Mauricio Shogun Rua excited to fight another Legend on UFC Fight Island – Yahoo Sports

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Mauricio "Shogun" Rua and Antonio Rogerio Nogueira are names that are synonymous with mixed martial arts. Both men have been fighting in the sport for the better part of two decades.

On Saturday night on UFC Fight Island in Abu Dhabi, the two legends will meet for the third and final time as part of UFC on ESPN 14.

Shogun won both of their prior meetings. The first one took place under the Pride FC banner in 2005. The second bout happened in the Octagon at UFC 190 in 2015.

Now, 15 years after their first meeting, they step into the cage again, this being the final fight of Rogerio's illustrious career. Nogueira has announced that he will retire following the bout. But it will also be one of the final fights for the 38-year-old Shogun, who says he believes he has two or three fights left before he also walks away from the sport.

Hear everything Shogun Rua had to say at his UFC on ESPN 14 pre-fight Media Day scrum.

TRENDING > Video: What happened when Jorge Masvidal and Michael Bisping crossed up on UFC Fight Island?

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Mauricio Shogun Rua excited to fight another Legend on UFC Fight Island - Yahoo Sports

Potters Beach on Grindstone Island to remain closed – NNY360

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The Thousand Islands Land Trust will be extending the temporary closure of Potters Beach Preserve due to the continued development of COVID-19 case in Clayton and surrounding communities.

The Land Trust did not say when the popular beach, on Grindstone Island, will reopen.

The preserve, which includes trails and a sand beach, is also a popular spot for boaters to moor and swim. Last week Jefferson County officials said multiple people were potentially exposed to coronavirus during a gathering of boats off nearby Picton Island. The beach has been closed since.

The Land Trust will continue to monitor cases.

TILT will be communicating directly with Jefferson County Public Health, along with state and local officials and authorities, the agency stated. TILT will continue to monitor this situation and provide an update once it is deemed safe to reopen. Please note, while this is an unprecedented situation, the health and safety of the River community is of the highest importance to TILT. Thank you in advance for your cooperation and understanding.

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Potters Beach on Grindstone Island to remain closed - NNY360

Two Staten Island women charged with defacing Black Lives Matter mural outside Trump Tower – SILive.com

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STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- Two Staten Island women with ties to a pro-life religious organization were arrested after they allegedly defaced the Black Lives Matter mural outside the Trump Tower in Manhattan, only to be seen on video hours later dumping paint on two other murals in Brooklyn and Harlem.

Bevelyn Beatty, 29, and Edmee Chavannes, 39, both Black residents of Stapleton, were taken into custody after they allegedly smeared black paint across the bright yellow letters which read Black Lives Matter on Fifth Avenue in Manhattan, police said.

During the act, which was posted by Beatty on Facebook, she can be heard saying: Black Lives Matter, right? ... For the Black people. This is for the Black people. Theyre destroying business for Black people. Theyre looting for Black people.

No, Beatty says as she dumps black paint onto the mural. No. Were not standing with Black Lives Matter. We want our police. Re-fund our police.

Beatty and Chavannes were both charged with criminal mischief, given desk appearance tickets and released shortly afterwards.

A statement from At the Well Ministries, an organization that has posted videos of Beatty denouncing abortion, said the two women were treated like royalty by cops after their arrests.

This was the BEST experience they have ever had with any police department, the statement read, adding that police expressed their HIGH APPRECIATION for what Bevelyn and Edmee stood up for today.

While responding to the incident, a cop slipped on the paint that was poured on the mural slamming his shoulder and head into the pavement. The statement said the officer is doing very well and fine.

More to come, the statement continued, But we are taking our country back NOW!

An NYPD officer falls during an attempt to detain a protester pouring black paint on the Black Lives Matter mural outside of Trump Tower on Fifth Avenue in Manhattan on Saturday, July 18, 2020. (Associated Press/Yuki Iwamura) AP

A short while later, in the late hours of Saturday night, Beatty posted another video on Facebook entitled, Harlem Drive-by Painting, in which she and others pour paint out of the back of a minivan as it rolls past the Black Lives Matter mural on 7th Avenue and West 125th Street.

Jesus matters, they can be heard saying, as other cars rolled along the Harlem street behind Beatty who was wearing the same outfit she was seen in outside the Trump Tower earlier on Saturday.

Before anything else can matter, Jesus got to matter, Beatty said as she poured the black paint onto the brightly-colored mural.

As the cars crept down the street, an onlooker began accosting the group.

Whats wrong with you? Youre a Black woman, the person can be heard saying. What the f--k is wrong with you? Youre a Black woman.

As the caravan of cars pulls away, empty paint cans can be seen being hurled towards the group.

The NYPD said an investigation into the incident remains ongoing.

However, less than two hours later, Beatty and others were on Fulton Street in Bedford-Stuyvesant in Brooklyn early Sunday, video posted to her Facebook page showed.

Jesus matters, we are taking our country back, Beatty said during the video. The police need our help they cant stand alone. Dont just sit by idly and watch your country go to the ground. Stand with your police force, vote for Trump, vote Republican, vote for Christians.

Then, Beatty and another woman splashed paint across the Black Lives Matter mural and used paint rollers to spread it across the letters.

Several people are seen in the video approaching the two women to confront them about defacing the mural. Several verbal encounters quickly became terse.

The group then piled into nearby cars and drove off.

The NYPD said the department is aware of the incident and the investigation remains ongoing.

In a video following the incidents posted on Sunday, Beatty said: We did an all-nighter. Let me tell you something. Yesterday was epic, adding that President Donald Trump needs the American people behind him.

The Daily News reported Beatty and Chavannes were both arrested last month for protesting outside Planned Parenthoods New York headquarters, and were also charged with disorderly conduct in Fort Myers, Florida, when they disrupted a council meeting.

Were Black women, but we do not support Black Lives Matter because theyre hand-in-hand with Planned Parenthood that kills African-American babies, Beatty told Fox News last month. Theyre fraudulent hypocrites...

Black paint from a protester covers part of a Black Lives Matter mural outside of Trump Tower on Fifth Avenue in Manhattan on Saturday, July 18, 2020. (Associated Press/Yuki Iwamura)AP

This is not the first time the Black Lives Matter mural outside the Trump Tower has been defaced.

The NYPD said surveillance video revealed three individuals poured and smeared paint across the midtown-street art on Friday, July 17, just before 4 p.m.

Juliet Germanotta, 39, of Manhattan; Luis Martinez, 44, of Brooklyn; and Morgan DAnna, 25, a Queens resident, were arrested and charged with criminal mischief and released with a desk appearance ticket, the NYPD said in a written statement.

A fourth person, a 64-year-old female, was issued a criminal court summons for illegally posting fliers at the scene, the NYPD said.

Last week, the New York Post reported that a man walked up to the mural and poured red paint over it before fleeing the scene.

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Two Staten Island women charged with defacing Black Lives Matter mural outside Trump Tower - SILive.com

Amazon to Grand Island: ‘Thanks but no thanks’ – WGRZ.com

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Sources said the decision to pull Project Olive was based on significant pushback from town residents against the project.

Author: James Fink, Business First /Bizjournals.com, WGRZ Staff

Published: 6:10 PM EDT July 20, 2020

Updated: 11:24 PM EDT July 20, 2020

GRAND ISLAND, N.Y. Just hours before a Grand Island Town Board meeting to examine a proposed Amazon regional distribution center, developer Trammell Crow Co. pulled the project from the agenda at Amazon's request.

Sources said the decision to pull Project Olive was based on significant pushback from town residents against the project, which was planned for a 146-acre parcel on Long Road owned by Acquest Development of Amherst. The Grand Island Planning Board voted July 13 against the project 3-2.

