Jonathan Rosenberg Elected To TCN Worldwide Board Of Directors To Serve As Treasurer
Jonathan Rosenberg Elected To TCN Worldwide Board Of Directors To Serve As Treasurer https://digitalarizonanews.com/jonathan-rosenberg-elected-to-tcn-worldwide-board-of-directors-to-serve-as-treasurer/
Scottsdale, AZ, Sept. 28, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — H. Ross Ford, president and CEO of TCN Worldwide, is pleased to announce this year’s TCN Worldwide Board of Directors. Jonathan Rosenberg, Co-Founder and Managing Partner of LevRose Commercial Real Estate/TCN Worldwide in Phoenix, will serve as Treasurer.
Jonathan Rosenberg has served on the TCN Worldwide Board of Directors since 2019 and was elected to his first full term to serve as Treasurer at this year’s TCN Worldwide Principals’ Conference, held earlier this month in Portland, Oregon. Jonathan Rosenberg is the Co-Founder and Managing Partner for LevRose Commercial Real Estate/TCN Worldwide, which serves the greater Phoenix metro area. His 30 plus years of experience includes asset management, receiverships, commercial leasing and sales, consulting and training.
“We are proud to announce Jon Rosenberg as Treasurer,” stated H. Ross Ford. “LevRose Commercial Real Estate has been a member of TCN Worldwide since 2013 and Jon has served in many roles during that time, including regional vice president for the west region and an at-large Board Member since 2019. Jon’s impressive background, stellar reputation within the industry and continued commitment to our organization has set him apart as one of the organization’s most impressive leaders.”
In 1992, Mr. Rosenberg co-founded LevRose to handle commercial brokerage and property management in the Greater Phoenix market. Under his leadership, LevRose has been consistently named one of the Business Journal’s “Top 25 Commercial Brokerage Firms” as well as one of the “Top 10 Small Commercial Brokerage Firms” by Ranking Arizona Magazine.
The 2023 TCN Worldwide Board of Directors includes:
William Sitar Jr., Vice President at Sitar Realty/TCN Worldwide in New Jersey. Mr. Sitar will serve as Chairman.
Timothy Mitchell, Principal at Norris & Stevens, Inc./TCN Worldwide in Portland. Mr. Mitchell will serve as Vice Chairman.
Jonathan Rosenberg, Co-Founder and Managing Partner of LevRose Commercial Real Estate/TCN Worldwide in Phoenix. Mr. Rosenberg will serve as Treasurer.
Ben Azulay, Principal & Executive Managing Director at Bradford Allen Realty/TCN Worldwide in Chicago. Mr. Azulay will serve as Secretary.
Paul Licausi, President of LS Commercial Real Estate Services, Inc./TCN Worldwide in Kansas City, will serve as an at-large Board Member.
David Wallach, President of Barclay Street Real Estate/TCN Worldwide and Founder of Triumph Real Estate Group of Funds in Alberta, will serve as an at-large Board Member.
H. Ross Ford, President & CEO of TCN Worldwide. Mr. Ford is responsible for the strategic direction of the organization and the implementation of all expansion and networking initiatives.
About TCN Worldwide
An extensive range of real estate services coupled with a personal commitment to exceed client expectations is what allows TCN Worldwide to be a leader in the commercial real estate industry. With over 1,500 commercial real estate professionals serving more than 200 primary and secondary markets worldwide, TCN Worldwide ranks as one of the largest and most comprehensive service providers in the CRE industry.
TCN Worldwide provides complete integrated commercial real estate solutions across North America, Asia, the Middle East, and Australia.
For more information on TCN Worldwide, contact H. Ross Ford at 972-769-8701 or visit TCNWorldwide.com.
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Jonathan Rosenberg
Jonathan Rosenberg Co-Founder and Managing Partner of LevRose Commercial Real Estate/TCN Worldwide
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Post Politics Now: Biden Convening First White House Conference On Hunger Since Nixon
Post Politics Now: Biden Convening First White House Conference On Hunger Since Nixon https://digitalarizonanews.com/post-politics-now-biden-convening-first-white-house-conference-on-hunger-since-nixon/
Today, President Biden will deliver an address at the first White House conference on hunger since 1969, when President Richard M. Nixon pulled together a similar gathering. Administration officials say they have secured $8 billion in public- and private-sector commitments toward helping provide more food and better nutrition by 2030. The speaking program includes administration officials and members of Congress, as well as José Andrés, the chef and founder of World Central Kitchen.
On Capitol Hill, the Senate moved a step closer Tuesday to avoiding a partial government shutdown after removing a controversial energy project permitting provision pushed by Sen. Joe Manchin III (D-W.Va.). Lawmakers are scrambling to pass a stopgap funding measure by Friday before leaving town.
Your daily dashboard
10 a.m. Eastern: Biden delivers remarks at the White House Conference on Hunger, Nutrition and Health. Watch live here.
11 a.m. Eastern: Biden delivers remarks at the White House to celebrate the Americans With Disabilities Act. Watch live here.
12:30 p.m. Eastern: White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre briefs reporters. Watch live here.
7 p.m. Eastern: Biden participates in a Democratic Governors Association reception in Washington.
Got a question about politics? Submit it here. After 3 p.m. weekdays, return to this space and we’ll address what’s on the mind of readers.
Analysis: Biden didn’t share the real reason Medicare premiums are lower
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With the midterm elections just six weeks away, President Biden vowed Tuesday to lower seniors’ health costs in a Rose Garden speech. He pledged to protect Medicare against perceived Republican threats and pointed to Democrats’ new law allowing the federal health program to negotiate drug prices for the first time.
“And this morning, we got even more good news,” Biden said, pointing to a decrease in Medicare premiums for doctor visits. “For years, that fee has gone up. Now, for the first time in more than a decade, it’s going to go down.”
Analysis: What is the Electoral Count Act, and why does Congress want to change it?
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A year and a half after the attack on the U.S. Capitol, Congress has passed no legislation to prevent it from happening again. But it could be close.
The Post’s Amber Phillips and Adrian Blanco note that a group of Democrats and Republicans is recommending new limits to Congress’s and the vice president’s roles in declaring the presidential winner. Per our colleagues:
They want to change a very old law known as the Electoral Count Act that they think President Donald Trump exploited to try to stay in power in 2020.
The House of Representatives passed its bill recently, with only nine Republicans voting for it. And efforts to reform this law just got a big boost from the top Senate Republican, Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), who endorsed the Senate’s version of the bill.
You can read a full analysis from Amber and Adrian about the larger push here.
Our colleague Amy B Wang has more on the latest related activity in the Senate here.
On our radar: Stock trading bill unveiled, faces uncertain future
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Rep. Zoe Lofgren (R-Calif.) late Tuesday unveiled a bill to prevent insider trading by members of Congress and eliminate conflicts of interest.
The long-awaited legislation had a rough birth and has an uncertain future, The Post’s Leigh Ann Caldwell and Theodoric Meyer write in The Early 202. Per our colleagues:
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) was reluctant at first to back a bill to ban stock trades by members of Congress after Business Insider reported that dozens of members of Congress violated a 2012 law meant to eliminate insider trading.
She eventually came around, and Lofgren was tasked with consolidating the various proposals and drafting the central bill.
It was supposed to be released last week but was delayed as Lofgren continued to work through the details with members.
A vote this week is possible, two House Democratic aides say, but it could also be punted until after the midterm elections. It could also never come up for a vote.
You can read The Early 202 in full here.
Analysis: Senate GOP, liberal Dems find common cause in sinking Manchin’s bill
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Congress is on a glide path to avoid a partial government shutdown — and there are still three days to spare before the deadline.
But the relatively drama-free funding debate did claim one casualty: the energy project permitting bill of Sen. Joe Manchin III (D-W.Va.), The Post’s Leigh Ann Caldwell and Theodoric Meyer write.
Per our colleagues:
Manchin announced Tuesday afternoon he was pulling his proposal from the stopgap funding bill, or continuing resolution (CR), as he faced down the reality it didn’t have the 60 votes needed to pass. With that done, the spending bill cleared a key procedural vote and could pass as early as Wednesday, but more likely Thursday.
Manchin shrugged off the defeat, telling reporters he’s confident he can find the needed support when Congress returns for its post-election “lame duck” session.
He could look to attach it to the annual defense policy bill or the next government funding bill that will be needed in December.
You can read the full analysis here.
On our radar: White House hosts conference on hunger with $8 billion in commitments
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President Biden on Wednesday is hosting the first White House summit in nearly a half-century dedicated to combating hunger, with administration officials saying they have secured $8 billion in public- and private-sector commitments toward helping provide more food and better nutrition by 2030.
The Post’s Matt Viser reports that Biden is planning to speak at the conference, which will also feature several members of Congress — including Sens. Cory Booker (D-N.J.) and Mike Braun (R-Ind.), as well as Reps. Rosa L. DeLauro (D-Conn.) and Jim McGovern (D-Mass.) — and several Cabinet officials. It will also include José Andrés, the chef and founder of World Central Kitchen, and New York Mayor Eric Adams (D).
Noted: Trump weighed bombing drug labs in Mexico, according to new book
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As president, Donald Trump weighed bombing drug labs in Mexico after one of his leading public health officials came into the Oval Office, wearing a dress uniform, and said such facilities should be handled by putting “lead to target” to stop the flow of illicit substances across the border into the United States.
The Post’s Josh Dawsey has details:
“He raised it several times, eventually asking a stunned Defense Secretary Mark Esper whether the United States could indeed bomb the labs,” according to a new book by New York Times reporter Maggie Haberman. White House officials said the official, Assistant Secretary for Health Brett Giroir, often wore his dress uniform for meetings with Trump, which confused the former president.
“The response from White House aides was not to try to change Trump’s view, but to consider asking Giroir not to wear his uniform to the Oval Office anymore,” Haberman writes in “Confidence Man,” an extensive book about Trump’s time in New York and as president.
The 607-page book, which has long been awaited by many of Trump’s aides, is set to be published Tuesday. A copy was obtained by The Washington Post. The book details unusual and erratic interactions between Trump and world leaders, members of Congress, as well as his aides, along with behind-the-scenes accounts of his time as a businessman.
On our radar: Solomon Islands rejects Biden’s Pacific outreach ahead of White House summit
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American efforts to rally Pacific island leaders at a White House summit this week were dealt a blow when the Solomon Islands said it would not endorse a joint declaration that the Biden administration plans to unveil.
The Post’s Michael E. Miller writes that as President Biden prepared to host the leaders of a dozen Pacific countries on Wednesday and Thursday in a first-of-its-kind gathering, the Solomon Islands sent a diplomatic note to other nations in the region saying there was no consensus on the issues and that it needed “time to reflect” on the declaration.
The latest: White House says it’s pushing to allow Puerto Rico fuel shipment
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White House officials are pushing federal agencies to quickly approve a legal waiver allowing Puerto Rico to receive a shipment of diesel fuel that is being held off the island’s coast, according to a person familiar with the matter.
The Post’s Jeff Stein and Toluse Olorunnipa report that as Puerto Rico reels from Hurricane Fiona and the administration faces continued blowback over the issue, President Biden is personally tracking the matter and supports granting the waiver, according to the person, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to reflect private discussions.
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U.S. Ski-Climber Hilaree Nelson Found Dead After Fall On Himalayan Peak
U.S. Ski-Climber Hilaree Nelson Found Dead After Fall On Himalayan Peak https://digitalarizonanews.com/u-s-ski-climber-hilaree-nelson-found-dead-after-fall-on-himalayan-peak/
Nepalese rescuers discovered the body of a well-known American ski-climber on Wednesday, two days after she went missing while skiing down the world’s eighth-highest peak in Nepal.
Hilaree Nelson, 49, was making her way down from the 26,781-foot summit of Mount Manaslu with her partner, Jim Morrison, when she fell.
The helicopter search, which had been hampered by bad weather, found her body about 6,200 feet from the summit, according to Capt. Surendra Poudel of Simrik Air, who recovered the body.
“The body has been badly damaged,” he said. “It took an hour and a half to retrieve the body that was buried half in the snow.”
Bigyan Koirala, an official at the Department of Tourism, the government agency that issues climbing permits, said the helicopter dropped two high-altitude sherpa guides and Morrison to search for the body on Wednesday morning.
“The body was around 50 meters down to our landing point,” Poudel said. A post-mortem was conducted at Tribhuvan University Teaching Hospital in Kathmandu.
Based on the details shared by Morrison, Nelson slipped on the knife-edge mountain near the summit and fell down the southern side of the peak. Locals have named Manaslu a “killer mountain” because more than six dozen mountaineers have perished on its slopes.
Nelson, who has undertaken about 40 expeditions in the past two decades, is billed as the “most prolific ski mountaineer of her generation” by one of her sponsors, North Face.
A resident of Telluride, Colo., Nelson grew up in Seattle and spent weekends at Stevens Pass in Washington’s Cascades. North Face says she became hooked on ski-mountaineering after visiting Chamonix, a French town at the foot of the highest mountain in Europe, Mont Blanc, after college.
In 2012, she became the first woman to climb two of the world’s tallest mountains, Mount Everest and neighboring Mount Lhotse, in a 24-hour period. In 2018, she and Morrison returned to the area and became the first to ski down from the 27,940-foot summit of Lhotse — the fourth-tallest mountain in the world, exploits she detailed on her website.
“It’s hard to summit a 28,000-foot mountain, let alone get your skis up there, have the right conditions and be able to make the ascent,” she said in a 2019 video about that feat.
Nelson is also credited with inspiring young female climbers. A parent of two boys — born two years apart — she wrote in 2019 about the difficulties of balancing her mountaineering career with motherhood. Nelson said that she went on one expedition while six months pregnant and that she took pay cuts because for an elite climber, “being pregnant was treated like an injury.”
Just days before the fall, Nelson wrote on Instagram about the challenges of her latest expedition.
“I haven’t felt as sure-footed on Manaslu as I have on past adventure into the thin atmosphere of the high Himalaya. These past weeks have tested my resilience in new ways,” she wrote. “The constant monsoon with its incessant rain and humidity has made me hopelessly homesick.”
Nelson and her partner abandoned one attempt to reach the summit when it became too dangerous to move between two camps. “We went up high and tried hard but the mountain said no,” Morrison wrote on Instagram. “Tails between our legs we bailed from camp 3 and headed down.”
