Sentinel Spectrum

If you’re unfamiliar, each NFL Draft prospect is evaluated by every metric imaginable at the NFL Combine before turning to pro football. There’s one test, however, that means a little bit more than just having a blazing fast 40-yard dash. That’s the Wonderlic Test, which is a 50 question exam that lasts only 12 minutes. […]

By Jason Anderson | The Sacramento Bee New Sacramento Kings coach Luke Walton is accused of sexually assaulting a female sports reporter in Southern California before he was the Los Angeles Lakers head coach while he was a Golden State Warriors assistant coach, according to multiple reports Monday night. No record of the lawsuit could be found Monday night. TMZ reported Kelli Tennant, a former Spectrum SportsNet television host in Los Angeles, filed a lawsuit Monday alleging Walton, then Golden State’s top assistant, assaulted her in a Santa Monica hotel room. TMZ cited legal documents alleging Walton pinned Tennant to the bed in his room, forced kisses on her face, neck and chest, groped her breasts and groin, and rubbed his erection on her leg. The TMZ report does not specify when the alleged sexual assault occurred, but it does indicate it happened before Walton began coaching the Lakers in 2016. Walton, who was introduced as the Kings new coach last week, could not immediately be reached for comment. The Golden State Warriors issued a brief statement, “We became aware of the alleged incident and story this evening and are in the process of seeking more information. We’ll have no further comment at this time.” According to TMZ, Tennant alleged in legal documents that the assault occurred after Walton invited her to his hotel room to discuss a book she was writing. Tennant said she and Walton had a business relationship for several years and she wanted him to write a foreword for the book. Tennant alleged that when they got to Walton’s room, Walton suddenly pinned her down on the bed, placing his hips and legs over his body, TMZ said. Tennant said she tried to free herself and screamed at Walton to stop, but he held her down, kissing and groping her before relenting. Tennant got up and walked toward the door, but Walton grabbed her from behind and again forced his body up against hers, according to TMZ. Tennant said she opened the door and left when Walton finally released his grasp, but she could hear him say, “Good to see you.” The TMZ report noted Tennant did not report Walton’s actions when they occurred and it is unclear, based on legal documents, what prompted her to come forward with the allegations now. Tennant continued to interact with Walton for some time following the alleged incident due to her job, according to TMZ. She alleged that each time she saw Walton, he imposed himself on her with hugs and kisses, and once uttered “vulgar, guttural sounds at her,” saying “mmmm … you’re killing me in that dress,” TMZ reported. According to a 2018 story in the Riverside Press-Enterprise, Tennant spent five years with the Time Warner and then Spectrum SportsNet networks, where she worked on baseball, basketball and soccer telecasts and studio shows. Tennant reportedly left Spectrum in the fall of 2017 and shut down her social media accounts for a few months. She resurfaced as an anchor for Amazon Prime’s coverage of the Association of Volleyball Professionals tour, according to the Press-Enterprise. She also launched a podcast, “The Platform,” delving into women’s issues, including wellness, workplace issues and self-acceptance.

