mitchell Cancer Institute, joined Joe and Chelsey on Studio10 to talk about breast cancer genetics. She answers the following questions in the clip above: How do you know if breast cancer “runs in your family?” What genetic mutations are common in breast cancer? Most of us have heard about mutations in the BRACA gene. What other genes may be associated with breast cancer? What other cancers, along with breast cancer, are linked to mutations in those genes? What options are there for people who find they have a harmful genetic mutation? How can people learn more about cancer genetic counseling at the USA Health Mitchell Cancer Institute? For more information, visit USA Health. — Download the FOX10 Weather App. Get life-saving severe weather warnings and alerts for your location no matter where you are. Available free in the Apple App Store and the Google Play Store. Copyright 2022 WALA. All rights reserved.

Rangers Vs. Liverpool Odds, Picks, How To Watch, Live Stream: Oct. 12, 2022 UEFA Champions League Predictions – CBS Sports https://clarkcountynewsnow.com/rangers-vs-liverpool-odds-picks-how-to-watch-live-stream-oct-12-2022-uefa-champions-league-predictions-cbs-sports/ A critical match in the UEFA Champions League gets underway on Wednesday as Rangers F.C. hosts Liverpool on Paramount+. The Scottish side has been very good in league play but has struggled mightily in the Champions League, going winless over three matches. Quite the opposite is happening for Liverpool, who sit in second place in Group A and 10th in the English Premier League after going winless in three straight league games. You can see what happens when you stream the match now on Paramount+. Kickoff from Ibrox Stadium in Glasgow, Scotland is set for 3 p.m. ET. The latest Rangers vs. Liverpool odds from Caesars Sportsbook list Liverpool as the -235 favorite on the 90-minute money line, with Rangers as the +625 underdog. A draw is priced at +370, and the over/under for goals is set at 2.5. Wednesday’s match will be streamed live on Paramount+ with their must-have Premium plan. Paramount+ is the only place to watch every minute of every UEFA Champions League match this season. Sign up now to get a 7-day free trial. A subscription also gives you access to other sports content including the UEFA Europa League, Italian Serie A, NWSL, NFL on CBS, and countless movies and shows. Get it all free for 7 days when you sign up right here.   How to watch Liverpool vs. Rangers Rangers vs. Liverpool date: Wednesday, Oct. 12 Rangers vs. Liverpool time: 3 p.m. ET Rangers vs. Liverpool live stream: Paramount+ UEFA Champions League picks for Rangers vs. Liverpool Before you tune in to Wednesday’s match, you need to see the UEFA Champions League picks from soccer insider Brandt Sutton. Sutton, a former collegiate soccer player, has been SportsLine’s top soccer editor for more than five years. He has followed soccer closely for much longer and factors in managerial tactics, projected lineups and past performances to make the most-informed decisions possible, keeping his finger on the pulse of the game all over the globe. Sutton also has been on a roll with his best bets, going 130-95-1 on his soccer best bets in 2022, returning more than $2,000 for $100 bettors.  For Rangers vs. Liverpool, Sutton is picking both teams to score for a -130 payout. The lopsided nature of how Rangers are playing in domestic play as opposed to Champions League play makes this a very interesting match to predict. Giovanni van Bronckhorst’s men have kept a clean sheet in their last two Scottish Premiership matches, but have yet to score a goal in three Champions League games. Rangers managed only two shots on target against Liverpool last week at Anfield.  That being said, the expert notes that Rangers have scored two or more goals in eight of their last nine games at home, which could set them up nicely against an injury-riddled Liverpool club coming off of a disappointing Premier League loss to Arsenal on Sunday. “I feel a bit crazy backing both teams to score in Wednesday’s match after Rangers managed just two shots on target at Anfield, but Liverpool have conceded at least one goal in eight of their 11 matches this season,” Sutton told SportsLine. “Given the buzz of the home crowd, I expect both teams to find the back of the net on Wednesday.”  How to watch, live stream UEFA Champions League on Paramount+ Now that you know what to pick, get ready to watch the UEFA Champions League. Visit Paramount+ now to see UEFA Champions League action, your live local CBS sporting events, some of the world’s top soccer matchups and much more.

