It was on Interstate 74, driving past the endless cornfields of rural Illinois, when Lesley Dzik realized she’d been raising her voice at her husband, Matt. She stopped, and suggested they drop the topic. He agreed, and quiet settled into the cabin of the pickup truck.
“I love you,” they told each other, and the hands that had been gesturing to articulate their opposing views collapsed into each other on the center console.
The Dziks have navigated issues common to so many marriages, from parenting to money.
But politics? That’s complicated.
Husband and wife, Lesley, left, and Matt Dzik, argue about abortion as they drive through Champaign County, Ill., Sept. 21, 2024. Sometimes for the Dziks knowing when to end the conversation is more important than winning it. “He’s not good at stopping but I’m getting better at walking away,” said Lesley. (AP Photo/David Goldman)
Lesley, 56, is a Republican. Matt, 68, is a Democrat. She is anti-abortion. Matt believes women should have the choice. She refused to be vaccinated during the pandemic. He got the shots.
When they started dating, all it took was the sight of Democratic lawn signs outside his house ahead of the 2020 election to make her question if their relationship could work.
But they both wanted it to work. Lesley read books by other politically divided couples for inspiration and eventually came across Braver Angels, a nonprofit started by a therapist after former President Donald Trump’s 2016 election to help people bridge the political divide. They found a community there that is both red and blue.
“It gave me enough hope,” said Lesley. “I felt safe, I’m not alone.”
Matt Dzik, right, embraces his wife, Lesley, as he greets her after waking up in Champaign, Ill., Sept. 21, 2024. (AP Photo/David Goldman)
Lesley Dzik looks out her kitchen window, in Champaign, Ill., Sept. 21, 2024. (AP Photo/David Goldman)
Lesley Dzik, left, helps her husband, Matt, place a sheet of plywood at a renovation job he’s doing for a fellow church member in Urbana, Ill., Sept. 21, 2024. (AP Photo/David Goldman)
They seem, in so many ways, the ideal couple. Matt, who is retired, routinely brings flowers home for her. She helps him with handy-man jobs he does for people who can’t afford professionals. He drives her to the library at the University of Illinois where she works. They volunteer together at a local theater so they can see shows for free.
Lesley is deeply Christian. Matt, an Army veteran, was raised Catholic, but now sees himself as more spiritual than religious.
A sign encouraging voting sits behind Lesley Dzik, left, and her husband, Matt, in the lobby of The Station Theatre as they volunteer as ushers during a performance of “POTUS: Or, Behind Every Great Dumbass Are Seven Women Trying to Keep Him Alive,” in Urbana, Ill., Sept. 21, 2024. (AP Photo/David Goldman)
Lesley, left, and Matt Dzik, stand in their backyard in Champaign, Ill., Sept. 20, 2024. (AP Photo/David Goldman)
Lesley, left, and Matt Dzik, pose for a portrait in Urbana, Ill., Sept. 22, 2024. (AP Photo/David Goldman)
I get worried with Matt because I believe the Bible is truth and Matt is iffy about that, I wonder what I got myself into.”
But they attend church regularly and when they pray, they hold each other.
Acts of kindness bring them together, whether helping a man who uses a wheelchair get to church or caring for a nonverbal boy so his parents can go out and his mother can work. But their political differences seem to worsen before presidential elections.
At times, things get so heated, they don’t speak for days.
A suggestion from their therapist that has helped them navigate their insecurities hangs on the refrigerator door. “Can I give you a hug?” it reads. “If no, then say, ‘I love you. You don’t suck. I’ll come back in ten minutes.’”
At Braver Angel workshops they’ve learned some techniques to keep political talk civil. Speak to understand, one rule says, don’t speak to win.
Their need for one another is too great to avoid the discomforts of their many disagreements.
“We share the same heart,” said Lesley.
Attendees from across the political spectrum listen to a Braver Angels lecture on depolarization at the Rogers Free Library in Bristol, R.I., Sept. 12, 2024. (AP Photo/David Goldman)vid Goldman)
A chart and clothespins with their names hangs on the refrigerator of Lesley and Matt Dzik as a communication tool to help express their feelings, in Champaign, Ill., Sept. 21, 2024. (AP Photo/David Goldman)
Lesley Dzik pulls up an online workshop by Braver Angels, a non-profit that helps people bridge the political divide, to show her husband, Matt, at their home in Champaign, Ill., Sept. 22, 2024. (AP Photo/David Goldman)
Lesley, right, and Matt Dzik, hold hands as they pray after reading the Bible, Sept. 22, 2024, at their home in Champaign, Ill. (AP Photo/David Goldman)
Matt, left, and Lesley Dzik transport Richard Wellbank to services at The Vineyard Church in Urbana, Ill., Sept. 22, 2024. (AP Photo/David Goldman)
A message decorates the wall behind Lesley, left, and Matt Dzik, as they read the Bible at their home in Champaign, Ill., Sunday, Sept. 22, 2024. (AP Photo/David Goldman)
Lesley, left, and Matt Dzik, watch a seminary studies presentation by Lesley’s son on a laptop in their home in Champaign, Ill., Sept. 20, 2024. (AP Photo/David Goldman)
I love looking in her eyes and seeing her smile, why would I want to lose that?
– Matt Dzik
They’ve found things they can agree on, like putting up a flagpole in their front yard and flying the American flag.
“It’s much more inspiring than any yard sign will ever be for me,” she said. “It’s more enduring.”
Matt Dzik, right, drops his wife, Lesley, off at work at the engineering library at the University of Illinois in Urbana, Ill., Sept. 22, 2024. (AP Photo/David Goldman)
Dotted Line with Center Square
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This story has been amended to clarify that the mother of a non-verbal boy is not a single mother.
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — A flotilla of hot air balloons ascended into a clear desert sky on Saturday to kick off a colorful mass ascension at the 52nd annual Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta.
The nine-day gathering draws hundreds of thousands of spectators and pilots to New Mexico each fall for the rare opportunity to be within arm’s reach as the giant balloons are unpacked and inflated.
Balloons took flight to screams of delight after a brief weather delay and were spirited away by a gentle breeze. Propane burners roared and hundreds of balloons — from traditional globes to cartoonish figures — rose to speckle the sky with color.
“The mass ascension is just magical, unlike anything in the world really that I’ve seen,” said Paul Kluzak, of Phoenix. He has come twice before and arrived this year wearing a foot-tall hat resembling a hot-air balloon, with a camera slung around his neck. “Seeing them all at once is just really, really cool.”
Companion Heather Kluzak said that words can hardly express the thrill of the event.
“We just like to be a part of it,” she said. “It’s fun to be out on the field” where the balloons inflate and depart.
This year’s fiesta includes 106 balloons in special shapes, 16 of which will be making their fiesta debut. That includes Mazu, modeled after the sea goddess of the same name who is deeply rooted in Taiwanese culture and traditions.
Ordinarily, cool morning temperatures at dawn can help pilots stay in the air longer, or carry more weight. But the morning air was unusually warm on opening day, with many spectators stripping down to T-shirts.
Morning lows and afternoon highs are expected to be above average for days in a city that on Monday recorded its hottest temperature this late in the year, at 93 degrees Fahrenheit (33.8 Celsius), according to the National Weather Service.
Globally, things have been trending hotter too. It’s likely this year will end up as the warmest humanity has measured, the European climate service Copernicus reported in early September.
Typically, when the mornings are cool, less fuel is needed to get the balloons to rise. Fiesta veterans explain it is all about generating lift by heating the air inside the envelope to temperatures greater than what is on the outside.
Still, ballooning happens year-round in many places, including in the simmering Phoenix area, which has seen its share of record-breaking temperatures over recent months.
Troy Bradley, an accomplished balloon pilot who has been flying for decades, shrugged off the warmer weather in Albuquerque.
“These are really non-issues from a spectator’s standpoint,” he said. “I don’t see any difference other than they won’t be freezing in the pre-dawn hours.”
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — A hot-air balloon bumped into a power line in northeast Albuquerque on Monday, leaving nearly 13,000 customers of a major electric utility without power for nearly an hour, authorities said.
Monday marked the third day of the 52nd annual Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta.
The state’s largest electricity provider, Public Service Company of New Mexico, said the incident occurred at 8:35 a.m. and affected 12,730 customers.
