Category Archives: Progress

Markelle Fultz has missed the past two games due to a sore knee, but is expected to practice Wednesday. If all goes well, he'll likely return for Thursday's game against Arizona State.

The Washington mens basketball team needs all the help it can get to snap a seven-game losing streak and potentially gain a little momentum heading into next months Pac-12 Tournament in Las Vegas.

To that end, the health status of Markelle Fultz and Malik Dimes suspension are hot topics for a team that has metaphorically lived under dark and rainy clouds all season.

The news from Lorenzo Romars press conference on Wednesday was somewhat encouraging for Fultz, who returned to practice and is listed as questionable for Thursday after missing the previous two games.

Meanwhile, Dime wont play in the 8 p.m. encounter against Arizona State (12-14, 5-8 Pac-12) at Alaska Airlines Arena and will miss his second straight game due to a suspension.

The 6-foot-9 senior center was suspended by Washington following an off-court incident in which he slapped a Colorado student heckler at halftime during UWs 81-66 loss on Feb. 9.

Before the suspension, Dime missed the previous nine games due to a broken pinkie. He sat out UWs 85-61 loss at Utah last Saturday.

Dime has been medically cleared to play, but its unclear if or when hell return this season.

Were still evaluating everything completely, Romar said. So well see. To be determined.

Futlzs status for Thursday depends largely on how he performed during Wednesdays practice and if he has any lingering issues with a sore right knee that caused him to miss two games last week.

The 6-5 freshman guard had been limited in practice, but participated in 5-on-5 workouts for the first time in days.

Hes progressing, Romar said. Hes doing a little more. Still day to day, but hes been doing a little bit with us and hell do a little bit more. Hell still be a pretty much game-time decision.

Each day is different with it. If he continues to make progress, were probably more optimistic than pessimistic.

Fultz, who averages 23.2 points, is on pace to finish with the highest scoring average in the Pac-12 since former California star Ed Gray averaged 24.8 in 1996-97.

Given Fultzs promising future, hes projected to be the No. 1 pick in this summers NBA draft, its fair to wonder if UWs dismal season has any impact on his return.

He has not been allowed to play, Romar said. Youve got to hold him back from wanting to play. If youre playing H-O-R-S-E, if youre playing on the playground, if youre playing on an 8-foot rim, he wants to play. But he was held back from playing.

Where were at in the season has nothing to do with if hes playing or not.

Washington (9-16, 2-13) will finish the regular season with a losing record. If the Huskies fail to capture another win, then theyll have the fewest victories since 1993-94 when they were 5-22 during Bob Benders first year.

Barring a win before the conference tourney, UW would have its fewest league wins since 1960.

Without Fultz, the Huskies were outscored by an average of 19.5 points last week.

Subconsciously, you go out there without your leading scorer and leading (player in assists) and leading playmaker and youre not playing with a full deck, Romar said. But I didnt think we went out there not believing we could win when we were in Colorado and Utah.

Even with Fultz, Washington has obviously struggled.

He had one of his best outings of the season 28 points, nine assists and eight rebounds in the first game against Arizona State and UW still lost 86-75 on Jan. 25 in Tempe, Ariz.

He loves to play basketball, Romar said when asked how Fultz is dealing with distractions. He cant wait to get on the court. When hes on the court, its his playground. So not a whole lot is going to distract him. He loves the game too much.

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UW coach Lorenzo Romar: Markelle Fultz making progress but still not cleared to play - The Seattle Times

Forbes

Some Progress On Occupational Licensing But Much More Needed Forbes Occupational licensing, which prevents workers from entering certain occupations without government permission, has received a lot of attention over the last several years. The restrictions usually take the form of costly training requirements that ...

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Some Progress On Occupational Licensing But Much More Needed - Forbes

MOUNT VERNON Clean Samish Initiative partners discussed Tuesday the progress thats been made on improving water quality in the Samish watershed.

Still, officials said more work remains.

