Source: United States Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco Firearms and Explosives (ATF)
MADISON, WIS. – A federal grand jury in the Western District of Wisconsin, sitting in Madison, returned the following indictments today. You are advised that a charge is merely an accusation and a person named as defendant in an indictment is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.
Beloit Man Charged With Possessing Child Pornography
Jody Behlke, 49, Beloit, Wisconsin, is charged with possessing child pornography. The indictment alleges that on May 24, 2023, Behlke possessed a Samsung Galaxy 8 Tab tablet containing visual depictions of minors engaging in sexually explicit conduct. The indictment further alleges that at least one of the depictions Behlke possessed involved a prepubescent minor or a minor who had not attained 12 years of age.
The penalties for possessing child pornography vary depending upon an individual’s prior criminal history. If convicted, Behlke faces a minimum penalty of 10 years in prison and a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison.
The charge against Behlke is the result of an investigation by the Wisconsin Department of Justice Division of Criminal Investigation and Homeland Security Investigations. Assistant U.S. Attorney Taylor L. Kraus is handling the case.
This investigation was a part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative to combat child sexual exploitation and abuse. Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state, and local resources to better locate, apprehend, and prosecute individuals who exploit children via the Internet, as well as to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit http://www.justice.gov/psc.
La Crosse Man and Woman Charged with Possessing Methamphetamine and Fentanyl for Distribution
Stephan J. Johnston, 27 and Ashley L. Russell, 31, both of La Crosse, Wisconsin, are charged with possessing 500 grams or more of methamphetamine and 40 grams or more of fentanyl, both drugs intended for distribution. The two are also charged with maintaining a drug involved premises. The indictment alleges that Johnston and Russell possessed the methamphetamine and fentanyl on February 14, 2024. The indictment further alleges that from January 28, 2024 to February 14, 2024, they maintained a drug involved premises for the purpose of distributing methamphetamine and fentanyl.
If convicted of possessing 500 grams or more of methamphetamine intended for distribution, Johnston and Russell each face a mandatory minimum penalty of 10 years in prison and a maximum penalty of life in prison. If convicted of possessing 40 grams or more of fentanyl intended for distribution, they each face a mandatory minimum of 5 years and a maximum of 40 years in prison. The charge of maintaining a drug involved premises carries a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison.
The charges against Johnston and Russell are the result of an investigation by the La Crosse County Sheriff’s Office, La Crosse Police Department, Crawford County Sherriff’s Office, and the Central Wisconsin Drug Task Force. Assistant U.S. Attorney Katheryn Ginsberg is handling the case.
Eau Claire Man Charged with Methamphetamine Trafficking
Xa Xiong, 31, Eau Claire, Wisconsin, is charged with distributing 50 grams or more of methamphetamine and attempting to distribute 500 grams or more of methamphetamine. The indictment alleges that Xiong distributed methamphetamine on July 26, 2024, and attempted to distribute methamphetamine on August 1, 2024.
If convicted of distributing 50 grams or more, Xiong faces a mandatory minimum penalty of 5 years in prison and a maximum penalty of 40 years in prison. If convicted of attempting to distribute 500 grams or more, he faces a mandatory minimum of 10 years and a maximum penalty of life in prison.
The charges against Xiong were the result of an investigation conducted by the West Central Drug Task Force, Wisconsin Department of Justice Division of Criminal Investigation, Drug Enforcement Administration, and the Clark County Sheriff’s Department. The case was also investigated by the ATF Madison Crime Gun Task Force consisting of federal agents from ATF and Task Force Officers (TFOs) from local agencies including the Dane County and Clark County Sheriff’s Offices and the Fitchburg, Madison, Sun Prairie, and La Crosse Police Departments. Assistant U.S. Attorney William Levins is handling the case.
Source: United States Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco Firearms and Explosives (ATF)
RALEIGH, N.C. – A single federal indictment in the Eastern District of North Carolina charges 16 members of two outlaw motorcycle gangs – the Hells Angels Motorcycle Club (HAMC) and the Red Devils Motorcycle Club (RDMC) – for their alleged roles as part of an enterprise engaging in violent criminal activity in and around Raleigh and Fayetteville. The RDMC is the main support club nationwide for the HAMC.
Five of the defendants are charged with Murder in Aid of Racketeering for the killing of a member of the Pagan’s Motorcycle Club (PMC), a rival gang, on January 1, 2023, in Raleigh. Two additional defendants are charged with accessory after the fact for their actions following that murder.
Eight defendants are charged with Attempted Murder in Aid of Racketeering and Assault with a Dangerous Weapon in Aid of Racketeering for their alleged role in a July 22, 2023 violent assault of a PMC member in the parking lot of a Dairy Queen restaurant in Wade, North Carolina.
One defendant is charged with obstruction for attempting to dissuade a witness from assisting the criminal investigation of this case.
“Two years ago we launched a Violent Crime Action Plan to partner with local law enforcement to identify the individuals and groups driving violence in North Carolina, especially criminal enterprises that support and encourage violence by their members,” said U.S. Attorney Michael F. Easley, Jr. “We’ll keep pursuing cases like this one, charging violent crimes in aid of racketeering, to expose patterns of violence and hold gang members and those who enable them accountable.”
“According to the indictment, these defendants were leaders, organizers, and members of the Hell’s Angels Motorcycle Club and committed multiple crimes to advance their positions in this violent gang,” said Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Nicole M. Argentieri, head of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division. “The gang’s alleged violent acts included the murder ofa rival gang member on a public street, and the assault and attempted murder of other rival gang members in a restaurant parking lot. This indictment demonstrates that, along with our local, state, and federal law enforcement partners, the Criminal Division is committed to holding accountable those response for acts of violence that terrorize local communities.”
“Outlaw motorcycle gangs are notorious for lawless and violent behavior,” said Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) Special Agent in Charge Bennie Mims. “These criminal organizations are responsible for a long list of illegal activities, such as assault and homicide and operate with absolutely no regard for the safety of law enforcement or the community. ATF is proud to stand with our law enforcement partners and be part of an effort to disrupt and disband violent and dangerous networks.”
“I am proud to stand with my federal, state, and local partners in investigating and disrupting violent organizations,” said Raleigh Police Chief Estella Patterson. “The Raleigh Police Department and our community will not tolerate destructive behavior and will work tirelessly with our law enforcement partners to identify those responsible to ensure they are held accountable. I am grateful to United States Attorney Michael F. Easley, Jr., and his team for their continued dedication and steadfast commitment to public safety. I also thank the ATF, the Fayetteville Police Department, and the Cumberland County Sheriff’s Office for their strong partnership in these cases.”
“Operation Broken Halo has been an ongoing investigation with the Fayetteville Police Department and the ATF into an alleged criminal enterprise connected to an outlaw motorcycle gang,” said Fayetteville Police Chief Kemberle Braden. “Through collaboration and partnership with the ATF and other supporting agencies, we were able to successfully bring charges against numerous members of this outlaw motorcycle gang and their supporting clubs. The Fayetteville Police Department remains committed to our partnership with federal, state, and local agencies to remove violent criminals from our community.”
“I want to make it clear: violent activity is not tolerated in Cumberland County,” said Cumberland County Sheriff Ennis W. Wright. “The Sheriff’s Office is 100% committed to maintaining a safe and peaceful community. We thoroughly investigate all tips, and it’s vital for the community to continue to report what they see because we cannot do it alone. We are grateful for our partnerships with the community, the Department of Justice, and federal and local law enforcement agencies. Together, we do and will continue to make a difference.”
Most of the charges are being brought under the Violent Crimes in Aid of Racketeering Activity (VICAR) statute, which makes it illegal to commit violent crimes, including murder, kidnapping, maiming, assault with a dangerous weapon, assault resulting in serious bodily injury, or threatening to commit a crime of violence for the purpose of joining, remaining with, or moving up in rank within an enterprise.
The indictment alleges that all 16 defendants are members or associates of the HAMC, a violent outlaw motorcycle group alleged to use violence, threats, and intimidation to carry out its perceived mission and enforce its rules.
The indictment alleges that HAMC members are under a standing order to attack, injure, and potentially kill members of the PMC. The indictment also alleges that HAMC members commonly commit physical assaults, including murder, threats to injure, and intimidation to keep witnesses to their criminal conduct silent.
The indictment charges the following offenses:
Vidaul Rashaad Reed, aka “Hootie,” Anthony Edward Cheever, aka “Rowdy,” David William Stephens, aka “007,” Martinus Jermaine Starks, aka “Tee,” and Tyler Scott Grissom, aka “Snow,” are all members of the RDMC and are each charged with one count of Murder in Aid of Racketeering and one count of discharge of a firearm in connection with a crime of violence and, in doing so, causing death; all for allegedly murdering a member of the PMC on January 1, 2023. Murder in Aid of Racketeering carries a mandatory life sentence upon conviction and the other charged offenses carry a sentence of up to life in prison.
Christopher Dylan Manor and Robert Scott Brown are both charged with accessory after the fact to the January 1, 2023 murder. Manor was a member of RDMC at the time of the alleged offense and Brown is a member of the HAMC. Each face up to 15 years in prison if convicted.
Jason Lee Hathaway, Fred Joseph Prosperi, aka “Freddy” and “Snow Boy,” William Scott Gardner, aka “Big Will,” Terry Lewis Akins, Jr., J.R. Nevarez Darr, Darrell Dewayne Strickland, Jr., William Franklin Beasley and David Lee Woodall are charged with Attempted Murder in Aid of Racketeering and Assault with a Deadly Weapon in Aid of Racketeering related to the attempted murder and assault with a dangerous weapon of members of the PMC on July 22, 2023 in the parking lot of a Dairy Queen restaurant in Wade, North Carolina. They are all were members of the HAMC at the time of the offense and each face up to thirty years in prison if convicted.
Jonathan Michael Robarge is charged with tampering with a witness, victim or informant by harassment, Robarge has ties to both HAMC and RDMC, and faces up to three years in prison if convicted.
The ATF, the Raleigh and Fayetteville Police Departments, and the Cumberland County Sheriff’s Office are investigating the case.
Trial Attorney Alyssa Levey-Weinstein and Deputy Chief Kelly Pearson of the Justice Department’s Violent Crime and Racketeering Section and Assistant U.S. Attorneys Kelly L. Sandling and Robert Dodson of the Eastern District of North Carolina are prosecuting the case.
This investigation was an Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces (OCDETF) investigation. OCDETF identifies, disrupts, and dismantles the highest-level drug traffickers, money launders, gangs, and transnational criminal organizations that threaten the United States by using a prosecutor-led, intelligence-driven, multi-agency approach that leverages the strengths of federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies against criminal networks.
An indictment is merely an allegation, and all defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.
Source: United States Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco Firearms and Explosives (ATF)
HUNTINGTON, W.Va. – Alonzo Dewayne Harden, 30, of Huntington, pleaded guilty today to being a felon in possession of a firearm.
According to court documents and statements made in court, on May 17, 2024, law enforcement conducted a traffic stop of a vehicle in Huntington in which Harden was a passenger. Harden exited the vehicle and fled on foot before he was apprehended by officers. While fleeing, Harden tossed a loaded Glock Model 22 .40-caliber pistol with an extended magazine to the ground. Officers recovered the firearm.
Federal law prohibits a person with a prior felony conviction from possessing a firearm or ammunition. Harden knew he was prohibited from possessing a firearm because of his prior felony convictions for malicious assault and use or presentment of a firearm during the commission of a felony in Cabell County Circuit Court on August 26, 2021.
Harden is scheduled to be sentenced on January 27, 2025, and faces a maximum penalty of 15 years in prison, up to three years of supervised release, and a $250,000 fine.
United States Attorney Will Thompson made the announcement and commended the investigative work of the Huntington Police Department and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF).
United States District Judge Robert C. Chambers presided over the hearing. Assistant United States Attorney Courtney L. Finney is prosecuting the case.
This case is part of Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN), a program bringing together all levels of law enforcement and the communities they serve to reduce violent crime and gun violence, and to make our neighborhoods safer for everyone. On May 26, 2021, the Department launched a violent crime reduction strategy strengthening PSN based on these core principles: fostering trust and legitimacy in our communities, supporting community-based organizations that help prevent violence from occurring in the first place, setting focused and strategic enforcement priorities, and measuring the results.
A copy of this press release is located on the website of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of West Virginia. Related court documents and information can be found on PACER by searching for Case No. 3:24-cr-116.
Headline: Clean Energy Industries Rally Behind Illinois Bills to Save Ratepayers $3 Billion Through Grid Modernization
HB5856 and SB3959 will increase the reliability of the Illinois energy grid, protect ratepayers from rising costs, future-proof the economy, and help the state achieve climate goals
ILLINOIS, October 15, 2024 – Illinois clean energy industries are unified in supporting HB5856 and SB3959, new legislation that will future-proof Illinois’ energy grid and economy, lower consumer costs, meet climate goals, create family-sustaining careers, and mitigate increasing risks of blackouts.
“Clean energy is the future, and it’s my duty to work toward that future for the benefit of all Illinois residents,” said State Rep. Barbara Hernandez (D-Aurora), lead House sponsor of HB5856. “HB5856 and SB3959 will provide many benefits to Illinois for decades to come, from lowering consumer costs to ushering in thousands of jobs to preventing dangerous blackouts to bolstering our power grid to make Illinois an attractive investment for energy-intensive tech companies.”