Fiesta spokesman Tom Garrity said the pilot was the only person aboard and landed the balloon safely and wasn’t hurt. The man’s name wasn’t released and there was no immediate word on what caused the incident.
The balloon fiesta is one of the most photographed events in the world, drawing hundreds of thousands of spectators each fall to New Mexico to see more than 100 balloons in bright colors and special shapes soaring aloft.
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — The cost of buying a Mega Millions jackpot dream will soon more than double, but lottery officials said they’re confident players won’t mind paying more after changes that will lead to larger prizes and more frequent winners.
Lottery officials announced Monday that it will cost $5 to play Mega Millions, beginning in April, up from the current $2 per ticket. The price increase will be one of many changes to Mega Millions that officials said will result in improved jackpot odds, more frequent giant prizes and even larger payouts.
“Spending 5 bucks to become a millionaire or billionaire, that’s pretty good,” said Joshua Johnston, director of the Washington Lottery and lead director of the group that oversees Mega Millions.
Mega Millions and its lottery compatriot Powerball are sold in 45 states, as well as Washington, D.C., and the U.S. Virgin Islands. Powerball also is sold in Puerto Rico.
Powerball officials said they have no plans to change that game’s odds or the $2 price for most tickets.
Mega Millions’ hope is that by increasing ticket revenue and rejiggering the odds — now set at 1 in 302.6 million — to something less stratospheric, more people will win jackpots even as prizes grow extraordinarily high, which attracts more players. The goal is to increase revenue and provide more money to state lotteries, which in turn spend it on a variety of government services.
Mega Millions will introduce changes at a time when fewer people are buying tickets and jackpots need to reach ever-higher figures before sporadic players notice and opt to buy a ticket or two. Whereas a $500 million jackpot once prompted lines out convenience store doors, top prizes of $1 billion now often draw more of a ho-hum response.
Those much-hyped jackpot numbers also could take a hit as interest rates fall. That’s because on billboards or other advertisements, state lotteries emphasize the annuity payout for jackpots, distributed over decades from an investment fund. As interest rates have been high, the annuity jackpots have more than doubled the cash prizes that winners nearly always choose.
With an expectation that interest rates will drop, those annuity jackpot figures will decline, so the advertised jackpot won’t seem quite so massive.
Johnston said expected declines in interest rates were not a factor in the upcoming changes.
The biggest motivation was to differentiate Mega Millions from Powerball and attract customers who might now pass on both games, Johnston said.
More than doubling the ticket price is a big move, but Johnston said research shows people feel comfortable spending at least $5 when they buy scratch tickets or chances at the draw games, like Mega Millions. It is the second price increase since the game was created in 2002.
“You pay 5 bucks for your Starbucks,” Johnston noted.
Lottery officials will announce more specifics about the changes in the coming months, he said.
CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) — Bills aimed to reduce West Virginians’ income tax burden are headed to the desk of Gov. Jim Justice.
One would reduce the state personal income tax by 2%. Another would provide a tax credit to help families pay for child care. The Republican governor is expected to sign both proposals, after they passed final legislative hurdles Tuesday during a special legislative session called by Justice.
Cuts to the state personal income tax have been a priority for Justice, who is nearing the end of his second term as governor and running for the U.S. Senate. He signed a 21.25% tax cut into effect last year, and the tax is scheduled to drop by another 4% in the new year, per a trigger in the 2023 law that allows for further tax cuts if the state meets higher-than-anticipated revenue collections.
Justice had initially been pushing the Legislature to consider cutting the tax a further 5% but amended that proposal to a more conservative 2% cut Monday.
A 2% cut in personal income tax rates would take effect on the first day of the new year and return approximately $46 million to taxpayers. Del. Vernon Criss, the House Finance Committee chair, said he would have preferred a 5% tax cut, but an agreement couldn’t be made with the Senate to support that.
“I still think we are moving in the right direction,” he said. “That’s what we all want.”
The money to pay for the tax cut is coming from an expiring revenue bond and $27 million in savings the Justice administration said came from dissolving the former Department of Health and Human Resources into three new state agencies earlier this year.
Several Democrats spoke against the proposal, expressing concern that the Justice administration had not provided details about where the savings were coming from and how the cut could effect state programs. West Virginia has the highest per capita rate of children in foster care in the nation.
Democrat Del. Kayla Young said she’s never voted against a tax cut proposal during her time in the legislature, but the source of funding for this cut concerned her.
“I don’t feel comfortable not knowing where this money is coming from,” she said.
House Minority Leader Sean Hornbuckle said the tax cut won’t make a meaningful impact on most working-class West Virginians’ budgets — 40 cents a week, or just under $21 a year. He said the trigger system included in the 2023 income tax bill is a more responsible approach, and questioned why the governor was pushing a further tax cut “outside the scope of that in the 25th hour before the election.”
“The policy of it is it’s taking money away from children,” he said. “And if we’re going to do a tax cut, I would submit to this body that we — all of us — do a little bit more work and make sure that money is not going to affect children.”
Republican Del. Larry Kump of Berkeley County said he disagreed that a 2% cut wouldn’t be meaningful to families. He said he both grew up and lives in a working poor neighborhood, and has neighbors that have to make decisions between food and heat.
“Even a little bit is meaningful. A gallon of milk helps with a family,” he said. “Anything we can do to reduce the tax burden on our taxpayers is a good thing.”
A child and dependent tax credit passed by the state Legislature would allow people to receive a non-refundable credit of around $225 to apply to their taxes if they receive the federal child care tax credit, which is around $450 a year. Around 16,000 West Virginia families receive the federal child care tax credit.
The credit is expected to return around $4.2 million to state taxpayers.
Major League Baseball announced Tuesday it will produce and distribute local broadcasts for the Cleveland Guardians, Milwaukee Brewers and Minnesota Twins next year. All three teams had contracts with Diamond Sports Group that expired at the end of the regular season.
The Texas Rangers, whose deal also expired last month, also announced they will no longer be partnering with Diamond. They are assessing their options for next season.
The addition of the Guardians, Brewers and Twins means MLB will be handling the production and distribution of at least six teams going into 2025.
MLB took over broadcasts of the San Diego Padres and Arizona Diamondbacks during the 2023 season and the Colorado Rockies this year.
Rick Schlesinger, the president of business operations for the Brewers, said he expects more teams could be partnering with MLB by the opening of next season.
“This has been a long process. It’s a very deliberative process,” he said. “We’ve done this through a lot of work, a lot of analysis. I think this is going to be a huge game changer for us, for our content.”
By taking over the broadcasts, MLB expects to increase the market reach of its teams by at least 2 million households in each market. The Diamondbacks went from being available in 930,000 households on a regional sports network to 5.6 million homes through a combination of being on local cable systems, satellite and direct-to-consumer streaming.
“With the media landscape continuing to evolve, Major League Baseball is committed to serving our fans by ensuring they can see their favorite clubs, removing blackouts where we can, and ultimately growing the reach of our games,” Noah Garden, MLB deputy commissioner for business and media, said in a statement.
The Twins took a public relations hit in Minnesota for cutting their 2024 player payroll coming off a division title and their first postseason series win in 22 years, in light of the reduced rights fee coming from Diamond. They will lose the rights fee altogether with this MLB-produced model, but team president Dave St. Peter said this announcement would not have an effect on player spending for the upcoming season.
“We’ve spent a tremendous amount of time with Major League Baseball trying to better understand this marketplace, trying to better understand what a model like this will ultimately provide to the team. We also have studied closely what’s happened in San Diego, in Arizona and in Colorado. We’ve gotten comfortable in those economics. They are where they are,” St. Peter said.
“We do expect that there will be a reduction in local revenue coming to the Twins in 2025. I think that’s a fact. That said, over the long haul we have tremendous confidence in our content and believe, while maybe we’ll take a dip for ’25, that over time the viewership and those economics related to that viewership will increase.”
Cleveland games were available on approximately 1.45 million households on its regional sports network. That reach is expected to increase 235% to 4.86 million households. Minnesota’s will go up 307% from 1.08 million homes to 4.4 million.
Schlesinger said the Brewers had 800,000 households that could receive games this past season, but he also expects to see significant growth with the new model.
