The athletic young infielder stands out for his defense While the Detroit Tigers have finally started to see a bit of progress with international free agents there still isn’t that much to write home about Wenceel Pérez and Keider Montero made pretty good first impressions in 2024 and Josue Bricéno is one of the fastest rising power-hitting prospects in the game we may have to wait on infielder Franyerber Montilla for an everyday starting player acquired through the international free agent system The 19-year-old out of the Dominican Republic is far from a sure thing at this point he’s already a slick fielding defender with the tools to eventually stick at shortstop at the major league level Montilla shows a really good eye for the strike zone and some sneaky power that should grow as he fills out to go with his switch-hitting ability He brings another element with the speed to steal a good amount of bases Combine those in a switch-hitter who so far has been pretty good from both sides of the plate Montilla had an excellent season playing in the Dominican as an 18-year-old In a player who has the athleticism to play in the middle infield He followed it up by coming stateside last spring and tearing up the Complex Leagues after turning 19 and was living on base and stealing almost at will against inexperienced rookie level pitchers and catchers The Tigers moved Montilla to Low-A in August On the plus side he continued to walk a ton That eye for the zone and overall disciplined approach is quite impressive and gives him a decent floor as a hitter He’s a pesky at-bat with the ability to do some damage already considering that he posted a whopping 33.3 percent line drive rate with a BABIP of just .158 It was also just a 20 game look and doesn’t mean that much yet but it did expose some issues he’ll have to address The reedy infielder stands six-feet exactly and is listed at 160 pounds but there’s quite a bit of projection left for him to get stronger but his swing is definitely geared toward driving low pitches and he does need to develop better plate coverage and more raw power some of that patience looked more like passivity at times in Lakeland opposing pitchers had him watching as more strikes were poured in with less mistakes He settled in after some rough games early on and was better in September and in the postseason where he was a presence in all phases of his game playing with quickness and flair and showing off all the tools you want to see He has the usual fundamentals to keep improving on but he has the talent to eventually play plus shortstop He’s still getting reps at second and even dabbling at third base Montilla has a strong arm and throws well from multiple angles Measuring his throws a little better and developing his footwork will keep him on the shortstop development track It won’t be a surprise if he and Bryce Rainer are sharing some time in Lakeland at shortstop this season but it’s not an indictment on either’s defensive abilities Montilla should start the season back at Low-A Lakeland and will probably get plenty of run there before advancing to West Michigan sometime this summer You’d love to see some more power and better plate coverage in 2025 so he’s still young but this season is a big one in terms of showing some strength gains and handling the high fastball better in particular Montilla has enough present tools to have a good chance of hitting his likeliest outcome as a versatile light-hitting utility infielder in the end But he’s young and projectible enough to hope for more He has the look of a future good defensive shortstop who gets on base If he can translate his hard contact into more power as he fills out but Franyerber Montilla is talented and he’s just getting started Incumbent Leon County District 4 Commissioner Brian Welch and local business owner and challenger Isaac Montilla both participated in a candidate forum Tuesday and the League of Women Voters of Tallahassee Here’s four of the most pressing issues the men discussed You can watch the full video of the hour-long forum here: But both said their party affiliation doesn’t impact their ability to govern collaboratively at a local level “The sidewalks and the parks don't care what your political ideology is when you're trying to build them or repair them or fix them Welch received support from local progressives and Montilla has been endorsed by local Republicans this time around “I have no affiliation with the progressives that I was elected by a progressive movement I was elected by 22,000 voters in district four Montilla embraced being supported by the local Republican Party “There's nothing else to take other than the fact that they're backing me I'm the only conservative running in this election and just having a voice for the party and to be able to bridge the gap within our communities and working together to see us move forward in a positive way,” he said The two men have different opinions about whether Blueprint Intergovernmental Agency has been effective Blueprint funds infrastructure and economic development projects through a one-cent sales tax agreed to by members of the community like $27 million in funding to Doak Campbell stadium renovations and the current airport gateway Welch said he believes Blueprint is a positive for Leon County “I think it's unquestionable that Blueprint has been a success local governments don't have the money for capital outlay anymore to provide infrastructure so local option sales taxes have become the mechanism by which we build roads and bridges and parks and quality of life improvements,” he said doesn’t think Blueprint has done enough for those in District 4 the Northeast portion of Leon County that the two are competing to represent it’s not being effective in our side of town And we got a lot of problems in District Four So how do we work together to help us move forward As for the controversial funding for Florida State University’s football stadium “Did I think those investments are worthwhile should that investment be borne by taxpayers I offered a ten million compromise to FSU that was turned down in the meeting and I offer a $15 million compromise to FSU that was turned down,” he said Montilla said the funding supporting the stadium was good for him as a local business owner but he’s split on whether he would have supported it if he had the chance to vote on it as an elected official One of the most hotly debated projects for District 4 was Blueprints funding for a Northeast Park. Welch advocated for it but the project was scaled back from its original scale for cost-saving reasons “I've tried to maintain the integrity of all the Blueprint projects the Northeast Park just happened to be at the wrong place at the wrong time It really has nothing to do with anything other than that,” he said Montilla was critical of the tone Welch took with some of his colleagues during the negotiations “I think that for the average district 4 constituent that works and is always busy is not paying attention to what happens behind closed doors the way that it was done was not done cordially,” he said The Florida Legislature passed a law last session that makes local governments liable if they allow people to sleep in streets The candidates were asked for their thoughts on that law and local homelessness issues In 2022, Welch unsuccessfully pushed for a local ordinance that would have banned public sleeping in local areas He said the law plays undue pressure on local governments but he stood by his support for the failed ordinance “I feel like we need to create a standard of living that is acceptable We need to sort of put a line in the sand and say ‘We're not going to let you sleep on the sidewalk because we love you more than that.’ And until we have the willingness to do that we're going to continue to see those problems,” he said Montilla said it’s important for the county to continue to look to other areas for solutions on how to deal with homelessness learn what's working that can help us be move forward move forward quicker in the most responsible but we got to see results from it,” he said Leon County commission candidate challenger Isaac Montilla says change is needed in District 4 of Leon County and he believes he is the man for the job believes his opponent has had a lack of presence in the community which he hopes to fill "I think the greatest opportunity right now (for the district) is presence somebody that actually understands what's going on in our community a business owner who has a pulse in the community," said Montilla Welch believes his record speaks for itself and should be enough to prove to voters why he deserves a second term "I feel like my record reflects a very reasonable and moderate approach to governing public policy," said Welch I think I've accomplished more than most in (one term)." This fight for the District 4 commission seat comes four years after Welch knocked out longtime Republican incumbent Bryan Desloge in a stunning upset in which Welch won 56.8% to 43.1% in what's generally considered to be Leon County's lone conservative bastion One of the most expensive races in the countyMontilla is running on three pillars: Accountability responsible growth and wanting to see a stronger community who has worked as a social studies teacher for the past 18 years at Chiles High school Amidst the contentious city commission races with Commissioner Curtis Richardson and his opponent Dot Inman-Johnson heading to a runoff in November county commission races have taken a backseat but things have been heating up between the two local candidates Between the two opponents they have managed to raise over $337,000 in campaign donations making it the most expensive race in Leon County Montilla has been critical of the donations Welch has accepted but both campaigns have accepted sums of money from businesses big and small in the area as well as donations from local names even Montilla donated $200 to Welch's campaign for 2024 before having the money refunded When asked about this at a recent forum hosted by the Network of Entrepreneurs and Business Advocates (NEBA) Montilla said he didn't "realize everything that was going on" and claimed Welch was "not delivering." they've been rather sparse for Montilla as many local groups such as the Big Bend and Tallahassee Police Benevolent Association have been backing the incumbent Another special endorsement Welch managed to snag was from none other than Leon County Sheriff Walt McNeil whose only other endorsement was given to state Rep Arianna Otero is the City Solutions Reporter for the Tallahassee Democrat. Contact her via email at AOtero@tallahassee.com or on Twitter/X: @ari_v_otero You are using an outdated browser. Upgrade your browser today or install Google Chrome Frame to better experience this site It is with heavy hearts that we announce the passing of our beloved husband Salvatore Montilla.Devoted and loving husband of 60 years to Carmela (Turquasio) Loving brother to Antonio (Bernice) and Luigi Dearest brother in law to Felicia Montilla Proud “Uncle Sam” to many nieces and nephews Reunited with his parents Vincenzo and Grazia Montilla Giuseppe Montilla and his beloved dog Chico He immigrated to Canada with his wife and young daughter He worked as a brick layer with Cand R Masonry and Rosati Construction for many years He was a dedicated family man who enjoyed his garden but most importantly his grandchildren.  Visitation will be at Windsor Chapel Funeral Home (South Chapel) 2024 from 9am to the time of procession at 12:15pm to Our Lady of Mount Carmel (4401 Mount Royal Drive) for the Mass of Christian Burial at 1pm Online condolences may be shared with the family at www.windsorchapel.com Get Directions Central Chapel | (519) 253-72341700 Tecumseh Rd Banwell Chapel | (519) 253-723511677 Tecumseh Rd South Chapel | (519) 253-72363048 Dougall Avenue Proudly Canadian | Owned & Operated by Arbor Memorial Inc « Back Sign in Join now, it's FREE! Try searching for your content, or return to the homepage. who fought in the ranks of the Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU) to nine years in a maximum-security penal colony on charges of mercenarism Montilla was captured by Russian forces in June 2024 The Insider has confirmed that this marks the first actual conviction of a Colombian national for involvement with the AFU. Previously, the “Supreme Court of the DPR” had only issued a sentence in absentia — to Colombian citizen Luis Alberto Serón Cabezas Miguel Ángel Cárdenas Montilla previously served in Colombia’s anti-narcotics police unit and later worked in the private security sector. In the spring of 2024, he signed a contract with the Ukrainian army. The human rights NGO Memorial notes that he was initially expected to serve in the International Legion; however Montilla ended up in the 59th Separate Assault Brigade along with a group of nine other Colombian nationals Montilla surrendered during combat — his unit was defending a position in a house in Krasnohorivka He was the sole survivor among the ten Colombians At least three other Colombian nationals — Alexander Ante and Pablo Puentes Boórquez — are currently in Russian captivity awaiting sentencing Pablo Puentes Boorjes was captured in Russia's Kursk Region. He faces charges not only of mercenarism, but also for committing a “terrorist act” — similar to other AFU servicemen captured in the Kursk border area According to the Investigative Committee of Russia, as of January 2025, criminal cases have been opened against 845 foreign nationals from 55 countries for serving in the Ukrainian military 589 have been declared internationally wanted by Russia Memorial recognizes the foreign servicemen of the AFU prosecuted under the “mercenarism” statute as political prisoners All of them served in official Ukrainian army units and therefore do not meet the legal definition of mercenaries — a definition established under Additional Protocol I to the Geneva Conventions of August 12 which has been ratified by both Ukraine and Russia We really need your help! Subscribe to donations! Сделано в Charmer устарел и не позволяет корректно отображать сайт (WOLF) — Two men have been arrested after shots were reported fired in Hazleton Hazleton police said Maiqui Montilla-Diaz and Fransisco Montilla were charged with propulsion of missiles unlicensed firearm possession and related offenses after officers responded to gunshots in the area of 18th and Grant Streets on March 7 around 2:40 p.m officers saw a vehicle flee the area and a pursuit was initiated two parked and unattended vehicles that were struck as well as two residences that were struck both men were arraigned on their charges and lodged in the Luzerne County Correctional Facility on $50,000 straight bail each College Baseball, MLB Draft, Prospects – Baseball America Returning to the Venezuelan capital of Caracas to round out their 2022 international signing period, the Tigers found the intellect and athleticism of shortstop Franyerber Montilla too difficult to pass on Detroit signed the switch-hitter for $500,000 and assigned him to the Dominican Summer League This also allowed the Tigers the opportunity to dive deeper into the profile that first caught their attention “His ability to play shortstop has really stood out,” Tigers vice president of player development Ryan Garko said his angles to balls—all of the traits we’d hope to see from a young player are very evident when he plays.” The 19-year-old Montilla advanced to the Florida Complex League this season “(Montilla) is a very good baserunner who impacts the game every time he gets on base,” Garko said But his ability to impact a game without the bat in his hand has been just as impressive “The most impressive thing we have seen from Franyerber has been his high baseball IQ.” Garko lauded Montilla’s advanced approach at the plate and at-bat quality while saying of his defense that “he is able to slow the game down and make difficult plays look quite routine.” Montilla hit .321/.450/.518 with four home runs and 15 stolen bases He played shortstop primarily but also appeared regularly at second base and third base “Montilla right now is profiling as a very complete player,” Garko said The hit tool from both sides is advanced for his age and he is showing power that we hope he will continue to unlock as he gets stronger.” we talk about names to know in the upcoming Top 100 Prospects update crown jewel of the 2024 international free agent class tops the Hot Sheet after slashing .533/.667/.867 last week Presenting 10 Statcast standouts from the past week of minor league action led by arguably the top pitching prospect in the game 1 team in the College Baseball Top 25 rankings after another wild weekend Cooper are taking a look at basement dwellers in the AL and NL BA college writers Jacob Rudner & Peter Flaherty break Chris Lemonis’ surprise firing at Mississippi State and lots more Geoff Pontes & Dylan White highlight prospects who could be playing themselves into the Fantasy Top 100 we talk about Shedeur Sanders’ NFL Draft slide and why it wouldn’t happen in the MLB Draft Ben and Carlos talk about Red Sox and Yankees pitchers with physicality and stuff who are off to hot starts in 2025 On this week’s episode of the Baseball America Draft Podcast Carlos and Peter hop on to briefly talk about their relationship to the NFL draft… Read the newest magazine issue right on your phone 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 Leon County Commissioner Brian Welch and opponent Dr Isaac Montilla debated several issues facing District 4 in a recent candidate forum The District 4 race is one of two county commission races that will be on the ballot in November Montilla is a local chiropractor and entrepreneur and has built his campaign on three pillars: Accountability has worked as a social studies teacher at Chiles High School for the past 18 years and says that his record “speaks for itself.”  