Category Archives: Progress

(St. Louis Public Radio) - Normandys schools will remain under the control of a state-appointed board for three more years, education officials said Tuesday, adding that they are optimistic about students academic progress in the states only unaccredited school district.

We have had steady progress in graduation rate and in academic performance, deputy education commissioner Roger Dorson said at a Missouri State Board of Education meeting. I think it would be an overstatement to tell you anybody believes we have arrived where we want to be, but we certainly are very interested in the progress made.

And later this year, the Normandy Schools Collaborative could be given provisional accreditation, depending on its latest standardized test scores and other metrics, like graduation and attendance, which means the mandatory program that allows students to go to schools in other districts on Normandys dime could be phased out.

Normandy Superintendent Charles Pearson said renewal of state control known officially as the Joint Executive Governing Board is a vote of confidence that the district is making progress.

The thing the community can take heart in is that we are here and we do plan to be around, Pearson said in an interview. And that has been validated by this process.

Shontea Hurtson sends her son to Jefferson Elementary School, where hes finishing second grade. Shes been to one school board meeting and feels a locally elected board would get more involved in the district.

Friends of Hurtson are surprised when they learn she enrolled her child in a Normandy school, but she said her experience has been positive.

Thats where we are, we live in the district, she tells them, and for us its a good fit. At this point.

Still, there are lots of parents that havent stuck around. The district is paying tuition and transportation costs more than $6 million a year for about 550 students to go elsewhere. Twice that many students used the transfer option in 2013, the first year it was available.

But Vic Lenz, vice president of the state education board praised Normandys test scores Tuesday, saying they were up, way up last year. If scores remain the same or improve, he added, this board will be in position in December to present Normandy with provisional accreditation.

Provisionally accredited status could also mean regaining local control of the district, Pearson noted. Yet, both St. Louis Public Schools and Riverview Gardens school districts have state-appointed boards even though their academic performance has improved beyond unaccredited.

Parents have less voice in a school system when they cant elect school board members, according to Peter Franzen, the associate executive director of the Childrens Education Alliance of Missouri, an organization that advocates for parents to have more choice in schools.

It means control is one more step removed from the community, he said.

Republished with permission of St. Louis Public Radio: http://news.stlpublicradio.org/post/normandy-schools-making-progress-remain-under-state-control-another-3-years

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Normandy schools making progress, but remain under state control for another 3 years - St. Louis American

Jose Mourinho has admitted he will rest players in order to place emphasis on the Europa League final. The FC crew analyse Jose Mourinho's change of opinion on the Europa League as Man United prepare to face Ajax in the final. Jose Mourinho felt Man United's climb to the top 4 was too difficult considering their injury issues and fixture congestion.

Ed Woodward believes Manchester United are making "tremendous progress" under Jose Mourinho despite missing out on a place in the Premier League's top four.

Mourinho, who arrived last summer, has won the Community Shield and the EFL Cup and will lead his side in the Europa League final against Ajax next week as they look to seal Champions League qualification.

And executive vice-chairman Woodward said: "We're approaching the end of a compelling season -- our first with Jose Mourinho as manager and one which I believe we've made tremendous progress, both on and off the pitch.

"It has been an incredibly busy season which will see us play 64 matches, including an astonishing nine matches last month. This will be the second-busiest season in our history.

"In the league, we set a new club Premier League record with 25 matches unbeaten within a single season.

"We've won the FA Community Shield and the EFL Cup, and obviously we're delighted to have reached the final of the Europa League, the only major trophy we have never won."

Woodward, speaking on United's third quarter earnings conference call, suggested his positive appraisal was shared by fans, with season tickets for 2017-18 sold out more than three weeks earlier than ever before.

Plans are already afoot for next season, with signings targeted and a preseason tour organised in the United States.

It will include the first Manchester derby played on foreign soil in Houston, Texas.