“From a fan perspective, it’s great because you’re going to have total access and no blackouts,” he said. “There’s a lot of staffing, a lot of infrastructure, a lot of decisions have to be made, a lot of people to be hired, a lot of sponsors to contact. This is the right time to do this. It’s a good jumping point, platform to make sure when the calendar turns to 2025, we’re already fully immersed in this and that we know when the first game starts, that we’re ready to go and the product’s going to be outstanding.”
MLB could be taking over more teams as Diamond Sports Group continues to go through bankruptcy proceedings. The nation’s largest owner of regional sports networks could be down to doing only Atlanta Braves games in 2025.
The operator of the Bally Sports regional networks presented its reorganization plan in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Houston last week. As part of the reorganization, Diamond plans to void the contracts of the Detroit Tigers and Tampa Bay Rays and to attempt to rework the deals of the five franchises that are partial owners of their regional sports networks — the Cincinnati Reds, Kansas City Royals, Los Angeles Angels, Miami Marlins and St. Louis Cardinals.
St. Peter said he expects more teams to sign onto the model in the future.
“Starting to build that direct-to-consumer foundation, which clearly is the future of the way our games will be distributed — it’s time to get on with that and we’re excited about that,” St. Peters said. “Our ownership understands the consequences of that, but I think over time there’s way more upside than short-term downside.”
A final hearing on Diamond’s reorganization plan is scheduled for Nov. 14. Diamond also has the rights to 13 NBA and eight NHL teams.
Diamond Sports Group and Sinclair Broadcast Group bought the regional sports networks from The Walt Disney Co. for nearly $10 billion in 2019. Disney was required by the Department of Justice to sell the networks for its acquisition of 21st Century Fox’s film and television assets to be approved.
___
AP sports writers Dave Campbell in Minneapolis and Steve Megargee in Milwaukee contributed to this story.
PHILADELPHIA (AP) — The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has reached a tentative $4.2 settlement with a firm that owned and operated a major East Coast refinery that was shuttered after an explosion and fire in 2019.
The deal with Philadelphia Energy Solutions was announced Tuesday. There will now be a 30-day public comment period before the settlement plan can be considered for final court approval. The company does not admit to any liability in the settlement, which the EPA said is the largest amount ever sought for a refinery under a Clean Air Act rule that requires owners and operators to ensure that regulated and other extremely hazardous substances are managed safely.
The EPA found that the company failed to identify and assess hazards posed by a pipe elbow in a hydrofluoric acid alkylation unit at the refinery in Philadelphia. The pipe elbow ruptured due to “extensive” corrosion that had withered the pipe wall to the thickness of a credit card since its installation in 1973.
The explosion and subsequent fire on June 21, 2019, eventually forced the refinery to close after being in operation for 150 years. At the time, it was the largest oil refining complex on the East Coast, processing 335,000 barrels of crude oil daily.
The EPA filed the claim in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Delaware because the company entered bankruptcy shortly after the explosion. The 1,300-acre (526-hectare) site where the refinery had stood was sold in 2020 and is being redeveloped into industrial space and life sciences labs. It remains under a complex cleanup agreement under the oversight of the EPA and Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection.
Van and Rachel react to Kamala Harris’s media blitz this week (25:30), before discussing the annual blackface problem that comes with Halloween (34:27) and locker room privacy in the NFL (43:20). Then, author and political strategist James Carville joins to talk his new documentary, the state of politics, and LSU football (53:54). And finally, Drake talks friendship (1:25:14) before Van reveals his top 10 Black horror films in the latest VanLaTEN (1:35:43).
Hosts: Van Lathan and Rachel Lindsay Guest: James Carville Producers: Donnie Beacham Jr. and Ashleigh Smith
Isaac Wright, spent 8 years in prison became a paralegal helping other inmates & practicing his own case. He got a police officer to admit the states attorney was bribing & lying. The state attorney commited suicide before the trial. He then had to fight against the other charges he had, and was released Wright is the only person in the US history to have been Sentenced to life in prison, Securing his own release and exoneration, and then being granted a license to practice Law by the very court that condemned him
VILAS, N.C. (AP) — Brad Farrington pulls over to grab a case of water bottles being passed out in Vilas, a small rural community tucked away in the Blue Ridge Mountains. He’s on his way to help a friend who lost much of what he owned when Hurricane Helene blew through last weekend.
His friend, like countless others across western North Carolina, is starting over, which explains why Farrington isn’t thinking too much about politics or the White House race between Republican Donald Trump and Democrat Kamala Harris right now.
“I don’t believe people’s hope is in either people that are being elected,” he said.
Farrington pauses, then gestures toward a dozen volunteers loading water and other necessities into cars and trucks.
“I believe we’re finding a lot more hope within folks like this,” he said.
In the election’s final weeks, people in North Carolina and Georgia, influential swing states, are dealing with more immediate concerns: widespread storm damage. If that weren’t enough, voters in Watauga County, a ticket-splitting Appalachian county that has become more Democratic in recent years, must contend with politicians laying blame while offering support as they campaign in a race that could be decided by any small shift.
Large uprooted trees litter the sides of roads, sometimes blocking driveways. Some homes in Vilas are inaccessible after bridges collapsed and roads crumbled. More populous areas like Boone, home of Appalachian State University, saw major flooding.
After Trump went to Valdosta, Georgia, on Monday, 20-year-old Fermin Herrera said the former president clinched his vote with his display of caring, not out of any frustration with how President Joe Biden and Harris, the vice president, are handling the federal disaster response. Herrera already leaned toward voting for Trump.
“I feel like everybody’s kind doing what they can,” he said. “All the locals are appreciating the help that’s coming.”
“I’m not thinking about voters right now,” Trump insisted after a meeting with Gov. Brian Kemp, R-Ga., on Friday. “I’m thinking about lives.”
Biden pushed back hard, saying he is “committed to being president for all of America” and has not ordered aid to be distributed based on party lines. The White House cited statements from the Republican governors of Georgia, South Carolina and Tennessee expressing satisfaction with the federal government’s response.
FEMA’s head, Deanne Criswell, told ABC’s “This Week” that this “truly dangerous narrative” of falsehoods is “demoralizing” to first responders and creating “fear in our own employees.”
What to know about the 2024 Election
Criticism of aid efforts so soon after a natural disaster is “inappropriate,” especially when factoring in the daunting logistical problems in western North Carolina, said Gavin Smith, a North Carolina State University professor who specializes in disaster recovery. He said the perilous terrain from compromised roads and bridges and the widespread lack of power and cellphone service make disaster response in the region particularly challenging.
Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper has made several stops in western North Carolina, including Watauga County and surrounding areas, and Biden viewed the extensive damage via an aerial tour.
A focus on recovering and rebuilding
In Watauga County, Jessica Dixon was scraping muck and broken furniture off the ground with a shovel, then dumping it in the bucket of a humming excavator. The 29-year-old stood in a home she bought two years ago. It’s now gutted after a rush of water forced Dixon, her boyfriend and their two dogs to flee to safety.
Without flood insurance, Dixon is not sure what will happen over the next month. She said she filled out a FEMA application but hasn’t checked her email since. She had given the presidential election some thought before Helene, but now she’s preoccupied with cleaning her home.
“It wouldn’t change my views on anything,” said Dixon, who was planning to vote for Harris.
The presidential election isn’t top of mind for 47-year-old Bobby Cordell, either. He’s trying to get help to neighbors in western Watauga County, which has become inaccessible in some parts.
His home near Beech Mountain is one of those places, he said, after a bridge washed away. Cordell rescued his aunt from a mudslide, then traveled to Boone and has been staying in Appalachian State’s Holmes Convocation Center, which now serves as a Red Cross emergency shelter.
He’s trying to send disaster relief back where he lives by contacting officials, including from FEMA. That conversation, he said, “went very well.”
Accepting help isn’t easy for people in the mountains, he said, because they’re used to taking care of themselves.
Now, though, the people who are trapped “need everything they can get.”
Helping neighbors becomes more important in Helene’s aftermath
Over the past week of volunteering at Skateworld, where Farrington stopped for water, it’s become harder for Nancy Crawford to smile. She’s helped serve more than 1,000 people, she said, but the emotional toll has started to settle in for “a lot of us that normally are tough.”
