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Fredonia moves forward with health initiative | News, Sports, Jobs

Fredonia moves forward with health initiative | News, Sports, Jobs
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Eric Kussin, founder of #SameHere, speaks to the Fredonia College Board at their past assembly.

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Earlier this 12 months, Fredonia High University Principal Darrin Paschke pointed out seeking to get packages in the college to assist learners out in regard to their psychological health. Immediately after a recent in-assistance day at the university, just one these kinds of basis may possibly see its way into the Fredonia school district in the long run.

Spearheaded by Fredonia’s Chief Officer for Curriculum and Human Means Margie Wright, reps from the #SameHere Movement spoke to college and staff at the university, sharing who they are and what they’re about. Wright stated representatives from #SameHere, including founder Eric Kussin, held roundtables with the workers all as a result of the in-services working day, and the require for this arrives from basic college wellness.

“It came about with the concept of personnel mental wellness, student mental wellness, and having the stigmas out of factors,” she reported. “As directors, oftentimes there’s that wanting toward us to assistance and we know we want to, require to, but we’re not geared up to either.”

Kussin and #SameHere Director of Universities David Hymowitz, equally of whom were being at Fredonia university, each and every have unique backgrounds as to how they obtained there. Hymowitz is a accredited social worker, providing him a classic route to a foundation like this, but Kussin’s route was different. He under no circumstances envisioned himself performing in the psychological well being field, and he acknowledges he is not a psychological wellness expert, but his concept and initiative are still capable of encouraging men and women.

“My mind and my overall body strike a brick wall,” mentioned Kussin. “I successfully stopped currently being a individual for two and a 50 percent years. … I in the long run ended up mastering about encounters I experienced as a child… and how the accumulation of what I went by way of about that time built up inside of me… So I was fortuitous sufficient to learn healing modalities.”

From there, using his track record working for skilled sporting activities groups, Kussin designed connections to develop #SameHere, with individuals ready to share stories and talking about what took place to folks, not where by they’re heading.

“Often when we converse about mental overall health and see companies appear into educational institutions, workplaces, and athletics teams to talk about this topic, we lead with terms like melancholy, stress, and psychological ailment,” reported Kussin. “What that does is turns off 80{cfdf3f5372635aeb15fd3e2aecc7cb5d7150695e02bd72e0a44f1581164ad809} of the place. That {cfdf3f5372635aeb15fd3e2aecc7cb5d7150695e02bd72e0a44f1581164ad809} of the home suggests they are not in that class. Our message at #SameHere is these items happen to not one in five of us, but 5 in five of us who go as a result of difficult everyday living occasions.”

Kussin praised Wright and Fredonia for bringing #SameHere in to satisfy with the instructors 1st, since of how educational facilities have dealt with mental health and fitness in the earlier. Instead of supplying shows on certain matters, offering a qualifications of how existence impacts folks and where by that qualified prospects, the group staying spoken to is fewer sectioned off. Kussin stated he’s seeking ahead to coming back again to Fredonia in the foreseeable future.

“I got a chance to get the job done with the instructors now,” said Kussin. “I’m hunting ahead to coming again and working with college students, operating with mothers and fathers, and applying technologies we have to connect everyone else by means of applications. … Making a group that is linked by means of a information aspect of issues.”

Fredonia Superintendent Dr. Bradley Zilliox explained the faculty weighed Kussin’s presentation and basis through a pair distinctive perspectives, including exactly where the directors are in this and how they can help themselves, and how they’ll be equipped to proficiently enable students by way of problems they come upon.

“I like the word system,” Zilliox explained. “This is the platform we’re likely to work from on the two levels. … We glance forward to functioning jointly and we just can’t wait to have you in entrance of our learners.”

School board President Brian Aldrich likened psychological overall health instruction to the instruction of all other topics the school teaches, declaring it’s just as vital to educate college students in this classification. “We train literature, we educate looking through, we train mathematics and social sciences,” mentioned Aldrich. “And but, this is sort of a core factor that’s really advantageous.”