They also said they are hopeful that Samish Bay can be upgraded to allow for shellfish harvesting this year.

Story continues below video

The Clean Samish Initiative is a group of organizations working to find and fix sources of fecal coliform pollution in the Samish watershed.

Fecal coliform is a bacteria associated with human and animal feces. It can be accompanied by other bacteria that can make people sick, particularly if they consume contaminated shellfish.

When the Samish River carries fecal coliform into Samish Bay, shellfish growers are impacted by harvest closures.

Because the bacteria has been a problem in the watershed for several years and high concentrations of the bacteria are more common when the river swells with rain, shellfish harvesting is also closed as a precaution when the river reaches a certain flow.

The state Department of Health evaluates water quality March through June to determine whether the bay qualifies for an upgrade. If pollution does not exceed state limits for shellfish harvesting more than once, the bay may be upgraded.

An upgrade would mean no more harvest closures based on river rise alone.

Skagit County Public Works Director Dan Berentson said upgrading the 4,400 acres of shellfish beds in Samish Bay would help the state reach its goal of upgrading 10,800 acres by 2020.

Skagit County Commissioner Ron Wesen said he hopes the watershed will be upgraded this year.

Because of a dry spring in 2016, the Department of Health did not have enough information to support an upgrade.

Since the Clean Samish Initiative formed in 2009, the group has identified livestock management and septic system maintenance issues, and has worked with landowners to remedy problems.

Skagit Conservation District Director Carolyn Kelly said she has seen land use evolve over the more than 30 years she has been working on water quality in the watershed.

While the original focus for water quality programs was largely on dairy farms in the area, there are now fewer dairy farms and more rural landowners, she said. Working in partnership with landowners instead of penalizing them has been key to progress.

Over the time we have been addressing problems, I think water quality has improved so much and it has really been a community effort, Kelly said.

Oscar Lagerlund, an area dairy farmer who has provided insight for initiative partners, reiterated that the groups work is not complete.

Dont stop plowing until you get the field done. Were not done yet, he said.

Initiative partners continue to look for pollution sources.

Its not just farmers and its not just septics ... were not pointing the finger at anyone, Wesen said.

On Tuesday, the commissioners brainstormed ways to keep the lines of communication open with area landowners, such as with regular reminders about septic inspections or education programs to get kids involved.

I think continually educating and informing is effective, commissioner Ken Dahlstedt said.

He said most landowners want to do the right thing, but that its easy to forget about something such as a septic system, which he said can be out of sight, out of mind.

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Clean Samish Initiative partners discuss progress - goskagit.com

Evansville and Southwest Indiana continue to make strides in making the state of Indiana a magnet for business and opportunity and that was one of the major talking points today at the Indiana State Capital.

Members from Southwest Indiana's Regional Cities Initiative, including Evansville Mayor Lloyd Winnecke, gathered with leaders from other regional areas of the state.

Consider it a statewide progress report.

Indiana Governor, Eric Holcomb, opened the celebration by saying, "So today we celebrate the progress of the three regions which you will hear from now."

Three regions, all reporting where they stand with $42 million each in matching funds to support their region's development.

"It's really important for the legislators to hear positive reinforcement on the Regional Cities bill that they passed two years ago," says Evansville Mayor Lloyd Winnecke.

A five member board of Indiana's Southwest Region has put together a 3 year plan with at least 14 projects in motion to strengthen Gibson, Warrick, Posey, and Vanderburgh Counties.

President of the Southwest Indiana Region, Beth McFadin Higgins, says, "The projects have to be ready to go, well vetted, they have to be well funded. So we won't approve something that does not have their funding really down and secured."

Southwest Indiana's progress report shows six projects out of 14 approved -- with a total planned investment of over $920 million.

"We anticipate that an additional 70,000 people will move to Indiana's great Southwest," says McFadin Higgins.

Meanwhile, Mayor Winnecke says, "It's about growing population and it's about having the workforce available to go into these jobs that we're all competing for and trying to create."