As A Recession Approaches, Brands Are Investing In The Metaverse — But Still Trying To Figure Out What It Means – Digiday https://clarkcountynewsnow.com/as-a-recession-approaches-brands-are-investing-in-the-metaverse-but-still-trying-to-figure-out-what-it-means-digiday/ With a recession on the horizon, brands are not pulling back on their metaverse-marketing spending — but few of them seem to agree about what exactly it is. “Most brands have no idea what’s going on at all,” said Lewis Smithingham, svp of innovation at Media.Monks. “Which is great — that’s what we’re here for.” Over the past year, different parts of the tech industry have laid claims to the metaverse, most prominently the gaming industry, which believes that the metaverse will arise out of pre-existing virtual game worlds, and the Web3 sector, which argues that the metaverse must be built on top of blockchain infrastructure if it hopes to succeed. Lately, the gaming sector appears to be winning this battle — as far as brand partnerships are concerned, at least. As NFT sales dry up, marketers have continued to pump money into gaming partnerships with both esports organizations and proto-metaverse platforms such as Roblox and Fortnite. “A lot of it actually comes down to reach; if you’re hitting Roblox and Fortnite, you’re realistically hitting a fifth of living humans,” Smithingham said. “The demographics of people who are involved in NFTs, involved in crypto, is a much smaller swath.” To some extent, this prioritization of the gaming side of the metaverse is a response to the coming recession. “To put it in perspective, you saw how gaming and streaming just boomed during the pandemic, right?” said Ed LaBay, svp of merchandise and marketing for Hot Topic, which launched a fashion line in Roblox last week. Whatever the reason, brands are increasingly using the language of the metaverse to describe their gaming partnerships. While marketers might call what they’re doing metaverse marketing, this growing form of brand activation is really just a particularly in-depth form of in-game advertising by a different name. Brands’ growing appetite for the metaverse has been made evident by the rush of non-endemic brands into Fortnite and Roblox in recent months. Despite the potential risk of building virtual worlds without sufficient intellectual properties to populate them, brands such as Hot Topic, NASCAR and Invisalign have developed their own Roblox products and experiences over the past two weeks.  Representatives for all three companies told Digiday that they have no plans to slow down on their metaverse marketing spending despite economic headwinds. “My bias is to persist with this experiment, because this is just so new for us, and we’ve got a lot to learn,” said Invisalign CMO Raj Pudipeddi. “As we learn, I’m sure it will create some experiences that are probably not as hard-hitting, not as relevant — so you’ve got to have a chance to change, modify and then get the benefit.” Part of the learning process includes figuring out exactly what the metaverse entails. In their conversations with Digiday, both Pudipeddi and NASCAR svp and chief digital officer Tim Clark used the term “Web3” to describe their recent forays into the metaverse, despite the fact that their recent activations in Roblox had no inherent connection to blockchain technology. To Clark, this blurring of lines between the two sides of the metaverse sector is a logical move. “The team that’s managing our gaming and esports partnerships and the folks that are managing Web3, that’s just one big group,” Clark said. “And I think they’re very capable of blurring the lines between the two, because we see a lot of similarities between those verticals.” Perhaps most importantly to the brands looking to activate inside virtual space, the major tech companies and platforms building the metaverse show no signs of slowing down. The metaverse is nowhere near Ready Player One yet — but if or when it does get there, the brands that cut their teeth during these early stages of metaverse advertising will be primed to succeed. “I don’t think it is wearing off,” said S4 Capital co-founder and chairman Sir Martin Sorrell when asked about metaverse hype during his Sept. 21 fireside chat at DMEXCO 2022, predicting that “the metaverse will account for $30-40 million” of his company’s revenue next year. “We have to understand that we are in a place where all of culture and society is creating this huge shift,” Smithingham said. “And if you can get in on that and create long, multi-year strategies, you will be successful.” As a recession approaches, brands are investing in the metaverse — but still trying to figure out what it means

