On October 28, 2024, at approximately 8:30pm, Dauphin RCMP detachment conducted a traffic stop on a vehicle with five occupants on Main Street in Dauphin.
As the officer approached the vehicle, the driver indicated that they did not have their license with them. The driver, a 33-year old female from Crane River was also found to be in violation of curfew, and a 29-year-old male passenger, was deemed to have an outstanding warrant.
After a search of the passenger, drug paraphernalia was located.
A subsequent search of the vehicle was completed, and officers found 44 grams of crack cocaine, and Canadian currency inside.
The following individuals were arrested and charged:
Ariel Anderson, 24, of Norway House, MB
Possession for the Purpose of Trafficking – Cocaine
Possession of property obtained by crime
Failure to comply with a release order
Warrant of arrest out of Ottawa, Ontario
Breann Breland, 33, of Crane River, MB
Possession for the Purpose of Trafficking – Cocaine
Possession of property obtained by crime
Failure to comply with a release order
Marsha McDonald, 39, of Ochre River, MB
Possession for the Purpose of Trafficking – Cocaine
Possession of property obtained by crime
Karen Spence, 59, of Ochre River, MB
Possession for the Purpose of Trafficking – Cocaine
Possession of property obtained by crime
Owen Spence, 29, of Ochre River, MB
Possession for the Purpose of Trafficking – Cocaine
Possession of property obtained by crime
Warrant of arrest out of Winnipeg, MB
Marsha McDonald and Karen Spence were later released from custody on a Release Order.
Ariel Anderson, Breann Breland, and Owen Spence were remanded into custody with a court appearance at a future date.
On 29-30 October, the 4th EuroMed Justice Network (EMJNet) meeting was held at the Ministry of Justice of Spain in Madrid.
Forty-five criminal justice representatives from eight South Partner Countries (SPCs) and nine European Union Member States gathered to share knowledge and exchange best practices on international judicial cooperation related to the different stages of asset recovery. The meeting focused on asset tracing; asset freezing; asset confiscation and asset management and disposal (reverted to the relevant state, shared among the respective states or returned to the victim).
Representatives from UNICRI and the leader of the Economic Crimes Team at Eurojust also presented international and European recommendations and standards, best practises and challenges on these topics.
Participants also discussed their national asset tracking systems and presented relevant cross border cases.
Over both days, the objectives of EMJNet were reintroduced by the EMJ PMT . EMJNet, the cross-Mediterranean network of criminal justice practitioners aims to strengthen the contacts and the operational cooperation between criminal justice authorities from SPCs and EU Member States. EMJNet acts as the operational network of the EMJ Project and is composed of contact points who are active intermediaries facilitating judicial cooperation in criminal matters.
The participants also benefited from the presentation of Spain’s Asset Management Office by its two Deputy Directors.
Source: United States Department of Defense (video statements)
Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken and Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III hold a news conference with South Korean Foreign Affairs Minister Cho Tae-yul and South Korean Defense Minister Kim Yong-hyun at the State Department headquarters, Oct. 31, 2024, in Washington.
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Federal investment will support the new direct flight connecting Southern Oregon with Dallas-Fort Worth
Washington D.C.—U.S. Senators Ron Wyden and Jeff Merkley today announced a federal investment of $600,000 for the Rogue Valley International Medford Airport to support the expansion of service to Dallas-Fort Worth.
“Making sure our regional airports have the support they need to keep Oregonians connected and moving is essential for the local economy,” Wyden said. “I applaud this federal investment to Rogue Valley International Medford Airport, and will continue to fight for more resources for airports and infrastructure upgrades across Oregon.”
“Oregon’s regional airports serve as vital hubs for our communities – supporting local businesses, connecting travelers to world-class recreational opportunities, and providing essential lifelines during natural disasters,” Merkley said. “This federal funding will put Oregon’s Medford-Rogue Valley International Airport in a position to expand its service to Dallas-Ft. Worth and fill additional staffing needs for this new route, connecting Oregonians to more of the U.S.”
The $600,000 investment from the Department of Transportation will be used to create a revenue guarantee and associated marketing plan to recruit, initiate, and support new service between Medford and Dallas-Fort Worth.
“The Rogue Valley International-Medford Airport is excited to have been awarded a Small Community Air Service Development (SCASD) Grant to support new service between MFR and DFW. This grant funding is an instrumental step toward creating this connection; however, it’s important to note that airlines are not bound to initiate service simply due to an airport receiving a grant award. That said, we are encouraged by American Airlines’ interest and we are confident this funding underscores the strong demand and our community’s support for a direct MFR-DFW route. We are optimistic that the airlines will recognize the opportunity to enhance connectivity between our two regions. We look forward to the potential for this valuable new service to benefit travelers and support local economic growth in the near future, and the Airport is committed to working with our airline partners to make this route a reality,” said Amber Judd, Director of the Rogue Valley International-Medford Airport.
Wyden and Merkley have both pushed for more resources for Oregon’s airports. In September, Wyden and Merkley announced $6.41 million for the Rogue Valley International Medford Airport and $4 million for Prineville Airport to extend its taxiways and reduce congestion. This October, Merkley and Wyden along with U.S. Representative Val Hoyle announced $5 million for the terminal reconstruction project at Eugene’s Mahlon Sweet Airport.
At Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhya Nuclear Power Plant (ZNPP), repairs are being conducted in one of its six reactors after a small water leakage was detected from an impulse line – essentially a small pipe – connected to the unit’s primary circuit, with the work expected to be completed later this week, Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said today.
The IAEA expert team stationed at the ZNPP visited unit 1 on Tuesday after being informed that one of the impulse lines, part of the reactor coolant pump support systems, was leaking and required repair. For this work, the pressure in the primary circuit had to be decreased to atmospheric level. The team was informed today that welding work had been completed and that radiography checks of the welds were on-going.
“The Agency will continue to follow this issue closely, although we don’t see any immediate issue for nuclear safety. In general, we have identified regular equipment maintenance – which is vital to ensure sustainable nuclear safety and security – as a challenging area for the Zaporizhzhya Nuclear Power Plant during the conflict,” Director General Grossi said.
Like the ZNPP’s five other reactors, unit 1 has been in cold shutdown, generating no electricity for the grid, prior to this week’s change in status to shutdown for maintenance. It is expected that unit 1 will be put back to cold shutdown after the repair of the impulse line is completed and tested.
The IAEA team has also carried out other walkdowns during the past week as part of their continuous work to assess – and report on – nuclear safety and security at the ZNPP, where the general situation remains precarious on the frontline of the conflict.
Earlier this week, for example, the team visited the main control rooms of all six units to examine key plant parameters as well as the staffing situation. The IAEA staff have also visited some of the emergency diesel generators (EDG) of units 2 and 5 to verify the readiness of equipment and check the diesel fuel levels.
As virtually every week, the team has continued to hear explosions daily, although no damage to the plant was reported.
Elsewhere in Ukraine, an IAEA team last week completed its visits to seven electrical substations, as part of the Agency’s work to assess the status of the electrical grid infrastructure essential to nuclear safety that began in September.
During the visits, which were requested by Ukraine, the team reviewed how damage caused by military activities earlier this year had impacted the substations’ deliveries of off-site power to the country’s operating nuclear power plants (NPPs), an area highlighted in the Seven Indispensable Pillars of nuclear safety and security outlined by Director General Grossi in March 2022.
The IAEA teams present at the Khmelnytskyy, Rivne and South Ukraine NPPs and the Chornobyl site reported that nuclear safety and security is being maintained despite the effects of the ongoing conflict, including air raid alarms for several days over the past week.
On Monday, the team at the Khmelnytskyy NPP had to shelter at their hotel for several hours after hearing drones which triggered an air raid alarm. The IAEA was subsequently informed by the Ukrainian regulator that 12 drones had been flying near the site during the morning, the closest 400 metres away. The regulator also said drones had been reported near the South Ukraine site on three occasions over the past week.
“Frequent reports of drones flying near nuclear power plants continue to be a source of deep concern for nuclear safety and security. As we have stated repeatedly, any military activity in the vicinity of nuclear power plants represents a potential risk,” Director General Grossi said.
The IAEA is continuing to implement its comprehensive programme of assistance in support of nuclear safety and security in Ukraine, including by delivering requested equipment.
Over the past two weeks, the South Ukraine NPP received radiation and contamination monitoring devices, while State Enterprise USIE Izotop – involved in the management of radioactive material intended for medical, industrial and other purposes – received personal protective equipment. These items were procured with funds from Japan, Switzerland and the United Kingdom. So far, a total of 73 deliveries of equipment and other supplies have been completed by the IAEA.
Last week, remote training on human performance and management observation and coaching was completed for 109 staff at the Chornobyl, Rivne and South Ukraine sites. The training aimed to equip staff and management with skills on how to prevent or reduce the risk of human errors with potential implications for nuclear safety.
Headline: ICC Joins SME Resilience Alliance for Ukraine
ICC Secretary General John W.H. Denton AO said:
“By joining the SME Resilience Alliance for Ukraine, ICC builds on its ongoing efforts to support small- and medium-sized enterprises through initiatives like the ICC Centre of Entrepreneurship, aiming to harness the power of the private sector to drive economic recovery and resilience in Ukraine.”
Additionally, the ICC Centre of Entrepreneurship in Ukraine is working to empower Ukrainian SMEs and assist the re-skilling of internally displace people, notably women.
ICC also maintains regular consultations with multilateral and bilateral donors to explore strategies for Ukraine’s economic reconstruction. This includes engaging with the Ukraine Donor Platform, its Business Advisory Council, and the rotating Ukraine Recovery Conference (URC) platform.
As a friend of the SME Resilience Alliance, ICC attended the second meeting, opened by Oleksii Sobolev, First Deputy Minister at the Ministry of Economy of Ukraine. In his speech, Mr Sobolev emphasised the vital role SMEs play in the country’s recovery. With SMEs accounting for more than 90% of all businesses in Ukraine, the Ukrainian government’s SME strategy for 2024-2027 aims to facilitate recovery and enhance human capital and entrepreneurial culture.
The SME Alliance for Ukraine aims to support the Ukrainian government’s efforts through three key areas: improving regulatory framework conditions, strengthening support institutions for SMEs and enhancing access to finance. Pursuing the goal of mobilising €7 billion for ongoing and new SME programmes, the Alliance has mapped relevant actors in Ukraine and abroad. This allows for the identification of regional as well as sectoral gaps and overlaps in support, and facilitates the linking of potential trading partners. Most SME beneficiaries in Ukraine operate in the agri-food sector, and a large share is owned by women.
Through its participation in the Alliance, ICC seeks to extend its ongoing efforts to strengthen Ukraine’s economy. ICC has previously been actively engaged in several key initiatives, including the Black Sea Grain Initiative, which has facilitated the export of nearly 33 million tonnes of grain. Additionally, the ICC Centre of Entrepreneurship in Ukraine is working to empower Ukrainian SMEs and assist with refugee integration.
