Monthly Archives: December 2020

Euclid was jolted by the novel coronavirus pandemic like most cities across the country but still saw progress citywide in 2020.

At least nine new businesses opened, the first phase of the Waterfront Trail project was completed and phase two began, and the Euclid Police Department welcomed four new officers along with the creation of a captains position responsible for the recently formed Community Services Division.

Mayor Kirsten Holzheimer Gail said that the pandemic brought the greatest challenge to her city this year because it had an impact on every sector residents, businesses and city administration alike all felt the strain of both the social and economic impacts.

"The stress and uncertainty of a global pandemic, ever-changing guidance from health professionals, and budget uncertainty brought challenges, but also taught us some important lessons primarily the importance of family, health and resiliency," Gail said.

The mayor particularly commended the resiliency of Euclid city leaders and staff and their ability to adapt to the necessary building alterations and new virtually conducted meetings and other services.

"COVID caused us to have to limit in-person interactions, but made us think of new ways to bring people together, communicate in different ways and develop new partnerships," she said.

"We all learned to use Zoom and provided new virtual services and programs including Memorial Day and Veterans Day programs, town hall meetings, public hearings, virtual recreation programs and of course, council meetings," Gail added.

She said they were able to utilize the federal CARES Act funds the city received to provide assistance to small businesses and food programs and offer rental assistance to struggling families.

Euclid Pulp Juice & Smoothie Bar opened at 22404 Lake Shore Blvd.

Despite the COVID-19 related challenges, some of the new businesses Euclid welcomed included a Pulp Juice and Smoothie Bar on Lake Shore Boulevard, Intellitronix on East 222nd Street and That Breakfast Place on Euclid Avenue.

New housing has also been an ongoing project in 2020.

"Four new homes were completed this year and 19 more are in process," Gail said. "Most of these are land bank lots which are meant to encourage development."

Euclid received a grant from Cuyahoga County in 2020 to continue planting trees and focus on expanding the city's tree canopy.

The city's growth also extended to the plant life Gail said they were fortunate to receive a Tree Canopy Grant from Cuyahoga County, which conducted a survey that showed Euclid to be one of only a few cities to grow its tree canopy.

Moving forward into the new year, Gail explained that City Council had passed a temporary budget for 2021, but the final one is still in the process of formulation. She said a draft budget will be presented to Council in February for passage by the end of March.

"We are still cautious about the impact of COVID, but thanks to the assistance of CARES funds, we were able to make some adjustments that will carry over to 2021 and enable us to start 2021 with a stronger cash balance than we have had in many years," she said.

The mayor emphasized that the city administration's top two priorities in 2021 will be improving safety and infrastructure, which will include expanding their police force and utilizing a SAFER Grant (Staffing for Adequate Fire and Emergency Response) to hire six new firefighters as well.

"We know safety is the critical priority that impacts everything we do it is at the center of a strong and vibrant community and impacts our ability to attract and retain residents, businesses and provide a high quality of life," she said.

"We have seen investment and growth but as an aging city we have tremendous needs in maintaining our critical infrastructure like roads, buildings, sewers, parks and playgrounds," Gail added.

Some infrastructure improvements will include the full repaving of Euclid Avenue along with creating a paving program for side streets and completion of the water reclamation plant project.

Gail also said the eagerly anticipated Waterfront Trail project running along Lake Erie from Sims Park to East 250th Street will also reach completion in 2021.

The rest is here:

Euclid makes progress on projects in 2020; focus on safety, infrastructure in 2021, mayor says - News-Herald.com

Ekioh is not a company youve likely heard of but you have likely used their scalable vector graphic browser and not known it, as it powers many TVs and set top boxes. It was designed to be very lightweight and inexpensive to run, just needing a fairly simple GPU to power it but the company is now looking at expanding their market to PCs now that HTML support has been developed for it.

