Category Archives: Progress

Its been a week since NeoWiz and Round8 Studio launched the controversial free-to-play MMO Bless Unleashed on PC. Originally a console release on Xbox and then PlayStation, Bless Unleashed PC targeted the Steam PC distribution platform as its first PC based launch. Weve had a whole week to play hands-on with this PC version of the Bless IP and contrary to the many apparently mixed reviews I, personally, have been having fun. Indulge me if you will as I go over what Ive seen within the first 40 hours of playtime.

When I volunteered to spearhead coverage of Bless Unleashed PC, I knew I was treading into waters that was full of many sharks in the gaming community. There are a lot of angry gamers in the community that tried Bless in one of its other incarnations who walked away feeling cheated and disgruntled. Its not for me to say if those are accurate grievances or not as I have little firsthand experience with such claims. But because of all this negative feedback, of Bless Online, many gamers, perhaps several whove never tried a Bless game, wont begin to give Bless Unleashed PC a fair chance. And for many gamers that will be a missed opportunity.

In my personal experience I tried Bless Online which started on PC back in 2018. The guild I was in was hyped up for it. I fell flat on the game weeks in and left. I was disappointed that capturing pets, which drew me to the game in the first place, cost a lot to capture your second pet as well as level them up. Then in early 2020 a slightly different version of Bless was released on consoles, first exclusively on Xbox in March of 2020. I gave this variant of the game a try and played several weeks before falling out of it as well. Mainly because no one I knew played and I had so many other MMO choices and objectives to fulfill in those MMOs. Nevertheless, I enjoyed my time in Bless Unleashed for Xbox for the most part.

Flash forward to August of 2021 and I find myself volunteering to play and review Bless Unleashed for the PC. The game has only been out for a week, and Ive spent 40 hours playing it to date. While the early stages are pretty much a repeat of what I saw in the Xbox version Im no less having just as much fun. A friend, and guildmate of mine in our quite large, multi-game guild (who are not supporting this game) is also playing Bless Unleashed PC. He summarized it perfectly on how we both are feeling, I almost feel dirty playing this game because of all the negative feedback about it. But I'm actually having [fun] regardless of all the negatives about the game.

I think it all comes down to individual taste and concept of fun and Im sure a lot of the naysayers will disagree with my analysis. While I think for the most part Bless Unleashed PC has had a strong opening week (no login queues, no desktop crashes, etc.) it will probably be considered by many as a good backup MMO to play. Its one that can fill the void when we tire of our main games, or when we cant play them for some reason or another. Its not that Bless Unleashed PC has been terrible its just that its pretty much standard fare for an Asian MMO brought to Western shores.

When you first start up Bless Unleashed PC, youll be able to choose from five standard fare Fantasy classes: Berserker, Guardian, Mage, Ranger, and Priest. These are locked behind specific race choices without gender lock. The game has a decent character creation tool but not quite on par with say a Black Desert Online. Typically, I play Tank classes in MMOs but for some reason this is now the second time Ive been drawn to Bless Unleasheds Mage class and thats where I initially landed.

Graphically speaking the game is very pleasing at times

Bless Unleashed PC is an action combat MMO, meaning you need to point your reticule (mouse cursor) at whatever you want to beat up on. Pressing on the scroll button on your mouse locks on to the target but that seems to be a bit glitchy. Glitchy to the point of not being a deterrent, more to the point of being an annoyance. It seems to occasionally lose lock while youre kiting or dodging. Thankfully, the developers are making updates to this mechanic in their next major update called Awakened. Nevertheless, this never impacted the fun factor for me mostly because graphically speaking spells and actions are a beauty to behold while youre dancing and dodging. Some have said that the combat is slow, but I dont see that. I dont think its as fluid as Black Desert Online but once again it didnt impact the fun.

The game also flawlessly transitioned from keyboard/mouse to an Xbox Controller I plugged in. I went from one to the other while the game was running and saw no issue. In the end I chose the mouse/keyboard form of input. The only change was I remapped the jump key to the ALT key for me since the Space bar is used for dodging. One change I would love to see is support of double key tap for dodging, a la Guild Wars 2.

The underlying design behind the action combat also lies a combo system. Stringing together combos for the most part is straight forward as the UI gives you a hint on screen in the middle of the battlefield where your eyes will be. Combine this will skill level upgrades and Blessings which you can earn and switch in and out with other Blessings for different passives, etc. makes for a fun system overall.