"Visiting North America will give the team the best possible preparation for the new season, using top-class training facilities and playing at some great stadiums," Woodward added,

"Given all the records we've broken this year, we'll watch closely to see if we break our tour attendance record."

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Woodward: United making great progress - ESPN FC

The U.S. will fall farshort of its Paris climate goals, thanks to the environmental policy rollbacks carried out under the Trump administration, a new analysis suggests. The news comes as President Trump is still considering a formal withdrawal from the Paris climate agreement, with a possible decision expected after the Group of Seven meeting later this month.

But China and India are on track to overachieve on their climate pledges, the analysis adds, meaning their efforts may help make up for shortcomings in the U.S. The study was released Monday by the Climate Action Tracker, a joint project among nonprofit organizations Climate Analytics and NewClimate Institute and climate consulting agency Ecofys that monitors government action on climate change.

[Trump will punt decision on the Paris climate agreement until after the G-7, Spicer says]

China and India are going to slow the global growth in CO2 emissions significantly, the United States actions under President Trump will offset that a bit, but not sufficient to actually stop that slowing of the global growth of emissions, said Bill Hare, CEO of Climate Analytics and a senior scientist with the organization, at a Monday news conference to introduce the new findings.

Under the Paris climate agreement, the U.S. pledged to lower its carbon emissions by 26 to 28 percent below their 2005 levels by the year 2025. To meet that goal, the analysis points out, the federal government would have had to implement the full climate action plan outlined by the Obama administration which involved a variety of carbon-cutting strategies, including the expansion of clean energy, energy efficiency programs and more advanced transportation technology,and most of all,the Clean Power Plan.

As of the end of the Obama administration, the full climate action plan had yet to be fully rolled out. But if all currently implemented environmental policies were to remain in place, including the Clean Power Plan,the analysis suggests that the U.S. would only manage to reduce emissions 10 percent below their 2005 levels by the year 2025. Without the Clean Power Plan, the study puts this number at just 7 percent below 2005 levels.

Underthe Trump administration which has already canceled the implementation of Obamas climate action plan, rolled back a number of environmental regulations and placed a hold on the ongoing lawsuit surrounding the Clean Power Plan the assessment suggests U.S. emissions will likely stop declining altogether and flatline instead.

Coming to this conclusion was a challenge, according to Niklas Hhne, a founding partner at the NewClimate Institute and a professor at Wageningen University in the Netherlands, because the future of U.S. environmental policy under Trump remains so uncertain.

The Trump administration has said that they want to take away and roll back policies that have already been implemented, and the question is whether that will really happen, he noted at the news conference.

The Clean Power Plan, for instance, is facing a likely demise. And the future of other policies, such as the stringent fuel economy standards implemented under the Obama administration, remain even less sure. The Trump administration has reopened a review of the standards at the urging of the automobile manufacturing industry and other critics meaning it may or may not decide to weaken or repeal them at a later date.

But the analysis concludes that if these climate policies are removed, and theyre not adequately compensated for by other local-level efforts an outcome that, for now, appears likely emissions could, in our best estimate, be kind of flat for the next few years, and the U.S. would be on a path definitely to fail to meet its Paris goal, Hhne said.

But the analysis finds that China and India are both on track to exceed their goals under the Paris agreement, meaning they may be able to largely pick up the U.S.s slack.

Under the Paris agreement, China has pledged to peak its carbon dioxide emissions by the year 2030 and increase the non-fossil fuel share of its energy consumption to around 20 percent. And India has pledged to boost its non-fossil fuel energy share to at least 40 percent by 2030. Now, new developments in both countries energy landscapes have put them ahead of the game in terms of meeting their goals.

Largely thanks to a decrease in coal consumption in both countries, the analysis suggests that annualemissions from the two countriescombinedare on track to be about 2 billion to 3 billion tons lower in the year 2030 than previous estimates have indicated. This is more than enough to outweigh the actions of the Trump administration, which the analysis suggests will likely make a difference of about 400 million tons of annualcarbon dioxide emissions by the year 2030compared to what they would have been otherwise.