For far more info about #SameHere and specifically their college software, take a look at https://samehereglobal.org/samehere-universities/.

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What is today’s news? | Friday, February 25, 2022

What is today’s news? | Friday, February 25, 2022

While the conflict between Russia and Ukraine carries on to unfold, its outcomes are currently remaining felt across the globe.

Here is a roundup of posts to enable continue to keep you knowledgeable on the markets, fertilizer sector, trade procedure, and a lot more.

Russia and Ukraine

Rebuilding resilience has the USTR very chaotic these days, in accordance to U.S. Trade Representative’s Ambassador Katharine Tai. “The pandemic was a major shock to the (trade) process,” Tai suggests. “And, what we are seeing involving Russia and Ukraine is yet another shock to the process.”

The U.S. has skilled pandemics, organic disasters, and war prior to, but this brings us to a want for innovation from our stakeholders and financial state, the U.S. trade official claims.

As Russia kilos Ukraine’s funds Friday, rushing tankers and troopers toward toppling the authorities in Kyiv (Kiev), civilians are scattering for shelter, corporations are shutting down, and general public transportation is scarce. 

Iurii Mykhailov, a Kyiv resident and Productive Farming contributor, is reporting from within the traces of war.

Fertilizer

Editor Madelyn Ostendorf handles the lates on the fertilizer industry.

Even though the U.S. imports most of its potash from Canada, a state which generates 39{cfdf3f5372635aeb15fd3e2aecc7cb5d7150695e02bd72e0a44f1581164ad809} of potash globally, we also get 7.8{cfdf3f5372635aeb15fd3e2aecc7cb5d7150695e02bd72e0a44f1581164ad809} from Russia. Because it is this kind of a main player in the worldwide marketplace, sanctions on Russia have a ripple outcome on markets, claims Jason Troendle, director of industry intelligence and investigation at The Fertilizer Institute.

The Russian invasion of Ukraine this 7 days may drive up the expenditures of farm fertilizers globally — which virtually quadrupled last yr in rate in the United States and continue to be high — and offers an opportunity for unscrupulous corporations to artificially inflate these prices further more, according to U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack.

Markets

Editor Laurie Bedord interviews Angie Setzer, co-founder of Consus, LLC, about the circumstance in Ukraine and its brief- and prolonged-phrase impacts on agriculture.

“Today transformed a lot of items,” Setzer claims of yesterday’s invasion of Ukraine by Russia. “We have develop into a different world, and it is unattainable not to imagine of all the implications this is acquiring and could have on our state. The international markets are now reflecting that.”

Crops

Editor Gil Gullickson writes about scheduling for herbicides this year.

Communicate with your chemical retailer. Examine weed control guides compiled by your community land-grant universities. And above all, have a system B or even prepare C. Those people are approaches farmers can deal with looming 2022 herbicide shortages, claims Monthly bill Johnson, Purdue University Extension weed expert.

It’s a challenging scenario, considering that aged standby substances are most impacted by shortages.

Livestock

A person cow can consume 1 to  2 two gallons of drinking water for each 100 lbs . of human body body weight each working day. Multiply that in the incredibly hot summer months months or if the cow is lactating. It is important to have a big enough watering tank so just about every animal can get the h2o it requires. 

Editor Jodi Henke interviews Brad White, a professor at the University of Veterinary Drugs at Kansas Point out College and director of the Beef Cattle Institute, about this topic.

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Fantasy Baseball Today: H2H Categories industry mock draft plus updating lockout and other news

Fantasy Baseball Today: H2H Categories industry mock draft plus updating lockout and other news

Happy Thursday, everyone! The clock is ticking for the MLB and the MLB Players Association to come to an agreement after meeting for the third straight day on Wednesday in Jupiter, FL. We’ll have an update with more on the ongoing negotiations and what they could mean for the regular season below. But the focus of today’s newsletter will be Wednesday’s industry mock draft — key takeaways from the mock that included the entire Fantasy Baseball Today team — Scott White, Frank Stampfl and Chris Towers.