It has evolved from a simple SVG browser cheap enough to license and deploy on millions of cable boxes and similar devices to an HTML5 compatible browser capable of taking advantage of multithreading and GPU acceleration. It wont require such hardware to run, but if available it can now take advantage of it. The Register had a chance to try out the current development build and while it is not yet ready for prime time it does definitely work.

The installer is a mere 34MB and doesnt come with any of the various additional system detritus which other browsers now dump on your computer when you install them. It runs quickly and was fairly compatible with all the sites that they tested, with Netflix and online Microsoft Office apps being exceptions. It will handle JavaScript, 3D CSS and a large variety of other new browser technologies and you can check out the current preview here.

View original post here:

Work In Progress; Check Out The Flow Browser Engine - PC Perspective

By Kevin Durso, Sports Talk Philly editor

The end of the calendar year is always a good time to evaluate where things stand in a lot of areas. On a personal level, we think about health and finance and overall happiness and what we can do to improve these areas in the new year.

The same goes for sports franchises, as with any business, as you look back on the decisions made and the progression you have made or lack thereof. While we will get to the New Years Resolutions the Philadelphia Flyers can make in 2021, we start by looking back.

You may have heard me last week on 97.3 ESPN give my State of the Flyers a part of the Christmas Day special State of the Philly Sports Teams show if you didnt hear it, you can listen here. As 2020 draws to a close, here are some of the topics discussed in the State of the Flyers, a short playing year with a lot of progress made.

Alain Vigneault and a Familiar System

As the Flyers prepare to start a new season, they do face one advantage of entering their second season under Alain Vigenault. This allows many of the Flyers players to know what to expect from the beginning when it comes to training camp and be familiar with the system Vigneault likes to run.

In a shortened season, this year consisting of 56 games, you dont have time to make many adjustments early on. You need to be sharp and ready from the start and cant afford to still be trying to figure it out four weeks into the season. Points in the standings will be imperative.

There are two teams within the East Division that cant say the same thing. The Washington Capitals hired Peter Laviolette and the New Jersey Devils hired Lindy Ruff over the offseason. While both are top head coaches in the history of the NHL among wins, it doesnt mean success is going to translate immediately, especially for teams like the Devils who havent played a game since March. There may be time to adjust and that can hurt them in the long run.

The Flyers have the benefit of bringing back more than just Vigneault. They are essentially returning almost entirely the same roster. There should not be a significant adjustment period to being ready to return as other teams may experience.

A Look Back at the Playoff Run

Kevin Hayes talked about this the other day and said that the Flyers are back on the map and that the playoff run over the summer helps younger players get a taste of what playoff hockey is like, as strange as it was this summer in the bubble.

Hayes is right on both accounts. First, the Flyers were arguably the hottest team at the time the NHL paused in March. There was essentially no question that this team was on their way to not only making the playoffs comfortably, but also earning a Top 4 seed in the conference.

The Flyers ultimately returned from the pause and won their exhibition, then won their three Round Robin games, then won three of the first four games in the first round of the playoffs before finishing off the Montreal Canadiens in six games. That also helped get a lot of attention from around the league.

A lot of it has to do with young players contributing. Carter Hart got his first taste of playoff hockey and helped carry that team through the first round when scoring was at a premium. Joel Farabee also got his first taste of playoff hockey. Even guys like Ivan Provorov, Travis Konecny and Travis Sanheim, all on the roster for the teams playoff appearance in 2018, got more experience. It only helps for the future.

So the Flyers are able to take the experience and build off it. They take the desire to be part of the playoffs again and channel that into a successful regular season, then take the lessons learned in this playoff run and use that to try to make a deeper run this time around.

The Defense: Replacing Matt Niskanen

Lets start with what we know: losing Matt Niskanen hurts because this was the consummate professional and there was full expectation in the pre-COVID, pre-bubble world that Niskanen would be back this season. It was a surprise when he retired, though understandable due to the circumstances.

