Daily Archives: April 21, 2017

Working Together as a Community: the Activism of Fernando … – Link TV

Posted: April 21, 2017 at 2:45 am

Fernando Czares | Photo: courtesy F.Czares

The common stereotype of environmental activists would tell you that they're all either high-priced lawyers or trust fund hippies. That hasn't been true for decades, if it ever was at all. Our series This Is What Green Looks Like profiles Californian environmental activists fromdiverse communities andwalks of life, bringing you stories of your neighbors campaigning to protect the planet.

Fernando Czares is reluctant to call himself an environmentalist in the traditional sense.

As Senior Manager of The Trust for Public Lands Climate Smart Cities program, and working for the Natural Resources Defense Council before that, he has been professionally involved in environmental organizations for almost four years now. But he is acutely aware that his entry into environmental activism wasnt prefaced by an educational background in environmental conservation. Rather, his involvement in the environmental movement comes from a more experiential, one might say, organic, place.

One of the principles of organizing is that you dont just show up to a community and pretend that you know their issues and their solution, says Czares. You establish a relationship, you do a lot of listening, and you let folks share with you what their priorities are. In return, you share your vision and offer resources to support their agenda.

And you find opportunities to work together towards a common vision. Ive been very mindful of that for the last four years, Czares explains. Ive been inspired by the leaders of the Equipo Verde who live in the same neighborhood where I grew up, and are telling their story of organizing their vecinas (neighbors), and elementary and high school-age children to plant trees, write poetry and paint murals in the South LA Green Alleys to anyone wholl listen, including California legislators at their Sacramento offices. Ive also been inspired by the grassroots work of organizations like East Yard Communities for Environmental Justice and the Center for Community Action and Environmental Justice.

Czares and his family immigrated to the U.S. in 1990, making a home for themselves in South Central L.A. A middle school student, he remembers having to share a room with his parents and younger brother in a house also shared with other families. As with so many immigrant families living in crowded urban spaces, they didnt have a yard to play in. South Park was their closest public green space; he and his brother would play there with other neighborhood kids. The family would also drive to Griffith Park.

As Czares remembers, my mom would plan a whole picnic, prepare some food and wed picnic out in Griffith Park, wed hike and we would collect bottles and cans and sell them to make extra money. And so we managed to connect with open spaces, not just for recreation because we didnt have the opportunity to do that at home but also for some economic opportunities.

At that time, the young Czares wasnt particularly aware of the environmental benefits of public parks and open spaces. I didnt really think about the carbon sequestration value of parks, trees and open spaces like Griffith Park. We enjoyed them as free spaces of nature.

These early memories of open public spaces for his family and his community formed the core of what motivates Czares now in his environmental work.

"Climate justice is a social and civil rights issue our state and local climate policies and investments should be grounded in the principles of civil rights."

In 1992, he witnessed the Rodney King uprisings in L.A. As large pockets of his wider urban environment were razed, and buildings and businesses were destroyed, Czares observed first-hand the devastating aftershocks of the marginalization, alienation and degradation of low-income communities that more often than not were communities of color.

He recalls, I got to see the impact and the aftermath of buildings being burned, and communities grasping for some outlet of frustration; poor educational resources, police brutality, the lack of economic opportunity and jobs and inadequate transit to get to jobs, and the lack of affordable housing. I got to see what happens when things get burned down and you dont have resources to rebuild. It was a culture shock because I was two years into the U.S."

This experience at an impressionable age was coupled with his daily school bus ride, which crossed the city from South Central to the San Fernando Valley. His school was surrounded by gated communities with plenty of green trees, open space and an ostensibly better quality of life. To the young Czares, this chasm of inequality did not go unnoticed.

Czares subsequently earned a Public Policy degree from Occidental College and a Masters degree in Public Affairs and Urban & Regional Planning from Princeton University, both of which focused on how community organizing can influence land use planning. Since entering the environmental arena in 2013, he has worked to support grassroots activists doing day-to-day advocacy, and to ensure that organizations like The Trust for Public Land have those activists in meeting rooms along with city officials and public health representatives, so that the results of those meetings are grounded in the communitys priorities.

This desire to mobilize, support and engage with communities as an integral part of environmental activism is reflected in Czares involvement with the organization Voces Verdes, of which he was a project associate. A project of the Natural Resources Defense Council, Voces Verdes was founded to identify and empower Latinx leaders from business, public health, local government and academia, and engaging them to be spokespeople for why we as a nation need to move away from fossil fuels, protect public health, and promote environmental justice and energy efficiency.

As a Voces Verdes associate, he has helped build Latino leadership coalitions in key states such as Illinois, Pennsylvania, and Virginia to build support for President Obamas Clean Power Plan. He recruited and staffed leaders from organizations like the National Hispanic Medical Association, National Latino Farmers & Ranchers, the Illinois Hispanic Chamber of Commerce and the Little Village Environmental Justice Organization from Chicago to testify before the Environmental Protection Administration or speak at rallies.

Since January 2016, Fernando has worked to elevate the voices of neighborhood leaders of the South LA Green Team, in partnership with his organizer colleague Nancy Vargas. This past March, he assisted two Latina leaders during visits to California Assembly and Senate members as they spoke of their experience organizing their neighbors, children, husbands and nearby middle and high school students to paint murals, implement clean ups and tree plantings of their Green Alley, as well as to take on other pressing community issues like domestic violence and human trafficking.

Allies for alleys; Equipo Verde greens urban Los Angeles | Video: Trust for Public Land

And as much as environmental activism and climate-change issues are about science, conservation and the much-needed burgeoning of permaculture practices, activists like Czares are highlighting that that they are also inseparable from the civil rights movement.

He states as much unequivocally. Climate justice is a social and civil rights issue. As such, our state and local climate policies and investments should be grounded in the principles of civil rights quality of life, equity as a guiding value, economic empowerment and leadership of disenfranchised communities, and more than just fairness, to include an intentional effort to undo or at least not repeat the historic injustices of racism, classism, xenophobia, economic displacement and segregation in the name of progress.