The forum was part of the ongoing candidate forums between the Tallahassee Democrat, WFSU and the League of Women Voters of Tallahassee ahead of the November general election.  The two candidates talked about key issues affecting the county: affordable housing But the two butted heads on the new Northeast Park and discussions of politics Welch said he made northeast park a reality; Montilla said area 'lost money'The Northeast Park broke ground last week on 50 acres off Centerville Road near Montford Middle and Roberts Elementary schools The park was the center of contentious debate last year between the 12 members of the Blueprint Intergovernmental Agency Board The board ended up agreeing on a scaled back version of the proposed park The park concept approved by the IA includes two full-sized lighted baseball/softball fields Despite the project being scaled back from $18 million to $12 million Welch still believes the park getting as far as groundbreaking so quickly is a testament to his hard work and Blueprint investment in northeast Tallahassee “There was some disagreement about the budget of the park (but) we were able to land the plane,” Welch said I really can’t understate the significance of what a big accomplishment that is.”  Montilla said he was excited for the park but still had gripes with the choices made What happens in the city and how politicians .. Montilla also suggested the park be named the "Bryan Desloge Park" in honor of the long serving District 4 commissioner who was beaten by Welch in 2020.  knocked out longtime Republican incumbent Desloge in a stunning upset that Welch won 57%-43% in what’s generally considered to be Leon County’s lone conservative bastion Welch faces another Republican in Montilla but they haven’t always been part of their respective political parties Welch was a Republican as recently as 2014 while Montilla was a Democrat as recently as 2022; but both candidates feel that partisan politics do not matter in this race “I tell people all the time I don’t care about party ideology .. He also pushed back against the district being considered conservative: “It has a very small Republican registered voter advantage but it also has 10,000 (non-party affiliated) voters so Montilla explained his party change by explaining how he was “raised in a Democratic home” but switched parties when he registered to vote Even with both candidates saying that politics doesn’t matter Welch was endorsed by the Leon County Democratic Party while Montilla received an endorsement from the Republican party "I'm the only conservative running in this election and just having a voice for the party and being able to bridge the gap within our communities and working together to see us move forward," Montilla said of the endorsement Montilla said he would be voting for former President Donald Trump at the top of the ballot because he will "lead us in a positive way forward .. Welch explicitly said he would not be voting for Trump "I am very likely to vote for Vice President (Kamala) Harris but I am like a lot of people not decided on that yet," he said noting the "concerning level of vitriol at the national level." Differences on budgetary methods In September the county commission voted unanimously to approve their $377.9 million budget Welch was quick to explain the reason for such a large budget saying “over half of that budget goes to the sheriff’s office as well as to our other constitutional offices.”  “We have one of the lowest employee-to-citizen ratios of any like size county in the state of Florida,” Welch continued “I think we do an outstanding job at Leon County with how we steward our resources.”  Montilla has critiques on the budget saying that he thinks “there’s an opportunity to budget better,” but did not provide specifics on how the county could do so the county voted to keep their property tax the same which is set to bring the county $19 million in extra revenue Despite there not being a change in the tax rate for county residents Florida law qualifies the 10% increase in property values as a tax increase “We are growing an economy every time we build a new house that adds .. we are sensitive to rising tax rolls,” Welch said but he did not hold back on his thoughts regarding the state’s definition “I think that that definition by the Florida Legislature is just patently ridiculous,” Welch said their revenues have gone up year over year for 25 to 30 years.”  Included in the county’s 2025 budget is a 5% across-the-board pay increase for all county employees even the county administrator and county attorney Montilla weighed in on the topic as a business owner who has given raises out due to merit Welch voted against the across-the-board raises believing that “after two years of doing 5% across-the-board pay raises that given the increase in our revenues that we needed to do that,” Welch said “That was one piece of discretionary option in the budget that I felt was inappropriate.”  (This story has been updated with additional context from the forum.) and notes from around the Detroit Tigers’ farm system for Tuesday A pretty brutal night for the Mud Hens pitching staff made for a tough homecoming catcher Tomas Nido was called up to Detroit in place of Jake Rogers Whether that factor played into the outcome at all is hard to say and reliever Ryan Miller took the brunt of the punishment and Lockhart was uncharacteristically sloppy in terms of command Lockhart hit Christian Franklin to start the game and then the pair performed a double steal The throw to third got away from Hao-Yu Lee at third and Franklin scored but Lee recovered to cut down Ballesteros at the plate and it looked like he might escape the early trouble but he walked Ben Cowles and James Triantos singled Another walk to Kevin Alcantara loaded the bases with some uncharacteristic wildness from Lockhart A first pitch fastball over the middle got crushed for a grand slam by Carlos Perez A walk and a wild pitch put the Cubs leadoff man on in the second and he scored on a double and Miller took over only to give up a Ballesteros double and a Jonathon Long home run and the Hens had managed just two baserunners against starter RHP Chris Flexen Jace Jung led off the bottom of the fourth with a double Another MLB veteran in the form of very large left-hander Luke Little took over to wrap up the sixth and seventh for the Cubs Miller would give up another run in the sixth before his nightmarish outing was over Hao-Yu Lee and Jahmai Jones are struggling but it’s pretty much the Jace Jung show offensively The lineup is fairly hollowed out until the Tigers get healthy and Lee settles in Bligh Madris singled with two outs and took second base on defensive indifference Probably everyone on both sides was indifferent by this point Eliezer Alfonzo singled in Madris to get the Hens on the board The sidearmer struck out four of the six hitters he faced on swinging third strikes he also allowed a Franklin single and a Ballesteros triple that made it 14-1 in the eighth Jason Foley allowed a single and no more in the ninth The SeaWolves headed out to tackle the Chesapeake Baysox after crushing the Harrisburg Senators in a three-game sweep to start the season Things went less well for them on the road The racked up seven hits and seven walks in this one but couldn’t quite come up with the big hits late as the Baysox fought off a SeaWolves’ charge in the middle innings After allowing a one-out single and double in the bottom of the first shortstop Jim Jarvis bailed him out on a ground ball by firing it home to Thayron Liranzo to cut down the lead runner at the plate The SeaWolves weren’t doing much at the plate A single that Justice Bigbie turned into a double with an error on third and he scored on a Jeremiah Jackson single Jackson too came around to score on a sacrifice bunt and then a single Roberto Campos singled off the Baysox pitcher with one out and then took second base on a throwing error Jarvis walked and Ben Malgeri singled to center field to plate Campos Trei Cruz followed with a single to load the bases but Max Anderson and Liranzo failed to bring another run across Bigbie was hit by a pitch and Jake Holton smacked his first homer of the season to take a 3-2 SeaWolves lead It was a real missile at 112 mph off the bat and Campos walked before getting forced at second on a Malgeri ground ball Malgeri then stole second base and Trei Cruz walked to load them up again for Anderson The Baysox went back to their pen and brought in Dylan Coleman but struck out Liranzo to strand the bases loaded Jake Holton breaks out of his 0-for-10 start with a 112 MPH blast to centerfield. 3-2 Erie in the top of 6th. pic.twitter.com/FL0jhLsLMS Jim Jarvis with a 101 MPH single to right center. He has now hit safely in each game he has played. pic.twitter.com/BHyJiq2I44 but he surrendered a pair of runs in the bottom of the sixth that tied the game The SeaWolves started to answer right back in the seventh as Bigbie led off with a single and Holton walked but Meyers lined into an unassisted double play and then Holton was caught trying to steal second Dylan Smith coughed up the go-ahead run to the Baysox in the seventh a one-out single from Jarvis was followed by Malgeri smoking a drive right to the Baysox shortstop for an easy double play Smith settled in to strike out the side in the eighth but the SeaWolves went in order as Liranzo struck out for the third time in the game to end it ET start set for Wednesday night as these two clubs match up in the second of six The Whitecaps put together a late rally in this one but fell just short on Tuesday night Three walks and an infield single from Max Clark put the ‘Caps up 1-0 after the top of the second inning RHP Carlos Marcano got the start and the young sinkerballer struggled against the Captains He surrendered a pair of runs in the bottom of the second Jordan Marks took over in that inning but allowed two runs of his own The Whitecaps missed some chances to score along the way Seth Stephenson singled and stole second base to open the fifth inning as was Brett Callahan after a two-out single in the sixth The ‘Caps offense racked up nine hits and five walks they just didn’t sequence them together well Jack Penney walked with two outs and Andrew Jenkins drilled a home run to right field to make it a 6-3 game First hit and home run for Andrew Jenkins on this opposite field HR. pic.twitter.com/9mAI22bx3S but Stephenson and Briceño singled to load the bases The latter’s line drive was too hot to run on and so Lee had to wait to see if it might be caught John Peck and Izaac Pacheco struck out to end it We’ve been looking for a more detailed report on Kevin McGonigle’s ankle injury but so far no details have been made available Franyerber Montilla smacked a two-run homer as part of a five-run surge from the Flying Tigers in the sixth inning to win their home opener over St The 21-year-old showed a solid 94 mph fastball and a decent slider-changeup combination but didn’t miss many bats in this one Woody Hadeen was at shortstop in this one with Bryce Rainer still out Hadeen staked Sales to a small lead in the bottom of the first when he led off by reaching on an error An Akil Baddoo ground out moved Hadeen to second and he stole third before scoring on a Carson Rucker grounder that went for an error Sales allowed ja pair of singles and was filling up the strike zone pretty well In the fourth he was running out of gas and his velocity dipped A series of soft singles followed and led to three runs for the Mets Ignacio Briceno took over in the fifth and pitched into the seventh without allowing a run but finally in the sixth they seized control of the game Hadeen was hit by a pitch to start the bottom half of the inning but Baddoo was able to score from third on Fana’s grounder to tie the game 3-3 Montilla was up next and he got a 95.6 mph fastball down the middle first pitch and didn’t miss it he cracked a 104 mph drive that cleared the wall in right field for a two-run shot Garrett Pennington followed Montilla with a double and scored later on an Enderson Delgado single to make it 6-3 Lakeland Franyerber Montilla’s first hit of the year is a 2-run homer that gives Lakeland a 5-3 lead. Left his bat at 104 MPH and went 350 feet. pic.twitter.com/mgroJjHL5l Briceno got into some trouble with walks as his relief appearance wound down Moises Rodriguez took over for Lakeland and got a ground out to turn away a two-out Rodriguez allowed a single the next inning but then struck out three to turn them away once again Jackson Strong doubled in the bottom of the eighth but otherwise the Flying Tigers offense quieted down Shay Timmer pitched through some traffic in the ninth and allowed a run Jackson Strong rips a double into the right corner. pic.twitter.com/wpBtPT18Lz We’ll hope to see Tigers 2024 second rounder Owen Hall make his debut in one of the next few games but they aren’t announcing starters in advance in Lakeland The Leon County Commission will look the same for the next two years: incumbent Commissioners Brian Welch and Carolyn Cummings easily vanquished their opposition Tuesday night a social studies teacher at Chiles High School according to the Leon County Supervisor of Elections Montilla ran as a Republican for the commission seat knocked out longtime Republican incumbent Bryan Desloge in a stunning upset Welch won that race 57% to 43% in what's generally considered to be Leon County's lone conservative bastion At his home in northeast Tallahassee surrounded by family and friends Welch said the community support was humbling and he is looking forward to the next four years "We've been doing good work and I think the folks in northeast Tallahassee have told us they appreciate .. "All I care about is good policy and serving the community that has given me the privilege to represent them." Montilla did not respond for a request for comment Welch's campaign theme had been leaning on his record as commissioner for the last four years, even putting out an ad on social media describing how "boring" he was being a regular guy as opposed to the usual politician Located just south of Roberts Elementary and Montford Middle the recreational space will serve those schools by featuring several amenities: two full-sized baseball fields that will double for softball four pickleball courts and several other amenities The race also brought about a discussion of party politics within the capital county: Montilla was the only Republican running for local office in Leon County Northeast Leon County is the lone Republican-majority district in the county and has voted for Republicans until Welch's victory in 2020 it means a Democrat again found favor from the district's conservative base He is on track to be the next the county commission chair – and chair of the Blueprint Intergovernmental Agency board besting opponent David Hawkins in a landslide Cummings was first elected in 2020 and currently serves as commission chair She also is an attorney and is a member of the Leon County Children's Services Council "I just feel humbled by the overwhelming support .. that I have received," Cummings said Tuesday what we're doing is resonating really with the voters so we've just got to continue to do what we can." She added: "We've got some issues with home affordable housing," Cummings said "We've got to continue to address those (issues) and alleviate some of the struggling that those particular individuals are experiencing." Hawkins works as a manager for the Florida Department of Revenue and has run for several different county commission seats in the past © 2025 ALLCITY Network Inc. All rights reserved. Doris Montilla Unsod, beloved mother, grandmother, sister, aunt, and friend, passed away on December 2, 2024, in Lodi, California, just shy of her 78th birthday.  Born in Stockton, California on December 6, 1946, Doris resided in both Stockton and Manteca.    Doris' parents were one of the founding families of the Filipino Center Plaza, which sparked her  passion for community  advocacy.  She served as the president of the Associated Filipino Organization (AFO)  of San Joaquin County. She served proudly and it was, in fact, the fabric of her existence. Her commitment to service extended to her past position on the board of the California Human Development Corporation and the Stockton Fil-Am Lions Club.    In her quieter moments, Doris loved reading and spending time with her sister, her children, and her grandchildren, attending their sporting events, sharing in their milestones, and nurturing those relationships with love. She also loved traveling to the beaches along the California Coast and abroad with family and friends.    