United efforts to tackle falling population in Scottish Highlands and Islands – The National

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IT is famed for its rugged beauty and uninhabited landscapes.

But the depopulation of the Highlands and Islands is a story of politics, class and commerce over centuries from the bitter Highland Clearances to todays urban-centric living. And, in a key summit this week, regional agencies and the Scottish Government will work together to overturn the decline which is bucking national trends.

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WHILE Scotlands population is on the up as a whole, that is not true of remote, rural or island communities. The average age in many such areas is increasing more steeply than in other parts, threatening the sustainability of services and even those settlements themselves.

At a meeting in Inverness, the Convention of the Highlands and Islands (CoHI) has agreed to treat the issue as a priority.

The move will see local and national government work with organisations including tourism agency VisitScotland, development body Highlands and Islands Enterprise and the multi-campus University of the Highlands and Islands to develop solutions.

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WHILE weve hit a record national headcount of 5.4 million, analysis shows this is all down to inward migration, not a booming birth rate. The number of pensioners is expected to rise by 240,000 in less than 25 years, while the working-age population is set to fall by 7000 over the same period.

Depopulation affected 14 council areas in the year to mid-2018, including Argyll and Bute and Nan Eilean Siar. And analysis suggests Brexit will exacerbate this, also affecting local economies dependent on agriculture, fishing, tourism and hospitality. Falling tax take would affect lifeline services.

WHAT ARE MINISTERS SAYING?

COMMENTING on the outcome of the summit, which saw member bodies like the Crofters Commission and NHS Orkney endorse Holyrood strategy to make communities attractive places to live, work and bring up families, External Affairs Minister Fiona Hyslop said it would help support and sustain local communities.

She added: Repopulation of our rural and island communities is a challenge we need to work together to address. While the Scottish Government can implement national policies to look at the overall balance of the population it is important these issues are also tackled at a regional and at local community level.

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United efforts to tackle falling population in Scottish Highlands and Islands - The National

Coral cover around popular Great Barrier Reef islands has almost halved – The Guardian

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Coral coverage around some of the most popular tourist islands on the Great Barrier Reef has dropped by almost half in the last 18 years, according to a new study.

Scientists said they were shocked after analysing data from monitoring dives between 1999 and 2017 at 100 different locations across the Whitsunday Islands, Magnetic Island, Keppel Islands and Palm Islands.

The study looked at the coverage of hard corals the rock-like structures that are the foundations for building reefs and found they were being hit by multiple impacts, including heat stress causing bleaching, cyclones, flood plumes and poor water quality.

Daniela Ceccarelli, of the ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies at James Cook University, said: The loss [of hard corals] was between 40 and 50% at each island group. We were pretty shocked actually.

She said that inshore reefs like the ones studied were more susceptible to impacts from sediments and nutrients running off the land, especially reefs that were less exposed to waves that could wash pollution away more quickly.

Published in the Ecological Society of Americas Ecological Applications journal, the study found persistent shifts from coral to macroalgal dominance on some reefs in the central and southern parts of the system.

The study aimed to tease apart the relative importance of different stressors on inshore island reefs, including the impacts of heat stress, flood plumes and exposure to cyclones.

Co-author David Williamson, also from James Cook University, said: The impacts of individual disturbance events were patchy. Some reefs avoided the worst effects but the cumulative impacts of multiple, frequent events reduced coral cover and diversity.

On reefs around the Whitsunday Islands, one of the most popular destinations in the Great Barrier Reef marine park, coral cover had been relatively stable until 2016, after coral bleaching and then Cyclone Debbie saw a sharp drop in hard corals.

Ceccarelli said that even though the findings were shocking, there were still many stunning areas for tourists and divers to visit around the islands, including the Whitsundays where some individual reefs were in excellent condition.

The reef is not dead, but it might be on intensive care

She said some disturbances on reefs were natural and important for maintaining diversity, but she added: We are seeing increased frequency of these disturbance events and we worry [reefs] wont get enough time to recover between them.

She said that faster-growing corals could recover from major disturbances after about seven to 10 years, but for a whole coral community that included slower-growing corals, recovery times were between 15 and 20 years.

Scientists are concerned that major coral bleaching and heat stress events caused by ocean heating will hit the Great Barrier Reef at intervals too short to let corals recover.

The reef, the worlds biggest coral reef system, was hit by major bleaching events in 2016 and 2017, with impacts concentrated in the northern parts of the reef.

The study also questioned a previous conclusion that corals on inshore reefs were more tolerant of higher temperatures.

The study concluded that although rapidly escalating climate change impacts are the largest threat to coral reefs of the Great Barrier Reef it was also important that localised impacts, including runoff from the land, was proactively managed.

Its definitely not too late to save the reef, she said. Its not dead, but it might be on intensive care.

In a major five-yearly report published in August, the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority downgraded the reefs long-term outlook to very poor for the first time since 2009 when the report was first published.

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Coral cover around popular Great Barrier Reef islands has almost halved - The Guardian

A New Way to Vacation in the British Virgin Islands – Caribbean Journal

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Theres a moment on this trip when you take it all in, when you look around at the glory of this place and stop to savor it.

We have been fortunate enough to have made the journey around the British Virgin Islands on a number of occasions, a privileged pilgrimage through one of the most resoundingly beautiful places in the Caribbean.

But each time the BVIs immense beauty reminds you of why so many make this journey, of why it remains a bucket-list box to tick for Caribbean aficionados.

And yet each time it feels new; each time it hits you, again for the first time.

On this voyage it wasnt until the final day on the water, when we moored at The Indians and spent several hours in the golden glow of the late afternoon in the British Virgin Islands.

By a mix of fate and the quiet of early October in the Caribbean, there was no other boat for what seemed like miles, a rare thing at one of the greatest snorkeling spots in the West Indies.

And the light on the jagged rocks, the varying hues of blue and the power of the setting sun did a number, turning a tiny corner of 50-some-odd islands and cays into a shrine.

Because when youre on a power catamaran in these waters, in this case the new MarineMax Vacations 443, the combination of pure exhilaration, beauty and adventure means you dont often pause.

Theres always another reef, another island, another stop for the dinghy.

But here at The Indians, we could stop and reflect, not just on how beautiful a destination this continued to be, but on how far the BVI had come in a short time since the storms of 2017.

The Baths are brilliant, the street food scene in Tortola is hopping; the lobsters are abundant in Anegada and the Willy T is once again waving its Jolly Roger in The Bight.

The BVI has overcome quite a lot in two years, a testament to its endlessly inspiring people. And while certain things have changed, what hasnt is the wonder, the marvel.