That burden added to the weight she was already feeling about the election, which she said was “scary to begin with.” Crawford, a registered Republican, said she plans to vote for Harris. As a Latina of Mexican descent, she thinks Trump’s immigration policies would have harmful effects on her community.
The storm, she said, likely won’t change her vote but has made one thing evident.
“It doesn’t matter what party you are, we all need help,” she said.
Jan Wellborn had a similar thought as she made her way around the Watauga High School gym collecting supplies to bring to coworkers in need. A 69-year-old bus driver for the school district, she said the outpouring of support she’s seen from the community has been a “godsend.”
She takes solace from the county’s ability to pull together. The election matters, she said, but helping people make their way through a harrowing time matters more.
“The election, it should be important,” Wellborn said. “But right now we need to focus on getting everybody in the county taken care of.”
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Associated Press writer Russ Bynum in Savannah, Georgia, contributed to this report.
Middle Brow, the Chicago brewpub that earned a James Beard Award earlier this year as a semifinalist for Outstanding Wine and Other Beverages Program, is opening a second location in Michigan. Ownership is keeping the exact address a secret, but say they’ve signed a lease to take over a space off Red Arrow Highway in Sawyer, Michigan, about 50 miles west of Downtown Chicago. Sawyer is along Lake Michigan and is a popular tourist destination. Co-owner Pete Ternes says they’ll take over a one-acre plot where customers can enjoy the outdoors.
“We’ve got the drawings done, and we’ve got a lot of the engineering work done,” Ternes says. “We’re putting out bids and getting permitting in place now. We think that by summer, we’ll be able to — you know, at the very least — throw some fun parties.”
First established as a brewery in 2011, Middle Brow would open a brewpub in Logan Square, Bungalow by Middle Brow, and offer pastries, bread, and eventually Neapolitan pizzas, and those pies deployed farm fresh ingredients from Michigan, Indiana, Wisconsin, and Indiana. By relying on a farm where they’ll grow their own hops, barley, and other ingredients, the unnamed Michigan Middle Brow project takes a hyperlocal strategy to procure ingredients.
With lighter lagers, saisons, and kolsches the brewery features the kind of brews that drinkers could enjoy while camping or by a lake, a kind of counterpoint to over-hopped beers that were once trendy. Middle Brow centers on yeast-forward beers and letting yeast ferment spontaneously: “It’s exciting and it’s weird and it’s risky, and it makes the beer taste like nothing else you’ve tasted,” Ternes says.
Last year, Middle Brow expanded operations becoming Chicago’s first natural winery with refreshing wines that, again, shared the same commitment to using wild fermentation. Natural wine is made with minimal intervention that, in theory, better showcases the grapes from the region.
Ternes promises the new location will contain elements of the Logan Square venue. There might be a small menu of fresh breads for the weekend, and doughnuts and ice cream. Middle Brow Logan Square offers Chicago-style tavern pizza on Tuesdays. Those pizzas won’t make their way to Michigan, but Middle Brow may offer Detroit-style squares as a limited special. Beyond bottles and cans of wine and beer, they’ll also have robust to-go offerings for travelers making a quick pit stop.
Much of Middle Brow’s wines were made from grapes grown in Michigan with ownership often hauling tanks of juice back to Chicago in trucks filled with tanks. Middle Brow already has ties to the Mitten State. Ternes points out they buy hops from Hop Head Farms, which is about 50 miles south of Grand Rapids, Michigan. They also source fruit for various barrel-aging projects from nearby farms. Ternes recalls family vacations in Michigan City, Indiana; and Michiana, Michigan. The concept of farmhouse brewing, using hops and barley made on the same premises, was pioneered by companies like Allagash in Portland, Maine; and Jester King in Austin, Texas. Those breweries inspired Ternes and Middle Brow.
Middle Brow searched for the right land but knew when they needed a record of success before investors and banks would fund their operations. Fourteen years later they’re in the position to open the way they intended.
Middle Brow Sawyer, Michigan planned for a summer opening
In hindsight, Tuesday morning’s news that Milk Bar would finally arrive in Chicago shouldn’t be a surprise. A release blasted the news nationwide, an announcement befitting of Tosi’s stature. Milk Bar will take over the corner cafe in the Hoxton Chicago lobby at 200 N. Green Street sometime this winter.
For years, superstar baker Christina Tosi has teased Chicagoans as her crew at Milk Bar searched for a space. Milk Bar held pop-ups featuring the confection formerly known as Crack Pie — renamed in 2019 to the more pleasant Milk Bar Pie. As the furor over expansion cooled during the pandemic with the restaurant industry battling for survival, Milk Bar quietly set up a ghost bakery in Chicago where locals could order baked goods for delivery.
In a competitive market, Milk Bar protected its brand. They sued the owners of a River North venue in 2019, JoJo’s Milk Bar arguing the name confused customers into thinking the two were associated. JoJo’s ultimately rebranded to JoJo’s Shake Bar to avoid trademark infringement.
Milk Bar’s official arrival comes in the form of a partnership with Boka Restaurant Group, which manages Hoxton’s food and beverage operations. Boka has two restaurants in the hotel, Chris Pandel’s Cira on the first floor and Stephanie Izard’s Cabra on the rooftop, with a basement bar, Lazy Bird.
Cookies, cakes, pies, and truffles are some of Milk Bar’s offerings.Milk Bar
Milk Bar’s soft-serve ice cream is also available.Milk Bar
The Milk Bar menu will include cookies in flavors like cornflake chocolate chip marshmallow, confetti, and blueberry and cream. Look for cake truffles, and whole cakes and pies also available in slices. Soft-serve ice cream, like the popular cereal milk, milkshakes, and Milk Bar breads are also planned.
Founded in 2008, the chain counts 12 locations in Boston, LA, Las Vegas, New York, and Washington, D.C. Tosi is from Cleveland, and Chicago marks Milk Bar’s first shop in the Midwest. They’ve opened in hotels before including at the Ace in New York.
Milk Bar will also pander to locals; the release teases a Chicago-style hot dog iteration of their stuffed bagel specialty, called a Bagel Bomb. There’s also an upcoming cookie collaboration with a mysterious Chicago institution.
Boka and Tosi make for a powerful duo, one capable of opening opportunities not available to most. Chicago has no shortage of bakeries. Good Ambler, the bakery cafe run by the owners of Thalia Hall, is a few doors north of the Hoxton. Another national favorite, Levain — a New York-based chain known for its chunky cookies — debuted in Chicago in 2022 around the corner on Randolph Restaurant Row. Meanwhile, the space that once housed another bakery, Sugargoat, the sweet emporium from Boka partner Izard, remains vacant. At the Hoxton, Milk Bar will take advantage of hotel guests, which might limit competition and the surrounding impact. Milk Bar will also team with third-party delivery services.
The expansion is reminiscent of another national brand, Jeni’s Splendid Ice Creams — which has a nearby location on Randolph. Like Tosi, Jeni Britton Bauer is from Ohio (Columbus). Both Jeni’s and Milk Bar routinely draw long lines outside their stores. The two are also James Beard Award winners. Tosi has a pair of medallions, winning Rising Chef of The Year in 2012 and Oustanding Pastry Chef in 2015 while working for Momofuku in New York.
Milk Bar at the Hoxton, 200 N. Green Street, planned for a winter opening.
Hirschpfeffer is essentially deer meat that’s been soaked in a marinade of red wine, vinegar, vegetables and spices to make it tender and less gamey. That same marinade is then used for the sauce, which is thickened with butter, flour and a bit of cocoa.
MERTARVIK, Alaska (AP) — Growing up along the banks of the Ninglick River in western Alaska, Ashley Tom would look out of her window after strong storms from the Bering Sea hit her village and notice something unsettling: the riverbank was creeping ever closer.
It was in that home, in the village of Newtok, where Tom’s great-grandmother had taught her to sew and crochet on the sofa, skills she used at school when students crafted headdresses, mittens and baby booties using seal or otter fur. It’s also where her grandmother taught her the intricate art of grass basket weaving and how to speak the Yupik language.