These bills establish the first clean energy storage procurement mandate for the state to ensure a more reliable grid and address challenges that are slowing down renewable energy resource development. HB5856 and SB3959 would save Illinois consumers $30 per month on their energy bills, prevent more than $7 billion in blackout-related expenses, and create as much as $16 billion in economic benefits.
“Illinois has an ambitious plan to be a national leader in the climate change fight while supercharging the state’s clean energy economy,” said State Sen. Bill Cunningham (D-Chicago). “While Illinois is on the right path to meet its goals, it is at risk of not meeting its more immediate deadlines, which will arrive as early as 2030. HB5856 and SB3959 are thoughtful, strategic bills that will help unleash the clean energy economy’s full potential while strengthening our electric grid to make it more reliable, encouraging development and job growth, and creating additional protections for consumers and all ratepayers.”
The clean energy industries collectively agree that HB5856 and SB3959 are necessary to address the urgent need for more clean energy storage in Illinois. Federal, regional, and state regulators identify Illinois as at risk for falling short of energy needs. This means the state will face challenges in maintaining a reliable grid and that consumers may experience increased and unpredictable energy rates. Legislative action is needed now because deploying large-scale energy storage resources takes time. Illinois residents are already feeling the impact of regulators’ projections, as the July 2024 PJM Interconnection energy capacity auction saw an 833% increase in energy prices, due to an anticipated energy capacity shortfall that will increase power bills by as much as $30 per month for millions of Illinois residents within the PJM Interconnection territory. HB5856 and SB3959 will directly address this risk by providing incentives to supercharge more solar and wind energy and storage developments for a more diverse, reliable power grid.
“HB5856 and SB3959 are critical to building on the success of the landmark Climate and Equitable Jobs Act (CEJA) in Illinois,” said Andrew Linhares, Senior Manager, Central Region at Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA). “The Illinois clean energy economy has flourished in recent years but there’s more work to be done to secure the state’s clean energy future. This thoughtfully crafted legislation will help unleash the full potential of solar and storage and help Illinois achieve 100% clean energy by 2050.”
A recent study by Mark Pruitt, former director of the Illinois Power Agency, founder of The Power Bureau, and a professor at Northwestern University, found that HB5856’s and SB3959’s target to create at least 8,500 MW of clean energy storage would provide up to $3 billion in consumer cost savings, save up to $7.3 billion in blackout-related costs through increased grid reliability, and generate up to $16.3 billion in economic activity in Illinois by 2050. The study also found that energy storage is the most cost-effective, immediate, and attainable long-term solution. Not only would HB5856 and SB3959 create those benefits, but they would also ensure Illinois meets the clean energy mandates established by CEJA.
“American Clean Power (ACP) was proud to help lead this collaborative effort to ramp up the procurement and deployment of storage and solar technologies in a way that delivers for the people of Illinois,” said Erika Kowall, Director of Midwestern State Affairs for ACP. “HB5856 and SB3959 will meet the state’s clean energy goals, unleashing the full potential of clean energy’s cost efficiency and economic benefits. We appreciate the leadership of Sen. Cunningham and Rep. Hernandez for swiftly taking up this legislation and hope it can be implemented quickly.”
“Energy storage will improve the reliability of the Illinois electric grid, and this legislation can’t come at a more important moment,” said Trish Demeter, Managing Director of Advanced Energy United. “The sooner we can begin adding more energy storage, the sooner we can address energy capacity shortfalls due to the ever-growing energy demand from residents and businesses, retiring power stations, and continued investments from energy-intensive industries, while providing savings to consumers and supercharging the Illinois economy.”
“All of these pieces work together – storage, grid reliability, ratepayer savings, climate goals, and equity,” said Lesley McCain, Executive Director of Illinois Solar Energy and Storage Association. “HB5856 and SB3959 tie together each of these pieces to move Illinois closer toward achieving its climate goals. Energy storage is essential to creating a more reliable grid. A more reliable grid is critical to protecting residents from rising prices and attracting investments from new businesses. Incentivizing growth in these areas will accelerate progress toward our climate goals, which will remove high-polluting energy generators from low-income areas. More growth will stimulate the creation of more high-quality job and career opportunities for all Illinois residents. We’ve made great progress toward the aggressive climate goals established by CEJA, but we must keep learning, adapting, and growing if we want to achieve those goals.”
Interconnection is another important topic addressed by HB5856 and SB3959. Interconnection is the process of connecting an energy generating system, such as a new residential solar panel installation or a community solar array, to the existing power grid. Currently, the process varies significantly from project to project, which can result in large, unanticipated costs to connect a system to the energy grid. Oftentimes, the large, unanticipated cost arises after the development is completed, which can terminate a project even if the system is built and ready to be energized. HB5856 and SB3959 aim to increase transparency and predictability on the interconnection process to reduce surprise changes and costs and maintain the integrity and safety of the power grid.
“There are many critical stages to solar energy project development, and interconnection is one of the most critical,” said Carlo Cavallaro, Midwest Regional Director of Coalition for Community Solar Access. “When the system has been built and all that is left is to connect it to the grid, this is not when a project should be stalled or failed. Unfortunately, it happens more than one might think, so HB5856 and SB3959 address this in a way that makes the process more transparent and collaborative. If we can make this process more efficient, then it’ll benefit all ratepayers because the process will be cheaper and faster; and it will help us add new clean energy resources to the grid and reach our clean energy goals faster.”
“Building on CEJA’s landmark goals, HB5856 and SB3959 are a progressive, evidence-based approach that will establish Illinois’ energy grid as the nation’s leader in clean, affordable, and reliable electricity. It will positively benefit electricity customers, improve grid reliability, and send a bold message far and wide that Illinois is open for clean energy business,” said Jeff Danielson, Vice President of Advocacy at Clean Grid Association. “We’re proud to stand with Illinois’ new generation of energy leaders in the Senate and House, who are focused on building the grid of tomorrow right here in the heartland of America. They are standing up for the clean energy opportunities Illinois’ citizens deserve and showing that a reliable grid and business investments of the future go hand-in-hand. The rest of the Midwest, indeed the USA, will take notice.”
HB5856 and SB3959 address the following:
Grid Resilience and Reliability
Establishes an 8.5 GW utility-scale cumulative storage procurement target for the Illinois Power Agency. Storage is a critical component of a stable and resilient grid, as it provides on-time support for grid infrastructure during high-usage Peak Load periods.
Creates a storage + solar/wind ecosystem that empowers increased storage development at all scales and multi-tech, from behind-the-meter to utility-scale.
Creates incentive programs for customers to adopt technology that reduces peak loads, behind-meter storage that reduces peak loads or exports, and combined community solar + storage developments.
Establishes a robust storage and Virtual Power Plant (VPP) ecosystem that makes it less likely a grid will need to tap non-renewable and high-pollutant fuels during periods of high usage, and ensures the grid uses clean, renewable sources that work together regardless of whether or not the sun is shining or the wind is blowing, increasing the overall reliability of the grid in a sustainable way.
Economic Benefits, Consumer Protections, and Agency Modernization
Creates a VPP program to provide cost-savings by tapping devices such as rooftop solar and storage to inject power to the grid during peak times, rather than burning extra non-renewable fuel to meet periods of peak demand.
Implements a more efficient interconnection process to encourage more clean energy development.
Fosters utility-scale solar development through new IPA storage procurement targets.
Creates new incentives that eliminate barriers for ratepayers to adopt solar and storage.
Creates guaranteed savings for consumers by requiring utilities to pass clean energy savings through to consumers.
Uncaps the residential Illinois Shines Block to eliminate waiting lists and enable more households to install solar, which will create more demand and jobs for clean energy developers and contribute to a more stable grid.
Stimulates new storage, solar, and wind development, which will lead to the creation of new high-quality clean energy jobs in every corner of Illinois.
Modernizes IPA procurement processes to ensure efficient procurement of clean energy and keeps Illinois on track to achieve CEJA goals.
HB5856 and SB3959 can be read in its entirety HERE. To learn more about the legislation, visit http://www.solarpowersillinois.com/legislation-hb-5856.
###
About Solar Powers Illinois Solar Powers Illinois is a collaborative partnership between the Illinois Solar Energy and Storage Association, Coalition for Community Solar Access, and Solar Energy Industries Association that works to promote the adoption of solar power in Illinois for consumers, businesses, and communities through education, advocacy, and action.
About Advanced Energy United
Advanced Energy United educates, engages, and advocates for policies that allow our member companies to compete to repower our economy with 100% clean energy. We work with decision makers at every level of government as well as regulators of energy markets to achieve this goal. The businesses we represent are lowering consumer costs, creating millions of new jobs, and providing the full range of clean, efficient, and reliable energy and transportation solutions. Together, we are united in our mission to accelerate the transition to 100% clean energy in the United States. Advanced Energy United is online at AdvancedEnergyUnited.org and @AdvEnergyUnited.
About Clean Grid Association (CGA)
Clean Grid Association (CGA) is a 501(c)(6) nonprofit organization based in St. Paul, Minn., whose mission is to advance renewable energy in the Midwest. CGA has been an active stakeholder in the MISO process at the state and regional levels and a leading organization working on transforming state energy policy. CGA’s membership includes businesses investing in wind, solar, storage, hydrogen and transmission projects, as well as environmental nonprofit organizations, public advocacy groups & clean energy advocates who come together to build the clean energy grid of the future. Learn more at cleangridalliance.org.
About Coalition for Community Solar Access (CCSA)
CCSA is a national trade association representing over 130 community solar developers, businesses, and nonprofits. Together, we are building the electric grid of the future where every customer has the freedom to support the generation of clean, local solar energy to power their lives. Through legislative and regulatory advocacy, and the support of a diverse coalition — including advocates for competition, clean energy, ratepayers, landowners, farmers, and environmental justice — we enable policies that unlock the potential of distributed energy resources, starting with community solar. For more information, visit https://www.communitysolaraccess.org and follow the group on X (Twitter), LinkedIn, and Youtube.
About Illinois Solar Energy and Storage Association (ISEA)
The Illinois Solar Energy and Storage Association (ISEA) is a non-profit organization that promotes the widespread application of solar and other forms of renewable energy through our mission of education and advocacy. Representing over 150 solar businesses, ISEA is the state resource for renewable energy related policy developments, educational classes, events and access to local renewable energy businesses. http://www.illinoissolar.org.
About Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA)
The Solar Energy Industries Association® (SEIA) is leading the transformation to a clean energy economy, creating the framework for solar to achieve 30% of U.S. electricity generation by 2030. SEIA works with its 1,000 member companies and other strategic partners to fight for policies that create jobs in every community and shape fair market rules that promote competition and the growth of reliable, low-cost solar power. Founded in 1974, SEIA is the national trade association for the solar and solar + storage industries, building a comprehensive vision for the Solar+ Decade through research, education and advocacy. Visit SEIA online at www.seia.org and follow @SEIA on Twitter, LinkedIn and Instagram.
Source: United States Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco Firearms and Explosives (ATF)
MOBILE, AL – A Nashville woman was sentenced to 63 months in prison for possessing two firearms as a previously convicted felon.
According to court documents, Ashley Allen, 35, was arrested by Thomasville police on March 29, 2023, following a traffic stop where she was found to be in possession of two firearms. Allen has multiple prior felony convictions, including a conviction for aggravated assault. As a convicted felon, Allen is prohibited from possessing a firearm.
Allen was indicted for being a felon in possession of a firearm and pled guilty to the charge. United States District Court Judge Kristi K. DuBose sentenced Allen to 63 months in prison followed by a 3-year term of supervised release for illegally possessing the firearms.
U.S. Attorney Sean P. Costello of the Southern District of Alabama made the announcement.
The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and the Thomasville Police Department investigated the case.
This case is part of Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN), a program bringing together all levels of law enforcement and the communities they serve to reduce violent crime and gun violence, and to make our neighborhoods safer for everyone. On May 26, 2021, the department launched a violent crime reduction strategy strengthening PSN based on these core principles: fostering trust and legitimacy in our communities, supporting community-based organizations that help prevent violence from occurring in the first place, setting focused and strategic enforcement priorities, and measuring the results.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Jessica S. Terrill prosecuted the case on behalf of the United States.
COCONUT CREEK, Fla., Oct. 16, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Willis Lease Finance Corporation (NASDAQ: WLFC) (“WLFC”) plans to announce its financial results for the third quarter 2024 before the opening of Nasdaq on Monday, November 4, 2024.
WLFC plans to hold a conference call with members of WLFC’s executive management team on Monday, November 4, 2024, at 10:00 a.m. Eastern Standard Time to discuss its third quarter 2024 results. Individuals wishing to participate in the conference call should dial: US and Canada (888) 632-5004, International +1 (646) 828-8082, wait for the conference operator and provide the operator with the Conference ID 512645. A digital replay will be available two hours after the completion of the conference call. To access the replay, please visit our website at http://www.wlfc.global under the Investors section for details.
A copy of the press release and an earnings supplement will be posted to the Investor Relations section of the Company’s website, http://www.wlfc.global prior to the call.
Willis Lease Finance Corporation
Willis Lease Finance Corporation leases large and regional spare commercial aircraft engines, auxiliary power units and aircraft to airlines, aircraft engine manufacturers and maintenance, repair, and overhaul providers worldwide. These leasing activities are integrated with engine and aircraft trading, engine lease pools and asset management services through Willis Asset Management Limited, as well as various end-of-life solutions for engines and aviation materials provided through Willis Aeronautical Services, Inc. Additionally, through Willis Engine Repair Center®, Jet Centre by Willis, and Willis Aviation Services Limited, the Company’s service offerings include Part 145 engine maintenance, aircraft line and base maintenance, aircraft disassembly, parking and storage, airport FBO and ground and cargo handling services.
