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garc-i-a · 4 years ago

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Why JATP Is Taking a While to Get Officially Renewed

Thought I would put my thoughts into words on the renewal situation. We know that the show was released on Netflix on September 10, 2020. As of today, it has been 242 days (10 May 2021). Julie and the Phantoms was released under Netflix Family, marking it as a children’s show on the streaming service. It was released in the middle of the second wave of the coronavirus (in the US) that has swept the world over. The show was created by Kenny Ortega, legendary choreographer and director.

To start off, we have to acknowledge that we ARE in a pandemic. Due to that, things have been touch and go in so many industries. That includes the TV/Film industry as well. The US and Canada, the two countries involved in making the show, have to follow the rules and laws related to COVID regardless of what people in the industry want. With that, we have to pay attention to what is going on with the pandemic to know how to go about filming.

As of right now, Canada still has closed borders from the US to nonessential travel. To get into Canada as a foreigner you have to be going for a specific reason and follow all the Covid related travel rules. To read more about this, you can go to canada.ca and type in for traveling during the pandemic. Not to mention that for a lot of areas in Canada, they are still essentially in lockdown because of the now rising numbers in the country. Charlie’s home province of New Brunswick is still pretty restricted.

Regarding vaccinations, although the United States has been slowly getting people vaccinated, Canada has had issues with getting vaccinations and don’t nearly have as many vaccinated. It is only just a few days ago that New Brunswick started administering vaccinations in the last few days. The vaccinations are only for people who are 50+ who fall into specific medical condition guidelines. For British Columbia, where the show is filmed, vaccines started getting administered the third week of April. It is believed there is a chance of getting all* adults vaccinated by mid June. My source for this information is from a native New Brunswicker and a CTV News article.

For the cast, getting vaccinated is paramount. Owen is already vaccinated. Madison’s dad is also vaccinated so it is likely she is as well or part way there. Now for people who are NOT vaccinated yet, most vaccines are administered in two doses. The doses are done about three weeks apart (I am partially vaccinated and my first dose was already done and second is next week). This knowledge is important as people need to be aware of the timing of these things. The amount of time between vaccines and for everyone in the cast and crew is essential for everything to go smoothly with filming.

One of the big things that I have seen a lot is the outrage at other shows on Netflix being renewed before Julie and the Phantoms. There is a two fold answer to this. To start off, we have to remember that because of this pandemic, things take longer to process to be extra diligent and that more money is be used to cover for reconstructions and accommodations due to Covid. Knowing these two things, let’s delve into the renewals of other shows.

Some of the other shows that have been renewed are Fate: The Winx Saga, Bridgerton, Ginny and Georgia, and Emily in Paris. The big difference between these shows and Julie and the Phantoms is the fact they are not in the Netflix Family category. They are considered content for adults or young adults. Netflix has different rules on their shows that are put out on the regular platform versus the family section. Netflix Family rarely posts when a show is renewed so far from its premiere date for the next season. So in that respect, Julie and the Phantoms wouldn’t be given a huge announcement for the next season’s renewal if it follows the pattern of Netflix Family’s marketing.

Tying into this the matter of where the rest of the shows are filmed and the backing behind them in regards to production. The Winx show and Bridgerton are filmed in the UK, Ginny and Georgia is filmed in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, and Emily in Paris is filmed on location in France. The reason that this matters is because these places have different rules for working during this pandemic, the vaccinations levels, and the threat of getting sick from Covid. These shows are also connected to larger properties or influential individuals*. Vancouver is a popular city to film in, of course, but it has been dealing with an uptick in cases as well as in a different province than Ginny and Georgia, and as such has their own rules. We cannot take into the likes of Riverdale or other shows that are filming right now in Vancouver. Lots of these shows were renewed and set to film already when the pandemic hit. They do not factor into things.

The last part of this is the production costs for making the show. As mentioned before, Vancouver is a popular city to film in. Due to the pandemic, it costs more to film because the need to have extra precautions, regular Covid testing, and etc. We know that there were shows that were initially renewed by Netflix but then canceled after the fact. The reason for this is that Netflix likely realized the cost to produce the shows would be too much and not in the best interest of the cast, crew, and any companies involved in the middle of such a huge reaching pandemic.

Compared to other shows in the Netflix Family section, Julie and the Phantoms has a high production level. I did some research on the Netflix originals in the section and the shows on there are either very low budget or have a backing from a franchise/company (ex. Baby Boss, Fast and Furious, Jurassic Park). Julie and the Phantoms does not have that. It is not connected to an established franchise or a large company. It is simply made by the likes of Kenny Ortega who does not skimp on anything in his productions. Kenny has stated that he is not willing to let the grandness of the show suffer because of the pandemic. The show has many crowd scenes and dancing sequences that require a lot of people. The show won’t be what it is without this. Based on this, we know that Netflix wants to be absolutely sure they can go forth with filming before announcing a renewal.

And there you guys go. All the information that I looked into and checked for this piece. I hope this helps many people understand what is going on why it is taking longer for the show to get renewed. It is not that Netflix doesn’t want to renew it. It is a matter of HOW and WHEN. If that makes sense. If you have any questions about what I wrote, you can leave a comment or DM me.

all*- Some individuals may not wish to be vaccinated

influential individuals*- There are people connected to some of the shows that have a standing within the media and the finances or awards to warrant being a part of the show or it being made at all.

Amendment

I was informed by my source in New Brunswick that vaccines have been administered since January but the qualification for who is eligible for the vaccines can change from week to week.

Amendment 2

Reuters has reported that children aged 12-15 are able to start getting the vaccine today (13 May 2021). So that means that Jadah and Sonny (15 and 13, respectively) will be fully vaccinated by the middle of June.

Amendment 3

A few days ago a local upstate New York newspaper wrote about Canada starting the process of opening up borders again. The process is in the beginning stages so there is no announced date(s) on the border reopening but it is in the works.

Amendment 4

A show called Firefly Lane has been renewed for a season 2. This is important because Firefly Lane is filmed in the same area of British Columbia as Julie and the Phantoms. British Columbia is getting better in regards to vaccinations and so this proves good news of a season 2 announcement for Julie and the Phantoms.

Amendment 5

It was reported on 21 or 22 June 2021 that Canada will relax quarantine rules for vaccinated Canadian citizens, permanent residents, and foreign nationals for essential work. This new system will go into effect 5 June 2021. If you are fully vaccinated and pass rules set by the government, you will NOT have to abide by the hotel quarantine steps when entering the country. That means that the JATP cast and crew can get to filming right away instead of quarantining beforehand. To read more about this: https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.lonelyplanet.com/amp/articles/canada-border-reopening

Amendment 6

On Charlie’s live yesterday (28 June 2021), Madison said that she got the second dose of the vaccine earlier in the day. In 14 days, she will be good to go on going out and such. Hopefully Jadah and Sonny have gotten at least their first dose. Gets us closer to being able to have the cast and crew together for the show.

Amendment 7

The National Law Review published an article on 2 July 2021 saying that fully vaccinated individuals will be able to travel between Canada and the US on 21 July or possibly sooner. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says he wants 75% of Canadians to be fully vaccinated before allowing the border to be opened. With current numbers, it is believed this will be achieved in a few weeks time.

Amendment 8

The New York Times just reported that fully vaccinated Americans could be allowed into Canada by mid August and that people from other countries could be allowed to enter by September.

Amendment 9

It was just reported about two hours ago that Canada will allow vaccinated Americans in on 9 August. That is exactly 3 weeks from now on a Monday. Now all we have to focus on is protocols for safety while in Vancouver while filming.

#julie and the phantoms #julie and the fat ones #julie and the himbos #jatp #renew jatp #renewjatpfors2 #madison reyes #charlie gillespie #owen patrick joyner #jeremy shada #jadah marie #savannah lee may #sacha carlson #booboo stewart #tori caro #cheyenne jackson #kenny ortega

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davewakeman · 5 years ago

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Talking Tickets--1 May 2020--Refunds! Marketing! Seth Godin! And, More!

Hey!

How is everyone holding up?

I just want to take a second to thank all of you again for being here. If you need anyone to talk with or just to bounce an idea off of, let me know. I’m here for y’all.

Prioritize your mental health and if you don’t want to listen to me, listen to Harry Winks.

If you are enjoying this newsletter, tell your friends and colleagues to sign up by visiting this link.

I’m still dealing with intermittent internet issues that hopefully can be resolved soon so I can do some more webinars and such. I will still be co-hosting the��Sports Biz Happy Hour with my buddy, Ken Troupe this afternoon at 5PM EDT. So come share a drink with us and our other hardcore happy hour colleagues. We will be voting on Ken’s new profile picture for Twitter this afternoon!

Get into our Slack group as well. We talk beef, business, and BS.

To the tickets!

————————————————————————————————————

1. We Will Come Out Of This Period:

There is no doubt that folks will be at venues, cheering, dancing, and connecting sooner rather than later, but we still have a long road back.

What is great is that we continue to see a bunch of efforts from folks all over the world that are working to help educate folks and get people prepared for relaunching the ticket industry.

We Will Overcome was started by my friends, Einar and Martin, from Activity Stream and includes support from folks around the world like Frederic Auoad, Angela Higgins, Andrew Thomas, Derek Palmer, and too many folks to list in one email.

I’ve been pretty up front about taking care of yourself and reaching out to your community for support throughout this crisis, but as we enter May, I also want to make sure that we all spend time doing some planning and setting ourselves up to be successful when things begin to return to normal.

Trust me, they will. It is just what will the return of events look like and what will the market for folk’s attention look like…that’s what we have to really think about now. And, there are a bunch of really great resources to help you think through this, here are a few:

Eric Fuller is hosting a virtual conference called “Rescue Meet” and he’s launching on May 19th with a 60-75 minute web meeting and he’s asked me to participate along with folks from Live Nation and many other industry leaders.

Ticketing Professionals Conference in Birmingham is hosting many of their speakers and this year’s presentation online now. You can check out their listings and sign up for one, many, or all of them.

The Society of London Theatre has a bunch of webinars and information that they are sharing.

INTIX continues to host weekly lunches on Wednesdays and has a bunch of resources on their dedicated landing page for Covid-19 resources.

IQ is launching a virtual panel series as well with a pretty good lineup built around a lot of music and festival content.

If there is some resource or idea you are looking to learn or find out more about, let me know and I will help you find it. We will recover and we need folks to pull together and work together to get there.

2. What Will Things Look Like When We Return?

The truth is, none of us know.

The article above talks about a bunch of venues in the DC area and how they are planning….and, the truth is, no one knows anything right now.

Oli Shawyer wrote about the need to be clear and thoughtful in how we think about what our future selves might look like and his analysis of the current reality is right on. Right now, we think we are going to do one thing and in the future, we are likely to find that our actions are entirely different than what we imagined we would do…or, we may just be ready to do anything besides sit at home.

We have already seen organizations adapt and change to engage with people, entertain them, and stay connected. As a friend at an iconic venue noted to me, “it is amazing how we were able to become a digital content production facility in a week.” After struggling to get the necessary investments in tech prior to the coronavirus.

The only correct answer here is that we don’t know what things will look like when more countries start opening up again and we start seeing social distancing loosen up.

I have talked to a lot of folks about the idea of social distancing within venues and it is pretty unrealistic, difficult, or not entirely financially feasible to do the large scale social distancing that has been talked about in a few places this week. Most of the time, you have to look at the sources and the angle to know if there is some bias in these pieces and some of the ones in sports definitely have the hint of someone trying to drum up demand like Scott Boras does with his notebooks on his clients.

I do think that as you prepare for the return, it is important to think through the entire experience you want to provide from start to finish, how you can better curate your event, and walk through the concerns and questions your guests are going to have.

Repeat: start by understanding the value you want to create for your guests and work from there.

3. Refunds are starting to become a little clearer now:

MLB teams started announcing their plans for refunds and cancellations this week with the Red Sox, Cubs, and Cardinals leading the way. But it hasn’t been nearly fast enough for the people that have been left in limbo by the fact that games and events have been postponed due to the coronavirus.

And in Europe, Ligue 1 was the first major league to call it quits for the season.

Admittedly, teams and organizations have been slow to announce refund and exchange policies or they have had to adjust them because of the nature of the virus, the shutdown, and the uncertainty.

From my point of view, StubHub got killed for going first and trying to do right by their stakeholders early on when things were so crazy, but the bigger issue for the organizations around the world has been in not communicating with their customers, in many cases, at all.

As an example, I had conversations with folks in several cities over the last week from around the country and these corporate ticket buyers told me that in most cases no one has called to talk with them about what is going on right now with their tickets, with updates, or just to check on them…from my conversations that included teams in most of the major sports. If that is widespread, that’s unconscionable and it will be tough for teams to ever overcome.

You may not know anything, but you need to at least communicate enough with your customers to let them know that you can’t give them an answer yet. Put yourself in your customer’s shoes and imagine how you would feel.

It is this lack of communication and the changing nature of the policies that some organizations have been rolling out that has likely led to these lawsuits being filed this week…

In England, Brighton and Hove Albion announced their plans for next season as a hopeful sign that football will return sooner rather than later…I’m hoping that this season of the Premier League can be completed because if not Spurs will be out of European competition next year and I don’t like that.

