Daily Archives: October 19, 2021

Curious Alaska: Will Anchorage try to host the Winter Olympics again? – Anchorage Daily News

Posted: October 19, 2021 at 10:47 pm

A scarf and an artist rendering of a venue from Anchorage's bids for the Winter Olympic Games are part of the Archives & Special Collections at the UAA/APU Consortium Library. Photographed on Tuesday, Oct. 19, 2021. (Bill Roth / ADN)

Curious Alaska is an ongoing feature powered by your questions. What do you want to know or want us to investigate about life in Alaska, stories behind the news or why things are the way they are? Let us know in the form at the bottom of the story.

Question: Ive always heard that Anchorage was once considered to host the Winter Olympics but didnt because of a lack of hotel capacity to accommodate athletes, coaches and staff. Is this true, and if so, how close did it actually get? Is it possible in this lifetime?

There was an era in Anchorages history when the city came close, on multiple occasions, to winning a bid to host the Winter Olympics.

I found myself mulling over these same questions on a recent trip to an Anchorage thrift store, where I happened upon a large photograph in a red frame that made me stop and stare. It was an aerial shot of hundreds maybe thousands of people gathered on the Delaney Park Strip, standing in a neat formation the shape of the Olympic rings.

Archivist Gwen Higgins displays an "Olympic Rings Human Flag" aerial photograph taken by Clark Mishler at the Delaney Park Strip on Sept. 21, 1986 is part of the Archives & Special Collections at the UAA/APU Consortium Library on Tuesday, Oct. 19, 2021. (Bill Roth / ADN)

How close did Anchorage get to hosting the Olympics? And could our city try again?

Rick Mystrom remembers it well. An advertising executive who served as mayor of Anchorage in the 1990s, he spearheaded a campaign for Alaskas biggest city to host the biggest sporting event on the planet.

In the mid- to late 1980s, the effort captured the publics attention, and for a period Mystrom and a group of other Anchorage boosters and businesspeople tried to convince the world that Alaska could host the Olympics.

For the 1992 and 1994 Winter Olympic Games, Anchorage won the American bid but lost out in the international phase of competition. Those games were ultimately held in Albertville, France, and Lillehammer, Norway, respectively.

Artist rendering of a ski jumping venue from Anchorage's bids for the Winter Olympic Games are part of the Archives & Special Collections at the UAA/APU Consortium Library. Photographed on Tuesday, Oct. 19, 2021. (Bill Roth / ADN)

Anchorage was a bit of an underdog, Mystrom remembers. The first big presentation to the U.S. National Olympic Committee happened in Indiana.

We got there, and Salt Lake City had eight slide projectors and a bunch of guys with logo shirts on, Mystrom said. We had a long-haired guy looking for an adapter for our two slides.

But Anchorage had the magic of Alaska going for it, Mystrom said: the mystique of the Last Frontier and global name recognition.

Anchorage also had some practical benefits, like being one of the most strategic spots on the planet for live, prime-time television (a 4 p.m. final in Alaska could be broadcast at 8 p.m. primetime in the eastern U.S.) and a convenient location at an air travel crossroads, he said. Anchorage also had undeveloped land primed for potential development, abundant hotel rooms, cold weather and some existing facilities.

The pitch envisioned a main stadium on the land of what is now Alaska Pacific University, with Olympic-sized skating rinks throughout the city and a cross-country ski venue at Kincaid Park, Mystrom said. A ski jump was planned for Eagle River. There was no Hotel Alyeska in Girdwood at the time, but a large hotel there was seen as key to the plan, Mystrom said.

Archivist Gwen Higgins holds a parka from Anchorage's 1994 bid for the Winter Olympic Games is part of the Archives & Special Collections at the UAA/APU Consortium Library on Tuesday, Oct. 19, 2021. (Bill Roth / ADN)

The artifacts of years of Olympic dreams are packed into boxes in an archival collection at the University of Alaska Anchorage/Alaska Pacific University Consortium Library: Theres a hand-bedazzled sweatshirt with Anchorages Olympic logo on it half flame, half snowflake. An Anchorage Olympics kuspuk with a wolf ruff. Renderings of never-built ski jumps and an open-air pavilion on the Park Strip where the opening ceremonies might have been, with snowy Chugach Mountains in the background.

Part of the selling point for Anchorage was how invested and excited residents were about the idea of hosting the Olympics. The bids used no public money, Mystrom said.

In a third Olympic effort, Anchorage lost in the national level of competition to Salt Lake City, which went on to win the international bid to host the 2002 Winter Games.

Mystrom remembers telling Tom Brokaw in a television interview they beat us fair and square, he said. But the fact is, they didnt beat us fair and square.

Salt Lake City officials were accused of offering bribes and gifts to Olympics selection officials. Ultimately, two Salt Lake City delegation officials were criminally charged but later acquitted, members of the IOC were disciplined and ethics rules changed.

After that, Anchorages Olympic dream hibernated until 2013, when then-Mayor Dan Sullivan explored putting a bid together for the 2026 Winter Olympics. Sullivan reasoned that Anchorage had come close in the 1980s and the city had only become a stronger, bigger, more capable city since then.

All the elements just seem to fit, Sullivan told the Associated Press at the time. Sullivan didnt respond to questions for this story.

A committee met monthly at City Hall to discuss the prospect. But the effort never really got off the ground, said Matt Larkin, president of Dittman Research, a polling and public opinion research firm and one of the 2013 committee members.

It lost momentum, he said.

Part of the reason was the 2028 Summer Olympics went to Los Angeles making it unlikely that two games in a row would go to the United States. Milan ultimately won the 2026 games.

Past opinion research showed that Alaskans, by and large, supported an Olympic bid but had questions about costs, Larkin said.

Could Anchorage host the Olympics sometime in the future? The city is still blessed with snow, trails, rinks, hotel rooms, air travel connectivity all the basic ingredients.

But the games have changed, Mystrom said. Hosting has become prohibitively expensive, with cities building massive infrastructure that often serves limited use past the Olympics.

