has joined the Sheriff's Office as its newest K-9 officer completed their 13-week training in June and have been on active duty for the last few months "He was just out Friday for a search," said Kandiyohi County Sheriff Eric Tollefson "He is already actively working and earning his keep." The Sheriff's Office was able to bring the dog on board thanks to a generous donation from the Willmar Area Community Foundation and Duininck evidence searching and locating narcotics — except for marijuana What he doesn't do is physically apprehend a subject he won't do the apprehension piece," Tollefson said Bilky and Maverick have been partners since he arrived in Kandiyohi County in February When not working side-by-side with Bilky on their beat or training "He comes home with me at the end of my shift or on my days off He is at home living the pet life basically," Bilky said The commissioners were glad the Sheriff's Office was able to acquire Maverick as K-9s can be a great asset for law enforcement Maverick and Bilky respond to not only Kandiyohi County calls but will also help out the Willmar Police Department the CEE-VI Drug Task Force and other law enforcement agencies when available The duo are also a big hit with the communities they serve "I appreciate the support the community has given us with Maverick He bridges those gaps between us and the community," Tollefson said whose tumultuous 20th-century history has spilled over into a bloody battle for its 21st-century identity Daisy Sindelar traveled to six Ukrainian cities to talk to people about what their old family photographs say to them about who they This article was first published by Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty as part of the My Ukraine project Nearly all of my family comes from the Vinnitsya region Now there are buses that take you to these tiny towns directly but it used to take hours and lots of waiting and transfers to get back and forth from Kiev But all of Ukraine's 20th-century history touched my family in one way or another But he was slightly different in that he had gone to school and learned to read and write That wasn't the case for everyone back then So when the Russo-Japanese War started in 1904 and they began drafting Ukrainians they singled out the boys who were literate to train as medical assistants So my great-grandfather didn't fight; he worked in the surgical ward Lesia Babukha (bottom left) at a school celebration in Illintsi Many doctors from that war became addicted to drugs or anesthesia since they had such easy access to it I guess my great-grandfather wasn't an exception He eventually was shipped back to Odessa — a horrible journey in itself — and returned to his village to become the local doctor He got married and raised three children My grandfather grew up to become a history teacher and a school director in the village of Bilky He had grown up in a neighboring village Everyone called her Lesia; I called her Babushka Sasha She was the daughter of an Orthodox cleric who had been forced by Soviet authorities to renounce his vows in order to ensure that his children wouldn't be marginalized He had 10 children who lived to adulthood My grandmother attended a school specializing in agricultural studies and later on in life she kept an amazing garden with all different varieties of roses and a greenhouse Visitors were always coming just to look at the garden My grandfather fought in World War II He received a certificate of gratitude signed by Stalin for his role in destroying a German tank division somewhere in Hungary or Czechoslovakia remained in Bilky during the occupation She was teaching and living in the school with my father they had German soldiers lodging with them my grandmother became frightened because one of the soldiers was sitting and staring at Taisia and the soldier was looking at her very intently But then he started to cry and gave her a sugar cube He said he had a young daughter at home My grandmother didn't harbor any illusions about the Nazis but she didn't suffer any particular abuse during the occupation either Terrible things were happening to Jews in Vinnitsya but life in Bilky was relatively quiet the Soviets allowed her to keep her job She wasn't punished for living under occupation she was given a tiny pension — just pennies they were punishing her for collaboration it's really hard to know what was the right thing to do It's gotten really popular to say your family fought with the partisans the partisans weren't up to much of anything good The people who simply went on living under occupation got a lot of grief even though the country wasn't doing anything to help them My second set of grandparents also lived in Bilky was from a prosperous peasant family that lost everything during dekulakization when the Soviets forced Ukrainian farmers to give up their private property and the Donbass was one of the few places where you could find a job and get paid with food There was a lot of effort going into industrializing the region and my grandfather spent a few years working in a mine Babushka Sasha and Alla in Bilky It was during that time that he met my grandmother She was the daughter of an Orthodox priest who was arrested as part of the Soviet crackdown on religious authorities He and Tetyana's mother both ended up dying of starvation during the Holodomor And as the daughter of a repressed priest which might have helped her get back in the good graces of the authorities Filip and Tetyana eventually moved back to Bilky and they worked on their property constantly That's what I remember as a little girl With my other grandparents there were books and flowers and walks in the forest but with them there was just physical work And religion -- my grandmother remained deeply religious She tried to talk to me about it so they sent me to live with Babushka Sasha She took me on long walks and taught me everything she knew about plants We've always been a Ukrainian-speaking family I remember coming back to Bilky at some point