In this political climate, with its all-out assault on the environment and the socially and economically vulnerable, this natural evolution of green activism to encompass civil rights issues is vital. The degradation of our natural world and our fellow humans have never been mutually exclusive. They are one and the same, and the environmental movement desperately needs more activists like Fernando Czares working to ensure that marginalized communities can be heard.

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Working Together as a Community: the Activism of Fernando ... - Link TV

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DSdanse perform for a worthy cause – Coast Reporter – Coast Reporter

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Sixteen young women aged 10 to 18 from the DSdanse Youth Dance Company put on a majestic performance at the Heritage Playhouse last weekend. The Majestic Project portrayed in dance and visuals the damage to our oceans that threatens sea life. Its a conversation we should be having, artistic director Dominique Hutchinson told the audience. It was made more powerful by the fact that the dancers were obviously committed to the message and also that they had choreographed most of it themselves. This is a presentation worth working on and should be tweaked and mounted again to gain wider exposure.

Earth Day

Walk, bicycle or car pool your way to Roberts Creek for Earth Day on April 22. Saturday morning at 10 a.m., join your neighbours for an Earth Day ceremony led by Rev. Raymond Niebergall at the Roberts Creek Hall with an open meditation using sound, music and heart to connect spiritually. Then walk down to the main event at the Roberts Creek pier park, starting at noon and ending at 5 p.m. There will be live music, food, singers, speakers, a raffle, fun activities and workshops for kids and families. Learn about the amazing initiatives in our community to support sustainability. Events are free; donations are welcome.

Fundraiser

Taurean Tunez is a fundraising, all ages dance being put on for a couple who lost their home to fire, Carrie Lee and Jerry (Scully) Stanway from Roberts Creek. The event is on Saturday, April 22 at the Roberts Creek Hall. The line-up of DJs is hot and sure to keep the dance floor hopping. Its $20 at the door from eight til late. Donations of clothing and food are also welcomed.

Steve Hinton

Bring your dancing shoes to the Gibsons Legion on Saturday, April 22, for a Blues Dance Party. A fixture for years in the Vancouver blues community, Roberts Creek resident Steve Hinton is known for his smooth vocals and powerful harmonica playing. He is backed by top Coast musicians Al Alford, guitar, Sully Antonyk, bass, and Tim Rannard on drums.

Potters present

On Saturday, April 22, Ray Niebergall, one of the potters of Heat Changes Everything, the current show at the Gibsons Public Art Gallery, offers a presentation Spirit of Clay from 2:30 to 3:30 p.m. Admission is by donation. The exhibit runs to April 30.

Piano Encore

The Sunshine Coast Festival of the Performing Arts opened April 10 with piano performances and adjudication. The Piano Encore concert, highlights of performances, will be held on Sunday, April 23 at 2 p.m. at the Sunshine Coast Arts Centre on Medusa Street in Sechelt. Donations at the door are appreciated. The vocal and choral segments of the Festival continue on Monday and Tuesday, April 24 and 25. See http://www.coastfestival.com for more information.

Paradise revisited

Sechelt author Andrew Scott will present his latest book an expanded new edition of The Promise of Paradise: Utopian Communities in British Columbia (Harbour Publishing) at the Gibsons Public Library on Wednesday, April 26 from 6 to 7:30 p.m. The event is free and refreshments will be available. The book explores the successes and failures of the many idealistic intentional communities that have appeared across B.C. over the past 150 years, from the model Christian villages of the missionaries, through the Doukhobors, the Brother XII cult and the counterculture communes, to todays sophisticated co-housing projects. With careful research and engaging first-person accounts, the author sifts through the wreckage of the utopia-seekers dreams to lay bare the practices and philosophies of todays intentional communities.

Met at the Ravens Cry

The Met Opera can be watched live via HD satellite on Saturday, April 22 at 10 a.m. at the Ravens Cry Theatre in Sechelt. Anna Netrebko reprises one of her most acclaimed roles as Tatiana, the nave heroine of Tchaikovskys opera, Eugene Onegin, adapted from Pushkins classic novel. Peter Mattei stars as the title character who rejects Tatianas love until its too late. Robin Ticciati, music director of Glyndebourne Festival Opera, conducts the revival of Deborah Warners staging, which opened the Mets 2013-14 season. Run time is almost four hours. For ticket information see http://www.ravenscrytheatre.com

Glass Slipper

Driftwood Theatre School presents The Glass Slipper, on April 28 and 29 at 7:30 p.m. and April 30 at 1 p.m. at the Heritage Playhouse in Gibsons. It runs again on May 5, 6 and 7. Tickets are $15 for adults and $10 for students, available at Laedeli, Giggle n Bloom, The Blackberry Shop, Sechelt Visitor Centre and http://www.share-there.com.

Poetry finale

The finale at the Sechelt Library to National Poetry Month will be on Thursday, April 27 at 7 p.m. in a presentation called Eclectic Electric Eye, a spoken word event with poets John Pass and Philip Jagger. Registration is recommended at info@sechelt.bclibrary.ca.

Coffee House

The monthly Artesia Coffee House at the Sunshine Coast Arts Centre is being held Friday, April 28 with music starting at 8 p.m. The grand piano will be on stage with Anna Lumiere, joined by her son Noah on violin. Val and Julie Rutter of Gemini will entertain with four hands, one piano and skilled style. After the break, for poetry month, will be poet Danika Dinsmore accompanied by Barry Taylor on percussion. To close the show is the Lynne Urquhart Band with Lynne on piano and vocals, Sacha Fassaert, guitar, Michael Munro, drums, and Gordie Birtch, bass. Tickets are $10 at the door, which opens at 7 p.m.

