JACKSONVILLE Damon D’Arienzo moved from Jacksonville to California News4JAX is sharing the story of how he helped save his girlfriend’s home which started out like so many others: Frantically RELATED: MMA fighter & show host visiting Jacksonville from L.A. speaks out on wildfires “I had a heck of a time getting into the Palisades to get out,” he explained it was about a two-and-a-half-hour ordeal to get out of the neighborhood.” After ensuring his girlfriend was safely evacuated D’Arienzo was determined to see if her home had survived the flames I saw her house was still standing,” he said and flames were on the side and back of her house.” With fire hydrants dry and flames spreading the roots start burning off all the shrubs “I was seeing flames come up from the base of the trunk of all the shrubs and I couldn’t understand where it was coming from.” As the fire climbed to the home’s third flor who would end up being the catalyst for saving the home battling the flames with the lone fire extinguisher until it was depleted other firefighters arrived but were only able to use the water they had on their truck I pleaded with them to come back again on their next run So then I just continued to put out the fires I was in the backyard.” he paused for a moment and realized his arm was resting on a hot tub filled with water “It was kind of like finding a liquid gold at that point,” he said “So I started using that water to put out the fires I started hitting all of the fires around the neighbor’s home that they kept they kept erupting.” D’Arienzo had managed to keep the flames from consuming the house He says he also saved a neighboring home from catching on fire as families begin to return to their devastated neighborhoods D’Arienzo reflects on how fortunate they were that the house survived for that house to have been standing,” he said The area, however, remains devastated. He says few homes survived the area. Across California, at least 24 people have died, and countless homes have been destroyed. “I mean, it’s got to be, who knows, three years, five years, you know, seven years,” D’Arienzo said. “Hopefully there’s enough support from the government on all levels, and hopefully the insurance companies are playing ball and are doing the right thing.” D’Arienzo is a retired member of the American Red Cross Life Saving Corps in Jacksonville Beach. He believes the training he received played a key role in his efforts that day. News4JAX’s full interview with D’Arienzo can be found below. Copyright 2025 by WJXT News4JAX - All rights reserved. John anchors at 9 a.m. on The Morning Show with Melanie Lawson and then jumps back into reporter mode after the show with the rest of the incredibly talented journalists at News4JAX. Click here to take a moment and familiarize yourself with our Community Guidelines TV Listings Email Newsletters RSS Feeds Contests and Rules Contact Us Careers at WJXT / WCWJ Closed Captioning / Audio Description WJXT Public File WJXT EEO Report WCWJ Public File WCWJ EEO Report Terms of Use Privacy Policy Do Not Sell My Info FCC Applications Copyright © 2025 News4JAX.com is managed by Graham Digital and published by Graham Media Group upper-level architecture students participate in the visiting critic program that brings leading architects and scholars from around the world to the school Four studios will be held on campus this fall Arienzo and Abascal will teach the visiting critic studio “Syracuse Spiral,” where students will explore spirals and the architectural possibilities that come with this inherently infinite geometric shape Before Syracuse was established in 1820 in Onondaga County another city named Syracuse flourished on the Italian island of Sicily This first Syracuse is known as the birthplace of great astronomer and the place in which he set the basis for the famous Archimedes’ spiral this studio will look at spirals—from Archimedes to the golden ratio the phenomena of curves reveal themselves across nature governing distant galaxies and our own DNA—from the design of a city to the design of a seat students will test the growth systems hidden in these geometries allowing for a comprehensive approach that’s scalable where the spring studio dedicated its efforts to the design of a single-family residence in Surfside students in this studio will thinking through strategies for residential typologies and the city block simultaneously students will produce an interactive kit-of-parts conceived as a collection of strategies serving resilient housing which could be redeployed not only in Surfside but in other coastal communities students will work with diverse members from Surfside to engage the community through a series of events including workshops as well as an exhibition with students and faculty from the University of Miami School of Architecture Hogan and Petrarca will teach the visiting critic studio “Working Backwards,” where students will work backwards to gain a greater understanding and confidence in the process of making architecture and develop a tectonic language refining their individual instincts of how to approach a project Through the development of physical models present details and wall assemblies at large scales and in a variety of media students will explore how an idea can be tested and ultimately strengthened through a critical analysis of site Liu will teach the visiting critic studio “A Linear Museum in Suzhou,” where students will envision a linear museum in Suzhou China—a city renowned for its rich cultural heritage and industrial prowess—that bridges the gap between historical reverence and contemporary innovation creating a unique urban intervention that celebrates both the city’s rich heritage and its evolving present Strategically located along a historically significant canal area renowned for its imperial tiles and ceramics dating back to the Ming and Qing dynasties (1368–1911) the linear museum project will serve as a transformative intervention reimagining the conventional museum as a dynamic linear element embedded within the urban landscape rather than a singular Students will approach their designs for the museum as continuous integrated spaces that combine exhibition areas food and beverage services and hospitality functions offering multifaceted experiences to visitors and residents alike while simultaneously revitalizing the area and reestablishing its historical significance Olympic gold medalist and visionary executive Benita Fitzgerald Mosley says it has been her lifelong mission to help people win gold medals in business—and in life “My gold medal is the gift that keeps on giving,” Fitzgerald Mosley says Syracuse University Libraries recognized its student employees with an awards celebration on April 23 The Libraries typically employs around 150 undergraduate and graduate students each year to contribute to the safety of Libraries’ spaces the quality and repair of collections,… While Hannah Kang ’25 was growing up in Houston where she was born—pursuing a degree at Syracuse University was never on her radar a high school internship course found her shadowing renowned architect Jesse… In front of an audience of fellow undergraduates and History Department faculty Maxwell School junior Jorge Morales recently shared his research findings on the 2016 Rio Olympics—specifically the intersection of race and infrastructure in the event’s planning and legacy Syracuse University has been recognized as a STARS (Sustainability Tracking Assessment and Rating System) Silver institution by the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education STARS is a comprehensive rating system for colleges and universities to measure sustainability… If you need help with your subscription, contact sunews@syr.edu A downtown restaurant owner recently inked a deal for the third time to sell Soulful Soups & Spirits by the end of last year But just before the transaction could be consummated her landlord raised the lease by $1,200 a month and tanked it Lauren D’Arienzo said the popular lunch spot at 117 N “It’s not even the financial part the makes me sad “I always pictured it going on and on and continuing as a staple like Domini’s or O’Doherty’s.” Soulful Soups opened in January 2000 under a previous owner D’Arienzo purchased it in 2011 and managed the business running to stores and trying to find enough employees ever since I’m not getting any younger,” the 47-year-old said The restaurant is on the first floor of a building owned by Mike Lang Efforts to reach Lang were not immediately successful on Wednesday But he told The Spokesman-Review last year that it was his intent to sell the building “Lauren and I have not gotten along too well but if I sell” Soulful Soups would be out at that point Lang also said that he had invested more than $1 million to renovate the upper floors of the building “I’m getting old and tired of the riff-raff,” Lang said last year “I just want to be in good health and on a beach somewhere.” D’Arienzo said she had three potential deals to continue Soulful Soups The best chance came late last year and the parties were due to sign on Dec Lang increased the lease by $1,200 a month “I wanted to set them up for success,” she said a rent increase of $1,200 was not going to help their bottom line at all “We were never able to get an agreement that was reasonable.” D’Arienzo said she recently learned that Lang has signed an agreement to finally sell the building “They went through inspection and it’s getting ready to change hands quickly,” she said They made it clear they were not going to be extending the lease there.” D’Arienzo said she wants her customers to know “that we love them we hear them and I have done everything in my power besides signing another lease somewhere else which would tie me down to doing it for more years “I am still open to selling (Soulful Soups) and the concept,” she said “I’m still willing to hold someone’s hand and relocate I need someone who has the drive and the energy to do that D’Arienzo said she’s going to work hard at doing nothing “The thought of not answering the phone and racing down when someone calls in sick or running to the store to get more salad is appealing,” she said “I go from sad and switch to excitement for what is next for me I’m excited to get bored again so I can get creative.” “It’s not farewell forever,” D’Arienzo said “I’d like to think (Soulful Soups) is not dead “I’d like to think it’s going to take another life of its own Give directly to The Spokesman-Review's Northwest Passages community forums series -- which helps to offset the costs of several reporter and editor positions at the newspaper -- by using the easy options below Gifts processed in this system are tax deductible Get breaking news delivered to your inbox as it happens TDS Telecommunications continues expanding its high-speed all-fiber internet network into more Spokane-area neighborhoods © Copyright 2025, The Spokesman-Review | Community Guidelines | Terms of Service | Privacy Policy | Copyright Policy Peter D’Arienzo took over the reins of John Ball Zoo eight years ago the Zoo has generated economic activity estimated at more than $100 million a year There are more than 1,000 animals that represent over 220 species at the zoo With a passion for sustainability and community his team led the design and construction of John Ball Zoo’s new front entry that features an inclusively designed pathway with the goal of achieving the Living Building Challenge commercial certification His team also led the design and construction of a meerkat habitat that earned gold certification via SITES This certification made John Ball Zoo the first zoo in the country to receive the recognition D’Arienzo served as director of operations for the Kansas City Zoo He led a team of directors with responsibilities ranging from general operations to guest satisfaction He also worked at Donaldson Company International as a human resources manager and an environmental health and safety manager where he wrote and implemented an environmental management system Staying current is easy with Crain's Grand Rapids Business news delivered straight to your inbox Click below to see everything we have to offer — The 2025 Master Plan for John Ball Zoo was recently released but many people in neighboring communities are not happy a meeting hosted by John Ball Zoo for feedback on the Master Plan was interrupted multiple times with outcries from neighbors believing that this plan is robbing them of green space a mom who lives in the neighboring community to John Ball Zoo Part of the appeal and moving here to this neighborhood two years ago was the abundance of green space To know that that's going to be taken away is pretty disappointing.” “The major concern of our neighbors is the thriving health and safety of our kids.” John Ball Zoo CEO Peter D'Arienzo says the plan aims to help guests better enjoy the zoo “We’re trying to show the community that there is a way to build that is in harmony with the natural world that either reduces our impacts or is restorative," D'Arienzo said D'Arienzo says the zoo aims to expand existing exhibits create new ones and build one of the world's largest domed habitat spaces “Our role is to inspire people to connect to wildlife and nature and to take action and we can't do that without showing them the zoo,” D'Arienzo said that leaves moms like Emma Garcia uninspired “They're looking at taking out the playground more than what was already taken down to pave the 12 acres,” Garcia said She often has tirades about how frustrated and disappointed she is,” Garcia said Garcia explains that for her family of five to go to the zoo to create fairy gardens with my 6-year-old D'Arienzo says the county wants modern parking; the plan details a combination of expanded parking they can't exercise their mission unless people can come to their location,” D'Arienzo said the majority of the people were opposed to the new parking plans “We’re very disappointed that there is absolutely no guarantee at this point that there will be even a sliver of green space left,” Garcia said birds don't nest in the middle of a grassy field the parking that we're building will actually improve the quality of the habitat," D'Arienzo said “They have dozens of houses directly lining their property They're a neighborhood asset of this community and they have to take that responsibility seriously.” John Ball Zoo is hosting their final meeting for feedback on the Master