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Susan Lucci tears up when asked if she is dating after the death of her husband Helmut Huber: 'I'm not ready'

February 3, 2023 Published by Fox News

Susan Lucci became emotional over the prospect of finding new love following the death of her husband Helmut Huber in March 2022.

The 76-year-old actress teared up during an interview with “Good Day New York” Thursday after being asked if she was ready to “get back out there” and start dating again.

“No, I’m not ready,” the “All My Children” alum said.

“It’s just ten months. And anyway, whatever the time was, I’m not ready, you know?” Lucci added, wiping away a tear.

‘ALL MY CHILDREN’ STAR SUSAN LUCCI HONORS LATE HUSBAND HELMUT HUBER AT DAYTIME EMMY AWARDS

Susan Lucci teared up over the prospect of finding new love following the death of her husband Helmut Huber in March 2022.
(Robin Platzer/FilmMagic)

“And everybody’s different, you know. But, no. I just miss him. And he’s worth missing. He was really, really the love of my life. A very special, big presence, very take charge in a good way. He was caring, he’s a caregiver and funny, smart, all those good things.”

“Handsome,” added host Rosanna Scotto.

“Not to mention, very handsome and that cute accent,” Lucci agreed.

Huber died March 28, 2022, on Long Island, New York, at the age of 84. The Austrian-born TV producer and Lucci were married for 52 years and share daughter Liza, 47, and son Andreas, 34.

The pair met in 1969 when they were both working at Long Island’s Garden City Hotel, where he was the executive chef and Lucci was an employee while on summer vacation from college. The two tied the knot after three weeks of dating in September of that year.

Scotto asked the “Dancing With the Stars” alum if her friends had been asking about setting her up on dates.

“Yes, even strangers,” Lucci said. “I was in Palm Beach in Saks and a woman was saying, ‘Oh, I have just the man for you.’

“And thank you, but I’m not … I can’t even imagine it at this point.”

Following Huber’s death, Lucci’s representative told Fox News Digital, “Helmut’s passing is a tremendous loss for all who knew and loved him. He was an extraordinary husband, father, grandfather and friend. The family kindly asks for privacy during this incredibly difficult time.”

A spokesperson for the Lucci family told People magazine he passed peacefully, adding, “A family man, he was a loyal friend and loved them deeply.

“With a roaring sense of humor, larger-than-life personality and a practical problem solver, he lived his life to the fullest. Mr. Huber, who formerly raced motorcycles in Austria, was a first-rate skier and avid golfer, belonging to the Garden City Golf Club and Westhampton Country Club.”

The 76-year-old actress teared up during an interview with “Good Day New York” Thursday after being asked if she was ready to “get back out there” and start dating again.
(Robin Platzer/FilmMagic)

The outlet noted that Huber, born in October 1937, became a U.S. citizen in January 1994. In his lifetime, he was asked to join the Austrian Ski Team. However, he completed his chef’s apprenticeship at the Hotel Maria Theresia. Huber later studied at L’Ecole Hoteliere in Lausanne, Switzerland, and graduated at the top of his class.

He arrived in North America at age 21 and embarked on his career in Canada before heading to New York at 23. The outlet shared that Huber improved his English by watching John Wayne and Humphrey Bogart films. He later became Lucci’s manager and the CEO of Pine Valley Productions.

In 2020, Lucci told Fox News Digital Huber never left her side.

“I got really lucky because I married somebody who is smart and handsome, and he’s very confident, and he has a great sense of humor,” she said at the time. “And, fortunately, he’s not only been supportive, which is a lovely word. He’s been with me, really with me hands-on and right there. He’s really been a rock, and I got lucky because how could I know all that going in? I was 22.”

During her appearance on “Good Day New York,” the Daytime Emmy winner discussed her new heart jewelry collection she recently launched in support of the American Heart Association.

She also opened up about coming close to having a fatal heart attack in 2018 when she discovered she had two blocked cardiac arteries after experiencing chest discomfort.

Huber died March 28, 2022, in Long Island, N.Y., at the age of 85.
(David Livingston/Getty Images)

“Like most women, I felt my symptoms would go away,” Lucci recalled. “Oh, it’ll go away, it’ll go away. Then, the third time it came to me, I couldn’t ignore it. I had a very big pressure on my chest, like an elephant person pressing on my chest.

“I had heard an interview with a woman a long time ago. I don’t even know why I remembered. I had no reason to. But I remember she said that women’s symptoms for a heart attack are often different than a man’s. And she herself had experienced an elephant pressing on the chest. And so there was no ignoring at that point. And I got so lucky.