What I found most interesting about this mock was how much impact the scoring and format had on the draft results. This was our first mock with this specific scoring format — head-to-head and categories — and it had a major impact on where players went. For starters, finding stolen bases are tackles with an entirely different approach. 

While it can be argued that stolen bases are made even more important in this format, that may only be true for players who steal a lot of bases rather than those who accumulate between 10-15 over the course of a season. The latter are a lot more valuable in Roto scoring leagues. Scott has advocated for a “zero-stolen base” strategy in 2022 — which is not exactly as it sounds — and a lot more like the “zero RB” counterpart we’ve seen used in Fantasy Football. In a H2H categories format, punting the steals category can pay major dividends — specifically if you build out a strong pitching staff. 

We’ll have a lot more on the mock draft below, but first, let’s get to some news and notes on the lockout and more. 

And of course, as always, you can follow to make sure you get the latest episodes of Fantasy Baseball Today right when they drop on Apple and Spotify. 

Lockout update

According to Evan Drellich of The Athletic, a MLB spokesperson said Wednesday that regular season games will be canceled if an agreement on a new Collective Bargaining Agreement isn’t reached by Feb. 28. That gives us just four more days for the two sides to come to an agreement before we have to start worrying about losing games. For a more detailed look at how this impending decision and others will impact the Fantasy Baseball season, your drafts and more, be sure to check back on the Fantasy Baseball main page later today where Towers will be providing a detailed lockout primer. 

Per the spokesperson, “A deadline is a deadline… Missed games are missed games. Salary will not be paid for those games.” 

The expectation is that the MLB doesn’t intend to rewrite the schedule and would simply pick up whenever games begin. The owners seem prepared to extend the lockout into March, which would cancel early-season games. Both sides remain far apart in negotiations on a number of key issues, namely the major-league minimum salary, pre-arbitration bonus pools, MLB Draft lottery slots and competitive balance tax (CBT) thresholds.

Other news and notes

  • Astros SP Lance McCullers Jr. (forearm) is “behind” in his recovery from a forearm strain that he sustained during the 2021 postseason. Per McCullers, while he has resumed throwing, he has yet to throw off a mound. 
  • Rangers 3B prospect Josh Jung underwent surgery on Wednesday to repair a torn labrum in his left shoulder. This is terrible news considering Jung was one of the most pro-ready prospects in the game and had a chance to make the opening day roster after batting .326/.398/.592 batting line with 19 homers in 78 games last year between his time at Double-A Frisco and Triple-A Round Rock.

Key takeaways from Scott

  • Kyle Tucker, who’s normally a borderline first-rounder, slipped to the middle of Round 2, behind notables like Freddie Freeman, Ozzie Albies, Luis Robert and Jacob deGrom. Apparently, others agree that his 12-15 steals don’t have the same impact a week at a time as they do over a full season in Roto.
  • Liam Hendriks and Josh Hader continue to set a new standard for how early high-end relievers should go, bookending Round 4 in this draft. Interestingly, Raisel Iglesias got stapled to them this time, going with the first pick of Round 5, which then led to Ryan Pressly and Edwin Diaz going a couple picks later. I am not in favor.
  • All of those reliever picks likely contributed to Francisco Lindor slipping to Round 7, which I think is more appropriate than Round 4, where he normally goes. Tim Anderson slid along with him.
  • For more takeaways from Scott and the full draft results, check out the mock recap.