CONTACT:
Scott B. Flaherty
Executive Vice President & Chief Financial Officer
Newly released factsheet titled Ka Hua Mai Te Mate Pukupuku I Te Inu Waipiro – Alcohol Causes Cancer by the Royal Society Te Apārangi is a reminder that, like tobacco and asbestos, alcohol causes cancer.
Although the link between alcohol and cancer has been known for over 100 years and 4 in 5 New Zealanders drink alcohol, only 1 in 5 of us are aware that alcohol can cause cancer.
The factsheet also talks about how our environment can be improved to reduce alcohol-related cancers. This includes increasing the price of alcohol, reducing the availability of alcohol, and restricting its marketing.
“Drinking patterns are highly influenced by our environment,” says Alcohol Healthwatch Health Promotion Advisor Sarah Sneyd. “Alcohol is freely available on street corners and through a click of a button on your phone, it’s cheaper today than it ever has been before, and there is so much advertising that we even see alcohol billboards outside primary schools. There is enormous pressure to drink, and unfortunately every drink increases the risk of seven different types of cancer.”
Sneyd welcomes the report with hopes that it helps raise awareness of the links between alcohol and cancer, and how we can reduce the cancer burden.
“With increased environmental protections in our communities, not only will alcohol-related cancers decrease, we will also see fewer drink-driving accidents, less family violence, fewer children maltreated, and less violent crime. Everything we care about will start to improve.”
ENGLEWOOD, Colo., Oct. 16, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Gevo, Inc. (NASDAQ: GEVO), a leading developer of net-zero hydrocarbon fuels and chemicals, is pleased to announce it received a conditional commitment for a loan guarantee with disbursements totaling $1.46 billion (excluding capitalized interest during construction) from the U.S. Department of Energy (“DOE”) Loan Programs Office (“LPO”) for its Net-Zero 1 project (“NZ1”) in South Dakota. With capitalized interest during construction, the DOE loan facility has a borrowing capacity of $1.63 billion.
The NZ1 facility is being built in Lake Preston, South Dakota. It will use 100-percent U.S.-sourced feedstocks and is designed to produce approximately 60 million gallons of sustainable aviation fuel (“SAF”), approximately 1.3 billion pounds of protein and animal feed products, and approximately 30 million pounds of corn oil per year. The design capability of the NZ1 facility, when combined with the Gevo business system, is expected to yield SAF with a net-zero carbon footprint on a lifecycle basis, including through the burning of the fuel. Gevo net-zero SAF projects are expected to catalyze the accelerated adoption of climate smart agricultural practices, support rural jobs and economic development, and reinforce domestic energy security.
NZ1 is the first-ever large-scale alcohol-to-jet (“ATJ”) project to receive a DOE LPO conditional commitment and is expected to provide critical new opportunities for South Dakota workers, farmers, and residents. We believe Gevo’s proprietary ATJ plant design represents the lowest cost-per-ton of carbon abatement among all of the current SAF production technologies.
“This marks a watershed moment for the Net-Zero 1 project and a critical step forward in Gevo’s mission to transform the aviation industry by providing a scalable, sustainable, and economical renewable-carbon-based jet fuel—SAF,” said Gevo CEO Dr. Patrick Gruber. “This valuable commitment to help finance NZ1, if finalized, should also attract other capital investments to unlock SAF commercialization given the robust due diligence conducted by the agency. The due diligence work by the DOE has been incredibly detailed and thorough, and the benefit is a substantially reduced execution risk profile for the project. We are grateful for the support from the Department of Energy’s Loan Programs Office.”
“NZ1 is the largest economic development project in South Dakota history,” said Gevo’s Senior Vice President of Public Affairs, Lindsay Fitzgerald. “We expect that NZ1 will kickstart new growth in the economy, create jobs, and present additional opportunities for the agricultural community in the region around Lake Preston, across South Dakota, and even reaching other states.”
According to a recent report from Charles River Associates (“CRA”), Net-Zero 1 is projected to generate significant economic and climate benefits. Specifically, the plant is expected to create more than 1,300 indirect jobs during its construction phase and 100 permanent jobs at the plant itself. This is in addition to hundreds of local indirect jobs created across the agricultural, manufacturing, and transportation industries, generating an annual economic impact of over $100 million.
The project design and engineering; and the operating and financing model, should serve as a template for future Gevo net-zero projects—potentially accelerating the timeline of SAF commercialization. Gevo also expects to track and verify the sustainability and carbon intensity of its products through its wholly owned subsidiary, Verity Holdings, LLC.
We believe this conditional commitment milestone reduces execution risk for securing the remaining large-scale equity investors who would accompany the proposed DOE-guaranteed debt and Gevo equity. Currently, the project is projected to generate high teens returns to equity investors.
While this conditional commitment indicates DOE’s intent to finance the project, DOE and the company must satisfy certain technical, legal, environmental, commercial, and financial conditions before the Department can enter into definitive financing documents and fund the loan guarantee.
A webcast replay will be available after the conference call ends on October 17, 2024. The archived webcast and accompanying presentation materials will be available in the Investor Relations section of Gevo’s website at http://www.gevo.com.
ABOUT GEVO
Gevo’s mission is to convert renewable energy and biogenic carbon into sustainable fuels and chemicals with a net-zero or better carbon footprint. Gevo’s innovative technology can be used to make a variety of products, including SAF, motor fuels, chemicals, and other materials. Gevo’s business model includes developing, financing, and operating production facilities for these renewable fuels and other products. It currently runs one of the largest dairy-based renewable natural gas (“RNG”) facilities in the United States. It also owns the world’s first production facility for specialty ATJ fuels and chemicals. Gevo emphasizes the importance of sustainability by tracking and verifying the carbon footprint of its business systems through its Verity subsidiary.
Certain statements in this press release may constitute “forward-looking statements” within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These forward-looking statements relate to a variety of matters, including, without limitation, NZ1’s timing and capabilities, NZ1’s design and the Gevo business system, the ability of NZ1 to produce net-zero fuels, the economic impacts of NZ1, and other statements that are not purely statements of historical fact. These forward-looking statements are made based on the current beliefs, expectations and assumptions of the management of Gevo and are subject to significant risks and uncertainty. Investors are cautioned not to place undue reliance on any such forward-looking statements. All such forward-looking statements speak only as of the date they are made, and Gevo undertakes no obligation to update or revise these statements, whether because of new information, future events or otherwise. Although Gevo believes that the expectations reflected in these forward-looking statements are reasonable, these statements involve many risks and uncertainties that may cause actual results to differ materially from what may be expressed or implied in these forward-looking statements. For a further discussion of risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ from those expressed in these forward-looking statements, as well as risks relating to the business of Gevo in general, see the risk disclosures in the Annual Report on Form 10-K of Gevo for the year ended December 31, 2023, and in subsequent reports on Forms 10-Q and 8-K and other filings made with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission by Gevo.
PUBLIC AFFAIRS CONTACT
Heather Manuel VP of Stakeholder Engagement & Partnerships PR@gevo.com
INVESTOR CONTACT
Eric Frey, PhD VP of Finance & Strategy IR@gevo.com
The following is a statement from Southland-based MP and ACT Health spokesperson Todd Stephenson:
I love food trucks. They bring life, commerce, and tasty treats to our towns.
But in Invercargill, joyless food fascists are trying to crack down.
The city council asked for feedback from locals on food truck locations. Instead,they got a scoldingfrom the National Public Health Service.
These taxpayer-funded busybodies complained that Invercargill’s food trucks serve meals that‘tend to be processed, high in fat, and in some cases sugar’.
Heaven forbid someone burning calories on a worksite might want to buy a bacon buttie or a donut.
The bureaucrats told the council it should use licencing fees to push food trucks into offering healthy food options. That’s just ridiculous. The council needs to maintain pipes and roads, not hire compliance officers sticking their beaks into food truck menus.
The health service goes on to whinge that food trucks‘operate in locations where there are few or no other food options’.
In other words, if it weren’t for food trucks, some parts of town would have no food options at all. So why would we impose new rules that make it harder to open a food truck?
The NPHS needs to butt out. No-one is forced to buy nachos or a curry.
The good news is Invercargill City Council told the NPHS where to stick it, saying that so long as the food is safe, health concerns won’t be considered.
Meanwhile, with the Government looking to find savings, a new target may have presented itself.
Phoenix, AZ – Today, Governor Katie Hobbs announced that Jerry McPherson, longtime Phoenix community leader, will serve as the new Executive Director of the Commission of African American Affairs. The Commission plays an important role in serving the vibrant African American community in Arizona, including supporting economic advancement, promoting equality and justice, and providing educational tools and resources needed to thrive.
“I am thrilled to have Jerry McPherson as The Commission’s new Executive Director,” said Governor Katie Hobbs. “He has a strong track record of leadership in both the public and private sectors and has spent his career finding new and innovative ways to empower his community. I know Jerry’s breadth of experience and determination will unlock a bright future for The Commission and I look forward to seeing what they will accomplish together.”
“I am deeply honored and grateful to Governor Hobbs and our Commissioners for entrusting me with this critical responsibility,” said Jerry McPherson. “Our mission—to unite African American leaders and communities in the pursuit of opportunity and equity—has never been more urgent. I look forward to collaborating with our elected and appointed officials to transform our aspirations into lasting change. Through our pillars of Economic Development, Justice, Health, and Education, we can ensure that African-Americans throughout the state can embrace a future filled with promise and opportunity.”
Jerry McPherson is a U.S. Army Veteran and graduate of the Flinn-Brown Fellowship. He has served in advisory roles for the cities of Phoenix and Tempe, and has experience leading some of Arizona’s most pivotal economic and community organizations including the Greater Phoenix Urban League and Valley of the Sun United Way. Jerry most recently served as a Commissioner on the Commission of African American Affairs and was Managing Director at Per Scholas Phoenix.
Mesa, AZ – The Governor’s Office is now accepting applications to fill an upcoming vacancy on the Arizona Game and Fish Commission. Residents knowledgeable and passionate about Arizona wildlife and conservation in eligible counties are welcome to apply.
The five-member Game and Fish Commission establishes policy, rules, and regulations for the management, preservation and harvest of wildlife and fishery resources, as well as watercraft and off-highway vehicle operations. The commission also serves in an advisory role to the Arizona Game and Fish Department. For more information about the Arizona Game and Fish Commission and its mission visit the Arizona Game and Fish Commission website.
The commission is structured to ensure geographical and political representation from across Arizona. The current opening must be filled by a resident of Apache, Cochise, Coconino, Graham, Greenlee, La Paz, Mohave, Navajo, Pinal, Yuma, or Yavapai counties. Applicants must disclose their party affiliation on their application and must not have changed party registration within the past two years in order to be eligible.
Applicants must be received no later than 11:59 p.m. on Monday, October 7th.
Individuals interested in applying must do so through the Boards and Commissions website. Applicants are required to include their current residential address, political party, and a resume with their application. Any additional materials or letters of recommendation that applicants wish to be included in their application packet should be emailed to [email protected].
The Game and Fish Appointment Recommendation Commission will be meeting in October to review applications and conduct interviews in-person. Questions regarding the review process should be directed to Cindy Freehauf ([email protected]) with the Arizona Game and Fish Department.
Individuals also may contact the Governor’s Office of Boards and Commissions by emailing [email protected].
Shapiro Administration Awards $3.4 Million for Stream and Watershed Restoration Projects
The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) has awarded more than $3.4 million in grants to projects to improve water quality and fish and wildlife habitat throughout Pennsylvania’s part of the Chesapeake Bay watershed and other watersheds.
“Ensuring clean water and healthy watersheds is a fundamental right for all Pennsylvanians. With these grant awards we will continue our work to reduce pollution and improve water quality in Pennsylvania,” said DEP Acting Secretary Jessica Shirley. “These projects are creating healthier streams and wetlands across Pennsylvania, reducing flood risk and improving fish and wildlife habitat. We are building on the success we are seeing in the Chesapeake Bay watershed by restoring streambanks, removing legacy sediment, and treating mine water discharge, among other improvements.”
The 12 awards are funded by the Section 319 Grant program from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and selected by DEP. The purpose of the grants is to support projects that carry out best management practices (BMPs) specified in Watershed Implementation Plans for 43 watersheds around the state. The program also supports development of new Watershed Implementation Plans for impaired watersheds in Environmental Justice (EJ) areas. Ten of the 12 grants are for projects in the Chesapeake Bay watershed.
List of Speakers: Adam Ortiz, EPA Region 3 Regional Administrator Jill Whitcomb, Acting Deputy Secretary for Water Programs, DEP Chris Thompson, Lancaster County Conservation District Manager Amanda Goldsmith, Watershed Specialist with Lancaster County Conservation District Matt Kofroth, Asst. District Mgr. with the Lancaster County Conservation District
Headline: Leaders of Dangerous Mexican Drug Cartel Responsible for Extreme Violence Charged with International Drug Trafficking and Firearms Offenses
An indictment was unsealed in the District of Columbia charging leaders of the violent drug trafficking organization known as Los Zetas, and its successor organization, Cartel del Noreste (CDN), with engaging in a continuing criminal enterprise; drug trafficking conspiracy; firearms offenses; and international money laundering conspiracy.
