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Daily Archives: July 29, 2022
Mekhi Becton on move to right tackle: Its a work in progress – NBC Sports
Posted: July 29, 2022 at 5:34 pm
Getty
The Jets drafted Mekhi Becton with the 11th overall selection in 2020 to be their franchise left tackle. Now, hes tasked with being their franchise right tackle.
His absence after only one game last season opened the door for George Fant to win the starting left tackle job.
It dont really matter to me, Becton said, via Brian Costello of The New York Post. Ive just got to change my technique up. As long as Im on the field, it dont really matter to me. I just know I have to do different things on the right side than I do on the left. Im still getting used to that. Its a work in progress.
Becton gained weight while sidelined last season and then skipped the voluntary offseason program for his first childs birth. He reported to minicamp overweight, per Costello, but Becton spent the past few weeks working with the teams medical and training staff.
It is unknown exactly how much weight Becton loss, but he hit his and the teams goal.
He got himself into football shape, coach Robert Saleh said. Hes a gifted athlete. Hes a gifted man, and Im just really excited about the direction hes going.
Now, Becton will spend the rest of the summer learning to play right tackle, though Saleh made clear that the move doesnt mean that Mekhis left tackle days are over.
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Surprise: A Divided Congress Is Making Bipartisan Progress – The Wall Street Journal
Posted: at 5:34 pm
William A. Galston writes the weekly Politics & Ideas column in the Wall Street Journal. He holds the Ezra K. Zilkha Chair in the Brookings Institutions Governance Studies Program, where he serves as a senior fellow. Before joining Brookings in January 2006, he was Saul Stern Professor and Acting Dean at the School of Public Policy, University of Maryland, director of the Institute for Philosophy and Public Policy, founding director of the Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning and Engagement (CIRCLE), and executive director of the National Commission on Civic Renewal. A participant in six presidential campaigns, he served from 1993 to 1995 as Deputy Assistant to President Clinton for Domestic Policy.
Mr. Galston is the author of 10 books and more than 100 articles in the fields of political theory, public policy, and American politics. His most recent books are The Practice of Liberal Pluralism (Cambridge, 2004), Public Matters (Rowman & Littlefield, 2005), and Anti-Pluralism: The Populist Threat to Liberal Democracy (Yale, 2018). A winner of the American Political Science Associations Hubert H. Humphrey Award, he was elected a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2004.
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Construction projects making progress throughout city | News – Southernminn.com
Posted: at 5:34 pm
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Columbia Sportswear Reports Progress on ESG Initiatives – Advertising Specialty Institute
Posted: at 5:34 pm
Columbia Sportswear Company isnt just saying it cares; its demonstrating it.
Last year, the global maker of apparel, outerwear and footwear, whose products sell extensively in the promo products industry, partnered with the Planet Water Foundation to build two new water towers in supply chain locations in order to bring clean water to the employees of its manufacturing partners and their children.
Overall, Columbia has now built 24 water towers for such humane purposes.
The construction of the towers was just one of the highlights from Columbias just released 2021 Environmental, Social and Governance Report (ESG). The document details progress CSC has made on further building the three main pillars of its corporate responsibility strategy empowering people, sustaining places and responsible practices.
We are committed to responsible practices throughout our business, said Peter Bragdon, CSCs executive vice president, chief administrative officer and general counsel.
Other highlights of the ESG report include that CSC finalized one Carbon Leadership Project program and one Clean by Design program with two cohorts of manufacturing partners at the Tier 1 and Tier 2 levels to help the partners reduce their environmental impact.
Reduction in emissions by the companys manufacturing vendors will help CSC to meet its target of a 30% reduction in manufacturing emissions by 2030, as compared to a 2019 baseline.
Meanwhile, CSC noted that shipping boxes across all its brands contain 100% recycled content. CSC also became a member of the Leather Working Group, which works to minimize the environmental impact of leather production.
Now, more than ever, we have to do our part to ensure the outdoors is for everyone, said Abel Navarrete, CSCs vice president of sustainability and community impact. Thats why we, together with our employees, community partners, customers and the wider industry, are leading initiatives to make sure people feel safe and welcomed in the outdoors.
Corporate responsibility initiatives that aim to reduce environmental impact, ensure humane and equitable treatment of workers throughout a companys supply chain, and deliver products made with more sustainable materials are gaining steam across a spectrum of industries, including apparel and the promotional products market. ASI Media has been documenting the evolution, particularly as it pertains to the branded merchandise industry, through Promo for the Planet.
The CSC report bears further evidence of the movement, which promo executives believe will accelerate in the space, driven in part by end-buyer demand. Getting greener is growing as both an operational focus and product material priority, they say.
We get asked more than ever for products with a sustainability component or a giveback component, Tammy Cernuska Hoth of Cotton Candy Global Marketing (asi/169186) said during a panel discussion at the recent ASI Show Chicago.
Based in Portland, OR, Columbia Sportswear Company said it generated $3.1 billion in total global revenue across all its brands and business channels.
Promo for the Planet is your destination for the latest news, biggest trends and best ideas to help build a more sustainable and socially-responsible industry.
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How the Courier-Post is making progress in newsroom diversity – Courier Post
Posted: at 5:34 pm
Diversity and inclusion are a key part of what makes our newsroom part of the communities it serves. Change starts at home, and here at the Courier-Post we continue to make change so we can grow.
We are sharing our 2022 diversity census, which shows the makeup of our newsroom. Our priority now, and in the future, is to focus on diversity and inclusion in the newsroom and how we cover our communities. Last year I made a pledge to do better with diversity and inclusion in our newsroom. I acknowledged that our newsroom didnt look like our communities and that we would do better. Im pleased to report that we made progress. We hired Isabel Koyama, Community Storytelling reporter, to write stories about the people and places in South Jersey.