ICC also maintains regular consultations with multilateral donors and individual contributors to explore strategies for economic reconstruction. This includes engaging with the Ukraine Donor Platform and its Business Advisory Council.
Through these initiatives and partnerships, ICC remains committed to supporting Ukraine’s economic recovery and fostering a sustainable business environment for SMEs.
With the clock ticking down to November 5 and what just about everyone agrees is the most consequential US presidential election in living memory, various of the Biden administration’s top brass have jetted out to the Middle East for one last try to get a deal over the line.
The most likely area where progress could be made is the conflict in Lebanon between Israel and Hezbollah. The militant group announced the appointment of a new general secretary on October 29. Naim Qassem is, as the BBC puts it, “one of the few senior Hezbollah leaders who remains alive after Israel killed most of the group’s leadership in a series of attacks”. He is reportedly making noises about possible change in Hezbollah policy that would separate any negotiations over the conflict in Lebanon with any talks over Gaza.
If true, it’s a major shift from the policy of recently assassinated leader Hassan Nasrallah, which previously indelibly linked a ceasefire in Gaza with the cessation of Lebanon’s rocket attacks on northern Israel. Full details of the deal remain under wraps, but a draft was leaked to Israel’s state broadcaster Kan.
Post on X by Kann reporter, Suleiman Maswadeh, with details of a proposed Middle East peace deal. X
For Israel’s part, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said the initial phase of Israel’s operation inside Lebanon is drawing to a close. As for what comes next, the New York Times reported on October 28 that Netanyahu is “waiting to see who will succeed President Biden before committing to a diplomatic trajectory”.
The diplomatic trajectory has been made more complicated of late by a big spat between Israel and the UN. The two have had a fractious relationship since the very start. But under the Netanyahu government, things have steadily deteriorated to the stage that Israel actually barred UN secretary general António Guterres from entering the country at the beginning of October.
This week Israel’s parliament, the Knesset, passed a new law banning the UN relief and works agency (Unrwa) from operating on any territory it controls. Unrwa was set up after the war of 1948 to help displaced Arabs and has since morphed into what an independent review this year said was an “indispensable lifeline” for civilians in Gaza and the West Bank.
The trouble is that the reason the independent review was reporting at all was that Israel was alleging Unrwa staff had taken part in the October 7 massacres alongside Hamas. Unwra subsequently fired nine staff members. But Israel’s contention that Unrwa is a “rotten tree entirely infected with terrorist operatives” remains unproved.
Lisa Strömbom of Sweden’s Lund University, who has been following the conflict for many years, has traced the deterioration of relations between Israel and Unrwa over several decades. She now believes that Israel’s ban will make it nigh on impossible for Unrwa to fulfil its mission in Gaza. This can only make things worse for a civilian population in Gaza which is already trying to survive in the most difficult circumstances possible.
The Netanyahu government’s decision to ban Unrwa has been roundly condemned on all sides. Some voices have even called for Israel’s membership of the UN to be suspended. That’s a complicated issue, writes Aidan Hehir, who has published widely on conflict resolution and treaty making.
For a start, it would need to get past the UN security council which means being subject to a veto from any one of the five permanent members (P5). We published an article on this issue some years ago with the help of UN expert Emma McClean, which looked at the issues which had prompted members of the P5 to wield their vetos. It found that Israel-Palestine was hands-down the most common issue that led to a veto – and all those vetoes had been instigated by the US.
So suspending Israel from the UN would appear to be a non-starter. But Hehir tells the story of the way the UN managed to circumvent the P5 and suspend South Africa in 1974 over apartheid. Having failed to get the suspension past the security council after the UK and France vetoed the move, the credentials committee of the general assembly simply refused to renew South Africa’s credentials. It remained suspended for two decades until the end of apartheid in 1994.
Meanwhile Israel’s assault on Gaza continues and the death toll continues to mount. Israeli Defense Forces (IDF), supported by airstrikes, continue to bombard what the IDF says are Hamas positions in the towns of Beit Lahia and Jabalia but which the Gaza health ministry say are residential buildings sheltering hundreds of civilians. On October 29, the health ministry said at least 93 people, including 25 children, were killed by an Israeli airstrike.
Now, more than ever, it’s vital to be informed about the important issues affecting global stability. Sign up to receive our weekly World Update newsletter. Every Thursday we’ll you expert analysis of the big stories making international headlines.
Much of the population of the north of Gaza has been evacuated south of what is known as the Netzarim corridor. Israel’s Haaretz newspaper claims that it’s part of an operation known as the “generals’ plan”, which calls for the north to be cleared of civilian residents and locked down as a military zone. This is presented as a national security measure, but Leonie Fleischmann reports that there are those who believe the military operation will be followed by an influx of Israeli settlers.
Fleischmann points to a conference held on the Israeli side of the border with north Gaza, attended by members of Netanyahu’s Likud party as well as by several government ministers, which actively promoted the idea of settling north Gaza. Memories and historical legend mingle with ideology that holds Gaza had a Jewish population from biblical times through to 1929, when an Arab revolt killed 133 Jewish people living there and drove the rest out.
The prospect of a land grab is clearly exercising minds at the UK foreign office. UK ambassador to the United Nations, Barbara Woodward said on October 29: “We reiterate that northern Gaza must not be cut off from the south. Palestinian civilians, including those evacuated from northern Gaza must be permitted to return. There must be no forcible transfer of Gazans from or within Gaza, nor any reduction in the territory of the Gaza Strip.”
It’s highly unlikely that we’ll know by this time next week who has prevailed in the US presidential election. But the Middle East will be one of the first big ticket items on the Resolute desk.
The issue has already proved to be a tricky one for Kamala Harris. Her support base is deeply divided on the issue, with large numbers of Democrats – particularly young people, as well as Muslims and black voters – unsettled by her perceived part in the Biden administration’s “steadfast” support for Israel over the past four years.
It’s hard to tell whether these voters consider that the people of Gaza would fare any better under a Trump White House. But Natasha Lindstaedt and Faten Ghosn believe that Netanyahu’s continuing aggression in Gaza may well play out in the Republican contender’s favour.
Meanwhile, to guide us through how the two candidates are likely to approach the big foreign policy issues, we can turn to Garret Martin of the Transatlantic Policy Center at the American University in Washington.
2025 brings the U.S. Army’s 250th birthday, and we’re ramping up for the year-long celebration! Be on the lookout on ALL of our platforms!
THIS WE’LL DEFEND!
About the U.S. Army:
The Army Mission – our purpose – remains constant: To deploy, fight and win our nation’s wars by providing ready, prompt & sustained land dominance by Army forces across the full spectrum of conflict as part of the joint force.
Interested in joining the U.S. Army?
Visit: spr.ly/6001igl5L
Connect with the U.S. Army online:
Web: https://www.army.mil Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/USarmy/ X: https://www.twitter.com/USArmy Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/usarmy/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/us-army
#USArmy #Soldiers #Military #Army250 #ThisWellDefend
Noon Briefing by Stéphane Dujarric, Spokesperson for the Secretary-General.
Highlights:
-Democratic People’s Republic of Korea
-UNIFIL
-Lebanon/Humanitarian
-Occupied Palestinian Territory
-Ukraine
-Security Council
-Deputy Secretary-General
-Cuba
-South Sudan
-West and Central Africa
-World Cities Day
-Guest briefing
-Briefings tomorrow
Democratic People’s Republic of Korea
The Secretary-General strongly condemns the launch today of a long-range ballistic missile by the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK).
The DPRK’s continued launches of missiles using ballistic missile technology are clear violations of relevant Security Council resolutions.
The Secretary-General remains concerned about the situation on the Korean Peninsula. He has consistently called for de-escalation and the full implementation of all relevant Security Council resolutions, as well as for an environment that is conducive to dialogue, and the resumption of talks.
Diplomatic engagement remains the only pathway to sustainable peace and the complete and verifiable denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula.
UNIFIL
In Lebanon, Blue Helmets – who remain at their positions and continue their essential work to monitor and report to us and the international community what is actually happening on the ground, tell us that intense clashes between Hizbullah and the Israel Defence Forces have been reported in the Khiam area in UNIFIL’s Sector East.
The Israeli Defence Forces have continued to strike areas across Lebanon, including in the south, Baalbek and near Beirut, with multiple casualties reported. Hizbullah’s rocket fire has reportedly killed five people today near Metula in northern Israel.
Yesterday, a UNIFIL position near the Blue Line, south of the Shab’a village (Sector East) sustained minor damage to its barracks and a vehicle due to a nearby explosion.
We once again remind all involved in this conflict of the inviolability of UN premises, and those premises must be respected, as well as our peacekeepers, both uniformed and civilians.
The intensifying hostilities are, of course, extremely concerning. We urge all actors to stop the violence immediately and avail themselves of the diplomatic initiatives to end this conflict. We continue to support efforts towards de-escalation and a diplomatic solution.
The UN peacekeeping mission also remains focused on helping local communities. This week, they delivered essential humanitarian aid to the Municipality of Tyre amid a challenging situation in south Lebanon. The aid included medical devices as well as medicines.
Lebanon/Humanitarian
On the humanitarian front, as in many conflicts, children and woman bear the brunt of the ongoing hostilities.
In a statement today, UNICEF’s Executive Director, Catherine Russell, said that 166 children have been killed in Lebanon since October 2023, that is what Lebanese authorities are telling UNICEF, while thousands of others have been injured.
UNICEF is on the ground providing emergency psychological support to thousands of children and their caregivers.
For its part, the UN Population Fund says the conflict is also impacting more than 10,000 pregnant women including 1,300 who are expecting to give birth soon amid significant damage to infrastructure and a health system that is extremely strained.
The displacement crisis remains a key issue. Our humanitarian colleagues are telling us that today, the Israeli army issued new orders for people to leave their homes in several villages as well as in the Rashiedeh Palestinian refugee camp, which is located in the south. This is the first time the Israeli army has called for the evacuation of a Palestinian refugee camp in Lebanon.
OCHA says that yesterday’s displacement orders and strikes in Baalbek and surrounding areas have forced thousands of people to flee their homes. Many of them spent the night in their vehicles.
And yesterday, the Humanitarian Coordinator for Lebanon, Imran Riza, visited Akkar in Tripoli, which currently hosts around 70,000 people who have been forced to flee, and are in conditions that you can only imagine.
Full Highlights: https://www.un.org/sg/en/content/noon-briefing-highlight?date%5Bvalue%5D%5Bdate%5D=31%20October%202024
Source: United States Senator for Louisiana Bill Cassidy
WASHINGTON – This week, U.S. Senator Bill Cassidy, M.D. (R-LA) visited with farmers in Port Allen and Jennings, to discuss the next Farm Bill and what Louisiana’s farmers need to continue feeding our state and the world.