The BVI is a destination for adventurers, for those whove fallen in love with the feeling of discovering a place for themselves for the first time or the 100th.

Because for every golden hour at The Indians, there are a thousand moments just like it.

And that was true on this journey, from a sandy afternoon at Norman Island to a festive night at CocoMaya to a circuit of the North Sound.

And that brings us to the boat itself.

There are many ways to do a charter vacation in the BVI: bareboat or crewed, monohull or cat, sail or power.

But one of the newest additions to the BVIs charter fleet is a rather special thing indeed.

The new 443 by Aquila is a beautiful, crisply designed boat thats equally adept at leisure and adventure, with a host of wonderful amenities, from the 360-degree galley and living area to a particularly welcome feature: direct access from the flybridge to the bow.

But whats most staggering about the new 443 isnt just its remarkable fit and finish its the sheer speed.

The thing just flies, and that means that you can really island hop to your hearts content, packing in as much of this glorious archipelago as you wish and putting a premium on the time you spend at each stop not on the time you spend getting there.

And it means more late afternoons moments on the sea in the British Virgin Islands.

For more, visit MarineMax Vacations.

See more in the latest CJ Video at the top of the page.

CJ

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A New Way to Vacation in the British Virgin Islands - Caribbean Journal

Will There Be a Season 7 of ‘The Curse of Oak Island’? Details! – Distractify

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Will There Be a Season 7 of 'The Curse of Oak Island'? Details!AcceptBrowsers may block some cookies by default. Click accept to allow advertising partners to use cookies and serve more relevant ads. Visit our privacy policy page for more information.Source: instagramBy Pippa Raga

7 hours ago

If you've ever dreamed of leaving it all behind to dig the earth for hidden treasures hoping to one day come into a massive fortune, we understand.

And while we can't exactly recommend packing a suitcase and setting off to Oak Island, where treasures like Marie Antoinette's jewels and Shakespeare's never-before-seen manuscripts lie, we can say with confidence that you might enjoy History's series The Curse of Oak Island, where brothers Marty and Rick Lagina strive to unearth buried treasures.

In fact, they've been at this quest since 2014, when viewers first started tuning into their expeditions along Oak Island, a small private isle on the south shore of Nova Scotia.

So, will there be a Season 7 of The Curse of Oak Island? Keep reading to find out.

"When the digging gets tough, will the tough stop digging?" asks Curse of Oak Island's official Twitter page. Luckily, for all of us fans of The Goonies, who've long dreamed of finding a buried treasure, the answer is no.

Indeed, The Curse of Oak Island is returning to History Channel for a two-hour special premiere on Nov. 5. "Holy Shamoley!" as the brothers say on the show fans cannot wait.

"Can't wait for the new season," writes one enthusiastic viewer on Twitter. "Greatly looking forward to what you discover this time." Another adds, "Great show! I've learned so much about the Templars, and [the] history behind Oak Island, it's fascinating. I hope they find what they're looking for this season!"

Whilethe Lagina brothers have been striving to find buried treasures in Oak Island for the past five years, Rick and Marty are confident that greatness is just along the horizon.

According to the network's synopsis, Season 7's two-hour premiere will watch "Rick, Marty and the team return to the island determined to honor Dan's legacy by solving the centuries-old mystery once and for all." To kick off their quest, they are seeking a ship "buried in the swamp."

For those who need a quick refresher on Dan Blankenship, whose legacy the brothers are striving to honor, he was a 95-year-old "giant of this Oak Island quest" who spent half a century chasing treasures on Oak, and died in March 2019. This year will be the team's first exploring Oak Island without Dan.

The eponymous "curse" of Oak Island has it that seven men will die in pursuit of the Oak Island treasure before it's able to be found. Six men have perished in the search to date, but we wonder if Dan's passing will count to move the Lagina brothers' quest forward.

"This year is different," Marty tells Rick. "That's because Dan's lost to us. But his presence certainly remains. He was quite a guy."

Later he adds, "I don't think even yet the impact of Dan being gone, I don't think I quite understand it yet. It was a privilege to know him. There will not be a single day where we don't miss him."

We are very eager to see whether the excavation at Oak Island lends itself to any treasures in Season 7 of Marty and Rick's show. Tune in to find out when new episodes air Tuesdays at 9 p.m. on History.

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Will There Be a Season 7 of 'The Curse of Oak Island'? Details! - Distractify

Love Island’s Jourdan Riane and Danny Williams have reportedly split – cosmopolitan.com

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Hot on the heels of India Reynolds and Ovie Soko's split, a new report claims Jourdan Riane and Danny Williams from Love Island have gone their separate ways. The pair, who met in Casa Amor, were one of the last remaining couples from the 2019 villa, but have apparently called it quits.

According to a source at the The Sun, "Jourdan and Danny have had a few ups and downs since leaving the show but they had been getting on great recently and Jourdan was so happy. Things changed in the last few weeks though and Danny started acting distant and started going on more nights out.

"Jourdan started to hear rumours he was speaking to other girls behind her back. She confronted him about it but he just laughed it off."

The report continues that Jourdan received messages from girls who claimed Danny had been "flirting" with them, and that when she confronted Danny about it, the couple broke up.

The insider continued, "Next thing she knows, Jourdan is getting messages from girls saying Danny he's been flirting with them and then she hears he's spent all night partying with loads of random women.

"She called him and told him it was over and that he wouldn't be wasting her time anymore." The pair were one of the last remaining couples from the Love Island 2019 villa, following splits from winners Amber Gill and Greg O'Shea and Belle Hassan and Anton Danyluk.

Currently, neither Danny or Riane have confirmed the report, so this could all just be speculation. We have reached out to their reps for comment.

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Love Island's Jourdan Riane and Danny Williams have reportedly split - cosmopolitan.com

Love Island’s Olivia Buckland and Alex Bowen named the show’s richest contestants ever – Irish Mirror

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Love Island power couple Olivia Buckland and Alex Bowen are rumoured to be the richest contestants to have ever emerged from the hit ITV2 dating show.

In estimates from heat magazines Rich List 2019, it is claimed the married couple have amassed a huge 4.2million fortune since leaving the sun-soaked Mallorca villa back in 2016.

Olivia, 25, and Alex, 28, have reportedly made the most money after carving out careers as mega influencers with high street shopping collaborations, TV deals, a high profile wedding and creating their own fashion label.

This year's Heat Rich List has uncovered the pair - who didn't even win the show - as the reality programme's biggest earners.