Heres something else we already know: Ivan Provorov is the leader of this defense. Provorov was certainly aided by having Niskanens presence on his right side, but continued to show growth and play more and more significant minutes.

Niskanens retirement is entirely the reason that Justin Braun was re-signed and Erik Gustafsson was signed as a free agent. Neither of them feels like a true replacement to what Niskanen brought last season.

I think that replacing Niskanen is going to be done by committee, where multiple guys need to take a bigger step and play to their strengths.

Phil Myers seems like a natural replacement for Niskanen in the sense that hes a right-handed shot and skates well. He needs to take a greater step in his development to truly fill that void.

Ultimately, many defensemen will get a shot this season. There will be opportunities for guys like Shayne Gostisbehere, whether he is in the lineup on Day 1 or not, simply because a shortened season requires flexibility. Myers and Sanheim will need to step up and keep growing. You may even look to a guy in the pipeline like Egor Zamula to be a surprise out of camp and earn some time at the NHL level as well.

The Flyers have the personnel in place to try many options to find Niskanens replacement, but until we see the product on the ice, theres no way to completely know just how much this loss hurts them.

Generating Offense

Theres no question the Flyers struggled to score goals in the playoffs, and that had fans clamoring for a big-name signing over the offseason to bring in a scorer. There are two potential internal additions where they may be able to add goals.

Oskar Lindblom made his return in Game 6 of the second round after being diagnosed with Ewings sarcoma last December. By all accounts, hes going to be cleared to play from the start and has restored a lot of his strength. At the time of his diagnosis, he was on pace for a 30-goal season, and while you cant expect that pace right away, you need to consider that potential an addition to the offense.

There was a lot of talk in the offseason about playoff Travis Konecny and his lack of scoring. He has scored 24 goals in the regular season in each of the last three seasons. He can score, everyone knows it, and his energy is a target for defenses. Teams found a way to shut him down in the playoffs. It happens to the best sometimes. It doesnt mean he has magically forgotten how to score. Hell be fine.

In addition, this is an opportunity for younger players to take another step. Perhaps Morgan Frost joins the lineup and adds some scoring. Maybe theres another gear in terms of production from Nicolas Aube-Kubel and Joel Farabee. Again, a lot of it comes down to opportunity for younger players to be in position to take the next step.

Nolan Patrick

Theres also the topic of Nolan Patrick. Patrick missed the entire 2019-20 season with migraine syndrome and his health has been a huge question for well over the past year.

Could he play? Will he be productive? Well have some of those answers at the start of camp. If he gets cleared to play from the start, thats at least the first step for him to return and contribute.

Hes had a lot of expectations in his career and has shown the potential to be that skilled player. Time will tell if he can not only return, but also be a key addition.

The Top Forward

So much of the focus goes to Claude Giroux and for good reason. He wears the C and serves as the on-ice leader for the team. But the time has long since passed to view Giroux as the top forward on this team.

To me, the Flyers have three players, one at each position, that is too valuable to lose. Weve already talked about Ivan Provorov on the defensive side. Well get to the other position in a moment. At forward, the answer is Sean Couturier.

His game continues to evolve and hes grown into a more complete forward. Hes the guy people look to because he plays a 200-foot game. For years, he was the defensive stalwart, giving you the valuable minutes in key situations, but over the years he has evolved into one of the top scoring forwards on the team too.

That wont change going into this season. The Flyers need Couturier to be in Selke form after the forward was finally recognized on the national level as the top two-way forward in the NHL last season and that can only help them have success at both ends of the ice.

Carter Hart

It still feels like a foreign concept to get to this point of a State of the Flyers without even mentioning the goalie. Thats where the Flyers are now though with Carter Hart.

Games are not played on paper, but the Flyers can be viewed on paper as a good team by simply looking at Harts name alone. You need talent at this position to succeed, and the Flyers finally have that guy that makes them a good team without even looking to the other areas.