after I had been going to school in Kiev and I said something in Russian you know — to show that I was a city kid My grandmother put an end to that immediately She had Alzheimer's for the last decade of her life she took off her slippers and lined them up very neatly next to the bed who spent nearly every day at Independence Square during Euromaidan Russia's Prosecutor General's Office has designated The Moscow Times as an "undesirable" organization criminalizing our work and putting our staff at risk of prosecution This follows our earlier unjust labeling as a "foreign agent." These actions are direct attempts to silence independent journalism in Russia The authorities claim our work "discredits the decisions of the Russian leadership." We see things differently: we strive to provide accurate We, the journalists of The Moscow Times, refuse to be silenced. But to continue our work, we need your help please support us monthly starting from just $2 and every contribution makes a significant impact independent journalism in the face of repression The Renewable Energy Association of Nigeria (REAN) on Monday spoke of its readiness to explore new avenues for partnerships that would attract investment toward the development of the sector The new Executive Secretary of the association who made the disclosure in an interview in Abuja said the organisation would reposition itself to enable it to work closely and effectively with partners and relevant stakeholders to amplify advocacy and expand its horizon for the success of its mandate “We will also explore new avenues for partnership and engagement with industry experts “We will be advocates for policies that would provide tax incentives that will spur investment in renewable and clean energy projects,” she said “While I am still in the early stages of settling into this role I intend to bring my wealth of experience in administration and corporate communications and management to bear on achieving REAN’s mission “I intend to build on the strong foundation laid by my predecessor to pursue our strategic goals,” she added the association will focus attention on innovativeness and sustainability and drive initiatives toward accelerating renewable energy adoption in Nigeria “Government support is crucial and essential for our success We will work closely with government agencies to develop policies that support renewable energy development “We will work collaboratively so that specific policies will be developed so much that in the next five years REAN would become a leading force in renewable energy advocacy and innovation,” she added Flickering Myth March 29, 2022 by A female vampire is inspired to kick blood and become human again when she inadvertently helps a charming alcoholic become clean It wasn’t that long ago that the vampire genre seemed completely played out and bereft of ideas – thanks Twilight – but it’s also a genre that’s particularly thrived in recent years in the lower-budget filmmaking realm where creativity has to take precedent over lavish visual effects and A-list actors That’s a tradition continued in Kicking Blood the latest effort from Blaine Thurier (Teen Lust) which offers up a strangely life-affirming and totally unexpected remix of the traditional vampire film Anna (Alanna Bale) is a vampire tired of eking out a bottom-feeding existence forced to exsanguinate the “dregs” of society in order to maintain her form But after stumbling across suicidal alcoholic Robbie (Luke Bilky) she finds herself increasingly questioning whether her own existence is truly worth its spiritual cost Kicking Blood isn’t so much concerned with blood-suckers prowling the night as it is the oddball relationship between a vampire woman and an alcoholic man Thurier devotes much of the film to exploring the experiential chasm between vampires and humans; Anna can’t help but find most everything humans do strange whether it’s Robbie attempting to kick booze or her elderly friend Bernice (Rosemary Dunsmore) taking pills to stave off death a little while longer this is one of the least-gory vampire films ever made dripping less with blood than aching humanity as Thurier smartly draws a tidy parallel between Robbie’s alcoholism and Anna’s own need to consume blood As much as Anna is a witness to human fragility in all its forms her immortality of course comes with its own challenging condition Actress Alanna Bale is quite remarkable as Anna her striking look combining with a nihilistic moxie which makes her both perversely charming and uneasily mysterious Her initially pitiable attitude towards humans – even bluntly telling Robbie on their first meeting “I don’t fuck humans” – is good for some easy laughs but her chemistry with co-star Bilky ensures their burgeoning affection for one another feels organic enough Though this is an intimately drawn character study through and through Thurier also ensures to situate his characters within a firm sense of place offering up subtle flecks of mythology and world-building which slyly elevate it from our own It’s also a seriously stylish and atmospheric piece of work while produced on what we can assume was a low budget But DP Jonathon Cliff shoots the hell out of it splashing the screen in spritely neon wherever possible as is particularly startling during a pre-title beat where Anna’s blood-sucking euphoria is visualised in a phantasmagorical frenzy Subtle makeup work to show Anna’s physical deterioration when she doesn’t drink blood is also highly effective and it’s all tied together neatly by Ohad Benchetrit and Justin Small’s eclectic score venturing from brooding ’80s-style synths to haunting violins even if after such a fiercely unique opening hour the third act does skew a tad more conventional Thurier perhaps tries to cram a little too much into the final reel but nevertheless arrives at a tantalising ending leaving audiences with plenty to consider for themselves This stridently unconventional vampire film is a major breath of fresh air trading buckets of blood