We will continue to cover community-focused issues including education, healthcare and business. We will address the issues in our communities by talking to the people that live and work there. We will remain transparent and engage with the communities we cover and hear from different voices with different views on a wide range of topics.
As the leader of my newsrooms, it is my responsibility to ensure we cover stories fairly and with an open mind. I lead by example and open up communication to the staff and talk about the issues inside and outside of our newsrooms.
Providing diversity and inclusion training to our staff has also been an important part of our commitment. All staff members, including myself, have mandatory inclusion and diversity training and access to other related training tools throughout the year.
We have also transitioned our police and courts coverage away from daily crime coverage to more of a community-based look at the impact of crime on a community. When crime occurs in any neighborhood, we talk to those that are impacted and look at solutions. I am part of a company-wide committee to raise the level of crime reporting across all news sites in Gannett. We've seen positive progress in how we cover crime and will continue to address those areas that need improvement.
A diverse and inclusive workforce helps us better connect and serve you, our readers and our community partners. As we continue to move forward, we recognize that we still have work to do. It will take time, but we are committed to succeeding.
Audrey Harvin is the Executive Editor of the Courier-Post, Burlington County Times and Daily Journal. Contact her at aharvin@gannett.com.
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Jets training camp observations, Day 3: Sauce Gardner making progress, George Fant nearing a return and Zach – NJ.com
Posted: at 5:34 pm
The Jets still are still a few days away from putting on the pads for the first time. But even without contact, things are starting to intensify at training camp.
That was clear Friday at the end of the Jets third camp practice when the trash talking from the defense and celebrating by the offense which found the end zone on back-to-back plays to end the day could be heard more than 100 yards away.
Anytime you can get into a competitive nature, they love it and coaches love it, Jets coach Robert Saleh said. You always want that purpose. But it gets heated, especially when it goes the fourth day in a row. You get sick of seeing each other, its going to get heated, its going to get competitive, which is fine.
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Things will only get more intense Saturday when fans return to Florham Park for the first open practice of the summer. And everyone is looking forward to Monday when the Jets are scheduled to put on the pads and start hitting each other for the first time.
But Friday was still an eventful day, on the field and in the interview area. Heres everything that stood out.
Sauce must earn it
It still seems very likely that Sauce Gardner, the No. 4 overall pick in Aprils NFL Draft, will be starting at cornerback when the Jets open the season against the Ravens on Sept. 11. But the early days of training camp have shown that the Jets arent going to allow him to coast into that role.
Gardner has been splitting first-team reps with cornerback Bryce Hall. After practice, Saleh was asked after practice when he would know that Gardner is ready to be a starter.
Thats a good question. I think its one of those, youll know when you know, Saleh said. But him and Bryce are alternating days in terms of getting the reps and getting a feel going against different receivers, and theyre both getting those opportunities so both are doing a really nice job competing and helping one another out. So hes doing a good job and well know when we know.
And Saleh made it clear that after a few days of training camp, there are still way too many unknowns commit to Gardner as the starter at this point.
He is a rookie, Saleh said. It is mental. There [are] a lot of things [we want to see]. You still want to see him in pads. You still want to see how he holds up when the back hits the corner. First game against Baltimore theyre not going to be shy looking for a corner and contact. So theres a lot of things that weve got to see that are different than the college game where its more spread out, throw the ball.
With several weeks of training camp remaining and three preseason games remaining there is plenty of time for Gardner to show those things. And given his accomplishments in college and his physical tools, there is every reason to believe he will pass the eye test before Week 1 the rookie had a nice breakup of a Wilson pass on Friday. But it sure sounds like the job wont be his until he does.
Fant nearing return, but what about a contract?
Starting left tackle George Fant has watched team drills from the sideline to start training camp as he recovers from a knee injury. But Saleh said Friday that Fant should be practicing fully in the very near future.
Well see, Saleh said. Its day by day. Im not going to put a number on it. Hopefully sometime next week. Once we get pads on, [well] start mixing him in there a little bit. He looks good, hes going through everything, hes getting treatment and hes doing basically everything except for the team stuff which will come.
Fant was activated from the physically unable to perform list before Wednesdays opening practice and after going through individual drills Friday he spent time working with a trainer on a side field.
Im feeling good, man, Fant said after practice. Just working back. Just moving, getting there every day.
Fant was named the starting left tackle earlier this week and Mekhi Becton was shifted to right. Fant said there has been no awkwardness between the two players, theyre both just excited for the opportunity to be back on the field after their respective injuries. Fant also said he was excited and grateful for the chance to continue playing at left tackle because its where he feels most comfortable.
His position is established for the season, but theres still one issue that could hang over the remainder of camp for Fant: his contract situation. Fant is due to make $11.1 million this season on the final year of his contract. He reiterated Friday that hes going to let his agent handle any potential negotiations.
Im staying out of that, man, Fant said. My job is to play football at a high level. And thats what Im going to do.
But Fant was a little more revealing when he was asked if it had crossed his mind earlier this week when he was named the starter that it pays better to play left tackle.
No, not really, Fant said. " I just want to be taken care of. And thats about it.
How Zach Wilson fared
It was an up-and-down day for Zach Wilson, who seemed more comfortable dealing with pressure from the defensive line than he did on Thursday. Wion completed 10-of-13 passes during 11-on-11 drills, and he also showed notable improvement in the red zone where he struggled on the first day of practice.
The problem was that two of his three incompletions were interceptions. Wilsons first throw of practice was picked off by Hall on a pass that was way off the mark.
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Wilson bounced back with a strong third-down period on the next set of reps. And in the next set of reps, a red-zone 11-on-11 drill, he threw an impressive touchdown pass to Corey Davis. Wilson recognized that he had time, got through his reads and fired a well-placed bullet pass through a tight window. Davis made a nice diving catch to secure the touchdown in the back of the end zone.
