#executive-director

#executive-director

Nearly $800 million for water quality programs.Close to $700 million for Everglades restoration.A $100 million Indian River Lagoon Protection program.These are all environmental projects Gov. Ron DeSantis proudly approved funding for at a news conference Thursday in Fort Pierce where he signed the largest state budget in history.

(Gary Coronado / Los Angeles Times)

In his own words, the judge was between "a rock and a hard place."The receiver he had appointed to bring 29 dilapidated buildings up to code was drowning in debt and blaming the city of Los Angeles for his failure to borrow additional funds.An attorney for the city, which had recommended receiver Mark Adams to the court, was sniping at Adams' performance and indicated that it was speaking with possible replacements.

DURHAM - A group of pro-democracy plaintiffs have asked a federal court in the MiddleDistrict of North Carolina to block a longstanding racist law that makes it a felony for a NorthCarolinian to vote while on parole, probation, or post-release supervision for a felony conviction,even if they mistakenly believe or are told in error by election workers or their parole officersthat they are eligible to vote.

(Suhaimi Abdullah / Getty Images)

Sometimes sports isn't just about sports.For decades, athletic events have been used to launder the images and reputations in a tactic called "sportswashing." Whether embraced by a company or a nation with a regressive policies, sportswashing has particular allure, experts say, because it works.

On Thursday, May 25, 2023, Divas & Drinks @ The Academy emcee Donna Sachet welcomed to The Academy SF in the Castro contributors and supporters of the "Aging in Community" special editions published by the San Francisco Bay Times in the May 4 and May 18 issues.Through a series of presentations that included both personal anecdotes as well as heartfelt words of appreciation, the leadership and years of service of Openhouse Founder and longtime LGBTQ+ senior advocate Dr. Marcy Adelman, who curated the sections, was celebrated.

In 2011, an upstart start-up arrived on the scene with the intent of disrupting the traditional methods of moviegoing-before flaming out spectacularly eight years later.While active, the folks behind MoviePass-a service that at one point allowed subscribers to watch a movie per day for a ridiculously low monthly fee-burned through millions of dollars and the patience of its users.

The Department of Homeland Security has removed the chief medical officer at US Customs and Border Protection following the death of an 8-year-old girl held in US custody last month, according to a Homeland Security official.David Tarantino, who served in the position, has been reassigned, according to the official.

With a sense of relief that the conservative Supreme Court did not use a major Alabama redistricting case to further gut the Voting Rights Act, civil rights advocates and election attorneys are preparing for a new flood of redistricting litigation lawsuits challenging political maps especially in the South they say discriminate against minorities.

When the Supreme Court ruled on Thursday that Alabama's congressional map had diluted the power of Black voters, it was a long-sought victory for voting rights activists, who had grown increasingly alarmed at the court's previous decisions that have hollowed out the Voting Rights Act.The decision also is likely to reverberate across the South, and could force multiple states with pending Voting Rights Act challenges to redraw their own maps.

This week we're chatting with Alex Brennan, executive director of Futurewise in Washington State about the most-recent legislative session and bills on missing middle class housing, climate change, and transit oriented development.But this conversation isn't just about Washington, oh no.The issues raised are playing out nationally.

A first of its kind wildlife crossing in Northern California has been proposed over Highway 101 in San Benito County - the latest project in the state's efforts to provide safe passage for mountain lions and other animals over dangerous roadways.About $21 millionhas been raised to fund the overpass at 2,600-acre Rock's Ranch, the nonprofit Land Trust of Santa Cruz County announced earlier this year.

With our first-ever Generative AI Summit coming July 20th, this free virtual event will cover the topics you need to know to get started developing, using, and understanding generative AI.That being said, here are a few confirmed speakers coming to the event that you can hear from when you register for free.

Protesters hold placards at a pro-abortion rights rally in Dayton, Ohio, on May 14, 2022.Whitney Saleski / SOPA Images / LightRocket via Getty Images A coalition of doctors and abortion rights advocates wants to make Ohio the first Republican-controlled state to vote to enshrine abortion rights in its constitution - but they must first defeat Republicans' efforts to thwart the measure.

The city has delayed its timeline on reimagining the infamous triple cantilever portion of the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway, stalling the start of construction by at least a few months.Rather than conducting a comprehensive traffic study concurrently with a two-year environmental review, as was initially planned, the city's Department of Transportation will now carry out the traffic study first.

File photo by Todd Maisel
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The city has delayed its timeline on reimagining the infamous Triple Cantilever portion of the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway, stalling the start of construction by at least a few months.

Good morning.It's Thursday.We'll look at what to expect for air quality today in New York City.We'll also look at a photo from a less-bad-air day nearly 57 years ago.And we'll find out why a meeting of state cannabis regulators and retail license holders suddenly became heated.Image Credit...James Barron/The New York Times Jennifer Poynter and her husband Mike thought about what to pack for their trip to New York City.