Hawaiian hula

Join in the spirit and power of Hawaiian hula. A new beginners group is starting Wednesdays from 7 to 8:30 p.m. in Gibsons, taught by Dhyana Kalalea Bartkow of Keia Papa Kaua, a traditional Hawaiian hula dance and performing group. She has been dancing and training in Kauai since 1999 with Puna Kalama Dawson, a kumu hula of ancient lineage and royalty who has given permission to share these teachings and also honours us with her inspirational presence in Gibsons yearly. Hula is a way of life based on aloha (unconditional love and gratitude) and ohana (family and community). In this spirit, all are welcome; no dance experience is necessary. In this four-week series ($60) you will learn basic foot, hip and hand movements as well as a chant and a hula. Classes are at Inner Moves Studio, 625 Glen Rd. in Gibsons. To register, contact Dhyana at 604-886-9737 or email Hula@InnerMoves.com.

Keep me posted

Please continue to send me your arts announcements, but note that they will run in the newspaper one day to one week ahead only. My deadline is Tuesday at noon for next Fridays paper. Email jandegrass@dccnet.com or phone 604-886-4692.

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Argo space travel: 2-man crew blasts off to ISS for 1st time in decade to make dairy product – RT

Posted: at 2:45 am

The Soyuz MS-04 Argo has taken off for the International Space Station (ISS) carrying a two-man crew for the first time in over a decade. The crew is set to conduct a number of experiments in orbit, including making a Russian dairy product.

The spacecraft lifted off into the sky from Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan at 1:13pm local time (07:13 GMT) and reached orbit just nine minutes into flight. It successfully docked with the ISS some six hours later, at 13:22 GMT.

The crew of expedition 51/52 consists of Fyodor Yurchikhin, a veteran Russian cosmonaut, and Jack Fischer, a first-time US astronaut. At age 58, it is Yurchikhins fifth orbital mission. He has already spent more time in orbit than any US astronaut 537 days. He also has eight space walks under his belt and is scheduled to make another jaunt into space during this mission to perform maintenance work and conduct some experiments.

Fischer, 43, will be flying to the ISS for the first time. He became an astronaut in 2009 after serving as a US Air Force pilot in Iraq and Afghanistan. During a pre-launch press conference, he said that all cosmonauts and astronauts are friends and paid his respects to the first cosmonaut, Yuri Gagarin, saying that he opened a door to the skies not only for the USSR but for the whole world.

Roscosmos also unveiled the emblem for expedition 51, which Yurchikhin said was inspired by the US second moon mission, Apollo-12. It features a sailing vessel symbolizing the dream of space flight and drawings made by Konstantin Tsiolkovsky, a Russian rocket scientist and pioneer in astronautic theory whose 160th birthday anniversary will be celebrated in 2017.

The Soyuz MS-04 spaceship that carried the crew to the ISS actually also carried its own name for the first time in the history of space flight.

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Usually Russian spaceships are called Soyuz MS-... where Soyuz describes the type of the spaceship and MS-01, MS-02, etc. is a sort of serial number, none of which is technically a name.

However, this time, for the first time, the ship received a name of its own Argo after a ship from the Greek mythology. So, its full name is Soyuz MS-04 Argo.

Yurchikhin justified the break in convention, saying, For me, [the ship] is a living being that has a right to its own name. It is our home that protects us.

Manned missions to the ISS usually involve three crew members, but prior to the launch Russias space agency, Roscosmos, decided to temporarily reduce the number of Russian crew members at the ISS to two. This move came despite the installation of a new ISS module called Nauka (Science) scheduled for autumn 2018.

Expedition 51/52 is the first two-man mission in over a decade. Another US-Russian duo, Edward Lu and Yuri Malenchenko, carried out a similar space mission in April of 2003. Yurchikhin and Fischer will join Russian cosmonaut Oleg Novitskiy, French flight engineer Thomas Pesquet, and NASA astronaut Peggy Whitson at the ISS and stay there till September.

The crew is expected to conduct a number of peculiar experiments while on orbit. In particular, Yurchikhin hopes to make a fermented Russian dairy product similar to buttermilk called kefir in zero gravity to help sustain crews on future extended space missions, such ones to Mars.

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Making kefir on board of the International Space Station in zero gravity is a unique experiment, he said during a press conference ahead of the flight.

Probiotic research is a very interesting area. I am sure this will lead to scientific achievements and provide practical value for astronauts, as we will be able to have fresh dairy products on board, Russian cosmonaut and biochemist Sergey Ryazansky, who is expected to fly to the ISS as part of the next expedition, said during the same press conference.

In the meantime, Whitson, who is now in command of the ISS crew, will break the US 534-day record for cumulative days in space previously held by Jeff Williams. US President Donald Trump and his daughter Ivanka are expected to congratulate her on her achievement on Monday, April 24, in an Earth-to-space call, according to NASA.

She will return to Earth together with Fischer and Yurchikhin, as NASA has decided to extend her stay at the ISS by three months.

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Can we see a singularity, the most extreme object in the universe? – Phys.Org

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April 20, 2017 A black hole (on the left) and a naked singularity (on the right). The dashed line represents the event horizon of the black hole, which is absent in the case of a naked singularity, and the arrows represent the direction in which light rays travel. In the case of the black hole, because of the presence of an event horizon, all light rays inside it necessarily end up at the singularity. However, light rays may escape from the vicinity of a naked singularity to a far away observer rendering it visible. Credit: Sudip Bhattacharyya, Pankaj Joshi

A team of scientists at the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (TIFR), Mumbai, India, have found new ways to detect a bare or naked singularity, the most extreme object in the universe.

When the fuel of a very massive star is spent, it collapses due to its own gravitational pull and eventually becomes a very small region of arbitrarily high matter density, that is a 'Singularity', where the usual laws of physics may breakdown. If this singularity is hidden within an event horizon, which is an invisible closed surface from which nothing, not even light, can escape, then we call this object a black hole. In such a case, we cannot see the singularity and we do not need to bother about its effects. But what if the event horizon does not form? In fact, Einstein's theory of general relativity does predict such a possibility when massive stars collapse at the end of their life-cycles. In this case, we are left with the tantalizing option of observing a naked singularity.