Wilson nearly ended practice with a thud: on the final drill, another red-zone 11-on-11, he threw a bad interception. There appeared to be some sort of miscommunication because Wilson lofted the ball into traffic without a receiver looking for it and safety Jordan Whitehead came down with an easy interception. On the next play, Wilson nearly threw a pick trying to find Corey Davis.
But Wilson ended practice with two touchdown passes. He made the right read and found rookie Garrett Wilson open on the far right side of the end zone with a perfect pass, and then he connected with Cory Davis to set off a celebration for the offense. It was a finish that surely made his lunch taste a little better.
Also of note
- Corey Davis had a strong practice, catching two touchdown passes in the red zone drills and another long-gainer from Wilson over the middle during third down drills. It wasnt a perfect practice though, because late in the session he hauled in a long pass from backup quarterback Joe Flacco and had it punched out of his hand. It looked more like a fumble than a drop, but either way it was bad and Davis put his hands on his helmet. But thats probably the only bad moment in camp for Davis, who is off to a strong start.
- It appears that Carl Lawson will be on the field when the Jets practice in pads next week. Lawson, who ruptured his Achilles last August, has participated in team drills in each of the first three practices. And the early returns are good.
He looks good, Saleh said. Excited for pads. Hes stout. Hes powerful. Hes got all his movement. I think hes got full confidence in his lower half. Hes Carl.
Although, not everything has gone exactly how Lawson would have liked it to in practice as the Jets have been watching his workload carefully.
We reeled it back a little bit today for him, which he was not happy about, Saleh said with a grin. But he looks good.
- Mekhi Becton is still getting his wind back as he returns to the field for the first time in nearly a year, but Saleh said hes been impressed with the big left tackle so far.
He looks good, Saleh said. [Friday] was a really good day for him. We just had a small talk as we were walking off [the field] and its not getting easier, hes just getting stronger. Hes just got to continue to strain himself and push himself to the brink of exhaustion and trust that that discomfort is whats going to help him get better.
- Saleh said that returner/receiver Braxton Berrios could be a full participant in practice as early as next week as he deals with an undisclosed issue. Saleh didnt reveal what was keeping Berrios off the field during team drills but the backup slot receiver was working on a side field with a sleeve on his left leg Friday.
- Rookie tight end Jeremy Ruckert could be making his practice debut soon. Saleh said the training staff was pleased with his progress after a mini-breakthrough this week.
He is getting closer, Saleh said. So well see how things progress through the remainder of the weekend.
Thank you for relying on us to provide the journalism you can trust. Please consider supporting us with a subscription.
Andy Vasquez may be reached at avasquez@njadvancemedia.com.
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England and Germany set to show 13 years of progress in Euros final – The Guardian
Posted: at 5:34 pm
On Sunday, Helsinkis Olympic Stadium will feel several dimensions away. It was there that, in 2009, England and Germany first met in a Womens European Championship final. On paper it might have appeared a clash of the titans but England were not quite there yet: Germany began as overwhelming favourites and duly beat Hope Powells side 6-2, reasserting themselves as continental heavyweights. Birgit Prinz and company put on a masterclass but only 15,000 people were present in the storied venue to witness it.
When this years England crop beat a weakened German side 3-1 at Molineux in February, it was only the second time this fixture had fallen the Lionesses way. That tells nothing of how the gap has closed. What reveals rather more is the fact that, however often the 2022 final is played in the head, it feels impossible to pick a clear winner. The outcome may well be on a knife edge and, with an audience up to six times higher than the crowd that rattled around in Finland, the atmosphere should ensure things feel that way immediately.
A once-in-a lifetime experience was how the excellent Germany goalkeeper, Merle Frohms, referred to the prospect of Sunday. You couldnt have dreamed of a better final, to be facing the host nation in their own stadium. The organisers will be pinching themselves too. There is no other way of putting it: this is a classic final, an event whose history needs no explaining but is perfectly capable of standing on its own feet when measured on skill, bravery and sheer sporting excellence too.
Another four-goal margin of victory for either side seems unthinkable although both have made light of similar predictions in the past three weeks. England were expected to face trouble against Norway but cruised home with bemusing ease and emphasis; they then overwhelmed Sweden despite riding their luck in the first half.
Germany, having done their best to cast themselves as dark horses before the tournament, showed up at Brentford and promptly demolished the much-fancied Denmark 4-0. That is what these teams can do: they can outwit, outplay and eventually overwhelm. When they face one another, all bets will be off.
Determined, modest, successful was how the German newspaper Zeit described Martina Voss-Tecklenburgs team after the win over France. Those words are apt: there is a humility about Germanys work, an ability to balance flair with fastidiousness, perhaps best exemplified by the perfectly reasonable argument that their best player in these championships has been the 20-year-old holding midfielder Lena Oberdorf.
Like England, they have been kept honest for all their rampaging forward play. While the hosts came within minutes of crashing out in the quarter-finals before salvaging what had been a listless performance against Spain, Die Nationalelf rode their luck at times when they met Austria in the last eight and could have come unstuck against France on Wednesday before Alexandra Popps supremely taken winner. Both finalists have known what it is to purr through games and take delight in one anothers talents, but both have cause to feel battle-hardened too.
If anything should make the Germans feel particularly ill at ease, it is Englands capacity to grow stronger as the minutes tick on, spurred by the wealth of options Sarina Wiegman can call upon from the bench. France and Austria faded in the latter stages of their knockout ties, even if the former kept aiming balls into Frohms box until the end; England are less likely to go away and the sharpness of an Alessia Russo or Ella Toone from the bench is something Germany have not been required to contend with so far.
On the flipside Popp, who would be many onlookers player of the tournament both for her potency and the sheer romance of her return from career-threatening injury, started the group stage among the substitutes and might have struggled for as much game time had Lea Schller not tested positive for Covid-19 after the Denmark game.
