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Family of four dies in helicopter crash in Levy County mycbs4.com
(CNN) — One of the world's most famous clocks is returning to service in time to ring in the new year.
Big Ben last bonged on August 21, 2017, before undergoing an intensive, much-needed repair project.
The Cumbria Clock Company, located in England's Lake District, took on the task of cleaning the clock's face, chiming mechanism and approximately 1,000 parts over the past four years.
The clock weighs about 5 tons and is 7 feet, 2 inches tall.
"To have had our hands on every single nut and bolt is a huge privilege," Ian Westworth, one of Parliament's team of clock mechanics, said in a statement. "It's going to be quite emotional when it's all over -- there will be sadness that the project has finished, but happiness that we have got it back and everything's up and running again."
Big Ben-- which is inside Elizabeth Tower in London's Houses of Parliament -- has been keeping time in the UK capital since 1859. This is the single biggest repair project in its history, coming with a price tag of £79.7 million (about $107 million).
Despite the delays, the team working on Big Ben still managed to complete the repairs in 2021.
That news comes in the nick of time. Today, New Year's Eve, the clock will sound at noon, 4 p.m., 9 p.m., 10 p.m., 11 p.m. and, of course, midnight.
But there have been a few rehearsals along the way to make sure that everything was in working order first. Some lucky locals may have caught some of these bongs during intermittent tests on December 29 and 30.
Tonight, only the East Dial of Big Ben -- the one that overlooks the Thames -- will be lit up. But one of London's most beloved attractions has returned to its rightful place.
Rob DawsonCorrespondent
Joao Cancelo was assaulted in a home robbery that left the Manchester City defender with a cut above his eye.
Cancelo posted on Instagram on Thursday to reveal he had jewelry stolen after being attacked by four men. City's players and staff were due to stay in London between their games against Brentford and Arsenal this week but instead returned to Manchester on Wednesday night ahead of the fixture at the Emirates on Saturday.
Sources told ESPN that a decision will be taken on Friday about whether Cancelo will travel with his teammates to London for the Arsenal game.
"Unfortunately today I was assaulted by four cowards who hurt me and tried to hurt my family. When you show resistance this is what happens," said Cancelo in an Instagram post alongside a picture of himself with a deep cut over his eye.
"They managed to take all my jewelry and leave me with my face in this state. I don't know how there are people with such meanness. The most important thing for me is my family and luckily they are all OK.
"After so many obstacles in my life, this is just one more that I will overcome. Firm and strong like always."
City released a statement saying: "We are shocked and appalled that Joao Cancelo and his family were subjected to a burglary at their home this evening during which Joao was also assaulted.
"Joao and his family are being supported by the Club and he is helping the police with their enquiries as they investigate this very serious matter."
(CNN)At least four people were shot dead by Sudanese security forces during anti-coup demonstrations near the capital Khartoum on Thursday, the civilian-allied Sudanese Central Doctors Committee (SCDC) said.
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Plow crews brace for more snow and ice in the Puget Sound region KING5.com[unable to retrieve full-text content]
Snowy secondary roads leave many North Sound drivers and neighborhoods on ice KOMO News
Who hasn’t sometimes wished for an invisibility cloak? When looking at an object covered by an invisibility cloak, one would see the things behind it, as if light were passing through it, rather than hitting it and bouncing back to the viewer’s eye. The object would thus be rendered invisible. Acoustic cloaking is similar, except that it aims to hide an object from sound waves. Sound goes around the object rather than colliding it and bouncing off it. An acoustic cloak can have multiple applications, from military to oceanography and medical imaging, writes Technion – Israel Institute of Technology in a press release.
Researchers in the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering at the Technion have developed a new physical model that manipulates the propagation of acoustic waves and elastic waves – thus bringing us closer to acoustic cloaking by controlling the waves created by hidden objects. This model that may potentially impact additional applications, including enhanced sensing and energy focusing. The development, which was published in Wave Motion, was headed by Professor Gal Shmuel and postdoctoral fellow Dr. René Pernas-Salomón, in collaboration with Rutgers University Professor Andrew Norris and Professor Michael Haberman of Texas A&M University.
