Monthly Archives: February 2022

It was not the traditional State of the City address by Dunkirk Mayor Wilfred Rosas we have become accustomed to viewing. Before COVID-19, the event was in Common Council chambers and filled with nearly 100 community and business leaders.

Last week, it was a video a sign of the times. However, there was still plenty to appreciate in his comments.

Most importantly, Rosas has a vision each year that normally begins at the waterfront. With improvements continuing to take place at the most vital of locations in the city, he also turned to infrastructure work that needs maintaining.

Improvements continue to be completed at our water treatment plant, and the consent order project is scheduled to be completed by summer of 2022, Rosas said. This is a huge municipal facility improvement. Again, this consent order started over a decade ago, and Im very pleased this is going to be fully complete. Work is continuing on installing new valves throughout the distribution system to mitigate any further water supply disruptions.

There is no denying Dunkirk has plenty of work to do regarding a rebirth. The good news, especially in the manufacturing sector, is there is progress.

Those are tremendous steps forward for a city that has been trying to find its footing for decades.

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DUNKIRK State of the City shows progress | News, Sports, Jobs - Evening Observer

Company announcement no. 2 2022 Holmens Kanal 2 12DK-1092 Kbenhavn KTel. +45 45 14 14 00

3 February 2022

Steady progress driven by good customer activity, strong capital markets performance and solid credit quality Net profit of DKK 12.9 billion and return on equity of 7.6% for the yearProgress with ambitious sustainable finance targets continuesProposed initial dividend of DKK 2 per share. Intention of total 2021 dividend of DKK 7.5

Danske Bank has announced its financial results for 2021.

Carsten Egeriis, Chief Executive Officer, comments on the financial results:

Throughout 2021, our expert advisory services, digital services and sustainable products have resulted in good customer activity. In turn, our business continued to develop positively with total income increasing 4%, and our initiatives to become a more efficient bank resulted in costs decreasing 4%. Our cost/income ratio thus improved significantly from 66% to 60%. We continued to invest in even better customer journeys, all the while also increasing our profitability and our return on equity to 7.6%. Building on this progress, we are making changes in our organisation to further improve the quality and speed of our compliance efforts and to further increase customer focus to ensure a strengthening of our commercial momentum. We are well-positioned to continue our progress and deliver long-term sustainable value creation for our stakeholders.

The annual report is available at danskebank.com. Highlights are shown below:

2021 vs 2020Total income of DKK 42.6 billion (up 4%) Operating expenses of DKK 25.6 billion (down 4%)Loan impairments of DKK 348 million (2020: DKK 7.0 billion)Net profit of DKK 12.9 billion (2020: DKK 4.6 billion)Return on shareholders equity of 7.6% (2020: 2.6%)Strong capital position, with a total capital ratio of 22.4% and a CET1 capital ratio of 17.7%

Changed organisation and updated ambitions towards 2023 and beyondAs 2021 is now behind us, we have reached the mid-point of the period for our transformation to become a better bank with satisfactory results, and we will continue to deliver value for all of our stakeholder groups: customers, employees, society and shareholders. Enhancing our services and products to customers as well as supporting innovation in society will continue to be part of the agenda along with focusing on ensuring employee engagement.

In October 2021, we updated our 2023 ambitions. We confirmed that our business model will allow for a sustainable return on shareholders equity of 8.5-9% in 2023 and 9-10% through the cycle. In addition, we also extended the timeline for reaching a more normalised compliance cost level to 2025 to allow us to sustain the resilience of Danske Bank. With recent progress, we are further strengthening our position to deliver long-term sustainable value creation.

In November 2021, we strengthened our compliance efforts and improved our execution in this area by gathering the overall responsibility for the Financial Crime control environment across Danske Bank end-to-end with Philippe Vollot, our new Chief Administrative Officer.

And in January 2022, we addressed the need to strengthen the commercial momentum of our retail banking activities and build on the strong position we have in relation to business customers by announcing a further finetuning of the organisation. We will adjust our business unit setup to increase customer centricity for our three key customer segments Personal Customers, Business Customers and Large Corporates & Institutions and further strengthen our commercial momentum.

Recovery evident in the Nordic economiesFollowing the gradual reopening of societies and the vaccine roll-out during 2021, the recovery in the Nordic economies became evident, with strong labour markets and consumer spending, albeit also with some inflation fears and scarcity of labour being reported. In Denmark, the recovery is broadly based, and the attention has shifted towards mitigating the risk of overheating. However, despite the fact that most of the population has been vaccinated, we saw the coronavirus on the rise again during the autumn with restrictions being reintroduced over the winter.

At Danske Bank, we are ready to continue supporting our customers with their needs. Even though the economy is doing well, the government support packages contributed to subdued credit demand in the banking sector in Denmark. The upcoming transition to a gradual return to banks offering creditworthy and viable businesses loans on reasonable terms is likely to generate more bank lending from the first half of 2022, thus supporting our income streams.

Credit quality remained strong, and we saw more normalised impairment levels than in 2020.

Diversified business model continued to prove valuableDespite the subdued credit demand in the banking sector in Denmark, our diversified business model continued to prove valuable, with total income increasing 4%. During 2021, we were able to further utilise our platform and strengthen our market position for capital markets-related activities, and our efforts to capitalise on the opportunities for increased investment activity provided by market conditions also paid off.

Net interest income stabilised, compensating for continued margin pressure and lending product mix effects, while our strong capital markets performance and landmark transactions as well as solid business and personal customer activity ensured a very positive development in net fee income. The strong activity in the debt and equity capital markets we have seen in the past quarters continues. Our leading platform has enabled us to capitalise on this trend, and we take a number one position as the leading Nordic bank in terms of volumes across both of these markets, while net trading income declined from the level in 2020 due to lower activity in 2021 along with less positive value adjustments on the derivatives portfolio. Our insurance business continued to develop positively, as income benefited from growth in the underlying business and high investment returns.