“Our farmers and fishermen produce the best sugarcane, rice and seafood in the world,” said Dr. Cassidy. “It’s my goal to protect them against unfair, foreign competition, to keep crop insurance affordable, and to prevent the cost of farming from rising. I appreciate being able to meet with Louisiana farmers and work together to reach these goals in the next Farm Bill.”
On Wednesday, Cassidy toured a sugar farm in Port Allen alongside Mr. Travis Medine, the managing partner of Medine Farms and a fifth-generation Louisiana sugarcane farmer. He learned how they use modern technology to plant and harvest sugarcane, which was Louisiana’s second most lucrative commodity in 2023, according to the LSU AgCenter.
Additionally, on Tuesday and Wednesday, Cassidy participated in roundtables with farmers in Jennings and Port Allen to discuss issues important to Louisiana farmers. The main topic was the upcoming Farm Bill and the need to focus on providing affordable crop insurance, among other crucial tasks. Cassidy also discussed challenges in hiring workers, the need for rural health care services, and preventing unfair competition from overseas.
During his time in Congress, Cassidy has taken the lead in advocating for Louisiana farmers. Last September, he introduced legislation to protect Louisiana shrimpers and rice farmers from the dumping of cheap products by China and India into the United States. He also quizzed the U.S. Trade Representative on this matter during a U.S. Senate Finance Committee hearing in April.
Farmers and their families have also benefitted from Cassidy’s Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act. Last April, he announced that the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) would grant Louisiana over $1.5 million to support public schools, roads and other municipal services in rural areas where farmers work. Moreover, in separate appropriations, Cassidy secured $9 million in Fiscal Years 2023 and 2024 for the USDA/ARS Sugarcane Research facilities in Houma and is on track to secure another $7 million in the Fiscal Year 2025 agricultural appropriations bill.
While meeting with farmers in Port Allen, Cassidy was joined by Mr. Richard Fontenot, President of the Louisiana Farm Bureau Federation. Cassidy was recognized as a Friend of Farm Bureau for outstanding service to farmers.
“This marks the eighth Congress in a row in which Senator Bill Cassidy has received the Friend of Farm Bureau Award presented by the American Farm Bureau,” said Mr. Fontenot. “It’s given on his voting record, which shows that he and his staff are close allies of the Louisiana Farm Bureau and listen to and respond to the needs of our farmers and ranchers. With farm income down 23% since 2022 and some Louisiana farmers facing a third straight year of losses due to record high input costs and low commodity prices, we’re thankful Senator Cassidy took the time to hear those struggles directly from Louisiana Farm Bureau members.”
Source: United States House of Representatives – Congresswoman Kathy Manning (NC-06)
Greensboro, NC – Today, Representatives Kathy Manning (NC-06), Deborah Ross (NC-02), Alma Adams (NC-12), and Wiley Nickel (NC-13) sent a letter to Postmaster General Louis DeJoy, calling on the United States Postal Service (USPS) to take extraordinary measures to ensure North Carolinians’ absentee ballots reach county boards of elections without delay.
The Members wrote, “Although North Carolina previously counted all ballots postmarked by Election Day, this year, officials only will count the ballots county boards of elections have received by 7:30 PM on Election Day. Given the record number of voters who will vote by mail in the 2024 election and the Postal Service’s critical role in defending election integrity, we request that USPS make public on a daily basis certain key factors regarding election mail processing, as outlined in the September Extraordinary Measures Memo, beginning this week and continuing through November 5th.”
The Members expressed concerns and requested detailed information on USPS operations to process election mail efficiently, ensuring the timely and complete delivery of all absentee ballots.
Source: United States Senator for North Dakota John Hoeven
10.31.24
BISMARCK, N.D. – Senator John Hoeven, a member of the Senate Transportation Appropriations Committee, today announced that the Department of Transportation’s (DOT) Federal Railroad Administration has awarded $20,714,004 to the Red River Valley & Western Railroad Company to replace 25 miles of rail between Gwinner and Oakes, and construct two new sidings to hold trains near Casselton.
“North Dakota’s economy is dependent on freight transportation, including rail, to ship bulk agricultural commodities, energy products and manufactured goods,” said Hoeven. “This funding will help rehabilitate aging rail and ensure that our producers in the region can continue to get their products to market safely and efficiently. Improving the railroad network in our state is vitally important to helping to grow North Dakota’s economy.”
The North Dakota delegation wrote a letter earlier this year to the Department of Transportation to help secure the grant. Click here for the letter.
This funding was made available through the Consolidated Rail Infrastructure and Safety Improvements (CRISI) grant program to ensure rail transportation remains safe and reliable. This will be the third consecutive round of CRISI that RRVW has been awarded.
The National Film Board of Canada (NFB) returns to the Festival international du cinéma francophone en Acadie (FICFA) with two documentaries. Trécarré: à la source du son de la Baie Sainte-Marie (Trécarré: Exploring the Saint Mary’s Bay Sound), by Acadian filmmaker Natalie Robichaud, will be opening the festival with its world premiere. And Ninan Auassat: Nous, les enfants (Ninan Auassat: We, the Children), by Abenaki filmmaker Kim O’Bomsawin, is screening in competition and making its Atlantic début.
October 29, 2024 – Moncton – National Film Board of Canada
The National Film Board of Canada (NFB) returns to the Festival international du cinéma francophone en Acadie (FICFA) with two documentaries. Trécarré: à la source du son de la Baie Sainte-Marie (Trécarré: Exploring the Saint Mary’s Bay Sound), by Acadian filmmaker Natalie Robichaud, will be opening the festival with its world premiere. And Ninan Auassat: Nous, les enfants (Ninan Auassat: We, the Children), by Abenaki filmmaker Kim O’Bomsawin, is screening in competition and making its Atlantic début. The festival’s opening night will also be celebrating50 years of NFB French film production in Acadie and the contribution of late filmmaker Léonard Forest, one of the great pioneers of French-language production. The 38thFICFA will be held November 19 to 24, 2024, in Greater Moncton.
Quote
“For 50 years, the NFB has been a privileged witness to the creativity and originality of Acadian cinema. As Natalie Robichaud’s film Trécarré illustrates, Acadian cultural heritage is still a powerful source of inspiration for younger generations who are reaffirming its vitality and relevance. This work is the ideal opening film for FICFA and offers an opportunity for the NFB to reiterate its commitment to supporting filmmakers and production partners in creating original works. Have a wonderful festival!” – Nathalie Cloutier, Executive Producer, NFB French Documentary Unit
Opening night
Trécarré: à la source du son de la Baie Sainte-Marie(Trécarré: Exploring the Saint Mary’s Bay Sound) by Natalie Robichaud (30 min) – WORLD PREMIERE Produced at the NFB (Moncton) by Christine Aubé Press kit: mediaspace.nfb.ca/epk/trecarre
Musical culture is part of the DNA in the Nova Scotia Acadian community of Baie Sainte-Marie. Brimming with talent, members of the local music scene are reinventing tradition and taking their vibrant rhythms far beyond the region’s boundaries. Rich in dialect and bursting with local tunes, Trécarré invites us to discover the magic of music that asks us not just to listen, but to share it, dance to it and live it.
The film will have its world premiere on opening night, Tuesday, November 19, at 7 p.m. at the Théâtre l’Escaouette in Moncton with the filmmaker in attendance.
Born in Saulnierville, Nova Scotia, Natalie Robichaud has served as executive director of the Société acadienne de Clare since 2017. As part of her role, she’s led numerous cultural projects and helped preserve Acadian heritage while always being on the lookout for sources of vitality and inspiration in her community. In 2023, Francopresse named Natalie one of the most influential members of Canada’s francophone community outside Quebec. Trécarré is her first professional film.
50 years of French NFB film production in Acadie
Opening night will also highlight this major milestone in Acadian and French-Canadian cinema, with Suzanne Guèvremont, Government Film Commissioner and Chairperson of the NFB, and Nathalie Cloutier, Executive Producer of the NFB’s French Documentary Unit, in attendance.
In 1974, the NFB launched francophone film production in Acadie. In large part, the NFB’s production unit came to be through the tireless efforts of the great NFB Acadian filmmaker Léonard Forest, who FICFA will also be honouring on this occasion.
Documentary feature film competition
Ninan Auassat: Nous, les enfants(Ninan Auassat: We, the Children) by Kim O’Bomsawin (93 min) – ATLANTIC PREMIERE Produced at the NFB by Mélanie Brière, Nathalie Cloutier and Colette Loumède Press kit: mediaspace.nfb.ca/epk/ninan_auassat_en
Ninan Auassat is a captivating documentary celebrating the power and vitality of Indigenous youth. Shot over more than six years, the film brings us the moving stories of three groups of children from three different Indigenous nations—Atikamekw, Eeyou Cree and Innu. Filmed from “a child’s eye-view” and without adult voices and “experts” on young people, the film powerfully reveals the dreams of a new generation poised to take flight.
Winner of the Tides Award for Best Canadian Documentary at the Vancouver International Film Festival, the film will have its Atlantic premiere with the filmmaker in attendance on Wednesday, November 20, at 3 p.m. at the Dieppe Arts and Culture Centre.
Kim O’Bomsawin is an award-winning Abenaki documentary filmmaker and sociologist who’s deeply passionate about sharing the stories of Indigenous Peoples. Her recent credits include the feature-length documentary Call me Human (Je m’appelle Humain), honoured at the Gémeaux Awards in 2020, and her series Telling Our Story, shown in TIFF’s Primetime program in 2023.
Media are invited to attend a funding announcement supporting Indigenous entrepreneurs as they build their businesses and fuel community economic development across the North.
Whitehorse, Yukon, October 31, 2024 — Media are invited to attend a funding announcement supporting Indigenous entrepreneurs as they build their businesses and fuel community economic development across the North. This announcement will be made by Dr. Brendan Hanley, Member of Parliament for the Yukon, on behalf of the Honourable Dan Vandal, Minister of Northern Affairs and Minister responsible for PrairiesCan and CanNor.
A media availability will follow remarks.
Date: Friday, November 1, 2024
Time: 10:00 a.m. Yukon Standard Time (Please arrive no later than 9:45 a.m. YST)
Location: Kwanlin Dün Cultural Centre 1171 Front Street Whitehorse, Yukon
Kyle Allen Director of Communications, Parliamentary Affairs and Issues Management Office of the Minister of Northern Affairs, Minister responsible for PrairiesCan and CanNor kyle.allen@rcaanc-cirnac.gc.ca
Leighann Chalykoff Communications Advisor, Yukon Canadian Northern Economic Development Agency (CanNor) leighann.chalykoff@cannor.gc.ca
Union Minister inaugurates Mata Sarasvati Auditorium in Gandhi Memorial Camp College National Education Policy focussed on revamping India’s education sector as per the requirements of contemporary India”: Dr Jitendra Singh
Start-up exhibitions are being organized across the country, encouraging students to participate in science and technology initiatives.
