Daily Archives: June 1, 2020

Gov. Tim Walz And Comm. Paul Schnell Update On Sunday Evening UnrestThe Associated Press has confirmed that 4,100 have been arrested in the Twin Cities so far in the overall unrest in the wake of George Floyd's death. WCCO 4 News - May 31, 2020

Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey Addresses I-35W Protest, Semi-Truck IncidentAmelia Santaniello and Frank Vascellaro talk with Frey about the events of the day and week (). WCCO 4 News - May 31, 2020

Further Details But Questions Remain On Arrested I-35W Truck DriverThe man's identity has been release, along with a mug shot, but it's still yet unclear whether this was an intentional or accidental event (6:05). WCCO 4 News - May 31, 2020

Streets Are, By And Large, Quiet For A 2nd Night In A RowKate Raddatz takes stock of the status quo Sunday night in St. Paul (3:42). WCCO 4 News - May 31, 2020

10 P.M. Weather ReportTemperatures are looking significantly warmer in the early part of the week, Lisa Meadows reports. WCCO 4 News At 10 - May 31, 2020

Minneapolis Protesters Bond With Arresting OfficersMike Max, reporting from the site in downtown Minneapolis where 150 peaceful George Floyd protesters were arrested Sunday night, talks about the humanity he witnessed over several hours between demonstrators and law enforcement (8:19).WCCO 4 News - June 1, 2020

Protesters Converge After Curfew At Cup Foods VigilCup Foods is located at 38th Street and Chicago Avenue and is the site of George Floyd's death, David Schuman reports (6:52). WCCO 4 News - May 31, 2020

Mug Shot Of Semi-Truck Driver Who Drove Into Crowd On I-35W ReleasedWCCO confirmed with the Hennepin County Sheriff's Office that the suspect was Bogdan Vechirko, of Otsego. He is currently being held custody on probable cause assault, Jennifer Mayerle reports (10:42). WCCO 4 News - May 31, 2020

St. Paul Residents Grab Brushes To Clean, Keep Eyes Out For Their NeighborsBill Hudson reports from St. Paul, where neighbors are coming together to help clean up local businesses (1:30). WCCO 4 News - May 31, 2020

Religious Community Comes Together For Much-Needed Worship After Week Of ViolenceReg Chapman reports as faithful communities come together to honor the life of George Floyd and pray for peace (1:50). WCCO 4 News - May 31, 2020

Communities Receive Overwhelming Amounts Of Food And Supply DonationsMarielle Mohs reports, Sanford Middle School has been organizing grocery and supply donations to assist those whose grocery stores were damaged during the riots (2:51). WCCO 4 News - May 31, 2020

'We're Better Than Killing A Man': Protester Describes Saving Truck Driver's LifeAfter a semi-truck driver plowed into a crowd of peaceful protesters, his life was spared by and he was handed over to the police (2:45). WCCO 4 News - May 30, 2020

1 Group Of Protesters Being Arrested 1-By-1, The Other Marches South On PortlandDavid Schuman and Mike Max presented a tale of two very different situations (9:04). WCCO 4 News - May 31, 2020

Mike Max Describes How Protesters Are Getting Cornered By PoliceMike Max was at Bobby and Steve's, where a group of peaceful protesters attempted to disperse (12:59). WCCO 4 News - May 31, 2020

New Video Shows How Truck Progressed Through Crowd On I-35WIt appears the truck stopped at least twice before attempting to continue driving through the crowd, Jeff Wagner and Jennifer Mayerle reports (5:50). WCCO 4 News - May 30, 2020

AG Keith Ellison To Lead Prosecution Of George Floyd's Death"It with a large degree of humility and a great seriousness, I accept for my office the responsibility for leadership on this critical case involving the killing of George Floyd. We are going to bring to bear all the resources necessary to achieve justice in this case," he tweeted (6:07). WCCO 4 News - May 30, 2020

Gov. Tim Walz Expresses Deep Sadness Over Semi-Truck Incident On I-35WAs an estimated 5,000 to 6,000 people were on the bridge peacefully protesting when a truck driver plowed through them, though no injuries have been reported (2:10). WCCO 4 News - May 30, 2020

Eyewitness Describes Pandemonium On I-35W Bridge As Truck Drives Thru CrowdMike Max got the full story (6:35). WCCO 4 News - May 30, 2020

Social Media Provides Views Of Horror, Chaos As Truck Drives Into CrowdSusan-Elizabeth Littlefield shares video that's been posted on social media after a truck driver drove into a crowd of peaceful protesters on I-35W Sunday afternoon (2:23). WCCO 4 News - May 30, 2020

RAW VIDEO: Truck Drives Through Protesters On I-35W In MinneapolisA viewer sent us this video of the moment a tanker truck drove through peaceful protesters on the I-35W Bridge in Minneapolis marching in honor of George Floyd on Sunday ().WCCO 4 News - May 31, 2020

