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 procurement and construction contract with SECIL Cement Group for the renovation of the 1800t/day clinker line at the Maceira plant The project includes the installation of a new firing system and a series of upgrades to improve energy and heat efficiency The upgrade encompasses five decarbonisation measures including a 100% alternative fuel design rate with the aim to decrease CO₂ emissions by 30% compared to 2019 levels This would reportedly reduce CO₂ emissions to 550kg/t of clinker Sagra Maceira de Rosen is the Chair of SIO Global an investment and advisory firm working with private equity and investment firms in evaluating potential and managing investments in the branded retail & consumer She is also a Senior Adviser to Terra Firma Capital partners an investment holding company focused on investing in premium consumer and luxury brands Prior to that she was CEO and boars member of Amanda Wakeley She was the Managing Director of the Luxury & Retail division of a family office investment company where for five years she led and oversaw the direct equity investments of the group in luxury leading the management teams at the group’s portfolio companies and acting as an active member of their boards of directors Sagra spent the bulk of her career at US investment bank JP Morgan in London first as the Head of its Global Luxury Goods & Fashion Retail Equity Research team and during her last 2 years at the firm as Global Coordinator of the Retail & Luxury Goods research team and Co-head of the Pan European General Retail team Sagra has also been a member of the Board of directors of Omni United Sagra has co-authored the book “The Towering World of Jimmy Choo: A Glamorous Story of Power Profits and the Pursuit of the Perfect Shoe” published by Bloomsbury in the US and the UK in 2009 She is currently the Co-chair of Vital Voices Europe Sagra has an MBA from Columbia Business School in New York and an undergraduate degree in Business Administration from the Universidad de Santiago de Compostela but has lived in New York and London for the last 30 years Gabe Maceira takes a selfie with bandmate Kaleb Roberts in the Williamstown High School bleachers WILLIAMSTOWN — Williamstown High School sophomore Gabe Maceira will honor a family tradition come November He and his family have watched the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade in New York every Thanksgiving One of the acts performing includes the Macy’s Great American Marching Band composed of high school musicians and dancers from all across the United States this band is made of the best musicians from all 50 states I wanted to take a chance and showcase what I can do,” he said Maceira has been playing tuba for three years with the Williamstown marching band He said the instrument is more versatile than others might realize you have a foundation to build the music on,” he said “Most people see the tuba in the back going The Williamstown Marching Band horn section poses in front of Phillip Barbour High School in Phillipi for the West Virginia Marching Band Invitational in October 2023 Maceira said the audition process for Great American Marching Band was straightforward Receiving his acceptance email was briefly delayed by a common email mishap “It was emailed out March 8 and I didn’t see it until the 13th or 15th It went to my junk folder,” he said.”When I first read it Maceira said he had to tone down his excitement since he read the email during an All Region Honor Band rehearsal “I turned to the person next to me and told them I got into the Macy’s band Williamstown Band Director Jed Corra and Jillian Carr pose during the Solo and Ensemble Festival in January He also caught the attention of an older student who had been a mentor to him Maceira said his family wouldn’t be able to fund it on their own “I’ve seen other people fund projects that way,” he said He also decided to post the link to his TikTok account He said he wasn’t sure what to expect and Kaleb Roberts hang out at the West Virginia Oil and Gas Festival in September 2023 his post went viral and the donations came in rapidly “People from all across the country that I don’t know were donating and wishing me good luck,” he said “I couldn’t believe how far it spread.” Maceira said he was grateful to everyone who donated “The main reason I am able to do this is due to the local community and social media This is the best case scenario when it comes to crowdfunding,” he said the video has been viewed 150,000 times and liked over 21,000 times Jillian Carr and Lorelei Erwin pose during the Solo and Ensemble Festival in January Kristen Hainkel can be contacted at khainkel@newsandsentinel.com Gabe Maceira and Cole Burdette of Parkersburg High School hang out during All State Band weekend in February Gabe Maceira poses with his tuba at Williamstown High School | https://www.newsandsentinel.com | 519 Juliana St. Seasoned HR executive named to guide company growth and expansion NEW YORK, March 9, 2022 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ -- Canela Media minority-owned digital media technology company Maceira will be responsible for setting and overseeing the company's organizational culture inclusion – every aspect of the employee experience and HR department she will work with Canela Media's senior management to ensure that every department in HR works together seamlessly to meet business needs and goals Maceira brings over 20 years of success to Canela leading the design and development of human capital programs in international and domestic organizations She has extensive experience in the Entertainment we value our employee base and strive to create an environment where we all thrive professionally resulting in putting the best products forward to our subscribers and advertisers Rosa's extensive background and professionalism makes her the perfect choice to lead our company through this next stage of growth while maintaining our core values and organizational culture." Canela Media has recently closed a Series A funding round and is in the process of adding nearly 100 positions to its employee base Maceira has been brought on to lead the charge as the company doubles in size and adds headcount across all departments "I'm thrilled to be joining Canela Media at this pivotal moment in the company's history," said Maceira "How we serve our customers and partners begins with great organizational culture and employee wellness I look forward to continuing the wonderful environment Isabel has created with Canela as we enter the next exciting chapter." Maceira served as Vice President & Head of Human Resources at Production Resource Group where she provided HR leadership during a period of unprecedented change associated with the acquisition of VER she served as a member of the executive team and oversaw all HR due diligence she was Chief Administration Officer at Ashford.com where she managed a global Customer Service and Sales team with members in the U.S. I look forward to serving as employees' voice to create an optimal work environment for everyone She also held C-level HR positions at Gucci Richemont North America and Ernst &Young She holds Bachelor of Arts in Foreign Languages from The King's College and a Master's of Science in HR & Organizational Development from Manhattanville College For additional information on Canela Media please visit: https://www.canelamedia.com/ About Canela Media Canela Media is a leading digital media technology company offering brands a complete ecosystem to connect with multicultural audiences starting with its free streaming platform service Canela Music features a unique blend of Latin music programming Canela Media reaches more than 50 million unique Hispanics across its 180+ premium Spanish-language sites Combined with the company's proprietary data Canela Media possesses in-depth knowledge and understanding of how to establish meaningful and culturally relevant connections with the new mainstream – U.S Headquartered in New York, Canela Media is ranked as the third largest Hispanic ad-focused company and the only female- and minority-owned certified digital company. For more information please visit http://www.CanelaMedia.com Jennifer Fugel, Briz Media Group, +1 8456574202, [email protected] Do not sell or share my personal information: Maisie took five wickets for just 15 runs as Nepal were bowled out for 73. However, any hopes of a cruise to victory were soon shattered when the Scots were reduced to 37-6. Pippa Sproul (Hampshire) hit 35 to steady the ship but it was a last wicket partnership of 16 between Gabriella and Kirsty, one of five survivors from the previous tournament, that got the Scots over the line. Scotland, who lost their opening match to Australia, now face Bangladesh in their concluding group fixture on Wednesday, Evergreen sports journalist. Previously published in many publications around the world. Send me your local sports stories. billlothian1008@gmail.com The Edinburgh Reporter brings you news all about Edinburgh, updated here as often as we can.. Volume 12 - 2018 | https://doi.org/10.3389/fncir.2018.00079 functional recovery of paretic limb may occur with the reorganization of neural networks in the brain have a high spatial resolution which can be used to reveal anatomical changes in the brain following a stroke low temporal resolution of MRI provides less insight of dynamic changes of brain activity have an excellent temporal resolution to measure such transient events however are hindered by its low spatial resolution This proof-of-principle study assessed a novel multimodal brain imaging technique namely Variational Bayesian Multimodal Encephalography (VBMEG) which aims to improve the spatial resolution of EEG for tracking the information flow inside the brain and its changes following a stroke The limitations of EEG are complemented by constraints derived from anatomical MRI and diffusion weighted imaging (DWI) EEG data were acquired from individuals suffering from a stroke as well as able-bodied participants while electrical stimuli were delivered sequentially at their index finger in the left and right hand The locations of active sources related to this stimulus were precisely identified resulting in high Variance Accounted For (VAF above 80%) An accurate estimation of dynamic information flow between sources was achieved in this study showing a high VAF (above 90%) in the cross-validation test The estimated dynamic information flow was compared between chronic hemiparetic stroke and able-bodied individuals The results demonstrate the feasibility of VBMEG method in revealing the changes of information flow in the brain after stroke This study verified the VBMEG method as an advanced computational approach to track the dynamic information flow in the brain following a stroke This may lead to the development of a quantitative tool for monitoring functional changes of the cortical neural networks after a unilateral brain injury and therefore facilitate the research into the clinical value of the VBMEG method is yet to be demonstrated regarding its potential to investigate functional brain changes following a brain disease such as a stroke the present work serves as a proof-of-principle study demonstrating the feasibility of the VBMEG method to estimate active cortical sources and their dynamic interactions in stroke participants during a sensory stimulation task and diffusion MRI data were collected from both able-bodied and stroke participants EEG was recorded when the participants were receiving electrical finger stimulation The accuracy of EEG source localization and dynamic information flow estimation within the VBMEG method was evaluated by the Variance Accounted For (VAF) The VAF indicates how much cortical activity and brain dynamics can be explained by the VBMEG method The estimated dynamic information flow was compared between two chronic hemiparetic stroke survivors and two able-bodied individuals to demonstrate the feasibility of the VBMEG method in revealing functional cortical network changes post-hemiparetic stroke This proof-of-principle study is a critical prerequisite for applying the VBMEG on a large database to identify a quantitative biomarker for assessing neurological impairment and exploring neurobiological recovery following a stroke Lesion locations for two stroke subjects shown on an axial slice of the T1-weighted anatomic images The finger stimulation experiment and EEG data acquisition were performed in a conversion van which was designed to execute measurements at geographical locations convenient for the participants MR images were acquired on another day after the EEG