KSL TRAFFIC CENTER 12:46 PM | Updated: 2:44 pm FILE — Police lights shown in West Valley City on Sept BY RANDALL JEPPESEN AND SAM HERRERA SALT LAKE CITY — There’s been a rash of hit-and-run crashes around the Salt Lake Valley this week and officials say the statewide numbers are concerning.  Jason Mettmann with the Utah Highway Safety Office told Utah’s Morning News that the state had 230 hit-and-runs with pedestrians last year and this year isn’t off to a good start “These numbers are just unacceptable We had 56 total crashes involving hit-and-run pedestrians just this year in the first three months of  2025.” the driver drove off before police arrived maybe they don’t have a driver’s license or insurance They don’t know that they’re required to stop.” Mettmann said Utah law requires you to report these incidents “You need to report these to police and have things checked out and documented properly It’s always going to be a good idea for your uh safety and for the pedestrian safety as well.” Mettmann said there are more people out with the warmer weather and drivers need to be alert behind the wheel over 50% of auto-pedestrian crashes involve drivers not yielding the right of way “A lot of these drivers are not obeying the signs and signals that are out there on the roadway whether that’s signage or lighting or crosswalk behavior.” Pedestrians can also take steps to prevent crashes “Please make sure that you’re using the system properly Make sure you’re visible and wear reflective clothing so that you can be seen in low light.” Pedestrians and drivers should remember to share the road in order to stay safe Have a story idea or tip? Send it to the KSL NewsRadio team here Utah State Legislature implemented a new law against road rage driving in the state of Utah This law will take away drivers’ vehicles and enforce drivers to pay high fees if convicted of road rage The Utah Department of Highway Safety shared the definition of road rage is the commission of a criminal offense with the intent to endanger or to intimidate while driving “There have been several high-profile cases in the last few years Even brandishing guns and shooting at them,” Provo Police public information officer Janna-Lee Holland said According to the Highway Safety Communications manager there were more than 500 dispatch calls related to road rage incidents in 2020 Utah’s Highway Safety found that aggressive driving had increased by 19.3% in 2023 Crash frequencies had also increased by 4% in that year This increase in road rage has caused great alarm throughout the state “It’s scary if it’s inciting people to call 911,” Mettmann said Officer Mettmann said it is too early to tell how well this law has taken effect after a month but if drivers are caught in an event of road rage the top priority is to separate themselves from the event dangers on Utah roads are not just confined to aggravated driving behaviors According to the Utah Department of Highway Safety the summer started out with lower-than-expected fatality statistics there have been 136 driving fatalities in Utah Mettmann speculated that this increase in dangerous driving possibly stems from the COVID-19 pandemic roads were subsequently more open and “people felt they were more free.” The Provo Police Department has lamented over the increased sense of danger on Utah roads in recent years that number pales in comparison to the 31 traffic fatalities that occurred within Utah County” Holland shared the Highway Safety Office tallied more than 34,000 crashes in the state in 2024 More than 70% of these crashes involved property damage and nearly 30% resulted in injury They have also counted at least 12 motorcycle fatalities since Memorial Day “Zero fatalities is not a lofty goal,” Mettmann said there is a long way to go for Utah drivers to reach that goal distraction speeding and even pedestrian-related accidents the Utah Department of Public Safety added that the top factors for crashes are when drivers fail to yield the right of way These top factors all relate to how the driver is behaving while behind the wheel Mettmann urged drivers to remember that poor driving is always a choice Perhaps the most focused form of reckless driving that both the Highway Safety Office and the Provo Police have cautioned against is speeding Provo Police has shared that speeding both increases the chances of crashing and the severity of the crash itself The Daily Universe is an educational lab tied to the curriculum of the journalism sequence in the BYU School of Communications and is committed to the mission of BYU and its sponsoring institution The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints Contact us: Dureceptionist@byu.edu When Candalyn Winder Mettmann’s first husband Isaac Winder died their daughter Adair was just 2 years old she didn’t quite grasp that he was gravely ill but she understood something was amiss as her father lay in a coma in a hospital in Changchun The small family had recently relocated so Candalyn could accepted a teaching job became fatally ill after contracting food poisoning and becoming dehydrated his condition exacerbated by medication he has been taking for unrelated medical issues Adair was very verbal for her age but “she never asked me where her dad was I think she just got it on some level,” Candalyn said The toddler’s grief manifested in “horrific separation anxiety,” her mother said “I tried to put her in preschool 10 months later I couldn’t leave without her sobbing for the entire time I was gone,” she said Candalyn moved into her parents’ basement so she could stay home with Adair seek out a therapist to help her address her own grief and start an online master’s degree program so she could better support her family as a single mom who has bachelor degree in early childhood and elementary education At the time, Adair was too young for programs offered by the Utah nonprofit The Sharing Place But once she was able to enroll in its programs she struggled to connect to resources to help her and her daughter “I just think about parents who don’t have the same level of privilege trying to navigate that,” she said the state of Utah took a significant step forward to assist children who have lost a parent or caregiver in announcing an initiative that builds on community partnerships to identify and support bereaved children The Utah Children’s Collaborative will be supported by a $1 million grant by New York Life Foundation bringing its