As part of their research, the Technion team developed a new class of metamaterials – artificially engineered materials that exhibit properties not found in natural materials. Metamaterials derive their properties from their engineered microstructure. One example of a metamaterial property is a negative effective mass, which models materials moving in the opposite direction to the force applied to them.
The Technion team’s metamaterials possess a new metamaterial property, which they term electromomentum. In these metamaterials, momentum is coupled to applied electric fields, differently than what occur in natural materials: the metamaterial’s momentum alters when an electric field is applied, as described by the electromomentum property. Since the momentum balance of a body determines how elastic and sound waves flow through it, the electromomentum property offers a new knob to electrically control these waves by controlling momentum.
The research was sponsored by the Israel Science Foundation, the Israel Academy of Science and Humanities, the U.S. – Israel Binational Science Foundation (BSF), and the Ministry of Science and Technology.
Also interesting: Cut out annoying frequencies with Phononic Vibes
RESULTS
| Sept. 4 | at UNC Pembroke | W, 2-0 | Recap/Box Score |
| Sept. 8 | vs. North Greenville | T, 1-1 (2 OT) | Recap/Box Score |
| Sept. 10 | at No. 4 Florida Tech | T, 0-0 | Recap/Box Score |
| Sept. 15 | vs. Francis Marion | W, 6-0 | Recap/Box Score |
| Sept. 18 | vs. No. 21 Limestone | W, 3-2 | Recap/Box Score |
| Sept. 22 | at North Georgia | L, 1-0 | Recap/Box Score |
| Sept. 25 | at Anderson | W, 2-1 | Recap/Box Score |
| Sept. 29 | at Coker | W, 5-1 | Recap/Box Score |
| Oct. 2 | vs. Lincoln Memorial | W, 4-0 | Recap/Box Score |
| Oct. 6 | vs. No. 14 Catawba | L, 2-0 | Recap/Box Score |
| Oct. 9 | vs. Queens | W, 1-0 | Recap/Box Score |
| Oct. 13 | at Mars Hill | W, 5-0 | Recap/Box Score |
| Oct. 17 | at Tusculum | W, 5-1 | Recap/Box Score |
| Oct. 23 | at Newberry | L, 1-0 (2 OT) | Recap/Box Score |
| Oct. 30 | vs. Wingate | L, 1-0 | Recap/Box Score |
| Nov. 3 | vs. Carson-Newman | W, 3-2 | Recap/Box Score |
| Nov. 6 | vs. Limestone (SAC Quarters) | W, 2-0 | Recap/Box Score |
| Nov. 12 | vs. Queens (SAC Semis) | L, 1-0 (2 OT) | Recap/Box Score |
| Nov. 19 | at No. 10 Catawba (NCAA 1st Round) | T, 0-0 (3-1 PKs) | Recap/Box Score |
| Nov. 21 | vs. Queens (NCAA 2nd Round) | W, 2-0 | Recap/Box Score |
| Dec. 3 | vs. No. 18 Flagler (NCAA Regional Final) | T. 1-1 (4-2 PKs) | Recap/Box Score |
| Dec. 5 | vs. Florida Tech (NCAA Quarterfinal) | T, 1-1 (4-3 PKs) | Recap/Box Score |
| Dec. 9 | vs. No. 1 Grand Valley State (NCAA Semifinal) | L, 3-0 | Recap/Box Score |
Conference play opens with a bang: The Bears won their first three games of SAC play against Anderson, Coker and Lincolm Memorial, outscoring the opponents 11-2 in those wins. After dropping a game to Catawba, the Bears rattled off three more wins in a row over Queens, Mars Hill and Tusculum, outscoring those three opponents 11-1.
Clinch a home game in the SAC Tournament: With a 3-2 win over Carson-Newman in the regular season finale, Lenoir-Rhyne clinched a top-4 seed in the SAC Tournament, which means the Bears hosted a game in the tournament for the 11th time in the past 12 seasons. In the game they hosted, LR defeated Limestone 2-0 at Moretz Sports Complex for the second time in the 2021 season.
