While the presidential result might take time, many local offices will be tallied and recorded quickly.

The post With polls closed in Virginia, there are some election results we’ll probably know tonight appeared first on Charlottesville Tomorrow.

03-2014 : Montréal Exchange to Introduce Futures Contracts on the FTSE Emerging Markets Index

As part of the PCC’s efforts on human trafficking, we’re talking with advocates and lawmakers about what is being done to address the issue. Today I’m sharing a series of sound bites from an interview I did with Christine Commerce from the Alliance to End Human Trafficking. https://x.com/PAcatholic/status/1736783868848492574?s=20   https://x.com/PAcatholic/status/1736796871337599054?s=20   https://x.com/PAcatholic/status/1736818153110307184?s=20              

We talked with Jay DeFruscio, the Chief Operating Officer for the Archdiocese of Philadelphia Schools, about the huge benefit provided by the Educational Improvement Tax Credit Program. Here are three of the postings we shared on Facebook. https://www.facebook.com/share/v/o9mfCwioL8PfuHa8/?mibextid=WC7FNe https://www.facebook.com/share/v/8Hbz7PVfKdKSFrWM/?mibextid=WC7FNe https://www.facebook.com/share/v/d83WFnKC8ZZ4oQAi/?mibextid=WC7FNe    

Two years ago we spent time talking about the issues facing mothers and children during our nine-month series on Maternal & Early Childhood Issues. Part of that focus was on the work done by doulas, particularly by Amy Wilt and her group at Dauphin County Doulas. Since then, doulas have received a lot of attention across Pennsylvania, with lawmakers in Harrisburg taking the lead on working to increase the access to doulas and their coverage by insurance. Doula services are now covered under Medical Assistance after changes by the Shapiro Administration. In order to be recognized by Medicaid, doulas must be certified through the Pennsylvania Certification Board. Department of Human Services Secretary Dr. Val Arkoosh and Department of Health Acting Secretary Dr. Debra Bogen recently stressed the importance of doulas as part of care teams for historically underserved populations. With this in mind, we talked once again with Amy Wilt to see what she though of the increased awareness. “I’m so happy about that. That’s great movement,” she said. “Even two years ago when we first spoke, we weren’t recognized as a profession. Nobody talked about us. Nobody knew what we did….There’s a lot more who are learning about us, which is fabulous. “I’ve seen this huge shift, with late-in-pregnancy moms–‘oh I just learned what a doula is and I really need you on board.’ We’re filled up until August and September is my first opening.” But there is still progress to be made. Wilt says she is grateful for the increase in insurance coverage. But she would like to see the coverage give doulas more up-front coverage to ensure client commitment. “I’m not allowed to charge you a deposit to hold your spot. I’m not allowed to charge you anything,” Wilt said, referring to the restrictions involved with the current form of insurance coverage. “That then causes a problem because I don’t know that you are going to call me for your birth. They need to take a look at that. ” Wilt says she has found that moms without a financial commitment, like a deposit, are less likely to call for the birth. “If they don’t call for the birth, then we lose a significant amount of money. We’re just getting paid for a pre-natal visit.” And they have difficulty knowing whether or not to reserve time for moms in the months ahead. Wilt says it will end up hurting the doula industry if things don’t change.  