Sources said Trammell Crow and Amazon are not interested in finding an alternate site in Erie County, and the sources focus might shift to Niagara and Genesee counties in the next few days.

When 2 On Your Side asked if "Project Olive" was pulling out, Grand Island Town Supervisor John Whitney said he was informed by developers the project is "on pause."

During Monday night's Grand Island Town Board meeting property owner Michael Huntress spoke to the board, hoping to encourage them to see the benefits the project would bring the area. Including, the estimated 1,000 jobs and increase in annual tax revenue.

2 On Your Side has reported on the controversial nature of the project. If you drive through neighborhoods near the Long Road property you will see lawn signs protesting the development.

Many neighbors have expressed concerns about the increase in traffic volume with the development.

"You are putting one of the biggest warehouses in the world on an island that you can only get on and off through a couple bridges" said Terry Hildebrandt of Grand Island. "Just because it's on pause right now, it may or may not go away and we should still let our voices be heard that we don't think it's appropriate for Grand Island."

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Amazon to Grand Island: 'Thanks but no thanks' - WGRZ.com

Group Aims to Revive Mud Island Amphitheater – Memphis Flyer

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Jerred Price was elected president of the Downtown Neighborhood Association (DNA) in February. He recently formed two new committees. One will focus on affordability: helping people with increases in land values and tax increases and keeping Downtown rents affordable. The other will focus on reviving Mud Island Amphitheater.

Price has been a vocal critic of the Mississippi River Parks Partnerships (MRPP) move to redo Tom Lee Park. Price is the administrator of a Facebook group called Save the River Parks and the Festivals.

Group members criticize the state of Mud Island River Park with its weeds, cracks, and holes. In a video that shows all of this (below), the group says its proof the the MRPP has failed our parks. The state of Mud Island in general has many critics calling for MRPP to fix the park first before embarking on the $60 million plan to completely renovate Tom Lee Park.

We caught up with Price recently about the Mud Island committee and his hopes for the one-of-a-kind, 5,000-seat theater. Toby Sells

Memphis Flyer: Why did you get interested in this issue?

Jerred Price: Im a musician. I play Almost Elton John (an Elton John tribute artist) with my band at Lafayettes every month. I started in 2014, playing almost only on Beale Street at Hard Rock Cafe.

Even up until, I think, three or four years ago, they did concerts there. I know Eric Clapton played up there in 2015. Fallout Boy was there recently. Theyve (recently) had about 15 or 16 different bands play there. Theyve had some big names roll in there.

Then, it stopped. I think it stopped because the focus on the rebranded (Riverfront Development Corp. now the MRPP) is not on Mud Island. Its not on promoting it. It's focused on Tom Lee Park. Youll see the timeline of when the concerts stopped and when the Tom Lee Park fundraising initiative began; it matches up.

Then, Mud Island kind of fell into despair. The maintenance out there is horrible and I think that's why the bands don't want to come out there. I understand the logistics trouble. I do. I want that to be very clear, that we understand it's a challenging venue, challenging location.

It is challenging, but it can still work and it did for years and years and years. It's just become not the focus. I think a lot of Downtowners are really disappointed in the condition of it.

I know that, per public record, the city signs a contract every year for MRPP, formerly RDC, to maintain, and manage, and oversee the river parks. I think they get $3 million to $4 million a year from the city of Memphis budget [it was $2.97 million in 2018], but where's the maintenance going? Where's the oversight in [the contract] because if you look at maintenance out there, it looks like the city's not giving them a dime. I mean, it's bad.

I created a post on Facebook a little while back and I threw up (images of amphitheater concepts) for Servicemaster, and AutoZone, and FedEx. What if they took over the naming rights like Renasant Bank with the new convention center? What if they put up the naming rights, and sold it to a corporation, and got investors, and got a new promotion marketing team, and did some upgrades out there? How much could that bring back that theater? Then, [the post] gets shared 1,500 times.

The hotel industry and the restaurant industry, theyd love to have concerts back. Thats 4,000 people coming Downtown. They're going to want to go eat. They're going to need places to stay. They're going to need restaurants and want to go to the bars to hang out.

It's a return on investment. Its more than just about the amphitheater. Its about Downtown. So, when I got elected president this past February of the DNA, I said I'm gonna make it a focus to restore and bring back this beloved amphitheater.

MF: Do you have a timeline for this?

JP: We are basing our timeline on the safety of Downtown and Memphis. We want to make sure that whatever we do is in a timely manner that is safe for everyone together.

But we are going to do the background work of putting it together so we can be able to pull the trigger when they do say we can have concerts. That way, all the legwork is done. Weve got the promotion companies. We've got the artists. We've got the money. We've got the investors to potentially do, maybe, a pop-up concert out there.

MF: To do that, would you have to get permission from the MRPP?

JP: Any event that takes place in a park that's managed by MRPP simply has to be submitted to them with the proper insurance if it's needed or plans for the event. You just kind of have to have an outline presented to them, and then get the permission to do it.

My hope and I hope this makes it into the way you write it, too we hope that we get the support and partnership of MRPP. If their their motto on their website is working ... let me read it for you.

It says, Memphis River Parks Partnerships works with and for the people of Memphis to trigger the transformative power of our river. So, we hope the MRPP will work with and for the people in health resurrecting this beloved amphitheater, and supporting our mission and our committee to do that.

MF: Did we leave anything out or is there anything you want to add?JP: I hope that MRPP will focus more on investing more maintenance dollars in this beloved park. I understand it has its challenges.

But so did many other projects that have recently been completed such as Crosstown Concourse. People said it was nearly impossible to do what they've done there. But it's been done and it's a success and people love it.

I think we need to make sure that we we keep this jewel that sits on the front porch of our city. We need to keep it alive and we need to keep going.

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Group Aims to Revive Mud Island Amphitheater - Memphis Flyer

Private island with log cabin on edge of the BWCA can be yours for $399K – Minneapolis Star Tribune

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Looking for the ultimate pandemic-era getaway home safe and secluded, with no need for masks or social distancing? Theres a private island with a rustic log cabin in northern Minnesota thats now on the market for $399,000.

The 2.5-acre island on Farm Lake is on the edge of the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness. Accessible only by boat, the island comes with a small parcel of land on the mainland, with a boat lift and dock, where you can park your vehicle, then boat to the island.

You can be from the car to the island in less than five minutes, said co-owner Marcus Andrusko.

The island, with 2,320 feet of shoreline and covered with towering pines, birches, maples and evergreens, is a natural playground for kids, said Andrusko, who, with his wife, Abby, has four.

The good thing about an island is you can release the kids and its safe theyre not going far, Marcus said. Theres also a second, smaller play island a wade away through a shallow channel.

Marcus has deep roots in Minnesotas northern wilderness. My family used to own a resort in that area, he said. I was taken to the BWCA as a 9-month-old baby, and I havent missed a summer yet.

After the resort was taken by the government under eminent domain and made part of the BWCA, the family learned to camp, Marcus said. He eventually started a camp for at-risk youth, taking them into the Boundary Waters, which he ran for 15 years.

We still wanted a place to go our own cabin, he said. He discovered the private island while snowshoeing, looked up the owner and asked if he was interested in selling. He was.

The 546-square-foot log cabin was originally built somewhere else, then reassembled on the island in 1983. It has a main living/dining area with a small kitchen and a wood-burning stove.

Its very cozy, said Abby. There are also two bedrooms. The lone bathroom is an outhouse but its a fancy one, with electricity and a bay window.

Theres also a sauna/bunkhouse on the island, as well as an outdoor shower with hot water. All together, the island can sleep up to eight indoors, plus theres a campsite for tents.