The list, which reveals an under-30 list for nine years, with the help of various company accounts and TV contracts has highlighted Alex and Olivias incredible wealth.

They were the first couple from the show to tie the knot, getting married in September 2018 and netting a reported 25,000 magazine deal.

Their lucrative wedding ceremony captured the heart of the nation as their extravagant big day was also captured with a special TV show on TLC.

The power couple then scooped another reality show with Olivia & Alex: Happily Ever After? which explores their swanky Essex home, tropical holidays and everyday life as parents to their two French bulldogs.

They've both carved out careers as social media influencers, and Olivia has walked on the catwalk and released her own clothing range.

The couple recently launched their own fashion label, Exempt Society, which is expected to earn them 950,000 in the next two years.

It's thought they both earn around 2,000 per sponsored social media post, and do at least one each a day, as well as earning big pay packets for club appearances and modelling stints.

They've also had TV presenting jobs and taken part in other reality shows.

Before soaring to fame on Love Island, Olivia worked as a sales executive in Essex while, Alex made his living as a scaffolder in Wolverhampton.

The wealthy duo are currently enduring a 50-mile hike over the world overs highest mountain range the Himalayas.

The married couple are taking part alongside Frankie Bridge and Nadia Sawalha to hike eight hours each day to raise 1m for charity CoppaFeel.

Their challenging charity hike comes after they recently celebrated their one-year wedding anniversary last month with a lavish romantic break in Santorini.

The 30 Richest Celebrities 30 and Under appears in this weeks heat magazine (Tuesday 29 October).

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Love Island's Olivia Buckland and Alex Bowen named the show's richest contestants ever - Irish Mirror

Love Island’s Curtis Pritchard says Strictly may not be the right move for him – Mirror Online

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Curtis Prichard dropped the bombshell Strictly Come Dancing may not be the right move for him.

The reality star, of Love Island fame, said he could simply be too busy to join his brother AJ Pritchard and Strictly's star-studded cast.

Having been catapulted into fame over the summer, the dancer has been thrown into the fast-paced life of a reality star.

The Greatest Dancer star bragged with all the opportunities he has going for him, he may not have time for Strictly.

Speaking at Pride of Britain, he told the Mirror Online: "Who knows what the future holds up.

"If the opportunity comes up at the right time, but Im so fortunate so lucky to have so many opportunities.

"It may not be the right move to do who knows really?"

Curtis found fame on Love Island in 2019 when he crossed paths and fell in love with Maura Higgins.

Now the professional ballroom star has been exercising his dancing talents to assist his girlfriend with her Dancing On Ice gig.

His brother AJ has been a star with a celebrity partner on Strictly since 2016.

And Curtis has made no secret of wanting to join his brother on the show previously.

The hunk will have a minor role on The Greatest Dancer next series.

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Love Island's Curtis Pritchard says Strictly may not be the right move for him - Mirror Online

Pollock will preserve island’s quality of life | Letter to the editor – Bainbridge Island Review

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To the editor:

I want to recommend supporting Michael Pollock, candidate for the city councils South Ward.

Michael is a NOAA scientist and a defender of our comprehensive plan. We all know that pressure for population growth on Bainbridge Island is strong. The comprehensive plan, our guideline for managing that growth, stipulates where high density construction projects are to be permitted and where they are not permitted. This award-winning plan is our hard earned effort for compromise between the ever-present forces for growth and the need for reasonable preservation.

It is my observation that there are those on the council who chafe at governmental limitations on property owners development rights, and application for up-zoning exceptions will continue to be a tool available to property developers. Michael knows this and he promises to be a force on the council for honoring the comprehensive plan as written and resisting the profit motive of special interests.

Please take a look at Michaels website, http://www.pollock4council.com for an in-depth look at his policy proposals and perspectives. Michael understands that we need defenders of the common wealth in order to preserve the quality of life we share here on Bainbridge Island. Now more than ever.

SCOTT LAWRENCE

Bainbridge Island

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Pollock will preserve island's quality of life | Letter to the editor - Bainbridge Island Review

City of Davenport removing some flood measures, re-opening Credit Island – KWQC-TV6

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DAVENPORT, Iowa (KWQC) - The City of Davenport is removing some flood measures as the Mississippi River continues to drop.

In an update released Tuesday, city officials said the river may fall below 15 feet this weekend.

"Keeping our fingers crossed that the Mississippi continues to drop before winter fully arrives," the post stated.

Officials say Parks and Public Works crews may have Credit Island reopened later this week after debris removal and temporary patching is complete.

Crews will also finish removing the temporary flood walls at Modern Woodmen Park by the end of the day on Wednesday.

The following measures will stay in place until river levels fall more and cleaning can be done:

Roads: - S Concord is closed between River Dr and Utah. The river will need to fall below 14 FT before portions can be re-opened.- Gaines St is closed S of River Dr. This stretch should re-open at the end of the day Wed Oct 30.

Recreation: - Credit Island may re-open later in the week. The recreational trail between Marquette and Credit Island will remain closed until river levels fall below 14.5 FT.- The riverfront walk between LeClaire Park and Marquette is closed. Look for news on re-opening next week.- The dock at Marquette St Landing is in place; however, it is unusable due to the river level.

Facilities: - The flood wall at Modern Woodmen Park will be fully removed by the end of the day Wed Oct 30.- The River's Edge, Freight House Farmer's Market, and Modern Woodmen Park remain open for business.- The Compost Facility is accessible by taking Rockingham Rd/Hwy 22 to Wapello to Railroad Ave.

Other measures: - Pumps are set, and appropriate gates closed in various low-lying areas of the city.- Crews continue to monitor conditions and remain prepared to respond as necessary.

Another flood update will be issued next week.

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City of Davenport removing some flood measures, re-opening Credit Island - KWQC-TV6

A Bright-Green Island Stars in this Seriously Bold Forest Hills Kitchen – Washingtonian

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The showstopper of an island is painted a custom shade. All photographs by Robert Radifera Photography.

If youre going to spend a lot of time in the kitchen, it might as well be in a bright, cheerful spot that makes you happyeven when youre washing dishes. That was the thinking that spurred this Forest Hills renovation by Nadia Subaran of Aidan Design.

The house, built in 1943, had seen several kitchen renovations over the years, which left a few too many quirky architectural flourishes. First, Subaran streamlined the bulkhead and got rid of some decorative columns, allowing the stunning circular windows to be front and center. From a functional standpoint, the single oven and small, inefficient island would have to go, though the ranges stunning copper hood got to stay. The client, a family of four, likes to cook and bake together, so a double oven was necessary, as was a bigger island with a second sink.