The NFL is looking to announce its schedule next week and there is a bit of a conversation around whether or not putting out the schedule and selling tickets is a wise decision.

What do y’all think?

For me, it would be pretty risky for the NFL to start selling tickets…especially understanding what the current environment with refunds looks like, but what do I know? (Shameless plug…I was quoted in SBJ this week.)

Maybe, we can all just buy tickets for our cardboard representations?

4. Marketing, Community, and Connection Will Matter More Than Ever:

This is awesome because I get to write about Seth Godin in my ticket newsletter.

The backstory is that Seth put out a manifesto called Stop Stealing Dreams about 8 years ago and he challenged folks that read his stuff and follow him to find ways to share the content. I’d just bought a new iPad and was testing out GarageBand, so I did the first audio version of the manifesto.

With that, I got my first dose of internet fame! Now, look at me?!

The podcast and the article that introduce the podcast are totally worth the hour, even if you aren’t in the arts.

Seth hits on some ideas that have been at the core of my work in marketing and tickets over the years as well like community and connection.

I was on the internet with Frederic Aouad from Stay 22 on Thursday and we talked about the need to be better at marketing because the world that we will return to is going to be more competitive than ever and the need to give people a clear reason to come visit is going to be more important than ever before.

I’ve been writing and speaking about marketing and strategy for about a decade and what I found was that folks know they need to be better marketers and want to sell more stuff, but the “way we’ve always done things” is a tough competitor to change.

Now, we find that it isn’t possible to go back to the way things have always been done. We are seeing organizations change in a week or less, rethink their value, and brainstorm tons of new solutions…in tickets and everywhere.

The fact is that marketing is magic. That’s where the money is. That’s where the stories are. That’s where you can build relationships with your audience that can take you all over the world and to places you’d never imagine. (I’m speaking for myself here.)

But being good at marketing is tough.

You want a jumping-off point, start here with Rory Sutherland.

But all of us are going to need to sharpen our marketing knives because we are going to need them in the coming months and years. And, just giving into the tactical aspects of marketing isn’t likely to win you the business you need or the support you have to have to be successful.

I could go on all day about marketing and the need to market more effectively, but I won’t today.

5. Here are a few things that I loved or thought were interesting this week that don’t have a common theme:

First, how about that Post Malone fundraising concert where he covered Nirvana songs. I thought it was pretty good. And, he’s raised some serious coin for the WHO.

Every morning I read a newsletter called, “The Daily Coach” from George Raveling. Coach Raveling coached Harold Miner at USC and was instrumental in getting Michael Jordan to sign with Nike. The newsletter on Thursday was all about leadership and the first two points are super important right now.

The Mayor of London announces a fund to support the arts and culture. We need similar things in the States, but I’m not holding out on that one.

Live Nation is being sued for monopolizing ticket sales. To quote Scott Galloway, it is good to invest in unregulated monopolies. This will be interesting to watch because the government has approved the deals that Live Nation has made and antitrust enforcement as a way to increase competition in the market hasn’t been a priority for a long time. So we will see. I’ll be watching it.

J Cobb shared the video of the world’s worst Old Fashioned and the redemption story that followed. This is fun and maybe that’s what I will drink this afternoon at happy hour.

Mark Pollard is an advertising strategist in NYC and he came up with the idea for a summer camp to help folks focus on their strategy. I’m going to talk with Mark about this and maybe as we work our way out of this shutdown, we can do something similar for marketing and selling tickets. I mean, 100 days for like $30 with 100 new exercises. That’s like the price of a book!

—————————————————————————————————————-

What am I up to this week?

You know, teaching fourth grade…poorly.

I’ll be in the home office all week, if you want to chat, let me know. My Internet connection is still a bit iffy due to my blown cable box, but the McGyver move I pulled to get it to work is genius. So I’m holding off on a lot of things that need the technology boost to produce them.

Please follow and like us:

Talking Tickets–1 May 2020–Refunds! Marketing! Seth Godin! And, More! was originally published on Wakeman Consulting Group

#covid-19 #marketing #refunds #sports business #tickets

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stephenmccull · 4 years ago

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White House Left States On Their Own To Buy Ventilators. Inside Their Mad Scramble.

Fearful that New Orleans would run out of ventilators by early April as the number of COVID-19 patients rose by the hundreds, even thousands, per day, Louisiana officials set out to get every device they could find. At the time, that meant securing an additional 14,000.

We Want To Hear From You

Do you work on the front lines of COVID-19? As a medical specialist, health care manager, or public official or employee?

Tell us what you’re seeing, and help us report on important, untold stories. Contact us at [email protected].

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Within days of President Donald Trump’s urging states to get their own supplies because it would “be faster if they can get them directly,” Louisiana sought only a fraction of them from the federal government and turned to private companies for the rest, having little confidence one supplier would give the state all it needed.

“If I knew for a fact that I could get all that I wanted from one vendor, I wouldn’t be ordering from another,” Gov. John Bel Edwards said March 31.

Louisiana set out to buy 9,000 from the private sector, where each device can cost tens of thousands of dollars.

“Medtronic Ventilators — $88,000,000 for 2,000 ($43,500 a piece)!” Christina Dayries, a senior state official for homeland security and emergency preparedness, wrote March 27 to two colleagues about one type of high-acuity ventilator from medical device behemoth Medtronic, according to emails between Louisiana and Federal Emergency Management Agency officials on the state’s pandemic response that KHN obtained through a public records request. The total order for the ventilators and related accessories amounted to $88.2 million.

The ventilator price is 23% higher than the $35,383 average price Medtronic was offering for the same model last year, according to market analysis from ECRI Institute, a nonprofit research firm.

Laws prohibit price gouging on precious resources during times of emergency — such as gas prices during an oil shortage or water during a drought. But no such rules or laws applied as states like Louisiana — which got an $88.2 million quote while bracing for a deadly pandemic — scrambled to find essential medical equipment according to the laws of supply and demand.

One state health official said they didn’t think there was “egregious price gouging” from manufacturers, but officials nonetheless had little choice but to pay what was asked. Louisiana also overshot orders out of fear that ventilators wouldn’t arrive or that they would be sent elsewhere to a higher bidder.

Louisiana’s hunt for thousands of ventilators underscores the crisis triggered by the federal government’s lack of a coordinated response to the pandemic. It speaks to the “every man for himself” mentality promoted by the White House.

As Jared Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law and a senior adviser, said in a daily press briefing April 3: “The notion of the federal stockpile was, it’s supposed to be our stockpile. It’s not supposed to be states’ stockpiles that they then use.”

Officials from other states, including Washington, Michigan and Minnesota, said in interviews that they have also ordered millions of dollars’ worth of ventilators from private companies even as the Trump administration snapped up thousands of its own to replenish the Strategic National Stockpile.

Against that backdrop, Dr. Rebekah Gee, CEO of Louisiana State University’s Health Care Services Division and the state’s former health secretary, said she spent weeks “chasing every rabbit hole” to secure ventilators at the peak of Louisiana’s outbreak.

“The most important thing in a disaster is clear communication,” she said.

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“We found ourselves competing against not only other states but hospital systems and even the federal government,” said Dr. Joseph Kanter, an emergency physician and assistant state health officer for the Louisiana Department of Health.

“The private sector can be a dizzying place,” he added. “When it’s life and death, there needs to be some measure of additional coordination.”

In a statement, Medtronic said the Louisiana price was given before the company in April moved to single, flat prices under which every U.S. customer pays the same cost for a particular ventilator model and configuration. The company would not provide the figure, but said the prices are lower than before the pandemic.

Panic At The Peak

At the peak of its ventilator use in early April, Louisiana had 571 patients on the devices and nearly 12,500 confirmed COVID-19 cases. Already more than 1,700 people had been hospitalized, and officials braced for hundreds more if the virus spread at the same pace.

In interviews, state officials and health care executives described harrowing situations where they not only shuffled ventilators between hospitals but also transferred patients to avoid maxing out capacity at any one place, with one person likening it to a “two-alarm fire.”

Dr. Abdul Khan, medical director of the Ochsner Medical Center West Bank’s ICU, recalled that they were down to “a handful” of ventilators when more were rerouted to them from other properties. The nonprofit health system, Louisiana’s largest, had more than 200 patients statewide on ventilators at the peak, he said.

“If somebody got down to their last two or three vents at any one point and still had COVID patients on the floor that could go back, we got them some more vents,” or sometimes a patient in need was moved to a hospital with a surplus, said Dr. John Heaton, president of clinical and system operations for LCMC Health, which has five hospitals in the New Orleans area. “We moved more patients than we moved ventilators.”

Many hospitals are part of larger health systems, where management could more easily redistribute materials as needed, a cushion that doesn’t exist everywhere.

Well before the pandemic, U.S. acute care hospitals had roughly 62,000 full-featured mechanical ventilators on hand, according to a 2009 American Hospital Association survey.

State officials said they never expected the federal stockpile to supply every state with all it needed, but the lack of coordination to route supplies to the most urgent hot spots and opaque communication compounded the problem. In March, the stockpile contained 16,660 ventilators immediately available; the federal government has deployed 10,640 to localities nationwide since the start of the pandemic, according to an HHS spokesperson.

New York City’s public health care system “balanced the load among our 11 hospitals by moving 599 patients from one hospital to another,” said Mitchell Katz, CEO of NYC Health + Hospitals. “We actually took transfers from several independent hospitals including St. Barnabas, Jamaica, Flushing and Brookdale when they got overwhelmed. Because they are independent hospitals they could not balance the load when things got hard.”

In New Orleans, LCMC Health’s Heaton said patients were taken in from other systems and vice versa. A hospital spokesperson said the arrangements included patient moves to Tulane Medical Center and East Jefferson General Hospital.

Washington state initially received 500 ventilators from the national stockpile but returned 462. Officials also bought roughly 920 ventilators from several companies for $23.5 million, with the price for each device ranging from $4,900 to $40,200. The most expensive one is the same Medtronic ventilator that Louisiana ordered, but Washington was charged a slightly lower price.

Only a fraction of Washington state’s ventilators have been received and paid for. Multiple state officials also said they believed they would be reimbursed 75% of the cost under existing FEMA guidelines for the pandemic. A FEMA spokesperson did not respond to questions.

Overshooting The Crisis

Preparedness often means building up an oversupply. Louisiana said in March it ordered 14,000 ventilators based on COVID case projections at the time. After the state closed schools and implemented a stay-at-home policy, the spread of the virus began to slow. The state canceled the Medtronic order, along with several others, once Louisiana’s curve began flattening.

The state ended up receiving and paying for only about 400 ventilators from the private sector, said Kanter, at a maximum price of about $11,000 each. It received another 350 from the stockpile.

But now that states have begun to reopen their economies, many state officials and hospital administrators fear a reprise.

In mid-May, Louisiana began the first phase of reopening its economy, allowing gyms, hair salons, casinos and other businesses to reopen with limits on occupancy. Few in the state believe an outbreak on the same scale as two months ago will occur again because of its incremental relaxing of social distancing measures, yet concede that infections could rise. Arizona, Texas and North Carolina are among the states seeing a resurgence in cases and hospitalizations.

The Trump administration has taken steps to strengthen the government’s response. They include invoking the Defense Production Act to force companies to manufacture ventilators and medical masks, and bolstering the Strategic National Stockpile. FEMA and the American Hospital Association recently established a limited program where hospitals can exchange ventilators if needed. Roughly 3,000 ventilators are available currently, but no hospital has requested one, according to an AHA spokesperson.

Still, burned once, officials are skeptical that supply will address their needs during another wave of COVID infections.

There are concerns about the quality of the machines hastily added to the national supply under federal contracts. Some device experts say some won’t meet the needs of COVID patients.

Such is the case with the nearly 1,100 ventilators HHS ordered from Medtronic under a $9.1 million contract, a portable device that wasn’t previously available in the United States. The model, which federal contract records identify as Medtronic’s PB560 ventilator, is less sensitive than the PB980 version Louisiana officials initially ordered.

“This is basically the difference between the Volkswagen Beetle on the one side and a Formula One race car on the other side,” said Dr. Marcus Schabacker, CEO of the ECRI Institute, of the two Medtronic models. “PB560 is probably not going to be sufficient to treat them.”

An HHS spokesperson said the federal government has multiple ventilator contracts and diversifying “is good practice to ensure we have a sufficient supply of ventilators for use in this pandemic and future pandemics when and where needed.” Medtronic said the PB560 and other models are suitable for institutional settings and a range of patients.

Medtronic said it expects to manufacture more than 1,000 ventilators a week by the end of June. The company is prioritizing production of its pricier PB980 model and the more portable PB560, saying they will “generally be produced in similar volumes.”

Overall, HHS has entered into $2.9 billion worth of contracts with several companies — including Medtronic, GM, General Electric, Philips and Vyaire Medical — for nearly 200,000 ventilators by year’s end, according to a review of HHS announcements and federal contract records. To date, 16,000 have been produced, according to an HHS spokesperson.

“If that’s your Plan A, there’s a risk that those ventilators, they may not all be usable, they may not be available in time, and so on and so forth,” said Daniel Adelman, a professor at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business who recently estimated that thousands of people could be saved if the U.S. adopted widespread ventilator sharing. “There should be a Plan B.”

Others worry that even with an expanded stockpile, there is no plan to distribute them rationally. Without that, said Nezih Altay, a professor of operations management at DePaul University in Chicago: “The same mess, we’ll see again.”

