Woman killed by car in front of CDM building - The Depaulia

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Rebecca Meluch

A pedestrian was hit by a vehicle on the block of East Jackson Boulevard and South Wabash Avenue, near DePaul’s College of Computing and Digital Media.

In the evening of May 28, a pedestrian was hit by a vehicle on the block of East Jackson Boulevard and South Wabash Avenue, in the crosswalk between DePaul’s College of Computing and Digital Media (CDM) and the 7-Eleven. 

The Chicago Tribune reported that the suspect was driving northbound on South Wabash Avenue when they hit the pedestrian. South Wabash Avenue is a one-way southbound street and the driver was driving in the wrong direction, according to the Tribune. 

The victim, a 55-year-old woman, was transported to Northwestern Memorial Hospital in critical condition and was later pronounced dead. 

The suspect attempted to flee the scene, according to Chicago police.

Jessica Rocco, a spokesperson for the Chicago Police Department, shared a news release regarding the incident with The DePaulia. 

30 May 21 – Offender Charged With Reckless Homicide_Jamaal Huffman (1) by DePaulia on Scribd

The document says the driver was arrested in the 200 block of South Wabash around 5:30 p.m. after being positively identified as the person who fatally struck the pedestrian with his vehicle. He has since been placed in custody and charged with reckless homicide with a motor vehicle.

The document states that there is no additional information available at this time. 

Alejandra Trigoso is a graduate student at DePaul and a member of the DePaul Animation Lodge Facebook group. She posted about the incident around 5:38 p.m. and was outside of the CDM Building, located at 243 S. Wabash Ave., shortly after the accident.

At the time she stepped outside, police and ambulance already blocked off the area. 

“A woman was just struck by a car in front of cdm and killed,” Trigoso’s post read. “The driver drove away without stopping. I happened to be outside right after it happened so I didn’t see everything and don’t know if it was someone from our community/don’t have all the details.” 

Trigoso told The DePaulia she was at the CDM building because she was trying to finish a film in time for an animation festival. 

“I came downstairs to grab a coffee and saw all of the security staff and some others crowded around the door, with like five or six bystanders around the entrance (sic),” Trigoso said. 

Trigoso also said she asked one of the DePaul Public Safety officers what had happened, in which the officer shared she didn’t see the accident herself, but another officer witnessed it.

“I think everything took place so quickly that no one could have done anything honestly,” Trigoso said. “I didn’t see security doing anything directly other than helping the police but I also wasn’t there for the whole ordeal. As far as I could see they were doing everything they could. ” 

Trigoso commented under the original post saying that when she left the CDM building, witnesses were being interviewed in the computer lab in the lobby. 

At the time of publication, DePaul has not included this incident in crime reports or issued a public safety alert to its students. 

Under the Clery Act, all colleges and universities that participate in all federal financial aid programs are required to disclose timely information and alerts about crimes that take place on respected campuses. 

DePaul’s Crime Reporting and Clery Act Compliance policy states that decisions whether to issue a timely warning or not, are decided on a case-by-case basis by DePaul Public Safety. 

Crime Reporting and Clery Act Compliance by DePaulia on Scribd

According to Trigoso, DePaul Public Safety officers were aware of the incident as she observed that they were among those crowded around the door after. 

The policy states that “The Public Safety Office will post timely warning notices to notify members of the community about serious crimes against people that occur on or adjacent to our campus, where prior knowledge of that serious crime would aid others in not becoming the victim of a similar case. These warnings will be posted if the incident is reported to the Public Safety office.” 

Rocco said CPD did not have any information regarding whether DePaul Public Safety was involved or cooperative in the incident in any way and suggested reaching out to DePaul’s Public Safety Office. 

“The car accident in the Loop on Friday evening did not meet Clery Act campus reporting guidelines because it was an isolated incident and it did not pose an ongoing threat to the community,” the Office of Public Safety responded. 

The Office of Public Safety also referred to the section of DePaul’s annual Safety and Security Information Report, “Timely Warning Safety Alerts.”  

Kristen Mathews, a spokesperson for the university, shared more information about support for students after the incident, “University Counseling Services are available for those who may have witnessed the event and may want to process further,” Mathews said. “If students are in distress and need to have some academic flexibility they are encouraged to speak with their instructors and/or connect with the Dean of Students office.”

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Front Row Starters Fall Short In 105th Greatest Spectacle In Racing - SPEED SPORT - SPEED SPORT

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INDIANAPOLIS – As with every Indianapolis 500, Sunday’s 105th running had a heavy pre-race emphasis on the front row starters.

It was also billed as a battle of old guard against the kids.

Forty-year-old Scott Dixon started on the pole and had the best car at Indianapolis Motor Speedway throughout the month of May. Twenty-one-year-old Colton Herta started second and 20-year-old Rinus VeeKay started third.

After 500 miles of hard racing, however, it was a day of disappointments for the front row.

Dixon had one of the strongest cars in the race and was sticking to his strategy in the first fuel stint of letting someone else lead the race as he conserved fuel. Herta also adopted that strategy and said over the first fuel stint, a driver could lose two laps of fuel to the tank by leading the race.

VeeKay was happy to put the No. 21 car in the lead in the early part of the race, lead 32 laps.

But the dynamic of the race changed completely on lap 33 when Stefan Wilson spun out and crashed while entering pit road. That closed the pits, but Dixon was among several drivers that had to make an emergency pit stop and accept a penalty rather than run out of fuel before the pits were opened.

Problem was, when Dixon pitted, his engine stalled and refused to start putting him one lap down. The No. 9 PNC Bank Chip Ganassi Racing team got Dixon’s engine to start, but he was all the way back in 32nd place, the last car running on the track after Wilson’s Honda had crashed.

Dixon was able to get back on the lead lap, even lead two laps late in the race, before finishing 17th.

There were 22 out of 33 cars that started the race that completed 500 miles.

The car that finished just ahead of Dixon was Herta’s No. 26 Gainbridge Honda. The son of four-time IndyCar race winner Bryan Herta was another big-time favorite to win the race, but his 16th place finish left him quite unhappy.

“There wasn’t much we could do today, unfortunately we were just slow,” Herta said afterwards. “The balance wasn’t right, and we just struggled.

“We struggled with the scuffed tires and that kind of threw us off. Then, we were trying to correct the balance with scuffed tires, then went back to new tires.

“It was just diabolical.

“We had what should have been a good car in the Gainbridge Honda, but we just couldn’t get it done in the race.”

VeeKay ended up as the highest-finishing driver from the front row, racing the Bitcoin Ed Carpenter Racing Chevrolet to an eighth-place finish.