When theyre on the island, the Andruskos spend most of their time enjoying the outdoors kayaking, canoeing, swimming and fishing. Theyre only a short paddle into the BWCA, just minutes from two entry points.

Farm Lake is a good fishing lake, filled with walleye, northerns, crappies and other species, said Marcus. Its also a good swimming lake, with warm water, added Abby.

They also enjoy beautiful sunsets from their west-facing cabin.

The island is about 250 miles north of the Twin Cities, a four-to-five-hour drive. The town of Ely is a 10-minute drive away.

Since buying the property five years ago, the Andruskos have put a metal roof on the cabin and added tongue-and-groove siding inside.

Theyre selling the island and cabin, fully furnished, now only because they co-own it with another family that is relocating to Michigan and wants to sell, said Marcus. We love the place.

Abby Andrusko, 612-581-7787, Keller Williams, has the listing.

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Private island with log cabin on edge of the BWCA can be yours for $399K - Minneapolis Star Tribune

Thompson bill to transfer control of Mare Island Cemetery included in Defense Funding Legislation – Vallejo Times-Herald

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Rep. Mike Thompson, D. St. Helena, announced this week that his legislation to transfer control of the Mare Island Naval Cemetery to the Department of Veterans Affairs was included in the National Defense Authorization Act.

This provision allows for the cemetery to be properly repaired and maintained as the final resting place for hundreds of our nations heroes.

Proud that today my legislation to repair and maintain the Mare Island Naval Cemetery was included in a bill funding our nations defense. This will ensure that this national sanctuary can be preserved for generations to come, said Thompson in a news release. This sacred space must be upheld to the highest standards to honor our service members buried there and I will continue working to find every possible solution to get this done for our veterans.

The Mare Island Naval Cemetery has gone through a major restoration over the past year. Many trees that used to surround the cemetery have been removed, as well as a portion of the white picket fence that surrounded it, although portions of the fence will be but back after the drainage system is repaired. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, repairs for the cemetery have been slowed down.

The cemetery is the oldest naval cemetery on the West Coast and has been designated as a National Historic Landmark.

It has three Congressional Medal of Honor recipients James Cooney, Alexander Parker and William Halford. Also, Halfords great grandson, Ralph, was on hand at the ceremony and brought a compass that was used by William.

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Thompson bill to transfer control of Mare Island Cemetery included in Defense Funding Legislation - Vallejo Times-Herald

Records: Man who crashed stolen car near Kings Island had abducted grandmother in 2018 – The Cincinnati Enquirer

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Joshua Brackenridge after his arrest in 2018.(Photo: Provided/Hamilton County Sheriff's Office)

The man who crashed near Kings Island Monday had stolen his grandmother's car, police say.

It'sthesame grandmother he had previouslyabductedwhile streaminglive on Facebook in 2018, according to court records.

Joshua Brackenridge, 33, will be charged with domestic violence and robbery in Monday's incident, Green Township police said.

Investigators said Brackenridge was driving with his grandmother on Interstate 74 Monday when he began making concerning statements, so she pulled into Mercy West Hospital.

Officers reported that around 8:30 a.m. Brackenridge hit the woman and took her keys, purse and car.

Green Township officers pursued him, but the speeds quickly exceed 100 miles per hour and the chase was called off, officials said.

Police issued an alert to surrounding agencies to be on the lookout for the vehicle, but before anyone found him he crashed along Interstate 71, according to the Ohio State Highway Patrol who responded to the crash.

Officials said he fled from that there on foot toward Kings Island.

Mason police said Brackenridge attempted to enter the park, but was quickly apprehended by 11:30 a.m.Both Mason and Green Township police said they do not believe he was armed.

In November 2018, Brackenridge streamed the abduction of his grandmother live on Facebook.

In the video, Brackenridge quotesBible verses and claimedhis family was conspiring against him.

"My family... was trying to use my mental illnesses against me to try to get me to kidnap my grandma and kill her," he said. "But I don't have the heart to kill her."

After his arrest, the court case was delayed while his mental health was assessed, court documents state.

In March 2019, he pleaded guilty to abduction and was sentenced to nine months in prison, according to the documents.

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Records: Man who crashed stolen car near Kings Island had abducted grandmother in 2018 - The Cincinnati Enquirer

How is COVID-19 affecting unemployment on Mercer Island? – Mercer Island Reporter

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A few months ago, many hoped that following a brief economic decline brought on by the coronavirus (COVID-19), things would quickly bounce back to normal. In no time, the job market would restabilize, struggling businesses would soon again prosper, or at least resteady.

But with case rates still high in King County and a full reopening of the state still a distant prospect, the outlook has become murky.

It is tough to say how this will play out. It is different than any other recession we have been in, said Washington State Employment Security Department economist Anneliese Vance-Sherman in an email. Usually, we can look at our data and take some measure of comfort in the familiar rhythm of economic ups and downs. COVID-19, and all of the economic turmoil that came with it, swooped in swiftly, taking with it the usual predictable rhythms. Job losses are usually swift (but not this swift or deep).

Because the current situation is unprecedented, Vance-Sherman said, its probably better to compare coronavirus-related economic effects with ones seen as a result of natural and man-made disasters. As she noted in a separate conversation with the Snoqualmie Valley Record, a quick economic recovery in Washington, typically referred to as a V-shaped recovery, will likely not be happening. Rather, a U-shaped recovery, or a recovery that unfurls in waves, is more probable.

The number of people who have filed initial unemployment claims on Mercer Island (98040) is lower than earlier in the pandemics onset in recent weeks (meaning those who filed for the first time, regardless of acceptance). However, numbers are still susceptible to jumping upward and downward. The number of those continuing to collect unemployment is also lowering, but at a slower, fluctuating rate, reflecting the shaky prospect of a quick and straightforward recovery.

There was hope at the start of the situation that jobs would be lost and that after a brief hiatus, the labor market would snap right back, Vance-Sherman said. I think we are seeing some jobs snap back (see the May [state, local and national]) and June ([national] jobs reports) but there is restructuring taking place. Some jobs will return, but will look different, some jobs will not return and some jobs will emerge that didnt exist before.

Initial claims, Vance-Sherman said, are especially indicative of a certain moment in time. On the 10th week (March 1-7) of 2020, for instance, 23 Mercer Islanders filed an initial unemployment claim. During this period, schools were closed, and pandemic-related restrictions were placed on bars and dining rooms.

On the 11th and 12th weeks, this number jumped to 150, corresponding with Gov. Jay Inslees Stay Home, Stay Safe Initiative and newly defined essential/inessential activities.

After a major initial-claims spike during the 19th week of the month a sizable 624 filings Mercer Islanders filing initial claims have gone down. By week 20, the number went down to 116. The most recent count period, week 26, saw 43 filings.

But even though the number of initial-claim filings is lowering, those who are still collecting unemployment on Mercer Island remains high. The largest jump occurred between week 18 and week 19 going from 885 to 1,238 collections but between Week 22 and the most recent filing week, Week 26, collection has stayed somewhere between about 575 and 485. (Its worth noting that this shift has mostly gone downward.)

Higher rates between the last few weeks of April are most likely related to Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA), which became available to self-employed and other previously ineligible workers during week 16.

It isnt totally clear how data collection has been affected by the influx of fraudulent claim filings for which the state paid $650 million in recent months. Vance-Sherman noted that the claims have dependably lined up with new announcements made by the governors office.

On Mercer Island, the top industry sectors are health care and social assistance (1,014 jobs), educational services (996), finance and insurance (743), retail (576) and a mixture of professional, scientific and technical services (548), per a 2017 analysis.

Vance-Sherman said its tough to say when the labor market will restabilize.