Photo courtesy of Joe Carrotta/NYU Langone
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A new community-based health clinic opened in Red Hook this week, aiming to provide extra care for a community that has long lacked adequate healthcare resources.

Sign up for our amNY Sports email newsletter to get insights and game coverage for your favorite teams The city is lifting its ban on e-bikes and scooters in parks and greenways as part of a yearlong pilot starting June 20, the Parks Department announced on Wednesday.The policy change, announced by the Adams administration in March, will permit the operators of most e-bikes and e-scooters to ride on park drives, such as the loops in Central and Prospect parks, as well as the city's greenways, such as those along the Hudson River, East River, Harlem River, and Jamaica Bay.

(Justin Sullivan / Getty Images)

When State Farm announced in May that the company would stop writing new homeowners insurance policies in California, it issued a two-paragraph statement by way of explanation.It listed "historic increases in construction costs," "rapidly growing catastrophe exposure, and a challenging reinsurance market" as the culprits, adding that it needed to take this action to "improve the company's financial strength."

(Noah Berger / Associated Press)

It seems like only yesterday that criminal justice reform was in vogue.Progressives were being elected as prosecutors.Laws were passed to relieve prison overcrowding and divert offenders from the system who needed treatment, not jail time.Sentencing excesses from the crack era and the three-strikes era were rolled back.

Are we becoming ... California?Last week, wildfire smoke choked the region-and this week, an unusually dry spring prompted federal and state officials to begin daily drought monitoring of the DC area.The good news, according to weather prediction models, is that showers are coming soon, which means our current drought could recede before many Washingtonians even notice it.

A myriad of workers rallied in downtown Los Angeles in support of striking writers, during an event called "The Unions Strike Back" on May 26, 2023.Mandalit del Barco/NPR Film and TV writers are now in their seventh week on strike against the Hollywood studios.Actors negotiating their own new contract with the studios as members of the union SAG-AFTRA may also go on strike soon, which would shut down productions entirely.

Long-awaited renovations are underway at the West Scarborough Neighbourhood Community Centre, but that means parts of the Pharmacy Avenue building are closed for a year.Following an accessibility audit, plans were made to install an elevator from the WSNCC's basement to the second floor and replace the quite antiquated swimming pool change rooms and resurface the pool deck, says Josh Hood, executive director of BGC West Scarborough, formerly Boys and Girls Club of West Scarborough.

In some states, the administration of elections is (relatively) uncontroversial.Not so in Georgia.When the US Supreme Court the federal Voting Rights Act in 2013, Southern states with histories of racist voting practices were freed from requirements that significant changes to elections and voter laws be subject to federal approval.

"The TRIPS waiver was a mistake.Expanding it will make things be worse.It won't help fight COVID, but it will hurt U.S. innovation and it will contribute to other countries realizing their industrial policy goals."- Marc Busch
The House of Representatives' Subcommittee on Courts, Intellectual Property, and the Internet today held a hearing titled "IP and Strategic Competition with China: Part II - Prioritizing U.S. Innovation Over Assisting Foreign Adversaries," which focused on the World Trade Organization's (WTO's) agreement on a waiver of IP rights for COVID-19 vaccine technologies under the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) last June.

A few weeks ago, Sharon Maxwell heard the National Eating Disorders Association (NEDA) was shutting down its long-running national helpline and promoting a chatbot called Tessa as a "a meaningful prevention resource" for those struggling with eating disorders.She decided to try out the chatbot herself.

Pat Robertson speaks during a forum at Regent University in Virginia Beach, Va., in 2015.Robertson was a religious broadcaster who turned a tiny Virginia station into the global Christian Broadcasting Network, tried a run for president and helped make religion central to Republican Party politics in America through his Christian Coalition.

An ordinance that heavily restricts where and when unhoused residents can rest in the city was approved by the Portland City Council 3-1 on Wednesday, June 7.Commissioner Carmen Rubio was the lone "no" vote.Commissioner Mingus Mapps was absent.The ordinance was brought forward by Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler's office the week prior, drawing five hours of public testimony and written comments from almost 500 people.

First-time investors in cryptoassets should be offered a 24-hour cooling-off period by those marketing them, according to the City regulator, which is introducing an advertising crackdown.The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA)'s new advertising rules will mean firms marketing cryptoassets to UK consumers will need to introduce a cooling-off period for first-time investors from October 8 2023.

Ten days after a federal injunction stopping San Francisco from most sweeps of homeless encampments, the situation is mixed in the Mission: Some unhoused Mission residents say they have still been told to pack up and move, particularly before Carnaval; others say that sweeps have stopped and they have been left largely alone.