Inspired by her love of Mexican Otomi textiles and Swedish midcentury fabrics, the homeowner always knew that vibrant pops of color would figure prominently in the mostly white kitchen. That island turned out to be the perfect vehicle for a bold paint choice. When we saw that spring green, there was no going back, says Subaran.

While finding the right hue for the island happened quickly, the backsplash was another story. The owner was smitten with a tile shed seen in a photograph from almost 20 years ago. She tracked down the kitchens designer, who couldnt recall the manufacturer. Then she found a painter who could recreate it, but the colors werent quite right. Eventually, she traced the handmade clay tile to an importer in Austin. Nearly a year and a trip to Texas later, she finally had her backsplash. When the tile was delivered and installed, everything came together beautifully, says Subaran. Youd never know that tile created so much drama.

This article appears in theOctober 2019issue ofWashingtonian.

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A Bright-Green Island Stars in this Seriously Bold Forest Hills Kitchen - Washingtonian

Revealed: The law that means Argentina can never take Falkland Islands by force again – Express.co.uk

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Peronist Fernandez is supported by former president Cristina Fernndez de Kirchner, and the populist left pair are making the British archipelago a central part of their nationalist campaign. Mr Fernandez said he wants to renew the claim of sovereignty of the Falkland Islands as one of his first points of business should Argentina elect him as their new leader in upcoming elections this Sunday. He is well on course to take presidency after storming to a 16 point lead in Augusts primary votes, leaving current President Mauricio Macri all but defeated barring a miracle.

However, Argentinas constitution makes this promise very difficult to fulfil.

Amended in 1994, it suggests that Argentina can never take the islands by force.

The documents instructs the nations government that any recovery of the territories must be done within the realms of international law.

It reads: The Argentine Nation ratifies its legitimate and non-prescribing sovereignty over the Malvinas, Georgias del Sur and Sandwich del Sur Islands and over the corresponding maritime and insular zones, as they are an integral part of the National territory.

The recovery of said territories and the full exercise of sovereignty, respectful of the way of life of their inhabitants and according to the principles of international law, are a permanent and unrelinquished goal of the Argentine people.

Even if Ms de Kirchner, who released a video earlier this year reiterating her desire to take back the islands, wanted to amend the constitution to justify a land grab, she is likely to find it politically impossible.

The constitution states that the document may only be amended with at least two-thirds support in Congress.

It reads: The Constitution may be totally or partially amended.

READ MORE:Falklands Islands warning: Argentina election sets alarm bells ringing

The necessity of reform must be declared by Congress with the vote of at least two-thirds of the members; but it shall not be carried out except by an Assembly summoned to that effect.

An Argentinian expert has suggested, however, that Britain need not worry about a repeat of the 1982 Falklands war any time soon.

Dr Daniel Ozarow, senior lecturer at Middlesex University, told Express.co.uk in August that it was highly unlikely Argentina would take any sort of drastic action against the islands.

He said: After the 1982 war, there was a lot of reflection in Argentina about the Falkland Islands.

DON'T MISS:BBC fury: How Thatcher raged at treacherous Falklands War coverageWas Argentina cheated out of the Falklands? Online row eruptsFalklands Islands warning: Argentina election sets alarm bells ringing

They realised that they would never be able to take back the islands by force.

Argentina never gave up its sovereignty claim, but the United Nations decolonisation committee obliges Britain and Argentina to sit down and discuss the future of the island.

In April 1982, Argentine troops invaded the islands, but capitulated 74 days later to the British forces, with the death toll as a result of the war a devastating 649 - of which 255 soldiers were from the UK.

After the conflict between the UK and Argentina over the territory, a referendum was held in 2013 that saw 99.8 percent of Falklands residents vote to remain under British rule.

Just three of the 1,571 voters said they wanted to be under Argentine rule.

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Revealed: The law that means Argentina can never take Falkland Islands by force again - Express.co.uk

Seal of approval: Farne Islands population boom gathers pace – The Guardian

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They are one of the worlds rarest seal species, officially endangered by a combination of water pollution, fishing nets and seaside tourism. But on the Farne Islands, off the Northumberland coast, the population of grey seal pups has increased by 57% in five years, with 2,737 born last year.

Rangers from the National Trust, which owns the islands, were predicting another bumper year as they began their pup count this week, taking aerial shots by drone and spraying newborns with special paint to keep tabs on their movements.

They use four colours in rotation to work out how many are born and how many die over the six-week pupping season. Natural selection means up to 50% of baby seals do not make it past their first year, with 30% dying in their first month, says Tom Hendry, who for the past four years has been one of the small group of rangers who are the only humans allowed to live on the islands.

He pointed to a forlorn bundle of white fur lying in the grass near the boat landing on Brownsman, one of 20 Farne islands visible at low tide. The pup was born at the weekend, but had not survived the bitter northerly winds and icy rain. It can be quite sad when you see the mum tapping the baby with their flipper to try to rouse them, but so many die that you do become a bit desensitised to it, he said.

Seal pups are not waterproof. It takes three weeks until their birth fluff is replaced with water-resistant fur and they have drunk enough fatty milk to develop a thick layer of insulating blubber.

Counting the pups can be tricky, says Hendry. Despite their image as the friendly teddy bears of the sea, seals can be quite aggressive, especially the males, known as bulls, who can be 2.7 metres long and weigh up to 233kg. Seals can move quite fast, particularly the bulls. Its all about not getting hemmed in between them and the sea, he said.

The bulls fight over territory and cows (females), competing to get a whole harem pregnant, says Hendry. They even have a macho name: beachmasters. The rangers try to spray the pups when the beachmasters are off hunting, or at least looking the other way.

They work as a team of five, two armed with a spray bottle of the sort a gardener might use to spritz roses, two creating a distraction, and another keeping watch. I do like seals, but by the end of the count I do tend to have developed a love/hate relationship with them, says Hendry, watching as a mother tries to get her newborn to understand the concept of suckling 20 metres further down the beach.

At least two rangers live on Brownsman for nine months of the year, sharing a rundown cottage with no running water. Usually they do five-day stints and then go back to the mainland for a shower, but on Wednesday Hendry was 10 days in and very ready for a wash that did not just involve baby wipes.

In the early 19th century, the cottage was the childhood home of Grace Darling, who became a national hero after helping to rescue survivors from the shipwrecked Forfarshire in 1838. Little seems to have changed since her day, the floors still primitive stone slabs and the grubby sash windows still single-glazed, rattling in the wind. The rangers have a TV to pass the time and play board games; this years favourite has been a card game called Unstable Unicorns, where players compete to build a unicorn army while betraying their friends.