An abandoned home is locked up in Newtok, Alaska on Wednesday, Aug. 14, 2024. (AP Photo/Rick Bowmer)
Permafrost melts on the coast in Newtok, Alaska on Friday, Aug. 16, 2024. (AP Photo/Rick Bowmer)
Today, erosion and melting permafrost have just about destroyed Newtok, eating about 70 feet (21.34 meters) of land every year. All that’s left are some dilapidated and largely abandoned gray homes scraped bare of paint by salt darting in on the winds of storms.
“Living with my great-grandmother was all I could remember from Newtok, and it was one of the first houses to be demolished,” said Tom.
Ashley Tom tends to her plants at her home in Mertarvik, Alaska, Thursday, Aug. 15, 2024. (AP Photo/Rick Bowmer)
In the next few weeks, the last 71 residents will load their possessions onto boats to move to Mertarvik, rejoining 230 residents who began moving away in 2019. They will become one of the first Alaska Native villages to complete a large-scale relocation because of climate change.
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EDITOR’S NOTE: This is part of a series on how tribes and Indigenous communities are coping with and combating climate change.
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Newtok village leaders began searching for a new townsite more than two decades ago, ultimately swapping land with the federal government for a place 9 miles (14.48 kilometers) away on the stable volcanic underpinnings of Nelson Island in the Bering Strait.
But the move has been slow, leaving Newtok a split village. Even after most residents shifted to Mertarvik, the grocery store and school remained in Newtok, leaving some teachers and students separated from their families for the school year.
Power poles lean in the village of Newtok, Alaska on Wednesday, Aug. 14, 2024. (AP Photo/Rick Bowmer)
A resident drives along a flooded boardwalk on Wednesday, Aug. 14, 2024, in Newtok, Alaska. (AP Photo/Rick Bowmer)
A young man drives an ATV on Friday, Aug. 16, 2024, Mertarvik, Alaska. (AP Photo/Rick Bowmer)
Homes of people who relocated from Newtok, Alaska are visible in Mertarvik, Alaska on Tuesday, Aug. 13, 2024. (AP Photo/Rick Bowmer)
Calvin Tom, the tribal administrator and Ashley’s uncle, called Newtok “not a place to live anymore.” Erosion has tilted power poles precariously, and a single good storm this fall will knock out power for good, he said.
For now, the rush is on to get 18 temporary homes that arrived in Mertarvik on a barge set up before winter sets in.
Calvin Tom, the tribal administrator, stands along the eroded coastline in Newtok, Alaska on Friday, Aug. 16, 2024. (AP Photo/Rick Bowmer)
It’s the same story across the Arctic, with permafrost degradation damaging roads, railroad tracks, pipes and buildings for 4 million people across the top of the world, according to the Washington, D.C.-based Arctic Institute. In the Russian Arctic, Indigenous people are being moved to cities instead of having their eroding villages relocated and across Scandinavia, reindeer herders are finding the land constantly shifting and new bodies of water appearing, the institute said.
About 85% of Alaska’s land area lies atop permafrost, so named because it’s supposed to be permanently frozen ground. It holds a lot of water, and when it thaws or when warmer coastal water hits it, its melting causes further erosion. Another issue with warming: less sea ice to act as natural barriers that protect coastal communities from the dangerous waves of ocean storms.
Calvin Tom, left, the tribal administrator, lifts his son Brady Tom into his boat in Mertarvik, Alaska on Wednesday, Aug. 14, 2024. (AP Photo/Rick Bowmer)
The Yupik have a word for the catastrophic threats of erosion, flooding and thawing permafrost: “usteq,” which means “surface caves in.” The changes are usually slow — until all of a sudden they aren’t, as when a riverbank sloughs off or a huge hole opens up, said Rick Thoman, a climate specialist with the International Arctic Research Center at the University of Alaska Fairbanks.
There are 144 Alaska Native communities that face some degree of infrastructure damage from erosion, flooding or permafrost melt, according to a report in January from the the Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium. Six of them — Kivalina, Koyukuk, Newtok, Shaktoolik, Shishmaref and Unalakleet — were deemed imminently threatened in a Government Accountability Office report more than two decades ago.
Communities have three options based on the severity of their situations: Securing protection to stay where they are; staging a managed retreat, moving back from erosion threats; or a complete relocation.
Water and patches of green are visible near Mertarvik, Alaska Tuesday, Aug. 13, 2024. (AP Photo/Rick Bowmer)
Moving is hard, starting with finding a place to go. Communities typically need to swap with the federal government, which owns about 60% of Alaska’s land. But Congress has to approve swaps, and that’s only after negotiations that can drag on: Newtok, for example, began pursuing the Nelson Island land in 1996 and didn’t wrap up until late 2003.
“That’s way too long,” said Jackie Qatalina Schaeffer, the director of climate initiatives at the Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium.
“If we look back a decade at what’s happened as far as climate change in Alaska, we’re out of time,” she said. “We need to find a better way to help communities secure land for relocation.”
Kivalina last year completed a master plan for relocation and is negotiating with an Alaska Native regional corporation for the land, a process that could take 3 to 5 years, Schaeffer said.
A girl plays with a dog on Friday, Aug. 16, 2024, in Mertarvik, Alaska. (AP Photo/Rick Bowmer)
Children play along the tundra on Friday, Aug. 16, 2024, in Mertarvik, Alaska. (AP Photo/Rick Bowmer)
Another big hurdle is cost. Newtok has spent decades and about $160 million in today’s dollars on its move. Estimates to relocate Kivalina vary from $100 million to $400 million and rising, and there’s currently no federal funding for relocation. The Federal Emergency Management Agency has disaster funding and programs, Schaeffer said, but that comes only after a disaster declaration.
In 2018, a resource for Alaska communities identified 60 federal funding sources for relocation, but according to the Unmet Needs report, only a few have been successfully used to address environmental threats. But an infusion of funding into these existing programs by the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and the Inflation Reduction Act could provide benefits to threatened Alaska communities, the report said.
About $4.3 billion in 2020 dollars will be needed to mitigate infrastructure damage over the next 50 years, the health consortium report says. It called for Congress to close an $80 million annual gap by providing a single committed source to assist communities.
Bosco and Jennifer Carl say grace with their children before a meal at their home on Saturday, Aug. 17, 2024, in Mertarvik, Alaska. (AP Photo/Rick Bowmer)
Marie Carl, 75, sits at the kitchen table at her home on Saturday, Aug. 17, 2024, in Mertarvik, Alaska. (AP Photo/Rick Bowmer)
“Alaska Native economic, social, and cultural ways of being, which have served so well for millennia, are now under extreme threat due to accelerated environmental change,” the report said. “In jeopardy are not just buildings, but the sustainability of entire communities and cultures.”
After five years of separation and split lives, the residents of Newtok and Mertarvik will be one again. The school in Newtok closed and classes started in August for the first time in a temporary location in Mertarvik. A new school building should be ready in 2026. The Newtok grocery recently moved to Mertarvik, and there’s plans for a second grocery and a church, Calvin Tom said.
The new village site has huge benefits, including better health, Tom said. For now, most of the people of Mertarvik are still using a “honey bucket” system rather than toilets. But that method of manually dumping plastic buckets of waste should be replaced by piped water and sewer within the next few years. The new homes in Mertarvik are also free of black mold that crept into some Newtok homes on moisture brought by the remnants of Typhoon Merbok two years ago.
Girlie Carl, 4, plays with her grandmother Marie Carl, 75, on Thursday, Aug. 15, 2024, Mertarvik, Alaska. (AP Photo/Rick Bowmer)
A young girl prepares to participate in an Indigenous drum and dance on Thursday, Aug. 15, 2024, Mertarvik, Alaska. (AP Photo/Rick Bowmer)
Marie Carl, 75, performs during an Indigenous drum and dance in Mertarvik, Alaska on Thursday, Aug. 15, 2024. (AP Photo/Rick Bowmer)
Tom said there’s talk of someday renaming the relocated town Newtok. Whatever the name, the relocation offers assurance that culture and traditions from the old place will continue. An Indigenous drum and dance group is practicing at the temporary school, and subsistence hunting opportunities — moose, musk ox, black bear, brown bear — abound.
A pod of belugas that comes by every fall should arrive soon, and that hunt will help residents fill their freezers for the harsh winter ahead.
