Gov. Little demands ITD produce report after BoiseDev investigation on Idaho 55 - boisedev.com

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Governor Brad Little is demanding answers from the Idaho Transportation Department after BoiseDev published the results of a six-month-long investigation Tuesday.

The investigation centered around ITD’s construction zone on Highway 55 near Smith’s Ferry and the three major landslides that have occurred there. The story uncovered significant new information about the project, including warning signs of slope instability that were ignored, the project being millions over budget, and other findings.

Wednesday, BoiseDev asked Gov. Brad Little’s office for comment on the story. The governor’s press secretary, Madison Hardy, provided a letter the governor sent to the chair of the ITD board Bill Moad and department director Scott Stokes, Director.

Little writes at the top of the letter that “public safety is my top priority” and notes how important it is to the state to keep travelers safe on Idaho roads “especially areas under construction.”

Governor Little said his office was not aware of the “magnitude” of the safety concerns.

“My office had no knowledge of the magnitude of the alleged safety concerns outlined in the article, nor did my office know about the BoiseDev public records requests and inquiries into these important issues, which date back to January of this year,” the letter reads. 

Little is requesting that ITD provide a report to his office no later than 5 p.m. on Thursday, June 30. The report must contain an assessment of the project’s current risks to public safety, a review of the BoiseDev article and repose to the details within the story, and a summary of all media inquiries the department received since the start of 2022 about the Idaho 55 project, along with the department’s responses. 

“I will review your report before considering an outside third-party review into the safety concerns raised in the article,” Governor Little wrote. “I have not ruled out an outside review of the project to ensure public safety and the public’s confidence, which are my top priorities.”

ITD declined to answer BoiseDev’s detailed questions about the project.

You can read the full letter, below.

BoiseDev’s Margaret Carmel contributed reporting.

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June 30, 2022 at 06:04AM
https://boisedev.com/2022/06/29/little-itd-highway-55/

Gov. Little demands ITD produce report after BoiseDev investigation on Idaho 55 - boisedev.com

https://news.google.com/search?q=little&hl=en-US&gl=US&ceid=US:en

Devens-based lettuce supplier Little Leaf Farms to expand with new facilities in Pennsylvania, North Carolina - MassLive.com

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A Massachusetts-based lettuce company is undergoing a major expansion and establishing new facilities to reach farther down the east coast.

Little Leaf Farms, which opened its first Devens greenhouse in 2015, will seed the first crop of lettuce in its brand-new McAdoo, Pennsylvania greenhouse next week and also has facilities planned in North Carolina.

“We’ve had great success in our core New England Market and we’re now transferring to the greater northeast and Mid-Atlantic,” said CEO Paul Sellew. “People have validated what we’re providing based on our sales growth so we raised this capital to take what we developed here in Massachusetts to take it to other parts of the eastern seaboard.”

The company raised $300 million in capital through the Rise Funds, an investment fund founded by TPG, U2 guitarist Bono and Canadian businessman Jeff Skoll, as well as Bank of America.

The funding will be used for the new greenhouses as well as enhancements at the company’s three Devens greenhouses. The Pennsylvania farm will increase the company’s retail presence by 50%, with products available in more than 3,500 grocery stores.

Little Leaf Farms is the country’s largest lettuce supplier that uses controlled environment agriculture, or CEA, an agricultural technique that uses indoor environments rather than outdoor fields to ensure the perfect growing conditions for crops. The company uses a hydroponic setup in a peat moss-based substrate, Sellew said, and represents 42% of the CEA lettuce produced in the United States.

“If you look in just the leafy greens space right now, the vast majority, over 97%, are grown in outdoor fields in California and Arizona depending on the time of year,” he said. “The only way you can do this in Massachusetts, because of our four seasons, you need to control the environment, and that’s what we do. We use a greenhouse platform to do that and we therefore can create every day as the perfect environment for our lettuce plants to grow.”

Little Leaf Farms' greenhouse in McAdoo, Penn. (PRNewsfoto/Little Leaf Farms)Little Leaf Farms

In addition to growing greens without pesticides, herbicides and fungicides, the CEA process allows Little Leaf Farms to grow more sustainably, using 90% less water than conventional methods, natural sunlight, captured rainwater and solar panels.

In addition, by growing locally instead of in warmer areas of the country, Sellew said they can eliminate carbon emissions from transporting lettuce on trucks all the way to New England and deliver their product within 24 hours of harvesting.

“People might not realize, but 90% of the food we eat in Massachusetts and New England is grown outside the region,” Sellew said. “We’re a big believer in locally-grown and making our communities more resilient, which is really important, especially on the heels of the pandemic.”

Related content:

• Backyard chickens: Worcester residents push for ordinance to allow raising chickens within the city
• ‘Not a problem of supply ... but of distribution’: Lovin’ Spoonfuls begins Worcester food rescue route

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June 30, 2022 at 09:21PM
https://www.masslive.com/business/2022/06/devens-based-lettuce-supplier-little-leaf-farms-to-expand-with-new-facilities-in-pennsylvania-north-carolina.html

Devens-based lettuce supplier Little Leaf Farms to expand with new facilities in Pennsylvania, North Carolina - MassLive.com

https://news.google.com/search?q=little&hl=en-US&gl=US&ceid=US:en

'Lots of talk, little action': Hundreds protest outside U.N. Ocean Conference - Reuters.com

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LISBON, June 29 (Reuters) - Aboriginal Australian activist Theresa Ardler travelled halfway across the world to tell leaders at the U.N. Ocean Conference in Portugal that they are failing to protect her fishing community back home.