Protesters Describe What Happened When A Semi-Truck Drove Into Crowd On I-35 BridgeNorman Seawright III was among the protesters on the other end of the bridge when the truck came through (4:54). WCCO 4 News - May 30, 2020

BREAKING: Semi-Truck Appears To Drive Through Protest Marchers On I-35W BridgeWCCO's chopper appears to have gotten images of a semi-truck attempting to drive through crowds on the Interstate 35W Bridge across the Mississippi River (). WCCO 4 News - May 30, 2020

Protesters March Onto I-35W Bridge Over Mississippi River, Spanning Its WidthThere were marchers as far as the eye could see in Minneapolis (5:38). WCCO 4 News - May 30, 2020

Minnesota National Guard: FBI Warns Of Credible Threat Against Soldiers And AirmenMaj. Gen. Jon Jensen, adjutant general of the Guard, said that he has advised Gov. Tim Walz to allow soldiers and airmen to be armed, Jennifer Mayerle reports (1:40). WCCO 4 News - May 31, 2020

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Progress Made After Another Night Of Unrest In Minneapolis - WCCO | CBS Minnesota

The Social Butterfly recalls a trip to the Clarke County Fair last year, before the pandemic hit

Moments before I bellied-up to my laptop to write this weeks column, something coincidental happened.

A friends post popped up on my Facebook feed with a similar subject matter to what I was just about to start writing about. On May 21, Brenda White shared a heartfelt lengthy explanation of why the Chesterfield County Fair is canceled this year.

I could sit here all day and never get this message 100% right enough to satisfy everyone; but, I'll try my best. As the General Manager for the Chesterfield County Fair, I take pride in all that's done in making this one of the premiere fairs in this area, wrote Brenda. That being said - the sadness that comes with having to make the decision to cancel for 2020 is overwhelming.

The 107th annual Chesterfield County Fair was to take place August 28 through September 5, 2020. Per Brenda, the fair has only been canceled two times previously...once in 1918 due to the Spanish flu pandemic and in an unknown year during World War I.

We had to think about the health and safety of everyone - my family and YOUR family. Think about trying to social distance at a fair......standing in the ticket line, each person 6' apart. Standing in line to get food, ride rides, etc. And, only allowing x number of people inside the grounds at one time, wrote Brenda. Trying to keep things disinfected - rides, golf carts, bathrooms, food areas, grandstand seating, etc. - would only mean we'd have to hire a tremendous amount of people. That would mean prices would rise and with so many people out of work - that's just not fair to them.

Brenda also pointed out to the community that the opening phases of Virginia had not been set in stone yet, so she and the fair committee could not depend on having large groups able to congregate.

Brenda and I met when she invited me over for a question and answer get-together to go over the 200-page ChesterFest Guidebook I wrote after chairing the event for the first three years. She and her co-chair were grateful for the tool that I took upon myself to create for future coordinators. As of now, the 19th annual ChesterFest will be hosted this September by the Chester Community Association on Saturday the 26th in the Village Green near the library.

I know what its like to chair a huge event, and I also know how hard it is to make the difficult decision to cancel one. It feels absolutely terrible! Sometimes...as much as we want the show to go on...it just cant!

I had no earthly idea that my butterfly topic previously submitted to my editor would be this timely.

In light of whats happened, I dedicate this Social Butterfly to Brenda, the board and members of the Chesterfield County Fair Association, volunteers, vendors, and everyone who helps pull it all together to create memories for the community to cherish year-after-year.

On August 14 last year, I attended the 65th annual Clarke County Fair [CCF] in Berryville, VA.

Located 150 miles away from my place, it takes around two-and-a-half hours to get to the fairgrounds. I remember the drive being more scenic the closer we arrived to our destination.

As far as fairs go, the CCF was a bit on the tiny side compared to our grand Chesterfield County Fair. In all fairness, I visited on a Wednesday; however, even on a weekday, it provided me with plenty of activities to keep me entertained.

At this time, the CCF website has the 66th annual fair scheduled for August 9 through August 15, 2020. Due to the COVID-19 State of Emergency, two truck & tractor pulls they host on the fairgrounds have already been canceled this year.

The Clarke County fair has been around for 65 years and doesnt plan on slowing down any time soon, boasts fair management. Filled with community, family legacies, animal shows, and some great barbecue chicken, you wont want to miss being a part of the great things our fair has to offer.

For their communitys sake, I surely hope this beastly pandemic has crawled up in a corner and croaked, but if youre interested in checking it out this August, watch for updates on their website.

I cant take you to the fair to explore everything with your five senses, but I can provide you with two of them: sight and hearing.

Visit http://www.progress-index.com to view more photos and watch the video montage of various animals I captured doing their thing including a baby chick that had just been hatched. And, if you tap into your imagination, you just may be able to touch, feel, and taste for yourself.

On second thought, tasting feathers and fur may not be your cup of tea. Enjoy experiencing the fair through my eyes!

Kristi K. Higgins, aka The Social Butterfly, can be reached at khiggins@progress-index.com or on Twitter at @KHigginsPI.