Likewise, Germany did not miss the similarly indisposed Klara Bhl, the best winger of a pleasing number this summer, too much against France even though her absence also caused Svenja Huth to switch position. Schller and Bhl may be ready to play a part in the final. The point is that depth and flexibility are as important to both England and Germany as what happens from the start: it would not be outlandish to suggest that the most significant events at Wembley will be shaped by decisions made after the interval.
Were happy with what we achieved, but not satisfied with what we achieved, said Powell after the defeat 13 years ago had sunk in. It will make them stronger next time and one day it will be our day.
That looks a safe assertion now, and Englands task is to make sure the moment comes on an evening that will showcase their sport like never before. Pubs will do brisk business, big screens will be set up, squares may even fill. If England and Germany produce anything like the spectacle both have promised, the progress womens football and this competition have made since Helsinki will hardly have been clearer.
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IWD concerned about wastewater treatment plant progress Idyllwild Town Crier – Idyllwild Town Cier
Posted: at 5:33 pm
With General Manager Leo Havener absent, the Idyllwild Water District (IWD) directors monthly meeting finished up in about a half-hour Wednesday, July 20.A special meeting had been called for Tuesday, July 12, to discuss the wastewater treatment plant (WWTP) progress but was canceled because of illnesses.Instead, Director Peter Szabadi, at the July 20 meeting, told the other four directors that progress on replacing the WWTP was not sufficient and thats why the special meeting that was canceled was called.In Haveners report, he wrote that the map for the proposed WWTP project was received and that property negotiations with Idyllwild Arts Foundation (IAF) is the next step. Last year, he told the board that IAF is cooperating on selling some of its property to the district to expand the facility.Szabadi said Havener is working on remedying the WWTP progress issues. In the meantime, he asked each director to write down questions they would like answered about the WWTP progress. President Dr. Charles Schelly named some of his questions, including, Why did the costs go up?The directors discussed making every employee at-will, meaning they can be fired at the will of a supervisor. However, Szabadi said some employees had been hired under contracts. We cant change that on certain employees, he said.Schelly asked that at each meeting, the board review a district policy to keep us abreast of what our policies are.In response to a question from the audience, Chief Financial Officer Hosny Shouman said IWD has one of the cheapest connection fees on the Hill.The connection fee for a 1-inch meter is $6,954. When asked later if this includes the installation fee and capitalization charge, Shouman wrote, It is including the capital asset cost not the installation fee. The installation fee varies. The customer makes a deposit for the installation fee for $2,000 and it depends on how big or the small of the job is for installation fee.In comparison, Pine Cove Water District charges $14,042 for a 1-inch meter connection and installation is not included. Basic installation starts at $740.Fern Valley Water District charges $5,790 for a 1-inch meter plus $790 for installation and $5,000 for capitalization.All the districts also offer -inch meters, as well as meters above 1 inch.
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‘Enjoy the moment’: The evolution of Nashville SC star Hany Mukhtar – Tennessean
Posted: at 5:32 pm
Hany Mukhtar couldn't believe it, nor did he agree at the time.
At the team hotelin Bradenton, Florida, in January 2020, before the team's first preseason training session, Nashville SC first assistant coach Steve Guppy told its best player not only had he misused one of his better qualities, he wasn't using it enough.
Guppy showed Mukhtar video clips from his stint atBrondby IF in Denmark.Mukhtar made a stepover dribble just six times in three years. Four of which were in midfield.That was normal for him previously at Hertha Berlin, Austria's Red Bull Salzburg and Benfica in Portugalhe was a central midfielder, known for his give-and-go's and link-up passing with teammates in the middle channel.
But Mukhtar's new chapter with Nashville would be different. He'd be molded into an attacking player, starting with upgrading his dribbling tricksunder Guppy, knownfor his wing play in the late 1990s and early 2000s with Leicester City and Celtic, among others.
"'He was like, 'If we can bring you to doing that, you will reach your next level,' " Mukhtar recalled Guppy saying. "As a player you try toI wouldn't say go against the coach but youtry to explain to them, 'Hey, I've come so far without doing that. Like, why now should I change mygame?' "
The past 12 months haveprovided an undisputable reason. The 26-year-old Mukhtar of todayisn't the German designated player Nashville signed in August 2019 for just under $3 million. From a midfield playmaker on an expansion team to one of the league's best 11 players, Mukhtar has evolved from a connector and creator to a creator and goal-scorer.
"I'm honest with you,I was expecting a lot of things, but to becomea second striker, I wasn't seeing that," Mukhtar said. "I practiced my whole life for being a midfield player, and in the peak of my career, there is a change. You have to adapt. You have to take it and do the best with it."
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Thatadjustment was a season-long process in 2020 and Mukhtar wasn't yet convinced Guppy's vision fit his strengths. Mukhtar's first-year impression inMajor League Soccer waspromising, albeit fragmented.
In his central attacking midfield role, Mukhtar posted five goals and four assists in all competitionsa stat line weighted by the start-stopCOVID-19 pandemic season and Nashville's virus outbreak in July 2020, which prevented it from playinginthe bubble at the MLS Is Back Tournament.
Mukhtardidn't score his first MLS goal until Sept. 12 against Atlanta United. But days before, a word from coach Gary Smith would become"a game-changer," he said.
"I wasn't really playing good andI wasn't scoring that much," Mukhtar said. "Gary told me, 'We brought you here so that youmake something special. We don't want you to play from A to B. We want you to make something out of it."
Mukhtar scored three goals and an assist in the final two matches of 2020. Butthe turning point came in Round One of the MLS Cup Playoffs against No. 2 seed Toronto FC, in the 108th minute of extra time,convincingMukhtar that Guppy's vision for him would elevate him to the next level.