Doris will be deeply missed by her family and friends, who will remember her for her strength, kindness, dedication, and the love she shared so generously. In lieu of flowers, please make a donation to your local food bank.    P.L. Fry and Son is honored to be serving the Unsod family. A Memorial will be on Friday, January 10, 2025 at 10:00 a.m. held at P.L. Fry and Son Chapel, 290 N. Union Rd., Manteca, Ca. For direct condolences to the family or to watch the memorial live visit Your Ads Privacy ChoicesIMDb we may receive compensation from retailers and/or from purchases of products through these links Antonio Montilla isn’t scared of ghosts “I’m intrigued by strange things,” admits the Spanish-born London-based architect and furniture designer who put his spooky side on show last year when scouting around for a pied-à-terre in Marbella “The estate agent called it the ‘Horror House,’” he says of his current abode “Apparently no one would spend longer than five minutes inside.” So obviously The longer-than-five-minute search paid off because it gave him time to recognize that the 860-square-foot property was It was located in a charming 1980s complex and was surrounded by lush vegetation and huge lakes The arched doorways and exposed plaster walls in the living room are inspired by vernacular Andalusian architecture but it fulfilled his mind more than his heart “I felt like I needed a place [back home] where I could safely leave a piece of myself behind,” he reflects “Why buy anything when you can make everything?” “I wanted to create a Mediterranean look with a twist,” says Antonio of the entrance which he enlivened with arches and a black-and-white microquartz mosaic that runs across the floor and walls pops of green and crimson—his brand colors—and floors and walls mosaicked in Italian microquartz “I saw the mosaic idea in a little apartment in Venice and fell so in love with it that I knew I had to replicate it,” he says He used tile wherever he could in other equally unconventional ways where he created an entire headboard wall of honey-toned zellige tile; and in the bathrooms “I loved tile even before it became trendy and I always look for ways to use it in odd spaces,” he explains A monolithic screen in the living room offers glimmers of the landscape beyond “The idea was to blend the indoors and outdoors I’m very lucky to have such beautiful views,” says Antonio Of all the spaces Antonio wanted to bring alive so I demolished all the ceilings and opened it up to the sea views,” he avers “My favorite part of the house is the outdoor dining space Being able to enjoy a meal with family and friends amidst such beautiful views is the ultimate luxury you can see as far as Africa,” says Antonio I relied much more on bringing in function through permanent elements Seventy percent of things here are built-in—including the sofa and kitchen—which meant I had to be a hundred percent sure about the layout and flow because these are things you can’t change easily.” A honey-toned headboard of zellige tile is the crown jewel of the primary suite. Cushions from Montilla and half-moon lights picked up from a flea market in Puerto Banus add pizzazz to the otherwise pared-back setting “I wanted the bedroom to be a calming sanctum,” Antonio says of the primary suite which he subdued with off-white walls and microquartz flooring because the monolithic look helped emphasize his furniture collection and almost everything that is not built-in is designed by me and made with love at my family’s workshop in Lucena,” he shares The home may be the life showroom he always wanted looks a little different from what he originally imagined “The wonderful thing about such projects is that the vision develops as you go along integrating built-in shelves above the bed and emblazoning the space underneath with beautiful zellige tile A broad arched doorway separates the guest bedroom from the living room beyond even the bathroom looks like it could have emerged from the earth Sign up for our daily newsletter to get the best of design in your inbox 28 Early Prime Day Deals Under $100 (2024) to Shop Right Now A 400-Square-Foot German Lakeside Home Has a Surprisingly Bold Interior These Shiny Pink Sheets Are Living in My Head Rent-Free This 594-Square-Foot Apartment in Silver Lake Is a Modernist Jewel An “Underwater Bathroom” Is Just the Beginning of This Whacky LA Home Designers Are Divided on These 4 Controversial Home Decor Trends Not a subscriber? Join AD for print and digital access now. Lynette Ortiz grasping at straws? Dennis Uy turns (again) to Cebu property developer to cover P1.4B Landbank loan as PHR cash troubles deepen The road to recovery: Mike Arroyo to return to the Philippines after successful treatment Loan scam warning: BSP disowns links to UNA Financing Three years running: Dennis Uy’s DITO continues to rule as Philippines’ top mobile network – Ookla Consumer group urges Marcos to order audit of Meralco’s books from 2005 to 2024 amid rising power costs Legal clouds clear: With Sobrepeña out, Camp John Hay attracts P248M in new investments The soul of Senigallia: Where land, sea, and flavor unite at Uliassi Mozart chocolate row leaves bitter taste in Austria Cat sole survivor of 115-meter fall in US canyon Katinko maker opens PH’s first pharma ecozone in Tarlac; 13 firms sign on Dizon says old system broken: DOTr to tighten road safety measures, limit bus driving hours after fatal crashes Scottie Scheffler finishes Byron Nelson -31 for first win of ’25 The Zobel-led AyalaLand Logistics Holdings Corp (ALLHC) has named veteran engineer Emilio Lolito “Lilit” Tumbocon and corporate law expert Agustin R a former senior vice president at Ayala Land Inc. brings 37 years of experience in construction and property development He currently holds key roles at the Construction Industry Arbitration Commission and Cebu Holdings and has completed executive programs at Stanford and the University of Virginia is a recognized authority in securities and corporate law he has advised on landmark deals including the Pilipinas Telephone Corp debt restructuring and the cross-border sale of eTelecare Global Solutions Elevate your understanding of the Philippine business landscape and gain insights into worldwide markets by subscribing to our dedicated channels and exclusive interviews with industry leaders directly on Viber Stay informed and empowered with our Email Newsletter delivering curated content right to your inbox Don’t miss out on crucial updates and trends shaping economies and businesses both locally and internationally Join Bilyonaryo’s community today by clicking the button below to subscribe and stay ahead in the dynamic world of business — It was 97 degrees on TigerTown’s Gehringer Field with forecasts of 100 for the next three days in Lakeland Franyerber Montilla was unbothered as he took a postgame breather Friday switch-hitting shortstop/infielder batting .325 in 21 games for the FCL Tigers with a gaudy .465 on-base percentage and .507 slugging average 1 story in June on those back fields at TigerTown where Florida Complex League games are played in Florida’s mid-day furnace He hits the ball hard (home run and a single Saturday at Tampa against the Yankees FCL squad) The Tigers rather like this teen from Caracas every game,” Tigers FCL manager Salvador Paniagua said And I think he’s swinging at good pitches all the time.” with bigger-body formation ahead and who already weighs a marvelously sculpted 185 pounds stick at shortstop in an organization that’s done everything but hit Indeed.com seeking a franchise-friendly fixture at short but in the tenor of a Tigers organization that virtually mandates its players be useable elsewhere he works also at third base and second base I don’t see anything different,” Paniagua said speaking of Montilla’s fleet feet and big arm and how they’ve shifted seamlessly elsewhere — with zero errors in 21 games “He’s been great at all the positions for us as in last season in the Dominican Summer League when in 31 games he batted .280/.394/.439/.833 Tigers translator Jose Sajour assisted Friday during a postgame Montilla quizzing: ▶  Montilla (“Monti” is his nickname) is content at any infield position although he is “more comfortable” at shortstop which as it ages and becomes more muscled and heavier could seemingly push him to third base Montilla says he “likes to play shortstop so much he’s trying to stay as light as possible.” Sajour said: “He has a very disciplined diet but even if it means he plays first base or any position — he has to be athletic enough.” ▶  As for preferences batting right-handed or left-handed (his OPS splits are .955 1.117 right-handed):  Montilla is naturally right-handed but says it makes zero difference — he loves hitting ▶  His strike-zone judgment is an obvious early trait with those 19 walks matched by 19 strikeouts As for what gratifies him most — walking or stealing — Montilla says it’s walks “Because it is a battle between the pitcher and hitter “I’m not saying stolen bases aren’t important Also: Montilla says an added bonus from taking those walks is that while he can’t control what the pitcher tosses he can be the decider on whether to chase a pitch to Marchant Stadium/Publix Field and to a place on the low-A Lakeland Flying Tigers roster probably will opt for Montilla sticking on those back fields until the FCL schedule wraps up in late July it’s possible Flying Tigers hot-potato Kevin McGonigle could have found his way to Single-A West Michigan It’s difficult to project such moves in early June And it’s not as if Montilla is the only potential bloomer on those hot back lots and a left-handed stick who plays the requisite three infield spots with a pair of three-hit games and a grand-slam homer apart from Flying Tigers flash Josue Briceno who might end up at first base with a .384 on-base percentage as part of his 21-game OPS of .738 This is not to confuse any of the hatchery-level Tigers kids with the talents and promise so far advertised by Montilla Lynn Henning is a freelance writer and retired Detroit News sports reporter Interior design is more than just a profession for Elizabeth Montilla—it’s a lifelong passion that began at the age of 15 Montilla’s creative spark has fueled her journey from an aspiring designer to a trusted name in home renovations and design across the GTA As the founder of Elizabeth Montilla Design she brings a wealth of experience and a unique approach to each project making her clients’ spaces both functional and beautiful Montilla’s entry into the world of interior design was driven by a deep-rooted love for creativity “I was always creative growing up,” she shares “I would spend endless hours rearranging my bedroom ‘How cool would it be to do that for a living?’” By the time she was 15 developing a strong foundation in the design and millwork world that spans nearly two decades When asked about her approach to interior design Montilla describes herself as a problem solver who thrives on finding creative solutions to her clients’ “pain points” She emphasizes the importance of understanding the challenges clients face with their spaces and coming up with unique ways to solve them.  “I love the puzzle-piecing aspect of this job,” she says “I enjoy optimizing spaces to make sure they work for everyone in the household even if that means playing marriage counselor along the way!” Montilla’s strengths are evident in her work Her ability to pay attention to the smallest details and communicate effectively with clients all contribute to her success “Patience and flexibility are key,” she notes especially when things don’t go as planned which is often the case in the world of renovations Montilla has worked on a variety of projects each with its own set of challenges and rewards She has designed everything from full-scale home renovations to smaller more focused projects like bedroom refreshes or powder room makeovers constantly adapting her designs to suit the specific needs and styles of the homes she works on Her versatility is a key aspect of her business as she is able to take on projects of different scales Whether a client is looking for a complete home overhaul or just a small design tweak Montilla has the experience to tackle any job with confidence One of Montilla’s main goals is to ensure that clients are well-informed throughout the process She is happy to address some of the most common questions she receives from costs to the logistics of living through a renovation How much does working with an interior design expert cost Montilla’s design fees vary depending on the scope of the project “No two projects are the same,” she explains emphasizing that a thorough understanding of the space is needed before an accurate estimate can be provided Montilla’s firm works with clients whose overall budget is $250k or higher ensuring that the quality of work aligns with the project’s scale What should I budget for materials and fixtures Montilla recommends budgeting between $75k-$90k for a high-end kitchen renovation and disruptions to essential services like electricity and heat For clients who can’t temporarily relocate Montilla advises setting up camp in a different part of the home but she also recommends considering the option of renting an AirBnB to minimize the stress What are the benefits of working with an interior designer expert Montilla points out the invaluable experience and problem-solving abilities that interior design experts bring to the table “We save you time and stress by handling all the minor details and ensuring the project runs smoothly,” she explains clients benefit from working with trusted partners and skilled tradespeople who maintain the same high standards of quality throughout the project Montilla is embarking on a new venture that will expand her reach and further elevate her business She is partnering with Spruceside Construction to open a new design showroom The collaboration promises to bring together the best of both worlds—Montilla’s design expertise and Spruceside’s construction craftsmanship—creating a streamlined experience for clients “I’m feeling very excited about it all,” Montilla shares as I’ve been working from home for years But now I’ll have a dedicated space to bring in clients The new showroom will feature a presentation area with custom millwork high-quality materials showcasing the best local vendors cutting-edge lighting by Spruceside Electric and a vast sample library to inspire both Montilla and her clients She’s eager to share updates through her social media channels and invites everyone to stay tuned for more details Montilla’s passion for design extends beyond her work; she’s deeply connected to her community in the Niagara region “I’m looking forward to servicing the Fonthill/Pelham area for many more years to come,” she says.  