Plan this Thursday at the Gaines Township Office: 8555 Kalamazoo Ave For more details of the John Ball Zoo Master Plan, click here. Follow FOX 17: Facebook - X (formerly Twitter) - Instagram - YouTube storms layer the Rocky Mountains with snow that supplies the Western United States’ communities with water during the summer But snow isn’t the only thing that storms deposit on those mountains A team of researchers has revealed that the winter storms that cover the Rocky Mountains with snow also carry contaminants from mines. Their work, detailed in a study published March 26 in the journal Environmental Pollution sheds light on the ecological consequences of mining activities and how environmental processes circulate metal pollutants a researcher in the Desert Research Institute’s Division of Hydrologic Sciences the team investigated contamination levels of mercury and antimony in snow across the Rocky Mountains “Metal pollution in the Rockies is relatively understudied,” Arienzo said in a Desert Research Institute statement “Other studies have focused on certain parts so the fact that we have this transect from Montana to New Mexico makes this study unique.” Arienzo and her colleagues collected snow samples from 48 locations and analyzed the concentration of metals in each To determine the amount of metal contaminants originating exclusively from human activity they compared the quantity of metal contaminants originating in natural dust (e.g. calcium) to the quantity of metals from both dust and human activity Their analysis ultimately revealed higher concentrations of metal contaminants from human activity in the snow of the northern Rocky Mountains than in the southern Rockies Environmental Protection Agency’s safety guidelines for drinking water and aquatic life the researchers compared their findings to the National Atmospheric Deposition Program’s data documenting calcium and mercury in rain from 2009 to 2018—and reached the same conclusion “I was surprised by the amount of agreement we saw between all these different data sets we brought together,” Arienzo explained “The snow samples showed us that contamination is higher in the northern Rockies Looking at mercury contamination over time helped us say that 2018 is not just a fluke When you start to see these trends that are consistent between different records it makes you feel more confident that something’s really happening here.” The researchers reconstructed the movement of snowstorms in 2018 to discover that many of the ones in the northern Rockies had come from the Pacific Northwest whereas the ones in the southern Rockies came from the Mojave Desert they suggest the higher levels of metal contaminants from snow in the northern Rockies come from mines in the Pacific Northwest “Our idea is that the dust from current and historical mining sites gets carried up into the mountains [by storms] and deposited across our study sites,” Arienzo said “This study shows the importance of continued scientific monitoring efforts,” she concluded “as well as mitigation of current and historical mining sites.” Even in the seemingly pristine snow of the Rocky Mountains ' + scriptOptions._localizedStrings.webview_notification_text + ' " + scriptOptions._localizedStrings.redirect_overlay_title + " " + scriptOptions._localizedStrings.redirect_overlay_text + " Monica Arienzo is an Assistant Research Professor in the Division of Hydrologic Sciences at the Desert Research Institute She earned a doctoral degree in Marine Geology and Geophysics from the University of Miami Monica uses chemical tools to understand how humans have impacted the environment After years of studying caves in the Bahamas and ice cores from Antarctica now she studies microplastics from peak to tap Her microplastic research focuses on microplastics found in snowy peaks This research would not be possible without the help of her colleagues and more than 25 volunteer citizen scientists « Back 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, a SQL command or malformed data. 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. Subscribe to BuzzFeed Daily NewsletterCaret DownHow To Get Fired From Your Own Movie And SurviveWriter and director Chris D'Arienzo created the hit Broadway show Rock of Ages Then he had to watch it get turned into the story of a man and his monkey There's a lovely moment during Jerry Seinfeld's Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee when he's talking to Michael Richards about his process We're all trying to get to the same island — whether you swim What matters is when the red light goes on." But how do creative people get to the island Chris D'Arienzo is the Tony-nominated writer of the immensely successful Broadway musical Rock of Ages, a totally endearing and ass-kicking valentine to the tits-and-balls-out hair-metal bands of the '80s. He was also fired and completely shut out from the unfortunate film Rock of Ages, which features Tom Cruise and his monkey sidekick and I [lived with my mom] in an apartment in Chelsea so that's when I saved up paper-route money to go to TKTS and get a matinee ticket to Chorus Line When did you first start paying attention to art CD: Annie was the first musical I ever saw and I think being introduced to actors and musicians and a full orchestra and all these things happening live in front me really blew my head off I decided to pull kids from recess and started directing and writing a version of Popeye for us all to do some family friends worked for Steven Spielberg and got me an internship so then I drove out [to Los Angeles] and just started as an intern It was a complete illustration of how not to make a movie It can start with the best of intentions and completely unravel It's like an asteroid: If dust particles kick that asteroid the improv troupe that started Phil Hartman but I did it before it got super competitive I did it because I was working on the Ellen sitcom and the actors that were coming to do that show were all Groundlings it's really fun." So for me it was no pressure so I wasn't going in there and competing with my classmates It was amazing for my writing because it teaches you to trust your instinct not to second-guess yourself Did it afford you time to think about what you think is funny or did you go in knowing what your idea of comedy is CD: What they train you to do is to not try to be funny I've had ideas of what I thought was funny since I was a little kid but [they're all about] don't try and win a scene with a joke don't try to create an outrageous moment to make everyone laugh — just play it truthfully So they teach you to get out of your own way so he hired me to be his creative assistant in 1997 I just sat in the room while he wrote and was there if he wanted to bounce a story with somebody He taught me lots of things no one ever teaches you: It's just as important to know when not to write as when to write; that you can be damaging to your work Sometimes we beat ourselves up because we're not "productive" that day: "I didn't put in my five hours or my four hours." I'm not hard on myself like that anymore CD: I wrote a script when I first moved out here mainly because I didn't have any friends and I didn't have anything to do I was reading scripts as an intern and I was like "I know I can do it at least this bad because this is almost incoherent and it has a CAA cover on it." Tom Schulman and he said something that was so great and so liberating: Just be prepared that the first thousand pages that you write will be total shit That's why I think the art of bombing is so underrated What did you find on the other side of that first thousand pages I think that's what separates people who are great at anything versus people who are mediocre: taste I was the guy who would go home and watch old movies I wanted to be different — instead of rebelling with drugs or alcohol which wasn't a rebellion because all the teens were doing it How rebellious can it be if everyone is doing it the way to really be the rebel is to be the guy that carries his journal and a copy of Metamorphosis CD: I've spent my entire life with people under the assumption that I was gay because everything I like is slightly "gay," and therefore awesome and then the next thing I wrote got bought The downside was that I was learning to write on everyone else's dime There was a window of hype with me when I first sold my first thing Is there anything you turn to when you're having an off day When you want to sit down to work but for some reason you can put on an album that will kind of get you there if you're one of the people who are open to music getting to go to these vineyards and watch the process Drinking things that are older than you are When I was single I would take a notepad to Disneyland and write there ride some more rides and then write a little bit If I can be in an environment that's kind of a little bit childlike [These trips] were something I would really use to turn on and off I love autobiographies from people where it's questionable whether they should have them CD: It starts off ironic but then I get really invested But I love the good ones too: Dylan's Chronicles; Patti Smith's Just Kids was read by her so that's amazing too; Steve Martin's Born Standing Up Steve Martin's history with Disneyland is fascinating I feel more of a kinship with him than anybody else I completely understand and appreciate and admire the type of artist he is I understand what he thinks is funny and I appreciate and I admire it and how he approaches a joke He could stand up in front of the Universal Ampitheater For five bucks." And then put it back and it was a joke he goes through this period where he writes Picasso at The Lapin Agile you're funding your love for art and your theater work You're doing these so your life is enriched." I don't fault him for that Why do you think creative people starting out in their careers don't feel they can disagree with executives But then you have a realization that these people will pick apart your writing over a weekend But then it's demystified — their opinions are no more valid than anyone else's you've ever met and the reality is that there's a zillion ways to skin a cat CD: I checked out and joined Trainwreck as the keytarist and we toured around the country Doing something fun and creative that wasn't about a paycheck but was immediate especially for movies that aren't getting made is like being an architect drawing plans for buildings that never get made CD: When I was on this tour I was approached with two things my agent gave me the book that was Barry Munday CAA had put me in touch with producers who wanted to a musical using '80s hair metal see if they like your take." So those two things happened and they ended up being the first film I directed and Rock of Ages which has been my job for the past seven years did you go back to what you learned after that first thousand pages CD: Again it comes down to taste and biting off the directors I really love I used a style that was an homage to all of them but also helped me time-wise Setting up a camera so that a scene can play out in one take allowed me to make my day because I didn't have time or money to do it what you're really doing is forming a religion All you need is the right people to be enthusiastic and give their hearts to it and then your job is easy If you haven't converted everyone and if your religion is on shaky ground and your church isn't built right you can tell these people love art of any kind and artistic ventures of any kind They just like people expressing themselves so it's the most lovely audiences to screen for [But] there was literally no distribution for my film wasn't willing to put up the money for the songs I really wanted to use… we'll give you theatrical distribution," it turned out to be that one lone theater on Wilshire at Doheny [in Beverly Hills] that nobody ever goes to and — this felt almost cruel Those were the two theaters that showed Barry Munday and anyone can watch it whenever they want CD: The only place I'm precious is with comedy because there's a rhythm and a setup and a punch line It's much more mathematical than "just go with your feeling." So that's the only place I get persnickety what happened between the producers coming to you and it originating as a bar show CD: It was the first time I saw the writer who had pitched before me [come out] as I went in Usually they're a little more savvy about separating people I had a Journey concert T-shirt underneath the button-down I had on And pretty much the show that's on Broadway is what I pitched that day you have to go check out this show…" Then we went to Vegas for 11 days to try it out at the Flamingo "We're going Off-Broadway." And we went to New York Everyone was telling us New York audiences were going to hate us reviews were rough and your New York reviews were glowing "Everything about Rock of Ages is a complete mystery to me." Does it feel like a gift Not to imply that you didn't work on it — you obviously worked intensively on it — but does it feel like it just happened to you "It's a wonderful thing that I can't explain," and there is that element but it can't be successful if you don't go into thinking I know this is the coolest fucking thing ever you can dream about what it would be like to be nominated for a Tony and you're opening it in a climate where everyone said "This thing is gonna last a couple of weeks they're the dumbest grossest thing on Broadway," you can have that dream of that moment What was nice is that it allowed me to just embrace the moment putting that show up because I didn't think we'd be there that long It was all blanketed in white and I'm sitting in my apartment writing my Broadway show did you make to the show moving it from Off- to on Broadway CD: This is the great thing that Broadway has over the film community this wonderfully democratic process called the previews Instead of a boardroom of a bunch of MBAs saying "I don't know that an audience would really like that I don't think they'll get that joke," I would say I'll pull it out." And I can safely say that there are 10 jokes in that show that never would have been in if not for the preview process because other than an opportunity like [the film I'm working on now] where I'm a producer on it and we have our own equity money so we're not beholden to anyone there are very few chances in the film industry where you aren't having to compromise your vision on