“Leading over 30 laps today feels great,” VeeKay said. “I am very happy with how I did and being able to finish eighth. I was leading in the first stint, but we wanted to save some fuel, so we worked with Conor (Daly) to run second. When the yellow came out, we fell a bit short, and it didn’t go our way.

“I was running 13th with a few laps to go so I have nothing to complain about. Lady Luck wasn’t on my side today but there are many more races this season and many more Indianapolis 500s in my future.”

The driver that won the race and became the fourth four-time Indianapolis 500 winner, Helio Castroneves, started eighth, in the middle of Row 3. He led 20 laps in the fastest Indianapolis 500 history with an average speed of 190.690 mmph

There were 35 leads changes in the race among 13 drivers.

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Listen: Middle Tennessee High School Grads Look At The Future With Resilience And Optimism | WPLN News - WPLN

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Kanawha County Schools releases statement on middle school employees facing battery charges - WHSV

KANAWHA COUNTY, W.Va. (WSAZ) - Kanawha County Schools has released a statement regarding the allegations of abuse at a middle school.

Three employees from Horace Mann Middle School in Charleston are facing battery charges after police say they were caught on camera abusing students in a special needs classroom.

Three Horace Mann Middle School employees facing battery charges

The school district’s statement is below:

“The Kanawha County Board of Education is taking the allegations of abuse that occurred at Horace Mann Middle School (HMMS) very seriously, which is why immediately upon discovery HMMS and KCBOE reported the incident to law enforcement, child protective services, and the parents/guardians of the involved children. It is also why KCBOE continues to work with all involved in investigating the matters. That being said, the KCBOE feels that is important to explain to the public how it became aware of the alleged incidents at HMMS in order to alleviate doubt that the KCBOE is doing everything required and allowed by law to hold responsible parties accountable.

In an effort to be transparent the KCBOE has the following statement in regard to the incidents of alleged abuse that happened at HMMS. Everything contained in this statement can be supported by documentation created at the time of the discovery of the alleged abuse and during the investigation, which is still ongoing.  Some of these documents have been provided to local news outlets under a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) Request.

On May 12, 2021, Assistant Principal at HMMS Brittany Harris received a noise complaint during the annual testing about a special education self-contained classroom.  Ms. Harris went to the classroom and as she approached the classroom, saw what appeared to be a classroom Aide patting a student who was sitting down on a bean bag chair. When Ms. Harris saw this through the door window, the classroom Aide’s back was to Ms. Harris. Believing at the time that what she saw through the door window was the Aide patting the student, Ms. Harris entered the room to talk about the noise. While in the classroom, Ms. Harris reported that she observed the Aides to be upset and the student who previously was on the bean bag chair to be agitated and spinning in circles.  The Aides and Teacher in the classroom told Ms. Harris that the student had spit on one of them and that they had tried to get her to apologize. Ms. Harris observed the teacher in the classroom on the phone with the student’s guardian to explain the behaviors they were now witnessing, which Ms. Harris stated was not typical but did not at the time have any idea why. At all points prior to this there had not been an issue reported to administration that would rise to the level to indicate that child abuse was happening in this classroom.  The only known prior report that would have caused a concern of a suspicion of abuse in the classroom was made to the classroom teacher, one of the alleged abusers.

Ms. Harris reported that after she left the classroom on May 12th, she discussed what she had seen and observed outside the classroom and inside the classroom with Principal Tweedy.  Ms. Harris reported that when they were able to talk about the full situation at the end of the day, they started to have a suspicion of abuse due to the noise level in the classroom, the agitation in the classroom, the unusual behavior the student was exhibiting, and the touch that had previously looked like patting that was observed through the door window.  Based on this now fully developed suspicion of abuse, and in accordance with the law, Ms. Harris and Principal Shandon Tweedy decided that they needed to view the video footage. After viewing the footage, Ms. Harris and Mrs. Tweedy called Charleston Police, State Police, Child Protective Services, Central Office, and the guardian of the child involved in the incident. All of this happened on May 12, 2021.  At the time, the only footage viewed, was that day’s footage and all that was seen in that day’s footage was the incident with one child, one teacher, and two aides.

On May 17, 2021, the KCBOE received two letters from Mr. Michael Cary, Esq. stating that he was representing the student whose incident the KCBOE was already aware of and also representing another student who the KCBOE did not know at the time had also been allegedly abused in the same classroom.  That letter requested that the video footage from that classroom from May 1 to May 17, 2021 be preserved, as well as all related documents and incident reports. That was done. Also on May 17, the Administration at HMMS were told about another incident that had previously been reported to the teacher and alleged abuser in the special education classroom in question. In preserving the video footage requested, investigating the known incident, and based on the allegation of another incident that may have occurred with another student, the KCBOE began reviewing all the video footage preserved.  It was during that investigation that the KCBOE discovered an incident on May 4, 2021. That discovery was likewise immediately communicated to the police, and child protective services as an addition to the May 12, 2021 report, in addition to the parent of the child in the video.

The KCBOE was made aware that Mr. Salango would be working with Mr. Cary on this matter after both incidents were reported to the appropriate authorities and parents, and after the KCBOE had already begun reviewing additional footage in its investigation of the alleged abuse. In communication with Mr. Cary and Mr. Salango the KCBOE made it clear that they would be permitted to review the footage.  They did review the footage.  They will continue to be provided that access.

Also requested under FOIA and by the general public, as well as Mr. Cary and Mr. Salango, have been the release of the video tapes from the self-contained special education classrooms where the alleged abuse took place. The KCBOE recognizes the public’s interest in those tapes, however, is not at liberty to legally produce them publicly, nor can it legally produce them to Mr. Salango and Mr. Cary for public dissemination.  The law on this states, in part,

(j) Except as provided under subsections (k) and (l) of this section, a video recording of a student made under this section is confidential and shall not be released or viewed.

(k) Within seven days of receiving a request, a public school or school district shall allow viewing of a video recording by:

(1) A public school or school district employee who is involved in an alleged incident that is documented by the video recording and has been reported to the public school or school district;

(2) A parent or legal guardian of a student who is involved in an alleged incident that is documented by the video recording and has been reported to the public school or school district;

(3) An employee of a public school or school district as part of an investigation into an alleged incident that is documented by the video recording and has been reported to the public school or school district;

(4) A law-enforcement officer as part of an investigation into an alleged incident that is documented by the video recording and has been reported to the law-enforcement agency; or

(5) The Department of Health and Human Resources as part of a child abuse and neglect investigation…

(l) When a video is under review as part of the investigation of an alleged incident, and the video reveals a student violating a disciplinary code or rule of the school, which violation is not related to the alleged incident for which the review is occurring, and which violation is not already the subject of a disciplinary action against the student, the student is not subject to disciplinary action by the school for such unrelated violation unless it reveals a separate incident as described in §18-20-11(b)(1) of this code.