She encourages anyone considering a renovation to reach out early in the process “Bringing a designer on board early ensures no details get missed and clients will be in good hands from the get-go.” As Montilla continues to evolve in her field she remains committed to delivering exceptional design solutions functional spaces that truly reflect the needs and lifestyles of those who inhabit them (ANS – Montilla) – The Salesian house in Montilla celebrated its 125th anniversary on 3 October 2024 Over these 125 years a great educational work with the children and young people of the city was developed becoming the engine of a rich and diverse religious Its story and the extensive work are the result of a great dream the precursors of the foundation of the Salesian work in Montilla sent the following letter to the Salesian Bulletin: "Some parents agreed to start a primary and secondary school in this city The well-deserved fame enjoyed by the Salesian Institution and the great good it has done for youth in the short time it has existed have prompted us to make it our choice Fr Michael Rua arrived by train from Cordoba Fr Ernesto Oberti and Fr Peter Ricaldone (...) The Institute was temporarily set up in a private house Emilio Nogués and three other Salesians took possession of the premises on 3 October Although the place was small and the staff scarce more than seventy absolutely poor children who did not attend any kind of school and could not be brought up by their parents who were busy looking for their livelihood out of necessity were taken off the streets where they were wandering loose and disturbing their neighbours and are now attending regular classes" (Salesian Bulletin The foundation in Montilla thus had the blessing of Fr Rua himself and a unique spiritual and educational heritage He wanted a religious institution for his young people and found it in the educational and preventive style of the Sons of Don Bosco which materialised in their beautiful work Montilla could understand its sociocultural religious and spiritual identity without considering the presence The Salesian work in Montilla is a home that welcomes a parish that evangelises and a playground where people can meet friends cradle of saints and great cultural figures would like to continue writing new and incredible pages of its history including through the initial formation enjoyed by the aspirants who were taken in there and who gave fruitful vocations to the Salesian Congregation How many Salesians have passed through and left a deep mark on this house have carried out the works of the Salesian Gallery or sang in its choir and played the strings of its instruments but some reflections of all this can be seen today in his majestic choir Just like the courtyard in a place that was the cradle of sports for many boys of yesteryear today  has its heirs in the places around the city with football fields And they do not forget their Salesian origins Today the Salesian centre in Montilla is a school of reference from both an academic and pastoral point of view commitment and passion for quality education Its Salesian Family enjoys a recognised prestige in Salesian Spain with an a Past Pupils association and an Association of Mary Help of Christians centre and confraternities that are a reference point for the life of the city Many celebrations will take place in this anniversary year while the past was written with the golden letters of hundreds of Salesians and tens of thousands of young people who passed through the house the future will be written with the letters of the passion of all the members of the Educative and Pastoral Community "We are all preparing to live each moment with great joy aware of two great points of attention: to thank God for the Salesian presence in the city which has allowed countless and different contributions in its 125 years of history And to prepare ourselves to discover and undertake what is being asked of us as an educative and pastoral community and Salesian Family in the future to continue a prolific and exciting dream" Agustín de la Cruz Marqués Source: Salesianos.info ANS - “Agenzia iNfo Salesiana” is a on-line almost daily publication the communication agency of the Salesian Congregation enrolled in the Press Register of the Tibunal of Rome as n 153/2007 This site also uses third-party cookies to improve user experience and for statistical purposes By scrolling through this page or by clicking on any of its elements No real crowds apart from players and staffers Rookie umpires willing to work their way up alongside rookie players and it’s where Franyerber (Frankie) Montilla is becoming one of the Tigers’ hottest and most fascinating farmhands and a switch-batter who after a dozen FCL games Sunday was batting .317/.517/.463/.981 As impressive were his 15 walks against eight strikeouts Those who have been watching him — the list is known to include Tigers Hall of Famer and special-assistant Alan Trammell — say of this 6-foot 160-pound colt that he has about him not only the skills to stick at short but that his personality and athleticism are reminiscent of Wenceel Perez who has been one of the Tigers’ happier surprises in 2024 “It’s fun to watch Montilla,” said Salvador Paniagua a longtime minor-league catcher who last year was a Tigers FCL bench coach before taking over as manager in 2024 But what he has been showing steadily are blossoming skills that have made him eminently more impressive than who in 2021 got the Tigers’ to-date top international bonus of $2.95 million who views Montilla as being comfortable at either shortstop “The thing I likes is how he reads pitchers He doesn’t have that many at-bats right-handed but he’s pretty comfortable from both sides.” Only once in 12 tries at stealing bases has Montilla been nailed “He gets a lot of information from the pitchers,” Paniagua said His early numbers in a first season of baseball in the United States aren’t out of line with what he did last year playing in 31 games in the Dominican Summer League: .280/.394/.439/.832  Another potential gift to an organization scrambling for young position gold: Enrique Jimenez and another of those many switch-hitters Paniagua relishes plugging into the FCL Tigers lineup entered Sunday with 13-game digits of .277/.436/.477/.882 with walks-to-strikeouts ratio nearly on par with Montilla: 22.6% on walks high-energy kid doing a great job of communicating with the pitchers,” Paniagua said “His bat is strong — hitting the ball to all fields and working the count when it’s in the right direction Two more switch-hitters with strong early-season data: who had rolled up huge stats in his earlier Dominican Summer League stints Salas in five FCL games was batting .308/.526/.385/.911 “Takes good at-bats and he can play center field then hit the ball to the middle of the field he seems to find a way to barrel-up the ball Gets good pitches — you can see his approach.” and three doubles in his first 15 games (.327/.476/.673/1.149): “Has pop — hits the ball hard from both sides of the plate,” Paniagua said of a player the Tigers signed in 2020 out of the Dominican Republic “Compared with last year (.710 OPS in FCL games) It’s been great to see him buy into everything especially focusing on getting good pitches.” Included in those displays on the TigerTown complex’s back fields have been these pitchers and their extremes: right-handed starter: Castillo has 15 strikeouts in 9.2 innings “Castillo’s a strong kid and has some life on his fastball,” Paniagua said talking mostly of a four-seamer that runs 95-96 He’s got some good stuff and he’s only going to get better every day.” ▶ Blake Dickerson, 19, 6-6, 210, LH starter, plucked by the Tigers in a February trade that included $500,000 in international bonus money shipped to the Padres Dickerson has 12 strikeouts in eight innings He’s going to be one of those guys who’s going to have good stuff.” and seven strikeouts in 9.1 innings): “Velocity has been up — mid-90s — with a good two-seamer and third-rounder last year from Lake Oswego who has a .194 opposing batting average in three games but has been popped for 12 walks in 10 innings: “Sometimes you want to be so good from the start,” Paniagua said and last year’s Tigers fourth-rounder (Madison Tennessee) is gone for the season after separating his shoulder on a slide into second base a right-handed batter and left-side infielder in four FCL games was batting .385/.467/.692/.1.159 ▶ Most impressive pitcher of late at Single-A Lakeland: Andrew Sears left-handed starter the Tigers snagged in last July’s 10th round from the University of Connecticut “Sixteen punch-outs in his last 10 innings and he’s picked off three runners at first base,” said Lakeland manager Andrew Graham just before Sears started Saturday and struck out six more batters in 4.2 innings getting 35% swing-and-miss on a fastball that runs up to 96 “and a slider that punches people-out.” ▶ Graham on left-handed starter Joe Miller (11th round last year University of Pennsylvania) who last week was shipped to high-A West Michigan: “He should have made the team (West Michigan) out of spring training after a great spring and great second half last year And now he’s had two great outings at West Michigan (2.08 ERA Valparaiso) and now with a 1.42 ERA and 0.99 WHIP in nine games for the Flying Tigers: “He was really good when he was pitching 95 to 97 but he was unhittable with that velocity early.” ▶ Still no return date revealed for right-handed prize Jackson Jobe, who has missed the past four weeks with a strained hamstring He is rehabbing at Lakeland and could return to Double-A Erie’s rotation later in June ▶ Big week for West Michigan outfielder Roberto Campos who in his last five games heading into Sunday was batting .526/.550/1.053 on the season is hitting .278/.339/.408/.730 ▶ A very big May for a most important prospect: catcher Dillon Dingler who the past four weeks has been batting .340/.362/.547/.909 into a Tigers active-roster spot no later than next March Angely Montilla serves as primary liaison for the Communications department with the Education program and the Office of the President at Carnegie Corporation of New York and print content and publications aligned with Education’s grantmaking goals as well as the president’s initiatives including the Andrew Carnegie Fellows program Montilla was a Writer’s Workshop fellow at Vox Media she previously worked in communications for the Office of the Dean at New York University’s College of Arts and Science while also serving as editor in chief of the Journal of Political Inquiry published by NYU’s graduate program of politics Montilla holds an MA in international relations from New York University and a BA with a double major in political science and human rights and genocide studies from Ramapo College She serves on the Young Patron’s Council of the Foreign Policy Association’s Off the Record lecture series and volunteers as a Spanish interpreter with the Immigration Justice Project An official website of the United States government the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York announced the conviction yesterday in Manhattan federal court of ABEL MONTILLA for his participation in a cocaine trafficking scheme between 2018 and 2021.  The jury convicted MONTILLA following a one-week trial before U.S Kevin Castel.  Sentencing of MONTILLA is scheduled for March 22 Attorney Damian Williams said: “The unanimous jury verdict holds Abel Montilla accountable for his role in a widespread cocaine trafficking organization that flooded the streets with four tons of cocaine.  Montilla was a coordinator of the drug trafficking organization who traveled around the country to manage the delivery of the organization’s cocaine-filled furniture.  He now faces the prospect of a lengthy prison sentence for his crime.” According to the allegations contained in the Superseding Indictment and the evidence presented in court during the trial:  MONTILLA was a member of a drug trafficking organization (“DTO”) that engaged in a drug-trafficking scheme involving the concealment of cocaine inside custom-built furniture.  Between in or about September 2018 and June 2019 the DTO sent approximately 27 shipments of cargo from Puerto Rico to the continental United States.  The cocaine was concealed in more than approximately 70 custom cube-shaped coffee tables or other furniture.  The organization falsely represented that the cargo contained furniture but that furniture in fact concealed hundred-kilogram quantities of cocaine.  In total the trafficking organization shipped approximately 4,000 kilograms of cocaine worth at least $120,000,000 on the street.  Eight of the organization’s shipments were sent to addresses in the Southern District of New York including in Yonkers and the Bronx.  Those eight shipments contained a total of approximately 775 kilograms (1,704 pounds) of cocaine Photographs introduced into evidence during trial of furniture containing cocaine and seized cocaine are below: MONTILLA was a Massachusetts-based coordinator of cocaine shipments who managed the recipients of the organization’s deliveries of cocaine shipments and the distribution of the cocaine concealed inside the furniture.  At times MONTILLA drove straight through the night from Massachusetts to Florida to be present for a cocaine delivery then flew or drove back to Massachusetts to handle additional cocaine deliveries there.  In total MONTILLA coordinated at least a dozen drug shipments in Massachusetts and Florida and at least twelve of the 27 shipments were sent to addresses affiliated with MONTILLA *                *                * was found guilty of conspiracy to distribute and possess with the intent to distribute narcotics which carries a maximum sentence of life in prison and a mandatory minimum sentence of ten years in prison.  The statutory minimum and maximum sentences are prescribed by Congress and are provided here for informational purposes only as any sentencing of the defendant will be determined by the judge This prosecution is part of an Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces (“OCDETF”) operation. OCDETF identifies, disrupts, and dismantles the highest-level criminal organizations that threaten the United States using a prosecutor-led, intelligence-driven, multi-agency approach.  Additional information about the OCDETF Program can be found at https://www.justice.gov/OCDETF. Mr. Williams praised the outstanding investigative work of the Drug Enforcement Administration, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives, and the United States Postal Inspection Service in this investigation. The prosecution is being handled by the Office’s Narcotics Unit.  Assistant U.S. Attorneys Juliana N. Murray and Ryan B. Finkel are in charge of the prosecution. Matthew Podolsky, the Acting United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, announced today that GREI MENDEZ was sentenced to 45 years in prison for trafficking fentanyl out... Matthew Podolsky, the Acting United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York; James E. Dennehy, the Assistant Director in Charge of the New York Field Office of the... Matthew Podolsky, the Acting United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, announced today that MICHAEL HABIB, an associate of the Canadian criminal organization known as the Wolfpack... Southern District of New York26 Federal Plaza, 37th FloorNew York, NY 10278 Main Office & Criminal Division: (212) 637-2200 Multilingual Resources-->Have a question about Government Services? CantoMundo Presents: Free Public Readings with Rodrigo Toscano and Yesenia Montilla Come join CantoMundo for two evenings of powerful poetry at Pima Auditorium, Memorial Union (MU 230). On Friday 5/31 at 7:00 pm, Rodrigo Toscano will be headlining. On Saturday 6/1 at 7:00 pm, our featured reader will be Yesenia Montilla. Both will be reading with current CantoMundo fellows or "CantoMundistas." Please join us for this memorable celebration of the vitality and diversity of Latinx poetry. Book signing and receptions will follow the readings each night. Whether you are a poetry fan or a lover of culture, this in-person event promises to be an unforgettable celebration of creativity and expression. Mark your calendars and invite your friends. https://asu.zoom.us/j/83526130629?from=addon Volume 9 - 2023 | https://doi.org/10.3389/fams.2023.1150735 and powerful methodology to deal with overdispersion It is based on the combination of Hurdle models and Spatial filtering Moran eigenvectors Hurdle models are the best option to manage the presence of overdispersion and excess of zeros separating the model into two parts: the first part models the probability of the zero value and the second part models the probability of the non-zero values gathering the spatial information in new covariates through a spatial filtering Moran vector method involves spatial correlation and spatial heterogeneity to improve the model fitting and explain spatial effects of variables that were not possible to measure our proposal adapts usual regression models for count data so that it is possible to deal with phenomena where the usual theoretical assumptions this research shows how a prolonged armed conflict can impact the health of children The data includes children exposed to armed conflict in Colombia a country enduring a non-international armed conflict lasting over 60 years The findings indicate that children exposed to high levels of violence demonstrate a significant association with the incidence and mortality rate of LAP in children This fact is illustrated here using one of the most catastrophic conditions in childhood The association between armed conflict and LAP has its conceptual basis in the epidemiology literature the incidence and mortality rates of neoplastic diseases increase with exposure to toxic and chronic stress during gestation and childhood Our methodology provides a valuable framework for complex data analysis and contributes to understanding the health implications in conflict-affected regions such as the number of cases of some illness per area keeping all data in the same model and using the independence assumption data with these features needs a specific methodology that allows us to consider all the richness of the available information no studies are exploring or modeling the spatial correlation of the Colombian armed conflict and its impact on the development of Leukemia One of the main barriers is acquiring a complete and good-quality Datasets We propose a novel approach for the estimation of spatial generalized linear models by combining Poisson-Hurdle models it is possible to manage data with spatial correlation and more variability in response variables than is expected under usual models for count data Hurdle models are statistical models that separate the random variable values into two parts: the first part models the probability of the 0 value The spatial information is involved in several ways The residuals of the estimated model under independence are used to validate this assumption and when the independence assumption is not fulfilled the best spatial weights matrix to find the Moran coefficient is determined we use lagged explanatory variables and Moran Eigenvectors as predictors This proposal aims to investigate how armed conflict affects the incidence and mortality rate of LAP in children The Index of Incidence of Armed Conflict (IICA) developed recently as a result of the Colombian peace process is the first opportunity to quantify the impact of the civil war on the population across the country The paper follows with the methodological setup in Section 2 and description of real dataset and results in Section 3 The paper ends with some concluding