some level How early on in the whole experience did you start hearing about a movie of Rock of Ages CD: They sold the movie rights before we transferred to Broadway and all the movie people were there opening night so I think they all felt like they had done something right At that point in 2009 you were the writer of a hit Broadway show When they came to you as pre-production started up what was the sequence of events that led to you being locked out of the whole process How did it get to the point where you had to hear from someone CD: I was originally attached to write and direct the film and they were really enthusiastic about it felt that they were going to spend more money than he felt comfortable putting in my hands as a "new" filmmaker My pitch was to visually send up old MGM musicals and shoot it like an old musical exploding pyrotechnics from street lamps and trash cans CD: I had a Singin' in the Rain scene during "Can't Fight This Feeling," where it turns into the big soundstage set with the famous big scarf The way the stage show was an homage to classic Broadway I wanted this to be an homage to classical musical cinema they needed to keep the lights on at the company to hire someone who he trusted with the amount of money they wanted to spend on it who had made Hairspray for them and had made them a lot of money It was very clear that he thought the stage show was very problematic as an adaptation and simply could not work in a film format So he got rid of me and brought in several writers to rewrite the script And I think America knew what sort of movie it was is that we were incredibly respectful of the music We even had Joel Hoekstra as our lead guitarist on Broadway but what's clear to me [from the] the parts I've watched is that there feels like an underlying disdain — or at best dismissive sense — of the era and the music Instead of coming from the point of view of "I'm going to validate this and elevate it," they embraced the kitsch and just made it more kitschy but it's always from the point of view of "This is really good And if you don't like Warrant's 'Cherry Pie,' then you're a fucking dick But they made the movie that they clearly wanted to make so I think everyone was ultimately very happy — at least the executives and Adam were very happy they would defend it and I would happily have that back-and-forth about why I think monkeys are hacky in movies…among other things the good of that experience was that they paid me the biggest paycheck I've ever gotten And it gave me the freedom to write Always on My Mind and to be really adamant about writing something really personal and something I care about that I'm going to hold on to it and see it through to the end then I really know where I stand as an artist CD: It was all that while it was happening I think if that movie had been universally beloved I would have gone insane and probably quit But the way that movie was received validated my feelings It was the same feeling of gearing up for the high school reunion when you were the kid who was picked on and then when you get there all the guys who picked on you are all fat and bald Whatever venom you had going into it is washed away That sort of anger can really eat away at you This town is littered with people who have never gotten over it "We're putting [your draft] on the schedule This is going to be a tentpole movie for us You're the heart and soul of this project." That's what I was told: "You're the heart and soul." to be shut out and unceremoniously handed my hat all of that was incredibly painful and confusing or you can pick up the pieces and do something else That's the thing I've had to come to terms with I think the thing that saved me was that I got married The year I was planning the wedding was the year they made the movie and it came out I put all my energy into getting married and having an awesome personal experience where we had all our friends come to Hawaii Getting lost in that got me through the toughest time If you were some single guy eating ramen in the Oakwoods the infamous apartment complex for hopeful Los Angeles transplants you would have just put a gun to your head Then when [the movie opened] and it just sort of laid there like a turd and then just...went away I would have loved to present the world with my version of it but they can go see that on Broadway because it's still running All of my hostility and frustration is gone When did you remind yourself that you had more work to do CD: For 13 years my dad took care of my stepmom because those are things that make me happy So I wrote this script about this sad thing in my life but filled it with as much joy as possible And I probably wouldn't have written that if I hadn't been fired off of Rock of Ages If I had made and directed Rock of Ages and it had blown up who knows [what] studio thing I would have gone on to do and that movie didn't help or hurt my career Reno, Nev., May 03, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The Desert Research Institute (DRI) is pleased to announce that Monica Arienzo has been awarded a CAREER Award from the National Science Foundation (NSF) – the first such award received by a DRI scientist in the Institute’s 62-year history The Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) Program is one of the NSF’s most prestigious awards and recognizes early-career faculty who have the potential to serve as role models in research and education and to lead advances in the mission of their organization The CAREER Award will provide Arienzo with a grant for $550,787 to forward her research into microplastics tiny (less than 5mm in length) particles of plastic that pollute the environment Arienzo is an assistant research professor of hydrology with DRI’s Division of Hydrologic Sciences in Reno. She is the director of DRI’s Microplastics Laboratory where her research focuses on the sources and concentrations of microplastics found in snowy peaks Arienzo plans to continue her investigation into the sources and fate of microplastics in snow-dominated environments of the Sierra Nevada in Nevada and California students and between four-to-six undergraduate students will be trained on microplastic sampling “I am incredibly honored to receive the CAREER award and appreciate this opportunity to continue researching an important environmental pollutant while also including additional Ph.D students and undergraduate students in the research effort,” Arienzo said Arienzo will also integrate her research findings into a middle school mobile teaching kit through DRI’s Green Boxes program The teaching kit will include a series of lessons on the topics of hydrology Arienzo’s accomplishments and the recognition from the NSF of the important research she is conducting in the area of microplastics,” said DRI President Kumud Acharya “As a result of the grant provided by the CAREER award Arienzo is able to expand her research and invest in others.” Arienzo joined DRI as a post-doctoral fellow in 2014 and was promoted to Assistant Research Professor in 2016 She has worked extensively using geochemical tools to understand climatic changes of the past and human impacts to the environment in Marine Geology and Geophysics from the University of Miami in Geology from Franklin & Marshall College Log in to comment on videos and join in on the fun. 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All market data delayed 20 minutes. as we celebrate those who have served and protected our country Amazon is proud to share the inspirational stories of three veteran Amazon Delivery Service Partners Amazon.comConditions of UseAmazon Privacy Policy© 1996-2025 Amazon.com Peter D’Arienzo took over the reins of John Ball Zoo six years ago the zoo has created an annual economic impact of $40 million a year Nearly 2,000 animals represent more than 230 species at the zoo D’Arienzo also is part of a group coordinating the development of a potential aquarium in West Michigan which could generate billions of dollars in economic activity for the region over a 10-year period he was the director of operations for the Kansas City Zoo as a human resources manager and an environmental health and safety manager where he wrote and implemented an Environmental Management System (ISO 14001) Aquinas College (M)Community involvement: American Zoo AssociationFirst Job: Theater staff member at American Multi-Cinema native has been climbing the corporate ladder in Las Vegas for 15 years all the way to vice president of food and beverage for The STRAT After working for many years as a server and bartender she figured going into food and beverage management was the next logical step she moved to Vegas in 2004 to ramp up her career MGM Resorts’ properties and Caesars Corporation Her position includes running food and beverage for all of the restaurants “But the biggest part of my job is mentoring managers making some high-level decisions and coming up with strategic planning,” D’Arienzo says Her job is also about the way she leads her team “You have to have empathy for your employees—that’s what makes for a good vice president I also want to lead with respect and care about the people that work for me But I love working with the people inside it better.” D’Arienzo also works with a lot of talent on property “I have a lot of talented chefs and bartenders and I get to do a lot of tastings,” she says “But I always think about what the guests want a bartender’s drink and it makes it on the menu—the look on their face—that pride is my favorite part.” And what about D’Arienzo’s pride—being a female in her position in a very male-dominated industry “To have all these amazing resorts in the same place and being able to use them as leverage to continue my career; you can’t find that in another city We photographed D’Arienzo on the 108th floor of The STRAT’s tower The 108 Drinks bar is the perfect reprieve for some delicious cocktails and unbeatable views New to the menu is the seasonal cocktail Botanical Bliss a blend of Ketel One Peach & Orange Blossom vodka If you need a little nosh after your cocktails walk just around the corner to 108 Eats for light bites ice cream and some of the best Oreo-covered popcorn you’ll ever taste Mon.-Thurs.) offers 2-for-1 SkyPod admission access and 2-for-1 cocktails Click here for your free subscription to the weekly digital edition of Las Vegas Magazine In addition to the latest edition emailed to every week money-saving offers from some of the most exciting attractions And Las Vegas Magazine is full of informative content such as restaurants to visit The food and beverage VP for Carver Road Hospitality finds his crowning glory at Carversteak Director of operations at Caspian’s Rock & Roe continues a legendary career The Flight Club general manager hits the bull’s-eye when it comes to her career Caterer Middle East Home » People » How Blind Tiger is reviving classic cocktail styles Francesco d’Arienzo is a bar manager whose global mixology journey has shaped Blind Tiger’s offerings with a fusion of tradition and innovation With extensive experience from diverse international mixology scenes D’Arienzo adds gastronomy methods like foams and gels to classic preparation styles such as redistillation of flavours we find out more about the bar programme at the Dubai venue and discuss his signature drink with refreshing and savoury notes of ginger “My colleague and I came up with the idea to bring back the pickled drink as a Gibson-style in modern times The goal was to use more preferred flavours like ginger and cucumber and to combine those uniquely using modern techniques to create a distinctive Martini that will transport guests from the old-style cocktails to a new dimension while keeping the original roots of the drink.” “People appreciate its unique flavour profile and eye-catching appearance with this deep purple ginger root and green neon colour.” and to emphasise the distinctive ingredients and our garnish is pickle ginger root flower that impersonates the trapeze bar used by the circus performer with the risk of falling in love with those flavours.” It’s not surprising that Alexa D’Arienzo (’22) is our first recipient of the Pauley Perrette Forensic Science Scholarship and problem solving have been a focus in her life for as long as she can remember—the Biology classes she’s thrived in and even the scientific television shows she’s inclined to watch One of my favorite experiments in high school was when we went to the DNA Learning Center and we got to do a gel electrophoresis test That's when you make a Jell-O brick and then insert DNA into different cavities,” D’Arienzo enthusiastically explains and based off of how far it moves you can compare that sample to other DNA samples It was exciting to know that they do something similar for paternity tests and DNA comparisons.” Her interest in science and desire to solve crimes helped D’Arienzo zero in on John Jay as the right College for her “I only applied to five colleges,” says D’Arienzo I looked at which school was the best for Forensic Science with the added chance to learn about Forensic Science in a criminal justice setting I knew that John Jay was the right fit for me.”  We sat down with this Long Island native to learn more about her goals for the future and what it means to be a woman in science Now that you’ve completed one semester at John Jay what work have you done that really interested you?I took Chemistry 103 in the fall and this semester I'll be taking Chemistry 104 In Chemistry 103 we did a lot of labs with Bunsen burners and different chemicals and measurements It was more of an intro into how to work your way around the lab I really enjoyed the aluminum-zinc anode lab we did in that class For this experiment we put an aluminum wire in a mixture and everything started to become attracted to the wire It was cool to see the different reactions What do you hope to do with your major once you graduate?I really want to work in a crime lab and it would be nice to get justice for the victims “This scholarship eases the financial stress on my entire family I’m going to get one step closer to my goal.”