This is a historically anomalous situation, she said. Unlike other recessions, there was no specific sector experiencing changes that caused the downturn (think of the dot com bubble, or the housing bubble that ushered in the most recent recession). Thinking about the 2008 recession, it was the deepest recession we had experienced since the Great Depression in terms of job losses. This also led to the longest economic expansion on record. If the magnitude of job loss is an indicator, we could be in for a long period of recovery.

Since March 29, those who filed for unemployment in Washington have received an additional $600 on top of what they would normally collect via the CARES act. The supplement has helped those who have lost their jobs, or those who have returned to work at reduced hours, stay afloat during a precarious period. So there is a widespread concern on a statewide level about what the ramifications might be when the financial appendage expires July 25.

Vance-Sherman said she isnt confident theorizing about what exactly the repercussions will be in part because of this loss, but said that the onset of COVID-19 has illustrated societys interconnectivity.

We know that unemployment insurance dollars tend to be spent rather than saved, and end up circulating in the economy, she said. Immediate repercussions will involve the trade-offs that people make in their day to day spending. Will bills, rent or food take priority? Some people will return to work and some will not, and returning to work unsafely could lead to an increased incidence of COVID. There are just so many moving parts.

Many continue to speculate whether there will be another statewide shutdown like the one seen earlier this year. The concern has become especially pronounced in recent weeks. King County has seen rising case numbers amid reopening measures. Other states, such as California, are doing some walking-back after deeming reopenings of certain sectors safe.

Its too soon to tell what the reverberations would look like, exactly, if another lockdown were to occur. Vance-Sherman, like many business owners, isnt altogether optimistic when thinking about how a second lockdown could have an impact if a business that had struggled to stay open during the initial shutdown had to endure another one.

Businesses and workers alike have been destabilized by this event, she said. Any businesses that survive[d] the first wave may not be financially able to withstand a second blow.

In consideration of how we voice our opinions in the modern world, weve closed comments on our websites. We value the opinions of our readers and we encourage you to keep the conversation going.

Please feel free to share your story tips by emailing editor@mi-reporter.com.

To share your opinion for publication, submit a letter through our website https://www.mi-reporter.com/submit-letter/. Include your name, address and daytime phone number. (Well only publish your name and hometown.) We reserve the right to edit letters, but if you keep yours to 300 words or less, we wont ask you to shorten it.

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How is COVID-19 affecting unemployment on Mercer Island? - Mercer Island Reporter

No resource officers for Rock Island-Milan district in 2020-2021 school year – WQAD.com

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The department, "has experienced a shortage of officers over the last year due to retirements and other factors that prevented candidates from attending academy."

ROCK ISLAND, Ill. Due to a shortage of staff, a police officer will not be stationed at Rock Island-Milan schools during the 2020-2021 school year.

The Rock Island Police Department is unable to staff two positions for the School Resource Office (SRO) program for the upcoming school year, Rock Island Chief of Police Jeff VenHuizen told the school board Tuesday, July 14.

The department, "has experienced a shortage of officers over the last year due to retirements and other factors that prevented candidates from attending the Police Academy," VenHuizen said in a statement.

VenHuizen said in his 28 years of policing, there has always been an officer stationed in Rock Island schools.

The school district declined to comment until a formal decision has been made.

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No resource officers for Rock Island-Milan district in 2020-2021 school year - WQAD.com

Island cases at 48 – Martha’s Vineyard Times

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Test MV/Drive-through siteMV HospitalOther/Boards of HealthAquinnahTotalsTotal tests performed50942416497559Total negatives48642326497239Total pending218550273Total confirmed positives12351048Percentage positive of total tests performed.24%1.45%.64%Antibody tests1717Off-Island testsSymptomatic positives33Total Cases (positive tests + antibody tests + symptomatic positives)68 Updated July 21

The Marthas Vineyard Hospital reported no new cases Tuesday morning holding the Islands total number of confirmed COVID-19 cases at 48.

As of Tuesday, the hospital has tested 2,416 patients. Of those, 2,326 have tested negative and 55 are pending results.

On Monday, two new cases at the hospital marked five confirmed cases in the past week for the hospital. The new cases are a departure from last month, a span of four weeks where the hospital had no new confirmed cases.

On Friday, the Marthas Vineyard boards of health confirmed that 38 of the 48 cases are no longer symptomatic and have been released from isolation. Four cases are still being followed by public health officials, and one case was unable to be contacted.

On Tuesday, Island Health Care set up as TestMV at the Marthas Vineyard Regional High School with the help of Quest Diagnostics and testing asymptomatic individuals confirmed it had tested 5,094 individuals, 12 of whom have tested positive, 4,864 negative, and 218 pending results.

The town of Aquinnah has tested 49 people. Of those, all 49 tests have come back negative and there are no pending results.

The Marthas Vineyard Boards of Health have separately confirmed another positive case, bringing the Islands total confirmed cases to 48.

The boards of health have linked 23 of the confirmed cases to several cases among eight different household groups.

The Marthas Vineyard Hospital, town of Aquinnah, boards of health, and TestMV, the testing site at the Marthas Vineyard Regional High School, each report their own testing numbers. Those numbers are then all compiled by the boards of health. The actual number of cases can be difficult to count due to lag time and overlaps in testing each day.

IHCs website, which compiles numbers reported by each organization, says each positive test does not necessarily represent a newly infected individual.

For example, a positive test reported on July 1, 2020 by Marthas Vineyard Hospital was a second test for an individual who had previously tested positive. The Total Cases number reflects the most current accounting of unique individuals with confirmed or suspected cases of COVID-19 on Marthas Vineyard, the site reads.

Of 48 of the confirmed cases, 28 are female, and 20 are male. Of those, 13 of the cases are aged 50-59 years old, 11 are 20-29 years old, eight cases are 60-69 years old, six are 30-39 years old, five are 20 years old or younger, three are 40-49, and two are 70 years or older.

The boards of health are also reporting on probable cases. As of Monday, the Islands total number of presumed positives rose to 20 with one new probable case. Of those 17 were positive antibody tests, and three were symptomatically positive.

Of the probable cases, 12 are female and eight are male. Of the 19 presumed positive cases, seven are aged 60-69, four are aged 50-59, three are aged 40-49, three are aged 20-29, two are under 20 years old, and one is over the age of 70.

This all comes as Massachusetts is seeing a decline in confirmed cases, deaths, and hospitalizations, but also as the confirmed cases are increasing across the country.

At the state level Tuesday, there were 165 new confirmed cases, bringing the state total to 107,221. There were 17 new deaths which brought the total number of deaths to 8,231. There have been 1,052,369 tests conducted across Massachusetts.

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Island cases at 48 - Martha's Vineyard Times

$3.5 million of JBS commitment will go to Grand Island – Grand Island Independent

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Of the $4 million JBS USA committed to Nebraska last month, $3.5 million will go to Grand Island.

The donation is meant to help Grand Island respond to needs resulting from the coronavirus pandemic and invest in the communitys future, according to a JBS news release.

The money is part of the companys nationwide Hometown Strong initiative, which totals $50 million.

JBS USA is working with local leaders to identify where the funds can best help meet immediate and longer-term community needs in three key areas: food insecurity, community infrastructure and well-being, and COVID-19 emergency response and relief efforts, based on the release.

All projects will be determined by the end of the year. Community members may send suggestions for investment to hometownstrong@jbssa.com.

The Hometown Strong initiative adds to commitments JBS USA has made this year to protect employees and ensure their job security amid the global pandemic, the release says. Hometown Strong is one of the largest community investment programs of its kind in the country.

The JBS USA Grand Island plant employs more than 3,600 people with an annual payroll of more than $160 million.