Members say the progress is positive and a good report for legislators is imperative at this time.

McFadin Higgins says, "Right now they're deciding whether or not to create a separate round of Regional Cities and so if there's no return of investment on the first round, the second round seems less likely."

"I think it's important for the legislators to know it's working," says Mayor Winnecke. "You've heard already in each region of the state that the investment of private sector money has been equal to or greater than what they projected so, it's working."

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Indiana Regional Cities Initiative Gets Progress Report - Tristatehomepage.com

OROVILLE, Calif. --Authorities have lifted an evacuation order for nearly 200,000 California residents who live below a dam with a damaged spillway that threatened to collapse and cause catastrophic flooding.

Butte County Sheriff Kory Honea said Tuesday that residents should stay prepared in case the situation changes. He says the water level at the lake behind Oroville Dam, the nations tallest, is low enough to accommodate expected storm.

Crews have working around the clock atop the crippled Oroville Dam, making progress on repairs ro the damaged spillway. The work led to the lake level reducing by at least 8 feet overnight at a Northern California reservoir that has been central to the life of the towns around it for a half century.

Workers hoisted giant white bags filled with rocks, and at least two helicopters planned to fly in rocks Tuesday then release them into the eroded area of the spillway. Dump trucks full of boulders also were dumping cargo on the damaged spillway.

Backhoes load boulders into dump trucks as emergency personnel work to fix the damage below the emergency spillway at Oroville Lake

Getty

The first test of these fixes will come as early as Wednesday, when a series of storms this area, CBS News John Blackstone reports.

The lake that for five decades has brought residents holiday fireworks and salmon festivals could have brought disaster.

Never in our lives did we think anything like this would have happened, said Brannan Ramirez, who has lived in Oroville, a town of about 16,000 people, for about five years.

Recent reports indicate that environmental activists and local government officials warned more than a decade ago about the risk of catastrophic flooding below a major Northern California dam, the very scenario that threatened to unfold in Oroville over the weekend.

State and federal regulators dismissed those fears at the time, saying they were confident the hillside that helps hold back hundreds of billions of gallons of water was stable and did not need to be reinforced with concrete.

In this Saturday, Feb. 11, 2017, aerial photo released by California Department of Water Resources shows the damaged spillway with eroded hillside in Oroville, Calif.

William Croyle/California Department of Water Resources via AP

That decision has come under scrutiny now that the hillside, which acts as an emergency spillway for the reservoir, was put to its first test in the dams nearly 50-year history.

The acting head of the states Department of Water Resources said he was unaware of the 2005 report that recommended reinforcing with concrete an earthen spillway that is now eroding.

Im not sure anything went wrong, Bill Croyle said. This was a new, never-having-happened-before event.

Evacuee Crystal Roberts-Lynch didnt buy the explanations.

I know that somebody did not pay attention to the warning signs, she said. Someone in charge was not paying attention. It was their job to pay attention to what was going on with the dam.

Play Video

Nearly 200,000 people evacuated from their homes in Northern California are still unable to go home. If an emergency spillway at the Oroville Dam...

Oroville is a Gold Rush town in the Sierra Nevada foothills, some 70 miles northeast of Sacramento, nestled near the foot of the dam. The dam was completed in 1968 and is the nations tallest, at 770 feet. Houses and churches are perched on tree-lined streets near the Feather River. Old, ornate Victorian homes sit alongside smaller bungalows.

Everybody knows to go there for the Fourth of July, Roberts-Lynch said of the lake. Then theres festivals wrapped around the salmon run. The mother of three, who has lived in Oroville for 10 years, was staying at a Red Cross evacuation center in Chico.

Local businesses, including one that sells supplies for gold-panning, dominate a downtown area that spans several blocks. A wide range of chain stores sit a short distance away along the main highway.

The lake brings in an enormous part of the economy for the town. It definitely is a people-catcher, said Brannan Ramirez, who has lived in Oroville for about five years. We get people from all over the country.

