The 2024 SCBEX Awards had no shortage of show-stopping moments. Plenty of people walked away with a sense of accomplishment, and all of them walked away grateful for the recognition of their peers. Perhaps the greatest moment of the night belonged to Devon Oman, who won the Community Impact Award. His win comes after six…
A business owner in downtown Burlington, Vermont, admitted that the city’s homelessness and drug crisis, as well as its spiking crime rate, has cost his sporting goods shop more business than at any point in its long history.John George-Wheeler, the owner of Skirack – a sports store at the heart of Vermont’s most populated city – told Fox News Digital this month that the economic cost of customers being driven away from downtown due to safety concerns has been worse than any other recession or economic downturn his business has seen in its lifespan of 55 years.”During that 55 years, we’ve made it through quite a lot. We made it through ’08 and other economic downturns. And in terms of history, this is the worst we’ve seen it,” George-Wheeler said.BURLINGTON, VERMONT, REELING FROM HIGHEST NUMBER OF HOMICIDES IN DECADES AFTER DEFUNDING POLICE John George-Wheeler, the owner of Skirack – a sports store in Burlington, Vermont – said that the homeless and drug addiction crisis in the city is killing his business by driving customers away. (Fox News Digital)”We definitely need support from our local Vermonters,” he said.The local business owner, like other members of the Burlington community, has been grappling with a combination of multiple problems plaguing the city, including upticks in homelessness, drug addiction and crime that have gripped the picturesque city.”So when you have the intersection of construction, road closures, economic downturn, houselessness, and drug addiction, we have to, of course, take care of those people who are hurting from addiction, but also take care of those people who call this place home or work downtown day in and day out,” he said.”And it’s not one, one-faceted issue. It’s multifaceted. And we really need to approach it in a unified, open-minded manner in support of the people that are paying taxes here.”Homelessness is at an all-time high in Burlington – with more than 350 individuals living on city streets. Among them are people addicted to hard drugs like fentanyl, which has led to a 1,000 percent increase in overdoses this year alone, leaving first responders strained.PHILADELPHIA POLICE, OFFICIALS WARN OF A ‘VICIOUS CYCLE’ INCREASING VIOLENCE IN THE CITY Two people can be seen walking down a brick path on Church Street in Burlington, Vermont. (Fox News)2024 data reveals that violent crime is also up in the city. Aggravated assault has increased 40 percent, and gunfire has gone up nearly 300 percent. Local residents told Fox News they find it “dangerous” to be out in public at night.The shop owner described the mood of local business owners in the wake of these issues. He said that many are finding it tough but have found ways to band together and spread awareness of the problems and brainstorm solutions. “I think many businesses are tired and exhausted – fed up. But I also know there’s a strong group of businesses that are doubling down their efforts to support each other. Whether we are feeling that support from other sources or not, I think we have each other’s back. And that’s the Vermont I grew up in, the Vermont that looks after their neighbor, cares for their neighbor,” George-Wheeler said.Many of these problems have stemmed from a combination of factors, including an opioid crisis afflicting Vermont, a housing crisis following the pandemic, and the depletion of the police force that occurred in the wake of the racial justice movement of 2020. That year, the city council approved a resolution that year to support the reduction of the police force by 30% through attrition. In addition, the resolution declared that racism was a citywide public health crisis. As a result, the previous cap of 105 officers was lowered to only 74.PHILADELPHIA NEIGHBORHOOD TROUBLED BY HOMELESS PROBLEM, DRUG USERS WITH FLESH FALLING OFF BONE Two homeless men struggle to stay warm outside of a business in Burlington, Vermont as the temperature drops around nightfall. (Fox News)In the years since, the Burlington City Council has voted to increase police officer numbers as well as increase funding by $2.47 million. However, the city has struggled to fill the roles, as there are currently only 68 officers on the force. Pomerleau Real Estate CEO and Burlington community leader Ernie Pomerleau told Fox News that he believes the initial vote to defund the police was a “mistake.” “And so, they allowed attrition to take down the police force – that was a mistake,” he told the outlet, adding, “We need to support the police.”George-Wheeler told Fox News he believes in the community doing all it can to help the homeless, but stressed that the community needs to start bringing better policing into the equation as well. “I think we do need to get people in treatment, period. However, you can’t do that without supporting the other side. And in terms of police and police response, admittedly, they aren’t fully equipped to deal with the issues at hand, and I believe that city government also agrees with that because they did pass in their recent budget – the mayor passed funding for an additional hiring of ten officers.”We do realize that they are understaffed and unable to handle the issues we’re facing as a community,” he said.Fox News spoke to another Burlington business owner named Patricia who made a similar point, stating that the focus can’t just be on being compassionate to homeless and addicts, but must include the well-being of business owners and the community at large.”There seems to be a lot of focus in this town and by the government on helping people who are addicted,” she said. “There seems to be a lack of respect for people who are doing business, you know, who are trying to run a store.”CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP
AK&M 02 November 2024 11:38
Specialists of the Faculty of Medicine and Biology of Voronezh State University have developed a new method for extracting collagen from the skin of freshwater fish – a valuable substance for cosmetics, medicine and the food industry. Scientists have received a patent for the invention.