W. Va. Code § 18-20-11 (emphasis added).

This law only allows the KCBOE to provide the video for viewing to a school district employee involved in the alleged incident, a parent or legal guardian of student who was involved in an alleged incident, an employee of the school district who is investigating an alleged incident, law enforcement pursuant to an investigation of an alleged incident, and the Department of Health and Human Resources as part of an abuse investigation. There is no exception that allows the KCBOE to release footage with parental permission.  Additionally, there is no provision that allows the KCBOE to even release the footage to the parents.  They may only view the footage.  All parents of students who were in that self-contained classroom, as well as their attorneys have been provided opportunity to view the footage, and have. Furthermore, now that the KCBOE is aware of incidents of alleged abuse in that classroom, and has suspicion that they may have been more incidents, it is now reviewing 90-days worth of footage to determine if additional acts occurred in that classroom which the KCBOE will, if applicable, direct law enforcement to, as well as Child Protective Services.  That footage has been preserved.

Throughout the entirety of this matter, starting with the HMMS school administration’s discovery of what was occurring in this classroom, the KCBOE has done what it is legally and ethically required to do to ensure that the our most vulnerable students are protected.  This is a truly unfortunate situation.  We will continue to have contact with the parents involved and their counsel.  We would also be happy to share our experience with the West Virginia State Legislature in order to make these cameras better used as tools to detect abuse and not just investigate suspected abuse or alleged abuse. Currently, the cameras are legally only permitted to be used once there is a suspicion or allegation of abuse.  We are not permitted to monitor these cameras in any regular fashion the way we monitor other cameras in the schools. The KCBOE is deeply invested in the safety of its students and will be happy work with the Legislature to advance this cause.”

Copyright 2021 WSAZ. All rights reserved.

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Man Shot & Killed In Front Of Vancouver Home - 750 KXL

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How Dogs Are on The Covid-19 Front Lines - The New York Times

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BANGKOK — Bobby was a good boy. So was Bravo.

Angel was a good girl, and when she sat, furry hindquarters sliding a little on the tile floor, she raised a paw for emphasis, as if to say, It’s this cotton ball that my keen nose has identified, the one that smells like Covid-19.

The three Labradors, operating out of a university clinic in Bangkok, are part of a global corps of dogs being trained to sniff out Covid-19 in people. Preliminary studies, conducted in multiple countries, suggest that their detection rate may surpass that of the rapid antigen testing often used in airports and other public places.

“For dogs, the smell is obvious, just like grilled meat for us,” said Dr. Kaywalee Chatdarong, deputy dean of research and innovation for the faculty of veterinary science at Chulalongkorn University in Bangkok.

The hope is that dogs can be deployed in crowded public spaces, like stadiums or transportation hubs, to identify people carrying the virus. Their skills are being developed in Thailand, France, Britain, Chile, Australia, Belgium and Germany, among other countries. They have patrolled airports in Finland, Lebanon and the United Arab Emirates, and private companies have used them at American sporting events.

Angel, a pale blonde with incipient jowls and a fondness for crunching plastic bottles, is the star of the pack at Chulalongkorn University. But as a group, the dogs being trained in Thailand — Angel, Bobby, Bravo and three others, Apollo, Tiger and Nasa — accurately detected the virus 96.2 percent of the time in controlled settings, according to university researchers. Studies in Germany and the United Arab Emirates had lower but still impressive results.

Sweat samples, some from Covid-19 patients, are used to train the Labradors at Chulalongkorn University to identify the scent of an infected person.Adam Dean for The New York Times

Sniffer dogs work faster and far more cheaply than polymerase chain reaction, or P.C.R., testing, their proponents say. An intake of air through their sensitive snouts is enough to identify within a second the volatile organic compound or cocktail of compounds that are produced when a person with Covid-19 sheds damaged cells, researchers say.

“P.C.R. tests are not immediate, and there are false negative results, while we know that dogs can detect Covid in its incubation phase,” said Dr. Anne-Lise Chaber, an interdisciplinary health expert at the School of Animal and Veterinary Sciences at the University of Adelaide in Australia who has been working for six months with 15 Covid-sniffing dogs.

Some methods of detection, like temperature screening, can’t identify infected people who have no symptoms. But dogs can, because the infected lungs and trachea produce a trademark scent. And dogs need fewer molecules to nose out Covid than are required for P.C.R. testing, Thai researchers said.

The Thai Labradors are part of a research project run jointly by Chulalongkorn University and Chevron. The oil company had previously used dogs to test its offshore employees for illegal drug use, and a Thai manager wondered whether the animals could do the same with the coronavirus. A dog’s ability to sniff out Covid-19 is, in theory, no different from its prowess in detecting narcotics, explosives or a Scooby snack hidden in a pocket.

The six dogs were assigned six handlers, who exposed them to sweat-stained cotton balls from the socks and armpits of Covid-positive individuals. Researchers say the risks to the dogs are low: The coronavirus is not known to be easily transmissible through perspiration, a plentiful commodity in tropical Thailand. Instead, the main transmission route appears to be respiratory droplets.

Cutting cotton swabs to be used for sweat samples.Adam Dean for The New York Times

Bravo at rest.Adam Dean for The New York Times

On rare occasions, pet cats and dogs in close contact with infected humans have tested positive for the virus, as have populations of minks and other mammals. (There are no proven cases, however, of household pets passing the virus to humans.)

Within a couple months of training, at about 600 sniffs per day, the Thai dogs were sitting obediently whenever they sensed the cellular byproducts of Covid-19 on cotton balls, which researchers placed at nose height on a carousel-like contraption.

Dogs, whose wet snouts have up to 300 million olfactory receptors compared to roughly six million for humans, can be trained to memorize about 10 smell patterns for a specific compound, Dr. Kaywalee said. Dogs can also smell through another organ nestled between their noses and mouths.

Some research has suggested that dogs of various breeds may be able to detect diabetes, Parkinson’s disease, malaria and certain cancers — that is, the volatile organic compounds or bodily fluids associated with them.

The hope is that dogs can be used in crowded public places, like stadiums and airports, to identify people who have the coronavirus. Adam Dean for The New York Times

Labradors are among the smartest breeds, said Lertchai Chaumrattanakul, who leads Chevron’s part of the dog project. They are affable, too, making them the ideal doggy detector: engaged and eager.