Lee esta historia en Español aquí. Born and raised in Peru, Daniel Velasquez moved to the United States when he was 10 years old. While that decision was a big transition for his family, it also created many opportunities for him. Now Velasquez is an operations engineer for NASA’s Air Mobility Pathfinders project at NASA’s Armstrong Flight Research Center in Edwards, California. Velasquez develops flight test plans for electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) aircraft, specifically testing how they perform during various phases of flight, such as taxi, takeoff, cruise, approach, and landing. He was drawn to NASA Armstrong because of the legacy in advancing flight research and the connection to the Space Shuttle program. “Being part of a center with such a rich history in supporting space missions and cutting-edge aeronautics was a major motivation for me,” Velasquez said. “One of the biggest highlights of my career has been the opportunity to meet (virtually) and collaborate with an astronaut on a possible future NASA project.”
Velasquez is incredibly proud of his Latino background because of its rich culture, strong sense of community and connection to his parents. “My parents are my biggest inspiration. They sacrificed so much to ensure my siblings and I could succeed, leaving behind the comfort of their home and family in Peru to give us better opportunities,” Velasquez said. “Their hard work and dedication motivate me every day. Everything I do is to honor their sacrifices and show them that their efforts weren’t wasted. I owe all my success to them.” Velasquez began his career at NASA in 2021 as an intern through the Pathways Internship Program while he was studying aerospace engineering at Rutgers University in New Brunswick, New Jersey. Through that program, he learned about eVTOL modeling software called NASA Design and Analysis of Rotorcraft to create a help guide for other NASA engineers to reference when they worked with the software. At the same time, he is also a staff sergeant in the U.S Army Reserves and responsible for overseeing the training and development of junior soldiers during monthly assemblies. He plans, creates, and presents classes for soldiers to stay up-to-date and refine their skills while supervising practical exercises, after action reviews, and gathering lessons learned during trainings.
“This job is different than what I do day-to-day at NASA, but it has helped me become a more outspoken individual,” he said. “Being able to converse with a variety of people and be able to do it well is a skill that I acquired and refined while serving my country.” Velasquez said he never imagined working for NASA as it was something he had only seen in movies and on television, but he is so proud to be working for the agency after all the hard work and sacrifices he made that lead him to this point. “I am incredibly proud to work every day with some of the most motivated and dedicated individuals in the industry.”
Source: United States Senator for Pennsylvania Bob Casey
In letter, bipartisan group of Senators call out Administration for missing deadlines on Iran sanctions
The missed deadlines were put in place by Casey’s Stop Harboring Iranian Petroleum Act, which cracks down on Iran’s petroleum trade
Senators: “Due to the quantity of oil that Iran is able to trade and the subsequent profits, as well as their historical pattern of utilizing these funds to foster violence and chaos, it is vital that the United States take concrete action to disrupt their petroleum trade”
Washington, D.C. – U.S. Senator Bob Casey (D-PA) joined his colleagues Kyrsten Sinema (I-AZ), Jacky Rosen (D-NV), Tammy Baldwin (D-WI), Chuck Grassley (R-IA), Eric Schmitt (R-MO), and John Hoeven (R-ND) in a letter urging the Administration to speed up enforcement of sanctions on Iran’s petroleum trade. The letter pointed out that the Administration has missed several deadlines put in place by the Stop Harboring Iranian Petroleum Act, which cracks down on foreign persons who knowingly engage in the petroleum trade with Iran.
“Due to the quantity of oil that Iran is able to trade and the subsequent profits, as well as their historical pattern of utilizing these funds to foster violence and chaos, it is vital that the United States take concrete action to disrupt their petroleum trade. Therefore, we ask the administration to honor the reporting deadlines and enforcement requirements prescribed within the SHIP and Fight CRIME Acts,” wrote the Senators.
On April 23, 2024, Senator Casey voted to pass an emergency supplemental spending law with legislative provisions to strengthen U.S. national security, including the Stop Harboring Iranian Petroleum (SHIP) Act and the Fight and Combat Rampant Iranian Missile Exports (Fight CRIME) Act.
The SHIP Act includes important provisions to sanction foreign persons that knowingly engage in the petroleum trade with the Islamic Republic of Iran, and the Fight CRIME Act restricts certain missile-related activities and transfers by Iran. The bills include a number of reporting deadlines and enforcement requirements for the Administration so that Congress can track efforts to deny Iran the resources and ability to engage in destabilizing activities, commit human rights violations, support international terrorism, and fund weapons development.
Senator Casey has long pushed to protect American economic and national security by monitoring Iranian oil activity. Earlier this year, Casey cosponsored the bipartisanIranian Sanctions Enforcement Act–legislation establishing a fund to cover expenses related to the seizure or forfeiture of property found in violation of sanctions imposed by the United States against Iran or a covered proxy of Iran, including Hamas, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’ Quds Force, the Palestinian Islamic Jihad, Hezbollah, the Houthis, and Iran-sponsored militias in Iraq and Syria. Additionally, after learning about potential Iranian oil transport on Panamanian vessels in violation of U.S. sanctions, Casey urged the Panamanian Maritime Authority (AMP) to investigate the hundreds of vessels of concern. Thanks to Casey’s advocacy, AMP launched investigations into all Panamanian ships suspected of transporting Iranian oil, de-flagged vessels that had no evidence of oil transport, and removed dozens of ships from its registry.
Read the full letter HERE or below:
Dear Secretary Blinken, Secretary Yellen, Acting Director Palluconi, and Administrator DeCarolis:
On April 23, 2024, Congress passed H.R. 815, an emergency supplemental appropriation for Fiscal Year (FY) 2024, that was signed into law by President Biden on April 24. The supplemental package included additional funding for Ukraine, Israel, the Indo-Pacific, and humanitarian assistance. The national security package also included legislation to strengthen U.S. national security, including the Stop Harboring Iranian Petroleum (SHIP) Act and the Fight and Combat Rampant Iranian Missile Exports (Fight CRIME) Act. The SHIP Act includes important provisions to sanction foreign persons that knowingly engage in the petroleum trade with the Islamic Republic of Iran, and the Fight CRIME Act restricts certain missile-related activities and transfers by Iran. The legislation includes a number of regulation publishing and reporting requirements from the administration in order for Congress to track efforts to deny Iran the resources and ability to engage in destabilizing activities, commit human rights violations, support international terrorism, and fund weapons development.
For decades, there has been evidence that Iran has funded direct attacks on America and our allies. Since Hamas’ attack on Israel on October 7, 2023, Iran has only become more emboldened to act against democratic interests across the globe. To cite just two recent events, the International Atomic Energy Agency confirmed in its August 2024 report that Iran continues to increase its stockpile of enriched uranium, and on September 10, 2024, the Pentagon confirmed reports that Iran has transferred shipments of Fath 360 close-range ballistic missiles to Russia to support their continued aggression against Ukraine. Iran is able to further these disrupting activities due to profits from their oil trade. According to United Against Nuclear Iran, a non-partisan watchdog organization that tracks Iranian oil shipment, Iran exported 1,626,866 barrels per day in August 2024. Due to the quantity of oil that Iran is able to trade and the subsequent profits, as well as their historical pattern of utilizing these funds to foster violence and chaos, it is vital that the United States take concrete action to disrupt their petroleum trade. Therefore, we ask the administration to honor the reporting deadlines and enforcement requirements prescribed within the SHIP and Fight CRIME Acts that were included in H.R. 815, the emergency supplemental appropriations.
To date, the administration has not met the following deadlines:
By July 23, 2024 (90 after enactment, and every 180 days thereafter), the Secretary of State shall provide a report that identifies Iranian persons utilizing an unmanned combat aerial vehicle against a United States citizen. P.L. 118-50, Div. K Sec.6(a)
By August 12, 2024 (10 days before regulation enactment), the President shall notify the appropriate Congressional committees of the proposed regulations to combat proliferation of Iranian missiles. P.L. 118-50, Div. K Sec. 5(f)(2)
By August 22, 2024 (120 days after enactment), the President shall promulgate regulations as necessary for the implementation of sanctions to combat proliferation of Iranian missiles. P.L. 118-50, Div. K Sec. 5(f)(1)
By August 22, 2024 (120 days after enactment, and annually thereafter), the Administrator of the Energy Information Administration shall submit a report describing Iran’s growing exports of petroleum and petroleum products, including their exports to the People’s Republic of China and the ships and ports involved in the oil sales. P.L. 118-50, Div. J Sec. 4(a)
By August 22, 2024 (120 days after enactment), the Secretary of State shall submit written strategy on the role of the People’s Republic of China’s role in evading U.S.-imposed sanctions on Iranian-origin petroleum products. P.L. 118-50, Div. J Sec. 5
The following deadlines are upcoming within the next 30 days:
By October 11, 2024, (10 days before regulation enactment) the President shall notify and brief the appropriate Congressional Committees on the regulations to be established to implement the SHIP Act. P.L. 118-50, Div. J Sec. 3(e)(2)
By October 21, 2024 (180 days after enactment), the President shall prescribe necessary regulations to implement sanctions enforcement. P.L. 118-50, Div. J Sec. 3(e)(2)
On and after October 21, 2024 (180 days after enactment), the President shall impose sanctions on foreign persons determined to have knowingly engaged in the Iranian petroleum trade. P.L. 118-50, Div. J Sec. 3(a)
Given the havoc Iran is wreaking in the Middle East and the wider region, this information is both timely and vital for Congress to carry out appropriate sanctions oversight and understand what greater legislative action is required to ensure Iran does not have the resources to harm the United States or our partners and allies. We look forward to these timely reports and enhanced understanding of the administration’s plan to counter Iranian oil trade and accessible revenue for their funding of terrorism. We ask that you honor the October deadlines and work to address the deadlines already missed in order to provide Congress with the relevant reports as quickly as possible.
We further request that you provide our offices an update on your efforts and when to expect these reports no later than October 29, 2024. Thank you for your continued work and attention to this matter.
Read this story in English here. Nacido y criado en Perú, Daniel Velásquez se estableció en los Estados Unidos cuando tenía 10 años. Aunque esa decisión fue una gran transición para su familia, también le creó muchas oportunidades. Ahora Velásquez es ingeniero de operaciones del proyecto Pathfinders de Movilidad Aérea de la NASA en el Centro de Investigación de Vuelo Armstrong de la NASA en Edwards, California. Velásquez desarrolla ensayos de vuelo para aeronaves eléctricas de despegue y aterrizaje vertical (eVTOL, por sus siglas en inglés), poniendo a prueba específicamente su rendimiento durante varias fases del vuelo, como el rodaje, el despegue, el crucero, la aproximación y el aterrizaje. Se interesó en el centro Armstrong de la NASA debido a su legado en el avance de la investigación de vuelo y a su contribución al programa del Transbordador Espacial. “Formar parte de un centro con una historia tan rica en el apoyo a las misiones espaciales y la aeronáutica avanzada fue una motivación importante para mí,” dice Velásquez. “Uno de los mayores hitos de mi carrera ha sido la oportunidad de conocer (virtualmente) y colaborar con un astronauta en un posible proyecto de la NASA.”
Velásquez está increíblemente orgulloso de su origen latino por su rica cultura, su fuerte sentido de comunidad y la conexión a sus padres. “Mis padres son mi mayor inspiración. Sacrificaron mucho para asegurarse de que mis hermanos y yo pudiéramos tener éxito, dejando atrás la comodidad de su hogar y su familia en Perú para darnos mejores oportunidades,” dice Velásquez. “Su esfuerzo y dedicación me motivan cada día. Todo lo que hago es para honrar sus sacrificios y demostrarles que sus esfuerzos no fueron un vano. Todo mi éxito se lo debo a ellos.” Velásquez comenzó su carrera en la NASA en 2021 como un pasante en el Programa de Pasantías Pathways mientras estudiaba ingeniería aeroespacial en la Universidad Rutgers en New Brunswick, New Jersey. A través de ese programa, el aprendió sobre un software de modelado eVTOL que se llama Diseño y Análisis de Aeronaves de Alas Giratorias de la NASA y creó una guía de ayuda que otros ingenieros de la NASA pudieran consultar cuando trabajaban con el software. Al mismo tiempo, también es un sargento primero de la Reserva del Ejército de EE. UU. y es responsable de supervisar el entrenamiento y el desarrollo de los soldados subalternos durante las reuniones mensuales. Planifica, crea y presenta clases para que los soldados se mantengan al día y refinen sus habilidades, a la vez que supervisa los ejercicios prácticos, las revisiones posteriores de acción y recopila lecciones aprendidas durante los entrenamientos.
“Este trabajo es diferente de lo que hago día a día en la NASA, pero me ha ayudado a convertirme en una persona más franca,” dice. “Ser capaz de conversar con una variedad de personas y poder hacerlo bien es una habilidad que adquirí y refiné mientras servía a mi país.” Velásquez explica que nunca imaginó trabajar para la NASA, ya que era algo que sólo había visto en las películas y en la televisión, pero está muy orgulloso de trabajar para la agencia después de todo el trabajo duro y los sacrificios que lo llevaron hasta aquí. “Estoy increíblemente orgulloso de trabajar cada día con algunas de las personas más motivadas y dedicadas en la industria.”
Source: Te Herenga Waka—Victoria University of Wellington
A new co-working space has opened that will see innovative local businesses based at Te Herenga Waka—Victoria University of Wellington.