total investment for both the COVID and children’s collaboratives to $2.25 million The New York Life Foundation has invested more than $70 million to support bereaved children in the last 12 years The collaborative will work with University of Utah’s Gardner Policy Institute to match birth records with death records of those who have children under 18 years old and then offer resources to families The Children’s Collaborative will also work with Granite School District will add an entry to its school enrollment forms that allows families to voluntarily share that a caregiver or parent has passed away and to opt-in to being linked to resources Granite District teachers and administrators will also participate in the New York Life’s Grief-Sensitive Schools Initiative which will help prepare them to help bereaved kids and families Once Utah children who have experienced the death a parent or other caregiver are identified and their remaining caregivers opt-in the collaborative’s partner organizations will reach out to connect families with an array of supports that they can elect to seek such as Social Security Death and Survivor Benefits funeral reimbursements or public assistance nutrition benefits Case managers will also inform families aware of other supports such as grief camps John Bridgeland is co-founder and CEO of the Children’s Collaborative for Healing and Support which initially focused on the 340,000 children nationwide who lost a parent or caregiver to COVID-19 as part of the long-established COVID Collaborative It is now expanding to support all grieving children Bridgeland says Utah is ideal for launching the pilot program because of already existing support services its demonstrated capacity to collaborate and use data for sound decision-making “While the country has moved on from the pandemic, there is an urgent need to address the crisis of children left behind. Supporting these children in the years ahead is a moral imperative. The Children’s Collaborative seeks to build sustainable scalable systems to help these children navigate their new reality,” said Bridgeland in a statement Spencer Cox noted that 1 in 15 Utah children will experience the death of a parent before they reach 18 years old We have the resources already available and we need to use them Not only do children suffer the emotional pain of losing a caregiver they often experience trauma and when not provided support they have long-term consequences like low self-esteem depression and poor performance in school,” Cox said “We talk a lot in this state about being trauma informed We talk about adverse childhood experiences and the loss of a caregiver is at the very top of that.” Cox said the Children’s Collaborative recognizes Utah’s unique qualities that “makes us the right place to pilot this program .. I believe that we can do this here in Utah and then we can get 49 other states to follow our lead.” Fast forward to 2023 and Candalyn Winder Mettmann is remarried and has earned her master’s degree in education leadership Candalyn said she believes she and Adair are in a good place but occasionally struggle in their “season of grief” around the anniversary of Isaac Winder’s death in 2014 But Candalyn said she is hopeful about the new initiative announced Thursday “Every grieving child deserves to have what my daughter has community support and professionals who understand them They deserve to have loved ones with the time and resources to show up They deserve a chance to rebuild a beautiful life after their loss,” she said Jason Mettmann and Adair share a somewhat similar history Mettmann’s father died of cancer just as he was becoming a young man and he looked to his father for guidance “The thing that I miss most as I get older is I want to ask him how to be a better dad,” he said “I hope that I make her grandpa and their first daddy proud We get to be a part of his (Isaac’s) family as well His siblings have taken me in as one of their brothers and we all are still a family.” SALT LAKE CITY — With nearly 60 hit-and-run cases involving pedestrians this year so far Utah Department of Public Safety officials are worried it's only the latest in a growing trend since 2023 For Utah Highway Safety Officer Communications Manager Jason Mettmann “It’s a sinking feeling for us at DPS when we hear of another death or serious injury on the roads,” said Mettmann We’re committing more resources constantly especially throughout the summer,” he said “The unfortunate part is that we cannot enforce our way out of this problem While the total number of crashes is down by nearly 17 percent from 2023 to 2024 the number of hit-and-run incidents involving pedestrians went up by 39 percent 11-year-old hospitalized after being hit by car while riding scooter: But the recent crashes have made her feel less safe and I have to quickly move if I feel uncomfortable or feel like someone is coming towards me and not being as cautious as they should,” said Hyde Salt Lake City resident Meri Shorter shared her concerns with what she's seen from drivers lately as well “We see a lot of traffic going by and people running stoplights “Also not stopping at a stoplight or stop sign.” FOX 13 also spoke with licensed psychologist Matthew Draper about all the different things that can go through a driver's head during a hit-and-run whether you are the one who is at fault or you were not declared at fault trauma responses are common,” said Draper. Draper said they could be under the influence He encouraged people to reach out to seek help SALT LAKE CITY (KUTV) — Utah has faced an epidemic of car crashes in recent years with this winter being particularly dangerous A string of crashes beginning in November of last year has left four pedestrians dead October through December are three of Utah’s deadliest months of the year for pedestrian car crashes these types of crashes have been exponentially on the rise since 2010 with the Government Highway Safety Association calculating the number of pedestrians killed increasing by 45 percent multiple studies seem to show that it’s not entirely the fault of the driver but it's also one that can end the life of you or your child said this year has gotten off to a bad start "We've only had three weeks this year and we've already had 12 fatalities on Utah roads two of which were pedestrians," he said 22-year-old Jacden Eckes crashed a stolen pickup truck into two people using a crosswalk on redwood road a 31-year-old