More takeaways

  • Chris brought up an excellent point on the live YouTube recap of the draft: If you’re concerned about drafting a player with an injury history, the shallower rosters and H2H format make supposed injury-prone players a little less scary.
  • Angels DH/SP Shohei Ohtani went off the board at No. 9 overall and a case can be made that he should be the No. 1 overall pick in this format because you can set him in your lineups every day and get his stats as both a pitcher and hitter.
  • Frank was actively looking to avoid the steals category in this format, one of the reasons he avoided Astros OF Kyle Tucker at the end of Round 1. One thing to note if you’re planning to punt steals, it works better in these H2H leagues where there is only one win per week rather than each category tallies a point (EX: 9-1, 8-2). If you’re last in steals, you’re still going to have a chance to win the category in a given week vs. in a Roto scoring format where you’ll finish with the least points in that category.
  • Scott put his money where his mouth is by drafting Orioles OF Cedric Mullins in Round 3. Scott is particularly high on Mullins and leaving every draft with Royals C Salvador Perez, who he ironically regretted not selecting in Round 3.
  • This might be the earliest we’ve EVER seen Towers take a closer. At the end of the fourth round, he selected Brewers RP Josh Hader. We’ve seen him go full drafts without going with a closer, but in this draft, he is rolling with a modified Marmol strategy. This strategy stresses the importance of building a staff with productive relievers. Chris then did something even more unexpected, though in line with his strategy for this specific mock, when he drafted Angels RP Raisel Iglesias right after Hader.

More Draft Prep

  • There are breakouts and sleepers, but what about the players who are being drafted at a notable discount due to recency bias? Those players qualify as post-hype sleepers. Scott’s group of 18 post-hype sleepers includes former top prospects and players with notable upside who the consensus is giving up on far too soon.
  • Towers did an excellent job breaking down why you should be passing on name-brand players with inflated ADPs for these five cheaper alternatives. And then also these five additional value picks.
  • Scott also dove into the best and worst-case scenarios for these 15 potential first-round draft picks. I really enjoyed this one because it gave an excellent perspective on floor vs. ceiling for first-round picks. I’m a believer in prioritizing floor with early-round investments.

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U.S. Maternal Mortality Rate Surged in 2020 | Healthiest Communities Health News

U.S. Maternal Mortality Rate Surged in 2020 | Healthiest Communities Health News

The amount of maternal mortality in the U.S. enhanced by approximately 20{cfdf3f5372635aeb15fd3e2aecc7cb5d7150695e02bd72e0a44f1581164ad809} from 2019 to 2020 in a opportunity indication of the COVID-19 pandemic’s impression on maternal wellness results.

In complete, 861 women of all ages in 2020 reportedly died either throughout or within just 42 times of the finish of their being pregnant, in contrast with 754 ladies in 2019 and 658 in 2018.

The report’s findings are centered on information gathered from the CDC’s Nationwide Essential Studies Procedure, and encompass maternal deaths connected to a pregnancy or its management. Deaths from accidental or incidental leads to are not bundled.

Maternal mortality rates in 2020 enhanced throughout all age and racial groups in the report, with the over-all surge fueled closely by a spike in the costs for both of those Hispanic and Black females. Black gals experienced the optimum maternal mortality amount of the 3 racial or ethnic teams involved in the report, at 55.3 deaths for each individual 100,000 are living births. That price was just about a few periods larger than the 19.1 fatalities per 100,000 births among the white girls – a bigger disparity than in 2019 – and far more than three times greater than the charge of 18.2 deaths per 100,000 amid Hispanic women.

Nonetheless the maternal loss of life price amongst Hispanic women of all ages saw the most significant enhance from 2019 to 2020, soaring by 44{cfdf3f5372635aeb15fd3e2aecc7cb5d7150695e02bd72e0a44f1581164ad809} more than that year in contrast with improves of 26{cfdf3f5372635aeb15fd3e2aecc7cb5d7150695e02bd72e0a44f1581164ad809} among Black gals and 7{cfdf3f5372635aeb15fd3e2aecc7cb5d7150695e02bd72e0a44f1581164ad809} between white women.

By age, women 40 and older had both equally the greatest mortality price and the biggest raise from 2019. The maternal mortality rate for ladies 40 and older was 107.9 fatalities for each 100,000 reside births in 2020, a 43{cfdf3f5372635aeb15fd3e2aecc7cb5d7150695e02bd72e0a44f1581164ad809} boost from 2019 and 7.8 moments increased than the rate of 13.8 for each 100,000 are living births for gals below the age of 25.