— Alexa D’Arienzo What would you say is the interaction between forensic science and criminal justice?Forensic science provides almost 100 percent facts without bias Whatever the results are of a test—whether good or bad—those are the results Science helps to inform us about what happened during a crime you can say anything and it doesn't have to be true if you back it up with facts and proven scientific evidence it solidifies your case and proves what really happened What does it mean to you to be the first winner of the Pauley Perrette Forensic Science Scholarship?It means that I don’t have to focus on financial issues I can focus on studying and my academic career but I have to work two jobs—I work in a bakery and a church rectory This scholarship eases the financial stress on my entire family I’m going to get one step closer to my goal Pauley Perrette’s groundbreaking character on NCIS showcased a woman succeeding in a field where women have been traditionally underrepresented What are your feelings about women pursing careers in math and science  I'm not sure why a lot of women don't pursue math and science maybe because they’re seen as difficult majors I also think that the science community wasn’t always welcoming to women especially for women working in the science field Being a woman in this field just proves that you can do what you love Winning this scholarship shows that even more I wouldn't be able to pursue a forensic science career and go on to work in a crime lab and helping those in need.”—Alexa D’Arienzo If Pauley Perrette was standing in front of you right now Thank you for giving me the opportunity to do what I love without having to worry about financial needs Thank you for giving me the ability to pursue science as a woman admissions@jjay.cuny.edu graduateadmissions@jjay.cuny.edu 212.237.8863 A funeral director shares the grim reality that she and others face during the coronavirus crisis in New York and it hit me that I would be praying to a hole who had come from Long Island to bury a 97-year-old grandmother They peered down uncomfortably into the grave at the steel vault that covered the casket they could not even be close to the casket that held their loved one’s remains But my discomfort at being unable to serve people properly was a fleeting bad moment in three draining months that have taken their toll on people like me who make their living as funeral directors who can look away and find escape in not confronting the reality As I spoke to other funeral directors in New York about what they have been going through the same themes emerged time and time again: trying to cope as the wave of death overwhelmed us finding a renewed sense of duty to the dead as families were kept away fighting impossible odds to keep bodies from going unattended or shipped off to a potter’s field we all had watched the news of the pandemic as it played out in China and Italy We were curious about how these countries were dealing with their dead Perhaps it was a mix of wishful thinking and naivete that made us think “That could never happen here.” Until it did thrusting us into death overload by early April Funeral homes in the five boroughs of New York quickly became filled to capacity the death toll in New York City reached almost 20,000 and funeral homes were forced to turn away scores of frantic families looking to bury their dead The city was prepared to send remains to New York City’s own potter’s field but it only fueled our ever-present sense of urgency We all came to share grim accounts of what death had become in New York as a funeral home van made its way down a city street residents called out to the driver from the sidewalks “People were trying to flag it down because they have dead bodies in the house and the medical examiner’s not answering the phone,” Tom Libraro wrote on his Facebook page “It just showed the desperation of people when the morgue attendants couldn’t handle it,” said Libraro who works at Brooklyn Funeral Home & Cremation Service who owns Brooklyn Funeral Home & Cremation Service usually handles about 450 funerals in a year “We couldn’t get the bodies embalmed fast enough for the people who were having viewings And we didn’t have the space to keep people “I had to close down for ten days to regroup,” says Cassieri He didn’t want to be rendered as little more than a “body disposer.” “We were still taking calls and talking to people,” he says telling us that they’d called 21 funeral homes Those trucks became an arresting sight outside funeral homes and hospitals around New York Then came the discovery of 100 bodies decomposing in an unrefrigerated truck at another Brooklyn funeral home the NYPD came knocking on the door of Cassieri’s business insisting on inspecting his truck to ensure that it was refrigerated and doesn’t leave until well after midnight We can’t move or prepare bodies fast enough We’re locked down by cemeteries and crematories There’s only so much we can do,” says Cassieri who purchased additional stretchers and a new removal van He rented a U-Haul truck to make extra removals It’s hard not to feel abandoned by the government and the city never called and said we could move bodies 24 hours a day from the medical examiner’s,” Cassieri says have relied on the comforting and predictable rituals of funeral services They have been replaced by chaos and uncertainty We adapt as best we can to rules and regulations that seem to change arbitrarily Sometimes those rules seem borne of fear rather than neccesity we can’t help but feel a special duty as we serve as often lone witnesses at funerals that are unattended my daughter and I live-streamed three graveside services via Tribucast,” says Peter D’Arienzo the rabbi and monsoon rains were the only ones there.” Through technology D’Arienzo was able to bring in more than 100 guests from Israel a chance to say goodbye,” D’Arienzo wrote on Facebook in mid-April “Sophia was better at it than I was,” he says Others had to fill in when D’Arienzo was forced to self-quarantine for two weeks Dignity Memorial has live streamed over 25 services to ten foreign countries with over 1,200 links opened during the COVID-19 pandemic They kept going even as rain swept through the area “The most powerful services are when it is just me and the rabbi at the graveside,” D’Arienzo says It is a time when nothing seems easy or predictable for any of us charged with attending to the dead elderly family members had rented a limousine to travel to a New Jersey cemetery the cemetery refused to allow the car inside the gate Only one person was allowed at the gravesite That was something that changed between us ordering the grave and getting there,” he says but allowed only one family member to get out of the car and stand by the grave The family was left to decide who that would be was told by a cemetery in the Bronx that no more than five people could be in attendance all of them required to wear masks and rubber gloves But when he arrived at the cemetery with two cars bringing family members he was told that the family would have to remain in their cars “You mean to tell me the priest is going to do the service and the family is going to be on the road and they can’t exit their vehicles?” he asked the cemetery official “There’s no way that I’m going to sit in the car during my mother’s service,” said one of the daughters The casket was taken out of the hearse and wheeled to the roadside The family was able to stand outside of their cars as the priest conducted the brief committal service New York has had to look elsewhere for help burying its dead owner of the John Vincent Scalia Home for Funerals on Staten Island but the outreach to Pennsylvania made a difference “We were able to keep people out of the trailers,” he says Scalia also made it his mission to handle funerals free of charge for indigent COVID-19 victims “I think it’s our obligation to take care of these people We’re in the funeral business,” says Scalia I have spent four decades as a funeral director In that time I thought I’d seen just about every imaginable way of dying But nothing could have prepared any of us for this as we’ve had to face our most daunting challenge as funeral directors Many of us wonder if  we have fallen short of the oath we took  not to violate our obligation to society or to the dignity of our profession “It takes this to remind us why we do what we do.” Featured image: Sophia D’Arienzo live streams a funeral service at which Rabbi Ronnie Kehati officiates (Photo Courtesy of Peter D’Arienzo) Peter D’Arienzo forwarded me a copy of the Saturday Evening Post article you just wrote What an amazingly well written review of what so many are seeing and feeling As one of the founders of TribuCast (www.tribucast.com) I can tell you first hand what we have seen supports what you wrote Words can’t describe the heroics we have seen in Funeral Directors during these unprecedented times I’m very impressed by how well the funeral industry has handled this unprecedented unimaginable overwhelming situation as well as it has There’s such a deluge of everything all at once Draining doesn’t even begin to cover it You’re trying to have some semblance of dignity for the deceased and their families but are lucky if you have that at even one ‘assembly line’ burial service It’s shocking to think I was going to a funeral then having my limousine turned away at the gate or having my mother’s casket taken out of the hearse and wheeled to the roadside for the priest to say a little something while I’m standing there briefly in a face mask and gloves There likely were many people who now would have been grateful for even that Mosca for contributing this insider’s report to the Post on this unimaginably painful topic the frontline first responders in the funeral industry doing the best you can for the deceased and their families under such insane Δdocument.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value" Amie Martin-D’Arienzo has been rehired as the assistant director at the Geauga County Board of Mental Health and Recovery Services Martin-D’Arienzo had resigned just a little over two weeks earlier Martin-D’Arienzo had been acting as interim director was placed on paid administrative leave in early May Martin-D’Arienzo was initially offered $65,000 per year by the board but she successfully negotiated a salary of $70,000 with flexible time during the board meeting June 21 “The state average is $85,000 — is there any way we can bump that to at least $70,000,” Martin-D’Arienzo asked noting she had conducted a salary review of other similar positions She also stressed her education should be a factor in determining compensation While other positions require a bachelor’s degree Martin-D’Arienzo reminded the board she holds two bachelor’s degrees and a master’s degree “What if we re-evaluated in 90 days based on your performance,” he asked But Martin-D’Arienzo stayed firm in her request board member Carolee Lesyk made a motion to hire Martin-D’Arienzo at the $70,000 yearly salary she was asking and board member Jimmie Lee Holden seconded the motion The board voted 8-2 in favor of the increased salary while Skip Claypool and Jennifer Malainy voted no Marty Fay and Greg O’Brien were not present Martin-D’Arienzo joined the mental health board in 2020 coming from Ohio Guidestone in Summit County where she served as a prevention facilitator To access our complete online news coverage Copyright Geauga County Maple Leaf. All rights reserved. | Privacy Policy | Terms of Use Website Designed & Developed by Company 119 Pernod Ricard said that its subsidiary Domecq Bodegas has sold the Spanish wine brands Marqués de Arienzo and Viña Eguίa the bodega and 358 hectares of vineyards and lands to a consortium of buyers made up of Vinos de los Herederos del Marqués de Riscal and Gangutia for a cash consideration of EUR 28 million on a debt free / cash free basis The transaction was signed and the cash consideration was paid simultaneously on 21 July 2010 Vinos de los Herederos del Marqués de Riscal which celebrated its 150th anniversary in 2008 is one of the most prestigious wine companies in the Rioja Marqués de Riscal sells its wines in over 90 countries the winery is feted for having chosen the Canadian architect Frank Gehry to design its hotel in Elciego Its partner in the consortium is the Gangutia Group currently managed by the Murúa family’s third generation (Murúa Gangutia) which has commercialised its Rioja wines by selling 80 percent abroad The Marqués de Arienzo are the latest brands that Pernod Ricard has flogged off Early in July 2010 it sold its shares in wine company Ambrosio Velasco to another Spanish drinks company for a cash consideration of EUR 33.1 million the most popular Spanish liqueur worldwide and other premium brands such as Villa Massa (the best-selling premium Italian Limoncello) Matusalem Rum and Ramon Bilbao Wines from Rioja Spain Newsletter archive and information Global Sisters Report a project of National Catholic Reporter Sign up now In 1993 she founded and since continues to head The Cherish Life Circle which opposes the capital punishment and offers an annual service for families of murder victims She won first place in the Catholic Press Association 2013 awards for best essay in religious order magazines for "Called and called again" in the VISION Catholic Religious Vocation Discernment Guide (Chicago Global Sisters Report Volume 9 - 2021 | https://doi.org/10.3389/feart.2021.617594 Recent literature has highlighted how citizen science approaches can engage volunteers and accomplish targeted research objectives there is limited information on how specific recruitment and engagement strategies enhance scientific outcomes To help fill this important information gap we detail the use of various approaches to engage citizen scientists in the collection of precipitation phase data (rain the Sierra Nevada and Central Basin and Range of California and Nevada near Lake Tahoe a marked amount of annual precipitation falls near freezing and satellites all have difficulty correctly predicting and observing precipitation phase making visual observations the most accurate approach geotagged observations of precipitation phase through the Citizen Science Tahoe mobile phone application Our recruitment strategy included messaging to winter and outdoor enthusiasts combined with amplification through regional groups which resulted in over 199 citizen scientists making 1,003 ground-based observations of rain We enhanced engagement and retention by targeting specific storms in the region through text message alerts that also allowed for questions We saw a high retention rate (88%) and a marked increase in the number of observations following alerts we combined various meteorological datasets and compared to the citizen