Posted On: 31 OCT 2024 7:50PM by PIB Delhi
Union Minister Dr. Jitendra Singh today inaugurated “Mata Saraswati Auditorium” in Gandhi Memorial Camp College here today. The Union Minister said, the government has embarked on a noble mission of revamping India’s education sector as per the requirements of contemporary India.
Enumerating the salient features of the National Education Policy(NEP) 2020, he emphasised that it has laid the ground for liberating students from being prisoners of the choices made for them by their parents and peers when it comes to choosing educational courses. He stated that with the implementation of the NEP, students are now free to opt for higher courses, matching their talent.
Union Minister Dr. Jitendra Singh speaking after inaugurating “Mata Saraswati Auditorium” in Gandhi Memorial Camp College at Jammu on Thursday.
Dr Jitendra Singh urged teachers to identify the inherent talent of the students and mentor them accordingly so that they can contribute to nation-building. He said that the country is at par with other countries, especially in Education, Science and Technology and startup ups. He informed that India is ranked No. 3 in StartUps.
Dr Jitendra Singh stressed the role of teachers in paving the bright future for the students. He appealed to the educators to encourage their ward to leverage technology for gaining knowledge, adding that these days, cost effective literature is readily available. Calling for the tapping of explored Himalayan bioresources, Dr Jitendra Singh, they hold the potential of making value addition to India’s economy. He urged the teachers to encourage students to take up StartUp initiatives which have emerged as new avenues of self employment.
The Minister informed that the government has decided to organise StartUp exhibitions across the country to create awareness about them. One such exhibition will be held in Srinagar soon, he further informed. Dr Jitendra Singh highlighted the success of Purple Revolution which has brought J&K on the world map of StartUps.
The Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi, today condoled the passing of Shri TPG Nambiar Ji, a pioneering innovator and industrialist. The PM said, Shri TPG Nambiar Ji was a strong votary of making India economically strong.
The Prime Minister posted on X:
“Shri TPG Nambiar Ji was a pioneering innovator and industrialist, who was a strong votary of making India economically strong. Pained by his passing away. Condolences to his family and admirers.”
Shri TPG Nambiar Ji was a pioneering innovator and industrialist, who was a strong votary of making India economically strong. Pained by his passing away. Condolences to his family and admirers.
Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi celebrates Diwali with the Indian Armed Forces at Kutch, Gujarat We are very proud of our security personnel who stand firm in the inhospitable of places and protect us: PM
Posted On: 31 OCT 2024 7:20PM by PIB Delhi
The Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi, today, celebrated Diwali with the brave personnel from the BSF, Army, Navy, and Air Force at Lakki Nala in the Creek Area of Kutch, Gujarat.
The Prime Minister said that we are very proud of our security personnel who stand firm in the inhospitable of places and protect us. The Creek Area of Kutch is both challenging and remote because of extreme temperatures. It has other environmental challenges as well,the Prime Minister added.
The Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi, also went to one of the floating BOPs in the Creek area and shared sweets with the brave security personnel.
The Prime Minister posted on X:
“Celebrating Diwali with our brave Jawans in Kutch, Gujarat.
Our security personnel stand firm in the inhospitable of places and protect us. We are very proud of them.
Glad to have celebrated Diwali with our brave personnel from the BSF, Army, Navy, and Air Force at Lakki Nala in the Creek Area, Kutch. This area is both challenging and remote. The days are scorching hot and it also gets cold. The Creek area has other environmental challenges as well.
Glad to have celebrated Diwali with our brave personnel from the BSF, Army, Navy, and Air Force at Lakki Nala in the Creek Area, Kutch. This area is both challenging and remote. The days are scorching hot and it also gets cold. The Creek area has other environmental challenges as… pic.twitter.com/LlcNER4XQF
The President of India, Smt Droupadi Murmu, paid floral tributes to Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel on his birth anniversary at Rashtrapati Bhavan today (October 31, 2024). She also visited Sardar Patel Chowk in New Delhi to pay her respects to Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel.
Ministry of Steel organizes day-long Chintan Shivir in New Delhi Chintan Shivir will help us to chart the path towards growth and development of the Indian Steel sector in a big way: Secretary, Ministry of Steel
Posted On: 31 OCT 2024 5:37PM by PIB Delhi
Ministry of Steel conducted a Chintan Shivir at the Vigyan Bhawan, New Delhi .
Secretary, Ministry of Steel, Shri Poundrik said in his opening remarks said that the emerging competitive global and domestic scenario makes it obligatory for Steel CPSEs to challenge the conventional way of working and explore to adopt fresh strategies in the conduct of the operations and business of their steel plants and mines. He urged to do away with the conservative approaches that limit the potential returns / outcomes, which need to be changed for enhanced benefits.
Secretary, Steel also stressed that Steel CPSEs should adopt fresh strategies for project management by cutting down the time from conception to finalisation of the contract and subsequent execution for timely completion of the projects. Presentations on new Initiatives and Energy Saving measures in Blast Furnace were well appreciated during the Chintan Shivir.
During deliberations, importance of overseas presence of Steel CPSEs was outlined. It was felt that AI/ML can be used in diverse field to ensure process optimization, not only in productions, but also in the field of managing & evaluating assets, Safety, Quality predictions of raw materials, data analysis, health Sector, environmental impacts, and HR Management, etc.
Panelist from Steel CPSEs made their presentationson topics Tech Up-gradation, AI, Machine Learning(ML); Faster Project Execution both Pre-award of contract and action execution post award; International asset Acquisition; New Initiatives and Energy saving measures in Blast Furnace Area towards making Green Steel during the Chintan Shivir.
Concluding the deliberations, Secretary Steel hoped that this program shall help us to chart the path towards growth and development of the Indian Steel sector in a big way. He also appreciated the suggestions received for the future conferences.
Additional Secretary & FA, Chairman, SAIL, CMDs, Functional Directors of Steel CPSEs, Joint Secretaries / Economic Adviser / DDG and other senior officers of the Ministry alongwith 120 odd participants across Steel CPSEs, participated in the day-long events on the Chintan Shivir.
Union Home Minister and Minister of Cooperation, Shri Amit Shah visited and offered prayers at the Shri Kashtabhanjandev Hanumanji Temple in Salangpur, Gujarat and inaugurates Yatri Bhawan having 1100 rooms, constructed at a cost of Rs. 200 crore Shri Amit Shah extends Diwali greetings to all citizens of the country
Union Home Minister pays tribute to the country’s first Home Minister Sardar Patel on the occasion of his 149th birth anniversary today
Sardar Patel laid the foundation for the construction of a united and powerful India
The decision by Prime Minister Narendra Modi to celebrate Sardar Patel’s 150th birth anniversary for two years will not only promote his thoughts and principles but also inspire the youth towards dedication and sacrifice for the country
When an ideal devotee, ideal warrior, ideal friend, and ideal messenger dedicates all these qualities at the feet of Lord Shri Ram, he becomes like Hanuman Ji Maharaj and attains immortality
The Kashtabhanjan Dev Hanuman Ji Temple is set to become a source of inspiration in spirituality and devotion for the youth
The idol of Hanuman Ji Maharaj in temple established through devotion and strength of Gopalanand Ji Maharaj
Having such dedication, sense of service and such reverence towards Swaminarayan Bhagwan, Gopalanand Swamiji is very humble person and personalities like him are only a few
Posted On: 31 OCT 2024 5:32PM by PIB Delhi
Union Home Minister and Minister of Cooperation Shri Amit Shah, visited and offered prayers at the Shri Kashtabhanjan Dev Hanumanji Temple in Salangpur, Gujarat, and inaugurated the Yatri Bhawan having 1100 rooms, constructed at a cost of 200 crore rupees.
Shri Amit Shah, in his address, first wished Diwali greetings to the people of Gujarat and to all citizens of the country. He mentioned that the grand Yatri Bhawan has been constructed here and being inaugurated on the occasion of Narak Chaturdashi. He stated that this Yatri Bhawan can be claimedas a fully green facility. He emphasized that arrangements have been made for the accommodation of visitors coming from far and wide. Shri Shah noted that the Yatri Bhawan having over 1100 rooms has been built at a cost of approximately Rs. 200 crore covering an area of 9 lakh square feet, and was completed in just two years.
Union Home Minister said that they it was the devotion and strength of Gopalanand Ji Maharaj which enabled establishment of the idol of Lord Hanuman in this temple. He mentioned that this place is also a site of the blessings of Lord Swaminarayan. He said that Gopaland Swamiji has immense dedication, sense of service and deep reverence for Swaminarayan Bhagwan. He is very humble and such souls are only a few. He said that this Yatri Bhawan will also provide shelter and service to the travellers for many years to come.
Shri Amit Shah said that it will be only human to attempt to describe the qualities of Lord Hanuman Ji Maharaj and according to our scriptures, Lord Hanuman ji Maharaj is one of the seven living entities in our world. He said that Tulsidas Ji referred to Hanuman Ji as the ocean of knowledge and virtues. Shri Shah noted that when an ideal devotee, ideal warrior, ideal friend, and ideal messenger dedicates all these qualities at the feet of Lord Shri Ram, he becomes like Hanuman Ji Maharaj and attains immortality.
Union Home Minister and Minister of Cooperation stated that the Kashtabhanjan Dev Hanuman Ji Temple is set to become a place of inspiration in spirituality and devotion for the youth. He mentioned that there are many idols of Hanuman Ji, each embodying various qualities. Shri Shah explained that if the idol is Chaturmukhi (four-faced), it symbolizes the destruction of enemies; if it is Sankatmochan (remover of troubles), it signifies liberation from crises; if it is Dakshinamukhi (facing south), it represents freedom from fear and distress; if it is Panchmukhi (five-faced), it is worshiped for liberation from evil tendencies like Ahiravan; if it is Ekadashi, it represents freedom from demonic tendencies; and if it is Kashtabhanjan, it signifies the removal of all troubles, including those caused by Saturn.
Union Home Minister mentioned that today marks the 149th birth anniversary of Sardar Patel. He noted that Sardar Patel was committed to building a united and powerful India. Shri Shah said, the decision by Prime Minister Narendra Modi to celebrate Sardar Patel’s 150th birth anniversary for two years will not only promote his thoughts and principles but also inspire the youth towards dedication and sacrifice for the country.
This fall in Lviv, Ukraine for three days over 250 Ukrainian health care professionals gathered together for a medical conference to take a master class in radiology and participate in hands-on training workshops.
The conference held Sept. 25-27 was co-chaired by UConn School of Medicine professor and chair of Diagnostic Imaging & Therapeutics Dr. Leo Wolansky who also delivered several lectures.
Dr. Leo Wolansky.
“I am so impressed with the spirit of the Ukrainian people. They insist on keeping their lives normal. Hopefully, our resuming our in-person conference series, now in its twenty-eighth year, contributed a little bit to that normalcy,” says Wolansky.