For years, the U.S. has experienced what can only be explained as a bad record in maternal health outcomes when compared with other wealthy nations. A 2020 analysis by The Commonwealth Fund located that the 2018 U.S. maternal mortality charge of 17.4 deaths for every 100,000 are living births was extra than double the latest charges of a greater part of other created nations around the world examined.

Tracking data from the CDC reveals 82 fatalities between pregnant women of all ages with the condition reportedly transpired in 2020. And although the most recent figures do not delineate irrespective of whether deaths transpired in connection with COVID-19, they appear amid issue about both of those the direct and oblique health and fitness hazards the COVID-19 pandemic has posed for expecting ladies.

The CDC warns that expecting or lately expecting people today are extra probable to develop into severely sick from COVID-19. A CDC analyze revealed in November and centered on Mississippi also identified a bigger mortality level amid ladies with a coronavirus infection for the duration of being pregnant – none of whom had been completely vaccinated – compared with girls of reproductive age who had a coronavirus infection.

“When we think about all of the stressors that a human being felt even prior to the pandemic, incorporating all of these other matters on major, it is no shock that we see an additive impact of the pandemic creating feelings of unsafety,” states Kristina Wint, senior software supervisor for reproductive and maternal wellbeing and wellness at the Affiliation of Maternal and Kid Overall health Packages. “Many folks think that televisits is a little something that has been filling in the gaps, and it definitely has, but they are just a Band-Support on a broader and even bigger concern on how (we can) be certain that people are ready to obtain the care that they need to have.”

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Nutson’s Weekly Auto News Wrap-up: February 20, 2022

Nutson’s Weekly Auto News Wrap-up: February 20, 2022


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AUTO CENTRAL CHICAGO – February 20, 2022; Every Sunday Larry Nutson, The Chicago Car Guy and Executive Producer, with able assistance from senior editor Thom Cannell from The Auto Channel Michigan Bureau, compile The Auto Channel’s “take” on this past week’s automotive news, condensed into easy to digest news Nuggets.

LEARN MORE: Full versions of today’s news nuggets along with thousands of pages of relevant news and opinions, information stored in a million page library published and indexed on The Auto Channel during the past 25 years. Complete information can be found by copying a bold headline and then inserting into any Site Search Box.

Nutson’s Automotive News Wrap-up – Week Ending February 20, 2022 Below are the past week’s important, relevant, semi-secret, or snappy automotive news, opinions and insider back stories presented as
expertly crafted easy-to-understand automotive universe news nuggets.

* Was the Super Bowl game better than the commercials? There were no fewer than five electric vehicle commercials broadcast during the game. The average Super Bowl spot this year cost a record $6.5 million for 30 seconds, so it’s telling that General Motors, BMW, Kia, and Polestar have gone all in on ads featuring electric cars and SUVs. Nissan, one of the few car companies that chose not to solely advertise an EV, gave its electric SUV Ariya a brief cameo.

* U.S.DoE factoid of the week: The United States imports many of the minerals used in EV batteries, such as cobalt, graphite, lithium, manganese, and nickel, with lithium being the predominant mineral. Although use of these minerals is not restricted to battery production for EVs, they are nonetheless important for meeting the increasing demand for EV production. From 2016-2019, over 90{cfdf3f5372635aeb15fd3e2aecc7cb5d7150695e02bd72e0a44f1581164ad809} of the lithium imported to the United States came from Argentina (55{cfdf3f5372635aeb15fd3e2aecc7cb5d7150695e02bd72e0a44f1581164ad809}) and Chile (36{cfdf3f5372635aeb15fd3e2aecc7cb5d7150695e02bd72e0a44f1581164ad809}). During this same time period, Gabon produced 69{cfdf3f5372635aeb15fd3e2aecc7cb5d7150695e02bd72e0a44f1581164ad809} of the manganese imported to the United States, while imports of cobalt, graphite and nickel were not as heavily dependent on a single country. In terms of U.S. net import reliance, 100{cfdf3f5372635aeb15fd3e2aecc7cb5d7150695e02bd72e0a44f1581164ad809} of graphite and manganese was imported, 76{cfdf3f5372635aeb15fd3e2aecc7cb5d7150695e02bd72e0a44f1581164ad809} of cobalt was imported, and about 50{cfdf3f5372635aeb15fd3e2aecc7cb5d7150695e02bd72e0a44f1581164ad809} of lithium and nickel was imported in 2020.