Our cost initiatives continue to drive down expenses 4% in 2021 and this remains a priority in order to become an even more efficient and competitive bank. Combined with low impairment charges based on strong credit quality, this led to the return on equity improving from 2.6% in 2020 to 7.6% in 2021.

While our business delivered good growth in many of our segments throughout the year, resulting in total income increasing DKK 1.7 billion, costs have decreased DKK 1 billion. A strong performance in our capital markets activities on the back of solid business and personal customer activity led to a significant increase in net fee income, and this growing momentum comes on top of a more stable development in other income streams. Throughout the year, our initiatives to become an even more efficient bank have resulted in a significant decrease in expenses, and we remain focused on ensuring continuous improvement of our profitability, says Stephan Engels, CFO.

Solid progress on the sustainability agendaOn the sustainability agenda, we made considerable progress during the year, and as an integral part of our strategy, Danske Bank is dedicated to further accelerating these efforts, building on our customers strong performance in the sustainability transition.

In July 2021, we raised our sustainable financing ambitions again and revised our 2023 target from DKK 100 billion to DKK 300 billion. We also raised the bar for investments made by Danica Pension in the green transition, increasing the 2023 target from DKK 30 billion to DKK 50 billion. During 2021, we increased sustainable financing from DKK 102 billion to DKK 192 billion, while investments in the green transition increased from DKK 27 billion to DKK 33.5 billion.

Throughout the year, we supported issuers and investors in a substantial number of transactions, affirming our position as a leading Nordic bank within sustainable finance. Activity was high across business areas, and we are proud to be ranked number one among the Nordic banks within arranging of sustainable bonds as well as number one within arranging of sustainability-linked loans in terms of volumes supported.

Furthermore, we joined the Net-Zero Banking Alliance, and in doing so, Danske Bank is committed to becoming a net-zero bank by 2050 or sooner. To substantiate this commitment and support our customers in the transition, we have set ambitious 2030 targets for carbon emission reductions related to corporate lending in the key oil and gas, shipping and utilities sectors.

The financial sector plays an important role in the transition towards a more sustainable society, and at Danske Bank, we have continued to support our customers in their green transition with best-in-class sustainable finance products and advisory services. We recognise that we have an obligation as a leading Nordic bank, and with the resources we have at our disposal to contribute to the green transition in the societies that we are a part of. Our ambition is to be at the forefront of this important work, and we will therefore continuously be developing our offerings to meet the growing sustainability needs and expectations of our customers, says Carsten Egeriis.

Dividend for 2021In accordance with Danske Banks dividend policy, Danske Bank intends to pay-out a total dividend of DKK 7.5 per share for 2021, corresponding to 50% of the net profit for the year. The Board of Directors proposes an initial dividend payment of DKK 2 per share to the annual general meeting. The remaining DKK 5.5 per share is intended to be paid out in three tranches following the publication of interim reports in 2022, subject to a decision by the Board of Directors in accordance with the authorisation given to the Board and based on the usual assessment of the banks capital position at the end of each interim period. This approach is taken to preserve the dividend policy of the bank while ensuring a prudent capital management with a high degree of flexibility in light of the Estonia matter, where we remain unable to estimate any potential outcome or timing.

Thus Danske Banks dividend policy remains unchanged, targeting a dividend of 40-60% of net profit.

Outlook for 2022We expect net profit for 2022 to be in the range of DKK 13-15 billion in 2022.

Our outlook is based on an expectation of higher income from our core banking activities in 2022 due to good economic activity and progress towards our 2023 financial ambitions, while expenses are expected to be around DKK 25 billion and impairments are expected to be below normalised levels, says Stephan Engels.

The outlook is subject to uncertainty and depends on economic conditions.

We maintain our ambition for a return on shareholders equity of 8.5-9% in 2023.

Danske Bank

More information about Danske Banks financial results is available at danskebank.com/reports.

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Steady progress driven by good customer activity, strong - GlobeNewswire

VALLEY FORGE, Pa.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--UGI Corporation (NYSE: UGI) today reported financial results for the fiscal quarter ended December 31, 2021.

HEADLINES

Roger Perreault, President and Chief Executive Officer of UGI Corporation, stated "This quarter, we navigated the challenging macro-economic environment that provided rising cost inflation and a tight labor market. With this backdrop, UGI reported lower first quarter 2022 adjusted results, which were impacted by unfavorable weather in the U.S. as the country experienced the warmest December on record. AmeriGas reported lower volumes due to weather, the impact of customer service challenges from the prior year after establishing the new operating business model, and the effect of higher commodity prices on customer usage. We also saw significantly higher and unprecedented volatility in commodity prices in Europe that had a negative impact on average LPG unit and energy marketing margins at UGI International. Our natural gas businesses delivered strong results, despite the warmer weather, due to incremental earnings from Mountaineer and higher margin from renewable energy marketing activities.

"Consistent with our past practice, we do not discuss adjusted EPS guidance until the completion of the second fiscal quarter. However, we remain focused on executing our strategy in order to achieve our long-term EPS growth commitment of 6 10%. We have developed a robust plan to leverage our proven capabilities of focused margin and expense management and expect increased benefits as fiscal 2022 progresses due to ongoing expense control and other actions to recover the Q1 shortfall. In addition, there is still a significant portion of the heating season ahead and we are encouraged that January was colder than normal in the U.S.

We continue to advance on our strategy to further invest in renewables and rebalance our business in order to deliver reliable earnings growth. The Stonehenge acquisition that closed in January 2022 represents an important step in both our rebalancing and reliability efforts. This investment is in some of the most prolific production areas in the Appalachian Basin, is immediately accretive to earnings and has stable cash flows underpinned by a long-term contract with minimum volume commitments.

