© 2025 EmCan Media - Hosted By canaryfone A residential building on Avenida de Canarias has been evacuated by firefighters and Local Police due to an imminent risk of collapse The evacuation has affected several families According to sources from the Santa Lucía de Tirajana Town Hall the alert was received late Saturday morning the authorities have restricted traffic on Avenida de Canarias one of the town’s main thoroughfares while firefighters and municipal technicians assess the situation Although the exact number of affected residents has not been confirmed the building is a two-storey residential rental property and it has been reported that at least two children are among the evacuees The building's owner has assured authorities that all displaced families will be relocated to other properties under his ownership local social services remain on standby to provide assistance to any vulnerable families in need of further support The council has dispatched staff from the urban planning enforcement department Preliminary investigations suggest that recent construction work may have compromised the stability of the building by affecting one of its structural pillars WFLA Un oso que deambulaba por los vecindarios del condado de Hillsborough ha evadido los intentos de atraparlo un oso negro que fue visto por primera vez en un complejo de apartamentos en Tampa se dirigió a un vecindario en Town 'n' Country TampaHoy.com es la división en español de WFLA - News Channel 8 On Your Side ofreciendo las noticias más importantes de la Bahía de Tampa Encuentra información actualizada sobre sucesos además de ser la casa oficial de los Tampa Bay Buccaneers Mantente informado con lo que sucede en tu comunidad cars were lining a portion of Harbor Drive S Indian Rocks Beach heard a loud boom followed by a pink plume of smoke Lee Hughes was arrested Thursday and has since been fired from Pinellas Preparatory Academy Tampa Fire Rescue said crews were battling a fire at a mechanic shop and scrap yard facility on West Osborne Avenue Monday evening 'We've got to get this right': Attorney representing ferry crash survivors weighs in on case The News Channel 8 Team presents the latest information on the events of the day and timely updates on local sports Rebecca's forecast for Monday night- increasing chances for rain this week 'People want answers': Attorney for family in Clearwater ferry crash voices concern A non-profit started by a small group right here in Tampa Bay are now making a big impact in providing resources for neglected children Chairperson for Joshua's House Annual Child Abuse Awareness Benefit the host of the nationally syndicated health and wellness show Bloom to share more details about the work they do in the community and how they create awareness This issue is preventing our website from loading properly. Please review the following troubleshooting tips or contact us at [email protected] By submitting your email, you agree to the Privacy Policy and Terms of Use and to receive email correspondence from us Create an FP account to save articles to read later ALREADY AN FP SUBSCRIBER? LOGIN Downloadable PDFs are a benefit of an FP subscription This article is an Insider exclusive Contact us at [email protected] to learn about upgrade options unlocking the ability to gift this article We don’t know how exactly this war will end, but we do know that Russia will not win. Even if Russian President Vladimir Putin’s strained mobilization of hundreds of thousands of inexperienced new troops leads to some tactical wins his invasion of Ukraine is already a strategic loss Putin has ensured a painful winter in Europe but hastened Europe’s energy diversification and transition The Russian military’s failures and resort to widespread atrocities have exposed Moscow’s conventional military capabilities as a Potemkin force We can only imagine what the Chinese are thinking today about their de facto ally—or how the Turkish general staff is now recalculating Ankara’s strategic options in the Black Sea region and beyond If Putin were to follow through on his threat to use nuclear weapons in Ukraine it would only compound his strategic defeat even as Western analysts and officials warn against placing too much hope on a quick Ukrainian victory Russian power and influence is already visibly weakened Russia is not withdrawing so much as it is deflating there is a kind of giant geopolitical sucking sound all around Russia’s periphery—from Eastern Europe to Central Asia—as a diminished Russia creates a vacuum that could unsettle an already fragile status quo a continuation of a process that began with the collapse of the Soviet empire When the Soviet Union ceased to exist more than three decades ago the ripple effects of evaporated Soviet power included wars in the Caucasus the consolidation of power by strongmen in Central Asia just as Russia is attempting to restore imperial control over Ukraine today the breakup of the former Yugoslavia and the conflicts that followed were also related to the collapse of the Soviet Union—if less directly Yugoslavia’s importance on the strategic chessboard declined this vacuum and resulting lack of Western interest that allowed Serbian strongman Slobodan Milosevic to exploit domestic divisions for ethnic conflict his progressively authoritarian regime has attempted to project Russian power all throughout the former Soviet space His policies have been fueled by a combination of a desire to reassert control over the Soviet Union’s former territories which he doesn’t see as legitimate or fully sovereign states and his deeply held fear that democratic awakenings in any of them might be contagious Russia has created—or maintained—so-called frozen conflicts to use as leverage points and bargaining chips from its start in 2014 with the invasion of Crimea through its massive escalation in February hypercharged by a genocidal denial that a Ukrainian nation Putin’s strategic loss in Ukraine may now loosen Russia’s grip The lost war in Ukraine has put Russia’s future political development and security arrangements into focus With the diminishment of Russian prestige and power the geopolitical landscape across Eurasia could prove dynamic Armenian officials reported more than 200 of its soldiers as killed and nearly 300 soldiers injured Even though much of the West’s attention has focused on Aliyev apparently seizing the moment, even to the point of potentially overplaying his hand that is not what’s remarkable about Russia’s loss of influence More significant in the long term is that Armenia seems to have given up on Russia as a security guarantor and is looking to the West for political support—and receiving it That could have profound influences on the region’s post-Russian future If it comes to a stable Armenian-Azerbaijani border deal—as some reports indicate—it will be brokered at the Western table is in no position to be either a broker or guarantor Or look at Georgia to calibrate the potential effects of waning Russian influence and especially at the time of the 2008 Russo-Georgian war Georgia had the hopes and sympathy of many in the West who saw the small country on the Black Sea as emblematic of the potential for democratic progress in the Caucasus—and Russia’s determination to squelch it the Kremlin’s puppet republics in Ukraine’s Donbas region derived from its Georgia playbook Russia has occupied Georgia’s Abkhazia and South Ossetia regions since the 2008 war and is adept at using the occupation as a way to exert political leverage over—and deny progress to—the Georgian government precipitated by strategic defeat in Ukraine creates space for Georgia to deepen its ties with the West Georgia’s toxic political culture makes it more of a political island than it needs to be Putin’s unraveling couldn’t come at a better time Its new status as an EU candidate means it has jumped the queue for Western integration despite having one of Russia’s frozen conflicts on its territory Russia has stationed troops and stored weapons