Jennifer sits with her daughter Girlie, 4, at their home on Saturday, Aug. 17, 2024, in Mertarvik, Alaska. (AP Photo/Rick Bowmer)
Ashley Tom is excited by the arrival of the last Newtok residents in Mertarvik. Although their home will be different than what they’ve known for most of their lives, she’s confident they will come to appreciate it as she has.
“I really love this this new area, and I just feel whole here,” she said.
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Thiessen reported from Anchorage.
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This story was first published on Sep. 26, 2024. It was updated on Sep. 28, 2024 to correct the number of villages facing infrastructure damage from erosion, 144 not 114. It also corrects the name of the organization that authored the Unmet Needs report, and where Jackie Qatalina Schaeffer works as the director of climate initiatives. It is the Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium, not the Alaska Native Travel Health Consortium.
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The Associated Press’ climate and environmental coverage receives financial support from multiple private foundations. AP is solely responsible for all content. Find AP’s standards for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at AP.org.
Home Depot was about to launch something big — really big — when the pandemic hit in the spring of 2020: a 12-foot skeleton.
“There were a lot of internal discussions. It was like, is there going to be Halloween this year?” said Lance Allen, senior merchant of decorative holiday at Home Depot. “Are customers going to think this is in poor taste? Should we go forward with it?’”
Home Depot did. And the towering skeleton arrived at the perfect time.
“Nobody could possibly need a 12-foot skeleton, but everybody wanted a 12-foot skeleton,” Allen said.
The retailer’s gamble upped the game for decorations. A population stuck at home and wanting some semblance of community entertainment created a Halloween phenomenon that’s now bigger than any one store. (Others carry various versions of the larger-than-life skeleton.)
And as stores race to get the latest and greatest Halloween score out as soon as possible, superfans say it’s about time.
Halloween is celebrated earlier
Home Depot’s 12-foot skeleton is affectionately known by fans across the internet and globe as “Skelly.” When Skelly was launched, the thinking was that he’d be out for a week or two leading up to Halloween night, Allen said, the usual consumer behavior observed at the time.
But the pandemic changed that timeline.
“Everybody started decorating in early October for something to do,” Allen said. “And we’ve really seen a shift in the market where now people are decorating for Halloween how we’ve seen with Christmas historically, planning out decorations five to six weeks, two months ahead of time.”
Mak Ralston, a Halloween fanatic known as Haunt Former on YouTube, who posts Halloween videos year-round, has noticed the shift.
“There used to be a kind of a calendar as to when I would expect things to come out in stores,” Ralston said, noting that orange and black and witches and skeletons used to roll in at the start of September, maybe mid-August.
“This year, I saw some stuff in stores for Halloween in June, early July,” he said. “It’s never been earlier.”
For some, it’s always Halloween
“Some average people who aren’t as invested don’t realize that for people who are really committed to both Halloween and the horror culture, they’re in it to win it like all year,” Ralston said.
“I can post a video about a horror movie or about a Halloween mask that’s coming out in October in February, and people eat it up,” he said.
Nate Rambaud, known as That Guy Nate on Youtube, started his channel by posting videos of abandoned stores such as Toys R Us, a niche interest on the video-sharing platform. Now with more than 440,000 subscribers, his bread and butter is a more spooky niche. He posts videos touring Spirit Halloween locations, which often occupy abandoned stores.
Rambaud has been to well over 300 Spirit Halloween locations in all 50 states.
“Halloween is so easy to attach to. It doesn’t require anybody else whatsoever,” said Rambaud.
Christmas “kind of requires other people, your family. You’re out buying stuff for people. And then kids sit around and wait for Christmas — that’s really all they can do for Christmas,” he said. “But Halloween — anyone can associate with Halloween and you can do it any time all the time.”
As a result of the year-round party, Skelly’s had some work done for his fifth birthday. Allen said the new Skellys for sale this season will have more UV additive to hold up against the sun longer, along with a more durable resin mixture to withstand colder temperatures. And he now has a dog.
“People are taking the skeletons on dates. They’re going out to the beach, he’s playing in the sand,” Allen said. “We’ve seen him at weddings.”
“A lot of times people will say, ‘I know this is not as good as everyone else’s, but I wanted to share this,’” Humphrey said. Group members join to find like-minded fans, he said, “but let’s be honest, people want to show off.”
Why are so many people so wild about Halloween?
Perhaps it all has to do with a fundamental part of the holiday: children.
Humphrey was out painting his fence recently when a girl walked by. She told him his house always has the best decorations.
“I didn’t realize kids memorize that. And that’s really kind of a badge of honor,” Humphrey said. ”Also, like, great, now I have no choice, I’m going to make sure I do a great job.”
Ralston recalled that growing up, he was the kid who carried around a skeleton instead of a teddy bear.
And Rambaud, whose videos showcase Halloween animatronics worth hundreds of dollars, remembers a simpler time from his childhood that helped spark his love for Halloween.
“My dad used to make what he would call a spook tunnel. He would take cardboard boxes, like refrigerator boxes, and he put them all together and made a maze that we had to crawl through,” he said. ”That was our little haunted house.”
To Humphrey, the holiday’s appeal can be summarized this way:
“Halloween is an extrovert day for introverts,” he said. “Why wouldn’t you want to celebrate that?”
Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year, has many wonderful foods associated with it. Apples, honey, beef brisket, noodle kugel — and shining on this list are pomegranates, that one-of-a-kind beautiful, mythical, symbolic and even Biblical fruit.
In the Sephardic tradition, pomegranates are celebrated as part of the Rosh Hashanah meal as a symbol of abundance, knowledge and righteousness. The fruit’s numerous seeds led some to say that the seeds corresponded to the 613 commandments of the Torah. (In fact, most pomegranates have somewhere between 400 and 800 seeds, but it’s a lovely allegorical notion).
On the table, a pomegranate-shaped dish might hold honey for apples to be dipped in. Yemenite Jews in Israel might have a pile of pomegranates as a centerpiece during the holiday meal.
Pomegranates are used in savory and sweet dishes, and are popular in Israeli and other Middle Eastern cooking, as well as in Mediterranean, Indian and African food. Pomegranate juice is also popular, used in cooking and available bottled for straight-up drinking and use in cocktails and mocktails.
The seeds and juice are both sweet and tart in flavor. Like citrus fruit, they taste refreshing and can be bold in flavor. And pomegranates are packed with nutrients.
You can add them into salads, rice and grain dishes, or stir them into yogurt. Sprinkle them on baked eggplant and other roasted vegetable dishes. Or incorporate them into tarts, cakes, scones and chocolate desserts.
This Rosh Hashana, use pomegranate seeds to provide a little flair and color to the holiday dinner by adding them to a simple salad, like the one below.
How to remove pomegranate seeds from the fruit
The biggest obstacle to enjoying them on the regular during their cold-weather season is getting those bountiful seeds from the leathery skin and clingy white internal membranes. You need to do a little work cutting through the thick exterior and extracting the seeds without letting any of the juice stain your clothes, countertop or dish towels.
Some supermarkets or specialty markets sell containers of just the seeds. If you are buying the seeds already removed from the fruit, make sure the little arils are bright red and firm, not shriveled, soft, or brownish in color.
If you’re buying whole pomegranates, choose ones that are firm and bright in color. Firm and heavy indicates that the arils/seeds are filled with lots of juice. Make sure the fruit is free of brown spots and bruises.
Before beginning, grab an apron to protect your clothes (or wear an old, unloved shirt) and, if possible, a plastic (not wood) cutting board to prevent the juice from staining your cutting surface. If you want to prevent any temporary staining of your hands, wear some cooking-compatible plastic or rubber gloves.
Start by cutting off a thin slice of the fruit’s bottom so it can stand securely. Then cut around the crown (the end with the “blossom” sticking out) at a slight angle into the top of the fruit so that the top comes off and there is a slight dip into the pomegranate. Use your knife and from top to bottom cut just through the thick skin but not into the seeds. Make five more cuts at fairly equal segments so there are a total of six cuts/sections. Pry open the pomegranate with your fingers; it should fall into six open sections.
Fill a large bowl with cold water. Submerge the sections and gently separate the seeds from the white membranes. As the seeds separate from the fruit, they will sink to the bottom, while the white membranes will float to the top. Then simply toss the skin, skim the membranes from the water, drain seeds in a strainer, and you are ready to roll.
