Street workers collaborate, share strategies to keep Massachusetts communities safe [Video]
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Small Business Lifestyle

Street workers collaborate, share strategies to keep Massachusetts communities safe [Video]

TODD. KAZAKIEWICH HAS MORE ON THE MISSION. THIS IS WHAT THIS IS ABOUT NETWORKING, RIGHT? AND GETTING TOGETHER AND EXPANDING OUR TEAMS AND EXPANDING YOUR NETWORK AND PROFESSIONALIZING THIS FIELD. THIS IS THE ANNUAL NEW ENGLAND STREET WORKER CONFERENCE HOSTED BY MERRIMACK VALLEY NONPROFIT UTEC, AND BRINGING TOGETHER PEOPLE WHO ARE ON THE FRONT LINES OF VIOLENCE PREVENTION. NORMALLY, THE STREET WORKERS WOULD BE OUT IN THE ELEMENTS LIKE THIS, WORKING TO PREVENT VIOLENCE IN THE COMMUNITIES THEY SERVE. BUT TODAY, MORE THAN 300 ARE HERE AT GILLETTE STADIUM, SHARING STRATEGIES THAT REDUCE VIOLENCE. WE JUST SEE OURSELVES AS PART OF THE SOLUTION. LEGISLATION IS IMPORTANT. LAW ENFORCEMENT IS IMPORTANT. BUT STREET WORKERS AND FOLKS, COMMUNITY VIOLENCE, INTERVENTIONISTS, SPECIALISTS ARE ALSO IMPORTANT. I WAS INCARCERATED FOR 22 YEARS. I CAME HOME, I WAS DOING THIS WORK BEHIND THE WALLS. SO LIKE I KNOW THAT, YOU KNOW, THIS IS SOMETHING THAT A LOT OF YOUNG ADULTS THAT YOU KNOW ARE IN THE STREET. THEY COULD DEFINITELY BENEFIT FROM. STATISTICS PROVE THAT VIOLENCE PREVENTION EFFORTS BY XAVIER AND HIS FELLOW STREET WORKERS ARE SUCCESSFUL. UTEX ANNUAL REPORT SAYS. DATA FROM MASSACHUSETTS PROBATION SHOWS THAT 70% OF YOUNG ADULTS ENROLLED IN UTEC PROGRAM LAST YEAR AVOIDED A NEW ARRAIGNMENT WITHIN ONE YEAR. IN CONTRAST, 76% OF YOUNG ADULTS STATEWIDE WERE RE-ARRAIGNED WITHIN THREE YEARS. THEIR GOAL IS TO REALLY CREATE PEACE, STOP SHOOTINGS AND SUPPORT YOUNG PEOPLE IN THE COMMUNITY. BUT ALSO BEHIND THE WALLS. REPORTING IN FOXBOROUG

Police shoot rare polar bear that showed up on shores of Iceland [Video]
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Home Based Business

Police shoot rare polar bear that showed up on shores of Iceland [Video]