In today’s EGEB: Walt Disney World’s new solar farm takes up more space than two Magic Kingdom parks. Mount Rushmore is unveiling a solar carport. New York approves a new 100 MW wind farm. Lansing, Mich. looks to make all city buildings run on renewable energy. A San Antonio mall gets rooftop solar. Electrek Green Energy Brief: A daily technical, financial, and political review/analysis of important green energy news. Walt Disney World is using a new 270-acre solar farm that takes up as much space as its Magic Kingdom park — times two. A number of reporters got a tour of the new 50 MW facility last week, the Orlando Sentinel reports. The new solar farm features more than 500,000 solar panels which move to follow the sun, and it can produce enough electricity to run two of Disney’s parks. Officials said 25 percent of the entire Walt Disney World Resort runs on solar power during “pristine sunny conditions.” Epcot center also has Mickey Mouse-shaped solar panels, though the new solar farm will deliver the vast majority of solar power at the Resort. Disney is looking to cut its emissions in half by next year, when compared to 2012 levels. Mt. Solarmore Mount Rushmore National Memorial is debuting a new solar carport from Xanterra today. The Thomas Jefferson Solar Canopy will provide more than half of the electricity used by Xanterra’s gift shop and restaurant at Mount Rushmore. The 346 kW project features 975 solar panels on top of a carport. It will actually be the second-largest solar installation in South Dakota, and it should reduce greenhouse gas emissions at the gift shop and restaurant by 24 percent. Mount Rushmore National Memorial is one of 120 members in the National Park Service’s Climate Friendly Parks program. The park agrees to focus on sustainability, energy reduction, and more. Haliade-X Update Today we are thrilled to announce that we have produced the world’s largest wind turbine blade ! The Haliade-X 12 MW 107-meters blade has completed the molding process at our factory in Cherbourg, France. Read more here: https://t.co/IkRkJVMVrG pic.twitter.com/CfSgAndui5 — GE Renewable Energy (@GErenewables) April 18, 2019 NY Wind Farm The New York State Public Service Commission approved the construction and operation of the Ball Hill Wind Farm in Chautauqua County. The 100 MW wind farm will generate enough electricity for more than 28,000 average-sized residential homes. Ball Hill Wind Farm will include 29 turbines, a 25.6-mile 34.5 kilovolt (kV) electrical collection system, which will mostly be underground, and a new substation to interconnect with a nearby National Grid 230 kV system. PSC Chair John B. Rhodes said, “New York State has ambitious clean energy goals that require the smart, aggressive development of renewable energy. Appropriately sited wind farms are a necessary component of our clean energy future. As we look to celebrate Earth Day on Monday, today’s action demonstrates that New York can build clean energy projects and deliver clean energy economy jobs in a responsible and balanced manner.” There has been lots of renewable energy news out of New York in recent weeks — including a presumed boost to solar and a modernization plan for the electrical grid — as the state looks to hit a goal of 70% renewable-generated electricity by 2030. Lansing Renewable Lansing, Michigan mayor Andy Schor revealed a plan in March to make the city the first in Michigan to use 100 percent renewable energy for all city government buildings, Great Lakes Echo reports. His proposal involves the purchase of renewable energy credits from the Lansing Board of Water and Light. The plan would take effect July 1 and would power all 187 city buildings. Solar Shops The Shops at La Cantera, a San Antonio-area mall, recently completed a solar project, and 1,500 solar panels are now delivering power to the 1.2 million square-foot mall, Spectrum News reports. Totaling 403 kW, the array will generate 590,000 kWh of electricity annually — nearly a quarter of the mall’s needs.

The Sentinel Human Rights Action :: Humanitarian Response :: Health :: Education :: Heritage Stewardship :: Sustainable Development __________________________________________________ Week ending 20 April 2019 This weekly digest is intended to aggregate and distill key content from a broad spectrum of practice domains and organization types including key agencies/IGOs, NGOs, governments, academic and research institutions, consortia […]

KANDAHAR AIRFIELD, Afghanistan — Rescue Airmen from the 64th Expeditionary Rescue Squadron and Army UH-60 Blackhawk helicopter crews from Charlie Company, 1st Battalion, 171st General Support Aviation have developed a strong partnership over the last several months to enable an essential military mission: personnel recovery. The Airmen and Soldiers work and train together regularly at […]

The backpack suited her physically, being small and light, but it was large enough to hold a small camera and two lenses, good enough for her budding love with camera and film. It was still dark and Sara stumbled several times as they hiked along the winding trail toward the top of the mountain.

Breast cancer and all that it brings with it has always held a special place for me, going on 4 years since my first surgery I have to learnt new things and I am always hopeful towards all the medical advancements that are taking place around the world. When I was invited to the CK […]

We live in a time of great disruption. Talking about great opportunity in the manufacturing industry, businesses today seek to find novel ways to create new business value, empower and upskill their workforce, optimize their operations and innovate for a sustainable future. When you look around, we are surrounded by advanced technologies like AI, mixed […]

Have you seen the new TV game show that debuted this week? We accidentally stumbled upon it – on the 262nd sub-carrier for Channel 92. The Geek Network. So named because each of them wears a Buddy Holly glasses with a ribbon tape that holds the nose piece together. You have to do that. It […]