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Throwback to the County Fair - Progress Index

BRISTOL, Tenn. Ricky Stenhouse Jr. could not have had a bumpier return to racing after NASCARs 10-week shutdown.

How bad was it? Stenhouse crashed on the first lap of the first race back and finished last.

He followed it with a 25th-place finish at the second Cup race at Darlington Raceway, then was 24th in the Coca-Cola 600. In three races, Stenhouse plummeted seven spots in the standings to 24th.

Stenhouse finally snapped out of it Thursday night in the second race at Charlotte Motor Speedway with a fourth-place finish for his new JTG-Daugherty Racing team.

It was just really good to just have a smooth race with really no issues, Stenhouse said. It was just huge to get a good run in and pass a lot of really good cars.

Next up is Sundays stop at Bristol Motor Speedway the fifth Cup race since NASCAR resumed May 17 and a decent track for Stenhouse. His six top-10 finishes at Bristol are more than at any track other than Talladega Superspeedway.

This is Stenhouses first season at JTG, but he surrounded himself with familiar faces from his Roush Fenway Racing tenure that include longtime crew chief Brian Pattie. The duo is making the transition from racing in a Ford to a Chevrolet, and preparing for events that dont include practice or qualifying.

As NASCAR tries to make up eight postponed points races, the schedule has been condensed into one-day shows, and teams dont have two or more practice sessions to dial-in a setup. Stenhouse and Chris Buescher essentially swapped rides at the end of 2019, and Bueschers old notes from Bristol are the disposal of Stenhouse and his team.

Our setups, looking at what we normally run versus what they ran here, are pretty similar, so I feel good about that, Stenhouse said, adding that hes quickly getting comfortable in the Camaro, and with NAS-CARs current aerodynamic package.

The feel that I have in this race car is better than any of the feel that I had in my Cup cars over my career so far, he said. Im looking forward to getting to Bristol knowing that weve had good runs there. Weve had chances to win there. It would be nice to be able to get up and go lead some laps, and contend for a win there as well.

DIBENEDETTOS RETURN

Matt DiBendetto was told he was out at Leavine Family Racing days before last Augusts race at Bristol. He worked through his disappointment to lead 93 laps and finish a career-best second.

It was a life-changing week for DiBenedetto, who impressed the NASCAR community with his resolve. Paul Menard took it one step further by telling his Wood Brothers Racing team he was retiring at the end of the year and they should hire DiBenedetto.

DiBenedetto got the ride that puts him under the Team Penske umbrella and has been decent this year. He finished second at Las Vegas in the second race of the season and led 10 laps Thursday night at Charlotte.

Hes ranked 11th in the standings.

Im excited about how good of a team we have and resources and teammates and you name it, he said. Weve shown if we hit it or were close, we can be up front at any of these races. Were not in our rhythm yet, but we will be. I have no doubt about that.

KESELOWSKI AGAIN ON THE POLE

The field was set by a random draw and Brad Keselowski again got the lucky pull for the pole. He will start first for the second time in five races.

It was a strong lottery for Team Penske, which got all three of its drivers in the first two rows. Joey Logano will start second and Ryan Blaney third.

Blaney cruises into Bristol after back-to-back third-place finishes at Charlotte.

These past two races, Ive been really proud of everyones effort, Blaney said. I think we were close, weve just got to find a little bit of speed here and there to go out and really dominate races.

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Stenhouse making progress with new team - Press Herald

Images place us in time, gluing unremarkable and historically urgent moments in a fixed setting or context, but mostly they thrill our senses in other varied ways. They challenge us with questions and ferry nostalgia. Images set our faces electric at the sight of something truly wonderful. The primary function of a photograph is not measurement, but there are those that suggest it all the same. Those images, thornier in intent and unwedded to a single place, become a kind of cloverleafof circumstances, of timelines and beliefs, of people.

Photographer Stephen Maturens snapshot of a young black protesteron his knees and shirtless, hands raised like a goal postis an image of staggering breadth. It was taken outside the 3rd Police Precinct in Minneapolis, Minnesota, where thousands gathered this week in response to the killing of 46-year-old George Floyd, who died in police custody Monday. The details of Floyds death are not so much an uncanny occurrence as they are an American one. Absent all exaggeration, he died, quite literally, with a knee drilled into his neck, pinned to the pavement for some seven minutes as he fought for air. Please, please, please, he told officer Derek Chauvin, I cant breathe. The state chose not to listen.

None of this is unexpectedthe illogical death of Floyd, Chauvins malevolent disregard for black life. An investigation by the Marshall Project made clear that recent police reform efforts in Minnesota have failed spectacularly, detailing that even as officials have made some changes, law enforcement agencies have lacked either the authority or the will to discipline and remove bad officers from patrol. Chauvin was one such officer.