Climbers in the area regularly grapple with changing weather and avalanches. On Monday, an avalanche farther down the mountain killed a Nepalese guide and injured several other climbers, the Associated Press reported.
Sherpas and climbers described the tough conditions on social media, as climbers braved bad weather to beat the crowds vying to make it to the summit during the peak fall climbing season.
The Nepalese government issued 504 permits to foreigners wanting to climb in the Himalayan mountains this season, most of them for Manaslu, the AP reported. The tourism board did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Pannett reported from Sydney, Sangam from Kathmandu, Nepal.
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Why RINOs Would Fare Better In The Senate Midterms Than Trumps MAGA Candidates | Jonah Goldberg
Why ‘RINOs’ Would Fare Better In The Senate Midterms Than Trump’s MAGA Candidates | Jonah Goldberg https://digitalarizonanews.com/why-rinos-would-fare-better-in-the-senate-midterms-than-trumps-maga-candidates-jonah-goldberg/
I’m a fan of ironic nicknames: big men named “Tiny,” bald dudes who go by “Curly,” etc. But in politics there’s no nickname more ironic than RINO, short for “Republican in Name Only.”
Originally it was supposed to describe Republicans who went along with Democrats for political expediency. In the 1990s, when RINO really took off as a conservative epithet, it was usually aimed at either liberal Republicans like Pennsylvania Sen. Arlen Specter or obnoxious Republicans who relished opportunities to break party ranks, also like Arlen Specter.
Today it basically just means “not MAGA” or “insufficiently Trumpy.”
And that’s the irony, because the so-called RINOs are pretty much the only politicians who actually care about the Republican Party.
The hopes of the GOP in retaking the U.S. Senate in November depend entirely on a handful of first-time candidates: celebrity TV doctor Mehmet Oz in Pennsylvania, former football star Herschel Walker in Georgia, retired general and active crank Donald Bolduc in New Hampshire and, in Arizona, Blake Masters, a former libertarian minion of billionaire Peter Thiel.
Aside from being hand-picked by former President Trump, what they all have in common is not just little-to-no political experience but also shallow roots in the Republican Party. And yet, they all vow to take on the RINOs controlling the GOP, and the RINO-in-Chief, Sen. Mitch McConnell.
McConnell is a lifelong Republican who beat Bob Dole’s record as the longest-serving GOP Senate floor leader. He has earned Democratic animosity for decades, not least for orchestrating the conservative takeover of the Supreme Court. But in MAGA land he’s a liberal stooge. Stop laughing.
Meanwhile, Trump, a former Democrat and Reform Party presidential wannabe, had to be talked out of leaving the GOP to start his own party. He’s never put the needs of the party ahead of his own. He uses the term RINO to describe any Republican who crosses him — on impeachment, on his election lies, whatever. He says “ ‘Giveaway’ Mitch McConnell” is a RINO “who gives the Dems everything, and gets NOTHING for it — Never fights for Republicans!”
But the obsession with RINOs goes beyond Trump. In a recent interview with MAGA mogul Steve Bannon, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Georgia) said that if Masters wins, he won’t vote for McConnell as leader, and that will amount to “cutting the head off the snake” by “defeating Mitch McConnell, the RINO that has controlled the Senate for years now.”
Indeed, Greene believes that was the real reason McConnell’s super PAC, the Senate Leadership Fund, was pulling nearly $10 million worth of ad buys out of Arizona: “Because Blake Masters is not the type of senator Mitch McConnell wants in Washington.”
Of course, it couldn’t be that the race is getting away from Masters, and McConnell is opting to support salvageable races elsewhere, including in Ohio where J.D. Vance, another newbie handpicked by Trump and Thiel, is struggling to win what should be an easy race. The Senate fund last month announced an infusion of $28 million to support Vance’s effort.
Trump has more cash on hand, $99 million, in his Save America PAC than the $80 million the Democratic National Committee and Republican National Committee have combined. Trump spent some money in the primaries to take out incumbent Republicans who were insufficiently loyal to him, but since then Save America has given a total of $757,000 to federal candidates and $150,000 to the Republican Party, according to Open Secrets. In August alone, it spent $3.9 million on Trump’s legal fees.
McConnell’s Senate Leadership Fund is spending 10 times that in Georgia alone, to drag Walker across the finish line (On Friday, Trump allies announced a new super PAC — MAGA Inc. — that will allegedly give more money in the midterms, but the real goal is to create a new vehicle to fund a 2024 bid.)
In all of these Senate races, a RINO would have fared better. Arizona and New Hampshire Govs. Doug Ducey and Chris Sununu would have won in a cakewalk but balked at the idea of running amid Trump’s wreckage. Oz barely beat David McCormick in Pennsylvania’s Senate primary, thanks to Trump’s help, but McCormick would have been the better general election candidate. And pretty much any Republican capable of speaking in complete sentences would surely be doing better than Walker is doing right now in Georgia. But Trump put his own needs ahead of the party’s.
Trump accuses McConnell of being a “a pawn for the Democrats,” but Democrats benefit when Trump is in the news, which is why President Biden and the Democrats are trying to make the midterms all about Trump and “MAGA Republicans.” It makes you wonder: Who’s the real pawn?
Jonah Goldberg is editor-in-chief of The Dispatch and the host of The Remnant podcast. His Twitter handle is @JonahDispatch.
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Rep. Debbie Dingell Suspects Trump Of Prank-Calling Her After Her Husband Died: New Book
Rep. Debbie Dingell Suspects Trump Of Prank-Calling Her After Her Husband Died: New Book https://digitalarizonanews.com/rep-debbie-dingell-suspects-trump-of-prank-calling-her-after-her-husband-died-new-book/
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Collectible Coins Featuring 'The Beatles Yellow Submarine' Now Available : Metal-Rules.com
Collectible Coins Featuring 'The Beatles – Yellow Submarine' Now Available : Metal-Rules.com https://digitalarizonanews.com/collectible-coins-featuring-the-beatles-yellow-submarine-now-available-metal-rules-com/
The Beatles’ landmark, legendary 1968 animated movie masterpiece, Yellow Submarine, is being honored with a series of authentic, legal-tender coins. This special-edition collection is a historic first for the enduring Beatles classic.
The design for these unprecedented coins comes directly from the Yellow Submarine movie, with each coin in the series highlighting the psychedelically colorful artwork from the animated film. And just like the movie, the new coins are anything but typical. The first coin in the spotlight isn’t even round – it is in the iconic shape of the Yellow Submarine itself!
Additional legal tender releases in the set include the evil Blue Meanies, and of course, the Fab Four. The limited-edition coins are made of either pure 24kt gold or pure .999 silver and are available in various weights and sizes, including:
One ounce of pure 24kt gold
Twelve grams of pure 24kt gold
One ounce of pure .999 silver
Ten grams of pure .999 silver
The coins are brought to you from the same company that produced the world-famous Coca-Cola bottlecap coins, The Crown Mint. The Beatles’ Yellow Submarine coins are the same superb quality that customers have come to expect from Crown Mint, and each one is an authentic, legal tender collectible. These gold and silver coins are the result of a new partnership between Crown Mint and Apple Corps Ltd., and the deal was brokered by Sony’s Thread Shop, the Beatles’ North American licensing agent.
Beatles enthusiasts and serious coin collectors may purchase the coins exclusively at crownmint.com.
“This has been such a great collaborative effort with the Crown Mint team, with their attention to detail and design esthetic, this is only the beginning of a very creative partnership”, said Joe Marziotto, Thread Shop’s VP of Licensing and Merchandising.
“We are incredibly fortunate to be able to create these highly collectible and significant coins in tribute to perhaps the most influential band ever,” said Steven Harris, a principal at Crown Mint. “Our industry expertise and the innovative design approach that we apply to each of our projects will make this a collection cherished by fans and collectors around the world”.
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Social Media
Twitter: @thebeatles
Facebook: @thebeatles
Instagram: @thebeatles
#TheBeatlesGetBack
Facebook: @TheCrownMint
Instagram: @thecrownmint
About The Crown Mint
The Crown Mint is an independent, creative firm that develops provocative products and packaging for the collectibles industry. Founded as a boutique design firm in 2008, the company is probably best known for kicking off a global collector’s frenzy in 2018 with the release of a series of legal tender, Coca-Cola “bottlecap” coins. Today, Crown Mint continues to partner with the biggest names in entertainment and pop culture to create collectible products that are engaging, economical, and fun. The Crown Mint is located in Scottsdale, AZ. For more information, visit crownmint.com.
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Obituaries In Burlington VT | The Burlington Free Press
Obituaries In Burlington, VT | The Burlington Free Press https://digitalarizonanews.com/obituaries-in-burlington-vt-the-burlington-free-press/
David “Dave” J. Ball, 69, died on September 19, 2022 unexpectedly at his home in Phoenix, AZ. He was born on June 20, 1953 in Burlington, VT at Mary Fletcher Hospital and is the son of James W. Ball and Anna B. (Barbour) Ball, both of Burlington, VT whom predeceased Dave. Dave graduated from Burlington High School in 1971 and enjoyed playing basketball and baseball. His favorite professional teams to watch were the Boston Celtics, Bruins, Red Sox and the New York Football Giants where he’d watch their training camps at St Mike’s College. Dave served in the Vermont Army National Guard for seven years; from 1973 to 1979, and then again for a brief time in 2002 to 2003. Upon his original service, his profession was in the telecommunications industry. Dave was known as one of the best in the industry and very sought after for his expertise. He worked for Executone of Maine, Twin State Telephone, and Vermont Telephone. Before he officially retired, Dave worked for Gordon Window Decor in Colchester, VT. Dave’s favorite hobbies included NHRA drag racing, modifying and maintaining cars, motorcycling, boating, fishing, and watching his kids play sports. He loved going on family vacations that included water to Lake George in New York, Old Orchard Beach in Maine, Hampton Beach in New Hampshire and Rocky Point in Mexico. His most recent passion was his 2003 Chevy Corvette which was a 50th Anniversary Edition. He had a sweet tooth and enjoyed his chocolate chip cookies and marble cake with chocolate ganache frosting, and could eat half of it in one sitting. He is survived by his loving wife of 47 years, Mary A. (White) Ball. They were married in St. Stephen’s Church in Winooski, VT in 1975. Besides his wife, he is survived by his two children and their spouses, along with 4 grandchildren: Chris and Kristin (Eguia) Ball of Phoenix, AZ and their 3 children Arianna, Elias and Meilani & Lauren (Ball) and Steven Mai of Phoenix, AZ, and their son, Holden. He is also survived by his brother, William “Bill” Ball and his wife, Colleen (Cross) of Stratham, NH; his brother-in-laws, David and Judy (Chapman) White of Apex, NC, Peter White of Fairfax, VT, Alan Booska of Burlington, VT, James “Jim” and Donna (Haselton) Booska of Burlington, VT, Henry White and fiancé Bonnie Baker of Fairfax, VT & Patrick Carlin of Naples, FL; sister-in-laws Diana (White) and James “Jim” Poirier of St. Albans/Phoenix, AZ, Anne-Marie “White” Dupere of Jonesville, VT & Mary Ann (Booska) Lawrence of Rochester, NY. He is also survived by his mother-in law Setsuko “Martha” (White) Booska of Peoria, AZ and his many nieces, nephews and cousins. Also, his best friend James “Jim” Leo of Burlington, VT and of course Dave’s pup, Bode, which kept him company every day throughout retirement. He is predeceased by his Brother-in-Law Donald “Don” White, Jr; Sister-in-Law Rita (Booska) Carlin; Father-in-Laws Donald “Moose” White, Sr and Floyd Booska; Mother-in-Law Ann (Murray) White. Funeral services will be held on Friday, October 14 at 11:00am at Accu-Care Cremations & Funerals at 4033 N 19th Ave, Phoenix, AZ 85015. If you wish to make any donation in Dave’s name, please do so to Cure HHT at https://curehht.org/ways-to-donate/now/ or Wounded Warrior Project at https://www.woundedwarriorproject.org/donate.
Posted online on September 28, 2022
Published in Burlington Free Press
Service Information
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Accu-Care Cremations & Funerals
October 14, 2022
at
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5 Metro Phoenix Hot Spots For Real Estate Development AZ Big Media
5 Metro Phoenix Hot Spots For Real Estate Development – AZ Big Media https://digitalarizonanews.com/5-metro-phoenix-hot-spots-for-real-estate-development-az-big-media/
Remember Bachman-Turner Overdrive’s 1983 hit “You Ain’t Seen Nothin’ Yet?” You ain’t seen nothin’ yet. B-b-b-baby, you just ain’t seen n-n-nothin’ yet? It’s one of those catchy, unforgettable lyrics you can’t shake. And, it’s a perfect musical representation of the growth happening throughout Metro Phoenix, especially when it comes to hot spots for real estate development. Just when you think you might have seen all there is to see in development expansion and innovation, the Valley seems to unveil a new surprise.
READ ALSO: Here’s how the West Valley is capitalizing on development boom
READ ALSO: Here’s how build-to-rent housing is impacting Arizona real estate
NAIOP members and industry leaders have identified some of the hot spots for real estate development and commercial real estate (CRE) activity in the Valley. From Mesa Gateway and Queen Creek to North Scottsdale, Buckeye and Goodyear, you ain’t seen nothin’ yet!
Market watch: Industrial and retail rising
Overall, commercial development in Metro Phoenix is thriving. Despite the pandemic dampening certain sectors, such as office activity, other markets have recovered and are seeing momentum. When NAIOP conducted its recent appraisal of Valley hot spots, it identified retail and industrial as two high-activity CRE segments throughout Metro Phoenix.
Jenna Borcherding
Albert Caballero
As far as the industrial outlook, Rusty Kennedy, managing director for Stream Realty, anticipates that manufacturing will continue to dominate throughout many regions in the Valley. “I think there are a couple of things driving [manufacturing activity],” he says. “Obviously one is the availability of labor, skilled labor and affordability. We’re a right-to-work state, which is a competitive advantage. We have the labor and it’s affordable. Something that we point out is that I believe we’re graduating around 50,000 students a year between our colleges, universities and other institutions.”
In the East Valley, speculative industrial offerings are trending.