Mr. Lertchai noted that Labradors are expensive, about $2,000 each in Thailand. But the cotton swabs and other basic equipment for canine testing work out to about 75 cents per sample. That is much cheaper than what’s needed for other types of rapid screening. This past week, Singapore announced that it was provisionally approving a kind of breathalyzer to test for Covid-19.

Three of the Thai Labradors are stationed in the country’s deep south, near the border with Malaysia, where the Ministry of Public Health says dangerous Covid-19 variants have entered Thailand. The other three were moved in recent weeks to the ninth floor of Chulalongkorn’s veterinary faculty’s building in Bangkok, where they live in former student dormitories.

There is artificial turf on the roof for quick pit stops, and the dogs get a daily romp on a university soccer field. Their rooms are air-conditioned.

For a couple hours in the morning and afternoon, the retrievers take turns obligingly pacing up and down a room set up with metal arms that dangle sweat samples. Walking past, they sniff-snuffle up to 10 times a second, as dogs are wont to do. (Humans tend to manage only a single inhalation every second or so.)

Then they retire to their living quarters for a nap and occasional belly rub.

Thawatchai Promchot, Angel’s handler, walked her back to her dormitory.Adam Dean for The New York Times

“Their lives are good, better than many humans,” said Thawatchai Promchot, Angel’s handler, who worked as a Chevron supplier before diverting into animal health screening.

Mr. Thawatchai said he grew up with 12 dogs in the southern province of Nakhon Si Thammarat, where the family pets snoozed in the garden and sought shade under trees. They did not enjoy air-conditioning.

The Bangkok-based dogs are now screening sweat samples from Thais who cannot easily reach Covid testing sites, such as the elderly or the bedridden. The dogs’ minders are working to set up a program with the city’s prisons, where thousands of inmates have been diagnosed with Covid.

Thailand is suffering its worst outbreak of the coronavirus since the pandemic began. Clusters are proliferating in prisons, construction camps and other cramped quarters. Vaccines are in short supply, and less than 2 percent of the population has been inoculated.

Researchers at Chulalongkorn have designed a mobile unit that they plan to drive to possible Covid hot spots, so that dogs can pinpoint areas that need mass testing.

There are still many questions about using dogs to detect the virus. What do vaccinated people smell like? How easy will it be to train a large pack of Covid-sniffing dogs around the world? What if people being tested by a canine nose aren’t that sweaty? What if a dog gets Covid-19 and loses its sense of smell?

Still, Mr. Lertchai said he thought that virus-detecting dogs would be a boon, particularly in countries that don’t have the resources for more expensive testing.

“Covid isn’t going away, and there will be new variants,” he said. “Dogs want to be helpful, so let’s use them.”

Research has suggested that some dogs may be able to detect diabetes, Parkinson’s disease, malaria and certain cancers.Adam Dean for The New York Times

Muktita Suhartono contributed reporting.

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Australia, New Zealand present united front on China - Al Jazeera English

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The leaders of New Zealand and Australia have presented a united front on China, expressing deep concern over Beijing’s actions in Hong Kong and Xinjiang while pushing for a continued investigation into the origins of the COVID-19 pandemic.

New Zealand’s Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, who hosted her Australian counterpart, Scott Morrison, for talks on Monday, strongly refuted suggestions of differences in the two countries’ approach towards China.

“You’ll see Australia and New Zealand have broadly been positioned in exactly the same place on these issues consistently,” she said at a joint press conference in Queenstown. “So, I really push back on any suggestion that we are not taking a strong stance on these incredibly important issues.”

The show of unity came amid escalating tensions between Australia and China, with Beijing blocking some Australian exports after Canberra excluded China’s telecom giant Huawei from its 5G phone network and called for an independent inquiry into the origins of the novel coronavirus.

Australia has since referred China to the World Trade Organization over its decision to restrict Australian barley.

New Zealand, on the other hand, has opted for a more diplomatic approach by strengthening economic ties with Beijing, including upgrading a free trade agreement this year. This has led to suggestions in the Australian media that Wellington was being too soft on Beijing.

But Morrison defended New Zealand, saying he and Ardern shared similar philosophies.

“Australia and New Zealand are trading nations,” the Australian leader said. “But neither of us would ever trade our sovereignty or trade our values. We have stood side-by-side to defend and protect and promote these values.”

He warned “there will be those far from here who would seek to divide us,” but said, “they will not succeed.”

Ahead of Morrison’s visit, New Zealand said it would back Australia in the WTO spat.

Hong Kong, Xinjiang, coronavirus

The two leaders, in a joint declaration after their talks, expressed “deep concern over developments that limit the rights and freedoms of the people of Hong Kong”, where Beijing has clamped down on dissent by introducing a new security law that criminalises what it considers subversion, secessionism, terrorism or collusion with foreign forces.

Ardern and Morrison also criticised China’s treatment of the Uighur minority in Xinjiang, calling on Beijing to respect their human rights and grant the United Nations and other independent observers unfettered access to the region. Activists and UN rights experts say at least one million Muslims have been detained in camps in Xinjiang. The activists and some Western politicians accuse China of using torture, forced labour and sterilisations. Beijing denies the accusations.

On the World Health Organization’s inquiry into the origins of the pandemic, both leaders told reporters they hoped the global health body’s investigation would continue.

“It’s got nothing to do with global politics,” Morrison said. “This has nothing to do with anything other than ensuring that the global pandemic, which has caused such havoc around the world, stealing lives and livelihoods, that we understand how this occurred so we can do everything we possibly can to ensure that it does not happen again.”

He also said both Australia and New Zealand wanted a free and peaceful Indo-Pacific region and would work to ensure that goal was not threatened by rising tensions between the United States and China.

“The world is being characterised by increased strategic competition between the US and China, that is a self-evident fact,” he said. “I would say our shared view is that such strategic competition does not need to lead to increased likelihood of conflict.”

Ardern meanwhile said New Zealand remained a committed member of the US-led Five Eyes intelligence-sharing alliance, which also includes Australia, Canada and the United Kingdom.

“That is not in question, not in doubt,” she said.

New Zealand and Australia opened a quarantine-free travel bubble last month, allowing Morrison’s visit to take place. Both leaders said the next logical step in the gradual reopening of their borders would be to expand the bubble to include some other South Pacific island nations.

The two leaders also indicated that Australian citizen Brenton Tarrant, who two years ago slaughtered 51 worshippers at two Christchurch mosques, would continue serving his sentence of life without parole in New Zealand.

Ardern said the guidance on where Tarrant should be imprisoned needed to come from survivors and loved ones, and the informal feedback she’d received from them was in favour of him staying in New Zealand.