In India, a new draft energy plan released late last year significantly reduced the countrys plans for additional coal capacity through the year 2027 cutting the plans from about 230 additional gigawatts of coal capacity to just 50 gigawatts. The plan suggests that by 2027, more than half the nations electricity capacity will come from non-fossil fuel sources.

And China the worlds greatest consumer of coal and emitter of greenhouse gases has now seen three consecutive years of declining coal consumption.

It is unclear whether these last three years are merely a pause in a steady growth or whether this is a sign of China having reached its peak in coal consumption, said Yvonne Deng, a managing consultant at Ecofys. But if it is a peak, and if coal consumption continues to decrease at a similar rate, then this could lead to emissions in 2030 being around one to two gigatons lower than our estimate last year. And combining these effects of these two reductions in emissions from decreasing coal use in India and China, we estimate that CO2 emissions in 2030 could reduce by around two to three gigatons.

The actions of other governments particularly the European Union will also remain significant factors in the future of global emissions. And previous analyses have pointed out that even if all participating nations lived up to their pledges under the Paris agreement, it would likely still not be enough to keep global temperatures within 1.5 to 2 degrees of their preindustrial levels, the globally determined climate goal established at Paris. In fact, one recent study indicated that the world is on track to blow past the 1.5-degree goal within the next 15 years.

To prevent this from happening, the Paris agreement encourages nations to continually strengthen and update their own pledges the exact opposite of what is happening in the U.S.

We are always saying that countries need to ramp up their ambition, so increase their ambition, and in the U.S. its going in the wrong direction, Hhne said.

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Trump may not be able to halt the world's climate progress thanks to China and India - Washington Post

At its core, auto racing always was and always will be dangerous. Thats a fact.

Saturday nights scary crash at Kansas Speedway, where Aric Almirola plowed into Danica Patrick and Joey Logano was a sobering reminder of the laws of physics: Momentum equals mass times velocity.

In the case of Almirola, it was an object that weighed 3,450 pounds hitting another object of the same weight at a speed of around 200 miles per hour. That, by its very definition, is a violent impact.

Logano and Patrick were fortunate to be able to walk away.

Almirola was in stable condition after being airlifted from the track to a local hospital. We expect an update on the nature of injuries and his condition sometime later today.

Still, it could have been much worse.

SAFER barriers, HANS devices, and better car construction have all made the sport a lot safer in recent years. But its never going to be completely safe and no one knows that better than the drivers.

Well, I mean, its a dangerous sport, said Brad Keselowski, who finished second to race winner Martin Truex Jr. Always has been, always will be. Sometimes we forget that and maybe take for granted that you see real hard hits and people walk away, and then you see one where someone doesnt, and it puts things back into perspective just how dangerous it can be.

Getty Images | Getty Images

But when an accident happens, the remaining drivers need to refocus and concentrate on what they are doing, which cant be easy.

During the red flag for Almirolas crash, Truex got updates from crew chief Cole Pearn and watched on the tracks big screen as safety workers extricated Almirola from his car.

When I saw him they were getting him out and he was on a stretcher, said Truex of Almirola. I just kind of put my head down and closed my eyes and gave him a few prayers to hope that he was doing good.

The bad news was the fact that Almirola was injured.

The good news is the progress that has been made in safety in recent years.

Back in the days when I worked at National Speed Sport News, Chris Economaki told me that in the 1940s and 50s, it was a given that there would be at least one fatality every week at a racetrack somewhere in America.

Its mind-boggling to think that drivers regularly getting killed was the norm, but it was. Fortunately, that isnt the case these days.

There has not been a fatality in a Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series race since Dale Earnhardt was killed in a last-lap crash in the 2001 Daytona 500. And NASCAR will evaluate what happened with Almirola and work on making the cars safer still.