Cities and towns farther down the Feather River also are in danger.

Play Video

More heavy rain and widespread flooding is expected in the western U.S. Chief meteorologist Eric Fisher from our Boston affiliate station WBZ is ...

Yuba City, population 65,000, is the biggest city evacuated. The city has the largest dried-fruit processing plant in the world and one of the largest populations of Sikhs outside of India.

The region is largely rural and its politics dominated by rice growers and other agricultural interests, including orchard operators. The region is dogged by the high unemployment rates endemic to farming communities. There are large pockets of poverty and swaths of sparsely populated forests, popular with anglers, campers and backpackers.

For now, its all at the mercy of the reservoir that usually sustains it, and provides water for much of the state.

If anything, we would have thought that the dam would have been constructed better, Ramirez said.

Over the weekend, the swollen lake spilled down the unpaved, emergency spillway, which had never been used before, for nearly 40 hours, leaving it badly eroded.

Officials defended the decision to suddenly call for mass evacuations late Sunday afternoon, just a few hours after saying the situation was stable, forcing families to rush to pack up and get out.

There was a lot of traffic. It was chaos, said Robert Brabant, an Oroville resident who evacuated with his wife, son, dogs and cats. It was a lot of accidents. It was like people werent paying attention to other people.

California Gov. Jerry Brown

AP/Nick Ut, File

Gov. Jerry Brown said Monday that he sent a letter to the White House requesting direct federal assistance in the emergency, though some federal agencies have been helping already.

Brown has had harsh words for President Donald Trump, and the state has vowed to resist many of his administrations efforts.

But the governor said at a news conference that hes sure that California and Washington will work in a constructive way. Thats my attitude. There will be different points of view, but were all one America.

The governor said he doesnt plan to go to Oroville and distract from efforts, but he tried to reassure evacuees.

My message is that were doing everything we can to get this dam in shape and they can return and they can live safely without fear, Brown said.

But evacuee Kelly Remocal said she believed the public officials working on the problem are downplaying everything so people dont freak out.

I honestly dont think theyre going to be able to do it, fix the problem, she said. This requires a little more than a Band-Aid. At this point they have no choice but to give it a Band-Aid fix.

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California officials lift evacuation order for 200000 threatened by damaged dam - CBS News

China accounted for a third of Asia's military spending in 2016 and was looking to sell more arms abroad, the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS) said in a report on Tuesday.

China's overall defense budget last year was $145 billion (137 billion euros), 1.8 times higher than South Korea and Japan combined.China's spending was topped only by the United States which spent $604.5billion (572 billion euros) on defense in 2016.

On air power, China "appears to be reaching near-parity with the West," IISS said, adding that Chinese-made drones had been seen in Nigeria and Saudi Arabia.

Its sales in Africa had moved beyond Soviet-era designs to exports of systems designed in China itself, thethink tank's report found.

China's air force had introduced a "highly capable" short-range missile in a class only a handful of leading aerospace nations had been able to develop, it added.

Additionally, China's longrange air-to-air missile seen on exercise last year posed a risk for aircraft tankers and AWACS surveillance aircraft that previously loitered safe out of range.

GivenChina's advances Western dominance "can no longer be taken for granted," said IISS director John Chipman.

NATO members falling short

Across all nations, there was a "growing proliferation of lethality," the IISS concluded, warning the West that increasing sophistication was "complicating" its military options.

In a reference to NATO, the institute said European nations were "only gradually" increasing their defense spending, an issue highlighted by the new US President Donald Trump.

Only two European NATO nations - Greece and Estonia - met the aim of spending 2percent of their gross domestic product (GDP) on defense in 2016, concluded the IISS.

The report also noted that Britainspent 1.98 percent of its GDP on defense, falling short of the 2 percent NATO target. A spokesman with the British Ministry of Defense denied the shortfall, saying that "NATO's own figures clearly show the UK spends over 2 percent of its GDP on defense."