Two huge NCAA Tournament wins: Lenoir-Rhyne took down two titans of D2 women's soccer in the Southeast Region on their way to the Final Four. In the first round, the Bears traveled to Catawba (18-0-3) and handed the Indians a loss in penalty kicks. Then, two games later in the Regional Final, the Bears upset reigning Southeast Regional Champion Flagler in penalty kicks. In 2019, Flagler defeated Wingate 8-2 in the Southeast Regional Championship, but could only muster one goal against LR this season.
Key freshmen: Two out of the top three goal scorers on the season for LR were freshmen. Leonie Proessl (12 goals, including three game-winning goals) led the Bears in scoring, while Evan O'Leary (eight goals, two game-winning goals) was third on the squad. Freshman center back Vivien Becker-Peralta anchored the second best defense in the SAC for head coach Gary Higgins, earning First-Team All-Conference honors.
All-Region Honors: Ria Acton was named First-Team All-Region, and freshmen Prossel and Becker-Peralta were named Second-Team All-Region.
Acton comes back strong: After a spring season that saw her score seven goals and four game-winning goals, Ria Acton had another great year in the fall before an injury towards the end of the regular season cut her season short. Acton scored nine goals in just 14 games this fall, including a hat trick against Lincoln Memorial. Two of those goals were game-winning goals, and she also earned Second-Team All-American honors from the CCA to go along with First-Team All-Region honors.
Gavaghan has the clutch gene: After being held scoreless until the regular season finale against Carson-Newman, sophomore Kara Gavaghan provided a huge offensive boost late in the season. The La Crosse, Wisconsin native scored two goals against C-N to clinch a SAC Tournament home game, both goals in a 2-0 NCAA Tournament win over Queens in the second round, and also scored the game-tying goal late in regulation in the NCAA Quarterfinals against Florida Tech to send the game to overtime and eventually penalty kicks where the Bears would prevail.
Cameron carries the Bears: Hickory native goalkeeper Grayson Cameron had the best stretch of her collegiate soccer career when it mattered most for LR. In the four NCAA Tournamet wins, Cameron only allowed two total goals in regulation time. The Bears also won three games in penalty kicks on their run to the Final Four, and in those games, Cameron stopped a combined eight penalty kick attempts by the opponents. Cameron also carried a 4.0 GPA in her time at LR, and was named a CoSIDA Second-Team Academic All-American.
Awards Won
Grayson Cameron: CoSIDA Second-Team Academic All-American, CoSIDA Academic All-District, 3rd Team All-SAC, SAC Defensive Player of the Week (9/14)
Ria Acton: 2nd-Team All-American (CCA), 1st-Team All-Region, 1st-Team All-SAC
Leonie Proessl: 2nd-Team All-Region, 2nd-Team All-SAC, SAC Offensive Player of the Week (10/19)
Vivien Becker-Peralta: 2nd-Team All-Region, 1st Team All-SAC
Stephanie Figueiredo: 3rd-Team All-SAC
Evan O'Leary: 3rd-Team All-SAC
Allie Zueger: 3rd-Team All-SAC
Kara Gavaghan: SAC Offensive Player of the Week (11/9)
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Gunman kills four people and injures officer in Denver area The Guardian(CNN)A gunman killed four people and wounded several others, including a police officer, Monday evening in a sprawling spree across the Denver metro area that included a car chase and gunfights with police, authorities said.
Two years ago, one of my esteemed editors, Ryan Collinsworth, started writing a “Final Four Dark Horses” column. The premise was simple: use statistical barometers to identify the contenders most likely to make a Final Four run in March.
Ryan found that, using Ken Pomeroy’s adjusted offensive and defensive efficiency, teams must satisfy two key thresholds.
A refresher on those benchmarks:
The first marker is far more stringent. As of now, only 12 teams meet the offensive demand, while 80 teams sit at 96.2 or better on defense.
A third qualification can be used to cull the field further when looking for a title winner: adjusted efficiency margin of at least 23.91 (ensuring the team is balanced). We will largely ignore that stipulation for now (though I will mention the teams that qualify).
A couple key caveats: the candidates only need to meet the criteria by the start of the tournament. That is still two-and-a-half months away, so the landscape of the sport is certain to change.