The initial police report, which has since been disputed, said Floyd appeared to be suffering medical distress, but a video uploaded to Facebook revealed the actual terror at hand, the means with which black people are stalked, apprehended, and made lifeless. Im about to die, Floyd yells in the video, his face slapped against the ground. Only when the ambulance arrives does Chauvin release pressure, but it is too late; Floyds body is inanimate by that point. (Chauvin, along with the three other officers involved in the incident, have since been fired by the department. On Friday, Chauvin was charged with third-degree murder and manslaughter.)

For so long, the assurance of black death has been a loud and unbroken current in US democracy. I am writing this the week that Tony McDade, a black trans man, was fatally shot by police in Tallahassee. I am writing this weeks after Breonna Taylor, a black EMT, was shot at least eight times by Louisville law enforcement in her apartment. I am writing this months after Ahmaud Arbery was hunted and killed by the McMichaels, a white father and son, in Georgia. (The pair now face murder and aggrevated assault charges.) Six years ago during the peak of July, Eric Garner shouted the same haunting arrangement of words that George Floyd chose, which again rattle the mind, our now unholy inauguration to summer.

What draws the viewer's eye into Maturens photograph are all of these tragedies. In the days following its original capture, protests intensifiedby Thursday evening, the same police station the young man kneeled before was burned to the ground, and the president promised retaliation over Twitter, threatening: When the looting starts, the shooting starts. What the image suggests is a difficult intersection of truth.

I see a friend, possibly a brother, not looking for self-validation but fighting for the very thing he was never promised: justice. In this way, the context of the photo is not solely of this moment; it moves alongside time. The slipperiness of the images background helps lend it a transportive quality. Even as we see him kneeling, the young man is not fixed in placethere's a shakiness to his positioning. His surroundings are a shadow of what has already come. He could be anywhere: a Sunday in 1965 in Selma, Los Angeles in 1992, the streets of Baltimore during the spring of 2015. For me, the main function of Maturens photograph is not measurement but naked documentation. In this photo I witness outrage, grace, and courage. It is the look of someone tired of having a knee on his neck. And yet, what the photograph does measure is its most telling, horrifying attribute. It exploits progress as fallacy. It scrubs the illusion of racial betterment clean. The image is an education in distance: We have not come very far. We have so far to go.

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George Floyd and the Illusion of Progress - WIRED

We all know Jon Jones and his love for animals. He has recently taken up a home project and has posted a video of his progress.

Jon Jones Twitter is filled with pictures and videos of his dog. Hes been training him as a guard dog to add some extra protection! And he posted a video that shows the dog working on a few protective tricks. Tricks that are well and truly worthy of treats!

Jones sets up training sessions for his canine with the help of a bite sleeve, whip, and a rather brave lieutenant. Jones most recent video displays his dog charging at his partner ferociously. What transpires in the video is enough to leave the bravest of people, weak in the knees, let alone cynophobes.

This session saw Jones walking his dog, and his partner standing in the driveway with a sleeve on. The dog, in the split of a second, pounces at him, going directly for the arm. Thank god for the protective sleeve! That bit could quite literally tear a mans arm off.

Jones captioned the video 0 to 100 real quick.

Jon Jones history with the law has not always been as bad as it is now. There was a time, before his reign as UFCs light heavyweight champion when he studied criminal justice. NOC TV and the Broome County Sheriffs Department decided to test Jones knowledge back in 2012. Jones spent a day going through police academy training. On this show, he was seen getting mauled by a K-9 Unit dog. So he knows better than anyone else out there what that actually feels like.

And now Jones owns a guard dog of his own that can pull off similar tricks. His home project seems to be going quite well. What do you think of Jon Jones attempt to keep himself busy during this lockdown?

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Jon Jones And His Pet Dog Share Progress On His Home Project - Essentially Sports

The COVID-19 pandemic is forcing us to confront the huge social importance of essential workers, especially compared to their small market value

Author: Charlotte Gifford

1 Jun 2020

Frank Gehry, one of the most prolific architects in the world, claims that his nightmare scenario when building a house would be to have no constraints whatsoever. Its better to have some problem to work with, he explains. I think we turn those constraints into actions. It was the strict standards set for the acoustics at the Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles, for example, that inspired the extravagant interior that makes it one of Gehrys most well-known works.

We often assume that we are at our most creative when we have an abundance of time and resources at our fingertips, but research suggests that constraints help us unlock our brightest ideas. A 2018 review of 145 academic studies found that resource scarcity produces the most novel solutions to problems, whereas resource abundance encourages people to choose the path of least resistance and propose the easiest available solution rather than testing until they find the best one.

Resource scarcity produces the most novel solutions to problems, whereas resource abundance encourages people to choose the path of least resistance

National and international crises push this theory to the extreme. The COVID-19 pandemic has created an urgent need for more ventilators, hand sanitiser and protective equipment. At the same time, disruption to global supply chains has placed a serious strain on resources, while the confinement of millions of workers to their homes has limited the workforces capacity to produce this vital equipment. Its a challenge that will test the limits of human ingenuity. But from these immense trials, organisations are likely to emerge with novel ways of working and new ideas for the future.