As a driver watching that, this sport, like Brad (Keselowski) said, is dangerous, said Ryan Blaney. NASCAR has made really good safety improvements over the past 10, 15 years, and theyre always improving, so theyll look at that incident and see what they can do better to prevent that from happening ever again.

And in the meantime, best of luck for a full and speedy recovery for Almirola.

Getty Images | Getty Images

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Aric Almirola crash highlights danger, progress in NASCAR - FOXSports.com

BBC News

Julian Assange: Ecuador 'concerned' over lack of progress BBC News Ecuador has voiced concern over the "serious lack of progress" by the Swedish government in dealing with Wikileaks founder Julian Assange. It said there had been a "serious failure" by Sweden's prosecutor to complete an inquiry into sexual assault ... Ecuador concerned by 'serious lack of progress' in Assange caseRT Ecuador worried over Assange case progressYahoo7 News all 4 news articles »

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Julian Assange: Ecuador 'concerned' over lack of progress - BBC News

Several dozen torch-wielding protesters gathered in Charlottesvilles Lee Park just after 9 p.m. Saturday, chanting You will not replace us, Russia is our friend and Blood and soil.

After about 10 minutes, Charlottesville police arrived at the scene following an altercation between protesters. The crowd quickly dispersed with no further incidents, according to police.

In April, Charlottesville City Council voted to sell the statue of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee that stands in the park, but a judge earlier this month issued an injunction that prevents the city from doing so for six months.

The city's decision has drawn considerable consternation from Southern heritage groups, Republican gubernatorial candidate Corey Stewart and a number of others in Virginia and elsewhere.

Richard Spencer, a University of Virginia graduate and a white nationalist who popularized the term "alt-right," wrote about the events at the statues of Confederate Gens. Thomas Stonewall Jackson and Lee in several Twitter posts.

Right-wing blogger Jason Kessler, who led an unsuccessful attempt to oust City Councilor Wes Bellamy over an effort to remove the Lee statue, also posted about the event. Several photos posted by them appear to correspond to the scene as described by a Daily Progress reporter.

In a statement, Charlottesville Mayor Mike Signer called the event "either profoundly ignorant or was designed to instill fear in our minority populations in a way that hearkens back to the days of the KKK. Either way, as mayor of this city, I want everyone to know this: we reject this intimidation. We are a welcoming city, but such intolerance is not welcome here."

On Twitter, Del. David J. Toscano, D-Charlottesville, called the outrageous protests in Charlottesville this evening by apparent white supremacists unacceptable.

"Whoever these people were, the intolerance and hatred they seek to promote is utterly disgusting and disturbing beyond words," Erich Reimer, chairman of the Charlottesville Republican party, said in a statement. "This is a time for our community to come together on our common values of liberty, equality and justice for all, in stark contrast to them."

Police were unable to confirm exactly who or what groups were at the Lee and Jackson parks on Saturday.

In issuing an injunction blocking Charlottesville from selling the Lee statue, the judge, however, did not apply it to the citys plan to rename the Lee and Jackson parks. The city also will not be barred from initiating a master planning process to redesign the two historical districts where the parks are located.

The plan also includes a concept to build a new memorial in Jackson Park to those who were enslaved in the city.

In filing a lawsuit against the city's decision to sell the Lee statue, the plaintiffs a collection of local residents and the Virginia Division Sons of Confederate Veterans allege the citys vote to remove the statue violates a state law that protects war memorials.

The Monument Fund, a collection of the plaintiffs in the case, disavowed the demonstration and said it was not involved in it.

Elliott Harding, an attorney who is involved with the group and the litigants in the case against the city, confirmed in a text message that a statement posted from the Facebook page Save the Robert E. Lee Statue was issued by associates of The Monument Fund.

"Neither Save the Robert E. Lee Statue nor The Monument Fund were in any way involved in these events and only learned of them though media reports," the statement said.

"We remain committed to preserving the Robert E. Lee Monument in its park through the legal process in the courts because of its historic and artistic value.