From the USCCB – June 4, 2018 – Today, the U.S. Supreme Court decided the case of Masterpiece Cakeshop v. Colorado Civil Rights Commission. The case involves a Christian baker named Jack Phillips who declined in 2012 to create a custom wedding cake for a same-sex ceremony. State officials sought to compel Phillips to create such cakes under Colorado’s public accommodations law. The Supreme Court ruled 7-2 in favor of Phillips under the Free Exercise Clause of the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. Archbishop Joseph E. Kurtz of Louisville, Chairman of the Committee for Religious Liberty, Archbishop Charles J. Chaput, O.F.M. Cap., of Philadelphia, Chairman of the Committee on Laity, Marriage, Family Life and Youth, and Bishop James D. Conley of Lincoln, Chairman of the Subcommittee for the Promotion and Defense of Marriage of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB), issued the following joint statement: “Today’s decision confirms that people of faith should not suffer discrimination on account of their deeply held religious beliefs, but instead should be respected by government officials. This extends to creative professionals, such as Jack Phillips, who seek to serve the Lord in every aspect of their daily lives. In a pluralistic society like ours, true tolerance allows people with different viewpoints to be free to live out their beliefs, even if those beliefs are unpopular with the government.” The USCCB filed an amicus curiae brief supporting Masterpiece Cakeshop, which can be found here: http://www.usccb.org/about/general-counsel/amicus-briefs/upload/16-111-tsac-USCCB.pdf.        

Like many lawmakers in Harrisburg, State Rep. Jesse Topper (R-Bedford, Fulton and Franklin Cos.) will be keeping a close eye on budget talks at the Capitol.  The process started after Governor Wolf unveiled his budget proposal earlier this month. “It’s basically the Governor saying ‘this is my wish list,’” said Topper. “That’s the way I look at it. “ There’s a good chance that Topper and his Republican colleagues will have a different set of wishes. Topper said they will be looking at what is needed to run the government efficiently. “There’s always going to be disagreement on that number. It’s a negotiation,” he said. “But from my standpoint, I’m always going to be advocating for spending less money–being more efficient with what we have and not going back to the tax payers for their hard-earned money.” One of the programs that Topper will be pushing for is the Educational Improvement Tax Credit, or EITC for short. It enables businesses to get a tax credit for contributing to a scholarship organization, educational improvement organization or a pre-K scholarship organization. “This is a way that we can make sure that businesses who want to contribute to our Catholic schools—and private schools really, whether they are Catholic or not, that we can’t give direct dollars to directly through the state, this is a chance for them to be able to contribute to their communities and get tax deductions through that. It has been a widely successful program that has benefited both the communities and the businesses they serve in, as well as the schools. “ Topper sees a lot of support for not only keeping, but also increasing the EITC. “We’ve seen increases in the EITC since I’ve been here. Speaker Turzai has been leading the charge on that, as well as a former colleague of mine, Jimmy Christiana and Senator Regan when he was Representative Regan in the House. There’s a lot of bi-partisan support for increasing the EITC. “ Another issue that Topper will keep his eye is abortion. He is part of a staunch Pro-Life Caucus at the Capitol. Like many of his colleagues he was alarmed by what happened in New York with the new abortion law. “You’ve seen a lot of—even millennials,” Topper said, “who have come to understand that – I think technology has really made a difference, when you can see these children through ultrasounds…I knew what my kids looked like before they were born. That technology wasn’t available back in the time of Roe V. Wade.” “It just wasn’t something that people could look at and understand. Now they can. The science is on our side. And I think that’s one social and cultural issue that we’ve moved to our side, the pro-life movement.” And Topper joined his colleagues in adding re-assurance to pro-lifers in PA. “This is something I don’t expect to see in Pennsylvania under this legislature but we have to have an answer for it—as we talk about the value of life at conception, what these little children mean to us as a society and how we are going to protect them.”    

  The Pennsylvania Catholic Conference applauds the Supreme Court’s decisions in Little Sisters of the Poor v. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and in Our Lady of Guadalupe School v. Morrissey-Berru and St. James Catholic School v. Biel. In both cases, the Court reaffirmed the religious liberties guaranteed in the United States’ Constitution. “These are incredibly important rulings for so many groups across the country,” said Eric Failing, the Executive Director of the PCC. “They take a big stand for religious liberty as a First Amendment freedom, which is continually being threatened. We are happy the Court has clearly recognized the importance of religious liberty to our nation.”