Many states and hospital systems are preparing to go it alone.

“Sometimes waiting on the authorities to help you is not the best strategy,” Heaton said. “You’ve gotta help yourself.” In mid-March, LCMC Health bought 50 Medtronic PB980 ventilators at a cost of nearly $1.75 million, according to a hospital spokesperson.

In Minnesota, state officials bought 800 ventilators from Vyaire and Ventec for $9.5 million, according to a state spokesperson. The cost per device was between $11,308 and $12,392.

“We just made a decision,” said Judy Seaberg, a health care system preparedness program manager for the Minnesota Department of Health. “We felt we needed to do this to have some assurance that we could meet the needs of our population.”

KHN senior correspondent Christina Jewett contributed to this report.

White House Left States On Their Own To Buy Ventilators. Inside Their Mad Scramble. published first on https://smartdrinkingweb.weebly.com/

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gordonwilliamsweb · 4 years ago

Text

White House Left States On Their Own To Buy Ventilators. Inside Their Mad Scramble.

We Want To Hear From You

Do you work on the front lines of COVID-19? As a medical specialist, health care manager, or public official or employee?

Tell us what you’re seeing, and help us report on important, untold stories. Contact us at [email protected].

Send Us A Tip

“If I knew for a fact that I could get all that I wanted from one vendor, I wouldn’t be ordering from another,” Gov. John Bel Edwards said March 31.

Louisiana set out to buy 9,000 from the private sector, where each device can cost tens of thousands of dollars.

The ventilator price is 23% higher than the $35,383 average price Medtronic was offering for the same model last year, according to market analysis from ECRI Institute, a nonprofit research firm.

“The most important thing in a disaster is clear communication,” she said.

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“The private sector can be a dizzying place,” he added. “When it’s life and death, there needs to be some measure of additional coordination.”

Panic At The Peak

Many hospitals are part of larger health systems, where management could more easily redistribute materials as needed, a cushion that doesn’t exist everywhere.

Well before the pandemic, U.S. acute care hospitals had roughly 62,000 full-featured mechanical ventilators on hand, according to a 2009 American Hospital Association survey.

Overshooting The Crisis

The state ended up receiving and paying for only about 400 ventilators from the private sector, said Kanter, at a maximum price of about $11,000 each. It received another 350 from the stockpile.

But now that states have begun to reopen their economies, many state officials and hospital administrators fear a reprise.

Still, burned once, officials are skeptical that supply will address their needs during another wave of COVID infections.

There are concerns about the quality of the machines hastily added to the national supply under federal contracts. Some device experts say some won’t meet the needs of COVID patients.

Many states and hospital systems are preparing to go it alone.

In Minnesota, state officials bought 800 ventilators from Vyaire and Ventec for $9.5 million, according to a state spokesperson. The cost per device was between $11,308 and $12,392.

KHN senior correspondent Christina Jewett contributed to this report.

White House Left States On Their Own To Buy Ventilators. Inside Their Mad Scramble. published first on https://nootropicspowdersupplier.tumblr.com/

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dinafbrownil · 4 years ago

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White House Left States On Their Own To Buy Ventilators. Inside Their Mad Scramble.

We Want To Hear From You

Do you work on the front lines of COVID-19? As a medical specialist, health care manager, or public official or employee?

Tell us what you’re seeing, and help us report on important, untold stories. Contact us at [email protected].

Send Us A Tip

“If I knew for a fact that I could get all that I wanted from one vendor, I wouldn’t be ordering from another,” Gov. John Bel Edwards said March 31.

Louisiana set out to buy 9,000 from the private sector, where each device can cost tens of thousands of dollars.

The ventilator price is 23% higher than the $35,383 average price Medtronic was offering for the same model last year, according to market analysis from ECRI Institute, a nonprofit research firm.

“The most important thing in a disaster is clear communication,” she said.

Email Sign-Up

Subscribe to KHN’s free Morning Briefing.

Please confirm your email address below:

“The private sector can be a dizzying place,” he added. “When it’s life and death, there needs to be some measure of additional coordination.”

Panic At The Peak

Many hospitals are part of larger health systems, where management could more easily redistribute materials as needed, a cushion that doesn’t exist everywhere.

Well before the pandemic, U.S. acute care hospitals had roughly 62,000 full-featured mechanical ventilators on hand, according to a 2009 American Hospital Association survey.

Overshooting The Crisis

The state ended up receiving and paying for only about 400 ventilators from the private sector, said Kanter, at a maximum price of about $11,000 each. It received another 350 from the stockpile.

But now that states have begun to reopen their economies, many state officials and hospital administrators fear a reprise.

Still, burned once, officials are skeptical that supply will address their needs during another wave of COVID infections.

There are concerns about the quality of the machines hastily added to the national supply under federal contracts. Some device experts say some won’t meet the needs of COVID patients.

Many states and hospital systems are preparing to go it alone.

In Minnesota, state officials bought 800 ventilators from Vyaire and Ventec for $9.5 million, according to a state spokesperson. The cost per device was between $11,308 and $12,392.

KHN senior correspondent Christina Jewett contributed to this report.

from Updates By Dina https://khn.org/news/white-house-left-states-on-their-own-to-buy-ventilators-inside-their-mad-scramble/

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bigyack-com · 5 years ago

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The Pandemic Work Diary of a Video-Streaming C.E.O.

Anjali Sud has never been busier. As the chief executive of Vimeo — a video-streaming platform with 175 million registered users — Ms. Sud is dealing with swelling traffic as the world, sheltering in place, looks for virtual connections.“We woke up a few weeks ago to unprecedented demand,” she said. “We’re seeing increased usage across our products of two times, five times, 10 times.”Ms. Sud, 36, a former investment banker and marketing director, became the platform’s chief in 2017 and changed the nature of the business — making it less of an entertainment streaming service that competed with the likes of Netflix, and more of a hub for content creators. Vimeo generated nearly $200 million in revenue last year, mostly from subscriber fees. It’s owned by IAC, which also operates Match, Tinder, Care.com and the Daily Beast.Ms. Sud said that churches, nonprofits and fitness instructors have all expanded their use of Vimeo’s tools, and that the platform has also seen a spike in content as varied as programs for children and the live-streaming of funerals.Though she is usually based in New York City, Ms. Sud is now staying with her parents in Michigan while caring for her infant son and managing the company’s more than 600 employees.“I live in a world of perpetual trade-offs,” she said. “I can no longer operate at 100 percent capacity like I’m used to as a C.E.O., as a mother, as a wife, as a daughter, as a colleague. I think what I’m learning is that every day, I have to pick the things to let go, and I have to know I’m going to drop some balls, and that’s OK.”

Monday

7:30 a.m. Wake up to cries on the baby monitor. My 18-month-old son, Saavan, is ready for a new day. We have our ritual of diaper change, oatmeal with blueberries and a Sesame Street dance-off. (I’m Abby, he’s Elmo.) I FaceTime with my little sister, who just had a baby in Singapore.8:30 a.m. Chai with my mom before she goes to work. I’m sheltering in Flint, Mich., my hometown. A silver lining of this crisis is getting to spend time with my parents, who both work in health care. My mom oversees a hospital internal medicine residency program, and her residents are on the front line. She tells me that they are both brave and afraid.9 a.m. Zoom call with our chief operating officer and head of human resources. We discuss our new “Vimeo Virtual” series to help employees stay connected through Slack challenges, lunch-and-learns, round tables and online games. This week’s challenge is #socialDISHtancing and everyone posts pics of what they’re eating. I learn we have an increasing number of employees who have lost family members to coronavirus. We decide to start a charitable donation program for anyone going through bereavement.11:55 a.m. Pass Saavan to my husband, Matt. He also works demanding hours, so we’ve been alternating coverage. It’s hectic but we’re also discovering hidden strengths — he makes a mean hot dog, and I’m not bad with brownies out of the box.12 p.m. Our chief marketing officer tells me about a grant program for Vimeo filmmakers to produce videos telling the human stories behind small businesses that have been affected by the pandemic. Everyone from award-winning animators to Oscar-nominated directors have made submissions on entrepreneurs that have inspired them, from an iconic comic book shop in Brooklyn to a flower shop in Budapest to an African contemporary dance company in Minnesota.2 p.m. Review our P&L and latest business outlook. Small businesses, churches, gyms, freelancers, conferences — everyone is using video to stay connected. We decide to increase investment in customer support and technical infrastructure. We also discuss how to weather the economic downturn, and steps we can take to protect employees and prevent layoffs, like slowing hiring and reducing marketing spend. 4 p.m. Weekly call with the chief executives of our parent company, IAC. We go around the virtual room and share how our people and businesses are doing. We talk about team morale and productivity, and what resumption could look like when the time comes — from increased remote work to office layouts and capacity.6 p.m. I take my daily walk around the neighborhood I grew up in. It’s a precious window of me time.9 p.m. I check our WFH Slack channel to see what’s trending, and find this welcome distraction: The Lonely Show. It’s cool to see my colleagues using their creativity to spark laughter in such tense times.

Tuesday

3:40 a.m. Saavan is wailing. Turns out he just dropped his pacifier and wants it back. Crisis averted.6 a.m. Coffee + Bob Dylan playlist + catch up on email. The sun rises and I spot a deer in our backyard. This time last year I was in Tel Aviv, about to acquire an Israeli video start-up. I miss jumping on planes, crowded bars and sushi delivery.10 a.m. Weekly executive meeting. Easter was our biggest live-streaming weekend ever, with 75 times the volume we typically see. Many of our teams are working around the clock to manage the scale, and I worry about burnout. We’ve bulked up our mental health programs with counseling services and workshops. I’m pleased to see employees taking advantage, but I know more people are struggling. I look at my own team on the screen and the little faces popping in and out. My reports are all working parents, and half don’t have child care right now. I decide to send them care packages.12 p.m. FaceTime my nanny, who is with her sister in Brooklyn. She’s worried we don’t have enough toys in Flint, and I add a Fisher Price vacuum cleaner to my Amazon cart.2 p.m. Quick catch-up with the team behind Vimeo Create, our new video-making app. We just launched 100 new social media templates to help businesses stay connected to their customers during the pandemic. Today we look at themes for remote work tips, contactless delivery, donations, at-home fitness and online learning.7 p.m. It’s taco night. Like many, I find myself drawn to comfort food and nostalgia. We drink gin, watch “Law & Order” reruns and play board games. I’m wearing my mom’s velour pajamas and feel like a teenager again. It’s kinda nice.

Wednesday

6:30 a.m. Chai with my dad. He’s a surgeon and entrepreneur, and the person who originally inspired me to get into business. He’s also an aspiring poet, and he reads me something he wrote to capture his feelings about the virus.11 a.m. Meeting with IAC to review funding for the rest of the year. We are growing quickly but are not yet profitable. We’re fortunate that our owners have strong cash reserves and a long-term investment horizon. We discuss a couple different scenarios for how things could play out. It strikes me that precision is impossible right now, and that as an organization our most important strength will be our agility.12 p.m. I tune in a few minutes late to our monthly “staff picks” screening. Over 70 percent of our filmmakers say that being recognized has helped them receive paid future work. Today was our first fully remote screening, and each filmmaker did an intro video from their home. My favorites were a sci-fi film about gender identity, an animated project about food, and a documentary about Betye Saar.3 p.m. Review engineering plan to scale our infrastructure. We’re already delivering over 2 terabits per second of streaming video — that’s more than 60 DVDs’ worth. But every hour more people are moving their businesses entirely online, so we’ve got to prepare for more.4 p.m. Check in on my girlfriends via text. We’ve been attempting the weekend virtual hangout with varying degrees of success. A few of my friends are working in critical response roles — one is on Boris Johnson’s Covid-19 response communication team in London, and another is at the Hospital for Special Surgery.6 p.m. Feed Saavan dinner, which ends with strawberry yogurt smeared all over his hair and mine. Bath time.

Thursday

9:30 a.m. Vimeo Global Town Hall. This is the most important part of my job right now: to be a visible, reassuring presence, and to be both optimistic and real. Today the message I open with is: Hang in there. We’ll get through this together. I update the company on what’s working and what isn’t, and we spend most of the time on anonymous Q. and A. Not surprisingly, the top questions are on mental health resources and office reopening.11 a.m. Matt tells me that Saavan has just said new words: “cookie” and “more.” The first I interpret as a sign of good taste.1 p.m. Virtual lunch with some new hires. Even as we’ve scaled, I like to get to know each person who joins us.2 p.m. I attend a closed-door C.E.O. round table with 14 leaders across the retail, tech, health and nonprofit sectors. It’s hosted by one of the top women in business, whom I’d never met before. She talks about her experience leading through crises over the decades, and it dawns on me that I’m in the midst of a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. I’ve been so caught up in the day-to-day that it’s been easy to only look out as far as the next quarter or year. But in many ways, this experience will test and shape my instincts, character and values for the rest of my career.5 p.m. Weekly happy hour with the leadership team. It’s BYOB of course, from negronis to merlot. Governor Cuomo has just extended New York’s shutdown to May 15. The drinks are stronger than usual.8 p.m. I get sucked into the McMillion$ docuseries. Fascinating. Yet, I’m eager for the day when streaming shows isn’t the only thing to do on a Thursday night.Interviews are conducted by email, text and phone, then condensed and edited. Read the full article

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ecotone99 · 5 years ago

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[MS] Looking for the mystery witness

To start this off: This isn't a true story and the town is fictitious.