Bless Unleashed PCs story is standard fair stuff. Its a tale of ancient betrayal and one which earthshaking disaster has led to thousands of years of enmity between the mortal and the divine. Now, the mad mistress of the dark, great, and terrible Lumenas, has returned to destroy the race of man and sink the earth into endless night! Oh my! For the most part youre not going to be emotionally attached to any character like you would in a Final Fantasy game. Youll most likely skip through the dialogue fast enough to get to your rewards and hasten to the next open world fight.

Open world boss fights have been fun.

While its nothing new in MMOs, so far, the most fun for me has personally been in the regional quests and open world boss fights. Of course, this is all fun and games if there are other players in-game to join in, so far thats not been an issue. While there is only one North American server the server has many channels. Jumping to a different channel is as easy as entering the Z key. Assuming you can read the global chat channel you can always answer a cry for help in a different channel.

Open world PvE battles works well with other players as anyone who tags a mob seems to get credit. Also, if you happen to expire, i.e., die in battle, anyone can resurrect you on the spot.

Speaking of global chat, the chat display in Bless Unleashed PC is horribly awkward to use. And it doesnt matter how many times we build a free-to-play MMO but more times than not the global chat suffers from a deluge of RMT spammers. Supposedly some chat display changes are coming in the previously mentioned Awakened update. Lets hope spammers is addressed because global chat in its current state is useless.

As you venture through the games story campaign (five acts, Im only 33% through Act I after 40 hours) youll take part in Trials. These are two-man PvE boss arena fights, these are fun as well and yield chests of rewards, upgrade tokens and marks.

Main menu shows you a lot of areas, nothing revolutionary but nevertheless robust.

So far, the game has thrown a considerable number of freebies our way. It is a free-to-play game with a Bless Pass season pass and a real-money upgrade to the pass for a Premium Pass track. Bless Unleashed PC hands out daily attendance login rewards as well as rewards for playing a certain number of hours. The development team has also been great at handing out compensation rewards for maintenance windows.

Exploration, while not entirely secret in implementation, is rewarded. Small chest icons show up on your mini map. Opening these chests rewards, earns you a bag piece. After collecting so many of these bag pieces you can trade them in at the associated NPC and you earn inventory bag slots at no cost.

Fishing is intricate

Crafting is straight forward so far along with equipment fortification (level upgrades). It seems like as you level you open additional recipes. Resource gathering is abundant and easy to accomplish so far throughout the areas. Equipment fortification is done using upgrade tokens which can basically be earned by salvaging equipment.

Bless Unleashed PC has the obligatory fishing component but its quite different from other games and not as forgiving. You control the power of the cast and then must wait for a hook to see some real action when the reticule goes full green. One mouse click is performed to hook the fish followed by a series of mouse clicks to reel in your prize in. So far, more times than not, Ive lost the fish, so this is an area that requires further practice. Especially since there is a fishing competition and fishing feeds into fulfilling your Bless Pass.

Even though Ive put in 40 hours alongside a server wide +50% PvE experience gain buff Im still only level 16 of a maximum 45. It kind of signals that there is a bit of a grind here. Even so it really hasnt felt that way because Ive never had a lack of new things to do. Even gathering contributes to your leveling XP. Ive also only satisfied five of the possible (known) forty-three Steam achievements.

As far as pay-to-win (P2W) accusations there is indeed an Attack Speed buff you can buy on the games real money transaction shop. Additionally, there is a peace declaration buff available at level 25+ that indicates that open world PvP might be forced at the higher levels.

As I look forward to the next few weeks, I hope to get better at fishing, see what the Estates (housing?) component looks like as well as open Unions (factions) up. Hopefully I can also experience the open world forced PvP claim as well as get hands-on time with animal capturing (mounts).

Continued here:

Bless Unleashed PC Review In Progress - MMORPG.com

An overview report on official controls for fruit and vegetables in Europe covering a number of years has shown improvement, but areas of concern still remain.

European Union laws aim to ensure the microbiological safety of fruits and vegetables. To check these rules are followed by food businesses in primary production and processors, the authorities in all EU countries carry out official controls.