man was killed in a crosswalk on 700 East during a hit and run involving a Chevy pickup truck "In the past 5 years we've had over 5,000 crashes involving pedestrians in Utah," Mettmann said The statistics have been troubling statewide there were 53 pedestrians that were killed on Utah roads," said Mettmann "That’s 53 families that don’t have a loved one sitting at their dinner table tonight But that statistic doesn’t surprise Alex Cragun and other members at Sweet Streets a group that advocates for safer infrastructure in Salt Lake City "You see all of these cars coming back and forth at a high speed of pace," said Cragun about the roadway on 700 East and 500 South where there have been multiple pedestrian involved crashes "Our streets have been built in a way that prioritizes speed." Cragun said the street design creates an unfair advantage for cars when pedestrians are the ones that are vulnerable "There's a power imbalance there If I'm going and walking across the street I'm just walking as myself And if you're a driver you're driving a vehicle that’s thousands of pounds that has a lot of force to it," he said Sweet Streets has asked Salt Lake City to change road infrastructure to allow more lighting It's all part of a plan set by Zero Vision a nationwide campaign recently adopted by Mayor Erin Mendenhall with the goal of reducing traffic fatalities by 75 percent in the next 30 years "Certainly we are going to do everything we can on the built infrastructure," said Mendenhall "That will prevent fatalities and serious accidents." The Highway of Traffic Safety Office keeps all traffic statistics for the state but they won't comment on the design of our roads they will say there is a number one cause for these crashes on our roadway systems "More than 50 percent of these crashes involve drivers crashing straight ahead and failing to yield to pedestrians when the law says its appropriate," said Mettmann "39 percent of these pedestrian crashes involve teens and kids we had 12 fatalities that were under age 8." Mettmann said "Imagine that’s your child walking to school and a driver doesn’t see them even in a crosswalk and they don’t get to come home that day." Recent laws have sided with sweet street in reducing neighborhood speed limits to 20 miles per hour but they still have more they want to fight for to make roads in Salt Lake—and Utah—safer is for UDOT and the city to come together and figure out ways to reduce or eliminate very preventable deaths," said Cragun The HSO also adds that awareness and education are two major factors in preventing more tragedies "Everyone needs to realize that it's another person in that vehicle It’s a person that is crossing the road and it’s a person you need to make eye contact with when youre crossing the road," added Mettmann Sweet Streets is currently advocating for longer timing on crosswalks They are also campaigning against the expansion of Salt Lake City's I-15 They say that with higher gas prices and more environmental awareness pedestrian traffic could increase and make a need for these changes in the years to come including a crackdown on using turn signals in turn lanes could come into effect to combat traffic fatalities in the near future According to the current status of police investigations a 28-year-old woman from Erkrath drove her Renault car along Roentgenstrasse in Erkrath coming from the direction of Schimmelbuschstrasse The Renault driver stopped at number 10 because she wanted to turn left onto the site of a car wash she noticed an oncoming car and the Harley-Davidson motorcycle of a 32-year-old from Solingen she rolled forward into oncoming traffic and collided with the Harley Davidson The motorcyclist fell to the ground as a result of the collision and was seriously injured He was taken by ambulance to a local hospital for inpatient treatment The total damage to the two vehicles involved is estimated to be in the mid four-digit range The Harley-Davidson was towed by a local company The scene of the accident remained closed for the duration of the accident recording.(tp) Follow me on my Harleysite social media channels too Essenzielle Cookies ermöglichen grundlegende Funktionen und sind für die einwandfreie Funktion der Website erforderlich Statistik Cookies erfassen Informationen anonym Diese Informationen helfen uns zu verstehen Marketing-Cookies werden von Drittanbietern oder Publishern verwendet indem sie Besucher über Websites hinweg verfolgen Inhalte von Videoplattformen und Social-Media-Plattformen werden standardmäßig blockiert Wenn Cookies von externen Medien akzeptiert werden bedarf der Zugriff auf diese Inhalte keiner manuellen Einwilligung mehr 8:56 PM | Updated: 10:50 pm BY BRIAN CARLSON SALT LAKE CITY — Right now Utah is seeing a spike in deadly crashes on the road. 31 deadly crashes since Labor Day, and 16 deaths just in the last week. State crash experts with Utah’s Zero Fatalities campaign believe it’s a trend drivers can reverse Deadly crashes, one after the other. A car hit by a train near Idaho, a head-on crash following a police chase in West Valley or Wednesday morning a driver reportedly asleep at the wheel crashed into a parked car in Salt Lake City and slammed into a woman on the sidewalk “It must’ve been going rather fast because it pushed her car more than 20 feet up over the curb,”  Heather Diana Alarming for neighbors who witness them and Utah’s Zero Fatalities campaign 16 deaths in seven days have them extremely concerned “That’s 16 funerals they need to plan Our families are missing someone at the dinner table tonight our communities truly are hurting,” Jason Mettmann Utah Highway Safety Office communications manager Mettmann said Utah’s good weather may have more drivers on the road but the problem is bad behavior behind the wheel He said the top factors for our recent deadly crashes — speeding and not staying in the right lane — which are all 100% avoidable “We see this behavior out on the roads year after year not driving alert is a choice,” Mettmann said They’re asking drivers to choose to slow down Those shaken up by our deadly crashes hope you do “It’s definitely given me second thoughts this isn’t the first accident I’ve seen at this particular spot people hitting parked cars,” Diana said State crash experts said the vast majority of these recent crashes are happening on clear So just because conditions outside look good they don’t want drivers to let their guard down Pancake/flatbread