remarks and future work in Section 4 Hurdle models present a methodology to treat excess zeros through mixture and truncated distributions [25]. We here adapt the Poisson Hurdle models, due to features of our study case, but analogous Hurdle Models can be adapted, according to response variable distribution, see [25] and Figure 6 Generalized linear models are built under the independence assumption the fitting process does not consider any type of correlation it is necessary to check model assumptions using the residual vector Correlation tests make sense and are useful when there is some knowledge about the origin of the existing correlation the correlation structure is estimated and involved in the model approach and fitting The response variable is based on count data with an excess of zero counts we choose Hurdle models because one of its advantages is that by design the number of zeros predicted is the same as the number of zeros observed Given that the excess zeros can be generated by a separate process from the count values the observations are separated into two subsets: the first one with zeros and the second one with positive counts it is obtained the following binomial distribution: p is the probability of a count of zero and Zi is the count response variable in the municipality i pi can be modeled with a logistic regression and positive counts can be modeled with a truncated Poisson model Where xi is the vector containing predictor variables and β and α are vectors of regression coefficients if positive counts are observed from exposure ni Data associated with spatial subregions which are elements of a partition of some region of interest are called lattice data or areal data areal data have discrete spatial variation this partition corresponds to the official administrative political division the partition can also be determined according to each problem information is available for all subregions: The gross domestic product by department or the number of live births by municipality but the estimation of regression models involving and quantifying spatial dependence to determine the significance of covariates or the detection of spatial patterns Z(s) is the response spatial random variable it is established a representative coordinate These coordinates are known as centroids and can be determined by geometric methods or according to criteria related to each particular study N represents the spatial process in the region Ai with i = 1 The quantification of these relations according to some criterion, such as spatial proximity or relevant features, is summarized in a square matrix W, of dimension N × N, called spatial weight matrix. W is non-stochastic, with real, non-negative, and finite entries, representing spatial interdependence between areal units [27] W defines the magnitude of spatial interactions inside a region: Non-zero entries indicate related spatial areal units W considers the spatial multidirectional relations The spatial weights matrix W acts as a spatial lag operator By performing its product with the observations vector a lag vector resulting from a linear combination is obtained Each observation is multiplied by its respective spatial weight with the rest of the spatial observations: WZ all possible pairs of observations are included The row i is the vector of spatial weights between Z(sj) and it is not part of the elements to be estimated within the model W must be previously defined since it enters the estimation processes as a constant The correct specification of the way in which individuals interact is crucial The asymmetry can generate theoretical complications and often it is replaced by the product with its transpose in later stages we describe some criteria to build the matrix W Some of them take physical contiguity into account; others are based on associated graph measurements or involve computing distances between the centroids of the regions considered: • Rock criterion: Areal units are neighbors if share a common edge • Queen criterion: Areal units are neighbors if share a common edge or a common vertex • Gabriel graph: Areal units are neighbors if relations are established using non-symmetrical distances and standardized spatial weight matrices • Relative neighbors: According to this criterion Where dij is the distance between the units centroids Note that similarity is inversely proportional to distance Figure 1. (A) Complete graph for French departments [29] using the queen criterion and including first and third-order neighbors in every direction for the highlighted department (C) Complete graph for Colombian municipalities using the queen criterion and first-order neighbors (D) White areas are the first neighbors in every direction for the highlighted municipality The areal data are observations associated with spatial subregions that are elements of a partition of the complete region of interest information is available for all subregions the gross domestic product by department or the number of live births by municipality to determine the significance of variables involved or to detect spatial patterns There are several measures in areal data, to check if there is significant spatial autocorrelation and its sign. In addition, contrasts to detect spatial correlation are of two types, global and local. The former calculates an autocorrelation coefficient for the entire region of interest, while the latter calculates these coefficients in subregions, see Figure 1 Given related theoretical advances truly useful in spatial regression models This coefficient measures the spatial correlation between each region and its neighbors extending the idea of the Pearson correlation coefficient for the spatial case the product moment term is multiplied by its corresponding spatial weight wij where z(si) is the value of Z in the region i MC can be written in matrix form as follows In the context of spatial regression models, this index is used as a criterion to verify spatial autocorrelation between residuals vector e [31] the MC for the residuals of a regression model is written as The MC has been extended to the bivariate case through Lee's statistics index, L, see [32, 33] This coefficient measures the spatial cross-correlation between two variables in two different places and also can be global and local where z1(si) and z2(si) are the values (realizations) of Z1 and Z2 in the region i z̄1 z̄2 are the respective means Two L bivariate analyses, between IICA and the two predictors LR and UBN, are shown in Figure 2 The significant cross-correlation is detected through L coefficient and allows identifying the spatial clusters where the two variables show strong association Significance of Bivariate Local Moran Index for spatial association between: (A) IICA with LR Given that the distribution of statistical tests is usually unknown and that a large number of combinations sometimes makes them impossible to find the exact distribution, randomization and Monte Carlo tests are typically used in the inferential process. The associated null hypothesis is the absence of spatial autocorrelation. According to Anselin [27] a positive and significant value of MC indicates a concentration of similar data in neighboring regions: High values of the variable are surrounded by high values and low values are surrounded by low values Negative values that lead to rejecting the null hypothesis indicate that high values of the variable are surrounded by low values and low values are surrounded by high values thus in neighboring units different values are presented the k − 1 realizations by random sampling under spatial independence Then MC1 is combined with the MCi and these values are sorted to get the following list Tests with MCi near zero indicate an absence of spatial autocorrelation while large values of MCi positive or negative indicate autocorrelation of the same sign where MC(r) denotes the r − th smallest value This is a two-tailed test with a significance level α the number of simulations needed is chosen When the sample size is large enough, the standardized Moran coefficient MC, follows an asymptotic normal distribution [27] Now, we show the results of the Moran coefficient analysis for IICA, using a spatial weight matrix W built according to queen criteria and first-order neighbors, see Figure 3 This variable presents a positive and significant spatial autocorrelation Note that z − value for the asymptotic normality test is 33.322 having a p ≈ 0 Monte Carlo test with 999 permutations gives a pseudo p = 0.001 the spatial autocorrelation is significant at the 95% confidence level (A) Lagged plot for the Colombian index of armed conflict (IICA) the queen criterion is used with one neighbor Note that the points are located in the first quadrant with a positive slope similar values of IICA are clustered together on the Colombian map the Monte Carlo test with 999 permutations and asymptotic normality indicate significant spatial autocorrelation Figure 4 illustrates the local spatial autocorrelation (LISA) analysis using the Moran coefficient, for suicides in France in 1830 [29]. Spatial clusters have been detected. For Colombian data, these analyses are shown in Figure 5 Figure 4. (A) Spatial cluster of suicides in France in 1830 [29] There are 15 departments with high suicide rates surrounded by similar high values and 27 departments with low suicide rates surrounded by similar low values Only one with a high value is near a cluster of low values and 11 low values are near high values (B) Significance of the local spatial analysis The white areas do not show significant spatial association The rest of the cases show significance at 90 Spatial distribution of variables considered (A) Colombian index of armed conflict (IICA) (E) Percentage of people living in rural areas (Rurality) (F) Percentage of health coverage (Health Cov) Moran's global autocorrelation criterion MC(.) can be written as follows where I is the N × N identity matrix 1 denotes the N × 1 vector of ones W is the N × N spatial weights matrix The spatial filtering method consists of the spectral decomposition of Ω and the set of predictor variables is enlarged with the selected k Moran eigenvectors obtained from spectral decomposition of Ω In addition, note that these eigenvectors are mutually uncorrelated and mutually orthogonal. The connectivity matrix W is selected among several neighborhood schemes based on physical contiguity: graphs and distances, using the criterion of minimization of the residual spatial autocorrelation [36] The steps that we should follow to put into practice our methodological proposal are the following: To fit the regression model using ordinary least squares or generalized least squares according to response variable distribution To define the criteria to be considered in the selection of the spatial weight matrix To evaluate model assumptions: homoscedasticity estimate Hurdle models according to response variable distribution To perform the Moran spatial filtering method if there is spatial autocorrelation or spatial heterogeneity To include eigenvectors obtained from the Moran spatial filtering method as predictor variables on the count model A flowchart with these steps is presented in Figure 6 G and H represent the matrix with MEMs for the respective model It is estimated that more than 7 million Colombian people have been affected, more than 5 million people have been victims of displacement between 1985 and 2012, and more than 200,000 people have died, 80% of them civilians [37]. However, the collection and processing of information were difficult due to the lack of political will regarding the official acknowledgment of this conflict and its consequences [38] The National Department of Planning (DNP) computed the armed conflict index (IICA) based on data collected from 2002 to 2013 [39]. This index was based on six variables: Armed actions, homicides, kidnappings, anti-personnel mines, forced displacement, and cultivation of coca. During this period, there was an upsurge in violent actions due to the breakdown of the government's truce [38, 40] The mandatory leukemia registry began in 2008 data used here correspond to children born throughout the years 2002–2013 having a diagnosis of leukemia in 2008–2016 There were born 11.149.695 children between 2002 and 2013 in 1.124 Colombian municipalities There were 4.775 children diagnosed with leukemia during 2008–2016 We aggregate all variables by municipalities and we use data linkage at this level to create the dataset based on the following sources: • From the National Institute of Health (INS) we obtained anonymized data of children born between 2002 and 2013 diagnosed with (or who died due to) LAP • From the National Administrative Department of Statistics (DANE) we obtained Unmet Basic Needs (UBN) and Percentage of health coverage (Coverage) • From DANE - 2005 Colombia Census Data Geodatabase we obtain the Percentage of people living in rural areas (Per_Rur) • From the National Department of Planning (DNP) we obtained the Colombian index of armed conflict (IICA) This is an ecological analysis of the incidence and mortality rates of LAP, in terms of IICA and UBN of a retrospective cohort. Figure 5 shows the spatial distribution across the country of the variables involved in this study. We analyze spatial autocorrelation using empirical Bayes modification of the Moran Index for rate variables, LR and LMR, and Moran Index for the rest of the variables. Lee's statistics index is used [33] for testing spatial cross-correlation between incidence and mortality rates and potential explanatory variables IICA using Monte Carlo simulation for global and local indicators of Spatial Association (LISA) indices and we present the respective significance maps All variables present 95%-significant spatial autocorrelation Rate ratios with their respective 95% confidence intervals obtained from the Poisson-Hurdle model fitted to the leukemia incidence rate obtained from the Poisson-hurdle model fitted to the leukemia mortality rate B) Show the spatial distribution of the MEMs for LR y LMR Both cases show positive spatial correlation although correlation is stronger for the LMR case The inclusion of this positive spatial association on the count model part there is no spatial autocorrelation or heterogeneity detected Figure 8. Comparison between empirical and fitted frequencies for incidence and mortality due to Leukemia. See fitted models in Tables 1, 2 The rgeoda package is a modern implementation in R of a software for Windows called GeoDa and has advantages in computational time for W matrix creation over spdep spdep has truly important functionalities related to the estimation of spatial regression models and its implementation of Moran eigenvector filtering that makes this package more complete in this context Bivariate local indicator of spatial association shown in Figure 3 allows detecting areas with higher morbidity and mortality rates and higher IICA according to the DNP data: Catatumbo and the south of Cesar; Arauca; south of Bolívar; low Cauca antioqueño and Nudo of Paramillo; east Antioquia; south of Tolima and north of Cauca; Caucan Pacific and Guaviare; Caquetá and medium and low Putumayo LM and LMR are spatially correlated with the peripheral border areas of the country predominantly in the Orinoquia region and southern part of the Amazon north of the Pacific and north of the Andean region the involvement of 9 of the 15 zones of armed conflict described by the DNP stands out There is no significant local or global spatial cross-correlation of leukemia incidence rate and rurality (global p = 0.2120) Mortality rates do not show significant spatial cross-correlation with rurality or health coverage A Poisson model on the data for each rate shows that with a confidence level of 95%, LR and LMR data are overdispersed, that is, true dispersion exceeds 1. According to Cameron and Trivedi overdispersion test [25], the results are: For LR, z = 4.1887 and p = 1.403e-05, and for LMR: z = 2.2049 and p = 0.01373. The excess of zeros is detected using the Score test for zero inflation [47] Comparing the observed frequency of zeroes in data with that predicted by generalized Poisson models residuals of both generalized Poisson models are spatially autocorrelated according to Moran's Index test we estimated Spatial Poisson Hurdle models described in Section 3.3 for LR as well as for LMR This research shows how a prolonged armed conflict can impact the health of children This fact is illustrated here using one of the most catastrophic conditions in childhood as is LAP The association between armed conflict and pediatric acute leukemia has its conceptual basis in the epidemiology literature Given that armed conflict and poverty are generators of ACEs we use them as explanatory variables of incidence and mortality of childhood leukemia rates The measure used for armed conflict is the IICA and for poverty is the UBN We found that the IICA is significant and positively correlated with both rates it is a factor that increases the risk of childhood leukemia the UBN is significant but negatively associated with both rates a higher poverty level lowers childhood leukemia cases this result could be a consequence of under-reporting data or miscounting from misdiagnosis if a