The Sochi Winter Olympics in Russia cost a reported $51 billion.

Putin just poured billions of dollars into putting up the facilities, he said. That kind of took most democracies out of it.

The last Winter Olympics, held in Pyeongchang, South Korea, was a relative bargain at $13 billion. That Olympics included a $109 million stadium used for opening ceremonies that was later demolished.

A scarf from Anchorage's 1994 bid for the Winter Olympic Games is part of the Archives & Special Collections at the UAA/APU Consortium Library on Tuesday, Oct. 19, 2021. (Bill Roth / ADN)

Most people seem to think its unlikely that Anchorage would launch another bid. But its not out of the question, Mystrom thinks.

It would be hard, he said. But it was hard then!

Trying for the Olympics had a way making people celebrate the best things about Anchorage, Mystrom said. In the current moment of ugly partisan divides in local government and the continuing COVID-19 pandemic, we could use a little of that, he said.

Right now, theres not that kind of good feeling about the city ... you hope to have, he said. And so, it may not be the Olympics, but we need something to really bring people together.

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Will this be Shaun White’s last Winter Olympics? Maybe. Or maybe not. – USA TODAY

Posted: at 10:47 pm

Paris 2024 Olympics: Parisian landmarks to serve as competition venues

The city last hosted in 1924, and it received these Olympics in 2017 as part of a double award with Los Angeles, which will host in 2028.

Sandy Hooper, USA TODAY

Notice that Shaun White said he was training for what would be his fifth Olympic Games, not his last one.

The three-time gold medalist said Tuesday he has no idea whether Beijing will be the end of his Olympic career. Hes said that before, only to find himself back in the halfpipe at the next Winter Games.

I always say it might be just because thats how it feels. And then time keeps moving on and Im thinking, 'Gosh, Im feeling pretty good, Im motivated, Im excited, and then boom! Im at the next one, the 35-year-old said Tuesday during an appearance at the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committees media summit for the Beijing Games.

So I wouldnt count the next one out after this.

After winning gold again in Pyeongchang, Whites original plan for this quadrennium was the Summer Olympics. Hes equally successful as a skateboarder, and the idea of competing in his other sport when it made its Olympic debut in Tokyo was appealing.

But when the Tokyo Games were delayed by a year because of the COVID-19 pandemic, White decided he didnt want to hurt his chances for Beijing by trying for Tokyo.

Am I ready to walk away from snowboarding yet? And I just wasnt, White said of the decision. So I obviously switched gears, focus, everything back to the winter sports, and its so exciting. I cant believe were … back at it again. But it feels really good.

MORE: What Simone Biles learned from the Tokyo Olympics

MORE: COVID protocols will be strict for 2022 Beijing Olympics

Shortly after White announced that decision, in March 2020, the world effectively shut down because of COVID. Trips he would normally make to Australia and New Zealand to train werent possible because of travel restrictions.

He couldnt even get into Canada to see girlfriend Nina Dobrev, who was filming a movie there.

I tried! I was turned around, White said. I said 'Look, come on! I was at the Olympics here, you remember! I cut my hair.

Despite the disruptions it caused, White said he grew to appreciate the unexpected downtime he had during the early days of COVID. Instead of his time being consumed by training, commitments to sponsors or media interviews, he got to spend time with his family and friends.

He discovered he was handy around the house, even convincing Dobrev that they should paint their place themselves.

When youre forced out of that churn of the daily obligations and plans and all these things, youre stuck with this stillness. Gosh, I really appreciated that lesson and I think Ive carried that on with me, where Im really content where Im at, White said.

I found a lot of (contentment) during that time period. Once things started to open up again, I just felt like I still have that stillness, he added. I think Im just operating on a level of appreciation just to be back here at this.

Dobrev plays a big role in that.

White and The Vampire Diaries actress began dating in early 2020. Asked about her Tuesday, White talked about this beautiful relationship Im in.

Nina is incredible. What an influence on my life, he said. She runs her own show and her own world and companies she's involved in and things she's producing, all this stuff going on, and holds me to the same high standard, which is so wonderful to have in a partner.

Shes also a pretty good snowboarder herself.

White said hes not the best teacher or explainer of how to snowboard. Their first ride together, he took off and, when he turned around, discovered Dobrev wasnt behind him. He figured she had fallen, and was trying to decide whether he needed to hike back up the mountain to find her.

Turns out, she had passed him.

She was way faster than me! White said.

I told her, I was like, `I dont know how the field is for Bulgaria, you may have a shot. Just saying. Just saying, White said, referring to the country where Dobrev was born. Last-minute entry, Nina Dobrev, Bulgaria.

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100 Days to the Beijing Winter Olympics – NBC Bay Area

Posted: at 10:47 pm

NBC Bay Area will host an eventtocelebrate 100 days until the start of theBeijing Winter Olympic Games on Wednesday, October 27, 2021 from 11 a.m. to noon at the Union Square Ice Rink in San Francisco.

The event will bestreamed live onnbcbayarea.com.

NBC Bay Area anchor Janelle Wang will emcee the ceremony to honor local heroes who have shown exceptional courage and strength during the past year to help Chinatown and the greater community with essential services during the COVID-19 pandemic, including providing safety for the elderly.

The media event marks 100 days until the start of the Winter Games and is hosted by NBC Bay Area to inform the public of the much-anticipated Beijing Winter Olympics The location was selected for its proximity to Chinatown and for the opportunity to showcase Winter Olympic alumni, community heroes, figure skaters and cultural performances.

The event will also feature a performance by the Yerba Buena Figure Skating team and "LionDanceME," a traditional Chinese lion dance troupe.

The ceremony will include remarks from Supervisor Aaron Peskin, representing District 3, which includes Chinatown, Fisherman's Wharf, and Union Square, CA State Assemblymembers Phil Ting and David Chiu, and San Francisco Chamber of Commerce president Rodney Fong, whose family has deep roots in Chinatown and Fishermans Wharf.

The media event is not open to the public.