"In December 2021, we were pleased to receive regulatory approval of the intended joint venture with SHV Energy to produce rDME. In addition, we have announced several partnerships related to renewables, with the most recent being a partnership with Vertimass to produce and distribute renewable energy solutions within the U.S. and Europe. Our continued efforts to advance our ESG programs and activities were recognized with the upgrade to AA by MSCI.

KEY DRIVERS OF FIRST QUARTER RESULTS

EARNINGS CALL AND WEBCAST

UGI Corporation will hold a live Internet Audio Webcast of its conference call to discuss the quarterly earnings and other current activities at 9:00 AM ET on Thursday, February 3, 2022. Interested parties may listen to the audio webcast both live and in replay on the Internet at https://www.ugicorp.com/investors/financial-reports/presentations or by visiting the company website https://www.ugicorp.com and clicking on Investors and then Presentations. A telephonic replay will be available from 12:00 PM ET on February 3 through 11:59 PM ET February 10. The replay may be accessed toll free at 855-859-2056 and internationally at +1 404-537-3406, conference ID 9390638.

ABOUT UGI

UGI Corporation is a distributor and marketer of energy products and services. Through subsidiaries, UGI operates natural gas and electric utilities in Pennsylvania, natural gas utilities in West Virginia, distributes LPG both domestically (through AmeriGas) and internationally (through UGI International), manages midstream energy assets in Pennsylvania, Ohio, and West Virginia and electric generation assets in Pennsylvania, and engages in energy marketing, including renewable natural gas, in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States and California, and internationally in France, Belgium, the Netherlands and the UK.

Comprehensive information about UGI Corporation is available on the Internet at https://www.ugicorp.com.

USE OF NON-GAAP MEASURES

Management uses "adjusted diluted earnings per share," a non-GAAP financial measure, when evaluating UGI's overall performance. Management believes that this non-GAAP measure provides meaningful information to investors about UGIs performance because it eliminates the impact of (1) gains and losses on commodity and certain foreign currency derivative instruments not associated with current-period transactions and (2) other significant discrete items that can affect the comparison of period-over-period results. Volatility in net income at UGI can occur as a result of gains and losses on commodity and certain foreign currency derivative instruments not associated with current-period transactions but included in earnings in accordance with U.S. generally accepted accounting principles ("GAAP").

Non-GAAP financial measures are not in accordance with, or an alternative to, GAAP and should be considered in addition to, and not as a substitute for, the comparable GAAP measures.

Tables on the last page reconcile net (loss) income attributable to UGI Corporation, the most directly comparable GAAP measure, to adjusted net income attributable to UGI Corporation, and diluted (loss) earnings per share, the most comparable GAAP measure, to adjusted diluted earnings per share, to reflect the adjustments referred to above.

1 Reportable segments earnings before interest expense and income taxes represents an aggregate of our operating segment level EBIT as determined in accordance with GAAP.

USE OF FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS

This press release contains statements, estimates and projections that are forward-looking statements (as defined in Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended). Management believes that these are reasonable as of todays date only. Actual results may differ significantly because of risks and uncertainties that are difficult to predict and many of which are beyond managements control. You should read UGIs Annual Report on Form 10-K for a more extensive list of factors that could affect results. Among them are adverse weather conditions (including increasingly uncertain weather patterns due to climate change) resulting in reduced demand, and the seasonal nature of our business; cost volatility and availability of all energy products, including propane and other LPG, natural gas, and electricity, as well as the availability of LPG cylinders; increased customer conservation measures; the impact of pending and future legal or regulatory proceedings, inquiries or investigations; liability for uninsured claims and for claims in excess of insurance coverage; political, regulatory and economic conditions in the United States, Europe and other foreign countries, and foreign currency exchange rate fluctuations (particularly the euro); the timing of development of Marcellus and Utica Shale gas production; the availability, timing and success of our acquisitions, commercial initiatives and investments to grow our business; our ability to successfully integrate acquired businesses and achieve anticipated synergies; the interruption, disruption, failure, malfunction, or breach of our information technology systems, and those of our third-party vendors or service providers, including due to cyber-attack; the inability to complete pending or future energy infrastructure projects; our ability to achieve the operational benefits and cost efficiencies expected from the completion of pending and future transformation initiatives, including the impact of customer disruptions resulting in potential customer loss due to the transformation activities; uncertainties related to global pandemics, including the duration and/or impact of the COVID-19 pandemic; the impact of proposed or future tax legislation, including the potential reversal of existing tax legislation that is beneficial to us; and our ability to overcome supply chain issues that may result in delays or shortages in, as well as increased costs of, equipment, materials or other resources that are critical to our business operations.

SEGMENT RESULTS ($ in millions, except where otherwise indicated)

AmeriGas Propane

For the fiscal quarter ended December 31,

2021

2020

Increase (Decrease)

Revenues

$

778

$

666

$

112

17

%

Total margin (a)

$

360

$

394

$

(34

)

(9

) %

Operating and administrative expenses

$

240

$

221

$

19

9

%

Operating income/earnings before interest expense and income taxes

$

86

$

141

$

(55

)

(39

) %

Retail gallons sold (millions)

241

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UGI Reports First Quarter Results and Solid Progress on Rebalancing Strategy - Business Wire

When developer Techland added the subtitle "Stay Human" to Dying Light 2, it seemed to signal the team's intentions to rediscover (and showcase) the humanity nestled at the core of the story. Since 2018, the team has made promises about the numerous narrative branches Dying Light 2 players would find in the game. Those branches are there, and they are indeed plentiful, but experiencing them felt equivalent to falling out of a tree and hitting my face on every branch on the way down. While Dying Light 2's most crucial element, first-person parkour, is certainly better than it's ever been in this massive sequel, much of the rest of the game fails to keep up.