Collagen is the main protein of connective tissue. With age, its level in the body decreases, the skin becomes drier and less elastic, wrinkles begin to appear. Therefore, it is believed that collagen-containing cosmetics can resist age-related changes. The results of scientific research confirm the potential use of collagen in the treatment and prevention of various diseases. For example, in case of damage to joints or skin, soft tissue injuries or burns, it promotes accelerated recovery. Collagen is also widely used in the production of meat and fish products to improve their texture and stability.
The VSU Scientific group is led by a professor of the Department of Biophysics and Biotechnology Sergey Antipov is engaged in the development of collagen-based biomaterials for wound healing, tissue replacement and repair in surgery, as well as the production of functional peptides based on fish collagen for special and specialized nutrition products.
The new method presented by the authors differs from existing technologies in speed (production time is reduced from seven days to several hours), efficiency (high collagen yield) and the quality of the final product. The process includes several stages, each of which is aimed at achieving high purity of collagen and minimizing damage to protein molecules. As a result, the product retains the original fibrillar structure of collagen and contains fewer impurities, which makes it more suitable for use in medical and cosmetic preparations.
The method has been experimentally tested in laboratory conditions. In the future, scientists will continue to work on the creation of collagen-based materials using the most modern research approaches, including using megascience-class installations.
The research was conducted within the framework of the Federal Scientific and Technical Program for the Development of Synchrotron and Neutron Research of the national project “Science and Universities”.
Please note that this press release is based on materials provided by the company. AK&M Information Agency shall not be held liable for its contents, nor for the legal and other consequences of its publication.
The Oyo State Government is set to establish a business district in Ibadan, the state capital, creating a commercial corridor that will become a hub of economic activity.
The Commissioner for Lands, Housing and Urban Development, Williams Funmilayo, announced this through a statement on Friday by the Commissioner for Information and Orientation, Dotun Oyelade, during a sensitisation meeting with relevant stakeholders in the Akinyele area of Ibadan.
He said, “The project will be situated in the Akinyele Local Government Area of the state.
“3,149 hectares of land have been delineated for the project, with 598.613 hectares earmarked as a resettlement scheme for some of the affected villages.”
He further revealed that 833.853 hectares had been identified as a developed area, which will be excised from the acquisition, while the remaining 1,717.235 hectares will be designated as the Ilu-tuntun Business District. Related News
The commissioner added that the enumeration and valuation of structures would commence on Monday, 4 November 2024, to provide a clearer perspective of the affected areas within the Ilu-tuntun Business District corridor.
Funmilayo urged the organised private sector to partner with the state government to grow the economy and improve residents’ living conditions.
The commissioner also appealed to Akinyele residents to cooperate with officials conducting the enumeration and valuation of affected properties, scheduled to begin on Monday, 4 November 2024.
Also speaking, the council chairman, Wole Akinleye, thanked the government for initiating the project in the area, noting that residents of remote villages welcomed the measures taken by the government.
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Announced Friday, James Madison football inked a single-game contract with Washington State and will welcome the Cougars to Harrisonburg in 2025. The game is scheduled for Nov. 22, 2025, and the Pac-12 member will be the highest-profiled program to travel to play in Bridgeforth Stadium against JMU. With Washington State being added to the Dukes’ schedule, the game originally scheduled for Sept. 13, 2025, against Utah State has been canceled. “As we strategically target attractive and impactful opponents for James Madison football and our loyal fans, Washington State presents a unique opportunity to test ourselves at home against a Pac-12 opponent in front of the greatest fans in college football,” JMU athletic director Matt Roan said. “This will no doubt be a game to remember in the rise of our program, and I can’t wait for next November in Bridgeforth Stadium!”
It’s the first time in program history that JMU will face off against Washington State, and it’s the first time the Dukes will play a member of the Pac 12. JMU is also scheduled to host Tennessee Tech (Aug. 30) for its season opener and travel to Louisville (Sept. 6) and Liberty (Sept. 20) for the rest of its nonconference schedule.