The shared work space is called Taiawa Wellington Tech Hub and is in Rutherford House on the University’s Pipitea campus. A range of high-growth, innovative companies have moved in to the 51-desk space—tenants include climate tech businesses Cogo and CarbonInvoice, botanical prescription drug developer Evithé Bio, and scientific literature review assistant Litmaps.
Taiawa was launched in early June, with tenant businesses officially welcomed to the new space at an event attended by Wellington mayor Tory Whanau along with leaders from the University and the business and entrepreneurial community.
Professor Stephen Cummings, co-director of the University’s innovation space The Atom—Te Kahu o Te Ao, says Taiawa is an exciting development. “It will allow us to better work with Wellington’s entrepreneurial ecosystem and create opportunities for sharing ideas between innovative businesses and our staff and students,” he explains.
“It comes from a recognition that Rutherford House is the ideal place in the perfect location to host a co-working space like this. Opening up our buildings to the City in this way can create great synergies and value, not just for our students and researchers, but for Wellington’s business community.”
The initiative is a collaboration with WellingtonNZ, the regional economic development agency. Rebekah Campbell, who leads the Technology Sector Group at WellingtonNZ, says the need for a space for co-working, tech sector education and community events became evident when devising a strategy to grow the region’s economy.
“Wellington has a lot of individually successful tech companies, but even though it’s a compact city, we can do a lot better at promoting collaboration and skill-sharing. Wellington needs its tech sector to thrive, and our mission is to create 30,000 new high-value jobs in the next decade,” she says.
“We looked at other cities that have successfully accelerated the growth of their tech sectors, and a key component of every strategy is the creation of a central place where companies can work together, learn from each other and create a shared culture of ambition and collaboration. The kinds of hubs that were most successful were centred around universities.”
Atom co-director Dr Jesse Pirini says the concept of hosting a co-working space at Te Herenga Waka is “the culmination of years of engagement with the entrepreneurial community through The Atom, and hosting events such as Slush’D and TedX”. “So when the opportunity arose to work with WellingtonNZ, we leapt at it. It’s great to be able to collaborate with them on this unique partnership.”
One of the tenants in Taiawa Wellington Tech Hub is Cogo, which partners with large companies to help businesses and consumers measure and improve their carbon impact. CEO Ben Gleisner, who is a Te Herenga Waka alumnus, describes the new space as a “win-win-win” for all parties.
“It will provide unparalleled opportunities for the companies, the wider tech industry, and for business school students that they can’t get at other institutions in Aotearoa—there is the potential to collaborate on research, internships or dedicated projects. Ultimately, as we are supported to grow, there will hopefully be real jobs for students too.”
University Vice Chancellor Nic Smith says it’s vital that universities are front and centre in supporting the wider science, technology and innovation sector. “The development of this hub is a vote of confidence in Wellington’s business community, especially in the face of bad news stories around public sector lay offs. We believe in the technology and innovation industry, and we’re delighted to have the chance to foster its growth.”
About the name
The name Taiawa is a combination of two words, tai (ocean) and awa (river), which reflects the collaborative elements of entities from different sources combining together to operate a shared space, support innovative ideas and create a safe space for creativity. Taiawa is the name of a type of pipi found at low tide just below the surface of a sandy harbour flat—the act of collecting pipi as a community, intergenerational activity signifies the collaboration that will take place in the tech hub, and the interaction between companies, staff and students. The name was endorsed by Kura Moeahu, Rangatira of Te Āti Awa and Taranaki.
The contributions of some of Wellington’s most prominent businesspeople were celebrated last night at the 2024 Wellington Address, hosted at Pipitea Marae.
The event recognised the mahi and relentless energy of three individuals and one business who have made outstanding contributions to our city. They are people who inspire others and help Wellington’s business community prosper and thrive.
The Address was jointly hosted Wellington Chamber of Commerce, Te Awe Māori Business Network and the Wellington Pasifika Business Network, together known as the Power of Three.
More than 240 people attended last night’s sold-out event, where Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and Deputy Prime Minister Winston Peters addressed honourees and guests.
The gala dinner was headlined by the Wellington Address, an ode to the city and a vision for its future. This year’s Address was delivered by John-Daniel Trask of tech company Raygun, who highlighted the importance of innovation, contribution and the role of business in the city’s success.
The event was made possible with the help of our sponsors and partners, including Mercury IT, Pōneke Bakery and principal sponsor 2degrees.
“These awards are a celebration of the very best of our business community – hard work, dedication, innovation and a commitment to improving our city,” said Wellington Chamber of Commerce CEO Simon Arcus.
“This year’s honourees all embody that spirit. We all better off for their work, and I extend my thanks to all the honourees. At times like these, it’s a powerful reminder of Wellington’s character and its potential in years to come,” he said.
The honourees for the 2024 Wellington Address were:
Nominated by the Wellington Chamber of Commerce, sponsored by Mercury IT
Brian McGuinness
Nominated by Te Awe Māori Business Network, sponsored by Pōneke Bakery
Doug Hauraki
Nominated by the Wellington Pasifika Business Network
Adrian Orr
Company award, sponsored by 2degrees
The Wellington Company – Erskine Restoration
“The Wellington Chamber is delighted to recognise Brian McGuinness as an honouree of the 2024 Wellington Address,” said Simon Arcus.
“With over 50 years of commitment to the family business, LT McGuinness, Brian has shown exceptional leadership and made enduring contributions to the Wellington urban landscape. An award for Brian is, in a very real sense, a recognition of the contribution of the McGuiness family.
“The Wellington Address serves to recognise those who serve us beyond the call of their professional duty. We are humbled to be recognising such an outstanding contribution from more than 50 years of dedication to the capital; nobody else has literally built a legacy on Wellington’s footprint quite like Brian McGuinness,” Arcus said.
More information on the outstanding contributions of last night’s honourees is available below.
Brian McGuinness:With over 50 years of commitment to the family-founded construction company, LT McGuinness, Brian has shown exceptional leadership and made enduring contributions to the Wellington urban landscape.
Brian’s dedication to building excellence, his ability to develop long-standing local relationships, and his commitment to his word have contributed to the success of many of Wellington’s iconic buildings.
Doug Hauraki:Generations of Māori students, public servants and business owners will be delighted to know Doug Hauraki is this year’s Te Awe Wellington Māori Business Network honouree.
In bestowing this honour on Doug, Te Awe acknowledges his more than 55 years of service to Māori in both the private and public sectors and his lifelong devotion to better education and employment opportunities for Māori and Pasifika people.
Adrian Orr:The Wellington Pasifika Business Network us proud to recognise Adrian Orr as the Pasifika honouree for this year’s Wellington Address. The award celebrates Adrian’s 40 years of outstanding service to the banking and financial services sector, most recently as Governor of the Reserve Bank of New Zealand and its role of ensuring the stability of our financial system.
Of Cook Island and Irish descent, Adrian has been a trailblazer in his chosen profession, with a strong intergenerational view of economic and social issues and solutions.
The Wellington Company – Erskine Restoration:
After undertaking a painstaking 23-year journey to develop a hilly, heritage-listed site in Island Bay, The Wellington Company delivered a premium medium-density housing development which restored and retained a unique part of our architectural history.
Many others would have shied away from the challenge of restoring the Category-1 listed Erskine Chapel. The 1929 landmark had been neglected, vandalised and red-stickered for many years, as well as being subject to a lengthy legal challenge, despite the desire to protect it. But rather than walking away from the project, The Wellington Company took the step many would not, privately funding the vast bulk of the $7 million restoration and strengthening project to preserve it for generations to come.
Note:
The Power of Three is a joint agreement between the Wellington Chamber of Commerce, the Wellington Pasifika Business Network, and Te Awe Māori Business Network. The three business membership organisations share knowledge, services and cultural expertise to help grow businesses in the Wellington region.
Source: Eastern Institute of Technology – Tairāwhiti
1 day ago
Courtney Roff is currently studying for the NZ Certificate in Mechanical Engineering (Level 3) at EIT.
After leaving school early, Courtney Roff spent some time working in the wine industry, where she realised that the career for her was mechanical engineering, so she enrolled in EIT.
Courtney, 21, grew up in Hawke’s Bay and attended Napier Girls’ High, but decided to leave school midway through Year 12.
Not sure what she wanted to do, she worked for a time in hospitality, but soon found herself drawn to the wine industry.
She has spent the last three years working at the Hawke’s Bay Wine Company in Pandora and says that she has learnt a lot from the experience.
“I started not knowing anything and then worked my way up to being second in charge and running a night shift for all my last vintage.”
She considered studying Wine Science and Viticulture at EIT, but says she did not really want to be a winemaker. However, she received a wonderful opportunity when she was awarded a Woman in Winemaking Mentorship from the New Zealand Wine Association for six months.
“That paired me up with a lady who works at Wineworks in Hastings and I was catching up with her once a month for six months. I was in there to figure out what I wanted to do, and Sophie, my mentor, was really awesome.
“It was there that I decided that I wanted to do engineering, so Sophie got me into Wineworks for eight weeks, to see if I liked it. I did so I signed up for the programme at EIT in July.”
That programme is the NZ Certificate in Mechanical Engineering (Level 3) and it will set Courtney up to still work in the wine industry, where engineering is required in tank building, presses or working on machines.
She knows she is now in the right place and is enjoying the mechanical engineering programme.
She says that while she realises that mechanical engineering is still male-dominated, she is enjoying her classmates and says her tutors are “awesome”.
“You never will get stuck as there is always someone to help you.”
Courtney particularly enjoys the fabrication course and says she is looking forward to completing the second year of her apprenticeship next year.
She is currently working part-time as a petrol attendant in Greenmeadows while she studies, but she is looking forward to beginning her new career.
EIT Engineering Tutor Patrick Doohan said: “As Courtney’s tutor, I’m proud of her positive start in the mechanical engineering program at EIT.”
“Her transition from the wine industry to engineering shows her determination. She excels in her courses, especially fabrication, and she always bring a positive attitude to her work. Courtney’s initiative in seeking mentorship and hands-on experience reflects her commitment to her future.”
When Canada legalized recreational cannabis use on Oct. 17, 2018, there were concerns about the potential impacts. Would it trigger greater cannabis use, boost economic growth or otherwise affect the country’s health, safety and finances?
Patients already using cannabis legally for medical purposes were especially concerned. They worried that recreational legalization might prompt physicians to stop authorizing cannabis treatments. Or that cannabis producers would abandon the small medical market to pursue the larger recreational one.
As someone who studies the business aspects of cannabis legalization, I wondered about these issues, too. It wasn’t clear how patients, producers or health-care providers would react to recreational legalization. Legal medical use itself had only become accessible a few years earlier.
Accessing medical cannabis
Canada began allowing medical use of cannabis in 1999. But it remained difficult to get until regulations changed during 2014-15.
The new rules allowed any physician to authorize patients to use cannabis. Those patients could then register to buy products online from licensed cannabis producers. Online orders could not exceed a 30-day supply.
(Instead of buying cannabis products, some patients grew their own plants instead. My research hasn’t examined that.)
Under this new procedure, the number of patients registering to buy cannabis soared. They grew from 7,914 in June 2014 to 330,344 in June 2018, nearly one per cent of Canada’s population.
However, registration levels differed greatly between provinces. In June 2018, registrations represented almost three per cent of Alberta’s population, versus only 0.1 per cent of Québec’s.
Interestingly, less than half of registrants bought medical cannabis in any given month. Perhaps they simply didn’t need the full dose. Or maybe they found it too expensive, inconvenient or ineffective.
June 2018 was also when the federal government passed its new cannabis legislation. The law took effect in October 2018, when recreational sales of dried cannabis and cannabis oils began. After initial product shortages were overcome, recreational cannabis sales grew rapidly as more stores opened, even during the COVID-19 pandemic. Consumer choice expanded in December 2019 when edibles and vapes became available.
This is where my new study came in. I analyzed government data on patients’ use of Canada’s medical cannabis system between 2017 and 2022. This included how many patients registered, how often they placed orders, and how much cannabis they bought.
Evolving system usage
I found that as soon as parliament passed the new cannabis law, medical registrations began slowing down, despite recreational legalization still being four months away.
But the response differed noticeably between provinces. For example, registrations kept growing steadily in Québec but plummeted rapidly in Alberta. Other provinces were in between.
My data doesn’t say why those changes occurred. Perhaps Alberta, with its copious cannabis clinics, had many patients only mildly interested in using cannabis medically. Conversely, maybe Québec was still catching up with other provinces on medical use.
When recreational sales started in October 2018, patient registrations seemed unaffected. Their average purchase sizes didn’t change either. But they bought medical cannabis slightly less often.
This might have been due to retail convenience. At that time, medical producers and recreational stores were selling similar products: dried cannabis and cannabis oils. So, perhaps some patients started topping up their supplies occasionally at recreational stores but saw no reason to leave the online medical system completely.
When edibles and other processed products began selling in December 2019, registrations dropped further. But the patients who remained bought medical cannabis slightly more often and in increasingly larger quantities.
Product selections might explain this patient split. Perhaps producers with good edible products retained their customers and received larger orders from them. Conversely, maybe medical producers offering few edibles lost their patients to the recreational shops and their vast product assortments.
In summary, Canada’s medical cannabis system experienced big changes after recreational legalization. But it didn’t disappear.
Will other countries see similar outcomes if they allow recreational cannabis?