I'm Detective Brad Markus and I'm a detective for the Florida Springs Police Department. We are a small Panhandle town in Florida, of course. It's called the forgotten coast of Florida. We like some tourism but not a lot.

Florida Springs has a nice state Park which is Florida Springs State Park which for much of the year is deserted or at least it was back in 1981, especially in December. This was about 17 days before Christmas. I had the day off, so me and my wife Sandy decided to have a picnic lunch. The day wasn't cool it was around 75 degrees. We ate our lunch sitting on a large beach towel which had large starfishes on them. We watched the waves which were very light. The waves in the gulf are very light compared to the Atlantic.

From a distance, I could see Old Man Wilson (this is what he liked to be called) sitting on his beach chair. Usually he would wave to me when I did patrols in the area or came to the beach and today was no exception. He would sit out there all day and sometimes into the evening. He would only leave and walk the short distance to his home when told to leave.

His home was the only one on the beach (once he died the house would be torn down). Old Man Wilson was 80 years old and in good health, so I don't see that happening any time soon. He will live there until the day he dies. Beautiful home.

Me and Sandy stayed till the sun went down. It was starting to get cold and the wind was blowing. It looks like a storm would be coming in and right as we got home, the storm hit. It rained for several hours. By midnight the storm was over and you could see the full moon.

The next morning, the ranger called us and said that he had found a man in the surf face down with a bite mark on his neck. He had a bite on his torso. A capsized boat was seen drifting in the water nearby. This was about a mile from Old Man Wilson's beach house and technically in the jurisdiction of Florida Springs. It was decided that Florida Springs would take over the investigation.

I went to Old Man Wilson's home. His hearing isn't that great and he usually doesn't wear his hearing aids. He wasn't of any help.

The medical examiner called me and said that the man who was identified as 23 year old Mark Marsh was attacked by a shark, most likely from falling out of the boat. He also had been drinking and had been smoking weed. This guy had no family and no one claimed him which was very sad. Old Man Wilson felt sorry for him had paid to have a funeral and a resting place for the man.

February 1982

This you would think would be the end of the story until I got a letter about two months later from someone who claimed that the death wasn't accidental. The letter told what happened but from the evidence that we have, we could neither prove not disprove. The anonymous writer said that they knew the identity of the killers but couldn't come forward.. What was odd is that the letter was sent to me from a post office in Austin Texas. Was this for real or was it a joke.

I know that it wasn't Old Man Wilson who sent the letter because he doesn't have a typewriter and he's deceased. He died a couple of days into the new year. It's been two months since I've received the letter, but I haven't told anyone yet. I mentioned to our local press three months later that we needed additional information regarding the death of Mark Marsh and for someone to please call us. No one did and the case went cold. For some reason I kept this paperwork and took it with me when I retired. Not really supposed to do this but I did.

June 2019 - nearly 40 years after Mark Marsh was found on the beach, I get a call from Debbie Wilson Youngman who is the granddaughter of Old Man Wilson. She has breast cancer and doesn't know how much longer she has to live. She has information about Mr. Marsh. She lives in Pensacola and is in a hospice center there.

Let me give you some information about me. I became Chief of Police in 1987 and retired in 2013. This was after 40 years of law enforcement service. I started out at age 18 in 1973 at a officer for the city and by 1978 I was detective. A lot has changed in Florida Springs. In 1973 it was about 1,500 people and by 2019 it's about 6,000 people. More hotels and condos. They put the condos across the street from the beach. Some of it, I don't like. Sadly shortly after Old Man Wilson died, someone kids vandalized the place and then one of them who was smoking threw the cigarette butt on the floor and the house was destroyed by fire.

So, I'm on my way to see Debbie Youngman. Will be interesting to see what she has to say.

December 1981

Old Man Wilson was surprised to see his granddaughter Debbie Wilson arrived a day early. He had just came back from the beach. Debbie brought some food and made dinner. Debbie was tired. She had flew in from Pensacola and had taken the taxi to the beach house which was 40 miles. They decided to turn it early.

The storms on the beach sometimes unnerved Debbie but Old Man Wilson it didn't bother. By midnight it was gone and a full moon was out. Debra couldn't sleep and went out for a walk. It was 3:00 am. She loved doing this as everything was so quiet. As she came closer to the house, she noticed a group of men hanging around. She hid herself where she could see them but they couldn't see her.

"He doesn't know that we are here. " said one man.

"Hey, let's go in and rob the place." said another man.

Dogs could be heard in the house barking up a storm.

"Don't think so. The Old man has nothing to rob. Leave the man alone. Come on let's get out of here."said a third man.

Two of the men Debbie didn't recognize but the third one she did. She watched as they left her grandfather's house and walked down the beach. She went along a trail where she wouldn't be seen. She was careful not to make any noise.

She saw a man with a boat that was waiting for them. She saw them overpower the man, tied him up and put him in a boat that sped away. She was afraid to go back to the house. In the distance, she could hear screams and then nothing. A short time later, she then saw the men make the boat capsize and then placed the man next to it. They then left by boat. She ran back to the house. Her grandfather was asleep and never knew she had left.

"I know I should have called the police, but I was in shock and was too scared. Ranger Burns found the body a couple of hours later. He came to my grandfather's place and I hid.. My grandfather his memory was very bad forgot that I was there. He didn't of course see anything. I was nervous the whole time I was there.

Debbie took a sip of water and then continued.

"The next day two of the men that I didn't know. came around. I was at the house when I saw them approached grandpa and asked him about Mark Marsh. They didn't see me as I was in the house. I watched very nervously. Ranger Burns walked up to them and asked if they had seen anything. They hadn't of course but I knew they were lying. They quickly left. I never saw them again, although from time to time Mickie Larange would show up in the panhandle but not here. His grandparents have a beach house in community of St. Joe 40 miles away from Florida Springs. He came during the summer. Both his parents and grandparents thought he was a special person who could do no wrong.

I knew who Mickie Larange was. Bad news and a bad person. He was a rock star that was adored nationwide and worldwide. If they only knew, but they didn't and even if they did, well........

"He had people who covered for him big time from the time he was a child till today. He got away with a lot of things, because they weren't violent in nature. Stole things from stores. Wrote bad checks. Tried to get away with not paying restaurant and motel bills. Took a car for a joy ride when he was a teen and got into an accident, totaling the car. Daddy paid the man whose car he wrecked. Broke young girls's and women's hearts. Doesn't pay child support unless he's force to You get the picture. I knew who he was and what he looked like and his reputation but never had any interaction with him, thankfully. "

I nodded. I never had to deal with Mickie Larange as he didn't come around Florida Springs and the State Park but I'd heard about him from other law enforcement agencies that came in contact with him. He was never arrested until two years ago when police arrested him in California for failing to pay child support. My wife remembers how angry he was and how he treated two of his ex-wives. He called one of them a liar and something else I can't repeat and then he spit in the face of the other ex-wife. When his own children said he was a jerk, he said that they were spoiled brats. My wife likes to watch all that on TMZ. Not me, have no interest in it."

"I was the one who wrote the letter back in 1982. I had to tell someone. I never told anyone about this."

We talked a little bit more and then I left. Sadly there isn't much I can do. A couple of weeks later I get a call from one of the men who was there, former body guard. Like Debbie, he's very ill and doesn't have long to live. The third man died 20 years earlier in Prison. He was another body guard.

Two months later Mickie Larange is arrested in California and he denies everything. Later he is put on trial in Pensacola Florida. He tries to blame the other two men saying that they threatened to kill him if he didn't go along with them. It was clearly proven that he was the mastermind behind the crime. The reason was because Mark Marsh was going to write a book about him, detailing what he had done. He couldn't have that and he took action. The jury convicted him. Even though he's in jail he still gets letters, gifts and money from adoring fans.

A sad footnote to this story. Shortly after Mickie Larange was convicted, Debbie Youngman passed away and so did the bodyguard.

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renegadepharmacist · 5 years ago

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12 million pills and 700 deaths: How a few pill mills helped fan the U.S. opioid inferno

By DEL QUENTIN WILBER

JUN 14, 2019 | 4:00 AM| KNOXVILLE, TENN.

Soon after he took over as medical director of the Urgent Care & Surgery Center in eastern Tennessee in 2012, Dr. Marc Valley realized he was supervising illegal drug dealers in lab coats.

Platoons of patients socialized in the parking lot, none seemingly afflicted by injuries. The packed waiting room echoed with chatter about how and where to score painkillers known as opioids.

Valley discovered that clinic staff were barely vetting patients. Some charts didn’t even include a diagnosis or pain level, yet patients all seemed to receive the same dosage of powerful opioids.

He worried that dozens risked dying from overdoses. He complained to management and tried to rein in the malpractice. But the operators ignored him. Their only concern, he said, was the money pouring in.

He quit after three months, convinced he was running an illicit pill mill, not a legitimate clinic.

“It was so very sad,” recalled Valley, now 60. “I knew it was wrong, and I walked away. But I can empathize with those who didn’t. It was tempting. There was just so much money.”

After he quit, the pill mill — located in a one-story office beside a state highway in Lenoir City, Tenn., in the shadow of the Great Smoky Mountains — was targeted by federal agents in a three-year investigation of local pain clinics.

The ensuing raids, telephone wiretaps and criminal charges against 140 people provide an unparalleled autopsy of how a handful of pill mills exacerbated the nation’s opioid epidemic during a critical early period in its history.

By the time they were shut down in 2015, four freewheeling clinics had churned out prescriptions for more than 12 million opioid pills and had generated at least $21 million, court records show.

In a rare step, federal authorities combed through medical files and death records, seeking the toll of lives lost — from three of the clinics in the Knoxville area and a predecessor in southern Florida.

They were stunned to discover that more than 700 patients had died, not including those who bought the pills on the secondary black market.

“A significant percentage of those deaths, directly or indirectly,” prosecutors wrote, “were the result of overdosing on narcotics prescribed” by the clinics.

“The opioid crisis wouldn’t be nearly as bad, where it is today, if it weren’t for pill mills like these,” said David Rausch, director of the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation and former police chief in Knoxville whose officers helped investigate the clinics.

“Some doctors started to see money could be made from prescribing these pills, and they forgot or ignored their responsibility to do no harm,” he added. “They literally devastated communities. To understand the crisis, you have to understand the role these clinics played.”

Like many tragedies involving prescription pain pills, this one began in Florida, during what authorities describe as the Wild West era of prescription opioid fraud.

In the mid-1990s, Purdue Pharma introduced a painkiller called OxyContin, which it billed as a safer and less addictive version of oxycodone, then in widespread use. At the same time, doctors were encouraged by professional groups to aggressively treat pain, and restrictions on prescribing opioids were loosened.

Pain clinics popped up to meet surging demand, and in 2009 the first Urgent Care & Surgery Center opened its doors in Hollywood, Fla., about 20 miles north of Miami. It was owned and operated, court records show, by three South Florida residents, Benjamin Rodriguez, 44, and two men with both U.S. and Italian citizenship — Luca P. Sartini, 59, and Luigi Palma, 53.

The clinic, in a squat building flanked by palm trees, was soon churning through hundreds of patients each month. It charged about $300 per appointment and didn’t take medical insurance, according to court records. Its dispensary charged $700 to fill a typical prescription.

The clinic raked in cash as word spread that it was pumping out pain pills.

Patients arrived in cars and vans from up the East Coast. Many were led by a “sponsor,” a drug dealer who paid for the trip, the clinic visit and the prescriptions in exchange for half the patient’s haul of pills.

It was a lucrative trade-off. Sponsors typically made a $4,000 monthly profit per patient, court records show.

Few of the patients needed painkillers for injuries or illnesses, and many relaxed in the parking lot before appointments, creating what federal agents described as a “party atmosphere.”

The party came to an end after local businesses and community members complained to authorities.

The federal Drug Enforcement Administration sent in undercover investigators in 2010. They got pills with ease. One even got a prescription after boasting he intended to sell the pills on the street.

The DEA raided the office that December. By then, prosecutors allege, Sartini, Palma and Rodriguez were already planning their next move. Authorities were closing in, and Florida was enacting regulations that would make it more difficult to profit from fake pain.

They had little trouble finding a new spot — patient records and license plates in their parking lot pointed them 860 miles north to eastern Tennessee.

Instead of forcing patients to drive hours to their clinics, they would bring their pill mill to the addicts.

In January 2011 they opened shop in Knoxville, a hot zone of opioid addiction and a crossroads of major highways, including Interstate 75. Addicts called I-75 the “Oxy Express” because it was the route they took to pain clinics in Florida.

The owners installed Sylvia Hofstetter, who had helped oversee the Hollywood clinic, to run Comprehensive Healthcare Systems on the second floor of a drab suburban office building.

A doting grandmother, Hofstetter was a tough, demanding boss. Her police mugshot shows a woman with frizzy black hair, arched eyebrows and a sharp nose and cheekbones.

Hofstetter pushed her staff to see too many patients and write too many prescriptions, prosecutors allege.