Microsoft Surface 2022 Event Liveblog: Surface Pro 9, Surface Laptop 5, Surface Studio 2+ And More – Yahoo Finance https://clarkcountynewsnow.com/microsoft-surface-2022-event-liveblog-surface-pro-9-surface-laptop-5-surface-studio-2-and-more-yahoo-finance/ Motley Fool Why DraftKings Stock Was a Losing Bet Today For any sports team at any level, the recognition of looming defeat is a bitter feeling that can be tough to face. In an interview with Bloomberg published this morning, DraftKings CEO Jason Robins essentially admitted that one of the two propositions to legalize online sports betting will fail. Last week, TV station KQED in Northern California quoted a survey by the University of California, Berkeley, Institute of Governmental Studies revealing that only 27% of respondents said they would vote yes on Proposition 27. Motley Fool 3 No-Brainer Stocks to Buy Right Now for Less Than $30 After three rough quarters for the stock market, investors are hoping for some better news as 2022 nears the finish line. Like many stocks in 2022, e-commerce infrastructure provider Shopify (NYSE: SHOP) saw a steep fall from grace. Specifically, Shopify’s management overestimated its post-pandemic growth projections. Motley Fool Why These Passive Income Dividend Stock Machines Soared Tuesday The stock market had a mixed performance on Tuesday, trading higher for parts of the day but finishing with new closing lows for the year for the S&P 500 (SNPINDEX: ^GSPC) and Nasdaq Composite (NASDAQINDEX: ^IXIC). The Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJINDICES: ^DJI) managed to hold onto some modest gains, but they were quite a bit smaller than they’d been earlier in the afternoon. High-growth tech stocks once again found themselves in the crosshairs of bearish investors on Tuesday, extending losses from earlier in the year amid ongoing concerns about inflation. Motley Fool 2 No-Brainer Stocks to Buy Right Now for Less Than $100 Here are two excellent companies to consider: AstraZeneca (NASDAQ: AZN) and Roku (NASDAQ: ROKU). U.K.-based AstraZeneca has a rich and diversified lineup of drugs. The company’s best-selling therapeutic area is oncology. Barrons.com Cameco Stock Tumbles on Agreement to Buy Stake in Nuclear Services Company Westinghouse Electric Cameco stock was tumbling after agreeing, along with Brookfield Renewable Partners to acquire Westinghouse Electric. The companies will be forming a strategic partnership to acquire Westinghouse, the nuclear services business. Brookfield Renewable (BEP), along with its institutional partners, will own a 51% interest in Westinghouse, and uranium miner Cameco (CCJ) will own 49%. Motley Fool 2 Supercharged Tech Stocks to Buy Without Hesitation Amid a brutal bear market in tech stocks, looking for “supercharged” stocks became more difficult. Many formerly high-growth stocks have slowed down considerably as consumers use electronic devices and the internet less with the end of lockdowns. Since these growth tech stocks sell at a significant discount to their pandemic highs, it points to potentially lucrative opportunities in Snowflake (NYSE: SNOW) and Zscaler (NASDAQ: ZS). Motley Fool 3 Top E-Commerce Stocks to Buy Right Now Let’s take a look at three top e-commerce stocks that look like attractive opportunities right now. Wix.com (NASDAQ: WIX) is a web development platform that enables users to create websites and provides customers with over 1,000 tools to optimize them. While it never seemed to reach quite the level of notoriety as competitor Shopify, Wix is another e-commerce stock that has given investors great returns over the last few years. Motley Fool Why MongoDB, Fastly, and CrowdStrike Dropped Today As of 10:40 a.m. ET, shares of cloud computing companies MongoDB (NASDAQ: MDB) and Fastly (NYSE: FSLY) are down 2.6% and 5.5%, respectively. Cybersecurity specialist CrowdStrike Holdings (NASDAQ: CRWD) is sinking as well — down 4.9%. In comments on the U.S. economy yesterday, JPM CEO Jamie Dimon predicted that a recession could arrive within the next “six to nine months.” Motley Fool This Ultra-High-Yield Dividend Stock Thinks Its Shares Are Widely Undervalued Shares of Medical Properties Trust (NYSE: MPW) have been under tremendous pressure this year. The hospital-focused real estate investment trust (REIT) has lost a staggering 55% of its market value, pushing its dividend yield into the double digits. The primary factor weighing on shares is surging interest rates.