in Transnistria the slice of Moldova that lies between the Dniester river and the Ukrainian border Moscow has bankrolled and loosely controlled a puppet government with colorful the Moldovan government has sought to remove barriers for Transnistrians to access the economy on the other side of the river on the theory that reintegration was more likely to come from engaging them than from trying to evict the Russians support—can really make progress on rule of law and economic development its attractiveness to residents of Transnistria will be even better Time will tell whether those elements of Moldova’s own political scene that have historically been underwritten by Russian corruption will find Moscow’s checkbook as generous as before the war Putin’s focus on salvaging his lost war in Ukraine could create the space Moldova needs to move forward with less of Russia’s incessant sabotage One should always temper optimism—after all there are still Russian weapons and soldiers in Transnistria who would need to leave somehow—but of Russia’s frozen conflicts Moldova is the most likely to find a resolution in the coming years Motivated democratic actors are stepping up where Moscow has a long history of stoking conflict have much to gain from a pullback of Russian influence Putin has cultivated a relationship with Serbian leader Aleksander Vucic and Russian public diplomacy has successfully engaged a significant part of the Serbian public Vucic has played a successful game of balancing Russian playing them against one another to advance his own agenda Russia’s decline as a result of the war may increase Vucic’s interest in economic ties with Beijing while also making his government more likely to work constructively with Brussels and Washington it’s far from clear that Vucic has the personal inclination or the political space to resolve Serbia’s outstanding issues related to Kosovo—a prerequisite for Serbia’s full European integration Putin’s long-standing habit of stoking conflict means the West must pay attention to the Balkans even as Russia is wrapped up in Ukraine. In Bosnia and Herzegovina, Russia’s longtime support for Bosnian Serb leader Milorad Dodik could be the fuse that Putin tries to light as a way of making problems for Europe Dodik recently met with Putin and offered support for the sham referendums that Russia used to purportedly annex four Ukrainian oblasts last month Bosnia and Herzegovina is notoriously politically fragile in part because the country failed to adopt—and external partners failed to adequately support—a workable long-term constitutional framework In another twist on his frozen conflict playbook encourage Dodik to declare his intention to formally merge Republika Srpska the majority-Serbian region within the country There is plenty of competition for White House attention these days but a presidential or vice presidential visit to Sarajevo Which of these or other dominoes will fall—and when and how It is too soon to predict the ultimate fallout of Russia’s certain strategic defeat partly because it is not clear how severe the defeat will be And although dominoes certainly fall in geopolitics International politics isn’t physics: The forces bringing about geopolitical outcomes are more varied and the rules less reliable is that a phase of geopolitical plasticity elevates the importance of diplomacy which now has a greater opportunity to have an impact in how the dominoes will fall although the West is primarily focused on its response to Russia’s war against Ukraine and the war’s impacts on energy supplies and inflation the United States and Europe should not miss the chance to quietly but energetically exploit Russia’s colossal strategic mistake to work toward a better status quo—and avoid a worse one—in the places where Russia’s now-receding power projection has proven so nefarious and calcifying in the past Daniel B. Baer is the senior vice president for policy research at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, a former U.S. ambassador to the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe from 2013 to 2017, and the author of The Four Tests: What it Will Take to Keep America Strong and Good. X: @danbbaer Commenting on this and other recent articles is just one benefit of a Foreign Policy subscription Join the conversation on this and other recent Foreign Policy articles when you subscribe now Please follow our comment guidelines The default username below has been generated using the first name and last initial on your FP subscriber account Usernames may be updated at any time and must not contain inappropriate or offensive language FP’s flagship evening newsletter guiding you through the most important world stories of the day Specialty rates for students and faculty. Lock in your rates for longer. Unlock powerful intelligence for your team. In Tabasco, Mexico, non-profit New Story is building a new kind of neighborhood to offer a home to 50 local families that live on less than three dollars a day The neighborhood will be entirely 3D printed and the first of its kind globally Each home takes about 24 hours to 3D print and two of them have now been completed XSameerah Abdullah holds her daughter Maimoonah Abdul Hakeem, 3, while her children Asiyah Jones (left), 6, Dawud Jones, 7, and Musa Moore, 9, do schoolwork in their home in Philadelphia. They are some of the nearly 15,000 Philly students enrolled in cyber charter schools. (Caroline Gutman for Chalkbeat) Sameerah Abdullah sends her three school-aged kids to a cyber charter school for some of the same familiar reasons that other families across the nation do including the flexibility and personalization they try to get out of the city and into the woods But her motivations are also deeply personal Abdullah was an intern for a school guidance counselor in West Philly before having children and was struck by the exhausted teachers and the students’ cursing and bad behavior The city’s gun violence epidemic has only strengthened her resolve. Her nine-year-old son, Musa, was separated from his father during a mass shooting in a West Philly park during an Eid al-Fitr celebration in April and has struggled with loud sounds ever since “The shooter actually brushed through him when he was running,” said Abdullah whose children attend Reach Cyber and Commonwealth Charter Academy I had to teach my kids what to do in a crisis situation.” Abdullah is part of a growing number of Black and low-income Philadelphians turning to cyber charters because they see them as a safe and flexible educational option for their families Nearly 15,000 of Philadelphia’s more than 197,000 students attended a virtual cyber charter school last year — a 55% increase since the 2020-21 school year In fact, Pennsylvania has quietly become the “cyber charter capital of the nation,” according to a report from the education advocacy group Children First PA Nearly 60,000 students statewide were enrolled full time in cyber charters in 2023-24 according data from the Pennsylvania Department of Education Children First researchers found Pennsylvania enrolled more full-time cyber students than any other state — including ones like California and Florida with much larger K-12 student populations cyber charters are publicly funded but independently run schools approved by the state Department of Education There are 13 cyber charter schools operating in Pennsylvania as well as a smaller virtual academy run by the Philadelphia school district for the past decade School districts across Pennsylvania collectively send those 13 schools an estimated $1 billion a year including almost $270 million from the Philadelphia school district last fiscal year Philadelphia families like Abdullah’s told Chalkbeat they are increasingly choosing virtual schools for the schedule flexibility and safety and bullying concerns at their childrens’ traditional schools Gun violence fears in particular have driven some of the demand for online options according to families who spoke with