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Who: Colin Low, 48, chief executive of Singapore Land Authority (SLA). He joined SLA in 2021 after more than 20 years in the private sectors of real estate and hospitality. SLA has launched a tender for three units at Chip Bee Gardens as well as two units at Gillman Barracks, which Mr Low hopes will attract bookshop and cafe concepts aimed at supporting physical book reading culture.
Michael Rubin, a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute and director of policy analysis at the Middle East Forum, strongly criticizes Azerbaijan’s selection as the host of the COP29 UN climate summit in an article on the National Security Journal.
Azerbaijan continues to put finishing touches on Baku ahead of the COP29 international climate conference. Host governments treat the annual United Nations Climate Change Conference much like they treat the Olympic Games or FIFA World Cup: Not only do they rake in tourist dollars as delegates and visitors pack hotels and five-star restaurants, but they also rebrand themselves for the international audience.
The United Arab Emirates, the 2023 host, could not easily highlight its environmentalism given that it is the world’s eighth largest producer of oil and tenth largest gas producer and so it instead both projected itself as laying on the fault lines of climate change and tried to highlight its own contributions.
The United Arab Emirates is not the only monarchy or petro-state to host the climate conference. Qatar did in 2012 and Indonesia, another OPEC member, co-hosted in 2007. Azerbaijan’s selection was particularly pernicious, though.
On its face, Azerbaijan is a ridiculous choice. Azerbaijan cannot pitch itself as a potential climate victim; its chief environmental concern is not climate but its own pollution and the ability of those connected to the ruling Aliyev family to stand above the law.
It is among the world’s most authoritarian states and, according to Freedom House ranking, the least free country by far to host the United Nations Climate Change Conference. The Aliyev regime ranks just above the Taliban’s Afghanistan in total score, but Freedom House assesses Afghans have greater political rights under the Taliban than Azerbaijanis have under Aliyev. Freedom House also ranks Nagorno-Karabakh that Azerbaijan conquered just over a year ago and today administers, as the world’s least free place, worse than North Korea, Eritrea, or Tibet under Chinese rule. That many human rights voices that criticized speech restricts in Dubai or migrant labor practices in Doha are silent does not exculpate Baku; it only incriminates the selectively silent.
Awarding the Aliyevs hosting rights also whitewashes the country’s kleptocracy. Many previous hosts have corruption problems, but not to the degree of Azerbaijan. Not only is freedom in decline in Azerbaijan, but it is among the world’s most corrupt states. Transparency International considers Azerbaijan far more corrupt than the United Arab Emirates or Qatar, for example, and even worse than Russia, Lebanon and Iran. Aliyev’s two daughters reportedly control a business empire worth more than $13 billion.
Azerbaijan’s opportunity to host was due to the rotation system the United Nations implemented after the climate conference grew in size and prestige, but it was not the only candidate. Armenia, a country whose brand is environmentalism, also sought to host. Azerbaijan used Armenian hostages it seized as a bargaining chip, telling intermediaries it would release them only if Armenia dropped its bid. The State Department, anxious to broker peace between Armenia and Azerbaijan, urged Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan to comply. He dropped the bid, but Azerbaijan continued to hold Armenian prisoners and occupy more than 200 square kilometers of land the international community recognizes as Armenia proper. Following last year’s ethnic cleansing of Nagorno-Karabakh’s millennia-old indigenous Armenian community, Azerbaijan has also systematically begun to destroy Armenian heritage across the region. Worse, it leads tours of foreign dignitaries—including Washington think-tankers and the U.S. ambassador in Baku—to Disneyland-like sanitized versions of ancient settlements in its place. Such tours will increase in frequency as Baku seeks to normalize ethnic cleansing. For the White House to bless Azerbaijan for hosting COP29 today would be akin to allowing Saddam Hussein’s Iraq to host an international forum while still occupying Kuwait or the State Department allowing its ambassador in Moscow to take a Kremlin-run propaganda tour of Crimea.