for slinky existential commentary Flickering Myth Rating – Film: ★ ★ ★ ★ / Movie: ★ ★ ★ Shaun Munro – Follow me on Twitter for more film rambling UCL School of Slavonic and East European Studies (SSEES) Swanson will discuss two of his larger research projects The first one resulted in the award-winning publication Tangible Belonging: Negotiating Germanness in Twentieth-Century Hungary (Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh Press 2017) as well as his documentary film About a Village whose subject is the Hungarian village of Máriakéménd The second project is ongoing and is a triple biography of Lili Jacob (1925-1999) the woman who discovered the Auschwitz Album—a collection of photographs by SS men documenting the Holocaust—at the end of the Second World War her home village of Bilky (now in Ukraine) Swanson is Professor of History at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga He is the author of the 2001 book The Remnants of the Habsburg Monarchy: The Shaping of Modern Austria and Hungary Tangible Belonging: Negotiating Germanness in Twentieth-Century Hungary (2017) which won the 2018 Barbara Jelavich Book Prize from ASEEES and the 2019 Hungarian Studies Association Book Prize Image credit: An ethnographic map of the Habsburg Monarchy from 1855. Wikimedia.  Todd Emerson says being bullied as a child damaged his self-confidence as adult but understanding that has made him a better actor How have things changed for your character Bilky Bilky is one of Ted and Rita West's gang of thieves In season 1 we found out that despite the fact Bilky's got a different girl hanging off his arm in every episode he's actually gay In Season 2 he falls in love with a man which he probably wouldn't have thought himself capable of The most important thing to him is his mates I was actually shooting Westside at the same time as performing Hudson and Halls so I'd go from playing this super-closeted 80s dude in the day to this completely camp one at night You co-created the play Hudson and Halls Live I found it bizarre that this completely camp couple were all over the television and everyone was either blind to the fact they were in a relationship or ignored it they were just being themselves but they were visible If I'd been 12-year-old gay Todd back in the 80s that would've given me a sense of being all right Kip creates immersive theatre experiences so he set the play in a 1980s TVNZ studio with the audience playing the part of the live studio audience You and long-term partner Kip Chapman married recently Were you inspired by the legalisation of gay marriage Seeing gay marriage legalised here was amazing We sat with a group of friends and watched Parliament TV for the first time ever Kip proposed while we were on a canoeing trip down the Whanganui River We had our rings made from gold from both our families which was melded together For our honeymoon we went to Broadway and saw a dozen shows Hudson and Halls was one of those shows where people come up to you at the supermarket and share their own stories - like my optometrist: I went to get my prescription put in some 1980s frames that I wore as Peter Hudson and she told me how when she came here as a Vietnamese refugee with no English she loved watching Hudson and Halls with her host family because they could all laugh together All these beautiful little stories come out The role of Eric in Daffodils was such a blessing It charts the relationship of a typical Kiwi male who is unable to talk about his feelings so I get to sing classic Kiwi songs by Ray Columbus It's the first time I've got to perform in a real musical Unfortunately New Zealand doesn't have a professional music theatre company Auckland Theatre Company does one musical a year At the moment Kip's directing That Bloody Woman about Kate Sheppard You were on stage for over 100 nights last year The pressure does take its toll especially with a show like Daffodils where you end up in a completely raw and vulnerable emotional state in front of a couple of hundred people every night You get massive surges of adrenaline which is a lot to put your body through At one stage last year I was doing six jobs at the same time I actually passed a kidney stone in a portaloo on the set of Westside while we were filming the Springbok riots I heard Broadway musical theatre actor Andrea Burns give a masterclass at Luke Di Somma's theatre school in Christchurch She said "As a performer you jump out of a plane every night" and that really spoke to me Nerves can be a great and a terrible thing I'm in a great place now but a few years ago I found my confidence dropping so I went and found a therapist and talked it through I realised how being badly bullied as a child had really affected who I am as an adult I realised I was putting myself down in my head because that's what I was used to hearing "Who cares what bitchy people in the industry think?" I feel like I've come out the other side and am a better actor for it Have you ever been really down and how did you pick yourself up I broke my back in a car accident when I was 18 A group of us all got into a car drunk and hit a tree I had to have spinal fusion surgery and spent a year in and out of hospital When you're 18 you think you're indestructible but in fact you're incredibly fragile So that was a massive character building thing ever since my parents took me to see Rob Guest in Les Miserables when I was 6 We didn't have a TV till I was 13 so it was always theatre When I was 11 I made my parents take me to an audition for a touring musical production of The Secret Garden I got the part and lived in Wellington for six months in a house with some other kids I got bullied for being gay from about the age of 6 or 7 I didn't know what they were talking about to be honest I'm sure the teachers at St Kentigerns were aware that kids like me were being victimised but I knew there was no help to be gotten from them Even now unjust situations are what make me most angry Hudson and Halls is about to tour