Toronto center back Chris Mavinga turned the ball over in Toronto's half.Daniel Rios collected and made a lead pass to Mukhtar. Three Toronto defenders surrounded him as he dribbled toward the penalty box. Two stepovers froze the defense. Mukhtar took the shot. Goalkeeper Quentin Westberg deflected it before Rios scored the game-winner.
"From that moment, he was like a changed man. I've never seen anything quite like it," Guppy said. "And then thenext preseason,he was a different animal altogether. In training, his1v1 work, there was like a spring in his step."
Mukhtar had daily 1v1 sessions with Guppy, cutting inside and breaking wide. Off-the-ball movements and runs behind the opposing back line. Free kicks and wide free kicks. In the film room, Guppy put together game tapes featuring Mukhtar's isolation sequences with defenders.
But it was a July 3 meeting with the Philadelphia Union thatunlocked Mukhtar as a goal threat. Smith changedformationsfrom his default 4-2-3-1 to a 3-4-3, which pushed Mukhtar from the midfield trio to a part of a three-man weave with CJ Sapong and Randall Leal.
In the next two months, Mukhtar went on a tear, netting seven goals and seven assists, including the league's fastest hat trick scored from the start of a game (16 minutes) in the second-fastest elapsed time (six minutes) on July 18 against Chicago Fire FC.
Seattle Sounders and U.S. men's national team midfielder Cristian Roldan said Mukhtar's threat comes down to his positioning. One of Mukhtar's most dangerous areas with the ball isin the pocket, the areas just behind the opposing midfield, tucked in from the sidelines.
In the pocket, he's so comfortable and it's very difficult to get the ball off him," Roldan said."His first touch is sublime, gets him out of pressure, gets him out of trouble a lot of times and he's so direct. I think thats what the difference is between him and a lot of players is, yeah, he can play in the pocket, he can turn and play that penetrating pass, but he also dribbles at the backline and that's what makes him really tough to defend.
Midway through last season, when it came time for the 2021 MLS All-Star Game, Mukhtar felt his production was overlooked.
Despite totaling seven goals and three assists when voting ended July 21, Mukhtar fell short in the voting.
However, when Los Angeles FC's Carlos Vela and LA Galaxy's Javier "Chicharito" Hernandez were replaced due to injury, MLS added the Galaxy's Sebastian Lletget and Miami's Rodolfo Pizarro who, although U.S. and Mexico internationals, combined for two goals and four assists at the voting cutoff.
Mukhtar would miss out again on accolades in December, finishing second in the league MVP voting (11.8%) to New England Revolution midfielder Carles Gil. With four goals and 18 assists, Gil was the conductor of best team and the best offense.
I feel like I needed to do more than a lot of other players to be recognized in the All-Star Game or in the MVP talk," Mukhtar said. "… Even though I had a great season the whole year, they started (mentioning me) towards the end of the season. You know what I mean? Then players like, I don't want to say names, but they were in the talks from the beginning. I'm already in a more difficult position because for people, they just saw me in talks later.
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Mukhtar said he's chalked up 2021 all-star and MVP campaigns to motivation. He's a 2022 all-star and after 21matches played, he's on pace to surpass his 16-goal tally from last year. He's scored 12 goals in MLS and 15 overall.
After becoming the club's first designated player, Mukhtar doubled down on Nashville in May, signing a contract extension through the 2025 season.
This year for me personally is to show myselfthat I can do that again. That it wasnt luck," Mukhtar said."I have that quality to do it again. But you have to stay humble because Ive had bad years and was on the bench at Benfica and Salzburg, really I was in and out of the team. Now (in Nashville), Im starting and thats what you train for your whole life. Enjoy the moment. Thats what Im doing right now.
For stories about Nashville SC or Soccer in Tennessee,contact Drake Hills at DHills@gannett.com. Follow Drake on Twitter at @LiveLifeDrake. Connect with Drake on Instagram at @drakehillssoccerand on Facebook.
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'Enjoy the moment': The evolution of Nashville SC star Hany Mukhtar - Tennessean
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John Fetterman’s evolution on climate change, fracking and the environment – 90.5 WESA
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This article originally appeared onInside Climate News. It isrepublishedwith permission. Sign up for their newsletterhere.
The ad opens in Braddock, Pennsylvania with the kind of eerie industrial imagery that has long been synonymous with the decline of Americas Rust Belt: empty storefronts, abandoned buildings, For Sale signs, cracked asphalt. Other than the slow, dramatic piano music laid over the footage, the only sound is the muted whir of an occasional passing car. There are no pedestrians in sight; everything appears to be shut down, faded and awash in shades of gray.
John Fetterman, then the mayor of Braddock, appears in the corner of the frame 20 seconds in. With a smart, economically-viable carbon cap policy in place, communities like Braddock, that suffered so badly during the collapse of the steel mills, can begin to build its manufacturing and middle class back up, he says. This whole notion that we can continue to operate as we have been and ignore climate change is ludicrous.
This 2009 ad was part of a campaign called Carbon Caps = Hard Hats, promoting a cap on carbon pollution as a way to spur investment in clean energy industries and create new, green jobs, especially in struggling towns like Braddock, which has lost more than 90 percent of its population since its peak of 20,000 in the 1920s.
Sponsored by the Environmental Defense Action Fund, the Blue Green Alliance and United Steelworkers, the Carbon Caps = Hard Hats campaigns stark, striking ads feature the faces of laid-off steelworkers, Braddocks vacant streets, and Fetterman, who serves as a spokesperson. In one photograph, Fetterman poses, hands on hips and wearing work boots, in the cavernous Carrie Furnace Works, a steel mill near Braddock that closed in 1982. A large quote is emblazoned in yellow block letters across the picture: A cap on carbon pollution will create jobs and prosperity for workers in America, starting in Braddock, PA.