The event will bestreamed live onnbcbayarea.com. NBC Bay Area is the Bay Area's exclusive home for the Beijing Winter Olympic Games, February 4 to 20, 2022.

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Pensacola Race for Inclusion aims to end discrimination against people with disabilities – Pensacola News Journal

Posted: at 10:47 pm

Special Olympics athlete Chris Nikicbecame the first man with Down syndrome to complete an Ironman triathlon when he finished the grueling race last November at Panama City Beach.

The Maitland resident's mantra of becoming "1%better every day" struck a chord with many people and put a spotlight on how Special Olympics can help individuals with disabilitiesfind inclusion and acceptance through athletics.

A race later this month in Pensacola will benefit Special Olympics Florida, providing the funding that helps athletes like Nikic to reach their dreams.

The Pensacola Race for Inclusion, whichis open to both people with and without disabilities, aims toraise awareness toward ending discrimination against people with intellectual disabilities.

The 5K walk/run on Oct. 30 is one of many local and regional fundraisers to help in the organization's nine-month campaign to provide a more welcoming and inclusive society.

Damien McNeil, regional director for the Northwest region with Special Olympics Florida, sees thefundraiser as a way to both benefit Special Olympics and help people with disabilities be included and feel part of a community.

"Many of these people with intellectual developmental disabilities don't have a lot of outlets," McNeil said. "The Special Olympics is truly one of the very few outlets that they have to engage with the community in meaningful ways. So that's really our goal, is just to be that bridge and help provide awareness for these people."

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The money raised will benefit Special Olympics, allowing the organization to provide health care screenings and programs, as well asdental and psychiatric screenings.

It will also fund the sports that happen year-round for athletes. There are upwards of 20 sports going on in any community where athletes must train, travel, stay in hotels, pay for food and cover other related costs. Special Olympics pays for everything, which is funded by these fundraisers.

All of that ensuresSpecial Olympic athletes have the same opportunities to find an outlet and know they are capable of doing anything they set their sights on.

"They just want to be treated exactly the same as you and me and that's truly the No. 1 thing that I see," McNeil said. "They just want the same opportunities that you and I have. That's a big part of what we do, is we are attempting to provide any resource we can to help them progress and have access to those same opportunities."

The Pensacola Race for Inclusion starts at 8 a.m. Oct. 30 at Bayview Park. Registration the day of the race starts at 6:30 a.m. The race is open to the public and will include a free race for children under age 8 featuring local mascots.

Prior registrants can pick up their race packets between 3 and 6 p.m. Oct. 29 at Running Wild, 3012 E. Cervantes St.

For more information and to sign up, visitspecialolympicsflorida.org

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Is Sample Drill a Dumb Trend or the Future of New York Rap? – Pitchfork

Posted: at 10:46 pm

Now Dwayne is shamelessly trying to brainwash the country into handing him a political position. Fine, Ill say it: The Rock really wants to be the goddamn President of the United States. And like so many past, current, and future politicians, he is desperate for approval, even though nobody had a problem with him before he started trying to indoctrinate middle America into a lifestyle of creatine, sleeveless graphic tees, and jokes corny enough for Jimmy Fallons writers room.

Perhaps its this pitiful desire to please that has led him down the bleakest path: A rap song with Tech N9ne. Dont get me wrong, Im no Tech N9ne haterhe exists in his Midwest bubble and mostly leaves us alone, which is fine in my book. But every now and then Ill remember hes still chugging along, and this time its because of Face Off, his nightmarish team up with The Rock. The beat sounds like what I imagine comes pre-programmed in Ram trucks, and Tech N9ne and a few rappers I dont care about enough to Google do some ear-bleeding fast rapping. At the end comes The Rock, all riled up on protein powder and screaming phrases he probably picked up listening to Joe Rogans podcast in traffic: Its about drive, its about power/We stay hungry, we devour. Its not particularly fun or funny, which in a way aligns with everything The Rock has become.

Goldenboy Countup is from the Florida city of DeLand, just north of Orlando, but the piano-driven instrumentals on his recent mixtape Chicken Man bring to mind Detroit street rap. It makes sense; like Michigan, Florida contains several disconnected rap scenes and countless shit-stirring personalities. Yet this may be where the similarities end. While Michigan rappers tend to blur the line between fact and fiction, Goldenboy brings a realism to his rhymes that is distinct to Florida rap. On Airplane Mode, he casually takes us into a world of dope sales and fast money. Before I touched a rap I was a five brick nigga/I switched over to Ps nigga still six figures, he raps, almost in a whisper. He may be influenced by Detroit, but his approach to storytelling is his own.

About 20 seconds into Chief Keefs 2014 track War, the Chicago drill forefather begins to cough. Hard. If someone hacked like this next to you, it would be fair to move far away from them and tell them to get it checked out. Though it seemed like an accidental moment of genius in Keefs case, Yeats Sick is built entirely around his cough.

The song opens with the Portland rapper damn near regurgitating his last meal as he croons, Bitch Im sick and Im still making hits in the stu through showers of Auto-Tune. At first, it sounds gross, especially in the middle of a pandemic, yet it slowly becomes compelling as it goes on. It hits a chaotic peak when Yeat casually mutters, Bitch, I have a COVID and I dont give a fuck, bitch, Im still gon sip on this wock. Im no doctor, but that attitude sounds negligent. Keef would be proud though, and I guess thats what matters.

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Mark Levin: Network of liberal dark money groups, billionaires, and Democrats attacking our elections – Fox News

Posted: at 10:45 pm

Life, Liberty & Levin" host Mark Levin laid out what he called a coordinated attack on American elections by left-wing dark-money groups, billionaires, and the Democratic Party in his Sunday monologue.

People aren't supposed to talk about issues with the 2020 election, Levin said, lest they be labeled conspiracy theorists by the media.

"If we don't address this, the next election for president in 2024 is going to wind up the same way now," he said.

Levin read out extensively from several reports, including TIME's "The Secret History of the Shadow Campaign That Saved the 2020 Election," the New York Post's "Mark Zuckerberg spent $419M on nonprofits ahead of 2020 election and got out the Dem vote," and Breitbart's, "Report: Top Democrat Lawyer Uses Dark Money Network to Fund Progressive Lawsuits."