Dying Light 2 is set in the fictional Villedor, a new city in the story, and features a fresh, grizzled hero central to its conflict. As a "pilgrim," an outsider perceived as dangerous to the few remaining safe zones in the world, Aiden Caldwell ventures into Villedor in search of his sister Mia, whom he last saw years ago when they were both kids. Through hazy flashbacks that aren't clear enough for even Aiden to rely on, his and Mia's story is poorly delivered early and often. It feels as though simply telling players that Aiden and Mia are siblings is meant to be enough for the player to care about their hopeful reunion, but Techland struggles to show why anyone should be invested in Mia beyond the familial connection. She becomes a living Macguffin, meant to justify Aiden's video gamey escapades as a side-questing superstar leaping across tall buildings in a single bound.

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Now Playing: Dying Light 2 Stay Human Video Review In Progress

Surrounding Aiden is a wide cast of characters who can sometimes be diverse and interesting, but ultimately share one thing in common: poor voice acting. While Aiden's actor, Jonah Scott, does well, and Rosario Dawson deserves some credit for her role as his part-time ally, Lewan, that's about it in terms of voice talent. Other characters try and fail to pull on heartstrings, in part because of the subpar acting, and the less important the quest is, the worse the acting tends to be too. Sometimes the only thing more awkward than how a character said a particular line is that they said it at all. The writing routinely misses the mark.

It doesn't help that the game's tone shifts so frequently that players might experience emotional whiplash. When accepting a wildly silly or deadly serious character for who they are, it's a constant struggle to feel invested in what they're asking of Aiden because they so often come off as wooden and disjointed. It can be difficult to account for precisely how a conversation will be heard in a finished game with so many branching paths, and that can lead to line delivery issues, but Dying Light 2 seems to sidestep the years of progress made in RPGs to address this particular hurdle much to every character's detriment. There was no one I cared to spend time with other than Aiden himself, because he's nearly the only character who sounds like a real person.

Dying Light 2's bad story manages to get even worse by its end, when a final act and frustrating final boss upend any possibility that there would be something to salvage by the game's 50th hour. This is a game that was billed as offering 500 hours of content, largely due to its number of quests and branching paths, but if my job didn't require it, I'd have skipped every cutscene and dialogue option after the first hour or so.

Should you decide to play that way, you'll very likely enjoy your time in Villedor more than I did. That's because, for all of its story woes, the open world and how you explore it are genuinely fun. First-person platforming is a tricky feat, but Techland flexes its muscles and improves on something that was already very good. After a few upgrades, it becomes clear that Aiden is faster and more impressive than Kyle Crane ever was in the first game. Aiden is better equipped too, with sandbox staples like a grappling hook and glider to further enhance his travels.

In some ways, this core strength makes Dying Light 2 work where so many other open-world games don't; rather than players focusing on the major beatsthe main quests and most exciting side missionsand leaving a lot of the so-called filler untouched, here those peripheral activities represent the game's finest work. Parkour time trials or even just scaling some of the game's biggest skyscrapers is quality, repeatable fun. Tightrope-walking a mile above the city while the wind threatens to leave you splattered below provides an immersive guttural sense of dread. Meanwhile, exploring abandoned stores for valuables while the undead sleep hunched over like something out of a horror movie puts the emphasis on scares in a way I wish there was more of.

This is aided by a skill tree that has very few undesirable perks. Each time I could acquire a new skill, I had to pause and really consider what I'd wantneed, reallynext for Aiden. These skills are broken into combat and parkour, so I farmed XP pretty reliably just by doing the things I wanted to do better anyway. Armor and gear perks add an additional role-playing wrinkle that had me feeling less like a hoarder, but rather, smarter for keeping different outfits as builds for the anti-hero.

The combat doesn't shine as brightly as the parkour, but it's not the game's darkest blemish. When faced with hordes of infected, including many new special types such as Howlers that signal a mass of monsters, and Anomalies, grotesque mini-bosses waiting in arenas at night, the combat is at its best. Managing a crowd when different types of monsters are slow or fast, tank-like, or agile, makes for the good kind of stress this game was always meant to have. Even after 50 hours, it's difficult to control a crowd of zombies without working up a good sweat in the process.

Combat with humans, most often the tropey Renegades who dress like Legion of Doom superfans, is less enjoyable because it regularly comes down to performing the same small moveset on every crowd of bad guys: dodge, slash, and slash. There's room for doing some cooler moves, like a vaulting ability that lets you catapult off one enemy onto another, but rarely is there incentive to be so stylish. I eventually ditched a lot of this fluff in favor of the dropkick that sends villains satisfyingly flailing off of rooftops. That one truly never gets old.

Stealth mechanics are such an afterthought that it's hard to rationalize why they're involved at all. Infiltrating enemy bases and taking them out quietly is the sort of fun Far Cry has been driven by for a decade, but Dying Light's intent to mimic it fails because there are so few tall grass areas in the world, which is about the only way to hide from human enemies. Dashing across rooftops while the infected lurk in the streets at night has a more enjoyable feeling to it, but even then, going to street level even for a moment can prove frustrating because Howlers spot Aiden so quickly. This reimagining of the series' night cycle basically turns every touch of the sidewalk into a run for your life. I found myself wishing for the original game's vision cones at times. At least that way made a bit more sense from the player's point of view.

No matter what you're doingbe it chasing down a story lead, parkouring for the fun of it, or running for your life, the soundtrack masterfully reacts to every step in a way I've not seen done in games before. The dynamic music composed by industry titan Olivier Deriviere shifts from story to side mission to open-world exploration without missing a beat, even going so far as to let the air out of the soundtrack whenever you take a jump, helping to give you that rollercoaster-like sense of weightlessness. Strangely enough, the music ends up creating a much stronger sense of atmosphere and consequences within Dying Light 2 than its story.