After the carbon caps ad campaign launched, Fetterman traveled to Washington, D.C. to speak at Congressional hearings on the topic of carbon caps and a new energy bill, the American Clean Energy and Security Act. The bill passed the House and was never brought for a vote in the Senate, but it provided Fetterman with national exposure, both in the hearings, where he stood out in a sea of buttoned-up legislators, and on talk shows, where he took questions from viewers and talked about the importance of creating green manufacturing jobs.
Fetterman, now Pennsylvanias lieutenant governor, no longer talks about a carbon cap in his current campaign for the states open U.S. Senate seat. His campaign website calls climate change an existential threat and says that we need to transition to clean energy as quickly as possible, and we can create millions of good union jobs in the process, but he has dropped his support for a fracking moratorium he espoused during his 2016 Senate run, saying recently that right now our energy security is paramount. His campaign did not respond to requests for comment.
A look back at the Carbon Caps = Hard Hats campaign in Braddock and Fettermans previous work on climate and the environment charts a clear shift to the center as he tries to walk a precarious line, familiar to Pennsylvania Democrats across the state, torn between appealing to environmentally minded voters, unions and economic interests in the nations second largest natural gas-producing state, behind only Texas.
One of the central themes of Fettermans 2022 campaign for Pennsylvanias Senate seat centers on his unorthodox appearancethe same tattoos, short-sleeved shirts, and goatee he sported in the carbon caps ads in 2009and what that willingness to flout sartorial conventions signals about his politics. I dont look like a typical politician. And I sure dont act like one, reads one recent campaign mailer. Im 6 foot 8. I shave my headAnd I prefer black work shirts and cargo shorts to suits and ties.
Fetterman presents himself as a pragmatic leader who doesnt have time or patience for the niceties ofpolitical theater. When he talks about policy, he is self-deprecating and charismatic, a straight-shooter who seems unafraid of blunt honesty or its political consequences. Ill always be straight with you about my common-sense views, his campaign says. But Ill never tell you the easy thing just to get your support. But on environmental and climate issues, his record has not been as consistent or straightforward as voters might expect from a candidate whose website claims that he hasnt had to evolve on the issues.
Going green
Fettermans involvement in the carbon caps campaign was just one facet of his early work on sustainability and green initiatives after he became the mayor of Braddock in 2006 at the age of 35.In 2009, he secured a $100,000 grant from the Heinz Endowments to build a green roof in Braddock and another $190,000 grant in 2014 for a food-based ecosystem project including an urban farm and restaurant. He helped found the farm in partnership with Grow Pittsburgh, which includes a greenhouse and farm stand and sells fresh produce in town.
In 2007, Fetterman persuaded a biodiesel company to set up shop in Braddock in a 9,000-square-foot converted warehouse facility. Theyre focused on bringing a great business to Braddock, Fetterman said of the company in 2007. There was a lot of interest in biofuels and other alternatives in the early 2000s, said Asa Watten, who was the CEO of Fossil Free Fuel in Braddock from 2010 to 2013 and is now an environmental economist. Electric vehicles felt like a long way off and were not ready, and it seemed like there needed to be a solution for reducing the climate impact of autos and internal combustion engines now. Watten recalled driving an old truck around to restaurants to pick up grease to make into biodiesel. The company had big ambitions to expand their operations and processing capacity. Watten remembered Fettermans involvement with the carbon caps initiative. That also was a fairly new concept at the time, he said. Van Jones bestselling book The Green Collar Economy had just come out in 2008, and Fettermans campaign was part of a new push to portray climate action as an engine of economic growth instead of a costly trade-off.
In the years after Fetterman was elected mayor for the first time by just one vote, he was profiled in the New York Times, Harvard Magazine (he is an alumnus of the Kennedy School), Orion, Rolling Stone and Grist, appearing in articles with titles like Wrought from Ruins and The Mayor of Hell. These largely laudatory pieces praised his vision for and dedication to transforming Braddockand spotlit the environmental advocacy and green ideas that had allegedly helped him do it. Similar language reappears: Fetterman talks about Braddocks malignant beauty and the allure of its abandoned landscape to the intrepid urban pioneer. The other constants are the filth and industrial pollution (in the Rolling Stone piece, a Braddock resident says, It smells like sulfur. The water tastes different. You see three-eyed fish and shit.) and Fettermans stubborn optimism about what Braddock might become, if only the town could realize its fullest potential, with Fettermans nonprofit and his chosen projects leading the way. Many of those projects, highlighted in these stories as an innovative approach to remaking a wasteland, were environmentally-focused: the farm, the biodiesel company, the green roof. A 2011 book, Climate Capitalism: Capitalism in the Age of Climate Change, includes Fettermans achievements in Braddock in its pages. Fetterman, it says, set about revitalizing the cityby going green.
In 2010, the Ecological Society of America gave Fetterman its Regional Policy Award. Mayor Fetterman has demonstrated that he is a leader in green development in the state of Pennsylvania and the region, Mary Power, the president of the ESA, said of Fettermans work in Braddock. The ESA cited Fettermans emphasis on sustainability and environmentally-friendly building design, as well as his advocacy for alternative energy sources. It is my hope that if anything can be learned from our efforts in Braddock, Fetterman said in his acceptance speech, it would be that environmental justice is social justice.
Climate justice
When you ask Braddock residents about Fettermans environmental work now, they dont remember those early, hopeful forays into green jobs, architecture and business. The only thing I remember him talking about was bringing in artists and yuppies and things of that nature at the time, said Isaac Bunn, a lifelong resident who runs a nonprofit called the Braddock Inclusion Project. Bunn remembered Fettermans focus as mayor being more on projects like the restaurant that Fetterman helped to open in town, Superior Motors, and Brew Gentlemen, a microbrewery. As far as the green jobs, Ive never actually heard him talk about that. Bunns mother was the runner-up candidate for mayor in the 2005 election. Charda Jones, who succeeded Fetterman as mayor of Braddock in2019, wasnt aware of Fettermans green initiatives either.To my knowledge, that actually never happened, she said. I asked her about the carbon caps and green jobs campaign from 2009. Those are cool keywords, she said. It would be nice if it was to happen. But if its not implemented, it doesnt mean much.