The JBS Grand Island beef production facility is one of the premier plants in the country, and we recognize both the opportunity and responsibility of being a large business and employer in our community, Zack Ireland, JBS Grand Island general manager, said in a statement. Our focus during the past few months has been to protect our team members, and we are grateful to now invest in the place we call home in a meaningful way that benefits our workforce and community now and in the future.

In another prepared statement, Grand Island Mayor Roger Steele said, During the coronavirus pandemic, JBS USA has been a community partner and generously donated beef to local food banks and also provided leadership and innovation on worker safety and plant management. The Hometown Strong initiative continues JBS USAs commitment to our community and our future, and we look forward to a wonderful community partnership.

The Grand Island facility supports more than 675 local producers, paying them more than $2.2 billion per year for their livestock.

Consistent with its long-term commitment to the local economy, JBS USA Grand Island has invested nearly $70 million in capital improvements over the last five years and is currently in the midst of a $95 million state-of-the-art expansion project at the facility, according to the release.

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$3.5 million of JBS commitment will go to Grand Island - Grand Island Independent

Crews work to put out fire on island in Connecticut River between Enfield and Suffield – FOX 61

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ENFIELD, Conn. Firefighters from Enfield, Suffield and DEEP Division of Forestry worked to put out a fire that started about noon on Kings Island in the middle of the Connecticut River.

The fire burned about a half-acre, and is under control. The fire appears to have been an abandoned campfire, with an uninhabited tent located nearby.

Officials said the fire was on public land, The small island is uninhabited. It was formerly owned by Eversource.

Officials said the fire is difficult to fight since the water is shallow; efforts were being organized from boat ramp on the Enfield side of the Connecticut River.

There was also a fire on Kings Island last weekend; no word if this is related.

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Crews work to put out fire on island in Connecticut River between Enfield and Suffield - FOX 61

Travel: Five reasons to visit Bellingham, Washington – Kamloops This Week

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Most British Columbians know Bellingham as a pit stop on the way to Seattle or Portland, a place to refuel after a long border wait, do a quick grocery shop at Trader Joes and then zip south on the I-5.

But spend some time exploring this charming university town and youll find it a place of stunning natural beauty, with a fraction of the crowds that can make B.C.s natural hotspots feel congested.

Bellingham offers tonnes of space to stretch out on a quiet lakeside or ocean beach, spectacular hiking trails on soft forest floors and invigorating bike rides on a network of trails that criss-cross the city and make it easy and fun to get around on two wheels.

Here are five reasons to cross the border and spend a summer weekend in Bellingham.

You wont see it from the I-5 but Lake Whatcom, a massive body of pristine lake water that stretches 22 kilometres, is a fabulous place to cool off in summer.

Bloedel Donovan park, located just a few minutes drive from downtown Bellingham on Electric Avenue, is the easiest place to access the lake, with a sandy beach, a swimming area separated from boat traffic, an expanse of soft grass shaded by trees, as well as restrooms and a boat launch.

Grab a picnic lunch from Da Vincis Market and a selection of the citys most famous donuts from Feleens both stores are a couple minutes drive from the lake on Electric Avenue and plan to spend a decadent day in the sun and water.

From its city centre to its neighbourhoods, forests and beaches, Bellingham is a city of passionate bikers who choose two wheels above four any day the rain holds off.

Start your bike ride downtown and take the off-road biking trail to Fairhaven to reach the Interurban Trail. A rails-to-trails route, this six-mile trail takes bikers and pedestrians on a magical, mostly flat path towards Larrabee State Park.

The forested trail is upliftingly beautiful and leads bikers above the picturesque Chuckanut Drive, promising stunning vistas of the San Juan Islands, towering evergreens and secluded beaches like Teddybear Cove.

Pick up a map at Fairhaven Bicycles before you go.

Most Pacific Northwest booklovers have heard of Powells Books, the legendary independent bookstore in Portland. Village Books in Fairhaven is Bellinghams version of Powells, a store with a smaller footprint but no less of a tantalizing selection of books, food and gifts all housed under one historic roof. It shares its three floors with two restaurants: Evolve Chocolate & Caf upstairs and the Colophon Caf downstairs, both of them much-loved local eateries.

On its main floor it shares space with Paper Dreams, a store filled with fun knickknacks for the home and tons of exquisite paper in the form of giftwrap, notebooks, calendars, gift cards and beautifully decorated writing paper.

In the bookstore a selection of new and gently used books are neatly organized by genre and staff write personal book reviews to recommend their favourite reads.

If youve been dreaming of a long walk on a beach where youre more likely to hear the wind in your ears than the sound of other people, youll want to drive to Birch Bay.

Visiting this small beachside community feels like stepping back into the 1970s, as little has changed here over the years.

The stretch of beach remains the principal attraction, and in summer the tide goes out so far you can walk out for miles on the sand, watching gulls and eagles wheeling above.

Head to the C Shop for pizza and ice cream after your windswept walk. This longtime family-run establishment is a favourite hang-out for locals and visitors, and its sweet caramel treats are legendary.

With hundreds of vendors selling colourful, fresh produce, handmade soaps, ready-to-go food, proteins and pottery, the Bellingham Farmers Market, held on Saturdays, is a cacophony of fabulous sounds, sights and aromas.

This is an inspiring place to plan your weeks meals, experience the distinct, friendly vibe of the city and explore the talented work of its many artists, cheesemakers, crafters, chocolatiers and more. Street musicians provide the music, farmers hawk produce fresh from the fields and the sizzle of ready-to-go food promises an irresistible lunch.

Travel Writers Tales is an independent travel article syndicate. For more information, go online to travelwriterstales.com.

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Travel: Five reasons to visit Bellingham, Washington - Kamloops This Week

Amazon’s Jeff Bezos adds $13 billion to his net worth in a single day – CNET

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Jeff Bezos, still very rich.

Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos added $13 billion to his net worth on Monday. The financial development sets a record for the largest single-day increase by any one person since 2012, Bloomberg reported. This one-day increase is likely a result of Amazon's stock jumping over 7% on Monday after sliding last week.

Although the US economy has shrunk amid the coronavirus pandemic, Bezos remains one of the world's richest people. He is now worth $189.3 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. Bezos is reportedly on track to become the first trillionaire by 2026.

Subscribe to the CNET Now newsletter for our editors' picks of the most important stories of the day.

Amazon's earnings report in April revealed that the company's revenue jumped 26% to $75.5 billion in the first quarter, well ahead of Wall Street expectations, due to a surge in customer orders amid the pandemic.

In addition to being the CEO of Amazon, a company valued at over $1 trillion this year, Bezos owns the Washington Post newspaper and Blue Origin, a rocket and space travel company he founded in 2000. In February, Bezos reportedly spent $165 million on the Warner Estate, a historic Beverly Hills property, setting a record high for Los Angeles-area residential real estate transactions.

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Amazon's Jeff Bezos adds $13 billion to his net worth in a single day - CNET

ESO’s virtual tour: Travel to outer space from the comfort of your home – Livemint

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The month of July is synonymous with a milestone in human spaceflight. On 16 July 1969, the Apollo-11 mission blasted off on a historic mission to the Moon. Four days later, astronaut Neil Armstrong stepped foot on the Moon. The rest is history.

Interest in astronomy and spaceflight has never peaked so much, with plenty of new Martian and space telescopes in the offing this year and 2021. And starting today, the European Southern Observatory (ESO), an astrophysical organization founded in 1962, will begin virtual guided tours to two of its most renowned observatories in northern Chile. From your home you can enjoy these on-site tours for free. Heres a look at some other virtual tours themed on astronomy and space.