Hart is getting noticed a lot around the league, he will be a face of this franchise for years to come and the more he grows, the more successful the Flyers can be. Having the goalie allows the Flyers to address other areas of concern and build around him.

This will be a bit of a weird season for Hart as well, since there will need to be balance to the schedule so you dont overwork him ahead of the playoffs, but Hart has already shown the ability to out-duel the top goalies in the game and carry a team through the playoffs. Once he really hits his peak, he could reach elite level.

Expectations for the Flyers in 2021

First and foremost, you need to make the playoffs. Now that you have a goalie, a continually-growing top defenseman and a lot of talent up front, you cant afford to go backwards and miss the playoffs again. You are returning a lot of the same roster from a year ago.

Once you get into the playoffs, things get a bit interesting this year. With the first two rounds of the playoffs taking place within the division, there are hardly any guarantees. Id still say an expectation is to win a playoff series and challenge for a second playoff series win and get to the NHLs final four playing for the Stanley Cup.

Now that the Flyers are continuing to become a more relevant team, you have to show that moving forward and build on the season you had a year ago.

You can click here to listen to the entire State of the Flyers from last weeks special episode of the Sports Bash.

Read more from the original source:

State of the Flyers 2020: Short Year with Huge Progress - Sports Talk Philly

HALEIWA Kauai-born professional surfer Sebastian Zietz, aka Seabass, credits his success as a surfer to the nature in which he grew up on the island of Kauai.

Zietz established momentum headed into the 2020-21 season on the World Surf League circuit.

Zietz placed 17th at the Billabong Pipe Masters presented by Hydro Flask earlier this month. He finished the event with 1,300 points, and was $9,000 richer after his first event.

The WSLs next event will be the Jaws Championship Jan. 1 to March 31 in Peahi, Maui.

COVID-19 didnt impede Zietzs progress, but he did get more time to spend with his family instead of focusing on the rigors of being on tour.

It was nice to have one year on, and half a year off, Zietz admitted. I think I will be competing in mostly regional events, trying to get a seed into the challenger series and give (this season) a good shot.

Zietz focused on surfing on Kauais North Shore to get ready for the season with his wife and daughter.

I just enjoyed being a dad and spending time at home, Zietz said. I took the extra time to be a dad.

Staying true to his roots

Zietz credits growing up on Kauai with making him a successful surfer.

Zietz married his longtime girlfriend Krisy Fulp in 2017, and the couple opened a fitness gym on Kauai.

He credits Fulp for the extra motivation, according to his biography, and he let that motivation carry him to success.

Zietz finished No. 14 in the world in 2018, and today Zietz is still widely considered the happiest surfer on tour.

According to his biography, Zietz grew up on Kauai as one of nine children, and was too busy having fun playing outside to realize that for decent chunks of time they were homeless.

I just thought we were camping, he stated in his WSL website biography. Growing up on Kauai was a dream come true. The amount of power and respect you have to show for your elders shaped me.

Surfing next to surfing legends such as Andy Irons and Bruce Irons, Bethany Hamilton and former tour star Dustin Barca, also made him humble.

You cant be loud and talking, especially being a haole, Zietz said. You have to let the surfing do the talking. That is what Ive tried to do is put a smile on my face and spread the aloha spirit.

Jason Blasco, reporter, can be reached at 245-0437 or jblasco@thegardenisland.com.

The rest is here:

Surfer Sebastian Zietz looks to make progress in the WSL circuit - The Garden Island

US stocks edged higher as vaccine progress boosted optimism in one of the final trading sessions of 2020.

Tech shares were among the best performers in S&P 500 Index.

Travel and leisure companies advanced in the Stoxx 600 Index after the UK approved a coronavirus shot by AstraZeneca and the University of Oxford. Volumes were light during the holiday week, with European shares seeing about half of the usual activity. Bitcoin extended its record-breaking rally, approaching $28,000.