A physician’s assistant, they wrote, was “so inundated with patients that he rarely left exam rooms” and feared he would be fired “if he did not liberally write opioid prescriptions for as many patients as possible.”

The clinic attracted patients from other states, just like the one in Hollywood, treating 200 to 250 a week. It quickly became “unimaginably profitable,” about $240,000 a month, an FBI agent wrote.

Once again, the flood of patients worried neighboring businesses and they complained to the landlord. The office was forced to close in August 2013.

By then, the Floridians had a backup plan. They transferred their patients to a clinic they had opened two years earlier in Lenoir City, Tenn., a quiet riverfront town about 28 miles southwest of Knoxville.

Hofstetter and the owners didn’t know it, but the clinic in Knoxville was already drawing federal attention. The FBI had launched an investigation, and undercover agents and police posed as patients to get pills.

They didn’t have to try very hard. They were asked few questions and exams were cursory. Staffers barely looked at 3-D imaging reports and ignored screening tests that suggested drug abuse.

During one exam, according to an affidavit, an undercover agent asked why a nurse practitioner was inspecting his arms. She was looking for needle marks, she replied.

“We have a lot of people that shoot up their medications,” she explained, an apparent acknowledgment that patients were misusing the opioids.

Hofstetter soon grew frustrated at not sharing in the profits, prosecutors allege, and she secretly launched a separate pain clinic in Knoxville with a local businessman.

At its peak in mid-2014, Hofstetter’s rival pill mill treated 1,000 patients and was grossing $362,000 a month, court papers show. The pickings were so rich that several of her employees soon quit to start their own pill mill.

Federal authorities raided and shut the three clinics in March 2015. That year, more than 1,000 people died of overdoses from prescription and other opioids, including heroin, in Tennessee.

Since then, state and federal officials have enacted stricter guidelines and regulations that helped reduce the number of pill mills. They also have pushed doctors to more carefully prescribe addictive opioids. Nationwide, painkiller prescriptions have dropped 25% from their peak in 2012.

But it didn’t end the ravages of the opioid crisis. Unable to easily get OxyContin, pill addicts shifted to heroin and potent synthetic opioids like fentanyl.

In 2017, according to the most recent federal data, more than 47,600 people died of opioid overdoses, a 133% increase since the first Urgent Care & Surgery Center opened in Florida a decade ago.

Knoxville is still sorting through the pill mills’ deadly legacy.

Most of the 140 people charged in the investigation pleaded guilty to federal offenses. Hofstetter is scheduled to stand trial in October. Her attorney did not respond to calls or emails seeking comment. Rodriguez, the part-owner, is expected to soon plead guilty in a deal with prosecutors, according to his attorney.

Sartini and Palma fled to Italy to avoid arrest, prosecutors say, and are fighting extradition. Their attorneys could not be reached for comment or did not reply to emails. A spokeswoman for the U.S. attorney’s office for the Eastern District of Tennessee declined to comment.

The barrage of prosecutions has brought little solace to family members of overdose victims.

Justin Sliger, a 33-year-old handyman and drug dealer, died early on Valentine’s Day 2014 in his motel room, next to his two slumbering sons.

It was not the family’s first such tragedy — Sliger’s mother and a stepmother both had died from overdoses of pain pills.

Sliger had begun visiting Hofstetter’s breakaway clinic in Knoxville “to make some money for the family,” his father said.

“I didn’t think he was using enough to kill himself over. … We all took it hard, still do. He loved those boys, and now they won’t ever really get to know him.”

Sliger’s father doesn’t understand why a doctor would prescribed opioids to his son. He wasn’t sick or injured and was dealing pills on the side. But he got prescriptions anyway, all too easily.

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Del Quentin Wilber is an enterprise and investigative reporter in the Los Angeles Times’ Washington bureau, focusing on criminal justice and national security matters. An award-winning reporter and author, he previously worked for the Baltimore Sun, the Washington Post, Bloomberg News and the Wall Street Journal. He is the author of “Rawhide Down: The Near Assassination of Ronald Reagan,” a national bestseller, and “A Good Month for Murder: The Inside Story of a Homicide Squad.

#opioid epidemic

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thrashermaxey · 6 years ago

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Ramblings: Players Return, Alex Galchenyuk, and Using Arbitrage – September 6

Rookie camps start this week, training camp next week, and before we know it the season will finally be here. Fantasy hockey preparations should be underway and what better way to get a leg up on your league mates than grabbing your copy of the 2018-19 Dobber Hockey fantasy guide! Projections, line combinations, articles, draft lists, and more. Just head to the Dobber Shop!

Players are starting to roll into their respective homes of employ – those who weren’t there already at least – which means there are a lot of media days, interviews, quotes, etc.

Here’s what I do when this time of year rolls around: I ignore almost all of it. Unless a coach is discussing specific tactics or deployments, for fantasy hockey purposes, it’s all filler. There’s nothing, absolutely nothing, to be gleaned from players saying they’re In The Best Shape Of Their Lives, are Glad To Have Had A Full Summer To Train, are Hungry To Prove People Wrong, or Want To Improve On A Down Year. This is all very obvious and does not pertain to us for any reason. It would only be news if a player said he’s 40 pounds overweight and doesn’t really care if his team wins or loses.

There’s also this fun little project on Twitter for quotes about hockey players In The Best Shape Of Their Lives:

I confirm #BestShapeProject is BACK for 2018! To submit a player for the project, just @ me and they'll be added to the spreadsheet https://t.co/xOwp22Nf26

— Sapp (K. Gretzky for EDM GM) Macintosh (@MacSapintosh) August 22, 2018

If there’s something important to pass along, like Bruce Cassidy toying around with the idea of moving David Pastrnak to the second line or the health of a player, then we’ll pass it along. Other than that, it’s just noise.

One interesting article came out Wednesday, this from Andrew Berkshire, who write for Vice and Sportsnet. It discusses the Canadiens defensively over the last few years, and Alex Galchenyuk more specifically.

I won’t ruin it but it does give me hope for Galchenyuk to really flourish in Arizona. Playing next to Clayton Keller will help.

Last Ramblings I mentioned the concept of arbitrage. In fantasy sports, it’s simply looking for one player who could perform similarly to another player, but is available at a lower ADP. Cameron Metz had an article about this a couple weeks ago with regards to defencemen and it’s something I wrote about a couple years ago in drafting Brendan Gallagher over Corey Perry. (I was a year early on that one.)

My projections are nearly finished and should be ready for my Tuesday Ramblings next week but I wanted to go over some arbitrage opportunities today. My projections will change a little bit between now and Tuesday but probably not to such a degree where it will greatly alter clear arbitrage opportunities.

For today, these will be in line with standard Yahoo scoring, sans plus/minus. That means goals, assists, PPPs, hits, and shots on goal. All players are projected to play 82 games in 2018-19 and we are using Corsica’s expected goals model.

Forwards

Player to Draft: Mikael Granlund

Current Projection: 20.6 goals, 48.4 assists, 18.5 PPPs, 181.4 shots, 52.4 hits

Player to Avoid: Anze Kopitar

Current Projections: 19 goals, 54.4 assists, 21.1 PPPs, 177.3 shots, 62.8 hits

These projections aren’t exact, which is usually the point of these arbitrage decisions. The goals and shots are a small edge for Granlund, the assists and hits are bigger edge for Kopitar, and the PPPs are basically within one hot week of each other.

If the small differences are a concern, keep in mind that Granlund has multi-position eligibility (C/RW) whereas Kopitar is locked in as a centre. That’s another checkmark in Granlund’s favour.

The one area that bothers me here is the hit totals for each player. The data behind these projections goes back three years. Three years ago, Granlund had 86 hits; in 2017-18 that fell to 47. From 2015-2017, Kopitar posted back-to-back seasons with 78 hits; in 2017-18 that fell to 50. As I showed back in May, hit rates have gone down a lot of late: over 14 percent from the top hitters in the league from since 2014-15 and a little over 10 percent since 2015-16. That the totals of Granlund and Kopitar have gone down over the last couple years is not a surprise. It just makes me less confident in the projection because hit totals stabilized from 2016-17 to 2017-18 after those significant drops. Does that stabilization continue or was it just a one-year blip? We just don’t know.

Here is where ADP starts to factor in, however. On Yahoo!, Kopitar is ranked as a mid-third round pick. At NHL.com, they have him ranked at the 2/3 turn of a 12-team league. In all likelihood, if you want to draft the Los Angeles captain, you’ll have to use your third rounder at the least.

Granlund, meanwhile, is ranked 74th on Yahoo!, or an early 7th-round pick. At NHL.com, he’s ranked at the 7/8 turn. If you want Granlund on your team, you’ll have to expend no higher than your sixth-round pick, more likely your seventh.

This is the point where I’ll note that I’m significantly lower on Kopitar’s production in 2018-19 than most. Many spots I’ve seen have Kopitar for at least 80 points. (If I’m not mistaken, Steve Laidlaw has him under 80 as well, so, we’re in this together, Laidlaw.) But here’s the thing: Kopitar shot 17.5 percent last year, a career high. His three-year average was 11.5 percent, averaging 18 goals a season. If you knock off, say, 16 goals from his total last year, that drops his points down to 76, not far off from where my projection has him.

What’s the effect of Ilya Kovalchuk? There’s not much certainty there but even at his advanced age he should be better than Alex Iafallo.

My bet here is that even with Kovalchuk in town, Kopitar won’t repeat anywhere close to his shooting percentage. Also, Kopitar played over 22 minutes a game last year as the team tried to squeak into the playoffs with Jeff Carter injured most of the year. You could see up to 100 minutes at even strength disappear. The drop in ice time alone would knock off 3-4 points. Factor in the shooting percentage regression, and a 75-point season from Kopitar instead of an 85-point campaign is easy to envision.

Player to Draft: Jake DeBrusk

Current Projection: 16.8 goals, 31.6 assists, 12.3 PPPs, 167.5 shots, 82 hits

Player to Avoid: Gabriel Landeskog

Current Projection: 18.5 goals, 31.1 assists, 12.4 PPPs, 176.8 shots, 156.4 hits

I’m going to take some heat for this one and that’s fine. Believe me, I know that Landeskog is a huge hits contributor and if he can replicate close to last year, he could be a top-50 player. That would make his current Yahoo! ranking of 89th as a steal.

I’m banking that he won’t repeat close to that.

Here’s something to keep in mind: the 2017-18 season saw everything go right for Colorado. It was a season where Nathan MacKinnon established himself as an MVP-calibre player; Mikko Rantanen silenced his doubters (present company included); they led the league in PP opportunities one year after finishing 19th in this regard; they were top-3 in the league in team five-on-five save percentage, leading to the 10th-fewest goals against per minute despite allowing the fifth-most shots per minute. Despite all this, Landeskog just barely cracked the 60-point plateau (62) and couldn’t manage 20 PPPs (17). Though I’m not considering plus/minus in these Ramblings, he finished at plus-16.

What happens to Landeskog’s production if everything doesn’t go right? What if the team loses 30 PP opportunities off their league-best totals? What if Landeskog doesn’t shoot a career-high 13.7 percent again? What if either MacKinnon or Rantanen misses 15 games? What if the team save percentage is league-average instead of among the league’s best?

What I’m trying to say is this: if everything doesn’t break right again for the Avs, what happens to Landeskog’s 62 points?

Banking on things like career-high shooting percentages, elite team save percentages, and league-high PP opportunities all to repeat is a dangerous game to play.

Now, even if Landeskog were to ‘bust’, it’s not as if it’ll be a second- or third-round pick like Kopitar. Busting out on a seventh- or eighth-round pick isn’t a season-killer. But it’s easy to envision a year where there’s a little pullback across the board for Landeskog and his draft value dies a death by a thousand cuts.

On the flipside, it’s no secret to anyone who reads my work that I’m high on DeBrusk and I think my projections are a little on the conservative side. We’ve seen the quotes about the possibility of David Pastrnak being moved to the second line to try and balance the scoring a little bit. I’m also a believer that DeBrusk, not Ryan Donato, will be the guy to take the final forward spot on the top PP unit. (That isn’t factored into these projections yet, however.) Let’s say Boston does move down Pastrnak and DeBrusk is on the top PP unit. We’re talking about a guy who could soar past 60 points.

Landeskog will have a huge edge in hits on DeBrusk, even though DeBrusk is no slouch in that category. That is not in doubt. But considering DeBrusk can probably be drafted seven or eight rounds later than Landeskog, and has a very real chance to out-produce Landeskog across the board except in hits, I think it’s a chance worth taking.

Defence

Player to Draft: Kevin Shattenkirk

Current Projection: 8.7 goals, 37.1 assists, 22.9 PPPs, 165.1 shots, 82.1 hits

Player to Avoid: Ryan Ellis

Current Projection: 9.8 goals, 33.7 assists, 9.4 PPPs, 179.4 shots, 58 hits

This isn’t necessarily about arbitrage even though goals and assists grade out with relative similarity. This is about a defenceman who, it appears, is the clearly superior fantasy option being available at a huge discount.

By ADP on Yahoo!, Ellis is going as roughly a top-20 defenceman whereas Shattenkirk is going as the 37th defenceman (Martin Marincin glitch not included). NHL.com has Ellis just inside the top-120 players and Shattenkirk just outside the top-175. No matter where you look, Ellis is ranked ahead, sometimes far ahead, of Shattenkirk.