“I had a guardian angel on each shoulder. I was out at a boutique, and the woman who was the manager also had a degree in nursing. Talk about good luck. And she said, ‘I will drive you. My car’s right there. I’ll drive you to St Francis,’ which is one of the premiere heart hospitals in the country.”

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Lucci recounted how cardiologist Richard Shlofmitz discovered she had a 90% blockage in her main artery and a 75% blockage in the adjacent artery. She immediately underwent an emergency procedure during which two arterial stents were placed in her heart.

“I went home the next day,” she said. “I was told that, had I not come in, I would have had the widowmaker. Ninety-nine percent, I wouldn’t have made the night.

“And it was such a wake-up call to me,” Lucci added. “I knew how good my luck had been. And from the car ride home, I called my publicist, Jessica, and said, ‘Jessica, I cannot keep my good luck for myself. I feel like a magnet is pulling me to tell this story.’ So maybe, like, I heard that woman’s interview right, someone will hear this now, and it will help them do something to help themselves.”

During her appearance on “Good Day New York,” the Daytime Emmy winner discussed her new heart jewelry collection she recently launched in support of the American Heart Association.
(Astrid Stawiarz/Getty Images for The American Heart Association)

Lucci stressed the importance of prioritizing one’s health, noting that many women like her tend to focus on the health and needs of others and loved ones but neglect their own.

The actress revealed she experienced another cardiac scare last year but initially hesitated to tell Huber for about 30 minutes after she began experiencing symptoms.

“I reverted right back to all the things I’d been telling women for three years at that point. ‘Put yourself on your to-do list. Take action. Listen to your symptoms. Go to the doctor.’ I was avoiding. I went right back to the same. It’s our DNA.”

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Lucci added that she also had a sharp pain in her jaw, which she explained was another symptom experienced by women ahead of a heart attack.

She said a large percentage of the sales of her new jewelry collection will be donated to the American Heart Association.

“That’s what I wanted to do to say thank you because they gave me the opportunity to get my story out,” she noted. “And they continue to. And I just hope it saves even one woman’s life.”

Fox News Digital’s Stephanie Nolasco contributed to this report.

Ashley Hume is an entertainment writer for Fox News Digital. Story tips can be sent to [email protected] and on Twitter: @ashleyhume

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Former zoo director accused of serving pygmy goats for dinner in Mexico

February 3, 2023 Published by CNN

CNN
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The former head of a zoo in Mexico’s Guerrero state has been accused of having some animals killed for meat, among other incidents.

The Guerrero Environment Department’s Director of Wildlife Fernando Ruiz said in a news conference on Tuesday that records of Zoochilpan Zoo in Chilpancingo misrepresented its number of pygmy goats last summer, and accused former director José Rubén Nava Noriega of having some cooked – a claim that Nava denied.

There were “five females and five males of which the former director had four male specimens for use at the New Year’s Eve dinner,” Ruiz alleged.

“That is to say, those four specimens were sacrificed and cooked in the facilities of the same zoo and were used as food in the year-end celebration.”

He added that the health of those who ate the meal would have been put at risk because the animals were “not suitable for human consumption.”

In a statement, the Environment Department also detailed other administrative inconsistencies at the zoo. It said that in a separate incident, Nava traded four cattle in exchange for materials, tools and supplies for the park, but that it was not informed about the delivery of the cattle in accordance with protocol, and those materials and tools were not found on the zoo’s premises.

Nava rejected all the accusations as false during a press conference on Wednesday, claiming there is a “dirty war” for control of the zoo’s budget.

He also said that all the actions carried out during the time he was in charge of the zoo were lawful.

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Alex Murdaugh's best friend weeps on stand over betrayal as testimony concludes Thursday

February 3, 2023 Published by Fox News

Judge Clifton Newman sent the jury from the courtroom for a long break for a hearing to determine how much of Alex Murdaugh’s alleged financial crimes will be admitted at the trial.

Lead prosecutor Creighton Waters questioned Jeanne Seckinger, CFO of the Parker Law Group, about confronting Alex the day of the double murder.

After a discrepancy arose over $792,000 in missing settlement funds, Seckinger confronted Alex in his office June 7, 2021. She had already asked him about these funds several times.

“[Alex] was leaning on a file cabinet outside his office, and he turned to look at me as I came up and said, ‘What do you need now?’ and gave me a very dirty look,” recalled Seckinger, who had known Alex for 40 years. “We went in the office and closed the door, and I told him I had reason to believe he received the funds himself and that I needed proof that he had not.”

He assured her that the money was there, and he would get her documentation. The conversation was interrupted when Alex received a phone call that his father, Randolph Murdaugh III, was in the hospital and dying.