with a ‘nutty’ taste is first evidence of complex cooking and food culture If you thought Neanderthals survived on a diet of foraged berries and uncooked animal flesh Charred remnants of what appears to be the world’s oldest cooked meal ever found have been unearthed in a cave complex in northern Iraq prompting speculation that Neanderthals may have been foodies “Our findings are the first real indication of complex cooking – and thus of food culture – among Neanderthals,” said Chris Hunt, a professor of cultural paleoecology at Liverpool John Moores University Read moreThe burned food remnants – the oldest ever found – were recovered from the Shanidar Cave site a Neanderthal dwelling 500 miles north of Baghdad in the Zagros Mountains they were discovered in one of many ancient hearths in the caves View image in fullscreenThe Shanidar Caves where the remains of what is believed to be the world’s oldest flatbread were found Photograph: Chris Hunt/Liverpool John Moores University/PAThe team also used a scanning electron microscope to analyse ancient charred food fragments recovered from Franchthi Cave in southern Greece which was occupied by early modern humans about 12,000 years ago these findings suggest that Palaeolithic diets were diverse and prehistoric cooking complex involving several steps of food preparation “We present evidence for the first time of soaking and pounding pulse seeds by both Neanderthals and early modern humans (Homo sapiens) at both sites and during both phases at Shanidar Cave,” said Dr Ceren Kabukcu an archaeobotanist at the University of Liverpool “We also find evidence of ‘mixtures’ of seeds included in food items and argue that there were some unique preferences for specific plant flavours.” Free daily newsletterOur morning email breaks down the key stories of the day telling you what’s happening and why it matters The research, published in Antiquity adds to mounting evidence of plant consumption by both early modern humans and Neanderthals Wild nuts and grasses were often combined with pulses Hunt said: “Because the Neanderthals had no pots we presume that they soaked their seeds in a fold of an animal skin.” Neanderthals did not appear to hull their seeds to remove the outer coat – a process that largely eliminates bitter-tasting compounds This could suggest that they wanted to reduce but not eliminate the pulses’ natural flavours Assuming they pounded the seeds using local rocks the final product may also have been somewhat gritty I think we can understand why the Neanderthals had teeth in such a degraded state,” Hunt said show me:Student informationFaculty/Staff informationWe want to provide announcements leadership messages and resources that are relevant to you Your selection is stored in a browser cookie which you can remove at any time using “Clear all personalization” below They left their African homes and migrated into Europe 350,000 to 600,000 years ago But within about 5,000 years of our arrival the indigenous Neanderthals had disappeared Reconstructions of Homo neanderthalensis at the Neanderthal Museum in Mettmann Stanford researchers have created a mathematical model that explains Neanderthals’ extinction through competition with modern humans Anthropologists have proposed that the Neanderthals may have been done in by terrible epidemics or an inability to adapt to climate changes of the era but Stanford researchers now suggest culture wars of a sort might have spelled the end The team, led by biologist Marcus Feldman came to their conclusion after creating mathematical models that demonstrated that it wasn’t necessary for the humans to outnumber the locals in order to prevail A smaller band of humans with a more highly developed level of culture could eventually push out the Neanderthals Archeological findings have shown that brain size was essentially the same for humans and Neanderthals and recent paleo-anthropological studies suggest that Neanderthals were capable of a range of advanced intellectual behaviors typically associated with early modern humans But a more fully developed culture among humans could have led to being able to gather territory or hunt over a larger area And better tools probably meant better weapons “Presumably there was a lot of violence going on at that time,” said Feldman and Mildred Finley Wohlford Professor of in the School of Humanities and Sciences “I assume it wasn’t only constructive things done with tools A hand axe can be used for constructive purposes and destructive purposes.” the researchers concluded that a small population of humans with a high level of sophistication could have overwhelmed a larger established population of Neanderthals that had been getting by with a lower level of cultural sophistication And the rich probably got richer in some sense because a growing population of humans could support a higher level of cultural sophistication The modeling also suggests then that it was not necessarily a genetic mutation that changed the human brain and provided a leg up for humans over Neanderthals “They are presumably the last close relatives to us before humans dominated the world,” he said Feldman’s research team included William Gilpin a graduate student in applied physics at Stanford and Kenichi Aoki of the Organization for the Strategic Coordination of Research and Intellectual Properties at Meiji University in Japan He said that drawing from an interdisciplinary group of experts makes this type of work possible “One of the great things about Stanford is how easy this is to do,” he said since I did my doctorate over in the math department that interdisciplinary research has been encouraged and strongly supported by the university.” The research is published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Marcus Feldman, Biology: (650) 725-1867, mfeldman@stanford.edu Dan Stober, Stanford News Service: (650) 721-6965, dstober@stanford.edu News, insights and events delivered to your inbox each weekday morning. the inauguration of the new advice center took place in the presence of District Administrator Theo Melcher the head of the police department Jürgen Griesing and numerous guests It is now located on the premises of the former Volksbank branch at "Martinstraße 44" in Olpe It contains sufficient office space for the KP/O staff a large consultation room and an exhibition area which will be expanded on 01.01.2025 to include the space currently used as the Volksbank-SB area Further