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TIME's lengthy piece on behind-the-scenes machinations in the 2020 race, discussing "a vast, cross-partisan campaign to protect the election an extraordinary shadow effort dedicated not to winning the vote but to ensuring it would be free and fair, credible and uncorrupted."

"Their work touched every aspect of the election," TIME reported. "They got states to change. Voting systems and laws helped secure hundreds of millions in public and private funding. They fended off voter suppression lawsuits. Their word recruited armies of poll workers and got millions of people to vote by mail for the first time."

The Post's report found the Facebook CEO "funded a targeted, private takeover of government election operations by nominally nonpartisan but demonstrably ideological nonprofit organizations" that significantly aided Joe Biden's vote share in swing states he narrowly carried like Georgia and Arizona.

Breitbart reported Democratic attorney Marc Elias and Hillary Clinton's 2016 campaign general counsel has "been using a dark money network to fund lawsuits geared toward advancing progressive causes, from fighting voter ID laws to enshrining universal mail-in voting."

Wealthy Democratic donors were able to pour money into dozens of dark-money funds, Levin argued, meaning there's no transparency about who's giving what, in order to fund liberal lawsuits that targeted election laws and benefited Democrats.

MOLLIE HEMINGWAY: 2020 ELECTION WAS UNLIKE ANY WE'VE EVER HAD

"Hundreds of lawsuits targeting the election laws to make it easier not for people to vote, but for the Democrat Party to enshrine the voting systems that they wanted," Levin said. "That's what that's all about."

Levin said people may not agree with Donald Trump on every point, but he called it crucial to discuss.

"Dark money, front groups, hundreds of millions of dollars race changing the voting systems to accommodate the Democrat Party and the Democrat nominee and can affect, of course, Senate races and House races too," he said. "This is something that needs to be investigated."

Attorney Marc Elias preps with attorneys Roopali Desai (far left), Sarah Gonski (left) and Amanda Callais on Wednesday, Aug. 3, 2016, before the hearing for his lawsuit against Arizona over voting rights. Elias is the general counsel for the Hillary Clinton campaign. (Photo by David Jolkovski for The Washington Post via Getty Images)

Levin said President Biden's administration and Democrats wouldn't investigate the shadowy forces that are changing American elections without the knowledge of most citizens.

"Ladies and gentlemen, our election system is in fact under attack, and it's under attack by very, very wealthy people in combination with radical, left-wing Democrat party organizations. There is no getting around it," he said. "There is no question about it. Dark money, all this money flowing into the coffers, organizations that don't have to report who's giving what to whom. A combination of the corporatists and the left-wing groups."

Levin said no one wanted anything "reversed," and he went after "RINOs" and "NeverTrumpers" who have contributed to the situation.

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"We want the light shed on what took place and we want to make sure it never happens again. So while you're chasing shiny objects set up by the Democrat Party, while you're chasing issues that are not going to affect the next election but are attacking Trump even while he's a private citizen, this is going on, ladies and gentlemen, under the radar and in the shadows."

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Russia’s ‘Last Liberal Party’ Cuts Ties With Navalny Supporters – The Moscow Times

Posted: at 10:45 pm

Russian liberal party Yabloko announced Monday it will cut ties with members who had backed jailed Kremlin critic Alexei Navalnys anti-Kremlin voting initiative, a move that underlines bitter divisions in the countrys fragmented opposition.

Yabloko, which has not been represented in Russias parliament for the past two decades, accused Navalny of playing into the Kremlins hands with efforts to coalesce supporters around mostly Communist Party candidates during last months legislative polls.

Our opponent is not only the government, but also what can be described as modern Bolshevism, Yabloko said in a statement.

The party defined the term as a reaction to leadership corrupted by irremovability, a populist appeal to all the weak and offended and a call to unite around a charismatic leader who combines nationalism with primitive egalitarianism in his appeals.

Any vote for the Communist Party, LDPR and A Just Russia is playing a game on the side of the authorities, it added, referring to the so-called systemic opposition parties that gained a handful of seats in Russias lower house of parliament, the State Duma.

Authorities had banned nearly every other independent and opposition member from running in Septembers parliamentary elections, clearing the field for the pro-Putin United Russia party to retain its supermajority in the 450-seat Duma.

In its statement, Yabloko called support for Navalnys Smart Voting initiative which directed supporters to cast ballots for any registered candidate with the best chance of defeating United Russia members incompatible with membership in the party.

Yabloko members who ignore the partys instructions are subject to de-registration, the statement said.

According to the liberal-leaning Dozhd broadcaster, Yablokos press service said support for Navalny does not entail automatic disqualification but exclusion from future decision-making.

Founded in 1993 and an influential political player in the Yeltsin years, the party was virtually wiped out in the 2003 Duma elections as its middle-class, urban electorate rewarded Putins United Russia for a booming economy and political stability.

The only officially registered party in Russia committed to liberal democracy, Yabloko has enjoyed exaggerated importance as one of the last routes into politics for otherwise marginalized Kremlin critics.

Navalny made his political start with Yabloko in the late 1990s but was expelled in 2007 for attending an ultranationalist, anti-immigration demonstration and agitating against the partys founder Grigory Yavlinsky.

Yavlinsky denounced Navalny as a populist in an open letter this year amid nationwide demonstrations against the opposition leaders imprisonment.

Navalny allies have denounced Yabloko as a Kremlin front after the party refused to nominate several of his organizers who were otherwise barred from running for this fall's elections.

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Provost’s Outstanding Service Award Recognizes Faculty in College of Liberal Arts and Sciences – UConn Today – UConn Today

Posted: at 10:45 pm

The University of Connecticut has recognized two faculty members with the 2021 Provosts Outstanding Service Award. The award honors faculty whose volunteer service is exemplary in enhancing the Universitys mission in teaching, research, service, or engagement.