“In years past, Mesa’s inventory of available quality industrial space was small and large-floor-plate industrial space was nonexistent,” explains Bill Jabjiniak, director of economic development for the City of Mesa. “This had been a major obstacle, but over time, the City of Mesa has worked closely with developers to encourage a better mix of speculative industrial product, including large floor plates that would attract larger companies. With the new product coming online, companies large and small can get operational much more quickly than in years past.”
Adds Jenna Borcherding, director of development for VanTrust Real Estate, “We’ve seen a significant amount of larger scale speculative development in recent years which has placed Phoenix in the upper echelon of industrial markets in the country,” she says. “I expect the growth in the industrial sector to continue, as the Phoenix market offers an affordable cost of living coupled with a young and diverse talent pool.”
Laura Ortiz
Joanne Osborne
As far as retail movement, Alberto Caballero, transaction manager at Western Retail Advisors has seen a surge in restaurants and high-end stores, particularly in Goodyear and North Scottsdale. “Restaurants in Goodyear along McDowell perform very well,” he says, “and Scottsdale continues to be a great market for high-end restaurants and retailers. You’re starting to see more concepts enter the market with their one and only store in North Scottsdale. Etta at Scottsdale Quarter and All Birds coming soon to Kierland are great examples.”
Also trending in the retail market, according to Laura Ortiz, president of Evergreen, is an increase in large-scale development, with Costco being a prime example with its two new developments in Queen Creek and Buckeye.
Additionally, Ortiz notes that because consumers have become accustomed to — and enjoy the ease of — quick access and delivery of goods as a result of the pandemic, the presence of drive-thru and pick-up window-based retail options is on the rise.
But industrial and retail aren’t the only agile sectors within current CRE hot spots. Take a closer look at the trends taking place in Mesa, Queen Creek, Buckeye, Goodyear and North Scottsdale and why these cities are scoring major development deals.
In June, Greystar broke ground on Gateway Grand, a more than two-million-square-foot, three-building industrial park at the northeast corner of Sossaman and Pecos Roads in Mesa. Gateway Grand is located in the City of Mesa’s Pecos Advanced Manufacturing Zone, which is just south of Phoenix-Mesa Gateway Airport.
All-encompassing movement in Mesa Gateway
It’s certainly no secret that Mesa Gateway has been an economic generating machine for Mesa and surrounding areas. According to Mesa AZ Economic Development, upwards of 6,600 people are employed in Mesa Gateway across a myriad of diverse organizations and industries. Mesa-Gateway Airport alone yields $1.8 billion in annual earnings to the local economy. And, there are plenty of reasons why, including transaction privilege tax exemption, property reclassification and Foreign Trade Zone (FTZ) benefits to name a few.
“Mesa’s Gateway Area is an important economic driver for Mesa and a hot spot for international companies, aerospace/aviation and defense firms, large industrial users and high-tech manufacturers such as electric vehicles, automotive components and semiconductors,” Jabjiniak explains.
Among Mesa-Gateway’s aerospace/aviation inhabitants: Able Aerospace Services, Boeing, Cessna/Citation, Embraer, Honeywell, Lockheed Martin, MD Helicopters, Nammo Talley and Northrop Grumman. And, Mesa’s Eliot Road Technology Corridor is a treasure trove for tech companies and data centers including Apple’s $2 billion global command center.
Further investments are only propelling activity throughout the Mesa-Gateway region, and will likely continue to do so for some time.
“Mesa-Gateway Airport received $14.4 million dollars to build a new modern terminal,” Caballero says. “This is a big win for the East Valley. Recently, an OHSO brewery and Panera have been added to the airport but more dining will come in the fall with Macayo’s and Infusion Coffee & Tea Crafters.”
Adds Ortiz, “The growth of Mesa Gateway Airport for regional passenger travel and international commerce via the Sky Bridge agreement, the extension of SR 24 and ASU’s Polytechnic Campus have been key factors in the robust economic growth of the area. Well-conceived quality master-planned residential developments, like Eastmark and Cadence, have created desirable communities which provide a strong base for the growing list of employers around Mesa Gateway.”
In July, IDM Companies began building a 204-unit multifamily apartment community in Queen Creek called Acero Harvest Station. The community has immediate proximity to Downtown Queen Creek and its robust offering of retail and dining options, as well as local, cultural and entertainment venues.
All hail Queen Creek
In Queen Creek, rapid residential growth has spurred rich economic outcomes. “Retailers who were slower to expand in the far East Valley following the Great Recession are now catching up with the residential growth to provide services in now underserved areas,” Ortiz says. “Queen Creek also benefits from its ability to provide large-scale development opportunities to major employers — like LG — which spurs surrounding development.”
Especially active locations, according to Caballero, are anchored at the corners of Ellsworth and Rittenhouse Roads and Ellsworth and Queen Creek Roads. The first has been a bustling locale for several years. “This intersection draws from San Tan Valley because it has the closest power center in Queen Creek Marketplace,” he says, “that consists of retailers like Target and Harkins to popular food users like In-N-Out and Chick-fil-A. It’s also the home to the only Sprouts within nine miles or an 18-minute drive.”
The Ellsworth and Queen Creek Roads crossing will soon house the furthest Costco location (in Metro Phoenix) in the Southeast Valley. And just four miles to the north, Caballero explains, is the 320-acre Bell Bank Park. “With the number of yearly sporting events and people visiting from across the country,” he says, “there are discussions for the land slightly north to bring hotels, restaurants and other entertainment opportunities to capitalize on the tourism to Queen Creek.”
All eyes on Buckeye
Buckeye rapidly transitioned from a sleepy town to a booming city. In fact, the far west metropolis is now listed as the No. 1 fastest-growing city in the nation, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.
“Increased population and rooftops have caused each sector to see increased growth,” says Joanne Osborne, Arizona state representative. “We all know retail follows the rooftops — transportation corridors have brought the industrial sectors, and the recognition of a talented, educated workforce in the West Valley has spurred the development of office space.”
Rusty Kennedy
William Jabjiniak
Kennedy highlights several of Buckeye’s most recent development achievements, by pointing out the “big wins with Five Below, Funko, KORE Power and Ross, among others.”
“And now,” Kennedy adds, “we’re starting to see a lot of groups positioning and get ready for what we believe is going to be a pretty big boom out in Buckeye. We’ve spoken to the town of Buckeye several times and they’re ready for it.”
Caballero foresees a significant opportunity for retail expansion on Buckeye’s horizon with the biggest future growth occurring at the intersection of Interstate 10 and Verrado. “A recent announcement of a large shopping center is coming to the northeast corner of I-10 and Verrado and Vestar will be doing the development on ...
Solomon Islands Rejects Bidens Pacific Outreach As China Looms Large
Solomon Islands Rejects Biden’s Pacific Outreach As China Looms Large https://digitalarizonanews.com/solomon-islands-rejects-bidens-pacific-outreach-as-china-looms-large/
SYDNEY — American efforts to rally Pacific island leaders at a White House summit this week were dealt a blow when the Solomon Islands said it would not endorse a joint declaration that the Biden administration plans to unveil.
As President Biden prepared to host the leaders of a dozen Pacific countries on Wednesday and Thursday in a first-of-its-kind gathering, the Solomon Islands sent a diplomatic note to other nations in the region saying there was no consensus on the issues and that it needed “time to reflect” on the declaration.
The setback just hours before the start of the summit is a sign of the challenges Washington faces as it tries to reassert influence in a region where China has made inroads. It came as Vice President Harris tours East Asia, where she is emphasizing U.S. commitment to a “free and open Indo-Pacific” during stops in Japan and South Korea. In remarks in Japan on Wednesday, Harris condemned China’s “disturbing” actions in the region, including “provocations” against Taiwan.
China has increased diplomatic ties with and financial aid to Pacific island nations in recent years, while also pushing security agreements that could increase its military presence in a region whose key shipping routes and natural resources make it strategically valuable.
While the timing of the objection to the summit declaration was something of a surprise, the source was not.
The Solomon Islands has drifted closer to China since the election of its combative prime minister, Manasseh Sogavare, in 2019. The Solomon Islands switched its diplomatic recognition from Taipei to Beijing a few months later and made headlines again this year when it struck a controversial security pact with China that the United States and its allies fear could lead to a Chinese base in the archipelago, about 1,000 miles from Australia’s coast. The Solomon Islands and China have denied plans for a base.
This month, Solomon Islands lawmakers voted to delay national elections from 2023 until 2024, in what critics called a “power grab” and a sign of growing Chinese-style authoritarianism.
In an address to the U.N. General Assembly in New York last week, Sogavare said his nation had been “unfairly targeted” and “vilified” because of its relationship with China.
In the diplomatic note, reviewed by The Washington Post and dated Sept. 25, the Solomon Islands Embassy to the United States in New York said the declaration would need “further discussion.” The Australian Broadcasting Corp. first reported that the Solomon Islands was refusing to sign the joint statement, which the ABC said has been in the works for weeks.
According to a draft of the declaration reviewed by the ABC, the statement will declare climate the “highest priority” and “single greatest existential threat” to the Pacific. But Pacific countries appeared to have removed a reference to the China-Solomon Islands security pact, deleting language emphasizing the need to “consult with one another closely on security decisions with regional impacts,” the ABC reported.
During the summit, the White House will unveil its first Pacific Island strategy, a focus of which will be climate change — an issue on which Pacific nations have demanded more decisive American action. Another component will be increasing efforts by the Coast Guard and other U.S. agencies to combat illegal fishing and to help Pacific countries sustainably manage swaths of ocean.
More details on the strategy and related initiatives would come during the summit, U.S. officials said.
“Our goal over the next couple of days fundamentally is to meet the Pacific islanders where they live,” said a senior U.S. administration official who spoke on the condition of anonymity about the discussions. “They’ve made it clear to us that they want us as partners on the biggest issues.”
There had been a “huge amount of enthusiastic support” for the joint statement, said the official, who acknowledged disagreements over the declaration but did not directly address the Solomon Islands’ refusal to sign it.
“The Solomons have been here,” he said. “They have been deeply engaged in our efforts over the last couple of days, and we expect them to be actively engaged in our meetings over the next few days.”
The Solomon Islands’ objection to the White House summit declaration will be seen by some as obstructive and influenced by China, said Anna Powles, senior lecturer with the Center for Defense and Security Studies at New Zealand’s Massey University.
But other Pacific states have also expressed concerns about the haste with which the United States convened the summit, she said, noting that the leaders of Vanuatu and Nauru are not attending because of elections. Kiribati will not be represented, and a few other countries were late invites.
“The United States is strongly welcomed back in the region, but arguably the tempo by which the U.S. has pursued its re-engagement in the Pacific is felt to be too rushed, too hurried,” Powles said.
By initially failing to invite all members of the Pacific Islands Forum — an important regional body — the United States also risked emulating China, which fell short in its bid for a broad regional security deal in May partly because some Pacific nations felt rushed to sign the sweeping agreement, she added.
“Absolutely there are parallels in terms of the lack of consultation, the lack of consensus and the circumventing of the Pacific Islands Forum,” Powles said, noting that China’s failed regional security pact was very different from what is likely to emerge from the White House summit.
The Biden administration is increasing its diplomatic presence in the Pacific with new embassies planned in the Solomon Islands, Tonga and Kiribati. In July, Harris announced that the administration would ask Congress to triple funding for economic development and ocean resilience in the region to $60 million a year for the next decade.
Ellen Nakashima in Washington contributed to this report.
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5 Things To Know Before The Stock Market Opens Wednesday
5 Things To Know Before The Stock Market Opens Wednesday https://digitalarizonanews.com/5-things-to-know-before-the-stock-market-opens-wednesday-2/
Traders on the floor of the NYSE, Sept. 27, 2022.
Source: NYSE
Here are the most important news items that investors need to start their trading day:
1. Looking for a bottom
For a while it looked hopeful U.S. stock markets had fallen as far as they could this year. Since June, stocks had been chugging back. Now we’re in the early days of fall, and the S&P 500 is coming off a fresh 2022 low Tuesday. There could be more selling to come, as well. The Fed is sticking to its aggressive anti-inflation plan, while the upcoming batch of corporate earnings could offer some more dire news, even if companies have lowered expectations. Stock futures seesawed Wednesday morning following a new development from the UK (see below).
2. Bank of England gets involved
Analysts expect the Bank of England may need to raise interest rates more aggressively following market turbulence on Monday morning.
Sopa Images | Lightrocket | Getty Images
The Bank of England is intervening in the market chaos unleashed by the new UK government’s tax-cut-heavy economic plan. The central bank said Wednesday that it would hold off on its plans to start selling bonds, also known as gilts in the UK, and start a temporary program of buying longer-term debt. “Were dysfunction in this market to continue or worsen, there would be a material risk to UK financial stability,” the Bank of England said. “This would lead to an unwarranted tightening of financing conditions and a reduction of the flow of credit to the real economy.” The pound, which had fallen drastically against the dollar, popped briefly on the news. Yields on gilts are on track to post their biggest monthly gain in 65 years. The tax-cut plan from new Prime Minister Liz Truss’s government puzzled investors, officials and experts alike, even drawing backlash from the International Monetary Fund.
3. Ian rolls in
Hurricane Ian makes its way to Florida’s west coast after passing Cuba in a composite image from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) GOES-East weather satellite September 27, 2022.
NOAA | via Reuters
Ian became a Category 4 hurricane as it geared up to smash into the Tampa region on Florida’s west coast. The storm’s center was about 75 miles west-southwest of Naples, Florida, as of 5 a.m. ET Wednesday, according to the National Hurricane Center. Ian left Cuba without power before heading toward Florida. The storm’s approach prompted several authorities and companies to batten down the hatches. Walt Disney World and Universal Studios Orlando said they would be closing their parks for at least a couple days, while Amazon said it would close some of its warehouses in the region. The Tampa and Orlando airports also suspended operations.
4. Pivotal moment for Ukraine
A view shows the Russian flag flying in the square during a five-day referendum on the secession of Zaporizhzhia region from Ukraine and its joining Russia, in the Russian-controlled city of Melitopol in the Zaporizhzhia region, Ukraine September 26, 2022.