Wartime spiritThe Austrian political economist Joseph Schumpeter argued that crises are hotbeds for innovation. This might seem counterintuitive; for example, the financial crisis of 2008 led to reduced investment in research and development. However, times of crisis have also been known to spur huge technological and organisational change.

During the Second World War, businesses were mobilised for the war effort on a scale that had never been seen before. [The Second World War] is the best example for what we call total war, that is the total mobilisation of economy and society, said Tams Vony, an associate professor of economic history at Bocconi University.

It was mass industrial warfare, a war of attrition on steroids, where military outcomes were determined more in factories than on battlefields All major powers spent between 30 percent and 70 percent of their GDP on the war. Civilian production in several industries was completely shut down. No manufacturer was building passenger cars or electrical household appliances. They were converted to supply tanks, aircraft engines and radars. For manufacturing firms, military procurement was the only survival strategy.

Out of this mobilisation emerged technological innovations that were absorbed into commercial sectors once the war had ended. Satellites and commercial aeroplanes owe much to the technological advancements made during the Second World War. In France during the First World War, car manufacturer Renault produced a light tank for the military, which gave it the tools to develop its first tractor. Stainless steel was created while the British Army was looking for corrosion-resistant alloys for guns.

Social distancing measures and disruption to global supply chains have put millions of employees in the manufacturing sector out of work

Transitions during crises almost always spur innovation, whether it is established makers of goods or suppliers of services changing and adapting, or through creative new start-ups, said Andrew Simms, Coordinator of the Rapid Transition Alliance. When transitions are about the public interest, that also means removing the pressures that can lead to competition defeating cooperation.

Today, manufacturers find themselves in a similar position. In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, we see brewers producing hand sanitiser, makers of fashion-wear producing protective clothing and Formula 1 engineers making breathing aids, said Simms. In all cases, existing skills have been applied to making the products needed.

For example, the demand for ventilators is so critical that governments have enlisted industrial companies to produce them. The French carmaker Groupe PSA is working in collaboration with Valeo and Schneider Electric to assist Air Liquide Medical Systems in ventilator production. Spanish automaker SEAT is producing simplified ventilators using windscreen wiper motors, gearbox shafts and gearbox housings. In Germany, Volkswagen has floated the idea of using its 125 industrial 3D printers to make critical medical parts.

Just as in wartime, the coronavirus crisis has fuelled companies resourcefulness. An Italian 3D printing start-up, Isinnova, has converted a snorkelling mask into a non-invasive ventilator for coronavirus patients. Other innovative devices that have made their way to market include a door-opening device named the Hygienehook, created by London-based designer Steve Brooks to help hospital workers avoid direct contact with door handles. A national effort can accelerate technological development, but we are yet to see whether any of these new inventions could have commercial applications once the crisis has ended.

Stretched thin Many world leaders and economists have drawn comparisons between wartime and the coronavirus pandemic: Mario Draghi, former president of the European Central Bank, urged governments to accept that a change of mindset is as necessary in this crisis as it would be in times of war. In March, Italys special commissioner for the coronavirus, Domenico Arcuri, told the country to equip itself for a war economy.

However, the coronavirus pandemic differs from wartime in at least one crucial respect. The experience of hibernating economies for months is uncharted territory for government and business alike, said Vony.

The world wars did nothing of this sort. Quite the contrary: the aim of total war was to exploit all production capacities and mobilise all workers beyond what was considered feasible in peacetime. Short-term survival was everything. Future prospects were unpredictable and therefore secondary. Today, we do the opposite: we shut down all production that is not absolutely essential, using as little capacity and as few workers as possible, so that we can all stay at home. Total war maximised mobilisation; now we minimise mobilisation.

This is what makes the economic challenge of coronavirus so unique and difficult to overcome. Social distancing measures and disruption to global supply chains have put millions of employees in the manufacturing sector out of work. Moreover, some of the devices these manufacturers are being asked to make namely ventilators are complex pieces of equipment that need to meet strict specifications. Medical device companies usually take a long time to get going, Peter Ogrodnik, a professor of medical devices design at Keele University, wrote in The Engineer.

Despite the colossal challenges that lie ahead for companies, innovation in the private sphere is likely to bloom

They need to build their manufacturing knowledge and supply chains to ensure their products are safe and packaged in a sterile way. They need to understand things like biocompatibility (how materials interact with the body) and materials made from animal by-products (in order to minimise the risk of transmissible diseases such as Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease). These companies also need to develop the necessary skills in specific risk management and quality procedures.

This brings us back to the influence that constraints have on creativity. As mentioned previously, there is evidence that limitations are more conducive to creativity than resource abundance. However, a recent study published in the Journal of Management found that there is an inverted U-shape relationship between constraints and innovation. Too few constraints, and we become complacent. Too many, however, and we become overwhelmed. A perfect balance needs to be struck, it seems, and the constraints imposed by the coronavirus are multifold.

In some respects, the innovation that emerges out of crises is the result of nations and businesses learning where they have blind spots the hard way. The deficiencies exposed in nations diagnostics sectors and medical equipment supply chains may push us to rectify these problems once the coronavirus is finally suppressed. Nations are almost certain to invest more in pandemic preparedness, for instance.