That afternoon, he called Seckinger again to ask how much money was in his 401k account. “He stated that he was working on some financials for the boat accident hearing later in the week,” she said.

That night, Seckinger heard that Alex’s son, Paul Murdaugh, and wife, Maggie Murdaugh, were brutally shot to death at Moselle.

The double murder halted the firm’s inquires into Alex’s finances and the boat wreck hearing scheduled later that week was canceled.

Parker Law Group was formerly called Peters, Murdaugh, Parker, Eltzroth & Detrick law firm, which was founded by Alex Murdaugh’s great grandfather. The firm was renamed after Alex’s alleged crimes tarnished the Murdaugh name.

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How many times can you wear pajamas, jeans and other clothes without washing them? Experts weigh in

February 3, 2023 Published by CNN

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CNN
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The number of times it’s appropriate to wear clothing items without washing them often seems based more on folklore or a person’s upbringing than professional advice.

TikTok user Allison Delperdang started a heated online debate when she posted a video January 10 saying she wears the same pajamas multiple times.

“When I was younger my parents always made us wear pajamas … multiple nights in a row because they weren’t dirty, and I still do that as an adult,” she said. “I need to know if, like, as adults we’re still doing that, or should I be literally making dirty clothes every single night?”

The answer — for pajamas as well as other clothes — technically depends on personal aspects such as sweat level and lifestyle, though for many people other, more abstract factors may come into play, experts say.

Our beliefs about clothing hygiene are largely “societal and cultural,” said Dr. Anthony Rossi, an assistant attending dermatologist at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York City and a fellow of the American Academy of Dermatology. “People tend to over wash and ‘over hygiene’ themselves, because especially in America, we have a luxury of being able to do all that stuff all the time.”

Rewearing the same clothes — particularly on consecutive days — is “linked to avoiding decision fatigue, hence wearing the same clothes involves less decisions to make and less stress every morning,” said Manal Mohammed, senior lecturer of medical microbiology at the University of Westminster in London.

Not knowing when to wash your clothes can have consequences on both ends of the spectrum. Washing them too seldom could lead to skin problems or infections, and washing them too often could harm your clothing. The latter can also result in unnecessary laundry and use of resources.

Here are some guiding principles to help you determine when a garment can be worn again without washing and when it’s time to toss it in the hamper.

There’s no hard and fast rule for how many times you can wear clothing again, but experts say there are a few types that should be washed after every use: underwear, socks, tights, leggings and activewear. This advice also applies to any other clothes with stains, sweat, odor or visible dirt, Mohammed said.

These kinds of clothes are “on a part of our body that just has a lot of natural bacteria that lives on our body, like our microbiome, (yeast) and bacteria,” Rossi said. “Then from day-to-day activities, we sweat. That just breeds moisture and an environment where this bacteria can overgrow.”

Bacteria overgrowth can lead to infections, fungus and other skin issues, he added.

In addition to bacteria from sweat, clothes worn in gyms or sports settings can come into contact with bacteria such as Staphylococcus aureus, resulting in infections common in community and hospital settings. Those infections can become serious if they enter internal tissues or the bloodstream.

Some people might let their workout clothes dry via air or a dryer, intending to make them safe to wear again the next day. But that approach makes the situation worse, Rossi said.

“Heat is going to make the bacteria grow. It’s not hot enough to sterilize them,” he said. “It’s really the washing with soap and water (that you need) — and with hot water, especially, because it’s going to help loosen that dirt and sebum and really get rid of bacteria.”

When it comes to why you shouldn’t wear socks again without washing first, “fungal infections on the feet and toes are just rampant,” said dermatologist Dr. Jeremy Fenton, medical director for Schweiger Dermatology Group in New York City and a clinical instructor of dermatology at Mount Sinai Hospital. “Inside of our shoes is the perfect environment for breeding fungus. It’s warm, it’s humid, it’s dark.”

Because of that, you should wash your shoes or at least the insoles in a washing machine at least once per month, Rossi said.

For pajamas, outerwear, jeans and other clothes, how many times you can wear them without washing is based on the same principles for undergarments or activewear.

“As far as your pants and your shirts, I think it’s all a level of comfort and how much you’re perspiring throughout the day,” Rossi said. “A lot of people wear undershirts. The undershirt would be something to wash, whereas your top shirt you don’t really need to wash.”

If you don’t wear underwear, you need to wash your clothing before wearing it again since it came into contact with your genital skin, Rossi said.

If you usually shower before bed, wear underwear and sweat little to none when wearing pajamas, you could wear them for a week without washing, experts said. But if you don’t do these things, you’d need to wash them every time.