Chalkbeat five Philadelphia schools were among the top 10 nationwide in experiencing shootings near their buildings in the last decade But as more families in Philadelphia withdraw from the traditional district in favor of these cyber charter schools the charter operators have come under fire from public education advocates for failing to improve student performance The state has acknowledged in its decision letters renewing several cyber schools’ charters that some of the organizations are not performing up to their standards but has stopped short of revoking their charters With cyber charter enrollment rising as traditional district enrollment shrinks education advocates say the state should be taking a more hands-on approach to ensuring the operators are delivering a quality education — and holding accountable those that don’t “These schools are failing to ensure that the kids they bring in are learning and will be able to graduate ready for a productive career or higher education,” said Susan Spicka executive director of the public education advocacy group Education Voters PA Remote learning was thrust into the public eye during the pandemic when school closures shuttered buildings and students across the country learned online But parents like Shawna Hinnant enrolled their children in cyber charter schools long before COVID her two sons had experienced bullying at both traditional public schools as well as brick and mortar charter schools “That’s why I decided to go with the online school because I felt like it was safer,” said Hinnant Hinnant said she was also drawn in by the resources the cyber charter schools offered: Free printers Many Spanish-speaking Philadelphians are also choosing cyber charters run by Latino-led organizations because of gaps they say persist in the traditional district’s language and cultural services And Muslim families like Abdullah’s likewise are moving online to incorporate more spiritual and religious teachings alongside the traditional curriculum “Now that the whole COVID thing has dwindled down a little bit, it’s kind of like, ‘hey, you know what my kids did really well,’ or ‘I liked having my student at home’ … or ‘I’m not home and I don’t want my child to walk to school.’ It’s a safety issue,” said Lisette Agosto Cintrón, principal at the district-run online school, the Philadelphia Virtual Academy and a former principal at ASPIRA bilingual cyber charter school in the city The School District of Philadelphia also operates its own online school — the Philadelphia Virtual Academy also known as PVA — which it sees as a way to serve students and their families who want that specific cyber experience while also keeping them in their public school district But it’s having trouble getting the word out PVA's enrollment is higher than it was pre-pandemic but it's still far below the 15,000 students enrolled in cyber charters One major difference between what the district offers and what cyber charters offer is live instruction: While Musa and his siblings may have a class or two with a teacher in realtime some of their lessons are asynchronous or involve watching a video or studying on their own and with their mom before answering questions all of the classes are live and taught by certified district teachers at their headquarters at 440 North Broad Street Agosto Cintrón said she has also worked with families of students with chronic illnesses or are homebound Her students also come from households that have been disrupted due to domestic violence or threats of gun violence against families stemming from “neighborhood beefs.” “Transiency doesn’t matter in my world,” Agosto Cintrón said Though families told Chalkbeat they’re mostly happy with the education their children are getting online, cyber charter schools in Pennsylvania have reported lower standardized test scores and graduation rates than all schools statewide Sarah Cordes, an associate professor and education researcher at Temple University, has researched cyber charter high school students and found that they tend to have worse test scores and higher rates of chronic absenteeism than traditional public school students even when controlling for the differences in student population Students who enroll in a cyber charter school are 9.5 percentage points less likely to graduate in four years and are 16.8 percentage points less likely to enroll in a postsecondary institution Chalkbeat Philadelphia reporters are answering your questions and digging into what's happening in the city's public schools delivered every Wednesday and Friday morning By signing up, you agree to our Privacy Notice and European users agree to the data transfer policy. You may also receive occasional messages from sponsors “What really stood out is just how consistently negative the results were and that it was across populations,” Cordes said “It didn’t seem to matter if you came from an urban district or a rural district or a suburban district it seemed pretty equally bad.” Cordes said her results were consistent across race The state has considered cyber charters’ lagging test scores when authorizing or renewing the schools has stopped short of revoking their charters Take Reach Cyber, the school that Musa and his brother Dawud attend. In July, Pennsylvania Education Secretary Khalid Mumin wrote in a letter to the school that for the past few years “students in all grade levels and all subjects have significantly underperformed on the PSSA and Keystone Exams specifically when compared with traditional public schools.” the education department granted Reach a five-year charter renewal Unstable home situations don’t often create ideal test taking environments many families who choose cyber charter schools because of their nontraditional outlook on education are more likely to opt-out of standardized testing And cyber charter operators argue that students perform better on state tests the longer that they attend the schools but their student populations tend to move in and out of virtual learning didn’t back up that assertion at the high school level.) said in an email that “cyber charter school student scores can’t and shouldn’t be compared to brick-and-mortar school scores.” Swan said the school conveys the importance of state tests to families but “many families invoke their right to refuse testing due to philosophical or logistical reasons.” She also noted that students arrive at the school “significantly below grade-level proficiency.” Parents like Abdullah said they look beyond test scores and overall school performance when choosing cyber charters Abdullah is also an experienced educator herself and is pursuing her doctorate in education online with a focus on student safety and mental health Beyond performance, critics of cyber charters accuse them of drawing vital funding away from struggling traditional public schools, since district schools send cyber charters the same per-student tuition it would spend educating a child in one of its classrooms minus some costs for transportation and facilities Districts must send this tuition payment for every student who lives in the city but is enrolled in a cyber charter regardless of whether that child was ever educated by the district A bipartisan group of lawmakers in Harrisburg has put forth efforts to reform the way cyber schools are funded and monitored but the boldest changes haven’t gained much traction The most recent state budget Gov Josh Shapiro signed in July included $100 million to reimburse school districts for payments they make to cyber charter schools and some alterations to the way special education students are counted and funded But the wholesale reforms some lawmakers had proposed did not make it into the final budget Calls by local school boards for more oversight cross party lines director of the Keystone Center for Charter Change who has been following the growth of cyber charter schools “I know public education is far from perfect accountability has been missing from the cyber charter