To: David Brooks Columnist, The New York Times Dear David, We have met a few times over the years while covering the same events. I’m a big fan. You write beautifully and, more often than not, have insights about our politics, lifestyles and beliefs that others have missed. But as time passes, you have grown increasingly somber about our national condition. Your most recent column, based on your new book “The Second Mountain,” is downright depressing. Here’s a brief summary: “The whole country is going through some sort of spiritual and emotional crisis. … We’ve created a culture based on lies.” One is that “[c]areer success is fulfilling.” Not so, you say. “Everybody who has actually tasted success can tell you that’s not true.” Another related lie is that “I can make myself happy” through “individual accomplishment. … The message of the meritocracy is that you are what you accomplish. … You are not a soul to be saved but a set of skills to be maximized.” As a rule, I rarely respond directly to other columnists. Many columnists do the same. It’s a good rule because, if abandoned, it would make commentary even more personal and shrill. But sometimes rules need to be broken. This is, I think, one of those times. So, David, let me respectfully suggest: Lighten up. To be sure, most of your insights are true. But they’re also utopian. You argue that we’ve lost our moral compass and have surrendered to delusional beliefs that rationalize a cultural emptiness. You seem disappointed that we haven’t arrived in some Garden-of-Eden paradise where almost everyone is happy, fulfilled, responsible and respected. I yearn for this as well, but I have reconciled myself to the inevitability of imperfection. Our job as journalists is not simply to point out untruths, injustices and societal problems. It is also to illuminate the inconsistencies, contradictions and confusions of our national condition. It is, in short, to be realistic, especially when being realistic is politically and intellectually unpopular — as it is now. We have a culture of complaint, where nothing works, selfishness is rampant, disillusion is widespread and hatred — practiced across the political spectrum — is common. There is no virtue in feeding this frenzy of pessimism, just because it fits the temper of the times. We need to recognize the limits of our condition. Many legitimate problems can’t be solved, and some problems aren’t worth solving. It is also worth acknowledging that things could be worse. Most Americans who want jobs have them; we are not engaged in a major war; millions of households are doing the difficult work of balancing the duties of child-rearing with the rigors of their job schedules. The Trump presidency has turned up the heat on public and private discourse without (yet) leading to a breakdown of debate. Crudely, the nation’s institutions seem to be working. David, here are a few comments on the “lies” that you describe as polluting today’s American dream: • Ambition is America’s blessing and curse. It is a blessing because it encourages people to try new things, to stretch their abilities and to see how much more they can achieve. It fosters a vibrant economy, even if the most ambitious people are often unattractive as human beings. That’s the curse. Great ambition often causes great character flaws. Obsessed with their projects and themselves, people mistreat co-workers and family. They’re creatures of their ambitions, which can be both frustrating and fulfilling. • Happiness is not a practical goal of public policy, even if governments sometimes reduce or eliminate some conditions that make people unhappy or miserable. But if some sources disappear, others may arise. There are too many factors (personality, religion, schools, luck, parents — or lack thereof — and much more) that determine outcomes. Pursuing happiness should remain, mostly, a personal responsibility. Making it a public responsibility would ensure failure. • The meritocracy — frequently criticized — is not nearly so sinister as it’s portrayed. Of course, it creates stress among its members. They’re constantly being measured and prodded to do better, or to lose out to the students, workers and athletes next door. But the meritocracy’s principles, even if sometimes violated, are the right ones to govern our institutions. We want people who know what they’re doing; competition is not a bad way to make the selections. What are the alternatives? Would we be better off if social connections, race or political affiliation assumed a larger role? Finally, there’s the matter of work. Everyone complains about it, but without it, most of us would die of boredom. Learning new stuff, the essence of journalism, is inherently rewarding, and, David, you and I are paid to do it. The virtues outweigh the vices. So, let’s keep perspective. We don’t live in an ideal world and never will. But things could be worse, maybe quite a bit worse. Let’s try to avoid that.

SANTA CRUZ — From 6-7:30 p.m. Friday, April 19, New Leaf will host a Lagunitas beer and munchies event. Five brews including Lagunitas’ annual “4/20 release Waldo’s Special Ale” will be sampled. Cost is $12 and attendees must be at least 21 years old. On Tuesday, April 23, from 1-2:30 p.m., Dr. Danette Sutton will give a free talk on Autism Spectrum Disorder: causes, foods to eat and avoid, blood and hair analysis, and testing and treatment protocols. This talk is appropriate for all ages. Also on April 23, from 6-7:30 p.m., Hakouya Probiotics founders Eriko Yokoyama and Masumi Diaz will give a hands-on workshop for making miso from scratch using the traditional method. Participants will learn different ways to incorporate miso into their everyday diet. They will make and take home a 1.5-pound jar of miso. Ingredients will be prepared in advance. Cost is $35. From 6-7 p.m. Wednesday, April 24, Certified Transformational Nutrition Coach Graseilah Coolidge will give a free talk, “Healthy Eating Myths De-Bunked,” in which she will discuss topics such as “dieting vs. nourishing eating,” and making more informed decisions at dinner. Classes are at the Westside New Leaf Community Classroom (1101 Fair Ave.). Space is limited and preregistration is required at newleaf.com/events. Quick Bites, compiled by Tara Fatemi Walker, is your weekly helping of Santa Cruz County restaurant and food news. Send items to sentinelfood@gmail.com. Want local food and wine news as it happens? Follow the Sentinel’s food crew on Twitter (@santacruzfood); on Instagram (@santacruzfood); or on Facebook (Santa Cruz Food).