Audit reports found that, while certain shortcomings exist and persisted, progress had been made over time. Countries adapted and improved their official control systems with a greater focus on emerging microbiological risks in fruit and vegetables, and have responded to recommendations made by the EU Commission. However, there was significant room for improvement in controls on frozen soft fruits and vegetables.

An initial series of audits by DG Sante between 2013 and 2016 began after serious foodborne outbreaks in the EU were caused by food of non-animal origin (FNAO). Another round of audits started in 2018. Countries visited included Poland, Germany, France, Netherlands, Denmark, Croatia, Czech Republic, Finland, Sweden, Belgium, Italy, Spain, Portugal, Romania, Hungary and Greece.

Growth of risk-based approachThe first focus was on official controls of food hygiene at the primary production stage of FNAO intended to be eaten raw and checking the traceability of seeds for sprouting and sprouts, applicable microbiological criteria, the approval of sprout-producing establishments, and controls of imported seeds for sprouting.

At first, numerous shortcomings were identified. Systems for primary producers were not planned to address the risk of microbiological contaminants and there were no controls related to risks of such contaminants other than over the use of irrigation water. Official samples to verify contamination were rarely taken.

Improvements were observed as the series progressed. Member states started to adapt and improve their official control systems with more focus on emerging microbiological risks of FNAO.

In the second series, the scope of audits was extended to include frozen fruits and vegetables another food source associated with outbreaks.

The first six of these follow-up audits demonstrated that progress had been made on official controls at primary production but checks on frozen soft fruits and vegetables could be better.

Audits reviewed planning and implementation of official controls, control procedures, sampling and laboratory performance and enforcement.

Examples of areas to improveIn some nations, the scope of responsibilities for conducting official controls at farms producing FNAO was not clear, resulting in a gap in checks on producers at pre-harvest and harvest. In several audits, follow-up and enforcement actions were not considered a priority and not carried out.

Registration of farms was incomplete in about half of member states. This implied they were not part of the official control plan and could be excluded from checks for reasons that were not risk-based, contrary to EU law.

In some countries, approvals at sprout-producing sites were granted without verifying that shortcomings had been rectified and maintaining approvals was not justified based on poor hygienic conditions or recurring non-compliances not being followed-up.

In the majority of member states visited, primary production of FNAO intended to be eaten raw had been considered low risk. Consequently, the frequencies of official controls focusing on microbiological risks were low or very low. Some smaller producers were inspected less or not included in control plans at all.

The low number of sprout-producing sites causes difficulties for official controls. In most countries an official only has the opportunity to do these inspections between one to four times a year, posing problems in maintaining experience at a high level, according to the report.

Risk-based planning showed major deficiencies with official controls at freezing establishments including the lack of supervision. For sampling, weaknesses were observed in the majority of audits.

DG Sante found FNAO are rarely tested for viruses. National authorities in some member states didnt have tools to check reliability of findings and not many analyze and get accurate results.

Despite a Listeria monocytogenes outbreak linked to frozen corn, auditors found national authorities didnt initially take measures to improve the system. As a result, official controls and enforcement would have not been able to help prevent further possible Listeria contaminations in frozen FNAO, or limit the risk of non-compliant products being placed on the market.

A positive was the private sector such as retailers, discount stores and supermarkets, developing their own food safety standards and control systems. This has been done through private certification systems aimed at primary production (pre-harvest and harvest) and processing, trade and sales.

(To sign up for a free subscription to Food Safety News,click here.)

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EU report shows progress on fruit and vegetable checks - Food Safety News

The Cedar Butte Fire 18 miles east of Tillamook off Hwy 6 near Cedar Butte Road remains at 60 acres. Favorable conditions over night allowed ground crews to make good progress lining the fire and laying hose to aid in containment. Containment is estimated at 10%. The cause of the fire remains under investigation.

Todays forecast calls for a return to high temperatures, low relative humidity, and a red flag warning that will continue to challenge firefighting efforts. Two type II helicopters will return this morning to provide aerial support, and the two type II single engine air tankers that were on the fire yesterday have been released back to their base as they are not needed at this time. Ground crews will continue to strengthen fire lines and plumb lines with hose lays in order to prevent the fire from spreading into adjacent timber.

The public should avoid Cedar Butte Road, and traveling beyond Cedar Butte junction with Muesial Creek Road.