A changing world
In Europe, for example, The Netherlands is experimenting with recreational sales. Meanwhile, Germany has legalized recreational use but not retail sales. Will those countries experience medical cannabis changes like Canada did?
Other countries, like Australia and New Zealand, are somewhere in between. They’re seeing rapid growth in legal medical use and illegal recreational use, but haven’t legalized recreationally. That’s roughly where Canada was 10 years ago.
Will Canada’s medical and recreational cannabis experiences make these other countries more interested in legalization, or less? Either way, I hope they can learn from our experiences as they chart their own cannabis paths.
Michael J. Armstrong 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.
Four award-winning National Film Board of Canada (NFB) produced and co-produced documentaries will be featured at DOC NYC in New York City, from November 13 to December 1, 2024.
October 10, 2024 – Toronto – National Film Board of Canada (NFB)
Four award-winningNational Film Board of Canada (NFB) produced and co-produced documentaries will be featured at DOC NYC in New York City, from November 13 to December 1, 2024.
America’s largest documentary film festival, DOC NYC will host the NYC premieres of twoNFB co-produced feature docs:
A Mother Apart (Oya Media Group/NFB) by Laurie Townshend accompaniesBrooklyn-based Jamaican-American poet and LGBTQ+ activist Staceyann Chin as she re-imagines the essential art of mothering—having been abandoned by her own mother;
40 years after vanishing from public view, a trailblazing trans soul singer finally gets her second act in Any Other Way: The Jackie Shane Story (Banger Films/NFB) by Michael Mabbott and Lucah Rosenberg-Lee, executive produced by Elliot Page.
The festival will also present the US premieres of two NFB shorts:
Directors will be in attendance at the festival. All four films will be streaming at DOC NYC following their in-person premieres, with online screenings geo-restricted to the United States.
More about the films
Come As You Are section November 18, 2024, 6:00 p.m., Village East by Angelika November 19, 2024, 12:30 p.m., Village East by Angelika
A Mother Apart by Laurie Townshend (89 min) Producers: Alison Duke and Ngardy Conteh George (Oya Media Group); Justine Pimlott (NFB) Press kit: mediaspace.nfb.ca/epk/a-mother-apart
How do you raise a child when your own mother abandoned you? In a remarkable story of healing and forgiveness, Staceyann Chin, renowned for performances in Def Poetry Slam and hit solo shows like MotherStruck!, radically re-imagines the essential art of mothering. In seeking her elusive mother—a trail that leads to Brooklyn, Montreal, Cologne and, finally, Jamaica—Staceyann and her daughter forge a new sense of home.
Winner of the Audience Award for Best Documentary, Best First Feature Award and Best Canadian Feature Award at the Inside Out 2SLGBTQ+ Film Festival, Toronto.
Laurie Townshend is a Toronto-based filmmaker, writer and educator. Her films centre on the human capacity to transform small acts of courage into quiet revolutions, as seen in the dramatic short The Railpath Hero (2013, TIFF Black Star Series), the unscripted series Human Frequency Streetdocs (2014) and the award-winning short doc Charley (2016).
Sonic Cinema section November 19, 2024, 6:45 p.m., Village East by Angelika November 20, 2024, 4:00 p.m., Village East by Angelika
Any Other Way: The Jackie Shane Story by Michael Mabbott and Lucah Rosenberg-Lee (99 min) Produced by Amanda Burt, Sam Dunn and Scot McFadyen (Banger Films); Michael Mabbott; Justine Pimlott (NFB) Executive produced by Scot McFadyen, Sam Dunn, Chanda Chevannes (NFB), Anita Lee (NFB), Elliot Page and Matt Jordan Smith (PAGEBOY Productions), Martin Katz, Nia Long and CJ Mac Press kit: mediaspace.nfb.ca/epk/any-other-way-jackie-shane
A star is reborn. With an outsize stage presence that eclipsed R&B greats like Etta James and Little Richard, soul singer Jackie Shane was the real deal. Jackie boldly carved a new path as one of music’s trailblazing Black trans performers—but on the edge of stardom, why did she suddenly leave the spotlight?
Any Other Way won the Out in the Silence Award at the Frameline International LGBTQ+ Film Festival in San Francisco, the Audience Award for Best Music Documentary at the Nashville Film Festival, and the DGC Special Jury Prize – Canadian Feature Documentary at Hot Docs, where it was also a Top 10 Audience Favourite.
Toronto filmmaker Michael Mabbott’s features The Life and Hard Times of Guy Terrifico (Best Canadian First Feature Award) and Citizen Duane both premiered at TIFF. His first documentary, Music Lessons, premiered at Hot Docs.
Lucah Rosenberg-Lee is a Toronto speaker, entrepreneur and filmmaker specializing in documentary and LGBTQ+ content. He has produced and directed a variety of projects including Passing and For Nonna Anna, which have screened at TIFF, Inside Out and Sundance.
Shorts: Our Bodies section November 16, 2024, 11:15 a.m., Village East by Angelika November 17, 2024, 9:30 p.m., Village East by Angelika
“Hey, let’s go on a diet together.” As kids in a small Quebec town, Eisha and Seema were more than sisters, they were soul mates, and a joint diet offered a shared sense of purpose. But their carefree project would take a dark turn, pushing Eisha to the very brink of death. Consumed by anorexia, she found herself battling her own fragile body—stranded between childhood and adulthood. Decades later, Eisha revisits her past in an exquisitely crafted work of auto-ethnography, evoking her unusual youth with aching lyricism.
Montreal filmmaker Eisha Marjara has made several award-winning films, including Locarno’s Prix de la Semaine de Critique winner Desperately Seeking Helen. Venus (2017), a dramatic comedy, won the EDA Award for Best Feature at the Whistler Film Festival and Best Feature Film at Cinequest, among other accolades. Eisha also authored the acclaimed young adult novel Faerie and is in post-production on her next feature, Calorie.
At the age of 13, deciding not to shave her legs led Andrea Dorfman to question and ultimately defy society’s expectations. With charm, warmth and humour, Dorfman’s film Hairy Legs captures the universality of girls exploring gender, curiosity and freedom as they evolve from spending exuberant, carefree days on their bicycles to facing and challenging stereotypes.
Winner of the Diversity Award (Film) at the Spark Animation Festival in Vancouver and an Honourable Mention – DGC Award for Best Canadian Animation at the Ottawa International Animation Festival.
Halifax filmmaker Andrea Dorfman has written and directed many award-winning documentaries, features and animated films, including the NFB-produced Flawed (2010), Big Mouth (2012) and feature doc The Girls of Meru (2018). Dorfman’s video collaborations with poet-musician Tanya Davis, How to Be Alone (2010) and How to Be at Home (2020), became YouTube sensations.
HOUSTON, Oct. 16, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Targa Resources Corp. (NYSE: TRGP) (“Targa” or the “Company”) announced today that its Sustainability Report for 2023 is now available on the Company’s website at https://www.targaresources.com/sustainability. The report advances Targa’s sustainability disclosures and provides a review of Targa’s performance for calendar year 2023 against various environmental, social, and governance topics that we believe are important to our industry and our business.
Highlights of Targa’s Sustainability Report for the 2023 calendar year include the following:
Decreased Gathering & Boosting (G&B) sector methane intensity by 19%;
Exceeded the original methane intensity goals established through the ONE Future participation;
Conducted aerial methane surveys at all gathering and processing assets;
Increased handheld camera methane monitoring to quarterly at all compressor stations and bi-monthly to all gas plants;
Exported approximately 5.6 billion gallons of liquefied petroleum gas (“LPG”) globally that can displace higher GHG-emitting fuels;
Realized continued safety performance with a 25% decrease in Employee Total Recordable Incident Rate since 2021;
Received nine (9) midstream safety recognition awards for exceptional safety records;
95% of our new hires resided in the communities in which we operate;
91% of Board of Directors are independent; 100% independent Audit, Compensation, Nominating and Governance, Risk Management, and Sustainability Committees;(1)
36% of Board of Directors are women;(1) and
Board-level Sustainability Committee continues to oversee management’s implementation of strategy to integrate sustainability into various business activities to create long-term stakeholder benefits.
Please refer to the full sustainability report for additional context regarding these highlights as well as other sustainability matters. The report references the Global Reporting Initiative (“GRI”) Standards, International Financial Reporting Standards’ (“IFRS”), Sustainability Accounting Standards Board’s (“SASB”) Oil & Gas Midstream Standard, and the Task Force on Climate-Related Financial Disclosures (“TCFD”). In addition, Targa engaged an external third party to perform an attest review engagement for certain greenhouse gas emissions and employee safety data metrics disclosed in Targa’s 2023 Sustainability Report for the year ended December 31, 2023.
(1) As of May 17, 2024.
About Targa Resources Corp.
Targa Resources Corp. is a leading provider of midstream services and is one of the largest independent midstream infrastructure companies in North America. The Company owns, operates, acquires and develops a diversified portfolio of complementary domestic midstream infrastructure assets and its operations are critical to the efficient, safe and reliable delivery of energy across the United States and increasingly to the world. The Company’s assets connect natural gas and NGLs to domestic and international markets with growing demand for cleaner fuels and feedstocks. The Company is primarily engaged in the business of: gathering, compressing, treating, processing, transporting, and purchasing and selling natural gas; transporting, storing, fractionating, treating, and purchasing and selling NGLs and NGL products, including services to LPG exporters; and gathering, storing, terminaling, and purchasing and selling crude oil.
Targa is a FORTUNE 500 company and is included in the S&P 500.
Certain statements in this release are “forward-looking statements” within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. All statements, other than statements of historical facts, included in this release that address activities, events or developments that the Company expects, believes or anticipates will or may occur in the future, are forward-looking statements, including statements regarding our projected financial performance and capital spending. These forward-looking statements rely on a number of assumptions concerning future events and are subject to a number of uncertainties, factors and risks, many of which are outside the Company’s control, which could cause results to differ materially from those expected by management of the Company. Such risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to, weather, political, economic and market conditions, including a decline in the price and market demand for natural gas, natural gas liquids and crude oil, the impact of pandemics or any other public health crises, commodity price volatility due to ongoing or new global conflicts, actions by the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (“OPEC”) and non-OPEC oil producing countries, the impact of disruptions in the bank and capital markets, including those resulting from lack of access to liquidity for banking and financial services firms, the timing and success of business development efforts and other uncertainties. These and other applicable uncertainties, factors and risks are described more fully in the Company’s Sustainability Report for 2023 and its filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including its most recent Annual Report on Form 10-K, and any subsequently filed Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q and Current Reports on Form 8-K. The Company does not undertake an obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.
The Government’s relentless focus on welfare that works and holding job seekers accountable through sanctions saw a year-on-year increase in the number of people moving from benefits into work in the September quarter, Social Development and Employment Minister Louise Upston says.
“Despite the economic gloom the Government inherited, 16,071 people cancelled their Jobseeker Support benefits because they found work between July and September, an increase of 2457 people, or 18 per cent, on a year ago.
“This coincided with a 133.3 per cent increase in the number of benefit sanctions being issued. It’s clear that returning consequences for job seekers who don’t fulfil their obligations to prepare for or find work is having an impact.
“All up, 18,516 people cancelled a main benefit because they found workin the September quarter, an increase of 12.7 per cent, and I congratulate all of them.
“There is more to do as the lingering effects of the cost-of-living crisis continue to increase overall benefit numbers. But I’m pleased the greater focus on frontline case management, community job coaching, and more regular work seminars that our Welfare that Works reforms have delivered is helping job seekers.
“It is encouraging to see the amount of hardship assistance handed out by MSD reduce by 10.4 per cent, saving taxpayers $55.2 million, with fewer grants for food and emergency housing the main reason.
“The Government has worked hard to get inflation under control, return discipline to public spending, and get families out of emergency housing. Coupled with tax relief, falling interest rates and our FamilyBoost childcare payments, large numbers of New Zealanders are better off than they were a year ago.
“More work is needed to fix the damage that years of low growth has had on our employment market, but there are green shoots of change in these latest figures.”
Benefit Fact Sheets for the September 2024 quarter can be found here
Source: Eastern Institute of Technology – Tairāwhiti
4 mins ago
James McKinley-Blake is currently in his second year of the Bachelor of Business Studies (Marketing and Management).
James McKinley-Blake always had a dream of starting his own business, so he decided to act on it by enrolling in a business programme at EIT.
James, who was born in Australia and grew up in Hawke’s Bay, decided to take a gap year to work in retail and ponder his future after completing his final year at Napier Boys’ High.
“I was really interested in the arts and science and thought that’s what I wanted to do, but when I got to the end of my final year at school, I was a bit unsure of where I wanted to go to.”
“I took a gap year to think about what I actually wanted to do before I hopped into making this decision. But during that time, I always had the passion to start up or eventually manage my own business.”
“I thought business studies would be perfect. I saw that it was advertised at EIT and I thought, why not? Let’s do it, see what happens and I’m really enjoying it.”
James, 20, is currently in his second year of the Bachelor of Business Studies (Marketing and Management) at EIT Hawke’s Bay and he is loving it.
However his time at EIT got off to a tough start because the programme started the day before Cyclone Gabrielle struck, and the campus had been closed as a precaution. The classes were moved online and then moved off campus.
“The lecturers were great. They handled it well and just got into it. But when we ended up getting back to campus, you could tell a significant difference with that interaction because, personally, I prefer that face-to-face interaction.”
“Personally, I didn’t know what to expect with the business studies. I did go to an open day and heard about it for a bit, but when I got into it, it was a lot more than what I thought.”