ASHEVILLE – Buncombe County Commissioners met the contractor selected to lead disaster recovery efforts and reallocated a total of nearly $3.2 million toward separate household assistance and small business recovery programs as the region continues to reel from the fallout of Tropical Storm Helene.In total, the county reviewed 20 proposals and interviewed three firms. Out of those finalists, Tetra Tech, a global consulting and engineering firm that specializes in disaster recovery, was chosen, said Jeremiah LeRoy, the county’s deputy disaster recovery lead, during a Nov. 1 commission meeting.The company’s contract will “potentially include” advisory and outreach services, debris management services, housing support services and staff augmentation services, LeRoy said.While the county has signed a contract with Tetra Tech, a final contract cost will be determined based off of task orders for the first 90 days, county spokesperson Lillian Govus told the Citizen Times.Asheville resident Jonathan Burgiel, the president of Tetra Tech’s Disaster Recovery business unit, will be directing the recovery effort. Examples of services the firm provides include helping write grants for new county funding, processing Federal Emergency Management Agency applications and helping residents apply for similar funding opportunities, Burgiel said.County Commission Chair Brownie Newman asked Burgiel whether debris removal efforts — a subject that has sparked concern from locals — can include a process to aid property owners who have a lot of debris but can’t get it up to public right-of-way, where it is picked up.While debris removal from public right-of-ways is currently paid for by the Army Corps of Engineers, adjustments to the debris removal process can be requested to include more property types, Burgiel said. In conjunction with county staff, Tetra Tech is currently moving forward “very quickly” to work on a program that would help property owners deal with debris, he said.Currently, county residents impacted by Helene can apply for assistance from the FEMA until Nov. 27. It’s likely that the county will ask for an extension, LeRoy said.More:Canton mayor after Biden chat: ‘We cannot let our communities be forgotten’Nearly $3.2 toward small business assistance, household assistanceThe commission also approved reallocating nearly $3.2 million American Rescue Act Funds to a household assistance program and to begin a county small business grant. The funding had originally been allocated to be a match to complete the Completing Access to Broadband BellSouth Telecommunications project.For the two funds, the county is working on identifying a nonprofit partner to administer the household assistance program while the small business grants will have to go through a request for proposals process.More:Helene aftermath: How Western North Carolina small businesses can get federal aid, recovery loansOne of the larger tasks facing the county is the rejuvenation to the local economy and continuing to provide aid to those who have most impacted by the storm. Small businesses are expected to feel the greatest economic impact from disasters, where roughly 43% are estimated to close in the first year after a disaster, according to FEMA.The current timeline for local small businesses to receive funding — which include grants of up to $5,000 — would be by early December. Because the Request for Proposals process will have to include a public hearing and approval from the commission, Newman suggested the commission hold a special meeting earlier than a proposed Nov. 19 date to help appropriate the funds faster.For the small business grant program, only businesses with fewer than 25 employees will qualify, regardless of industry, according to county presentation slides.More:HCA Healthcare doesn’t understand basis of lawsuit, Attorney General Stein claimsMore:’We’ve lost our livelihood:’ Maggie Valley businesses see tourism drop-off post-HeleneWill Hofmann is the Growth and Development Reporter for the Asheville Citizen Times, part of the USA Today Network. Got a tip? Email him at [email protected]. Consider supporting this type of journalism with a subscription to the Citizen Times.
Kathleen Martel, left, Jamestown Community College’s workforce development director, holds a large check with Brianna Shay, the coordinator of innovation and entrepreneurship at JCC, after the college’s Hatch business incubator was awarded the Springboard $25,000 prize during a ceremony at Cattaraugus County Campus Cutco Theater on Oct. 23.
The Limassol International Book Fair is set to return for its third year, promising an expanded and enriched experience for book lovers, writers, and industry professionals. Scheduled for November 22-24, the fair will take place at the Lanitis Paper Mills venue in Limassol, showcasing over 100 exhibitors and hosting more than 100 events across multiple stages and exhibition spaces.
Organizers say this year’s fair will feature a “rebranding, with a new style and big names from Europe, Greece, Cyprus, and the Middle East.” The lineup includes notable authors like Louis-Philippe Dalambert, Isidoros Zourgos, Amanda Michalopoulou, and Achilleas Kyriakidis. Attendees can expect a vibrant schedule with panel discussions, book presentations, workshops, children’s activities, and an array of book sales.
The weekend program, open to the public on November 23-24, includes special tributes and cultural discussions. A key event will commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Turkish invasion, honoring Nobel Prize-winning poet George Seferis and his connection to Cyprus. Additionally, renowned Greek lyricist Lina Nikolakopoulou will participate, leading a poetry and music tribute on the main stage, as well as creative writing workshops.
The 2024 conference portion of the fair will convene 31 industry experts discussing pressing topics such as AI in publishing, digital book marketing, and the role of libraries in sustainable development. This unique forum, drawing participants from across Cyprus, Greece, Europe, and the Arab world, serves as a critical networking and knowledge-sharing opportunity for book industry professionals.
Admission to all events is free. Further details can be found at [www.limassolbookfair.com](http://www.limassolbookfair.com).