ODF would like to thank the Washington County Parks Department for their assistance in securing Hagg Lake for aerial operations, the Tillamook County Sheriffs Office for maintaining access for fire personnel at the Cedar Butte Road Bridge, and the Port of Tillamook Bay for accommodating firefighting aircraft

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Favorable overnight conditions allow progress in Cedar Butte Fire - Tillamook Headlight-Herald

This summer is looking quite different from last in a lot of different ways, and one of the big ones will be on display this Saturday as the Cincinnati Bengals travel to Tampa Bay to take on the Buccaneers.

Helping us break down all of the sights and sounds from training camp is ESPN reporter, Ben Baby. We chatted with him about the new faces, potential panic button points and pleasant surprises.

Unfortunately, when it came to Cincinnatis offensive line, Baby didnt pull any punches about their summer performance.

Heres what I think: we all like to bag on Jim Turner plenty and I have watched Turner for several years now (in covering the Bengals and monitoring Texas A&M from his native Texas), Baby said. One of my biggest gripes with Turner was that he tinkered with the offensive line way too late in training camp and didnt really give that first five that stability they need...Under Frank Pollack, I dont think its tinkering for tinkerings sake, I think its because there is a legit question of whats going on with the guardstheyre trying to find a guard situation that works.

The question and its response comes on the heels of the teams release of its first depth chart this week, wherein Michael Jordan is listed as the starting right guard at the moment. While things could change, it was quite a surprise, given Jordans struggles in his first two pro seasons and the fact that hes had extremely limited time on the right side in the NFL.

We havent really seen what the unit looks like with Trey Hopkins in there, what the starting guards are going to be and I think thats the caveat with the offensive lineand I hate to come on and just be doom-and-gloombut, the fact of the matter is, I think thats part of what were talking about, Baby continued. We havent really seen what that full unit is going to look like. We dont know who those starting guards are going to be, we dont know what theyre all going to look like with Trey (Hopkins) in there, with Riley (Reiff) getting a little more footing under himthen we can make a more accurate portrayal and depiction of what this offensive line is going to look like.

The way Baby and many other media members have seen things, it sounds like very few offensive linemen have been immune to occasional poor play this training camp. Things are improving as practices wear on, but a lethal combination of growing pains, a lack of talent at certain spots and comebacks from injury have plagued the group.

Its likely to improve as preseason and regular season games wear on, but the national talking points of passing on Penei Sewell at No. 5 and the lack of a high-end free agency addition to the interior of the line will remain atop minds, until this group proves otherwise.

Some other points of our conversation with ESPNs Ben Baby:

After our chat with Ben Baby, we had a Soundbite of the Week from Joe Burrow. In a bit of a surprise, Burrow admitted in an NFL Network interview that he had been a little skittish during the first week of camp. He says that hes comfortable in the pocket once again and hes cleared mental hurdles that inevitably came with his big knee injury.

We also have a Potential Breakout Player and it may be a bit of a surprise. Why? Because many could claim that the player we selected is taking a reduced role in 2021.

Also, we still have our Charity-Fest benefitting the Munoz Foundation, The Ken Riley Foundation and The Ken Anderson Alliance as a celebration for the respective players inductions into the inaugural class of the Bengals Ring of Honor. Were so close to our financial goal, so please donate here. You could win cool prizes!

Get the show on your favorite audio streamer, or on our YouTube channel! Our thanks to Mr. Baby for his timebe sure to keep up with his great Bengals coverage over at ESPN!

If youre unable to join us live here at Cincy Jungle or YouTube for every episode, all of our podcast content is available here on CJ, the Stitcher, Spotify, iHeart Radio and Google Play Music apps, our Orange and Black Insider YouTube channel, as well as through Megaphone and, as always, on iTunes! Thanks for listening and go subscribe to our channels to be notified when were going live and when new episodes are available!

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OBI: The Bengals offensive line remains a major work in progress - Cincy Jungle

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Instruction

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'Pride Progress' themed crosswalks to be painted at 39th & Summit - KCTV Kansas City

information from Seattle Department of Transportation

As weapproachconstructionstartingon the high bridge again, wewill send an email each Friday with the latest on theWest Seattle Bridge Program.

In this week'supdate:

Weekend work at West Marginal Way and Highland Park Way intersection

We are continuing to build changes at the West Marginal Way and Highland Park Way intersectionto make it more accessible, efficient, and safe.This workis takingplace on Saturdays and Sundays from3a.m. to 1 p.m.for the next few weekends.

