Sts. Peter and Paul Church on St. Paul Island. (Courtesy of Ian Dickson/KTOO)

On St. Paul Island in the Pribilofs, the school year started with roughly 25% of students doing home-based education even though the school was open to students.

As the year has progressed, most of those students have returned. But as in many remote areas in Alaska, St. Paul remains on high alert because the effects of returning to distance-based education in the small community of just 397 people could be particularly devastating.

Read more stories about how the coronavirus pandemic is affecting rural Alaska

Our community is very close, said St. Paul teacher Melissa Zacharof. We have lots of community events. And generally, lots of ways to interact with each other on a regular basis. For example, we have a community art center. Wed have pottery classes and paint nights. We have regular gatherings, whether its for a meeting, or somebodys wedding, or another important family event things like that. They have all pretty much had to shut down.

Zacharof teaches sixth through twelfth-grade humanities in St. Paul and is working with 23 students this year. There are about 50 school-aged children on the island. According to Zacharof, the schools always been a very welcoming place. But since the pandemic began, that hasnt been quite the same.

Theres a plexiglas barrier in front of our secretary, described Zacharof. Out front, there are paraprofessionals and maintenance directors ushering kids inside and taking their temperatures one at a time. There arent kids in the hallway. There arent kids in the gym.

At first glance, the image Zacharof depicted doesnt seem much different from whats happening at other schools that also reopened to students amid the COVID-19 pandemic. But in such a remote community, disruptions of daily social interactions can be especially devastating.

But Zacharof said when the city restricted access to social gatherings and the school closed last March due to the pandemic, it wasnt the loss of the events or places so much that impacted the community.

Those kinds of things have been I dont want to say taken away its not that, reflected Zacharof. Its just that that access that we have to each other, that were used to, has definitely changed.

Most of the students in the Pribilof School District go to school in St. Paul. And classes are generally made up of about a dozen kids each. There are also about six students at the school on nearby St. George Island, which is a correspondence school of St. Paul.

Because St. Georges population is so small and the island is so isolated, the majority of the students work is done virtually often through online learning systems such as Acellus and monitored by a single staff member.

Pribilof School District Superintendent John Bruce said both communities are working to keep the kids safe and that the district has stepped down to four days of classes per week on St. Paul to allow extra cleaning this semester. And he said the islands remote location has been a blessing so far.

We havent had COVID up here yet, said Bruce. The downside to [the precautions] is for the kids theyve done very well, but theyre not getting a full days education.

With just six teachers on the island, he said the school has had to begin alternating students schedules to lower class sizes. Half of the students attend their classes in the morning, and the other half in the afternoon. And that leaves a lot more time with kids at home.

Jill Fratis, a teacher, parent and general manager of the local radio station, said the shortened school day has been challenging.

Being a working parent and trying to balance and juggle the two, Im not gonna lie, its been really difficult, said Fratis. And trying so hard to make sure that I am there fully in all aspects of my life is a learning process, but one day at a time is all Ive got to say.

As the community has learned to adjust to the shifting schedules, she said shes been extremely grateful for everyones flexibility, and especially for the school districts commitment to keeping students, staff and families safe.

Fratis enthusiastic praise for the city and district for working so hard to keep the students in school even for just half a day shows how meaningful in-person learning and interaction are to her.

She said that interaction is also important for the island as a whole, so much so that she described last springs transition to purely home-based learning as a culture shock for the community.

Everyone knows each other by first, middle and last names, and everyones a part of each others lives every single day, said Fratis. And then having to go from that to distance learning just having the kids at home by themselves, not being able to have that connection, that in-person physical connection with your classmates and your teacher it was something that took them a really long time to get used to.

St. Paul Island is currently in phase three of its strategic reentry plan. Under that plan, all non-essential travel is banned, people returning to the island are required to quarantine for two weeks and strict social distancing is required in public to protect everyone.

There are multiple generations here grandparents, kids and grandchildren on the island, said Fratis. And we are the largest population of Unangan people in the world. And we want to protect that. Its very sacred to us. And I think that the community is doing an amazing job.

While to some those restrictions may seem harsh for a community with no confirmed cases of COVID-19, Fratis said the island and its community are worth protecting.

See more here:

St. Paul Island has no confirmed cases of COVID-19, but the community isn't letting down its guard - Alaska Public Media News

The PGA Tour now has three players who have tested positive for the coronavirus during the RSM Classic at Sea Island.

Kramer Hickok and Henrik Norlander each received positive tests and have withdrawn from the event in Georgia. Hickok got into the tournament as an alternate after Bill Haas tested positive earlier in the week.

That's the most positive tests on the PGA Tour since late June, when four players tested positive in a span of a week. Cameron Champ, Denny McCarthy and Dylan Frittelli had positive tests in Connecticut, and Harris English tested positive in Detroit. Two caddies also had positive tests that led to the precautionary withdrawal of their players, Brooks Koepka and Graeme McDowell.

Champ returned two negative tests and was allowed to play the following week.

Norlander said he had a COVID-19 test on Wednesday morning after noticing symptoms the night before.

That brings to 18 the number of PGA Tour players who have tested positive since golf resumed on June 8.

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Three players at Sea Island test positive for COVID-19 - ESPN

Avi Schiffmann's open-source website featuring COVID-19 case data was getting millions of hits from all over the world. He is now one of the statistics he reports.

MERCER ISLAND, Wash. A Mercer Island High School student who became globally-known after creating a website to track coronavirus data is now suffering from the virus himself.

Avi Schiffmann is now hoping his experience will send a message to his peers, who he said may not be taking the warnings seriously.

Back In March, Schiffmann started getting worldwide attention, even if people didn't know his actual name.

At that time, he told KING 5, "I thought it was sort of cool to create a website that was a central hub of information, when explaining why he created his website.

His open-source website featuring COVID-19 case data was getting millions of hits from all over the world.

Today, hes now one of the faces behind the numbers on the website he created.

"I still feel pretty sick. I mean, I feel a little bit better than the past couple of days, said Schiffmann.

After experiencing COVID-like symptoms last week, and then testing positive for the virus, he and his mom started quarantining at his familys cabin.

"General breathing kind of feels like your lungs are on fire, like a little bit. It's pretty terrible. But, that's just the respiratory symptoms. I mean, I also have a headache and my eyes hurt when I move them, said Schiffmann.

The now 18-year-old said he hopes his own experience can serve as a warning to his peers.

I hope that the fact that I've shown that I can get sick shows a lot of other people that they're not invincible either, because I think a lot of my peers have thought that we're kind of invincible, said Schiffmann.

Schiffmann said hes concerned about the long-term effects of the virus, which the CDCsaid can range from a cough to lung damage.

Even as hes trying to recover at his cabin, Avi said hes focused on keeping his website updated with the latest information.

"It has been such a long time since we first did that interview back in early March and since then, the site has really become so much more of an international site. I track so much more than I did back then, said Schiffmann.

See the article here:

Mercer Island teen behind international COVID-19 data website tests positive for virus - KING5.com

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and former Defense Secretary Mark Esper traveled to India last month for the third annual US-India ministerial meeting, underscoring the US's growing ties with one of Asia's biggest countries.

But the summit was bookended by Esper's historic trip to Palau and a stop in Maldives and Sri Lanka by Pompeo, a reflection of small island nations' importance to US plans to counter China's growing influence in the region.

Esper's visit to Palau in late August was the first by a US secretary of defense, but the US has "had a continuous military presence there since 1969," Esper said at an event in October.

Then-Defense Secretary Mark Esper and Palauan President Tommy Remengesau in Palau, August 28, 2020. US Defense Department/Jim Garamone

Palau President Tommy Remengesau greeted Esper with a specific request, asking the US military to "build joint-use facilities, then come and use them regularly."

Remengesau repeated his request when Navy Secretary Kenneth Braithwaite visited in October. "Some of Palau's chief infrastructure needs ... are also opportunities to strengthen US military readiness," Remengesau wrote in another letter.