Crypto Data Science Shop Gauntlet Launches Treasury Management System For DAOs – CoinDesk https://clarkcountynewsnow.com/crypto-data-science-shop-gauntlet-launches-treasury-management-system-for-daos-coindesk/ Ian Allison is an award-winning senior reporter at CoinDesk. He holds ETH. Aera, a rewards-based treasury management system for leaderless decentralized autonomous organizations (DAOs) has been launched by the team behind cryptocurrency data science shop Gauntlet. The Aera protocol aims to make DAOs play a more agile and risk-aware role when it comes to investing in the fast-moving world of decentralized finance (DeFi). The hope is to create organic demand for the sort of structured products or derivatives used for hedging risk and improving capital efficiency in traditional finance. Aera will incentivize certain DAO participants to allocate assets to risk products for which they will be rewarded with fees when investment goals are met, or penalized if they worsen the DAO’s welfare. Areas like DeFi cannot rely on steady, non-speculative institutional flows into structured products, as is the case in traditional markets where big asset managers hedge industry-wide portfolios with credit default swaps, for example, or airlines hedge oil and energy costs in the futures markets. A range of DeFi-tailored credit default swaps, options protocols and portfolio insurance products do exist but their uptake has been spotty. One reason is because there hasn’t been a nimble way for DAOs to perform the role of risk-aware DeFi institutions and proactively create derivative flows, according to Gauntlet CEO Tarun Chitra. Unlike the high speed trading behavior carried out by holders of risk products, usually geared around rare market events, DAOs grind out slow and reactionary governance voting on everything from code changes to treasury allocation decisions, Chitra said. (Asking a DAO to manage a portfolio of derivatives would be akin to asking the U.S. Congress to be a derivatives market maker, passing laws to execute particular trades.) “The only institutions that are fully on-chain that could generate organic demand for these derivatives products are DAOs, which have a need to deploy tokens strategically to maximize their longevity,” Chitra said in an interview. “DAOs have this capital, so it’s about starting a flywheel where they send allocations to other on-chain protocols, which causes the liquidity to rise in those protocols and lowers the price for execution, and then it makes it easier for new DAOs to purchase. That feedback loop has been missing.” The $10 billion or so of assets held collectively by DAOs are also not used properly because of incentive mismatches between participants who may be averse to large block sales of the governance tokens they hold as it makes the price of those tokens go down. “A good example is SushiSwap where people are using a token to vote to sell that token, which generally has not worked,” Chitra said. “There have been a few diversifications where DAOs were able to kind of rebalance their assets, but I think you need a new perspective on how to incentivize people who are trying to help manage DAO assets.” Aera takes some of its inspiration from the early days of DAO experimentation and such lofty concepts as “futarchy,” the idea that a public company could hold its chief executive accountable to achieving a particular stock price over a given period of time. “Futarchy is this older idea from Vitalik [Buterin] and Robin Hanson, which is like a prediction market that optimizes a key DAO metric,” Chitra said. “But Aera is designed to be DeFi incentive-compatible, as opposed to those initial versions of futarchy where a new asset had to be created every time there was a vote.” Sign up for The Node, our daily newsletter bringing you the biggest crypto news and ideas. By signing up, you will receive emails about CoinDesk product updates, events and marketing and you agree to our terms of services and privacy policy. DISCLOSURE Please note that our privacy policy, terms of use, cookies, and do not sell my personal information has been updated . The leader in news and information on cryptocurrency, digital assets and the future of money, CoinDesk is a media outlet that strives for the highest journalistic standards and abides by a strict set of editorial policies. CoinDesk is an independent operating subsidiary of Digital Currency Group, which invests in cryptocurrencies and blockchain startups. As part of their compensation, certain CoinDesk employees, including editorial employees, may receive exposure to DCG equity in the form of stock appreciation rights, which vest over a multi-year period. CoinDesk journalists are not allowed to purchase stock outright in DCG . Ian Allison is an award-winning senior reporter at CoinDesk. He holds ETH. Ian Allison is an award-winning senior reporter at CoinDesk. He holds ETH.