Ardler, 50, fears the humpback whales that travel through the deep blue waters surrounding her aboriginal village of Wreck Bay, on the east coast of Australia, will suffer if authorities do not act fast enough.

"The ocean is what we call 'Our Mother' and it's thousands of years old - just like my ancestors," she said as she joined hundreds of other activists outside the conference venue in Lisbon on Wednesday in a 'blue march' to save the world's seas.

"I will do everything to protect my whales," she said.

About 7,000 people are in Lisbon for the conference, including heads of state, scientists and NGOs, to assess progress in implementing a U.N. directive to protect marine life.

In the first row of the protest and as others behind her played drums and shouted "Keep it in the ground", Ardler held a sign asking authorities everywhere to halt their plans to mine the deep sea.

There is growing interest in deep-sea mining, which would involve using heavy machinery to suck up off the ocean floor potato-sized rocks or nodules that contain cobalt, manganese, and other rare metals mostly used in batteries. read more

Also at the protest, 38-year-old Laura Meller, from Greenpeace, urged leaders to get their act together and reach an agreement on the long-awaited treaty to shield open seas against exploitation beyond national jurisdictions. read more

"What I see and what I hear is lots of talk and little action," Meller said. "What we need ... from world leaders right now is action to get ocean protection done."

Amid the crowd, some activists dressed up as mermaids, others were wrapped in fishing nets and some were wearing shark suits to raise awareness of the various threats faced by these ocean creatures.

"The biggest threat right now is overfishing because so many sharks end up in bycatch nets," said 27-year-old Tina Reiterer, from Sharkproject International. "They just don't have protection at all ... Something has to change right now."

Reporting by Catarina Demony, Miguel Pereira and Pedro Nunes in Lisbon; Editing by Sandra Maler

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

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June 30, 2022 at 03:06AM
https://www.reuters.com/business/environment/lots-talk-little-action-hundreds-protest-outside-un-ocean-conference-2022-06-29/

'Lots of talk, little action': Hundreds protest outside U.N. Ocean Conference - Reuters.com

https://news.google.com/search?q=little&hl=en-US&gl=US&ceid=US:en

Dead & Company review: Little life at Indianapolis show at Ruoff - IndyStar

Ipanema Moves Out of Little Brazil and Modernizes Its Menu - Eater NY

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Two decades ago, Little Brazil was one of the prime tourist attractions in the Times Square area. A single block of 46th Street between Fifth and Sixth avenues held seven or so restaurants, as well as grocery and liquor stores, haberdasheries, medical offices, and a second-floor emporium displaying colorful and sometimes skimpy bathing suits — which seemed to beckon people ready to take tropical vacations. But even before the onset of the pandemic, the neighborhood was in decline and only three restaurants remained: Emporium Brasil, Via Brasil, and Ipanema. Founded in 1979 and named after a famous Rio beach, Ipanema closed soon after COVID appeared, only to spring back to life a few weeks ago.

The spare new entrance to Ipanema.

Now situated near the Empire State Building among a flock of new hotels — 10 blocks south of Little Brazil — the restaurant is still being run by the sons of founder Alfredo Pedro, Carlos and Victor. The menu has been condensed, the prices are higher, and the premises glitzier. Near the front of the restaurant, the bar is highly embellished: fern fronds dangle like Spanish moss from a palm tree made of varnished lathe, and scattered bright lights dazzle drinkers as bartenders go through their motions in the shadows. We sat savoring the scene while sipping caipirinhas ($18).

As a beginning snack, we ordered bacalhau not a bras ($20). Normally, this dish is a simple Portuguese casserole of scrambled eggs, potatoes, and salt cod, but here it has been transformed into a delicate round mousse with crisp potato filaments on top. It was tasty, but made us long for the heartier original. Sadly, classic Brazilian bar snacks like pao de queijo (bouncy cheese balls), coxinha de frango (chicken croquettes), and pasteis (empanadas) listed on the former menu are now gone, though they are sold during the day at Bica, the restaurant’s seatless take-out next door. Sandwiches that are staples of Brazilian tavern food are absent from the restaurant menu, too. The new Ipanema is not the sort of place that wants you to have a drink and a sandwich at the bar.

Ipanema’s perfect caipirinha.

Bacalhau not a bras was our bar snack.

We soon moved to a table in the casual dining room, outfitted with tulip light fixtures among banks of suspended white ropes, both apropos of what I couldn’t tell. Through an archway, a more formal dining room with white tablecloths and shelves of books seemed almost like a library. First, we explored the appetizers, divided into hot and cold, which turned out to be as visually appealing as our salt cod mousse had been, via chefs Giancarlo Junyent and Andre Pavlik.

Called simply “clams.”

A small bowl called simply “clams” ($17) sported a delicious slice of garlic toast teetering on its broad rim, sidling up to a few manila clams scented with leeks and herbs in a broth jam-packed with briny flavor. Other hot starters include mussels steamed with white wine and tomatoes, and pork belly with celeriac and pickled onions. For vegetarians, there’s a starter of mushrooms, polenta, and a poached egg.