This years two recipients are Carol Atkinson-Palombo, professor of geography, core faculty in urban and community studies, affiliate faculty of the Human Rights Institute, and director of environmental studies; and Jeffrey O.G. Ogbar, professor of history, an affiliate of American studies, and founding director of the Center for the Study of Popular Music.

I am so pleased to recognize these two stellar members of our UConn community. They have both contributed significantly in sustaining a rigorous, collaborative, and creative environment for colleagues and students. I am grateful for all they have done, and will undoubtedly continue to do as leading citizens of our university, said Carl Lejuez, provost and executive vice president for academic affairs.

Carol Atkinson-Palombo has been a faculty member at UConn since 2007. Nomination materials highlighted her sound reputation as an excellent, caring educator in tandem with her profile as an internationally recognized scholar of human-environment interactions. In terms of service, she has made substantial contributions in numerous areas, notably in environmental studies and engagement in faculty governance.

Atkinson-Palombo has been a central figure in the advancement of environmental studies and sciences opportunities at UConn. In addition to serving as the director for environmental studies and teaching the capstone course for that major, she has also served on the environmental sciences board that supported the undergraduate program since 2016. As a further step to embed human-environment issues in students academic experience, she was a leading advocate in the successful adoption of an environmental literacy general education requirement.

Atkinson-Palombo has also been an active presence in University Senate since 2015. She joined the Senate Executive Committee in 2018 and served as its chair during the 2020-21 academic year, skillfully managing the many new challenges that accompanied university concerns amid the COVID-19 pandemic. Prior to that, she chaired the Senate University Budget Committee, where her knowledge from the business sector and attention to detail were key to bringing more transparency in this area. During her tenure on Senate and SEC, Atkinson-Palombo has been an advocate for diversity and equity for women. She was also involved in University Metanoia serving on the Steering Committee for the Metanoia on the Environment.

Jeffrey O.G. Ogbar has been a faculty member at UConn since 1997. Ogbar has been the model of a productive scholar, dedicated university citizen, and sterling UConn ambassador. While producing pioneering scholarship in the fields of history and African-American studies and teaching some of the most popular undergraduate courses, Ogbar has developed an extensive record of service that reflects his commitments to excellence, diversity, and engagement benefitting virtually every sector of the UConn community.

He served as director of the Institute for African American Studies (now the Africana Studies Institute) from 2003-2009, associate dean of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences from 2009 to 2012, and vice provost for diversity from 2012-2014. Countless university-level committees and advisory boards have consulted with Ogbar for his expertise, across a breadth of areas. Committee memberships have ranged from advisory roles in support of the African American Cultural Center, Disability Studies, First Year Programs, UConn Athletics, Study Abroad and beyond. Hes had a hand in bringing many of the best and brightest to UConn, serving on search committees for University president, director of Womens Studies, director of African American Studies, the heads of Philosophy and English, director of the Institute for Puerto Rican and Latino Studies, Indigenous Studies faculty, and even the director of Public Safety and Chief of Police. He has also been a tireless advocate and mentor for students of color and first-generation students in a variety of capacities, formal and informal. He is a mentor for faculty of color and a model for all UConn faculty members. In addition to a recruiter and a mentor, he is also a program-builder, serving as the founding director of the Center for the Study of Popular Music.

The 2022 Provosts Outstanding Service Award will open for nominations in the spring semester. More information is available on the Provosts Office website.

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‘Life, Liberty & Levin’ on liberal ‘dark money’ spending ahead of 2024 election – Fox News

Posted: at 10:45 pm

This is a rush transcript from "Life, Liberty & Levin," October 17, 2021. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.

MARK LEVIN, FOX NEWS HOST: Hello, America. I'm Mark Levin, and this is LIFE LIBERTY & LEVIN. We have two great guests tonight -- Brent Bozell, where we're going to discuss the corrupt media at some level, particularly with respect to school boards, and so forth. And the great Charles Payne, our money man to talk about what Congress wants to do to you, your bank accounts and your wealth, which is basically take a lot of it.

But before we do, you know, I'm going to discuss a subject I'm not supposed to discuss -- the 2020 election, and I'm going to discuss some conspiracies that took place in the 2020 election, not with voting machines, not even with ballot counting, just conspiracies that took place -- dark money, billionaires, the Democratic Party, corporatists, and others. And if we don't address this, the next election for president in 2024 is going to wind up the same way.

Now, first, there was a piece in "Time" Magazine some time ago, last February, "The Secret History of the Shadow Campaign that Saved the 2020 Election." Saved it for whom? Well, the Democrats and Joe Biden.

So to lay the foundation here, it says in part, "Trump said on December 2nd, within days after the election, we witnessed an orchestrated effort to anoint the winner, even while many key states were still being counted."

Well, he wasn't wrong about that, ladies and gentlemen. Later in the piece, it says, "Their work" -- whose work? Left-wing groups, corporatists, Democratic Party operatives and of course, the media. "Their work touched every aspect of the election. They got states that change voting systems and laws, helped secure a hundreds of millions of public and private funding. They fended off voter suppression lawsuits," their word, "Recruited armies of poll workers and got millions of people to vote by mail for the first time."

"They successfully pressured social media companies to take a harder line against disinformation and use data driven strategies to fight viral smears." You can see how partisan it is. I'm reading this to you so you can recall what was done.

"They executed national public awareness campaigns that helped Americans understand how the vote count would unfold over days or weeks, preventing Trump's conspiracy theories and false claims of victory from getting more traction."

Conspiracy theories? This whole articles about a conspiracy theory.

"After Election Day, they monitored every pressure point to ensure that Trump could not overturn the result. The untold story of the election is that thousands of people of both parties who accomplished the triumph of American democracy at its very foundation says Norm Eisen, a prominent lawyer and of course, former Obama administration official who recruited Republicans (aka never Trumpers) and Democrats to the board of the Voter Protection Program." That's number one.

Number two, "The New York Post."

"Mark Zuckerberg spent $419 million on nonprofits ahead of the 2020 election and got out the Democratic vote."