child's diagnosis is malnutrition These characteristics are also related to results found for the relationship between the percentage of rural population This variable is significant and negative only for the zero-model part the number of zeros observed is lower for municipalities with a higher proportion of rural areas municipalities with people living in remote areas have an important problem of underreporting in data collection and late access to the health system we include the percentage of health coverage as an explanatory variable This predictor turns out to be significant only for the zero-model part the higher the number of observed zeros in the mortality from leukemia The odds ratio estimated value emphasizes the relevance of access to professional and timely medical treatment We want to draw attention to the fact that in developed countries child mortality for this disease is almost null while in low and middle-income countries like Colombia the prognosis of cancer in children is poor due to delayed diagnoses and treatments the provision of a children's cancer service is asymmetric and fragmented Colombia has only 25 oncology service centers and half of them are in Bogotá The novel combination of the Poisson-Hurdle model with the MEFS technique resulted in a simple and powerful methodology to deal with overdispersion Eigenvectors resulting from the MEFS method included as predictors gathered the spatial dependence and allowed valid models with non-correlated errors and with a good fit eigenvectors also contain spatial effects of variables that were not possible to measure The study of exposure to toxic stress includes children and political processes of peace and restoration ACE prevention and trauma care diminish costs and reduce health inequality We hope that this research focuses attention on the importance of efforts to attain peace in Colombia as well as the efforts to improve socio-economic conditions and thus build an equitable society we consider that mental and sociological health also can be seriously affected Children suffer alterations in their upbringing do not allow carrying on this study directly with individuals it would be interesting to design a longitudinal study with a specific follow-up plan Dataset, Geographic Data Files, and R-code are attached as Supplementary material and also are freely available at https://github.com/mpbohorquezc/Spatial-Hurdle-models-Leukemia_armed_conflict The original contributions presented in the study are included in the article/Supplementary material further inquiries can be directed to the corresponding author The studies involving humans were approved by Universidad Nacional de Colombia - Facultad de Medicina The studies were conducted in accordance with the local legislation and institutional requirements Written informed consent for participation in this study was provided by the participants' legal guardians/next of kin Written informed consent was obtained from the individual(s) for the publication of any potentially identifiable images or data included in this article All authors listed have made a substantial and intellectual contribution to the work and approved it for publication This research was funded by the Universidad Nacional de Colombia and the Universidad Nacional abierta y a distancia (UNAD) The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher The Supplementary Material for this article can be found online at: https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fams.2023.1150735/full#supplementary-material PubMed Abstract | CrossRef Full Text | Google Scholar Early origins of inflammation: an examination of prenatal and childhood social adversity in a prospective cohort study violencia y sintomatología depresiva durante el embarazo de mujeres adolescentes y adultas: un estudio piloto An investigation of child maltreatment and epigenetic mechanisms of mental and physical health risk Chronic inflammation in the etiology of disease across the life span Origins of lifetime health around the time of conception: causes and consequences Birth weight and other risk factors for acute leukemia in the Jerusalem Perinatal Study cohort The childhood maltreatment influences on breast cancer patients: a second wave hit model hypothesis for distinct biological and behavioral response CrossRef Full Text | Google Scholar PubMed Abstract | CrossRef Full Text | Google Scholar Building a framework for global surveillance of the public health implications of adverse childhood experiences Elevated C-reactive protein in children from risky neighborhoods: evidence for a stress pathway linking neighborhoods and inflammation in children Adverse childhood experiences and the presence of cancer risk factors in adulthood: a scoping review of the literature from 2005 to 2015 The relation between stressful life events and breast cancer: a systematic review and meta-analysis of cohort studies A biobehavioral perspective of tumor biology PubMed Abstract | Google Scholar Democracy and civil war: the case of Colombia CrossRef Full Text | Google Scholar Civil War and Uncivil Development: Economic Globalisation and Political Violence in Colombia and Beyond Google Scholar Effects of armed conflict on child health and development: a systematic review CrossRef Full Text | Google Scholar A social constructionist approach to understanding the experiences of girls affected by armed conflict in Colombia CrossRef Full Text | Google Scholar From negative impacts to new possibilities: children in the Colombian armed Revista Latinoamericana de Ciencias Sociales Ninez y Juventud The enduring impact of violence against children Geospatial approaches to cancer control and population sciences at the United States cancer centers Saving the children–improving childhood cancer treatment in developing countries CrossRef Full Text | Google Scholar Google Scholar CrossRef Full Text | Google Scholar The Econometrics of Panel Data: Fundamentals and Recent Developments in Theory and Practice Google Scholar Spatial modeling in ecology: the flexibility of eigenfunction spatial analyses doi: 10.1890/0012-9658(2006)872603:SMIETF2.0.CO;2 Data and Methods Related to Guerry (1833) Moral Statistics of France Google Scholar Implementing Moran eigenvector spatial filtering for massively large georeferenced datasets CrossRef Full Text | Google Scholar Google Scholar Developing a bivariate spatial association measure: an integration of Pearson's R and Moran's I CrossRef Full Text | Google Scholar Google Scholar A new geo-propagation model of event evolution chain based on public opinion and epidemic coupling The spatial scaling of food web structure across European biogeographical regions Spatial modelling: a comprehensive framework for principal coordinate analysis of neighbour matrices (PCNM) doi: 10.1016/j.ecolmodel.2006.02.01510.15446/hys.n26.44516 Colombia: Memorias de guerra y dignidad (bogotá: Imprenta nacional CrossRef Full Text | Google Scholar Etapas del conflicto armado en Colombia: hacia el posconflicto Latinoamérica Revista de Estudios Latinoamericanos (2016) 227–57 CrossRef Full Text | Google Scholar 39. 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This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY) distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited in accordance with accepted academic practice distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms *Correspondence: Martha Patricia Bohorquez Castañeda, bXBib2hvcnF1ZXpjQHVuYWwuZWR1LmNv †These authors have contributed equally to this work Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher 94% of researchers rate our articles as excellent or goodLearn more about the work of our research integrity team to safeguard the quality of each article we publish These are players you may be familiar with their quality seasons may have flown under your radar Baseball’s calendar is rarely busier than it is in July, with interest in the world of prospects often at a midseason high due to buzz around the MLB Draft and trade deadline Tigers fans have been rightly frustrated with the direction of the major league team that has also led to a great deal of apathy about everything to do with the organization With the eyes of fans turned again to the minor league ranks it’s a worthy time to look into which minor leaguers are performing well enough to make waves the next time rankings are released The older top prospects will be covered elsewhere I’ve put together a look at three pitchers and two hitters who are thriving down on the farm who rarely get any prospect writer love unless they turn into really top shelf relief prospects but they deserve a little notice for what they've accomplished before taking a macro-level look at the farm system a 19-year-old starting pitcher who has been playing professionally since 2021 his first look at full season ball this year He began his time in Lakeland with four outstanding starts that left him with an ERA under 2.00 by the middle of June Things haven't gone quite so well in three starts since then but the skills he’s putting on display are enough to capture the attention of both Chris Brown of Tigers Minor League Report and our own managing editor Castillo has the physicality to stand up to a starter’s slate of games but with a powerful lower half and a thick torso he’s clearly added significant bulk since that weight was taken his fastball velocity has climbed by several miles per hour as well He was hovering around the 90 mph mark three years ago he’s a mid-90s pitcher who gets into the high 90s at times Castillo has just one meaningful off speed pitch It’s a curveball that he throws at 80 miles per hour and isn’t especially remarkable in terms of movement or spin rate It’s plenty enough to keep Low-A hitters off the board but if he’s going to be a starter long-term There’s a lot of work left to do for Castillo and a future in the bullpen may await him He’ll need a better third pitch to avoid that and probably a slider over the curveball because he’s largely a sinker guy rather than a fourseam heavy pitcher there’s no harm in letting him start games while he remains effective He can stand up to the innings load and the added reps may help him implement that extra dimension that will help him start games at the higher levels of the minors He’ll probably find himself on in the back third of our next top prospects list Another player who will assuredly make his first appearance on our top prospects list next time around Franyerber Montilla has been terrorizing Complex League pitchers all summer long The teenage switch-hitter is slashing .278/.417/.444 and walking 18 percent of the time His season stats were verging on the ridiculous after the first month of play but a brutal 8-for-47 stretch since June 28 has thrown a splash of cold water on the situation he hasn’t lost track of the strike zone and has taken 12 walks while striking out an equal number of times the odds are good that Montilla will be able to last up the middle long term He’s a good size for the position at six feet even and while his slender build will add muscle in the coming years he doesn’t have the look of a future beefcake His quickness and arm strength are both above average Currently he’s the organization’s second best shortstop prospect after Kevin McGonigle Bryce Rainer may have something to say about that soon but Montilla is only three months older and already impressing in pro ball against much tougher competition than Rainer has seen yet Some slow motion Franyerber Montilla for your viewing pleasure. #Tigers pic.twitter.com/B6vwfCo9pr The Tigers selected Workman in the fourth round of the 2020 MLB Draft a selection that I was thrilled about at the time The team’s draft class from that year has been defined by the rise of Colt Keith and the fall of Spencer Torkelson with Workman fading out of fans’ collective memory just a year or two after the pick was made It looked like his career was on the verge of collapse in 2023 as he struggled in Double-A and was even demoted to West Michigan for the final third of the minor league season that experience served as the wake up call he needed and Workman has been a steady presence in the Erie lineup all year The biggest change from earlier stages of his career is that he’s finally starting to exhibit a mature understanding of the strike zone He starting taking walks at an average rate or better last season and has maintained that into this year drawing free passes 13.2 percent of plate appearances in Erie this year he’s married that with a drastically reduced number of strikeout Whacking a whole 10 percent off last year’s terrifying 38.8 percent whiff rate in Double-A has done wonders for his overall productivity I’m not going to go so far as to say that he’s having a breakout season; after all a .248/.348/.412 and 117 wRC+ is nothing exceptional for a nearly 25-year-old in Double-A That batting line is being propped up by a .337 batting average on play — high athletic player who hits plenty of line drives Workman’s sometime double play partner in Erie he's also sporting a career-high number of batted balls to the pull side in his career-best season It’s a large enough body of evidence to resurrect my hope in his future What’s exciting about this development is the fact that Workman might be the best infield defender in the upper half of the Tigers’ minor league system The Tigers have a few infielders in Double- and Triple-A who pack a bigger offensive punch but the shortstop depth chart has looked awfully scrawny for years If Workman is able to sustain this level of play in the offensively friendly International League he’ll supersede Ryan Kreidler as the Tigers’ default break-glass infielder but a role the Tigers haven’t filled capably in a long where he deployed his 98 mile per hour fastball against high level competition for the first time but did nothing to cement him as a top prospect What really got him on the radar was his assignment with the Arizona Fall League’s Salt River Rafters He's inducing both whiffs and ground balls at a much higher rate this time around and his 4.42 ERA isn’t reflective of the solid peripheral stats that fuel a 3.02 FIP The odds are strong that he’ll be in Toledo once minor league rosters are reassessed to accommodate incoming draft picks What makes his performance notable is that this is RJ Petit’s Rule 5 Draft evaluation year meaning Detroit has to place him on the 40 man roster after the season or expose him to be poached by another team during this year’s Winter Meetings Relief arms with unique traits and high strikeout rates — exactly Petit’s demographic — make up the majority of Rule 5 Draft selections Brendan White was a surprise addition to the Tigers’ roster following the 2022 season for that very reason The Rangers signed Sanchez as an international free agent in mid-2018 and he proved unable to stay healthy during his career in the Texas organization He pitched just 30.2 innings across five seasons and was released shortly before he was scheduled to reach minor league free agency in December 2022 and pitched in two games with the team before being scooped up by the Tigers as a minor league free agent in May 2023 No one noticed when Sanchez was brought aboard at the lowest levels of the Tigers’ minor leagues but he pitched well enough to get on the radar as a legitimate relief prospect by the time the year ended His command is poor and neither FanGraphs nor Tigers Minor League Report expects it to get much better but he was able to show off a high-90s fastball and short hard curveball that doesn’t show too early out of the hand he stayed healthy in his return to affiliated ball Sanchez has pitched with Lakeland and West Michigan this year, and has been exactly as dominant as you’d hope a 23-year-old fireballer in the low minors would be. Batters have struggled to connect against him, and when they do, Sanchez is inducing ground balls at an above-average rate. He’s touching triple digits with his fastball and the fellas over at TMLR reported that He’s thrown 17.2 innings in High-A this year but allowing far too many walks in the process Sanchez has a maxed-out frame and is much closer to a finished project than you’d expect from a player who threw significant innings in Lakeland this year Sanchez will probably find himself in Erie before the season ends where he will face more age-appropriate competition and we’ll get a sense of how effective his arsenal really can be If he can refine things enough to throw more quality strikes a career as a quality setup man is in play Clearwater scored 6 runs in the 9th and had the bases loaded before Yosber Sanchez got this strikeout to end the game and secure a 9-8 win for Lakeland. pic.twitter.com/HoLWyBREzx Carla Montilla was the program assistant for sustainable energy and environment for 2023-2024 Carla lobbied Congress to pass policies that create a green economy and address climate change Her work revolved around addressing the critical intersections of climate change Carla graduated from American University’s School of International Service with a master’s degree in Ethics Carla wrote her Capstone project on human rights and environmental due diligence in the seafood industry She also served as a policy research associate for Lawyering Peace a semester-long research program in