Plus, a “rising tide lifts all boats” effect on overall average efficiency could introduce additional contenders. At this stage, KenPom’s average efficiency sits at 100.8. Should he raise the national average to, say, 102.0, then all offenses will see a bump.
Typically, efficiency rises in conference play, so expect this to take effect.
For those reasons, we will also look at a few candidates sitting on the edge of qualification.
All odds are via PointsBet
But first, let’s start with the 12 teams that currently clear the established statistical bar. That would be: Purdue, Gonzaga, Baylor, Duke, Kansas, Houston, Ohio State, Alabama, Illinois, Kentucky, Villanova and UCLA.
You probably recognize the first four teams there. Unsurprisingly, those would be the four teams who have spent time atop the AP Poll this year. Those four — plus Kansas and Houston — are the only six teams that meet the “AdjEM > 23.90” stipulation.
I buy that completely. If I had to name the six most likely NCAA champions right now, I would take the first five and Arizona (more on the Wildcats shortly).
Unfortunately for Houston, two crucial guards — Tramon Mark and All-American candidate Marcus Sasser — are done for the season due to injury.
The other six offer some intrigue.
| Team | Current Odds |
| UCLA Bruins | +350 |
| Villanova Wildcats | +400 |
| Kentucky Wildcats | +450 |
| Alabama Crimson Tide | +500 |
| Illinois Fighting Illini | +550 |
| Ohio State Buckeyes | +550 |
Ohio State might have the best player in the country, and the Buckeyes should still get some reinforcements from Justice Sueing and Seth Towns.
Big Ten counterpart Illinois also has yet to really see Andre Curbelo at full strength. Many thought he could break out into the All-American stratosphere.
Alabama’s streakiness has been well-documented, but running Gonzaga off the floor in Seattle will always stand as the shining example of what the Crimson Tide’s peak looks like.
Meanwhile, the Big Blue Wildcats are coming off of demolitions of North Carolina and Western Kentucky. John Calipari’s crew offers the rare combination of NBA talent and legitimate college experience.
Villanova and UCLA have fallen off of most radars for different reasons. Jay Wright’s Wildcats have already lost four games, including two by 20+ points, but they have played a hellacious schedule and remain the Big East favorite.
On the other hand, the Bruins simply have not played due to COVID issues. They last took the court on December 11th and they are due to be sidelined until at least January 6th.
Assuming they torch the disappointing Pac-12 upon returning, they will quickly remind people why they were hailed as a title contender entering the season.
As mentioned, the season is far from over, and plenty of other teams can still play their way inside these parameters. Let’s take a look at a few of the squads lurking on the cusp and decipher whether they can make the leap.
New coach Tommy Lloyd is as close to the threshold as possible: the Wildcats sit at 113.8 in KenPom’s AdjOE. And if you filtered out any influence from preseason ratings, Arizona would pass the test with flying colors.
When filtering out preseason data from Bart Torvik’s site, the Wildcats rank fourth overall and have an AdjOE of 116.2.
Arizona has every piece a team could want: skilled and stout big men, athletic and versatile wings and a competitive creator at point guard. Yes, the coach is in his first year and the team is young, but these are small worries in the grand scheme of things.
The Tigers easily satisfy the defensive criteria, and the offense is not far away at 112.1.
The Tigers have a top-three NBA draft pick in Jabari Smith, a monster shot-blocker in Walker Kessler and burgeoning star guards in Wendell Green Jr. and K.D. Johnson.
Most importantly, though, Auburn just got Allen Flanigan back from injury. The Swiss Army knife wing adds additional playmaking and shooting to the lineup, giving the Tigers a connector between the potent guards and bigs.
Possibly the ACC’s second-best team, North Carolina has a path to an extremely high seed in the NCAA Tournament. That fact, combined with the Tar Heels flirting with both the offensive and defensive limits, makes them an intriguing dark horse.
There’s no debating the strength of the Heels’ frontcourt. Armando Bacot, Dawson Garcia and Brady Manek can all have big games on any night.
And the Heels’ backcourt — most notably Caleb Love and and RJ Davis — has developed into a legitimate strength, as well. If Leaky Black brings the defense and Kerwin Walton finds his shooting stroke, the Tar Heels are a legitimate threat to rocket up analytical rankings.