"Palau is a committed ally," Braithwaite said at an event after his trip. "They're right there at the tip of the spear, on the edge of Chinese influence, and they've committed themselves to us."

Pacific and Indian ocean island states have become venues for competition between the US and China, which values their location and their diplomatic support, especially as Beijing seeks to turn more countries against Taiwan.

The US has territories in the region, like Guam, and partnerships with other countries there, but Palau, Micronesia, and the Marshall Islands have signed Compacts of Free Association with the US, which are "even closer than alliances in a way," Derek Grossman, a senior defense analyst at the Rand Corporation, told Insider.

"These countries outsource their militaries to the United States, and the US gets near-exclusive access to an area [of the Pacific] that's the size of the continental US," Grossman said.

Seabees assigned to Naval Mobile Construction Battalion 4 on Roi-Namur Atoll in the Marshall Islands, June 24, 2019. US Navy/Utilitiesman 3rd Class Ervin Villanueva

Their location in the Second Island Chain provides what Grossman called "uninhibited sea lines of communication" from Hawaii to to the First Island Chain, which includes Taiwan and the Philippines.

"It's a really big deal" for the US to have those compacts "so the US military can maintain this near-exclusive access to the area," Grossman added.

The US military command responsible for the area changed its name from Pacific Command to Indo-Pacific Command in 2018 to reflect what US officials said were linkages between the Pacific and Indian oceans.

The US approach to security in the region "doesn't stop at the Straits of Malacca," Assistant Secretary of State David Stilwell said at a briefing before Pompeo's trip.

The US, like India, is wary of Beijing's growing presence in the Indian Ocean specifically in the Maldives and Sri Lanka.

In Sri Lanka, Pompeo touted US engagement, saying the US "won't show up with debt packages that a country can't possibly repay" likely referring to a deal that gave China long-term access to a port there.

Members of the Maldives Coast Guard meet US Coast Guard members aboard US Navy guided-missile cruiser USS Lake Champlain, February 18, 2009. US Navy/PO3 Daniel Barker

In Maldives, Pompeo announced the opening of the US's first embassy there. "Your role here in the Indo-Pacific and in the international community is increasingly important, and my country wants to remain a good partner," Pompeo said while there.

Indian Ocean island nations will play "a key role" in geopolitical competition there, and boosting engagement with them will be "a priority for many," Darshana Baruah, an expert on the region at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, told Insider.

Baruah said Pompeo's visit, as well as the US-Maldives defense agreement announced in September, "reflects Washington's increasing interest" but noted that the US's overall presence in the region is still "quite thin."

"Exercises, training, and even port calls from the US Navy ... especially beyond Maldives [are] weak," Baruah said. "Given Washington's priorities in the Pacific and the Middle East, we are yet to see how and to what degree is the US willing to invest in the Indian Ocean."

Local construction apprentices and US Navy engineers work on the Walung Health Clinic project on Kosrae in Micronesia, May 16, 2017. US Navy/Utilitiesman Constructionman Matthew Konopka

In the weeks after Esper's and Pompeo's trips, the US government has touted its economic engagement and other development initiatives across the region. Military interactions have also continued.

But that engagement is undercut by what many of those countries see as US disregard for climate change.

"That's our one huge blind spot," Grossman said. "It's an existential issue for these countries. They're already seeing the oceans rise. They may not be around in 50 to 100 years because of it."

One of President Donald Trump's first acts was withdrawing from the Paris climate accord, an agreement that Pompeo called "a joke" while in Maldives, where climate change is already having an impact.

Palau. AP

Australia, one of the US's closest allies, remains in the Paris deal but hasn't done much else. A lack of action hurts the standing of both in the region, according to Herve Lemahieu, an expert at Australia's Lowy Institute think tank.

"The existential threat in the Pacific is not China. It's climate change," Lemahieu told Insider in an October interview.

President-elect Joe Biden has pledged to rejoin the Paris deal. Pacific Island states welcome that, but a divided government may keep Biden from doing much more.

Governments that want those countries' support have to show they take climate change seriously, Lemahieu said.

"The superpowers that look like they are most engaged on the issues" Pacific and Indian Ocean states care about "will command the greatest soft power," Lemahieu said.

See the rest here:

The US's plans to keep a foothold against China in the Pacific have 'one huge blind spot' - Business Insider - Business Insider

Back in July 2017, satellites watched as an enormous iceberg broke free from Antarcticas Larsen C ice shelf on the Antarctic Peninsula. The trillion-ton behemoth has been drifting for over three years now. While it stayed close to its parent ice shelf for the first couple of years, its now heading directly for a collision with South Georgia Island.

It could be a slow-motion collision, but a collision nonetheless. If it does collide with the island and its shallow sea-floor, it wont be the first iceberg to do so. And if the first one was any indication, wildlife could suffer.

The ESAs Copernicus Sentinel-1 satellite played a leading role in tracking the iceberg, named A68-A, as it slowly travelled toward South Georgia. A68-A is now only about 350 km away. Theres a possibility that the currents could change, and the iceberg could veer away from the island and be taken away to the northwest, where it would eventually break up. But theres no guarantee.

A68-A is following a fairly standard route for icebergs that break off from the Larsen Ice Shelf. The leading image shows iceberg tracks in blue, as tracked by satellites over the years. Most icebergs pass by South Georgia uneventfully, but not all of them do.

Back in 1998, iceberg A38 broke off from Antarcticas Filchner-Ronne Ice Shelf and eventually split into two pieces, A-38A and A-38B. Both bergs moved north along the Antarctica Peninsula. A-38A drifted north and broke into pieces harmlessly, but A-38B took a different path. It also broke into pieces, but a portion of it left open seas and grounded on the shallow waters on the east of South Georgia Island.

That grounding was devastating for some wildlife. It parked itself on the foraging grounds for the islands penguins and seals. It stayed there for months, and many of the young seal pups and penguin chicks died because their parents were unable to feed them often enough. They were forced to detour around the iceberg, meaning many young died on the beaches waiting for their parents to return for food.

In an interview with the BBC, Professor Geraint Tarling of the British Antarctic Survey said, When youre talking about penguins and seals during the period thats really crucial to them during pup and chick-rearing the actual distance they have to travel to find food really matters. If they have to do a big detour, it means theyre not going to get back to their young in time to prevent them [from]starving to death in the interim.

By 2005, the iceberg was broken up and gone.

While that event was devastating for some wildlife, the new iceberg could be much more catastrophic. A68-A is the same size as South Georgia itself. Scientists are worried that if it grounds itself in shallow waters near South Georgia Island, it could stay there for 10 years. Its easy to see how that could wreak inter-generational carnage on the seal and penguin populations there.

But theres at least one reason to be hopeful. Though the seas around South Georgia are shallow, the iceberg itself may only draft 200 meters (656 ft.). Its possible that itll float by the island completely, and loop around the island before drifting off to the northwest. Radar imagery also revealed a large crack in the iceberg, meaning wave action could break it apart sooner rather than later. But its very difficult to say precisely what will happen, Tarling told BBC News.

Fishing fleets will also be paying close attention to the icebergs path. The seas around South Georgia Island are home to important fisheries of Icefish, Krill and Patagonian Toothfish. These are some of the most well-managed and sustainable fisheries in the world. According to the Government of South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands, It is home to some of the best managed, most sustainable, fisheries in the world.

Theres no risk to any people. Wildlife is the only real permanent population on the island. At one time, a whaling station operated there at Grytviken, the islands best harbour. It also housed a research station and is the site of Ernest Shackletons grave. In current times cruise ships visit the area. Researchers also visit the island to study its wildlife and biodiversity.

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An Iceberg the Size of South Georgia Island is on a Collision Course with South Georgia Island - Universe Today

STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- Three Staten Island artists are among 15 being recognized for their commitment to diversity, justice and climate awareness as part of the Human Impacts Institutions 10th annual Creative Climate Awards.