science observations We found that 96.5% of submitted data passed our quality control protocol which enabled us to evaluate rain-snow partitioning patterns Snow was the dominant form of precipitation at air temperatures below and slightly above freezing with both ecoregions expressing a 50% rain-snow air temperature threshold of 4.2°C a warmer value than what would be incorporated into most land surface models the use of a lower air temperature threshold in these areas would produce inaccuracies in event-based rain-snow proportions and rain-snow analysis were supported by the recruitment strategy We suggest other citizen science projects may follow the approaches detailed herein to achieve their scientific objectives These findings suggest targeting volunteer motivations and collaborating with regional groups with similar interests are effective approaches for recruiting citizen scientists when combined with social media The wide range of observed retention rates and potential impacts to data quality suggest the need for a quantitative approach to evaluating engagement and retention strategies These issues are particularly concerning in the Sierra Nevada where a significant proportion of winter precipitation falls near 0°C Enhanced monitoring for model validation of rain and snow would greatly enhance the prediction of precipitation that accumulates in mountain snowpacks and the precipitation that runs off While these and other programs represent an advancement in citizen science they are limited to observations at a specified location at a specified time we employed a citizen science approach to collect ground-based observations of precipitation phase during winter and spring storms in the Sierra Nevada region Our objectives were to evaluate engagement strategies and produce a robust quality-controlled dataset of precipitation phase The former will contribute to the ongoing study of how to best deploy citizen science projects while the latter serves as a critical validation source for land surface models and satellite remote sensing products We also detail an initial assessment of the rain-snow temperature relationship within our study region The citizen science approach presented here is potentially applicable to other weather-based studies for which data collection over spatial and temporal extents is required Most of the wet season precipitation falls as snow The Truckee Meadows region (elevation ∼1,300 m) is located on the eastern side of the Sierra Nevada and the region experiences a similar seasonal climate pattern This study area includes two ecoregions the Sierra Nevada and the Central Basin and Range Level III ecoregions Tahoe Rain or Snow, launched in 2019, is a contributory citizen science project (Shirk et al., 2012) where the research team designed the study and community members contributed the precipitation phase data. From the outset of the project, both scientists and education/engagement specialists collaborated on project design, as recommended by Druschke and Seltzer (2012) The research goals and study design informed our survey design we assessed the data for quality and evaluated the results for rain-snow partitioning patterns These approaches were utilized to meet our goals to: 1) recruit and retain citizen scientists and 2) collect a sufficient number of quality data points for precipitation phase analysis To effectively crowdsource precipitation phase data, we designed the Tahoe Rain or Snow precipitation phase survey to be included on the existing Citizen Science Tahoe (CST) mobile phone app platform (Figure 1) Zach Lyon Creative developed the CST mobile phone app in 2015 in collaboration with three regional groups: University of California Davis Tahoe Environmental Research Center the CST app hosted six different citizen science surveys used by the CST partners with a total network of 1,970 registered users The Tahoe Rain or Snow survey was hosted on the Citizen Science Tahoe app (A) The introductory screen (B) provided background and training The following screen the user chooses the precipitation type: Rain the user verifies their location (D) and can manually move the location pin if it is incorrect The user is then asked to check the accuracy of all parameters and submit the observation The app collects the following data: observer name all of which are accessible to the researchers via a web-based portal Surveys that are submitted while the user is out of cell service are cached on the local device and uploaded once the user returns to service area If location services were ‘turned off’ and the observer did not change the location the default location was set to 39.0968°N allowing for easy identification of these data points A small group of scientists and educators tested the app prior to the launch for data quality and user experience and we incorporated their feedback in the design process our communication strategy included links between the science Recruitment efforts also focused on teaching participants how to submit quality data Citizen scientists were asked to sign up to a text messaging service by texting a keyword to a number (“To join Tahoe Rain or Snow text WINTER to 855-909-####”) The text messaging service compiled citizen scientists’ phone numbers into a database the citizen scientists were automatically sent three text messages at 24-h intervals The three drip campaign messages contained 1) instructions to download the CST app through a web link 2) background information to understand to the goals of the study and 3) a succinct training module on when and how to submit observations This text message service enabled the citizen scientists to opt-in to messaging allowing continued communication throughout the season in the form of scheduling and pushing alerts to all users text message communications with individual citizen scientists Retention of volunteers is critical to project success but represents a major challenge in citizen science To maintain participation throughout the winter and spring push alerts were sent through the text messaging system when a storm was approaching to bring awareness to the participants This was preferable to social media or email which introduce a time lag in communication and require participants to pull the information The ability to answer citizen scientist questions via the same text messaging system allowed for clarification about when and how to sample potentially improving participant understanding of the project To assess our recruitment and retention strategies we examined the number of sign-ups over time and quantified requests to subscribe to and unsubscribe from the text message system We also evaluated the timing and number of reports following our text message notifications to analyze their effectiveness in encouraging participation To learn more about the reporting behavior of our citizen scientists we assessed the timing and spatial patterning of observations based on the day and time of report along with the associated location and elevation Effective use of citizen science data requires robust quality assurance (QA) and quality control (QC) protocols Our primary QA mechanism was designing the app-based survey to allow for little subjective interpretation when reporting observations (i.e. the app performed all timestamping and geolocating automatically eliminating the possibility a user could report an incorrect time and/or location All observations for users with location services turned off were reported in the center of Lake Tahoe allowing for removal of these erroneous data as the first step of the QC protocol These included the Snowpack Telemetry (SNOTEL) network multiple state and national networks distributed through the Hydrometeorological Automated Data System (HADS) and the Automated Weather Observing System (AWOS) we identified 66 stations with hourly or finer air temperature in our study domain The number of stations reporting valid data for each citizen science observation ranged between 57 and 66 we relied on routines from the respective datasets and we also filtered out observations outside of the range of −30–45°C Networks of meteorological stations used in this study Few of our citizen science observations were recorded directly next to a meteorological station necessitating that we distribute air temperature from a station or multiple stations to the point of interest we tested four methods inside an air temperature distribution model: Inverse distance weighting plus a constant lapse rate (IDWconst) Inverse distance weighting plus a variable lapse rate (IDWvar) Air temperature from nearest station plus constant lapse rate (Nearestconst) Air temperature from nearest station plus variable lapse rate (Nearestvar) These methods generally follow the protocol detailed in the meteorological data preprocessors MeteoIO (Bavay and Egger, 2014) and MicroMet (Liston and Elder, 2006) As we did not need gridded values of air temperature we recoded these methods to predict air temperature at a given observation point using parallel processing in the R computing language The air temperature distribution model included the following steps: 1. Compute the observer’s elevation by extracting the value from the 10 m digital elevation model (DEM) from the USGS’s National Elevation Dataset (Gesch et al., 2002) using the submitted latitude-longitude coordinates Identification of all air temperature measurements within ±1 h of the citizen science observation Removal of all air temperature measurements except those closest in time to the observation If a single meteorological station reported two air temperature values (i.e. the time gap before and after the citizen science observation were equal) We computed the distance between the citizen science observation and each meteorological station We calculated air temperature at the observation location using the four previously introduced methods: a. IDWconst was calculated by correcting all air temperature values to sea level based on station elevation and a constant lapse rate of −0.005°C m−1 (Girotto et al., 2014) and computing normalized weights for each station based on its distance to the citizen science observation Sea level air temperature was calculated at the observation point as a function of the station weights and the sea level air temperature for each station and lapse the air temperature from sea level to the elevation of the citizen science observation IDWvar followed the same steps as IDWconst but used a lapse rate calculated per time step The variable lapse rate was predicted as the slope of an ordinary least squares regression model fit to station elevation (independent variable) and air temperature (dependent variable) Nearestconst was calculated by identifying the station nearest to each citizen science observation and correcting the air temperature value from the station to the observation based on the difference in elevation between the two and the −0.005°C m-1 constant lapse rate Nearestvar followed the same steps as Nearestconst but the lapse rate is calculated per timestep as in IDWvar the average variable lapse rate was −0.0056°C m−1 suggesting the extra processing step does provide marginal improvement even if the lapse rate difference is small Air temperature distribution methods mean bias and r2 value Once we had computed an air temperature value using IDWvar for each citizen science observation, we followed a two-step process to flag suspicious reports. First, we checked the air temperature against previously reported rain-snow air temperature ranges (Kienzle, 2008; Jennings et al., 2018) we checked daily precipitation reports from PRISM and active AWOS stations to flag whether precipitation occurred on the observation date We used both datasets because although PRISM provides spatially continuous coverage it tended to not identify small and trace precipitation amounts within the study region Although this paper focuses on our outreach efforts and data collection we include an initial assessment of the precipitation phase observations to improve understanding of rain and snow patterns in our study area we evaluated the proportion of each precipitation phase by elevation using the DEM-derived values identified in Step 1 of the air temperature distribution model above We next created histograms to show the number of reports corresponding to each phase type by elevation we summarized the data in 500 m elevation bins computing the percentage of observations corresponding to each phase and evaluating how the dominant phase of precipitation changed by elevation Most of the observations (red circles) were from the communities surrounding Lake Tahoe the Truckee Meadows (inclusive of the cities of Reno/Sparks) and Carson City Black triangles represent meteorological stations used in this study Green background indicates EPA Level III Ecoregion number 5 and the pink background color indicates EPA Level III Ecoregion number 13 we compared the derived threshold per ecoregion to two generic rain-snow air temperature thresholds (0 and 2°C) to evaluate the proportion of snow that would be misidentified as rain we plotted the distribution of air temperature data and computed the mean and median values from all of our citizen scientist reports we calculated the total number of reports as well as the number of snow observations given at air temperatures between the two generic rain-snow thresholds and the thresholds we computed per ecoregion in the steps above We then assumed that each observation reported as snow in this air temperature range would be incorrectly identified as rain by a land surface model Because the text message service and mobile phone app were different platforms individuals could submit observations anonymously or submit without subscribing to the text message service therefore the true number of individual participants is difficult to determine It is estimated that users submitted on average 12 observations with several “super users” who reported >35 observations compared to Mixed observations (purple line) and Rain observations (blue line) (B) Accumulation amount (cm) from two SNOTEL sites Mount Rose (light green) and Truckee (dark green) (C) Number of observers who registered through the text messaging service (orange line) The gray vertical lines represent text message notifications to observers The retention strategy included the text messaging notification system. Thirteen text message storm alerts were sent to the subscriber list