From among the cold appetizers, the salad called “beets” featured ricotta and dill; it was good, but didn’t taste characteristically Brazilian or Portuguese, in spite of its port wine vinaigrette. Other starters included a ceviche in a leche de tigre marinade with purple sweet potatoes, and a chicken mousseline; note that the menu must resort to Spanish and French, rather than Portuguese, to describe its offerings. The dishes in this section of the menu were good, but if you were looking for familiar Brazilian flavors, you were pretty much out of luck.

Nevertheless, when it was time for entrees, we sought out more orthodox Brazilian recipes. Feijoada ($32), considered the national dish, was right on the money, a series of dishes featuring a pot of black beans seething with pork parts (though we didn’t discover any pig ear or tail), including a particularly delicious sausage. Other receptacles held chive-dotted rice of perfect moistness, the toasted cassava meal called farofa for sprinkling on top, and a bowl of shredded and barely cooked collards, as is conventional, with mandarin segments on top. These all provide bites that are in turn verdant, porky, salty, and sweet.

The black bean stew in feijoada contains a profusion of various pig parts.

Afro Brazilian muqueca is a seafood stew.

There’s really only one dish on the menu that reflects Afro Brazilian cooking, which is the highlight of Brazilian cuisine for me. Muqueca ($48) is a seafood stew redolent of Brazil’s colonial history, compounded of ocean creatures in a thick broth laced with dende (palm oil) and coconut milk, two tropical products with the former originating in West Africa and imparting a lovely orange color and loamy flavor. Outfitted with equal amounts of halibut, mussels, clams, shrimp, and squid, Ipanema’s version looks great, but the flavor proves pallid. This version lacks the oily pungency that characterizes the best examples I’ve tasted through the years.

In some ways, the best part of our meal were the desserts from pastry chef Alejandro Nicolon. We ordered two. Best was a slice of chocolate salame ($14) with a squiggled caramel sauce across an adjacent guarani cherry sorbet. Sour, sweet, and chocolaty, it was the richness of the chocolate and contrasting tartness of the berries that lingered on the tongue, and brought our whole meal together.

Having dined at the original location once years ago, I missed the rollicking ambiance, informality, and fried potatoes of the original joint. But does Ipanema represent the future of Brazilian cuisine in NYC? Whether or not, I still will miss Little Brazil and its more staid culinary traditions.

Ipanema is located at 3 West 36th Street, between Fifth and Sixth avenues, Herald Square

Chocolate salame with guarani cherry sorbet and caramel sauce.

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June 29, 2022 at 10:30PM
https://ny.eater.com/2022/6/29/23172530/ipanema-little-brazil-new-restaurant-review

Ipanema Moves Out of Little Brazil and Modernizes Its Menu - Eater NY

https://news.google.com/search?q=little&hl=en-US&gl=US&ceid=US:en

Ohio State Adds Erin Little from Boston University - Ohio State University

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COLUMBUS, Ohio – Erin Little, a sophomore from Acton, Mass., has transferred to Ohio State after one season at Boston University and will suit up for the Buckeyes in 2022.

Little, who will have three year of eligibility remaining, started 13 of 17 games for the Terriers as a freshman in 2021. A back, she helped BU’s defense hold five opponents to one goal or less. She took one shot on the season, which was on goal.

While at Acton-Boxborough High School, Little scored 41 goals and also had 41 assists. And, she was a winner. Her team won four league titles and Little earned Boston Herald All-Scholastic honors three times.

At the national level, in 2021 Little was a U19 Nexus Championship selection.

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June 29, 2022 at 08:29PM
https://ohiostatebuckeyes.com/ohio-state-adds-erin-little-from-boston-university/

Ohio State Adds Erin Little from Boston University - Ohio State University

https://news.google.com/search?q=little&hl=en-US&gl=US&ceid=US:en

Detroit is All Elite: AEW brings blood, guts and 'Dynamite' to Little Caesars Arena - Detroit News

Owner of Hogwarts-themed little free library in Woodbury writes book about little libraries - FOX 9 Minneapolis-St. Paul

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Woodbury woman puts up Hogwarts free book library to spread love of reading

Little free libraries help build community, and make readers of all ages fall in love with a good book. For one family, the little library is providing comfort through tough times.

WOODBURY, Minn. (FOX 9) - Little free libraries are meant to build community and make readers young and old fall in love with a good book. And for one family in the Twin Cities, they can even provide comfort amid tough times and prove that magic can be found outside of books, too.

Anyone who thinks only witches and wizards could get to Hogwarts should get in their car – or hop on their broom – and head to Woodbury, where a love of Harry Potter has turned Charissa Bates' yard into the talk of the town.

For the past three years, Bates’ front yard has been home to a Hogwarts-themed little free library.

"It's just something fun and it's different and it's free," she told FOX 9.

The wind won out against her previous Batman-themed little free library, and when she decided to make another one, her oldest son happened to be reading the Harry Potter illustrated books with her husband.

"We said, ‘What should we do?’ and he said, ‘Let's do Hogwarts castle.’ So we're like, ‘oh, that sounds really challenging,’" she said.

With help from her handy father-in-law and her artist friend, Bates was able to bring the Hogwarts School for Witchcraft and Wizardry to life in Minnesota.