Outerwear — such as coats or jackets — typically doesn’t need to be washed more than once a month since it doesn’t touch your skin, Rossi said. “If you’re wearing it every day, probably (wash it) every two weeks,” he suggested.

Whether and how often to wash jeans can be a hot topic, since many people want to maintain the integrity of the fabric, which is usually stiffer and more durable than others. If jeans aren’t sweaty, dirty or stained, they don’t have to be washed often, Rossi said. “I personally don’t wash my jeans,” he added.

Mohammed recommended washing jeans monthly but acknowledged it depends on your lifestyle and environment.

“If somebody were to tell me that they were wearing their jeans for months on end and not washing them and they hadn’t had any problems with their skin or problems with odor, I wouldn’t see any problem at all,” Fenton said.

The most important questions you should ask yourself, experts say, when considering whether to wear something again without washing are these: Does it smell? Do I have any skin conditions, such as eczema, a rash or a skin lesion? Is it visibly dirty? Is it sweaty? Did I wear underwear with this?

“The main point is that the answer is going to be very variable,” Fenton said.

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Israel's West Bank population reaches over 500K, settlers predict faster population growth with new government

February 3, 2023 Published by Fox News

Israel’s West Bank settler population now makes up more than half a million people, a pro-settler group said Thursday, crossing a major threshold. Settler leaders predicted even faster population growth under Israel’s new ultranationalist government.

The report, by WestBankJewishPopulationStats.com and based on official figures, showed the settler population grew to 502,991 as of Jan. 1, rising more than 2.5% in 12 months and nearly 16% over the last five years.

“We’ve reached a huge hallmark,” said Baruch Gordon, the director of the group and a resident of the Beit El settlement. “We’re here to stay.”

The milestone comes as Israel’s new government, made up of ultranationalist parties who oppose Palestinian statehood, has placed expanding settlements at the top of its priority list. Already the government has pledged to legalize wildcat outposts that have long enjoyed tacit government support and to ramp up approval and construction of settler homes around the West Bank.

“I think that in the coming years of this government there will be more building than there has been in the last 20 years of governments,” Gordon said.

Settlements have flourished under every Israeli government, including at the height of the peace process in the 1990s. Even Israel’s short-lived previous government, which included parties supporting Palestinian statehood along with those opposing it, continued to build settlements.

PALESTINIANS IN UPROAR AFTER ISRAELI ARMY KILL MILITANTS, ELDERLY WOMAN IN WEST BANK

The report also comes as a new spasm of violence is shaking the region and days after a visit by U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, who pledged support for an independent Palestinian state. The settler population has continued to grow under the Biden administration, despite renewed American appeals to rein in construction following years of President Donald Trump’s hands-off approach.

The settler population report does not include annexed east Jerusalem, home to more than 200,000 settlers. The West Bank and east Jerusalem are together home to some 3 million Palestinians.

Israel captured the West Bank, east Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip in the 1967 Mideast war. The Palestinians seek those territories for an independent state.

Although Israel withdrew troops and several thousand settlers from Gaza in 2005, it has charged ahead with settlement building in the West Bank and east Jerusalem. Dozens of settlements dot the territory, some as small as a few mobile homes and others sprawling cities, with malls and public transport of their own.

A view of the West Bank settlement of Efrat is shown on Jan. 30, 2023. Israel’s West Bank settler population now makes up more than 500,000 people, according to a pro-settler group.
(AP Photo/Mahmoud Illean)

Much of the international community views the settlements as illegitimate and an obstacle to peace. The Palestinians see them as a land grab that undermines their chances to establish a viable, contiguous state.

“All settlements are illegal. There is no legitimacy for settlements or the presence of settlers in the Palestinian territories,” said Nabil Abu Rudeineh, a spokesman for Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. “The increase in the number of settlers is the result of Israeli government policies that do not believe in the two-state solution,” which would create an independent Palestinian state next to Israel.

2 PALESTINIANS KILLED IN SEPARATE VIOLENT CONFRONTATIONS WITH ISRAELIS IN THE WEST BANK

Israel claims the West Bank is disputed territory, rather than occupied, saying that terminology denies the Jewish people’s historical presence in the land. It argues that the fate of settlements should be part of negotiations to bring about an end to the conflict.

Peace efforts have been moribund for nearly 15 years, while Israel continued to establish facts on the ground with more settlement construction and a Palestinian political rivalry complicated peacemaking.

The settlers and their many supporters in government view the West Bank as the biblical and historical heartland of the Jewish people and are opposed to any partition.

Palestinians and Israelis in the West Bank live under a two-tiered legal system that grants settlers special status and applies much of Israeli law to them including the right to vote in Israeli elections and the ability to access certain public services. Palestinians live under Israeli military rule and they do not enjoy the legal rights and protections afforded to settlers.