Both British officials and the IISS emphasized that the UK's defense budget is still the largest in Europe.

Resurgent Russia

With $60 billion in spending, Russia remained the "principle security concern," said the think tank. It stressedthat Russian equipment outranged the missile and rocket artillery systems of NATO's most capable power, the USA.

"The Kalibr cruise missile, for instance, is being fitted to an array of Russian naval vessels - including an arctic patrol vessel," it said.

NATO would need to "refocus" on spending targets that lead to real capability improvements among systems that were increasingly complex, the IISS recommended.

Ahead of NATO talks in Brussels on Wednesday and the Munich Security Conference next weekend, NATO head Jens Stoltenberg admitted that the "picture is still mixed" with some allies "really struggling."

He was responding to a question about budget constraints in Italy, which is trying to reduce its budget deficit following the euro zone crisis.

ipj/rs(Reuters, AFP, dpa, AP)

The rest is here:

China's military progress challenges Western dominance, says IISS - Deutsche Welle

We're breaking down the top segments from Tuesday's edition of PFW in Progress radio show so you don't miss a thing.

PFW in Progress 2/14 Podcast >>

0:02:00 - Fred, Paul, Andy, and Erik were all on today's episode of PFW In Progress. Foxboro is digging out of it's second major snow storm in the last five days, but the action on the show was not lackluster. Today began with a bang as Fred Kirsch voiced his disappointment in Patriots Nation.

0:10:00 - Paul Perillo's expense report was a fascinating topic of discussion on today's show. Just how many Diet Millers did Paul consume while in Houston?

0:15:00 - Patriots tight ends coach Brian Daboll was in the news yesterday as his name is being linked to the vacant offensive coordinator position at Alabama.

0:30:00 - The future of Jimmy Garoppolo will be a topic that continues to be discussed during the off season editions of PFW In Progress.

0:55:00 - The PFW Boys discussed the potential intentional grounding call that was missed on Tom Brady during the fourth quarter of Super Bowl LI. The play in question occurred at the start of the game tying drive.

1:30:00 - Fred Kirsch read a heartfelt email from Kat in Chicago asking for help for a fallen PFW In Progress listener. Steve in Kileen, TX passed away this fall. Steve was a fantastic contributor to Patriots.com Radio and an all around great person. He will be sorely missed by everyone in our PFW In Progress community.

1:45:00 - Tom Brady's missing jersey is still missing. Could it potentially turn up this far removed from the Super Bowl? Read

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PFW in Progress Recap 2/14: Patriots Offseason Outlook - Patriots.com

Birmingham Business Journal

Huntsville-based Progress Bank to acquire Birmingham's First Partners Bank Birmingham Business Journal Two of Alabama's most successful banks in the last year are joining forces, with the Huntsville-based Progress Bank set to acquire Birmingham's First Partners Bank - creating the eighth largest bank headquartered in Alabama. Upon closing of the ...

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Huntsville-based Progress Bank to acquire Birmingham's First Partners Bank - Birmingham Business Journal

Seattle's center city turned in stellar performance in the latest comprehensive report. From new residents to employers and retailing, the numbers are strong.

The Downtown Seattle Association held its annual breakfast this morning at the Westin Seattle, releasing its State of Downtown 2017 economic report. Association CEOJon Scholes told the 1,200 attendees, Its been an incredible year of progress and theres more to come.

Vishaan Chakrabarti, author of A Country of Cities and founder of the New York-based firm Practice for Architecture and Urbanism, was the keynote speaker.

Here are some key numbers for 2016 (or in some cases, 2015, the most recent year available). The association counts 12 neighborhoods in the center city, from Uptown, South Lake Union and Capitol Hill in the north to Sodo in the south.

More than 70,000 people lived in downtown as of last year, an increase of 18 percent since 2010. By contrast, the city as a whole saw its population grow by 10 percent during that time.