An important question then is, how to observationally distinguish a naked singularity from a black hole. Einstein's theory predicts an interesting effect: the fabric of spacetime in the vicinity of any rotating object gets 'twisted' due to this rotation. This effect causes a gyroscope spin and makes orbits of particles around these astrophysical objects precess. The TIFR team has recently argued that the rate at which a gyroscope precesses (the precession frequency), when placed around a rotating black hole or a naked singularity, could be used to identify this rotating object. Here is a simple way to describe their results. If an astronaut records a gyroscope's precession frequency at two fixed points close to the rotating object, then two possibilities can be seen: (1) the precession frequency of the gyroscope changes by an arbitrarily large amount, that is, there is a wild change in the behaviour of the gyroscope; and (2) the precession frequency changes by a small amount, in a regular well-behaved manner. For the case (1), the rotating object is a black hole, while for the case (2), it is a naked singularity.

The TIFR team, namely, Dr. Chandrachur Chakraborty, Mr. Prashant Kocherlakota, Prof. Sudip Bhattacharyya and Prof. Pankaj Joshi, in collaboration with a Polish team comprising Dr. Mandar Patil and Prof. Andrzej Krolak, has in fact shown that the precession frequency of a gyroscope orbiting a black hole or a naked singularity is sensitive to the presence of an event horizon. A gyroscope circling and approaching the event horizon of a black hole from any direction behaves increasingly 'wildly,' that is, it precesses increasingly faster, without a bound. But, in the case of a naked singularity, the precession frequency becomes arbitrarily large only in the equatorial plane, but being regular in all other planes.

The TIFR team has also found that the precession of orbits of matter falling into a rotating black hole or a naked singularity can be used to distinguish these exotic objects. This is because the orbital plane precession frequency increases as the matter approaches a rotating black hole, but this frequency can decrease and even become zero for a rotating naked singularity. This finding could be used to distinguish a naked singularity from a black hole in reality, because the precession frequencies could be measured in X-ray wavelengths, as the infalling matter radiates X-rays.

Explore further: How fast do black holes spin?

More information: Chandrachur Chakraborty et al, Spin precession in a black hole and naked singularity spacetimes, Physical Review D (2017). DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevD.95.044006

Chandrachur Chakraborty et al. Distinguishing Kerr naked singularities and black holes using the spin precession of a test gyro in strong gravitational fields, Physical Review D (2017). DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevD.95.084024

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It is now obvious that any 'exercise' which relies on such unreal assumptions is doomed to nonsensical conclusions.

Only an analysis treating collapsed objects as REAL, having density/extent parameters and internal/surface structure/properties and effects, can ever get close to understanding the reality of what exists in BH objects (and what may become of such in certain circumstances due to future ambient conditions in the external universal process which produced them in the first place).

The herd-mentality 'peer review' process has 'passed' UN-real, Metaphysical, Big Bang (and other abstract/mathematical model 'myths'); 'graduated' whole generations in the art of myth-based 'thinking/exercises'.

If the singularity would be naked it would evaporate fast into radiation and we would see it quite clearly like bright object (quasar). IMO the black hole jets can be just the places with weakened event horizons. If they don't allow to see physical surface of black holes directly, they still allow lightweight particles (dark matter, neutrinos) to escape through it.

There are also indirect options, how to spot such a bursts, because the jets of escaping neutrinos would interact with microwave background into traces of X-rays, which would be detected outside the black hole at distance in the galactic halo. IMO Planck X-ray spaceprobe could detect the traces of such jets around MilkyWay already. Such a traces could be formed also by accretion - so that they cannot serve as a conclusive evidence of black hole "flashing" by itself.

Why is it that this is the first news we hear about these two putting a gyroscope in orbit around a BH? I would have thought the voyage of this probe to place this gyroscope in proximity to a BH would have made major headlines. Where was this BH located ?

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Mt. Ascension: Skiing high above the Kenai – Anchorage Press

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Mount Ascension is not the highest or hardest climb on the Kenai Peninsula, but the views from its summit are commanding. The Harding Icefield almost looks small thousands of feet below, with a constellation of nunataks piercing its glacial expanse. Resurrection Bay appears placid, a little inlet tucked in from the vast ocean beyond. Fox and its neighboring islands rise abruptly from the bay, as abstract as seen from a birds eye. Mount Eva and Mount Alice, which loom over the bay, reveal their harsh grandeur: vertical serrated rocks jutting from glaciers below. Surprisingly, the Kenais rugged mountains to the north seem to undulate against the skyline, a series of gentle ridgelines that belie the peaks real steepness.

Ascensions steep north face drops abruptly to the valley more than a half mile below, past cliffs and spires that protrude from jagged sub-ridges. From the summit, Ascension seems a place unto itself, a tiny snowy island amidst clouds, in between rugged glaciated peaks that border the ocean and the Kenais drier interior.

Who wouldnt slog twenty miles or so to visit such a place? Ascension is not a very common backcountry ski destination for non-motorized users, but it is an eminently reasonable trip. Of the approximately 21 miles, the first and last six are out-and-back on a snowmachine trail (or the well-established Primrose trail later in the season) to Kenai Lake. Fortunately for skiers, this trail climbs steadily, with few ups-and-downs. As a result, the return trip is fast, with a short uphill section in which it makes sense to take off skis and walk for about five minutes. This trail approach would be fat bikable in firm conditions. Some uphill sections would be challenging for most riders, and the bike overall would likely be slower, taking into account transition time. It would, however, avoid the painfully long double poling on the way back. Of course, snowmachiners can cruise through this section, though not at great speeds: Most of it is narrow and bumpy as a result of much traffic.

In winter, the approach trail ends near Lost Lake, at which point snowmachine tracks head in all directions. Skiers will skin across the lake, then climb gradually over Ascensions foothills in a circling approach to the mountains south-facing glacier and snowfield. The glacier has retreated a great deal compared to when it was last mapped, but still holds ice in a cirque below Ascensions summit spires. From this bowl, climb up Ascensions large south face, a thousand foot or so bootpack (most likely) to the summit. In spring and summer, it will probably be important to climb this face before it is baked by the sun, and before it presents wet slide avalanche risks. Expect firm surfaces, particularly near the top. A whippet is a nice safety precaution, and/or crampons.