A rare polar bear that was spotted outside a cottage in a remote village in Iceland was shot by police after being considered a threat, authorities said Friday.Video above: Rare sighting of largest animal on EarthThe bear was killed Thursday afternoon in northwest Iceland after police consulted the Environment Agency, which declined to have the animal relocated, Westfjords police Chief Helgi Jensson told The Associated Press.”It’s not something we like to do,” Jensson said. “In this case, as you can see in the picture, the bear was very close to a summer house. There was an old woman in there.”The owner, who was alone, was frightened and locked herself upstairs as the bear rummaged through her garbage, Jensson said. She contacted her daughter in Reykjavik, the nation’s capital, by satellite link and called for help.”She stayed there,” Jensson said, adding that other summer residents in the area had gone home. “She knew the danger.”Polar bears are not native to Iceland but occasionally come ashore after traveling on ice floes from Greenland, according to Anna Sveinsdottir, director of scientific collections at the Icelandic Institute of Natural History. Many icebergs have been spotted off the north coast in the last few weeks.Although attacks by polar bears on humans are extremely rare, a study in Wildlife Society Bulletin in 2017 said that the loss of sea ice from global warming has led more hungry bears to land, increasing their chances of conflicts with humans and leading to a greater risk to both.Of 73 documented attacks by polar bears from 1870 to 2014 in Canada, Greenland, Norway, Russia and the United States which killed 20 people and injured 63 15 occurred in the final five years of that period.The bear shot on Thursday was the first one seen in the country since 2016. Sightings are relatively rare, with only 600 recorded in Iceland since the ninth century.While the bears are a protected species in Iceland and it’s forbidden to kill one at sea, they can be killed if they pose a threat to humans or livestock.After two bears arrived in 2008, a debate over killing members of the threatened species led the environment minister to appoint a task force to study the issue, the institute said. The task force concluded that killing vagrant bears was the most appropriate response.The group said the nonnative species posed a threat to people and animals, and the cost of returning them to Greenland, about 180 miles (300 kilometers) away, was exorbitant. It also found that there was a healthy bear population in east Greenland, where any bear was likely to have come from.The young bear, which weighed between 300 to 400 pounds (150 to 200 kilograms), will be taken to the institute to study. Scientists took samples from the bear Friday.They will be checking for parasites and infections and evaluating its physical condition, such as the health of its organs and percentage of body fat, Sveinsdottir said. The pelt and skull may be preserved for the institute’s collection.A Coast Guard helicopter surveyed the area where the bear was found to look for others but didn’t find any, police said.After the bear was taken away, the woman who reported it decided to stay longer in the village, Jensson said.

2024 Arkansas ballot to include vote on stopping planned Pope County casino [Video]
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Small Business Funding

2024 Arkansas ballot to include vote on stopping planned Pope County casino [Video]

2024 General Election Voter Guide | How To Register | Ballot Issue 1 (Lottery Scholarships | Ballot Issue 2 (Casino Licensing) | Ballot Issue 3 (Medical Marijuana)In November 2024, Arkansans could vote on Issue 2, which would repeal the Pope County casino license and require local elections. Follow this link to read the ballot issue in full.The issue’s placement on the ballot is being challenged in court.If it stays on the ballot and is approved by voters, Issue 2 would stop a planned casino in Pope County near Russellville.In order for another casino to ever open in Arkansas, Issue 2 would require voter approval in a future statewide election and then additional voter approval in the specific county where the casino would be located.Arguments in favorIn 2018, 54% of Arkansas voters approved an amendment that allowed four casinos to be built in the state.According to the Arkansas secretary of state’s office, back then, 60% of voters in Pope County voted against the casino measure.”Issue 2 is based upon a really, a very, very simple premise that local voters, the people within the communities that are potentially affected by casino projects, those are the people who should have the final say on whether the casino project goes forward or not, and it really is that simple,” Hans Stiritz, with Local Voters in Charge, said.The organization Local Voters in Charge is behind the ballot initiative.According to financial filings with the Arkansas Ethics Commission, the Choctaw Nation is behind Local Voters in Charge, with donations totaling more than $5.6 million to the organization trying to stop the fourth casino from opening in Arkansas.”There are folks that want to say that this is just about Pope County, but really, it is a much bigger issue than just Pope County,” Striritz said.Other groups in Arkansas oppose legalized gambling. The Arkansas Problem Gambling Council has seen a 22% increase in calls for help this year, according to KATV, the ABC affiliate in Little Rock.Arguments against”Ironically, a yes is a no vote, and a no is a yes vote,” Pope County Judge Ben Cross said. “Myself and six mayors in Pope County are all going to vote no to this because this is some of the greatest economic development in our generation for Pope County and for the surrounding communities of the River Valley. If you took the word casino out of the equation and said any other industry is going to come into your community and produce a thousand new jobs and invest over $300 million initially that’s just on the front end people would be standing in line for the ribbon cutting.”Cross says many opinions have changed since Pope County voters were against the measure in 2018.”The local voters spoke. 12 out of 13 justices of the peace on the Pope County Quorum Court have voted in favor of a casino resort in Pope County,” Cross said. “That means a new jail for Pope County. That means a new health department for Pope County. That means a new 911 system for Pope County.”According to the Arkansas Department of Finance and Administration, in fiscal year 2024, the three existing casinos in Hot Springs, Pine Bluff and West Memphis contributed $107 million in tax revenue to the state. Out of that amount, the local counties and cities where the casinos are located received nearly $30 million.”It is about another casino operator who didn’t get the license in Pope County, who now wants to make sure that nobody gets any of those dollars and that those dollars stay in Oklahoma,” said Natalie Ghidotti with Investing in Arkansas. The organization opposes Issue 2 and is largely funded by the Cherokee Nation, which received the coveted and heavily contested casino license.”Here’s the truth it sounds good. They’re saying it’s local control. It’s anything but local control, in our opinion, because you have the Choctaw Nation funding that entire campaign,” Ghidotti said.