ESOs Observatories

Starting this evening, at 6.30 pm IST, ESO will host weekly English virtual-guided tours to its Paranal and La Silla observatories. The Paranal Observatory is located in Chiles Atacama desert and sits at an altitude of 2,635 metres. La Silla meanwhile is one of the biggest observatories in the Southern Hemisphere. In these virtual tours, which will be free and open to everyone, visitors will be able to see iconic parts of the observatories, such as the Very Large Telescope in Paranal or the ESO 3.6-metre telescope in La Silla.

According to an official announcement, visitors will also be able to enjoy a guided tour of the night sky above these observatories. Since both Paranal and La Silla are located away from major sources of light and pollution, these locations have some of the darkest night skies anywhere on Earth. These tours will be approximately 30 minutes long and will be streamed on the ESOs official Facebook page and YouTube channel.

For more details, visit eso.org or facebook.com/ESO.Chile

Google Street View: The International Space Station

You can always use the Street View feature in Google Maps or Google Earth to virtually visit a favourite city or landmark around the world, but you can also see some magnificent views of the Earth from the International Space Station (ISS)s famous Cupola Observational Module.

The cupola is just one of the many modules of the ISS that can be seen through this feature, which lets you visit the space station virtually. This is more like a self-guided 360 degree tour where you can see everything from Kibo, the Japanese Experiment Module, to the Columbus Research Laboratory on the ISS. As you move around, you are guided by supporting photographs and detailed descriptions (knowledge cards) on how astronauts use different modules to live and conduct research on the ISS.

For more details, visit Google Maps or the Guided Tours section on earth.google.com

Nasa at home virtual tours

Nasas at home virtual tours and apps section has a bunch of things to explore. But our pick of the lot is the Exoplanet Travel Bureau virtual tour, which takes you to some of the farthest exoplanets and planets of other stars known to man. You can explore 360-degree visualizations of the surfaces of these planets. This tour works on desktop, mobile and is even optimized for Google Cardboard.

Imagine exploring the surface of exoplanet Kepler 186-f, which is the first validated Earth-size planet to orbit a distant star in the habitable zone (a range of distance from a star where liquid water is likely to be present on the planet's surface). You can even look at how TRAPPIST-1d looks. This is one of the seven Earth-size planets that closely orbit a faint star called TRAPPIST-1. These are all, of course, artist impressions but offer a brilliant understanding of how potentially habitable planets, other than the Earth, might look.

For more details, visit nasa.gov.

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ESO's virtual tour: Travel to outer space from the comfort of your home - Livemint

Uber rival Gett raises $100 million as it pivots toward the business travel market – CNBC

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The Juno Inc. and Gett Inc. applications are displayed on an Apple iPhone.

Bloomberg | Bloomberg | Getty Images

Ride-hailing app Gett announced Tuesday that it's raised another $100 million from investors, bringing total funding in the company up to more than $750 million.

The company, founded in Israel in 2010, said in a press release that it will use the funding to improve its "ground travel platform for corporates."

Like Uber and Bolt, Gett allows people to hail a ride on-demand to get them from A to B.It's all-in-one booking platform is available to businesses in Europe and North America.Perhaps unsurprisingly, the company is increasingly keen to sign up large firms with thousands of employees as customers.

However, it's not the only one. India's Ola announced a similar "Ola Corporate" offering on Tuesday while Uber launched Uber for Business in 2014. There are many other firms trying to compete in this space including Addison Lee and Wheely.

Despite the competition, Gett said that a third of the Fortune 500 have become clients since it launched its corporate travel service in 2010. Customers include the likes of Google and Disney.

Gett pointed to the fact that it became operationally profitable in December 2019. It also highlighted how it is on a trajectory to become cash flow positive during 2021 ahead of a potential stock market listing.

Dave Waiser, Gett CEO, said in a statement: "The proceeds will help us grow our unique corporate SaaS (software as a service) platform internationally, while we consider an IPO in the future, to further accelerate our expansion."

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Uber rival Gett raises $100 million as it pivots toward the business travel market - CNBC

Window In The Skies: Why Everyone Is Going To Mars This Month – Hackaday

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Mars may not be the kind of place to raise your kids, but chances are that one day [Elton John]s famous lyrics will be wrong about there being no one there to raise them. For now, however, we have probes, orbiters, and landers. Mars missions are going strong this year, with three nations about to launch their rockets towards the Red Planet: the United States sending their Perseverance rover, Chinas Tianwen-1 mission, and the United Arab Emirates sending their Hope orbiter.

As all of this is planned to happen still within the month of July, it almost gives the impression of a new era of wild space races where everyone tries to be first. Sure, some egos will certainly be boosted here, but the reason for this increased run within such a short time frame has a simple explanation: Mars will be right around the corner later this year relatively speaking providing an ideal opportunity to travel there right now.

In fact, this year is as good as it gets for quite a while. The next time the circumstances will be (almost) as favorable as this year is going to be in 2033, so its understandable that space agencies are eager to not miss out on this chance. Not that Mars missions couldnt be accomplished in the next 13 years after all, several endeavors are already in the wings for 2022, including the delayed Rosalind Franklin rover launch. Its just that the circumstances wont be as ideal.

But what exactly does that mean, and why is that? What makes July 2020 so special? And whats everyone doing up there anyway? Well, lets find out!

Even the simplest model of our solar system will show how Earth and Mars revolve differently around the sun, with distance and speed being the most obvious ones. Earth rotates in a distance of roughly 149,597,870.7 km 1 astronomical unit (AU) from the sun at an average speed of 29.78 km/s, while Mars does the same at ~1.523 times the distance and an average speed of 24 km/s. It takes Earth ~365 days to end up in a same spot again, and Mars ~668 amounts of its own definition of a day, i.e. sols, which is roughly the equivalent of 687 Earth days.

Throwing around all these numbers shows mainly one thing: Earth and Mars dont have much in common here, and as a result, they dont hang around much in each others proximity. Still, they do revolve around the same sun, and are therefore bound to meet on occasion. Okay, meet is a strong word with fatal results if taken too literally here, but rather have close encounters with each other. The accurate terminology would be that they are in opposition on occasion.

Every time the Sun, Earth, and another celestial object are aligned in a way that you could draw a straight line through them, theyre said to be either in conjunction, or in opposition, depending on which side of the sun that third object is. If the arrangement is in conjunction, the object in question has the furthest possible distance from Earth, usually having the Sun between them, while in opposition, its as close as its ever going to get in that specific moment of proximity. Mars is in opposition with Earth on average every 780 days: 2 years and 50 days. That means in theory, theres a great opportunity to travel to Mars every 780 days.

However, opposition as reference for a launch window isnt only about traveling the shortest possible way for resources reasons, but to do so in a perfect time frame to match the speed and trajectory of everyone involved, and make sure there is an actual chance of our rocket meeting our object of desire in this case Mars. Lets not forget that were dealing with giant objects moving with unimaginable speed through space here. They may be close to each other in a relative sense, but were still talking about millions of kilometers distance between them.

The thing is, we cant just launch a rocket along that imaginary line in the moment of opposition. Not only will it take months to reach there, the rocket also has to travel in an elliptical orbit that matches up between Earth and Mars. Doing so on the shortest possible distance simply has the highest chance for success. Launching too early, the rocket might have to wait unnecessarily long for Mars to catch up, wasting fuel and potentially running out of it altogether. Launching too late, and itll end up like Wile E. Coyote desperately chasing the Road Runner minus the rocks and cliffs.

As a result of all that, Mars missions happen indeed roughly every 2.x years, launching usually a few months before the opposition itself, and landing / entering orbit a few months after the opposition then.