We know that encountering construction and additional delays on thebridgedetour routes can be frustrating. Please remember to be kind to each other andto theworkers trying to makes these detours safer and moreefficientfor everyone.We try and schedule work when it impacts the fewest essential workers commutes, and have so much to do were on the job almost every day of the summer when weatheris best for street construction.Thank you foryour patience and understanding.

For more information on this work, see ourblog.

King County Metro work on 26th Ave SW

King County Metro began street upgrades along 26th Ave SW as a part of their work to bringRapidRideH Line to White Center and Burien. For more information and to sign-up for their email updates, visit theirwebsite.

26th Ave SW iscurrentlyclosed to northbound traffic between SW Barton St and SW Roxbury St.Northbound drivers will be detoured off of 26th Avenue SW between SW Roxbury Street and SW Barton Street. The turn from SW Cambridge Street to 26th Avenue SW also will be closed during work. The northbound closure is expected to last two to three months. Once the northbound demolition and repaving are complete, crews will move to work on the southbound lanes, reopening northbound traffic on the improved northbound lanes and detouring southbound drivers. Transit will also be rerouted off of 26th Avenue SW to 35th Avenue SW and the northbound bus stop located at the intersection of 26th Avenue SW and SW Barton Street will also be temporarily relocated to SW Barton Street.

To stay updated on Metros work, sign up for theirRapidRideH Lineemail updates.

SW Alaska St Red Bus Lane project update

As part ofReconnect West Seattleand following our recent paving work on SW Alaska St, crews will be applying new pavement markings, including red lanes and bus only markings on the existing bus lanes. Red bus lanes help to improve compliance with bus-only restrictions and keep buses moving. Here is what is planned:

SWAndoverStPedestrian Bridge Closed until Seismic Retrofit is Complete

Thanks to theLevy to Move Seattle,werecompleting a seismic retrofit of theSW Andover St Pedestrian Bridge. The bridge was built in 1961,andthis work willbring the bridge up to code andreduceitsvulnerabilityin anearthquake.Construction is anticipated to begin in fall 2021 and last approximately 3 months. To stay up to date with the latest project information,sign up for ourproject email list.

Thebridgeclosed this week without widespread advanced notice. The closurewasin response tocomplaints of illegal activities on the bridge andtrespassingfrom the pedestrian bridgeonto theclosedWest SeattleHigh-RiseBridge.Safetyis paramount..

We recognize that this is an inconvenience for some community members and thank you for your patience and understanding. Please see the pedestrian detour route below to navigate around the closure.

The proposed retrofits for the SW Andover Pedestrian and Bicycle Bridge include:

This project is an example of SDOT delivering on its commitments to voters and puttingLevy to Move Seattle tax dollars to work. Upgrading this aging bridge to current earthquake safety standardswas included as part of theLevy to Move Seattle package passed by voters in 2015.

Seismic retrofit projects bring older bridges up to modern earthquake safety standards and go above and beyond the ongoing maintenance, inspections, preservation, and basic repairs which we perform continually to keep Seattle bridges safe and stable. SDOT has completed 32 other bridge seismic retrofit projects over the past 30 years and plans to complete nine more projects by 2025.

SDOT crews are working through the record-setting heat to repair road damage

Extreme heat can damage our roads as expanding pavement gets pushed up creating buckles in the road. Our crews are ready to respond to more damage from this weekends heat wave, and will prioritize repairs based on public safety and impact to the traveling public. We can only fix a problem that we know about, so if you see road damage, please call 206-684-ROAD, email684-ROAD@seattle.govor use theFind It, Fix It appto report the issue.

After the historic temperatures in late June, SDOT crews got to work immediately torepair road damage throughout the cityincludingseveral West Seattle locations:

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SDOT now offering weekly updates on progress regarding West Seattle Bridge and other work - Westside Seattle

Tami Roman is capturing our hearts and taking over television once again.

While weve come to know Tami Roman through her roles in reality TV, like MTV's "Real World" and VH1's "Basketball Wives," Roman was always in search of greener pastures.

The reality shows that once helped launch her career eventually felt stifling for Roman, and she wanted to chase her real dream of being a seasoned actress. Through some in-depth soul searching, Roman quickly realized that her happiness had less to do with money and more to do with her mental health and passion projects.