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The open-ended military occupation has led three well-known human rights groups to conclude that Israel is committing the international crime of apartheid by systematically denying Palestinians equal rights. Israel rejects those accusations as an attack on its very existence as a Jewish-majority state and points to the achievements of its citizens of Palestinian origin to counter the argument.

The increasingly authoritarian and unpopular Palestinian Authority, established through agreements with Israel in the 1990s, administers parts of the West Bank, while the Islamic militant group Hamas controls Gaza, which is under an Israeli-Egyptian blockade.

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Former Australian PM hails George Pell as a 'saint' as funeral of controversial cardinal sparks protests

February 3, 2023 Published by CNN

Sydney, Australia
CNN
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Cardinal George Pell remains a divisive figure even in death, with angry protests at his funeral in Sydney on Thursday and a former prime minister describing him as a “saint.”

The Cardinal’s funeral took place at St. Mary’s Cathedral, with police forced to intervene as protesters gathered to confront mourners.

Former Australian prime ministers Tony Abbott and John Howard were among those who attended his funeral. Abbott praised the late Cardinal Pell during a eulogy, describing him as a “soldier for truth” and a “saint for our times” in a speech that was met with applause.

Outside, police separated supporters of Pell from people protesting against the memorial for the Cardinal, who was convicted of child sex abuse before the ruling was overturned in 2020.

Hundreds of protesters gathered outside the cathedral after Australian police dropped a court bid to block the demonstration. Speeches against Pell and the Catholic Church were given in a nearby park, with some people holding banners and chanting “George Pell go to Hell.”

Three people, two men and one woman, were detained outside St. Mary’s Cathedral, New South Wales police said in a statement. Police said no charges were brought against them.

Police officers are seen outside St. Mary's Cathedral on Thursday.

Protesters march through Sydney on Thursday with flags and banners.

Joseph Samarasinghe, one of the mourners who attended the funeral, told CNN: “We can learn by our mistakes. And I think now the church is more aware of all the mistakes that the clergy has done. So I think we are in the right direction.”

Meanwhile Kim Stern, the protest organizer, said they will continue to fight against everything Cardinal Pell stood for until there is “full equality” in Australia.

“For the politicians, the judges, people from the political establishment that are attending the funeral service today, we want to send a message that we are going to fight against everything that the Catholic Church and Pell stood for. And continue to fight until there’s full equality in this country,” he said.

The funeral sparked angry confrontations outside the cathedral in Sydney.

Cardinal Pell was the most senior Catholic official to be convicted of child sex abuse before the ruling was overturned in 2020. He died last month at the age of 81.

Born in the regional city of Ballarat, Australia, on June 8, 1941, Pell rose through the ranks of the Roman Catholic Church to become Vatican treasurer, considered by many to be the third most senior position within the church.

He served in that role from 2014 to 2019 in charge of Pope Francis’ financial reforms, which largely stalled when he was called back to Australia to face allegations of historical sex abuse.

Pell was convicted of those charges in 2018 and served 13 months in prison before Australia’s High Court overturned his conviction in April 2020.

The cardinal is a divisive figure in Australia and many on Twitter used the occasion of his death to express their support for the survivors of child sex abuse.

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Lawmakers in 10 states push to eliminate relicensing restrictions for teachers moving across state lines

February 2, 2023 Published by Fox News

Every Colorado school district, like many across the country, began 2023 understaffed. That’s caused classes to be crammed together, school bus routes to shrink, Spanish language courses to get cut from curriculums, and field trips to be nixed.

This has prompted lawmakers in Colorado and other states to suggest legislation that would get rid of relicensing requirements for teachers when they move across state lines — an oftentimes cumbersome and costly process of waiting periods, licensing fees, and expensive exams.

The idea for an Interstate Teacher Mobility Compact was first proposed by the U.S. Department of Defense and is designed, in part, to support military spouses. It would effectively allow teaching licenses to be viable across members of the compact, cutting through the current 50-state patchwork of disparate requirements.

Colorado’s House education committee voted nine to two on Wednesday to send the legislation forward in a hearing.

Nine other statehouses are considering joining the compact, including Hawaii, Washington, Kansas, Georgia and Mississippi. For the compact to take effect, 10 states must approve it.

The national teacher shortage, exacerbated by deep losses during the pandemic, has left states scrambling to hire and retain educators. It’s pushed school districts across the South to accept candidates without teaching certificates or formal training to staunch the losses.