partnership with the Public International Law and Policy Group (PILPG) drafting client-ready policy memoranda and conducting negotiation simulations on international policy issues with an emphasis on the Ukraine-Russia context She also holds degrees in History and Political Science from the Commonwealth Honors College at the University of Massachusetts Amherst Carla was a research assistant at American University and worked as a junior associate at Mercury Public Affairs She also interned at the Nuclear Threat Initiative and the Center for Strategic and International Studies (focusing on nuclear Issues) Carla enjoys doing jigsaw puzzles; finding additions for her pin collection; learning about coffee; and exploring Washington The Friends Committee on National Legislation, FCNL Education Fund, and Friends Place on Capitol Hill are national nonprofit, nonpartisan Quaker organizations working collectively to advance peace, justice, and environmental stewardship. Mastodon Volume 14 - 2020 | https://doi.org/10.3389/fncel.2020.00022 Microglia are the endogenous immune cells of the brain and act as sensor of infection and pathologic injury to the brain leading to a rapid plastic process of activation that culminates in the endocytosis and phagocytosis of damaged tissue Microglia cells are the most plastic cells in the brain Microglia isolation from their environment as well as culturing them in the presence of serum alter their function and lead to a rapid loss of their signature gene expression Previous studies have identified pivotal factors allowing microglia culture in the absence of serum we have further characterized the function metabolic status and response to pro and anti-inflammatory stimulus of microglia isolated by magnetic-activated cell sorting and cultured in a chemically defined medium We have compared this new method with previous traditional protocols of culturing microglia that use high concentrations of serum a fact that it has not been corroborated in microglia cells we have gone a step forward to characterize morphologically and functionally these primary cells isolated by Magnetic-activated cell sorting (MACS) from postnatal rat brain and cultured in the presence of a defined medium containing TIC factors and to determine whether these cells can recapitulate the microglial metabolic reprogramming described before in response to stimulation with pro-inflammatory factors In comparison to microglia derived from mixed glial cell culture with serum-supplemented medium microglia growth in the chemically defined medium showed a downregulation of almost all the activation markers analyzed microglial phagocytic activity is lowered even though their motility is enhanced we observed that these cells can be activated and reprogram their metabolism All experiments were performed according to the procedures approved by the Ethics Committee of the University of the Basque Country (UPV/EHU) Animals were handled in accordance with the European Communities Council Directive All possible efforts were made to minimize animal suffering and the number of animals used Microglial cells were stimulated with pro-inflammatory or anti-inflammatory factors as previously described with minor modifications (Zabala et al., 2018) cells were treated during 24 h with pro-inflammatory factors LPS (10 ng/ml) plus IFN-γ (20 ng/ml) or with the anti-inflammatory cytokines interleukins IL-13 (50 ng/ml) and IL-4 (20 ng/ml) Microglial cells were isolated by MACS from P10-P12 rats following a protocol similar to that stablished in the Neural Tissue Dissociation Kit P datasheet (Miltenyi Biotec) the whole brain (without cerebellum) was carefully dissected and meninges were removed the brain tissue was dissociated both enzymatically and mechanically using the indicated enzymatic mixes and a dounce homogenizer Myelin was removed in order to increase the yield using a Percoll gradient protocol and finally CD11b+ cells were sorted by MACS using species-specific microbeads (Miltenyi Biotec) Approximately 2–3 million cells were obtained from a single brain These cells were subsequently resuspended and cultured in a chemically defined medium containing TGF-β2, cholesterol and macrophage colony-stimulating factor (M-CSF; 100 ng/ml, Peprotech) (TIC factors), as previously described with minor modifications (Bohlen et al., 2017) IL-34 was replaced with M-CSF that acts via the same signaling pathway (CSF1R) Microglial cells were cultured with a variable density depending on the experiment; normally in order to increase the outcome of functional cells the density of the culture was high (30,000–60,000 cells per well) Medium was refreshed every day until the cells were used/analyzed Cell purity was analyzed using antibody markers for astrocytes (GFAP; 1:100 Millipore) and oligodendrocytes (Olig2; 1:200 Cells obtained through the MACS protocol were stimulated with proinflammatroy factors LPS (10 ng/ml) plus IFN-γ (20 ng/ml) or with the anti-inflammatory cytokines interleukins IL-13 and IL-4 at low concentration (low; IL-13 20 ng/ml) or high concentration (high; IL-13 Primary antibodies were used as follows to: iNOS (1:500 Lipid bodies (LBs) were stained using BODIPY 493/503 (Invitrogen) we used goat anti-rabbit Alexa Fluor 488 (1:250 Invitrogen) and goat anti-rat Alexa Fluor 488 (1:250 Images were acquired using a laser scanning confocal Olympus Fluoview FW500 microscopy or a Leica TCS STED CW SP8 super-resolution microscope using the same settings for all samples within one experimental group All the image analysis was performed with the ImageJ software (NIH). Morphology analysis of microglia was performed with ImageJ software as described before (Fontainhas et al., 2011) The area of the cell was determined on the basis of Iba1 immunostaining using NIH ImageJ The number of processes arising from soma was quantified manually Both parameters were analyzed in 30–50 cells in three independent experiments Mean fluorescence intensity (fluorescence intensity/cell area as defined in ImageJ) of purinergic receptors and Bodipy labeling was calculated in individual cells defined on the basis of Iba1 immunostaining (data was obtained from 20–30 cells per coverslip from 3–5 different experiments performed in duplicate) the mean intensity (IRF5 fluorescence/ROI area) was calculated in defined ROIs in cytoplasm and nucleus and the results were expressed as the ratio (mean fluorescence cytoplasm/mean fluorescence nucleus) CD68+ and LC3+ puncta per cell were quantified at individual cells in 20–30 cells from three independent cultures microglia were incubated with fluorescent microbeads (FluoSpheresTM carboxylate-modified microspheres red fluorescent (580/605); Invitrogen) for 1 h at 37°C Cells were stained using antibodies to Iba1 (1:500; Wako) and Hoechst 33258 Fluorescent microbeads were quantified using ImageJ on microglial cells outlined with the Iba1 immunostaining as the defining parameter for the ROIs An intracellular section of the cell was selected on the basis of Iba1 staining to assure intracellular location of the microbeads Identical acquisition parameters were used for image capture of individual experiments Results were expressed as the percentage of beads phagocytosed versus total beads (10 fields/experiment n = 3 independent experiments) and the percentage of phagocytic cells (≥1 bead at least 50 cells were analyzed in each experiment Furthermore, phagocytic capacities were also assessed by measuring the internalization and degradation of myelin. With that in mind, myelin was isolated from adult rat spinal cord with sucrose gradient centrifugations (Norton and Poduslo, 1973) and labeled with Alexa 488-NHS dye (A2000 Life Technologies) for 1 h at RT in PBS Subsequent dialysis helped removing dye excess and the resulting dyed myelin was stored until its addition to the microglia cultures in a final concentration of 5 μg/mL (1:200 dilution) the cells were rinsed and fixed after 1 h of incubation at 37°C in order to evaluate myelin degradation by the lysosomes the excess of myelin was removed and cells were subsequently chased after 24 h Microglia were then stained using antibodies to Iba1 and Hoechst 33258 and myelin was quantified at both conditions on Iba1+ cells using ImageJ (data was obtained from at least 50 cells/experiment from three independent experiments) Real time measurements of OCR and ECAR were performed using a Seahorse XFe96 Extracellular Flux Analyzer (Agilent) Microglia cells were seeded as a monolayer in a 96-well microplate and the analysis was performed following the manufacturer instructions cells were washed and equilibrated in the XF Assay modified DMEM medium for 30 min at 37°C The real levels of oxygen consumption rate were determined in response to the sequential addition of oligomycin (2 mM) FCCP (1 mM) and rotenone/antimycin A (0.5 mM) Basal mitochondrial respiration was calculated as the last measurement before addition of oligomycin – non-mitochondrial respiration (minimum rate measurement after Rot/AntA) Spare capacity was calculated by subtracting basal respiration from the maximum rate measurement after addition of FCCP Estimated ATP production designated the last measurement before addition of oligomycin – the minimum rate after oligomycin All these parameters were obtained using the Agilent Report Generator cells were cultured in 35 mm Glass Bottom Dishes (MatTek Corporation) Following 2 or 3 days of incubation at 37°C the dishes were transferred to the Nikon Biostation IM-Q microscope and live images of cells were captured with the time lapse imaging system to study microglial dynamics The settings for the recording were as follows: 3 h with an acquisition of a frame per minute The tracking of the different cells acquired in those time-lapses were obtained using the Kinovea software (n = 20 cells from three independent experiments) The accumulated distance traveled by the individual cells was quantified by measuring the euclidean distances covered at every frame; subsequently the mean speed of the cells was calculated dividing these distances by the time Using CD11b-microbeads for the isolation protocol microglia cells were isolated with a high purity from postnatal rat brains The vast majority of these cells (purity > 99%) were positive for the phagocyte marker Iba1 whereas practically no labeling of astrocytes (<1%) oligodendrocytes or neurons was observed in our cultures Representative images of Iba1+ microglia cultured in the presence of serum or in a chemically defined medium Histograms represent the morphological characterization of microglia in defined medium and serum-exposed microglia of 20–30 cells from three different experiments suggesting a decreased level of IRF5-targeted genes transcription Microglial purinergic signaling was modified when cultured in the defined medium (A–C) Immunostaining of the purinergic receptors P2Y12 (A) all of them associated to microglial activation and function in serum-exposed microglia and microglia cultured in defined medium Histograms represent the mean ± s.e.m of the P2 receptors fluorescence intensity per cell (D) Immunostaining of the interferon regulatory factor 5 (IRF5) a transcription factor that controls immune response and the expression of P2 × 4 in serum-exposed microglia and microglia in defined medium Histograms show the quantification of the immunoreactivity and the ratio of IRF5 nuclear translocation in serum-exposed microglia and microglia cultured in defined medium of 20–30 cells per coverslip from 3–5 different experiments performed in duplicate indicating a failure or a less efficient degradation capacity of these microglia Microglial phagocytic capacity is reduced in microglia cultured in defined medium (A) Phagocytosis of fluorescent microbeads (1 h) in microglia cultured in defined medium and serum-exposed microglia Histograms show the percentage of beads taken up by the cells (vs total beads) and the percentage of phagocytic cells (B) Alexa-488-labeled myelin endocytosis at 1 h (top) and 24 h (bottom) in serum-exposed microglia and microglia in defined medium Histogram shows myelin endocytosis (1 h) and degradation (24 h) in both conditions Notice that microglia cultured in defined medium do not degrade myelin n = 3 independent experiments performed in duplicate data indicated that microglia cultured in the defined medium have reduced phagocytosis Microglial activation markers are reduced in defined medium a lysosomal marker related to activation and LC3 (B) in serum-exposed microglia and in microglia culture in defined medium Data was obtained from at least 20 cells in each experiment (C) Phagocytosis of fluorescent microbeads (24 h) in defined medium without and with exposure to LPS Histogram shows the percentage of phagocytic cells in both cases Data was obtained from at least 50 cells in each experiment In the normal physiological condition, microglia scan constantly brain parenchyma by constant process movement. Live imaging of the microglia cells demonstrated that microglia cultured in defined medium have higher motility. The mean speed of the cells was enhanced and cells moved longer distances (Figure 5 and Supplementary Videos) These data support the idea that the phenotype of microglia cultured with defined medium actually resembles more the one present in the brain in physiological conditions Microglial surveillant capacity is increased when cultured in defined medium Representative trajectories of single cells (left) are represented as differentially colored lines The point of intersection of the axes constitute the initial position of the cells The histogram (right) represent the mean speed of their movement Both parameters were acquired using the Kinovea software one frame per minute) was obtained using a Nikon Biostation IM-Q microscope Microglia activation and metabolic reprogramming in microglia cultured in defined medium (A) Staining for iNOS (red) and mannose receptor (MRC1 green) in differentially activated microglia (see methods) in serum-exposed microglia and in microglia cultured in defined medium Notice that anti-inflammatory factors were used at two concentration low and high (see details in section “Methods”) in microglia cultured in defined medium whereas the low concentration of stimulus was only efficient in serum-exposed microglia (B) One representative experiment showing the metabolic profiles in microglia in defined medium and serum-exposed microglia after incubation with pro-inflammatory or anti-inflammatory factors for 24 h (C) Metabolic parameters related to mitochondrial respiration in both microglia exposed to serum and microglia cultures in defined medium after stimulation with pro-inflammatory or anti-inflammatory factors for 24 h Histograms represent the normalization of these parameters with respect to the control cells (mean + s.e.m.; n = 5–8 independent experiments) (D) OCR/ECAR ratio obtained from the basal levels of each parameter (E) Lipid accumulation in lipid bodies (LBs) represented by the expression of the fluorescent probe Bodipy Error bars in all the histograms represent standard error of the mean (s.e.m.) Microglia stimulation with anti or pro-inflammatory factors is accompanied by metabolic reprogramming (Kelly and O’Neill, 2015) microglia treated with pro-inflammatory stimulus would mainly rely on the glycolytic pathway to generate the energy in the form of ATP We assessed the energetic profiles of microglia treated with anti- and pro-inflammatory factors in both culture conditions using the Mito Stress Kit in a Seahorse XFe96 Analyzer (Agilent) in order to know if in both culture conditions reprogramming is maintained thus indicating that microglia shift to a glycolitic phenotype Here we have characterized primary microglia isolated by magnetic sorting and cultured in a chemically defined medium with previously identified factors that promote microglial survival (Bohlen et al., 2017) This condition is known to provoke a ramified morphology that mirrors that acquired by these cells in vivo in the normal adult brain we identify the obtained phenotype as a more representative example of resting microglia observed in physiological conditions ranging from a downregulation of activation markers to a reduction of different functionalities typically associated to the activated state of microglia the capacity of the cells to polarize to pro-inflammatory or anti-inflammatory profiles when exposed to common agents as well as the metabolic reprogramming that cells suffer during this process remains mainly unaltered the lower phagocytic activity of microglia in this optimized culture conditions resembles homeostatic microglia in vivo Although this model could have some limitations to study phagocytosis function in vitro it could be used on the other hand to study and identify factors and signaling pathways that potentiate phagocytosis with possible therapeutic potential Further metabolic characterization of MACS isolated microglia and cultured in this conditions would shed light on the metabolic signature of homeostatic microglia in vivo Magnetic-activated cell sorting isolated microglia and cultured in a chemically defined medium without serum is a useful but limited model to study microglia physiology Receptor expression is more representative of microglia in physiological conditions and thus its characterization