The family brings the little library inside each winter and uses sealant to protect it. It's not only a selfie magnet, but it's also become a safe space for Bates. Her Hogwarts castle was finished in 2019 right around the time she was diagnosed with a rare and aggressive form of breast cancer. During that time, she found it therapeutic to watch her neighbors' kids discover their love of reading.

A love of Harry Potter has turned Charissa Bates' yard into the talk of the town. (FOX 9)

"Anything that's a distraction from cancer is nice honestly," she explained.

And, she also started writing during that time.

"To me, I needed to get out what I was feeling and what I was going through or if I needed help or kind of what cancer is for someone, especially someone young. Because I was 34 when I was diagnosed," she said.

The end of this year will hopefully mark three years of Bates being cancer-free. And now, her little free library has taken on a tale of its own.

She just released a new children’s book inspired by her Hogwarts castle. In "The Traveling Book," Bates highlights 15 little libraries. The book itself is meant to be an adventure.

Bates now hopes the young readers will find comfort in the pages she wrote just as JK Rowling's words did for her family.

"It's just fun to see kids getting excited about reading and Hogwarts," she said.

Her little library also inspired her neighbors to create a little free library that is Percy Jackson- and Camp Half Blood-themed. Percy Jackson is the main character in Rick Riordan’s The Lightning Thief series.

Bates also has plans to expand her own little library.

"My father-in-law just called, and he said he's going to make Hagrid's hut now for us," Bates said.

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June 28, 2022 at 10:35AM
https://www.fox9.com/news/owner-of-hogwarts-themed-little-free-library-in-woodbury-writes-book-about-little-libraries

Owner of Hogwarts-themed little free library in Woodbury writes book about little libraries - FOX 9 Minneapolis-St. Paul

https://news.google.com/search?q=little&hl=en-US&gl=US&ceid=US:en

Iowa's Little Swan Lake Winery offers food, entertainment, lodging - Des Moines Register

Experts see risk with little upside in Biden’s gas tax break - The Hill

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Experts are warning that President Biden’s proposed gas tax holiday would do little to defray pain at the pump and actively take a toll on infrastructure and the environment.

The 18-cent federal tax, which Biden has said should be suspended for three months amid steep gas prices, is “very little money” for individuals, said Beverly Moran, professor of law emerita at Vanderbilt Law School.  

“It just doesn’t make any sense. If the government wants to do something to help people who are having problems with their, you know, the cost of gas, they can send out another check to people,” Moran told The Hill in an interview. “They aren’t even considering how they’re going to stop companies from just eating up the difference … keeping the same price and just pocketing the tax.” 

Modeling by the Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania indicates that a gas tax suspension from July to September would only mean a per capita spending reduction of $4.79 to $14.31, depending on location, but would reduce overall government revenues by about $6 billion.

Progressive Democrats in Congress, meanwhile, are doubling down on their push for a windfall profits tax on oil companies which would be returned to consumers, arguing this would provide the greatest relief for consumers. 

“I think the gas tax is a smaller, somewhat half measure,” Rep. Jamaal Bowman (D-N.Y.), the sponsor of one of two oil windfall profits tax bills, told The Hill. “Decreasing the amount of taxes that fossil fuel or fossil fuel companies have to pay doesn’t necessarily mean that that’s going to lower costs. And it doesn’t mean it’s going to lower costs as much as we need to lower costs.”

Moran agreed that the idea would be more effective than a break in the gas tax.

“Last time there was a windfall profits tax, it was [the presidency of] Richard Nixon, and that says a whole lot, that now Richard Nixon is a liberal in United States politics,” she said.

“Yeah, there should be a windfall profits tax.”

On a Tuesday night call announcing the president’s official backing of a gas tax holiday, White House officials were noncommittal on the prospect of Biden also supporting a windfall profits tax. 

Ahead of Biden’s announcement, congressional proponents of such a tax, including Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.) had expressed hope that Biden, who has sharply criticized oil companies for posting record profits amid the price surge, was on their wavelength.  

“The problem with repealing an 18 cents gas tax is it feeds into a far right narrative that the problem is government, not Big Oil gouging consumers,” Khanna tweeted Wednesday after Biden came out in favor of the suspension. 

Meanwhile, the idea of a gas tax pause has also drawn criticism over its potential effects on infrastructure and the environment.

In a letter last week, before Biden announced his support, Rep. Earl Blumenauer (D-Ore.) wrote that the revenues lost could threaten the goals of the bipartisan infrastructure bill Biden signed last year. 

“Delaying, or cancelling outright, the projects this legislation makes possible will waste a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to rebuild and renew America, and leave future generations holding the bag for long overdue repairs and improvements,” he wrote. 

A suspension could also have environmental implications, according to Beia Spiller, transportation program director and fellow at Resources for the Future.  

“There’s a lot of evidence out there that shows that when gasoline prices increase, people choose to buy a more fuel-efficient vehicle than they had,” Spiller told The Hill in an interview. Even if a suspension was short-lived and had little effect on what consumers actually pay, she said, “you will have a short-run, change in demand relative to [if there was] no gasoline tax holiday… so if you didn’t have the gasoline tax holiday, we would see better changes and changes in driving patterns.” 

A further complication is the potential political hurdle of restoring the tax after suspending it, said Robert Weiner, a professor of international finance, economics and strategy at George Washington University.  