Water supply to Urban areas are among the most contentious issues facing city administrators today. The consistent increase in the rate of growth of urban populations has led to an increase in demand for water, being more pronounced in urban areas where population densities are large and infrastructure often non-existent to support such populations. The […]

Inflammation is not the enemy. Moving to a new paradigm of healing. Your typical weekend scenario unfolds as you go trail running with your friends. You’re having a great time and with a momentary lapse of attention, you step on a rock, turn your ankle, feel a “pop” associated with severe pain and you go […]

The death toll is all too familiar, perhaps inevitable, at this point. Virginia Tech, Virginia, 2007: 32 killed Sandy Hook Elementary School, Connecticut, 2012: 26 killed Umpqua Community College, Oregon, 2015: nine killed Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, Florida, 2018: 17 killed Santa Fe High School, Texas, 2018: 10 killed More than 200 lives have been claimed in American school shootings since the massacre at Columbine High School 20 years ago this week. That total doesn’t include hundreds more murdered in mass killings in nonschool settings, such as the 2017 Las Vegas shooting (58 killed) or the Pulse nightclub massacre in Orlando, Fla., the year before (49 killed). Yet the ability to contain the loss of life from these tragedies remains stalled, as Second Amendment defenders and gun control advocates continue their faceoff in what has become an ossified and depressingly familiar impasse over gun violence in this country. “We see the exact same discussion every time a mass shooting happens,” said Jaclyn Schildkraut, [cq comment=”cqcq”]an associate professor of criminal justice at the State University of New York in Oswego and an expert on mass shootings. “It’s talked about as control or as rights — it’s viewed as all or nothing.” As a result, she said, little in the way of federal gun control legislation has passed since two students at Columbine shot and killed 12 fellow students and a teacher at the Jefferson County high school on April 20, 1999. “If anything, federal regulations have gotten more lax,” Schildkraut said. At the state level, the response has been more robust and varied across the country since Columbine, with legislation generally following the prevailing political allegiances of the state in which it is passed. While 14 states, including Colorado, have passed “red-flag laws” — which allow the temporary removal of firearms from a person who has been deemed dangerous to themselves or others — other states are going the opposite way and expanding or strengthening concealed carry laws. Adam Winkler, [cq comment=”cqcq”]a constitutional law professor at UCLA, said the gun issue largely breaks along Republican vs. Democrat and urban vs. rural schisms. “No issue makes clear the difference between red states and blue states like guns,” Winkler said. Tom Mauser [cq comment=”cqcq”]has been fighting for gun control legislation since his son Daniel was killed at Columbine. As a spokesman for Colorado Ceasefire, a gun control group that formed shortly after the shooting, he sees up close the passion guns and gun ownership engender. Even though his group doesn’t call for disarming Americans, he said gun rights groups often echo that refrain when rallying against legislation. Tom Mauser, father of Columbine High School shooting victim Daniel Mauser, addresses the 5,000 people in the audience who showed up to protest the NRA meeting in Denver at the west steps of the state capitol building on Saturday, May 1, 1999. “We have a gun culture in this country — that’s a cultural thing and it’s not easy to change,” Mauser said, as he sat in the front row of his Littleton church during a recent interview. “They control the narrative. It’s about rights and it’s about confiscation. It’s all about fear.” But Dave Kopel, [cq comment=”cqcq”]an adjunct professor of constitutional law at the University of Denver Sturm College of Law and research director for the libertarian-leaning Independence Institute, said gun control groups have been pouring millions of dollars — led by billionaire former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg — into a campaign to paint gun owners as extreme when all they are doing is safeguarding a basic constitutional right. “There’s no question that anti-gun lobbies had a plan before Parkland, and implemented after Parkland, stigmatizing and demonizing gun owners and Second Amendment supporters in particular,” he said. Measures struggle The gun debate continues to play out against the unrelenting and bloody backdrop of gun-related killings in the United States, with the Gun Violence Archive documenting on the order of 12,000 to 15,000 gun deaths annually in this country since 2014. Last year, 14,720 people died by a bullet in the U.S., according to the group. That figure does not include the more than 20,000 suicides by firearm that occur annually in this country. As these numbers have stayed stubbornly high, so have the passions on both sides of the issue. That has made for a very uncertain legislative environment for measures designed to ratchet down