“And I understand that,” Ardern said. “There’s something about the proximity in ensuring that the sentence that was handed down is served.”

Morrison said he, too, wanted to respect the wishes of those affected.

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Mural honors Detroit firefighter, other front-line Detroiters killed by COVID-19 - Detroit Free Press

HR managers move from the shadows to the front lines during the pandemic - Digiday

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This article is part of the Future of Work briefing, a weekly email with stories, interviews, trends and links about how work, workplaces and workforces are changing. Sign up here.

The role of a human resources director has traditionally involved juggling responsibilities — but never so much as during the coronavirus pandemic. 

“It has always been our job to be equal parts coach, mentor, enforcer, therapist, manager, expert and sometimes, lawyer,” said Jamie Coakley, vp of people at the New York-based IT firm Electric. But amid the COVID-19 crisis, she added, “I felt some days that I could go work for FEMA [Federal Emergency Management Agency], maybe a crisis organization, or go into the medical field as a next step with how quickly things escalated. Some days I was an amateur nurse documenting employee symptoms, other days I was just a helpful ear.” 

As its role is to be directly responsible for employees and employee-related issues, the HR job is inherently challenging. Dealing with individuals and their unique needs, all the while managing the execution of company and government policies, often means bridging a gap between what a person needs and what the organization can do. But making employees feel safe has been uncharted territory. “My job really pushed the boundaries of providing some level of physical and mental health care for employees,” Coakley said.

Last March, when the media started to warn of an impending public health crisis, consumers were bombarded with misinformation, leading to widespread feelings of stress and anxiety. Coakley’s firm swiftly communicated to its employees that their health and safety were the company’s first priority. It made weekly updates and check-ins a priority, and accommodated flexible hours around childcare needs. “We have continued to take the stance that if an issue in the outside world is affecting our employees, then it is an employee issue and we need to be a part of the solution,” Coakley added.

She believes the role of HR has changed forever with the pandemic. “In the coming years, we will continue to see HR in the most progressive organizations prioritize the personal health, mental health and general well-being of their teams,” she said. “There will be increased awareness around mental health, therapy, childcare and time-off policies in months to come. And for years to come, I believe we will see healthcare provided onsite and access to medical care for all workers.”

Kim Nguyen, director of people operations at the New York-based fintech firm Alloy, noted that HR professionals have not been immune from the difficulties all employees in an organization face. She found herself consistently emphasizing the need for her company’s employees to take PTO — even as she ended up taking very little herself.

While HR people have been in charge of figuring out how to maintain any sense of workplace normalcy and employee wellness, she observed, no one has really been checking in on them.

Noting her involvement with organizations of HR professionals during the pandemic, Nguyen said, “You could really see people getting tired, burned out, drained of energy and enthusiasm. It went from ‘We can do this!’ in the beginning to ‘You know what? I need to take a little pause for myself here.’”

To take better care of herself meant re-evaluating her own day-to-day schedule. She now has blocks on her calendar for personal time, drawing a clear line between work and home hours. She also noted the importance of accepting that she didn’t always have the answers — which is ultimately a positive thing. “A lot of things went out the window when COVID hit,” Nguyen said. “When you admit you don’t know all the answers, you can drop the ego, and seek out others to be more innovative and thoughtful with solutions.”

It is also essential that HR people ask for help themselves when they need it, she added.

Nguyen’s firm has employed policies to aid employees during the pandemic including free therapy sessions and regular messages to the staff from the CEO. It also regularly reviews PTO for all its teams, and if it notices someone is not taking enough time off, they get nudged. It is also important for companies to adjust perspective and shift away from goals that are set in stone – keeping empathy top of mind and setting expectations around realistic objectives instead. 

Also, companies and their employees must not hesitate to shake up their routines. Nguyen noted that on a recent morning, she realized she hadn’t been out of the office for four straight days. So she proposed to her boss that they do their weekly one-on-one meeting that afternoon in a nearby park instead of over a Zoom call. 

Kristi Roe, head of healthcare experience at Medallia, a global customer and employee experience company based in San Francisco whose clients include Mercedes-Benz, Sephora and Samsung, observed that HR officers have gone from the shadows to front and center during the pandemic. 

“There became this sense of urgency in regard to remote work — how were we going to keep people safe, help them take care of their families?” she said. In the early days of the crisis Roe became somewhat of a “childcare guru,” helping employees with their family needs. “People in HR worked tirelessly. We worked weekends. So much landed on our plates,” she added. Being at the center of this new work arrangement meant lots of flexibility and communication. Now HR is transitioning from running as fast as it can to “going deep. It’s not a race anymore. It’s about getting it right.” 

Typically, most employees don’t regularly interact with HR. But that has now changed dramatically as they’ve had to become adept at communicating with, and listening to, employees, added Roe.

Mental health continues to be a priority, and something HR reps have had to learn fast. Paying attention to the wellness of employees is tied directly to employee goodwill and retention. “If we are your employer, you are expecting us to do more in the way of mental health,” Roe said. “What programs do we offer? What is our benefits structure? Do we have a culture that supports well-being? It’s an opportunity for HR to become transformative.” 

Now that the focus is on bringing people back into the physical office, “employees see the role HR plays in their lives,” she said. “There’s an incredible opportunity for HR to lean into that.”

3 Questions with Jon Schleuss, president of the Newsguild

What’s the biggest variable your shops are dealing with around returning to an office?
Safety is at the very top. You can look at different employers — we have probably 200 different news media employers — and if the workers are vaccinated, and the vaccines do appear to be working, then I think there’s a personal choice to do more work. We’re trying to find ways to prioritize the health and safety of people like photographers, who have to go into spaces like hospitals. In the actual physical newsrooms themselves, it’s making sure people are adequately spaced and that the ventilation systems are improved. The biggest thing for our people is making sure they do really effective surveys of people. The local union we have in L.A. did a survey of members there and found that only 2% wanted to come back to the office five days a week. A big part of that is the traffic in L.A., and the office being in El Segundo, but people have saved time and that’s allowed them to do more of their jobs. 

Do you think that in the future, newsrooms will be more distributed?
I definitely do. People, for most of the last year, have worked remotely. They’ve gotten pretty comfortable with that. At the same time the company needs to ensure their health and safety. Companies need to provide ergonomic chairs and desks so they can do their jobs. There are far too many people who are hunched over a laptop at their dining table.  