US Department Of Labor Recovers $44K In Back Wages, Damages For 2 Workers Denied Overtime By Jackson Ground Delivery Contractor – US Department Of Labor https://clarkcountynewsnow.com/us-department-of-labor-recovers-44k-in-back-wages-damages-for-2-workers-denied-overtime-by-jackson-ground-delivery-contractor-us-department-of-labor/ JACKSON, MS – The U.S. Department of Labor has recovered $44,280 in back wages and liquidated damages for two employees of a Jackson ground delivery contractor who failed to compensate them for work they did off-the-clock from their homes. Investigators with the department’s Wage and Hour Division found that Douglas Inc. – operating as Douglas Express Delivery – allowed the employees to work off-the-clock without compensation, a violation of the Fair Labor Standards Act. After working their regular shifts and clocking out, the employees would then continue to perform work-related tasks from home such as responding to customers’ phone calls, texts and emails, providing directions to drivers for deliveries and finding alternate drivers when vehicles broke down. In addition to failing to pay the workers for the off-the-clock work, Douglas Express owed the workers time-and-one half the required rate of pay as the off-the-clock work exceeded 40 hours in a workweek. The division also cited the employer with a recordkeeping violation for not recording the hours employees spent working from home after they left their physical worksite. The division also assessed Douglas Express with an $882 civil penalty for repeat violations. In two previous investigations, Douglas Express paid $157,568 in back wages to 59 employees. “The pandemic blurred the lines between home and office as safety dictated that some companies allow workers to complete job-related tasks from their homes, however, employers remain obligated to compensate workers for all their hours of work, including the time they spent working from home,” said Wage and Hour Division District Director Audrey Hall in Jackson, Mississippi. “As more people use e-commerce sites to shop and the demands on warehousing, logistics and delivery companies increase, employers must ensure they comply fully with worker protections of wages and benefits, regardless of where the work is performed.” Amid historic shifts in the nation’s workforce, employers are finding it more difficult to retain and recruit the people they need to do the jobs they offer. Many of those difficulties are expected to result from the need to replace workers who transfer to different occupations or exit the labor force. The Bureau of Labor Statistics projects employment in transportation and warehousing, excluding the postal service, to grow about 327,300 new jobs in the next decade. “Workers will naturally flock to businesses that show an ability to pay them their full wages as they are earned,” Hall added. “Employers who fail to meet their legal obligation to workers and make it harder for them to make ends meet may find themselves struggling to hire the people they need to operate.” Established in 1958, Douglas Inc. is a ground delivery contractor that delivers office supplies, furniture, pharmaceuticals, auto parts, beverages, medical supplies and mail. The company has five branch locations in Tupelo, Batesville, Greenwood, Hattiesburg and Gulfport. Workers can call the Wage and Hour Division confidentially with questions regardless of where they are from and the department can speak with callers in more than 200 languages. For information about the FLSA and other laws the division enforces, contact the agency at 866-4US-WAGE (487-9243). Learn more about the Wage and Hour Division, and its search tool if you think you are owed back wages the division has collected. Help ensure hours worked and pay are accurate by downloading the department’s Android and iOS Timesheet App for free. Read this news release En Español.

Special Report: How A US Firm Supplied Networking Technology To Maker Of Feared Russian Missiles – Reuters https://clarkcountynewsnow.com/special-report-how-a-us-firm-supplied-networking-technology-to-maker-of-feared-russian-missiles-reuters/ Extreme Networks says Reuters discovery leads it to believe its products were shipped to “bad actors” in Russia Extreme Networks says it is informing U.S. authorities of export-control violation Extreme Networks says distributor played role in “scheme” Extreme Networks supplied equipment used in MMZ Avangard’s office IT systems MMZ Avangard is maker of missile used in recent Ukraine attack WASHINGTON, Oct 12 (Reuters) – Since Russia annexed Crimea in 2014, American companies have been prohibited from dealing with MMZ Avangard, a state-owned firm that makes missiles for one of Russia’s most sophisticated weapons, the S-400 air-defense system. In a measure of Western concern about the S-400, the United States ejected Turkey, a NATO member, from a joint fighter jet program in 2019 after Ankara took delivery of the Russian system. But even as the United States was taking actions to blunt MMZ Avangard’s business, a publicly traded American technology company, Extreme Networks (EXTR.O), was providing MMZ Avangard with computer networking equipment for its office IT systems, according to emails and other business records seen by Reuters, as well as interviews with people familiar with the matter. Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com In a statement to Reuters, Extreme said that based on information provided by the news agency it believed equipment “may have” been sold to MMZ Avangard using a surrogate buyer. Extreme said the equipment was sold without its knowledge. It added, without providing evidence, that an intermediary in Russia was “complicit” in supplying its products via a front company to “bad actors.” Extreme said it is reporting its findings of these potential sales to U.S. authorities. Ukraine has accused Russia of deploying missiles made by MMZ Avangard against ground targets since Russia launched what it terms its “special operation” on Feb. 24. Ukrainian authorities said MMZ Avangard missiles killed at least thirty civilians in a gruesome attack against a convoy on the edge of the southern city of Zaporizhzhia last month. Neither Kremlin officials nor MMZ Avangard responded to questions for this article. MMZ Avangard’s parent, Almaz-Antey, also didn’t comment. Between 2017 and 2021, MMZ Avangard obtained over half a million dollars’ worth of Extreme equipment for its IT systems, according to the business records reviewed by Reuters and the people familiar with the matter. The products included high-speed switches, an essential building block of corporate IT networks, and software. The records also show that the deals went through a seemingly innocuous corporation near Moscow, and despite two Extreme officials raising concerns, the sales went forward. That a Russian military company, identified as a threat by Washington, continued to acquire U.S. computer hardware is a case study in how Western countries may have overestimated their ability to choke the Russian economy with export bans and trade sanctions. It also highlights how dependent Russia’s military machine is on U.S. high-tech equipment. In April, six weeks after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, an Extreme employee filed an internal complaint, seen by Reuters, alleging that the company was selling to various military manufacturers in Russia. “Extreme equipment is used on Russian warships,” the complaint said, “in communications systems.” Extreme said in its statement that the allegations were brought by a disgruntled employee. An investigation by the firm had found nothing to corroborate any of the claims until Reuters brought “new facts” to the company’s attention this month. The company said it ceased operations in Russia in March, adding that it subsequently launched a process to dismiss the disgruntled employee for poor performance. It said it has no records of sales involving Russian warships. Extreme, which trades on the NASDAQ exchange and is headquartered in Morrisville, North Carolina, has earned a solid reputation in the United States and is an official partner of the National Football League. The NFL declined to comment for this article. A Reuters investigation in August found that while the United States and allies banned high-tech exports to Russia to try to cripple its defense industry, and many tech companies announced that they had halted exports to Russia, the flow of Western brand-name computer parts to Russian clients hasn’t stopped. This account of how Extreme supplied MMZ Avangard and at least two other Russian military companies is based on interviews with three people familiar with the shipments as well as a review by Reuters of documents spanning five years to 2021. The documents include sales records and email exchanges between Extreme employees, customers and distributors. The shipments are reported here for the first time. The U.S. Department of Commerce, which administers export restrictions, declined to comment for this story. “IT WAS NECESSARY TO USE COVER” Russian companies, including those in the military sector, have virtually no choice but to buy foreign equipment to build the computer networks necessary for modern-day business. Russia has very limited domestic production of networking equipment. Founded in 1996, Extreme is a junior player in the computer networking industry. Last year, it posted revenue of $1.1 billion, compared with $50 billion for Cisco Systems. Still, the smaller company is a “meaningful competitor,” according to Alex Henderson, a network and security analyst at Needham and Company in New York. The U.S. military as well as NASA use Extreme hardware and support, according to contracting records, and the company has built up a substantial marketing profile. In Russia, as well, Extreme lists prestigious customers, such as the Ministry of Health, the federal pension fund and Lomonosov Moscow State University. But according to documents seen by Reuters, other buyers of Extreme equipment included not just MMZ Avangard but a major Russian military shipbuilding company and a high-tech defense electronics manufacturer. One of the documents shows that in the four years ending 2020, Russian customers purchased $41.5 million worth of equipment. Reuters couldn’t determine Extreme’s total sales to sanctioned or military firms because it wasn’t clear if transactions other than those involving MMZ Avangard had been recorded under cover names. In its statement to Reuters, Extreme said it doesn’t report country specific revenue. In Russia, Extreme maintained contacts with its customers in order to help design complex networks that expand over time, according to two of the people familiar with the matter. Each customer or potential buyer had its own account manager at the company and was listed on internal sales records. Actual sales, though, were done through authorized intermediaries. Extreme, in its statement to Reuters, said