I wanted to transition out of reality TV and back into scripted programming. I wanted to build my brand and expand that, Roman tells Houstonia.

The entertainer, who has been in the entertainment industry for over 20 years, decided her time on reality shows had run its course.

They end up paying you well and you stay longer than you should, Roman explains. I think theres great reality TV out there, but at the time of Basketball Wives and that type of dynamic with women, constantly bickering and not really delving into our real lives in their entirety, it felt like I had stayed far too long.

Leaving reality TV was no easy feat for Roman, who says that she prayed for guidance. Within two weeks of her departure, she was able to have a continuing role on a tv show, Truth Be Told.

However, in her absence from unscripted television, Roman sustained her career with multiple television projects her culture disrupting The Bonnet Chronicles, an Instagram account that highlights her alter ego "Petty Betty," Get Into It With Tami Roman talk show airing on Fox Soul, Carl Webers The Family Business, Urbanflix TVs Vicious where Roman is both an actress and Executive Producer, and BounceTVs hit series Saints and Sinners.

Offscreen, the Houston transplant has launched other projects including Tami Roman Hair and Tami Roman Love Cosmetics which are now available in Walgreens, according to a press release. Roman is also working on a wine line.

The reason behind all these new projects? Roman one day realized that the seven streams of income people talked about, was something she hadnt attained yet.

Once I realized I only had one stream of income, I realized I had more work to do," Roman says. "More than anything I want to be able to break those generational curses and leave something behind for my daughters so that they can have a chance."

While Roman says she hasn't left reality television behind entirely, she's trading in her confessionals for rolling credits. She's now starring in the new television series, "The Ms. Pat Show," airing on BET+ and Apple TVs "Truth Be Told," where she is a season regular alongsideOctavia Spencer.

Her roles in these two new shows, along with her impressive roster of other television jobs, didn't just fall out of the sky, Roman laid the groundwork for what she wanted and worked with television veteran Chip Fields to sharpen her acting skills.

I simply asked for it, Roman says laughingly. The preparation was already there because its what I knew I wanted. For me, its just part for the course.

Roman says that she loves all the characters that she plays and that shes excited for people to meet both of her new rolesas shes put a lot of work in behind the scenes.

Tami Roman will star in BET+ The Ms. Pat Show premiering Thursday, August 12 as well as the second season on Apple TVs Truth Be Told premiering Friday, August 20.

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Actress Tami Roman Talks Progress and Growth Ahead of New TV Deals - Houstonia Magazine

Pennsylvanians encouraged to get vaccinated to protect themselves, their farms and neighbors

Pennsylvania Furnace, PA Agriculture Secretary Russell Redding was joined by Senator Jake Corman and Representative Emily Kinkead during a visit to a free vaccine clinic hosted by the Department of Health at Ag Progress Days in Centre County, Pennsylvania's largest outdoor agricultural exposition, today and encouraged rural Pennsylvanians to take advantage of similar opportunities occurring around the state.

"As we work to maintain a sense of normal and come back from the COVID-19 pandemic, it's clear that letting down our guard and not maintaining some controls of protection will come back to haunt us," said Redding. "Science tells us that the best protection against the COVID-19 virus is getting vaccinated. Pennsylvania is a leading state in the nation for rate of vaccination. I encourage anyone who has not yet said yes to take advantage of the multitude of free clinics around the state. From our rural plains to our city spaces, this is a layer of protection that will benefit you, your family, your community, and this commonwealth."

COVID-19 vaccines are the best way to protect against the virus, including new variants. Data shows that vaccines provide protection against severe disease, hospitalization, and death.

At Penn State's Ag Progress Days, individuals are able to get the one-shot Johnson & Johnson vaccine for full coverage in one dose. A small inventory of Moderna is also available, providing individuals who may have missed their second shot in a two-shot series a chance to be fully covered. At Ag Progress Days, the vaccine clinic is located between the College Building and Department of Agriculture building on West 10th Street.

"Our local health care providers throughout central Pennsylvania have done an amazing job of improving access and availability to vaccines in the community, and the vaccine clinic at Ag Progress Days is a great continuation of that effort," said Senate President Pro Tempore Jake Corman. "Agriculture is a vital component of our economy and maintaining a healthy workforce in the agriculture industry is critical to prevent food supply chain disruptions throughout the state and the nation."