Master skiers and weather-readers could time an Ascension ascent to ski corn on its south face. Better yet, there is a long, steep couloir that drops off the north face down to a small glacier above Lost Lake. This couloir begins a couple hundred feet below and to the east of the summit, in a small saddle next to a false summit spire. It has a very steep entrance that may be above bands of rock, depending on depth of snow in the chute. Farther down, cliff bands jut into the couloir: This would be a very dangerous place to fall, as it is more than steep enough to gain speed and plummet all of the way to the bottom, probably careening off rocks along the way. Since Ascension is very prominent relative to nearby peaks, this couloir is also exposed to winds from the north, so expect its top portion in particular to be firm. In addition, be aware that the snaking couloir may hold unstable wind pockets in several spots. Finally, the bergshrund and one crevasse near the base of the couloir present additional hazards. In general, the skiers right side of the glacier can present a reasonably clear path of egress.

After the descent, it is a slog back to the car. Plan on taking a couple hours once you get across the lake, if you dont have a fat bike or snowmachine.

Springtime is for slogging and chutes. Ascension provides both. Even though most of the time is spent skinning, what you remember is the multi-thousand foot couloir peppered with rock bands, which terminates in a massive snow cone on a glacier formed by thousands of years of avalanches, and the summit that makes Resurrection Bay and the Harding ice field look small. Ascension is a commanding peak in a wilderness of glaciers and alpine lakes. It is worth every minute of the slog.

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Mt. Ascension: Skiing high above the Kenai - Anchorage Press

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Around Ascension for April 20, 2017 – The Advocate

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Practice ACT at the Library

Dont miss your opportunity to prepare for the ACT at the Ascension Parish Library. The library will administer a free practice test on Saturday at the Donaldsonville location, courtesy of Princeton Review of Baton Rouge.

Practice tests start at 9 a.m. and last approximately 4 hours. Space is limited, so registration is required. Those students interested should register by calling any location of the Ascension Parish Library. Remember to bring a calculator to the test.

The Ascension Parish Master Gardeners Association, under the direction of the LSU Agricultural Center, will present the last of the spring library series of educational workshops with gardening and landscaping tips geared to both novice and advanced gardeners.

The Gardening JackpotFree Plants and Information workshop starts at 6:30 p.m. April 25 at the Ascension Parish Library in Gonzales.

Bring your list of gardening questions about citrus, ornamentals, perennials or vegetables.

Craig Roussel, Ascension Parish/St. James Parish county agent with LSU AgCenter, will conduct a question-and-answer session on a wide range of gardening topics.

After the talk, participate in a plant swap. Bring your labeled plants, cuttings, bulbs or seeds to exchange with local gardeners.

To register, call (225) 647-3955.

Teen singers, songwriters, poets and musicians are invited to show off their skills at Teen Open Mic night at the Ascension Parish Library in Dutchtown.

The library will provide a microphone and an audience.

The program starts at 6:30 p.m. Performers should prepare 10 minutes of material.

Registration is not required. For more information, call (225) 673-8699.

Whether you are a first-time builder or a master at Lego construction, you are sure to have a fun time putting the pieces together at Ascension Parish Librarys Lego Club. Try to construct our Lego Challenge or simply build whatever you like during the 11 a.m. program on April 29 at the Donaldsonville branch.

Lego Club is open to children of all ages. Duplo Blocks and Mega Bloks will be available for younger children. Please remember to leave your own Legos at home.

For more information, call (225) 473-8052.

On April 29, Capital Area United Way is hosting a Donaldsonville Day of Caring atThe Church in Donaldsonville.

Capital Area United Way is partnering with St. Elizabeth Hospital and The Church in Donaldsonville to achieve a positive and healthy impact in the community, a news release said.

The event, set from 9 a.m. to noon, will include health screenings, community resources, informational sessions and childrens activities throughout the morning. There also will be a Mobile Food Pantry, sponsored by BASF through a partnership with the Greater Baton Rouge Food Bank and Volunteer Ascension, on site for Donaldsonville residents, who can receive free food items including fresh fruit and vegetables, along with non-perishable items.

To volunteer through United Way, visit cauw.org/volunteer or call (225) 346-5802.

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Speakers target training facility, turf; Airport’s 2016 a ‘year of ascension’ – BlueRidgeNow.com

Posted: at 2:40 am

Derek Lacey Times-News Staff Writer @BRNDerek

The Asheville Regional Airport is set to complete its parking garage this fall and its ongoing runway construction project next year, Executive Director Lew Bleiweis told the Henderson County commissioners Wednesday.

Commissioners were updated on the airports 2016 successes by Bleiweis, who called 2016 a year of ascension in his annual report. The airport rose to new heights literally and figuratively," the report says.

Those heights include the third year in a row in which passenger numbers broke the airports all-time record, he said, for a total of 826,648 passengers flying into or out of Asheville, a 5-percent increase over 2015's numbers.

Weve had our third great year in a row, he said. Passenger numbers have never been higher, so the success continues, though he did show some trepidation, saying hes just waiting for that balloon to pop.

New routes to Jacksonville, Fla., the Washington, D.C. area and the New York City area were added, and existing routes to Charlotte and Atlanta grew, the report shows.

The airport's four carriers Allegiant, American Airlines, Delta and United split flights in 2016 at 31 percent, 24 percent, 34 percent and 11 percent, respectively, Bleweis said.

Allegiant isnt expected to continue its seasonal non-stop flights to Jacksonville, Fla. this year, he said, and the airline has already stopped its direct flights to Palm Beach, Fla., opting instead for Fort Lauderdale, almost doubling Ashevilles flights there.

The five-story parking garage is set to open in November, Bleiweis said, for a total of 1,300 parking spaces, with 200 reserved for rental cars and 1,100 for public parking. A covered walkway will connect it to the terminal building.

Phase 3 of the airports airfield redevelopment program is complete, he said, which included grading and drainage of the new permanent runway, and Phase 4 is now underway.