Each year, the Human Impacts Institution hosts an open call for participants in a monthlong exhibit in New York City. Artists are considered based on how they highlight the intersectionality between climate activism, diversity and injustice through artwork and creative projects.

Sparking meaningful action on climate justice and equity is more important in our current moment than ever before, said Tara DePorte, Human Impacts Institute founder and executive director. We are already seeing the impact of the climate crisis on our communities and this year has proven how sweeping and devastating those consequences can be.

Tattfoo Tan, Jahtiek Long and Katherine Patio Miranda were the Island artists selected by Melissa West, vice president of curation, visual and performing arts at the Snug Harbor Cultural Center and Botanical Garden.

The other artists, who were nominated by The Museum of Contemporary African Diasporan Arts (MoCADA) in Brooklyn, Bronx Council on the Arts, Materials from the Arts in Queens and Chinatown Art Brigade in Manhattan were Kimberly M. Becoat, Kim Dacres, Joyce Hwang & Prathap Ramamurthy, Interference Archive, Annalisa Iadicicco, Estelle Maisonett, Ruth Marshall, Siara Mencia, Tijay Mohammed, Run P., Dianne Smith and Katherine Toukhy.

In lieu of in-person performances and exhibitions, the 2020 Creative Climate Awards will feature window installations in previously empty storefronts across four boroughs the 3rd Avenue BID in the Bronx; Astoria, Queens; Midtown Manhattan and Downtown Brooklyn.

The Creative Climate Awards will run through Dec. 15. Keep scrolling for a full schedule of events.

The official Human Impacts Institute Instagram features each artist involved and how to view their storefront art. To learn more about the Human Impacts Institute, visit humanimpactsinstitute.org.

Link:

Staten Island artists recognized for work in diversity, justice as part of 2020 Creative Climate Awards - SILive.com

On a foggy October morning, a crew of students from the Yale School of Architecture assembled the wooden frame of a one-story building on Horse Island, a 17-acre property off the coast of Branford, Connecticut.

The whir of power drills accompanied the growl of a generator. A skid-loader beeped as it reversed. But amid the noisy construction, one sound is curiously absent.

No hammers, said Louis Koushouris, a second-year masters student at the School of Architecture.

The students are building a teaching and coastal research center for the Yale Peabody Museum of Natural History, which owns the island the largest of the Thimble Islands, an archipelago located on Long Island Sound, about 12 miles from Yales campus.

The crew used screws and fasteners to assemble the buildings components, which were prefabricated this summer at the universitys West Campus and transported to the island on a barge, Koushouris explained. The screws make it easier to disassemble the rectangular, 750-square-foot building, should the need ever arise to relocate or repurpose it.

Theoretically, you can take this building apart the same way that you put it together, he said during a brief break at the construction site.

Easy disassembly is central to the regenerative philosophy behind the buildings design and construction. The structure is the inaugural project of the School of Architectures Regenerative Building Lab, which teaches students design and building techniques that reduce a buildings environmental impact during construction and throughout its existence.

The new facility will expand opportunities for Yale faculty and students across disciplines to visit the island, which the university acquired in 1973, for any number of purposes: studying the coastal ecosystem; discussing Thoreau in a serene setting; drawing artistic inspiration from its natural beauty. The hope is to make the island a special part of the Yale experience, helping students to understand that Connecticut posseses rich, beautiful natural resources worth savoring and protecting, said Peabody Director David Skelly.

Horse Island is a resource and an experience we want to share with the Yale community, said Skelly, the Frank R. Oastler Professor of Ecology at the Yale School of the Environment. Were fortunate to partner with the School of Architecture to develop a state-of-the-art facility that meets the needs of researchers and educators while respecting this unique ecosystem and landscape.

When Skelly contacted the School of Architecture about the potential for building a research center off the grid on the island, he received an enthusiastic response.

We said, that sounds really cool, said Alan Organschi, director of the Regenerative Building Lab and a senior critic at the School of Architecture.

Since 1967, the Jim Vlock Building Project has offered first-year architecture students the opportunity to design and construct buildings in New Haven, including affordable housing. Skellys proposal, while not a good fit for the Vlock program, provided the opportunity to offer students new challenges in an ecologically sensitive site through the new Regenerative Building Lab, said Organschi, a partner with New Haven-based Gray Organschi Architecture.

In May and June, Organschi led a six-week seminar in which his students worked closely with professional consultants and Peabody staff designing the building.

The project team initially considered renovating the Clark House, the former home of a Standard Oil executive who once owned the island. But renovating the house, which was built around the turn of the 20th century and is the islands only existing building, would require the skills and expertise of seasoned carpenters, not architecture students learning on the job, Organschi said.

Designing and constructing a building from scratch, Organschi noted, better suited the regenerative approach, which carefully considers every aspect of a buildings construction and purpose with an eye toward reducing its carbon footprint. Typically, it aspires to use non-toxic, renewable resources and materials, and restore the surrounding ecosystem.

Its not enough to put solar panels on your building, he said, standing at the construction site with the buildings frame behind him. You have to think really systematically about the buildings entire lifespan from the production stage and the extraction of materials through its operation. And finally, at the end of its life, you need to account for what happens to all the materials.

The building will feature a 30-foot-by-16-foot classroom equipped with projection screens and will be enclosed by large, sliding barn-style doors. When opened, the doorways will frame a view of Long Island Sound and Outer Island the outermost Thimble Island, which is part of the Stewart B. McKinney National Wildlife Refuge. A smaller section of the building will house a kitchenette, toilet, and two bunks so that visiting researchers can stay in the building overnight.

This phenomenal new teaching pavilion allows us to reimagine the outdoor learning experiences we can offer the Yale community, from student internships and residencies to course visits and field trips that far exceed simple tours of the island, said David Heiser, the Peabodys director of student programs.

Solar arrays will generate the buildings electricity, hot water, and heat. Its completely self-sustaining, Organschi said.

The restroom will feature an incinerating toilet, which burns waste into ash. A rainwater collection system will provide water for washing. (Systems that use filtered rainwater for drinking are not currently up to code in public buildings, Organschi noted.)

There wont be any effluent waste, he said, explaining that water used for washing will be filtered and reintroduced into the environment.

The buildings wood was salvaged and repurposed from various sources. For example, cross-laminated timber floor decks were acquired from the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms, which had utilized them in tests for using heavy timber in tall buildings. The buildings ceiling and barn doors are made of hemlock culled from the Yale-Myers Forest, a 7,800-acre forest in northeastern Connecticut, due to a woolly adelgid blight.

Rather than let them die on the forest floor, and essentially be re-emitting carbon dioxide and methane, were using them and storing their carbon in the building, Organschi said.

The project team chose a site that offered a nice view of the water and the islands coastline. It is somewhat removed from the central portion of the island where the Clark House stands and where at least a half-dozen other structures once stood. The idea was to let those disturbed areas return to nature and make the teaching and research center a place where people congregate, Organschi explained.

Once construction was underway, the work crew applied brute force to haul the prefabricated components from the barge, over a granite outcropping on the shoreline, and up a slope to the build site. They used a winch and cart mechanism that resembled a medieval siege engine, Organschi said.

The students appreciated the opportunity to get their hands dirty. Firsthand experience of the effort and planning needed to transform a design into a building is valuable, said Katie Lau 20 M. Arch.

Its a really great opportunity to do something fun right after graduation and learn a little bit more about design-build, said Lau while perched on the structures roof installing tapered duckboards. When youre working as an architect, youre proud to design a building and see it come into fruition. But to build it yourself is even better.

Read more:

On Horse Island, students take regenerative design 'off the grid' - Yale News

Eight months after the World Health Organization declared a global pandemic, COVID-19 is reaching the last places on Earth that remained untouched by the coronavirus.