"We soundly and completely reject racism, white supremacy, and any other identity based groups that preach division and hate no matter which side of the issue they happen to support."

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Torch-wielding protesters gather at Lee Park | Local | dailyprogress ... - The Daily Progress

MIAMI He still has a good ways to go just to raise his average to the Mendoza Line (.200), but Dansby Swanson has shown some encouraging signs recently since the Braves high-profile rookie adjusted his batting stance and worked on a more consistent approach.

Swanson had a two-out, two-strike RBI single Saturday that drove in the Braves second run in a 3-1 win against the Marlins, after collecting a single and walk in each of the previous three games.

It was a big two-strike at-bat for an RBI, a tough pitch on a hit-and-run, Braves manager Brian Snitker said. It was a great at-bat by him. Hes getting there. I mean, hes doing some things and hes fine.

Swanson entered Sundays series finale with a .169 average that still was the seventh-lowest among major league qualifiers and a .479 OPS that was the fifth-lowest. But he had raised both numbers significantly in the past few weeks, since his numbers cratered to a season-low .125 average and .341 OPS on April 21.

He reached base in 15 of 16 games since then before Sunday, totaling 12 hits and 11 walks for a .348 on-base percentage in that span.

I think the biggest thing is just consistently good at-bats now, Swanson said. I feel real clear on what Im trying to do at the plate and trying to execute as best as I can. You cant control it after you hit it. You hit it and you cant control what happens after that.

In the first weeks of the season he had one of the highest line-drive rates on the team and a paltry batting average on balls in play two signs of a player not getting many breaks to go his way.

Definitely nice to see Dansby do that, Braves catcher Tyler Flowers said of the rookie shortstops two-out RBI single Saturday. Hes done an amazing job just with his confidence throughout this season (thats been) full of remarkable bad luck. Its impressive, just the professionalism and the maturity hes shown throughout this season. So its nice to see him rewarded with something in the big situation.

Swanson had another tough-luck at-bat in his first time up Sunday a line-drive to left field in the second inning that Marlins outfielder Marcell Ozuna robbed of a hit with a running, shoe-string catch.

In his past eight games before Sunday, Swanson was 6-for-25 (.240) with four RBIs, seven walks and a .394 OBP. Not scintillating, but certainly a lot better than the first 15 games of the season.

Hes going to hang in there and keep grinding and keep playing, Snitker said. Hes going to get better for everything hes been going through its going to do nothing but make him better.

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Dansby Swanson making slow but steady progress lately - Atlanta Journal Constitution

EMERSON, Ga. - Nic Lynch has shown off his improved game at the Nike EYBL this weekend. He has a couple Pac-12 schools vying for his commitment.

One of the more improved centers on the west in 2018 has been Seattle Preps Nic Lynch.

The 6-foot-10, 255-pound center made the move to Seattle Rotary this spring and has shown progress with his skill set and mobility. Hes getting up and down the court better, rebounding his area and scoring inside with his size and hook shot.

I feel like my game is coming along really well, Lynch said. I just switched to the EYBL this year, which has helped me a lot.

Im shooting the ball well from 15 to 17 feet. Im rebounding well against more athletic guys. I want to keep expanding my range, footwork and athleticism.

Lynch holds offers from Washington, Washington State, Columbia and Toledo, with the Huskies offer recently being reaffirmed by the new staff.

http://www.scout.com/player/201829-nic-lynch

I had one from (Lorenzo) Romar but I hadnt heard from the new staff yet, Lynch said. It felt good. They wanted coach (Mike) Hopkins to see me play first.

Its my hometown school, I watch them a lot and go to almost every game; I have season tickets. I live five minutes away from the arena and know almost everything about them.

The rising senior also knows a lot about his other local Pac-12 offer in Washington State.

Theyre in-state, Pac-12, I see them a lot on TV and theyre getting better, said Lynch.

Lynch has no favorites at this point but has an idea of when he wants to make a decision.