Alexander Ermochenko | Reuters
Referendums in Russian-occupied areas of Ukraine have shown wide support for breaking off and joining Russia. It’s a predictable outcome since the votes were hastily arranged after Ukraine’s lightning offensive to seize back large chunks of its territory – and because they were rigged, according to analysts. It’s a troubling development for Ukraine and Western nations in general, since Russian leader Vladimir Putin and his government have said they will take any measures to defend Russia’s land. “As for the risk of Russia using these votes and subsequent annexation of those territories as a pretext for nuclear strikes — we are conscious of this risk, we understand that it is real,” Yuriy Sak, an advisor to Ukraine’s defense minister, told CNBC. There are also worries that the United States and Europe can’t provide weapons to Ukraine fast enough. NATO held a special meeting Tuesday to discuss the matter. “Unless we have new production, which takes months to ramp up, we’re not going to have the ability to supply the Ukrainians,” one expert told CNBC.
5. GM hits the brakes on return to office
General Motors CEO Mary Barra speaks to reporters while she waits for the arrival of President Joe Biden at media day of the North American International Auto Show in Detroit, Michigan, September 14, 2022.
Rebecca Cook | Reuters
More companies are telling employees to head back to the office after years of remote work. Covid infections are dropping, and treatments and vaccines are more widely available. But when General Motors on Friday told its corporate employees that they would have to return to the office at least three days a week, it didn’t go over well. So, on Tuesday, the company walked it back with another note to employees. After all, it’s hard to undo two and a half years of routine. “Our plan was always, and still is, collaboratively design the solution that best balances the needs of the enterprise with the needs of each of you,” said the memo, which was signed by CEO Mary Barra and other executives.
– CNBC’s Jesse Pound, Elliot Smith, Sarah Whitten, Annie Palmer, Leslie Josephs, Natasha Turak and Michael Wayland contributed to this report.
— Sign up now for the CNBC Investing Club to follow Jim Cramer’s every stock move. Follow the broader market action like a pro on CNBC Pro.
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Trump Weighed Bombing Drug Labs In Mexico According To New Book
Trump Weighed Bombing Drug Labs In Mexico, According To New Book https://digitalarizonanews.com/trump-weighed-bombing-drug-labs-in-mexico-according-to-new-book/
As president, Donald Trump weighed bombing drug labs in Mexico after one of his leading public health officials came into the Oval Office, wearing a dress uniform, and said such facilities should be handled by putting “lead to target” to stop the flow of illicit substances across the border into the United States.
“He raised it several times, eventually asking a stunned Defense Secretary Mark Esper whether the United States could indeed bomb the labs,” according to a new book by New York Times reporter Maggie Haberman. White House officials said the official, Assistant Secretary for Health Brett Giroir, often wore his dress uniform for meetings with Trump, which confused the former president.
“The response from White House aides was not to try to change Trump’s view, but to consider asking Giroir not to wear his uniform to the Oval Office anymore,” Haberman writes in “Confidence Man,” an extensive book about Trump’s time in New York and as president.
The 607-page book, which has long been awaited by many of Trump’s aides, is set to be published Tuesday. A copy was obtained by The Washington Post. The book details unusual and erratic interactions between Trump and world leaders, members of Congress, as well as his own aides, along with behind-the-scenes accounts of his time as a businessman.
Presented with a detailed accounting of the book’s reporting, a Trump spokesman did not directly respond. “While coastal elites obsess over boring books chock full of anonymously-sourced fairytales, America is a nation in decline. President Trump is focused on Saving America, and there’s nothing the Fake News can do about it,” said Taylor Budowich, the spokesman.
When asked by The Post about the account of the Oval Office discussion, Giroir said in an email that he does not comment on such private conversations with Trump. He went on to criticize the flow of drugs across the border from Mexico and voice support for substance abuse treatment. “But these measures will not stop this mass murder of Americans,” he added. “Every option needs to be on the table.”
Haberman interviewed Trump three times for the book — in which he claimed to not have taken any important documents from the White House, among other statements — and it includes his written answers to her questions. The book delves into some of the most contentious episodes of his presidency, including his impeachment trials, the weeks after the election when he tried to overturn the results and his mishandling of the novel coronavirus, among other topics.
Throughout the book, Trump is portrayed as transactional and narcissistic — at times charming, at other times cruel — but always attuned to his own political fortunes, no matter the issue. During his meeting in the Oval Office with Barack Obama in 2016, he eschewed policy and asked Obama how he kept his approval ratings high, according to the book. He told advisers that he needs people such as Pennsylvania Senate nominee Mehmet Oz (R) in office in case the election is challenged in 2024 or they try to impeach him again.
When Trump first met British Prime Minister Theresa May, he soon turned the conversation to abortion. “Some people are pro-life, some people are pro-choice. Imagine if some animals with tattoos raped your daughter and she got pregnant?” he said, according to the book. Pointing to then-Vice President Mike Pence, he described him as the “tough one” on abortion. He soon moved the topic away from Northern Ireland to an offshore wind project he wanted to block near his property, the book says.
Trump was often crass and profane about world leaders and others in his orbit. He referred to German Prime Minister Angela Merkel as “that b—-,” according to the book. When Ruth Bader Ginsburg was dying in 2020, the book says, Trump would sarcastically raise his hands to the sky in prayer and say: “Please God. Please watch over her. Every life is precious,” before asking an aide: “How much longer do you think she has?”
When former New Jersey governor Chris Christie (R) pressed Trump to more forcefully condemn white supremacists, particularly avowed white supremacist David Duke, during his 2016 campaign, Trump said he would — but he was in no rush. “A lot of these people vote,” Trump said, describing some of the white supremacists, before ending the call.
The book shows Trump frequently praising Russia and its president, Vladimir Putin, for his strength and even “laughing” when aides grew mad that he tweeted a proposal for a joint cyber unit with Russia that would have “effectively let the Russians into the U.S. investigations of hacking,” Haberman writes.
In another part of the book, Trump shows his lack of care about classified markings. Aides tried to stop Trump from tweeting a photo of an Iranian facility until they could remove classified details, Haberman writes. But he liked how the image looked and proceeded. “If you take out the classification, that’s the sexy part,” he told aides, she writes.
And as Trump played down the coronavirus in early 2020, he privately acknowledged its severity and cast himself as the victim, according to Haberman’s book.
“Can you believe this happened to me?” he said, fearing the political impact on his presidency.
In detail, Haberman reports how Trump was fearful of dying and how his condition grew worse in the White House. “Deputy chief of staff of operations Tony Ornato warned the president that if he fell into a more dire situation, procedures to ensure the continuity of government would have to be set into motion,” Haberman writes.
Trump was appalled by the sight of protective face masks, telling aides to remove them in his presence throughout 2020. “Get that f—ing thing off,” he said during one meeting, according to Haberman’s book. Trump repeatedly wanted credit for vaccines but told aides he could not get the credit he deserved because of the “radical right,” referring to his own supporters.
He repeatedly encouraged aides to avoid the topic of the coronavirus because he viewed it as a political loser for him. “Don’t talk about it on TV,” he told the Republican National Committee’s chairwoman, Ronna McDaniel, according to the book, even as the virus dominated the news. “Don’t make such a big deal out of this,” Trump said of the pandemic in one March 2020 conversation with then-Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo (D). “You’re gonna make it a problem.”
The book shows frequent attempts from advisers to tell Trump to tone down his behavior, fearful that he was going to lose his reelection bid because of his own personal conduct. He was repeatedly shown polling that his coronavirus news conferences were hurting him, in an attempt to get him to take the virus and his response more seriously.
“People are tired of the f—ing drama,” Attorney General William P. Barr told him in 2020. Barr was one of a number of aides who urged Trump to dial back his frequent attacks on others.
The book also shows how Trump regularly pitted aides and even family members against one another in the White House. For example, Trump frequently told then-White House Chief of Staff John F. Kelly that he wanted Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump to depart the White House, according to the book.
“In meetings with Kelly and [White House Counsel Don] McGahn, Trump gave instructions to essentially fire the pair. Kelly and McGahn resisted, expressing their fear that he would not back them once his daughter and son-in-law pushed back. At one point, Trump was about to write on Twitter that his daughter and son-in-law were leaving the White House. Kelly stopped him, saying Trump had to talk to them directly before doing so. Trump agreed, then never followed up with the conversation,” the book says.
Trump gave former New York mayor Rudy Giuliani (R) control of his legal team because his other lawyers were not willing to go far enough to overturn the 2020 election, Haberman writes. “Okay, Rudy, you’re in charge. Go wild, do anything you want. I don’t care,” Trump said over the phone, as he pushed him to help overturn the results. “My lawyers are terrible.” He frequently berated White House counsel Pat Cipollone, according to the book.
In the aftermath of the election, Haberman describes a president who increasingly became enamored with conspiracy theories and staying in the White House, bringing in lawyers who his core group of advisers saw as deluded — with some of his longest advisers effectively trying to hide and run out the clock.
And it shows how he relishes his role as a political kingmaker in the GOP. During one of her interviews with Trump, Haberman writes that Sen. Lindsey O. Graham (R-S.C.) came in and praised his golf game. “‘The greatest comeback in American history!’ Graham declared. Trump looked at me. ‘You know why Lindsey kisses my ass?’ he asked. ‘So I’ll endorse his friends.’ Graham laughed uproariously.”
More than many tomes about Trump, the book delves into his long history as a developer in New York, where Haberman talks with many of his former friends and executives about his tendency to speak in crass terms about women and skirt financial laws — and how he created a mystique around him that endured to the presidency.
Haberman traces Trump’s political career back to the 1980s, where she reports he frequently made comments that were homophobic, particularly toward gay men, and washed his hands immediately after meeting someone who had AIDS.
She describes Trump’s complicated relationship with his father and the ways they avoided paying taxes over the years. She writes that Trump mused about wanting Black judges for his cases because his late lawyer Roy Cohn said they could be manipulated. Even as a businessman, she said, he was looking at politics, getting polling presentations on his image as early as 1987.
Some of the book’s epi...
Christian Nationalist https://digitalarizonanews.com/christian-nationalist/
A rally headlined by retired Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn and an array of other speakers who tout ideals of Christian nationalism and conspiracy theories is coming to southwest Missouri later this year.
Scheduled to appear at the Freedom Encounter theater in Branson from Nov. 4-5, the event is one of more than a dozen rallies around the country featuring Flynn and his allies as part of what they call “The Great ReAwakening” tour. It is hosted by Clay Clark, an entrepreneur and podcast host based out of South Dakota.
A graphic advertising the event includes the faces of about 50 different people, though it’s unclear how many of them will be present and speaking at the Branson event. Among those displayed are Flynn, MyPillow CEO and election conspiracist Mike Lindell, as well as Roger Stone, a onetime Trump confidant who was convicted during the Russia interference investigation and later pardoned by the former president.
“Just 3,000 tickets will be sold to this epic event!” the graphic declares, advertising a 50% off discount for “all pastors.” It also features advertisements for Showboat Branson Belle and Branson Duck Tours.
The event marks the latest foray into southwest Missouri by prominent activists on the far right, who have used similar events to spread misinformation and conspiracies surrounding COVID-19, elections, government and society at large while calling for action among their supporters.
Southwest Missouri:Mike Lindell holds conference in Springfield, featuring Marjorie Taylor Greene & conspiracy theories
Flynn, along with Trump attorney Lin Wood, spoke at an event in Springfield last year centered around “preserving America.” Several local elected officials, including Greene County Sheriff Jim Arnott and former Springfield city councilwoman Angela Romine, attended. Lindell, who has become one of the most prominent conspiracy theorists around the 2020 election in the country, held a weekend-long summit in Springfield last month. The event featured U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia and continued to tout debunked theories that the election was wrongfully decided against Trump.
Flynn was fired from an intelligence position under former President Barack Obama before a brief stint as former President Donald Trump’s national security advisor. He resigned from that post after lying to the FBI about his interaction with Russian officials. He pleaded guilty to one criminal charge relating to a probe into Russian election interference and was then pardoned by Trump.
From 2021:Michael Flynn and Lin Wood speak in Springfield at ‘Preserving America’ event
A recent investigation by The Associated Press and PBS “Frontline” found that Flynn’s public appearances and speeches around the country have channeled themes of Christian nationalism, while attempting to energize local and state Republican officials, far-right extremist groups and conspiracy theorists. The “ReAwakening” rallies have also drawn criticism from prominent Christian leaders, who have warned that the events distort the teachings of the religion in an attempt to harm American democracy, The Guardian reported in June.
At one similar rally in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, Stone told the crowd, among other conspiratorial claims, that there was a “satanic portal above the White House” that could only be “closed by prayer.”
Galen Bacharier covers Missouri politics & government for the News-Leader. Contact him at gbacharier@news-leader.com, (573) 219-7440 or on Twitter @galenbacharier.
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Ian’s Arrival Delays Jan. 6 Hearing https://digitalarizonanews.com/ians-arrival-delays-jan-6-hearing/
FILE – The House select committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol holds a hearing at the Capitol in Washington, Thursday, July 21, 2022. The House committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol announced Tuesday, Sept. 27, that it had postponed a hearing scheduled for Wednesday as a hurricane hurtled toward the Florida coast. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File)
WASHINGTON — The House committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol announced Tuesday it had postponed a hearing scheduled for today as a hurricane hurtled toward the Florida coast.
The committee had planned to hold what was likely to be its final investigative hearing Wednesday afternoon, but members decided at the last minute to delay it as it became clear that Hurricane Ian was churning on a collision course toward Florida, where it was expected to strengthen into a catastrophic Category 4 storm.
“We’re praying for the safety of all those in the storm’s path,” committee chairman Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., and vice chair Liz Cheney, R-Wyo., said Tuesday afternoon in a statement. “The Select Committee’s investigation goes forward and we will soon announce a date for the postponed proceedings.”
The committee had not yet provided a specific agenda for the hearing, but Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., said over the weekend it would “tell the story about a key element of Donald Trump’s plot to overturn the election.”
This week’s hearing was intended to close the series of public hearings the nine-member panel embarked on in early June. Throughout eight hearings, the committee — comprised of seven Democrats and two Republicans — sought to show the American public in great detail how former President Trump ignored many of his closest advisers and amplified his false claims of election fraud after he lost the 2020 election to Joe Biden.