arena both fiscally and performance-wise,” Feinberg said While advocates fight for more oversight of cyber charters some families in Philadelphia say they’re not happy with their traditional neighborhood schools and don’t have time to wait for the district to improve the adjustment to online learning can be hard 18 and an engineering technology student at Drexel University said making the switch to a cyber charter was “scary” at first for herself and her brother and I feel like the connections I had with the teachers were way closer than what I had in-person school,” she said Santiago was able to graduate a year early from Reach Cyber by taking summer classes and working with career coordinators to focus her studies on engineering Her brother said it’s been harder for him to make friends in online school and while he wants to finish middle school virtually he’s not sure it’s the right fit for him long term and his mom have different philosophies about his future as well Though he loves going to school with his siblings I would like to go to a real school,” Musa said “I don’t want to be in middle school and have my whole life be on a laptop Abdullah said she recognizes her children are outgoing and need friends She said she works hard to tailor their online school experience so that they can travel and play with their friends in the neighborhood is to one day create a space where families like hers can join up Editorial content is created independently of the project’s donors Carly Sitrin is the bureau chief for Chalkbeat Philadelphia. Contact Carly at csitrin@chalkbeat.org CHALKBEAT IS A CIVIC NEWS COMPANY NEWSROOM ©2025 Textron Aviation is performing air quality testing in 27 homes in an east Wichita neighborhood this winter after residents there learned of a decades-old chemical spill The Forest Hills neighborhood sits directly west of a Textron Aviation facility – formerly Beechcraft – near Central and Webb a toxic chemical known as trichloroethene was detected in the groundwater underneath the facility and the Forest Hills neighborhood The chemical was used by Beechcraft in aircraft manufacturing before the 1990s some residents learned the chemical still contaminated the groundwater beneath Textron and their neighborhood Groundwater is separate from the city’s drinking water a safe source to which all the Forest Hills properties are connected “I was talking with a neighbor about several neighbors around us with cancer diagnoses,” said Sarah Selmon “And just kind of offhand said something like There's these testing wells all over our neighborhood Selmon said she didn’t – and she wouldn’t have moved to the neighborhood in 2012 if she had. According to the Kansas Department of Health and Environment, the chemical is a potential health hazard to the kidney and liver and has the potential to cause cancer a company spokesperson for Textron Aviation wrote that they continue to monitor the groundwater quality in the area around its facility "Textron Aviation is in compliance with all its KDHE-approved plans and requirements regarding monitoring testing and remediation," the statement read Textron Aviation has over time conducted several air quality monitoring projects in homes and commercial buildings in and near the Forest Hills neighborhood. Results of all such air quality testing consistently show no contaminants of concern at levels that would require mitigation." Though Textron and formerly Beechcraft have undergone several cleanup efforts – including the excavation of contaminated soil and extraction of contaminated groundwater and soil vapor – the amount of trichloroethene in the groundwater still exceeds regulatory standards in some areas One well in the Forest Hills neighborhood measured trichloroethene at about eight times the regulatory standard in 2022 and Forest Hills neighborhood association member Jason Brittain to alert their community at an informal meeting last November Marsh Martin is a homeowner who attended the meeting “We’d lived in this neighborhood for over 40 years and had no knowledge of any of this which in itself kind of surprises me,” he said Selmon started asking the state for more air quality testing in case the chemical evaporated into homes Trichloroethene “evaporates quickly into the air,” according to KDHE Textron Aviation agreed to perform additional indoor air testing during the early 2024 winter season “to address these concerns and to act as a good neighbor,” according to a letter KDHE sent to 175 residents in the Forest Hills and Bonnie Brae neighborhoods The state said it received 36 inquiries about the site and/or indoor air testing from residents Twenty-seven have signed agreements for indoor air testing as of Feb Past indoor air quality testing in the neighborhood hasn’t identified any concerns according to the letter KDHE sent to residents Trichloroethene didn’t appear in any of the six residences tested in 2011 Trichloroethene appeared in three of 10 homes tested in 2022 and 2023 though the levels fell well below state standards But the 2022 tests concerned Selmon and Brittain despite the low concentration of the chemical in the air Both the 2011 and 2022 air quality tests identified other chemicals in the air – acetone Selmon and Brittain worry what the cumulative impacts of these chemicals might be on humans even if none are more concentrated than the regulatory standard allows this one (chemical) might be under the limit,” Selmon said “But your body's not just dealing with the one.” Jerry Williams owns one of the homes that tested positive for low levels of trichloroethene in 2023 The state informed him that it was possible that the chemical came from the groundwater before I even heard about it,” Williams said Selmon moved out of the neighborhood in September 2022 “We made the decision to move even though the KDHE doesn't think there's anything wrong with living here,” Selmon wrote in an email Her family still owns a home in Forest Hills The state said the deadline to request indoor air quality testing in Forest Hills has passed Editor's note: This story was updated on Feb 21 to include a statement from Textron Aviation politics Until recently, I had a nice relationship with my neighbor She came over to hit baseballs in our backyard batting cage; we shopped for patio furniture together; we collected packages and mail off each other’s porches My family would share fresh vegetables from our garden with her and she dropped off cupcakes for a pandemic pick-me-up I’ve always known she’s a Republican, and she’s known that I’m a Democrat. But we rarely talked politics — in fact, over the summer, she told me that we shouldn’t talk about the election She explained that she’d lost too many friends already because of politics and Jolly Roger (a nod to the Pittsburgh Pirates) flags to show solidarity for other causes we support But the decorations make me happy; I think they look joyful and I’m proud to show my support for all of these causes But then, one Saturday, just a couple days after we put out the sign and hung our flags as I was weeding my street-side garden bed I saw my neighbors climb into their car and begin to reverse down their driveway she raised her right hand and extended her middle finger “I think she just flipped us off,” I stammered “She did,” my 13-year-old daughter replied Suddenly, the day’s events started to make sense. My husband told me that the neighbor hadn’t responded when he said hi earlier that day. And, when I texted her about picking up corn stalks from our garden that she wanted for autumn decorations she apparently had changed her mind and abruptly declined but I had a hunch it was the flags and the Biden-Harris sign Our kids asked what they should do when they see her again She asked for forgiveness for her “bizarre action,” adding that she’d been under a lot of stress She explained that she was angry at an imagined possible scenario if she put out a Trump sign “they” would throw rocks through her windows I wrote back and said that her gesture felt