On Wednesday, Vanuatu, a Pacific island nation about 1,200 miles northeast of Australia, reported its first COVID-19 case. Two other countries in the Pacific Ocean, the Marshall Islands and Solomon Islands, reported their first infections in October. In Samoa, workers who serviced a ship with COVID-19-positive crew members are in quarantine.

By most estimates, just nine countries have not yet reported any COVID-19 cases. Except for North Korea and Turkmenistan, where experts say COVID-19 likely exists, all of them are far-flung Pacific island nationsKiribati, the Federated States of Micronesia, Nauru, Palau, Tonga, Tuvalu and Samoa.

All of the last remaining COVID-19-free nations are believed to be far-flung islands in the Pacific Ocean.

Lon Tweeten/TIME

Most Pacific island countries closed their borders early in the COVID-19 outbreak. But as infections surge around the globe, with cases surpassing 50 million, the coronavirus is beginning to creep in.

In Vanuatu, the health department said a 23-year-old man who had recently returned from the United States was confirmed to have the virus after being tested while in quarantine. In response to the COVID-19 case, the government has suspended transport in and out of its capital city Port Vila and has launched an operation to trace and test everyone the man may have come into contact with.

Vanuatu, which is made of some 80 islands stretching across 800 miles of the South Pacific Ocean, closed its borders in March to keep the virus from entering. It even banned foreign aid workers from entering the country after a Category 5 storm devastated the country in April. But it has allowed Vanuatu residents and citizens overseas to return home.

Read more: Tracking the Spread of the Coronavirus Outbreak Around the World

The Marshall Islands recorded its first cases in the last week of October in workers at a U.S. military base who had arrived from Hawaii. The Solomon Islands also recorded its first case in early October; the remote island chain has since confirmed more than a dozen cases among arrivals in quarantine. Neither have yet recorded community transmission of the virus, and this week the Marshall Islands declared itself COVID-19 free again.

In Samoa, three crew members on board a ship that stopped in port have tested positive for the virus in recent days; workers who serviced the ship are now in isolation.

The good news is that, because COVID-19 took so long to get there, these Pacific nations had time to prepareand may be able to stop the virus from spreading through their populations.

Lana Elliott, an expert on public health in the Pacific at the Queensland University of Technology, is hopeful that Vanautus first case can be contained. She says that not having a COVID-19 case until this week has bought the country of some 300,000 people crucial time.

The government and the ministry of health, she says, have worked diligently for the last number of months to prepare for this exact situation. Processes are in place to ensure this patient can be treated and that the threat to health workers and the broader population is managed.

There is reason for concern about Vanuatus ability to handle a COVID-19 outbreak, should the virus begin spreading in the community.

Vanuatu, like many of the small islands in the Pacific, cant cope with even a few cases of COVID-19, says Colin Tukuitonga, an associate dean at the University of Auckland medical school and the former chief executive of New Zealands Ministry of Pacific Island Affairs. A handful of cases on a small island is going to overwhelm the health system; these are very small and not well funded health systems. They often lack critical equipment, the critical skills, he says.

Read More: This Tiny Nation Has Zero Coronavirus Cases. After a Devastating Cyclone, Its Refusing Foreign Aid Workers to Keep It That Way

As a result, contact tracing capabilities are of the utmost importance in preventing community transmission. Thats the test. How quickly and how reliably the local authorities can identify the contacts, he says. Its not an easy job.

And unlike many countries in the Asia-Pacific that have used apps to trace contacts, no such technology is available in Vanuatu, he says, which will make the contact tracing process more challenging.

Vanuatus director of public health, Len Tarivonda, said that around 200 people had been identified as potential contacts of the infected man, including airline, customs and hotel staff, all of whom are now undergoing testing.

We are concerned about that, especially since the staff who were working at the borders or the airline, they would have gone back to their families since last week, Tarivonda told an Australian Broadcasting Corporation radio program.

Dan McGarry, an independent journalist who has lived in Vanuatu for more than 17 years, tells TIME that the news has sparked some fear in Vanuatu, and some are buying face masks to prepare for a possible outbreak. But most people have confidence that the illness is still contained, he says.

Were vulnerable and we know it. Our health care services have never been great, and intensive care simply doesnt exist. We dont have respirators, and we have very limited critical care facilities. If this were to reach the outer islands, people there would have next to no health care services available to them.

Margaret Kenning, who lives on a small island in Vanuatu called Nguna says that her neighbors gathered to listen to the midday news on a transistor radio on Wednesday to hear how the government planned to deal with the first COVID-19 case.

Although Vanuatu has managed to fend off the coronavirus until this week, it hasnt been spared the economic hardship that the pandemic has caused all around the world. Tess Newton Cain, the project leader for the Pacific Hub at the Griffith Asia Institute, a research center, says that the Pacific islandsalmost all of which have also closed their borders to keep COVID-19 outhave been hit hard economically. Vanuatus tourism-dependent economy is expected to decline 8.3% this year. Others have fared even worse. In Fiji, which has mostly been shut to tourism, GDP is expected dive more than 20% this year.

The journalist McGarry says despite a generous government bailout program in Vanuatu, unemployment is skyrocketing and foreclosures are mounting by the day. Were bending as far as we can, but things are starting to break, he says.

While the closure of borders has been extremely good for managing health impacts, its had quite devastating effect on the economy, Newton Cain says. Theres been a lot of job losses, a lot of tourism-focused businesses have closed or are working on really reduced hours.

Still, Tukuitonga, the former New Zealand diplomat, says trying to keep the virus completely out of the country remains the right strategy for Vanuatu and many other countries in the Pacific.

The primary aim of keeping it out or keeping it contained at the border is still the right one because if it gets into the community the islands will be simply overwhelmed, he says.

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Write to Amy Gunia at amy.gunia@time.com.

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COVID-19 Is Reaching the Last Coronavirus-Free Nations on Earth - TIME

As six of us launched kayaks off River Road in Mystic the other day, Curt Andersen prepared to record the route, distance and speed on his smartphone, which he also used to check the tide and weather.

Suddenly: Uh-oh

Whats up?

Theres a high kraken alert today, he warned with a straight face.

Norse legend be damned, we decided to risk being gobbled by a mythical, squid-like monster, and began paddling on the Mystic River below the Interstate-95 highway bridges.

After a short detour to admire Mystic Seaport Museums fleet, we continued toward Ram Island, taking the long way east of Masons Island to stay in the lee of a south breeze.

Propelled by an ebbing tide, we squirted beneath the Masons Island Road overpass, glided past Andrews and Dodges islands, and cut in close to the seawall at Enders Island. Our plan had been to stop for a snack on a nearby sandy islet just off Ram and then head back, covering about eight miles but conditions were too glorious to lose momentum.

I feel Fishers beckoning, I said, gazing at the island in New York waters some three miles across the sound. You cant resist paddling there on a day like this.

Though skies were overcast, with rain forecast later in the afternoon, the seas were flat and temperature hovered in the mid-60s uncommonly mild for Veterans Day, Nov. 11.

Bob Tenyck, paddling next to me, asked, How many times have you gone over to Fishers on a calm day and had things blow up on the way back?

Oh, four or five, I conceded, deliberately lowballing the number. Anybody who has ventured out into the sound knows that conditions can change in a heartbeat, as our group discovered last June when we became enveloped in a fog bank on a return paddle from Fishers Islands Hay Harbor to Noank. On other occasions, weve been battered by sudden squalls, powerful wind gusts and rogue waves but so far, at least, avoided the kraken.

Will Kenyon and Bill Wright were on a tight schedule and decided to head back upriver, leaving Curt, Bob, Declan Nowak and me to continue paddling into the open waters of Fishers Island Sound.

I glanced at my deck compass: Due south would take us to the islands closest point of land, Brooks Point.

Is that where weve seen the seals? Bob asked, referring to our winter paddling excursions to view a colony of harbor seals that migrate from the Gulf of Maine and points north.

No, thats farther east, I said, motioning toward Hungry Point. It was a little too early in the season for them to swim here en masse, but maybe wed get lucky and spot one or two, I added.