James says that he would have no hesitation in recommending the Bachelor of Business at EIT.
“I may explore the sciences or arts a bit later in life, but at the moment just to build a steady foundation for my business, the business studies course is really enjoyable.”
He says that he is interested in starting his own business within horticulture or agriculture, but is keeping his options open.
He says he is also open to continuing studying and may look to do the Postgraduate Diploma in Business at EIT after he finishes his degree.
“James has already proven himself to be a conscientious student who is focused on his goals and impressed his lecturers with a positive and mature attitude,” says Russell Booth, Programme Co-ordinator for the Bachelor of Business Studies at EIT.
“He has also been discussing with me ways he can expand his experience whilst at EIT through applying for the Prime Minister’s Scholarship and has volunteered his time to help other students as a valued peer mentor. James is already making his intentions clear that he intends on taking advantage of every opportunity he can whilst studying at EIT and for someone like James, we are more than happy to help in whatever way we can!” says Russell.
Oscar winner Torill Kove’s new Mikrofilm/National Film Board of Canada animated short Maybe Elephants makes its much-anticipated US debut this month at three southern California film fests: the Newport Beach Film Festival (Oct. 17–24), Animation Is Film (Oct. 18–20) and AFI FEST in Los Angeles (Oct. 23–27).
October 15, 2024 – Montreal – National Film Board of Canada
Maybe Elephants marks the fourth collaboration of the NFB and Norway’s Mikrofilm AS with Montreal-based animator Torill Kove—a stellar run ofanimation excellence over two decades, encompassing threeAcademy Award-nominated shorts, including her 2007 Oscar winner, The Danish Poet.
A playful and loving autobiographical homage to family, adolescence and the therapeutic power of memories, however unreliable, Maybe Elephantsreunites thecast of Kove’s previous Oscar nominee, Me and My Moulton.
“I see this film as a sequel to my 2015 short Me and My Moulton, which was a semi-biographical snapshot of my family in the 1960s, when my sisters and I were under 10 years old and my parents were young and hip. In Maybe Elephants, I’m revisiting the same family. I think everybody has at least one important story. It can be catastrophic, like a war, or romantic. Maybe Elephants is my story, and it goes like this: we were a happy family and then our parents left us,” says Torill Kove.
Maybe Elephants arrives in theUS after a world premiere at the Annecy International Animation Film Festival in France and its North American premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival, which was followed by an Official Selection in the Narrative Short Film Competition at the Ottawa International Animation Festival.
The Spark Animation festival in Vancouver, British Columbia (Oct. 31–Nov. 3), is presenting its Lifetime Achievement Award to Torill Kove in recognition of her outstanding contributions to the field of animation, and honouring Maybe Elephants with its Canadian Film Prize.
Maybe Elephants by Torill Kove(Mikrofilm/NFB, 16 min 43 s) Producers: Lise Fearnley (Mikrofilm), Maral Mohammadian (NFB), Tonje Skar Reiersen (Mikrofilm) Press kit: mediaspace.nfb.ca/epk/maybe-elephants
In the ’70s, three rebellious teenage daughters, a restless mother, a father struggling with potatoes, and maybe some elephants, find themselves in bustling Nairobi—and the family will never be the same.
Narrated by Torill Kove, the film wraps rich nostalgia around memories of eventful family trips, timeless teen antics and those inevitable moments of adolescent epiphany—bursting with wit, a joyful colour palette and an energetic soundscape.
Maybe Elephants was made with the collaboration of several Kenyan Canadians who played the roles of Kenyan characters and with whom Kove consulted on Swahili language and Kenyan culture.
Torill Kove is a Norwegian-born filmmaker and animator living in Canada. Three of her films (including My Grandmother Ironed the King’s Shirts and Me and My Moulton) have been nominated for Academy Awards, with The Danish Poet, narrated by Liv Ullmann, winning the coveted golden statue in 2007. Kove’s films are known for her expressive designs and playful and poignant autobiographical themes.
A Sweeping Research Platform Can Now Mimic Steady, Predictable Water Power (and More)
NREL’s energy simulator can mimic the grids of the future—and now, this massive, virtual and real-world research platform can simulate water power, too. Photo by Werner Slocum, NREL
Say you want to study something big—like a community power grid, a massive pipe system, or roadways crisscrossing the entire United States—but none of it exists, at least not yet. How do you study these invisible labyrinths to make sure they will be safe and efficient?
Good question, and here is the answer: You do that at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) on a platform called the Advanced Research on Integrated Energy Systems (or ARIES, for short).
NREL’s experts have built a research platform that can create 3D simulations of entire power grids—either existing or theoretical—that contain thousands or even millions of different energy technologies. For example, researchers can populate an existing grid with wind turbines, solar panels, batteries, nuclear facilities, electric vehicles, or even smart devices, like our cell phones, to see how they could impact our future grid.
But until recently, one grid puzzle piece has not been well represented.
“The part that has been missing is: How can we simulate or represent water power devices?” said Rob Hovsapian, a mechanical engineer at NREL and an ARIES research advisor who helped introduce hydropower into the platform.
With ARIES, researchers can play out and plan for almost any future grid scenario. For example: How could huge amounts of renewable energy impact different community grids? And how could hydropower help our power system weather hurricanes, cold snaps, cyberattacks, and other disruptions?
“It allows us to do those ‘what if’ scenarios,” Hovsapian said. “In the real world, you’re limited to what’s there.”
Now that ARIES has integrated water power into its grid simulations, researchers can explore even more “what if” scenarios to prepare for the grid to come. Photo by Bryan Bechtold, NREL
Now, we can ask “what ifs” about water power technologies, like hydropower and the more nascent marine energy (sometimes called ocean energy because it often comes from powerful ocean waves, currents, and tides, but it can refer to energy from river currents as well). Though very different, both water power technologies generate predictable energy, making them a dependable partner for more variable energy sources, like wind energy and solar power. Those renewables, along with energy storage (like batteries), have been part of ARIES for a good while now. It was time to sprinkle a little water into the mix.
“Now that we can use ARIES to simulate hydropower, we can study more scenarios in more locations and even potential future energy systems,” said Jerry Davis, the laboratory program manager for ARIES. “We want to represent as many renewable generation sources as we can.”
But that is harder than it might sound.
A Hydropower Simulator Helps a Remote Alaskan Village
When fishers return to the harbor in the remote village of Cordova, Alaska, they enter a cove full of mast spikes resembling hundreds of mini-church spires. Those fishers—and there are a lot in Cordova—bring in salmon, halibut, rockfish, and trout but also something less desirable: a 400% increase in energy demand, which can strain the small village’s microgrid, a standalone power system that depends on just two hydropower plants and diesel generators (and diesel must be flown or boated in, often at great expense).
And that is a problem.
Cordova’s microgrid—and everything it powers, including hospitals and homes—is vulnerable to spikes in energy demand from the summer fish bonanza and Alaska’s dangerously cold winters as well as extreme weather events, like avalanches and droughts. The village needed solutions—novel ways for their microgrid to bob and weave with all these changes, so they can match energy supply to demand, especially when their economy or lives depend on it.
But you cannot simply tinker with such a critical system, hoping your manipulations do not cause a blackout or irreparable damage. Nor can you study something that does not exist, like batteries or solar panels that have yet to be installed.
That is where NREL and ARIES come in.
The ARIES platform uses data from real-world wind turbines, solar panels, hydropower generators, and more to create a highly accurate virtual simulation of different grid scenarios and how they might react to changes in energy demand, weather, and higher levels of renewable energy. Graphic by Josh Bauer, NREL; photo by Joe DelNero, NREL
The village was one of the first communities to directly benefit from ARIES’ hydropower emulation platform, which, like the rest of ARIES, relies on hardware and software to accurately simulate the town’s spiderweb of energy devices. ARIES’ software programs, which are built on real-world data, can mimic actual grids (like Cordova’s microgrid), so researchers can manipulate the Cordova system in the safety of a computer simulation. Soon, ARIES will also be able to connect actual hardware, like a hydropower generator, to these virtual simulations so the system can receive live feedback from real tech and learn from it.
For hydropower, ARIES’ simulation capability is especially valuable. Although researchers can install experimental solar panels and wind turbines at a laboratory field site, they cannot replicate hydropower plants—they are simply too big and too specific to certain river sites or geography.
Instead, Mayank Panwar, a senior research engineer at NREL, and Hovsapian built what they call a Real-Time Hydropower Emulation Platform, which can mimic real-world hydropower facilities in real time—one second in the hydropower simulator equates to one second in the real world. As of today, their 2.5-megawatt emulator uses data from actual hydropower plants (including those in Cordova) to inform its simulations.
“As we add more and more technologies to ARIES and there’s more and more variability and uncertainty with the grid, such as wind and solar, hydro will play a key role in providing stability to the grid,” Hovsapian said. “But how would we quantify that? ARIES will be an ideal environment for us to do that.”
With ARIES, Hovsapian can ask more “what if” questions, like what if this hydropower plant in Cordova is paired with a 10-megawatt battery or 3 megawatts of solar panels instead of 1? And how do these changes impact the grid’s reliability? Thanks to ARIES, Cordova has their answers—and a more resilient grid, too.
No other system in the world can accomplish this kind of plug-and-play simulation, Hovsapian said.
And it is not just hydropower that benefits.
Getting Marine Energy to Communities Quickly
Marine energy is still in the early stages of development, but these technologies can be valuable sources of clean energy for communities that have ample flowing water and little else. Like Cordova, the Alaskan village of Igiugig also relies on expensive shipments of diesel fuel. Many island communities off the coast of Maine struggle to maintain stable power when weather whips through. Communities in Hawaii, where energy costs are typically higher than in the rest of the country, also often depend on costly imported fuels.
And yet, all three of these areas have one powerful thing in common: hefty amounts of water. With energy from river currents, waves, and tides, each community could improve its energy resilience and potentially achieve its clean energy goals, too.
There is just one problem: Before communities opt to install one of these nascent devices, they need greater confidence that the technologies can deliver on their promise—and that is exactly what ARIES can provide.
Prabakar (right) uses the ARIES research platform to simulate how marine energy technologies, like river current devices, could slot into existing grids and improve a community’s energy resilience. Photo by Joe DelNero, NREL
“A big part of our mission is de-risking energy technologies, so communities are comfortable deploying them,” Davis said.
At NREL, researchers are studying marine energy technologies “to make sure that things don’t fail in the field,” said Kumaraguru Prabakar, a research engineer at the laboratory. “Even if a small river generator is powering a small house, it is powering the grid, so you have to make sure it’s safe.”
And for that—and more complicated analyses—he needs ARIES.
Right now, Prabakar is examining how marine energy technologies slot into preexisting grids. Currents tend to be consistent, but rivers are still subject to freezes and droughts. Waves and tides are predictable but do not always churn out the same amount of power throughout the day or year. With ARIES, Prabakar can assess how these variations might impact different power systems and whether other solutions, like energy stored as green hydrogen, could balance out these fluctuations.
ARIES’ biggest gift might be time. In the last decade, researchers used to take years to validate new energy technologies, Prabakar said. But now, with ARIES, experts can significantly speed up that process (ARIES can even pair up with similar simulators at other national laboratories to pull in even more data, capabilities, and answers). Speed is especially critical to accelerate the development of marine energy technologies so they can help fight climate change sooner rather than later.
“If somebody comes up with an idea to add water power, they should be able to deploy it in less than 12 months,” Prabakar said.
“It’s exciting,” Hovsapian added. “There are a lot of changes coming, and ARIES can help us prepare.”
Learn more about the Advanced Research on Integrated Energy Systems (ARIES), the nation’s most advanced platform for energy system integration research and validation at scale. And subscribe to the NREL water power newsletter,The Current, to make sure you do not miss a water power update.
A salute is widely recognized as a display of respect, but did you know it also means ‘hello’ in American Sign Language? It is one of the signs that Jesse Bazley, International Space Station/Commercial Low Earth Orbit Development Program integration team lead, subtly incorporates into his daily interactions with colleagues at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston.
Bazley is hard of hearing, which has at times presented challenges in his daily work – particularly during his stint as an Environmental and Thermal Operating Systems flight controller for the space station. “Working on console [in the Mission Control Center], you must listen to dozens of voice loops at a time, sometimes in different languages,” he said, adding that the standard-issue headset for flight controllers was not compatible with his hearing aids. Bazley adapted by obtaining a headset that fit over his hearing aids, learning how to adjust the audio system’s volume, and limiting over-the-air discussions when possible. Bazley has been part of the NASA team for 17 years, filling a variety of roles that support the International Space Station. One of his proudest achievements occurred early in his tenure. Bazley was an intern at Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, in 2006 when the space station’s Water Recovery System was being tested. The system converts the station’s wastewater into drinkable water for the crew. When he arrived at Johnson one year later, his first assignment was to assist with the system’s procedure and display development for its incorporation into the space station’s core operations. “Now, 16 years later, it is commonplace for the space station to ‘turn yesterday’s coffee into tomorrow’s coffee’,” he said.