dehumanizing. I explained that it made me sad that outside political messages resulted in this kind of treatment, and I told her that we talked about it with our kids. I also pointed out that we’d always been aware of our ideological differences, but had never altered from a path of respect and kindness With the hope of salvaging our relationship and maintaining neighborhood civility my neighbor replied that she’d explained all that was necessary and was not open to any further discussion I wish I could say that my neighbor’s behavior changed since she flipped us the bird — but she took a photo of my house and posted it on our neighborhood listserv with the following caption: “Flags/ghetto: Is it OK to make our beautiful neighborhood look like a ghetto with numerous flying flags?” I admit that when my husband and I do something, we like to go all out. Referencing Spinal Tap, we often joke that when we turn it up, we turn it up to 11 “Do you think all these flags are tacky and over-the-top?” I might have shrugged and even replied with a “yes.” But “ghetto?” I find the term racist as the granddaughter of Holocaust survivors As another neighbor noted in a comment under her photo: “What exactly do you mean by ‘ghetto?’ Please note that regardless of your intentions you may well be offensive to both your Jewish and Black neighbors with this comment.” My grandmother had shifted from German to “other.” And while the circumstances are wildly different had become “othered” in the eyes of my neighbor because of my political views Remarkably, while our neighbor shamed and villainized us, our other neighbors stood up for us. After that listserv comment, dozens more appeared — all words of unity. People wrote that they thought our house looked beautiful, that they didn’t see a problem, and that they loved our dedication to democracy and America One person suggested that maybe our neighbor should “re-examine what it means to be an American and what it means to care.” Others said they were reporting the post but rather bear silent witness as my community rallied around me I’m not sure if my relationship with this particular neighbor will ever be mended but it’s nice to know that I have dozens of other neighbors with whom I can share the bounty of my garden By submitting I agree to the privacy policy Your Ads Privacy ChoicesIMDb Movies in theaters Movies at Home Florence Pugh Movies and Shows (Thunderbolts) What to Watch: In Theaters and On Streaming Weekend Box Office: Thunderbolts* Secures $76 Million Debut New Movies and Shows streaming in May: What to Watch on Netflix 1BR's occasionally ordinary storytelling is more than outweighed by tight direction and an effective blend of horror and thoughtful drama MAMARONECK – Denys Hernandez recently bought a laminator before the next flood Laminate can preserve the photos and her children's artwork that Hernandez and her husband still have. That and the portable tucked high on a shelf in their one-story Mamaroneck home These kinds of precautions have become the norm in the Flats immigrant neighborhood that's suffered from recurring catastrophic floods due to its location near two rivers. Catalyzed by climate change the devastation will likely get worse with more extreme weather events like Hurricane Ida over half a year ago What Ida took from their one-story Mamaroneck home in neck-high murky water was irreplaceable. Ultrasound scans for their three children – including their 1-year-old daughter New clothes from Walmart for the school year washed away Her sons' bunk bed collapsed from the mattresses “I'm not going to invest in nice things,” Hernandez said on a snowy Wednesday inside her Ford Expedition parked on the same overpass where her family sought refuge the night of Sept Mitigating risks: Lower Westchester seeing millions of federal dollars for flood fixes - finally Tipping point: After Ida's wakeup call, eyes turn to preserving wetlands, building walls Renewable change: NY colleges are training students to lead statewide push toward green energy. Here's how Hernandez has lived nearly all her life in the Flats formally known as Washingtonville. It’s all her children know About a mile-and-a-half inland from yacht clubs and mansions overlooking the Long Island Sound flooding frequently disrupts life in the Flats But the pace and depth of Ida’s water was different It put Hernandez's family in an emergency shelter and later at her parents' home for weeks until they could return in December More than a dozen families from the neighborhood remain homeless how to rebuild after Ida turned the Flats into a lake exacerbated by climate change and overbuilding on an historic floodplain including at least one church and a community center have waited months to return to their homes and businesses all with no guarantee the water won't overwhelm them again but what we had was the death of a portion of the community that may never come back,” said Mamaroneck Village Manager Jerry Barberio “That’s my biggest fear actually.”  Planning documents dating back decades describe the 125-acre neighborhood as prone to flooding The water comes primarily from the Mamaroneck River which runs to the east of the neighborhood and feeds into the Long Island Sound a tributary to the south that abuts a nearby industrial area residents recall a 2007 nor’easter which cost the village $50 million in damage Record floods also occurred in 1955 and during the 1970s there have been 19 major floods in Mamaroneck of extreme weather events exacerbated by climate change estimated Ida cost the U.S and a Dutchess County native. While no one died in Mamaroneck during Ida others living in illegal basement apartments in Queens did when they were unable to escape affecting over 500 homes and totaling 310 cars more damage than any recorded flooding in recent history “It’s extremely unfortunate that those with the least financial resiliency get so severely damaged on a regular basis,” Mayor Tom Murphy said “There’s a socioeconomic unfairness about these floods.” put on boots and boarded a passing truck to survey Ida’s damage in the Flats which his family has called home for three generations he recalled on a recent walk through his neighborhood The Flats have been Mamaroneck’s most affordable area drawing lower-income families into cramped streets that leave them with fewer choices when floods come.  The neighborhood is federally designated as low- to moderate-income Army Corps of Engineers report showed census blocks in the Flats are considered environmental justice communities federally defined as low-income communities of color in need of protection from adverse health and environmental effects who recently announced his candidacy for village trustee wondered who will be left with more severe weather events projected to hit the Flats “They can’t afford to keep rebuilding every time they get hit by water,” he said officials have touted a plan by the Army Corps of Engineers to reduce flooding from the Mamaroneck and Sheldrake rivers announced the $88 million plan for higher retaining walls and to widen and deepen river channels These changes are projected to reduce flooding by over 4½ feet in a 100-year flood scenario at the confluence of the Mamaroneck and Sheldrake rivers the Army Corps of Engineers report showed While sea-level rise doesn't appear to affect the Flats projections show that extreme precipitation spurred by climate change is likely to increase flood damage Even with changes from the plan to reduce flood levels sections of the Flats would still continue to be inundated with water residents said the timeline for the project’s start has been unclear for decades though Barberio said the village would meet with Army engineers in late March A spokesperson for the Army Corps of Engineers did not respond for comment Hernandez said the Federal Emergency Management Agency which provided disaster assistance to Ida victims She wasn't aware of anyone who received aid introduced bills to increase Ida relief regardless of citizenship as well as changes to zoning codes and oversight that better account for flooding and climate change While relief – capped at $10,000 per household – isn't enough "What you don't want to do is forget about it until the next time," she said "It is pressing now to find relief and a longer-term solution to flooding that's inevitable from climate change." sheltered in Monroe College’s dorms in New Rochelle executive director of the nonprofit Community Resource Center She said most families affected were lower-income Black and Latino residents living in basement apartments that put them at even greater risk of flooding engorging the basement with muck where yoga classes and a food pantry once were Staff relocated to a small office at St Thomas Church – on higher ground near village government buildings but further from the people who use the nonprofit's services – until at least January 2023 “There has to be an infrastructure change because we know that climate change is affecting how our community is impacted," Martinez said.  