My options are still pretty open so well see what happens, he said. Im going to let AAU play out and then Ill take visits late August, early September at the start of the school year. Ill make a decision around that time.

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EYBL: 2018 Seattle center Nic Lynch showing progress, adding offers - Scout

Wisconsin Public Radio News

Nutritionist Worries New Flexible School Lunch Standards Would Roll Back Progress Wisconsin Public Radio News Former First Lady Michelle Obama's 2010 school lunch reforms required that kind of change with sweeping new standards. Schools were required to serve more fruits and vegetables, whole grains instead of refined grains, and cut back on sodium content. and more »

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Nutritionist Worries New Flexible School Lunch Standards Would Roll Back Progress - Wisconsin Public Radio News

MONTMELO, Spain (AP) Its only seventh place in qualifying, and Fernando Alonso will take it.

Take it, and cling to it, in hope that his season has hit bottom and is looking up.

Alonso had his best day behind the wheel of his trouble-prone McLaren on Saturday in qualifying for the Spanish Grand Prix, finally giving his Formula One team some relief and his home Spanish fans a reason to cheer.

Alonso finished 1.9 seconds slower than pole winner Lewis Hamilton, but he defied expectations by beating out all the other teams that cant compete with Hamiltons Mercedes and challengers Ferrari and Red Bull.

Alonso called seventh place a gift, considering his previous best qualification was 12th place in Australia.

We knew we needed to put the perfect lap together, he said. Today was the one of those days when everything went well.

The two-time world champion is having the most frustrating season of his long career. Problems with the McLarens Honda engine kept him from finishing the first three races, and that only got more embarrassing when his car broke down in the formation lap of the last grand prix in Russia.

Things didnt appear close to improving back home.

Despite McLaren and Honda having two weeks to find some desperately needed fixes, Alonsos car spouted smoke and gushed fluid in a breakdown on the very first lap of practice on Friday.

That debacle came a day after Alonso gave McLaren an ultimatum of six months to give him a car with a chance of winning a championship.

So forecasts were high that the Spaniard would endure more torment come qualifying.

Instead, Alonso went from surprise to surprise, making the cut from the first session that eliminated the slowest five drivers, then surviving the second cut to reach the remaining 10 drivers for the first time this season. He topped it off by clocking a better lap than Force India pair Sergio Perez and Esteban Icon and Williams Felipe Massa.

Hamilton took note of Alonsos improvement, saying Its fantastic for McLaren and Honda to get into the top 10. It shows progress.

Alonso marked a cautiously optimistic tone about the race on Sunday, when his car will have a much tougher test of its more than questionable reliability.

Obviously, I dont have 100 percent confidence. But I am pretty sure we keep learning from the things that are happening to the car, Alonso said. I have a good feeling for tomorrow.

He spoke alongside team director Eric Boullier and Honda F1 boss Yusuke Hasegawa, both looking relieved to not have to again explain why their cars have taken a step back. The seasons start is in risk of damaging the reputation of the once proud McLaren, which has 12 driver titles and eight constructor titles to its name.

Alonsos last race win, his 32nd, came here at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya in 2013 while driving for Ferrari. With its rougher surface and tricky curves, the track gives slower cars like his McLaren a fighting chance.

If his car holds up, Alonso said he will need to use every bit of his veteran wiles to keep McLaren in the points. He marked the importance of a good start in order to protect his position.

The points is the main target, he said. Seventh place maybe seems too good.

Regardless of the outcome on Sunday, Alonso will then take a break from F1 to try his luck at the Indianapolis 500.

The decision to switch competitions will mean he misses F1s Monaco GP this month, but Alonso said he had zero regrets since Mercedes, Ferrari, and Red Bull are still out of reach.

I will race the Indy 500, one of the biggest races in the world, Alonso said. There will be six cars (in F1) that will be unbeatable for the next few races. To fight for seventh place in Monaco? No thanks.

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Alonso & McLaren's troubled F1 car finally shows progress - FOXSports.com