The rangers do not know for sure why the grey seal population has grown so quickly in recent years, with an estimated 300,000 now living worldwide. The main theory is that they have plenty of food and a lack of predators, Hendry said. In the North Sea they have not had an enemy since orcas stopped patrolling the waters in the 1970s and are omnivorous, eating pretty much anything that swims or scampers on the seabed.

While celebrating the grey seal baby boom, the National Trust has begun to worry that these large mammals may come to over-dominate the fragile ecosystem of the Farne Islands, which is also a breeding ground for puffins, Arctic terns, shags and many other birds. An electric fence has been put up around one area of Brownsman to protect the flora and fauna, and to stop the lumbering seals flopping over the puffin burrows, destroying their summer homes.

But for now, they are enjoying the renaissance. Normally, National Trust stories are doom and gloom, about what climate change is doing to the natural world, said the trusts press officer, Jessica Harrison-Thomas, cooing over a newborn pup trying to work out how to use his flippers. This is lovely.

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Seal of approval: Farne Islands population boom gathers pace - The Guardian

An ancient island at the centre of the world – BBC News

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With its crumbling ancient forts, narrow cobblestone streets and buildings made of coral rock and mangrove timber, Lamu Old Town in Kenya feels almost frozen in time. As the oldest and best-preserved Swahili settlement in East Africa, the Unesco-designated town (located on an island of the same name) was one of the most important trading centres in Africa during the 14th Century.

Lamu lies in the Indian Ocean about 240km north-east of the port city of Mombasa, which it rivalled as an entrept for gold, spices and slaves until most trade partners abolished slavery in the late 19th Century. As trade activity declined, Lamu Old Town held fast to its multicultural identity. Drawing influences from the Chinese, Portuguese, German, Indian and Arabian visitors who landed on its shores, Lamu created a unique amalgamation of food, language, art and architecture all its own over the centuries.

Now, though, Lamu island faces a wave of change that threatens to alter the isle and its unique culture forever. A massive seven-part, 20bn development infrastructure project called Lamu Port, South Sudan, Ethiopia Transport Corridor looms on the horizon. When completed, this ambitious undertaking in Lamu county will link Kenya, Ethiopia and South Sudan through railways, highways, pipelines and a 32-berth deep-sea port in Lamu. In addition, the transport corridor will be built alongside a Chinese-funded coal plant that could increase greenhouse gases in the area by up to 700%.

Only time will tell if Lamus historic, multicultural charm survive this new outside influence.

(Video by Thomas Lewton and Alice McCool, text by Emily Cavanagh)

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City breaks ground on new $77M Staten Island school – SILive.com

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STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- New York City officials broke ground Tuesday on a new $77 million four-story school building that will serve students on the North Shore.

The new building, which will be named PS 70, will be located in Stapleton on property that was previously occupied by an unused moving and storage warehouse. Located at 357 Targee St., the school is expected to provide 773 elementary school seats when it opens for the 2022-2023 school year.

School Construction Authority (SCA) President and CEO Lorraine Grillo was joined by Councilwoman Debi Rose, Department of Education (DOE) officials and community members to officially kick off construction of the state-of-the-art school building that will address overcrowding in District 31 and a projected population growth in the area.

Construction began in July after a $77 million contract was awarded to the Leon D. Dematteis Construction Corporation.

We are here to celebrate the groundbreaking of our new school from the foundation up, said Rose. For those of you who have been on the North Shore for decades, I ask -- when was last time you saw a new school on the North Shore? And this school will accommodate 773 students. That is huge. This will be a massive infusion of classroom space, more than weve seen on the North Shore in years. It will help alleviate our overcrowding. Thats a big problem in the North Shore schools, and it will give our students a better opportunity to learn with the amenities and the resources that they need.

A rendering of the new PS 70 school building in Stapleton that is slated to open for the 2022-2023 school year. (Courtesy/SCA)

The new building will be air-conditioned and fully accessible to serve the specialized needs of all students, including 96 District 75 students.

District 75 includes school sites throughout the city that provide special education services to students with disabilities.

This new school building will include everything we expect in a world class educational facility, and were proud to bring this state-of-the-art space to the students and families here on Staten Island, said Grillo. Today, we see another example of how government agencies, families, community members and elected officials can get together to provide our students with the technology, facilities and resources they need to succeed.

The new school will contain four pre-K classrooms, four kindergarten classrooms, 20 standard classrooms (grades 1-5), reading and speech resource rooms, three district special education classrooms, eight District 75 classrooms and rooms for physical and occupation therapy.

Other amenities include: a computer classroom; art classrooms; gymnasium; playground; full kitchen complex; library; guidance and medical suites; science resource room; music room; exercise room; administrative suite; conference room; teacher work room, and a parent and community room.

PS 70, Stapleton, is a four-story state-of-the-art school building slated to open for the 2022-2023 school year. (Staten Island Advance/Annalise Knudson)

Our children thrive in state-of-the-art school facilities, and this new school building will include all the amenities we expect in a world-class educational facility, said Richard A. Carranza, city schools chancellor, in a statement. Thank you to our partners at SCA and to the Staten Island community for helping us provide our students with 21st-century learning spaces. This is equity and excellence in action.

As part of the SCAs Public Art for Public Schools program, the school will also have permanent public artwork. The artist selected for the commission, Daniel Agdag, will be creating a site-specific piece for the school lobby.

While the school is on tap to be named PS 70 when it opens to students, members from the Staten Island chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) attended the groundbreaking to encourage others to sign a petition to name PS 70 after Rose.

PS 70, Stapleton, is a four-story state-of-the-art school building slated to open for the 2022-2023 school year. (Staten Island Advance/Annalise Knudson)

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City breaks ground on new $77M Staten Island school - SILive.com

Roosevelt Island Restaurant Granny Annies Bar and Kitchen to Open in Spring 2020 – Eater NY

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By the time developers finish adding more than 2,000 residential units to sleepy Roosevelt Island, new neighbors will have another place to eat and drink in their midst: Granny Annies Bar + Kitchen, a pub from the proprietor of popular Woodside, Queens bar the Beerkeeper.

Dympa Rogers has signed a lease on the 3,500-square-foot restaurant space, which will occupy the ground floor of the 216-unit Riverwalk Landing building at 426 Main Street. Her business, with partner James Paul McDaid and support from husband and Beerkeeper partner Stephen James Rogers, could open as soon as spring 2020, according to a representative for the developer.

