The US city of Highland Park, surrounding Detroit, could face municipal bankruptcy as it owes about $20m to a regional water service, and has few resources with which to build. In its auto baron heyday, over 50,000 people lived in Highland Park in elegant homes similar to those in Detroit. However, after the auto industries moved away to nearby Dearborn, the population dropped and “abysmal” levels of poverty and abandonment took over as jobs and families moved. The water bill dates back to the 1990s, and Highland has not paid for sewer services since April 2021, nor less than 1% of water service charges since 2012. While the state treasurer’s office is reviewing Highland Park’s request for a financial review, municipal bankruptcy might be a “Band-Aid” solution, said Alan Mallach, author of “Smaller Cities in a Shrinking World: Learning to Thrive Without Growth.”
‘Mission to Burnley’: Why JJ Watt and wife Kealia want to bring ‘global eyeballs’ to an English soccer club
CNN
23-05-19 09:53
Former NFL player JJ Watt and his wife Kealia, a former US Women’s National Team footballer, have invested in English football club Burnley. The couple want to bring “global eyeballs” to the club in order to showcase the people and town of Burnley. The club had been relegated to the Championship at the end of the 2020-21 season, but under head coach and former Manchester City defender Vincent Kompany, they won promotion back to the Premier League this season. Watt and Kealia also plan to develop the women’s game in Burnley and are taking inspiration from the successes of Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney at their own football club, Wrexham.
Alex Jones' wife and other family members will be sued by the families of Sandy Hook victims in order to satisfy $1.5 billion in judgments they won from lawsuits against the bankrupt conspiracy theorist over his lies about the deadly school massacre. Jones has been accused of hiding his assets through “financial gymnastics”, spreading money to friends, family members, and shell companies to avoid paying the judgments. The court has so far ordered about $20 million seized from the accounts of Jones and his company and has announced that Jones and the Sandy Hook families should make one last effort to reach a settlement.
The Houston Astros beat the Oakland Athletics 5-1 for their fifth straight victory, with Kyle Tucker hitting a two-run homer in the sixth inning and José Altuve making his season debut. The Astros have won eight of their last nine games and Altuve went 0 for 4 with a walk. The defeat sees the A's with a 10-36 record - their worst start through 46 games since Baltimore began 1988 at 9-37.
The Houston Dynamo have secured a 1-1 draw with FC Dallas at the Toyota Stadium in Frisco, Texas. Jáder Obrian scored in the 53rd minute to put Dallas ahead, but Thorleifur Úlfarsson scored for Houston in the 85th minute to ensure a draw. Úlfarsson took a pass from Héctor Herrera to net for the first time this term. Houston, who have gone 4-23-4 over their last 31 matches away from home, haven't secured a win in their last 16 road matches in Texas in all competitions and haven't won against Dallas since 2017. The result saw Dallas's unbeaten record in their last 11 home matches ended, with the side having only conceded two home goals in their last 17. Dallas will play away at San Jose Earthquakes next Saturday, while Houston hosts Austin FC.
SpaceX's mission to take a crew of private citizens, including two representing Saudi Arabia, to the International Space Station (ISS) is set to go ahead. Peggy Whitson, a former NASA astronaut working for Axiom Space, is leading the mission, which will take eight days and involve a range of research projects. The mission is also significant as it illustrates a change in policy on the part of NASA, which has opened up the possibility of private visits to the ISS as the space sector becomes an increasingly commercial market.
SpaceX is set for its second charter flight, organised by Houston-based Axiom Space, to the International Space Station, which will include Saudi Arabia’s first astronaut in decades, stem cell researcher Rayyanah Barnawi, and Royal Saudi Air Force fighter pilot Ali al-Qarni. The other passengers include Peggy Whitson, who holds the US record for most accumulated time in space at 665 days, and John Shoffner, a businessman, racecar buff and owner of his own racing team. SpaceX will target a lift-off late on Sunday afternoon.
The Houston Astros claimed a season-long seven-game winning streak as Framber Valdez pitched a four-hitter to lead his team to a 2-0 sweep against the Oakland Athletics. This is the fifth complete game of Valdez's career and first since September 2020. The Astros' Jose Altuve hit an RBI single in his third game back after breaking his right thumb. The victory ensures the Astros' lead at the top of the American League West over Oakland by five games.
Ralph Babet, the Australian senator for Victoria, has relinquished his directorship of the family estate agency Babet Brothers. He said that although he continues to work for the firm, he was too busy with his parliamentary duties to remain a director. He has transferred full control of the business to his brother Bertrand. Babet is one of the Australian Conservatives' elected representatives and was elected after receiving significant electoral funding from mining magnate Clive Palmer. Although nominally a member of the party, Babet has vocally criticised his colleagues and complained that his Senator's income, which is over AUD $200,000 ($145,193), was a pay cut from his previous earnings in real estate.
Ralph "Deej" Babet, an Australian senator from the Liberal Democratic Party, has stepped down as a director of his family real estate company. The move was aimed at avoiding a conflict of interest, although he claimed to continue to work for the company at weekends. Babet was initially elected in 2019 after Clive Palmer spent AUD116m ($87m) funding his campaign. Babet has raised controversy in parliament by criticising drag queen story time and the United Nations.
Conservative Patrician lawyer C. Boyden Gray has died aged 80. Gray served as White House counsel to President George H.W. Bush and was an important strategist and fundraiser for Republican judicial and Justice Department nominees. The lawyer had a star-studded beginning, working as a clerk for Chief Justice Earl Warren before becoming a top corporate antitrust lawyer. He was known for his meticulousness and workaholic tendencies, and his abilities saw him rise quickly in Washington circles. Gray was deeply involved in the deregulation of trade, energy, the environment and banking and was Republican Vice President George H.W. Bush’s counsel and deputy chief of staff. He was, however, not well-regarded by consumer advocates. Gray’s background was largely corporate and before working on the taskforce, he was seen as a critical skeptics.
Gray was an active member of numerous right-wing political organizations, including the FreedomWorks, which is devoted to the achievement of lower taxes and decreased regulation, along with the Federalist Society, a networking group for conservative lawyers. Another organization he helped start was the Committee for Justice, as a non-profit body engineering the screening of judicial and Justice Department nominees.
Gray was a central figure in the polarising appointments of judges to the US Supreme Court and other bodies. Following Gray’s recent death, commentators and critics have noted his focus and passion for the interests of big corporations and the Bush family.
Three paying customers accompanied by a former NASA astronaut were blasted into space on Sunday on the AX-2 mission, carried out by SpaceX and Axiom. Peggy Whitson, the former astronaut, is the first woman to command a private space flight, while it is also the first time that a Saudi woman, Rayyanah Barnawi, has travelled to space. The autonomous capsule is due to dock with the International Space Station on Monday, with the crew scheduled to spend eight days carrying out experiments in stem cell and biomedical research. Reflecting the growing commercialisation of space travel, several private companies are interested in creating a private facility as the International Space Station is due to be retired in 2030.
Axiom Space's second private flight to the International Space Station (ISS) has launched a Saudi Arabian government-sponsored crew. The four astronauts, including the first Saudi woman to travel to space, stem cell researcher Rayyanah Barnawi, will spend just over a week conducting experiments and chatting to schoolchildren back on Earth. The company has plans to develop its own modules which will eventually form a standalone outpost for hire. Axiom's first commercial flight in 2020 saw three businessmen fly to the ISS. At least two private missions are planned annually by NASA and Russia's space agency begins space tourism soon.
Saudi Arabia's first astronauts in decades have blasted off to the International Space Station on a chartered flight. Ali al-Qarni and Rayyanah Barnawi are Saudi Arabia's first astronauts since a prince launched aboard the shuttle Discovery in 1985. The mission is sponsored by the Saudi Arabian government and is organised by Houston-based Axiom Space. Stem cell researcher Barnawi became the first woman from the country to travel to space with the mission. The crew are set to spend just over a week on the space station before returning home.
The Baltimore Orioles have completed a three-game sweep after defeating the Toronto Blue Jays 8-3 on Sunday. Outfielder Cedric Mullins had five hits and three RBIs, while Austin Hays drove in the decisive run in the 11th inning. The victory marked the fifth time in six games that the Orioles have won, while the Blue Jays lost for the sixth time in their past seven games. Toronto's right-handed pitcher Kevin Gausman allowed two runs and six hits over eight innings, whereas Orioles' Dean Kremer allowed nine hits and one run over 5 1/3 innings.
A GoFundMe page for the Cho family, who were among eight people killed by a neo-Nazi gunman in Texas earlier this month, raised nearly $2m for their only surviving son. Kyu and Cindy, who were both born in Texas and had moved back home upon starting their family, left behind two sons aged three and six years old respectively. The couple had met in Boston congregation, a church that they both attended, where their supportive relationship had become one of its defining strengths, earning them the title “relationship goals”.
Kyu and Cindy Cho died alongside their son, James, in a recent shopping mall shooting north of Dallas in a case that has disgusted the world. The demented individual who killed the Cho family as well as five others is understood to have a background with white-supremacist and dangerous misogynistic beliefs and writings. The Cho family has set up a fund to support their extended family, following the murder of their children's parents. The family's hope is to allow all of William’s future needs and dreams to be realised and to keep his parents’ legacy alive.
Two Saudi individuals launched into space on the evening of Sunday 17 October 2021, for a ten-day mission to the International Space Station (ISS) after blasting off from the Kennedy Space Center. Rayyanah Barnawi, a breast cancer researcher, was joined on the journey by fellow Saudi Ali al-Qarni who described the flight as the opportunity to “fly among the stars”. The pair, who are the first Saudi astronauts in decades and were funded by the Saudi Arabian government, will spend over a week at the ISS, during which time they may conduct research and complete a few given projects. They will be greeted on arrival at the space station by an astronaut from the United Arab Emirates. The mission was organised by Houston-based Axiom Space, which carried out its first private flight to the space station last year by three businessmen, each of whom paid $55m to fly the round trip.
The Los Angeles Angels are holding at an average level with a 25-23 record this season but regardless of their dynamic duo of Shohei Ohtani and Mike Trout, the bar is likely to be higher if they want to reach the postseason. The Angels did manage a split in a four-game series at Baltimore and then took two of three against AL Central-leading Minnesota, but the reality is they’ve had a hard time getting too far from the .500 mark. Their competition for the wild card is also strengthened by the AL East, with the Angels currently third in the AL West behind Texas and Houston.
Daryl Morey, president of basketball operations for the Philadelphia 76ers, said he is seeking a new coach who brings leadership accountability and the ability to establish relationships with star players to the team. To help guide the hiring process of a coach, Morey will be drawing on his experience of appointments when he was the top decision-maker at the Houston Rockets. Over four seasons, Morey employed proven NBA head coaches Rick Adelman and Mike D’Antoni, as well as a more unorthodox choice in Kevin McHale, who was fired 11 games into the 2015-16 NBA season.