It’s a long shot, certainly, but the Rams are currently undefeated and sit just outside both the offensive (113.2) and defensive (97.0) boundaries.
The inside-out duo of David Roddy and Isaiah Stevens is elite. If the complementary players continue to knock down shots — CSU ranks first nationally in 3P% — the Rams will be a difficult out.
Two children were killed and four others were hospitalized with severe injuries Monday after a deadly hit-and-run in South Florida.
Speaking at a news conference on Monday evening, Broward Sheriff’s Office spokeswoman Miranda Grossman said authorities were called to the scene of a crash in Wilton Manors, just north of Fort Lauderdale, at around 3 p.m.
"Two children were found deceased on the scene," she said, while four others were transported to area hospitals. The ages of the young victims were not immediately clear.
Grossman said the incident had "turned out to be a hit-and-run," with authorities still searching for a suspect.
Fort Lauderdale Fire Rescue Department Battalion Chief Steve Gollan described the incident as "horrific."
"This event is a horrific event any time of the year, let alone right after the holidays," he said at the news conference.
Gollan said support services were being provided for the families impacted by the deadly incident, as well as for first responders who were on the scene.
Bloomberg Washington Correspondent Joe Mathieu delivers insight and analysis on the latest headlines from the White House and Capitol Hill, including conversations with influential lawmakers and key figures in politics and policy. Guests: Adam Goodman, National Republican media strategist, columnist and partner at Ballard Partners, Larry Levitt, Executive Vice President for Health Policy at Kaiser Family Foundation, and Bloomberg politics contributors Jeanne Sheehan Zaino and Rick Davis. To listen on the Bloomberg terminal, click on the player thumbnail on the sidebar.
Dec 28, 2021
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A view of nickel ore stockpiles at DMCI Mining Corporation's mine in Sta Cruz Zambales in northern Philippines February 7, 2017. REUTERS/Erik De Castro/File Photo
MANILA, Dec 28 (Reuters) - The Philippines' environment ministry has issued an order lifting a four-year-old ban on open-pit mining for copper, gold, silver and complex ores, the head of the mines bureau, Wilfredo Moncano, said on Tuesday.
The government imposed the ban in 2017, when the ministry, which oversees the mining industry, was led by an anti-mining advocate who had blamed the sector for extensive environmental damage.
Reporting by Enrico Dela Cruz Editing by Ed Davies
Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
Jake Siswick, the show’s 13-year-old star - and an actor-dancer of impressive skill and a remarkably natural stage presence - was able to grab the audience’s heart from start to finish. (Credit: Brett Beiner)
Be advised from the outset: This is an unconventional review that must be put into the proper context.
To cut to the chase: Less than two months ago, Music Theater Works inaugurated its new home at Skokie’s North Shore Center for the Performing Arts with an absolutely brilliant, supremely polished production of “Ragtime.”
Then, this past Thursday, on the same stage, it opened its second production, “Billy Elliot - The Musical,” the dance-filled show with music by Elton John and a book and lyrics by Lee Hall. But from almost the very first note it was apparent that something was very wrong with the sound system and miking, and much of the dialogue and singing, all along the way, was either inaudible or garbled. In fact, the only clear sound came from the orchestra, seated in the pit and led by Michael McBride.
The problem persisted throughout much of the two-and-a-half-hour show, and was a great disservice to both the performers, the large audience and the show itself. No formal announcement or apology was made at intermission to even acknowledge there was a problem. And all I can hope is that for the remainder of the show’s short run the sound issue has been fixed.
All that said, Jake Siswick, the show’s 13-year-old star, and an actor-dancer of impressive skill and a remarkably natural stage presence, was able to grab the audience’s heart from start to finish. And the other young performers in the cast carried on, in true professional style, as if nothing were wrong. The adults in the cast did their best not to be distracted, but a good deal was lost in the storytelling all along the way, and the erratic sound system was an obvious distraction, as was the roll-up door that forms a central element of the set.