The forthcoming pub is one small part in the large, nine-building Riverwalk neighborhood, the latest development from the mega firm behind Hudson Yards, Related Companies, and residential developer Hudson Companies. Like their Hudson Yards Development, construction of Riverwalk on Roosevelt Island is decades in the making: Related/Hudson began work on the housing, which has 40 percent affordable housing and was designed by Handel Architects in 1997. Most recently, they topped out on construction on the eighth of the nine buildings in the complex.

Hudson/Related is busy signing more leases in Riverwalk: Last month, they announced plans to install a speakeasy, bistro, and events space inside the vacant Dayspring Church, and sounds more like its trying to get tourists from Manhattan scampering onto the Roosevelt Island tram. Granny Annies, though, will cater to Roosevelt Island locals.

A good bar and restaurant is really needed, where people can go relax and chill out, Stephen Rogers tells Eater NY. Thats whats missing, from what we see.

A menu is still in development. Stephen and Dympa are Irish and will serve some Irish dishes, but thats not the extent of their business. The new bar is named for Dympas mother, Annie grandmother to twenty.

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426 Main St., Roosevelt Island, NY 10044

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Roosevelt Island Restaurant Granny Annies Bar and Kitchen to Open in Spring 2020 - Eater NY

Liberty defensive depth to be tested against UMass – Lynchburg News and Advance

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Liberty began this past weekends game at Rutgers without Brandon Tillmon occupying one of the starting linebacker spots. The contest ended with several players going down with injuries, which will force the Flames to test their depth Saturday at UMass.

Depth is going to be a factor, Flames coach Hugh Freeze said Monday. Were going to have to get our two-deep ready with kids that havent played a lot of snaps this year. Then hopefully by Saturday, some of these that are on the day-to-day list will be able to be added bonuses to us.

Tillmon and fellow starting linebacker Solomon Ajayi both were listed as day-to-day on the injury report. Ajayi was injured late in the first half against the Scarlet Knights but returned and played the majority of the second half.

He was sporting a walking boot on his left foot leaving the stadium.

Tillmon suffered a small fracture in his right foot early in the Flames Oct. 5 victory at New Mexico State. He played against Maine two weeks later but was unable to go against the Scarlet Knights.

The injuries will necessitate more reps in practice for Amarii Jenkins, Tyren Dupree, Waylen Cozad and Malik Caper.

Jenkins, a redshirt sophomore, made the second start of his career against Rutgers in place of Tillmon at Will linebacker.

Brandon being the great player that he is, making the plays that youve seen in the past couple of games, it was a huge loss, Jenkins said Monday. Hopefully he gets better so he can help out the defense a lot for the rest of the season.

Dupree, a redshirt freshman, has served as Ajayis backup this season with seven appearances and posted a career-high six tackles against Rutgers. Cozad, the junior college transfer, started against Louisiana on Sept. 7 and finished with a season-high nine stops against the Scarlet Knights.

Caper, a true freshman, has played in two games this season and can play in two more while retaining his year of eligibility. He traveled with the team to Rutgers.

With those two being kind of banged up, [linebackers coach Kyle] Pope is going to make sure he does his best to get the rest of us ready, Jenkins said. Were kind of young and inexperienced. Its not an excuse for being able to step up and take in a role that needs to be taken when somebody goes in.

The injuries werent limited to just the linebacker corps.

Free safety JaVon Scruggs and defensive end Austin Lewis, both sophomores, are in concussion protocol.

Scruggs, the Appomattox County High product who posted a career-high 10 tackles against Rutgers, was hit on one of the Flames two onside kick attempts.

He took a vicious hit on that onside kick, which was not a clean play, Freeze said.

That means Isaac Steele, who only played on special teams against Rutgers until Scruggs injury late in the fourth quarter, will receive most of the first-team reps at the position.

Micah Glaize and Benjamin Alexander will serve as Elijah Bentons backups at rover.

Lewis was one of three defensive ends to see consistent playing time against Rutgers in the first half, and his absence forced Jessie Lemonier and TreShaun Clark to play the majority of the second-half snaps.

Freeze added he wants to prevent nose guard Ralfs Rusins from playing as many snaps as he did against Rutgers, which could mean a larger role for Elisha Mitchell.

The good thing is well be able to present to our defense exactly what they want to see because it is a mirror image of who we are, Freeze said of preparing for UMass offense. Its identical. The same RPOs, the same runs, the same sets. They may go a little bit more two-by-two spread than we do, but thats typically when theyve gotten behind a bit that they go to that. If they can stay in the game, they stay in their comfort zone, which is the RPO world.

NOTE: Libertys Nov. 9 matchup against BYU is scheduled for a 7:30 p.m. EST kickoff at LaVell Edwards Stadium in Provo, Utah. The game will be televised on ESPNU.

Damien Sordelett covers Liberty University athletics and local golf for The News & Advance. Reach him at (434) 385-5550.

Damien Sordelett covers Liberty University athletics and local golf for The News & Advance. Reach him at (434) 385-5550.

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Liberty defensive depth to be tested against UMass - Lynchburg News and Advance

The ‘cautionary tale’ of Liberty University – The College Fix

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Liberty University is known as one of the preeminent Christian schools in the entire country. But recent revelations about its internal practices have shed light on some troubling developments at the institution, circumstances that have reportedly led to a campus culture of fear, as one writer argues.

Liberty offers a useful case study in how higher education institutions that pursue unique missions can also be susceptible to unique governance pitfalls, writes Christian Barnard atthe James G. Martin Center for Academic Renewal.

The school was started by Jerry Falwell in the early 1970s, Barnard writes; Falwell said that the goal was not to create another Bible college but rather a venerable academic institution with a distinctively Christian environment. Falwell succeeded in growing the scope and prestige of the university over the next several decades. After his death in 2007, his son, Jerry Falwell, Jr., took over, reportedly leading to a new and arguably degraded campus environment:

Critics argue that Falwell has created a culture of fear where people are unable to speak out. They point to examples such as how faculty outside of the law school cannot obtain tenure and the routine use of non-disclosure agreements that stop current and former staff and board members from discussing sensitive matters around Falwells leadership.

Documented incidents of retaliatory firings when staff criticize university leadership make this fear a legitimate reality.

Students live under scrutiny and fear along with the staff. Other stories from students and alumni detail his micro-management of the campus newspaperclaiming that he reserves the right to edit or reject any columns of which he disapproves. The school newspaper isnt even student-run anymore. Other accounts note incidents like the universitys past derecognition of Campus Democrats, Falwells forced removal of an anti-Trump pastor, and when campus shut down a student booth where libertarian students tried to discuss legalizing marijuana.