from January to April 2020 (Figure 3, Supplementary Table S1) a total of 115 response texts were received from citizen scientists in the form of questions or comments (excluding requests to opt-in or opt-out from the text message service) there were 24 unsubscribe requests to the text message alert service We note a decrease in the number of observations ∼20 days after the last notification FIGURE 4. Number of observations per day vs. number of days since last text notification with the symbol scaled by precipitation accumulation amount from Mount Rose SNOTEL (Figure 2B) for that day The winter and spring of 2020 was also unique for non-weather-related reasons the State of Nevada closed all non-essential businesses on March 17th and the State of California issued a statewide stay at home order on March 20th and non-essential workers began working from home Many ski resorts in the Sierra Nevada suspended operations as well These factors may have affected citizen scientists’ behavior and availability to participate in the study Number of observations by hour (left) and day of the week (right) At the end of the season, we created a report-back for our citizen scientists. The web link to the report back was sent via text message to the participants (Supplementary Table S1) In the week following its release on June 10th there were 86 unique views to the Tahoe Rain or Snow report-back webpage While is not possible to determine if hits to this page came solely from Tahoe Rain or Snow participants we estimate this is an ∼43% conversion rate as a result of this alert During the study period (January 7 to May 31 citizen scientists reported 1,039 precipitation phase observations We then removed six observations from outside the study area because there was an insufficient number of observations to perform a quantitative analysis We then compared citizen science observations to meteorological data Precipitation phase reports generally fell within the air temperature bounds of previous research Observers reported only two instances of rain at air temperatures less than 0°C and 27 instances of snow at air temperatures above 5°C We also flagged observations when both PRISM and the AWOS dataset indicated 0 mm of precipitation on that day of observation Removing these observations had little effect on snow probability calculations 96.5% of all submitted data passed quality control we have relatively few reports from the sparsely populated areas between the higher and lower elevation bands Number of observations by precipitation phase and elevation The latter value was more than twice the second highest amount of mixed precipitation reported at any other elevation band The proportion of each precipitation phase reported per 500 m elevation bin At air temperatures near freezing, snowfall probability was near 100% according to citizen science reports in both ecoregions (Figure 8) Snowfall probability declined with increasing air temperature nearing 0% as air temperature approached 10°C The similar snowfall probability curves produced identical 50% rain-snow air temperature thresholds of 4.2°C in the Sierra Nevada and Central Basin and Range ecoregions This threshold is markedly warmer than the 0°C used as a default value in some land surface models Snowfall probability plotted against air temperature for the Central Basin and Range and Sierra Nevada ecoregions Snowfall probability is equal to the percent of citizen science observations reported as snow per 0.5°C air temperature bin The gray dashed line corresponds to 50% snowfall probability During our study period, 57.0% of observations were reported at air temperatures between 0 and 4.2°C, the latter being the optimized 50% rain-snow air temperature threshold for our ecoregions (Figures 8, 9) The distribution of air temperature data corresponding to our reports was unimodal with mean and median values of 1.9 and 2.0°C These findings indicate that the majority of precipitation phase reports given by our observers were in the air temperature range of greatest rain-snow uncertainty Of the 572 reports given between 0 and 4.2°C meaning a 0°C rain-snow temperature threshold would have misidentified 71.7% of phase observations that were actually snow as rain Even using a warmer threshold of 2°C would lead to a 60.6% rain vs snow misidentification rate for the 317 reports given between 2 and 4.2°C Kernel density plot showing the distribution of all precipitation phase reports by air temperature The 50% rain-snow air temperature threshold value is marked with the black dashed vertical line The mean and median air temperature values from our citizen scientist reports were 1.9 and 2.0°C Various strategies have been proposed in the literature for maximizing citizen science recruitment (Robson et al., 2013; Eveleigh et al., 2014; Andow et al., 2016; Reges et al., 2016; Crall et al., 2017) however key to those strategies is retaining volunteers and ensuring high data quality Here we show a high rate of retention (88%) and high quality of data (96.5% passing strict quality controls) which we attribute to the recruitment and engagement methodologies which maximized the submission of high-quality data for the study of the precipitation phase Lessons for other citizen science programs can be taken from the effectiveness of the strategies we describe above We implemented a recruitment strategy of targeted messaging to recruit citizen scientists with values aligned with the study followed by communicating the opportunity to participate through social media and connection to regional groups We recommend that science leads of citizen science projects consult with engagement specialists or social scientists to consider the values are aligned with those programs and identify partner “amplifier” groups Messaging amplified through known organizations in the community demonstrated to be effective to introduce Tahoe Rain or Snow as sign-ups increased after National Weather Service-Reno and CoCoRaHS circulated the call to participate therefore making them an important group to engage the simplicity of the survey and continued education through the text messaging system may also have contributed to the high quality of data Finally, we encourage all citizen science programs to dedicate energy and time to meaningful report-back of the results to volunteers. The 43% conversion rate from the report-back text message alert is high in comparison to conversion rates reported in other studies, such as 4% from email or 10% from social media (Crall et al., 2017) A comparison of conversion rates between text alerts and email newsletters can be made with a similar citizen science project also led by DRI which uses email notifications for users and is conducted in the same region as Tahoe Rain or Snow For Stories in the Snow email newsletters sent in the 2019–2020 season to ∼1,246 users the mean percentage of emails opened was 32% and the mean conversion rate was only 4.7% (based on data from the email campaign management platform) The high conversion rate of the Tahoe Rain or Snow report-back also supports the effectiveness of text messages to engage individuals in comparison to email messaging for a similar user group in the same region the use of a common lower air temperature threshold in these areas would produce inaccuracies in annual and event-based rain-snow proportions particularly observations collected over a larger spatial extent could provide much-needed validation data and provide pathways for improvement in GPM output is defined as meeting our goals to: 1) recruit and retain citizen scientists Here we have shown the successful application of citizen science for ground-based precipitation phase observations The recruitment through messaging targeting winter weather and outdoor enthusiasts coupled with amplifiers to target group members with similar interests created a pool of citizen scientists of both super-users and ‘dabblers’ The high retention rate (88%) was potentially supported by the text message system and two-way communication Continued engagement throughout the winter and spring through the text messages encouraged all participants to continue to submit observations and enabled two way communication with the observers easy to use design of the survey may have encouraged retention and high-quality data these factors contributed to the high data quality and high retention rate Ground-based observations have important applications for validation of modeling and remote sensing of precipitation phase. For example, Jennings and Molotch (2019) showed that in the lower elevations of the Cascades and Sierra Nevada (e.g. incorrectly identifying a rain-snow air temperature threshold can produce significant errors in modeled snow accumulation and melt Here we show that citizen science offers an approach to collect data of high quality and spatial and temporal variability recruitment and retention program applicable to other studies We recommend that other citizen science projects consider implementing a targeted communication and recruitment strategy continued communication and feedback for citizen scientists to encourage engagement and an easy-to-use data reporting system for quality assurance and KJ wrote the article and approve the content of the work Funding provided by Nevada NASA EPSCoR Grant 20-23 Author KJ was employed by the company Lynker Technologies LLC The remaining 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 The authors would like to acknowledge the citizen scientists who submitted observations for the Tahoe Rain or Snow project The authors would also like to thank the two reviewers for their thoughtful comments The Supplementary Material for this article can be found online at: https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/feart.2021.617594/full#supplementary-material Assimilation of citizen science data in snowpack modeling using a new snow dataset: community snow observations Recruitment and retention of volunteers in a citizen science network to detect invasive species on private lands CrossRef Full Text | Google Scholar Liquid-solid partitioning of precipitation along an altitude gradient and its statistical properties: an Italian case study CrossRef Full Text | Google Scholar Mountain hydrology of the western United States CrossRef Full Text | Google Scholar Potential impacts of a warming climate on water availability in snow-dominated regions PubMed Abstract | CrossRef Full Text | Google Scholar MeteoIO 2.4.2: a preprocessing library for meteorological data CrossRef Full Text | Google Scholar and snow network: informal education for scientists and citizens CrossRef Full Text | Google Scholar The motivations to volunteer: theoretical and practical considerations CrossRef Full Text | Google Scholar Volunteer recruitment and retention in online citizen science projects using marketing strategies: lessons from season spotter CrossRef Full Text | Google Scholar Temperature and pressure dependence of the rain-snow phase transition over land and ocean CrossRef Full Text | Google Scholar Physiographically sensitive mapping of climatological temperature and precipitation across the conterminous United States CrossRef Full Text | Google Scholar Engaging diverse citizen scientists for environmental health: recommendations from participants and promotoras CrossRef Full Text | Google Scholar Dynamics of engagement in citizen science: results from the “yes CrossRef Full Text | Google Scholar The dependence of precipitation types on surface elevation and meteorological conditions and its parameterization CrossRef Full Text | Google Scholar Failures of engagement: lessons learned from a citizen science pilot study CrossRef Full Text | Google Scholar Microwave retrievals of terrestrial precipitation over snow-covered surfaces: a lesson from the GPM satellite CrossRef Full Text | Google Scholar mPING: crowd-sourcing weather reports for research CrossRef Full Text | Google Scholar Verifying forecast precipitation type with mPING CrossRef Full Text | Google Scholar “Designing for dabblers and deterring drop-outs in citizen science,” in Proceedings of the SIGCHI conference on human factors in computing systems Google Scholar Implications during transitional periods of improvements to the snow processes in the land surface scheme - hydrological model WATCLASS CrossRef Full Text | Google Scholar Bridging the benefits of online and community supported citizen science: a case study on motivation and retention with conservation-oriented volunteers CrossRef Full Text | Google Scholar Sensitivity of precipitation phase over the Swiss Alps to different meteorological variables CrossRef Full Text | Google Scholar Google Scholar Probabilistic SWE reanalysis as a generalization of deterministic SWE reconstruction techniques CrossRef Full Text | Google Scholar Scaling up: citizen science engagement and impacts beyond the individual PubMed Abstract | CrossRef Full Text | Google Scholar Hydrological model uncertainty due to precipitation-phase partitioning methods CrossRef Full Text | Google Scholar CrossRef Full Text | Google Scholar NASA global precipitation measurement (GPM) integrated multi-satellite retrievals for GPM (IMERG) Google Scholar Iguchi, T., Seto, S., Meneghini, R., Yoshida, N., Awaka, J., Le, M., et al. 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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: Monica M. Arienzo, bWFyaWVuem9AZHJpLmVkdQ== †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 Tuscany at Your Table. 