Despite all the time in the figurative oven, Dying Light 2 still feels a bit unpolished too. Bugs weren't at the forefront of my bad times with the gameusuallybut I witnessed things like sandbox activities being broken, a windmill puzzle that refused to be climbed, and a particular river that, when I fell in, would often not let me climb back onto land. Most often seen was an issue with the game's geometry, where I'd get stuck on some objects for reasons I couldn't understand. Thankfully a bit of button-mashing usually fixed those hiccups, and bugs rarely affected any of the game's best bits: the first-person parkour.

If all of this sounds rather inconsistent, it's meant to. Dying Light 2 is a perplexing game. Its story and characters are headache-inducing, and it appears to lack polish in many areas. But even a dozen hours after I rolled credits, I've found myself going back to the game to do another parkour challenge, rummage through another abandoned science lab, or just see if I can get from Point A to Point B without ever hitting the ground. It's rough around the edges and it asks players to invest a lot in its weakest element, but once you realize the story, like gravity, is only going to pull you down, you can begin to defy it and enjoy the things Dying Light 2 actually does well.

Editors note: We will play the co-op mode in Dying Light 2 when it becomes available to us. This review will be updated and the score will be finalized once this is done.

Read more here:

Dying Light 2 Review In Progress: Look Before You Leap - GameSpot

By Bridgette Quimpo

Like the world itself, a softball is round.

I like using this analogy when asked to describe how the sport of softball has opened doors for me and my players. These are doors that I may never have been able to imagine, not just for me, but for literally hundreds of other women.

I am the head coach for a Division III college softball program a position I have held for the past 18 years, including the past nine at Ramapo College of New Jersey. And, most recently, in the last six months, assumed the role of Senior Woman Administrator at Ramapo.

Today February 2 is National Girls & Women in Sports Day, a day when we celebrate the confidence, strength and character that being part of an athletic program can inspire. I want to empower and help champion women in softball, athletics and in life.

Ive coached teams that have won NJAC conference championships and played in NCAA Tournaments. And Ive coached women who are academic standouts many have earned spots on the National Fastpitch Coaches Association (NFCA) All-American Scholar Athlete Team for earning grade point averages of 3.5 or higher.

Ive also coached players who have been named Woman of the Year by the New Jersey Association for Intercollegiate Athletics for Women.

This year, we mark the 50th anniversary of Title IX the landmark ruling that gives women athletes the right to equal opportunity in sports at educational institutions, like Ramapo College of New Jersey, that receive federal funds. Today, two in five girls have the opportunity to participate in a high school sport an increase from one in 27 in 1972, the year that Title IX took effect.

Progress is being made.

Ramapo offers a total of 10 womens sports including, softball, basketball, cross country, field hockey, lacrosse, soccer, swimming, tennis, track and field and volleyball. More than 150 women participate in intercollegiate athletics at our college, a sizable number when you consider that Ramapo is a Division III school that does not offer scholarships to student-athletes. And as a coach at Ramapo, I am proud to point out that the collective grade point average among Ramapo athletes is consistently higher than that of the general student population.

By the time I reached high school in the 1990s, Title IX had opened up doors for me that may not have existed for girls before me. I played three sports basketball, softball and tennis. I was able to continue my playing career into college, earning a degree from the University of South Carolina-Aiken.

Had I been born 25 years earlier, I may never have had an opportunity to be a student-athlete, let alone enjoy a post-playing career as a coach. Title IX changed my life, making it possible for me to build a career in sports where I can inspire, mentor and guide future woman leaders to positions of success.

The Womens Sports Foundation had compiled a list of the ways that sports help a young woman build character and life skills. Here are a few:

Gender barriers that once existed are breaking down. There are more opportunities for women in sports than ever before even in predominantly mens sports. This past summer, softball returned to the Olympic Games for the first time in 13 years, after it was deemed not global enough to stick around more than a decade ago.

In 2020, Kim Ng became the first woman general manager of a major league baseball team, the Miami Marlins. Becky Hammon spent seven years as an assistant coach on the San Antonio Spurs, before being named head coach of the WNBAs Las Vegas Aces. Last month, Rachel Balkovec became the first woman to be named manager of a minor league baseball team, the Tampa Tarpons, the Yankees Class A team.

Still, despite the advances, an equity gap remains one that women like me have to work to help close.

Only 3.2% of sports media coverage is devoted to womens sports, according to the Womens Sports Foundation. Also, just 43% of head coaching positions in womens college sports are actually held by women, according to the same organization. Finally, 60% of women in sports report being paid less money for doing the same job as a man, according to the Female Leaders in Sports Survey in 2019.

Alarmingly, 31% of women coaches believe they would risk their job if they spoke up about Title IX and gender equity. Sixty-three percent of female leaders in sports report experiencing sex discrimination in the workplace (thankfully, this is not the case at Ramapo).

We can and must do better.

On this day National Girls and Women in Sports Day we are here to celebrate our successes while recognizing that we still have a long way to go. After all, there are more softballs to be pitched and hit, and more doors to be opened for women athletes everywhere.

Bridgette Quimpo is the head softball coach and Senior Woman Administrator at Ramapo College of New Jersey.

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Womens sports is still a work in progress I Opinion - NJ.com

The Athletics Keith Law revealed his annual top 100 MLB prospects rankings Monday, with the Cardinals landing four players on the list. Nolan Gorman, Matthew Liberatore and Ivan Herrera all made the cut for a second consecutive year, while Jordan Walker cracked the top 50 with his first ranking.