recording was completed at VU University Medical Center at Amsterdam The two stroke participants were chronic and the above measurements were done more than 6 years post-stroke The chosen stimulation did not cause any pain or heat feeling to the participants The finger stimulation was repeated during 500 trials for each hand the EEG data were recorded with a 64-channel EEG system (TMSi Netherlands) with ground electrode placed at the left mastoid and online referenced to the common average Positions of the EEG electrodes for every subject were measured with the ANT Neuro Xensor system (ANT Neuro etc.) and finger stimulation had a typical duration of 50 min per participant This short experimental time is plausible for stroke participants without any physical or mental fatigue the baseline correction was applied to each epoch using the signal from 50 to 10 ms before the stimulus The epochs for the same experimental conditions were averaged in each subject time-locked to the onset of the stimulus to extract the event-related potential (ERP) Image acquisition was performed with a 3T MRI scanner (Discovery MR750 GE Medical Systems) at VU University Medical Center Anatomical T1-weighted acquisition had the following settings: TE = 3.22 ms imaging matrix = 256 × 256 × 172 The diffusion-weighted MRI (dMRI) acquisition protocol involved 40 non-collinear gradient directions uniformly sampled over a sphere for each of two b-values: 1,000 and 2,000 s/mm2; TE = 100 ms voxel size 2.5 × 2.5 × 2.5 mm3 Data for each b-value were acquired as separate scans together with five non-diffusion weighted images (i.e. anatomic and diffusion weighted MRIs are first preprocessed Then EEG sources are estimated using hVB approach By combining sources and anatomical connections extracted from diffusion MRI the linear connectome dynamics model is built leading to the estimation of dynamic information flow traveling between sources The results are visualized individually for each subject dataset their lesions would not affect EEG source localization The source activity was estimated with pre-processed EEG signals and estimated leadfield matrix using the hVB method These LCD weights represented the estimated dynamic information flow between cortical sources The accuracy of source localization and dynamic information flow estimation was evaluated by calculating the VAF (Vlaar et al., 2017; Kalogianni et al., 2018b) the estimated sources were used to generate an estimated EEG signal M^=LS^ which was compared with collected EEG signal M The time window was chosen as from 0 to 200 ms As EEG channels on the non-active areas are not representative the VAF for source localization VAFM was defined as the median (instead of mean) of VAFMi across all EEG channels one step forward (2 ms) of source activity S^ was estimated by the LCD model The estimated source activity was compared with the results S from source localization where S(t) and S^(t) are vectors containing all source activities resulting from source localization and estimated from LCD model respectively The VAF for dynamic information flow VAFS was defined as the mean of VAFS(t) in the time window As the accuracy of the LCD model can be affected by the signal to noise ratio (SNR) the SNR of the EEG recording was also calculated where ARMS is the root mean square amplitude The results of the method application are illustrated in four cases: for two able-bodied individuals and two chronic stroke subjects Individual differences are shown in stroke patients which may be related to subject-specific lesion load and recovery Normalized ERP at the channel C3 for a control and a stroke subject with stimulus on right hand The ERP plotting at C3 shows great similarity for both control and stroke The latency of P50 peak for stroke is slightly larger than that of control Brain topographies of the P50 peak for control and stroke subjects when a dominant hand (for controls) or an affected hand (for stroke) is stimulated The VAF of EEG source localization is shown in Table 2 where we can see the VAF of source localization is higher than 80% for all subjects The VAF of EEG source localization (inverse model) for each subject Figure 5 shows the estimated dynamic information flow for each subject for finger stimulation at the dominant hand for control subjects and at the affected hand for stroke participants It also schematically depicts the anatomic connections between the active sources The information flow is shown only at the contralateral hemisphere in the control subjects while at the both hemispheres in the stroke participants In the time period between P50 and N100 peaks information flow occurs in the ipsilateral (contralesional) hemisphere the left hemisphere for stroke subject 1 and the right hemisphere for stroke subject 2 The VAF of dynamic information flow estimation is provided in Table 3, where the VAF is higher than 90% for all subjects. Additionally, we also provide the SNR for all subjects in Table 4 Although the SNR for the stroke subjects is slightly lower than the controls the signal percentage is above 88% for all subjects To determine the baseline value of VAF when the input signal of the model is random The same estimation and prediction process were repeated 100 timed with different noise realizations to determine the baseline The estimated VAF obtained from this baseline test was around zero the high VAF from our dynamic information flow estimation can prove the significance of our results by comparing it to this baseline The average VAF of the dynamic model estimation with standard deviation for all subjects Signal to noise ratio of data acquisition in each subject when the corresponding hand was stimulated For each subject, estimated coefficients matrices of the LCD model are presented in Figure 6, where we can see that increased inter-hemisphere interactions are shown for the stroke participants. This increase is also characterized by the number and percentage of the non-zero LCD model coefficients within and between hemispheres as shown in Table 5 Matrices of the LCD model coefficients for controls (A,B) and stroke participants (C,D) Number and percentage of intra-hemispheric vs inter-hemispheric interactions represented by non-zero LCD model coefficients False positives (indicated by the black dots in the maps) of functional connectivity generated by correlation metrics without involving anatomical constraints Number of false positives (FP) and false discovery rate generated by correlation metrics without involving anatomical constraints The present work aimed to test the two-stage estimation procedure of the VBMEG method consisting of an estimation of EEG sources and a dynamic estimation of the information flow between them in both able-bodied individuals and stroke participants This study is a proof of principle for the clinical applicability of VBMEG method not only demonstrating its new application regarding the somatosensory stimulations but also indicating its potential for the study of hemiparetic stroke which has not been done in previous studies The VAF is a summary of how much of the variability of the data can be explained by a fitted model High VAF for both source localization and LCD modeling was reported in all tested datasets indicating the VBMEG method can precisely capture the task-relevant cortical source activity and the dynamics in the brain network the VBMEG has potential to evolve into a new neuroimaging tool to monitor cortical network changes post-hemiparetic stroke and thus improving our understanding of stroke recovery This allows for a comprehensive way to track neural information flow traveling between cortical regions through neural tracts has never been realized before in other methods compared to the fMRI-based connectivity methods this EEG-dMRI combined method is able to provide a fine temporal resolution to capture fast somatosensory information flow in the brain which occurs at the timescale in order of milliseconds the current work has several limitations and could be improved in following directions: • Ideally, the presented method could be configured in a way that simultaneously estimates EEG sources and dynamic information flow, known as “one-step” strategy (Fukushima et al., 2015). However, the implementation of one-step strategy has yet to be improved and validated1 we employed the “two-step” strategy where the EEG source localization and dynamic information were performed sequentially • In the future, we will also consider improving our method by estimating tissue conductivity in a subject-specific way. This can be done using the electrical impedance tomography as introduced by Dabek et al. (2016) That will allow a more precise head modeling for EEG source localization the white matter conduction velocity could be better estimated in the future by considering the change of fiber myelination after stroke we applied our method to stroke patients with small white matter lesions the head modeling and EEG source localization would not be affected by the lesion the finite element model can be built for precise head modeling in particular for the patients who also have gray matter lesions This will also require additional methodological improvements to allow for cortical parcellation the currently available approaches are not equipped to solve this problem might be considered a candidate for such a biomarker it is very likely that the influence of stroke is significantly higher than the effect of handedness we would like to further justify this assumption on a larger sample size using our method This study provides a proof-of-principle assessment on the VBMEG method Our experimental results indicate that VBMEG method can capture the task-relevant cortical source activity and estimate the dynamic information flow in neural networks at the brain Application of the VBMEG method to the data recorded from stroke participants demonstrates the potential of monitoring dynamic brain activity and revealing the reconfiguration of somatosensory cortical networks following a hemiparetic stroke we plan to apply this method to a larger sample size to identify quantitative biomarkers for the assessment of sensory impairment after a unilateral brain injury the inclusion of this novel imaging method in future clinical trials starting at the acute phase following a hemiparetic stroke is likely to advance our understanding of the neurobiological recovery the use of the VBMEG method is expected to provide novel quantitative means to assess and subsequently develop more effective neurorehabilitation approaches Conception of the study was conducted by FvdH and YY All authors participated in design of the study and YY analyzed and interpreted the data with input and support from YT All authors revised the manuscript critically for important intellectual content All authors read and approved the manuscript This research was funded by the European Research Council under the European Union's Seventh Framework Programme (FP/2007-2013) ERC Grant Agreement n project 4DEEG: A new tool to investigate the spatial and temporal activity patterns in the brain YY was supported by NIH National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences (UL1TR001422) Northwestern University Clinical and Translational Research Institute Voucher Program JD was supported by NIH grants R01HD039343 and R01NS058667 YT and OY were supported by the ImPACT Program of the Council for Science The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest Authors would like to thank people in the 4D-EEG consortium for data collection and useful discussions The Supplementary Material for this article can be found online at: https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fncir.2018.00079/full#supplementary-material 1. ^http://vbmeg.atr.jp/docs/v2/static/vbmeg_users_manual.html#toc9 Cortical current source estimation from electroencephalography in combination with near-infrared spectroscopy as a hierarchical prior PubMed Abstract | CrossRef Full Text | Google Scholar Movement therapy induced neural reorganization and motor recovery in stroke: a review ATR (2017). 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Stroke, Cerebrovascular Accident. Available online at : http://www.who.int/topics/cerebrovascular_accident/en/ (AccessedMay1 Cortical overlap of joint representations contributes to the loss of independent joint control following stroke Reconstruction of flexor and extensor muscle activities from electroencephalography cortical currents Decoding finger movement in humans using synergy of EEG cortical current signals Evaluation of hierarchical Bayesian method through retinotopic brain activities reconstruction from fMRI and MEG signals Quantifying different tactile sensations evoked by cutaneous electrical stimulation using electroencephalography features Yamashita O and van der Helm FCT (2018) Dynamic Information Flow Based on EEG and Diffusion MRI in Stroke: A Proof-of-Principle Study Received: 15 May 2018; Accepted: 10 September 2018; Published: 01 October 2018 Copyright © 2018 Filatova, Yang, Dewald, Tian, Maceira-Elvira, Takeda, Kwakkel, Yamashita and van der Helm. 