TWITTER DOESN’T LET RANDI WEINGARTEN GET AWAY WITH BLAMING TEACHER SHORTAGE ON ‘CULTURE’ WARS: ‘LOST THE PLOT’

“The idea of this bill is that it removes a barrier for moving into the state,” said Colorado Democratic Rep. Meghan Lukens, one of the bill’s sponsors. “By participating in this compact we will allow the seamless transfer of teachers to our state while maintaining the integrity of our teacher licensing.”

Some worry the change won’t make significant difference as long as teachers are underpaid in a state with sky-high housing costs.

In 2020, Colorado paid teachers an estimated average of just over $60,000 annually, below the national average of about $65,000, according the National Center for Education Statistics, even though it’s one of the most expensive states to live in. On those salaries, only about 20% of available homes in Colorado are affordable to teachers, according to a study by the Keystone Policy Center.

Teacher Jessica Flores directs students as they work on laptops in a classroom in Newlon Elementary School on, Aug. 25, 2020, in Denver, Colorado. Ten states, including Colorado, want to eliminate many of the requirements for teachers to get licensed when they move within the member states.
(AP Photo/David Zalubowski, File)

“I think this is another example of a solution that isn’t meeting the problem,” said Philip Qualman, superintendent at Eagle County School District, which includes the ski town of Vail west of Denver.

Qualman said the district is struggling with about 90 vacant positions — the most they’ve ever had — including custodians, teachers and bus drivers. Applicants who receive a job offer often end up turning it down when they can’t find housing within their budget, he said.

SCHOOL DISTRICTS ACROSS THE COUNTRY UNDER THE WIRE TO HIRE HUNDREDS OF TEACHERS BEFORE SCHOOL YEAR STARTS

“I think it’s great to reduce the barriers to licensure for those who want to come here. But in reality, who’s going to want to come here when our compensation is so horrible?” Qualman said.

Adam Diersing, a policy analyst for the Council of State Governments which is working with the Department of Defense in developing and spreading the compact, said “in past compacts we have not seen evidence that accessibility of a license is an impetus for somebody to move to a new state.”

Still, Diersing added that teachers move for a plethora of reasons, including caring for aging relatives or joining their military spouse, and that state licensing barriers can push them to leave the field altogether.

“This can be an effective tool to keep folks in the profession when they want to,” said Diersing.

Amie Baca-Oehlert, president of the Colorado Education Association, pointed to underfunding as principle cause of teacher shortages. Baca-Oehlert did testify in support of the bill at Wednesday’s hearing, arguing that “it certainly opens the door to addressing the bigger issue.”

“We need something that attracts them to our state,” Baca-Oehlert said in an interview after the hearing, adding that Colorado must also focus on retaining teachers.

Agreeing that underfunding is a key problem, Democratic Rep. Mary Young said “We have to continue to recognize that this is a destination state, we’ve seen the number of people moving here and we want to make their experiences positive.”

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Colorado’s Democratic Gov. Jared Polis declined to say whether he supports the measure or not.

The legislation is receiving tentative bipartisan support in Colorado, along with other states where the bill is pending. But Diersing, the policy analyst, was unsure whether enough legislatures will sign on to the compact in 2023 to launch it.

He did point to the Nurse Licensing Compact, which passed in 2000 and now has 39 members states as of last year. As for the proposed teacher compact: “It’s tough to say.”

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Humans are terrible at planning for the future: Here's how we can change that

February 2, 2023 Published by CNN

Editor’s Note: Dr. Patrick Noack is Executive Director, Future Foresight and Imagination at Dubai Future Foundation, and policy fellow at the Centre for Science and Policy at the University of Cambridge. The views expressed in this commentary are his own. Read more opinion on CNN.

Dubai
CNN
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I recently saw a compelling graphic on the timeline of the far future – an outlook for the future until the end of time, in a sense – and I shared it through our workplace groupchat.

The timeline concludes with the end of the world in 100 quintillion years (that’s 100 billion billion years), if all goes well. A colleague commented: “guess I’ll have that second doughnut then.” A witty response and emblematic of how humans function: we favor immediate rewards over future benefits. In other words, in the case of the doughnut, “might as well indulge now given that death will come,” rather than planning for a healthy old age.

While we are never faced with a decision where we have to weigh up the consequences on the coming days versus billions of years, we conduct lives with decisions that reverberate for centuries and even millennia. We may not recognize this immediately, and even if we do, it’s a responsibility we have been ignoring for too long.

But I’m not here to apportion blame, because we are a species that uses, develops and inherits technologies. Who would have guessed in 1750, when the first Industrial Revolution started and was followed by mass industrialization, that the fuel for these processes – the hydrocarbons that have propelled economic growth – would one day come back to haunt us.