Its an impressive feat that the Cardinals were able to land four prospects, considering the organization has not had a top-10 draft pick since 1998. Assistant general manager and director of scouting Randy Flores has done an admirable job selecting high-upside talent in the middle rounds of the draft since taking over the position, and St. Louis player development staff continues to churn out solid talent.

Lets break down the Cardinals players highlighted in Laws top-100 picks.

No. 17: Nolan Gorman, 2B/3B

Age: 21

Draft year: 2018 (Round 1 / No. 19 overall)

How he did in 2021: The Cardinals asked a lot from Gorman when they requested their top prospect to switch from third base to second base after the team acquired Nolan Arenado.

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Cardinals prospects in Keith Law's top 100: Taking stock of their progress and what's next - The Athletic

WASHINGTON, DC -- As we enter the 2022 Year of the Tiger, World Wildlife Fund's (WWF) latest report on tiger conservation highlights that a century-long trend of wild tiger decline has finally been reversed a rare and hard-fought conservation success story.

In the previous Year of the Tiger, 2010, the Global Tiger Initiative was formed and the first-ever international meeting for tiger conservation, the St. Petersburg Tiger Summit was convened. The event and initiative ignited international collaboration across the 13 tiger range country governments and the global conservation community towards a common goal for tiger recovery. This represents one of the greatest degrees of political will ever mustered for the protection of a single species to this day, as well as a clear turning point in the history of tiger conservation.

WWFs Impact on Tiger Recovery 2010-2022 report summarizes more than a decade of work and collaboration on tiger conservation and details both lessons learned and the unrelenting challenges for the future of this iconic big cat.

Some highlights captured in the new report include the designation of the worlds largest tiger protected area in China and a national park in Russia, Land of the Leopard, where tiger numbers have tripled. In Bhutans Royal Manas National Park, the report explains how the use of the Spatial Monitoring and Report Tool (SMART) and other conservation measures have resulted in a doubling of tiger numbers since 2012 an incredible and hard-earned conservation success.

The report also features the Khata Forest Conservation Area, which has been transformed from just 115 hectares of forest to 3,800, encompassing more than 6,000 community members and stewards of the land. This transboundary corridor between India and Nepal, recently awarded for Conservation Excellence, has been used by 46 individual tigers in the last five years.

Wild tigers have made remarkable progress over the past twelve years. The species had been in continual decline for about a century until the historic reversal of that trend in 2016, said Ginette Hemley, Senior Vice President of Wildlife Conservation at WWF-US. India, Nepal, Bhutan, Russia and China have demonstrated what it takes to increase wild tiger numbers and conserve their habitat. As these countries show, the communities living alongside tiger habitats are instrumental stewards of the nature around them and their partnership is vital. Hopefully, the success of these countries will inspire others, particularly in Southeast Asia, to step up efforts to protect wild tigers and secure the species future beyond 2022.

There is progress worth celebrating on tiger recovery, but it is vital to acknowledge that these gains are fragile and have not been uniform across Asias subregions with perilous declines in Malaysia and tigers now likely extinct in Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam. While the global estimate for wild tigers may be on the rise, their range has continued to decline and tigers today are restricted to less than 5 percent of their historic range. As we enter the Lunar Year of the Tiger, there is a pressing need to continue global tiger recovery efforts and strengthen all necessary actions to achieve a sustainable future for the species.

The pivotal moment for the future of tiger conservation will be the 2nd Global Tiger Summit on September 5th, 2022 in Vladivostock, Russia. Heads of states and ministers from tiger range countries will gather with other world leaders, and intergovernmental bodies, NGOs, and conservation experts, to determine the next phase of the Global Tiger Recovery Plan. It will play a critical role in bringing the international community together, and reshaping the future of tiger conservation with a framework that is tiger-friendly, people-centered, and embedded within the global and national economic agenda. There is also an opportunity to address range decline with an ambitious new goal for range expansion.

WWF will continue to support core tiger conservation activities including the effective management of protected areas, disruption of the illegal wildlife trade, and demand reduction for tigers and their parts and products. Beyond 2022, WWF will work with communities living in tiger landscapes to build connectivity, promote tiger reintroduction in the former range, reduce human-wildlife conflict and further strengthen transboundary conservation efforts. We will also ensure alignment with broader priorities of the environmental agenda, including climate change adaptation and mitigation, land degradation and ecosystem restoration and rewilding.

The 2010 Tiger Summit set in motion an unprecedented range of tiger conservation initiatives. The results of which demonstrate what can be achieved through long term and collaborative commitments to species recovery. The dedication of field teams, conservation partners and communities living in tiger landscapes are behind these extraordinary results, said Stuart Chapman, Leader of the Tigers Alive Initiative, WWF.

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This Year of the Tiger - World Wildlife Fund

There is an ongoing problem nowadays regarding the lack of bus drivers.

Simply put, there isn't enough of them, and, locally, Effingham is seeing the struggle of finding people to want to do it.

"We are currently short three drivers, so we don't even run one route because we use our subs for two other routes," Effingham Community Schools Transportation Director Kristin Harvey said. "Then, with sports going on this year, we also have to use subs to cover those, so when we have extra trips, you have a sub that will drive the regular route. So, I'm already using two daily every single day, and that's not including if I need three tomorrow. That would be five subs in one day, and with driver shortages, it's not an easy task."

Harvey said that the struggles have loomed large over the past year, putting her in a difficult spot.

"We were at a maximum capacity of 50 per bus, and many of our in-town routes have an easy 70 kids. So, what we ended up doing was for the five buses in town; they ended up making two loops," Harvey said. "They did their route twice. They would go K-5, take them home, and then go to the junior high and high school and take them home. It ended up being like 10 routes, but only five drivers were doing it. That was our saving grace to stay under the 50 mark. Luckily, this year, they lifted that, and we did not have to keep it under 50, but we still kept the two loops because the number of students riding was even bigger this year.