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Filatova, by5maWxhdG92YUB0dWRlbGZ0Lm5s Yuan Yang, eXVhbi55YW5nQG5vcnRod2VzdGVybi5lZHU= †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 Matt Maceira was in Courthouse Square Monday morning to purchase a bus ticket for a client of Be Bold Street Ministries the Salem-based outreach ministry he runs that primarily serves the homeless population Maceira said when he went into the bathroom He said he has seen an increase in drug use since voters passed Measure 110 in 2020 to decriminalize possession of small amounts of drugs like methamphetamine “What this measure has done here in the streets of our city in real time has removed recourse in street level dealing and street level using,” Maceira told the Marion County Board of Commissioners Wednesday The measure was intended to fund and make available drug addiction treatment to addicts by using marijuana tax revenue. The state says it has allocated $265 million to drug treatment services but some of the programs are still being set up But elected leaders throughout Oregon are calling for the measure to be repealed Marion County’s commissioners Wednesday joined 11 counties including Jackson, Coos and Polk in formally calling for the repeal of Measure 110 “I feel super comfortable saying please repeal Measure 110,” Marion County Commissioner Colm Willis said “I’m convinced more people will get treatment than less.” The Marion County resolution, which was similar to the one adopted by other counties, says that there were 1,161 overdose deaths in Oregon in 2022 “The provisions in Measure 110 have not achieved their stated goals leading to a dramatic increase in overdose deaths in Oregon,” Polk County Commissioner Lyle Mordhorst said Marion County commissioners say Measure 110 is a failureSome elected leaders allege fewer people are seeking treatment prosecutors and judges frequently sent those accused of low-level drug crimes to drug diversion programs That doesn't happen now because they don't have the same level of contact with the users “I strongly believe that they didn’t know what they were voting for,” Marion County Commissioner Danielle Bethell said of voters “And I strongly believe that our legislative body has not taken any action or appropriate action.” The state Legislature recently created a committee to come up with solutions to the drug problem and provide Measure 110 oversight It may put forth a bill in the 2024 legislative session Maceira and others testified to the commissioners about their experiences with people who are using drugs Salem City Councilor Julie Hoy said that at Geppetto’s Italian Restaurant on Lancaster Avenue she deals with drug users on a daily basis either in front of her business or inside it Marion County District Attorney Paige Clarkson has been a vocal opponent of the measure for years “This particular measure is a disaster and it is destroying our communities and it is destroying our public safety,” Clarkson said Sheriff Nick Hunter said he also supported the resolution treatment has always been the answer,” Hunter said “Now what we have unfortunately done is we have disincentivized the treatment.” Push to change Oregon Measure 110A group that has financial backing from prominent Oregon businesspeople including Columbia Sportswear CEO Tim Boyle and Nike founder Phil Knight is trying to get the state Legislature to alter the law and are considering referring it to voters as a ballot measure in November 2024 Their proposal includes prohibiting the public use of hard drugs making possession of drugs like fentanyl and heroin a misdemeanor and replacing voluntary addiction treatment with required treatment Polk County Commissioner Jeremy Gordon said he doesn't agree with "recent political rhetoric in the media that Measure 110 is the cause of our social ills," but voted for the resolution "We need to find better balance as a state and bring the public safety community to the table,” Gordon said Bill Poehler covers Marion and Polk County for the Statesman Journal. Contact him at bpoehler@StatesmanJournal.com Video Crisis in the Northwest: Inside one of Oregon’s largest homeless camps with a former drug dealer The number of people living unsheltered in Oregon has risen steeply in recent years Here's a look at one of the biggest homeless encampments in the state — Matt Maceira remembers people throwing trash out their car windows at him as they drove by "Hey low-life," he recalled one man shouting in the homeless encampment at Wallace Marine Park in Salem Maceira lived in the camp when he was homeless and now comes back to share the gospel and help those who are ready to enter treatment for addiction Maceira is the executive director of the nonprofit Be Bold Street Ministries CRISIS IN THE NORTHWEST: DRUGS LEAVE RURAL AREAS TO ROT IN THE SHADOWS, ‘LIKE PLAYING WHAC-A-MOLE’ "I heard that all the time," Maceira told Fox News walking through the woods he used to call home After 27 years in the drug world, Maceira is approaching a decade of sobriety. He travels around the world and his home state, sharing the gospel in hopes of inspiring others to rejoin society. Maceira is also a strong critic of Oregon's policies around drugs, addiction and homelessness He was stabbed for the first time that same year "I used to call that fun," he said of his bloody upbringing Matt Maceira and his twin brother Rei are pictured during high school Maceira pictured with his father and uncle less than a year after Maceira got sober His twin brother Rei developed chemical psychosis from prolonged meth use and took his own life shortly before their 24th birthday sending him deeper into despair and addiction Maceira finally turned his back on the only way of living he'd ever known "I have a totally new life today," he said Oregon's homeless population has grown 37.4% from 2020 to 2023 Department of Housing and Urban Development The state has the second-highest percentage of homeless residents who are unsheltered (64.6%) State and local government spending on housing and other homeless services has also skyrocketed OREGON DEMOCRATS BACKPEDAL AFTER MASSIVE PUBLIC OUTCRY AGAINST BILL ALLOWING HOMELESS TO SUE OVER ENCAMPMENTS Ahead of a forecasted ice storm, Maceira and volunteers from other nonprofits loaded up wagons with sleeping bags, wool socks, water and other gear, and headed into the woods behind Wallace Marine Park, located just across the Willamette River from the Oregon State Capitol The park holds one of the largest homeless encampments in the entire state "I see it solely as a blessing" to return to Wallace Marine Park emblazoned with the words "Hope dealer," stood out against the gray sky and bare trees Some who live there "knew me when I was not necessarily the most friendly or approachable person." Maceira smiled "So I get to come back and genuinely love all these folks out here." WATCH MORE FOX NEWS DIGITAL ORIGINALS HERE Many of the people Maceira works with are also formerly homeless He spent most of the next 12 years living on the streets or in the woods behind Wallace Marine Park.  "I just got addicted to the streets," Aidan said pretty much doing whatever I wanted to do." "I didn't wanna put my daughter through that." Now going on five years clean and sober, Aidan works for a medication-assisted addiction treatment facility and often returns to his old home spreading the gospel and encouraging others to find their way out of the forest As Maceira and other volunteers chatted with residents of the encampment Aidan let 28-year-old Tyler borrow his phone After a decade of methamphetamine addiction "I'm just trying to get out of here and to do what I can to become a citizen of the outside world," Tyler said after he finished giving the center his information said he has been homeless and addicted to meth for about a decade an outreach worker helped him call a treatment facility so he can work toward sobriety PORTLAND LEADERS FRUSTRATED, SAY CITY ALLOWED TO SET HARSHER RULES FOR CIGARETTES THAN FENTANYL: ‘IT’S INSANE’ living in the woods is more comfortable than the claustrophobic feeling of being surrounded by four walls.  "I don't know if I want to be indoors," said Seven who was off the streets and in transitional housing for a time the limitations and the lack of nature," she said she "couldn't handle the four walls" after living outdoors for so long Asked how society can address homelessness when some individuals prefer living outside they like not eating … or they are cool with eating food that's no longer fit for human consumption "If somebody tells you that they like any of that Some residents of Wallace Marine Park have built shacks out of found materials like plywood and even glass doors Wallace Marine Park is home to one of the largest homeless encampments in Oregon HOMELESS ENCAMPMENTS REMAIN IN PORTLAND, DESPITE TENT BAN: 'IT'S BULLS---' Addiction and homelessness went "hand in hand" for Maceira while he acknowledged that's "not everybody's story," Maceira is deeply critical of Oregon's approach to the homeless crisis which he said often neglects to address underlying causes The "housing first" model is popular with those who insist that a lack of affordable housing is at the root of homelessness It prioritizes giving homeless individuals housing without preconditions like sobriety or addiction treatment "[That] doesn't stop drug addiction" or address mental health needs "Giving somebody a house doesn't resolve that."  Maceira opposes low-barrier shelters "in their entirety" and said a lot of money is being "wasted" on programs that put the homeless out of sight and out of mind "Drugs are being sold and used in those places," he said I've done celebrations of life services for people that have overdosed at low-barrier shelters." Maceira has also spoken out in favor of re-criminalizing possession of hard drugs in Oregon, saying lawmakers have an opportunity to "course correct" during their current legislative session and heroin or any other deadly substance is not compassionate," he said.  A young man tries to keep a fire burning in the rain at Wallace Marine Park in Salem CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP the wheels of their carts cutting deep tracks in the mud one volunteer looked around at all the garbage But clean socks and water do serve as "ice breakers." "And then we're always offering the hope that there's a better way," he said Sometimes — like with Tyler — people are ready. Be Bold Street Ministries participated in an event at the park in December with dozens of other nonprofits and churches. "We had people, same day, off the streets," Maceira said. "We had a bunch of people say yes to salvation, get plugged into medical services, navigation services and housing services." And even though Oregon's homeless problem shows no signs of subsiding yet, Maceira is optimistic about the future. "It's amazing what we get to do because we get to see miracles all week long," he said. Ramiro Vargas contributed to the accompanying video. Hannah Ray Lambert is an associate producer/writer with Fox News Digital Originals. Get the latest updates from the 2024 campaign trail, exclusive interviews and more Fox News politics content. Volume 6 - 2021 | https://doi.org/10.3389/feduc.2021.646909 This article is part of the Research TopicScience Education for Citizenship through Socio-Scientific issuesView all 9 articles Few people question the important role of critical thinking in students becoming active citizens; however the way science is taught in schools continues to be more oriented toward “what to think” rather than “how to think.” Researchers understand critical thinking as a tool and a higher-order thinking skill necessary for being an active citizen when dealing with socio-scientific information and making decisions that affect human life which the pandemic of COVID-19 provides many opportunities for The outbreak of COVID-19 has been accompanied by what the World Health Organization (WHO) has described as a “massive infodemic.” Fake news covering all aspects of the pandemic spread rapidly through social media This paper reports on an empirical study carried out during the lockdown in Spain (March–May 2020) with a group of secondary students (N = 20) engaged