Some demographics: nearly half of residents were aged 25 to 44; 7,000 were attending schools of higher learning; 26 percent lived in households with two or more people related; 3,200 children lived downtown, an increase of 40 percent since 2010.

A total of 2,199 residential units came on line last year. Over the past decade, 20,000 units were added and another 30,000 are under construction or in various stages of development. For example, 5,975 are under construction this year. Eighty-one percent of housing units are occupied by renters.Of 58,000 downtown units, more than 10,000 are subsidized for lower-income individuals and families. This is 35 percent of the subsidized housing in all of Seattle.

The center city held 265,000 jobs, a 23 percent increase from 2010 to 2015, and an amazing rebound from the losses of the recession. This accounted for 94 percent of all jobs gained in the city.

In 2016, net commercial office space occupancy had increased by 9 million square feet over the past five years. That equals six new Columbia Towers. Companies and entrepreneurs continue to locate in the central city.

Retail sales increased 28 percent from 2010 to 2015. Sixteen new retailers and nearly 100 (!) new restaurants opened last year.

You can read the report here. Overall, it shows the citys heart continuing its best run in decades.

Todays Econ Haiku:

Dont fret about Flynn

Hell have a job in Moscow

New revolving door

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Downtown Seattle's 'incredible year of progress' - The Seattle Times

The government reported more evidence of progress against HIV on Tuesday, citing an 18 percent decline in the number of U.S. infections between 2008 and 2014 and even sharper drops among heterosexuals and people who inject drugs.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said that the estimated number of infections fell from 45,700 in 2008 to 37,600 in 2014, after remaining at roughly the same level for more than a decade. Heterosexuals saw a 36 percent decline in HIV diagnoses during the same period, and intravenous-drug users experienced a 56 percent drop despite a burgeoning opioid epidemic.

The number of annual infections among gay and bisexual men and black men who have sex with men two subgroups that for years have made up a disproportionate share of HIV patients leveled off. The CDC called this a hopeful sign after years of rising incidence among both groups.

[The graying of HIV: 1 in 6 new infections are in people older than 50]

The number of infections declined or remained stable in the 35 states that reported data, as well as the District of Columbia.

The agency attributed the progress to public education efforts that encourage people to know their HIV status and treatment with medications that keep viral loads low and reduce transmission. Increased use of these antiretroviral drugs before exposure known as pre-exposure prophylaxis also may have helped reduce transmission.

Jonathan Mermin, director of the CDCs National Center for HIV/AIDS, Viral Hepatitis, STD and TB Prevention, said that while the opioid epidemic threatens the success at quelling HIV among intravenous-drug users, a number of factors have contributed to its decline inthat population.

More of them have been diagnosed and effectively treated, which dramatically reduces their risk of transmission and helps them live longer, healthier lives, Mermin said. And many communities have established syringe-services programs that allow people who inject drugs to use sterile injection equipment.

Some populations did not share in the advances. Among gay and bisexual men ages 25 to 34, the number of diagnoses rose by 35 percent in 2014, from 7,200 to 9,700. Among Latino gay and bisexual males of all ages, it increased by 20 percent, from 6,100 to 7,300. Residents of Southern states, which make up 37 percent of the population, accounted for half the estimated number of infections in 2014.

[New hope as major HIV vaccine trial begins in South Africa]

The new data was presented Tuesday at the Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections in Seattle and issued via a CDC release. The six years studied mark a period during which the agency has been counting a type of white blood cell to confirm diagnosis and then estimate how long a person has been infected. The data released comes from estimates based on that test and reports from the 36 jurisdictions.

The agency said the numbers mark its first official report on the drop in HIV incidence in the United States.

In 2015, the CDC reported a 19 percent drop in HIV diagnoses between 2005 and 2014, driven mostly by infection declines among heterosexuals and intravenous-drug users.

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CDC reports more progress against HIV, but gay Latinos contracted more infections - Washington Post