“If you have a gas tax holiday, it might be hard to put the gas tax [back] once the crisis has receded,” Weiner told The Hill in an interview. “In general, gas taxes are very unpopular. I think there’s a real risk that we will end up with a permanent holiday on the gas tax, and the roads won’t be as well-maintained as they are now because it’s not clear where the money will come from.” 

The gas tax holiday appears to stand little chance of passing Congress, where members on both sides have expressed skepticism.

The administration has taken several other steps aimed at reducing gas prices, including removing seasonal restrictions on the sale of higher-ethanol fuel blends and the largest-ever release of oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve.  

How bad actors are using tech platforms to sexually exploit, traffic Ukrainian women Five things to watch for at this week’s NATO meeting

Ultimately, Weiner said, the only thing that may stabilize prices in the long term is a resolution to the conflict in Ukraine.

“The genie is basically out of the bottle,” he said, “The only way to put the genie back in the bottle is to have an end to the Ukraine conflict.” 

“Gas prices are high because there’s much less gasoline available,” Weiner added. There’s less gasoline available because there’s an embargo on Russian oil, and it’s kind of as simple as that.”

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June 27, 2022 at 04:21PM
https://thehill.com/policy/energy-environment/3536506-experts-see-risk-with-little-upside-in-bidens-gas-tax-break/

Experts see risk with little upside in Biden’s gas tax break - The Hill

https://news.google.com/search?q=little&hl=en-US&gl=US&ceid=US:en

Experts see risk with little upside in Biden’s gas tax break - The Hill

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Experts are warning that President Biden’s proposed gas tax holiday would do little to defray pain at the pump and actively take a toll on infrastructure and the environment.

The 18-cent federal tax, which Biden has said should be suspended for three months amid steep gas prices, is “very little money” for individuals, said Beverly Moran, professor of law emerita at Vanderbilt Law School.  

“It just doesn’t make any sense. If the government wants to do something to help people who are having problems with their, you know, the cost of gas, they can send out another check to people,” Moran told The Hill in an interview. “They aren’t even considering how they’re going to stop companies from just eating up the difference … keeping the same price and just pocketing the tax.” 

Modeling by the Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania indicates that a gas tax suspension from July to September would only mean a per capita spending reduction of $4.79 to $14.31, depending on location, but would reduce overall government revenues by about $6 billion.

Progressive Democrats in Congress, meanwhile, are doubling down on their push for a windfall profits tax on oil companies which would be returned to consumers, arguing this would provide the greatest relief for consumers. 

“I think the gas tax is a smaller, somewhat half measure,” Rep. Jamaal Bowman (D-N.Y.), the sponsor of one of two oil windfall profits tax bills, told The Hill. “Decreasing the amount of taxes that fossil fuel or fossil fuel companies have to pay doesn’t necessarily mean that that’s going to lower costs. And it doesn’t mean it’s going to lower costs as much as we need to lower costs.”

Moran agreed that the idea would be more effective than a break in the gas tax.

“Last time there was a windfall profits tax, it was [the presidency of] Richard Nixon, and that says a whole lot, that now Richard Nixon is a liberal in United States politics,” she said.

“Yeah, there should be a windfall profits tax.”

On a Tuesday night call announcing the president’s official backing of a gas tax holiday, White House officials were noncommittal on the prospect of Biden also supporting a windfall profits tax. 

Ahead of Biden’s announcement, congressional proponents of such a tax, including Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.) had expressed hope that Biden, who has sharply criticized oil companies for posting record profits amid the price surge, was on their wavelength.  

“The problem with repealing an 18 cents gas tax is it feeds into a far right narrative that the problem is government, not Big Oil gouging consumers,” Khanna tweeted Wednesday after Biden came out in favor of the suspension. 

Meanwhile, the idea of a gas tax pause has also drawn criticism over its potential effects on infrastructure and the environment.

In a letter last week, before Biden announced his support, Rep. Earl Blumenauer (D-Ore.) wrote that the revenues lost could threaten the goals of the bipartisan infrastructure bill Biden signed last year. 

“Delaying, or cancelling outright, the projects this legislation makes possible will waste a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to rebuild and renew America, and leave future generations holding the bag for long overdue repairs and improvements,” he wrote. 

A suspension could also have environmental implications, according to Beia Spiller, transportation program director and fellow at Resources for the Future.  

“There’s a lot of evidence out there that shows that when gasoline prices increase, people choose to buy a more fuel-efficient vehicle than they had,” Spiller told The Hill in an interview. Even if a suspension was short-lived and had little effect on what consumers actually pay, she said, “you will have a short-run, change in demand relative to [if there was] no gasoline tax holiday… so if you didn’t have the gasoline tax holiday, we would see better changes and changes in driving patterns.” 

A further complication is the potential political hurdle of restoring the tax after suspending it, said Robert Weiner, a professor of international finance, economics and strategy at George Washington University.  

“If you have a gas tax holiday, it might be hard to put the gas tax [back] once the crisis has receded,” Weiner told The Hill in an interview. “In general, gas taxes are very unpopular. I think there’s a real risk that we will end up with a permanent holiday on the gas tax, and the roads won’t be as well-maintained as they are now because it’s not clear where the money will come from.” 