in diverse online activities that required them to practice critical thinking and argumentation for dealing with coronavirus information and disinformation The main goal is to examine students’ competence at engaging in argumentation as critical assessment in this context Discourse analysis allows for the exploration of the arguments and criteria applied by students to assess COVID-19 news headlines The results show that participants were capable of identifying true and false headlines and assessing the credibility of headlines by appealing to different criteria although most arguments were coded as needing only a basic epistemic level of assessment and only a few appealed to the criterion of scientific procedure when assessing the headlines The case of the COVID-19 pandemic shows the crucial importance of socio-scientific instruction toward students’ development of critical thinking (CT) for citizenship we aim to explore students’ ability to critically engage in the assessment of the credibility of COVID-19 claims during a moment in which fake news disseminated by social media was shared by the general public and disinformation on the virus was easier to access than real news We will first discuss the crucial role of CT to address controversial issues and to fight against the rise of misinformation on COVID-19; and then turn attention to the role of argumentation in students’ development of CT in SSI instruction in epistemic education such as argumentation understood as the evaluation of claims based on evidence when they must assess the validity of information that affects not only them as individuals but also the whole society and environment CT may equip citizens to discard fake news and to use appropriate criteria to evaluate information This requires the design and implementation of specific CT tasks We see active learning methodologies and real-word problems such as SSIs as appropriate contexts for CT development engaging students in CT and epistemic performance If we want students to learn to think critically about the claims they will encounter on social media they need to practice argumentation as critical evaluation which is cognitive engagement in epistemic assessment Epistemic assessment encompasses in our study the evaluation of the content of claims disseminated by media Aligned with these authors we understand that this process requires cognitive and metacognitive competences epistemic assessment needs adequate disciplinary knowledge but also meta-cognitive competence for recognizing unsupported beliefs This paper examines students’ competence to engage in argumentation and CT in an online task that requires them to critically assess diverse information presented in media headlines on COVID-19. Competence in general can be defined as “a disposition to succeed with a certain aim” (Sosa, 2015 is at its core a dispositional ability to discern the true from the false in a certain domain being the research questions that drive the analysis of the following: What is the competence of students to assess the credibility of COVID-19 information appearing in news headlines What is the level of epistemic assessment showed in students’ arguments according to the criteria appealed while assessing COVID-19 news headlines A teaching sequence about COVID-19 was designed at the beginning of the lockdown in Spain (Mid-March 2020) in response to the rise of misinformation about coronavirus on the internet and social media The design process involved collaboration between the first and second author (researchers in science education) and the third author (a biology teacher in secondary education) The participants are a group of twenty secondary students (14–15 years old) from a state public school located in a well-known seaside village in Galicia (Spain) They were mostly from middle-class families and within an average range of ability and academic achievement Students were from the same classroom and participated in previous online activities as part of their biology classes who collaborated on previous studies on CT and learning science through epistemic practices on health controversies The activities were integrated in their biology curriculum and carried out when participants received instruction on the topics of health Google Forms was used for the design and implementation of all activities included in the sequence The reason to select Google Forms is that it is free and a well-known tool for online surveys all students were familiar with its use before the lockdown and the teacher valued its usefulness for engaging them in online debates and in their own evaluation processes This online resource provides anonymous results and statistics that the teacher could share with the students for debates It needs to be highlighted that during the lockdown students did not have the same work conditions; particularly quality and availability of access to the internet differed among them They had 1 week to complete each task and the teacher could be consulted anytime if they had difficulties or any question regarding the activities The design was inspired by a previous one carried out by the authors when the first case of Ebola disease was introduced in Spain (Puig et al., 2016) and follows a constructivist and scientific-based approach in which students were required to express their own views and knowledge on COVID-19 and health notions related with it before then being progressively involved in the application of knowledge through the practice of modeling and argumentation The third activity engaged them in critical evaluation of COVID-19 information A more detailed description of the activities carried out in the different steps of the sequence is provided below An individual Google Forms survey around some notions and health concepts that appear in social media during the lockdown The second part of this stage is the focus of our analysis COVID-19 News Headlines provided to students The sequence ended with the creation of a short video in which the students had to provide some tips to avoid the transmission of the virus The information provided in the video must be supported and based on established scientific knowledge Code scheme for research questions 1 and 2 we distributed the arguments in two main categories: (1) Arguments that question the credibility of the information; (2) Arguments that do not question the credibility of the information For Research Question 2, we classify arguments that question the credibility of the headline in accordance with the level of epistemic assessment into three levels (see Table 2) and high) was established by the authors based on the criteria that students applied and expressed explicitly or implicitly in their arguments thus the categories were not pre-established; they were coded by the authors as the following: content (using the knowledge that each student has about the topic) source (questioning the origin of the information) evidence (appealing to empirical evidence as real live situations that students experienced) authority (justifying according to who supports or is behind the claim) and scientific procedure (drawing on the evolution of scientific knowledge) most students were able to distinguish fallacious from true headlines which was an important step to assess their credibility students were able to question their credibility most participants developed arguments supporting them the arguments elaborated by students appealed to different criteria discussed in the next section of results 147 arguments were elaborated by students to question the false headlines; they created just 22 arguments to assess the true ones as arguments for questioning or criticality appear more frequently when the information presented differs from students’ opinions Number of students who questioned or not each news headline on COVID-19 Students showed a higher capacity for questioning those claims they considered false or fake news which can be related to the need to justify properly why they consider them false and/or what should be said to counter them The headlines that were most controversial meaning they created diverse positions among students were these three: “The COVID-19 virus can be transmitted in areas with hot and humid climates,” “Skin manifestations (urticaria rashes…) could be among the mild symptoms of coronavirus” and “Antibiotics are effective in preventing and treating coronavirus infection.” The first two were questioned by 11 students out of 28 they were not familiar with this information “I think the heat is not good for the virus.” On the contrary 17 students did not question these headlines arguing for instance as this student did: “because it was shown that both in hot climates and in cold climates it is contagious in the same way.” A similar situation happened with the third headline A proportion of students (9 out of 28) accepted that antibiotics could help to treat COVID-19 showing in their answers some misunderstanding regarding the use of antibiotics and the diseases they could treat The rest of the participants (19 out of 28) questioned this headline affirming that “because antibiotics are used to treat bacterial infections and coronavirus is a virus,” among other justifications for why it was false To analyze the level of epistemic assessment showed in students’ arguments when dealing with each headline, attention was focused on the criteria students applied (see Table 2). As Table 4 summarizes almost all arguments included only one criterion (139 out of 169) and 28 out of 169 did not incorporate any criterion These types of arguments can be interpreted as low epistemic assessment or even without epistemic assessment if no criterion is included Arguments used by students to assess the credibility of each COVID-19 headline In the category of Basic Epistemic Assessment we include all students’ arguments that included one criterion: Content or Empirical Evidence Students assessed the content of the claim appealing to their own knowledge about that piece of information or to empirical evidence without posing critical questions for assessing the credibility of the source of information were included in students’ arguments with a frequency of 86 and 23 with this category the most common (109 out of 169) when questioning false and true headlines arguments under this category were identified in relation to headlines 2 and 4 whose credibility were questioned by appealing to the content such as: “those are not the symptoms (skin manifestations)” Examples of arguments assessing the content of false headlines are provided below: “Because the virus is inside the body and even if you injected alcohol into the body it would only cause intoxication” appealing to the fact that alcohol causes intoxication rather than the elimination of coronavirus “I know a person who had coronavirus and they only gave him paracetamol” the student rejects headline 6 and appeals to his/her own experience during the pandemic particularly a close person who had coronavirus as evidence against the use of antibiotics for coronavirus disease treatment The category Medium Epistemic Assessment gathers arguments that make critical questions particularly those asking for information about the authority or the source of information these criteria reflect a higher level of epistemic performance since they imply questioning beyond the veracity of the headline itself to its sources and authorship There are 20 out of 169 arguments coded within this category The assessment of true headlines includes arguments that question the authority and source “because they said it on the news” (headline 2) “that news does not seem very reliable to me” (headline 4) It is also an ordinary category in questioning false headlines since students appealed to the source (16) “because in the news they clarified that it was a fake news and because it is not credible either” (headline 10) or the authority (4) “because the professionals said they were more vulnerable (people over 70 years old) but not that it only affected them” (headline 7) we consider those arguments (12 out of 169) in which students appealed to the scientific procedure (11) to justify why the headline is false which manifests students’ reliance on epistemic processes “because treatments that protect against coronavirus are still being investigated” (headline 9) under this category we include arguments that combined more than one criterion content and scientific procedure “Because antibiotics don’t treat those kinds of infections no medication has yet been discovered that can prevent the coronavirus” (headline 6) Students’ arguments included in this category were elaborated to assess false