"During the 2020 election, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg spent hundreds of millions of dollars to turn out likely key Democratic voters. But this wasn't traditional political spending, he funded a targeted private takeover government election operations by normally nonpartisan, but demonstrably ideological nonprofit organization."

"Analysis conducted by our team ("New York Post") says demonstrates this money significantly increased Joe Biden's vote margin in key swing states, in places like Georgia where Biden won by 12,000 votes, and Arizona where he won by 10,000. The spending likely put him over the top."

"This unprecedented merger of public election offices where private resources and personnel is an acute threat to our Republic, and should be the focus of electoral reform efforts moving forward."

Now, how did he do this? "The Center for Technology and Civic Life and the Center for Election Innovation and Research passed a staggering $419.5 million of Zuckerberg's money into local government election offices and it came with strings attached. Every CTCL and CEIR grant spelled out in grant detail the conditions under which the grant money was to be used."

"Big CTCL and CEIR money had nothing to do with traditional campaign financing, lobbying, or other expenses that are related to increasingly expensive modern elections. It had to do with financing the infiltration of election offices at the city and county level by left-wing activists and using those offices as a platform to implement preferred administrative practices, voting methods, and data sharing agreements, as well as to launch intensive outreach campaigns in areas heavy with Democratic voters."

"For instance, CTCL/CEIR funded self-described vote navigators in Wisconsin to assist voters potentially at their front doors to answer questions, assist in ballot curing, and witness absentee ballots signatures. A temporary staffing agency affiliated with Stacey Abrams, called Happy Faces, counting the votes amid the election night chaos in Fulton County, Georgia."

"CTCL demanded the promotion of universal mail-in voting through suspending election laws, extending deadlines that favored mail in over in-person voting, greatly expanding opportunities for quote 'ballot curing' unquote, expensive bulk mailings and other lavish 'community outreach' quote- unquote, programs that were directed by private activists."

"CTCL drove the proliferation on unmonitored private drop boxes which created major chain of custody issues and opportunities for novel forms of mail-in ballot electioneering, allowed for the submission of numerous questionable post-Election Day ballots, and created opportunities for illegal ballot harvesting."

"CTCL greatly increased funding for temporary staffing and poll workers, which supported the infiltration of election offices by paid Democratic Party activists coordinated through a complex web of left-leaning nonprofit organizations, social media platforms and social media election influencers."

"Funding and managing elections has always been a government function, not a private one. And for good reason. Private organizations are not subject to the rules for public employees and institutions. They are not required to hold public hearings, cannot be monitored via open records requests, and other mechanisms of administrative and financial transparency, are not subject to the normal checks and balances of the governmental process and are not accountable to the voters if the public disapproves of their actions."

"The practical effect of these massive privately manipulated election office funding disparities was to create a shadow election system with a built-in structural bias that systematically favored Democratic voters over Republican voters. The massive influx of funds essentially created a high powered concierge like get out the vote effort for Biden that took place inside the election system rather than attempting to influence it from the outside."

William Doyle PhD, and he is an election and research expert.

But there is more over a Breitbart: "Top Democrat lawyer uses dark money network to fund progressive lawsuits." Remember all the lawsuits brought between 2016 and 2020 to change the rules in the states to accommodate the Democrats.

"Top Democrat attorney Mark Elias has been using a dark money network to fund lawsuits geared toward advocating progressive causes from fighting voter ID laws to enshrining universal mail-in voting, according to a watchdog group Americans for Public Trust. Elias who previously helped push the Russia collusion hoax after serving as Hillary Clinton's top campaign lawyer recently parted ways from Perkins Coie law firm to start the Elias Law Group, a firm dedicated to advancing the Democratic Party's agenda."

But he worked within the Perkins Coie law firm during the lead up and during the last election.

"Prior to the formation of his new firm, Elias formed extensive ties with a dark money network headed by Arabella Advisors, a company that manages several nonprofits, Hopewell Fund, the 1630 Fund, the New Venture Fund and the Woodward Fund."

"According to FOX News, in July 2020, Elias created the Democracy Docket Legal Fund, which was a fiscally sponsored project of the Hopewell Fund."

So you have this mothership, the Arabella Advisors Fund, then you have the second tier funds with the connections like this, and money moves between the funds and they are setup, why? Because legally, depending on what fund spends the money, it can't get transparency.

"Wealthy Democratic donors use these funds to pour cash and the dozens of initiatives that fall under Arabella's umbrella. According to the network's most recent tax forms, the four funds combined to haul in $715 million in cash from secret donors in 2019 alone. That cash for the most part went to fund lawsuits to try and promote the Democratic Party, position the Democratic Party, defeat the Republican Party, and specifically Donald Trump."

"The group also pushes money to outside organizations that do not fall under its auspices. In addition to the Democracy Docket LLC, Attorney Elias created the Democracy Docket Action Fund to raise money for voting rights lawsuits. 'The New York Times' reported last year, according to an Act Blue donation page (another left wing fund), the Action Fund is a project of the North Fund, which also boasts connections to the Arabella Advisors."

So all these funds are set up -- all these funds are set up so multibillionaires and millionaires can pour their money into these organizations. There is no transparency, which is why they call it dark funds. So, we, the American people have no idea what's taking place. And these funds were set up by Democrats, by the Democratic Party. These funds were used by this guy, Mark Elias, to bring lawsuits, lawsuits brought all over the country in all 50 states, hundreds of lawsuits, targeting the election laws to make it easier not for people to vote, but for the Democratic Party to enshrine the voting systems that they wanted.

That's what that's all about.

And in Pennsylvania alone, two serious Federal constitutional cases were brought in connection with Article II, Section 1, Clause 2, to challenge what had been done in Pennsylvania and the rogue Supreme Court there, which changed the voting system in the last days of the election, against the will of the Republican state legislature that violates the Federal Constitution, state legislatures determine election procedures for appointing electors under Article II Section 1 Clause 2.

Why am I bringing this all up?