1050 N. Highland Ave. N.E. 404-205-5092. www.tuscanyatyourtable.com 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 plastics are omnipresent in our everyday lives It is increasingly difficult to point to objects around us that do not contain at least a small amount of plastic Given the range and versatility of uses and applications for plastics it is not surprising that society has whole-heartedly embraced these materials plastics offer convenience in our busy lives But what happens to the plastic we discard The honest answer: most plastics are added to landfills where they will take decades or centuries to break down only 8.6% of plastics was recycled; a larger percentage (15.7%) of discarded plastics was burned for energy [1] the trend for recycling plastics is decreasing with just 5-6% of plastic recycled in 2021 [2] It is estimated that 22% of plastic is “disposed of in uncontrolled dumpsites burned in open pits or leaked into the environment” [3] This is equal to 83.6 million tons of plastic released to the environment each year. That’s over 167 billion pounds this means that we are continually making more plastic and plastic pollution to add on to the already accumulating piles of plastic waste plastics can be carried around by water and wind moving plastics from areas of high concentrations to more pristine areas most plastic pollution is washed into the oceans where it sinks to the ocean floor or accumulates at the ocean surface in a rotating current plastic materials are broken down into smaller pieces These smaller plastic particles are lighter than larger plastic debris making it easier to transport them in the environment and expanding the area they can impact.There are shocking images of dissected fish stomachs full of small plastic particles but the effects of microplastics on wildlife is just the start of the issue microplastics are extremely difficult to clean up Much more effort is needed to remove the same amount of plastic from the environment if microplastic particles are cleaned up versus larger plastic debris Many cleanup efforts do not have the resources microplastics are chemically altered by exposure to the sun and chemicals in the environment These alterations change how microplastics behave chemically in the environment and have been shown to increase the ability of microplastics to take up and hold toxic chemicals on their surfaces The microplastic-toxin combo can then be transported in the environment making the microplastic particle a way for toxic chemicals to be moved around in the environment Since microplastics have a lot of surface area due to their small size and large numbers microplastic particles can carry more toxins than larger plastic debris All of this leads to not only the presence of a long-term pollutant but the presence of a pollutant that is globally transported and potentially carries large amounts of toxic chemicals with it in the environment A few recent studies have shown that microplastics have been found at the summit of Mount Everest Microplastics have even been found in human blood the Truckee Meadows and Lake Tahoe are not exceptions Microplastics have been found in Lake Tahoe’s surface water The League to Save Lake Tahoe has removed over 43,000 pounds of litter from Lake Tahoe’s shorelines [5] and Clean Up the Lake has removed over 25,000 pounds of litter from the bottom of the lake [6] Keep Truckee Meadows Beautiful removed over 35 tons of litter and green waste during their 2022 Truckee River clean up event [7] Join us as we discuss microplastics in our region in more detail at the upcoming fall River Walk event, hosted by Keep Truckee Meadows Beautiful. The one-mile River Walk will take place on Saturday, Nov. 5, 10 – 11 a.m., at Mayberry Park, and will be followed by a voluntary cleanup. Be sure to reserve your spot at the event today [1] https://www.epa.gov/facts-and-figures-about-materials-waste-and-recycling/plastics-material-specific-data [2] https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/the-us-recycled-just-5-percent-of-its-plastic-in-2021-180980052/ [3] https://www.oecd.org/environment/plastics/ [4] https://storymaps.arcgis.com/stories/0a2ceba61c47470e8e18566268f9bfcf [5] https://www.keeptahoeblue.org/combat-pollution/ [6] https://cleanupthelake.org/ [7] https://www.ktmb.org/cleanups [8] https://www.unep.org/news-and-stories/story/what-you-need-know-about-plastic-pollution-resolution [9] https://www.tahoedailytribune.com/news/south-lake-tahoe-bans-single-use-plastic-water-bottles/ Sarrah M. Dunham-Cheatham is a research assistant professor with the College of Agriculture, Biotechnology & Natural Resources at the University of Nevada, Reno. She is director of the Core Analytical Laboratory, part of the College’s Experiment Station research unit Sarrah earned her doctoral degree in geochemistry from the University of Notre Dame and a bachelor’s degree in soil science and hydrology from Purdue University.  Monica Arienzo is an associate research professor in the Division of Hydrologic Sciences at the Desert Research Institute She leads the Microplastics and Environmental Chemistry Laboratory Monica earned a doctoral degree in marine geology and geophysics from the University of Miami First Generation Student to Dean of the College of Science Louisa Hope-Weeks shares her path to University leadership National Native American Heritage Month Extension During National Native American Heritage Month Extension’s Tammy Haddad and Matilda Begay share their history and how they empower Native youth through education Undergraduate researcher Kurt Juarez discusses his experience through an astrophysics and robotics lab First-Gen student Lesly Navarro-Chavez studies in Korea through USAC USAC Seoul student Lesly Navarro-Chavez found life-long friends at Korea University 2025 Three-Minute Thesis competition finalists announced A peek into Nevada Woman Filmmaker of the Year’s newest documentary Reynolds School of Journalism students awarded over $184,000 in scholarships More than 60 students were honored at the annual Savitt Awards Banquet Leading with safety: professor of microbiology and immunology recognized for displaying excellence in lab safety and research team voted recipient of 2025 Excellence in Laboratory Safety Award Engineering faculty developing wearable tech that could treat depression Electrical & Biomedical Engineering Assistant Professor Jihwan Yoon’s device would deliver radiofrequency pulses to brain regions involved in mood regulation and cognitive function Doctoral student and professor selected for prestigious International Science Education Institute chosen to participate in the 2025 Abell Institute Neighborhood ‘ambassadors’ needed to help prepare communities for wildfire Reno and the Nevada Division of Forestry holding informational meeting May 7 College of Education & Human Development hosts first-ever Student Teaching Welcome Celebration Students discover where they will be student teaching in Fall 2025 Giving Day: The Wolf Pack Way raises over $750,000 Honoring faculty through awards and fellowships Omar Rodriguez (left) works with Joe Neufeld to move a casket into Gerard Neufeld Funeral Home in Elmhurst Funeral home staff throughout the borough have worked overtime to ensure people who die from COVID-19 receive a proper memorial There are few breaks in the Queens funeral home industry these days as the borough’s coronavirus death toll continues to rise.  The staff at Sinai Chapels in Fresh Meadows are on the frontlines of the grim business with some employees working every single day for the past three weeks to preserve victims of the global pandemic and meet the needs of grieving family members “We’re trying the best we can,” said Sinai Chapels Director Andrea Resnick.   The frontline funeral home staff have risen to the occasion despite the persistent threat of COVID-19 in the borough “We’re really lucky to have them — they've been giving us so much time and effort,” she continued I've never seen people come together like this.” Nearly 11,500 New Yorkers have died as a confirmed or likely result of the novel coronavirus, according to data published April 16 by the city’s Health Department Queens residents account for about a third of the city’s more than 100,000 confirmed cases of COVID-19 while also handling the surge in bodies.  Funeral homes have also had to adjust their schedules and maintain their workforce to meet the demand the marketing director for Dignity Memorial Network a national network which includes funeral homes in Forest Hills “We’re trying every possible vehicle for people to participate in their loved ones funeral We’ve never put in so many hours and had to have dealt with so many deaths.” The company’s funeral homes have also had to take extra safety precautions like ensuring social social distancing among staff placing some employees on quarantine leave and providing personal protective equipment to workers The funeral homes serve an essential function amid so much death enabling New Yorkers to mourn their loved ones amid social upheaval The state has limited funeral gatherings to ten mourners and discouraged physical contact prompting some funeral homes to begin streaming funeral and memorial services and if we can afford a simple opportunity for someone to see their loved one to listen to the religious service to see or listen to the family that’s speaking it has tremendous value,” D’Arienzo said.  Dignity funeral homes have streamed services for two weeks using Tribucast One ceremony had more than 100 people join by video The video services were already somewhat popular in neighborhoods where a significant number of older adult “snowbirds” travel to warmer weather in the winter and are unable to travel back to New York for funerals D’Arienzo said he expects the funeral home industry to provide a second wave of services to mourners after the current crisis subsides That’s when New Yorkers can come together in person to honor their friends but when this is over — when the time is right — have some type of celebration of life,” D’Arienzo said “Have some type of memorial service where you all come together and honor that loved one.” Home / Law / Crime / Politics / Communities / Voices / All Stories / Who We Are / Terms and Conditions Mount Saint Mary House of Prayer in Watchung will welcome Sister Camille D’Arienzo to present on “Stories of Forgiveness in an Unforgiving World” at the complex’s Mercy Hall The unique perspectives to be shared by the speaker and radio personality are part of an annual speaker series sponsored by the House of Prayer a spiritual center dedicated to nurturing adult spiritual growth in an atmosphere of hospitality and prayer which is currently celebrating its 40th anniversary A native of New York City who received her doctorate in communications from the University of Michigan and taught at Brooklyn College for 20 years and member of the Mid-Atlantic Community of the Sisters of Mercy of the Americas READ: 40 years strong for the House of Prayer READ: Century-old Garwood church reborn as Liquid Church She has interviewed members of the Catholic Church about how their faith has affected them for her column in the National Catholic Reporter since 2011 A past president of the Leadership Conference of Women Religious D’Arienzo has also been a religion commentator for 1010 WINS radio for 43 years and is the author and narrator of the ‘Stories of Forgiveness’ audio book “One of the hardest things for people to do is to extend forgiveness when they’ve been hurt or to forgive themselves,” D’Arienzo said “but forgiveness is critical because it enables you to let go of memories that tether you to hurt and take time away from the present and future While forgiveness is a process that can’t be prescribed or ordered “especially those who have come through difficult experiences I’ll be sharing stories of people who have not only survived but thrived following great suffering and learned to be more understanding of and helpful to others,” she said our world is in great need of reconciliation and mercy and Sister Camille’s expertise and experience is so appropriate and timely during this Jubilee Year of Mercy,” said Sister Eileen Smith “She’s an engaging speaker who has the gift of story-telling making her message understandable and relatable to everyone The topic of forgiveness is universal and we’re confident that everyone has life experience that will connect with her message.” “Mount Saint Mary House of Prayer has a long history of helping people to be more merciful through the broad range of spiritual and academic tools they offer,” said D’Arienzo who looks forward to her appearance at the House of Prayer “I hope my words will help people understand that God’s love is absolute and that the power of forgiveness is liberating.” Smith also invites the community to enjoy the House of Prayer’s newly renovated facilities and its ongoing programs as well as  remaining anniversary events through December These include a special Mass for the Deceased Friends and Benefactors of the House of Prayer on Nov and an Advent/Christmas ‘Come to the Stable’ Day Prayer Ritual and Tree Lighting/Blessing on Dec For more information call 908-753-2091 or go to www.msmhope.org Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qdRXB1_5rVE">La loca by La Juan D´Arienzo Lauren D’Arienzo is ready to put down the ladle Situated on Howard Street, between Riverside and Main avenues, Soulful Soups & Spirits may soon end a two-decade run and join a swath of restaurants and bars that have recently announced their closure “It’s still a very successful operation but it’s not about the money,” D’Arienzo said “Being a downtown restaurant owner is just very difficult right now.” Her announcement follows a police shooting Monday in which a man was killed near her business But D’Arienzo said the incident did not trigger her decision to close “What happened (Monday) did not put me over the edge,” she said The business opened under different owner in 2001 and D’Arienzo purchased it 2011 If you asked D’Arienzo five years ago if she would ever sell her business “I don’t have kids so I thought I would really connect with someone … and then they would take it over,” she said “And I would help them financially do that.” Oftentimes when she arrives to open her business at about 6 a.m. she finds someone sleeping in front of her door Those types of encounters prompted her to call Crime Check an average of twice per week Once her car was burglarized in broad daylight “Someone put a hole in my back passenger window and took my backpack,” she said “It was 10:30 in the morning on a Wednesday.” Crime is just one reason she plans to leave I’m working harder and making less money and I feel scared when I walk out the front door,” she said When she inevitably leaves Soulful Soups behind Bernard restaurant and lounge at Schweitzer’s ski resort I used to walk to and from work,” she said I don’t even like doing that during the day.” She first considered selling her shop about two years ago but she said the buyer backed out after the landlord refused to extend D’Arienzo’s lease Now she’s stopped trying to market the restaurant “And after there was a shooting in front of us I wonder if the buyer feels like they dodged a bullet by not buying it.” D’Arienzo expects to close in December 2025 But that could come sooner rather than later Building owner Mike Lang holds a similar sentiment