Some of the more than 1,000 witnesses interviewed by the panel — a number of them Trump’s closest allies — recounted in videotaped testimony how the former president declined to act when hundreds of his supporters violently attacked the Capitol as Congress certified Biden’s victory on Jan. 6, 2021. But the committee has said its work isn’t done.
During the August recess, congressional investigators continued to interview witnesses, including several of Trump’s cabinet members — some of whom had discussed invoking the constitutional process in the 25th Amendment to remove Trump from office after the riot.
Cheney previously said the committee “has far more evidence to share with the American people and more to gather.”
There are also many questions surrounding the effort to overturn the election that remain unanswered as the committee goes into its final three months of work.
The committee wants to get to the bottom of missing Secret Service texts from Jan. 5-6, 2021, which could shed further light on Trump’s actions during the insurrection, particularly after earlier testimony about his confrontation with security as he tried to join supporters at the Capitol. Thompson said earlier this month the committee has recently obtained “thousands” of documents from the Secret Service.
The committee has also secured an interview with conservative activist Virginia “Ginni” Thomas, who’s married to Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas. Lawmakers want to know more about her role in trying to help Trump overturn the election. She contacted lawmakers in Arizona and Wisconsin as part of that effort.
The committee is expected to turn over a comprehensive report by the end of the year that will include legislative reforms to help prevent a future attempt to subvert democracy.
Print Headline: Ian’s arrival delays Jan. 6 hearing
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Track Hurricane Ian’s Path In Florida https://digitalarizonanews.com/track-hurricane-ians-path-in-florida/
The latest: As of Tuesday evening, Ian is a major hurricane between Cuba and the Florida Keys. Its most recent track shows landfall in Southwest Florida.
Where is Ian heading right now?
Here is the latest forecast track and cone from the National Hurricane Center, as well as recent satellite footage. The line and cone represent where the eye of the storm is expected to go in the coming days.
No prediction is exact — the cone shows the range that two out of three storms would take on average. But a third of the time, storms leave the cone.
A storm’s effects can reach much farther than its eye. This satellite video shows the storm for the last three hours.
Hover or tap on the circles on the map to see when the storm is predicted to reach each point.
Data from the National Hurricane Center. Video images from the National Environmental Satellite Data and Information Service.
• • •
2022 Tampa Bay Times Hurricane Guide
HOW TO TALK TO KIDS ABOUT THE HURRICANE: A school mental health expert says to let them know what’s happening, keep a routine and stay calm.
WHAT TO EXPECT IN A SHELTER: What to bring — and not bring — plus information on pets, keeping it civil and more.
SAFEGUARD YOUR HOME: Storms and property damage go hand in hand. Here’s how to prepare.
IT’S STORM SEASON: Get ready and stay informed at tampabay.com/hurricane.
RISING THREAT: Tampa Bay will flood. Here’s how to get ready.
DOUBLE-CHECK: Checklists for building all kinds of hurricane kits
PHONE IT IN: Use your smartphone to protect your data, documents and photos.
SELF-CARE: Protect your mental health during a hurricane.
• • •
Rising Threat: A special report on flood risk and climate change
PART 1: The Tampa Bay Times partnered with the National Hurricane Center for a revealing look at future storms.
PART 2: Even weak hurricanes can cause huge storm surges. Experts say people don’t understand the risk.
PART 3: Tampa Bay has huge flood risk. What should we do about it?
INTERACTIVE MAP: Search your Tampa Bay neighborhood to see the hurricane flood risk.
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Here Is Today https://digitalarizonanews.com/here-is-today-10/
The forecast is showing a hot day in Tucson. Temperatures are projected to be a quite blazing high of 95. Today has the makings of a perfect day to hit the pool or find a nice air-conditioned room. Today’s forecasted low temperature is 74 degrees. The area will see gentle winds today, with forecast models showing only 10 mph wind conditions coming up from Southeast. This report is created automatically with weather data provided by TownNews.com. Visit tucson.com for more weather updates.
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Lightning can travel through plumbing, so don’t shower or wash hands or dishes during a thunderstorm. That’s what the CDC advises.
Tucson folks should be prepared for high temperatures. Temperatures are projected to be a steamy day today with temperatures reaching a high o…
Tucson’s evening forecast: Partly cloudy. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. Low 71F. Winds SE at 5 to 10 mph. Hot temperatures are p…
Tucson folks should be prepared for high temperatures. Temperatures are projected to be a scorcher today with temperatures reaching a high of …
This evening in Tucson: Mostly clear. Low 72F. Winds SSE at 5 to 10 mph. Hot temperatures are predicted tomorrow. Temperatures are projected t…
The forecast is showing a hot day in Tucson. Temperatures are projected to be a quite steamy high of 95. Today has the makings of a perfect da…
Tonight’s weather conditions in Tucson: A clear sky. Low 74F. Winds ESE at 5 to 10 mph. Hot temperatures are predicted tomorrow. Temperatures …
This evening in Tucson: A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible early. Mostly clear. Low 71F. Winds light and variable. Sunday, Tucson folk…
Millions around the world suffered through long heat waves and deadly flash floods. But this isn’t a freak summer: It’s occurring much more often.
Hot temperatures are predicted today. Temperatures are projected to be a scorcher today with temperatures reaching a high of 94, though luckil…
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The Russian Men Fleeing Mobilization And Leaving Everything Behind
The Russian Men Fleeing Mobilization, And Leaving Everything Behind https://digitalarizonanews.com/the-russian-men-fleeing-mobilization-and-leaving-everything-behind/
ISTANBUL — To escape fighting in Ukraine, the 42-year-old Russian construction worker flew through two countries in four days, spending so much on tickets, so quickly, he lost track of it all. Finally, he ended up in Turkey, where it was safe. As he stopped to breathe Tuesday, on plastic seats in the airport arrival hall, he conceded he had no idea where to go next.
But maybe it didn’t matter. “The main task is to save your life,” he said, as he picked at peanuts from a plastic dish. The avalanche of men fleeing Russia “don’t know what to do next,” he said.
President Vladimir Putin’s announcement last week of a “partial” military mobilization of Russian reservists for his war in Ukraine set off a frenzied dash for the country’s borders by tens of thousands of men affected by the order — but also many who simply assumed that their government, desperate for troops, would conscript any man who could carry a gun.
The mobilization is a risky and unpopular decision, bringing home the grim reality of the war to many Russians who were previously apathetic supporters of the invasion, or quiet opponents. Putin, normally cautious about stirring dissent, promised in March not to mobilize Russians to fight. But after major setbacks in Ukraine, including the humiliating Russian retreat in the Kharkiv region, he has broken that promise.
The emerging scale of the exodus has raised questions about Russia’s ability to sustain its war effort. And as Russian men venture beyond its borders, and the restrictions imposed by Putin’s government, they are providing a glimpse of alienation and unease spreading back home.
Many have fled to Kazakhstan, according to the country’s Interior Ministry, which said nearly 100,000 Russians had entered the country since Putin announced the call-up on Sept. 21. At least 10,000 have crossed into Georgia each day — double the amount before the mobilization, according to authorities there.
And thousands have flown to Turkey, always a popular tourist destination for Russians and now a hub for its exiles, who have arrived on packed commercial flights over the past week and even on chartered planes, with some paying thousands of dollars to secure a seat, according to passengers.
The construction worker, who like others interviewed spoke on the condition of anonymity out of concern for family members still in Russia, took the long way out. He flew from the Russian city of Sochi to Tajikistan on Sept. 23, and then to Uzbekistan. Early Tuesday morning, he flew to Istanbul, from where he was planning on traveling on to the southern Turkish resort city of Antalya, long a favorite among Russian visitors.
Back home, he had not waited to receive a letter summoning him for military service. And, in any case, his complaints ran deeper than the mobilization.
“I do not support my government, but I cannot do anything to change the situation. If you have another view from them and if you protest or write about this, you go to jail,” he said.
Like other men who had fled, he fretted for family members left behind. His mother, he said, “is nervous and stressed for me.” His visa in Turkey only allows him to stay for two months, but that was a problem for later.
A 32-year-old man who arrived in Istanbul on Tuesday said he left behind his wife and 1-year-old son. “Of course it was a very difficult decision,” said the man, an ethnic Ukrainian who said he was born and has lived his entire life in Russia.
The government, he said, was enlisting men “en masse.” Neighbors and friends had been called up. “I had no choice. I can’t go to war and kill people in Ukraine. And if I stayed, there was no other option.” He and his wife decided he should leave on the day Putin announced the mobilization.
“In one day, I quit my job, took the money from the bank, took my wife and the baby to my parents. My entire life is breaking apart,” he said.
For most of the Russians traveling to Kazakhstan, the first stop is the Kazakh city of Oral, 160 miles south of Samara, the nearest Russian city with an airport. Lukpan Akhmedyarov, a local investigative journalist, said he took a Russian woman and her 19-year-old son into his apartment, with hotels and rental apartments fully booked.
The city is full of thousands of young Russian men of military age wandering around with their cellphones in their hands, dragging or carrying their bags, he said. “They all look very confused and lost. They look like a person who did something very unexpected for himself and he doesn’t know what to do next. They don’t look happy. And they are very, very quiet.”
Volunteers have set up a welcome tent near the central railway station, he said, offering newly arrived Russians free SIM cards, meals, water and hot drinks. Several local cafes, now open all night, allow Russians to stay if they have nowhere else to go.
The movie theater in town did the same, and 200 people are sleeping there each night, Akhmedyarov said. Others are sleeping at the local mosque, he added.
Many of the new arrivals had to spend three days in a queue of cars on the border, compared with just a few hours on the first two days after the mobilization was announced. Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev said Tuesday that his country would welcome Russians on the run, calling their situation “hopeless” and saying they were “forced to leave.”
“This is a political and humanitarian issue,” he said.
Some Russians who fled after the mobilization announcement said they considered leaving earlier but decided to save up first, hoping the situation might improve. Others simply delayed a decision that would result in an indefinite separation from family and home.
A 33-year-old filmmaker said he and his wife had actually decided to get out before the war, as Russia’s economy worsened and the threat of conflict loomed. After Russia invaded Ukraine, their conviction hardened: The wife’s relatives lived near Kyiv, under Russian bombardment, and the couple recoiled at Moscow’s propaganda about routing what it called “Nazis” from Ukraine, he said.
In the spring, the couple started the process of applying to travel to the United States on a talent visa for artists, but still hoped they could take their time leaving Moscow, he said.
Then the mobilization announcement came. The filmmaker was not among those slated to be called up, but “we understood they will take everyone who they can catch,” he said, referring to the government.
“We understood, me and all my guy friends, this is it, the moment. If you hoped to save your business or career in Russia, it’s all gone. Now you have to think about your life.”
His mother sent him a text message on Sept. 21, he said. “You have to go now,” she wrote. “You can’t wait.”
He and his wife discussed what to do for about half an hour, and then he started trying to book his ticket out of Russia. “It was a legendary process,” he said. “You enter the dates, you choose where to go, you push the button to buy and you can’t. At this moment another 20 people are trying to buy the same ticket.” He finally found a seat on Monday and flew to Istanbul.
“I am not sad at this moment,” he said. “Maybe I have some feelings — not for the country, for some places, for some people. For my family, for my grandparents — I will not see them again. I am not sad about the country. Now the country is in a horrible condition.”
On the day of the mobilization announcement, Sergei, a 26-year-old technician from Moscow, threw his passport and essential clothes into a bag, borrowed money from friends, bought a plane ticket and headed straight to the Moscow airport. He was on one of the first flights out.
“I was in complete shock,” he said, speaking in a telephone interview from the Georgian capital of Tbilisi, where he was searching for work.
“Of course I knew our government is unpredictable, but I hoped that mobilization would not happen. I had a feeling of sadness and confusion. I was at a loss. Now I hope that none of my friends who are still in Russia will be drafted. I’m really scared for them,” he said.
Although he left behind his parents, grandmother and family pets, he has no plans to return, and is trying to decide where he may eventually settle.
“The problem is that an old, weird generation is at the top in our country,” he said. “They think differently from us and we can’t do anything about them. We went to protest, but nothing happened, and now people are very afraid.”
Few of the men who are fleeing Russia now will ever go back, he predicted, and the exodus would affect the country for years to come.
“Of course, the best people are leaving,” he said.
Dixon reported from Riga, Latvia. Natalia Abbakumova contributed reporting from Riga.
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Harbor Group International Completes $80.75 Million Acquisition Of 384-Unit Colter Park Apartment Community In Uptown Phoenix | MultifamilyBiz.com
Harbor Group International Completes $80.75 Million Acquisition Of 384-Unit Colter Park Apartment Community In Uptown Phoenix | MultifamilyBiz.com https://digitalarizonanews.com/harbor-group-international-completes-80-75-million-acquisition-of-384-unit-colter-park-apartment-community-in-uptown-phoenix-multifamilybiz-com/
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PHOENIX, AZ – Affiliates of Harbor Group International, a privately owned international real estate investment and management firm, announced the acquisition of the Colter Park Apartments, a 384-unit multifamily property located in Phoenix, Ariz., for $80.75 million. Steven Vegh of Westwood Realty Associates brokered the off market transaction. Northmarq arranged a Freddie Mac senior loan on behalf of HGI led by Bryan Mummaw.
Located in the Uptown Phoenix submarket, the property is supported by strong market fundamentals, with the area featuring some of the city’s most popular bars, restaurants and retail locations. The property sits within Camelback Corridor, a prominent shopping, hospitality and employment district.
“The acquisition of the Colter Park Apartments further represents HGI’s ability to identify unique value-add opportunities within fundamentally strong markets and continue to grow the firm’s active investment portfolio within the Sunbelt region,” said Greg Heller, Managing Director of Acquisitions at HGI. “This transaction provides significant opportunity for operational upside as we expect to see high occupancy rates and steady rent growth over the next five years in the greater Phoenix region.”
The apartment community is centrally located and easily connects residents to major employment and lifestyle nodes within the Phoenix region. The property is within a 10-minute drive of Midtown and provides direct access to the Valley Light Rail system, which will present residents additional modes of access to employment and entertainment centers including Midtown, Downtown and the Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport. The submarket is also proximate to a range of employers such as Banner Health, the City of Phoenix, Bank of America, U.S. Bank, Uber and WeWork.