Already, we can see that the pandemic has been a catalyst for long-overdue transformation. Greece, which currently sits 25th among the 27 European Union member countries in terms of digital transformation, is rapidly digitalising in the wake of the pandemic. It has launched a web conference system for state officials and brought important documents like residence certificates, family status statements and recognition of university degrees online. Greeces last-minute digital transformation is a large-scale example of what many companies around the world are currently undergoing.

Organisational changeAs cities around the world entered lockdown at the start of the year, businesses were forced to rapidly evolve and bring both their services and company infrastructure online. Entire sectors are rethinking their operations, while customer-facing businesses are forced to adapt quickly.

EURACTIV reported that German and Polish farmers are turning to social media and setting up online stores to sell their produce. Meanwhile, Europes virtual medicine sector, which has long been held back by strict privacy laws, is relaxing its regulations amid a spike in demand for online appointments. This has created a gap in the market for digital healthcare providers. The Swedish telemedicine company Docly reported a 100 percent increase in demand from one week to the next in the midst of the pandemic.

These changes could have a long-lasting impact on the way companies and industries work. Crises change firms, said Klaus Meyer, a professor of international business at Ivey Business School. They change their processes and people acquire new skills, which in turn enables them to deliver new services including last-mile logistics. To give an example in my own area, professors get better at online teaching and therefore online learning will play a bigger role in higher education in the future though I expect mainly in the form of online-offline integration.

Times of crisis have spurred huge organisational change throughout history

Its not just businesses that must adapt to the new normal. The crisis also changes consumers and hence the products and services they value, Meyer told European CEO. For example, consumers may less appreciate cruise-ship holidays or mega entertainment events because of new risk awareness. On the other hand, consumers are learning during the crisis to appreciate services delivered online such as entertainment or education and the conveniences of online shopping delivered to their doorstep. Some of this will persist in the long run.

Times of crisis have spurred huge organisational change throughout history. During the Second World War, Unilevers multinational corporate structure was broken up, meaning its businesses had to work more independently and hone in on the needs of local markets. In the following decades, Unilever continued to operate as a federation of businesses with high levels of autonomy.

Crises can also lead to deep economic change; Vony points out that the war economy had a profound, long-lasting impact on European industry. The two main areas where European firms and governments faced a steep learning curve, he told European CEO, were mass production and planning. American mass-production methods and management practices were widely known and admired by leading European firms. Fordism and Taylorism were not alien, but their practice expanded rapidly in the context of war mobilisation, where suddenly everyone became quite a bit more American: material, capital and scale intensive production methods were adopted to enhance output per worker.

At the same time, Vony argues, the war encouraged western governments to intervene more in their own economies: With the exception of the Soviet Union, every warring economy remained fundamentally market-based but each developed an increasingly important command-economy element.

There was euphoria all over Europe about economic planning after 1945, not just because of the success of the USSR in defeating Nazi Germany but more so because of each governments own experience with steering economic activity. US economic historian Barry Eichengreen labelled the prevailing western economic model in the postwar era coordinated capitalism, which did not restrict the freedom of property and enterprise but intervened in finance, investment, wage settlements and international economic relations.

The coronavirus pandemic could sow the seeds for a new economic model

The coronavirus pandemic could sow the seeds for a new economic model. In April, US billionaire Leon Cooperman said of the crisis: Capitalism as we know it will likely be changed forever. It is impossible to know the extent to which Cooperman is correct, but its true that the pandemic has rekindled debates around deglobalisation, bailing out large businesses and the benefits of universal basic income.

The new normalMeyer believes that some firms could change for the better as a result of lockdown. Some of the new best practices that firms develop during the crisis will eventually be more efficient than established practices, he told European CEO.

For example, I would expect many business trips to be replaced by video conferences. Some businesses will discover that staff working from home [and] integrating family and work life will be advantageous for them though not for all. I would also love to think that society becomes more accepting that people have families and next time a child joins their dad in a BBC interview, nobody will raise an eyebrow. But perhaps that is too optimistic.

Despite the colossal challenges that lie ahead for companies, innovation in the private sphere is likely to bloom. Ultimately, this will be the key to defeating the virus. For the first time, Apple and Google have partnered up to develop software that alerts users if they come in contact with someone infected with the virus, while biopharmaceutical leader Takeda is harnessing its industry expertise to develop a plasma-based treatment that could treat coronavirus patients.

Coronavirus will have a profound impact on the way we live and work. Businesses may rethink their value chains, having realised how dependent they are on China. In April 2019, the Business Roundtable redefined the purpose of corporations, stressing the importance of serving all stakeholders, including employees and communities. In the time of coronavirus, this is exactly the model that businesses must adopt to stay afloat. Coronavirus is also forcing us to confront the huge social importance of essential workers, especially compared to their small market value.