His favorite project so far has been integrating the station’s Thermal Amine Scrubber – which removes carbon dioxide from the air – into station operations. “I worked it from the beginning of NASA’s involvement, helping the provider with software testing and the integration of a brand-new Mission Control Center communications architecture,” he said. Today, Bazley works to integrate subject matter experts from Johnson’s Flight Operations Directorate (FOD) into the processes of the International Space Station and Commercial Low Earth Orbit Development Programs. “I help pull together FOD positions on topics and coordinate reviews of provider materials to ensure that the operations perspective is maintained as development moves forward,” he explained. While Bazley no longer supports a console, he must continue adapting to difficult hearing environments. He uses the captioning tools available through videoconferencing software during frequent team meetings, for example. “It’s important to understand that people have visible and invisible disabilities,” he said. “Sometimes their request for a remote option is not because they want to avoid an in-person meeting. It may be that they work best using the features available in that virtual environment.” Bazley also chairs the No Boundaries Employee Resource Group, which promotes the development, inclusion, and innovation of Johnson’s workforce with a focus on employees with disabilities and employees who are caregivers of family members with disabilities. From these diverse roles and experiences, Bazley has learned to listen to his gut instincts. “In flight operations, you must work with short timelines when things happen in-orbit, so you have to trust your training,” he said. “Understanding when you have enough information to proceed is critical to getting things done.” Bazley looks forward to the further commercialization of low Earth orbit so NASA can focus resources on journeying to the Moon and Mars. “Aviation started out as government-funded and now is commonplace for the public. I look forward to seeing how that evolution progresses in low Earth orbit.” His advice to the Artemis Generation is to consider the long-term impact of their actions and decisions. “What looks great on paper may not be a great solution when you have to send 10 commands just to do one task, or when the crew has to put their hand deep into the spacecraft to actuate a manual override,” he said. “The decisions you make today will be felt by operations in the future.”
After 50 years of Landsat, discovery of new commercial and scientific uses is only accelerating
The 30-acre pear orchard in the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta has been in Brett Baker’s family since the end of the Gold Rush. After six generations, though, California’s most precious resource is no longer gold – it’s water. And most of the state’s freshwater is in the delta. Landowners there are required to report their water use, but methods for monitoring were expensive and inaccurate. Recently, however, a platform called OpenET, created by NASA, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), and other partners, has introduced the ability to calculate the total amount of water transferred from the surface to the atmosphere through evapotranspiration. This is a key measure of the water that’s actually being removed from a local water system. It’s calculated based on imagery from Landsat and other satellites. “It’s good public policy to start with a measure everyone can agree upon,” Baker said. OpenET is only one of the latest uses researchers and businesses continue finding for Landsat over 50 years after the program started collecting continuous imagery of Earth’s surface. NASA has built and launched all nine of the satellites before handing them over to USGS, which manages the program. Some of the most pressing questions people ask about Earth are about the food it’s producing. Agriculture and adjacent industries are among the heaviest users of Earth-imaging data, which can help assess crop health and predict yields.
Even in this well-established niche, though, new capabilities continue to emerge. One up-and-coming company is using Landsat to validate sustainable farming practices by measuring carbon stored in the ground, which can be detected in the reflectance rate in certain wavelengths. This is how Perennial Inc. is enabling emerging markets for carbon credits, through which farmers get paid for maximizing their land’s storage of carbon. The company is also discovering interest among food companies that want to reduce their environmental impact by choosing eco-conscious suppliers, as well as companies in the fertilizer, farm equipment, and agricultural lending businesses. Landsat also enables countless map-based apps, studies of changes in Earth’s surface cover over half a century, and so much more.
Source: US Department of Health and Human Services – 2
Media Advisory
Wednesday, October 16, 2024
NIH-funded study provides evidence on transplantation practice currently limited to research settings.
Kidney transplantation from deceased donors with HIV (HIV D+) to recipients with HIV (HIV R+) was safe and comparable to kidney transplantation from donors without HIV (HIV D-) in a multicenter observational study in the United States. The clinical outcomes observed were consistent with smaller pilot studies, but this National Institutes of Health (NIH)-funded clinical trial was the first statistically powered to demonstrate noninferiority, which means that an approach being studied is as good as standard clinical practice. The results were published today in the New England Journal of Medicine.
Kidney transplants offer a survival benefit to people with HIV and end-stage kidney disease, but an organ shortage limits access. In addition, people with HIV face a higher risk of death while on the organ waitlist and have lower access to transplants than people without HIV. To help address these disparities, the HIV Organ Policy Equity Act (HOPE) was implemented in 2015 and legalized transplants between donors and recipients with HIV. Currently, the HOPE Act limits this practice to research settings to carefully evaluate outcomes. These include post-transplant survival, post-transplant kidney function (also known as graft survival), and kidney rejection. Research studies also assess unique potential risks of this practice, such as acquiring a second, genetically distinct HIV strain from the donor that could affect the recipient’s HIV disease.
The present study enrolled 198 adults with HIV and end-stage kidney disease who received kidney transplants at 26 centers, comparing the outcomes of 99 study participants who had donors with HIV versus 99 whose donors did not have HIV. Transplants were completed between April 2018 and September 2021 and recipients were monitored subsequently for about three years.
The outcomes for overall survival, graft survival, and rejection events were similar between the two groups. After one year post-transplant, recipient survival was 94% in HIV D+/R+ and 95% in HIV D-/R+. At three years, recipient survival rates were 85% in HIV D+/R+ and 87% in HIV D-/R+. After one year post-transplant, graft survival was 93% in HIV D+/R+ and 90% HIV D-/R+. At three years post-transplant, graft survival rates were 84% in HIV D+/R+ and 80% in HIV D-/R+. Finally, at one year post-transplant, rejection incidence was 13% in HIV D+/R+ and 21% HIV D-/R+ and at three years, 13% in HIV D+/R+ versus 21% in HIV D-/R+. Rates of serious adverse events, surgical site infections, surgical/vascular complications, and cancer were also comparable between the two groups. One case of a recipient who may have acquired a second genetically distinct HIV strain from their donor was observed, but there were no notable clinical consequences.
Overall, the findings show kidney transplantation between donors and recipients with HIV was safe and noninferior to transplantation from donors without HIV. According to the authors, these findings offer evidence to support the expansion of the practice outside of research settings.
The study was led by the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, and funded by NIH’s National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID).
For more information about this trial, please visit ClinicalTrials.gov using the study identifier NCT03500315.
ARTICLE: Durand et al. Safety of Kidney Transplantation from Donors with HIV under the HOPE Act. NEJM. DOI: 10.1056/NEJMoa2403733 (2024).
WHO: Andrew Redd, Ph.D., International Virology Unit, Head, Laboratory of Immunoregulation, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.
NIAID conducts and supports research—at NIH, throughout the United States, and worldwide—to study the causes of infectious and immune-mediated diseases, and to develop better means of preventing, diagnosing and treating these illnesses. News releases, fact sheets and other NIAID-related materials are available on the NIAID website.
About the National Institutes of Health (NIH): NIH, the nation’s medical research agency, includes 27 Institutes and Centers and is a component of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. NIH is the primary federal agency conducting and supporting basic, clinical, and translational medical research, and is investigating the causes, treatments, and cures for both common and rare diseases. For more information about NIH and its programs, visit http://www.nih.gov.
New Qualtrics study reveals top employee experience trends in New Zealand for 2025
Qualtrics today released the sixth annual Employee Experience Trends report, revealing critical insights into the state of employee experience and the modern workplace to help businesses and people leaders improve employee experience, boost productivity, and drive wellbeing in 2025.
Drawing on 35,000 responses across 23 countries – including 1,065 from New Zealand – the study reveals employees are being held back by chaotic workplaces, dispels common workplace stereotypes of younger workers, a concerning level of employee trust in leaders, the importance of first and last impressions to employee success and brand image, and how AI inertia is creating organisational and operational risk.
The 2025 Employee Experience Trends from Qualtrics:
2025’s best employers will make work less chaotic
Young employees ARE optimistic
Employee experiences are being ruined by entry and exit
As many companies have continued to change working models, systems, and processes for the modern workplace in the years since the pandemic, a disparity has emerged between business focuses and employee needs. Workers in New Zealand are more engaged when their employer’s culture and processes empower them to adapt to customer needs, and when there is a focus on having a positive impact in the world. However, more often than not organisations are failing to meet their employees’ expectations in these areas with workers rating these attributes as some of the lowest scoring areas. Growing pressure to increase productivity could also be having the opposite effect. Employees who feel under the pump are less engaged, have lower levels of well-being, and more likely to leave.
“Over the past few years workers in New Zealand and across the globe have been dealing with relentless change. It’s no surprise many have reached their breaking point,” said Dr. Cecelia Herbert, Workplace Behavioural Scientist, Qualtrics XM Institute.
“Work has somehow become even more chaotic since the pandemic as employers pursue short-term wins and try to adapt ways of working for modern realities. Yet for a number of years now the best employee experiences are about how and why work gets done – and these two aspects are the most impactful pathway to sustainable productivity and positive people outcomes.”
Top 5 drivers of employee engagement
% of employees favourable to driver
I am proud of this organisation’s efforts to have a positive impact on the world
66%
This organisation’s processes enable me to effectively meet my customers’ needs
72%
I am encouraged to develop new and better ways of serving customers
69%
Senior leadership responds to feedback from employees
60%
Overall, I feel that my career goals can be met at this organisation
65%
Young employees ARE often the most optimistic and driven
Contrary to popular belief, young employees are often a businesses’ most engaged, motivated, and optimistic. In fact, the only employee experience indicator where younger generations lag, unsurprisingly, is their intent to stay.
“It’s time to end the scapegoating of young employees for workplace woes. These mindsets are crushing the optimism and fresh thinking younger workers bring to the workplace, creating a scenario that benefits no-one,” adds Dr. Herbert. “Younger workers live in and will inherit a very different world than generations of the past. Rather than bemoan their low intent to stay, leaders should focus on ways to nurture their growth and creativity, stretch their skills, and ultimately capture the enthusiasm to set the workforce up for success for generations to come.”
Age
Engagement
Can challenge the traditional way of doing things
Believe the organisation has an outstanding future
Would recommend this organisation’s products / services
Feel they can meet their career goals
Feel paid fairly
Intent to stay 3+ years
18-24
70%
67%
81%
77%
68%
68%
49%
25-34
67%
64%
71%
73%
69%
62%
46%
35-44
70%
65%
73%
77%
65%
64%
52%
45-54
62%
55%
66%
74%
55%
58%
59%
55+
61%
48%
70%
75%
61%
63%
53%
Substandard first and last impressions hinder success
The candidate and entry experience is one of the lowest rated employee journeys, which sets us up for engagement, wellbeing, and intent-to-stay issues further down the line. For instance, just 28% of employees with less than one-year tenure with their current employer plan to stay for 3+ years, compared to 46% of workers with 1-5 years and 67% of those with 5+ years. Employees often report a similar poor employee experience at the exit stage, meaning they are leaving with a negative perception.
“Every organisation’s brand and reputation is heavily influenced by the stories people tell about applying for a job and what it was like working there. Getting these first and final impressions right are key strategic levers, but right now they are being overlooked, meaning employees are negatively impacted before they have even worked their first day,” said Dr. Herbert.
Slightly more than half of local workers (56%) believe their bosses will prioritise employee wellbeing over short-term business gains. This finding suggests a lack of trust in leaders by their employees, which needs critical attention if organisations are to positively influence employee experience indicators in 2025.
“The relationship between employees and their leaders is getting more and more tense, fuelled by decisions to roll-back investments in DEI or sustainability, poorly managed workplace change, and more. While trust is hard to earn and maintain during times of disruption and uncertainty, our study shows its impact is huge on both business and people-focused outcomes, which is why leaders need to know how to cultivate it in 2025,” said Dr. Herbert.
Agree 2025
Global
Senior leaders in my organisation prioritise people’s wellbeing above immediate profit or gains (benevolence)
56%
56%
Senior leaders in my organisation have the skills and knowledge needed to do their job well (competence)
67%
68%
The behaviour of senior leadership is consistent with this organisation’s values (integrity)
65%
67%
AI inertia creates risk as employees outpace companies on AI adoption
Despite touting AI as the solution to lifting productivity, only 44% of employees in New Zealand say their organisation is providing AI enablement and training. A similar number (49%) say their company has AI guidelines, ethics or principles. Compounding the issue, 63% of workers believe decision makers understand new technologies well enough to manage them effectively. This lack of AI enablement and trust to deliver the change creates significant operational and organisational risk, with more than half of employees opting to use AI tools they’ve found themselves, and 41% using them daily or weekly.
“It is not employee resistance holding back workplace progress with AI. The real inertia stems from the lack of the tools, training, and guidance employees need in the modern workplace. AI training and enablement must be a key strategic priority as its impact is exponential – from addressing security and operational risks, driving improved business outcomes, and ultimately creating an environment where employees and employers co-create the future of work,” said Dr. Herbert.
Agree
Global average
My organisation provides training and enablement on the use of AI tools
44%
52%
My organisation has clear principles, ethics or guidelines on the use of AI tools
49%
52%
I am involved in deciding how my job will be done in the future
Qualtrics, the leader of the experience management category, is a cloud-native software platform that empowers organizations to deliver exceptional experiences and build deep relationships with their customers and employees. With insights from Qualtrics, organizations can identify and resolve the greatest friction points in their business, retain and engage top talent, and bring the right products and services to market. Nearly 20,000 organizations around the world use Qualtrics’ advanced AI to listen, understand, and take action. Qualtrics uses its vast universe of experience data to form the largest database of human sentiment in the world. Qualtrics is co-headquartered in Provo, Utah and Seattle. To learn more, please visit qualtrics.com.