Bleiweis said the project is set to be fully complete in 2018, with the permanent runway to be commissioned Dec. 7. Once thats operating next spring, the temporary runway will be reconfigured back to a permanent taxiway with all work concluded by June 18.

The airport also completed several smaller renovations with new office space in the main terminal, enlarging a conference room and updating the Guest Services Welcome Center.

The airports assets exceed its liabilities by $115,004,382 as of June 30, 2016, the report shows, stating an increase of more than $16.7 million from 2015, and an increase of more than $29.4 million from 2014.

In other business:

Commissioners awarded Environmental Supervisor of the Year to Seth Swift, and approved a request to close the county Register of Deeds Office on July 11, for training and implementation on a new electronic birth recording system.

Two public speakers addressed the board, starting with Nancy Glowacki, who spoke on the decision-making process for the planned $20 million Law Enforcement Training Facility the county is looking to construct at Blue Ridge Community College. She asked how, where, why and with whom was this decision made?

She also asked if a needs assessment had been conducted and if a realistic operating budget had been established for the facility. She asked whether its time to adopt a best practices policy for decisions like this, suggesting a board of residents be a part of that process. She said she honors Sheriff Charles McDonald for his willingness to speak with and listen to residents, and honors the Board of Commissioners for the same.

Dennis Justice spoke on the county project to install artificial turf at three county high schools. He said the decision by the Henderson County Board of Public Education to not install shock pads with the artificial turf recklessly endangers athletes who play on the surface, comparing it to driving a Lamborghini without airbags.

He said his children would not play on it, and his son is no longer on the track team and would sit out graduation in protest. Justice called for the project to be delayed and an emergency session of the school board to remedy the decision, saying that we should have the best for our kids, not safe enough.

As part of its consent agenda, commissioners approved the sale of the Sixth Avenue Clubhouse property in Hendersonville to Dr. Leon Elliston for $286,000 after an upset bid process.

The property consists of two parcels at 714 Sixth Ave. According to information provided with the meeting agenda, the total tax value of the parcels, including buildings, is $372,400. But the Henderson County engineer and capital projects manager believe, after a survey of the building, that the renovation cost for any effective use of that building exceeds its quoted tax value.

Acting as the Cane Creek Water and Sewer District, commissioners approved a request to apply for an Asset Inventory and Assessment Grant from the state Division of Water Infrastructure to fund CCWSDs regulatory-required work to map the system and develop a master plan.

According to County Engineer Marcus Jones, an anticipated $75,000 is needed for GIS mapping of the system and another $75,000 for the master plan, for a total of $150,000. Jones said the deadline is April 28, and that the outlook is positive, but a local match of some amount would most likely be required.

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High Achiever of the Week: Ascension Episcopal’s Jacob Abdella – The Daily Advertiser

Posted: at 2:40 am

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Abdella, a senior at Ascension Episcopal, is signed to play tennis at Loyola University in New Orleans. He's ranked as the No. 12 tennis prospect in the state by the Tennis Recruiting Network.

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Jacob Abdella, Ascension Episcopal(Photo: Submitted photo)

Abdella, a senior at Ascension Episcopal, is signed to play tennis at Loyola University in New Orleans. He's ranked as the No. 12 tennis prospect in the state by the Tennis Recruiting Network.

The senior will compete in the state championship events in Monroe on April 24 and 25 of next week and helped Ascension Episcopal secure their first boy's state championship in 2016 by reaching the state finals in doubles.

Abdella helped win the 2017 Regional Doubles Championship this season after winning it last season as well. .

Abdella has excelled off the tennis court as well as on it.

He was awarded the "Loyola"academic scholarship as well as the "Jesuit Identity" Merit Scholarship from Loyola University. He participates in honors and dual-enrollment classes at Ascension Episcopal, is a member of the Young Republicans Club and helps coach at Le Triomphe summer camps.

Abdella will join his brother, Brandon, at Loyola next year and plans on majoring in political science.

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Ascension Athletics for April 20, 2017 – The Advocate

Posted: at 2:40 am

5-5A baseball district title goes down to the wire

Three teams are very much still in the race for the 5-5A district baseball title. The Dutchtown Griffins and the St. Amant Gators are the two Ascension Parish teams still in the hunt while the Catholic High School Bears sit in the drivers seat and are in control of their own destiny.

Catholic High is 23-7 on the season and 7-1 in district play. Dutchtown is 20-12 while holding a 6-2 district record, while the Gators are 15-12 overall and hold the same 6-2 district mark.

Dutchtown split their two games against the Bears last week, losing 8-6 in the first game and coming out on top 8-4 in the April 13 game. The Griffins and Gators face each other in the final two games which gives Catholic another advantage. The Bears face McKinley who are 7-19 overall and 2-6 in district.

All three teams will have played their first game this week by press time. Dutchtown will host St. Amant on Thursday at Griffin Field with the first pitch scheduled for 6 p.m.

Girls scores: Dutchtown takes first place with 11 points. St. Amant was close behind with 109 points for second place. Ascension Catholic High finished seventh with 25 points, while Donaldsonville High finished in eighth place with 16 and East Ascension finished ninth with 3 points.

Boys scores: Dutchtown made it a double with 101 points for first place. St. Amant finished in sixth place with 51 points, Donaldsonville took seventh place with 39 points, East Ascension eighth with 35 points and Ascension Catholic ninth with 16 points.

Girls Track

100 meter: 3. Quinntyrce Bell, Donaldsonville, 12.86.

200 meter: 3. Laiya Palmer, St. Amant, 27.08.

400 meter: 3. Phoebe Poche, Dutchtown, 1:02.80.

800 meter: 1. Tara Stuntz, Dutchtown, 2:27.46. 2. Stephanie Breaux, Ascension Catholic, 2:34.64. 3. Haley Dupre, Ascension Catholic, 2:38.57.

1,600 meter: 1. Sophie Daigle, Ascension Catholic, 5:26.68.

3,200 meter: 3. Madison Norcross, Dutchtown, 13:36.34.