HGI plans to invest $5 million to renovate the remaining vintage units within the complex, as well as common area improvements and deferred maintenance, enhancing the community’s curb appeal. As such, the renovations will provide significant value-add and mark to market opportunity for the firm.
Source: Harbor Group International
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Alzheimers Treatment Slowed Cognitive Decline In Closely Watched Clinical Trial
Alzheimer’s Treatment Slowed Cognitive Decline In Closely Watched Clinical Trial https://digitalarizonanews.com/alzheimers-treatment-slowed-cognitive-decline-in-closely-watched-clinical-trial/
An investigational Alzheimer’s disease treatment from Biogen and Eisai slowed the rate of cognitive decline by 27% in a clinical trial, the companies said Tuesday, meeting the goals of a closely tracked study and strengthening the drug’s case for approval as early as January.
The positive result is welcome news for the millions of people living with Alzheimer’s and a big win for Eisai and Biogen, giving the companies a potential blockbuster product in the intravenous medicine, called lecanemab. For Biogen, which presided over the disastrous rollout of the Alzheimer’s treatment Aduhelm, the potential approval of lecanemab presents a rare second chance at a multibillion-dollar market.
The lecanemab study is an “important milestone for Eisai in fulfilling our mission to meet the expectations of the Alzheimer’s disease community,” said Eisai CEO Haruo Naito, in a statement.
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In the study, which enrolled roughly 1,800 patients with early-stage Alzheimer’s, lecanemab outperformed placebo. The treatment also met its secondary goals of reducing toxic plaques in the brain and slowing patients’ decline on three other measures of memory and function.
About 21% of patients treated with lecanemab experienced brain swelling or brain bleeding visible on PET scans, a side effect associated with drugs of its type. Less than 3% of those patients had symptomatic cases, the companies said.
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The study, called CLARITY-AD, was the largest conducted to date to test the long-debated theory that clearing toxic brain plaques, called amyloid, might slow the pace of Alzheimer’s by slowing the pace of memory loss or delaying the onset of dementia.
Lecanemab is the first treatment of its kind to affirm the so-called amyloid hypothesis in a large, Phase 3 clinical trial after two decades of consistent failure and murkier outcomes from similar, experimental drugs.
“This is a statistically robust and positive study but the treatment effect is small,” said Lon Schneider, a physician and Alzheimer’s expert at the Keck School of Medicine of the University of Southern California. Schneider cautioned that experts will need to take a much closer look at the lecanemab data when presented in more detail, but based on the results described in Eisai’s press release, he believes lecanemab is likely to win approval from the Food and Drug Administration. Schneider was not involved in the study.
In a telephone briefing for reporters on Tuesday night, Ivan Cheung, chairman of Eisai’s U.S. operations and global head of Alzheimer’s unit, said lecanemab’s positive treatment effect emerged six months into the study and was largest at the final, 18-month time point. Cheung called the benefit for patients “very clinically meaningful,” while also acknowledging that opinions will differ.
The FDA is already considering lecanemab for a conditional approval, promising to make a decision by Jan. 6 based on preliminary evidence from a smaller study showing the drug’s effect on amyloid in patients’ brains. Eisai now plans to add the more definitive results from the CLARITY-AD study to its application, aiming to win full approval in the summer and persuade Medicare to walk back a restrictive reimbursement policy set in the aftermath of Aduhelm.
CLARITY-AD might be sufficient to win over the FDA, but lecanemab’s future depends on whether physicians, payers, and patients find the supporting data convincing. The study used a metric called the Clinical Dementia Rating sum of boxes, or CDR-SB, which measures six cognitive domains including memory, problem solving, and personal care, and produces scores ranging from 0 to 18, with higher numbers indicating more severe dementia.
In the 18-month trial, patients who received lecanemab did .45 points better on the test than those receiving placebo, a result that hit the threshold of statistical significance, meaning it’s unlikely to be the result of random chance.
Aduhelm, in a comparable clinical trial, slowed decline by 22%, outperforming placebo by .39 points on the same measure. A second, identical study failed.
Lecanemab was administered as an intravenous infusion given twice per month. Approximately 25% of the 1,800 participants in the CLARITY-AD study were Hispanic and African-Americans, making it one of the more diverse populations ever enrolled in an Alzheimer’s clinical trial.
The Alzheimer’s Association, which has actively lobbied the FDA to approve new treatments, issued a statement Tuesday night. “These are the most encouraging results in clinical trials treating the underlying causes of Alzheimer’s to date,” the group said.
For lecanemab, statistical significance does not necessarily make for a life-changing medicine. Alzheimer’s researchers have spent years debating just what small changes in CDR-SB scores mean for patients with the disease. A fractional improvement on an 18-point scale could be imperceptible in real life. On the other hand, the metric is not an interval scale, meaning its numerical differences aren’t proportionate to one another. Going from a 1 to a 1.5 on the CDR-SB could mean no longer being able to drive on one’s own, while going from a 14 to a 14.5 would likely make little difference for a patient already in the throes of dementia.
To Michael Greicius, a neurologist at Stanford University who studies and treats Alzheimer’s, the rate of brain swelling in the lecanemab study could be confounding. Once patients present with the common side effect, called ARIA, everyone involved in the trial can be fairly certain they are receiving the drug and not placebo, exposing the study to bias. A true test of lecanemab’s benefits would be looking only at whether it helped the patients who didn’t test positive for ARIA, Greicius said.
“I think if anything this is going to be on the cusp of what’s considered minimally clinically significant, and it may be below that,” said Greicius, who was not involved in the study. “That’s where we need to see more data.”
Experts said any definitive ruling on lecanemab’s value would require more detailed results from CLARITY-AD, which Eisai has promised to present at a medical conference in November.
Wall Street had only moderate expectations for CLARITY-AD, with analysts setting a low probability of success and declaring that even a marginal benefit would count as a positive for Biogen and Eisai. Biogen’s share price has fallen by nearly 50% since Aduhelm’s 2021 approval, and Eisai has lost about 60% of its value.
“Today’s announcement gives patients and their families hope that lecanemab, if approved, can potentially slow the progression of Alzheimer’s disease, and provide a clinically meaningful impact on cognition and function,” said Michel Vounatsos, Biogen’s CEO, in a statement.
Biogen’s stock price rose 44% to $285 in Wednesday pre-market trading, adding $13 billion to the company’s market value. Eisai’s U.S.-listed American Depositary Receipts had not yet opened for trading.
In a published research note, Brian Skorney, biotech analyst at R.W. Baird and a long time critic of Biogen and its Alzheimer’s drug programs, described the lecanemab study results as “pretty much a best-case scenario that not only should lead to approval and reimbursement but could make it challenging for competition (assuming any are successful) to match.” Skorney upgraded his Biogen rating to “outperform” from “neutral.”
The results kick off what will be a transformational nine months for Alzheimer’s research. By the end of this year, Roche will have data from a pair of two-year studies on gantenerumab, another antibody that reduces brain plaques. And in the first half of 2023, Eli Lilly expects to have results from a Phase 3 trial on donanemab, a similar treatment that met its goals in a small study last year.
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Biden Keeps US Target For Refugee Admissions At 125000
Biden Keeps US Target For Refugee Admissions At 125,000 https://digitalarizonanews.com/biden-keeps-us-target-for-refugee-admissions-at-125000/
Wednesday, September 28th 2022, 3:38 am
By: Associated Press
SAN DIEGO, Calif. –
President Joe Biden on Tuesday kept the nation’s cap on refugee admissions at 125,000 for the 2023 budget year, despite pressure from advocates to raise it even higher to meet the need after falling far short of that target this year.
Refugees advocates have been pushing the Biden administration to do more to restore the U.S. Refugee Admissions Program. The more than four-decade-old program suffered deep cuts under the Trump administration, which slashed admissions to a record low of 15,000.
After taking office, Biden quadrupled the number of refugee admissions permitted for the remaining months of the 2021 budget year. He then set the target at 125,000 for the 2022 budget year, which ends Sept. 30. But so far fewer than 20,000 refugees have been admitted.
That number excludes the roughly 180,000 Ukrainians and Afghans who came to the United States via a legal process called humanitarian parole that got them into the country more quickly than the traditional refugee program but only allows for stays of up to two years.
Refugees are provided a path to permanent residency. Their admissions are determined by the president each year, and federal funding for resettlement agencies is based on the number of people they resettle in a given year.
The 125,000 target “is justified by humanitarian concerns or is otherwise in the national interest,” Biden stated in his presidential determination. Historically, the average has been 95,000 under both Republican and Democratic administrations.
Biden earmarked 5,000 more slots for people from Europe and Central Asia for the 2023 budget year, making room to accommodate those fleeing the war in Ukraine.
The largest number of slots — 40,000 — was set aside for refugees from Africa, followed by 35,000 from South Asia and 15,000 each from East Asia, Europe and Latin America.
Biden has struggled to restore the U.S. Refugee Program despite raising the numbers and removing bureaucratic barriers put in place by his predecessor, which slowed the process and led to a massive backlog.
Krish O’Mara Vignarajah, head of Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service, said the Biden administration must act now to improve the refugee program with the United Nations reporting a record 100 million people being displaced from their homes.
“It must ramp up and streamline overseas processing of refugee applications if this lifesaving program is to remain relevant amid an unprecedented global displacement crisis,” she said in a statement.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a statement that “this ambitious target demonstrates that the United States is committed to rebuilding and strengthening the U.S. Refugee Admissions Program” through various means. He pointed to plans for a pilot program that is expected to get underway by the end of the year that will allow regular Americans to sign up to resettle refugees in their communities, much like U.S. citizens did in stepping up to help Afghans and Ukrainians over the past year.
Traditionally refugees are placed in communities by nine refugee resettlement agencies.
“Our refugee admissions program embodies the best of American values and the will to help those in need, and it will continue to provide access to resettlement as a lifesaving, durable solution,” Blinken said.
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Dominik Bagchi Adam Damante Elijah Joplin Landon Jury Connor Lopez And Viliami Tongotea Earn Ed Doherty Nominations
Dominik Bagchi, Adam Damante, Elijah Joplin, Landon Jury, Connor Lopez And Viliami Tongotea Earn Ed Doherty Nominations https://digitalarizonanews.com/dominik-bagchi-adam-damante-elijah-joplin-landon-jury-connor-lopez-and-viliami-tongotea-earn-ed-doherty-nominations/
September 28, 2022 by Andy Morales, AZPreps365
Dominik Bagchi – Sr. QB – Central
In a 20-13 rivalry win over North, Bagchi was 11 of 18 passing for 309 yards and 2 TDs. He helped the Bobcats improve to 3-1 by erasing an early 7-0 deficit with 20 straight points to secure consecutive wins over the Mustangs for the first time since 2011-12. Bagchi also leads both 5A & 6A in passing yards after four games.
Adam Damante – Sr. QB – ALA-Gilbert North
The Eagles’ QB was 26-of-38 for 464 yards and 7 TDs in a 55-35 win over previously unbeaten Prescott. Damante, an NAU commit, also had 63 rushing yards and a TD.
Elijah Joplin – Sr. QB – Marana
In a key battle of unbeaten teams in Southern Arizona, Joplin led the Tigers going 31-38 passing for 317 yards and 2 TDs in a 40-37 win over Canyon del Oro.
Landon Jury – Sr. QB – Casteel
Jury went 18-of-23 for 323 yards and 5 TD’s in a 48-7 win over Casa Grande that snapped a 16-game win streak for the Cougars. He was also the Colts’ leading rusher with 68 yards and a TD and his team is now 4-0.
Connor Lopez – Sr. TE/OLB – Poston Butte
In a wild 29-28 comeback win over Flagstaff Coconino, the 6-foot-5, 217-pound tight end had six catches for 190 yards and three TDs and caught the game-winning two-point conversion with about four minutes left. On defense, he had three solo tackles, three assisted and a forced fumble.
Viliami Tongotea – Sr. RB – Buckeye
35 carries for 307 yards and 4 TDs in a 56-41 win over Lake Havasu. He is averaging 10.8 yards per carry and has scored 13 TDs for the 4-0 Hawks.
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China's Yuan Slides To 14-Year Low After US Rate Hikes
China's Yuan Slides To 14-Year Low After US Rate Hikes https://digitalarizonanews.com/chinas-yuan-slides-to-14-year-low-after-us-rate-hikes/
BEIJING (AP) — China’s yuan fell to a 14-year low against the dollar Wednesday despite central bank efforts to stem the slide after U.S. interest rate hikes prompted traders to convert money into dollars in search of higher returns.
A weaker yuan helps Chinese exporters by making their goods cheaper abroad, but it encourages capital to flow out of the economy. That raises costs for Chinese borrowers and sets back the ruling Communist Party’s efforts to boost weak economic growth.
The yuan fell to 7.2301 to the dollar, its lowest level since January 2008. One yuan was worth about 13.8 cents, down 15% from its March high.
The yuan has exceeded expectations it might fall to 7 to the dollar after the Federal Reserve started aggressive rate hikes to cool inflation that is at a four-decade high. The Fed has raised rates five times this year and says more increases are likely.
By contrast, the People’s Bank of China has cut interest rates to boost growth that fell to 2.2% over a year earlier in the first six months of 2022 — less than half the official 5.5% target.
Vendors exchange Chinese yuan notes at a store on Sunday, July 17, 2022, in Beijing. China’s yuan fell to a 14-year low against the dollar Wednesday, Sept. 28, 2022, despite central bank efforts to stem the slide after U.S. interest rate hikes prompted traders to convert money into dollars in search of higher returns. (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan)
Photo: ASSOCIATED PRESS/Ng Han Guan
The yuan is allowed to fluctuate up or down 2% from its starting price each day in tightly controlled trading. That prevents big daily swings, but down days can add up to a big change over time.
To shore up the exchange rate, Beijing cut the amount of foreign currency deposits Chinese banks are required to hold as reserves to 6% from 8% as of Sept. 15. That increases the amount of dollars and other foreign currency available to buy yuan, which should push up the exchange rate.
Still, that reserve cut is unlikely to stop a slide that is driven by “a strong U.S. dollar and the expectation of more Federal Reserve hikes,” said Iris Pang of ING in a report.
“Less aggressive rate hike talk” might help the yuan rally, but it might weaken further “if the Fed maintains its very hawkish tone” into next year, Pang wrote.