I’ve had The Ryan Ellis Discussion with other fantasy writers and everyone seems pretty uniformly in this camp: that Ellis’s 2018-19 season, shortened by injury, was the new norm for him and not an aberration.

Here’s what I wrote on Ellis a few weeks ago:

That basically summarizes my thoughts on Ellis. The assist rate concerns me and I’m not sure we should throw out the years before 2017-18 when projecting his shot rate moving forward.

It seems people are forgetting that Shattenkirk, when healthy, is still one of the best offensive defencemen in the league. From 2013-17, he averaged 12.8 goals every 82 games, managed at least 44 points in each season (remember: Ellis has never had a 40-point campaign), and he is the sure-fire top PP QB for the Rangers, something else Ellis can’t boast. When he was healthy, Ellis averaged 2:12 of PP time per game in 2017-18, mostly on the second unit. When Shattenkirk was healthy, he averaged 3:11 of PP time per game, mostly on the top unit.

I will concede that this is skewed by not factoring plus/minus. If the Rangers are as bad as most people think they will be, at least defensively, it’s possible we see a minus-25 year from Shattenkirk. On the other hand, we thought the same thing about Tyson Barrie before the 2017-18 season and though his was bad, it wasn’t a season-killer.

Keep in mind that Shattenkirk was on pace for a 41-point season and did so with a left knee issue that popped up in training camp and was endured until he finally had to have surgery. If he can put up a 40-point pace on one knee, what can he do if he’s healthy?

If the plus/minus scares you off Shattenkirk, I understand. I just think it’s random enough that taking the chance on him much later in the draft over Ellis is a reasonable gamble.

from All About Sports https://dobberhockey.com/hockey-rambling/ramblings-players-return-alex-galchenyuk-and-using-arbitrage-september-6/

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awesome-legendarystudentcho-blog · 6 years ago

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I live in West Virginia 17 and I have had my learners for almost a year and have got all my hours so would it be OK if i got my license w/o insurance

Why would i be refused car insurance?

have fleet insurance that covers any driver over the age of 25. I had an accident 6 months ago which i know wasn't my fault but unfortunately i wasn't insured at the time as the payments had been cancelled. The other party is trying to claim from my insurance company, is this allowed as i was uninsured and secondly the insurance company are now refusing to insure me, anyone else but not myself, is this allowed?""

How can I renew my car insurance from abroad?

Hi! We are going for a long vacation to Hungary by car. (I live in the UK but I'm a Hungarian national). My car (UK registered) insurance will expire while we'll be in Hungary. I was trying to get a new insurance before we leave but my current insurer will only give a renewal quote 21 days before it expires(which means we already be abroad) and they will only give my proof of bonus then as well. What are my options? Can I get a new insurance without losing 1 year of no claim bonus?

Shaw Mississippi Cheap car insurance quotes zip 38773

Questions about letter from insurance company?

I got a letter today from my insurance company who insures my homeowner's insurance - it said that they need to do an inspection of my home to see if I am maintaining it properly. I've been here since November 1999 and I've never gotten a letter like this before. But I was with another insurance company for several years - but I've been with this one for about 3 years I guess. if this were normal practice then why would I get a letter now and not every year? Is this normal insurance practice? This is the first time in my life that I've gotten one of these letters about a homeowners policy if it is not normal practice would this be because someone said something?

If I dont pay my car insurance on time can my car get towed?

I am with country wide insurance and I am two days lare on my insurance abd I live in n ew york. Can my car get towed? What penalties will I face?

Do I need collision motorcycle insurance coverage on an old motorcycle?

Im looking to insure a 1997 Kawasaki Ninja 250 which was bought for $1,500 with Progressive. I would be using the bike to commute to campus and to work/internship. I was wondering how important each category is and how much coverage is recommended. -bodily/property damage -uninsured/underinsured bodily -medical payments -comprehensive -collision -uninsured property damage Also, is collision worth getting since I would probably go for a 1,000 deductable if I did get it since collision coverage is expensive. Keep in mind that I go to college in a small rural town which is pretty bike friendly.""

Will getting a speeding ticket increase my insurance rates?

I am 17 with my G2 on my parents State Farm Insurance Policy, but will be taken off in 5 months when I move out to university. I got a speeding ticket (65 in a 50) and no points with it...will they find out if I just mail the check myself?""

Car insurance for Audi A4 Convertible?

Personal Detials: 17 years old Male Living at home Car to be stored on driveway Car details: Audi A4 Convertible 2003 insurance group 31-ish How much would it cost for insurance for this?

What pet insurance and medication do you use for your dog?

What pet insurance do you use for your dog and what does it cover? Can you give me the link for it. Also what medication do you use monthly (do you use it monthly or weekly) for heart worm, fleas, ticks, and etc. Also explain what health problems this package covers, and do you have a link for this site also? Please and thank you. Also I last time I forgot to mention I live in SO. CALIFORNIA, so something available that ships over here. Last time I got this incredible answer, to bad it only delivered to residences in Canada.""

""Typically, how much will your insurance increase if you get into an accident that is your fault ?""

Im in So California and just got into a car accident, my first accident in 25 yrs of driving. Typically, how much more will I expect my insurance premium to increase ? What factors are involved ? the amount of damage that the insurance will pay ? my driving history which is 1 accident in the last 25 yrs ? what else ?""

Did you know that you save money if you have higher prior limits on insurance?

Okay, this seems to be a secret in the auto insurance world, but my insurance agent told me that if you say you have higher limits when switching to a new company your rates will be $200-$300 dollars lower! I didn't realize this would make a difference. For instance, I said in the beginning I had $25,000/$50,000 (liability) my rate was $1400 per year, then I took my old policy into the office and I really had prior limits of $100,000/300,000, and my rate when down to $1282 just for having higher limits at the other company.""

""Trying to save on car insurance, who should I go with?""

Currently I pay $122.00 for car insurance with State Farm. This is going to go up I am sure since I moved back to a larger city and when I lived here before I was paying a lot more. That is two cars, a 2008 Dodge 4 Door and a 2002 Focus all full coverage 100,000/300,000 Limits with a $500 deductibles you get the idea. Oh and I also have renters for about 10 bucks a month.... okay so I just was quoted by Gieco with lower deductibles, from the more expensive city and I was quoted at about $68 (without the renters) Thoughts on the matter, is this possible should I make the switch? Is $68 too low for two cars and are they baiting me and will they get me later with the higher rates?""

Get medical insurance or pay out of pocket ???

currently live in Southern California and work part-time with no medical coverage. I was recently accepted to NYU College of Dentistry and will be moving there in July. Before that though, I need to get physical & immunizations. I will definitely get medical insurance once I move out there, but my concern is before that time. Things I need for sure: Physical, TB skin test, Hep. B, and Meningitis immunizations. My question is: Should I purchase a short-term insurance coverage to get the necessary physical/immuzations done or should I just do it out-of-pocket. Also, if it is worth getting insurance for this period, would you guys please recommend couple of plans for me. ( I am 24, Male, non-smoker). THnaks in advance.""

Driving without Insurance?

Let get to the point, can my licence be suspend if my car insurance expire and I live in nj""

How does auto insurance work?

If you are in an accident and its not your fault ,who pays for your damages? Also what happens if you parents lend you there car but you werent on there insurance and now after the accident you are on the insurance. Can the insurance cover you now that you have been add to your parents insurance.""

Are insurance rates high for classic cars?

Car insurance for 20 year old?

hey im 20 year old just passed my driving licence and the insurance quote i get on a 1.0 corsa breeze is ridiculous. i live in a high crime part of london but the insurance company's want about 1500 pound a MONTH from me. anyone know what it should actually be n what i can do about it? i heard people pay max 300 pound a month at the age of 17.

Will Fred loyas liability auto insurance policy cover a person driving your car if they have any or all of the?

My romate is from out of state so she doesnt have a texas drivers licensae! She has a out of state license but it may be expired - I have liability insurance in texas from fred loya insurance-Will any of these factors keep her from being covered while she is driving my car?

I have a $500 deductible with my car insurance (State Farm) and was wondering if I could use that deductible t?

To actually fix my car up to it's showroom look (Currently driving with a broken bumper, dented fender, and broken headlight/signal marker not caused by me mind you)??""

How much would it cost me to get a motorbike include CBT and insurance?

I am 18 years old. I am wondering how much would it cost me to have a yamaha R1+CBT+cheap insurance. please help

Should I open a whole life insurance policy or a 401k first?

I met with a financial consultant who told me that the 401k is the last thing I should start. She says it makes more sense to open the whole life which compounds 8% return on my money yearly and pays a yearly dividend. Which is smarter to do first?

Should I get car insurance in my name or parents?

I'm 16. A lot of people are telling my parents to get my car insurance in their name and not tell them i'm the primary driver because it will be so much cheaper. Does that mean if I get in my first wreck they won't cover it or they'll just raise it after?

Car insurance $6000!?!?!?

I'm 18 years old, have a clean driving record, and i drive a 2007 honda civic coupe. My name is insured on my parents honda pilot and lexus 350(suv). For some reason my insurance (for myself only not including famly) is around 6000. is this right? i'm under AAA and they said its going to be this expensive with any insurance company. I have 2 way coverage and and $250 deductable. Can someone name some other company that charges significantly less with coverage and a deductable just as good. Links and sources would be appreciated also""

How much will my insurance go up after I've gotten a speeding ticket?

I got my first ticket when i was 14 and it was a $10 ticket. i recently turned 18, and i just got pulled over again. it was an $11 ticket. i dont want to tell my parents, but i know the insurance rate will go up, but how much? i live in north dakota.""

Does my employer have a right to my car insurance information?

I don't even drive to work, my husband drives me to work and then drives himself to work. And I tell them that I don't use my car for work and that my husband drives me to work. So the way I see it, they don't need that information, and the car insurance is in my husband's name, not mine.""

""Affordable, student health insurances!?""

can anyone suggest me any affordable health insurances for me? im 20, don't smoke or drink, have no chronic condition or what so ever, if this helps. Just to ballpark the price range; because i really need new glasses and a dental checkup, thanks so much!""

How much money would I save on car insurence?

I have a 16 year old who I am debating whether I should put him in driving school to save money on insurance when he turns 17 and gets a licence. It would be added to my insurance. about how much money would I save on car insurance with a behind the wheel driving school in New Jersey? Please dont give me wbsites with a free quotes.

Affordable Senior homes?

what is the best place for seniors who live on their own and have health problems or have difficulty in taking care of themselves? Something that can be affordable in the same time.

Shaw Mississippi Cheap car insurance quotes zip 38773

Car insurance for teenagers?

Just wondered if anyone had some top notch car insurance companies that could get me an affordable quote, below a grand would just be amazing! (i live in the uk) thanks!""

Insurance company GETTING AWAY?

I was reently rear-ended, my vehicle was totaled. My MEDICAL insurance paid for all our medical costs, does that mean that the other drivers car insurance company gets away without paying anything. At the hospital I gave all my medical insurance info, recently I got a letter from the hospital saying that all cost were already paid by my MEDICAL insurance company. Is the other drivers CAR insurance company gonna get away without paying anything? They have accepted FULL fault, since I was rear-ened.""

18 year old car insurance? ?

Im looking at a Chevrolet cobalt coupe 07. Where can i.get the cheapest car insurance.?

Car Insurance Question?

I'm going home for the holidays in December and want to borrow my dad's truck for the 3 weeks I'm there. Does my insurance policy (currently drive a Prius) cover me for driving my father's vehicle? Does his policy cover me driving his vehicle?

What cars are cheap to insure for 17 year old male like myself?

I have my practical in March, crossing fingers I pass so I thought now is an appropriate time to start looking for a car which is cheap to insure.""

Teenage Car Insurance?

What can we expect for a 16 year old having to pay on a monthly base if he has his OWN insurance (as in not co-insured with the parents). This would be in Texas. I am pretty sure that there is a great difference. Just trying to familarize myself with the whole deal and trying to figure a ballpark amount. Any tips you might have are very much welcome. Thanks!!!

WHAT IS AN INSURANCE PREMIUM?

My partner did my insurance online without knowing i had an endorsement on the licence so when i add this to the existing policy does that mean my insurance policy goes up ...and what is my insurance premium ???

Car Insurance in the UK?

I am not a UK Resident , I am here in the UK from Australia for 5 months on Holidays . This is my forth trip here and after the first time when I hired a car for 7 weeks at a cost of 1400.00 pounds i found out that it would be much better to buy a car as I was going to be here for 5 months. A few days ago i took my rent-a-car back the i had for 7 days and cost me 150.00 pounds , I found a car to buy at a cost of 1200.00 pounds but first went looking to find someone to Insure the car . I spent overs 2 hrs on the phone and there was on one that would do it for me apart from one . I have 3rd party insurance only for this car and at a cost of 1230.00 pounds for 12 months . I am at a loss as to WHY i have to pay this amount and WHY no one will do it . MY Question is why is it that there no question asked when i hire a car for as lond as i like and am covered be insurance BUT if I try to buy a car and have it Insured that is a joke , Am I a diferent driver if it is my one car ?""

Got a dui an i need some insurance whats the law can i drive some ones car if they have insurance or what can?

What does Obama mean by affordable health insurance?How can it be affordable for everyone?