Do you think that the pendulum now begins to swing back toward what we knew in early 2020?
I was one of those people who thought things would be better by the summer. I moved to D.C. to do this job, and then three months later we shut down the union offices. I’ve worked from home pretty much ever since. It does seem like the vast majority of employers are looking to return to work in limited capacity this year. This comes back to what’s the most effective thing for journalists looking to do their jobs. They could be working from home. If it makes them a better journalist and it gives them time have a life outside of their job, that’s a good thing. Journalists are bad about having lives. We need to think about how and when we work from home, there are things in place that make it possible to turn off Slack or put your phone on airplane mode when you take a day off. — Max Willens

By the numbers

• 54% of 2,400 knowledge workers surveyed in January said that fatigue from being overworked during the pandemic will effect their intent to stay at their current company.
  [Source of data: Gartner’s 2021 Hybrid Work Employee Survey.]

• 48% of 1,004 remote workers surveyed said they have had been the target of a phishing/cybersecurity attack at least once. Over 40% of these remote employees experienced data breaches as a result.
  [Source of data: VPN Overview’s Cybersecurity Report.]

• Data from a survey of 2,000 tech employees showed black and hispanic women continue to see the widest wage gap: 59% of the time, men were offered higher salaries than women for the same job title at the same company in 2020, compared to 65% in 2019.
  [Source of data: Hired’s 2021 Impact Report – Wage Inequality in the Workplace.]

What else we’ve covered

• The trials of the last year have left a deep imprint on many and as such, the prospect of returning to the office is causing a wide spectrum of feelings from excitement and relief, to stress, fear and anxiety, according to Digiday Research.
  
• Fashion brands in the U.S. are working hard to reopen stores, they’ve been slower to move their employees back into offices. But, now that vaccinations are becoming widespread some are looking to reinvest in office space.
  
• In some countries, like the U.K., governments have introduced shared parental leave policies, as a way to help balance gender equality. But uptake remains very low, leading to demands for an overhaul. Ad agencies in particular want to push to establish more effective policies that encourage more men to take SPL.

This newsletter is edited by Jessica Davies, managing editor, Future of Work.

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Arizona Cardinals front seven should improve greatly in 2021 - Raising Arizona

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A dramatic improvement from the front seven could be on tap for the Arizona Cardinals defense as the 2021 NFL season approaches.

Three seasons into his stint as the defensive coordinator of the Arizona Cardinals, Vance Joseph may finally be running out of excuses.

Far too often during the past two campaigns, Joseph’s defense failed to get off of the field on third down, and they routinely displayed some embarrassing tackling techniques as well.

Things could be on the upswing for the Cardinals‘ defense in 2021, however, thanks to a front seven that could potentially show dramatic improvement over the group that took to the field last fall.

What will be different for the Arizona Cardinals front seven in 2021?

Perhaps the most obvious change that was made to Joseph’s crew was the addition of the sensational J.J. Watt back in March. The five-time Pro Bowler will bring a superstar presence to an Arizona defensive line that has lacked that quality since Calais Campbell left the team back in 2017.

Another huge factor for the Cardinals will be the return of the great Chandler Jones, the squad’s fabulous pass-rusher who suffered a season-ending bicep injury last October. The 6-foot-5, 265-pounder played in just five games last year, after a 2019 campaign in which he recorded 19 quarterback sacks for the Redbirds.

Situated in the middle of the Arizona defensive contingent will sit what appears to be the youngest inside linebacker duo in the NFL. Isaiah Simmons and Zaven Collins, the franchise’s top selections from the past two drafts, could be ready to show off their skills on each and every offense they face this coming season.

Joining Watt on the Cardinals’ defensive line are players like Jordan Phillips, Leki Fotu, Zach Allen, and Rashard Lawrence. Phillips disappointed as a free-agent pickup last season after registering 9.5 sacks and 16 quarterback hits for the Buffalo Bills in 2019. Allen made significant improvement last year in his second campaign with Arizona, while Fotu and Lawrence showed promise as rookie nose tackles.

Outside linebacker Markus Golden returned to the desert last October and he displayed the same high motor Cardinals fans fell in love with during his first term with the club.

Dennis Gardeck contributed seven sacks in extremely limited action before an injured knee sidelined the special teams ace in December. As for Jordan Hicks and Devon Kennard, they are two high-priced backups who may not make it through final cuts in September.

Arizona’s front office is expecting positive results next season out of what looks like a much-improved band of defenders. A front seven led by star performers like Watt and Jones is preparing to lead the way.

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Middle Park Health construction shoots for July completion - Sky Hi News

The new entrance at the Granby Middle Park Health location. Recent construction relocated the clinic, added inpatient and emergency room space, as well as a dedicated space for specialized services.
McKenna Harford/mharford@skyhinews.com

Middle Park Health hopes to finish construction on its Granby and Kremmling campuses in July, expanding the hospital district by over 22,000 square feet.

At the main campus in Granby, the expansion will add inpatient beds for medical and surgical patients and improve the clinic space, which will include exam and treatment rooms. In addition, there will be a new centralized check-in desk right inside the clinic entrance and a dedicated space for specialized services, such as dermatology and gynecology.

As of Tuesday, Granby’s newly built out spaces were just waiting on furniture and technological equipment, with plans for final inspection on the construction this week.

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“We’re really limited by the IT infrastructure because the shortages of microchips and processors has really hurt our networking team’s ability to get the equipment in so we make this place functional,” said Derek Ortner, chief operating officer for Middle Park Health.

Kremmling’s 14,500 square foot addition features two emergency exam rooms, two trauma bays, three inpatient rooms, CT and X-ray suites, as well as a primary care clinic with exam and treatment rooms. Construction is about a month behind Granby.

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The goals of the improvements at both Granby and Kremmling are to keep up with increasing patient demand and improve patient experience, whether someone is just going in for a check-up or has to stay overnight to heal.

Once construction is finalized and the new spaces are ready to host patients, Middle Park Health’s spokesperson Tiffany Freitag said the hospital would celebrate with ribbon cutting ceremonies, though those details are yet to come.

The hospital also continues to finance a new emergency department in Fraser’s Grand Park neighborhood.

 

The Sky-Hi News strives to deliver powerful stories that spark emotion and focus on the place we live.

Over the past year, contributions from readers like you helped to fund some of our most important reporting, including coverage of the East Troublesome Fire.

If you value local journalism, consider making a contribution to our newsroom in support of the work we do.

 

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Helio Castroneves wins his fourth Indianapolis 500 in front of 135000 fans (corrects number of fans) - American Press

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Helio Castroneves wins his fourth Indianapolis 500 in front of 135000 fans (corrects number of fans)  American Press

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Helio Castroneves wins Indianapolis 500 for 4th time, in front of 135,000 fans - MarketWatch

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INDIANAPOLIS — Written off as too old to race full-time, too old for a fourth Indianapolis 500 win, Helio Castroneves at long last joined that exclusive club in a popular victory for the old guys.