The three-day conference was also co-chaired by Dr. Tetyana Yalynska. It was organized by Friends Of Radiology in Ukraine (FORUkraine), the Ukrainian Medical Association of North America (UMANA), and the Association of Radiologists of Ukraine (ARU), and was hosted by the First Territorial Medical Association of Lviv. Additional sponsorship came from Rotary, St. Paraskeva’s, Azaris, Ulrich, and Guerbet.
This year’s event carries forward the FORUkraine conference series founded by Wolansky in 1996 at the Lviv Medical University (the Lviv Medical Institute). Since its inception, the conference series has been innovative using state-of-the-art education as a tool to promote the Ukrainian language. The purpose of the program is to teach Ukrainian-language based, state-of-the-art Diagnostic Imaging (Radiology).
The long-standing in-person conference was interrupted for the last five years due to the COVID-19 crisis and followed by the war in Ukraine. Starting in 1998, Dr. Yuriy Ivaniv, head of post-graduate imaging education for the Lviv Oblast co-chaired the conferences with Wolansky and renamed it “Practical Questions in Contemporary Clinical Imaging.” The conference series continued every one or two years from then till 2019 when the program joined forces with the ARU and the American Society of Neuroradiology and held a combined conference with the Ukrainian Congress of Radiology, with ARU President Yalynska co-chairing with Wolansky. This took place in Kyiv and Irpin, the only time the program deviated from its home in Lviv.
Despite the war, several international imaging experts attended the event in-person in Ukraine to lecture. One of these was Dr. John (Ivan) Kachura, an Interventional Radiologist and professor of Medical Imaging at University of Toronto, who stated that he was impressed by the knowledge of Ukraine’s radiologists, but especially by their tremendous interest in the presented material. Also onsite was Dr. Andrew Dobrotwir, consultant radiologist from Melbourne, Australia, who lectured and also ran a hands-on workshop on Point Of Care Ultrasound (POCUS). Dobrotwir was accompanied by his sister-in-law, Teresa Lachowicz, who spoke at the conference about humanitarian work that she and Dobrotwir were carrying out including donations of POCUS equipment.
Several international lecturers also virtually presented for the conference including Laura Oleaga, Amy Juliano, Diana Kaya, Andrew Loginsky, and Ivan Wolansky. In addition, virtual presentations came from UConn’s Jill Wruble, Sarah LaPierre, and Racquel Helsing. Several Ukrainian physicians also presented at the conference, including Nataliya Deresh, Igor Ivaniv, and others.
Nataliya Motrynets, medical director of the host institution, presented about the hospital’s accomplishments, and also gave the faculty a tour of the facilities where many soldiers who have lost limbs in the war are being rehabilitated with cutting-edge prostheses.
For Wolansky, a semiprofessional musician, a highlight of his trip to Ukraine was when he and his wife, Maria, met Dudaryk, Lviv’s internationally renowned boys choir, at Mass on the last day of the trip. The children’s choir had performed the refrain for Wolansky’s recent music video, helping draw attention to the plight of Ukraine’s children.
Wolansky added, “Despite air alerts driving conference participants into the bomb shelter on two occasions, these brave Ukrainians insist that normal life must go on!”
Headline: Governor Cooper Highlights Tourism Industry in Western North Carolina at Grandfather Mountain, Surveys Storm Damage in Avery County
Governor Cooper Highlights Tourism Industry in Western North Carolina at Grandfather Mountain, Surveys Storm Damage in Avery County bconroy
Today, Governor Roy Cooper traveled to Grandfather Mountain State Park in Avery County to highlight the importance of supporting Western North Carolina’s tourism industry in the wake of Hurricane Helene. Afterward, the Governor assessed damaged areas and spoke with people impacted by the storm in Banner Elk, where he was joined by Western North Carolina native and Grammy-nominated country musician Eric Church.
“Today I visited beautiful Grandfather Mountain State Park in Avery County and traveled to Banner Elk to see areas that were damaged during Helene,” said Governor Cooper. “Tourism is a critical part of Western North Carolina’s economy, and there are still many wonderful spots in the region open and accepting visitors. I’m grateful for the work of our federal, state and local responders as well as partners like Eric Church who have given time and effort to help communities in need.”
This week, Governor Cooper signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Western North Carolina native and country musician Eric Church confirming his commitment that publishing royalties from Church’s recent song, “Darkest Hour,” will help fund response and recovery efforts in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene.
Unaccounted For People
The DPS Task Force to locate unaccounted for people has 7 people remaining on this list. The Task Force has handed over remaining work on this to local law enforcement.
Travel to Western North Carolina
Some roads are closed because they are too damaged and dangerous to travel. Other roads still need to be reserved for essential traffic like utility vehicles, construction equipment and supply trucks. However, some parts of the area are open and ready to welcome visitors which is critical for the revival of Western North Carolina’s economy. If you are considering a visit to the area, consult DriveNC.gov for open roads and reach out to the community and businesses you want to visit to see if they are welcoming visitors back yet.
North Carolina National Guard Response
More than 1,700 Soldiers and Airmen are working in Western North Carolina. Joint Task Force- North Carolina, the task force led by the North Carolina National Guard continues to help with commodity distribution and critical debris removal alongside local government workers, volunteers and numerous civilian entities to get much-needed help to people in Western North Carolina.
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is helping to assess water and wastewater plants and dams. Residents can track the status of the public water supply in their area through this website.
FEMA Assistance
Approximately $195 million in FEMA Individual Assistance funds have been paid so far to Western North Carolina disaster survivors and approximately 239,000 people have registered for Individual Assistance. Over 8,600 people are being helped through FEMA’s Transitional Sheltering Assistance. Nearly 6,200 registrations for Small Business Administration Loans have been filed.
Nearly 1,800 FEMA staff are in the state to help with the Western North Carolina relief effort. In addition to search and rescue and providing commodities, they are meeting with disaster survivors in shelters and neighborhoods to provide rapid access to relief resources. They can be identified by their FEMA logo apparel and federal government identification.
North Carolinians can apply for Individual Assistance by calling 1-800-621-3362 from 7am to 11pm daily or by visiting www.disasterassistance.gov, or by downloading the FEMA app. FEMA may be able to help with serious needs, displacement, temporary lodging, basic home repair costs, personal property loss or other disaster-caused needs.
Help from Other States
More than 1,750 responders from 39 state and local agencies have performed 153 missions supporting the response and recovery efforts through the Emergency Management Assistance Compact (EMAC). This includes public health nurses, emergency management teams supporting local governments, veterinarians, teams with search dogs and more.
Beware of Misinformation
North Carolina Emergency Management and local officials are cautioning the public about false Helene reports and misinformation being shared on social media. NCEM has launched a fact versus rumor response webpage to provide factual information in the wake of this storm. FEMA also has a rumor response webpage.
Efforts continue to provide food, water and basic necessities to residents in affected communities, using both ground resources and air drops from the NC National Guard. Food, water and commodity points of distribution are open throughout Western North Carolina. For information on these sites in your community, visit your local emergency management and local government social media and websites or visit ncdps.gov/Helene.
Storm Damage Cleanup
If your home has damages and you need assistance with clean up, please call Crisis Cleanup for access to volunteer organizations that can assist you at 844-965-1386.
Power Outages
Across Western North Carolina, approximately 2,200 customers remain without power, down from a peak of more than 1 million. Overall power outage numbers will fluctuate up and down as power crews temporarily take circuits or substations offline to make repairs and restore additional customers.
Road Closures
Some roads are closed because they are too damaged and dangerous to travel. Other roads still need to be reserved for essential traffic like utility vehicles, construction equipment and supply trucks. However, some parts of the area are open and ready to welcome visitors which is critical for the revival of Western North Carolina’s economy. If you are considering a visit to the area, consult DriveNC.gov for open roads and reach out to the community and businesses you want to visit to see if they are welcoming visitors back yet.
NCDOT currently has more than 2,000 employees and more than 900 pieces of equipment working on damaged road sites.
Fatalities
101 storm-related deaths have been confirmed in North Carolina by the Office of Chief Medical Examiner. This number is expected to rise over the coming days. The North Carolina Office of the Chief Medical Examiner will continue to confirm numbers twice daily. If you have an emergency or believe that someone is in danger, please call 911.
Volunteers and Donations
If you would like to donate to the North Carolina Disaster Relief Fund, visit nc.gov/donate. Donations will help to support local nonprofits working on the ground.
For information on volunteer opportunities, please visit nc.gov/volunteernc.
Additional Assistance
There is no right or wrong way to feel in response to the trauma of a hurricane. If you have been impacted by the storm and need someone to talk to, call or text the Disaster Distress Helpline at 1-800-985-5990. Help is also available to anyone, anytime in English or Spanish through a call, text or chat to 988. Learn more at 988Lifeline.org.
If you are seeking a representative from the North Carolina Joint Information Center, please email ncempio@ncdps.gov or call 919-825-2599.
For general information, access to resources, or answers to frequently asked questions, please visit ncdps.gov/helene.
If you are seeking information on resources for recovery help for a resident impacted from the storm, please email IArecovery@ncdps.gov.
Monologue performance is a technically demanding but deeply rewarding form of theatre. Monologues are the purest form of storytelling an actor can engage in.
Before I was a drama teacher and researcher, I was an actor on stage and television in Australia and in the United Kingdom.
As an actor, you are always having to prepare monologues as audition pieces. Here are some principles and techniques to help you with this process, to allow you to draw in your audience and strengthen your artistic expression.
Choosing your monologue
Successful characterisation in monologue acting depends on “casting” yourself well. This means choosing a text and a character that resonate with your own persona and emotional range.
Even if you decide you want to play someone with a completely different age, gender and life experience to your own, there should be something about this character that speaks to you: maybe it’s their sense of vulnerability, their love of life, their rage at unfair circumstances. The more you can relate to some specific aspect of this person, the easier it will be to access the emotional range to play them.
If you decide on a character from a well-known play, make sure you have an understanding of the whole text the piece comes from.
Finding the personality
As an actor, you should have a good grasp of your character’s personality and attitudes to life.
Look for clues in the monologue or the overall play that tell you something about this person’s inner psychology. Do they always agree with everyone, or are they always complaining? How do they talk about themselves, how do they talk about other people?
In a well-written play, dialogue is always filled with signals like these that actors rely on when creating characters.
Another useful approach is to develop a detailed backstory for the role you are playing. Performers often use journalling or visualisation to deepen their emotional connection with the person they are depicting.
Taking time to imagine these key “memories” can provide an emotional anchor when you want to access different parts of their personality. The audience will never know these choices you have made, but you will carry them within you, and they can add depth and dimension to your portrayal.
Making the character physical
Along with analysing your character’s psychology and motivations, spend time working on their physicality.
How does this person move through the world? Are they a daydreaming wanderer, or a short sharp stepper who is always in a hurry? Do they close themselves off from the world with hunched shoulders, or do they stand tall and project themselves outward?