100-meter hurdles: 1. Nyah Williams, Dutchtown, 16.05. 3. Regan West, St. Amant, 17.52.

300-meter hurdles: 2. Regan West, St. Amant, 49.37. 3. Hannah Laplace, St. Amant, 50.17.

4x100 relay: 2. St. Amant, 50.09.

4x200 relay: 3. St. Amant, 1:47.05.

4x400 relay: 3. Dutchtown, 4:17.48.

Girls Field Events

Pole Vault: 1. Carol Wells, Dutchtown, 9-00. 2. Jillian Parks, St. Amant, 8-00.

Long Jump: 1. Leah Scott, Dutchtown, 18-00.50. 2. Paige Garcia, St. Amant, 16-02.00.

Triple Jump: 1. Leah Scott, Dutchtown, 36-04.00. 2. McKenzie Brooks, St. Amant, 33-06.50.

Shot Put: 2. Victoria Irondi, Dutchtown, 35-03.50. 3. Mia Gaines, Dutchtown, 34-10.00.

Discus: 2. Mia Gaines, Dutchtown, 114-07. 3. Victoria Irondi, Dutchtown, 99-06.

Javelin: 1. Morgan Tidwell, St. Amant, 105-06. 2. Carley Fontenot, St. Amant, 95-08.

Boys Track

100 meter: 1. Christian Bell, Donaldsonville, 11.05. 3. Tajhe Jones, St. Amant, 11.20.

200 meter: 2. Christian Bell, Donaldsonville, 22.79. 3. Tajhe Jones, St. Amant, 22.80.

400 meter: 3. Fabien Jenkins, St. Amant, 52.30.

800 meter: 1. Parker McBride, Dutchtown, 1:55.02. 2. Zach Hatfield, Dutchtown, 2:02.77. 3. Thomas Daigle, Ascension Catholic, 2:07.84.

1,600 meter: 1. Alec Snell, Dutchtown, 4:43.72. 2. Kaleb Chanet, East Ascension, 4:44.50.

3,200 meter: 2. Thomas Daigle, Ascension Catholic, 10:32.99. 3. Keleb Chanet, East Ascension, 10:47.95.

110-meter hurdles: 1. Noah Gray, Dutchtown, 15.35.

300-meter hurdles: 1. VanShon Grayson, Dutchtown, 43.42.

4x100 relay: 2. Donaldsonville, 42.48. 3. Dutchtown, 42.78.

4x200 relay: 3. St. Amant, 1:30.67.

4x400 relay: 2. Dutchtown, 3:26.30.

Boys Field Events

High Jump: 3. Jerome Turner, St. Amant, 6-00.

Long Jump: 3. Carlon Cayette, East Ascension, 20-01.25.

Triple Jump: 3. J Kelvin Reddix, Dutchtown, 40-08.

Shot Put: 1. Davon Wright, Donaldsonville, 54-07. 3. Kyle Sarrazin, Dutchtown, 48-10.50.

Discus: 2. Jordan Zuppardo, Dutchtown, 141-11.

Senior point guard Alynzia Morris, who helped lead the East Ascension Girls basketball team to a 26-2 season record and a 10-0 finish in district play, was named honorable mention in Class 5A All-State selections.

Senior point guard LeAaron Cain, who helped lead the Spartans to a 29-7 overall record and 11-0 district record, was named honorable mention as well.

The Bassmaster tournament trail was founded in 1967 by Ray Scott, and the first Bassmaster Classic was held in 1971 on Lake Mead, Nevada. It became a force in bass fishing back then and still is today. Bassmaster launched a college division and eventually a high school division.

Three years ago, Bassmaster began to recognize 12 standout high school anglers that are selected as members of the exclusive Bassmaster High School All-American Fishing Team presented by Dicks Sporting Goods. This class is made up of exceptional young fishermen who not only are first-class bass anglers but also excel in academics, conservation initiatives and community service.

We are proud to welcome an exceptional group of anglers to our 2017 class of High School All-Americans, said Bruce Akin, B.A.S.S. CEO. Each year, we see competitive applications from across the country, and every angler is so impressive.

In 2017 Bassmaster received more than 380 applications from students in grades 10-12 that were sent in from 40 states across the nation. Of these, 69 were chosen as Bassmaster All-State anglers. That list included Cade Fortenberry.

After reviewing the young anglers tournament rsums along with community service activities and recommendations from coaches and school officials, a panel of judges further narrowed the field to the top 12 high school anglers in the country.

Fortenberry was named to that team, as well. Fortenberry is a senior at St. Amant High School and will be competing in his third Bassmaster High School National Championship in June. In 2016, Fortenberry earned two wins in high school state tournament qualifiers one where he bested 131 teams on the Red River.

Fortenberry is a member of the Ascension Anglers bass team that has earned his way to the top in competition fishing among the best anglers in the nation. In addition to that accomplishment, Fortenberry has taken part in multiple cleanup days, volunteered with the Angling Against Autism team bass tournament and helped provide relief aid for victims of the Louisiana floods.

During local child care facility field trips, Fortenberry served as a fishing guide. He baited their poles, took their catches off the hooks and enjoyed sharing his knowledge of the sport, according to his father, Gilbert.

The team has been invited to participate in a special Bassmaster High School All-American Bass Tournament being held in conjunction with the 2017 Toyota Bassmaster Texas Fest benefiting the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department event, a fan-favorite festival that will be held May 17-21 on Sam Rayburn Reservoir out of Lufkin, Texas. Each All-American angler will be paired with an Elite Series pro for the one-day derby to be held at a nearby fishery.

The Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries will host the 13th annual Step Outside Day on May 13 at Sherburne Wildlife Management Area. The WMA is located in Lottie on the northern end of the Atchafalaya Basin. This popular event will be held from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.

This outdoor education program, hosted by the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries,will take place next to scenic Big Alabama Bayou near Sherburne WMA headquarters, and best of all, the event is free and open to the public.

Some of the events planned for Step Outside Day include pontoon boat rides, canoeing, target and trap shooting, fishing and archery. Children can take part in bluebird box building and turkey and duck calling. All equipment will be provided.