* Quote of the week: “We urge investors to dial-back expectations of autonomous car/robotaxi commercialization at scale over the next 5 years at least.” Morgan Stanley’s Adam Jonas on the hype surrounding self-driving vehicles. Hat tip to Phil LeBeau of NBC News.

* Reuters reports that Ontario and Windsor Canada authorities cleared out truckers blockading the Ambassador Bridge between Windsor and Detroit, reopening a critical link in the North American auto manufacturing supply chain. Auto plants that shut down because parts could not move across the bridge should be able to reopen, though Toyota and Honda said production will be curtailed this week.

* The world’s power grids were not designed to replace the energy for transportation that is currently supplied by petroleum. In Europe, utilities and charging startups are behind in a race to deploy smart charging technology that can automatically program EVs to pull current from the grid at off-peak hours, and return electrons to the grid if demand from homes and workplaces spikes. A study by Ernst and Young warns Europe’s grid faces an “enormous challenge” if Europeans actually hit an EU goal to deploy 130 million EVs by 2035. This news from Reuters.

* MotorTrend announced that the Porsche 911 GT3 has been named MotorTrend’s 2022 Performance Vehicle of the Year. MotorTrend says the competition was fierce for this inaugural award, with the GT3 besting twenty-one other contenders including the Lamborghini Huracán STO and the Mercedes-AMG GT Black Series.

* The latest Kelley Blue Book Brand Watch Report for Q4 2021 is out. The year closed out with a new leader in non-luxury brand consideration, with Ford – fueled by hot new products and more plentiful inventory – dethroning longtime leader Toyota, which previously held the top spot for nearly four years straight. Among luxury shoppers, Lexus eked past BMW as the most-considered brand, while Tesla remained hot on their heels.

* GM plans to resume production of the Chevrolet Bolt EV and larger Bolt EUV on April 4 after many months of production stoppage. It is the longest-known production stoppage for a safety defect in GM’s history. Production was stopped in August as GM gave priority to provide new batteries to recalled customer-owned Bolts. GM recalled more than 140,000 Bolts to replace battery modules after a series of fires.

* State Farm and Ford announced the launch of Drive Safe & Save Connected Car usage-based insurance (UBI) for customers with eligible connected Ford or Lincoln vehicles. State Farm customers with eligible connected vehicles can opt into the State Farm UBI program, Drive Safe & Save, which adjusts premiums to an individual vehicle’s mileage and customer driving behavior. State Farm will debut Drive Safe & Save Connected Car in Alaska, Idaho, Montana and Oregon, for policies effective on or after Feb. 27, 2022, followed by a rollout across more states (excluding Calif., Mass. and R.I.). You will need to let big brother watch over you for this program.

* Michigan U.S. Rep. Brenda Lawrence sent a letter signed by 65 other House members urging the Department of Transportation to update safety standards to require the use of accurate female crash test dummies. There is no crash test dummy that represents the average female body used in car safety testing, despite women making up more than half of all licensed U.S. drivers. Experts say that may contribute to a disparity in crash outcomes: Women get in fewer car accidents than men. But when they do, they’re up to 73{cfdf3f5372635aeb15fd3e2aecc7cb5d7150695e02bd72e0a44f1581164ad809} more likely to be injured and 28{cfdf3f5372635aeb15fd3e2aecc7cb5d7150695e02bd72e0a44f1581164ad809} more likely to die, according to data from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety.