headlines a special mention is afforded to those arguments that did not include any criteria (28) which are contained in the category Non-Epistemic Assessment It appears more frequently in students’ answers to headlines 8 and 10 as these examples show: “I don’t think it’s true because it doesn’t make much sense to me” (headline 8) or “I never heard it and I doubt it’s true” (regarding drinking alcohol The findings of our study indicate that students were able to deal with fake news, identifying it as such. They showed capacity to critically assess the content of these news headlines, considering their inconsistencies in relation to their prior knowledge (Britt et al., 2019). As Evagorou (2020) pointed out SSIs are appropriate contexts for CT development and to value the relevance of science in our lives Students’ prior knowledge influenced the critical evaluation of some of the COVID-19 headlines provided in the activity. This is particularly relevant in responses to headline 6 (false) “Antibiotics are effective in preventing and treating coronavirus infection.” A previous study on the interactions between the CT and knowledge domain on vaccination (Ageitos and Puig, 2021) showed that there is a correspondence between them This points to the importance of health literacy for CT development although it would not be sufficient to provide students with adequate knowledge only in this case regarding the proper use of antibiotics We found that the level of epistemic assessment (RQ2) linked to students’ CT capacity is low. A big majority of arguments were situated in a basic epistemic assessment level, and just a few in a higher epistemic assessment. One reason that might explain these results could be related to the task design and format, in which students worked autonomously in a virtual environment. As CT studies in e-learning environments have reinforced (Niu et al., 2013) cooperative or collaborative learning favors CT skills particularly when students have to discuss and justify their arguments on real-life problems The circumstances in which students had to work during the outbreak did not allow them to work together since internet connections were not good for all of them so synchronous activities were not possible This aspect is a limitation for this research This means that students acknowledge that information should be gathered from reliable news media that themselves obtained information from reliable experts Only few students used the criterion of scientific procedure when assessing false headlines which shows a high level of epistemic assessment Promoting this type of assessment is important since online discourse in the post-truth era is affected by misinformation and by appeals to emotions and ideology but not from the perspective of exploring students’ ability to engage in the epistemic assessment of information and disinformation on COVID-19 under a situation of social isolation This is an unprecedented context in many aspects where online learning replaced in-person teaching and science uncertainties were more visible than ever thus activities oriented toward these goals are necessary Our study reinforces the need to design more CT activities that guide students in the critical assessment of diverse aspects behind controversial news as a way to fight against the rise of disinformation and develop good knowledge when dealing with SSIs Students’ epistemological views can influence their performance on argumentation thus if uncertainty of knowledge is explicitly address in SSI instruction and epistemic activities students’ epistemological views may be developed and such development may in turn influence their argumentation competence and consequently their performance on CT The raw data supporting the conclusions of this article will be made available by the authors Written informed consent was obtained from the participants’ legal guardian/next of kin to participate in this study in accordance with the National Legislation and the Institutional Requirements BP conducted the conceptual framework and designed the research study PB-A conducted the data analysis and collaborated in manuscript preparation JP-M implemented the didactical proposal and collected the data All authors contributed to the article and approved the submitted version This work was supported by the project ESPIGA partly funded by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) Grant code: PGC2018-096581-B-C22 This study was carried out within the RODA research group during the lockdown in Spain due to COVID-19 pandemic We gratefully acknowledge all the participants for their implication Instructional interventions affecting critical thinking skills and dispositions: a stage 1 meta-analysis “Critical thinking to decide what to believe and what to do regarding vaccination in schools a case study with primary pre-service teachers,” in Critical Thinking in Biology and Environmental Education Jiménez-Aleixandre (Berlin: Springer) Collective decision making in the social context of science CrossRef Full Text | Google Scholar “Critical thinking and/or argumentation in highr education,” in The Palgrave Handbook of Critical Thinking in Higher Education On the goals of epistemic education: promoting apt epistemic performance CrossRef Full Text | Google Scholar A review of educational responses to the “post-truth” condition: four lenses on “post-truth” problems CrossRef Full Text | Google Scholar “Critical and active public engagement in addressing socioscientific problems through science teacher education,” in Science Teacher Education for Responsible Citizenship Teaching sourcing in upper secondary school: a comprehensive sourcing intervention with follow-up data CrossRef Full Text | Google Scholar A reasoned approach to dealing with fake news CrossRef Full Text | Google Scholar Cachón-Zagalaz Systematic review of the literature about the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on the lives of school children “Epistemic cognition and philosophy: developing a new framework for epistemic cognition,” in Handbook of Epistemic Cognition Google Scholar the instructional value of explorations into knowing CrossRef Full Text | Google Scholar “Epistemic design: design to promote transferable epistemic growth in the PRACCIS project,” in Promoting Spontaneous Use of Learning and Reasoning Strategies Research and Practice for Effective Transfer The Palgrave Handbook of Critical Thinking in Higher Education CrossRef Full Text | Google Scholar Towards a viable response to COVID-19 from the science education community CrossRef Full Text | Google Scholar Dominguez, C. 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This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY) *Correspondence: Blanca Puig, YmxhbmNhLnB1aWdAdXNjLmVz Former Governor Ricardo Rosselló Nevares and his former Secretary of Public Affairs Photo taken from the Facebook account of Ricardo Rosselló Nevares A testimony that was not discussed in court during the criminal trial against producer Sixto Jorge Díaz Colón is that of former governor Ricardo Rosselló Nevares who gave a version to the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) that is different from the one offered in court by his former Secretary of Public Affairs who requested anonymity to avoid retaliation revealed to the Center for Investigative Journalism (CPI in Spanish) an FBI document summarizing an interview done on December 4 which is included in the defense and prosecution files It is the first time that it has come to light that the former governor was interviewed by federal authorities in relation to the 889 pages of the Telegram chat and the subsequent indictment against radio producer known as Sixto George for attempted extortion Rosselló Nevares participated voluntarily and as a witness He was warned that lying to the FBI is a crime Rosselló Nevares’ version included in the report contradicts the one offered by Maceira Zayas although he thought that Sixto George could do it having been a victim of extortion or knowing of the intent of extortion on the part of the producer Sixto George was charged at the federal level for allegedly requesting $300,000 and the renewal of two government contracts in exchange for blocking the disclosure of Telegram messages that were damaging to the Rosselló Nevares administration Maceira Zayas assured under oath in court that it was Rosselló Nevares himself who recommended that he go to the authorities and report the alleged extortion This would have happened at the end of June 2019 Maceira Zayas stated how he told his boss at that time that he thought the producer had “tried” to extort him to which Rosselló Nevares would have replied: “Did he try But Rosselló Nevares told the FBI that he was unaware of any extortion attempt by Sixto George when the feds interviewed him via videoconference in late 2020 “ROSSELLO was not aware of any extortion in exchange for money that SIXTO may have made to anyone within ROSSELLO’s group,” reads the report of the interview that is part of the investigation that led to the indictment against Sixto George The document later adds that “ROSSELLO repeated that he would not doubt an extortion could come from SIXTO but specified ROSSELLO had never been extorted by SIXTO.” When questioned about the inconsistency of his testimony with Rosselló’s Maceira told the CPI he did not know “what Governor Ricardo Rosselló may have said or not.” He reaffirmed that “I spoke to Rosselló several times about this including going to the authorities and to Héctor Pesquera.” The latter was a former FBI agent and had already resigned as director of the Department of Public Safety when he allegedly acted as an intermediary between Maceira and federal authorities Rosselló himself publicly acknowledged knowing it in a Facebook post in which he made reference to not having agreed to extortion,” Maceira added referring to a publication by Rosselló Nevares in March 2021 in which he says that the accusation against Sixto George “shows that we did not agree to extortion.” Rosselló Nevares published this message after Sixto George’s arrest on January 27 and almost three months after he was interviewed by federal authorities Rosselló Nevares stated he did not know if Maceira and Sixto George had spoken in the days before and after the publication of the Telegram chat He also said he was under the impression that Maceira did not have a good relationship with Sixto George but that “Maceira had not told Rossello anything directly regarding him having a bad relationship with Sixto,” adds the signed by Juan Carlos López an FBI agent and witness in the case against Sixto George The CPI requested a reaction from Rosselló Nevares but he had not responded at press time Rosselló Nevares was accompanied by his lawyer Jim Hibey of Steptoe & Johnson a law firm with offices in Washington D.C. The relationship between Rosselló Nevares and Sixto George In what is one of his few accounts of what happened in the summer of 2019 in his government Rosselló Nevares recounted his last days in La Fortaleza to the federal authorities he recounted how he had returned from his vacation in Europe after the arrest of the director of ASES (Public Health Insurance Administration) Rosselló Nevares said this was the main reason why he decided to return to Puerto Rico and not the publication of the Telegram chat after which he learned that the chat would be a problem “because it was being taken completely out of context,” the former governor said according to the report Regarding the chat that the CPI revealed July 13 the report says that Rosselló Nevares described it as the “War Room chat,” but said that he did not remember who created it He mentioned that it was customary in his administration to create Telegram chats for every issue or problem Rosselló Nevares said someone close to him then produced by the defendant Sixto George “Rosselló was told by someone (he could not recall who) that Nación Z was going to treat him well and that the panelists were not going to be rough on him,” according to the report Rosselló Nevares participated in an interview on Nación Z where he apologized for his participation in the chat Protests demanding his resignation grew daily so Rosselló Nevares decided to hire a company to do damage control The strategy that the producer verbally proposed to Rosselló Nevares was the following: getting media time for Rosselló Nevares; media personalities who would speak up for him; and organizing a march in favor of the former governor Rosselló Nevares later said he asked his political committee which included Javier Oyola and Raymond Cruz to review the proposal of Bee Global Media The FBI document does not