Then Spiderman scaled the Indianapolis Motor Speedway fence for his trademark victory celebration at the largest sporting event since the start of the pandemic.

Castroneves wasn’t done yet.

At 46 and one of the oldest drivers in the field, he sprinted along the frontstretch of the speedway for a victory lap without a car for the 135,000 fans in attendance. He pumped his arms in the air and waved to the ecstatic crowd, his explosion of emotional energy stopped every few feet by a flood of rivals who rushed onto the track to congratulate Castroneves.

Almost every member of Team Penske rushed out to meet Castroneves, including former teammate Will Power, who saw the final scoring pylon and had no idea his longtime friend won.

“I was looking up and down ‘Who is the 06?’” Power told Castroneves in a victory hug. “You’re a legend.”

Castroneves became the fourth-oldest winner in Indianapolis 500 history, behind Al Unser (47, 1987), Bobby Unser (47, 1981) and Emerson Fittipaldi (46, 1993).

Castroneves spent more than two decades driving for Team Penske and won three Indy 500s with the team. But he was eventually phased over to the sports car program, where he won the IMSA championship last season before Roger Penske shuttered the team and made the business decision to cut Castroneves loose.

Spiderman insisted he was not done racing yet and Michael Shank agreed.

He hired Castroneves for the Indy 500 to complement the one-car Meyer Shank Racing team. Maybe Castroneves would have a shot to win, but he’d also boost a team that needed some veteran leadership at one of the most challenging tracks in the world.

Castroneves had been trying since 2009 to join A.J. Foyt, Al Unser Sr. and Rick Mears, his former mentor at Team Penske, as the only four-time winners of “The Greatest Spectacle in Racing.” Mears was the last driver to join the club in 1991.

“I love Indianapolis! You guys don’t understand it! The fans, you give me energy,” Castroneves said.

Castroneves was also part of the winning Rolex 24 Daytona sports car team in January, taking the prestigious sports car event for the first time.

“I’ve run two races this year and won two races, I’d say that’s pretty good,” said Castroneves, who noted this might be the year for aging veterans.

“I don’t know if this is a good comparison, but Tom Brady won the Super Bowl and Phil Mickelson won the golf so here you go. The older guys are still kicking the younger guys’ butts.”

Brady, a seven-time Super Bowl champion, capped his first season with Tampa Bay by leading the Bucs to their first championship in 18 years at 43 years old. Mickelson at 50 became the oldest major winner last week.

Castroneves’ win was a stark contrast to the recent theme of young drivers taking over IndyCar, which now has six different winners through six races this season. Three of them have been first-time winners and four are drivers aged 24 or younger.

Castroneves found himself in a closing duel with one of the young stars, 24-year-old Spaniard Alex Palou, but he passed Palou for good with two laps remaining and beat him by 0.4928 seconds for the victory.

When he finally made it to the real victory lane — after a kiss from Mario Andretti, a hug from Johnny Rutherford, well wishes from just about every Indy 500 great — Castroneves sipped from his bottle of 2% milk and then dumped the rest over his head.

When he climbed into the back of a convertible for his true victory lap around the 2.5-mile speedway, most of the fans were still in the stands cheering Castroneves.

Former Penske teammate Simon Pagenaud, the 2019 Indy winner, was third, followed by Pato O’Ward, the 21-year-old budding IndyCar star.

A year ago, no fans were allowed for the race that was delayed from May to August. This year, celebrities were back and fans were everywhere and they were treated to a win by one of the most popular drivers in Indy 500 history.

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Rangers Continue Front Office Turnover With Dismissal of Nickolai Bobrov - Blueshirt Banter

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Nickolai Bobrov has been fired by the New York Rangers according to Larry Brooks.

Rangers dismissed Bobrov, Post has learned. Chris Drury will oversee draft in conjunction with director of North American scouting Chris Morehouse, and with input from European scouts when applicable...

— Larry Brooks (@NYP_Brooksie) May 30, 2021

The move is certainly a surprising one on the surface, but when you look at Bobrov’s career history, it appears this is the organization getting rid of a holdover from Jeff Gorton’s tenure that held a pretty important role.

Bobrov served as the Rangers head of European Scouting from 2015-16 through this season, and joined the organization when Jeff Gorton was promoted to GM. Prior to joining the Rangers, Bobrov was a member of the Boston Bruins organization from 1999 to 2006. He left the organization when Peter Chiarelli was promoted to GM, and a year before Gorton was ultimately fired by the Bruins. After leaving the Bruins he worked with the Los Angeles Kings as a scout, and he also served as SKA St. Petersburg’s Director of North American scouting.

Bobrov, by all accounts he seemed like he was good at his job. He was at the forefront over the last few years as the Rangers talked about their prospects overseas, and was involved in the process when it came to who was ultimately drafted. He also would check in with players overseas in a precursor to the positions that were ultimately created for Tanner Glass and Tuomo Ruutu.

Bobrov also was the main person on camera giving updates on prospects, and served as an interpreter for some of the Rangers’ Russian players.

For years Gordie Clark was the guy for the Rangers when it came to the draft, but over the last few years you could see Bobrov starting to have a little more influence in the process. Bobrov was interviewed in 2019 by the New York Post, and he talked about the process of drafting players.

We take this week as a week to get to know the kids better, to get to know their backgrounds, their families, how they react in different situations in the interview, with 15 people sitting there, staring at you, poking at your life with different questions. Most of them are pretty dialed in, well-spoken and polished. And then we see how they react to pressure. Obviously, we have strength coaches here looking at their bodies and their test scores. Sometimes it matches with what we see on the ice and sometimes it doesn’t. So we try to correlate all that and put together the mosaic.

He later went on to talk about how the Rangers look at a variety of players, and sometimes try and find situations where they can move up, using K’Andre Miller as an example.

You know who you want, by and large. You know who you’re interested in, you’ve been zoomed in for a while. Sometimes you just hope they’re there for you. You work out scenarios of maybe trading up for some guys, like we did with K’Andre last year.

It certainly appears that a path is being cleared for Drury to ultimately install his own people in the various departments of hockey operations. Brooks’ tweet also mentioned that for the upcoming draft Drury will run the draft in conjunction with Director of North American Scouting Chris Morehouse, and the organizations European scouts where applicable.

Ultimately this isn’t a big deal for one draft, and it could suggest that the Rangers ultimately don’t plan on making many early picks. The fate of the Rangers’ first round pick will be determined at the draft lottery, but it sure seems like that will be used as an asset as opposed to taking a player.