Investors have pushed stocks to sky-high valuations this year on expectations that widespread vaccine distribution in 2021 will reignite economic growth and boost corporate profits. The US government has started sending Americans $600 payments for pandemic relief, but discouraging news came with the discovery that the more infectious Covid-19 variant from the UK has arrived in Colorado.

Investors continue to weigh stimulus hopes against negative pandemic developments, Tom Essaye, a former Merrill Lynch trader wrote to clients. Markets have aggressively priced in a lot of positive resolution to these events (and more) in 2021.

With a volatile year coming to a close, risk assets such as stocks, corporate bonds and Bitcoin are sitting at or near record highs. The MSCI World Index of global stocks is set to end the year about 14 per cent higher, having surged almost 68 per cent since its March low.

On the coronavirus front, a second cluster of infections emerged in Sydney. US President-elect Joe Biden criticised vaccine-distribution efforts under President Trump as too slow. UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson has approved placing further swathes of the country into stricter Tier 4 restrictions, according to the Times.

Elsewhere, Bloombergs dollar gauge fell to its lowest since April 2018 as traders squared currency positions ahead of the years end amid thin liquidity. Emerging-market stocks reached the highest level since 2007 on buoyant inflows. Treasuries and gold were little changed. Bloomberg L.P.

Link:

US stocks edge higher as vaccine progress leads to optimism - The Irish Times

ELY The Bureau of Land Management is restoring watershed health and improving wildlife habitat while reducing fuel loading on more than 2,000 acres of agency-administered lands in eastern Nevada.

The BLMs Ely District in November aerially seeded 2,120 acres of the public lands at Patterson Pass and Gouge Eye in Cave and southern Lake valleys, about 65 miles south of Ely. The district seeded 570 acres at Patterson Pass and 1,550 acres at Gouge Eye.

The seedings are part of a pinion-pine and juniper tree-thinning treatment utilizing the Ely chain, an approximately 200-foot anchor chain with railroad iron welded perpendicular to the links that is pulled between two pieces of heavy equipment. The chain rolls over the ground, knocking down encroaching vegetation and breaking up the soil surface to prepare the seed bed. After the seed is applied, a second pass in the opposite direction ensures the seed is buried.

Our goal is to improve understory grass and shrub diversity, which provides forage for wildlife, as well as create a fuels break to slow the spread of a potential wildfire, Cody Coombs, Supervisory Natural Resources Specialist and Program Manager, said.The treated acres are part of the larger Cave and Lake Valleys Watershed Restoration Project, a multi-year project that will treat up to 121,600 acres of the 583,800-plus acre watersheds. Learn more about the landscape-scale project at https://go.usa.gov/xAras.

Read more:

Watershed health and wildlife habitat project in progress on public lands - Lincoln County Record

**NO VIDEO THIS AFTERNOON AS WE REMAIN ON A VACATION SCHEDULE**

We have adjusted our timing for tomorrow nights potential severe weather event. There is a risk of damaging winds and isolated tornadoes in the marginal risk (level 1/5) areas, highlighted in green on this map. There is a higher risk (level 2 out of 5) in the yellow highlighted area. There is still a great deal of uncertainty in how this system will evolve, so stay tuned.

Sunshine is now prevalent across most of North and Central Alabama this afternoon as areas of low clouds that formed late last night have eroded into stratocumulus this afternoon. Temperatures have really responded in areas that have seen substantial sunshine. The mercury has reached 70F at Birmingham and 72F at Tuscaloosa. It is 73F at Montgomery.

Rain now covers wide areas to the west and northwest of Alabama. Extensive lightning is occurring from thunderstorms over eastern Texas. Tyler TX has 53F with a thunderstorm in progress. There is some snow over eastern Oklahoma. 1-2 inches of snow is on the ground around Tulsa.

TONIGHTIt should be dry across Central Alabama, with just a few showers across northwestern sections. Lows will range from 50F over the Tennessee valley to 58F around Montgomery.