explain what was the exact proposal that the campaign evaluated that the Rosselló Nevares campaign committee made two payments of $90,000 to D.R which Rosselló Nevares said was the defendant’s company that presented him with a proposal Rosselló Nevares recalled a meeting that he held days before his resignation in his car with Sixto George who appears as vice president of Bee Media former leader of the pro-statehood youth in college and a partner of Sixto George according to what was revealed during the trial Otero confirmed this meeting in an interview with the CPI He recalled that he met with Rosselló Nevares He said they discussed strategies to handle the situation saying he suggested activating a multi-sector group who assured that he was never under contract but rather went with Sixto George as part of the contract between the producer and Rosselló Nevares The CPI tried to contact Plaud but was unsuccessful Rosselló Nevares said Sixto George explained how he could help him and that both Plaud and Sixto George told him what he considered “conspiracy theories” about the disclosure of the Telegram chat was behind the publication of the chat and had leaked it to people “in the opposition party” so they would reveal them Rosselló Nevares said there were several officials from his administration who were close to Sixto George Although he said the former Secretary of Public Affairs were the officials who had a relationship with the producer Rosselló Nevares identified Maceira as the person who had the most communication with Sixto George Pérez told the CPI that her interactions with the producer occurred on a regular basis due to her duties as press secretary She assured that Rosselló Nevares coordinated the Nación Z interview on July 15 something she thought was “a bad idea,” added Pérez Rosselló Nevares also identified his wife Beatriz Rosselló Areizaga as the person who led (“ran the ball”) many of the interactions that the Governor had with the press The former first lady coordinated lunches and meetings with “members of the press,” in addition to having an active role in managing the media on behalf of the Rosselló Nevares administration Maceira said both Rosselló Nevares and his wife told him to meet with Sixto George after the chat was published the former governor believed that Sixto George’s crisis management work was ineffective although his campaign committee paid for it Rosselló Nevares said he halted additional payments to Sixto George Rosselló Nevares admitted that he was in communication with Sixto George despite having said he was not satisfied with his services The last conversation with him had been by text message a week before his interview with the feds in December 2020 The report says the two communicated through emails he had searched his phone for messages with the producer since the summer of 2019 Rosselló Nevares said he had a contract with Sixto George who offered to work on a book or documentary about the Summer of 2019 “Rossello signed a contract with Sixto that stipulated that monetary payments to Sixto would be based on results Rossello described himself as someone driven by results Rossello had not paid Sixto any money because he did not have the means to pay Sixto,” the report stated Why did Rosselló Nevares maintain a relationship with Sixto George despite what happened in 2019 The former governor said the answer was simple: Sixto George was the only person who had expressed a desire to help him “Rossello agreed that his experience with Sixto had not been the best and Sixto had not been effective when he needed him the most but Sixto was the only person who had offered to help Rossello,” the report stated.  assured that his client was a friend of the couple and that he tried to warn them about the chat leak Rosselló Nevares spoke about how he had interacted with Sixto George since at least 2014 when he produced Jorge Pabón “El Molusco’s” radio show and Angelique Burgos “La Burbu,” to which he was invited “two or three times” during the primaries against (now Governor)Pedro Pierluisi officials from Rosselló Nevares’s cabinet frequently went to Nación Z to speak positively of his administration Who lied about Maldonado Gautier’s firing and Teresita Fuentes’ resignation Rosselló Nevares said it was a vacation taken without notice in June 2019 the lack of availability and absences from team meetings and disagreements over the government budget which led him to ask the government’s chief financial officer at the time who said Maldonado’s dismissal was over his statements on the radio about the existence of an “institutional mafia” in the government Maldonado Gautier told him through text messages that he had received death threats but the former governor said he did not know what he was talking about and that it was the first time the official had mentioned this The year 2019 got off on the wrong foot for Maldonado Gautier He mentioned the investigation into the contracts that Maldonado’s son had and that Rosselló Nevares said he ordered to cancel for allegedly having a public policy against hiring family members He also recalled the disagreements between Maldonado Gautier and the former Treasury Secretary something that supposedly surprised Rosselló Nevares since it had been Maldonado Gautier who recommended that she take over the position The document states that Rosselló Nevares asked for Fuentes’ resignation due to disagreements on the issue of taxes on foreign companies Fuentes said she did not know where that story came from and that she had no recollection of having discussed the matter with Rosselló Nevares “Let’s start by clearing up that Rosselló did not ask me to resign Necesitamos tu apoyo para seguir haciendo y ampliando nuestro trabajo Δdocument.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value" El CPI reconoce que el requisito fundamental para una verdadera democracia es que la ciudadanía esté bien informada y que existan entidades independientes con la capacidad de fiscalizar los poderes que accionan en la sociedad Si tiene una solicitud de investigación, queja, aclaración, 'orejita', prueba, inquietud, u observación sobre alguna información publicada por el Centro de Periodismo Investigativo, escriba al correo electrónico [email protected] Los donativos que recibe el Centro de Periodismo Investigativo están exentos de contribuciones en Puerto Rico y Estados Unidos House waiting for jurists' report on governor's chat As members of the press and public began to speculate on Tuesday evening whether Gov Ricardo Rosselló would resign today or if he had already left the island released a press release on July 24 stating that these arguments are unfounded “The governor Ricardo Rosselló Nevares has not resigned and he remains in Puerto Rico he is in a process of reflection and listening to the people We reiterate that any official communication will be shared with the media,” he added The New Progressive Party’s (NPP) caucus in the Puerto Rico House of Representatives is waiting to learn the results of a report that had been delegated to a group of jurists to decide whether to begin an impeachment process against Gov The report’s content remained a mystery this morning for the pro-statehood legislators who convened in House Speaker Carlos “Johnny” Méndez’s office Méndez had not issued any statements concerning the document’s content. However, THE WEEKLY JOURNAL’s sources claim that the committee’s report includes five felonies and misdemeanors Joel Franqui Atiles said as he entered the Speaker’s office that “if the report contains crime elements Other representatives have not been seen entering Méndez’s office although the caucus would not begin until 12:00 p.m The advisory committee is comprised of Francisco Reyes Caparrós Members of the House are also expecting to learn if the governor will resign in light of rumors that have been circling on social media and major news sources that he will make the announcement before Thursday due to the daily protests been held in Old San Juan and other parts of the island calling for his resignation amid corruption allegations in his administration and possible unethical practices revealed in a leaked chat between he and then-Cabinet members and individuals from the private sector and Gabriel Rodríguez Aguiló have publicly asked for Rosselló to step down Aguiló told THE WEEKLY JOURNAL that the impeachment process is still under speculation legislators of the Popular Democratic Party (PDP) and the Puerto Rican Independence Party (PIP) are also unaware about details included in the House report In order to formally make way for the impeachment process the House of Representatives must collect at least 34 votes in favor only 27 representatives from all parties had asserted they’d favor the process with the rest remaining silent or indecisive Grounds for impeachment must include treason Prior to the government-issued committee’s reports the Puerto Rico Bar Association had explained to the House’s leadership that there were grounds for impeachment If the House were to collect the required number of votes it would then proceed to the Senate’s evaluation Puerto Rico’s political crisis began two weeks ago with the arrests of high-ranking officials but the civil unrest was stirred by the leaked Telegram chat between Rosselló and his inner circle thousands of residents have marched down the streets in a collective call for Rosselló’s resignation and to put an end to public corruption Email notifications are only sent once a day Your browser is out of date and potentially vulnerable to security risks.We recommend switching to one of the following browsers: BRICK – A two vehicle crash injured two people and closed a busy section of road for several hours There is now a full investigation underway to determine the cause Brick Township Police said the accident happened Saturday morning a little after 10 a.m Patrolman Robert Koch and Sargent Josh Jenssen responded to the scene on Brick Boulevard near Bay Harbor Plaza Sargent Neal Pedersen said 61-year-old Toni Mancini of Lakewood was behind the wheel of her 2012 Honda Civic heading south when she attempted to turn into the Bay Harbor Plaza It was at this point that she collided with a 2006 Dodge Durango driven by 18-year-old Keith Maceira of Toms River Maceira had been heading north on Brick Boulevard at the time of the crash Mancini suffered head and leg injuries and was taken to Jersey Shore University Medical Center in Neptune The investigation is now being conducted by both Pedersen and Patrolman Keith Donnelly of the Brick Township Police Department’s Traffic Safety Unit The Ocean County Prosector’s Office is also involved in the probe acquiring accurate knowledge about government procedures is a nuisance the government tries to solve everything by imposing more regulation and we can agree that in many cases it has done the opposite Puerto Rico has approved many reforms aimed at easing doing business on the island I will at least explain what this new law and public policy brings to the table A similar model of this law was successfully implemented in places like California That’s the case with current procurement procedures in Puerto Rico which have hundreds of different sets of rules in place Uniform regulation provides clarity to both the public and private sector a lack of transparency and other negative factors have been evident for years in Puerto Rico’s procurement processes This should end now with the approval of Act 73-209 also known as the “General Services Administration (GSA) Act for the Centralization of Purchases of the Government of Puerto Rico 2019.” public instrumentalities have operated as small governments implementing independent procedures that do not mesh well with others Act 73 has as its main purposes: (i) transforming GSA by making it the only government entity empowered to establish and carry out any procedure for the acquisition of goods and services by the government; and (ii) the restructuring of its processes for the acquisition of goods and services in a manner that simplifies such processes Both objectives are of vital importance if we intend to steer the government of Puerto Rico towards transparency An expert entity in charge of carrying out regulating and standardizing the process guarantees that there are no different requirements throughout agencies corporations and those Municipalities that decide to enter under Act 73 Every process must follow the same set of rules and GSA will be the one to audit compliance There will no longer be more than 200 regulations on procurement Everyone interested in bidding will have to follow the same rules regardless of the agency they are working with This