The Health Committee within the Pennsylvania House of Representatives has approved a resolution which condemns the free availability of pornography based on the public health hazard that it presents by harming children and families across the Commonwealth. “It’s a public awareness resolution,” said Chairman Matt Baker (R-Tioga). With the resolution, Pennsylvania joins nineteen other states that have passed or introduced a similar measure. “Most people understand pornography is bad, and child pornography is particularly bad,” continued Baker. The resolution cites that due to advances in technology, young children are now exposed to pornography at alarming rates, with as many as 27% of older millennials reporting that they first encountered explicit pornography before even reaching puberty. “As someone with two small daughters, I think that it’s something we owe a certain amount of time and effort to look at,” said Rep. Eli Evankovich (R-WestmorelandAllegheny). House Resolution 519 also encourages a three-pronged approach to confronting this issue with education, prevention and research and policy change at the community and social levels. Prior to the vote, Rep. Martina White (R-Philadelphia) stated that her intent is to “make sure that families are aware of this issue, that it is a concern and it can become, if it not already is, a public health crisis.”

Catholic adoption agencies across the state have been curtailing or stopping their work altogether as a result of a policy by the Wolf Administration that would take away a lot of their power to decide who would be the best parents for adoption. PA Rep. Dave Zimmerman (R-Lancaster) says there is still hope that a religious exemption will be granted by lawmakers for organizations. “A number of us in the House actually held up the budget because of a religious exemption, related to the Foster care and adoption,” Zimmerman told me in his Lancaster district office. Despite their determined efforts the Governor held firm and it was kept out. “They took the religious exemption out, which means an adoption agency would have to work with any type of family arrangements, whether it’s a man and wife, or an LGBT couple. They would have to work with all of those.” Zimmerman and several of his colleagues would like to see the exemption established. They have an agreement from House and Senate leadership to run bills in the fall to make that happen. “This is just one area. So the question is ‘what’s next?’” Zimmerman said. “I believe that our country and our state were established on religious liberty, religious freedom. We need to have these religious exemptions available to business and family throughout our state. It’s very important.” Zimmerman said another issue that drew debate in the last session was the compulsory age for education. The current law requires children between the ages of eight and 17 to be in school. But new regulations installed in one of the budget codes would expand that from six to 18. Zimmerman was one of the lawmakers who opposed the change. “There are a lot of issues with that,” he said. “Some children are just not ready at six. What about someone who graduates early? What about—in our district—the Plain community that gets work permits at 15?  None of that has been really addressed at this point, so there are some real concerns about the compulsory age.” The age change was something that was being pushed by the Governor, Zimmerman said. Even though it was placed in the budget, he says there will be an effort in the fall to get the change modified. ‘I also look at it as a liberties issue,” Zimmerman added. “The parents can probably make a better decision on their children than government.” Zimmerman remains very committed to pro-life issues. He voted for the Down Syndrome Protection Act and has signed on as a co-sponsor to Rep. Stephanie Borowicz’s (R-Centre, Clinton) “heartbeat” abortion bill, which he hopes to see introduced in the fall.

Associate Professor of Humanities Winston Chow from SMU’s School of Social Sciences has researched on the areas of urban vulnerability to climate change; sustainability in urban climatology; and perceptions of environmental and climate change in tourism. In recent years, he has published papers on the impact of weather extremes on urban resilience to hydro-climate hazards and trans-boundary variations of urban drought vulnerability and its impact on water resource management in Singapore and Johor, Malaysia. In this podcast, Associate Professor Chow will discuss the continued economic growth of a city by adopting sustainable urban development measures.

The rise of new technologies is changing the way companies raise funds. Along with increased popularity of crowdfunding in recent years, a new form of funding has emerged – that is, the use of Initial Coin Offerings, or ICOs. In 2017, companies in the United States raised over $4 billion through ICOs; in 2018, more than $21 billion has been raised. ICOs generate many challenges for securities regulators, and also give rise to other issues including corporate governance, data protection, anti-money laundering and insolvency. Assistant Professor Aurelio Gurrea-Martínez from the SMU School of Law has conducted legal research on financial regulation. In this podcast, he shares his recent comparative and interdisciplinary study which addresses the issue of ICOs and makes recommendations to regulators and policy makers in a way that aims to promote innovation and firms’ access to finance without harming investor protection, market integrity and the stability of the financial system.