information can be found on the police crime prevention page the Mettmann district police authority checked motorcyclists during targeted traffic controls in Mettmann and Velbert the traffic service again used the so-called “ProVida” motorcycle from the Mettmann district police authority is a civilian motorcycle from the Mettmann district police authority that has been specially converted for traffic surveillance and is able to detect speeding while driving and videotape it for evidence at the well-known motorcycle hotspots on the Mettmanner Südring and in the Neandertal in Velbert the ProVida motorcyclist discovered a total of 15 violations These included six speeding violations - three of which were driven so fast on the Sürding that the drivers were all given a one-month driving ban The police also had to file three reports of unauthorized overtaking - including one against the driver of a Harley Davidson The 58-year-old from Düsseldorf had illegally overtaken several vehicles on the Südring in the direction of Ratingen thereby endangering road users coming towards him The consequences for the Harley driver: He had to pay a fine of 120 euros and also received one point in Flensburg A 58-year-old Harley Davidson driver came under the control of the motorcycle driver on Friedrich-Ebert-Straße in Velbert - but not because the Velbert man was too fast but because his motorcycle was clearly too loud: that's what the man had The silencer of his machine was modified in such a way that the noise measurement carried out on site showed a value of 113 decibels - a noise limit of 77 decibels is permitted The consequence: The Harley's operating license has expired and the man is only allowed to ride his machine again once he has shown it to an expert after it has been repaired A corresponding advertisement was also made Some people can only attract attention through their loudness if they can't score points through their motorcycle riding behavior especially the hopelessly overpriced American brands with outdated technology! it certainly doesn't have a standing noise that the motorcyclists are better than their reputation a sewing machine (any rice cooker) or an electric planer HD at least still sounds like a motorcycle some people still haven't understood the signs of the times this idiot...is actually the one who is causing us motorcyclists these “problems” idiots are largely to blame for the driving bans and noise restrictions being demanded A Mountain View Corridor sign is pictured on Wednesday BY HEATHER PETERSON WEST VALLEY CITY, Utah — Two fatal crashes in West Valley City in a month have some people questioning the safety of the Mountain View Corridor Three people died Friday night at the intersection of Mountain View Corridor and 3500 South. Before that, two people died on February 21 at the same intersection initial reports indicate the drivers ran a red light “Anytime there’s a serious or fatal crash we’re going to take a very close look to see if there’s anything we can do from an engineering standpoint to improve safety,” said John Gleason the public relations director at the Utah Department of Transportation “At the same time we need people to follow the rules of the road.” Because speeds can increase along that stretch Gleason said UDOT has added more time between phases in recent years traffic lights pause a little longer before turning green UDOT has also added more advanced red light warning signals along Mountain View Corridor Utah’s Department of Public Safety Highway Safety Office Communications Manager Jason Mettmann says they looked at data along Mountain View Corridor and found 1,200 crashes over the past five years At the 3500 South and Mountain View Corridor intersection where the most recent crashes occurred the Highway Safety Office logged seven fatalities in 15 months “Forty percent of the (drivers in) crashes that have occurred since 2019 on Mountain View Corridor have disregarded the traffic signal which means running the red light,” Mettmann said “Twenty percent shows the failure to yield the right of way and another ten percent shows failure to keep in the proper lane or running off the road.” Mettmann claims the top three contributing factors in these crashes were teen drivers that really points to driver behavior,” Mettmann said “Making sure you’re observing the signs and signals that are out there on the road giving yourself enough time and distance to make those decisions properly and making sure you put away your distractions while you’re out there on the road Gleason agrees that the best way to keep people along that stretch of road safe is by engaging in good driving practices along the entire stretch of Mountain View Corridor across Salt Lake County there were six [fatal crashes] which is not out of line with what you would see with other major roads in the western part of Salt Lake County,” Gleason said one fatality is one too many and we need to do everything that we can from an engineering standpoint to make sure that the road is as safe as it can be We also need everyone to do their part to make sure that they’re putting away distractions and not driving aggressively–making sure we all get home safely.” This website is using a security service to protect itself from online attacks The action you just performed triggered the security solution There are several actions that could trigger this block including submitting a certain word or phrase You can email the site owner to let them know you were blocked Please include what you were doing when this page came up and the Cloudflare Ray ID found at the bottom of this page Sign in Join now, it's FREE! The following message from Adam Carricato in Mettmann Germany is one of many special greetings that SooToday.com is publishing over the holidays from away-from-home Saultites If you're a former resident now living 200 or more kilometres away, SooToday.com would be delighted to post your message and photo. It's absolutely free! For details, click here. ******************** Hallo Zusammen from Mettmann Germany I am spending this year of my life in the wonderful land of Germany as a Rotary International Youth Exchange Student I am sponsored by the Rotary Club of Sault Ste I am the third child of my family to spend one year abroad I am hosted here by the Rotary Club of Mettmann which is also the name of the town I am living in It is a small town of 40,000 habitants and it is 10 kilometres just outside of the big