Because Donald Trump has a point. You may not agree with every point, and depending on the state, there may be evidence, there may not be evidence. But the idea that we can't talk about what took place in the last election, so the Democrats can now lay the foundation in the 2024 election to do the same thing and double what they're doing is unacceptable.

Dark money, front groups, hundreds of millions of dollars raised, changing the voting systems to accommodate the Democratic Party and the Democrat nominee and can affect of course, Senate races and House races, too, this is something that needs to be investigated.

Now, it is not going to be investigated by Biden and his administration, they've benefited from it. It's not going to be investigated by the rogue Attorney General because he supports everything that's being done.

And apparently it's not going to be investigated by the Democrat House and the Democrat Senate. The House is on January 6th on a phony insurrection.

Ladies and gentlemen, our election system is in fact under attack, and it is under attack by very, very wealthy people in combination with radical left-wing Democratic Party organizations. There is no getting around it. There is no question about it.

Dark money, all this money flowing into the coffers, organizations that don't have to report who is giving what to whom? A combination of the corporatists and the left-wing groups, and it goes on and on and on. And they are there today and they are plotting right now.

And of course, you're not allowed to talk about this because the media has said this is all conspiracy stuff, and the media has said, well, if 66 lawsuits were brought in, and you couldn't win a single one. This has nothing to do with bringing lawsuits. This has everything to do with changing the voting system so we have a corrupt, fraudulent voting system.

And you, RINOs out there and you Bushies out there and you Cheneyites out there and you never Trumpers out there, you've contributed to this. You've contributed to this.

Nobody is trying to reverse anything. We want the light shed on what took place, and we want to make sure it never happens again.

So while you're chasing shiny objects set up by the Democratic Party, while you're chasing issues that are not going to affect the next election, but are attacking Trump even while he is a private citizen, this is going on, ladies and gentlemen under the radar and in the shadows.

I'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEVIN: Welcome back, America. Brent Bozell is the founder, President Media Research Center. And by the way, the author of a brand new book that's coming out in December, "Stops Along the Way." It's a fantastic book. I've read it already, and we'll talk more about that later.

Brent Bozell, the Loudoun County School District is the ground zero for the war against parents and taxpayers, the teachers unions, the educational bureaucracy, school boards, and the Biden administration through the Justice Department, and the American media corrupt as it is, seems to be taking the side of the totalitarians against the people. What do you know about this?

BRENT BOZELL, FOUNDER AND PRESIDENT, MEDIA RESEARCH CENTER: Well, it's a story of -- to cover-up -- and they are equally horrific. One, a cover up the radical left of their policies and the consequences. And the second one, the media aiding and abetting in this cover-up.

Let me walk you through this, Mark, if I can.

We've seen for the last two to three years this raging debate about transgender bathrooms. The overwhelming majority of Americans are opposed to this, but then the radical left said they wanted to insert it in the public school system where boys could go into girls' bathrooms, and just say that they're transgender.

Now, the overwhelming majority of parents against this had three things going for them. One, morality. This is immoral, B, Biology, this is not biological, but C., commonsense, because everyone said on our side that this was going to lead to a rape. And when it did, we were going to be horrified.

Now, the media, in turn attacked the pro-family movement everywhere we went and they just -- they said to America, these are carnival barking troglodytes. They said this has never happened before. Everything they're saying is just carnival barking, you have to ignore them. This is the way of a woke world, of a new world that we're introducing. That's your backdrop.

January 12th, a newly elected Democrat school board in Loudoun County announces that they're going to have a new policy allowing transgender children to go into the public school bathrooms with girls. It is going to happen in the next semester.

Well, it doesn't wait until the next semester, May 28th, a boy puts on a dress, goes into the girls' bathroom, gets a 14-year-old ninth grade, a little child and rapes her. Not only rapes her, Mark. The father doesn't talk about this, but we have to talk about this.

He sodomizes her. In the police report, it is not just sodomy, it is forced fellatio that he makes this girl -- poor girl -- go through.

The parents are contacted. The father is contacted and told that there is some incident that he needs to come into. He isn't told anything about this. Only when he arrives does he learn that his little girl has been raped. He goes ballistic in there, start yelling. He is escorted out of the school by the security guards.

Now what does the school do in talking to the parents about this and letting the parents know about a rape? Nothing. Nothing is told to the parents.

Instead, a notice goes to the parents about the father and what the father had done. It's an unbelievable cover-up of the consequences of what the school board had thrust down the throats of the parents in Loudoun County.

What's the media coverage of the rape? Nothing.

What's the media coverage of the cover-up of the rape to the parents in Loudoun County? Nothing.

Go further. June 22nd. There's a hearing now to expand this policy, not to stop it, but to expand it to allow quote-unquote, "gender expression." This means anybody can go into the girls' room, don't have to even say you're transgender, just want to express yourself, i.e. wear a skirt.

They actually push this new policy knowing that a rape had occurred. The father attends this. The father tries to speak out. He is muzzled by not just the school board that denies this, but also this transgender army that is brought into the school board hearing.

A tussle breaks out with the police. You've seen the footage and he has tackled, he is arrested, and he is sent to jail.

Now, the media know all this stuff is going on. Where are the media asking the question, what happened? Does this man's daughter -- has she been raped in this school? Why isn't anyone talking about this? Why is the school board denying this?

No media coverage.

October 6th. That same boy is arrested again, in another school, this time in a classroom with a sexual charge against another girl. What's the media coverage? Mark, no media coverage of this.

On Tuesday, "The Daily Wire" comes out with an expose. They connect all the dots in a massive story, telling the story the media didn't want you to know. And for God's sakes, the school board didn't want parents to know about the cover-up. What's the media coverage of this explosive story? Nothing on the networks. Not ABC, NBC, CBS -- those 24-hour news network like MSNBC and CNN, only FOX and "The Washington Times" and "The Washington Post."

But wait a minute, it wasn't just "The Washington Post." It was the washingtonpost.com, the paper didn't even report it, the paper that covers this and then when they did the dot-com, they didn't talk about the rape, it was about the father.

On Wednesday, that the school board comes out with its report. It just washes its hand on the thing. It says, we knew about it and the school says, within minutes, we alerted the police.