Exhibits on the Louisiana black bear, other wildlife and fish species and water safety will be available. Refreshments and lunch will be provided as well as drawings for door prizes. Alcoholic beverages are not permitted.

The Sherburne WMA headquarters is located at 1132 Sherburne Road in Lottie.

For more information, contact Tony Vidrine at (337) 948-0255 or tvidrine@wlf.la.gov or Cody Haynes at (337) 948-0255 or jhaynes@wlf.la.gov.

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Monaco Kamil Glik conquers obstacles in ascension to stardom … – ESPN FC (blog)

Posted: at 2:40 am

Kamil Glik's play in the back has helped fuel Monaco's aggressive, high-scoring attack.

On Wednesday, two world class 29-year-old centre-backs will try to lead their respective teams into the Champions League semifinals.

Both had to overcome significant difficulties in their young years. Both were discarded by top clubs. Both were rescued and put back on track at Bari by Italian national team coach Giampiero Ventura. Both went on to become legends in Turin. Both were absolutely superb at Euro 2016.

Yet while fans tend to know all about Leonardo Bonucci of Juventus, Monaco's Polish stalwart, Kamil Glik, remains relatively low-profile. It's time to fix that injustice, because Glik's life story is truly remarkable, which is why Michal Zichlarz wrote Glik's biography, named Liczy Sie Charakter (The Character Matters). If it wasn't for his phenomenal mental strength, Glik would never have become a top footballer.

The story began long before Glik can remember -- he nearly died of sepsis before celebrating his second birthday. When his parents brought him to the hospital, the doctors didn't give Kamil much of a chance to survive, but his recovery was fast to the point of being described as a miracle.

More miracles were needed along the way. Jacek Glik, Kamil's father -- a heavy drinker who eventually died of alcoholism when Kamil was 21 --was frequently violent towards his wife. Kamil always took her side during the quarrels, once even throwing a boot at his father, according to The Character Matters. It is easy to understand why the teenager was desperate to leave home and escape the tough neighbourhood, but clubs in his homeland refused to give him a chance.

Simply put, Glik was not considered good enough. Cracovia Krakow owner Janusz Filipiak described him as an "old Skoda car," and trials at Legia Warsaw, Lech Poznan and Odra Wodzislaw led to nothing.

Finally, the only option was tiny UD Horadada, a club from a picturesque town of Pilar de la Horadada on the southern coast of Spain, who had good ties with the WPS Wodzislaw Slaski academy and regularly signed young Poles. Glik was bold enough to leave everything and start an unusual adventure at the age of 17.

Horadada are known for nurturing promising talents, and Glik's progress was followed by Liverpool and Valencia, before a Real Madrid scout spotted him and recommended that the club sign him. Glik impressed on a trial and spent one-and-a-half years at Real Madrid C, the club's third team that played in the fourth division. He played alongside Jose Callejon and Dani Parejo and regularly trained with the first team, meeting idols such as Raul and Iker Casillas.

However, when Real Madrid's coach, Jose Maria Salmeron, left for Alaves in 2008, everything changed. His successor, Antonio Carlavilla, preferred local players he had known for a long time, and Glik was discarded.

He had no option but to return to his homeland. Once again, big teams didn't show interest, and Glik joined the modest Piast Gliwice, who narrowly avoided relegation in 2009 before going down a year later with the worst defensive record in the league.

Glik wasn't to blame for their struggles, though, and his performances caught the eye of Palermo, who are always hunting for anonymous prospects. However, the move to Sicily didn't go smoothly, and he didn't play a single minute under Delio Rossi. He badly needed to meet a coach who would believe in him. At long last, luck was on his side in January 2011.

Ventura worked at Bari in those days, but his team were rock bottom of Serie A following Bonucci's departure to Juventus the previous summer. The coach, who signed Bonucci from Inter and made him believe in himself, was looking for a new centre-back and took Glik on loan.

Even though Ventura left the club by February, and Bari were eventually relegated, Glik made a positive impression on his mentor, who duly asked his new club Torino to sign him permanently.

That is when Glik's career really started. He spent five hugely successful seasons at Torino under his beloved coach, and later recalled in his biography: "Ventura is the person whom I owe the most. He did a lot to make me a player I am today."

The Pole gradually became one of the toughest and most feared centre-backs in Serie A. Torino fans worshipped him, especially after he chose to stay with the club despite interest from Borussia Dortmund, Bayern Munich and Manchester United.

Fearless at the back, Glik also proved to be a dangerous weapon up front, scoring eight goals in all competitions during the 2014-15 season. He became the first foreigner since the 1960s to be named Torino captain.

"Kamil has great leadership qualities. He works and thinks for others on the pitch," former Poland and Juventus star Zbigniew Boniek said.

Glik is used to overcoming difficulties, and even the trauma of getting dramatically left out of Poland's Euro 2012 squad with the tournament on home soil didn't derail his progress. He was adamant to prove the decision was wrong, and made his point at Euro 2016.

Imperious in central defence alongside Michal Pazdan, Glik made sure Poland only conceded two goals in five matches and was clearly one of the best stars on show.

That is when the time had come to move on from Torino. With Ventura leaving to take over the Italian national team from Antonio Conte, Glik decided to step up and play in the Champions League. He chose AS Monaco, who paid 11million for his services.

With the Pole calling the shots at the back, Portuguese coach Leondaro Jardim was able to change his cautious approach and turn Monaco into the most thrilling attacking unit in Europe. Now, after beating Manchester City in the round of 16, they are on the verge of throwing Borussia Dortmund out as well.

The Monegasques could then be drawn against Real Madrid, which would enable Glik to come full circle and meet the club that once let him go. He would meet them as one of the best centre-backs in Europe, even though he's still massively underrated.

That perception should change if Monaco win the trophy, and that is not such an unlikely scenario. As Glik has proved throughout his incredible journey, nothing is impossible if your character is really strong.

Michael Yokhin is ESPN FC's European football writer. Follow him on Twitter: @Yokhin

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