It is really challenging to understand the long-term impacts, knock-on effects and unintended consequences of our technologies and decisions. Take investments, for example: often, returns are sought over the very short term – ranging from milliseconds when algorithms are in charge of buying and selling, to a few months when company performance is assessed and share price impacted – while externalities are, well, externalized. Rarely are investments made for the long term, with clear benefits for the long haul.

In the 19th century, the Lancashire town of Darwen benefitted from the industrial revolution. It's pictured in 1947, shrouded in smoke from its many chimneys.

As early as 1856, Eunice Foote, an American amateur scientist, already speculated about the effects of increased CO2 concentrations in our atmosphere. But her work was ignored.

Fast forward to 2023, and many still ignore climate science or attempt to explain it away. So, the immediate benefit of burning fossil fuels continues to outweigh any delayed cost, whether that cost is environmental, social or economic. Our species appears to live, repeatedly, through such cycles: the global financial crisis, conflict, individual and population-wide ill-health and more. And as individuals we’re often not much better than we are as a herd.

So, while short-termism and immediate gratification may be our natural instincts, and such hardwiring may have served us well when we roamed the savannahs in search of food while escaping predators, our lives are now more consequential for the planet we share with other species. A change in perspective is therefore necessary – even urgent.

That’s why foresight principles come in handy: at the Dubai Future Forum we have convened hundreds of futurists and have articulated guidelines – principles – that help in this process. There are eight principles in all, but three are really important if we want to shift quickly and inclusively toward a longer-term mode of thinking and acting.

First is Reflexivity: Use foresight as a mirror to understand and address impacts in the short- and long-term. This is the most important first step because a balance needs to be achieved between our ambitions and the needs of today and the future. It’s like using a telescope and a magnifying glass at the same time. A sort of compromise must be worked out internally and with those people and communities our decisions will impact. We’re in this together – and by “we” I also mean future generations.

This leads to the second principle: Plurality. The future needs everyone, and therefore thinking about the future and shaping it needs everyone, too. This has to be meaningful contribution and participation – tokenism will only come to bite us in the future. After all we are responsible for the future we create.

The third principle to highlight here is Ancestry. Try to be a good ancestor, because future generations depend on it and we are the custodians of their opportunities. This is the precise inverse of how most museums work, which are custodians of past civilizations’ artifacts; our own legacy and our future past will affect and shape someone’s future.

We need to be more thoughtful and put our decisions into a future perspective. Once we understand that what is decided today will become the reality for people tomorrow, we may forgo some of the immediate benefits which could be detrimental for the future.

So, Reflexivity, Plurality and Ancestry are among the most important superhero attributes we can employ to ensure a better future for all. And if it takes less than 100 quintillion years to make these attributes a good habit of everyday decision-making, let’s treat ourselves with a doughnut.

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Hong Kong is giving away air tickets, vouchers to attract tourists after reopening borders following COVID

February 2, 2023 Published by Fox News

Hong Kong will give away air tickets and vouchers to woo tourists back to the international financial hub, racing to catch up with other popular travel destinations in a fierce regional competition.

During the pandemic, the city largely aligned itself with mainland China’s “zero-COVID” strategy and has relaxed its entry rules months slower than rivals such as Singapore, Japan and Taiwan. Even after it reopened its border with mainland China in January, tourism recovery was sluggish.

On Thursday, Chief Executive John Lee launched a tourism campaign “Hello Hong Kong,” saying the city will offer 500,000 free air tickets to welcome tourists from around the world in what he called “probably the world’s biggest welcome ever”.

“Hong Kong is now seamlessly connected to the mainland of China and the whole international world and there will be no isolation, no quarantine,” he said at a ceremony. “This is the perfect timing for tourists, business travelers, and investors from near and far to come and say, ‘Hello, Hong Kong.’”

BIDEN EXTENDS DEPORTATION PROTECTIONS FOR HONG KONG RESIDENTS AMID ‘INCREASING REPRESSION’ IN CHINA

Under the campaign, most of the plane tickets — worth $255 million — will come from three Hong Kong-based airlines through various promotional activities, including lucky draws, “buy one, get one free” promotions and games. The project will begin in March and last about six months, said Fred Lam, CEO of the Airport Authority.

“We hope those who secure the air tickets can bring two or three more relatives and friends to the city. Although we are just giving away 500,000 air tickets, we believe this can help bring Hong Kong over 1.5 million visitors,” Lam said.

A Cathay Pacific airplane is shown at Hong Kong International Airport on Nov. 25, 2022. Hong Kong will give away air tickets and vouchers to attract tourists. Hong Kong relaxed its entry rules regarding COVID-19 much later than other popular travel destinations.
(AP Photo/Vernon Yuen, File)

The airlines will distribute the tickets in phases, with the Southeast Asian markets set to benefit in the first stage, he said.