These qualities might change throughout the monologue as your character moves through different thoughts and memories.
Making stage direction choices for a monologue can be one of the most challenging things to get right. Simple things such as walking downstage to talk directly to your audience, or sitting down at a particular moment, can add effective dynamics to your performance. But any choices you make must come from an inner impulse within your character. Movement needs to be motivated by some kind of shift in their thoughts.
Breaking down the monologue
To identify these shifts, break down your script into key “beats”. These are the moments in a text where your character starts talking about something new. You can use these to create shifts in movement, tone and pace.
Incorporating different beats into your piece is vital for keeping your audience’s interest. Every monologue should take the audience on a journey through a character’s inner life. Ensuring this journey includes some surprises or effective use of dramatic tension will help make your piece work as a solo performance.
Sit down with the script and a pencil to find the ‘beats’ of the monologue. Media_Photos/Shutterstock
Sit down with a pencil and mark down any point in the script where you think the character starts thinking or talking about something new. Once you have all these internal shifts marked out, decide if any of these could be played with a contrasting emotional tone and pace to create dramatic effect.
Who are you talking to?
Performing a piece on your own can be daunting as there are no other characters to respond to or generate reactions from. Understanding who your character is speaking to during the monologue means you can use your audience as an additional “actor”. Are they an ally or an enemy? Or are these private thoughts, with the audience as a witness to your inner mind?
Clarifying this relationship can help you make clearer choices in how you deliver your lines.
Give yourself time
There are many creative decisions to be made when preparing a monologue performance.
Make sure to give yourself enough time to make these decisions and to learn your lines by heart.
Experiment with lots of different choices when you are starting out and rehearse your piece as often as possible. This will help reduce nerves when it comes to your final performance as it’s difficult to focus on acting when your mind is racing trying to remember what to say next.
Once the hard work of preparation, experimentation and creative expression is done, there is no better feeling than nailing a solo performance!
Natasha Beaumont does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.
Public trust in the auditing profession is under intense pressure. A series of high-profile scandals, both in Australia and overseas, has severely damaged its reputation.
This week, Australia’s corporate watchdog – the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) – put the entire sector on notice.
In a letter to auditors on Wednesday, ASIC announced it would soon commence a new data-driven surveillance of auditor independence and conflicts of interest. Put simply, any practices that could compromise the integrity of auditing work.
The move comes amid longstanding calls for stronger regulation. Some have gone as far as to call for auditors – particularly the “big four” – to be banned from offering consulting services to their audit customers. Why? Fears it helps companies unethically game the system.
But our recent research, which specifically examines chief executive pay, offers an alternative perspective and suggests we should tread carefully.
The “big four” – PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), Ernst & Young (EY), KPMG and Deloitte – are the world’s largest professional services firms. They offer services in auditing, consulting, tax and advisory services.
Known for their extensive resources and global reach, these firms serve major clients, including many publicly listed companies and governments.
However, some have raised concerns about potential conflicts of interest that may arise when these firms provide both consulting and auditing to the same client.
Auditing is the process of examining a company’s financial statements and processes to ensure both accuracy and compliance with accounting standards.
Conducted by external auditors, it’s meant to give investors, regulators, and the public confidence that a company’s financial picture is accurate and trustworthy.
The key worry is that offering both services risks compromising an auditor’s objectivity and independence.
Auditors may be incentivised to shy away from scrutinising their clients too closely, if it helps preserve lucrative consulting contracts.
How much money should the boss make?
Professional services firms, including the big four, are often engaged as external consultants to help decide on “executive compensation” – how much a company’s chief executive should be paid.
Chief executive pay is highly contentious. They can earn staggering amounts of money, which can sometimes appear disconnected from how well a company is actually performing and what’s in its shareholders’ best interests.
Large companies often outsource decisions about how much to pay chief executives. GaudiLab/Shutterstock
Compensation consultants are hired to help structure these pay packages, ideally by setting up performance targets that align chief executives’ incentives with shareholder value.
The idea is that if you don’t meet a certain goal as the boss, you should miss out on being paid for it.
But these consultants can also be a part of the problem. As chief executives can influence whether a particular consultant is hired or retained, consultants might design favourable contracts to increase their chances of getting hired again.
How? By setting up targets that are easy to hit, or vague enough to avoid true accountability.
Such accountability in executive compensation is extremely important. How much those at the top get paid should reflect the quality of their decisions.
Without proper oversight, pay structures risk incentivising quick wins instead of long-term growth, which could potentially harm investors, employees and the company’s future.
To solve this problem, you need transparent performance metrics. This makes it easier for shareholders to see whether chief executives are truly earning their pay.
When executive compensation consultants do their job well, such transparency gets built in. So how does the big four score?
What we found
Our study, published in the Australian Journal of Management, analysed chief executives’ compensation structures in a sample drawn from the 500 largest companies listed on the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX), between 2005 and 2019.
We found that the big four, when engaged as compensation consultants, appeared to uphold more rigorous standards than their smaller counterparts.
For example, big four firms were more likely to recommend including performance measures like “relative total shareholder return”, which takes the performance of a company’s competitors into account.
This can reduce the likelihood of “pay for luck” – paying a chief executive extra when a company performs well simply due to market-wide factors, such as movements in commodity prices or currency exchange rates.
Non-big four consultants, on the other hand, showed a tendency towards less clearly defined targets, which can open the door to less accountability.
Compensation consultants should set targets for chief executives that genuinely reflect good performance. Owlie Productions/Shutterstock
What’s behind this effect?
One possible explanation for our findings is that the big four’s multi-service approach gives them less reliance on securing repeat business from any single client.
With consulting, tax, audit and advisory services across various industries, these firms aren’t as dependent on individual clients, which can give them greater freedom to recommend compensation packages that may not always align with a chief executive’s preferences.
It has been argued, including by former chairman of the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission Graeme Samuel, that the big four’s consulting services pose potential conflicts that could compromise their audit duties.
The same could be said for other advisory services provided by these firms.
However, our findings offer evidence that when it comes to executive compensation, the big four’s reputation and expertise may actually discourage practices that obscure performance metrics or result in excessive chief executive pay.
Any reforms should tread carefully
The auditing sector will be watching the outcomes of ASIC’s forthcoming “crackdown” closely. The case for stricter oversight is strong.
But we should be careful not to lose the nuance of this issue. In some cases, the big four’s multi-service approach may actually elevate governance standards rather than erode them.
In a market dominated by these firms, the consequences of their exit from consulting services could extend beyond audit independence.
Ironically, forcing these firms out of consulting could make auditing their primary revenue source from many clients, creating the very dependence regulators aim to avoid.
Are we ready to face the unintended effects of limiting these firms’ roles? If our research is any indication, the answer is not so clear-cut.
As an undergraduate student, Helen Spiropoulos did two internships at Deloitte in the areas of Audit and then Consulting (Strategy and Operations).
Rebecca L. Bachmann does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.
Student behaviour is one of the biggest issues facing Australian schools. A survey of Queensland teachers earlier this year found “managing student behaviour” was the main thing taking their time away from teaching.
Along with students talking out of turn, using their phones or not paying attention, there are regular reports of students being violent and abusive towards teachers. Australian classrooms are rated among the “least favourable” for discipline in the OECD.
Amid a push to include more classroom management training for teachers, what other approaches could we look at to improve behaviour?
What happens in Norway?
For several decades Norwegian school children have been assessed twice a year on their sense of personal order (being punctual, well-prepared and following up on homework) and social behaviour (showing care and respect for others).
Until Year 8, students receive comments and then they also get a grade (good, quite good or not so good).
Teachers in all subjects report to the child’s home base teacher who calculates an average, noting any poor examples of poor personal order and social behaviour. The overall report is shared with the student and parents receive a copy.
The goal, as specified in Norway’s Education Act, is to ensure a good and safe school environment and “social learning”. This means learning to behave around others through observing, modelling and imitating the behaviours of others.
This is on top of learning knowledge and skills.
Norwegian students can be graded on whether they follow rules about snowball throwing. Maria Sbytova/Shutterstock
Research on teachers and students describe it as a valued tool for dealing with students who disrupt the learning environment in the classroom.
Even when young adults apply for jobs after university or vocational study, employers can be interested in the grade received for order and behaviour at school. Students and their teachers are aware it can indicate trustworthiness and employability.
A not uncommon story repeated by Norwegian parents to their teenage children is “if you have a record of behaving poorly or arriving late at school it doesn’t bode well whether you want to work on a construction site, in an office or on a hospital ward”.
There are Norwegian critics of this approach. Some researchers argue behaviour grades can sometimes say more about who are the “teachers’ favourites”.
But despite some limited trials to refine Norway’s behaviour grading, there are currently no plans to remove it.
What about Australia?
There is some precedence for reporting on behaviour in Australia.
For example, Queensland public schools report about effort and behaviour against a five-point scale: excellent, very good, satisfactory, needs attention and unacceptable.
But assessment criteria and evidence for the reporting of student effort and behaviour seems to be a more subjective appraisal than reporting against other standards in the curriculum.
Schools can teach students more than academic knowledge or vocational skills.
And while addressing behaviour in schools is complex (and will not be solved by any single thing), reporting on behaviour could provide a regular opportunity for Australian teachers, schools and parents to reflect on how a students is progressing.
Grading students could make students more accountable for how they interact with their peers and their teachers.
It could also help build their understanding of what is acceptable, not just in the classroom but in the community more broadly. For example, if there are specific rules about how you speak to others, whether you are safe in the playground and respectful in the classroom.
This type of social learning is important, because it can help teach students to be inclusive and responsible towards others. It can also help to create a safer school environment for all students and staff.
At the moment, there is a general requirement in the Australian Curriculum to teach students social and emotional skills across all subjects.
But it is up to state and territory education authorities to work out if and how students are assessed about this. This includes any reasonable adjustments for students with disability or other special needs.
The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Matthew Griffith, Associate Professor and ARC Future Fellow and Director, UniSA Microscopy and Microanalysis Facilities, University of South Australia
This is the next article in our ‘Light and health’ series, where we look at how light affects our physical and mental health in sometimes surprising ways. Read other articles in the series.
You’re not feeling well. You’ve had a pounding headache all week, dizzy spells and have vomited up your past few meals.
You visit your GP to get some answers and sit while they shine a light in your eyes, order a blood test and request some medical imaging.
Everything your GP just did relies on light. These are just some of the optical technologies that have had an enormous impact in how we diagnose disease.
1. On-the-spot tests
Point-of-care diagnostics allow doctors to test patients on the spot and get answers in minutes, rather than sending samples to a lab for analysis.
The “flashlight” your GP uses to view the inside of your eye (known as an ophthalmoscope) is a great example. This allows doctors to detect abnormal blood flow in the eye, deformations of the cornea (the outermost clear layer of the eye), or swollen optical discs (a round section at the back of the eye where the nerve link to the brain begins). Swollen discs are a sign of elevated pressure inside your head (or in the worst case, a brain tumour) that could be causing your headaches.