Sure enough, a few minutes later when our quartet approached a cluster of rocks called Middle Clump less than half a mile off Fishers Island, we could see a dark, shiny creature sprawled on the rocks.

Looks like a big banana, Curt observed, commenting on how seals often lie on their bellies while curling their heads and tails skyward.

We kept our distance federal law prohibits humans from getting closer than 50 yards to any marine mammal and proceeded toward the island. Declan and Curt scouted a suitable beach for landing, Bob and I then followed, and soon the four of us were out of our boats, perched on rocks, as happy as seals.

The smooth, pale blue water looked more like the Caribbean than Fishers Island sound, and Curt couldnt resist texting a picture to Will and Bill of our kayaks spread out along the beach.

As tempting as it might have been to linger, we could see dark clouds on the horizon. After a quick bite to eat, we clambered back in our kayaks, snapped spray skirts in place, and began paddling back to Connecticut.

The wind had picked up, and waves were building around reefs and shoals, so our pace on the return was less leisurely. But soon we neared Ram Island, then Masons Island, and finally entered the protected waters of the Mystic River, completing what turned out to be a 14-plus-mile voyage.

Raindrops began falling as we carried our boats to a parking lot off River Road perfect timing. We had abided by the dictum, carpe diem seize the day while managing to avoid storms and the dreaded kraken that Alfred Lord Tennyson poeticized in 1830:

Below the thunders of the upper deep,

Far, far beneath in the abysmal sea,

His ancient, dreamless, uninvaded sleep

The Kraken sleepeth: faintest sunlights flee

About his shadowy sides; above him swell

Huge sponges of millennial growth and height;

And far away into the sickly light,

From many a wondrous grot and secret cell

Unnumbered and enormous polypi

Winnow with giant arms the slumbering green.

There hath he lain for ages, and will lie

Battening upon huge sea worms in his sleep,

Until the latter fire shall heat the deep;

Then once by man and angels to be seen,

In roaring he shall rise and on the surface die.

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Avoiding storms and sea monsters on an impromptu paddle to Fishers Island - theday.com

In a world free from parents, boys, technology, and the expectations placed on young women, a group of disparate teen girls battle for their lives when a private plane they're in crashes into the ocean near a deserted island in The Wilds from Amazon Studios. Ingenuity meets past insecurities in the YA series from Sarah Streicher that features a diverse cast including Indigenous and queer characters and touches on gender, the effects of toxic masculinity, and environmental concerns.

The cast of mostly newcomers includes the bookish Nora (Helena Howard of Madeline's Madeline) and her athletic sister Rachel (Reign Edwards); wild child socialite Fatin (Sophia Ali); best friends who are Indigenous and one of whom is queer, Toni (Erana James) and Martha (Jenna Clause); the brokenhearted Leah (Sarah Pidgeon),; the reliable Dot (Shannon Berry); and the Christian beauty queen Shelby (Mia Healey).

Unlikely alliances form as the girls cope with their fate after washing up on the island with to few supplies and no foreseeable rescue mission on the way. Perennial favorite Rachel Griffiths (Six Feet Under, Hilary and Jackie, Muriels Wedding) also stars.

The 10-episode series drops on Amazon Prime on December 11. Watch the trailer below.

Continue reading here:

Queer-Inclusive The Wilds Trailer Has Teen Girls on a Deserted Island - Advocate.com

STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- The following is a roundup of obituaries published onSILive.com. Viewing times and guestbooks can be foundhere.

William Hodgens, 68, a United States Air Force veteran who later joined the FDNY and was a 9/11 first responder, who is lovingly remembered as a family man, died Nov. 17, 2020.

Innocenzo Emanuel (Vincent) Spadola, 89, who was born in Ragusa, Italy, and lived in New Dorp for more than 50 years, and who was a father of five, died Nov. 10, 2020.

Vincent Jimmy Tumminello, 94, of New Dorp, who was co-owner of Tumminellos Deli in Great Kills for more than 50 years, and who had a passion for gardening, died Nov. 14, 2020.

Victoria Vicki Venditti, 76, a Staten Island native who was a retired special-education high school teacher and accomplished high school volleyball coach, died Nov. 15, 2020.

MONDAYS OBITUARIES:

Thomas P. Lapolla, 85, a United States Army veteran who later had a career with the FDNY, and who was a parishioner of St. Clares in Great Kills for 55 years, died Nov. 13, 2020.

Gail OBrien, 77, a lifelong Staten Islander and a graduate of St. Peters Girls High School, who worked for Our Lady of Good Counsel and the Alba House, died Nov. 14, 2020.

Continue reading here:

Staten Island obituaries for Nov. 18, 2020 - SILive.com

STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. Since Staten Island was designated a yellow zone by New York state last week, both public and non-public schools are now mandated to randomly test 20% of the school population weekly -- starting this week.

According to the city Department of Education (DOE), 118 school sites are in the Staten Island yellow zone.

We currently have the consent and participation in Staten Island schools required to perform a comprehensive surveillance testing program, said Nathaniel Styer, DOE spokesman. Still, we highly encourage all parents with students attending in-person to consent to safe, fast random testing. Participation by everyone keeps both our schools and community safer.

When Mayor Bill de Blasio announced the citys plan in September to conduct random coronavirus testing at public schools throughout the current academic year, parents were outraged -- with some stating they would not allow their kids to be tested in school.

How does coronavirus testing work?

Testing partners come to district schools to test a randomly selected group of staff and students from grades 1-12. The number of people to be tested depends on the size of the school, but will consist of 10% to 20% of a schools population each month, students and staff included.

Now that Staten Island is in a yellow zone, testing will be conducted on a weekly basis for 20% of the population.

*** CLICK HERE FOR COMPLETE COVERAGE OF CORONAVIRUS IN NEW YORK ***

Once a month, or once a week as Staten Island remains in a yellow zone, a provider will visit your childs school with a randomly selected list of students and staff to be tested that day.

The testing provider will set up in a designated area in the school. Staff from the school or the testing team will visit the appropriate classroom to retrieve students from that class who have been selected to be tested that day. Those students will be escorted to the testing area, tested quickly, and then escorted back to their classroom.

The DOE said it doesnt expect any child to be out of class for more than 15 to 30 minutes total from the time that he or she is picked up at the classroom until he or she is escorted back to class.

How will my child be tested?

According to the DOE, the test is easy, quick and safe.

Instead of the long swab that goes into the back of the nose, this test is a short, small swab like a Q-tip that goes just in the front of the nose. The cotton swab is in the nose for five to 10 seconds, so the entire process of explaining the test to the child and then swabbing him or her generally takes only minutes.

According to the DOE, its possible later this school year that tests will be administered by collecting a small amount of saliva.

You can watch the citys video below of what testing looks like.

Do I need to give consent for testing?

In order to administer a COVID-19 test to students, the DOE needs parental consent for those under 18 years old. The city strongly encourages families to sign and return the consent form.

If you have an NYC Schools Account (NYCSA), you can complete the consent form electronically through the web application. If you revoke consent for testing through NYCSA, please notify your childs school as well.

If your child is selected for testing but is uncomfortable or unable to be tested, the DOE wont test your child and will work with you to address any concerns so he or she can participate in future testing.

If your child is tested, the DOE will let you know; results will typically be provided within 48 to 72 hours.

Where can I find testing results in my childs school?

You can find citywide, boroughwide, and schoolwide coronavirus testing results on the DOEs website.

To find school results, you can go here and search for your school name in the search bar or by typing in the borough in which your school is located.

STATEN ISLAND IN YELLOW ZONE

Gov. Andrew Cuomo declared Staten Island a micro-cluster yellow zone last Wednesday because the borough has a seven-day average positivity above 2.5%, as well as increases in its new rate of cases per 100,000 people and new daily hospital admissions.