Much of Mamaroneck’s affordable housing including the bulk of the nonprofit Washingtonville Housing Alliance’s units There's a waiting list for the alliance's housing said the nonprofit is looking elsewhere because of the threat of another severe weather event in the Flats and to better integrate Mamaroneck instead of concentrating poverty “We all know there’s going to be another flood,” she said “We don’t want to lose the stock we already have “That’s the other fear,” she added I feel like we’re losing a little bit every time we have a major flood We’ve already got a housing crisis.” Up along the Mamaroneck River in the Flats a pew from First Baptist Church rested on a wall hopes to get congregants back inside by Easter seven months after water rose from the river a few feet behind the church churchgoers won't stand on carpet or sit in pews people's lives have been destroyed," he said it don't impress you as much to get something done about it." Eduardo Cuevas covers diversity, equity and inclusion in Westchester and Rockland counties. He can be reached at EMCuevas1@lohud.com and followed on Twitter @eduardomcuevas the up-and-coming neighborhood to live in FloridaTown 'n' Country the "Hialeah of Tampa," is a thriving neighborhood in Florida with high real estate demand and a vibrant Hispanic community popularly known as the "Hialeah of Tampa," and located in Hillsborough County has become one of the most attractive neighborhoods to live in Florida with easy access to major highways and proximity to key places like the beaches has positioned it as a preferred destination for professionals This neighborhood has a diverse population highlighting a strong presence of the Hispanic community Demand in the real estate sector has grown significantly This has resulted in an increase in both purchase prices and rental prices of properties The rental market reflects this city's boom due to migration with a notable increase in rental prices over the last five years the rental price of an efficiency in Town 'n' Country starts at $1,200 Rents can increase depending on the location and characteristics of the property This increase is due to the high demand and the ongoing expansion of the neighborhood Town 'n' Country also stands out for its educational offerings with well-regarded public and private schools that make it an ideal place for families with children and teenagers its surroundings offer multiple services and entertainment options from shopping centers and restaurants to parks and recreational areas that promote a healthy active lifestyle in interaction with nature The main criticism of this area is its weak public transportation network which frequently leads to congestion on the roads and highways Perhaps that is why Town 'n' Country continues to attract new residents seeking quality of life in an accessible and constantly developing environment in Florida We leave you a video from the YouTube channel Un Viajero Cubano where more elements are detailed for people looking for a cozy place to live in Florida expansive view from NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer wclavin@caltech.edu NASA’s SPHEREx Space Telescope Begins Capturing Entire Sky Stars and Galaxies. NASA’s Newest Space Telescope Recognized at New York Stock Exchange Stars and Galaxies. NASA’s SPHEREx Team To Ring New York Stock Exchange Bell Stars and Galaxies. With NASA’s Webb, Dying Star’s Energetic Display Comes Into Full Focus Stars and Galaxies. NASA Webb’s Autopsy of Planet Swallowed by Star Yields Surprise Stars and Galaxies. NASA’s SPHEREx Takes First Images, Preps to Study Millions of Galaxies Stars and Galaxies. ESA Previews Euclid Mission’s Deep View of ‘Dark Universe’ Stars and Galaxies. NASA Launches Missions to Study Sun, Universe’s Beginning Stars and Galaxies. Cosmic Mapmaker: NASA’s SPHEREx Space Telescope Ready to Launch Stars and Galaxies. NASA Sets Launch Coverage for Missions Studying Cosmic Origins, Sun Explore MoreImage. Image. Image. Video. Image. Juno Sees Turbulence in Jupiter's Atmosphere Mission. Mission. Image. Video. David Latona and Inti Landauro; editing by Shailesh Kuber and Jason Neely Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles., opens new tab , opens new tab Browse an unrivalled portfolio of real-time and historical market data and insights from worldwide sources and experts. , opens new tabScreen for heightened risk individual and entities globally to help uncover hidden risks in business relationships and human networks. © 2025 Reuters. All rights reserved that is what the two opposing figures on a Roseland wall show “The idea behind the mural was a David and Goliath story arch not necessarily that story but more of a tale of good versus evil,” said Joshua Lawyer who designed the mural at 883 Sebastopol Road in Santa Rosa in collaboration with local artists MJ Lindo-Lawyer and Big Hepos Their newest mural is going up on the wall of the old Roseland Hardware next to the entrance of the community library and is being created with support from Santa Rosa art nonprofit Artstart and Midpen Housing who is one of the development investors in the Roseland Village Neighborhood Center The mural depicts two figures standing face-to-face in a wrestling ring The one on the left shows an indigenous female wearing jeans and Converse with her arms up facing a looming Lucha Libre masked wrestler She stands with a halo of light emulating from Lindo-Lawyer and Lawyer are a couple of artists who live in the neighborhood He would frequently see the wall and think it was the perfect canvas for a wide mural because it’s in our community,” said Lawyer thus the eye catching pink they choose for the mural background The aesthetic of the mural was inspired by Roseland’s vibrant Latino community The composition of the mural took about four hours It’s inspired by a painting Lawyer created in the past They used a projector to outline the mural taking a usually lengthy task and completing it in an hour The mural has sparked conversations on social media Some commenters who saw a photo of the outline felt that the two individuals an indigenous figure and the lucha libre figure were drawn to look like they were trying to fight each other and that this may misrepresent the relationship between Latino and Indigenous communities the mural is a play on the biblical story in which David battles Goliath and has become adopted as a tale of the underdog The mural was not meant to demonstrate communities battling against each other The mural sits on the proposed Roseland Village Neighborhood Center a project that has been in the works for 10 years and is slated to take over the 7.5 acre plot of land where the Roseland Community Library and Dollar Tree store currently stand The site has historically been a community gathering place and where the annual Cinco de Mayo fiesta is celebrated The annexation of Roseland into Santa Rosa in November 2017 changed the dynamics of the neighborhood and had begun to build resistance as the community continues to integrate into the city of Santa Rosa In some ways the mural mirrors the story of its surrounding community the battle of a minority group fighting against the growing potential of gentrification “Good has to play a role where evil almost seems unbeatable it was going with that idea and playing with it to match the aesthetic of the community we live in,” elaborated Lawyer they hope community members take something from the mural who has been a resident of Santa Rosa for over 20 years she wants to use her art to “push the expectations and open conversations” in the county “I want to inspire other artists in the area to do their style and create something different.”  