Chinese officials have previously promised to avoid “competitive devaluation” to gain an advantage in trade.
The yuan sank in 2019 during trade tension with then-President Donald Trump. That prompted suggestions Beijing was trying to reduce the impact of U.S. tariff hikes, but there was no official confirmation. The currency later strengthened.
Other governments also are struggling to manage capital flows under pressure from Fed rate hikes. On Friday, Vietnam’s central bank raised a key interest rate in what economists said appeared to be an effort to stop an outflow of money in search of higher returns.
Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.
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Hundreds Of Thousands Evacuated As Typhoon Noru Makes Landfall In Vietnam's Da Nang | CNN
Hundreds Of Thousands Evacuated As Typhoon Noru Makes Landfall In Vietnam's Da Nang | CNN https://digitalarizonanews.com/hundreds-of-thousands-evacuated-as-typhoon-noru-makes-landfall-in-vietnams-da-nang-cnn/
CNN —
Typhoon Noru made landfall near Vietnam’s popular beach resort city of Da Nang on Wednesday morning, bringing powerful winds and heavy rain as hundreds of thousands of people were evacuated.
Noru hit Vietnam at 5 a.m. Wednesday local time, according to CNN Weather, less than 36 hours hours after it left a trail of destruction in the Philippines – where it was known as Karding.
The typhoon weakened a little prior to making landfall, but was still equivalent to a high-end Category 2 hurricane with winds near 175 kph, or about 109 mph.
Winds eased and the storm weakened to the equivalent of a Category 1 hurricane just before noon, according to the Joint Typhoon Warning Center. But the province of Quang Nam, home to the historic city of Hoi An and beach resort hotspot of Da Nang suffered from floods.
More than 100,000 households with 400,000 people have been evacuated as of Tuesday, according to Viet Nam News, the English newspaper run by state-run Vietnam News Agency. About 11,000 foreign tourists and 7,000 domestic visitors are staying in the city.
The government also said local authorities had instructed nearly 58,000 boats with 300,000 laborers to move to safe shelters.
Pham Nguyen Duc Anh, 24, an English teacher at Teach For Viet Nam based in the Que Son district of Quang Nam province, along with his flat mate decided to stay at their neighbor’s house on Tuesday night because they feared the home would be vulnerable under the strong winds.
When they returned to their home late Wednesday morning when the storm began to subside, they found that their roof had been partially destroyed and that water had leaked into their house, but things were not as bad as they had initially feared.
“It was my first time here, living in the area [that is] very vulnerable to climate disasters,” he said.
Before Noru’s arrival, Vietnamese authorities had banned vessels from the sea and asked students to stay at home.
It will continue to bring strong winds and surges along the coast near Da Nang and is expected to weaken as it pushes inland over Southeast Asia. Central Vietnam, southern Laos, and northern Thailand face a risk of floods over the next 48 hours.
Local authorities were asked on Tuesday to cancel unnecessary meetings to concentrate on storm prevention and control, according to Viet Nam News.
Thua Thien Hue province, home to more than 2,000 fishing ships and around 11,000 fishermen, also banned vessels from going out to sea on Sunday amid warnings the storm will bring strong winds, high waves and flooding, Viet Nam News reported.
Vietnam’s Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh chaired an urgent meeting with officials on Tuesday from at least eight provinces expected to be affected by the storm to discuss response efforts, Vietnam News Agency reported.
“Ministries, branches and localities, especially the heads of such units, must further enhance their responsibilities to ensure the safety, life and property of the people and the state in the context of the weather. Climate change is becoming increasingly extreme and unusual, causing very serious consequences,” the prime minister said, according to Viet Nam News.
Typhoon Noru left the Philippines around 8 p.m. on Monday, according to a bulletin from the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical, and Astronomical Services Administration (PAGASA), after barreling through with high winds and heavy rains that flooded Luzon – the country’s largest and most populated island.
Eight people died in typhoon-related incidents, including five rescue workers, the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council said on Tuesday.
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Stock Futures Fall After S&P 500 Hits New Low For The Year; 10-Year Treasury Yield Briefly Tops 4%
Stock Futures Fall After S&P 500 Hits New Low For The Year; 10-Year Treasury Yield Briefly Tops 4% https://digitalarizonanews.com/stock-futures-fall-after-s-10-year-treasury-yield-briefly-tops-4/
Stock futures were lower on Wednesday morning after a relief rally failed during regular trading hours and the S&P 500 hit a new intraday low for the year.
Futures tied to the Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 173 points, or about 0.59%. S&P 500 futures shed 0.71%, and Nasdaq 100 futures also fell more than 100 points, or about 0.98%.
During Tuesday’s session, stocks gave up a large early gain and the S&P 500 fell below its intraday low from June, which was the previous market bottom. The Dow and S&P 500 closed lower for the sixth straight day, while the Nasdaq Composite ground higher by 0.25%. All three major averages are now in bear market territory.
Several technical metrics show that the stock market may be oversold, but some on Wall Street are worried that investors have not priced in an earnings slowdown and the impact of the Federal Reserve’s rate hikes. The S&P 500 breaking below its previous low is a key indicator for some that stocks still have further to fall.
“I think we’re certainly not at the end of the road in terms of pricing in the full recessionary outcome. … We really need to get to dirt cheap valuations on equities, and we’re not quite there yet,” Anastasia Amoroso, chief investment strategist at iCapital, said on Tuesday’s “Closing Bell.“
On Wednesday, investors will get an updated look at the housing market with pending home sales from August.
European markets slide as global stocks retreat
European stocks retreated on Wednesday as global markets turned lower on economic concerns surrounding inflation and the growth outlook.
The pan-European Stoxx 600 fell 1% in early trade, with banks shedding 2.4% to lead losses while healthcare was the only sector in positive territory, adding 0.8%.
The negative trade in Europe comes after a torrid night for markets in the Asia-Pacific.
– Elliot Smith
CNBC Pro: Credit Suisse says now’s the time to buy two green hydrogen stocks — and gives one over 200% upside
Credit Suisse says it’s time to enter the green hydrogen sector, with a number of catalysts set to drive the clean energy powerhouse.
“Green hydrogen is a growth market — we increase our 2030 market estimates by [over] 4x,” the bank said, forecasting that green hydrogen production will expand by around 40 times by 2030.
It names two stocks to play the boom — giving one upside of more than 200%.
CNBC Pro subscribers can read more here.
— Weizhen Tan
U.S. 10-year Treasury yield breaches 4% for the first time since 2010
–Jihye Lee
CNBC Pro: Asset manager reveals what’s next for stocks — and shares how he’s trading the market
Neil Veitch, investment director at Edinburgh-based SVM Asset Management, says he expects the macro landscape to remain “quite difficult” for the remainder of the year.
Speaking to CNBC Pro Talks last week, Veitch named the key drivers that could help the stock market to turn “more constructive” and shared his take on growth versus value.
CNBC Subscribers can read more here.
— Zavier Ong
Earnings questions, potential recession mean more selling could be ahead
The Dow and S&P 500 have fallen for six straight days, with many of those seeing broad selling typical of so-called “washout” days.
That can sometimes be a contrarian buy signal on Wall Street, but many investment professionals are skeptical that the selling is over. One reason is that earnings expectations for next year still show solid growth, which would be unlikely in the event of a recession.
“We know that if we start seeing a turnaround in the 2-year yields … and if we start seeing a turnaround in the dollar, that gives us the ability to bounce from these extremely oversold conditions,” said Andrew Smith, chief investment strategist of Delos Capital Advisors in Dallas. “But I have a hard time reconciling in my mind that the earnings story is going to be as good as we expect.”
Additionally, the dramatic moves in the bond and currency markets means that “something broke” and it may be smart to wait for that information to shake out, Smith said.
On the positive side, Smith pointed to a strong labor market and signs of continued spending on travel as a sign that the U.S. economy may be able to avoid a major recession.
— Jesse Pound
Futures open higher
Stock futures rose slightly after trading began at 6 p.m. Dow futures rose more than 60 points at one time, though those gains have since shrunk.
Nasdaq 100 futures had the biggest early jump of three, suggesting that tech may continue to outperform on Wednesday.
— Jesse Pound
S&P 500 takes out June low on Tuesday
Though Tuesday’s closing levels showed relatively modest daily moves, the S&P 500 fell below its previous intraday low for the year during the session. That move was seen by many as confirmation that the summer rally for stocks has failed.
The S&P 500 is now 24.3% off of its record high, and the Dow is also in bear market territory, down roughly 21.2%. The Nasdaq Composite, whose decline dates back to last November, is 33.2% below its high-water mark.
The next key metric for investors in the days ahead could come from the bond market, where the 10-year Treasury yield has surged to just below the 4% level.
— Jesse Pound, Christopher Hayes
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Ironwood Ridge Over Campo Verde 3-2 | ALLSPORTSTUCSON.com
Ironwood Ridge Over Campo Verde 3-2 | ALLSPORTSTUCSON.com https://digitalarizonanews.com/ironwood-ridge-over-campo-verde-3-2-allsportstucson-com/
(Andy Morales/AllSportsTucson)
LINK: FREE PHOTOS
Ironwood Ridge beat Campo Verde in epic fashion Tuesday night at home after the Coyotes battled back from an 0-2 deficit to force a deciding fifth set where the Nighthawks prevailed 15-13. Ironwood Ridge improved to 6-3 in power-ranking matches while Campo Verde fell to 3-8.
Ironwood Ridge started the day ranked No. 10 in the 5A Conference after the initial AIA rankings for the season were released and Campo Verde was No. 20 after the Coyotes ripped off three wins in a row prior to the trip to Tucson. The Nighthawks have won six in a row with No. 22 Cienega (3-5) visiting on Thursday. Things won’t get mush easier for the Coyotes with No. 15 Higley (5-3) on tap Wednesday night at home…..
LINK: STORY AT AZPREPS365
Ironwood Ridge wins it 3-2 with a block in the 5th set 15-13 #azpreps365 https://t.co/qmrIJP6RLe pic.twitter.com/CQWpQFMj5L
— Andy Morales (@AndyMorales8) September 28, 2022
FOLLOW @ANDYMORALES8 ON TWITTER
Named one of “Arizona’s Heart & Sol” by KOLD and Casino del Sol, Andy Morales was recognized by the AIA as the top high school reporter in 2014, he was awarded the Ray McNally Award in 2017 and a 2019 AZ Education News recognition. He was a youth, high school and college coach for over 30 years. He was the first in Arizona to write about high school beach volleyball and high school girls wrestling and his unique perspective can only be found here and on AZPreps365.com. Andy is a Southern Arizona voting member of the Ed Doherty Award, recognizing the top football player in Arizona, and he was named a Local Hero by the Tucson Weekly for 2016. Andy was named an Honorary Flowing Wells Caballero in 2019, became a member of the Sunnyside Los Mezquites Cross Country Hall of Fame in 2021 and he was a member of the Amphi COVID-19 Blue Ribbon Committee. He earned a Distinguished Service Award from Amphitheater and he was recognized by the Sunnyside School District and by Tucson City Councilman Richard Fimbres. Contact Andy Morales at amoralesmytucson@yahoo.co
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Ironwood Ridge Held On For 3-2 Win Over Campo Verde
Ironwood Ridge Held On For 3-2 Win Over Campo Verde https://digitalarizonanews.com/ironwood-ridge-held-on-for-3-2-win-over-campo-verde/
(Andy Morales/AZPreps365)
Ironwood Ridge beat Campo Verde in epic fashion Tuesday night at home after the Coyotes battled back from an 0-2 deficit to force a deciding fifth set where the Nighthawks prevailed 15-13. Ironwood Ridge improved to 6-3 in power-ranking matches while Campo Verde fell to 3-8.
Ironwood Ridge started the day ranked No. 10 in the 5A Conference after the initial AIA rankings for the season were released and Campo Verde came in at No. 20 after the Coyotes ripped off three wins in a row prior to the trip to Tucson. The Nighthawks have now won six in a row with No. 22 Cienega (3-5) visiting on Thursday. Things won’t get mush easier for the Coyotes with No. 15 Higley (5-3) on tap Wednesday night at home.
Led by 36 assists from Taylor Crawford, the Nighthawks appeared to be in control of the match after building a 24-18 lead in the first set before holding on for a 25-22 victory to go up 1-0. The second set also played out to be a difficult win after the Coyotes led 20-18 and then 22-21, but the Nighthawks outscored the Coyotes 7-2 down the stretch.
Down 2-0, Campo Verde showed why the program is surging at the moment by erasing a 9-4 deficit in the third set to take 12-9 lead. Alayna Kitch (30 assists) started to get in a groove with her two main targets in Gillian Bachali (15 kills) and Allison Pivonka (8 kills) asserting themselves at the net for the eventual 25-21 victory to cut the Nighthawk lead down to 2-1.
Allison Pivonka. (Andy Morales/AZPreps365)
The Coyotes used momentum from the third set to take control of the fourth set early on and things were all tied up 2-2 after the team took the set 25-18. Crawford also has a few targets she relies on and Kathryn Cherrington came up big in the deciding frame with four of her team-leading 19 kills recorded, keeping the Nighthawks in the match, including a score to tie the set up 12-12. Crawford collected an ace to give Ironwood Ridge a 13-12 lead but Bachali scored to make it 13-13. The Coyotes hit long to give the Nighthawks a 14-13 lead and then Elli Meinke came up with a block on the right side to secure the 15-13 match-point. Melanie Merrill added 12 kills for the Nighthawks.
“We talked a lot about the third and fourth set, about playing to win and not playing not to lose,” head coach Bill Lang said. “I felt like we were playing not to lose. I thought we were trying to keep the ball in and hope for the best.”
Lang loaded his schedule with a trip to California and another to Las Vegas to help prepare his program for the difficult 5A Conference and the Nighthawks will add to that difficulty by taking part in the Rise N’ Roar Classic hosted by Millennium in two weeks.
“Iron sharpens iron and we need to be better in practice,” Lang added. “So we’re looking forward to the Millennium tournament.”
The Millennium tournament features most of the top ten teams in the 5A Conference and the Nighthawks gave up a spot in the Nike Tournament to take part. The Coyotes played in the Chandler House of Payne Tournament in early September and the program will have to find a way to get back on track after making an appearance in the quarterfinal round last year.