Vony pointed out that the Second World War inflicted a deeper wound on economies and led to a far greater loss of life than the coronavirus crisis is likely to. Remember, the war lasted five years and incinerated 60 million souls. In the current pandemic, the worst may be over in a few months, with economies back on track within a few years, he said. The economic consequences will not last nearly as long as after 1945. But, as with war, coronavirus impact on business and society will be felt long after the crisis has ended.

Read more:

Critical thinking: how the COVID-19 pandemic is driving progress - EuropeanCEO

Brendan and Carleigh Wenzel should remain at the top of O'Connor's record books for quite some time.

SAN ANTONIO When Carleigh Wenzel steps onto the court against her older brother Brendan, she does it with confidence.

When we play one-on-one, even though I know Im not going to win, Im still going to act like I am going to win until I do," Carleigh says with a laugh.

It is an attitude hammered home and taken into games.

Its always intense and competitive because we both like to win and we both like to beat each other," Brendan, a redshirt freshman at Utah, said.

The Wenzel name is a big one at OConnor High School.

Brendan is the all-time leading scorer in program history and Carleigh is not far behind. She already eclipsed 1,000 career points after her sophomore season -- an accomplishment no one has ever done in a Panthers uniform.

Seeing what (my brother) did, I knew those were big shoes I was going to need to fill," Carleigh said.

Brendan said, I knew she was going to do it. Shes been really good from a young age, so I knew she was going to go in there and take over.

On the recruiting trail, Brendan was a late-bloomer. He originally committed to UTEP, but after some Power-5 offers started rolling in, he decided to head to the PAC-12.

I think Im getting bigger, stronger faster, quicker too," Brendan said. "I just adjusted to the pace of the game in college.

As for his sister, she is not sliding by anyone becoming one of the best prospects nationally in the class of 2022. She might not know where she is going, but she knows what she wants in a school.

Just really where Im going to fit," Carleigh said. "I dont want to go to a school where we dont connect (like a) family.

Its something she has had her entire life, especially with her brother.

I think hes really helped me, being there when I need him and pushing me when I need to be pushed," Carleigh said.

Brendan added, Obviously, shes getting a lot more attention than I did, but here and there I can still help her and give her some pointers. Things like that.

There is never any doubt the Wenzel siblings will forever be on the same team.

I dont like playing with her because I like to beat her up and stuff like that," Brendan joked.

Maybejust in a metaphorical sense.

Read the rest here:

Wenzel siblings continue to show strength and progress on the basketball court - KENS5.com

WFAE's Nick de la Canal talks with QCitymetro's Glenn Burkins about Charlotte protests.

The image of a police line pushing the crowd back as orange tear gas swirls overhead is not new to Charlotte. It beckons back to 2016 when protests erupted following the police shooting of Keith Lamont Scott. Those protests lasted four days and saw numerous clashes between protesters and law enforcement.

In the months after, city leaders vowed to take bold steps toward repairing the trust between law enforcement and communities of color. Glenn Burkins covered those protests in 2016 and the city's response for his news website, QCitymetro, which serves Charlotte's black community. He's the founder and publisher, and he's with us now.

Nick de la Canal:Glenn, good morning.

Glenn Burkins:Good morning.

De la Canal: Well, let's start with the protests Friday night. You say that some of the protesters may not have been from Charlotte.

Burkins: I was not there on scene personally, but that is the worry that I'm getting from our readers. I woke up this morning to a number of emails. Plus I was on the phone last night with Rev. Ricky Woods of First Baptist Church - West. His church is just around the corner from that police precinct. He was there. And there are strong questions about who actually led the violence Friday night. Everyone I talked to said they recognized a lot of local faces in the crowd, but those were not the faces of the people throwing things. There were people there who were armed with assault-style rifles. No one knew who they were. And there are rumors that this will continue at other police precincts in the days ahead.

De la Canal: And that's something worth looking into. I want to move back to 2016 and the protests that Charlotte saw then following the police shooting of Keith Lamont Scott. After those protests happened, which rocked the city, city leaders said that there needed to be things done to repair the trust between those communities of color and police. What did the city say actually needed to happen?

Burkins: Well, a lot of those things were actually economic in nature. I think the city started to recognize or address some of the problems that were happening along certain corridors. Economic problems, educational problems. There were then, and there are still now, certain parts of this city that do not get the same attention that other parts get. Schools don't get the same funding -- or maybe not funding, but schools are low-performing in certain districts. So they started to push more economic resources into some of those corridors.

And the Charlotte Mecklenburg Police Department, itself, began to meet more regularly with young people from those communities, with faith leaders from those communities. So a number of things were done.

De la Canal: Do you think that any of those measures have worked? And have they addressed the real underlying issues?

Burkins: Well, that's a very difficult question to answer, because we don't know where we would be had nothing been done. I think some of those efforts have helped to some degree. But the biggest problem is much more systemic than addressing isolated corridors in any particular city. As some of the people said in your broadcast, this really goes back to a very pernicious problem that our country faces: We have not dealt with the issue of race. We have not dealt with the issues of inequality on a nationwide scale. We still live in a nation of basically whites -- and others. And until we address the disparate treatment of those groups, we're going to always see these problems popping up.