and Daffodils is performed often at festivals 'No one was meant to hear it,' Moller said while discussing his life The Ukrainian Cultural Society of High Prairie presented its annual Zabava celebration Feb 25 at the Edmo Peyre Hall The show featured the High Prairie Zirka Dancers Colourful outfits and skills by 27 youth dancers from ages two to teens wowed the crowd The society celebrates its 45th anniversary in 2023 The show concluded with a performance by youth senior dancers Environment Canada Forecast Alberta Wildfire Status Map (ANNews) – Indigenous groups are cautioning against the Hudson’s Bay Company’s (HBC) intention to auction off its collection of thousands of pieces of art and artifacts, which could include items of cultural, historical and spiritual [... Read More ] GUYSBOROUGH — After months of planning meetings and public consultation, municipal officials say Guysborough’s long-anticipated downtown makeover – once expected to be unveiled this spring – still isn’t quite ready for its close-up. Despite strong [... Read More ] On the final day of the First Nations Major Projects Coalition (FNMPC) conference in Toronto, which concluded April 29, co-emcee Jesse McCormick made a newsworthy announcement. He revealed FNMPC officials had released the Indigenous Utilities Paper, [... Read More ] HINTON – Fire professionals weighed in on the importance of wildfire preparedness and highlighted the successes of Logan Lake, B.C. during a virtual event on Wednesday (April 30). The event was hosted by the Town [... Read More ] After a lengthy discussion Tuesday night, Niagara-on-the-Lake council’s decision to end the temporary patio program at the end of this year remains solid. Council unanimously voted to end the program back in March, but the [... Read More ] GUYSBOROUGH — EverWind Fuels has received environmental approval from the Nova Scotia Department of Environment and Climate Change to build a high-voltage transmission line across the Strait of Canso – a critical step toward launching [... Read More ] Interesting Links from Stories The early fruits of Russia's massive military buildup will be proudly displayed on May 9 as the centerpieces of the Victory Day parade which this year marks the 70th anniversary of Nazi Germany's defeat in World War II Vintage 1940s hardware will parade alongside top-of-the-line equipment some of which has not yet even entered serial production in a ritualistic show of force that dates back to the days of Soviet leader Joseph Stalin The new tanks and armored vehicles to be formally unveiled on May 9 were developed under a staggering 20 trillion ruble ($395 billion) 10-year rearmament campaign announced in 2010 During Putin's live call-in on April 16 he promised that by the end of the decade 70 percent of the equipment fielded by Russia's military will be new hardware Not much is known about the new vehicles to be shown at the parade which are some of the first new designs to come out of the rearmament program Defense contractors and officials have kept their new blueprints mostly to themselves with only a few leaked images and details making it into the Russian press before rehearsals for the parade began at the end of April To help parade-goers pick out the new from the old the Moscow Times has written up a list of the top 5 new vehicles to be showcased this year The star of the show is sure to be Russia's newest piece of heavy armor — the Armata T-14 main battle tank this one has been kept under the tightest secrecy with only a handful of amateur photos of the tank finding their way onto the internet The Armata has two distinguishing features that might help parade watchers spot the vehicle The first is the number of wheels powering its tracks Older Russian tanks have six wheels on each side Another feature is the Armata's turret while the Armata has a boxier turret resembling Western designs The Armata is also larger and higher off the ground than older Russian tanks The tank is built on a chassis known as the Armata Universal Combat Platform which manufacturer UralVagonZavod says will serve as the common base for a series of armored military vehicles such as armored personnel carriers and even a driver-less drone tank Russia's rearmament program will see the replacement of the iconic Soviet BTR-80 with a new armored personnel carrier known as the Boomerang The Boomerang is still about two years away from serial production but it will take part in this year's May 9 parade Parade watchers can spot the new Boomerang vehicle by looking for an armored car with four wheels on each side the Boomerang's gun turret is situated toward the back of the vehicle The primary function of the Boomerang is to transport soldiers into areas under fire from enemy troops and it comes equipped with machine guns the Russian Defense Ministry's television station One of the more unique looking vehicles set to be unveiled during the parade is the Kurganets-25 infantry fighting vehicle (IFV) — a class of armored vehicle invented by the Soviets during the Cold War to provide soldiers with heavy fire support after transporting them into combat meaning it can traverse bodies of water Video of the Kurganets shows that its weapon's turret With heavier armor and weapons than an armored personnel carrier Kurganets can be recognized as a large green box on tank treads Perhaps the most interesting new vehicle to join the festivities will be the T-15 heavy infantry fighting vehicle The T-15 has a leg up over other Russian-made IFVs in that it is caked in the Armata's state-of-the-art armor protection which is reported to consist of three layers situated toward the rear of the vehicle is controlled remotely by the crew from their isolated compartment in the front of the IFV Parade goers should look for a tank-like vehicle with 7 wheels powering its treads but with an angular protrusion toward the front the new gun can be identified by it highly angular turret According to television station Zvezda the Koalitsiya's gun has a range of 70 kilometers