becomes even more necessary now when billions of dollars in federal funds are expected to be disbursed for recovery efforts It’s important to note that each entity will continue to establish its own set of needs but it doesn’t dictate what an agency needs or doesn’t No more dealings will be agreed upon in dark rooms and agency heads will no longer have power over the committee members tasked with evaluating bids given that the act creates a centralized bid board Another significant change translates into substantial savings By conducting centralized category auctions and multiple selection contracts Act 73-2019 is state-of-the-art legislation that successfully adopts contemporary purchasing models established in other jurisdictions Government procurement will be standardized free from political ups and downs and completely transparent The government will be able to use a single buyer in order to obtain better prices while for the private sector this means having to master only one process instead of navigating hundreds of different rules The law is not perfect but it certainly addresses “unpleasant surprises” and finally creates a process that eases doing business in Puerto Rico the success of this legislation lies in it being implemented as it should be Thomas Agrait - Profesa Vice President of Government Affairs José Carmona - Communications Director Puerto Rico Ports Authority Guiliano Vilanova - Executive Assistant Puerto Rico Ports Authority Jose Rosa - Sub Director Puerto Rico Ports Authority Anthony Maceira - Executive Director Puerto Rico Ports Authority Profesa (Puerto Rican Professional Association) leaders met with Anthony Maceira Puerto Rico Ports Authority Executive Director in next steps of establishing a new more effective emergency response protocol In hopes of continuing the efforts set forth last month to improve emergency response and establish a more effective disaster relief protocol Puerto Rican Professional Association (Profesa) members met with the Puerto Rico Ports Authority Executive Director Anthony Maceira to discuss the next steps in achieving collaboration Present at the meeting was Puerto Rico Chamber of Commerce of the South representative Luis Vázquez joining efforts with Profesa to ensure business continuity if another natural disaster were to hit the island of Puerto Rico “Profesa and CCS have joined forces to maintain an active economy after the impact of natural disasters During the meeting with the Ports Authority Profesa and CCS presented ideas to ensure the arrival of products to the island in the moment of a crisis,” said Edwin Betancourt An important outcome of the meeting was the connection achieved among key figures on the island who will be the contacts responding to the protocol established by Profesa emergency management bureau director (Nmead by its acronym in Spanish) Profesa members quickly learned that maritime companies have an active role in operating Puerto Rico’s ports leading Maceira to link maritime company leaders with Profesa members so that a cohesive and organized emergency response protocol can be achieved “After the experience we lived with Hurricane Maria it is essential to coordinate efforts so that the help arrives to the island in the fastest and most organized manner possible especially when it comes to many non-profit organizations sending supplies at the same time This meeting with Profesa without a doubt will facilitate help efforts from the diaspora in Florida to the island,” said Maceira the arrival of much of the help that was sent from Florida to the island was never confirmed Profesa vice president of government affairs and Rafael González to act diligently in creating a new plan to make sure that all products sent are rightfully distributed to their destinations To ensure the efficiency of all recovery operations during the event of an atmospheric disaster the idea of seminars was introduced in the meeting Profesa members had with the Jacksonville Port Authority last month the director found it to be an excellent idea The way this would work is that for each sector or each system that plays a key role in disaster recovery seminars will be offered on how to carry out effective procedures a seminar could be offered by Crowley professionals on how to properly fill out shipping equipment to ensure the arrival of product “Who will be providing the resources will be the very institutions that are in charge of each one of the protocols Profesa will be the facilitator in calling the community or anyone who is interested to assist and take these curses which will instruct them and let the community know what is their status what are the processes so that the knowledge isn’t concentrated in just one source and it isn’t a science for anyone involved,” said González Profesa members were notified that the port in Ponce will now be open to receive product in case of an emergency which will avoid product getting clogged in San Juan’s port as it happened in Maria The smaller airports in Mayagüez and Aguadilla will also be part of emergency response protocol “The first step was accepting that we needed better tools and that is what we are here for Maybe tomorrow there will be a better entity to do the job but at least we motivated with our efforts agencies corporations and citizens to see that there are people who remember this The Business of FashionAgenda-setting intelligence analysis and advice for the global fashion community industry veterans Damien Dernoncourt and Sagra Maceira de Rosen's new holding company has taken a stake in niche French beauty brand Talika and plans to announce a jewellery investment in 2018.Damien Dernoncourt and Sagra Maceira de Rosen | Source: Courtesy By Lauren Sherman06 December 2017The Daily Digest NewsletterThe essential daily round-up of fashion news access one complimentary BoF Professional article of your choice Receive news, offers and invites from BoFOur newsletters may include 3rd-party advertising, by subscribing you agree to the Terms and Conditions & Privacy Policy HONG KONG, China — As the head of John Hardy from 2003 to 2014 Damien Dernoncourt helped drive a quadrupling of the brand's annual turnover including a serious dip in sales after the 2008 financial crash Dernoncourt oversaw a majority sale to LVMH private equity arm L Catterton in 2014 — a deal that valued the hand-crafted jewellery firm at more than $100 million “The growth was never linear and the business was in jeopardy when I arrived with no one understanding it was on the verge of collapsing,” recalled Dernoncourt “All the ups and downs at John Hardy made me realise that creative-led businesses needed hands-on operational support to build well-paced and long-term sustainable growth.” Dernoncourt has searched for worthy investment opportunities interviewing nearly 260 founders before narrowing the list down to 15 brands worthy of further examination Naga’s first deal is with niche French beauty brand Talika of which it has acquired a “significant” stake (The terms of the deal were not disclosed.) In early 2018 The idea is to create a collection of businesses that will benefit from the support of a group and you have private equity hunting for good deals,” said Dernoncourt who aims to own between 40 percent and 80 percent of each company and we’re not giving the right incentive for the founders." The goal is to help these businesses reach $15 to $50 million in sales "This is where we have the skills," he added We're not going to buy a business unless we're 100 percent behind the creative vision With more than $50 million in capital raised from unnamed family offices and other private investors — as well as members of Naga's executive team — Dernoncourt and Rosen are also determined to focus their investments on three core categories: accessories These are markets that are not as reliant on seasonality as apparel you’re not going to a move a piece,” Dernoncourt said The group plans to write checks of an average $15 million building a portfolio of eight to 10 brands which means they will need to raise another $70 to $100 million focus and nurture Talika and the other brands we plan on investing in over the coming months,” Dernoncourt said we plan on continuing our fundraising effort while Patrice Brendle — former chief executive of the Hagemeyer-Cosa Liebermann Group's Asia-Pacific Luxury Division — oversees business development David Lipman, a creative who has worked with Burberry and Dior two of Dernoncourt's former John Hardy colleagues this team will provide across-the-board assistance to the company’s stable of brands many of which are meant to aid in eyelash and eyebrow growth “Talika is a double-digit business also growing at a double-digit pace,” Dernoncourt said “China is small — hence the opportunity — but Asia represents close to half of the business and travel retail a quarter of the business We believe we can quickly double [sales] and we see China as the main market for the company.” Owner Alexis de Brosses will remain with the company that have room to grow in the US and Asia,” Dernoncourt said the more we fine-tuned our business model.” believe that pooled resources will create synergistic advantages What perhaps distinguishes Naga is its investment philosophy and proposed brand mix "They have a very similar cash conversion," Dernoncourt said of the three core categories the company is targeting That's the big difference between us and the private equity world We're not going to buy a business unless we're 100 percent behind the creative vision." [ Is There Room for Another Luxury Group?Opens in new window ] [ Why Isn't There an Italian LVMH?Opens in new window ] [ The Top 15 M&A Targets in BeautyOpens in new window ] For more information read our Terms & Conditions In this riveting conversation from BoF CROSSROADS 2025 Mexican designer Carla Fernández and Tunisian entrepreneur Kenza Fourati discuss the power of craft-based fashion and how to collaborate ethically with artisans and indigenous communities The Hollywood dealmaker’s new firm is buying the powerful international art fair brand Emanuel’s company and the future of the art business With a new store concept and marketing campaign the designer is looking to widen his brand’s appeal beyond the fashion elite 4G — resellers who run an infamous New York showroom where rappers and athletes pay stratospheric prices to load up on Chrome Hearts and ‘fucking chill’ — have built a business that has doubled sales revenue each year since 2020 The essential daily round-up of fashion news known in the world of eSports as “El Mono,” is a Puerto Rican professional gamer Industry estimated to generate $1.4B worldwide in 2020 As the government continues to mold its public policy concerning eGames and sports betting the eSports industry continues to grow exorbitantly thus opening a window to multiple economic opportunities Speaking to THE WEEKLY JOURNAL the Secretary for Public Affairs and executive director of the Ports Authority discussed economic forecasts for the eSports industry and how it can benefit Puerto Rico’s cash flow tournaments where professional gamers compete globally—accounts for a multimillion-dollar industry The official cited the Newzoo 2018 Global Market Esports Report which revealed consistent revenue growth within eSports there was a $162 million difference between earnings in 2016 and 2017 and roughly $251 million between 2017 and 2018 40 percent was generated through sponsorship and 10 percent through merchandise and tickets Newzoo’s report for 2019 indicates that the global eSports market will generate up to $1.1 billion in revenues 201.2 million are estimated to be eSports enthusiasts and 252.6 million would be occasional viewers Newzoo estimates that the eSports market will generate $1.4 billion by 2020 about $700 million more than this year’s estimates titled ‘The Trends to Watch in 2017,’ states that “‘gaming’ entertainment has been evolving to encompass everything from mobile gaming (which has helped to expand this category across a range of demographics) to the act of sitting and spectating while others play your favorite games.” the rise spectator gaming has been quick to make an impact in this space; 1 in 4 say they have watched a live gaming stream in the past month and 17 percent report having watched an eSports tournament,” GlobalWebIndex stated With the decriminalization on sports betting on U.S some government officials are pushing to establish a regulatory framework for eSports in order to boost this sector locally the court deemed unconstitutional the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act the jurisdictions from authorizing and regulating sports betting in the United States