Other highlights of malfeasance include making loans to friends contrary to the schools financial interests, signing massive construction contracts with personal associates, and investing in real estate thats owned by friends and family. The reports from Politico and Reutersalso question Liberty-sponsored political activitylike selling merchandise that features both the Liberty and Trump brandas potential violations of IRS rules governing nonprofits.

Since faculty have little job security and students are limited in their ability to voice their dissent, its unlikely anyone on campus will stand up to Falwell. He simply isnt being held accountable by a governance model that placed too much power in the hands of one person, Barnard writes.

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Phase 1 of new signage in Liberty completed – Times Herald-Record

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LIBERTY The Town of Liberty has announced that Phase 1 of its sign blight initiative, undertaken in partnership with the Village of Liberty, has been completed. Town of Liberty Councilmen and Village of Liberty Trustees have worked collaboratively from the design and planning stages, through funding and implementation to replace outdated and in some cases dilapidated signage with new, visually appealing installations that have been completely grant funded.

Signage installed during Phase 1 includes two new gateway signs, as well as eight new directional wayfinding signs throughout the Village and Town of Liberty. One gateway sign is located on Route 52 between Denman and Hysana Roads, near Stephensons Garden Center, and includes the Town name and the slogan Live. Play. Do business here. The other gateway sign has been installed on Harris Road in Ferndale, near Sullivan County Animal Hospital. The directional wayfinding signage serves to point travelers toward Libertys downtown district, among other key recreational locations.

Removing these eyesores and replacing them with new signage that is modern in appearance and clean has been a goal of ours for some time, said Town of Liberty Supervisor, Brian P. Rourke. They are a significant improvement to the gateways of our community, both aesthetically and physically, and have been 100 percent funded by grants.

Two 2018 Sullivan Signs Grant Funding Awards from the Sullivan County Planning Department have helped make the upgrades possible. The Town of Liberty was awarded $7,500, while the Village received its own $7,500. An additional $10,000, received as a 2016 Sullivan Renaissance Silver Feather Award Grant, was also earmarked for the project.

The combined grant money we secured for this project has meant no financial outlay by the community weve applied zero tax dollars, managing to carry out a major civic beautification project with zero impact on our taxpayers, said Rourke.

As the Town and Village proceed into Phase 2 of the project, Department of Transportation attraction signs will be consolidated, along with the addition of more parking-related directional signage and two more directional wayfinding signs. During a recent meeting, the Town of Liberty Town Board also approved a large Welcome to Liberty billboard. Its retro Catskills design will be unveiled soon.

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Phase 1 of new signage in Liberty completed - Times Herald-Record

Boyd Matheson: Liberty without morality and religious freedom is but window dressing – Deseret News

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In his first inaugural address in 1789, George Washington said he hoped that the foundations of our national policy will be laid in the pure and immutable principles of private morality. John Adams added, It is religion and morality alone which can establish the principles upon which freedom can securely stand. In a letter to the Massachusetts Militia, Adams also added, Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious People.

Washington and Adams were in essence saying that without religious freedom and absent public morality, the freedoms framed in the Constitution were merely window dressing.

Both Washington and Adams invoked the Latin phrase sine qua non without which (there is) nothing, connecting the essential nature of religious liberty and public morality to freedom and the American Constitution.

Through the years, and with increasing blunt force and brute strength, the secular world has attempted to attack and dislodge religion and morality from the public square. Governments around the world, including in the U.S., have altered, limited and targeted religious liberty and religious institutions.

But on Oct. 23 at the University of Oxford, Elder Quentin L. Cook, a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, delivered a landmark address titled, The Impact of Religious Freedom on Public Morality.

A speech delivered by a world religious leader on religious freedom and public morality may seem unremarkable. His remarks, however, created a perfectly fitted frame around the principles required for the light of liberty to burn brightly and provided a window through which to look at the world today and the critical criteria necessary for true freedom to endure.

Following in the footsteps of Washington, Adams and others, Elder Cook stated, Freedom to believe in private and to exercise belief and speech in the public square are essential to protecting unalienable rights.

Elder Cook went on to declare, I am equally concerned that the foundations which have historically supported faith, accountability to God, and the religious impulse are increasingly being marginalized in a secular world and derided and even banished from the public square.

He also detailed how religious liberty has been established as part of essential human rights through the ages.

Elder Cook made a compelling case that the sine qua non of religious liberty and public morality were the foundation from which one of his personal heroes, William Wilberforce, launched his pursuit to abolish slavery in Great Britain. Without the protections of religious liberty and the power of public morality, Wilberforces crusade against slavery would have been snuffed out before it ever sparked the flame of justice and human dignity. The long, arduous battle for the emancipation of slaves in the British Isles was eventually victorious.

Providentially, the flame of freedom for slaves rose as the light in the life of Wilberforce flickered. Emancipation was proclaimed one week before Wilberforce died. Elder Cook noted that many of the great breakthroughs and advancements in history began with a person of faith entering the public square to make a moral stand.

Another religious leader, Rabbi Dr. Meir Y. Soloveichik, regularly speaks to the need for faith to be taken into the public square. He remarked, When the state demands disloyalty to ones faith as the price for entering society, that is an assault on the human soul, and that is intolerable, because the soul of man is the candle of God.

Rabbi Soloveichik continued, The soul of man is the candle of God. It is a powerful and enduring image. The human soul is a candle kindled by the Creator. Like a candles flame, the souls sanctity is so easily extinguished when buffeted by the winds of change, by the zeitgeist, by social pressure or by persecution. And yet like a flame, the soul, if protected, if sustained, if fueled by freedom, by faith, by courage, contains within it an infinite amount of power that can spark and inspire.

He then concluded, Originally, until recent times and in Jerusalem today, Hanukkah lights were kindled not inside but outside the door of Jewish homes, right outside the door. Lighting candles outside the doors of our homes expresses that when people of faith leave their homes and enter the world, they take their beliefs and their religious identity with them. They do not check their beliefs at the door when they enter the public square. Their souls, the candle within each person, illuminates their path wherever they may lead.

What we bring to the public square as individuals is so much more than our physical presence. We should be bringing our whole, authentic self to work and to our communities that includes our religious beliefs. Leaving our deeply held beliefs at home, in the mosque, synagogue or church is to leave a portion of self behind and accept a smaller portion of the illuminating light that emanates from the soul of every man and every woman.