De la Canal: Do you think that at this point, after all of the police killings that this country has experienced and seen, that there can ever really be any trust between some members of communities of color and law enforcement?

Burkins: I think there can be. I believe part of the problem there is that -- and I've said this before -- one of the hardest things to do in our criminal justice system is to convict a law enforcement officer of a crime against a black person. That is one of the toughest things to do in our criminal justice system. In North Charleston, for example, we saw an officer video -- it was videotaped -- we saw an officer fire multiple times at a fleeing traffic offender, kill that traffic offender, and then go to court and was essentially acquitted. I believe it was a hung jury. Even with all that evidence, courts did not convict that officer.

Our courts act as a pressure valve, if you will. And when that pressure valve does not work, then people feel no recourse but to go to the streets, to resort to some type of violence or to resort to some type of protest. And I think that's what we're seeing here. There is this feeling that black and brown people, when they are victims of the system of police, of white vigilante types like we recently saw, that when they go to court, they're not getting due process. They're not getting the same justice that everyone else is getting.

And so I think when our courts and when our prosecutors begin to become more aggressive and begin to actually convict those who do wrong against black man, against black lives, I think that will be the beginning of addressing some of these issues.

De la Canal: What's something about these recent protests that gives you hope here in Charlotte and around the country?

Burkins: Well, I guess what gives me hope are the many, many people who are out there to protest peacefully. The people who show up with guns, the people who show up to hurl rocks, they will always get the headlines. But I went online Saturday to Nextdoor and I saw a resident of that particular community on the West Side who wrote a letter thanking that division, the Metro Division officers, for their restraint Friday night. And so things like that really give me hope that there are people out there who want to do the right thing. There are people out there who want to peacefully protest when these things happen. And there are people who recognize that everyone in blue is not a bad guy.

De la Canal: That's Glenn Burkins. He's the founder and publisher of QCitymetro. Thank you so much.

Burkins: You're welcome.

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More:

Who Was In The Charlotte Protests, And What Progress Has Been Made Since 2016? - WFAE

That certification that Kiev was making progress in countering corruption, improving transparency and boosting civilian oversight was required by law to permit the assistance package moving forward. The package is the second half of the $250 million in Ukraine Security Assistance that was appropriated by Congress in the 2020 National Defense Authorization Act.

A Pentagon spokesperson declined to comment Wednesday on the assistance, citing a department policy of not commenting on arms packages that are under congressional review.

The new assistance package includes mobile radar systems designed to detect and track incoming artillery and rocket fire, dozens of ambulances, secure communications equipment, including 100 "tactical tablets" and the two patrol boats, the latter of which is seen as particularly important given Ukraine's tensions with Russia in the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov.

In 2018, Russian forces seized three Ukrainian vessels and captured 24 Ukrainian sailors following a clash in the Kerch Strait which connects the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov and is the sole access route for ships travelling to Ukraine's eastern port cities.

The Sea of Azov has a maximum depth of only 14 meters and is therefore much too shallow for most warships to operate, making it the ideal environment for the Mark VI-type patrol boats to operate in.

Russia seized and annexed Crimea from Ukraine in 2014 and tensions between Kiev and Moscow in the region remain high. Ukraine's government accused Russia Wednesday of continuing to act aggressively in the region during a meeting of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe.

"The representative of Ukraine noted that Russia hinders navigation in the Azov-Black Sea region under contrived pretexts, which is a gross violation of international maritime law. Intensive militarization of the Sea of Azov continues," Ukraine's Foreign Ministry said in a statement Wednesday.

"Such a destructive policy of the Russian Federation has negative consequences not only for Ukraine and other countries of the Black Sea basin, but also for the wider region," the statement added.

The articles of impeachment said the Trump administration blocked the previous aid tranche to Ukraine in an effort to get Kiev to investigate an energy company linked to the Biden family. Trump's attempts to pressure Ukraine to investigate Hunter Biden and Joe Biden, his potential political rival, were at the center of the impeachment trial.

Trump administration officials at times cited corruption in Ukraine as justification for freezing the aid, though that justification was undermined by the Pentagon's certification at the time that Kiev was making progress in combating corruption.

The GAO said that the White House budget office violated the Impoundment Control Act, a 1974 law that limits the White House from withholding funds that Congress has appropriated.

Almost all of the past US ambassadors to Ukraine on Tuesday urged against Ukraine being used as a cudgel in domestic politics, particularly during an election year.

"We have worked over the years to build and strengthen the US-Ukrainian strategic partnership established in 1996," wrote retired Ambassadors Roman Popadiuk, Steven Pifer, Carlos Pascual, John Herbst, Bill Taylor, John Tefft and Marie Yovanovitch.

The statement did not specifically say the efforts to which they were referring.

Read the original here:

Pentagon moves to provide additional military aid to Ukraine, citing progress on reforms - CNN