Community vaccine events, like those being offered at Pennsylvania's state fairs, are critical to reaching the public and offering protection to all Pennsylvanians.

"COVID-19 massively disrupted our food supply chain harming our agriculture industry, shutting down food service, and causing far too many Pennsylvanians to experience food insecurity," said Representative Kinkead. "If we hope to get back to some semblance of normal, to address food access concerns across the state and help our struggling farmers, Pennsylvanians have to get vaccinated right now."

The Pennsylvania Department of Health urges Pennsylvanians to follow CDC guidance for wearing masks when required by law, rule and regulations, including healthcare, local business and workplace guidance. Pennsylvanians in counties with substantial or high transmission of COVID-19 should wear a mask indoors in public situations.

The Department of Health is working to ensure the vaccine is provided in a way that is ethical, equitable and efficient to all Pennsylvanians:

MEDIA CONTACT: Shannon Powers, Agriculture, shpowers@pa.gov

Mark O'Neill, Health, ra-dhpressoffice@pa.gov

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Secretary of Agriculture: Free COVID-19 Vaccination Clinic at Ag Progress Days - Governor Tom Wolf

The Green Bay Packers held their annual Family Night practice at Lambeau Field on Saturday evening, and fans of the team finally got to see 2020 first-round draft pick Jordan Love throwing in simulated action under the lights. Over the weekend, APCs Justis Mosqueda did the hard work of putting together all of Jordan Loves televised throws from family night, which you can see here:

Many pundits, myself included, have been attempting to piece together reports on practice reps, and any scrap of film available to get some reason on how hes progressing, and this was our first look at some kind of game-like situation. Its not a real game, its still a small sample size, but its just not great in both familiar, and surprising ways.

The most bizarre issue with Loves performance is the lack of zip on some of his throws. Love had the best arm in his draft class by most accounts. If you need an example, just check the gifs in this Ringer article by Robert Mays and pay close attention to the example against Kent State, when Love fires a missile from the far hash of the 25 across the field on a line down to the two. Its a great display of the arm strength necessary to make throws outside the numbers, especially at the NFL level. Loves college numbers never projected an immediate starter, but throws like this are the reason he was a popular toolsy developmental prospect.

After you watch the gif in Mays Ringer piece, flip back to Justis compilation and watch Loves first two throws. The first, an out to Amari Rodgers off of a 3-step drop, is both off target and has no zip. Its a timing route, and I suspect Love knew exactly where the throw was going pre-snap. I also suspect the intention was to help him get going by giving him a simple, one-read throw on his first attempt. It did not go well.

Throws like this are supposed to be any quarterbacks bread and butter. You practice timing reps like this to build muscle memory and to build your sense of spatial awareness for your receivers. On this throw, it doesnt look like muscle memory is driving things, it looks like Love is thinking the entire time.

His third step isnt quite deep enough. Hes too upright on the throw, which robs him of some power. On this screenshot, look at how the 10 on his jersey is almost parallel to the 30 yard line. If you were standing in the end zone, you could read this clear as day.

Yes, hes squaring up to throw outside, but given just how outside hes facing, Im not surprised he missed Amari. This looks to me like Love was thinking about hitting all of the individual steps of the throw. He never takes his eyes off Rodgers, he hits his steps from under center, he squares his body, and he throws. The problem is in the details of each step. His dropback doesnt get him into ideal throwing position, he over-positions, and as a result, the throw is bad.

Once you finish watching this throw, move on to his second, which is a deeper out to Devin Funchess. Love completes this throw, but its a bizarre lollipop off of play action. Love does a few nice things on this play, keeping his eyes left then resetting for his eventual throw to the right side. Its accurate, if slightly underthrown, and Funchess hauls it in for a big gain, but once again Loves footwork is a problem on his reset. Hes still too upright, his arm gets ahead of his hips, and the power we saw in college just isnt there.

There were a few positive takeaways. His fourth throw (at the 34 second mark), also an out to Funchess with a man in his face, had some zip and was right on target under pressure. His deep ball to Begelton, while ill-advised and wobbly, was actually on target and had some velocity on it. He also had a few nice touch passes to various tight ends.