What is more likely to come up in a discussion of Fettermans environmental record is what some residents view as his capitulation to U.S. Steel on the issue of fracking. I had supported a lot of the things that Fetterman was doing at first, Jones said. But I drew the line when he was for fracking. In Braddock, Fettermans shifting views on fracking do not feel abstract or distant as they might in other parts of the state. In 2017, Merrion Oil & Gas was preparing to drill six new fracking wells on the site of the U.S. Steel Edgar Thomson plant, Andrew Carnegies first steel mill, which is located in Braddock on the Monongahela River. For local activists organizing against the wells, Fetterman was seen by many as an obstacle, not an ally.
Named for a president of the Pennsylvania Railroad, the Edgar Thomson plant opened in 1875 and has loomed over Braddocks politics and its residents lives ever since, even as employment at the plant shrunk from thousands of workers to a few hundred. Braddocks contemporary woes are not only the result of the loss of manufacturing jobs. Most of the workers at the plant today do not live in Braddock, a trend toward suburbanization that began decades ago. Nobody wants to live here anymore, says one of the characters in Thomas Bells 1941 Braddock-based novel, Out of this Furnace, near the end of the story. People have automobiles and the farther away they can get from the mills the better. Who can blame them? I dont. As white residents moved away and job opportunities dwindled,redlining and poverty kept many of Braddocks Black residents in place, changing the demographics of the town and leading to further white flight.
LaToya Ruby Frazier, an acclaimed photographer who grew up in Braddock, opened her book The Notion of Familywith a large, glossy picture of Edgar Thomson, white smoke drifting upward from its stacks, suggesting the plants centrality to life in the town. The book is about how Frazier, her mother, and her grandmother survived environmental racism in historic steel mill town Braddock, Pennsylvania. In Edgar Thomsons shadow, the houses, cars and telephone poles of Braddock look like toys.
I think a lot of the things that happened to my family members were linked either to working in the mill or from the pollutants in the air that have been there for decades, Bunn said. Bunns family home is a block away from the plant. Two of his sisters passed away from cancer, one at just 13 years old, the other at 34. His father, who worked in the steel mill, died of lung cancer after his retirement. Majority Black communities have always been a dumping ground for polluters, Bunn said.
Tony Buba is a Braddock native who has chronicled the towns past and present in his documentary films since the 1970s. He said that his mother, brother and cousins all suffered from cancer, with his brother eventually dying from a rare form of lung cancer. I have this short film I made of my grandmother out on the streets, sweeping up the mill dust. Youd have this glitter every night, sparkling when it hit the ground, he said. Some days you couldnt even put your laundry out because the dirt was so thick coming from the mill. The pollution that comes from the mill now is less visible than it was back then, Buba said. But that doesnt mean it isnt there. On bad air days, he notices himself coughing a lot, bringing up phlegm.
Penn Environment has named the plant the eighth-most toxic air polluter in Allegheny County for its emissions, noting violations of the Clean Air Act for sulfur dioxide pollution, and a list of other compounds that can cause cancer as well as harm respiratory, reproductive, developmental and cardiovascular health. In May, the Edgar Thomson plant was fined $1.5 million for air pollution violations and required to make facility improvements as a result of a settlement with the Environmental Protection Agency and the Allegheny County Health Department. In Braddock and Allegheny County, elevated rates of infant mortality and childhood asthma have been linked to air pollution. Allegheny County has higher rates of death due to heart disease and chronic lower respiratory disease than the rest of Pennsylvania.Fettermans current campaign talks about the different environmental standards in places like Braddock. Environmental justice for every American is critical, he says, in a video called Climate Justice. The video touts his opposition to the Mon-Fayette Expressway, a highway that was once slated to cut through the heart of Braddock. Dozens of homes and businesses would have been demolished to make space for the road. I called it environmentally racist policy, Fetterman says in the dimly lit clip, and I was the only elected official in Western Pennsylvania to oppose this.
Fetterman may have been right about the discrimination inherent in the Mon-Fayette proposal, but he wasnt alone in opposing it. A 2001 Pittsburgh Post-Gazette article quotes Braddock council member Evelyn Benzo speaking out against the Expressway plan. And support for the project was not just coming from outside the town; some locals whose houses were in the way of the construction were in favor. Im going to open my front door and tell them, come on through, one resident told thePittsburgh Post-Gazette in the same article. There aint nothing down here on Third Street.
During his unsuccessful Senate campaign in 2016, Fetterman had supported a fracking moratorium at least until the state has an extraction tax and enacts the best health and safety standards in the country. The following year, back in Braddock, he said that bringing fracking to the Edgar Thomson plant wouldnt worsen the pollution in the area. They need to do this to remain competitive and keep the plant open. Given what goes on there on a daily basis, no one would even notice, he said at the time. It would be like somebody baking a loaf of bread in a pizza shop. Fetterman had once called U.S. Steel just a polluter and historical ballast with a limited role in Braddock, and now he was backing the plants plans toincrease that pollution, with potentially dangerous consequences for public health.
Edith Abeyta, who is an artist and a member of North Braddock Residents for Our Future, an organization that successfully fought the fracking proposal, said that some in the group were surprised by Fettermans pro-fracking stance because Fetterman, his wife Gisele and their three kids are breathing in the plants pollution, too, and they would have been subject to any further pollution caused by the fracking wells. Fetterman and his family live in a renovated car dealership across the street from the plant, and though he is from another part of Pennsylvania originally, Fetterman has lived in Braddock for almost 20 years. He has recently been open about health problems hes had since at least 2017, including cardiomyopathy and atrial defibrillation, issues he says caused the stroke he had this spring. I dont know, Abeyta said, maybe he really believes its safe where he lives.