Influencer couple denies leaving kids alone on cruise [Video]
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Home Based Business

Influencer couple denies leaving kids alone on cruise [Video]

For most people, dinner on a cruise ship is a time to relax.But when influencer couple Abby and Matt Howard decided to kick back with a dinner deux, they ended up kicking up a storm.Related video above: Preparing to drop your child off at day care for first time? Here’s some expert adviceThe Arizona couple, who have 5.3 million followers on TikTok, as well as 1.3 million and 677,000 Instagram followers individually, have had to furiously deny that they left their children alone on a cruise ship while enjoying their couples dinner.Abby Howard posted over the weekend on Instagram that on a seven-day cruise, the couple had taken their kids ages 1 and 2 to dinner for the first five nights, but it became apparent that they werent enjoying it and therefore we werent either.So then we switched our dinner time to after their bedtime and FaceTimed the monitors while we ate, she wrote. Many followers interpreted her post as saying that they left the kids unattended in the cabin in order to go to dinner. When Abby Howard deleted the post after a few hours, the suspicion only increased.The couple have now posted a new video in which they deny the children were left alone. They say they were traveling with Abby Howards extended family, including her grandmother.We had someone with our children at all times on this boat, said Matt Howard, calling peoples suspicions completely untrue.We love our children more than anything in the entire world, he said.Abby Howard admitted in the video that she could see why the phrasing of her initial post caused people to believe the kids had been left alone. She said she deleted it because of the confusion.Abby Howard said their two children sleep in blackout tents even at home. Each tent has a space to fit a monitor, which the couple use even when in the room with them.Matt Howard previously shared an Instagram video of his cabin, in which he said the couple was sleeping in separate rooms, each with one child.Were always concerned about them, said Abby Howard in the video addressing the controversy, adding that they tag team at family dinners so that one parent is physically with the children while the other checks the monitors.The couple thanked their family for helping watch the children during the cruise and also thanked the public.Thank you so much to those of you that were concerned about the safety and well-being of our children, said Abby Howard.We have not, would not, will not ever leave our children unattended; we would never ever want to put them in harms way in any way. Its not known which cruise line the couple were traveling with, although Matt Thiemann, a cruise specialist travel agent and CEO of Everbliss Vacations, said he believes they were on Royal Caribbeans Navigator of the Seas, which has a maximum capacity of 4,000 travelers, based on their posts.Cruise ship child careMany cruise lines offer child care options.Royal Caribbean offers group child care programs as well as group-sitting for 3- to 11-year-olds from 10 p.m. to 1 a.m. MSC Cruises has a kids club for tots until 9 p.m., with parents able to drop off their kids until 7 p.m., while Holland America Line states in its conditions that children must not be left alone anywhere on the ship.Leaving a child in a locked room may seem relatively safe, but Thiemann advises against it.It is generally not safe for a child under 8 to be left alone at home, and a cruise ship cabin is no different, he said. Parents might think it is a safe, locked space, and while there are very strict procedures for accessing a cabin, there are cabin stewards, maintenance personnel and crew who can access the cabin. If it has a balcony, there is greater risk of an accident or even becoming locked out on the balcony.Toddlers can be inquisitive, fall out of bed onto the hard floor or choke on something. There are just too many unexpected things that could happen when children are left alone in a cruise cabin or hotel room.