"Right now, we have 1,773 students we're busing A.M. and P.M., and typically more in the afternoon than in the morning."

She added that numerous drivers were out at different times, leaving her to try and find replacements quickly and forcing her to take different alternatives.

"We were short seven buses; we had seven drivers out at one time, so we had to combine all of those and put them on other routes and go with that and make it work," Harvey said. "It was extremely challenging having that, but our mechanic will also drive when needed. But he's doing the role of several people. He has to disinfect the buses every morning and afternoon and go through and spray all 26 buses, vans, and things like that. It's a very time-consuming process."

Why is it so difficult to find capable individuals for this profession?

Harvey said that the training to become a certified bus driver is strenuous.

Additionally, implementing the Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century Act, otherwise known as MAP-21, makes the process even more challenging for a profession with enough challenges already.

"The federal government has come out with MAP-21 President Obama signed it in 2012 but it was postponed and postponed. This year, it's taking effect on Feb. 7," Harvey said. "It requires more training for CDL drivers and bus drivers, as well. We already have our drivers in an eight-hour course, and they have to get their CDL through the state. So, they still have to do all of those things, but now, on top of it, do a classroom portion, and the regional office in Vandalia will offer it. That's where we'll send people from now on."

For those who do pass the test, though, there are rewards that come with the job.

In the Effingham County School District, Harvey said that being a school bus driver may not be a full-time position, but it does offer full-time benefits.

"Even though you work only four hours a day, you can get full-time benefits," Harvey said. "But some districts don't offer those full-time benefits, so it's really hard to ask people to come and work minimum hours."

But it isn't only the benefits that come with intrigue. To Kim Knierim, it's also working with the youth.

Knierim said that she takes great pride in what she does and added that she never imagined doing it this long, saying that she doesn't truly believe that people understand the benefits you receive from it.

Knierim has been driving for 37 years.

"You talk to people, and you say, 'Come and be a bus driver?' and they say, 'No, I can't handle those kids,'" Knierim said. "They don't want kids behind them, and I think how large the bus can intimidate them sometimes. They don't think they can do that, but I didn't think I could drive a bus, either. The first time I sat in the seat of the bus, behind the wheel, I looked down the side of it, and I thought, 'I don't think I can do this,' but I love it."

Overall, it is no secret that bus drivers are necessary for any community, even with the lack of them around.

Harvey, however, hopes that trend will spike in the coming months.

One way to increase that number is to advertise just as they currently do.

Harvey said they reach out to numerous mediums to get their message across about bus drivers and why they are essential.

"We [advertise] in the newspaper, social media platforms, the regional office of education, and the City of Effingham and the Chamber came out with a platform as well that we will look to utilize."

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EFFINGHAM PROGRESS: Bus driver shortages hope to change in 2022 - Effingham Daily News

by Camille Lloyd and Whitney DuPree

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- This Black History Month, we at the Gallup Center on Black Voices look forward to honoring the triumphs, contributions and struggles of Black people in U.S. history. As the global pandemic enters its third year, this year's focus on health and wellness provides an opportunity to honor our past, celebrate our achievements and press for progress.

Frankly, we can't talk about health and wellness without also talking about Black history -- a story of struggle, overcoming, trauma, resilience, exploitation and joy. It's a story of racial disparities in healthcare access and quality, and the involuntary sacrifices made by Henrietta Lacks and many others. At the same time, we take great pride in the numerous medical breakthroughs from Dr. Charles Richard Drew to Dr. Kizzmekia Corbett and the contributions we continue to make.

While we have made great progress, there remains much to do. Health and wellbeing are one of the key pillars of our research at the Gallup Center on Black Voices. This month, we will present our latest findings in this area, including the Black experience with the U.S. healthcare system and the state of Black Americans' health and wellbeing. We are focused on reviewing historical trends but also highlighting how current conditions can be improved.

We know that representation in the workplace benefits the work lives of Black employees, but how does representation in healthcare impact patient experiences and, by extension, patient life outcomes? And what does a lack of representation mean for Black Americans in overall health and wellbeing? We look forward to sharing our insights on those questions with you this month.

We encourage you to visit our site throughout February, where we will showcase our latest findings on Black Americans' health and wellbeing, and to subscribe to keep up with all of our ongoing research and insights on the perspectives and experiences of Black Americans.

Camille Lloyd is the Director of the Gallup Center on Black Voices.

Whitney DuPree is the Associate Director of the Gallup Center on Black Voices.

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Black Health and Wellness: Pain, Pride and Progress - Gallup Poll

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. and SOUTH SAN FRANCISCO, Calif., Feb. 01, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Sarepta Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ: SRPT), the leader in precision genetic medicine for rare diseases, and GenEdit, Inc., a developer of genetic medicines that leverage its NanoGalaxyTM polymer nanoparticle platform for tissue-selective delivery,today announced a research collaboration and option agreement under which the companies are employing GenEdits NanoGalaxy platform and Sareptas gene editing technology to develop gene editing therapeutics for the treatment of neuromuscular diseases. As part of the agreement, Sarepta obtains exclusive option rights to license polymer nanoparticles developed by GenEdit in the collaboration for up to four neuromuscular indications selected by Sarepta.

Initial in vivo results from the research collaboration between GenEdit and Sarepta have demonstrated the potential of GenEdits polymer nanoparticles to deliver therapeutic cargo to specific muscle tissue after systemic administration to allow for targeted, non-viral systemic delivery of genetic medicines. The research collaboration and option agreement commenced in December 2020.