“Billy Elliot” (directed by Kyle A. Dougan, Music Theater Work’s artistic director) is set in a mining town in northern England during the bitter Coal Miners’ Strike of 1984. (Credit: Brett Beiner)
“Billy Elliot” (directed by Kyle A. Dougan, Music Theater Work’s artistic director) is set in a mining town in northern England during the bitter Coal Miners’ Strike of 1984 — an action that was set in motion when Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher announced she would be privatizing the coal industry, a move that would unquestionably result in the loss of thousands of jobs. But the situation was more complicated than that, for while the miners made the decision to go out on strike and confront the riot police who were called in to control the strikers, others in the tight-knit community eventually decided it was better to go back to work and get their paychecks, if only for the moment.
Amid all this, Billy longs for his Mum (Lydia Burke), who died some time earlier, left him a deeply moving letter, and, at crucial moments, “visits” him in his imagination. He is being raised by his macho dad, Jackie (Matt Miles, who comes into his own in the second act), who wants him to take up boxing, as well as by his fiery older brother, Tony (Brandon Muchaud), who already works in the mines, and by his Grandma (Caron Buinis) who mostly lives in the past, but loves dance.
It is the bitter but insightful Mrs. Wilkerson (Casiena Raether) — a neighborhood dance teacher who never made it as a dancer herself — who notices Billy’s innate gift the moment he joins her class. The class full of giggly young girls, includes her sassy little daughter, Debbie (Everleigh Murphy, who easily lights up the stage). And while she comes to believe he has innate talent, and she wants to prepare him for an audition at the prestigious Royal Ballet School in London, both she and Billy are initially rebuffed by the boy’s father, who fears he might end up gay (he is not, although his little friend, Michael, played by Kai Edgar, might well be). In addition, the expense involved in sending him to London with his dad would be too great. It’s a problem that is solved in a most touching communal way.
It is the bitter but insightful Mrs. Wilkerson (Casiena Raether) — a neighborhood dance teacher who never made it as a dancer herself — who notices Billy’s innate gift the moment he joins her class. The class full of giggly young girls, includes her sassy little daughter, Debbie (Everleigh Murphy, who easily lights up the stage). (Credit: Brett Beiner)
Once at the audition, Billy makes some unfortunate moves that have nothing to do with dance. But when he is asked why he wants to dance he responds with the show’s most emblematic song, “Electricity,” and he lights up the stage, not so much with the highly polished technique he will develop in training, but with a sense of the true spark of divine fire that is inside him.
Sadly, a good many of the show’s best lines and lyrics were lost because of the malfunctioning sound system. But the dancing — much of it in tap shoes — spoke loudly and clearly. And to the credit of choreographer Clayton Cross, while the kids danced like amateurs when in class, the finale showed that they are truly well-trained and can knock a big number out of the park.
As for Siswick, a slender fellow of palpable emotional intelligence, he is a wonderfully subtle and convincing actor, and his dancing ideally captures Billy Elliot’s evolution from a shy boy averse to violence to a burgeoning young artist with the ability to transcend his hard-edged environment.
“Billy Elliot” runs through Jan. 2 at the North Shore Center for the Performing Arts in Skokie.
For tickets visit MusicTheaterWorks.com or call (847) 673-6300.
Announced for its 2022 season are productions of “La Cage aux Folles”; “Disney’s The Little Mermaid”; “Zorro” (a new musical); “Camelot”; and Irving Berlin’s “White Christmas.”
Follow Hedy Weiss on Twitter: @HedyWeissCritic
On Jan. 1, Mayor-elect Eric Adams will become Mayor Eric Adams. Compared to two Christmases ago, he faces a murder rate that is up 48 percent, and 418,100 more people unemployed. Adams has now named most of his top commissioners — and each of them has a unique strength that he or she can put to use to tackle the city’s top problems. Here is what Adams’ appointees must do during their first days on the job.
Keechant Sewell, the incoming police commissioner, is an outsider who knows New York. That’s a rare combination. We have plenty of NYPD insiders, and there have been many outsiders who are totally clueless about the city’s unique politics and culture (see de Blasio’s failed schools chancellor, Richard Carranza).
As a Queens native who made it near the top of the Nassau County force, though, Sewell can bring a fresh, but not naïve, eye to the NYPD.