THURSDAY MORNINGThe day should start out mostly cloudy in most locations. A few showers will break out during the morning, mainly over South Central Alabama. You will notice a freshening southeasterly breeze averaging 10 mph and occasionally gusting higher.

THURSDAY AFTERNOONThe afternoon should be mainly mild, dry, and mostly cloudy with just a few showers popping up. Highs will look something like this.

Severe weather will be ramping up by late afternoon over Louisiana. Tornadoes and damaging winds will be possible by mid to late afternoon in places like Alexandria, Lafayette, and eventually, Baton Rouge as a slightly unstable airmass is overlain by a powerful low-level jet. Backed low level winds out o the southeast will enhance the tornado threat. This threat will move into southern Mississippi during the evening hours and eventually into Southwest portions of South and Central Alabama.

THURSDAY NIGHTPre-frontal storms will spread into Southwest Alabama between 6-9 p.m. Thursday night.

HRRR at 10 p.m. Thursday night.

Conditions over Southwest Alabama in places like Thomasville, Jackson, and Mobile may be conducive to severe weather, including damaging winds, and isolated tornadoes. This band will spread up into Central Alabama between 10 p.m. and midnight. It is uncertain whether conditions will result in severe weather with this activity, but it is still too early to tell.

FRIDAY MORNINGThe system seems to be slowing now, which may extend the window severe weather potential. Here is the 3km NAM for 6 a.m. Friday morning showing the storms along the front in West and Southwest Alabama.

By 9 a.m., the storms will have moved rapidly up into Central Alabama. But instability will have weakened substantially by that time and damaging winds would not be as likely. They should exit the state by mid-afternoon. It appears that temperatures will warm into the upper 60s to lower 70s Friday with some sun reappearing.

COULD THERE BE A RESURGENCE?Any additional delay in the systems speed could lead to a resurgence in the storms late Friday morning and early afternoon over southeastern sections of Central Alabama, most likely in the I-85 Corridor and points south. We will be monitoring for the possibility.

HEAVY RAINRainfall forecasts have backed off a bit, but heavy rain could produce local flooding. The threat is just less than it was thought to be earlier.

WIND ADVISORIESWind advisories will likely be required for Thursday and Thursday night for parts of Central and North Alabama. Winds will gust to 35 mph at times even outside thunderstorms. This could bring down tree limbs or topple weaker trees.

BOTTOM LINEThis is still a fluid, uncertain situation as to the timing and extent of severe weather. For now, it appears that strong to severe thunderstorms will occur much of Alabama, including the threat of damaging winds of 60 mph or greater and a few tornadoes. The higher threat is over southwestern sections of the state, with the highest threat back over Louisiana and Southwest Mississippi.

CALL TO ACTION: Bottom line is that everyone needs to be weather aware Thursday night and early Friday morning. Be prepared and make sure you have all aspects of your severe weather safety plan ready for action. Be sure you have a way of hearing severe weather warnings, and an action plan if you are in a tornado warning polygon, take severe thunderstorm warnings seriously too. Have a NOAA Weather Radio in your home and business, properly programmed with a fresh battery in case of power failure. Be sure WEA (Wireless Emergency Alerts) enabled on your phone this is not an app, but built into every phone sold in the U.S. Check settings, and notifications, and be sure emergency alerts are on. Have the free ABC 33/40 weather app on your phone as a secondary way of getting warnings. Search the App Store for ABC 33/40 Weather if you dont have it already.

In a site built home, identify the safe place. Small room, lowest floor, near the center of the house, away from windows. And, in that safe place, have helmets for everyone in the family (including adults!), portable air horns, and hard sole shoes. You CANNOT stay in a mobile home if you are in a tornado warning polygon. Know the closest shelter, and how to get there quickly.

Sheltering from a tornado is first priority when it comes to the COVID-19 situation. A tornado is an immediate threat to life; get to your safe place or shelter and do the best you can to protect yourself from exposure to the virus.