As mythic as the Joe Magarac statue
John Fetterman brought a bright national spotlight to Braddock and its environmental problems, which he continues to do in his current campaign. One thing that can be said for John is that he brought a lot of attention to Braddock as a place worth saving, Watten said. Although there was sometimes criticism about how it was spent and the lack of community collaboration in making those decisions, the money Fetterman brought into the town, from nonprofit grants or corporations like Levis or his own family, at least provided a counterweight to U.S. Steels extensive funding of neighborhood events and building renovations. The green initiatives, like carbon caps, that he once championed do not seemed to have worked out in the long-term for the most part, but there is something about those big ideasand the earnest forcefulness with which Fetterman appeared to believe in themthat feels like a relic of an earlier political era, when a bipartisan, governmental solution to climate change still seemed possible.
There are limits to what any one person can do to save a town like Braddock, especially in the role of mayor, a position that comes with little power because of the structure of the municipal government. The same cycles of purposeful neglect and outright discrimination have persisted there for generations, and the systems of inequality that created and perpetuate Braddocks environmental and economic troubles today are deeply entrenched. In the novel Out of This Furnace, even as the once-idealistic steelworker Mike becomes angry and bewildered at the fact that his attempts to fight back against the steel company in Braddock have gotten nowhere, he still clings to his belief that the mass of men were in their hearts goodstriving for all their blunders toward worthy goals and failing most often when they put their trust in leaders rather than themselves. In 2022, it seems like grassroots, community-driven efforts like North Braddock Residents for Our Future are more likely to enact lasting change than a lone, pioneering politician.
Hes real. I see him in the neighborhood. But he seems as mythic as the Joe Magarac statue, Abeyta said when I asked what she thought about Fettermans reputation. She was comparing Fettermans public image to the giant sculpture that sits outside the Edgar Thomson plant depicting a steel industry folk legend who stood seven feet tall, did the work of dozens of men, and bent steel with his bare hands. Magarac is a cyborg superhuman with a spine that is literally made of steel. His story ends with the heros ultimate sacrifice, melting himself down so that his body can be used to build a new steel mill. The Magarac statue wears the same orange pants that the steelworkers wear now.
There is this mythology that he is this working-class hero, and its not to say he doesnt deserve it or doesnt believe it, Abeyta said. But I would say if theres a spectrum of Democrats, you have John Fetterman on one side of the spectrum and Summer Lee on the other. Summer Leeis a Democratic member of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives who was the first Black woman elected to the State House from western Pennsylvania. She recently won the Democratic primary in the 12th Congressional district, and she is a vocal opponent of fracking whose campaign emphasizes her background as a community organizer and her roots in Swissvale and North Braddock. She was part of the fight over the fracking wells at Edgar Thomson, something she highlights in her biography.
Though the fracking battle at the Edgar Thomson plant was won by the environmentalists in 2021, disagreement about pollution from the steel mill continues. On June 29, a public hearing was held in Braddock about Edgar Thomsons Title V operating permit, a process governed by the Clean Air Act. The mood seemed subdued, but tense; between speakers, there was muffled quiet, punctuated with dry coughing. People sat on folding chairs wearing face masks in front of the representatives from the Allegheny County Health Department. This hearing was part of a 30-day public comment period, which is then followed by a review by the EPA. Permits are issued for five years.
Before the hearing, a small group of people concerned about air pollution led a rally on the concrete steps of Braddock Plaza, holding colorful signs with slogans like I want to go outside! and Cancel USX. Tony Buba spoke about his familys cancer and growing up in Braddock with the pollution. He said he had had a hacking cough all morning.
At the hearing, U.S. Steel representatives said that they disagreed with the new emissions limits and said the Health Department was not working collaboratively with the company. Michael Evanovich, Union president, said that his and other workers experience working at the mill and living in the Mon Valley was proof that the plant wasnt as dangerous as the activists said. Theyre in the heart and soul of those mills, he said of workers. If its that bad I dont believe they would keep their jobs. The current mayor of Braddock, Delia Lennon-Winstead, delivered an emphatic endorsement for U.S. Steel. U.S. Steel is Braddock, and Braddock is U.S. Steel, she said. She was joined by a parade of other community leaders and U.S. Steel employees, some of them in orange work pants from the plant, who spoke about U.S. Steels financial contributions to civic projects ($500,000 for a new roof for the Braddock library, which was originally built by Andrew Carnegie, for example) and said the draft permit was too restrictive.
In a statement, U.S. Steel said that the environmental performance efforts of our dedicated employees at the Edgar Thomson Plant continue to yield significant, measurable results. Efforts become reality when regulatory agencies work collaboratively with industry. The statement criticizes the Allegheny County Health Department for not discussing the permit with the company until four days before releasing the permit for public comment, even though the application was submitted in October 2020. We respectfully disagree with ACHDs creation of approximately 100 new emission limits that were not previously included in the existing Title V Operating Permit, it reads.
Abeyta also spoke at the hearing. Who is listening to us? she asked the room and the silent government officials who sat facing her. Who is going to act to stop the harm so our stories can change? So that we can testify about prosperityand smoke-free skies? Who besides us is going to stand up and fight for justice? She talked about the need to change the prevailing narrative that residents needed to submit to pollution in order for steelworkers to keep their jobs. At the three-minute time limit, she was cut off mid-sentence.
I thought maybe John might show up, Tony Buba said later, when I spoke to him after the U.S. Steel hearing was over. He said hed seen Fetterman out walking in Braddock the day before. But, he said, when he looked for him, John Fetterman wasnt there.
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John Fetterman's evolution on climate change, fracking and the environment - 90.5 WESA
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