So we know they alerted the police to a crime. We know they covered it up. We know the parents were never told and we know the media deliberately participated in this cover up.

LEVIN: You know, I'd say that is unbelievable, Brent, but these days, the media are so corrupt, and so in the back pocket with the American Marxists movement, it's unbelievable.

When we come back, I want to pursue with you what the Attorney General of the United States and the Biden administration want to do to our school systems, our school boards, targeting our parents and taxpayers.

We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

JON SCOTT, FOX NEWS CHANNEL ANCHOR: Welcome to "FOX News Live." I'm Jon Scott in New York.

Former President Bill Clinton is back home in suburban New York after spending six days at a Southern California Hospital earlier today. He walked out from the University of California Irvine Medical Center with wife, Hillary, thanking doctors and nurses as he left. He was hospitalized for a non-COVID related infection that spread to his bloodstream. He is expected to finish his course of antibiotics from home.

Haitian Police now blaming a notorious gang for kidnapping a group of 17 missionaries that includes 16 U.S. citizens and one Canadian. Five children also part of that group snatched from a bus. It happened as they were returning from building an orphanage near the country's capital of Port-au- Prince. The group is part of the Ohio based Christian Aid Ministries.

I'm Jon Scott. We take you back now to LIFE, LIBERTY & LEVIN.

LEVIN: Welcome back, America. Brent Bozell, the Biden administration has done something I've never seen in my life and as a Chief of Staff to an Attorney General, it never would have crossed our minds.

They have decided to criminalize public protest and input at school board meetings, to federalize public input and protest at school board meetings. It violates the First Amendment, and of course, the Federal government has no nexus to this, but we now know, thanks to a letter that was sent to the Inspector General of the D.O.J. that the Biden administration at the White House conspired with the Attorney General's Office to unleash Federal law enforcement against parents and taxpayers who, quote-unquote "threaten or harass" school board members or teachers, and there is going to be a domestic terrorism hotline that people can call, I guess, so the F.B.I. can show up at your doorstep and ask you questions. What do you make of that?

BOZELL: I'm frightened. I'm frightened. Let's look at what should be the consequences of this horrific story. Number one, every person involved who knew about this should either resign or be removed. That means the principal, that means all the administrative staff that knew about this, that means every single teacher who knew about this, that means the school board itself.

Second, I hope that parents sue the crap out of the school board for what happened, and I think they will.

Third, every Democrat who participated in this should be exposed. This is the Democratic Party at work. This was a Democratic school board.

And then finally, the media need to be denounced for the cover up of this horrific story, but what is the actual consequence of this? It is stunning to me, Mark, that the parents are on trial for this, and the fact that the father is on trial, and then our Federal government has sided with those people who are covering up this policy and our Federal government is putting that poor dad on trial, is putting every parent who is horrified by this on trial.

You dare not speak out about this policy that resulted in the rape, the sodomizing, the forced fellatio of this poor darling, 14-year-old girl.

LEVIN: And then we have a Democrat running for Governor of Virginia, Terry McAuliffe, who says parents really have no say in what goes on in the classrooms. Can you imagine that? We pay for the classrooms. The teachers, we pay their salaries, we elect the school boards, and we have no say.

So the knuckleheads in charge of the school boards, the teachers unions, all these people are in charge of our children and we have no say. This is -- you're correct. This is the position of the Democratic Party.

Terry McAuliffe is a quintessential Democrat, is he not?

BOZELL: Think about when George Allen ran for Governor with the famous "macaca" moment. There were 56 stories in "The Washington Post" about "macaca," about the mistake that George Allen made. What is more important, saying "macaca" or supporting a school board that has this policy saying that parents have no right to object to that kind of a policy.

What's more important, and yet, where was "The Washington Post" on this. An online local news story that just ignores it and on we go. That's a cover- up.

This should be "The Washington Post," the media, they should be going right to Terry McAuliffe, and say how do you feel now? How do you feel now, Mr. McAuliffe, that you support it, and you continue, and you've doubled down on a policy that says parents have no right to participate in the decisions about their own children in school?

Now, what do you say, Mr. McAuliffe?

LEVIN: I'll tell you what they're going to say, they will endorse him for Governor when the time comes, as they always do, the Democrats, and what do you make of a line of Democrats going to campaign for McAuliffe given these facts? Given this situation, Barack Obama, shouldn't he be asked? Jill Biden, shouldn't she be asked? Joe Biden, shouldn't he be asked? Stacey Abrams, shouldn't she be asked?

Should they all be asked about this policy and what took place in the school district?

BOZELL: America, listen to the silence. That's all I can say. Listen to the silence. Joe Biden will speak out about anything, any conservative did anywhere. Joe Biden, who has also supported these policy, where is the President of the United States on this story? The President should be speaking out.

Where is Kamala Harris? You know, she is putting golf or something. Where is she?

Where is the Attorney General of the United States? Where's the investigation, Mark? Where's the Federal government saying, we're going to investigate this? After all, it is a Federal school system. Where are they on these things?

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Kennington featured on latest College of Liberal Arts podcast – Office of Communications and Marketing

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To understand 21st century America, Kelly Kennington would argue you must also understand 18th and 19th century America. Kennington is the Draughon Endowed Associate Professor in Southern History at Auburn University.

Her research on the antebellum period and slavery in America help provide an understanding of events and stories that sometimes go undiscussed in American classrooms.

Over the last few years, discussions about history curriculum have become increasingly common. Comments like I never learned that in history class, are not unusual when discussing details of the history of slavery, Jim Crow and the Civil Rights Movement.

Kenningtons research can help us better understand the antebellum south, slavery in Alabama, the Domestic Slave Trade and how it all relates to our experiences in 21st century America. Her discussion on this episode of the Things You Didnt Know You Didnt Know podcast uncovers how our past shapes the present and how we can all get a better understanding of the history of America and the South.

To read the full story, click here.

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Kennington featured on latest College of Liberal Arts podcast - Office of Communications and Marketing

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