Additionally, there has been a recent uptick in cases in public schools, forcing dozens of borough schools to temporarily shutter since the start of the 2020-2021 school year. Staten Islands public schools recently reported the highest three-day increase of coronavirus cases since September.

Despite high positivity rates on Staten Island and citywide, the positivity rate in New York City public schools has been low, according to data from the citys monthly random testing program in schools.

From Oct. 9 through Nov. 12, just 0.19% of total coronavirus tests, or 228 out of 123,585 tests conducted at public schools citywide through the program were positive. On Staten Island, 16 out of 6,751 tests, or 0.25%, conducted in public schools were positive.

If positivity rates dont decrease, public schools on Staten Island will also need to close and move all students to remote instruction. The borough could move into the orange zone if the seven-day average positivity rate in the borough increases from 2.5% to 3% for 10 days.

FOLLOW ANNALISE KNUDSON ON FACEBOOK AND TWITTER.

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Staten Island schools begin weekly coronavirus testing: What you need to know - silive.com

From the Highway Benevolent Association

To the Editor:

This is a statement of facts about Town Councilman Jim Colligans abuse of power by trying to suppress town employees constitutional First Amendment Right of Freedom of Speech;

On Monday October 19, Mr. Colligan did not approve of the presidential political flags flying on town employees private vehicles at the Shelter Island Recycling Center. These are direct quotes of what he said to town employees:

Whats the deal with these flags?

You dont see me riding around with my Biden flags and at work.

Tell everyone to take down those flags and thats coming straight from Jim Colligan himself.

This is [expletive], you guys are making a political statement.

Dont expect me to do any [expletive] favors for you

Mr. Colligan knows you can have political signage on private vehicles on town property because he sees Supervisor Gerry Sillers bumper sticker on his car outside of the Town Halls door entrance every day. Another instance was when, last year, Democratic Committee chairperson Heather Reylek along with Councilman Mike Bebon, and County Legislator Bridget Fleming were actively campaigning and soliciting votes in the Recycling Center, which is the same place these presidential political flags were flying on personal vehicles.

There can be no tolerance for an employer to use their power to suppress an employees Constitutional 1st Amendment Right of Freedom of Speech. Jim Colligans inability to recognize and control his actions is why we have asked him to resign his position on the Shelter Island Town Board.

RAY W. CONGDON III, President, Shelter Island Highway Benevolent Association

Editors note: The town, through an outside counsel, is investigating the event. Mr. Colligan said: I will wait for the investigative report on the incident and will remind everyone that there are two sides to every story. I also will abide by the outcome of the investigations recommendations.

Thank you, PBA and veterans

To the Editor:

We would like to thank the Shelter Island PBA for orchestrating and financing the Veterans Day placards admired by all in the center of town.

After the late and unfortunate cancellation of the traditional Veterans Day service, the PBA came to us with this exceptional gesture. Due to the short window between the cancellation and Veterans Day, the placards were created off the Legions 2020 roster of active members. We regret any omissions caused by the short turnaround required to get the signs created in time.

Looking to the future, we would be most welcoming of any new members who would like to join.

We request that those interested send a letter with your contact information to Mitchell Post 281, P.O. Box 2021 Shelter Island, NY 11964 or leave a message at (631) 749-1180.

Thank you all for the outpouring of support. We hope to see you soon.

MEMBERS, MITCHELL POST 281, Shelter Island

Caring about the truth

To the Editor:

In response to the letter Handling the truth (Nov. 12), I was taken aback by some serious falsehoods presented as truth. As a philosophy professor, Im compelled to correct some of those errors, in the spirit of truth-seeking.

Creating fear is not a socialist agenda; it is a fascist one. Check the history of Germany, Spain, Italy in the 1930s. Look at socialist nations today, like Denmark and Sweden a climate of fear? I think not. Off-Island I saw a Trump 2020: Make the liberals cry again banner ouch. Blocking traffic up and down the Island is intimidation tactics 101.

Regarding the Democratic agenda: The country was founded on a separation of church and state precisely to safeguard religious choices. The Democratic positions may not drag God into our politics for this reason. I know plenty of Democrats who are deeply religious and see the message of Jesus as embracing all, even outsiders, with compassion. Sanctuary cities and more open borders may actually be something Jesus would approve of. And references to biased news? There are objective standards that measure news bias that one can consult for guidance.

My real concern is the trope of demonizing socialism. If youre really anti-socialism, do not accept Medicare, Social Security, Unemployment Insurance, and certainly not the funds given many Americans to help them survive this pandemic. Wait, those are good programs? Well, thats socialism at work. Socialism is not the same as communism. Democrats are not advocating for communism.

Labeling President Trump as brutally honest is half right; hes brutal to anyone who disagrees with him. Honest? How honest was he about the pandemic in March? How honest is he now as the virus surges?

Finally, to the point of the letter. I liked the Codger column last week on the Trump banners at the dump. Yes, maybe Supervisor Siller could have handled that better, but I know as an employee Im not allowed to display political banners in my office.

The letter ends with a conciliatory note. We can all get behind that, but we need to call one another out when we offer unfounded opinions. The letter writer and I care about the truth. I know I dont fully have it, but misinformation needs addressing. We may be entitled to our own opinions, but not our own facts.

WENDY C. TURGEON, Shelter Island

Giving thanks

To the Editor:

Here we are heading into Turkey Day with all kinds of new rules, Its going to be interesting. But we here on Shelter Island have much to be thankful for. If I recall the Indians had something to do with the first one. (I will not go there).

This yard sale business: I watched the last Town Board meeting and all that banter. How about garage sales? Will they fall into the same category or is that a different issue?

I am a North Midway Road resident, and it seems that the South Midway Road resident who has been targeted always has some interesting stuff. As I do, and I will be having a garage sale soon. So, anyway lets see how this all plays out, but its a big waste of time with more important issues to debate.

One of them: Plum Island. Who is the Shelter Island liaison with all of this, with the New York State Parks Commission, Town of Southold etc.? My thoughts are that now that Nancy Goroff has conceded, that she take over and turn the place into a Marine biology, ornithology, and any other kind of ology lab. She professes to be so concerned about the East End and her connection with Stony Brook University are screaming for her intervention. Lets get this place preserved for all mankind and creatures great and small.

By the way, congratulations to Lee Zeldin. Im sure he would jump on board with preserving the Island of Plum for all of us to enjoy. Confession time: Many years ago while out boating, I trespassed with my children. It was a gem of a place, magical actually, and I still have shells and some rocks as souvenirs.

Asking for a friend; where can I get a copy of a New York State mail-in ballot for her. I did absentee.

Thanksgiving Day 2020 will be remembered for a long time, a real day of giving thanks whether youre having a turkey sandwich or a big bird.

Stay well, stay safe, and mask up.

GEORGIANA KETCHAM, Shelter Island

Respect

To the Editor:

Ive witnessed two things lately that depressed me. Driving south on Midway Road, at the intersection with Lake Drive I saw that somebody had deposited their dog poop bag on the side of the road. Listen, I know from ample experience that picking up after ones dog is a drag, but really?

How much effort would it have taken for the person to carry that bag 100 yards back home? I guess they either thought that, Well, somebody else will pick it up or they werent even thinking that is, they werent thinking about anybody else besides themselves.

And, lately, Ive noticed that the so-called Goody Pile at the Recycling Center has become a veritable dumping ground for, well, garbage. Its strewn all over the place. I feel bad for the guys who work really hard at the dump (regardless of their politics) having to pick up after some thoughtless Islanders.

I dont think I can assign that unfortunate trend to the idea that one mans garbage is worth displaying at the Shelter Island Mall in the hope that it is another mans worthwhile garbage. I think these two instance reflect a worrisome trend: people are more self-centered and give less of a hoot about other people than ever before.

Cmon people: I know its a hackneyed concept, but how about treating other people the way youd like them to treat you?