WEEKENDA few showers could impact North Alabama Saturday, but Central Alabama looks like it will be dry. Highs will range from 52-58F. Sunday will be dry and slightly cooler.

BOWL UPDATEMiserable weather in the Dallas Metroplex for the Rose Bowl Playoff game between Alabama and Notre Dame. Rain and storms through tonight with rain continuing for much of New Years Eve despite temperatures in the 40s and 30s. New Years Day will be dry, cool, and windy, with highs in the mid-40s.

In Orlando, much more pleasant weather for Auburn and Northwestern. Partly sunny conditions through Friday. Highs will be in the lower 80s. Lows will be in the middle 60s.

ON THIS DATE IN 1917Major cold wave across the East known as the Great World War I Cold Wave. Mercury plunged to 13 degrees below zero at New York City and 15 below at Boston. The temperature would drop below zero for five nights in a row at Boston. Berlin NH would record 44 degrees below zero. Tennessee recorded its coldest temperature ever (-32F) as did West Virginia (-17F).

Category: Alabama's Weather, ALL POSTS, Severe Weather

Read the original post:

A Beautiful Afternoon in Progress; Severe Weather Possible Tomorrow Night, Friday Morning - alabamawx.com

The New York Giants offensive line remains a work in progress with a number of young players in key roles. Against the Baltimore Ravens on Sunday, the line allowed five sacks as the Giants lost, 27-13.

It wasnt good enough its not good enough as a group, its not good enough individually, its not good enough in terms of how I got them ready to go, said offensive line coach Dave DeGuglielmo during a Tuesday videonconference.

What was a real problem and I addressed this with the players at game time and Ive said it to them since is when things get tight we need to put more emphasis on fundamentals, not less. Thats something that weve gotta keep working on as we go forward.

DeGuglielmo took over the line in Week 12 after Marc Colombo was fired.

We need to sustain our run blocks longer, we need to be better on our double teams and we need to continue to develop an impenetrable pocket. Right now thats not happening not because of talent and not because its not being instructed its not being put into play like it is in practice sometimes, DeGuglielemo said.

Theres a lot invested in a quarterback. We need to keep him safe. Thats the No. 1 thing that needs to improve.

Here are a few other things DeGuglielmo touched on.

Why Will Hernandez has consistently played less than Shane Lemieux ...

The Giants are rotating seven offensive linemen. Hernandez and Lemieux are sharing the left guard spot, but Hernandez, the 2018 second-round pick, is clearly the backup. Since returning from the Reserve/COVID-19 list in Week 10, the most snaps Hernandez has played is 26. He played only 10 Sunday against the Ravens. Lemieux has played no fewer than 34 snaps in any of the last eight games.

DeGuglielmo was purposely vague on this one.

If we had a perfect knew how many plays or how many reps a drive would be we could work that out better but sometimes when your numbers called its a three-play drive and then when your numbers not called its a 12-play drive. The numbers, the disparity, that just kinda happens. Thats just the way it goes, DeGuglielmo said.

I dont think theres any reason for one guy or another. Were just trying to get reps to all the players that are good enough to play.

On rookie right tackle Matt Peart ...

Peart had a difficult game against Baltimore. He played 17 snaps, which is still the most he has played in a game since DeGuglielmo took over the offensive line from Colombo.

Matt does some really good things. Hes a good athlete, hes a very, very large human being. Hes a smart kid. But theres a combination of things, DeGuglielmo said.

Sometimes you need to play him and then not play him in order to maintain a balance of getting enough taste of what the game is and then not putting him in a position where he could slide down the slippery slope of confidence.

DeGuglielmo referred to the third-round picks tremendous upside.

I like the kid. I think he has a tremendous upside but as you saw [vs. Baltimore] there were a few times out there where he didnt look like he was in tune with what was going on in terms of his fundamentals and his pass sets. It looked a little big, he said.

Its not about being down on Matt Peart. Its about maintaining that balance between getting experience and not losing your confidence in yourself.