Arugula, Orange and Pomegranate Salad
Ingredients
For the lemon vinaigrette:
1 large shallot, thinly sliced
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
1 tablespoon rice or white wine vinegar
3 tablespoons olive oil
Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper to taste
For the Salad:
8 cups baby arugula
1 small red onion halved and very thinly sliced
2 oranges, preferably cara cara or blood oranges
1 cup pomegranate seeds
Directions
Make the vinaigrette. In a small container, combine the shallots, lemon juice, rice vinegar, olive oil, salt and pepper. Shake to blend.
Place the arugula in a large serving bowl with the onion. Peel the oranges, and use a paring knife to remove all of the white pith from the outside of the fruit. Separate the orange slices, and cut each slice into 4 pieces. Add these to the bowl.
Pour the dressing on the salad, and toss to combine. Scatter the pomegranate seeds over the top and serve.
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Katie Workman writes regularly about food for The Associated Press. She has written two cookbooks focused on family-friendly cooking, “Dinner Solved!” and “The Mom 100 Cookbook.” She blogs at https://themom100.com/. She can be reached at [email protected].
FORT WORTH, Texas (AP) — A federal judge on Friday ordered a hearing next month over Boeing’s agreement to plead guilty to conspiracy in connection with the 737 Max jetliner, two of which crashed, killing 346 people.
Families of some of the passengers killed in the crashes object to the agreement. They want to put Boeing on trial, where it could face tougher punishment.
U.S. District Court Judge Reed O’Connor set a hearing for Oct. 11 in Fort Worth, Texas.
Boeing is accused of misleading regulators who approved minimal, computer-based training for Boeing 737 pilots before they could fly the Max. Boeing wanted to prevent regulators from requiring training in flight simulators, which would have raised the cost for airlines to operate the plane.
The Justice Department argued in court filings that conspiracy to defraud the government is the most serious charge it can prove. Prosecutors said they lack evidence to show that Boeing’s actions caused the crashes in 2018 in Indonesia and 2019 in Ethiopia.
Relatives of victims and their lawyers have called the settlement a sweetheart deal that fails to consider the loss of so many lives. Some of the lawyers have argued that the Justice Department treated Boeing gently because the company is a big government contractor.
The agreement calls for Boeing to pay a fine of at least $243.6 million, invest $455 million in compliance and safety programs, and be placed on probation for three years.
Already the longest-lived of the 45 men to serve as U.S. president, Jimmy Carter is about to reach the century mark.
The 39th president, who remains under home hospice care, will turn 100 on Tuesday, Oct. 1, celebrating in the same south Georgia town where he was born in 1924.
Here are some notable markers for Carter, the nation and the world over his long life.
Booms most everywhere — but not Plains
FILE – The Ku Klux Klan marches down Pennsylvania Ave. past the Treasury Building in Washington D.C. in 1925. (AP Photo, File)
Carter has seen the U.S. population nearly triple. The U.S. has about 330 million residents; there were about 114 million in 1924 and 220 million when Carter was inaugurated in 1977. The global population has more than quadrupled, from 1.9 billion to more than 8.1 billion. It already had more than doubled to 4.36 billion by the time he became president.
That boom has not reached Plains, where Carter has lived more than 80 of his 100 years. His wife Rosalynn, who died in 2023 at age 96, also was born in Plains.
Their town comprised fewer than 500 people in the 1920s and has about 700 today; much of the local economy revolves around its most famous residents.
When James Earl Carter Jr. was born, life expectancy for American males was 58. It’s now 75.
TV, radio and presidential maps
NBC first debuted a red-and-blue electoral map in the 1976 election between then-President Gerald Ford, a Republican, and Carter, the Democratic challenger. But NBC’s John Chancellor made Carter’s states red and Ford’s blue. Some other early versions of color electoral maps used yellow and blue because red was associated with Soviet and Chinese communism.
FILE – Former Presidents George Bush, left, and Jimmy Carter, right, stand with President Clinton during a kick-off rally for the President’s volunteer summit at Marcus Foster Stadium in Philadelphia, PA., April 27, 1997. (AP Photo/Greg Gibson, File)
It wasn’t until the 1990s that networks settled on blue for Democratic-won states and red for GOP-won states. “Red state” and “blue state” did not become a permanent part of the American political lexicon until after the disputed 2000 election between Al Gore and George W. Bush.
Carter was 14 when Franklin D. Roosevelt made the first presidential television appearance. Warren Harding became the first radio president two years before Carter’s birth.
Attention shoppers
There was no Amazon Prime in 1924, but you could order a build-it-yourself house from a catalog. Sears Roebuck Gladstone’s three-bedroom model went for $2,025, which was slightly less than the average worker’s annual income.
FILE – College student Chuck McManis watches President Jimmy Carter’s nationally televised energy speech from a service station in Los Angeles, as a gas station attendant fills up a customer’s car, July 15, 1979. (AP Photo/Mao, File)
Walmart didn’t exist, but local general stores served the same purpose. Ballpark prices: loaf of bread, 9 cents; gallon of milk, 54 cents; gallon of gas, 11 cents.
Inflation helped drive Carter from office, as it has dogged President Joe Biden. The average gallon in 1980, Carter’s last full year in office, was about $3.25 when adjusted for inflation. That’s just 3 cents more than AAA’s current national average.
From suffragettes to Kamala Harris
The 19th Amendment that extended voting rights to women — almost exclusively white women at the time — was ratified in 1920, four years before Carter’s birth. The Voting Rights Act that widened the franchise to Black Americans passed in 1965 as Carter was preparing his first bid for Georgia governor.
Now, Carter is poised to cast a mail ballot for Vice President Kamala Harris. She would become the first woman, first Black woman and first person of South Asian descent to reach the Oval Office. Grandson Jason Carter said the former president is holding on in part because he is excited about the chance to see Harris make history.
FILE – Former President Jimmy Carter, right, and Atlanta Braves team owner Ted Turner, left, watch early play during Game 6 of the National League Championship Series in Atlanta, Oct. 14, 1998. (AP Photo/Pat Sullivan, File)
Immigration, isolationism and ‘America First’
For all the shifts in U.S. politics, some things stay the same. Or at least come back around.
Carter was born in an era of isolationism, protectionism and white Christian nationalism — all elements of the right in the ongoing Donald Trump era. In 2024, Trump is promising the largest deportation effort in U.S. history, while tightening legal immigration. He has said immigrants are “poisoning the blood of our country.”
Five months before Carter was born, President Calvin Coolidge signed the Immigration Act of 1924. The law created the U.S. Border Patrol and sharply curtailed immigration, limiting admission mostly to migrants from western Europe. Asians were banned entirely. Congress described its purpose plainly: “preserve the ideal of U.S. homogeneity.” The Ku Klux Klan followed in 1925 and 1926 with marches on Washington promoting white supremacy.
Trump also has called for sweeping tariffs on foreign imports, part of his “America First” agenda. In 1922, Congress enacted tariffs intended to help U.S. manufacturers. After stock market losses in 1929, lawmakers added the 1930 Smoot-Hawley tariffs, ostensibly to help American farmers. The Great Depression followed anyway. In the 1930s, as Carter became politically aware, the political right that countered FDR was driven in part by a movement that opposed international engagement. Those conservatives’ slogan: “America First.”
FILE – Former President Jimmy Carter pulls notes out of his pocket before delivering remarks during a ceremony commemorating the 50th anniversary of the March on Washington at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, Aug. 28, 2013. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci, File)
America’s and Carter’s pastime
Carter is the Atlanta Braves’ most famous fan. Jason Carter says the former president still enjoys watching his favorite baseball team.
In the 1990s, when the Braves were annual features in the October playoffs, Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter were often spotted in the owner’s box with media mogul Ted Turner and Jane Fonda, then Turner’s wife. The Braves moved to Atlanta from Milwaukee between Carter’s failed run for governor in 1966 and his victory four years later. Then-Gov. Carter was sitting in the first row of Atlanta Fulton-County Stadium on April 9, 1974, when Henry Aaron hit his 715th home run to break Babe Ruth’s career record.