BIDEN SHIELDS HONG KONG IMMIGRANTS FROM REMOVAL, CITING CHINA’S ‘SIGNIFICANT EROSION’ OF RIGHTS

An additional 80,000 air tickets will be given away to Hong Kong residents in the summer, Lam said. Those living in the Greater Bay Area will also benefit from the policy that offers over 700,000 tickets in total. The Greater Bay Area is a Chinese government initiative to link Hong Kong with neighboring mainland cities, including the technology and finance hub of Shenzhen and the manufacturing powerhouses of Dongguan and Foshan.

Visitors can also enjoy special offers and vouchers among other incentives in the city, Lee said.

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Hong Kong received 56 million visitors in 2019 — over seven times its population — before the pandemic began. But its strict COVID-19 restrictions have been keeping visitors away over the past three years, devastating the tourism sector and its economy. The city’s GDP last year fell 3.5 % from 2021, according to the government’s provisional data.

In the past few months, it finally dropped its mandatory hotel quarantine rule and PCR tests for incoming travelers, resulting in a slight increase in arrival figures. Still, its 2022 visitor numbers were just 1% of the 2019 level.

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Russian missile strike sends terrified civilians scrambling to find shelter

February 2, 2023 Published by CNN

Kramatorsk, Ukraine
CNN
—

A fresh barrage of missiles ripped through the city of Kramatorsk in eastern Ukraine Thursday, sending flames and thick plumes into the air as screaming civilians scrambled to find shelter.

A CNN team had just arrived at the scene and heard the first incoming strike on Kramatorsk. CNN saw the second attack, with two impacts about one minute apart. Two women jumped from their car and ran yelling while other civilians took shelter wherever they could. Shrapnel bounced off the blastproof glass of one CNN vehicle.

Paramedics rushed to the scene to treat at least one wounded civilian. Kramatorsk Mayor Oleksandr Honcharenko also confirmed that there had been a strike on the city, and urged residents to stay in bomb shelters.

At least five people were wounded in Thursday’s attack, according to Pavlo Kyrylenko, the head of the Donetsk region military administration.

“They damaged 13 two-story buildings, three four-story buildings, a children’s clinic and school, garages and cars,” Kyrylenko said. “Russians confirm their status as terrorists every day,” he said.

“It was a very big blast, a lot of people obviously went running for cover,” CNN’s Frederik Pleitgen told Connect the World, adding that both strikes Thursday “struck right in the heart of a civilian city.”

Ukrainian authorities believe Russian troops used S-300 missiles to bombard Kramatorsk. When aimed at ground targets, such weaponry is “very inaccurate,” Pleitgen added.

“When that is done to hit a densely populated urban area, it becomes all the more dangerous.”

Police officers inspect a crater near the site of a damaged residential building on February 2 amid Russia's repeated attacks on Kramatorsk.

Rescuers work at the site of a Russian missile strike Thursday in Kramatorsk.

Moscow’s renewed assault came after Russian forces targeted the residential neighborhood with an Iskander-K missile Wednesday, killing at least three civilians and wounding another eight, according to local police. Two of the wounded are in critical condition, Honcharenko said.

Rescue workers searched through piles of rubble to try and locate survivors in the aftermath of Wednesday’s attack, which damaged eight apartment buildings. Authorities also evacuated people to a local school for shelter.

Emergency workers trawl the debris for survivors at a destroyed apartment building in downtown Kramatorsk on February 1, 2023.

An emergency operation is underway at the site of a destroyed residential building in Kramatorsk.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky condemned the strike and expressed condolences to the families and friends of the victims.

“This is not a repetition of history; this is the daily reality of our country,” he said on Telegram.

“A country bordering absolute evil. And a country that has to overcome it in order to reduce to zero the likelihood of such tragedies happening again. We will definitely find and punish all the perpetrators. They do not deserve mercy.”

Moscow’s attack in Kramatorsk came after a top Kyiv official said Russia is gearing up for a “maximum escalation” of the nearly years-long war in Ukraine.

“These will be defining months in the war,” Oleksiy Danilov, secretary of Ukraine’s National Security and Defense Council, told Sky News in an interview broadcast Tuesday.

“I’m conscious the main fights are yet to come and they will happen this year, within two to three months,” he said.

“Russia is preparing for maximum escalation. It is gathering everything possible, doing drills and training. When it comes to an offensive from different directions, as of now, I can say that we are not excluding any scenario in the next two to three weeks.”

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