the Puerto Rico House of Representatives introduced last April House Bill 2038 to establish the public policy concerning sports betting on athletic events and eGames the Office of the Governor of Puerto Rico presented the Executive Order 2019-028 to create the Advisory Council on Video Games Electronic Game Leagues and Sports Betting This council’s members include Maceira; the Chief of Staff; the Puerto Rico Tourism Company’s executive director; the secretaries of Education and Sports & Recreation; and four additional members designated by the governor “The goal is for Puerto Rico to eventually have large-scale global tournaments like they do in Las Vegas or Brazil where you have hundreds of thousands of spectators in the ‘Choliseo’ (José Miguel Agrelot Coliseum) or in the Convention Center who pay to enter and who are consuming and betting on the players there,” Maceira said 51-2019 to establish the public policy on sharing economy in Puerto Rico with aims to attract new and underdeveloped markets to the island’s business ecosystem (CCE by its Spanish initials) has a division titled Puerto Rico Emprende and financial rewards to aspiring entrepreneurs within the creative industry which includes video game and app developers we continue promoting the new generation of digital entrepreneurs and allowing them to enter foreign markets,” CCE Executive Director Ricardo Llerandi stated Maceira indicated that the revised Incentives Code includes provisions under which the eGames industry qualifies for tax credits and other incentives known in the world of eSports as “El Mono,” is a Puerto Rican professional gamer who a local eSports tournament that gathers people from the island and other countries who play professionally and/or as a pastime “First Attack is the macro event for competitive eGames in Puerto Rico It started off in 2013 hosted in a small establishment from several countries that I would have never believed they would come here for this,” he affirmed Román got the idea after his extensive travels to other countries for global eSports competitions which he valued for introducing him to rich multicultural exchanges that the event is part of Capcom Pro Tour’s Street Fighter V World Tournament Circuit these gamers must compete in qualifying events and amass points which means that winners collect more points This is also the first time that the final regional of Latin America moves from Brazil to Puerto Rico,” Román said “El Mono” explained that these tournaments are not unlike regular sports tournaments given that they have players representing their birth or host countries that these competitions are the second-most watched sporting events eSports tournaments draw in even more viewership than the Super Bowl First Attack will be held on October 26 to 27 in the P.R One of the challenges that may hinder public acceptance of these proposals is the stigma surrounding video games and gamers top criticisms of this industry have revolved around video games’ potentially harmful effects on children the World Health Organization (WHO) cataloged video game addiction under its International Classification of Diseases (ICD-11) “the behavior pattern must be of sufficient severity to result in significant impairment in personal occupational or other important areas of functioning and would normally have been evident for at least 12 months,” WHO’s official website reads a 2013 study by the Queensland University of Technology found that video and computer games’ interactivity improved children’s cognitive skills and even physical activity levels in some cases in 2010 the American Pain Society found a link between playing video games and reduced anxiety or pain caused by chronic illness or medical procedures As for supposedly misogynistic implications a study conducted by the Equal Opportunities Commission noted that the number of female gamers is growing which is expected to lead to the creation of more inclusive practices and grounded characterizations gamers are just starting to overcome general misinformation about their habits and training as well as skepticism in regard to designating professional gaming as a sport playing video games professionally require sharpness these gamers devote extensive practice to heighten these elements I enjoy sharing with other people and I enjoy playing online with other players [professional gamers] literally practice and train and they can spend days working on a rigorous training routine,” Maceira said Editor's note: This story was published on the June 26 print edition of The Weekly Journal Industry worth estimated at more than $3B by 2023 the second most installed mobile game worldwide in Nov but the first downloaded game on iPhone and the third on Android devices Anthony Maceira along  Deputy Press Secretary Said Public Affairs Secretary Anthony Maceira to a score of local and international reporters at the governor’s mansion in Old San Juan After more than two hours of waiting at La Fortaleza Ricardo Rosselló would soon give a message to the people of Puerto Rico Ricardo Rosselló will give a message that he is working on,” said Public Affairs Secretary Anthony Maceira to a score of reporters at the governor’s mansion in Old San Juan Maceira did not answer questions and quickly went back inside the Executive Mansion If the governor has not resigned by the end of the day Puerto Rico has been abuzz with speculation and rumors that Rosselló would soon resign Under mounting pressure from more than a dozen days of protests on the island the governor has faced numerous calls to resign due to a alleged corruption scandal and the outrage caused by the contents of a leaked chat group with his inner circle The $54 million project will improve the harbor by deepening and widening the channels accommodate existing and future vessel movement and present opportunities for economic development Army Corps of Engineers Jacksonville District Andrew Kelly and the Executive Director for Puerto Rico Ports Authority Maceira Zayas signed the partnership agreement this week to move forward to the design phase of the San Juan Harbor Navigation Improvements project “Today marks an important milestone for the Jacksonville District as we continue to strengthen our partnership with Puerto Rico,” Kelly said “We look forward to working with the Port Authority as we move forward into the design phase of this important project.” this project will facilitate that bigger cruise and cargo ships to come in to the San Juan harbor which is instrumental for Puerto Rico’s economy as it will allow to bring in larger quantities of Liquefied Natural Gas or LNG thus continuing the implementation of energy-saving solutions for a more resilient Puerto Rico,” Puerto Rico Governor Ricardo Rosselló Nevares commented Maceira Zayas further explained that by allowing bigger ships to enter the San Juan harbor this project reduces their fuel consumption and emissions cruise and cargo ships will also be able to enter and exit the harbor more efficiently further increasing the safety of maritime operations throughout the entire San Juan bay,” Maceira Zayas added The design agreement will allow the district to begin the preconstruction engineering and design phase of the project The first construction contract is expected to be awarded in fiscal year 2021 Federal funds for the design phase were provided in the 2019 Energy and Water and Military Construction and Veterans Affairs Appropriations Act Puerto Rico Congresswoman Jenniffer González Colón has been an advocate for this project and welcomed the signing of the agreement “One of the first issues that I discussed with the Corps of Engineers was the improvements to the San Juan Harbor to allow a greater draft and receive vessels of greater capacity that in turn will increase the economic activity on the island,” said González Colón “These improvements also help to diversify our energy market by allowing the transit of LNG barges on the island I am pleased that this project is moving forward as a tool for our economic development.” The costs for the project are shared between the Corps per Section 105 of the Water Resources Development Act of 1986 Syn-Pro by SISIS Cricket Groundcare Machinery The 16-player squad will spend seven days in Spain and will be joined by four members of coaching staff Interim Head Coach Craig Wallace will be supported by Joe Kinghorn-Gray and Kari Carswell (Assistant Coaches) and Chris Powell (Physio) having won the Women's ICC T20 World Cup Qualifier at the resort in September before heading back in October to compete in a multi-format series with Ireland The travelling squad will combine several training days with three practice-match T20s against Sunrisers one of the eight regional hubs in English Domestic cricket Sunrisers are the regional side for whom Scotland's Abtaha Maqsood is contracted to and represented in the Rachel Heyhoe Flint Trophy and Charlotte Edwards Cup in each of the last two seasons “This camp is a great opportunity to get the group together ahead of the upcoming T20 World Cup Qualifiers and to be able to get in some high-quality practice outside which will be a welcome break from being indoors “A lot of the squad have been doing really well and spending a lot of time down south which means we don't get time together as a squad too often so to have this opportunity to spend time together and continue work hard as a group ahead of a big few months is really valuable “The week will give us the chance to look at different options ahead of selecting the squad for the qualifier it's an opportunity to involve players who have recently come through the pathway such as Niamh Muir and Maisie Maceira to continue to learn and develop and I'm really looking forward to seeing them show off their skills “A big part of it for them will be seeing and being a part of the culture of the team Since I've been involved that's something that we've all looked to drive Hopefully they will see not only how hard the squad work “It will be really good to have Katherine Fraser and Rachel Slater back around the group I haven't been able to spend too much time with them so far but they're both back fit now and raring to go and they will add a lot of value to the group." Scotland XI vs Sunrisers - 1400 (Local) 29 February Scotland XI vs Sunrisers - 1400 (Local) 1 March Scotland XI vs Sunrisers - 1400 (Local) 2 March “Get the child ready at school with the skills will need for the life” Zita Rojas de Almeida Clinton (28) and Lourdes Enamorado Leyva (33) are part of the staff at Jose Antonio Aguilera Maceira Special School for slight restrained and severe mental retarded young children and adolescents They are very nice and also the result of an accurate family monitoring of the Special Education in Cuba who teach retarded people to get them ready to face life They are never neither late nor absent at work including those scheduled by the Union and they feel loved and respected by every body She is been there since 1992 as a therapeutic teacher Jose Antonio Aguilera Maceira Special School is in Playa municipality in Havana Students are admitted when they are six years old coming from the nurseries primary schools or the program Educate your child who have been diagnosed with mental retardation This is the most common disability in Cuba with the 78 7 percent of the total registration in Special Education Once the students arrive at school,” she said “we start a process of observation and integral diagnose they are assigned to the five workshops of the school: carpentry When they are 15 we place them in workplaces of production or services according to the skills they achieved and taking into consideration their limitations from the intellectual point of view Those able to stay in the job left school at the age of 18 and the ones who are not able to develop the necessary skills to work are taken back to their communities with their families and monitored by the institution Iralia Gongora Pupo works in this school since the academic course 1984-1985 and next September will celebrate 40 years working in this branch 35 of them devoted to this type of education This career allows me work with them by their process of learning observing them how they arrive without pronouncing the words correctly and they finally manage to win the mistakes and right the wrongs by means of the treatment “You model the human material and prepare it for life and the oldest for a useful and independent life They are children you teach them everything because some of them come from homes where they have not received the stimulus they need I feel I cannot do any other job than this one but also for all the humanism it has,” she stressed.