* Joe White at Reuters shared that in a Reddit chat covered by Automotive News VW Chairman Herbert Diess suggests VW is considering a new electric station wagon derived from the Space Vizzion concept (attention shooting-brake obsessed auto writers,) and the CEO responded to a question about an electric VW pickup truck for the United States with an enthusiastic “Good idea!” VW has been shut out of the U.S. pickup market in part because of the ancient 25{cfdf3f5372635aeb15fd3e2aecc7cb5d7150695e02bd72e0a44f1581164ad809} “chicken tariff” the U.S. imposes on imported trucks, a legacy of a 1960s U.S.-Europe trade war. The success of Ford’s compact Maverick compact (Euro-sized) pickup and the huge interest in Tesla’s Cybertruck and the electric F-150 must be getting attention in Wolfsburg. And we add, VW owns Navistar which owns the international Harvester name.

* Diess also said the Beetle might return in an all-electric version using VW’s scalable MEB platform. Ironically, when the new Beetle appeared as the Concept 1 back in 1994 the original design idea by J Mays and Freeman Thomas was for it to be an all-electric car. But, that never happened.

* PPG, the paint company, said 67{cfdf3f5372635aeb15fd3e2aecc7cb5d7150695e02bd72e0a44f1581164ad809} of the vehicles sold in 2021 were white, black or grey. The share of red cars decreased by 1 percentage point to just 7{cfdf3f5372635aeb15fd3e2aecc7cb5d7150695e02bd72e0a44f1581164ad809}. PPG tried to put a happy face on this, saying two-tone paint jobs are rising in popularity. A lot of color choice has to do with what dealers order for inventory that they know they can sell easily. Will we see more color variety on the road when more new vehicle buyers place orders with an automaker?

* A cargo ship carrying about 3,965 Volkswagen Group vehicles—VW, Audi, Porsche, Bentley and Lamborghini, destined for North America was abandoned in the Atlantic about 1,000 miles off the coast of Portugal after a fire broke out in the hold. The 650-foot-long Felicity Ace has a crew of 22 that have all been rescued safely.

* Subaru climbed two spots to first place in Consumer Reports’ annual ranking of the most well-performing, safe and reliable automotive brands. The rest of the top ten are: Mazda, BMW, Honda, Lexus, Audi, Porsche, Mini, Toyota and Infiniti. The Ford Mustang Mach-E was selected by the group as one of its Top Picks, climbing ahead of Tesla. See more details here: https://www.consumerreports.org/cars-best-cars-top-picks-2022/

* Blinded by the light no more. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration issued a final rule allowing “adaptive driving beam headlights” on new vehicles. It will go into effect when published in the Federal Register in the next few days. The headlights, commonly used in Europe, have LED lamps that can focus beams on darkness such as the driver’s lane and areas along the roadside. They also lower the intensity of the light beams if there’s oncoming traffic. Camera sensors and computers help determine where the light should go.

* Dodge is putting its money where its parts are when it comes to Direct Connection, the brand’s exclusive new source of factory-backed performance parts. The Direct Connection Contingency Program will offer Dodge Challenger Mopar Drag Pak racers $10,000 to win at National Hot Rod Association (NHRA) Factory Stock Showdown and National Muscle Car Association (NMCA) Factory Super Cars events, giving Drag Pak competitors multiple shots at taking home a five-figure winner’s purse during the 2022 season. The $10,000 purse, the largest available contingency award from a manufacturer in both NHRA Factory Stock Showdown and NMCA Super Cars classes, will be up for grabs for Drag Pak drivers at 14 total events. The NHRA Factory Stock Showdown schedule includes eight stops during the 2022 season, while NMCA Factory Super Cars will feature a slate of six races.

* NASCAR will begin a new season — and a new era — today, Sunday February 20, at the 2022 Daytona 500. The race will be the first full event for the new Next Gen cars. The race is sold out. The stands are full There are no covid restrictions and limits. Forty cars will roll onto the starting grid for the 64th edition of the Great American Race. Reigning Cup Series champion Kyle Larson earned the pole position in single-car qualifying. The Hendrick Motorsports driver turned a 49.680-second lap (181.159 mph average speed) on Daytona’s 2.5-mile superspeedway oval.