The gas tax holiday appears to stand little chance of passing Congress, where members on both sides have expressed skepticism.

The administration has taken several other steps aimed at reducing gas prices, including removing seasonal restrictions on the sale of higher-ethanol fuel blends and the largest-ever release of oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve.  

G7 leaders joke about stripping to outdo bare-chested Putin Five things to watch for at this week’s NATO meeting

Ultimately, Weiner said, the only thing that may stabilize prices in the long term is a resolution to the conflict in Ukraine.

“The genie is basically out of the bottle,” he said, “The only way to put the genie back in the bottle is to have an end to the Ukraine conflict.” 

“Gas prices are high because there’s much less gasoline available,” Weiner added. There’s less gasoline available because there’s an embargo on Russian oil, and it’s kind of as simple as that.”

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June 27, 2022 at 04:21PM
https://thehill.com/policy/energy-environment/3536506-experts-see-risk-with-little-upside-in-bidens-gas-tax-break/

Experts see risk with little upside in Biden’s gas tax break - The Hill

https://news.google.com/search?q=little&hl=en-US&gl=US&ceid=US:en

Less heat and a little more rain for the week ahead - KSLA

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SHREVEPORT, La. (KSLA) - An early summer ‘cold’ front will pass through the ArkLaTex tonight. We’ll still be hot for the week ahead, but at least the triple digits will disappear for the time being. We’ll have several chances for seeing some rain as well, with showers and storms looking most widespread toward the end of the week.

A few showers and storms are possible through this evening, but should gradually fade away overnight. Any evening storms could produce locally heavy downpours and perhaps some strong wind gusts. We’ll stay partly cloudy overnight with temperatures settling back into the mid 70s.

Temperatures on Monday will be about 10 degrees cooler that what we saw this weekend. We’ll see partly to mostly cloudy skies with a few isolated showers and storms, especially south of I-20. Temperatures will heat in the upper 80s to low 90s.

Tuesday is looking dry and a little less humid with mostly sunny skies and temperatures in the low 90s.

We’ll start heating up a little by midweek with highs back in the mid 90s for the second half of the work week. Rain chances will return as well with scattered showers and storms expected, especially by Thursday and Friday.

As we head into the 4th of July weekend look for seasonably hot and humid conditions. Highs will be in the mid 90s with overnight lows in the mid 70s. We’ll pick up some isolated showers and storms during the afternoon hours, but the weekend shouldn’t be a washout.

In the tropics we’re watching a couple of areas of possible development in the next 5 days. Shower and thunderstorm activity associated with a tropical wave located about 1000 miles east-southeast of the Windward Islands continues to show signs of organization. Environmental conditions appear conducive for further development, and a tropical depression is likely to form during the early to the middle part of this week. This system is forecast to move westward to west-northwestward at 15 to 20 mph over the tropical Atlantic, approach the Windward Islands on Tuesday, and move across the southeastern Caribbean Sea on Wednesday and Thursday. There’s a 70% chance of development here. The next name on the list is “Bonnie”.

Disorganized showers and thunderstorms over the north-central and northeastern Gulf of Mexico are associated with a trough of low pressure. Development of this system is expected to be slow to occur as it drifts westward to west-southwestward across the northern Gulf of Mexico over the next few days. The chance of development is only around 20%.

Have a good night!

Copyright 2022 KSLA. All rights reserved.

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June 27, 2022 at 04:59AM
https://www.ksla.com/2022/06/26/less-heat-little-more-rain-week-ahead/

Less heat and a little more rain for the week ahead - KSLA

https://news.google.com/search?q=little&hl=en-US&gl=US&ceid=US:en

In Gaddafi's hometown, little hope for Libya's future - Reuters

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• Fathi Bashagha has set up parallel government in Sirte
• City badly damaged by fighting in 2011 and 2016
• Residents have little expectation of change

SIRTE, Libya, June 26 (Reuters) - The people living in the ruins of Sirte's 600 Block district have waited years for help removing rubble and rebuilding homes damaged by warfare, but despite a new Libyan government making the city its headquarters, they have little hope of change.

They live in apartments where bullet holes let in the winter cold and summer heat in shell-pocked buildings that look structurally unsound.

"Each government comes and takes photos of the damage and does nothing for us," said Badr Omar, an English teacher who lives in two rooms behind bare concrete blocks, the front part of his home still smashed after being hit by a rocket.

Omar's struggles, in a city that has alternately been run by nearly every powerful faction in Libya, demonstrate how the oil-rich country's divided rulers have been less focused on governing than on fighting or exploiting state resources.

This month, as the latest political stalemate festered, one of Libya's two rival governments set up its headquarters in Sirte, a central coastal city near where the frontline solidified after the last major conflict paused in 2020.

The establishment there of Fathi Bashagha's parliament-appointed government, which is mainly backed by eastern factions, brings a new role to a city that has suffered some of the darkest twists of Libya's turbulent recent history.

Sirte's most prominent son, former dictator Muammar Gaddafi, was killed there after fleeing Tripoli during a 2011 NATO-backed uprising that ousted his regime and triggered years of violence.

The road culvert where revolutionaries found, beat and shot him, near the hotel where Bashagha stays, has been blocked with debris to discourage visits from Gaddafi's many loyalists in Sirte, and now lies covered in trash and overgrown with weeds.