city of Düsseldorf Düsseldorf is the home of the longest bar in the world It is located in the northwest part of Germany near the border of Netherlands and Belgium I am living here in Mettmann with a wonderful family of five studying at university and living in Mequan I will be moving to another host family of six in mid February The main reason I am here is to learn the German language to help build peace and understanding in the world being an ambassador of Canada Although a graduate from the French high school Notre-Dame-des-Grands-Lacs I am currently attending a German high school in which I participate in the Grade 11 class I spend a lot of my day learning to speak and understand the German language I have the opportunity to play ice hockey as a goaltender with the Ratingen Ice Aliens This team competes with nine others in the highest level of hockey in Germany for 16-to-20-year-olds I am a graduate of the Soo Pee Wee Hockey League I have learned that you do not realize how good you are and what people actually think of you until you leave your own community I cannot play in any higher leagues because the next highest level is the professional league where the players are paid I am well known around the rink as the Canadian I have been on a German tour for two weeks at the end of October and travel on a three-week Euro Tour in March-April touring more than eight countries surrounding Germany including all capitals and popular European cities I would like to take this opportunity to thank the Rotary Club of Sault Ste Marie and the organisation of Rotary International Youth Exchange Program Marie a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year while I am grateful for having Christmas in Germany ****************** Other 2004 holiday messages from SooToday.com readers online source for breaking news about Sault Ste Our news staff has been recognized with national and international awards and citations from entities including the Governor-General of Canada Radio-Television News Directors Association of Canada and the U.S Isn't it time you made SooToday.com your home page Just click here and we'll make sure you're never out of the loop on all the news from your hometown Dialogue and debate are integral to a free society and we welcome and encourage you to share your views on the issues of the day. We ask that you be respectful of others and their points of view, refrain from personal attacks and stay on topic. To learn about our commenting policies and how our community-based moderation works, please read our Community Guidelines Marianne Laura Houston of Laconia lost her long battle with cancer in her own home and surrounded by loving family the daughter of Josef Manderscheid and Paula Thome Manderscheid She grew up in Mettmann and attended school there and in Duesseldorf she came to the United States to visit her sister It was during that visit she met and married Everett Houston of Contoocook Marianne studied bookkeeping and classical music Though she never pursued a career in opera She also began skiing on visits to Austria she took up skiing at New Hampshire ski areas and was a fixture at Gunstock in Gilford Her favorite run was a fast trip down Recoil Marianne left her work as a bookkeeper in 1964 with the birth of her second child and devoted herself to her family she started a County Extension Group that met in the basement of her home and embarked on a career of public service on state while chairman of the National Service Council she was presented the Granite State Award for Outstanding Public Service by the University of New Hampshire they had a series of recreational vehicles and traveled and golfed extensively throughout North America with them They were able to visit every one of the continental United States Marianne parlayed her love of travel into a position as tour organizer and leader during the 1980s She even led one group to the Passion Play in Oberammergau she and her husband divided their time between their home in Laconia and Arcadia Birgit Houston of Hollis and Kurt Houston of Gilford; her daughter-in-law and Christopher Houston and Caitlin Houston of Gilford; and her sister Elisabeth Dahlhoff of Mettmann A celebration of Marianne's life will be held at the family home in July please send contributions to Community Health & Hospice Inc. Wilkinson-Beane-Simoneau-Paquette Funeral Home & Cremations Services For more information and to view an online memorial go to www.wilkinsonbeane.com "I was there when two people died." With these moving words a first aider describes his experience right at the beginning of the "Crash Course NRW" when he happened to pass an accident scene at night But for the two young people who had previously crashed their car into a tree They still had their whole lives ahead of them but in one fell swoop it was over due to the serious traffic accident He shakes the audience awake: "Nothing will happen to me anyway - you can forget it Please get out of the car if you're riding with someone after a party and have doubts about arriving home safely." Really tough." - This was the motto of the recent Crash Course NRW traffic accident prevention program with the Lippe police Around 300 young people from Detmold's secondary schools took part in the event in Detmold town hall The aim of the campaign is to sensitize them all to drive carefully at all times in order to avoid accidents young drivers in particular are regularly injured in road accidents - sometimes seriously not wearing a seatbelt or being distracted by a cell phone - in more than 50 percent of all cases these are the reasons why people die or suffer serious injuries on the roads The difficult work directly at the scene of an accident is a tough everyday job for many people: Firefighters emergency chaplains and also the people who rush to provide first aid But what goes through the mind of a firefighter who has to rescue a seriously injured person from the wreckage of an accident What goes through the mind of a police officer or emergency chaplain when they have to face parents and tell them that their beloved child has been killed in an accident In the road safety project "Crash Course NRW" which was launched by the NRW police back in 2011 and is scientifically supported by the University of Cologne all of these emergency services report to the pupils up close and unsparingly about their personal experiences at the scene of an accident and show chilling images that will be