the level of violence, even as gun rights advocates say those measures do nothing more than infringe on constitutional freedoms. At the federal level, gun control has been halting at best since Columbine. There was 2007’s NICS Improvement Amendments Act, passed in the wake of the Virginia Tech shooting, that was designed to fortify elements of the National Instant Criminal Background Check System. And last month, the Trump administration’s ban on bump stocks — a device used by the Las Vegas killer to fire at a crowd outside his hotel with machine-gun efficiency — took effect. Lindsay Cotterman (L) and Shawna Pieruschka attend a candlelight vigil at the University of Las Vegas student union October 2, 2017, after a gunman killed 58 people and wounded more than 400 others when he opened fire on a country music concert in Las Vegas, Nevada late October 1, 2017. But over the last two decades, many proposed gun control measures — even those sponsored by Republicans — have been stymied. One prominent effort repeatedly rebuffed over the years, Schildkraut says in her newly released book “Columbine: 20 Years Later and Beyond,” is a national measure requiring criminal background checks for all guns purchased at gun shows, not just those acquired from licensed dealers. While Colorado voters overwhelmingly passed a gun-show loophole measure in 2000 after it was revealed that several of the Columbine killers’ firearms were purchased from private sellers at gun shows so as to avoid background checks, similar measures at the national level have gone nowhere. “… Despite numerous attempts to close the gun-show loophole by members of both political parties, one of the most debated perceived causal factors for the Columbine shooting remains unaddressed 20 years later,” Schildkraut wrote. Meanwhile, there have been a number of federal laws passed that buttress gun rights, including measures in the mid-2000s that required the FBI to destroy the records of approved gun buyers within 24 hours and that shielded gun sellers and manufacturers from lawsuits if their products are used in a crime. The assault weapons ban signed into law by President Bill Clinton expired in 2004 and has not been renewed. Guns in the “right hands” Kopel said gun control proponents are looking at the issue the wrong way. Restricting overall access to firearms through gun control legislation largely hits law-abiding gun owners, he said, as criminals with intent to do harm will find a way to obtain weapons regardless of the law. He points to the thwarted mass shooting at New Life Church in Colorado Springs in 2007 by a disgruntled 24-year-old Englewood man as a vivid example of why guns in the right hands can be instrumental in halting bloodshed. In that case, a security guard shot the shooter in the foyer of the church, wounding him, before he could move further into the building and claim more lives. Police believe the shooter then turned the gun on himself. Police and SWAT teams surround the New Life Church in Colorado Springs on Sunday, Dec. 9, 2007, after a man went inside the church and opened fire. Columbine, Kopel said, changed the way law enforcement approaches an active shooter situation. Officers were heavily criticized after the 1999 massacre for waiting too long before entering the school, allowing the shooters to carry out their deadly plan with almost no resistance. “I think Colorado and the nation have learned some lessons from Columbine — that guns in the wrong hands are very dangerous to public safety and guns in the right hands protect public safety,” he said. John Lott, [cq comment=”cqcq”]president of the Crime Prevention Research Center and author of “More Guns, Less Crime,” said mass killers often choose a soft target or “gun-free zone” — such as schools — to carry out their attacks. That was true in South Carolina in 2015 when a gunman killed nine members of a black church during a Bible study class and three years earlier when a gunman killed 12 and wounded 70 in a movie theater in Aurora. It was revealed at trial that the shooter had scouted the Century Aurora 16 theater multiple times and estimated how long a police response would take after he opened fire. According to the killer’s notebooks that police found after the shooting, he had ruled out attacking people at an airport because of “substantial security.” ATF agents investigate the suspect’s car outside the Century Aurora 16 theater on July 20, 2012. Bloodstains that look like footprints cover the sidewalk next to the car that was found on the back side of the theater. “It at least shows that he was cognizant of armed security who might have been able to stop him,” Lott said. “These guys might be crazy but they’re not stupid.” Concealed carry laws, he said, provide a critical level of protection for the public because it “takes away the strategic advantage of the killer.” That is as true in a school as in a movie theater, Lott said. “If it were me, I would have a sign that would warn that there are select teachers that have concealed handguns to protect the school,” he said. “Make it so that a person, or multiple people, who are unknown to the attacker have a weapon that can stop him.” President Donald Trump has called for arming