SCOTT A. ROBBINS, Shelter Island

Reviewing records

To the Editor:

This serves as response to an Oct. 21 certified letter signed by the mayor of Dering Harbor, Patrick Parcells, to me as a former village trustee and mayor, demanding all my emails from July 2016 through June 2018.

The Village initiated its current email system in or about January 2018. From that time through June 2018 my last month in office my official emails were copied to either [emailprotected] or [emailprotected] and in most cases included a courtesy copy to one or more trustees using either their personal email accounts or the villages including Mr. Parcells after I appointed him trustee.

From July 2016 through January 2018, official emails were copied to [emailprotected] as well as direct copies to the trustees.

The village and mayor should review their records to catalog them properly.

As the mayor and trustees continue to meet via Zoom conference governors orders or not with the purpose of protecting themselves and residents during the pandemic, it is unclear why the mayor would needlessly expose the clerk, requiring her to prepare correspondence by certified mail (with special steps and forms at the post office) when other options exist. Do the trustees (Kelsey, Benacerraf, Kelly, Goldfarb) support the mayors behavior during the rise of COVID cases?

In the event the mayor chooses to target er, make demands on former village officials, I suggest Mr. Parcells do so at public meetings where he can discuss his reasons with the trustees, and where counsel can vet approved communication for legal and careless errors.

JOHN T. COLBY Jr., Shelter Island

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Shelter Island Reporter Letters to the Editor: Nov. 12-Nov. 19 - Shelter Island Reporter

Judy Banks remembers.

So does Richard Marlin, who wrote, remember the days? ONE,. TWO,. THREE and were OUT! Marlin was counting blinks.

Writes Hatteras village resident Judy Banks on her Facebook page: 15-20 years ago, if the lights blinked once: prepare. If the lights blinked twice: prepare for an outage. If the lights blinked again, dont expect them to come back on; prepare for two to three hour outage.

We got 5 or 6 blinks from this one, said Banks about the Thursday outage. We had time to get candles lit and flashlights prepared. If this is CHEMC problem, we will be up and running soon.

Banks praise for the Cape Hatteras Electric Cooperative crews was repeated from other islanders. Thursday night, Nov. 12, was not weather nice. The linemen went anyway.

Power stability came to the island in 1995, some 25 years ago.

On interim manager Jim Sherfeys first day on the job, Jan. 15, 1995, he woke up before daylight and discovered Buxton was without power. Sherfey recalled he was told that was the way it was on Hatteras Island.

Service reliability was a critical concern of the cooperatives Board of Directors in 1995 and for Sherfey during his managerial tenure. During his first year on the job, Sherfey oversaw the completion of the cooperatives new 115 Kv transmission line from Oregon Inlet to Buxton, a $10.5 million job.

The new transmission lines stabilized the islands system, which was described as a rubber band stretched to its capacity.

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Despite the International Whaling Commissions (IWC) efforts to provide legal protection in the 1960s, illegal hunting continued till 1972.

"The continued absence of blue whales at South Georgia has been seen as an iconic example of a population that was locally exploited beyond the point where it could recover, said Susannah Calderan, the lead author of the study published in Endangered Species Research.

What happened in South Georgia 50 years ago?At least 42,498 blue whales were killed between 1904 to 1971 in the Atlantic Ocean around South Georgia. Most of them met their doom before the 1930s.

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This is the first time that blue whales have been spotted in the region again, according to the British Antarctic Survey. Their study also shows that humpback whales are also making a comeback.

Blue whales return to South GeorgiaAs far as the British Antarctic Survey can tell, blue whales returning to the waters of South Georgia this time around arent the same ones that used to live in the region before.

However, 2020 was a milestone year. This year resulted in more blue whale sightings than ever before at 58, in addition to numerous acoustic detections.

"We don't quite know why it has taken the blue whales so long to come back. It may be that so many of them were killed at South Georgia that there was a loss of cultural memory in the population, that the area was a foraging ground, and that it is only now being rediscovered," said Calderan.

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Blue whales are returning to a tiny island in the sub-Antarctic 50 years after whaling in the region brought - Business Insider India

All it took was one selfless woman at the beginning of the pandemic, Rowena Pangan, to spearhead and get the ball rolling for a community meal delivery program that runs every Saturday for the houseless communities island-wide with 12 to 15 committed volunteers.

I love it, Pangan, co-founder and co-CEO of Hoomana Thrift Store in Wailua, said. Growing up, we were really poor, and I know what it is like not to have. Before running Hoomana, I worked with the judiciary system, so when inmates come out of jail, I have a one-on-one with them. I retouch base with them, and thats where I found out where most of the campsites are.

Besides working every day at the thrift store until 11 p.m., and helping to feed the houseless communities weekly, Pangan does home health care and takes care of the kupuna, which is why she was nominated as The Garden Islands Hometown Hero.

When COVID-19 first broke out, Pangan and her team started the Malama meals, which were being delivered from Honolulu.

We had two hours to distribute 1,600 meals island-wide, and I started with Kamealoha Smith, former candidate for Office of Hawaiian Affairs Board of Trustees, Pangan said. With other drivers, from Hanalei to Kekaha, we had 15-20 drivers, depending on the days from Monday through Sunday.

During the pandemic, Pangan teamed up with Smith and Regina Floyd, a Hoomana Thrift Stores marketing consultant, in hopes to find a way to keep the meal program going.

I talk to Kamealoha and Regina, and we all put our thoughts together and wrote a small grant proposal to the county and was awarded $125,000 of CARES (Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security) Act funding, Pangan said. Now we are serving on Saturdays and we will be serving on Thanksgiving and all Saturdays until the end of the year.

Floyd pointed out what Pangan did at the beginning of their journey together.

When we first started, what she started doing was taking the DOE (Department of Education) meals down to the keiki living in the campgrounds, Floyd said. The kids were being fed breakfast and lunch but there was nothing for the adults. And she got to see what was happening, what food was or was not coming and learning about all of the other campgrounds.

Floyd explained how she got involved with Pangan.

I am supporting her because I got involved with Hoomana, the thrift store to start out with and then I became friends with Ro, while helping with marketing the store, Floyd said. I really saw the mission and the vision of what she was trying to do, and not only just in the thrift store, its more than just the thrift store but I saw what she was doing outside of the community.

Farah Aquino, a co-owner of Passion Bakery Caf, piggybacked off Floyds thoughts and shared how she and her bakery got involved.

Regina had posted that they were looking for somebody to partner up with to donate meals for the Kamalani Kai Bridge homeless camp, Aquino said. It was the beginning of COVID, tourism shut down, and we had all this meat in our freezers. We had given our staff a whole bunch of stuff, yet we still had a lot of product as we shut down for two weeks.

We just did it cause we had the stuff and we had the PPE (personal protective equipment) and the labor hours, so we donated it. We had 1600 plates one time at this bakerythat was crazy but was good. We kind of had the same heart in the mission but in different ways, Aquino said.

Aquino said she was a recovering alcoholic and drug addict, and through the help from people like Pangan, she turned her life around and now finds herself helping others like herself to pay it forward too.

Today, miraculously, I have a work line from the jail and a work line from the drug court, and now its an all female group. Every Saturday they volunteer, together we five volunteers weekly.

Since the grant will end on Dec. 31, they are hoping for someone from the community to help them fund their delivery meals program, Pangan said.

We are praying the Lord will bless us with more funding so we can continue to bless the people because with the tough economic times, Kamalani Kai is growing, every, Pangan said. Every week it keeps growing and growing, there is more need for food.

Aquino said its important to remember that everybody is human.

I think in this time in this day of age, people need to have more compassion and try to put themselves in other peoples shoes, Aquino said. I see the chatter going back and forth on Kauai Rave and Rants on Facebook, about the homeless camps. It is really sad. Thats somebodys aunty, somebodys uncle, somebodys child, there is a human face on these people.

A lot of mental illness, a lot of substance abuse, and this is Hawaii, yeah and its very expensive to live here and there is a housing crisis, and we got a lot of factors at play and people just need to have more compassion and more love in their hearts, Aquino added.