remembered forever They are all professionals in their profession know exactly what to do in such an operation and yet they are also people with their own families When someone is so badly injured that they can no longer be helped A retired police chief superintendent tells the audience that even after many years he is still very much under the impression of what happened when a young driver at the scene of an accident could no longer be saved And it is particularly close to his heart to talk about it and make young people aware of the dangers: "Take good care of yourselves and please always drive carefully Prepare yourselves sensibly for the worst-case scenario and take a first aid course." there was silence and deep consternation in the Detmold town hall Some of the young participants leave the room in dismay and cry They are looked after by counselors and police officers and are not left alone in this emotional situation The positive feedback from the young people following the event confirms exactly that. "It was very impressive to watch all these live reports on stage. It really makes you think," reported one pupil, for example. If you would like to find out more about the "Crash Course NRW" project, find out more here. If you have been involved in a serious traffic accident and are willing to tell young people about it as part of the "Crash Course NRW" please contact the Lippe police (phone: 05231 6090) We are grateful for all those who support us in this important project SEVERAL CATHOLIC priests held a ceremony blessing same-sex couples outside Cologne Cathedral on Wednesday night in a protest against the city’s conservative archbishop Their protest was triggered by Cologne church officials’ criticism of a priest from Mettmann who in March had held a “blessing ceremony for lovers” – including same-sex couples had reprimanded the priest afterward and stressed that the Vatican doesn’t allow blessings of same-sex couples The blessing of same-sex couples on Wednesday was the latest sign of rebellion of progressive believers in Germany’s most populous diocese with about 1.8 million members Several hundred people showed up for the outdoor blessing service for same-sex and also heterosexual couples they sang the Beatles hit All You Need Is Love The German government’s LGBTQ+ commissioner called the service an important symbol for the demand to recognise and accept same-sex couples in the Roman Catholic Church “It is mainly thanks to the church’s grassroots that the church is opening up more and more,” Sven Lehmann said are light years behind social reality.” Catholic believers in the Cologne archdiocese have long protested their deeply divisive archbishop and have been leaving in droves over allegations that he may have covered up clergy sexual abuse reports kept under wraps a report he commissioned on how local church officials reacted when priests were accused of sexual abuse found 75 cases in which high-ranking officials neglected their duties The report absolved Woelki of any neglect of his legal duty with respect to abuse victims He subsequently said he made mistakes in past cases involving sexual abuse allegations but insisted he had no intention of resigning Two papal envoys were dispatched to Cologne a few months later to investigate possible mistakes by senior officials in handling cases Their report led Pope Francis to give Woelki a “spiritual timeout” of several months for making major communication errors but so far Francis hasn’t acted on it Germany’s many progressive Catholics have also been at odds with the Vatican for a long time Germany’s Catholic Church launched a reform process with the country’s influential lay group to respond to the clergy sexual abuse scandals after a report in 2018 found at least 3,677 people were abused by clergy between 1946 and 2014 The report found that the crimes were systematically covered up by church leaders and that there were structural problems in the way power was exercised that “favored sexual abuse of minors or made preventing it more difficult.” has tried to put the brakes on the German church’s controversial reform process women and sexual morals will split the church just across from the hundreds of believers celebrating the blessings of same-sex couples there were also about a dozen Catholics who demonstrated against the outdoor service They held up a banner that said “Let’s stay Catholic” View the discussion thread. Especially now in the dark season, the visibility of pedestrians is often limited during the day due to twilight, fog or rain. Reflective high-visibility vests help to significantly increase the visibility of road users. Last Tuesday, November 7, 2023, an official handover ceremony took place at the Donarstraße community elementary school. On behalf of all elementary school, the 1st class and their class teacher accepted the vests. The handover of the children's warning vests was accompanied by the Head of the Traffic Directorate and the Traffic Accident Prevention Department of the Wuppertal Police Headquarters. In the following weeks, the other elementary school will also be equipped with a class set of children's warning vests by colleagues from the traffic accident prevention department. Embed on your websiteClose×Copy the code below to embed the WBUR audio player on your site<iframe width="100%" height="124" scrolling="no" frameborder="no" src="https://player.wbur.org/onpoint/2013/01/23/synthetic-biology"></iframe> EmailCreating new life and bringing back old Children watch a giant mammoth and a calf model at the Neanderthal Museum in Mettmann (AP)Synthetic biology can sound kind of bland My guest today has written about finding an “extremely adventurous” woman to give birth to a Neanderthal On Point:  synthetic biology creating new and very old life.