To get guns off the streets, Sewell will need to immediately “reinstate proactive policing strategies disbanded under the de Blasio administration,” says my policing-expert colleague, Hannah Meyers. And Sewell will have to do so “without the support of consistent prosecution.”
For example, incoming Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg wants to go easy on some gun crimes, let alone “small” offenses like chronic shoplifting.
This is daunting, but as an early first step, Sewell should constantly walk the beat herself, making sure her officers are energized and engaged. Police in the subways cannot be looking at their phones; officers should be constantly walking Times Square, not standing in the corner chatting. If she cares, they’ll care.
New corrections chief Louis Molina is another current outsider who understands New York. A former NYPD officer and Rikers Island monitor, he’s been heading up public safety in Las Vegas.
Molina’s most pressing task is basic discipline on Rikers. Adams has already said he’ll bring back solitary confinement when warranted for violent inmates. Molina should consider asking the governor for National Guard medics to ensure inmate safety: 16 inmates have died this year.
Longer term, Molina must level with the “Close Rikers” advocates: the city’s $9 billion four-borough jails plan is unworkable. Inmates would be better served with new buildings on Rikers, complete with modern medical facilities and outdoor space for farming, animal husbandry and green-jobs training.
David Banks, schools chancellor to be, is a smooth insider. His six Eagle Academy for Young Men schools (one in each borough, as well as one in Newark) require students to wear shirts with ties.
But the Eagle schools are traditional public schools, not charter schools. That means Banks has worked with the teachers’ union before — experience that will be important in hammering out a new contract. But from Eagle, a school system within a school system, he also understands the benefits of autonomy, which charter schools more readily provide.
Banks MUST push the state to lift New York’s cap on high-quality charters, says my education colleague Ray Domanico. Right now, though, he should take a “growth approach” to “academically selective high schools” all over the city, rather than obsess over tests for existing exam schools like Stuyvesant. He should also expand “the city’s currently all-too-limited supply of gifted and talented programs pre-high school.”
Ydanis Rodriguez, appointed transportation commissioner, brings empathy and spirit to his new job. As city council transportation chairman, he always showed deep concern for the victims of traffic crashes, particularly the family of Josbel Rivera, a 23-year-old man killed by a hit-and-run driver 10 years ago in the Bronx.
Rodriguez’s job is comparatively easier than those of Sewell, Rivera, and Banks. The DOT is a reasonably functional department with good morale. Until the whole city fell apart last year, Vision Zero, to cut traffic deaths, was working: pedestrian deaths had fallen 29 percent since the Bloomberg administration.
Rodriguez has to do more of that — but he’ll also need to confront the unaccountable food-delivery apps such as DoorDash and Grubhub. The apps send their “independent contractors” out on motorized bikes with no training or experience, forcing them to work under appalling safety conditions to meet speed pressures.
This year, at least 12 delivery cyclists died through November, and another delivery worker died two weeks ago. No other low-wage industry in New York racks up such a predictable, preventable death toll.
To confront this business model, Rodriguez will have to show the same iconoclasm he showed in 2015. He was one of the only city officials willing to question Uber’s business practices, years before cabbies started committing suicide. For his willingness to question the emperor’s clothes, many transit “experts” made fun of him.
Rodriguez must ALSO ensure he doesn’t leave the people who live along the Cross-Bronx Expressway in limbo. Congressman Ritchie Torres has said he wants to use federal funding to “cap” parts of the Cross-Bronx. Either cobble together a real federal, state and city plan in 2022, or don’t — but make sure people suffering from asthma and noise get an answer either way, come 12 months’ time.
Nicole Gelinas is a contributing editor to the Manhattan Institute’s City Journal.
Many emotionally intelligent people often feel as if they are a magnet for narcissists. The constant drama and pain narcissists cause is humiliating and demoralizing. A person may fear he or she embodies a fatal flaw that attracts narcissists. Yet, the flaw may actually be a gift. Understanding how this gift collides with a narcissist in different phases of the relationship may help.
Emotionally intelligent people are typically empathic, attuned to the feelings of others, and self-aware. Understanding the interplay between emotionally intelligent qualities and narcissistic tendencies at various stages in a relationship may help a person see the abusive dynamic more quickly. Stepping back from a narcissist before too much is invested is critical.