Floyd added to Aquinos message.

And collaborate, be willing to work together, its not our organization against yours, Floyd said. Its working together to do more. I mean here is a bakery and thrift store coming together to feed the houseless on a regular basis.

Pangan agreed with Floyd and said she is looking at 550 people in need and she is going all the way to the Westside.

The Kaleohano family from Niihau hanai me, so I have personal relationships with Niihau people and there is a whole lot there, probably another 300 people more, Pangan said.

With all of that giving, Pangan still finds time to fix the Hoomana Thrift Store.

We got flooded in March with the floods, so we are trying to get reestablished again, so people can start bringing in their donations-not only food is needed-people are looking for towels and blankets as the weather changes, Pangan said.

To make a donation or volunteer, contact Rowena Pangan at 808-346-6561, Regina Floyd at 702-292-2372, or email hoomanakauai@gmail.com.

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Rowena Pagan and team help feed the houseless community - The Garden Island

LAGUNA BEACH (CBSLA) Testimony is expected to continue this week in a neighbor-versus-neighbor dispute that includes the theme song from the 1960s classic Gilligans Island.

Tech entrepreneur Mark Towfiq says he can hear his neighbor, William Gross, allegedly blare the theme song on a loop, all-night long, for hours at a time.

The lawsuit says Gross and his girlfriend who cohabitates with him play their loud music constantly at decibel levels and at times of day well over the municipal code limits. Gross and Schwartzs typical pattern was to project earsplitting music much of the day and then switch to theme songs such as the one for Gilligans Island intermittently throughout the night.

Gross, a billionaire, lives in a $32 million mansion in the upscale Orange County community of Laguna Beach. The feud stems from the installation of a large glass sculpture worth $1 million which Gross displays with netting to protect it.

Towfiq alleges the net blocks his view of the ocean, while Gross says the net is necessary to protect the sculpture.

To that end, Towfiq informed the city of the actions, and the suit alleges, The City investigated, found the complaint to have merit, and issued a notice of violation to Defendants.

As a result, and allegedly in retaliation, the suit says Gross has allegedly been blaring his music. Officers have been called to the home several times and one officer testified that she found the music unreasonably loud.

The defendants are also accused of blasting other music, such as the theme songs from M*A*S*H and Green Acres on a loop, according to the lawsuit.

Testimony was expected to continue this week.

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Billionaire William Gross Accused Of Blasting Gilligans Island Theme Song In Neighbor Dispute - CBS Los Angeles

April Freely has been named the new executive director of the Fire Island Artist Residency, the New York organization founded in 2011 as the first residency to provide resources exclusively to emerging lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer-identifying artists and poets. Previously the program coordinator at the Vermont Studio Center, the largest arts residency in the US, Freely will succeed cofounder Chris Bogia, who will transition to the board of directors.

In this time of transformation, I am excited to learn and grow with this organization, building upon the impressive legacy FIAR has established as a home for LGBTQ+ artists and poets, said Freely, who was born in Cleveland, Ohio, and is now based in Harlem. It is my honor to serve this vibrant and dedicated community of artists and allies, and I look forward to our work together.

In addition to her credentials as an administrator and fundraiser, Freely is a poet and writer who holds graduate degrees in nonfiction and poetry from the University of Iowa and New York University. She is a professor at Bard College in Annandale-on-Hudson, recently received a 20202021 Queer Arts Mentorship fellowship in literature, and has published essays on artists in The Kenyon Review and in several artist monographs includingJennifer Packer: Tenderheaded(Renaissance Society, 2018).

Other arrivals to FIAR include six new members of the board of directors: Brooklyn-based artist Paolo Arao; Washington, DCbased doctor of psychiatry Marc Dalton; Brooklyn-based artist Damien Davis; New Yorkbased lawyer Christian Escobar; Chicagoan artist Derrick Woods-Morrow; Chris E. Vargas, an artist based between Bellingham, Washington, and Los Angeles; and Brian Vines, a New Yorkbased journalist.

Aprils vision, exemplified by her own creative practice and professional and lived experiences, is the future face of FIAR, said board president Jeremy E. Steinke. We are excited to welcome April and all of our new board members to embark on our next decade of creating space for and amplifying the voices of LGBTQ+ artists and poets.

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April Freely Appointed Executive Director of Fire Island Artist Residency - Artforum

In her flyweight debut, Jessica Andrade announced herself as a fun and new flyweight contender with a bulldozing finish of Katlyn Chookagian in the first round.

Andrade showed that the height and length difference was no factor, closing the distance with ease and landing a takedown within the first minute of the bout. While Chookagian did well to return to her feet, but Andrades well-known strength helped to maintain pressure along the fence and wear on Chookagian. After dealing with some rangy strikes from the former title challenger, Andrade secured her signature slam and unleashed some ground-and-pound. As the two rose to their feet, Andrade unleashed a hook to the body that got a big reaction from Chookagian. Immediately, Andrade blitzed Chookagian, quickly landing another short shot to the body that crumbled the American, securing a win in her third weight class.

UFC 254 On The Rise

With the flyweight division wide-open and begging for a challenger to Valentina Shevchenko, Andrade is potentially the most interesting and most dangerous threat to the indominable 125-pound champion thus far.

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UFC Fight Island 6 Bonus Coverage - The Official Website of the Ultimate Fighting Championship

An open letter to Mayor Kawakami, Gov. Ige, Lt. Gov. Green, and all Hawaii leaders:

I would like to begin by offering my most sincere compliments of adoration in the exemplary job you have done in protecting what you love: We The People of Kauai.

Because of your teams sane and scientific based approach to protecting our vulnerable island from the deadly global pandemic of COVID-19, we are a leader in the world of having zero to no cases on our tiny island of only nine ICU beds.

I first moved to Kauai in 1994 and then vowed to always protect what I love: The island of Kauai and her people. I keep my vow and implore you to please do the right thing: KEEP THE TWO-WEEK QUARANTINE UNTIL THE END OF THE PANDEMIC.

A someone who has been the sole caretaker of my frail, 85-yearold mother, who has lived on Kauai since 2009, my mom has bravely fought cancer, two major heart surgeries, and more, all in the past six years. My mother was in the ICU for three days during cancer as she battled for her life and won, thanks to the amazing job of our dedicated doctors at Wilcox Hospital. We all are very aware how easily overrun Wilcox can be with only nine ICU beds.

Exactly 100 years ago, The Spanish Flu came to Kauai and killed 500 Kauaians. We must not repeat history!

While I am very aware of how much our island is suffering from the economic depression we find ourselves in due to the fact that Kauai is so heavily co-dependent on tourism, the ends do not justify the means. We cannot sacrifice the health of the people for the profits of a few.

Whether you are Hawaiians or not, born and raised here or a kamaaina, Kauai lives matter! Kupuna lives matter!

We The People of Kauai have done such a wonderful job at keeping this virus at bay. We wear our masks. We social distance. We are following the law.

PLEASE DO NOT SELL OUT THE PEOPLE FOR PROFIT!

Myself, and many others voted for you to protect us, take care of us, as good leaders do.

Let it be known that myself and thousands of others implore you to do the right thing: DO NOT BE PRESSURED TO OPEN THE FLOODGATES TO NEGLIGENT TOURISM!

For once the virus takes hold here, all hope will be lost, and our island will never be the same again. One life lost is too many.

Please help me protect my mother, my neighbor, my community and myself from this deadly virus, of which there is currently no cure. The only cure is keeping it OFF of Kauai.

Also, please remember, that during times of a national crisis, the power is bestowed on you, dear mayor.

Mahalo nui loa for continuing to be of great service and protecting We The People of Kauai.

Abundant blessings of health to you and your ohana.

Mahana Dunn is the founder and president of Indigo Foundation, a 503-c-3 nonprofit of Hawaii.

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Do not be pressured to expose our island - The Garden Island