REVOLUTION, JIHADISTS, WAR

Bashagha is in Sirte because Libya's other prime minister, Abdulhamid al-Dbeibah, who was appointed last year through a U.N.-backed process, has rejected the parliament's moves and refuses to cede power.

Unable to take over in the capital, Bashagha's government is located in the sprawling complex of Sirte's Ouagadougou Conference Centre, which hosted the 1999 African Union summit.

Gold letters over an entrance proclaim it as the government headquarters, but the wings of the building have no remaining windows and huge shellholes pit the surrounding structures.

When Islamic State seized Sirte in 2015, its militants also chose the centre for their headquarters, flying their black flag from the domed main building until their defeat in the following year.

The 600 Block where Omar lives was originally built as housing for guests at the summit, which drew leaders from across the continent and marked a short-lived high point for the city.

It was damaged first in 2011 and then in the 2016 fighting to evict Islamic State, when it came under the Tripoli government.

Then, in early 2020, the eastern Libyan National Army (LNA) under Khalifa Haftar seized Sirte as part of a wider offensive whose collapse months later brought a two-year peace process that is now under intense strain.

GUNFIRE

A Sirte member of the eastern-based parliament, Zaid Hadiya, said Bashagha's government represents national reconciliation because Bashagha had previously helped lead the resistance to Haftar's assault on Tripoli.

But while a huge poster of Haftar hung on the wall by the Sirte mayor's desk, there were no visible images of Bashagha.

Interviewed by Reuters, Bashagha said he was seeking funding for reconstruction work in Sirte, though he has not yet been able to access state finances.

At the 600 Block, Omar's neighbour Abdulkarim al-Shahomi, 57, had little hope that the latest political manoeuvring would improve his life.

"The government is like a football being kicked around by each side for their own interests. Will things change now? No, there will be no change," he said.

Like everybody else Reuters spoke to in Sirte, he viewed the 2011 uprising as a foreign plot to destroy Libya and hankered for calmer times when Gaddafi lavished money on the city.

Before he spoke, a crackle of gunfire erupted nearby - somebody showing off or celebrating rather than fighting - and Shahomi said he was sick of the ubiquitous presence of weapons.

The school where Omar taught, and where Shahomi's nine children began their education, lies in ruins. They have to walk miles to another school.

The subsidised supermarket where Shahomi used to buy food closed after the revolution along with others like it across Libya. It still stands, empty, near the roundabout where Islamic State once staged public executions.

On the seafront, Mohammed al-Gallai's electrical appliances shop looks out onto a glittering Mediterranean. But the building's roof is half caved in and only the bottom floor is useable.

"Whenever a war happens, it happens in Sirte," he said, concerned about the possibility of an escalation in the standoff between Bashagha and Dbeibah.

"Nothing about Libya makes me optimistic."

Reporting by Angus McDowall, Ahmed Elumami and Ayman al-Warfali Editing by Gareth Jones

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

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June 26, 2022 at 04:08PM
https://www.reuters.com/world/africa/gaddafis-hometown-little-hope-libyas-future-2022-06-26/

In Gaddafi's hometown, little hope for Libya's future - Reuters

https://news.google.com/search?q=little&hl=en-US&gl=US&ceid=US:en

Vermont Little League baseball, softball: 2022 all-star tournaments - Burlington Free Press

Life in Donbas: ‘We Would Like to Live a Little Bit Longer’ - Voice of America - VOA News

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SIVERSK, UKRAINE — 

The prolonged roar of Grad rockets can be heard as locals in the east Ukrainian town of Siversk crowd around a van selling essentials such as bread, sausages and gas for camp stoves.

"Everyone is suffering. All of us here are trying to survive," said Nina, a 64-year-old retiree, pushing a bicycle.

"There's no water, no gas, no electricity. … We have been living for three months now under shelling. It's like we're in the Stone Ages," she said.

The small town of mainly village-style single-story houses on dusty roads has become a new frontier in the war between Russia and Ukraine.

Ukrainian troops have given up defending the ravaged city of Sievierodonetsk and now face a battle with Russians seeking to encircle neighboring Lysychansk.

Siversk is the last major town en route to Lysychansk, albeit along roads that are severely damaged and under shelling and has Russian forces encroaching from the north and south.

Local people, many of them retirees, complain they feel abandoned by Kyiv.

"The town has really died. And we would like to live a little bit longer," said Marina, 63, a retired factory worker.

"They're just basically killing us. It's dangerous everywhere," Nina said. "No one needs us, there's no help from the government. Ukraine has forgotten about us."

'Batteries are trending'

Military vehicles including U.S. Humvees and latest-generation U.S. and Soviet-style howitzers, tanks, aid trucks and ambulances constantly pass back and forth through Siversk.

"All day they've been coming," said a policeman at a nearby checkpoint, adding that three vehicles carrying evacuees have gone through "with mainly old people, women and children — there is movement today."

Driving onto higher ground, dirty smoke rises from a fresh Ukrainian missile launch.

The street van in Siversk is a commercial operation, bringing goods including Polish food from the city of Dnipro, some 300 kilometers away, locals say.

"It's expensive, of course," Nina said.

There are also deliveries of humanitarian aid. AFP journalists saw three Red Cross trucks drive up to municipal offices and unload boxes of food including sunflower oil, tea and buckwheat, as well as hygiene items such as razors.