would help to define more accurately the signaling pathways that orchestrate microglia function and activation This model would also serve to study metabolic reprogramming secondary to microglia stimulation with pro-inflammatory factors; however it is somehow limited for phagocytic studies the machinery to degrade myelin seems to be impaired in microglia in this culture model The datasets generated for this study are available on request to the corresponding author The animal study was reviewed and approved by the University of the Basque Country (Spain) Animal Ethics Committee MD contributed to the conception and design of the study AM and MD wrote the sections of the manuscript All authors contributed to the manuscript revision This work was supported by the Spanish Ministry of Education and Science (SAF2013-45084-R and SAF2016-75292-R the University of the Basque Country (UPV/EHU; fellowship to AZ) and Centro de Investigación Biomédica en Red Enfermedades Neurodegenerativas (CIBERNED) (grant no The Supplementary Material for this article can be found online at: https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fncel.2020.00022/full#supplementary-material VIDEO S1 | Cell motility of microglia cultured without serum Each frame is 1 min apart and movies are played at 7.2 frames per second VIDEO S2 | Cell motility of microglia cultured with serum Infiltrating monocytes trigger EAE progression but do not contribute to the resident microglia pool Similarities and distinctions of cancer and immune metabolism in inflammation and tumors Purinergic receptors P2Y12R and P2X7R: potential targets for PET imaging of microglia phenotypes in multiple sclerosis Diverse requirements for microglial survival and function revealed by defined-medium cultures P2X7-dependent release of interleukin-1 and nociception in the spinal cord following lipopolysaccharide LC3-associated phagocytosis in myeloid cells promotes tumor immune tolerance ATP mediates rapid microglial response to local brain injury in vivo P2X7 receptors mediate ischemic damage to oligodendrocytes Expression of glutamate transporters in rat optic nerve System xc- and glutamate transporter inhibition mediates microglial toxicity to oligodendrocytes Purinergic receptors in multiple sclerosis pathogenesis Microglial morphology and dynamic behavior is regulated by ionotropic glutamatergic and GABAergic neurotransmission How to reprogram microglia toward beneficial functions Fate mapping analysis reveals that adult microglia derive from primitive macrophages fate and dynamics of macrophages at CNS interfaces Differences in the Phagocytic Response of Microglia and Peripheral Macrophages after Spinal Cord Injury and Its Effects on Cell Death The P2Y12 receptor regulates microglial activation by extracellular nucleotides The microglial sensome revealed by direct rna sequencing Inflammatory microglia are glycolytic and iron retentive and typify the microglia in APP/PS1 mice mTOR-mediated metabolic reprogramming shapes distinct microglia functions in response to lipopolysaccharide and ATP Glia doi: 10.1002/glia.23760 [Epub ahead of print] Metabolic reprogramming in macrophages and dendritic cells in innate immunity Dynamics and regulation of lipid droplet formation in lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-stimulated microglia Microglia emerge from erythromyeloid precursors via Pu.1-and Irf8-dependent pathways Purinergic receptors in microglia: functional modal shifts of microglia mediated by P2 and P1 receptors Transcription factor IRF5 drives P2X4R+-reactive microglia gating neuropathic pain Lipopolysaccharide-induced alteration of mitochondrial morphology induces a metabolic shift in microglia modulating the inflammatory response in vitro and in vivo Resting microglial cells are highly dynamic surveillants of brain parenchyma in vivo Myelination in rat brain: method of myelin isolation Synaptic pruning by microglia is necessary for normal brain development Differential phagocytic properties of CD45low microglia and CD45high brain mononuclear phagocytes-activation and age-related effects High-yield isolation of murine microglia by mild trypsinization Microglia sculpt postnatal neuronal circuits in an activivty and complement-dependent manner Predominant phagocytic activity of resident microglia over hematogenous macrophages following transient focal cerebral ischemia: an investigation using green fluorescent protein transgenic bone marrow chimeric mice Microglia shape adult hippocampal neurogenesis through apoptosis-coupled phagocytosis Specific and complex reprogramming of cellular metabolism in myeloid cells during innate immune responses Van den Bossche Macrophage immunometabolism: where are we (Going) A novel microglial subset plays a key role in myelinogenesis in developing brain Transcriptome-based network analysis reveals a spectrum model of human macrophage activation P2X4 receptor controls microglia activation and favors remyelination in autoimmune encephalitis Matute C and Domercq M (2020) Functional and Metabolic Characterization of Microglia Culture in a Defined Medium Copyright © 2020 Montilla, Zabala, Matute and Domercq. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY) *Correspondence: María Domercq, bWFyaWEuZG9tZXJjcUBlaHUuZXVz Russia’s Defense Ministry said Thursday that its forces captured a Columbian man who purportedly fought as a mercenary on the side of Ukraine “Angel Cardenas Montilla came to Ukraine following an advertisement on TikTok inviting mercenaries to fight against Russia,” the Defense Ministry said in a statement In an interrogation video released by the Russian military identified himself as a former police officer and a father of four who received minimal combat training in Ukraine He added that he was “mistreated” and “lied to” by the Ukrainian authorities.  who had bruises on his face and a swollen eyelid in the video said he was the only survivor out of the nine Colombians who were with him just before being captured He urged his fellow Colombians to avoid traveling to Ukraine and joining its military He also praised the Russian military and his treatment while in captivity It was not clear whether Cardenas Montilla’s interrogation was filmed under duress The Kremlin frequently accuses Kyiv of recruiting foreign mercenaries to fight against Russian forces. Moscow itself has faced accusations of luring foreigners from predominantly poor nations to fight against Ukraine Colombia has condemned Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine But President Gustavo Petro has opposed sending weapons to support Ukraine and has spoken in favor of a negotiated resolution to the conflict Russia's Prosecutor General's Office has designated The Moscow Times as an "undesirable" organization criminalizing our work and putting our staff at risk of prosecution This follows our earlier unjust labeling as a "foreign agent." These actions are direct attempts to silence independent journalism in Russia The authorities claim our work "discredits the decisions of the Russian leadership." We see things differently: we strive to provide accurate We, the journalists of The Moscow Times, refuse to be silenced. But to continue our work, we need your help please support us monthly starting from just $2 and every contribution makes a significant impact independent journalism in the face of repression SIOUX FALLS — Even after climbing down off the podium Emily Diekmann was still in a state of shock An eighth-grader competing in her first state track and field championship meet 5-seeded jumper in the field but wasn’t exactly sure how the competition might play out She certainly didn’t expect to be part of a two-person jump-off against No to decide the Class B girls high jump champion but Diekmann claimed a surprise state championship with a final clearance of 5 feet and I don’t think I will for a while,” Diekmann said “I knew I would probably be up there because I was seeded fifth just an extra leap of faith or something.” Diekmann started the day by going over 4-9 on her first try she notched a second-attempt clearance at 4-11 and then again at 5-1 at which point she watched the remaining jumpers dwindle to just four The quickly shrinking field helped inspire confidence in the young jumper who began taking stock of who she had to outlast as one of the final competitors left standing I started really thinking — who’s still in it All four jumpers missed three times at 5 feet and Diekmann wasn’t sure what happened next “I didn’t know if I was tied or if I was even going to move on,” Diekmann said the quartet was cut in half based on total jumps leaving Diekmann in a one-on-one jump-off with Brave placing a heap of pressure squarely on Brave’s shoulders The White River junior missed her ensuring jump “I think I had the right spot (going first),” Diekmann said “When I cleared that last jump I just looked at my coach and I was so pumped Wolsey-Wessington's Tatum Luce took third place and De Smet's Hazel Luethmers was fourth as the other two jumpers to clear 5-1 Rounding out the podium finishers were Philip's Drew Terkildsen Harding County's Lexy Rolph and White River's Kamaria Krogman in a tie for fifth place while Canistota's Natalee Hofer and Oldham-Ramona-Rutland's Julia Trygstad tied for eighth Iker Diaz Montilla continued building his championship pedigree well into the 11th hour of his time in South Dakota followed Thursday’s triple jump title by jumping a personal best of 6 feet 5 inches to claim victory in the Class B high jump on Friday afternoon The achievement is particularly sweet for Montilla the high jump is a sport he competed in for several years back in Spain “This definitely means more than the triple jump because I have worked for this a lot more,” Montilla said Doing so required outlasting Gregory challenger Daniel Mitchell the defending champion and top-ranked jumper entering the contest before Montilla was able to meet a mark Mitchell couldn't “I really like to have good people in the competitions that jump higher than me or as high as me because it pushes me to have my best performance,” Montilla said Another thing which may have given the Burke junior an edge was a tactful decision he made on Thursday After his fourth attempt in the triple jump Montilla opted to forgo his final two attempts because he felt he’d already hit his best mark and wanted to rest his body for the high jump Montilla said he felt rusty on his first jump but the extra rest from the day prior helped him steadily feel better “I think it was a really good decision,” he said Finishing third in the high jump was Colman-Egan’s Jack Mousel with Philip’s Layton Terkildsen and De Smet’s George Jensen in a tie for fifth Deubrook Area's Jake Jorenby and Dell Rapids St Mary's Jaxon Baumberger tied for seventh place who will return to Madrid with his name etched in the record as a two-time state champion “I miss my family and my friends,” Montilla said professor of American studies; director of the Center for Leadership and Learning (CLTL); and a standup comedian leads the Skidmore community in laughter and learning The Skidmore College riding team finished in fifth place at the 2025 IHSA Nationals Map & Directions the DO found its reputation overtaken by its neighbour Jerez Jerez would not have its Amontillado – meaning ‘in the style of Montilla’ The essence of Montilla-Moriles is the grape variety Pedro Ximénez (PX) PX is renowned as the grape that produces the ultra-sweet (450g/L anyone?) wines It is the DO that has been providing the sun-dried intensity for Jerez PX Once the Montilla-Moriles PX has been aged in a Jerez cellar for a minimum of two years it becomes Sherry The unsolved murder of a 21-year-old local student in 2022 while he was out alone on an August evening at his family's land in Los Montes de Málaga natural park made headline news given the isolated location and no witnesses The only clue was WhatsApp messages to family and friends back in Malaga city earlier the same evening from David on the farm saying he had given water to a "rough-looking" stranger It remained a mystery to the public until 16 May this year who has the aliases El Titi and Dinamita Montilla was taken by surprise by detectives in a bar in a village close to the Portuguese border in Extremadura a major piece of detective work had been under way that led them to link Jurado Montilla to the killing of David Unidentified DNA had been found on the boy's rucksack Forensic police were able to obtain a percentage match to somebody already on their database via the parental line - a person related to the owner of the DNA The match's current surname had changed after birth from the surname Jurado detailed family-tree search of Jurados began stretching back to 1873 and only possible with the help of historic church baptismal records held by the Bishop of Malaga the name of one of the living relatives traced sent a shudder down investigators' spines when they searched for the name on the internet The search results revealed an old interview with a man of the same name published in 2013 in Diario SUR José Jurado Montilla was a serial killer - infamous in Malaga for four rural killings between 1985 and 1987 including two tourists - a German and a Briton - out near the present-day Caminito del Rey He had served 28 years of a 123 year prison term and was released in 2013 due to a change in European law he had spoken of how only one of the four 1980s crimes he had committed and protested his innocence Over the years he has been investigated for a range of crimes such as homicide Jurado Montilla had lived an itinerant life around Spain but had cultivated an interest in social media police did not find it too hard tracking him down as he was posting from his current location - Valdebótoa in the province of Badajoz and five kilometres from Portugal Police moved quickly and in a plain-clothes operation the alleged murderer of David was arrested on 16 May and appeared in court to be denied bail last Sunday the motive of the murder was to seize David's belongings David had been in the wrong place at the wrong time loss of contact led his relatives to go to the beauty spot where they thought the young man might be their worst fears were realised when they found his body a suspect is in jail thanks to the creative and laborious work of National Police investigators Comentar es una ventaja exclusiva para registrados Marketing and CommunicationsAndrew Young School of Policy Studies ATLANTA — Career coach and employee relations professional Natalia Montilla has joined the Andrew Young School of Policy Studies Office of Career Services and Alumni Relations as its new assistant director for employer relations Montilla brings over six years of event coordination expertise planning and executing student activities and career events at Johnson & Wales University and later as part of the Business Development & Communications team at Jones Day Miami she has over four years of career advising experience “We are excited to have Natalia joining the team,” said Colleen Perry director of Career Services and Alumni Relations “She brings exceptional relationship-building event-management and career-advising skills and will be applying those toward fostering and expanding employment and experiential opportunities for AYS students and alumni and supporting the needs of our regional public affairs and workforce development partners.” Montilla will be the primary point of contact for questions about Handshake connections with employers (information sessions etc.) and promoting internship and full-time postings Montilla holds a Master of Business Administration and a Bachelor of Science in Sports Entertainment & Event Management from Johnson & Wales University She is also certified as a Professional Résumé Writer with the Professional Association of Résumé Writers and Career Coaches Filed Under: Academic Unit News Urban Studies Graduate Rediscovers Passion at Georgia State Fei Li Receives Andrew Young School’s 2025 Dean’s Early Career Award Jack Mason Receives Andrew Young School's 2025 Staff Excellence Award Robin Hartinger-Saunders Receives Andrew Young School's 2025 Excellence in Teaching Award Economics Graduate Advances to Postdoctoral Research at Yale Please select what you would like included for printing: Copy the text below and then paste that into your favorite email application This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply Service map data © OpenStreetMap contributors Try searching for your content, or return to the homepage You are using an outdated browser. Please upgrade your browser to improve your experience "Issues related to Pakistan were not discussed," says ADB on bilateral meeting with FM Sitharaman "Buddhist connections between India-Vietnam represent very strong element of partnership": Indian envoy Sandeep Arya Jaishankar appreciates Japan's support for India over Pahalgam terrorist attack 21% water shortage expected for Kharif season in Pakistan after India puts Indus Treaty in abeyance "Military solution is no solution": UN Secy General asks India Pakistan to exercise "maximum restraint" Finance Minister Sitharaman meets ADB President Italian counterpart; highlights India's DPI success India strongly objects to Khalistani imagery copyrights © aninews.in | All rights Reserved