The invention of lasers and LEDs has enabled many other miniaturised technologies to be provided at the bedside or clinic rather than in the lab.
Pulse oximetry is a famous example, where a clip attached to your finger reports how well your blood is oxygenated. It does this by measuring the different responses of oxygenated and de-oxygenated blood to different colours of light.
Pulse oximetry is used at hospitals (and sometimes at home) to monitor your respiratory and heart health. In hospitals, it is also a valuable tool for detecting heart defects in babies.
See that clip on the patient’s finger? That’s a pulse oximeter, which relies on light to monitor respiratory and heart health. CGN089/Shutterstock
2. Looking at molecules
Now, back to that blood test. Analysing a small amount of your blood can diagnose many different diseases.
A machine called an automated “full blood count analyser” tests for general markers of your health. This machine directs focused beams of light through blood samples held in small glass tubes. It counts the number of blood cells, determines their specific type, and reports the level of haemoglobin (the protein in red blood cells that distributes oxygen around your body). In minutes, this machine can provide a snapshot of your overall health.
For more specific disease markers, blood serum is separated from the heavier cells by spinning in a rotating instrument called a centrifuge. The serum is then exposed to special chemical stains and enzyme assays that change colour depending on whether specific molecules, which may be the sign of a disease, are present.
These colour changes can’t be detected with the naked eye. However, a light beam from an instrument called a spectrometer can detect tiny amounts of these substances in the blood and determine if the biomarkers for diseases are present, and at what levels.
Light shines through the blood sample and tells us whether biomarkers for disease are present. angellodeco/Shutterstock
3. Medical imaging
Let’s re-visit those medical images your GP ordered. The development of fibre-optic technology, made famous for transforming high-speed digital communications (such as the NBN), allows light to get inside the body. The result? High-resolution optical imaging.
A common example is an endoscope, where fibres with a tiny camera on the end are inserted into the body’s natural openings (such as your mouth or anus) to examine your gut or respiratory tracts.
Surgeons can insert the same technology through tiny cuts to view the inside of the body on a video screen during laparoscopic surgery (also known as keyhole surgery) to diagnose and treat disease.
Doctors can insert this flexible fibre-optic tube with a camera on the end into your body. Eduard Valentinov/Shutterstock
How about the future?
Progress in nanotechnology and a better understanding of the interactions of light with our tissues are leading to new light-based tools to help diagnose disease. These include:
nanomaterials (materials on an extremely small scale, many thousands of times smaller than the width of a human hair). These are being used in next-generation sensors and new diagnostic tests
wearable optical biosensors the size of your fingernail can be included in devices such as watches, contact lenses or finger wraps. These devices allow non-invasive measurements of sweat, tears and saliva, in real time
AI tools to analyse how blood serum scatters infrared light. This has allowed researchers to build a comprehensive database of scatter patterns to detect any cancer
a type of non-invasive imaging called optical coherence tomography for more detailed imaging of the eye, heart and skin
fibre optic technology to deliver a tiny microscope into the body on the tip of a needle.
So the next time you’re at the GP and they perform (or order) some tests, chances are that at least one of those tests depend on light to help diagnose disease.
Matthew Griffith receives funding from the National Health and Medical Research Council and the Australian Research council.
New Zealand is ranked the tenth most inclusive society by international legal standards, with a reputation for being forward-thinking and progressive – especially when it comes to the rights of sexually and gender-diverse individuals.
But recent high-profile hate crimes against the LGBTQ+ community suggest we may not be as progressive as our global reputation suggests.
The painting over of rainbow pedestrian crossings in Gisborne and Auckland might seem like comparatively minor crimes. But they highlight the insidious – and increasingly overt – nature of prejudice against the rainbow community.
A major concern for members of this community is how easily this kind of prejudice spills over into criminal acts against them. And there are indications of a concerning trend. The number of reported hate crimes against transgender people rose by 42% between 2022 and 2023.
This is backed by overseas research. According to a study from the United States, gay/lesbian and bisexual individuals are significantly more likely to be victims of violence than heterosexual men and women.
But how do rates of violence and crime faced by LGBTQ+ individuals here compare to the general population in New Zealand? For the first time, our new research sheds light on crime victimisation rates among the LGBTQ+ population in New Zealand. It’s grim reading.
High rates of crime victimisation
Our research used data from the New Zealand Crime and Victims Survey (NZCVS).
The NZCVS surveyed approximately 32,000 New Zealanders between 2018 to 2022. Participants were asked about their experiences with crime. The survey collected information on reported and non-reported offences, and asked the participants about their socio-demographic characteristics, including sexual orientation and gender identity.
LGBTQ+ individuals include those whose sexual orientation is
gay/lesbian, bisexual, or other, or when being gender diverse or when gender identity and biological sex differ (also called transgender).
We found LGBTQ+ individuals were much more likely to be victims of crime than non-LGBTQ+ individuals.
Almost half of LGBTQ+ respondents (46%) reported being a victim of at least one crime in the previous year, compared to a third of non-LGBTQ+ people (31%).
Members of the LGBTQ+ community were also much more likely to be a victim of crime more than once. According to the survey, approximately 22% of LGBTQ+ individuals experienced more than one victimisation in the previous year, compared with 11% of non-LGBTQ+ individuals.
Two groups stood out in particular: bisexual individuals and transgender/gender-diverse people.
One potential explanation for the crime rates against LGBTQ+ people is that they have higher-than-average risk factors that are unrelated to their sexual orientation or gender identity. For example, they are younger and have lower incomes on average.
But our research refutes this explanation. Even after accounting for these other risk factors, the crime victimisation rates among LGBTQ+ individuals were much higher than among non-LGBTQ+ individuals.
Motivating factors
The NZCVS also collected information on the perceived motivation behind the crime. Response options included sexual orientation, sex or general discrimination.
We found LGBTQ+ individuals were more likely to say the perceived reason for crime was their sexual orientation or their sex compared to non-LGBTQ+ individuals.
The consequences of these offences were also more severe for LGBTQ+ individuals.
They were more likely to suffer from physical injuries or need time off work. They were also more likely to feel less noticeable effects of the violence: lower life satisfaction and a greater sense of feeling unsafe.
Living up to NZ’s inclusive reputation
In the long term, understanding how victimisation affects LGBTQ+ individuals can help shape policies that are better tailored to prevent crime and support victims. This includes building greater awareness and knowledge in the sexual and family violence sectors to prevent and support affected rainbow communities.
But until that happens, crime victimisation continues to disproportionately affect LGBTQ+ individuals. New Zealand needs to do something to close that gap.
Our research highlights a serious gap between how New Zealand is perceived on the global stage (safe and inclusive), and the reality of life for our LGBTQ+ community (increasingly unsafe and threatened by intolerance).
New Zealand’s laws must ensure crimes against people based on their sexual orientation and gender identity will not be tolerated. The ongoing review of the Human Rights Act is a step in the right direction but more needs to be done to explicitly protect trans, non-binary and intersex people against discrimination.
The authors want to thank Tabby Besley for her feedback. Tabby is the managing director at InsideOut, which provides resources, workshops, consulting, advocacy and support for anything concerning rainbow communities
Alexander Plum receives funding from the Ministry of Justice.
Lee Zhuge receives funding from The Ministry of Justice of New Zealand.
For a fleeting moment in early October, it looked like the US presidential electoral system might become an issue in this year’s election. The Democratic vice presidential candidate, Tim Walz, told two audiences that the Electoral College should be abolished and replaced by a direct national popular vote.
Walz was shut down quickly by Kamala Harris’ campaign with a brief statement that abolishing the Electoral College is not its official position. Walz duly walked back his comments and the story had a shelf-life of fewer than 24 hours.
But the Electoral College issue may well come back to haunt the Harris campaign should this year’s election produce yet another “runner-up” president – when the loser of the popular vote wins the electoral vote and therefore the election.
If the race is as close as most polls are indicating, this is a possible outcome. And Republican former President Donald Trump is more likely than Harris to be the beneficiary of this archaic, undemocratic voting system.
How the Electoral College works
There is a two-stage, indirect election for the president under the Electoral College system.
First, there is the popular vote in each of 50 states and District of Columbia on November 5 to choose “electors”, who formally cast the “electoral vote” on December 17 in what is known as the “Electoral College”.
It is the electoral vote that determines the president, not the popular vote.
To make things even more complicated, each state is awarded electoral votes based not on its population, but on its representation in the US Congress.
Each state has at least one member of the House of Representatives and two members of the Senate, meaning every state has at least three electoral votes regardless of its population size.
There are 538 votes in the Electoral College, and an absolute majority of those – 270 or more – is needed to win. The Constitution also contains a complex and highly undemocratic contingency procedure should no candidate win an Electoral College majority. The choice of president would then be decided by the House of Representatives with each state delegation having just one vote.
Sample presidential ballot from Arlington County in the state of Virginia showing that voters will be selecting electors, not the candidate directly. Arlington County Electoral Board
The origins of the Electoral College
It is not surprising the Electoral College is an undemocratic institution – it was deliberately designed to be. The method of electing the president was an expression of a very conservative philosophy of government embodied by most of the framers of the Constitution when they met in Philadelphia in 1787.
The framers had strong views the presidency should be an office above politics. They also felt the choice should be made by those with knowledge, experience and understanding of government and statecraft.
As such, the framers objected to a popular vote for the president, because they feared it would lead to what one of the founding fathers, Alexander Hamilton, called “tumult and disorder”. The framers were vehemently opposed to direct democracy, preferring instead what they called a “republic”.
Their solution was to allow the state legislatures to determine how the electors from each state should be chosen. In the beginning, most states’ legislatures chose the electors to decide who was president – not the people.
The Electoral College structure – and its philosophical underpinnings – were then locked into the Constitution and purposely designed to exclude the people from the process.
It has also been argued that race and slavery were integral to its design. By piggy-backing on the already-agreed compromise over representation in Congress and the counting of slaves as “three-fifths of all other persons”, the framers of the Constitution handed the major slave-holding states far more clout not only in Congress, but in the selection of the president, as well.
In the longer term, the framers weren’t entirely successful in their efforts because two major political developments in the early 19th century forced some adaptation to the model.
As the American frontier expanded and political parties were developed, people began demanding a greater role in American democracy. This put pressure on state legislatures to cede their power to select electors and allow popular voting for the Electoral College instead.
By the mid-19th century, the Electoral College was operating in much the same way as it does today.
Surprisingly, this required no constitutional amendment because the wording of the Constitution gave the states the flexibility to respond to the demand for popular voting:
Each State shall appoint, in such manner as the legislature thereof may direct, a number of Electors…
But that didn’t change the fact that it was the “electors” who would still choose the president, not the people directly.