The Rangers don’t have a second round pick, but have the first pick of the third round (acquired from Buffalo Sabres in Jimmy Vesey trade), their own third, their own fourth, a fourth acquired from the Kings in the Brendan Lemieux trade, a fourth acquired from Ottawa in the Vlad Namestnikov trade, and their own picks in the fifth, sixth, and seventh round.

The draft is going to be an interesting one given the disparity in games played by prospects due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but if the Rangers are basically punting this draft if they trade their earliest picks, it could explain why the decision was made now.

This is the latest example of Drury looking to put his touch on the organization, and it will be interesting to see what direction the organization goes in next to ultimately overhaul their scouting and draft department.

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Authorities Investigate After Coffin is Found on Front Lawn of Dallas County D.A. John Creuzot's Home - NBC 5 Dallas-Fort Worth

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Authorities Investigate After Coffin is Found on Front Lawn of Dallas County D.A. John Creuzot's Home

By Dallas Morning News Staff • Published May 29, 2021 • Updated on May 29, 2021 at 8:15 pm

Juan Figueroa / Staff Photographer

Authorities are investigating after a coffin bearing the scrawled words “Diamond Ross” was found on the front lawn of Dallas County District Attorney John Creuzot’s White Rock-area home Saturday morning.

Officers arrived about 6:40 a.m. to the home in the 8100 block of San Leandro Drive “regarding a coffin being placed in the front yard without the homeowner’s permission,” said Sgt. Warren Mitchell, a Dallas police spokesman.

Download our NBC DFW mobile app for Apple or Android to get alerts for local breaking news and weather.

Later in the morning, authorities — including bomb squad members — were at the home investigating the coffin and eventually removing it. Creuzot was seen outside talking with authorities, including someone from the Dallas County Sheriff’s Department.

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Wiesberger remains out front in Denmark - Golf Punk

Making the most of it: Middle Park High School graduates Class of 2021 - Sky Hi News

Graduating seniors at Middle Park High School react as they watch a slideshow during their graduation ceremony on Saturday.
Eli Pace / epace@skyhinews.com

Middle Park High School has graduated 98 impressive students despite the COVID-19 pandemic that colored every aspect of their senior year.

From wearing facemasks each school day to a scaled-back graduation, the Class of 2021 truly had a year like no other.

Valedictorian Lesley Ruiz is the first to admit the challenges that the pandemic presented as she fought the lack of motivation that set in when school shut down last March.

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Ruiz is no stranger to overcoming challenges, and graduating with honors despite the pandemic was just another obstacle overcome by the graduate who couldn’t speak English when she started kindergarten.

Valedictorian Lesley Ruiz returns to her seat after speaking in front of her class during their graduation ceremony.
Eli Pace / epace@skyhinews.com

Getting to attend school in person this year — despite how weird it was to get used to facemasks — was something Ruiz was happy could happen. She knows her teachers worked hard to make her senior year as normal as it could be and commended her classmates for making it possible.

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“I think that everybody really came together,” Ruiz said. “We were all able to respect the rules and stay pretty safe throughout the whole pandemic.”

Middle Park was able to keep in-person learning for the most part, though the school battled a number of quarantines throughout the year.

Ruiz felt that she and her classmates grew closer because of these challenges. She pointed to camping trips and an end of the year water balloon fight that brought the class together.

“We tried to get the most out of it so we could get the most real experience for our senior year,” Ruiz said. “I think everybody who was in person was connected in that way because we were trying to go for a common goal.”

Middle Park seniors throw their caps after being presented as Middle Park High School’s Class of 2021.
Eli Pace / epace@skyhinews.com

Ruiz helped tutor underclassmen this year, played on the volleyball team and was a member of both Interact Club and the National Honor Society. She’s also leaving for college with the help of seven local scholarships.

“I’m a first generation student also so that’s really cool for my parents to see,” Ruiz said. “I just want to be a good influence on my siblings and on other students like that.”

She plans to attend the University of New Mexico with the hopes of finding a job on the business side of the medical field. That was something she grew a passion for after helping her dad with his business paperwork and an internship at the hospital.

“I’m most proud of the fact that I didn’t stop,” Ruiz said of her senior year. “I didn’t stop trying to do the (hardest) classes. I didn’t stop trying at school because of everything that was happening. I kept going with AP courses and even honors classes to do the best I could.”

Middle Park valedictorian Lesley Ruiz addresses her class during the 2021 graduation ceremony.
Eli Pace / epace@skyhinews.com

Middle Park’s graduating class walks away with a number of impressive students. Combined, the Class of 2021 has received $134,725 in local scholarships.

Along with Ruiz, Middle Park salutatorian Ella Wiser, Jackson Harvey, Abby Kuhnel, Bethanne Droll, Canyon Jarbo, Krista Conrad, Brianna Renteria Rios, Cameron Kirwan, Katie Trail, Emma Lane, Margaret Pfeiffer, Drew Landy, Zoe Bole, Holly Harms and Peyton McGuan are all graduating with Summa Cum Laude for grade point averages of 4.0 and higher.

Middle Park salutatorian Ella Wiser delivers the welcoming address at the Class of 2021’s graduation ceremony.
Eli Pace / epace@skyhinews.com

Another 19 students will graduate Magna Cum Laude and 10 leave with Cum Laude. Madeline Ruttenberg was named for top community service with 952 volunteer hours logged.

Six graduates — Ethan Ruttenberg, Alex Holinka, Gustavo Galaviz, Katie Trail, Cameron Kirwan and Robert Graham — have been signed to play college sports.

Middle Park senior Alex Holinka receives his diploma from Principal Cindy Rimmer on Saturday in Granby.
Eli Pace / epace@skyhinews.com

Another five students will serve their country. Dawson Grabner plans to join the US Army, James Craig and Nicholas Rojas are joining the US Navy and Cameron Freisen and Ben Opatril will go on to the US Marines.

Graduating senior Cameron Freisen stands as students who’ve chosen to enter the armed forces are recogzined at Middle Park’s graduation ceremony.
Eli Pace / epace@skyhinews.com

The Class of 2021, following a year like no other, walks away with newfound resiliency as well.

“I know a lot of people felt like a lot got taken away from them, but it’s a good way to grow,” Ruiz said. “I feel like everybody got a lot of experience in growing in themselves because we made the most of what we could.”

Ben Opatril, center, rides a trailer with his classmates during a graduation day parade throughout Granby.
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Middle Park seniors celebrate during the graduation day parade in Granby.
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