How to find a dead relative's life insurance company without papers? Read details please?

Here is my situation My mother just died and I don't have the money to pay for a funeral right now. My mother has life insurance but I don't know where the papers with the information is. I don't know what the company's name is and I don't know how to contact them to report the death. Is there a way for me, her child, to get that information without the documents?""

What's a good car with low insurance and good gas mileage?

Am looking to spend around 5 grade. Looking for a classy looking car. Preferably 4 door. No need for a sports car look. I guess I like the subcompact look? Compact look. Needs to be fuel efficent. Safe. Low running costs. Reliable. Anyone have any ideas on brands and models? Any advice? Also what am I meant to look out for when buying a used car? This will be my first car.

What should I do? I got a letter from car insurance company saying they want full reimbursement!?

Okay, about 6 months ago I was involved in a car accident that resulted in both of our cars being totaled. I had to be sent to the hospital and the other person didn't but it was determined it was my fault and I had NO insurance at the time. My parents had insurance on the car but the insurance didn't want to pay for it. The other person had full coverage but now they sent me a letter asking for full reimbursement or else they will file a lawsuit against me! I don't know what to do! I have no money, I'm just a 19 yr old kid that goes to community college with a part time job! What should I do??""

""What is the best, cheapest car insurance I can have for a 28 year old female?""

What is the best, cheapest car insurance I can have for a 28 year old female?""

""How much should an average home insurance policy cost, for a 3 family home in Queens, NY?""

What coverage is mandatory, what is not but recommended? Thank you for your input. Also if you can suggest an insurance broker that would be really helpful""

Car insurance questions?

Can you buy a car and not have to pay for car insurance? If you must have car insurance, can you use your parent's, like a family plan?""

Looking for a good car insurance.?

hello every one, I am not satisfied with the insurance that I have (hartforth) due to a small accident that I had that i was not my fault and I am still waitting for them to call me back when the accident was two months ago, I do not want to deal with them again. would like to change it for an other one but I do not know wich one. can some one please let me know which insurance is the best for Southern California. thanks every one""

Car Insurance pay out when vehicle written off?

My car has been written off and my insurance have offered my 1,250 for it. They said they use some Glass Vehicle Valuation thing so I went on it's website n had the car valued myself n there's 5 categories for pricing the vehicle: Trade-in Excellent condition - 1,376 Trade-in Average condition - 1,210 Trade-in below average condition - 1,066 Dealer sale price - 2,640 Private seller price - 2,221 Which is the price I should get for my car? It was an 02 plate Renault Megane Coupe Privilege + in excellent condition! I found the same car in a different colour on Auto Trader for 2,000. I think I should get the private seller price as I am effectively selling them my car and not trading it in!? My car was set on fire btw! Awoke at 3am to the thing in flames just a few feet away from my house! ='(""

""What car do you drive, how old are you and how much do you pay for insurance?

I need a few questions answered. 1. How old are you? 2. What car do you drive? 3. How much do you pay for insurance?

Insurance on a '98 Mustang?

16yr old girl in Ohio, just wondering the cost before i try and sell the idea to my dad lol. Yellow w/ body kit. Help? :)""

What is the california vehicle code for insurance?

Car insurance companies accept no claims bonus from Lebanon?

Does anyone know an car insurance company that accepts no claims from international countries? My mother wants to use hers from Lebanon (Asia) to help reduce her quote.

Questions about insurance?

1. What are some of the important questions to ask before deciding on the amount of life insurance to buy? 2. How can you determine if you are under-insured or over-insured? 3. Is there any benefit to a single student without children, who is living with his or her parent(s), who is still going to college, having life insurance? Why or why not?""

Who need health insurance?

Do a part time job need a health insurance?

How old do you have to be to get car insurance?

what are the requirements to obtain car insurance in california do you need to be 18 and older??

Shaw Mississippi Cheap car insurance quotes zip 38773

https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/does-anyone-know-average-cost-dental-visit-cavity-filling-johnston/"

0 notes

democratsunited-blog · 6 years ago

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The Democrat Is Up Big In Arizona’s Senate Race — For Now

https://uniteddemocrats.net/?p=4887

The Democrat Is Up Big In Arizona’s Senate Race — For Now

Welcome to Pollapalooza, our weekly polling roundup.

Poll of the week

Holding onto all of their U.S. Senate seats in red states would all be for naught for Democrats if they don’t net the two pickups they need to take control of the chamber. This week, two polls came out showing that Democrats are comfortably ahead in one must-win state — Arizona, where Republican Sen. Jeff Flake is retiring.

But there’s reason to think that cushion won’t hold up to the rigors of the general election.

According to a CBS News/YouGov poll conducted June 19-22, likely Democratic nominee U.S. Rep. Kyrsten Sinema leads all of her potential Republican opponents by at least 7 percentage points among registered voters: She leads Rep. Martha McSally 41 percent to 34 percent, former state Sen. Kelli Ward 43 percent to 35 percent and former Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio 45 percent to 28 percent. An NBC News/Marist poll conducted June 17-21 showed similar results: Sinema led McSally 49 percent to 38 percent, Ward 48 percent to 38 percent and Arpaio 57 percent to 32 percent.

If we take these results at face value, Arizona doesn’t even look that competitive; Sinema would be heavily favored. But there’s plenty of reason to believe that the race will tighten before November. One red flag is the high number of respondents who refused to support one of the two major party candidates. Instead, from 11 percent to 27 percent of voters said that they were undecided, intended to vote for a third-party candidate or won’t vote at all.

This week’s polls of the Arizona U.S. Senate race

Poll Dem GOP Someone else/other Not sure/ undecided Wouldn’t vote Total uncommitted Sinema vs. Arpaio (YouGov) 45% 28% 13% 11% 3% 27% Sinema vs. McSally (YouGov) 41 34 8 14 2 24 Sinema vs. Ward (YouGov) 43 35 7 14 1 22 Sinema vs. Ward (Marist) 48 38 2 12 N/A 14 Sinema vs. McSally (Marist) 49 38 2 11 N/A 13 Sinema vs. Arpaio (Marist) 57 32 2 9 N/A 11

Sources: CBS News/YouGov, NBC News/Marist

But many of these voters won’t stay uncommitted. Undecided ones will hop off the fence, and lots of people who now say they’ll support a third-party candidate probably won’t follow through with it. (Third-party support tends to decline as campaigns progress.)

The large share of uncommitted voters adds a layer of uncertainty to the race. Remember, we saw the same thing in 2016; Hillary Clinton had a small lead over Donald Trump heading into Election Day, but the unusually high number of undecided voters helped Trump squeak out an Electoral College win.

The uncommitted bloc looks likely to help the GOP in Arizona too. According to the crosstabs of these polls, these Arizonans are disproportionately Republican. For example, in the YouGov poll pitting Sinema against Ward, 92 percent of self-identified Democrats back Sinema, 4 percent aren’t sure and 1 percent want to vote for someone else — but among self-identified Republicans, just 75 percent support Ward, 11 percent aren’t sure and 8 percent say they’ll vote for someone else. In Marist’s Sinema-McSally matchup, 88 percent of Democrats are behind Sinema and just 2 percent are undecided; just 77 percent of Republicans support McSally and 13 percent say they’re undecided.

Why the disparity? Republicans are in the midst of a contentious primary between McSally, Ward and Arpaio, while Democrats are united behind Sinema. Many Ward voters, for example, are not inclined to think kindly of McSally at the moment, and that’s probably keeping some usually reliable Republican voters from telling pollsters they will support the party’s nominee no matter what. But by the fall, these voters usually return to the fold as hard feelings from the primary fade away.

These voters alone probably aren’t enough to erase a lead as big as the one Sinema has, but Republicans haven’t yet begun attacking her in earnest; when they set their sights on her after the primary, her favorability with independents (a subgroup she is winning in all three matchups in both polls) probably will drop. But so far, with mud flying on only one side of the ledger, it hasn’t been a fair fight.

I’m not saying Sinema can’t win (let’s not get too cute; these polling numbers are great news for her), but I am saying Democrats would be foolish to take Arizona for granted or divert resources from it on the basis of a few early polls. Demographics make Democrats’ path to victory in the Grand Canyon State a narrow one: Despite a growing minority (especially Latino) population, it is not yet a big enough share of the electorate to hand Democrats a win on their own. Sinema could still win by performing respectably among white voters, which she does in the polls from this week. That’s possible because Sinema has forged one of the most conservative voting records of any House Democrat and Arizona is a fairly elastic state, meaning its voters are generally persuadable. But at the end of the day, it is still discernibly red — 7 percentage points further right than the nation as a whole, according to FiveThirtyEight’s partisan lean metric. Once Arizona’s base partisanship sets in and currently uncommitted voters come home to their usual camps, this is likely to be every bit the toss-up race everyone thinks it will be.

Other polling nuggets

64 percent of Americans said they are not at all interested in the FIFA World Cup, and 69 percent said they do not intend to watch any matches, according to a recent YouGov poll.

In light of Sarah Huckabee Sanders being told to leave a restaurant because she worked for President Trump, a Harvard-Harris Poll asked if it is acceptable to discriminate against people in public restaurants for their political views; 28 percent said it was acceptable, while 72 percent (including 60 percent of Democrats and 80 percent of Republicans) said it was not.

The Harvard-Harris poll also asked Republican voters why they support their party. Sixty-nine percent said it was more because they support the policies of Trump and Republican candidates, while 31 percent said it was more because they oppose the policies of the Democratic Party and its candidates.

A Gallup Poll found that 75 percent of Americans say immigration is a good thing for the country. That number includes 65 percent of Republicans and 85 percent of Democrats and is the highest Gallup has found since it started asking the question in 2001.

According to a Rasmussen poll, 40 percent of Americans oppose the creation of a “space force” as the sixth branch of the military. Thirty-three percent favor it, and 27 percent are not sure.

A majority of Americans keep their cellphones on or directly next to their beds when they sleep, according to a YouGov survey.

23 percent of Americans have no money saved for emergencies, according to a survey by SSRS.

Americans have some pretty big misperceptions about the makeup of the two major political parties, according to a new study released in the Journal of Politics. Democrats for example, estimate that 44 percent of Republicans earn over $250,000 per year. In reality, only 2 percent do. Our colleague Perry Bacon Jr. wrote more about the study and its implication.

Mexico hosts a federal election on Sunday to choose a new president and congress. According to the last public polls conducted prior to the blackout period (during which publishing polls is banned), the left-wing populist Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador is the front-runner. He leads the competition by nearly 26 points, according to an average of polls taken by Bloomberg.

Trump approval

According to FiveThirtyEight’s tracker, Trump’s approval rating sits at 41.9 percent; his disapproval is 52.3 percent. That -10.4-point spread is a tad wider than the -9.2-point spread from one week ago, perhaps indicating that last week’s immigration controversy has taken its toll. However, it’s close to the 10.1-point gap (42.4 percent approval, 52.5 disapproval) from this time last month.

Generic ballot

According to FiveThirtyEight’s model of the generic congressional ballot, Democrats are winning the race for Congress 46.5 percent to 40.1 percent over Republicans. That 6.4-point lead is little changed from their 6.3-point advantage (46.9 percent to 40.7 percent) from last week and just a skosh higher than their 5.9-point lead (45.6 percent to 39.7 percent) one month ago today. As a reminder, experts believe Democrats need to win the House popular vote by around 7 percentage points to flip the chamber.

Read full story here

#Democrats

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hoovercj · 7 years ago

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August 2017 Update

First things first: The moths are gone! A few stuck around even after we tossed all the food, so we spent an entire day scrubbing every surface of the kitchen and emptying our cupboards. They are still empty a few weeks later, but no moths!

Back in April I wrote a review of the first part of the year, so now I suppose it's time to check in on the second part of the year. But first let's take a quick look at how August went:

August

Become somewhat conversational in Danish: Danish classes started up again and I've had a couple good Danish conversations outside of class, too, so I'd say this was a positive month.

Read at least one book a month, even in months that I don’t travel: I haven't read a full book for a while so I started the month easy with a couple novellas by Brandon Sanderson:

Snapshot (98)

Legion (88 pages).

In the last week or two, though, I've been reading through one of the most famous sci-books of all time: Dune (894 pages). I have a bad habit of hearing about things that are super hyped and then ignoring them on principle and then when I do try them out, I instantly regret having waited so long. That's exactly what happened with Doctor Who and Breaking Bad, and it happened again with Dune. Why did I wait so long?? It is so good. I'm about 75% done according to my kindle, and I can't wait to finish the last 25%.

Complete at least one sewing, crocheting, or knitting project per month: I did it! I finished my largest project to date. I crocheted a top for Silvia based on these two patterns. I was originally going for the first one but it seemed to short, so I followed the second one to add the top waffle section. I'm not thrilled with the boat netckline, but as far as first garments go I think I did alright. I really enjoy knitting, but after this I think I might prefer crochet...

Watch a foreign language film each month: Another success! Between episodes of Game of Thrones I managed to watch a foreign language film! Well, it was "Big Hero 6", but I watched it in Danish. What a great movie. Of course, I didn't understand everything, but I understood a lot. And what I understood I really liked. On top of that, I finished Orange is the New Black. Wow, what a season. I'm still speechless. I didn't finish West World, though, but that's because I started reading instead. I'll finish it after I finish Dune.