it rarely provided direct installation services. It said it had no such contracts with DEMZ or MMZ Avangard. In its statement, Extreme said it has a “firm policy” not to work with sanctioned entities, but added it isn’t always notified of the end customer, especially when its products are sold through so-called “stocking” distributors that hold an inventory. Extreme named one of those distributors as RRC and said it believed RRC was “complicit” in the scheme to supply MMZ Avangard. RRC and its Cyprus parent, BD Enterprise Networking didn’t respond to messages from Reuters seeking comment. For Russian military companies, Extreme equipment had a strong selling point, the three people familiar with the shipments said: Unlike larger rivals, Extreme doesn’t require service subscriptions and frequent software updates. “It is absolutely autonomous,” one of the people said of the equipment. “It works without a license and you don’t even need to be connected to the internet.” This means, another person said, that “you don’t need to fear that your system will go dark because someone in the U.S. decided to disconnect you.” Extreme said that the “autonomous model” is not unique to the company, but acknowledged it has become relatively rare. It was no secret in Russia that MMZ Avangard used Extreme equipment. In late 2019, the missile manufacturer issued a tender through Russia’s online public procurement platform, saying it needed spare parts for the Extreme computer networks it possessed. Extreme didn’t dispute this but said it wouldn’t necessarily be aware of such a tender. A few months before, in the summer of 2019, an intermediary had contacted Extreme’s representative office in Russia, asking for advice on a network upgrade for the missile company, the documents show. “We are working on a solution for the customer, MMZ Avangard,” an employee of the intermediary wrote in a June 28, 2019, email to an Extreme system engineer. “I was told that I could seek your help.” As soon as its equipment arrived in Moscow, Extreme dispatched a staff engineer to MMZ Avangard’s offices to help ensure a smooth installation, one of the people familiar with the shipments said. In its statement to Reuters, Extreme said it had no records of an Extreme employee installing equipment at MMZ Avangard. When it came to processing MMZ Avangard’s purchasing orders, the missile maker’s name didn’t appear on Extreme’s books. Instead, Extreme’s Moscow employees recorded the orders as having been placed by a company called OOO DEMZ, according to emails and sales records, as well as three people familiar with the matter. “It was necessary to use a cover because the Russian company is blacklisted in the U.S.,” one of the people familiar with the shipments said. It has been illegal for U.S. companies to do business with MMZ Avangard si...

EDC Flashlight With Quick Magnetic On/off Switch – Geeky Gadgets https://clarkcountynewsnow.com/edc-flashlight-with-quick-magnetic-on-off-switch-geeky-gadgets/ 1:33 pm October 12, 2022 By Julian Horsey If you are searching for a quick on and off EDC flashlight you might be interested in a new Kickstarter campaign for the YSMART MQ3. Created by a team based in London in the United Kingdom the new EDC flashlight features a magnetic on an off switch allowing you to quickly turn on your flashlight without fumbling for a switch. To turn off your light simply attach it once again to the magnetic holder. Specially priced early bird pledges are now available for the novel project from roughly $35 or £32 (depending on current exchange rates). “We believe we made the best keychain flashlight. It’s everything we ever wanted a flashlight to be. We think you will feel the same. YSMART MQ3 is the smallest, lightest, brightest, more durable, most convenient, and rechargeable whit USB-C fast charging. The “Pop-to-Light” solution provides an extremely convenient, easy, fast way to use when you need powerful light in a hurry. “ EDC flashlight If the YSMART MQ3 crowd funding campaign successfully raises its required pledge goal and the project completion progresses smoothly, worldwide shipping is expected to take place sometime around March 2023. To learn more about the YSMART MQ3 EDC flashlight project checkout the promotional video below. “No more searching blindly around in the dark or fumbling around to unlock your flashlight. We’ve done away with the need to twist your flashlight to turn it on/off. YSMART MQ3 provides a magnetic quick-release solution. Simply pull it off your keychain then the flashlight turns on immediately. Never worry about accidentally disconnecting your YSMART MQ3. Featuring a powerful magnet with 3kg/6.6lb of pulling force, you can place it anywhere without worrying about it falling off.” “We’re YSMART. We design and make cool EDC products. After the success of six campaigns with 20,000+ backers and over 80,000+ units. we received a heap of great feedback. Now we are glad to be back with our Kickstarter #7: the rechargeable version of our YSMART flashlight.” For a complete list of all available early bird specials, stretch goals, extra media and specifications for the EDC flashlight, jump over to the official YSMART MQ3 crowd funding campaign page by checking out the link below. Source : Kickstarter Filed Under: Gadgets News, Top News Disclosure: Some of our articles include affiliate links. If you buy something through one of these links, Geeky Gadgets may earn an affiliate commission. Learn more. Latest Geeky Gadgets Deals