teachers, and at least 30 school districts in Colorado, The Denver Post found last year, allow teachers or school staff to arm themselves. But Mauser thinks the idea of arming teachers is a bad one. “Teachers need to be teachers and not security guards,” he said. He worries about shooters firing at teachers first, with the assumption they are armed, or police officers targeting armed teachers in the chaos of an active event when it’s not yet clear who the bad guy is. And Mauser questioned how rigorously and how often teachers should be trained in the use of their weapons and where the guns would be safely stored at school. Finding the line Since Columbine, the U.S. Supreme Court has handed down two landmark decisions on gun ownership. The first — 2008’s District of Columbia vs. Heller — held that the Second Amendment ensures an individual the right to possess a firearm regardless of whether that person has any affiliation with a militia, striking down Washington, D.C.’s decades-old ban on handgun possession. Two years later, the court ruled in McDonald vs. City of Chicago that the right to keep and bear arms applies to state law in the same way it does to federal law. But in Heller, the court said: “Like most rights, the Second Amendment right is not unlimited. It is not a right to keep and carry any weapon whatsoever in any manner whatsoever and for whatever purpose.” [related_articles location=”left” show_article_date=”false” article_type=”automatic-primary-section”] Today, the battle over gun rights and gun control plays out in the nebulous area of what constitutes “in any manner” and “for whatever purpose.” “Everybody is disagreeing with where the line is,” said Scott Moss, [cq comment=”cqcq”]a constitutional law professor at the University of Colorado Law School in Boulder. “Everybody agrees that the right to bear arms doesn’t mean you have the right to arm yourself with a nuclear missile. (Some constitutional rights) are yes, no — some are more of a spectrum.” For many gun control backers, the prohibition on sheer destructive power should apply to semi-automatic weapons like the popular AR-15, which has been the firearm of choice in several high-profile mass shootings of the past decade. But the powerful National Rifle Association has defended the weapon as “America’s Rifle” and two Democratic lawmakers in Colorado felt the wrath of those opposed to the state’s 15-round magazine limit, passed in 2013, by getting ousted in historic recall elections after voting in favor of the measure. Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper signs three gun control measures in his office at the state capitol, March, 20, 2013. Lawmakers in support of the stricter gun laws in Colorado join him for the signing. Experts interviewed for this story don’t see a happy medium on the issue coming any time soon. “It’s difficult to see Congress compromise on guns when it can’t compromise on anything,” said Winkler, of UCLA. “We’re probably not going to see anything significant at the federal level any time soon.” In late February, the Democratic-controlled House passed a measure requiring federal background checks for all firearms sales and transfers, but politics watchers say there’s little chance the bill will get through the GOP-led Senate or survive a presidential veto. At the state level, CU Boulder’s Moss said Colorado’s tilt to the left in the last few election cycles doesn’t necessarily track with the public’s view on guns — an issue that tends to create deeply entrenched positions. “It’s not clear that Colorado’s progressive streak is extending to guns, like it has to LGBT rights,” he said. “I’m not convinced guns are an area where people change their minds a lot.” The extreme risk protection order — or red flag — bill that was just signed into law got steep pushback in the form of resolutions from several counties, including Weld, Otero and Fremont, in which they declare themselves Second Amendment sanctuary counties where law enforcement is excused from enforcing the new restriction on gun ownership. But Mauser hasn’t lost hope that sensible measures can move forward. He took heart at the energy and advocacy against gun violence displayed by students in Parkland, following the Valentine’s Day shooting at the South Florida high school last year. This Feb. 21, 2018, file photo shows students at the entrance to the office of Florida Gov. Rick Scott with boxes of petitions for gun control reform, at the state Capitol in Tallahassee, Fla. “It has to be the young people taking this on, because my generation has failed,” he said. Universal background checks and red flag laws may present a level of inconvenience to people trying to lawfully purchase or possess a firearm, but Mauser said that is a reasonable price to pay for maintaining public safety in a country that sees tens of thousands of gun deaths a year. “Sure, it’s a hassle,” he said. “It’s hassle to bury your kid, too.”

On 10th April I was delighted to host the one of the events to launch the WWF’s Our Planet Campaign (not the one ALL of Princes Charles,William and Harry turned up for!), at the BT Tower. Who better to have at a launch than an astronaut! And there is certainly none better qualified than Tim […]