With all of that said, Loves mechanics are obviously still a work in progress. While this was a small sample size and anyone can have a bad day, its telling that Love was better the few times he was under pressure or on the move and got to stop thinking about his mechanics.

Love can definitely make plays for you outside of structure using his wheels and arm talent, but that can only take a player so far (and occasionally can cause you to lead college football in interceptions).

Every once in a while you will see Love compared to Patrick Mahomes, which is both unfair and silly, but its worth pointing out why its silly. Mahomes is obviously phenomenal on the move, outside of the structure of the play, etc. But Mahomes has Andy Reid coaching him, and Reid is an offensive genius. Mahomes is able to bail out the Chiefs when things go wrong, but hes just as able to take advantage of Reids play-calling by hitting receivers in stride from the pocket. Reid takes every advantage of Mahomes gifts, but Mahomes also benefits greatly from some coach-generated big plays.

Matt LaFleur is no slouch when it comes to scheming guys open, but taking full advantage of Robert Tonyan leaking downfield means being able to hit Robert Tonyan between the numbers when he does so. Love may very well be able to get the Packers out of a sticky situation or two, but if he remains inefficient in structure his development will stall out. If you want to keep an eye on Love once the preseason gets started, watch carefully for his velocity on outside throws. As he continues to get more and more reps, he should be able to think less about his mechanics and his velocity should return.

Hopefully, newfound accuracy comes with it.

The rest is here:

Family Night shows that Jordan Love is still a work in progress - Acme Packing Company

KANSAS CITY, Mo. Dylan Cease has premium stuff, and theres no comparison to last season in how hes commanding it, he said.

Im hard on myself, said Cease, who will pitch the second game of the White Sox series against the Royals on Tuesday. But the strides Ive made are really big.

Cease wasnt trusted to start Game 3 of the wild-card series against the Athletics last season, and he understood why. The Cease of 2021 would have been, but now he faces the possibility of being squeezed out of a postseason rotation because of the Sox depth.

Teams dont need five starters in October, so one of the Sox quintet of Lance Lynn, Carlos Rodon, Lucas Giolito, Dallas Keuchel and Cease will pitch in relief in the playoffs, assuming the Sox get there as expected, and all are healthy. Lynn, Rodon and Giolito seem set as starters, and its hard to envision Keuchels stuff playing as a reliever. His experience wont be overlooked, either.

Asked about the possibility of pitching in relief, Cease said hes simply focused on start to start, on what happened in his last one and what he needs to work on.

I dont know, Cease said. Its above my pay grade. I just throw it and throw it when they tell me to. Whenever that comes, Im going to do what I have to do.

With a four-seam fastball averaging 97 mph in July, a sharp slider and curve and a changeup that Frank Thomas raves about, Ceases stuff is outstanding, and he knows it.

Yeah. I do, he said. I know Ive always had the raw ability. Its figuring out how to do it and do it consistently at the major league level. But, yeah, I know how good my stuff is. If Im throwing it in the zone and locating it its a very powerful feeling. But if youre not using it well, then its pointless to have stuff like that.

Cease (4.21 ERA) has averaged 11.6 strikeouts and 3.8 walks per nine innings, compared to 6.8 strikeouts and 5.2 walks last season. The strikeout ratio ranks third among American League pitchers. His 132 strikeouts rank fifth.

Im throwing my high-quality offspeed [pitches] in the strike zone, where last year I was almost lucky to drop a curveball in for a strike, he said. Now I feel like Im just driving offspeed in there and utilizing my fastball better. My fastball didnt have ride. Its a big difference.

Burger back to Charlotte

Former first-round pick Jake Burger -returned to Triple-A Charlotte to make room for Eloy Jimenez. Burger batted .263 with a homer, triple, three doubles and three RBI in 15 games.

Hes more than a big-league prospect, manager Tony La Russa said. Hes ready to help contribute, but the more experience he gets, the more hell contribute. His full potential needs more at-bats and more playing at third base and everything else in Triple A.

This and that

Outfielder Adam Engel was unavailable Saturday and Sunday because of sore shoulders from hitting the ground a couple times, La Russa said, and wasnt immediately written into the lineup Monday. Hell probably be off Tuesday.

The Sox have signed all 20 of their draft picks.

See the article here:

Dylan Cease pleased with progress: Im hard on myself, but the strides Ive made are big - Chicago Sun-Times