-Tom Ashbrook George Church, professor of genetics at Harvard Medical School, and professor of health sciences and technology at Harvard and MIT. Co-author of "Regenesis: How Synthetic Biology Will Reinvent Nature and Ourselves." (@geochurch) Arthur Caplan, head of the division of bioethics at New York University Langone Medical Center in New York City. (@arthurcaplan) Jay Keasling, professor of chemical and biomolecular engineering at UC Berkeley. Director of the Synthetic Biology Engineering Research Center. (@jaykeasling) The Boston Herald "The headline flying across the Internet yesterday seemed too outlandish to be true: 'Wanted: "Adventurous woman" to give birth to Neanderthal man — Harvard professor seeks mother for cloned cave baby,' Britain’s Daily Mail exulted And Harvard University geneticist George M the scientist at the center of the viral vortex ABC News "Caplan said there's also insufficient knowledge about whether Neanderthals would be too aggressive to flourish in society or whether they would die of an extreme unforeseen allergy He compared the latter to the way Europeans accidentally killed the Native Americans by giving them small pox." Science News "Place an order with Ginkgo BioWorks and its researchers will make an organism to do whatever you want Need to suck carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere They can engineer the insides of a bacterium to do just that biologically based fuels to replace petroleum taken from the ground Company scientists will design a microbe to poop those out." https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=rD5uNAMbDaQ# the freeway police authorities in Bielefeld Cologne and Münster will receive 105 Mercedes Benz Vito vehicles A further 75 vehicles are to follow by the end of 2023 "The continuous modernization of the NRW police vehicle fleet is an ongoing task and challenge," says Thomas Roosen at the press conference to present the new vehicles for the freeway police The patrol cars are in use around the clock and offer police officers a modern and safe workplace the feel-good factor also plays a major role in the procurement of vehicles," explains the head of the LZPD NRW Sufficient space was also a wish expressed by colleagues in the field A so-called equipment carrier has been designed and installed in the trunk of the vehicles "Everything has its place and is easy to reach and use it's a bit like 'Tetris' in optimized form," says Thomas Roosen the vehicle offers a powerful engine that plays an important role for the freeway police The large-format stop signal in the rear window provides early warning of danger some vehicles are equipped with a hinged warning sign on the roof which can be extended during operation to provide warnings When colleagues tested various vehicle segments on site a patrol vehicle was procured that offers the best possible mix of outstanding driving characteristics seating and operating comfort as well as maximum payload capacity The visibility of the large vehicles alone is a clear plus the Mercedes Benz Vito is already being used as a "normal" emergency vehicle off the highways Essential digital access to quality FT journalism on any device Complete digital access to quality FT journalism with expert analysis from industry leaders Complete digital access to quality analysis and expert insights complemented with our award-winning Weekend Print edition Terms & Conditions apply Discover all the plans currently available in your country See why over a million readers pay to read the Financial Times The Neanderthal Museum in Mettmann is following research findings of recent years and will give the replica of the famous Neanderthal in Mettmann a darker complexion just in time for the museum's 25th anniversary director Bärbel Auffermann recently announced Does the history of the Neanderthal have to be rewritten Does the realistic reconstruction of the sympathetic but slightly grizzled Neanderthal by Elizabeth Daynès Blackfacing at the LVR State Museum in Bonn It has housed the bones of a 42,000-year-old Neanderthal since 1877 which has been comprehensively re-examined since 1991 as part of a multidisciplinary research project led by Ralf W Neanderthals contributed between one and four percent to the gene pool of today's Eurasians assumes that Neanderthals had a healthy facial color "If 40,000 years ago people of our type came here over several stations in a few thousand years from North Africa via the Middle East and southeastern Europe they naturally have a dark skin color," Schmitz explains the child of a first wave of emigration from Africa "The people who evolved from the Neanderthals had been in Central Europe for 600,000 years - so I'm very hesitant that these people had a dark skin color," he says "I rather assume that they adapted to Central European conditions." To the artist in charge of the reconstruction "Please make sure he looks like a Central European who's been outside all the time who has skin that's been stressed by wind and weather." What was the weather like back then It was a glacial climate with much lower average temperatures (ten degrees less) the sun shone quite strongly over the vegetation-poor steppe landscape on a summer day "I can't explain how a dark-skinned Neanderthal would come about," Schmitz says The people who reached Europe from Africa after the Neanderthals (Original text: Thomas Kliemann; Translation: Mareike Graepel) mehr Themen Mettmann (ots) Bislang noch unbekannte Täter haben in der Nacht zu Samstag (4 Juni 2022) einen in Hilden auf dem Lindenplatz abgestellten BMW ausgeschlachtet und Fahrzeugteile im Wert von mehreren Tausend Euro entwendet Die Polizei hat Ermittlungen aufgenommen und bittet um sachdienliche Hinweise von möglicherweise noch nicht bekannten Zeugen Juni 2022) hatte um kurz vor Mitternacht ein 22-jähriger Hildener seinen 3er-BMW auf dem Park-and-Ride-Parkplatz am Lindenplatz in Hilden verschlossen abgestellt Am nächsten Morgen stellten gegen 5:35 Uhr zwei Passanten fest die Frontschürze sowie mehrere Teile aus dem Motorraum entwendet worden waren woraufhin die beiden die Polizei alarmierten dass auch der Innenraum des BMW "ausgeschlachtet" worden war Hier hatten die Diebe neben dem Lenkrad und dem fest verbauten Navigationsgerät auch die kompletten Armaturen sowie den Schalthebel abgebaut und entwendet (siehe Fotos) Insgesamt beläuft sich der Schaden auf eine Summe von rund 20.000 Euro Nach dem bisherigen Stand der Ermittlungen geht die Polizei davon aus dass die Diebe die Fahrzeugteile aus dem Motorraum abgeschnitten haben Konkrete Hinweise auf Tatverdächtige haben sich im Laufe der bisherigen Ermittlungen jedoch noch keine ergeben Wer hat in der Nacht von Freitag auf Samstag im Bereich des Lindenplatzes verdächtige Personen oder Fahrzeuge beobachtet dass die Diebe mit einem größeren Fahrzeug oder Transporter unterwegs gewesen sein müssen um die abmontierten Teile abzutransportieren Sachdienliche Hinweise von möglicherweise noch nicht bekannten Zeugen nimmt die Polizei in Hilden jederzeit unter der Rufnummer 02103 898-6410 entgegen Rückfragen von Medienvertretern/Journalisten bitte an: