Open Newswire

CarPrice, a Russian used-car sales platform, has temporarily limited payments to individuals and businesses, according to the Russian business outlet RBC. In an official response to a customer’s inquiry, the company said:

County commissioners vote Tuesday on a list of polling sites for the November midterms.

Kenneth Bryan Jenkins was born on Sept. 29, 1940, in Quanah, Texas, and passed from this life to the next on Aug. 27, 2026, at the age of 85.

Pending notice

ဂျက်တိုက်လေယာဉ် နှစ်စီးနဲ့ မော်ချီးမြို့ အပေါ်ကုန်းနေရာကို ဗုံးကြဲတိုက်ခိုက်ခဲ့တာဟုဆို။

Король Норвегии Хокон VIII 1 сентября принял присягу на верность Конституции перед Стортингом — норвежским парламентом.

Adam Boney quit the Forest County Sheriff’s Office after accusations, which he said were false, that he refused to assist a deputy on a potentially dangerous call. He now works for a small police department in the same county. The post Forest Co K9 deputy who was forced out after investigation back in policing appeared first on The Badger Project.

This story was originally published by NJ Spotlight News through the NJ News Wire.Sign up for Chalkbeat Newark’s free newsletter to get the latest news about the city’s public school system delivered to your inbox.What, exactly, does a funeral home director know about running a restaurant?That’s what some experts are asking after the Newark school board unanimously handed a local mortician a $700,000 contract to train students in hotel and food-service business leadership.Carolyn Whigham — whose roster of celebrity funeral arrangements includes Whitney Houston’s — holds degrees in mortuary science, divinity, and pastoral counseling, according to her online bio. It lacks mention, though, of any teaching expertise or leadership roles in hotels, restaurants, or tourism.Neither Whigham nor the district would answer any of NJ Spotlight News’ questions about her credentials. Nor would they disclose her plans for “Developing Next-Level Awareness,” her training program for students and staff. And they won’t say how she got on the district’s radar for this contract award, either.“The essence of Carolyn Whigham is captured within her powerful name,” the funeral home’s website says. “It is synonymous with trust & influence, and she wears it well.”Whigham Funeral Home in the Central Ward has handled services for high-profile figures like jazz singer Sarah Vaughan; Rep. Donald Payne; the poet and activist Amiri Baraka, father of Mayor Ras Baraka; and Lance Owens, the brother of entertainer Queen Latifah. Whigham has also hosted a retreat for the Newark school board and a summer program for Newark teens at her mountain property in Warren County, she says.Some of her clients aren’t so well known. An online obituary shows she handled the funeral arrangements for Newark Superintendent Roger León’s mother, Edith León, in 2023.“It’s absolutely hysterical,” Michael Iovino, secretary-treasurer of the Newark Teachers Union and a veteran educator, said of the planned teacher training led by a mortician. Decades in the district have made him hard to faze, he says, but “This is still weird.”He imagined a more logical choice — say, a hotel operator. “If you had told me it was, you know, somebody from the Hilton administration who was going to be doing this, I would be less surprised.”Experts question Newark district’s spending, funeral director’s qualificationsThis “definitely raises red flags,” said Shaun Dougherty, a Boston College professor of education and policy with 15 years of research experience in career and technical education, the updated term for vocational training.In the 1980s and 1990s, some schools used job training to filter out kids who were struggling with required academic courses, he said. “It put poor Black and brown kids into programs that were pretty low value-added,” he told NJ Spotlight News.Now, this Newark pact — along with a massive policy and funding push nationally to expand vocational training in the past five years or so — makes him wonder whether more low-value programs are creeping back in.Officials “might have a real hard time answering your questions” about tangible student benefits, says Dougherty, placing these offerings in a “more concerning sort of category.”The Newark schools’ deal with the funeral home director comes amid intense political and community scrutiny of district finances. Under León, the district has faced criticism for lavish spending — from a $500 million elementary school lease to a staff “fun day” party that state officials flagged as misuse of funds, forcing the district to reimburse the state.Community members and outsiders have also questioned why the district has sent so many administrators to conferences in resort destinations like Miami; Palm Springs, California; and Puerto Rico.New Jersey’s largest school district has a 2026-27 budget of $1.67 billion, more than 80% from state taxpayers.It’s not known whether Whigham intends to act as the classroom instructor or subcontract the work. It’s also not clear whether she plans to pay herself a hefty executive director salary. The district heavily redacted her proposal, including who will be on her management team, when it was provided to NJ Spotlight News via a public records request.If she plans to outsource classroom work, observers ask, why send a substantial education contract through a funeral home in the first place?According to her proposal, Whigham’s program “prepares students for early exposure to the hospitality industry, including food service, event management, tourism and hotel operations.”Organizing funerals and networking with vendors is different from training students in restaurant and hotel business leadership, or even wedding planning, critics say. And without proper certifications, instructors can’t provide the industry credentials that students need to get hired, experts warn.Industry-recognized credentials vary in qualityVocational programs function a lot like advanced placement classes in academic tracks. Students take specialized courses in computer science or health care, for instance, and can pass certification exams to earn industry-recognized credentials.New Jersey offers a huge range of quality in these programs, experts say. When done right, vocational training can transform low-achieving 8th graders into focused high school students who learn skills and earn credentials like a two-year associate’s degree, says Rachel Rosen, an education researcher who has studied these initiatives in New York City.Still, such education has widespread challenges. It can be hard to find teachers with the appropriate professional licenses. Students might not take, let alone pass, the final test. Many kids walk away short of credentials.In the county-run Essex County Newark Tech, for example, only about 30% of the students enrolled in career pathways earned one or more industry-recognized credential in 2024-2025. About 19% did that year at the district-run Technology High School.And at the district-run Newark Vocational High School, zero students obtained credentials. Fewer than 10% could do math on grade level, and only about 40% read proficiently. What’s more: The school already has a hospitality and tourism program including event planning, leadership and industry “soft skills” among its offerings, according to its website.Funeral director’s proposal was recommended by LeónPublic reports don’t generally track how many students in individual schools earn college credits or professional internships, making it hard to evaluate whether they’re truly being set up for success. Historically, experts also noted a mismatch in New Jersey, in which students’ credentials often didn’t align with the jobs in top demand.Amid those challenges, Newark school officials approved a funeral director for a six-figure, three-year contract running through June 20, 2029 — with the option to renew for two more years — to train students in hotel and restaurant leadership.Whigham’s proposal was recommended by León, among other administrators, and backed 9-0 by the school board. Of 41 vendors asked to submit competitive bids, 22 responded. Whigham’s proposal was ranked fourth, securing one of five awards to provide student enrichment, expanded learning and teacher professional development.According to the district’s request for proposals, approved providers would offer “a high quality, research-based program that has compelling evidence of demonstrated success.”In her proposal, Whigham cited her prior work with the Newark school board and city teens as evidence of her effectiveness, noting “positive participant feedback and continued collaboration efforts.”District evaluators praised her prospective program for “building essential soft skills” like empathy, conflict resolution, and leadership, while saying it aligns with the district’s hospitality, tourism, event planning, and entrepreneurship curricula.According to her proposal, Whigham’s curriculum meets state standards by focusing on a requirement for hospitality and tourism industry jobs that students “demonstrate leadership qualities and collaboration with others.”It also says her program will align with state standards for guest communications and safety risks in kitchens and hotels.Funeral director’s program could start at 5 schoolsJohn Hillard, a retired career and technical education expert with decades of experience in New Jersey, said it was “totally unusual” for a district vocational program to be run by someone with unrelated expertise.State-approved vocational tracks usually feature a multiyear course series, industry certifications and college partnerships, he says, with teachers certified in career and technical education.A spokesperson for the state Department of Education confirmed that Whigham’s program is not a state-approved track leading to “a high-skill, high-wage, or in-demand occupation.” Nor does it yield industry-recognized credentials.It operates more like an uncertified extracurricular program bought from a vendor, which requires no credentialed instructor and does not fall under state oversight. That is “basically, a fluff, career exploration program type-of-thing,” said Hillard, former president of the Career and Technical Education Association of New Jersey.Whigham plans to provide three-hour sessions for groups of 25 students at $2,500 per class, offered to grades 6-12, according to her approved proposal. She intends to start with at least five high schools: Newark Vocational, Arts High, West Side, Eagle Academy and Newark School of Global Studies.From September to June, her school-year program totals $200,000, with a summer intensive program in July and August totaling $80,000, or $20,000 per week. The contract covers all student field trip admissions and transportation, paid for by the Newark school board.Additionally, Whigham submitted a cost proposal for teacher training. For one or two instructors to train teachers in hotel and restaurant leadership soft skills, she would charge $2,500 per half-day and $4,500 per full day for three years, with a chance to renew for years four and five. Her virtual and in-person sessions for teachers total $200,000 for the school year, plus $20,000 per week for a summer intensive and $25,000 for supplies.A nationwide push toward high school job training was motivated by findings from the late 1980s that showed roughly half of diploma-holders who did not go on to college failed to land jobs for nearly a decade after graduating, experts say.Well-done vocational programs use data on regional needs to align their training directly with the labor market so students are prepared for available jobs, says Rosen, head of the Center for Effective Career and Technical Education, a national research hub.Their lessons are taught by experts in growing fields and give students valuable credentials like licenses or college credits, which can help them nab entry-level positions in tech or as visiting nurses, emergency medical technicians or medical secretaries, for example.Fly-by-night programs, on the other hand, are disconnected workshops that leave kids with a useless certificate and vague soft-skill credits, experts say. They often lack a clear plan and are taught by people without experience in the field.Most vocational programs operate within strict state and federal guardrails, according to Adriana Harrington, the head of policy at ExcelinEd, a nonprofit that helps states audit their vocational programs. As a result, she said, low-quality offerings are “an extreme outlier.”

بقا یا فروپاشی؟ بحث پرشور مهمانان میدان درباره وضعیت و آینده جمهوری اسلامی.

中共近日罕见公开向社会征集火箭军腐败线索，加上张又侠和刘振立被免职，习近平的亲信钟绍军也落马。加拿大曼尼托巴大学防务与安全中心研究员、前解放军中校赖小刚博士接受美国之音访问时分析：火箭军高层大清洗再升级搞坏“指挥链“与战备能力，习近平想征服台湾已成无法实现的“中国梦”。

Për 470 filloristë në njëmbëdhjetë shkollat fillore në Komunën e Strugës sot filloi procesi arsimor,  informoi udhëheqësi i sektorit të arsimit në Komunën e Strugës, Xhemi Hajredini, raporton MIA.  Për shkak të numrit të vogël të nxënësve, në katër shkolla rajonale, sipas tij, procesi arsimor do të pezullohet nga ky vit shkollor, dhe nxënësit janë […]

ცხოველთა დამცველი თამაზ ელიზბარაშვილი, რომელიც პოლიციამ გაჩხრიკა და რომლის ბინაშიც საგამოძიებო მოქმედებები ჩატარდა, პოლიციამ ადმინისტრაციული წესით დააკავა. ის ხელზე ბორკილებდადებული გამოიყვანეს საცხოვრებელი კორპუსიდან.

Last year the White House suspended or cancelled more than 1,000 California science grants. This bond measure would restore some of that funding.

(The Center Square) - Drivers across Washington are paying more at the pump as gas prices continue their upward climb while more than half the country saw relief while filling up heading into the busy Labor Day weekend. Washington’s average for gasoline reached $5.37 per gallon on Tuesday, data shows. The increase marks a continuous rise over time, moving up from Monday’s average of $5.32 per gallon. The climb is even more pronounced over the long term; drivers are paying more than last week’s average of $5.27 per gallon, last month’s rate of $5.12 per gallon, and a steep jump from the year-ago average of $4.40 per gallon, with no end in sight. “Motorists should expect continued volatility in the weeks ahead,” wrote Patrick De Haan, head of petroleum analysis at GasBuddy, in a blog post Monday. Many local motorists face even higher prices depending on where they fill up. Seattle area drivers paid an average of $5.57, while the highest average for gasoline in the state was $6.26 in San Juan County as of Tuesday, data shows. Diesel fuel prices across Washington have also experienced a steep surge, with the state average for diesel at $6.52 per gallon Tuesday, up from $6.42 Monday, $6.34 last week, $6.18 a month ago, and $5.01 per gallon a year ago. The state’s current gas prices are significantly higher than average national costs, at $4.10 per gallon as of Tuesday. “Average gasoline prices fell in slightly more than half of states over the last week while diesel declined in roughly half, as oil prices moved lower and offered some modest relief at the pump,” De Haan said. Washington remains one of the most expensive places in the country to fill up, compared to rates in neighboring Idaho, at $4.60 per gallon average, and rivaling high-cost markets like California, at $5.70 per gallon average. Industry analysts and state watchdog groups point directly to government policies as the primary driver behind Washington’s elevated price tag. With Washington’s state motor vehicle fuel tax, at 56.5 cents per gallon, combined with the 18.4-cent federal excise duty, drivers pay nearly 75 cents per gallon in direct taxes. Compounding the core fuel tax is the state’s Climate Commitment Act, the state’s cap-and-invest program enacted in 2021. Under the CCA structure, major carbon emitters, including petroleum refiners, must purchase allowances at state auctions for their greenhouse gas emissions. Energy analysts at organizations like the Washington Policy Center estimate that pass-through costs from the CCA cap-and-trade auctions add between 40 and 60 cents per gallon to retail gas prices. Officials at the Washington Department of Ecology argue that carbon regulations are a necessary component to meet state-mandated emission reduction goals. Gov. Bob Fergusson and other state officials have previously blamed the state's high gas prices on President Trump, despite Washington's higher averages compared to neighboring states and the nation as a whole. The current price spikes come at a particularly tough time for consumers as heavy Labor Day weekend travel demand squeezes regional supplies. Millions of drivers taking to the highways for end-of-summer trips have driven short-term demand to peak levels, placing additional upward pressure on retail stations already struggling with tight inventories. Global market forces offer little near-term relief, dominated by ongoing military clashes with Iran and severe shipping blockades in the Strait of Hormuz. With roughly a fifth of the world’s petroleum passing through the narrow choke point, naval skirmishes and threats of escalation have kept crude oil prices elevated worldwide. Meanwhile, the White House's newly announced deal to gain access to 65 billion barrels of Venezuelan oil reserves will do little to offset immediate costs. “Over the weekend, the Trump administration struck a major deal with Venezuela, a signal that the White House remains concerned about elevated fuel prices — though in reality, any benefits from increased Venezuelan output will take years to fully materialize and are unlikely to move the needle in the near term,” said De Haan. “The factors with the most immediate impact on where prices go from here remain the ongoing developments between the U.S. and Iran and continued Ukrainian attacks on Russian oil refineries, both of which continue to exert outsized influence on global fuel markets.”

El Concejo Municipal de Encinitas discutirá el próximo 9 de septiembre la posible reinstalación de cámaras para detectar infracciones en semáforos en rojo, una medida impulsada por la preocupación de residentes y autoridades tras varias muertes relacionadas con el tránsito en la ciudad. Durante reuniones públicas celebradas el 26 de agosto, residentes y funcionarios expresaron […]

Владимир Путин встретился с премьер-министром Армении Николом Пашиняном на полях саммита Шанхайской организации сотрудничества (ШОС) в Бишкеке. Это их первая личная встреча после парламентских выборов, прошедших в Армении в июне.

D'après l'étude publiée par le think tank Destin Commun, les canicules et les incendies de l'été 2026 ont renforcé la conscience climatique des Français ainsi que le sentiment d'urgence. Ainsi, 67% se disent plus inquiets au sujet du réchauffement climatique après les événements extrêmes de l’été, et six sur dix indiquent qu'ils feront des propositions climatiques un critère important de leur choix de vote pour l'élection présidentielle de 2027.

El Festival de Helsinki desvela hoy su cartel con Cristian Mungiu y Hanna Bergholm y afirma que cada película elegida es toda una declaración política

༧གོང་ས་༧སྐྱབས་མགོན་ཆེན་པོ་མཆོག་ལ་ལ་དྭགས་ཀྱི་ཆོས་ལུགས་འདྲ་མིན་གྱིས་ཆེ་བསྟོད་སྣེ་ལེན་ཞུས་པ།

AEBetako zerbitzu sekretuek duela aste batzuk iradoki zuten Errusia zela abuztuaren 4ko drone erasoaren erantzulea. Ukrainako zama hegazkinak zituen helburu eraso horrek. Errusiak Ukraina bonbardatzen jarraitzen du, eta gaur hamabi lagun hil ditu Kieven.