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Cuba Suffers Total Electrical Outage As Hurricane Ian Roars Through
Cuba Suffers Total Electrical Outage As Hurricane Ian Roars Through https://digitalarizonanews.com/cuba-suffers-total-electrical-outage-as-hurricane-ian-roars-through/
Government crews in Cuba were working to restore electricity Tuesday night after Hurricane Ian knocked out power to the entire island, authorities said.
At least two people died in the cyclone, which crossed western Cuba as a Category 3 hurricane Tuesday en route to Florida, authorities said. Buildings and infrastructure in the western province of Pinar del Rio, where Ian made landfall early in the day, suffered major damage.
The U.S. National Hurricane Center said the region experienced “significant wind and storm surge impacts,” with top sustained winds of 125 mph.
Authorities initially reported 1 million people without power. Later Tuesday, they said the entire island of 11 million was out.
“The SEN has an exceptional condition, 0 electricity generation (the country without electrical service), associated with the complex weather system,” the Ministry of Energy and Mines tweeted at 8:42 p.m., using the Spanish acronym for the national power grid.
The Electrical Union of Cuba said crews would work through the night to restore power. Failures appeared in the western, central and eastern links.
“It’s a process that is going to take a while,” union chief Lázaro Guerra Hernández told state television.
Yamilé Ramos Cordero, president of the Provincial Defense Council of Pinar del Río, confirmed at least two deaths from collapsing buildings. A woman in the Pinar del Río municipality of San Luis was killed when a wall fell in her home, he said. A man in a different municipality died when a roof collapsed.
Cuban President Miguel Díaz Canel visited Pinar del Río after the storm passed. “The damages are great, although they have not yet been accounted,” he tweeted. “Aid is already pouring in from all over the country.”
Estuvimos en #PinarDelRío. Los daños son grandes, aunque aún no se han podido contabilizar. Ya está saliendo ayuda de todo el país. Confiamos en los pinareños, pueblo noble, trabajador y con mucha experiencia en estas situaciones. Tengan la certeza de que nos vamos a recuperar. pic.twitter.com/zg5VNKA9sN
— Miguel Díaz-Canel Bermúdez (@DiazCanelB) September 27, 2022
Eleazar Moreno Ricardo, the electrical union’s network director, told the Communist Party newspaper Granma that brigades from throughout the island began moving to the western provinces to begin restoring power as soon as the weather permitted.
“The work of evaluating the damage has already begun, and in some areas of the Isla de la Juventud, the first territory to feel the force of the hurricane, it has already been possible to reestablish electrical service,” Granma reported shortly after 9 p.m.
Isla de la Juventud — the Island of Youth — lies some 30 miles off the Cuban mainland.
“The most complex situation is in Pinar del Río, where all transmission networks are out of service, and there is much damage to transformers and secondary networks,” Granma reported.
CNN Havana bureau chief Patrick Oppmann tweeted a video of himself driving down the Malecón, Havana’s storied waterfront esplanade, now flooded. Some lights were visible in the distance.
Before Ian made landfall, officials in Pinar del Rio set up 55 shelters, evacuated 50,000 people, and took steps to protect crops in the nation’s main tobacco-growing region.
Cuba has long experience preparing for hurricanes, but it’s also suffering food and electricity shortages. The economy has been hobbled in part by the lingering effects of the coronavirus pandemic and in part by new U.S. sanctions imposed by the Trump administration and partially maintained by the Biden administration.
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Manchin Pulls Permitting Reform Language https://digitalarizonanews.com/manchin-pulls-permitting-reform-language/
photo by: AP Photo
Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., announced Tuesday that he was pulling his permitting reform language from the continuing resolution to fund the government.
CHARLESTON — Unable to get all 50 members of the Democratic caucus on board and with Republicans unwilling to throw him a lifeline, U.S. Sen. Joe Manchin asked that his permitting reform language be pulled from a bill to keep the federal government funded.
In a statement released Tuesday evening, Manchin, D-W.Va., said he requested that Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., remove his permitting reform package from the continuing resolution that Senators planned to vote for later that evening to fund the government past a Sept. 30 deadline.
“It is unfortunate that members of the United States Senate are allowing politics to put the energy security of our nation at risk,” Manchin said. “Over the last several weeks there has been broad consensus on the urgent need to address our nation’s flawed permitting system. I stand ready to work with my colleagues to move forward on this critical legislation to meet the challenges of delivering affordable reliable energy Americans desperately need.”
Manchin released the language for the permitting reform deal last week that he secured from Schumer and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., that was part of a larger deal that secured Manchin’s support from the $737 billion Inflation Reduction Act – the latest rendition of President Joe Biden’s $1.75 trillion Build Back Better social spending bill that Manchin rejected nearly a year ago.
Manchin’s permitting reform plan, called the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2022, would have streamlined the process for federal authorizations of energy and natural resources projects, such as oil and natural gas drilling and pipeline projects. It also would have lifted impediments to completing the Mountain Valley Pipeline from the top of West Virginia to the coast of Virginia.
Citing the recent spike in oil and gasoline prices and the war in Ukraine started by Russian President Vladimir Putin affecting international energy markets, Manchin said the Energy Independent and Security Act would have helped spur domestic energy production. But a number of members of Manchin’s own party – including U.S. Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va. – said they could not support it, leaving Manchin scrambling to find the votes to get to 60 and avoid a filibuster.
“A failed vote on something as critical as comprehensive permitting reform only serves to embolden leaders like Putin who wish to see America fail,” Manchin said Tuesday. “For that reason and my firmly held belief that we should never come to the brink of a government shutdown over politics, I have asked Majority Leader Schumer to remove the permitting language from the Continuing Resolution we will vote on this evening.”
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., was whipping Republicans to oppose the bill as well. U.S. Sen. Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.Va., announced her support last Thursday for Manchin’s bill. She had introduced her own permitting reform bill that had near total support from Senate Republicans that would have done much of the same as Manchin’s bill, codified some permitting regulations out in place by former president Donald Trump, and expedited completion of the Mountain Valley Pipeline.
“… When legislating is done via backroom deals and with input from only one party, it is extremely difficult to garner broad support,” Capito said in a statement Tuesday evening. “That’s exactly why I called for permitting reform to be crafted, negotiated, and passed in a transparent way months ago and laid down real legislative solutions that unite Republicans to begin that process.”
Both Manchin and Capito said they were committed to pushing for permitting reform and completing the Mountain Valley Pipeline.
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The Politics Of March https://digitalarizonanews.com/the-politics-of-march/
So much of the language we use to describe politics comes from more muscular venues – law, sports, even war – that sometimes we forget those words are only used metaphorically.
We say, for instance, that one politician has “charged” another – Smith charges Jones will raise taxes, Jones charges Smith will underfund schools – but we obviously don’t mean that in the sense of a criminal charge. So what do we do when one politician really does make a criminal charge against another, as Del. Marie March, R-Floyd County, did over the weekend when she swore out an assault warrant against Del. Wren Williams, R-Patrick County?
We always knew that the showdown between these two first-term Republicans – now drawn into the same district by the new redistricting maps – would be something of a Texas cage match. But a criminal charge?!
I can’t imagine that House Speaker Todd Gilbert had a very restful Sunday after he heard the news, which Cardinal’s Markus Schmidt broke that morning. Any party leader has to deal with a caucus where some members might disagree with one another, or maybe even not like each other that much. Politics is no different from any other field of endeavor in that regard. But how do you manage a party caucus where one member has filed a criminal charge against another? Gilbert, a former prosecutor, knows enough to say as little as possible in public. Here’s what he told Cardinal: “Having worked in the criminal justice system for 25 years, I know better than to speculate about what may have transpired until witnesses are called in a court of law, especially in a highly charged political dispute like this one.”
One thing is certain: This news doesn’t make Southwest Virginia look very good. Nothing like one legislator swearing out a criminal warrant against another to bring back the colorful history of what was once known as the Fightin’ Ninth – and not necessarily metaphorically, either.
I won’t speculate on who’s right or who’s wrong – you can read Markus Schmidt’s follow-up story and watch the surveillance video – but I will try to shed some light on the politics involved.
Why don’t March and Williams like each other? They’ve both had a lot to say about that, both in our original story and follow-up stories in The Roanoke Times and The Washington Post. Whatever personal animosity there may be between the two, it’s certainly accentuated by cartography: Because of redistricting, one of them is going to get knocked out. Those maps came out last December, so technically March and Williams have been pitted against each other before they even took office for their first legislative session earlier this year. The strange thing is that both occupy much the same ground politically. Both come out of the Donald Trump wing of the Republican Party. Williams, a lawyer, was on Trump’s recount team in Wisconsin. March attended the infamous rally on the Mall in Washington where Trump spoke on Jan. 6, 2021. Of course, the fact that both are trying to draw from the same political well might make things even more contentious. This is like two apex predators both trying to occupy the same ecological niche: King Kong vs. Godzilla, if you will. If this were a contest between an establishment candidate and a more right-wing candidate, it would still be contentious but they’d also be trying to reach somewhat different voters. Here, they’re both going after the same voters, which amps up the conflict.
So does this: The redistricting that puts both legislators in the same district also shears off a lot of territory that both candidates ran in last fall. Both kept their home bases – Williams in Patrick, March in Floyd – but each lost their biggest localities. For Williams, that was Franklin County. For March, that was much of Montgomery County and part of Pulaski County. Meanwhile, Carroll County and Galax got added. Together, those two localities account for 42% of the voters in the newly configured district, so there’s a lot of new territory for March and Williams to fight over – figuratively speaking, of course.
What about voters who, for whatever reason, may not want either of these candidates? This raises two questions:
First, does this create an opening for a Democrat? Umm, no.
Second, does this create an opening for a third Republican candidate? Maybe, but don’t count on it.
Here’s why I’m such an emphatic “no” on that first question. At one time, it might have been possible for a Democrat to win this district. Within my memory (which, admittedly, gets longer each day), there were Democratic legislators from some of those communities – Tom Jackson from Carroll County, Mary Sue Terry and Barnie Day from Patrick County. The most recent of those (Day and Jackson) have been out of the legislature for more than two decades now. We’ve had a lot of political realignment since then. Rural Virginia may not think it’s changed very much and, perhaps ideologically, it hasn’t, but parts of it sure have in terms of partisan alignment.
Dels. Marie March, R-Floyd County, and Wren Williams, R-Patrick County, are now paired in this district, which will be up for election in 2023. Source: Virginia Supreme Court.
The 47th House District is now one of the most Republican districts in the state. The special masters who drew the new district lines used the 2017 attorney general’s race to compute that the newly drawn district was the seventh-most Republican district in the state – voting 73.4% Republican. Using the 2017 lieutenant governor’s race, it’s the sixth-most Republican district in the state – voting 74.5% Republican.
The Virginia Public Access Project has crunched more recent election data. It says the district voted 78.7% for Glenn Youngkin in the 2021 governor’s race.
So, no, I don’t think there’s an opening for a Democrat here. While the Henry County and Patrick County portions of the district were Democratic in more recent times, other parts of that district are so Republican that they were Republican back when Republicans were a fringe party in Virginia. The nature of Republicans may have changed – at one time, Virginia Republicans were the more moderate party in a state dominated by conservative Democrats – but voters’ propensity in some of these counties to vote Republican no matter what hasn’t changed.
You have to go back 1912 to find a year when Floyd County did not vote for the Republican candidate for president. That year it voted for Theodore Roosevelt, a former Republican president, who was running a third-party campaign on the Bull Moose Party ticket. If you discount that, then you have to go back to 1880 to find a year in which Floyd County voted for the Democratic candidate for president – Winfield Scott Hancock against eventual winner James Garfield. In 1932, a blow-out year nationally for Democrats during the Great Depression, there was just one county in the state that stuck with Republican Herbert Hoover over Democrat Franklin Roosevelt. That was Floyd County – and it voted 60% for Hoover. Floyd may not be the most Republican county in the state these days, that would be some of the counties in coal country, but it’s certainly the most reliable. Floyd sometimes has the reputation of being Virginia’s back-to-the-hand hippie capital – FloydFest and all that. That doesn’t show up in the county’s politics, though, unless those hippies are voting Republican. In presidential elections, Floyd is becoming more Republican, not less so. In 2008, Floyd voted 59.09% for the Republican candidate for president (John McCain). By 2012, the Republican percentage was up to 61.13% for Mitt Romney. In 2016, Floyd voted 65.74% for Donald Trump; in 2020, 66.17%.
Carroll County is almost as strongly Republican. It deviated from the Republican fold in 1932 to vote for Roosevelt (barely), but otherwise has been solidly Republican. Unlike Floyd, it stuck with Republican William Howard Taft in 1912. Before that, you have to go back to 1892 to find Carroll County voting Democratic – that year it preferred Grover Cleveland over Benjamin Harrison. Carroll was a 65.09% Republican county in the 2008 election; by 2022, Carroll topped the 80% mark, voting 80.88% for Donald Trump.
So is there an opening for Democrats here? Let history be your guide.
Now, onto my other question: Is there an opening here for a third Republican, an alternative to both March and Williams?
In theory, yes. Because both candidates come from the same general part of the ideological spectrum, there should be room for a more center-right candidate. March and Williams could split what might be called the “MAGA vote,” with the third candidate taking the rest. Plenty of candidates have won primaries that way. Think back to the 2009 Democratic primary for governor, where Terry McAuliffe and Brian Moran split the more left-leaning vote while Creigh Deeds took the more moderate vote to win the nomination. Now just flip the picture to imagine something similar on the right.
That scenario, though, makes a very big assumption: that there will be a primary. I notice lots of media coverage of the incident refers to March and Williams as likely primary opponents. They are certainly nomination opponents, but there’s no guarantee that there will be a primary. March will want a convention because conventions are easier to control. That’s how she won her original nomination while Williams was winning his in a primary. That’s also how Bob Good ousted Rep. Denver Riggleman for the Republican nomination for the 5th District congressional seat: His people controlled the local party machinery and they set the rules that benefited their candidate.
Voters would be better served by a primary – more people participate – but they probably won’t get that chance. That’s the danger of these lopsided one-party districts – a small group of people can effectively control the outcome, rendering elections meanin...