Looking at the history of the last few oppositions and the launch dates of the missions at that time, it all adds up:

We can go back as far as October 1960 with this, when the Soviet Union (unsuccessfully) attempted the very first launch to hit the window in late December that year and of course 1965 when NASAs Mariner 4 performed the first successful flyby of Mars. While this shows a steady amount of launch windows over the years, it also shows that missing the opportunity will cause a definite delay until the next windows opens as it happened with the InSight mission in 2016, and the previously mentioned joint mission between ESA and Roscosmos this year.

There are two other things noticeable in the mission history excerpt above: Im quite vague about the dates, and the period between mission launches and opposition varies. Lets get into the date vagueness first by taking a look at the actual launch windows.

While there is a definite time we can attach to the opposition and the closest proximity, we dont have to be at a specific point at a very specific time here, but have a bit of tolerance hence launch window. The exact width and location of that window varies on different factors like the rocket and its trajectory, and is individually determined for each single mission.

For example, as shown above, there were two launches at different periods back in November 2013 for the April 2014 opposition. Indias Mars Orbiter Mission (MOM) had a window from October 28th to November 19th and was launched on November 5th, while the USs MAVEN had a window from November 18th to December 7th, and was launched straight away on its first possible launch date on November 18th.

Each day within the launch window has usually its own window of a very few hours for a rocket to launch in hopes to rendezvous with another object. Remember, everything is rotating and spinning in all sorts of directions in space, so depending where on Earth you launch from, you have to account for that as well.

Considering that a launch also depends on weather conditions, its a good thing that there is usually a ~3 weeks window for each mission, which explains my vagueness on the mission times earlier. But what about that shift between the launch frame and opposition time then? Well, nothing is going perfectly round up there in space.

In an ideal world, the planets would rotate in a perfect circle around the sun, having the same distance to it at any given time. In the real world, its all a bit off-center though, and eccentricity causes a variation of the distance over the (local definition of a) year. For example, the apsides of Earth, i.e. the closest and farthest points from the sun, differ around five million kilometers or five gigameters (Gm) within the year, This may sound like a lot, but at an average distance of ~150 Gm, its eccentricity is a low 0.0167. Its still enough to have spring and summer a few days longer than autumn and winter, and as someone living close to the Arctic Circle, I can certainly appreciate this.

Mars is, after Mercury, the most unbalanced planet in our solar system, with an eccentricity of 0.0934 that places its apsides at ~206.6 Gm and ~249.2 Gm respectively. Since the timing of opposition occurrences dont add up to either of the planets orbital period, their moment of closeness always happens at a different place within their orbit. As a result, the actual distance of each opposition varies, and with it, the time it takes to travel. However, it falls within a similar range every 15 to 17 years.

Currently, were in a good position where Mars and Earth are on the lower end with their distance during opposition at 62.07 Gm. However, its also not as good as during the 2018 windows 57.29 Gm, or the all-time low record in 2003 of 55.76 Gm not counting that one encounter back in 57,617 BC. However, seeing that the distance increases again, it is as close as it gets until 2033 and 2035 with their 63.28 Gm and 56.91 Gm respectively heres a list if you want to check more. Looking at those years, the every 15 to 17 years parts really adds up.

That list also shows that the Soviet Unions series of missions back in 1971 that resulted in the first lander on Mars, along with the United States Mariner 9 as first orbiter, all happened at a good time with a opposition distance of 56.20 Gm. Unlike the previous Mariner 4 mission in 1965 at almost double the distance of 100.00 Gm which makes its success on the other hand even more impressive. Comparing it with all the Mars missions, it might also explain why there were barely any launches between the two Vikings in 1975 and Pathfinder in 1996, with the Soviet Union once again using the best window back in 1988.

This also shows that even the worst case scenario wont stop Mars missions, so even though the conditions wont be as ideal as in 2018 or this year until 2033 which incidentally matches everyones current time frame for sending humans to Mars we definitely wont have to wait that long to see more rockets launched towards it.

But lets not rush off into the future, after all we have a whole series of launches just waiting to happen right now. So whats that all about then?

As mentioned in the beginning, three different countries will each launch their own independent mission this July. In the grand scheme of Mars missions, this is the first time we see this happening the same number of countries were involved in 2011, but Russia and China had a single, collaborative launch back then. This time, its actually three independent missions.

Some more fun facts about this years run to Mars. Assuming that all three missions succeed, it will be the first time an Arabic nation is on an interplanetary journey. Further assuming that Curiosity remains active, it will break the record of active rovers roaming Marss surface, and the first time a non-US rover is one of them. We can also expect to see the first drone footage from Mars!

While thats all great, its hardly all there is to it though. So what else can we expect from these missions?

First up in the schedule is the United Arab Emirates (UAE), which had to postpone their initial July 16 launch due to bad weather conditions in their launch site in Japan for three days. The good news is, their launch window had just opened on July 15th, and would have remained open until August 12th, so there wasnt too big time pressure yet. But there was no need for further delay, the weather conditions improved, and in the early Monday morning hours local time July 19th, 21:58:14 UTC their HII-A rocket successfully took off from the Tanegashima space center.

The mission will send their Hope probe into Marss orbit, where it will record everything about the atmosphere with the main objective to create the first complete picture of the Martian atmosphere. Their goal is to research the climate dynamics on Mars essentially creating the first full weather map of Mars and how the escaping hydrogen and oxygen play into that and why its escaping in the first place. The probe itself is equipped with three imaging instruments: an infrared spectrometer, an ultraviolet spectrometer, as well as a high resolution imager.

While the missions main focus is naturally on the research itself, the UAE takes this also as an opportunity to demonstrate their newly achieved position in space exploration, especially as a rather small nation. Aiming to inspire future Arab generations to pursue the field of space science, they want to establish themselves as beacon of progress in the region and show that nothing is impossible. Considering the achievements the Islamic world once contributed to humankind during its Golden Age, the UAEs hope is also to commemorate, if not revive, the regions importance within astronomy.

The second mission is Chinas Tianwen-1, scheduled to launch on 23. July. After the joint expedition with Russia in 2011, which unfortunately ended unsuccessfully as the rocket failed to leave low Earth orbit, China conducts their second-ever attempt to travel to Mars on their own and doesnt appear too eager to share much details about the mission itself or the instruments involved.

From what is known and speculated, Tianwen-1 is a full-blown, all-inclusive mission with orbiter, lander, and rover on board, unlike the previous mission which was just an orbiter. While parts of its objective will also look into Marss atmosphere, its assumed that the main focus lies on and below its surface. The main objectives seem to include creating a geological map, exploring soil characteristics, and finding water-ice pockets also in hopes to find evidence of past and possibly present life on Mars.

Finally, the third mission, the USs Mars 2020 mission, is expected to launch the Perseverance rover with its Ingenuity drone on July 30th the first day of the its launch window that closes on August 15th. And even though the US has made it to Mars numerous times before, an endeavor like this is hardly ever a routine operation, and theres just as much at stake as for the other two countries.

Continuing the work of the Mars Exploration Program, Perseverance will look for past life on Mars, specifically microbial life, by collecting soil and rock samples. The idea is that a future mission could either bring further equipment to Mars to analyze those samples, or bring them back to Earth, whichever seems more feasible at that time. [Dan Maloney] wrote about the details earlier this year, so if youre interested in it, go check it out.

There are certainly some exciting days ahead of us, followed by weeks and months of enduring until we will see the actual outcome of all the launches, as all three missions are expected to reach Mars in February 2021. What will come of it? Well just have to wait until next Spring to find out.

As for sending humans to Mars, theyve missed this window, so thats still at least a good decade ahead of us for now. And nothings going to change the orbital dynamics of the situation.