Weve been impressed with the diversity of GenEdits NanoGalaxy platform and its screening and selection process, which has generated a number of distinct polymers that deliver to muscle, said Doug Ingram, president and chief executive officer, Sarepta Therapeutics. Sarepta is committed to the development of therapies for rare neuromuscular diseases, and we look forward to continuing to work with the team at GenEdit to advance effective gene editing-based treatments for these patients.

Gene editing has the potential to revolutionize the treatment of diseases caused by genetic mutations by permanently modifying the genes that lead to disease. Sarepta is pursuing a variety of approaches to genetic medicine, including gene editing, as a potentially curative treatment for rare neuromuscular diseases. GenEdit has demonstrated in preclinical studies that its NanoGalaxy platform can selectively deliver to different tissues a variety of functional genetic medicine cargos, including CRISPR-Cas9 ribonucleoprotein, for targeted in vivo gene editing.

GenEdit has demonstrated in this collaboration and in our own studies that the NanoGalaxy platform can overcome historic challenges in the field and achieve tissue-selective delivery of a broad range of genetic medicine cargos, said Kunwoo Lee, Ph.D., co-founder and chief executive officer of GenEdit. GenEdit is excited to continue to advance our collaboration with Sarepta and work together to identify and develop gene editing therapeutic candidates for neuromuscular diseases with the goal of having a tremendous impact on patients.

In addition to research payments, under the terms of the collaboration and option agreement, GenEdit may receive up to $57 million in near-term payments and is also eligible for significant future development, regulatory and commercial milestones and tiered royalties ranging from upper-single to low-double digits on future product sales. Additional financial details were not disclosed.

About GenEdit, Inc.

At GenEdit, our mission is to discover and develop innovative genetic medicines with targeted in vivo delivery. Our NanoGalaxy platform of non-viral, non-lipid polymer nanoparticles will enable a universe of opportunities to launch the next generation of safe and effective genetic medicines. To bring these medicines to patients, we are developing our own internal pipeline and delivering a wide variety of therapeutic payloads for our partners programs. For more information, please visit http://www.genedit.com and follow us on LinkedIn and Twitter.

About Sarepta Therapeutics, Inc.

Sarepta is on an urgent mission: engineer precision genetic medicine for rare diseases that devastate lives and cut futures short. We hold leadership positions in Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) and limb-girdle muscular dystrophies (LGMDs), and we currently have more than 40 programs in various stages of development. Our vast pipeline is driven by our multi-platform Precision Genetic Medicine Engine in gene therapy, RNA and gene editing. For more information, please visitwww.sarepta.comor follow us onTwitter,LinkedIn,InstagramandFacebook.

Sarepta Forward-Looking Statements

This press release contains "forward-looking statements." Any statements contained in this press release that are not statements of historical fact may be deemed to be forward-looking statements. Words such as "believes," "anticipates," "plans," "expects," "will," "intends," "potential," "possible" and similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements include statements regarding the parties obligations and responsibilities under the agreement; potential payments and fees; the potential for gene editing to revolutionize the treatment of diseases caused by genetic mutations by permanently modifying the genes that lead to disease; and the potential benefits of the collaboration between Sarepta and GenEdit, including the potential of GenEdits polymer nanoparticles to deliver therapeutic cargo to specific muscle tissue after systemic administration to allow for targeted, non-viral systemic delivery of genetic medicines, Sareptas option to license polymer nanoparticles developed by GenEdit in the collaboration for up to four neuromuscular indications selected by Sarepta, the potential to advance effective gene editing-based treatments for patients with rare neuromuscular diseases, and the identification of development candidates for further testing.

These forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties, many of which are beyond our control. Known risk factors include, among others: the expected benefits and opportunities related to the collaboration and agreement may not be realized or may take longer to realize than expected due to challenges and uncertainties inherent in product research and development. In particular, the collaboration may not result in any viable treatments suitable for commercialization due to a variety of reasons, including any inability of the parties to perform their commitments and obligations under the agreement; success in preclinical trials does not ensure that later clinical trials will be successful; Sarepta may not be able to execute on its business plans and goals, including meeting its expected or planned regulatory milestones and timelines, clinical development plans, and bringing its product candidates to market, due to a variety of reasons, many of which may be outside of Sareptas control, including possible limitations of company financial and other resources, manufacturing limitations that may not be anticipated or resolved for in a timely manner, regulatory, court or agency decisions, such as decisions by the United States Patent and Trademark Office with respect to patents that cover Sareptas product candidates and the COVID-19 pandemic; even if Sareptas programs result in new commercialized products, Sarepta may not achieve the expected revenues from the sale of such products; and those risks identified under the heading Risk Factors in Sareptas most recent Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2020, and most recent Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) as well as other SEC filings made by the Company which you are encouraged to review.

Any of the foregoing risks could materially and adversely affect the Companys business, results of operations and the trading price of Sareptas common stock. For a detailed description of risks and uncertainties Sarepta faces, you are encouraged to review the SEC filings made by Sarepta. We caution investors not to place considerable reliance on the forward-looking statements contained in this press release. Sarepta does not undertake any obligation to publicly update its forward-looking statements based on events or circumstances after the date hereof, except as required by law.

Sarepta ContactsInvestors: Ian Estepan, iestepan@sarepta.com, +1 (617) 274-4052, Media Contact: Tracy Sorrentino, tsorrentino@sarepta.com, +1 (617) 301-8566

GenEdit ContactsCompany Contact: Kunwoo Lee, Ph.D., GenEdit, Inc., info@genedit.com, +1 (510) 766-2575Media Contact: Jessica Yingling, Ph.D., Little Dog Communications Inc., jessica@litldog.com, +1 (858) 344-8091

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Sarepta Therapeutics and GenEdit Share Progress on Research Collaboration and Announce Agreement to Develop Gene Editing Therapeutics for...