in regards to conducting business downtown I’m considering leaving town myself,” he said he said he will choose whether to keep the three-story “Lauren and I have not gotten along too well but if I sell” Soulful Soups would be out at that point Lang said he has spent over $1 million to renovate the upper floors of the building “I’m getting old and tired of the riff-raff,” the 72-year-old said Lang relies on the revenue from the restaurant he said he would be forced to open his own food operation in that space He’s reached out to other restaurant owners and gotten zero interest “No one is interested in owning a business in downtown Spokane.” Lang thinks he could open a health food operation in which customers grab items through a walk up window “What happened the other day throws another big question into it how do protect your customers let alone yourself?” he asked “What Lauren went through (Monday) was traumatic And I’m not sure I see it getting any better.” As for what should be done to improve the working conditions the landlord and restaurateur are at a loss They both claim the Downtown Spokane Partnership a nonprofit tasked with creating a livable and sustainable downtown Lang believes there should be more of a presence downtown while D’Arienzo thinks otherwise “I think they’re doing everything they can but they’re outnumbered,” she said “I am so grateful for them and the Spokane Downtown Partnership “It’s going to take a Herculean effort to make things better.” D’Arienzo hopes someone will keep filling bowls downtown “I want Soulful Soups to stay here forever and ever and I would support a buyer to make that happen “I still believe Spokane can be good to business owners because this downtown community has been so dang good to me.” "We have implemented a new range of services aimed at facilitating strategic investments in innovation and ecological transition" in an interview with "MoltoEconomia" explains how Simest can help companies in their internationalization process: "With the launch of the 2023-2025 Strategic Plan 'Yes especially small and medium-sized enterprises takes a leap in quality through a strategy capable of responding more promptly to the challenges of international markets We expect to commit 18,5 billion euros (+20 percent compared to the previous three years) to support Made in Italy in the world we have implemented a new range of services aimed at encouraging strategic investments in innovation and ecological transition Added to this is an action of concrete support to the production chains” As regards the activity in support of innovation and ecological transition "the new Plan provides that both the resources of subsidized funds and the activity of equity investment the acquisition of minority stakes in companies are mainly focused on favor the realization of these investments to keep the competitiveness of the Italian productive sector high" support for the competitiveness of the Italian system “will be ensured through access to Simest tools also for companies belonging to the supply chain of the target company with a view to further increasing the number of companies served But above all to support the investments of small and medium-sized enterprises supplying supply chains active on international markets All this will be possible thanks to the strategic and commercial synergies developed with Cassa depositi e prestiti the close coordination with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs - administrator of the subsidized finance instruments managed by Simest - the systemic cooperation with the main institutional players and a renewed collaboration with the banks" The managing director also observes that “with the new strategic plan we wanted to make a pact that better supports Italian companies in the global challenge We have therefore made traditional services more agile to respond to the new needs of companies by extending the range of action to digital transition “The launch of the consultancy activity for growth in the strategic markets that we know in depth having worked for over 30 years in 150 countries We also want to put our expertise at the service of companies This is why we have approved a plan to open our offices in key markets for Made in Italy on the southern shore of the Mediterranean” Simest supports the company throughout the cycle of expansion abroad: "It does so through three distinct lines of business: the disbursement of 6-year loans at subsidized rates and support for foreign orders from Italian exporters: only in the first 4 months of 2022 we supported operations for around 6 billion euro Both activities belong to two Funds managed by Simest on behalf of the Farnesina entry as a minority shareholder in the capital of companies” “In this case – concludes Corradini D'Arienzo – Simest provides companies with the liquidity necessary to develop internationalization projects In this activity we are supported by the intervention of the Venture Capital Fund managed in agreement with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs" whose license has been twice suspended in the Garden State represented criminal defendants on Staten Island while not licensed to practice in New York .st1{fill-rule:evenodd;clip-rule:evenodd;fill:#2a2a2a}By Frank Donnelly | fdonnelly@siadvance.comSTATEN ISLAND -- A New Jersey lawyer with a history of disciplinary trouble represented criminal defendants on Staten Island about a dozen times while using a phony name and being unlicensed to practice law in New York has been indicted on felony charges of offering a false instrument for filing and grand larceny and misdemeanor counts of practicing law without a license and petty larceny D'Arienzo illegally represented clients in Criminal Court multiple times between Feb he filed notices of appearance with the court signifying he was legally representing those defendants said the indictment and a criminal complaint D'Arienzo submitted those notices using the bogus name Mike Rienza A records check showed there is no licensed attorney in New York state named Marc D'Arienzo One client told police he or she paid D'Arienzo more than $2,000 for representation Two other clients each forked over less than $1,000 and I am suspended from the practice of law in New Jersey and have never been admitted to practice law in New York state," said the complaint D'Arienzo is scheduled to be arraigned Wednesday in state Supreme Court His attorney could not immediately be reached for comment D'Arienzo has been licensed to practice law in New Jersey since 1993 Online New Jersey Supreme Court records show D'Arienzo's Garden State law license was suspended twice for three months - in 1999 and as of Aug he made false statements to a tribunal and lied to a judge about his tardiness and failure to appear in court on criminal cases according to a Disciplinary Review Board report He was cited last year for failing to update a client about the status of their case or responding to the client's request for information and failing to state in writing the basis or rate of his fee D'Arienzo has been reprimanded three times he was admonished for record-keeping violations; in 2004 for being charged with marijuana and drug-paraphernalia possession for which he received a conditional discharge; and in 2013 for previously practicing law while ineligible D'Arienzo had failed to pay his annual attorney assessment A cousin who worked for him testified at an ethics hearing that she was at fault for not timely paying D'Arienzo's fee D'Arienzo was also censured in 2011 for failing to appear at scheduled court proceedings Use of and/or registration on any portion of this site constitutes acceptance of our User Agreement, (updated 8/1/2024) and acknowledgement of our Privacy Policy, and Your Privacy Choices and Rights (updated 1/1/2025) © 2025 Advance Local Media LLC. All rights reserved (About Us) The material on this site may not be reproduced except with the prior written permission of Advance Local Community Rules apply to all content you upload or otherwise submit to this site YouTube's privacy policy is available here and YouTube's terms of service is available here Ad Choices If the Geauga County Board of Mental Health and Recovery Services board accomplished anything at its special meeting held June 6 those in attendance witnessed the contention and dysfunction of the board which manifested in sharp tones and board Chair Jennifer Malainy abruptly leaving the meeting The chaotic events came after the June 3 resignation of Interim Executive Director Amie Martin-D’Arienzo adding Martin-D’Arienzo had not provided an official reason for stepping down Attempts to reach Martin-D’Arienzo for comment prior to press deadline were unsuccessful The special meeting was scheduled for an executive session to “consider the appointment, employment, dismissal, discipline, promotion or complaints against a public employee, official, licensee or regulated individual,” as outlined by the Ohio Revised Code With Executive Director Jim Adams on paid administrative leave since May 4 the executive session could have been about either no action was taken or announced during the meeting or after executive session Malainy said Martin-D’Arienzo is still interim director until June 15 “The board will be making decisions very soon,” she added questions arose over the timeline and nature of Martin-D’Arienzo’s resignation but before that business could be conducted the board was drawn into a conflict over the  virtual attendance of some members four members initially joined the meeting via Zoom – Greg O’Brien Board member Marty Fay questioned how Malainy could overrule a 9-1 vote taken at the March 24 meeting to not allow virtual attendance via Zoom. According to a report from the League of Women Voters – Geauga one board member expressed concern at the March 16 meeting over the possibility of the board’s meetings being monitored by people outside the U.S Other board members also expressed their concerns about allowing virtual access to board members for this meeting when they had not been allowed to participate remotely in the past I made that decision to change it because of the importance of today and you all are going to learn what that is,” said Malainy Board members still were not in agreement with Malainy’s decision to use Zoom for the meeting “I wasn’t allowed to Zoom when I had COVID,” said member Ann Bagley “And I wasn’t allowed to have it when I had a bunch of my bowels removed,” said member Carolee Lesyk “And I don’t think we should have Zoom now.” Board member Vanessa Jensen cited a statement made by Claypool at the March 24 meeting Claypool said Geauga County Prosecutor Jim Flaiz told him the board’s initial vote to allow virtual access was not appropriate Flaiz — I believe at least one or two others have as well — and he denies having ever said that,” Jensen said Malainy said she was trying to get Flaiz on the phone for advice regarding whether they could use Zoom during the meeting tensions rose to the point that Fay said to Malainy “Why are you talking to me in that tone of voice?” who adamantly expressed her assertion of “No Zoom – that’s all – No Zoom!” was reprimanded by Malainy I’m going to ask you to please stop or I’m going to ask you to leave because you’re coming over the table at me,” Malainy said Malainy would later again admonish Lesyk saying Because I don’t want to have to call the sheriff.” with O’Brien saying he would be at the meeting within 20 minutes Petruziello also arrived at the meeting in person some board members wanted to know why they learned about Martin-D’Arienzo’s resignation from the press when and to whom Martin-D’Arienzo offered her resignation Malainy responded that she would discuss that in executive session but Fay pressed her to answer during the open part of the board meeting Malainy told the board Martin-D’Arienzo had submitted her resignation via email to her on Friday why are we only finding out about it now,” Fay said “Because things have changed — that’s what I’m talking about in executive session,” said Malainy “It was public record today in the newspaper that (Martin-D’Arienzo) resigned but yet we never got any notification,” Fay reiterated “Because I’m going to tell you in executive session,” Malainy responded As Fay continued to ask why Malainy had not let the board know about Martin-D’Arienzo’s resignation “There’s a reason that I didn’t and I’m going to tell you in executive session,” Malainy said Board member Linda Miller said Malainy’s reason for not telling the board “better be good.” the board decided to take a break while waiting for O’Brien to arrive Malainy was on her cell phone while other board members stepped out and milled around the room Malainy gathered up her belongings and headed for the door “I’m not going to let these people attack me.” Malainy added she wanted Flaiz on the phone and she wanted board member Kathy Johnson to come out of the room with her board members and others in attendance congregated outside the building where another verbal confrontation took place between Malainy and Fay the board decided it would move on with board Vice-Chair Steve Oluic leading the meeting in Malainy’s absence Oluic took the meeting into executive session she came back accompanied by a man and three children who were identified by others attending the meeting as her husband and children She went into the executive session and the meeting concluded afterward with adjournment and no action taken .st1{fill-rule:evenodd;clip-rule:evenodd;fill:#2a2a2a}By Anya Rath | arath@mlive.comGRAND RAPIDS, MI -- The John Ball Zoo Board of Directors has hired a new CEO to take the reins from Kevin O'Neill in the zoo's 125th year Peter D'Arienzo will take over as CEO after O'Neill who served as the zoo's interim leader for the past two years during its transition to nonprofit management D'Arienzo comes from the Kansas City Zoo where he was the Director of Operations D'Arienzo served as the Plant Human Resources and EHS Manager at Donaldson Company International He also spent 20 years at the American Multi-Cinema where he became corporate director John Ball Zoo is home to more than 1,500 animals Use of and/or registration on any portion of this site constitutes acceptance of our User Agreement, (updated 8/1/2024) and acknowledgement of our Privacy Policy, and Your Privacy Choices and Rights (updated 1/1/2025) © 2025 Advance Local Media LLC. 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