As the capstone to a life of service and sacrifice to the nation, Washington chose to include in his farewell address this counsel: Of all the dispositions and habits which lead to political prosperity, religion and morality are indispensable supports. In vain would that man claim the tribute of patriotism, who should labor to subvert these great pillars of human happiness, these firmest props of the duties of men and citizens. The mere politician, equally with the pious man, ought to respect and to cherish them. A volume could not trace all their connections with private and public felicity. Let it simply be asked: Where is the security for property, for reputation, for life, if the sense of religious obligation desert the oaths which are the instruments of investigation in courts of justice? And let us with caution indulge the supposition that morality can be maintained without religion. Whatever may be conceded to the influence of refined education on minds of peculiar structure, reason and experience both forbid us to expect that national morality can prevail in exclusion of religious principle.

American liberty and a constitutional republic are but window dressing to human flourishing without what Founding Fathers like Washington and Adams, along with todays world religious leaders like Elder Cook and Rabbi Soloveichik, have declared. Religious freedom and public morality are indeed the sine qua non of liberty. If America is going to remain a beacon of hope and freedom, every leader and every citizen must live within their shared public morality and seek to secure the religious freedom required to promote and defend it.

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Boyd Matheson: Liberty without morality and religious freedom is but window dressing - Deseret News

Rutgers Million-Dollar Guarantee To Liberty Proved To Be A Wise Investment – Forbes

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PISCATAWAY, NJ - OCTOBER 26: Johnny Langan #17 of the Rutgers Scarlet Knights leaps for yards ... [+] against the Liberty Flames during the third quarter SHI Stadium on October 26, 2019 in Piscataway, New Jersey. Rutgers defeated Liberty 44-34. (Photo by Corey Perrine/Getty Images)

For a change, there were plenty of smiles for the Rutgers football team Saturday.

Million-dollar smiles, to be precise.

That was exactly how much Rutgers paid Liberty to show up at SHI Stadium for what probably was projected as an easy victory for the Scarlet Knights when the contract was signed in 2017. But with Rutgers mired in a six-game skid in which it had been outscored 237-30, the Flames had been made a road favorite. In fact, Liberty was favored by 7.5 points in what was a first, according to sports betting and business expert Darren Rovell of the Action Network, who tweeted that never before had a college football team been a home underdog in a game for which it paid at least $1 million.

I saw they were favored to win, said Rutgers quarterback Johnny Langan, who accounted for 310 yards of total offense and three touchdowns. I thought that was ridiculous. We just played our brand of football and played it well and got the win.

So yes, Rutgers winning was an upset. And that spread appeared to be accurate when Libertys talented offense needed only 3:17 to score on the first possession of the game. But the Scarlet Knights kept matching the Flames touchdown for touchdown until their defense finally took control of the game in the second half.

Wins don't come easy so we're going to enjoy this one," linebacker Tyshon Fogg said.

So at least in that sense, the money was well-spent, as Rutgers avoided similar scenarios of the past two seasons, when it lost buy games to Buffalo ($900K in 2018) and Eastern Michigan ($860K in 2017), per nj.com. But it was hard to ignore the monetary woes on display Saturday as Rutgers continues to literally pay the price for the failed Chris Ash era.

Most obviously, there is the sunk cost of the more than $7.5 million still owed to Ash, who was fired in late September with three-plus years still remaining on his contract. And also there is the even more worrisome problem of how to coax back the bulk of a fed-up fan base that has begun staying away in droves with Rutgers on its way to its fifth straight losing season. The announced crowd of 23,058 included paid tickets, but the actual in-house attendance appeared to be less than half of that.

The obvious way to win back many of those people (and their wallets) would be to re-hire Greg Schiano, who took over a similarly downtrodden Rutgers program in 2001 and eventually turned it into a perennial bowl participant, going 5-1 in bowl games.

Truth be told, five days before Halloween, Schianos specter loomed over the proceedings. For the second week in a row, a group of tailgaters had a large, apparently professionally-made banner imploring athletic director Pat Hobbs to hire Schiano. (And it was different from the previous banner.)

And in his post-game media session, interim head coach Nunzio Campanile was asked about his relationship with Schiano after it was mentioned in the radio broadcast that Schiano texts him before every game. Campanile confirmed this.

Of course, not too much should be read into that, considering both Campanile and Schiano are football lifers who were born and raised in northern New Jersey and have known one another for many years.

And then there was an indirect Schiano reference from standout sophomore defensive end Mike Tverdov, who notched a second-quarter sack of Liberty quarterback Stephen Calvert and then made a chopping motion with his hands, a favorite move of Rutgers players from the Schiano era, including Tverdovs older brother Pete. Schianos motto back then was keep chopping.

A smiling Mike Tverdov said afterward it was not an endorsement.

Youve got to understand what I grew up watching, he said. Its pretty instinctual and no indication of how I feel on a certain topic.

Still, if the Rutgers chop were to be resurrected on a regular basis with Schiano being hired again, he would have to adjust to a slightly different landscape than the one with which he became so familiar. Because he was so successful, he had a lot of influence in decisions made by the athletic department back then, according to sources. That influence included input on how money was allocated within the department.

But things have changed at Rutgers, and the proof is in the $115 million RWJBarnabas Health Athletic Performance Center, which opened in September. It houses training and practice facilities for mens and womens basketball, gymnastics and a burgeoning wrestling program. It already is an obvious selling point to recruits in mens basketball, a sport in which Rutgers hasnt made the NCAA tournament since 1991, yet is on the upswing under fourth-year coach Steve Pikiell.

Make no mistake, Schiano and the football program still would drive the proverbial bus at Rutgers, especially if he could bring the Scarlet Knights back to respectability. But football cannot be treated as the only game in town at Rutgers anymore, and Schiano would have to get used to that.

Because Ash was fired on Sept. 29, Rutgers has been able to get a head start on its coaching search. Whether the eventual choice is Schiano, Mississippi States Joe Moorhead, another rumored candidate, or somebody else, he will have to fix Rutgers biggest problem in the Big Ten-an utter inability to compete at the line of scrimmage.

Rutgers defied the odds(makers) versus Liberty by averaging 4.9 yards rushing and recording three sacks as the Scarlet Knights found an opponent to whom they were physically superior for the first time since opening night against Massachusetts.

Our O-line played a tremendous game, Langan said. I cant give enough credit to those guys. They were the reason why we won.

It might be awhile before a Rutgers QB can say that after a Big Ten game. But Schiano (or whomever) must make that a priority for smiling faces to again become commonplace around this program.

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Rutgers Million-Dollar Guarantee To Liberty Proved To Be A Wise Investment - Forbes