As the profile of businesses engaged in disputes is now more diverse than ever, there is a need for dispute resolution mechanisms that are culturally responsive as well as internationally robust. Mediation is one mechanism that offers a flexible and confidential forum for business to resolve their differences in an effective and efficient way. Interest in mediation to resolve cross-border disputes has increased dramatically in recent years due to increasing access to the Internet and the growing number of smaller enterprises doing business internationally. Nadja Alexander is Professor of Law at SMU School of Law. She also heads the Singapore International Dispute Resolution Academy as its Director, and a prominent mediator, educator, consultant and writer. In a recent study, Prof Alexander had identified some of the top trends impacting the nature and practice of international mediation. She discusses these key trends and developments in this podcast.

Global warming and climate change have created an unprecedented global interest in reducing greenhouse gas emissions, especially in energy production. Biomass, or organic matter, which is a renewable energy source that can replace fossil fuels in energy production is gaining popularity. Consequently, commercialising agricultural residues as biomass is gaining momentum in many countries. In a pioneering study, Onur Boyabatli, Associate Professor of Operations Management and DBS Sustainability Fellow at SMU’s Lee Kong Chian School of Business, together with Assistant Professor of Operations Management Buket Avci, and PhD student Li Bin, studied the economic and environmental implications of biomass commercialisation in agricultural processing industries. In this podcast, Associate Professor Boyabatli shares his insights into this trending subject and the policy implications of their research findings.

11/14/2024 - 10:00 PM - Venue: Rainbow Bar

11/14/2024 - 5:00 PM - Venue: Chaos Games and More

11/14/2024 - 3:30 PM - Venue: Temple Baptist Church

11/14/2024 - 10:30 AM - Venue: SteamPlant Theater and Annex

11/14/2024 - 10:00 AM - Venue: Assistance League building

11/13/2024 - 7:00 PM - Venue: Holy Family Church

11/13/2024 - 2:00 PM - Venue: Pueblo County Courthouse

11/13/2024 - 9:30 AM - Venue: Temple Baptist Church

11/13/2024 - 7:00 AM - Venue: Hen House Cafe

The poles make the difference in the size of certain animals.  Here the colossal squid speaks about why it’s so, well, colossal!

The post #AntarcticLog: Something in the water appeared first on The Plainspoken Scientist.

The devastating 17 July 2023 debris flow at Quetame in Colombia, which killed at least 14 people including three children.

The Landslide Blog will move to a new location from 7 August 2023, becoming part of AGU EoS.

AGU is an organization committed to a culture of Experiment / Learn / Adapt. In response to voter input over many elections, the Leadership Development / Governance Committee chose to test ranked choice voting in 4 elections – International Secretary, Board Director, Council Students and Council Early Career Scientists. In case you’re not familiar, this is an increasingly popular electoral system that allows voters to rank candidates by preference, meaning …

The post Experiment. Learn. Adapt.: Ranked Choice Voting in the 2024 AGU Elections appeared first on AGU Blogosphere.

We are pleased to announce the approval of three updated position statements that will help shape the future of climate action, science communication and data sharing. AGU position statements—created, revised and approved by members with feedback and support from experts in related fields—are what enable AGU to take adaptive stances on significant policy issues ranging from climate change to national security. These statements, which are updated in a recurring four-year …

The post AGU Updates Critical Position Statements on Climate, Communications and Data appeared first on AGU Blogosphere.