When Carter was born, the Braves were still in Boston, their original city. Ruth had just completed his fifth season for the New York Yankees. He had hit 284 home runs to that point (still 430 short of his career total) and the original Yankee Stadium — “The House that Ruth Built” — had been open less than 18 months.
Booze, Billy and Billy Beer
Prohibition had been in effect for four years when Carter was born and wouldn’t be lifted until he was 9. The Carters were never prodigious drinkers. They served only wine at state dinners and other White House functions, though it’s a common misconception that they did so because of their Baptist mores. It was more because Carter has always been frugal: He didn’t want taxpayers or the residence account (his and Rosalynn’s personal money) to cover more expensive hard liquor.
Carter’s younger brother Billy, who owned a Plains gas station and died in 1988, had different tastes. He marketed his own brand, Billy Beer, once Carter became president. News sources reported that Billy Carter snagged a $50,000 annual licensing fee from one brewer. That’s about $215,000 today. The president’s annual salary at the time was $200,000 — it’s now $400,000.
The debt: More Carter frugality
The Times Square debt clock didn’t debut until Carter was in his early 60s and out of the White House. But for anyone counting the $35 trillion debt, Carter doesn’t merit much mention. The man who would wash Ziploc bags to reuse them added less than $300 billion to the national debt, which stood below $1 trillion when he left office.
Other presidents
Carter has lived through 40% of U.S. history since the Declaration of Independence in 1776 and more than a third of all U.S. administrations since George Washington took office in 1789 — nine before Carter was president, his own and seven since.
When Carter took office, just two presidents, John Adams and Herbert Hoover, had lived to be 90. Since then, Ford, Ronald Reagan, Carter and George H.W. Bush all reached at least 93.
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This story was first published on Sep. 28, 2024. It was updated on Oct. 1, 2024 to correct that only one other former president, John Adams, lived to be at least 90. Herbert Hoover died at 90 in 1964.
Boar’s Head, the deli meat company at the center of a deadly listeria food poisoning outbreak, is being scrutinized by law enforcement officials, the U.S. Agriculture Department disclosed in response to government records requests.
Officials with USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service refused to share documents regarding the agency’s inspections and enforcement at the Boar’s Head plant in Jarratt, Virginia, plus inspection reports from eight other company factories across the U.S.
The records — which FSIS acknowledged include dozens of pages of documentation — were withheld because they were compiled “for a law enforcement purpose, which includes both civil and criminal statutes,” according to a letter sent Friday in response to Freedom of Information Act requests submitted by The Associated Press. Releasing the records could “interfere with” and “hinder” the government’s investigation, the letter said.
The AP asked for records regarding the listeria outbreak that, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, has killed 10 people and sickened at least 50 in 19 states since May. Listeria bacteria were initially detected in samples of Boar’s Head liverwurst and later traced to illnesses in people.
Previously released records revealed problems including mold, insects, dripping water and meat and fat residue on walls, floors and equipment dating back at least two years. Boar’s Head earlier recalled more than 7 million pounds of deli meat distributed to stores across the country. This month, the Sarasota, Florida-based company said it has closed the Virginia plant and permanently stopped making liverwurst.
Boar’s Head is facing several lawsuits filed by victims and their families.
FSIS officials did not respond to AP’s emails seeking additional comment about the records. Justice Department officials declined to comment on potential legal actions against Boar’s Head.
This week, Sen. Richard Blumenthal and Rep. Rosa DeLauro called on the Agriculture and Justice departments to “work closely” to determine whether to bring criminal charges against Boar’s Head in connection with the crisis. In response, USDA’s own internal investigators are reviewing the agency’s work and will decide by the end of the year whether to open an inquiry, according to Blumenthal’s office.
Past food poisoning outbreaks have resulted in criminal and civil penalties.
In 2020, Chipotle agreed to pay a record $25 million to resolve criminal charges over tainted food that sickened more than 1,100 people in outbreaks between 2015 and 2018. In 2015, former Peanut Corporation of America executive Stewart Parnell was sentenced to 28 years in prison after an outbreak of salmonella in his company’s peanut butter killed nine people and sickened more than 700.
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The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Science and Educational Media Group. The AP is solely responsible for all content.
Thinner benefits and coverage changes await many older Americans shopping for health insurance this fall. That’s if their plan is even still available in 2025.
More than a million people will probably have to find new coverage as major insurers cut costs and pull back from markets for Medicare Advantage plans, the privately run version of the federal government’s coverage program mostly for people ages 65 and older.
Industry experts also predict some price increases for Medicare prescription drug plans as required coverage improvements kick in.
“This could be bad news for Vice President Harris. If that premium is going up, that’s a very obvious sign that you’re paying more,” said Massey Whorley, an analyst for health care consulting company Avalere. “That has significant implications for how they’re viewing the performance of the current administration.”
Insurance agents say the distraction of the election adds another complication to an already challenging annual enrollment window that starts next month.
Insurers are pulling back from Medicare Advantage
Medicare Advantage plans will cover more than 35 million people next year, or around half of all people enrolled in Medicare, according to the federal government. Insurance agents say they expect more people than usual will have to find new coverage for 2025 because their insurer has either ended a plan or left their market.
The health insurer Humana expects more than half a million customers — about 10% of its total — to be affected as it pulls Medicare Advantage plans from places around the country. Many customers will be able to transfer to other Humana plans, but company leaders still anticipate losing a few hundred thousand customers.
CVS Health’s Aetna projects a similar loss, and other big insurers have said they are leaving several states.
Insurers say rising costs and care use, along with reimbursement cuts from the government, are forcing them to pull back.
Some people can expect a tough search
When insurers leave Medicare Advantage markets, they tend to stop selling plans that have lower quality ratings and those with a higher proportion of Black buyers, said Dr. Amal Trivedi, a Brown University public health researcher.
He noted that market exits can be particularly hard on people with several doctors and on patients with cognitive trouble like dementia.
Most markets will still have dozens of plan choices. But finding a new option involves understanding out-of-pocket costs for each choice, plus figuring out how physicians and regular prescriptions are covered.
“People don’t like change when it comes to health insurance because you don’t know what’s on the other side of the fence,” said Tricia Neuman, a Medicare expert at KFF, a nonprofit that researches health care.
Plans that don’t leave markets may raise deductibles and trim perks like cards used to pay for utilities or food.
Those proved popular in recent years as inflation rose, said Danielle Roberts, co-founder of the Fort Worth, Texas, insurance agency Boomer Benefits.
“It’s really difficult for a person on a fixed income to choose a health plan for the right reasons … when $900 on a flex card in free groceries sounds pretty good,” she said.
Don’t “sleep” on picking a Medicare plan
Prices also could rise for some so-called standalone Part D prescription drug plans, which people pair with traditional Medicare coverage. KFF says that population includes more than 13 million people.
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services said Friday that premiums for these plans will decrease about 4% on average to $40 next year.
But brokers and agents say premiums can vary widely, and they still expect some increases. They also expect fewer plan choices and changes to formularies, or lists of covered drugs. Roberts said she has already seen premium hikes of $30 or more from some plans for next year.
Any price shift will hit a customer base known to switch plans for premium changes as small as $1, said Fran Soistman, CEO of the online insurance marketplace eHealth.
The changes come as a congressional-approved coverage overhaul takes hold. Most notably, out-of-pocket drug costs will be capped at $2,000 for those on Medicare, an effort championed by Democrats and President Joe Biden in 2022.
In the long run, these changes will lead to a “much richer benefit,” Whorley said.
KFF’s Neuman noted that the cap on drug costs will be especially helpful to cancer patients and others with expensive prescriptions. She estimates about 1.5 million people will benefit.
To ward off big premium spikes because of the changes, the Biden administration will pull billions of dollars from the Medicare trust fund to pay insurers to keep premium prices down, a move some Republicans have criticized. Insurers will not be allowed to raise premium prices beyond $35 next year.
People will be able to sign up for 2025 coverage between Oct. 15 and Dec. 7. Experts say all the potential changes make it important for shoppers to study closely any new choices or coverage they expect to renew.
“This is not a year to sleep on it, just re-enroll in the status quo,” said Whorley, the health care analyst.
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The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Science and Educational Media Group. The AP is solely responsible for all content.
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