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Window In The Skies: Why Everyone Is Going To Mars This Month - Hackaday

US accuses Chinese hackers in targeting of COVID-19 research – Las Vegas Sun

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Published Tuesday, July 21, 2020 | 7:24 p.m.

Updated Tuesday, July 21, 2020 | 7:25 p.m.

WASHINGTON (AP) Hackers working with the Chinese government targeted firms developing vaccines for the coronavirus and stole hundreds of millions of dollars worth of intellectual property and trade secrets from companies across the world, the Justice Department said Tuesday as it announced criminal charges.

The indictment does not accuse the two Chinese defendants of actually obtaining the coronavirus research, but it does underscore the extent to which scientific innovation has been a top target for foreign governments and criminal hackers looking to know what American companies are developing during the pandemic. In this case, the hackers researched vulnerabilities in the computer networks of biotech firms and diagnostic companies that were developing vaccines and testing kits and researching antiviral drugs.

The charges are the latest in a series of aggressive Trump administration actions targeting China. They come as President Donald Trump, his reelection prospects damaged by the coronavirus outbreak, has blamed China for the pandemic and as administration officials have escalated their denunciations of Beijing, including over alleged efforts to steal intellectual property through hacking.

The indictment includes trade secret theft and wire fraud conspiracy charges against the hackers, former classmates at an electrical engineering college who prosecutors say worked together for more than a decade targeting high-tech companies in more than 10 countries.

The hackers, identified as Li Xiaoyu and Dong Jiazhi, stole information not only for their personal profit but also research and technology that they knew would be of value to the Chinese government, prosecutors say.

In some instances, the indictment says, they provided an officer for a Chinese intelligence service with whom they worked email accounts and passwords belonging to clergymen, dissidents and pro-democracy activists who could then be targeted. The officer gave help of his own, providing malicious software after one of the hackers struggled to compromise the mail server of a Burmese human rights group.

The two defendants are not in custody, and federal officials conceded Tuesday that they were not likely to step foot in an American courtroom. But the indictment carries important symbolic and deterrence value for the Justice Department, which decided that publicly calling out the behavior was more worthwhile than waiting for the unlikely scenario in which the defendants would travel to the U.S. and risk arrest.

The hacking began more than 10 years ago, with targets including pharmaceutical, solar energy and medical device companies but also political dissidents, activists and clergy in the United States, China and Hong Kong, federal authorities said.

The charges were brought as Trump administration officials, including national security adviser Robert O'Brien and Attorney General William Barr, have delivered public warnings about what they say are Chinese government efforts to use hacking to steal trade secrets for Beijing's financial benefit and to covertly influence American policy.

The hacking is part of what Assistant Attorney General John Demers, the Justice Department's top national security official, described as a sweeping effort to rob, replicate and replace" strategy for technological development.

In addition, he said, China is providing a safe haven for criminal hackers who, as in this case, are hacking in part for their own personal gain but willing to help the state and on call to do so."

The criminal charges are the first from the Justice Department accusing foreign hackers of targeting innovation related to the coronavirus, though U.S. and Western intelligence agencies have warned for months about those efforts.

Last week, for instance, authorities in the U.S., Canada and the United Kingdom accused a hacking group with links to Russian intelligence of trying to target research on the disease, which has killed more than 140,000 people in the United States and more than 600,000 worldwide, according to figures compiled by Johns Hopkins University.

The indictment describes multiple efforts by the hackers to snoop on companies engaged in coronavirus-related research, though it does not accuse them of success in any theft.

Prosecutors say Li in January conducted reconnaissance on the computer network of a Massachusetts biotech firm known to be researching a potential vaccine, and searched for vulnerabilities on the network of a Maryland firm less than a week after the company said it was conducting similar scientific work.

Li also probed the networks of a California diagnostics company involved in developing testing kits, and a biotech firm from the same state that was researching antiviral drugs.

Hacking of vaccine information slows down research as the institution must scramble not only to fix the breach but also to ensure the data it has accumulated has not been altered, Demers said.

Once someone is in your system, they can not only take the data, they can manipulate the data," Demers said. We do worry to that extent that there could be a slowdown in the research efforts of that particular institution.

The indictment was returned earlier this month in federal court in the Eastern District of Washington, where the hacking outlined by prosecutors was first discovered at the Department of Energy's Hanford site.

If it can occur there, we all must know that it can occur anywhere, U.S. Attorney William Hyslop said of his district.

The Chinese Embassy in Washington, D.C., did not directly respond to the indictment but pointed to remarks made last week by the Foreign Ministry spokesperson, who described China as the victim of groundless speculations" but also a country whose scientific prowess means it does not need to secure an edge by theft."

Ben Buchanan, a Georgetown University professor and author of The Hacker and the State, said that though the U.S. has made clear its views on what kinds of economic espionage are permitted and not permitted, it is unclear where it draws the line on espionage related to the coronavirus or what kind of espionage the U.S. might conduct.

He said he was not sure that this indictment, without other meaningful consequences, would get China to cease its activities.

The upside of spying in this way is simply too high for many governments to pass up, Buchanan said in an email.

_____

Associated Press writer Frank Bajak in Boston contributed to this report.

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US accuses Chinese hackers in targeting of COVID-19 research - Las Vegas Sun

Going in the water again: ‘Jaws’ boat clone supports sharks – Las Vegas Sun

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David Bigelow via AP

This July 20, 2020 photo provided by David Bigelow in Vineyard Haven, Mass., shows part of a boat that is being retrofitted to replicate the boat from the movie Jaws. A group of ocean lovers and movie buffs is building a replica of the boat, the Orca, for use as a conservationtool.

By Patrick Whittle, Associated Press

Tuesday, July 21, 2020 | 8:13 a.m.

The Orca is headed back to the waters of New England, but this time, its mission isn't to hunt sharks. It's to help save them.

A group of ocean advocates and movie buffs is turning an old lobster fishing vessel into a replica of the Orca, the boat captained by the grizzled shark hunter Quint in Jaws. The work is taking place on Martha's Vineyard, where Steven Spielberg shot the blockbuster movie in the 1970s.

The occasion doesn't call for a bigger boat so much as one with a different purpose, said Vineyard native David Bigelow, who acquired the craft and is heading up the project. When finished, he said, Orca III will be used as an educational tool to help the public understand sharks and as a research vessel for scientists.

The project is dear to the heart of Bigelow, who appeared as an extra in Jaws, and to that of his drama teacher Lee Fierro, who played the mother of a shark attack victim. Reports of shark sightings on some New England beaches in recent years moved him to take on the project.

The need to educate people about the new ecosystem were living in, because of climate change and the seal population, is probably our only defense, Bigelow said, sighting two possible drivers of increased shark sightings. We have basically taken on this role where the boat is going to be used for education.

Bigelow said that he believes the retrofitting work can be completed by this fall and that the boat can start helping people study sharks by next spring. The boat will be called Orca III because there were actually two vessels in Jaws" Orca and Orca II. Orca is seen in much of the film, and Orca II was a prop vessel.

Others working on the mission to bring back the Orca have a connection to Jaws, too. Joe Alves, production designer on the movie, is on board, as is Chris Crawford, who retrofitted a boat called Warlock into the original Orca in 1974.

The conservation group Beneath The Waves has signed on to use the new Orca on expeditions. The group's board of directors includes Wendy Benchley, widow of Peter Benchley, who wrote the 1974 novel on which the movie is based.

The return of the Orca is a celebration for the fans of Jaws, as well as an exciting new resource in the pursuit of a greater understanding about our oceans and the life teeming in it, she said.

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Going in the water again: 'Jaws' boat clone supports sharks - Las Vegas Sun