it was interesting to hear other people take on a standard story arch He continued: “One lady asked if it was about standing up to domestic abuse She shared having gone through that situation and saw the mural as empowering.” The mural will be done this Wednesday and will vanish when the development of the Roseland Village opens the way to the demotion of buildings still standing in the area [Versión en español] Subscribe to our weekly newsletter on this link. Reach La Prensa Sonoma’s Editor Ricardo Ibarra at 707-526-8501 or email ricardo.ibarra@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter @ricardibarra Following high-profile teacher walkouts across the country LA teachers voted to strike over school funding Read more“The district says they’ll reduce class sizes but a provision in the current contract gives them an out All they have to do is claim financial hardship show no proof and they make the class sizes what they want,” said Scott The large class sizes undermine the ability for teachers to properly do their jobs provide individual attention to students with a wide range of needs and pose a fire safety risk that’s 40 kids doing labs in a class without a sink Imagine doing that five or six times a day A lot of science teachers don’t really do hands-on stuff because there are too many kids,” said Julie Van Winkle a math and science teacher at Logan Span school Los Angeles teachers also face an overabundance of mandated standardized tests undermining the quality of education they can provide students “Testing is in the front seat and it doesn’t belong there. The problem with testing is we’re doing too much of it, a lot of it unnecessary and a lot of the tests are one-on-one,” said Victoria Casas, a teacher at Beachy Avenue elementary school. She cited the Dibels exam mandated three times a year and Sbac exams as some of the tests she is required to give her students West Virginia teachers hold a rally Teachers have gone on strike this year in Arizona West Virginia and Oklahoma with varying degrees of success Photograph: Tyler Evert/APDuring one-on-one exams she has to come up with work assignments for the rest of the students that are easy enough to do on their own without interrupting the test but challenging enough to provide some value all while the rest of the students can listen to the questions and answers provided by the student during their exam Though the school district spends a significant amount of money on a variety of standardized tests, teachers are financially burdened with paying for necessary materials out of their own pocket. Read more“My wife and I both teach and we’ll do $6,000 to $7,000 dollars a year between the two of us, not including the donors choose program on top of the money we spend,” noted Elgin Scott The materials include things like paper and pencils and materials for in-class visuals “We spend a lot of money because if we didn’t the children wouldn’t have a lot of things we need them to have or the room environment would be so unappealing,” added Victoria Casas The current per pupil spending in the Los Angeles district is roughly half that “Right now we are around $11,000 per student annually way below the national average and we are significantly below what we need for a student to succeed in a traditional school,” Rudy Gonzalves “That spending makes it hard for the student and makes it hard for the teachers to have the resources to teach.” in addition to forcing teachers to spending money on materials out of their own pocket limits resources students are provided within the schools “My kids are lucky if they have a nurse at their school twice a week When I started on the school council that determines the school’s budget nine years ago the annual budget was around $880,000,” said Vicky Martinez a parent with four children in Los Angeles unified school district parents and teachers at both schools on the property “There’s been hemorrhaging in funding and resources to the privatization of the system therefore taking resources away from my kids a parent of students in the Los Angeles unified school district “I don’t feel pitting schools against each other is how you create a system that treats everyone equally.” Read more“These are the things the district doesn’t want to talk about,” added Julie Van Winkle “We aren’t asking for crazy things for our school we’re just asking that our kids have enough space to learn in the classroom where we can give them individual attention counselors and social workers for kids who come in with trauma and they have a facility that doesn’t look like a prison and has some green space in it.” A spokesperson for LAUSD told the Guardian “LA Unified remains committed to resolving the issues through the mediation process.” The contract negotiations remain in mediation between the union and the school district It remains unclear when a contract will be agreed upon or if a teacher strike already authorized by the union will ultimately be used as a tactic during the negotiations Starbucks Has a New Design Strategy: Act LocalWhy Starbucks is making their store design hyper-local.Save this storySaveSave this storySaveLast November just like they’d already done more than 1,700 times in 2013 Like the Starbucks you pass on your way to work this new coffee shop has everything you need for your caffeine consumption ritual: a coffee bar cozy lounge and enough coffee choices to make you wired for days on end Only there’s a minor difference: This new Starbucks is on a moving train The coffee behemoth partnered up with Swiss train company SBB to convert a double-decker train car into a store that people could visit during their workday commute it’s a smart move; instead of making busy customers come to them “It’s all about us meeting our customers where they are in their day,” says Bill Sleeth Starbuck’s vice president of design for the Americas You could read the sentiment as just another one of the company’s plays for worldwide caffeine domination but the intense customization of stores is actually an ongoing effort to make the Starbucks brand a little less brand-y “What you don’t want is a customer walking into a store in downtown Seattle walking into a store in the suburbs of Seattle and then going into a store in San Jose and seeing the same store,” Sleeth explains So how do you make the world’s largest coffee house feel like a neighborhood haunt The intense customization is meant to make the Starbucks brand a little less brand-y There was a time when Starbucks really was the coffee shop next door The company opened its first shop in Seattle in spring of 1971 and stayed relatively small (under 100 stores) for the next 20 years since then Starbucks has boomed to be the largest chain of coffee shops in the world there are more than 18,000 shops worldwide branching into new territories like Asia and South America The design team had opening new shops down to a science—or at least a kit of parts that made it easy to launch a cafe with as little risk and time as possible and ultimately a change in design thinking The company polled customers to find out what they thought of their not-so-little local coffee shop It turned out that for a lot of people Starbucks was becoming synonymous with fast food there you are,’ and not in a good way,” Sleeth says “We were pretty