* Autoweek paid tribute to Bill Robinson, whose career spanned a time of remarkable change, and whose influence extended beyond his own work. His story shows how people still make a difference in an industry that is heavily focused on hardware. Robinson began his career as an automotive designer in 1948, went on to work on the classic Packards of the 1950s. Later, he became a teacher at the College for Creative Studies, the automotive design school in Detroit. At CCS, Robinson was a mentor to a generation of aspiring designers who have since become leaders in the industry, including Ralph Gilles of Stellantis and Richard Vaughan of Rivian. Robinson died this week at 96.

* Autoweek also sadly reports Kevin Olson, a two-time USAC National Midget Champion, was killed in a car crash on February 11 in Janesville, Wisconsin. The head-on crash also critically injured wife Nancy, according to multiple reports. Olson, 70, had retired from racing in 2020, according to the Gazette, in Janesville. Olson, who resided in Evansville, Wisconsin, is a member of both the United States Auto Club (USAC) Hall of Fame and the National Midget Auto Racing Hall of Fame. He began his career on the national stage in a USAC National Midget race in 1972 at Springfield (Ill.) Speedway. His final national USAC National Midget race was 2014 at Sun Prairie, Wisconsin.

Stay safe. Be Well.

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February 17 news on the Ukraine-Russia border crisis

February 17 news on the Ukraine-Russia border crisis

The Senate late Thursday permitted a symbolic resolution condemning Russia following failing to move a binding offer of sanctions, exhibiting the divisions that continue to be more than Washington’s response to the Russia-Ukraine crisis even as users from both equally events try to present a unified front. 

The resolution, which nearly did not make it to the Senate floor before a week-extended recess immediately after Sen. Rand Paul, a Republican from Kentucky, objected to it, condemns Russia for its aggressive actions in direction of Ukraine.

Paul objected since the first draft of the resolution did not include crystal clear language making certain nothing in the resolution could be construed as an authorization of drive or an authorization to use troops, he instructed CNN.

Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, who spearheaded the resolution with Republican Sen. Rob Portman, explained the disagreements from the two Republicans and Democrats had been fixed Thursday night just before the very last collection of Senate votes forward of the recess, which permitted the resolution to go by voice vote before the Senate gaveled out for the 7 days.

Even though the resolution is a bipartisan declaration in opposition to Russia’s actions in direction of Ukraine, the action is a considerably cry from where by Republicans and Democrats began weeks ago with talks of a bipartisan Russia sanctions monthly bill. The sanctions bill, lots of senators believed, would have sent a powerful and tangible information to Russian President Vladimir Putin that his actions toward Ukraine would have true, economic implications. 

But the sanctions monthly bill stalled immediately after Republicans and Democrats could not agree on many vital factors such as irrespective of whether to impose sanctions just before a Russian invasion of Ukraine and how to tackle the controversial Nord Stream 2 pipeline.

Sen. Jim Risch, Position Member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, killed the very last shreds of hope remaining for a bipartisan settlement on sanctions earlier in the 7 days when he released his Republican-only Russia sanctions bill, the In no way Yielding Europe’s Territory (NYET) Act.

Previously Thursday: President Biden warned that he thought an attack would materialize “in the following numerous days.”

Secretary of State Antony Blinken produced a prevent at the UN Stability Council before heading to Munich to warn them that Russia was laying the groundwork to justify beginning a war and getting ready to start an assault on Ukraine in the coming times.

The Democratic The vast majority Whip Dick Durbin stated Thursday that there have been no discussions of bringing the Senate back from their scheduled recess if Russia invades Ukraine.

“Nobody’s talked about that,” mentioned Durbin, when requested if there’s any indication if Russia does pick out to invade whether or not they’d bring the Senate again into session.