Record heat, devastating storms, punishing drought. Our world continues to see the unrelenting impacts of climate change. It clearly requires urgent action but as the research community increasingly investigates climate intervention methods to address this challenge, we see an alarming lack of ethical guidance.   This is why, powered in partnership and driven by broad collaboration, AGU facilitated the Ethical Framework Principles for Climate Intervention Research. Through a two-year process that included an open …

The post Ethical Framework Aims to Counter Risks of Geoengineering Research appeared first on AGU Blogosphere.

Planetary scientists are using a volcanic flow field in New Mexico to puzzle out how long past volcanic eruptions on Mars might have lasted, a finding that could help researchers determine if Mars was ever hospitable to life. People don't usually think of New Mexico as a volcanically active place, but it has some of the youngest (geologically speaking) large lava flows in the continental United States.

The post New Mexico badlands help researchers understand past Martian lava flows (video) appeared first on GeoSpace.

Scientists are keen to explore beneath Europa’s thick blanket of ice, and they can do so indirectly by hunting for evidence of activity emanating from below. A new study published in the AGU journal Geophysical Research Letters, did exactly this.

The post New evidence of watery plumes on Jupiter’s moon Europa appeared first on GeoSpace.

A new paper presents the first clear evidence that the relationship between fog levels and vegetation status is measurable using remote sensing. The discovery opens up the potential to easily and rapidly assess fog's impact on ecological health across large land masses -- as compared to painstaking ground-level observation.

The post Hydrologists show environmental damage from fog reduction is observable from outer space appeared first on GeoSpace.

A new study in the Peruvian Amazon shows that the assumption that distance lowers risk from mercury contamination doesn’t hold up.

The post Gold mining with mercury poses health threats for miles downstream appeared first on GeoSpace.

The Food Processing Suppliers Association (FPSA), the International Dairy Foods Association (IDFA) and NürnbergMesse today announced that registration and housing are now open...

FPSA, IDFA, and NurenbergMesse announced that this year’s largest US food and beverage packaging and processing event - PROCESS EXPO, the International Dairy Show and Interbev - has exceeded 300,000 square feet for the show in September.

From increased regulation, to a growing emphasis on food safety, to changing workforce and customer demographics, food processors and their vendors and partners are facing a period of unprecedented change.

The Foundation of the Food Processing Suppliers Association (FFPSA) is pleased to announce the recipients of ten $5,000 Career Development Scholarships for the 2015-2016 academic year.

PepsiCo has announced plans to acquire at-home carbonated drink maker SodaStream for $3.2 billion. The deal gives PepsiCo a new avenue to reach customers — in their homes. 

Hormel Foods Corp. said it is selling its CytoSport business, including Muscle Milk products, to PepsiCo. CytoSport got its start marketing its protein-packed powders to weightlifters before developing ready-to-drink bottled products sold in groceries and other stores.

Chile recently passed a law that will ban all single-use plastic in several fields. The industry has been searching for materials that are non-plastic but that still have all the characteristics of plastic.

PMMI, the Association for Packaging and Processing Technologies, addresses five packaging pain points in senior-friendly health care packaging.

ecoCombo™ compliments Rohrer’s ezCombo™ program and offers a new way for retail brands to make sustainable packaging choices in their blister packaging.

We all reach moments of reflection. An incident or series of events that makes you take a breath, step back and evaluate what has gone by and what might be to come. As a nation, we’ve had too many of these moments in the last few months.

PA and PulPac created the Blister Pack Collective to limit the use of non-recyclable plastics in over-the-counter and prescription drug packaging through cross-industry collaboration.

Spring in Michigan can be freezing one day and sweltering the next. If you're lucky enough to be in Michigan throughout March and April, there is a good chance you will need both gloves and sunscreen. Having the fairest skin of all, I have officially begun sorting through the sunscreen bin.

We caught up with Darek Lewis, director of packaging for Veritiv, about innovations helping to bridge the sustainability gap with from-home shopping.

Yes, I know that some cereals are available in resealable pouches. But we’re talking about having cereal in resealable bags in the box.