Phase 1: The attraction. A narcissist is often extremely attracted to a person who is emotionally intelligent. He or she strives to get close to a person who is warm and caring. Similarly, an emotionally intelligent person is flattered by the narcissist’s attention and charm. The narcissist showers the person with compliments and validation, which the emotionally intelligent person appreciates. In fact, the narcissist is so supportive that he or she appears emotionally intelligent. This honeymoon phase usually lasts until the partner is seriously invested in the relationship. Then, things change.
Phase 2: The narcissist feels small. He or she senses the emotionally intelligent mate has something powerful that he or she wants but does not know how to get. The power to connect with others on a deep level, an awareness and understanding of what others are feeling, and the capacity to sense and articulate one’s own emotions allows a person to help, heal, and maintain close and healthy relationships with others who also possess these capacities. Sensing the partner has abilities that he or she lacks creates resentment. The narcissist does not understand the power because he or she does not “speak the language” or “understand the currency,” but he or she wants it. Yet, in time, the narcissist realizes it is a commodity that cannot be extrapolated from the mate and possessed, so he or she resorts to something else.
The narcissist manipulates and abuses the emotionally intelligent person’s gift. He or she punishes the partner for embodying something he or she cannot extract and possess. Taking advantage of the partner's trust, time, generosity, loyalty, and empathy, he or she exploits what cannot be taken.
For example, the narcissist doesn’t have an authentically close relationship with his child and is jealous of his emotionally intelligent partner’s bond with the child. Behind her back, he says negative things about her to the child and continually exploits her by demanding she manage the difficult parenting. He takes over when there is fun to be had. Slowly and consistently the narcissist erodes the emotionally intelligent person’s relationship with her child without her knowledge.
Phase 3. The narcissist seeks to sabotage and destroy the person whom he or she is jealous of. The narcissist is internally enraged when he or she sees the emotionally intelligent partner utilizing his or her power; he or she tries to destroy it by framing it as a weakness. For example, the empathic partner may readily connect with her daughter’s disappointment when she is purposefully excluded from a friend group. She relates to what her daughter is feeling and communicates an understanding of the emotional pain her daughter is experiencing. Her daughter feels understood, less alone in her plight, and close to her mom who gets it. Because she feels better, she is empowered and calls several other friends to make plans. She successfully organizes a friend outing to a local park.
Yet, the narcissistic parent scolds his partner and calls her “soft.” He gives her a pamphlet about empathy and its “link” to aggression. He, then, takes his daughter out for ice cream and tells her she shouldn’t listen to her mom because her mom never had friends. He refers to his wife as a “loser” and chuckles so he can qualify his sentiment as a joke if he is confronted. His daughter who is now second-guessing herself and her mom returns home and calls her friends to cancel. Confused and conflicted she stays in her room for the remainder of the evening. Her mom, clueless about her husband’s antics, wonders if he is right. Did she provide bad advice? Is her daughter suffering because of her? The mom’s confidence in her parenting dwindles and the daughter loses trust in the emotionally intelligent parent.
Phase 4: The narcissist disguises his or her emotional abuse by being nice. This may be the narcissist's most effective tool when camouflaging emotional abuse. Suddenly he or she is kind and complimentary, acting as though the fit of rage he or she threw an hour ago never happened. The sudden change in temperament often causes confusion in an emotionally intelligent partner who naturally recognizes the good in people. He or she wonders if the toxic tendencies were exaggerated in his or her own mind. After all, a person is allowed to have a bad day. Now, the emotionally intelligent individual feels foolish for perceiving the narcissist as mean. Someone who does such nice things cannot be a problem. Unfortunately, the nice act is usually a manipulation. A helpful way to gain clarity in this situation is to ask oneself, “Would I ever do what he or she did?” If the answer is “no,” the person may be narcissistic.
It is nearly impossible to detect a narcissist at the beginning stages of a relationship and often the change in demeanor makes a person think he or she did something to lose affection. However, it may be deep-rooted jealousy that is causing disdain and indifference in a partner. If this is the case, it may be necessary to consider separating from the partner. Protect the gift of emotional intelligence. The world needs it.
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