Municipal official Svitlana Severin asked the Red Cross staff to bring more candles, matches and flashlights.

"Batteries are trending," she said. Flashlights “need power and we don't know when we'll get electricity."

The boxes are put in a storage room. Severin says that in order to minimize crowds, they stagger their handouts, with specific days each month for each social group.

An older woman comes up to the vans indignantly asking why she cannot access the aid and asking for heart medicine.

'Candles needed'

There are also local initiatives.

Social worker Svetlana Meloshchenko says she and her helpers go round distributing water in milk containers and have given out candles and washing liquids outside the local shop.

"Candles are needed — people spend nights in their cellar," she said.

"There are a lot of small children, old people, disabled people," she added, as well as "a lot of people with diabetes."

"Medicines are supplied to hospitals, but not enough for all," she said.

Russian troops are firing artillery on the area around Siversk, according to Ukraine's General Staff.

Nearby, a group of Ukrainian soldiers sprawl in a disused petrol station, eating bread and sausage, their semiautomatic rifles beside them. They say they are going back and forth to the front, without giving details.

"Our cause is the right one," insisted one young soldier, while another older, bearded man said: "We don't look at the news."

"When there's really good news, we'll definitely hear about it," he said, smiling.

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June 26, 2022 at 07:18AM
https://www.voanews.com/a/life-in-donbas-we-would-like-to-live-a-little-bit-longer-/6633501.html

Life in Donbas: ‘We Would Like to Live a Little Bit Longer’ - Voice of America - VOA News

https://news.google.com/search?q=little&hl=en-US&gl=US&ceid=US:en

Sox again manage little ‘O’ against lowly O’s - Chicago Sun-Times

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Lance Lynn was one out away Saturday from further validating his return to prominence, as well as providing his White Sox teammates with a legitimate chance to mount a rally that would alleviate the -constant shortcomings that have clouded their frustrating season.

But in a span of three batters, Lynn -allowed a walk and an infield single before hitting Trey Mancini with the bases loaded.

And Austin Hays followed with a three-run double off Jose Ruiz to cap a four-run seventh inning that sent the White Sox to another deflating loss, a 6-2 defeat to the Orioles.

The setback extended the Sox’ losing streak to four, matching their longest home skid since Aug. 8-15, 2020. The Sox rebounded nicely to earn a 2020 American League playoff berth, but the array of inconsistencies raises questions about whether they can mount a semblance of a winning trend before many of their core players return from the injured list. Looming is a 19-game stretch in which they will play AL Central opponents starting July 4, including 15 against the division-leading Guardians and Twins.

“You put a handful of good games together and then all of a sudden you lose a couple in a row, so it’s always a bummer because you feel like you’re so close to getting on a roll,” catcher Reese McGuire said.

The Sox have scored three runs in their three losses to the Orioles, who entered Saturday’s game with a 4.10 ERA — 12th in the AL.

The lineup sputtered without Tim -Anderson, who was given the day off to rest his sore legs.

In his fourth game on a minor-league -rehab assignment for Triple-A Charlotte, Eloy -Jiménez went 1-for-5 with two RBI and two runs Saturday. But the Sox want to be careful that Jimenez doesn’t sustain another setback in his recovery from hamstring surgery.

Before the game, manager Tony La Russa said he could win with this group, but the persistent struggles create a more daunting challenge now that the Guardians have caught the Twins at the top of the division.

General manager Rick Hahn said earlier in the week that the Sox have identified their needs as they move closer to the Aug. 2 trade deadline, but that a three-month stagnation can’t alleviate their sense of urgency or preference to keep some of their top prospects and win at the same time.

After a single by Leury Garcia in the fourth, the Sox didn’t muster another hit -until Luis Robert hit a double with one out in the eighth.

La Russa made one subtle change to the lineup, giving second baseman Lenyn Sosa his first major-league start. In the third, Sosa reached base on an error and advanced to third on a single by Robert. When Sosa -noticed that shortstop Jorge Mateo muffled a relay throw, he burst toward home and scored the tying run.

But mistakes continue to haunt the Sox. Garcia botched a grounder by Cedric Mullins that allowed the Orioles to take the lead for good in the fifth.

That put more scrutiny on Lynn, who -entered the seventh with 86 pitches, and La Russa.

“I was confident [the seventh] was his inning,” La Russa said of Lynn, who struck out a season-high eight batters and generated 23 swings and misses out of 109 pitches.

In an ironic twist, La Russa said he would have employed high-leverage reliever Joe Kelly in the eighth with a one-run deficit if Lynn had escaped the seventh unscathed.

“We were that close to winning the game,” La Russa said.

Instead, “It felt like a loss,” Lynn said. “That’s the only way to look at it. We’ve got to be better, I’ve got to finish outings. That’s where I’m at right now. Stuff’s there, I’ve just got to finish outings.”

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June 26, 2022 at 07:02AM
https://chicago.suntimes.com/white-sox/2022/6/25/23183299/sox-again-manage-little-offense-against-lowly-orioles-lance-lynn-eloy-leury-mcguire

Sox again manage little ‘O’ against lowly O’s - Chicago Sun-Times

https://news.google.com/search?q=little&hl=en-US&gl=US&ceid=US:en