On rookie left tackle Andrew Thomas ...

The education of the Giants fourth overall pick has continued throughout the season.

Hes a tremendously aware guy. He sees things that most rookies dont see, DeGuglielmo said.

Hes got talent .... I see the competitiveness that its going to take for him to have a solid career.

The well-traveled offensive line coach, though, revealed his true feelings about rookies.

Hes a rookie. Rookies and kickers, they all go in the same bucket with me, theyre all over there, DeGuglielmo said. Rookies and kickers, theyre their own little grouping of individuals. You need them, theyre necessary, theyre very important to your program but it always takes time for a rookie any rookie to elevate his game to what the others would be. Hell get there. I promise you this guy will get there.

Read the original here:

Giants offensive line remains a work in progress - Big Blue View

Framing and roofing work on the new Grays Building in Pacific Park is in progress.

Griffith Roofing was on site Tuesday furthering roofing work while Temo Construction began framing.

With the steel metal framing in place, decking is installed over the framing. A icy water membrane is being applied to protect it from weather.

Framing is expected to take less than 2 weeks to complete, weather permitting.

It wont be long until its dried in. We anticipate completion around late spring, unless we have unusual weather that sets us back, said Don Roundtree, who serves as manager for park project.

Once the project is in the dry work should progress inside the structure regardless of the weather.

We are now beginning to see the shape of it. It will be changing on a regular basis, Roundtree said. It will be changing a lot over the next few months.

The project still has quite a bit of work to go before it is completed. Although city staff will provide electrical, plumbing and site work, including site concrete work for parking and sidewalks, most of the project is contracted.

The building, once completed, will serve as a community center, designed as a user-friendly, comfortable gathering place.

The Grays Building is part of a Pacific Park improvement project, which along with a new senior citizens activity center, is fund with the $3 million received in bond proceeds in March; $1.5 million has been designated toward each project.

Sulphur Springs residents in November 2019voted to allow the city to use up to $200,000 of EDC money for up to 20 years for a 4B purpose, to make payments on the bond. The project has to be finished within 3 years of issuing the bond.

The City of Sulphur Springs also received a grant from Texas Parks and Wildlife Department which will go toward improvements to the park itself, including new playground equipment.

Read the original here:

Roofing, Framing Work On Grays Building In Progress - KSST

Captain Robert Ingersoll was captured at the Battle of Lexington in 1862.Photo Submitted / The Lexington Progress

Article by W. Clay Crook-

Col. Robert G. Ingersoll was captured at the Battle of Lexington on December 18, 1862, but he was famous before he took command of the Federal troops at Lexington, and long afterwards as the Great Agnostic. Ingersoll was an American author, a world renown orator, and a lawyer in his home state of Illinois, serving as the states attorney general, and was a noted friend of Walt Whitman. His birthplace is on the National Historic Register.

Ingersoll commanded the 11th Illinois Cavalry at Shiloh, where he met General Lew Wallace, the author of Ben Hur. One of the stories associated with the novel, and later a movie with Charlton Heston, was that Ingersoll and Wallace had enjoyed a lively debate, with Ingersoll taking the agnostic position, and Wallace defending Christianity, the grounds of which led to the writing of Ben Hur.

Many of the stories found throughout The Lexington Progress about the capture of Ingersoll at the end of the Battle of Lexington were written and documented by the owner and editor of that day, Mr. W. V. Barry. Mr. Barry usually ends the stories with Ingersoll hiding under the old Presbyterian Academy that stood where the house on 44 North Main Street is now located.

However, in the 1930 History of Henderson County by educator Auburn Powers, a different, more favorable account is given.

It was reported, doubtless by the Confederates, that Colonel Ingersoll was captured under an old womans kitchen. It is said that he was discovered because he had

For the complete story, see the December 30th edition ofThe Lexington Progress.

Subscribe Today!

Original post:

Auburn Powers' Account on the Capture of Col. Ingersoll - lexingtonprogress.com