ubiquitous.” Ubiquity isn’t a bad thing; it meant people wanted what they were selling But what’s good for the bottom line (mass production makes things cheaper) isn’t necessarily good for the brand Starbucks execs wanted to transition from the singular brand they’d been working to establish worldwide to focusing on more locally relevant design for each store “There are lot of reasons people come to us; we know people come to us because of consistency quality “But we need to do something that felt authentic.” But how It turned out that Starbucks was becoming synonymous with fast food They began by getting people out of Seattle nearly all of the company’s designers were stationed at the company’s headquarters in the Pacific Northwest This meant someone who was designing a new store for a neighborhood in Houston or Chicago or New York had maybe never even been to the city they were creating a store for “We couldn’t design locally relevant stores stores that would resonate with our customers from Seattle,” Sleeth explains So they began relocating their design team pushing them out from the headquarters into the actual communities where they would be designing stores Starbucks’ more than 200 designers are working out of 18 design studios around the world At the New Orleans shop designers tapped local artists to add details to the store like a brass-instrument chandelier Image: Matthew Glac for StarbucksAs the designers became more familiar with their surroundings they began to incorporate the communities’ stories into the designs There are thoughtful touches like furniture made from reclaimed basketball court wood at the Barclay’s Center in Brooklyn And a brass-instrument chandelier hanging from the ceiling in the new Canal Street location in New Orleans But even more interesting than that was the cultural observations the designers were able to make they began noticing things that might make a difference in not just the aesthetics but how a particular customer might want to experience the shop They’ll saddle up to a long community table next to a stranger without giving it a second thought people will just sit right next to each other alone but collectively together,” he explains the Starbucks experience is much more group-oriented so you have think differently about the seating there.” he says “They won’t crowd together in a banquet like they would in New York City.” This drove the designers to place more individual stools in the shops The design in the Kerry Center location in Beijing with a “coffee workshop” on the second level meant to teach a predominantly tea-focused culture about coffee Creating hyper-localized design for every shop Starbucks builds is impossible “We know we can’t just go in and overspend,” Sleeth says “We can’t turn every store into a flagship.” He says that Starbucks balances their design spend on the level of projected income a store is going to earn So a shop that’s slated to be a big earner Still, Starbucks is actively working to test and roll out more its concept stores, with its main focus right now on the pre-fab drive-thru stores made from shipping containers. The concept, originally executed in Washington and inspired by the shipping containers Starbucks employees saw out their windows, uses pre-fabricated materials that can be delivered on a truck, lowered into place. So far they’ve built 11 of these modular stores around the country, which may not sound like much in the grand Starbucks scheme. But in a few years, drive-thru stores will account for around 60 percent of shops Starbucks plans to build, a good chunk of which will use this same pre-fabricated method. “The push for innovation and design is just starting,” Sleeth says. “This is the tip of the iceberg.” It is the essential source of information and ideas that make sense of a world in constant transformation The WIRED conversation illuminates how technology is changing every aspect of our lives—from culture to business The breakthroughs and innovations that we uncover lead to new ways of thinking Designed by Elegant Themes | Powered by WordPress The fire brigade have been called to a fire in the car park of LIDL in Vecindario in the municipality of Santa Lucía de Tirajana where there was a car on fire in the middle of the supermarket parking lot Allegedly the car caught fire as it was being parked by the driver who managed to get out of it without being harmed Several people tried to put it out with fire extinguishers but the fire did not stop and kept increasing in size As the Local Police and the fire brigade arrived at the supermarket shoppers were moving their cars away from the one that was on fire so that they weren’t affected leaving space around the burning vehicle for firefighters they managed to extinguish the flames relatively quickly and secure the car to ensure that it was safe A small family-owned pizzeria on a backstreet in Gran Canaria has beaten 700 participants from 45 countries and gained global recognition after being ranked in first place at the 'World Pizza Championships' in Las Vegas The Pizza Flash pizzeria is not a flashy restaurant in a trendy part of Las Palmas it is a small unassuming restaurant in Calle Menéndez y Pelayo in Vecindario but anyone who’s been there will tell you how amazing their pizzas are The Tavani family only moved to Gran Canaria five years ago and use as much local Canarian produce as possible in their creations includes chorizo ​​from Teror among it’s ingredients won them best pizza in Spain and the 13th best in the world in 2018 “the secret of this award lies in the passion we put into our work we make a fresh dough that needs 48 hours for the yeast to take effect and be perfect.” from which we obtain between 30 or 40 balls of dough and when it is gone Good news… Olivia has been found safe and well after someone recognized her from seeing her missing poster at a bus stop in Vecindario They messaged a picture of her to her mother Linda mysteriously disappeared from her home in Cruce de Arinaga located on the southeastern coast of Gran Canaria after last being seen at approximately 3:00pm when she went to dispose of some rubbish and failed to return The teenager was dressed in black jeans and black-and-white Converse trainers at the time of her disappearance who is understandably worried about her daughter's safety disclosed that Olivia had been displaying signs of distress and suggested that she may have a boyfriend Concerned for her daughter's well-being Linda initially sought assistance from local authorities her efforts to communicate with the Spanish-speaking personnel at a police station and the Maspalomas Policia Nacional proved challenging It was only after a night of relentless searching that Linda was able to establish contact with the Guardia Civil in Agüimes In a bid to raise awareness and gather support Linda shared the details of Olivia's disappearance on a Facebook group "Jobs and Help GC." This online community quickly responded with comments and offers of assistance including translating for Linda and providing her with the Policia Nacional telephone number for non-Spanish speakers The news of Olivia's disappearance has begun to circulate among the local and expat community with many people sharing information in the hope of aiding in the search for the missing teenager Olivia's status as a minor further underscores the urgency of the situation While it is not uncommon for teenagers to venture out on their own Olivia's departure without essential items has heightened concerns is appealing to the public for help and is urging anyone who may have information about her daughter's whereabouts to come forward In the event of a sighting or any relevant information regarding Olivia's disappearance please inform Olivia that her mother is actively searching for her and that she should contact either the Guardia Civil or the Policia Nacional as soon as possible The Gran Canaria community and concerned individuals are joining hands in the hope of ensuring Olivia's safe return