How the Electoral College distorts the popular vote
The electoral vote always distorts the popular vote by exaggerating the winner’s margin of victory. In very close contests, it can also go against the popular vote, as it has done on four occasions – 1876, 1888, 2000 and 2016.
Two mechanisms are responsible for this.
First, the populations of small states are over-represented in the Electoral College compared to the larger states because of the guaranteed minimum three electoral votes.
For example, Alaska, with three electoral votes, has one electoral vote for every 244,463 inhabitants (based on 2020 US census data). In contrast, New York, with 28 electoral votes, has one electoral vote for every 721,473 inhabitants. So, an electoral vote in Alaska is worth almost three time as much as an electoral vote in New York.
Second, and far more significant, is the “winner-takes-all” arrangement. In every state, except Maine and Nebraska, the winner of the popular vote takes 100% of the electoral votes, no matter how close the contest is.
Even in Maine and Nebraska, it’s winner-takes-all, except those states award two electoral votes to the statewide winner of the popular vote and one electoral vote to the popular vote winner in each of its congressional districts.
Few Americans would be conscious of how the winner-takes-all system works, either.
Put simply, when voters cast a ballot, they are, in effect, voting multiple times – once for each elector in the state supporting the presidential candidate of their choice. They do this by marking just one box alongside their preferred candidate’s name.
For example, if Harris defeats Trump by 51-49% of the popular vote in Pennsylvania, every one of the 19 electors on Harris’ slate will defeat every one of Trump’s 19 electors by the same margin. The popular vote may have been close, but in the electoral vote, it’s 19-0 for Harris.
When that is repeated across all 50 states, the Electoral College vote will always exaggerate the margin of victory compared to the popular vote.
In the 1992 presidential election, for example, Bill Clinton defeated George H.W. Bush by a landslide in the electoral college, 370-168. However, Clinton only edged Bush by 5.5 percentage points in the popular vote (43% to 37.45%). Independent candidate Ross Perot, meanwhile, earned nearly 19% of the popular vote, but because he didn’t carry any states, he got zero electoral votes.
And when the loser of the popular vote wins the electoral vote, such as Trump’s victory over Hillary Clinton in 2016, it shows the total number of popular votes won by a candidate is less important than where those votes are located.
To win in the Electoral College, a candidate needs to have their vote distributed economically between the states. In a majoritarian democracy (based on the principle of majority rule), this ought not to be a feature of the electoral system. But the US presidential election process was never designed to operate this way.
Lastly, the Electoral College also heavily determines the nature of the election campaign. Most states in the US are “safe” wins for one party or the other.
As such, the efforts of the candidates are concentrated in the handful of states that are competitive – the so-called “battleground” states. The rest of the country tends to be ignored.
The future of the Electoral College
That the Electoral College survives into the 21st century is partly due to the adaptability of the Constitution to deal with the earlier challenge in the 1800s over the selection of electors in the states, as well as the immense difficulty of amending the Constitution.
This is despite the fact a clear majority of Americans support abolishing the Electoral College in favour of a national, direct popular vote for the presidency.
What happens in this election is anyone’s guess. With the polls showing such narrow margins in the popular vote in the battleground states, the outcome is not only unpredictable, it may even be random. And that’s a terrible comment on the state of American democracy.
John Hart does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.
Increased land management by Aboriginal people in southeastern Australia around 6,000 years ago cut forest shrub cover in half, according to our new study of fossil pollen trapped in ancient mud.
Shrubs connect fires from ground cover to the forest canopy, allowing fires to spread and intensify quickly. The reduction in shrub cover, linked to evidence for increasing population size and more widespread landscape use by Aboriginal people, would have dramatically decreased the potential for high-intensity bushfires.
We also found the shrub layer in modern forests is even greater than it was 130,000–115,000 years ago, when the climate was similar to today’s but there were no people around.
Our deep-time research shows how important Indigenous cultural practices were for reducing dangerous high-intensity fires. It also suggests a way forward in Autralia’s current fire crisis, which climate change is making worse.
The trouble with shrubs
For decades, Australia has tried to manage fires by suppressing them. This strategy may be effective in the short term, but it has led to dire consequences in the long term.
Over the past 20 years, the forests and woodlands of southeastern Australia have become hotspots for major fires.
Fire suppression has allowed vegetation, particularly in the shrub layer, to grow without constraint. Shrubby, mid-height vegetation acts as a ladder, enabling fires to spread up from the ground to the forest canopy. This results in more intense and uncontrollable fires.
Summary timeline of past landscape changes across southeastern Australia. We show changes from pre-human contact (top), through Indigenous population expansion (middle), to the present (post-colonial, bottom). Simon Connor, CC BY
Evidence for denser vegetation comes from tiny, fossilised grains of pollen that are laid down in layers of ancient sediment in wetlands and lake beds. By extracting fossil pollen from mud, scientists can develop a picture of vegetation in the past.
Our new study used archaeological data and information preserved in ancient mud. We looked at how the vegetation of southeastern Australia changed in response to climate and human management over the past 130,000 years.
We wanted to see how things changed in key periods: before human arrival in Australia, through periods of Indigenous occupation, and following British colonisation.
We used sophisticated models to estimate vegetation cover and how it related to human land use at different times.
Caring for Country
Indigenous Australians have been the custodians of this continent for millennia. Their journey in Australia started at least 65,000 years ago.
Indigenous Australian cultural burning practices are complex and varied. However, in many parts of the continent they included regular, controlled burns. These helped to manage vegetation growth and reduce the risk of high-intensity fires.
Since British colonisation, the landscape of Australia has undergone significant changes, with both more open pastures and more densely vegetated forests. The introduction of European land management practices, including fire suppression, disrupted the fire regimes Indigenous Australians had maintained for thousands of years.
A call for change: integrating Indigenous Knowledge
To address this crisis, a shift in fire management strategies is essential. One promising approach is to integrate Indigenous fire management practices into contemporary fire management plans, working with Traditional Owners to best care for Country.
This must be done in a way that supports Indigenous livelihoods and fosters connection to Country, not by management agencies simply appropriating Indigenous know-how.
Indigenous Australians possess hundreds of generations’ worth of experience in managing the country’s fire-prone landscapes. Indigenous-led fire management is already being reinvigorated in northern Australia.
Our research demonstrates that southeastern forests and woodlands were effectively managed in the past and would also benefit from Indigenous caring-for-Country practices today.
Reducing dangerous fuels in the shrub layer means less high-intensity fires threatening the bush–urban interface, such as the 2019–20 Black Summer fires.
Indigenous-led burning at a project site in Tasmania. Matthew Newton / RUMMIN Productions
Higher temperatures and prolonged droughts have created ideal conditions for bushfires to spread. Colonisation has compounded the problems arising from human-driven climate change.
But there is no fire without fuel. It is the combination of increased biomass and a warming climate that now fuels fires of unprecedented scale and intensity, posing a significant threat to lives, property and ecosystems.
Australia’s fire crisis is a complex issue that requires a multifaceted solution. By learning from and working with Indigenous practitioners, Australia can develop more effective and sustainable fire management strategies. This collaborative approach offers a path forward to tame the flames and protect the nation’s unique and diverse landscapes.
Michela Mariani receives funding from the Leverhulme Trust and is affiliated with the Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence for Australian Biodiversity and Heritage (CABAH) and the Centre of Excellence for Indigenous and Environmental Histories and Futures (CIEHF).
Anna Florin receives funding from the Australian Research Council and is affiliated with the Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence for Australian Biodiversity and Heritage (CABAH).
Haidee Cadd receives funding from the Australian Research Council and is affiliated with the ARC Centre of Excellence for Australian Biodiversity and Heritage (CABAH).
Simon Connor receives funding from the Australian Research Council. He is affiliated with CABAH, the Centre of Excellence for Australian Biodiversity and Heritage.
Matthew Adeleye does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.
It’s a sunny morning in Nur Shams refugee camp, in Tulkarem, West Bank, Palestine. Over 20 women are filing into a room set up by Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) staff, sitting in a circle and chatting over Arabic coffee. In the middle of the room, there is a table with gauze, tourniquet devices and charts explaining blood flow in the human body. This is MSF’s ‘stop the bleeding’ training.
Most women gathered in this room have little to no medical training, but trauma wounds and severe bleeding are not new to them. They are here to learn how to care for wounds, apply tourniquets, and provide basic first aid to family members and neighbours until they can reach medical care during frequent military incursions by Israeli forces.
“We experience raids, bombings, and injuries from shootings,” says Saeda Ahmad, a participant in the training. “We often have an injured person right in front of us. In such situations, it’s important for us to have the knowledge and background to properly administer first aid.”
“During raids, it’s extremely difficult for ambulances to reach the scene,” continues Ahmad. “That’s why everyone in the camp needs to have some knowledge of first aid. So that we ourselves can help the injured person.”
Here, military raids by Israeli forces are becoming increasingly frequent, and blockages of access to healthcare are part of the modus operandi. Roads are blocked, ambulances cannot move, healthcare workers are harassed and targeted or otherwise hindered, and wounded people often cannot reach hospitals.
Incursions from Israeli forces are also increasing in violence and intensity; on 3 October, 18 people were killed in an airstrike on Tulkarem refugee camp. The use of drone strikes, air strikes and other bombardments by Israeli forces, in often densely-populated areas and refugee camps, has become increasingly common. Incursions are also increasing in length, and not only here; last August, in Jenin, north of Tulkarem, Israeli forces launched a large-scale military incursion that lasted nine days.
In this context of constant violence and insecurity, people in the camps have spoken with MSF mental health staff of the deep psychological impacts of these raids. Military incursions by Israeli forces reshape the lives of people, stripping them of normalcy and any sense of safety.
People are always in the aftermath from the last incursion, rebuilding torn up streets and destroyed houses, while holding their breath until the next military raid. Our teams are also providing psychological first aid to residents in the camp, to address the significant mental health issues stemming from the impact of these incursions, which affect all residents, but particularly children.
“The situation is very difficult. The children in the camps are afraid to go to school, as they fear a raid might happen while they are there,” says an MSF community health educator for MSF in Tulkarem. “In their home life, stability has vanished. People remain on edge.”
“Children have stopped playing in the alleys. They spend most of the time at home and are not able to go out,” says our health educator. “They can’t even go out to buy what they need because their parents won’t let them, out of fear that a raid or incident might occur while they’re outside. There are children whose entire playtime has become centred around the violence they have experienced.”
In a context of fear and insecurity, it becomes impossible for people to live a normal life or plan for the future. Training like ‘stop the bleeding’ can provide some sense of control over the situation, by giving residents the tools to act in a medical emergency during an incursion. But their very existence highlights the direness of the situation in the West Bank.
In this room, as participants practice wrapping gauze around each other’s arms, emotional wounds also reveal themselves. Participants share stories of the violence they have experienced, in conversations, stories, and photos of killed family members on a phone’s lock screen.
The psychological wounds, also, are deep. And mending them takes more time than applying pressure or tightening a tourniquet.
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