Complete a full marathon OR run a half-marathon under 1:40: I had 3 races this month! I didn't have stellar times in any of them, but that's because I didn't train enough in between. But the last race...that was the craziest. It is called the "DHL Relay" and all the companies in Copenhagen sign up as many teams as they can to compete in a 5 person relay. Each person runs 5k (3.1 miles) before handing off the baton to the next person. There are so many teams that register that they split them up throughout the week. Each day this nearly 5000 teams competed for a total of over 120,000 runners! It had a great atmosphere and was a fun race.

Write my own just-for-fun programming language and virtual machine: ::crickets::

All in all, I'd say I had a good month. And now let's put that in context for the last 4 months:

May - August

Become somewhat conversational in Danish: 4 months ago I said that I couldn't understand Danish TV at all. This month I watched "Big Hero 6" in Danish without subtitles and understood enough to enjoy the movie. I'd call that progress!

Read at least one book a month, even in months that I don’t travel: In the first 4 months I read 5 books, but in these most recent 4 months I've read about 3 books worth, so I'm on pace so far. Looking ahead, a couple of my favorite authors have books coming out this Fall so I think come December I'll be able to call this one a success. * Life's That Way by Jim Beaver (320 pages) * Some short stories and novellas (~200 pages) * Most of Dune (894 pages)

Complete at least one sewing, crocheting, or knitting project per month: I destroyed this goal and I already have two projects lined up for September!

Curtain #2

Cross Stitched "Mr. Meeseeks"

Crocheted Hat

Knit Phone Case (even though it was too small)

Sock Creature

Crocheted Shirt

Watch a foreign language film each month: I only watched 2 in the first 4 months of the year...and only 2 more in the next 4 months. I'm actually going to see a foreign film today, but that doesn't help for this time period.

“La Ardilla Roja” (The Red Squirrel)

"Big Hero 6" in Danish

Complete a full marathon OR run a half-marathon under 1:40: I realized two things today while I was out for a run.

The number of times I've said "I could run fast 10 years ago" is drastically higher than the number of times I've ran this year. And that's one of the reasons that I'm not fast now. I need to talk less and run more. And I'm starting to realize how many things in life are a journey, not a destination. It's not about "getting fit", it's about "being fit". You don't "get in shape" once and that's it. You change your lifestyle such so that with time you simply are fit as a result. Or more specifically with running. You don't "get fast", you begin a lifestyle of running such that the result is improved times and longer distances. But it is the lifestyle of running that is the important part, not any specific time.

This goal is all wrong. My other goals are smaller, measurable goals aimed at fostering a lifestyle change by encouraging myself to experiment with different crafting projects, to continue reading, to enjoy movies outside my normal sphere. I can be successful in them each month, and with time change my habits. This goal is too big and can only be tested once or twice a year. It is a nice goal to have in general, but only if I have smaller goals under it such as:

Average 3 runs per week every month - This encourages consistency in training by forcing a routing

Run one race per month, (or a solo time trial when there aren't any), and run it faster than the previous race of the same distance - This encourages consistency in training by setting more frequent goals.

I think I'll consider one of those as my goals for next year.

Write my own just-for-fun programming language and virtual machine: This goal is still on hold. Similar to my marathon goal, this one was more of an "all or nothing" goal. That was intentional because I wanted to have one large year-long goal to focus on. However, my attention shifted elsewhere and just hasn't moved back to this yet.

#life blog #goals #resolutions #accountability #retrospective

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touristguidebuzz · 7 years ago

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Chinese Tourists Seeking Out the Wild West Are Heading to Wyoming

Quilian Shi, left, and Longcheng Zheng and look at pictures on a phone after posing with a John Wayne cutout at Cody Firearms Experience in Cody, Wyoming. Buses carrying perhaps 50 tourists making one-night stopovers or lunch-time pauses make up the majority of Chinese tourists to Cody, but more families are flying to large regional cities such as Salt Lake City or Denver, renting cars and touring on their own. Raymond Hillegas / The Cody Enterprise via Associated Press

Skift Take: Chinese tourists aren't just drawn to the big coastal cities like Los Angeles, San Francisco, or New York, anymore. It's good news for U.S. destinations hoping to draw more of the world's largest traveler market.

— Deanna Ting

Kenneth Zheng and his vacationing family dropped into the Cody Firearms Experience to shoot guns and hang out with John Wayne.

There was much bang-bang and admiring of the American western icon’s life-sized cutout, both symbols of the American West, but for the visitors from China, revelation, disbelief and amusement accompanied the stopover.

There were five members of the Zheng party on its tightly scheduled June swing through the region that included visits to Yellowstone National Park, Grand Teton National Park, a meal at China Town in Cody, a hop into the Buffalo Bill Center of the West’s gift shop and the Firearms Experience.

Zheng, a Ph.D. professor of business at the University of Wyoming, was the tour guide since he is fluent in English. His parents, Longcheng Zheng and Quilian Shi, live in Laramie but don’t speak English, and he translated for cousins Ke Bian and Xi Gai from Xian, the city of 8.7 million people famous for the Terracotta Army statues.

For cowboys and Indians balance, when he was planning the Cody side trip, Zheng said, “I did consider staying in a teepee.”

Buses carrying perhaps 50 tourists making one-night stopovers or lunch-time pauses make up the majority of Chinese tourists to Cody, but more families are flying to large regional cities such as Salt Lake City or Denver, renting cars and touring on their own.

“We are seeing more multi-generational families taking trips that are more experientially based,” said Cody Country Chamber of Commerce executive director Tina Hoebelheinrich.

That means the tourists might fire guns instead of merely gazing out windows at sagebrush.

Those on their own pick up brochures and see what they can see in Cody.

That’s in addition to Yellowstone, the main destination for the region, its status secure as the jewel enticing travelers to the gateway communities.

Increase in Visitors

The triggering event for the influx of more Chinese tourists to the United States and Wyoming was the November 2014 agreement between President Barack Obama and Chinese leadership at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Summit in Beijing.

There, the U.S. and China adopted a 10-year, reciprocal visa program for tourists and businesspeople. That elevated China to the first rank of tourism partners alongside European nations, replacing a previous one-year visa travel limitation.

“Now they are getting more visas easily,” said Chris Lam, operator of the Hong Kong Restaurant in Cody for 30 years. In the three years since the agreement, he has seen huge growth in Chinese visitors to Cody.

“Now we get more and more individuals,” Lam said. “Every year it is more and more.”

That is the case all over the U.S. In 2005, there were 270,000 Chinese visitors. In 2013, it was 1.8 million. This year the total is projected to be nearly 3.5 million by Statista.com.

The Communist revolution took control of China in 1949 under Mao Tse-tung who instituted iron-fisted rule until his death in 1976.

For Americans 40 and older, China was mostly the enemy, a looming, dark presence in international affairs.

The man most responsible for China’s evolution to a freer society and its dramatic economic revolution was Deng Xiaoping, who consolidated power in 1978. The economic juggernaut China is today stems from his market reforms.

American writer Orville Schell, 77, who has reported on China since 1970, neatly encapsulated China’s shift from Communism to a more capitalistic society in an aptly named 1984 book called “To Get Rich Is Glorious.”

And glorious it has been for many of China’s 1.4 billion people. The country that makes up 18.5 percent of the world’s population was projected on Business Insider’s website last year to be endowed with a middle class of 550 million people by 2022, dwarfing the entire current U.S. population of 326 million.

Millions of people formerly trapped in a rural existence, with no freedom to travel only a generation ago, now have money to wander and spend lavishly on souvenirs.

Older Chinese with the means sign up for a bus tour and seek the comforting aid of a guide.

A tour guide named Ray, 33, who wrote his last name in a Chinese character, is based in Los Angeles after growing up in China. He was passing through Cody, leading a group of 40 Chinese men and women on a tour of Los Angeles, Arizona, Las Vegas, Utah and Wyoming that included national park stops in Yellowstone, Grand Canyon and Bryce Canyon.

“Eighty percent of the people are over 50 or 60,” Ray said. “They are older people who don’t speak English.”

China and The Center

In November of 2014, as President Obama was loosening the American visa policy, Bruce Eldredge, executive director and CEO of the Buffalo Bill Center of the West, led an eight-person contingent to China to explore future ties. Back in Wyoming, after two weeks in China, Eldredge declared, “China is an opening market.”

In the three years since, the boom in Chinese travel Eldredge foresaw by reading the characters on the Great Wall has come true.

Buffalo Bill Cody traveled more miles than Marco Polo, but he did not bring his Wild West show to China.

Somehow, Cody transported a cast of hundreds of people and hundreds of livestock to far-off lands, but China was too preoccupied with its own affairs to become much enamored of the Old West. Cody spread the word about cowboys and Indians, Battle of the Little Bighorn and the Deadwood Stage throughout Europe.

But it is only much more recently Chinese people, accustomed to hoeing land from dawn to dusk and riding bicycles, acquired free time, automobiles and television sets.

“Independent television is showing 1950s and 1960s westerns,” Eldredge said.

That’s how Zheng’s parents know who John Wayne is.

Even if the Chinese weren’t on the Buffalo Bill bandwagon now, the Center is trying to woo them.

Marketing director Bruce Sauers said he learned on that China journey of 2014, “Everyone knew where Yellowstone was.”

Eldredge and Sauers recognized with that bridge crossed the rest was up to them.

A glossy Chinese travel magazine “Escape” includes a full-page Center ad, duplicating an old Buffalo Bill Wild West poster.

The museum has maps and brochures in Chinese and the gift shop can ship anywhere in the world, Sauers said.

For many years a goods-deprived society, now “the Chinese are the No. 1 spenders in international travel,” he said.

Sauers estimated the Center gets 1,000 Chinese tourists annually, 75 percent arriving by motor coach, representing “a slight increase” each year recently. “It’s just trending up.”

As attendance grows, the Center may hire a Chinese speaker as a summer employee, he said.

The cowboy and Buffalo Bill element is not yet a driving force bringing Chinese to Cody.

“They’re interested in the West, the wide, open spaces,” Eldredge said. “We sure do have a lot of that here.”

True. The population density of Wyoming is six people per square mile. Even though China is the largest country in the world with 3.7 million square miles, its population density is 383 and rapid growth in Chinese cities led to industrial pollution.

Kenneth Zheng’s relatives remarked upon those things.

“For them to come here and see blue sky, they were impressed,” he said. “They also thought, ‘Why are there so few people?’ Wyoming has 500,000 people. That’s like a township in China.”

regional Shift

Cody is not the only place on the outskirts of Yellowstone experiencing this changing tourist demographic.

Many buses to Yellowstone approach the Park from Jackson Hole, especially if they stop in Grand Teton first. Part of the wealthiest county in America, Jackson Hole has more high-end shopping, jewelry stores and art galleries than Cody.

West Yellowstone, Montana, currently has seven Chinese restaurants, a number that has expanded rapidly.

“There are a lot,” said Marysue Costello, executive director of West Yellowstone’s Chamber of Commerce.

Her chamber has a website in Mandarin Chinese. Signs posted in shop windows around town are in Chinese and business is good.

“It has meant hotels and vacation rentals, fairly strong retail, and good business for restaurants,” she said.

West Yellowstone, long known as a snowmobiling hub, has recently fielded inquiries about its snowy season, Costello added.

“We are starting to hear from winter tour groups,” she said. “People are looking for less crowded times.”

Cody competes for hotel stays with Jackson Hole and West Yellowstone and Chinese tour buses generally spend more time, often two nights, in those other communities.

In Cody, it is basically one-and-done, with a bus-load of perhaps 50 Chinese tourists arriving in early evening, chowing down, sleeping, and being on the highway to Yellowstone by 8 a.m.

One main Cody hotel in the China trade is the Holiday Inn.

“We’ve been in the group tour game for a long time,” said operator Quentin Blair of the business.

He said he was tipped to the change on the visa policy and jumped into the China market.

“Three years ago Chinese visitors represented 2 percent of our business,” Blair said. “Two years ago it was 5 percent. Now it is 8 percent. We will probably cap it at 12-to-15 percent.”

Lam, whose Hong Kong restaurant hours are 3 p.m.-midnight, gets customers walking over from the nearby Holiday Inn.

He recommends tour guides extend their visits in Cody to see the museum and attend a rodeo in the Rodeo Capital of the World.

“People want to stay longer in the Park,” Lam said. “But when it’s dark, you go nowhere. I always push them to do other things.”

There is no obvious outpouring of Chinese tourists at the rodeo. However, one night in June half-dozen Chinese men showed up decked out in new cowboys hats and boots, and climbed on Mongo the bull for $10 photo ops.

John Zhang, operator of China Town restaurant with wife Lu Yi, said customers are showing increased interest in the Cowboy Way.

“They want to know where they can buy cowboy boots,” he said. “They like the cowboy style.”

That includes guns and Paul Brock welcomes tourists at the Firearms Experience.

“We have the 10 commandments of safety in Chinese,” Brock said. “Usually, there is one English speaker per family.”

Everything from Winchesters to Glocks are popular.

“It’s all over the map,” Brock said, “but they’ve never held a firearm.”

Zheng said even during military training he hardly ever fired guns and family members never.

“My cousin said, ‘Are those real bullets?'” Zheng said. “They were so surprised they could buy guns in Walmart.”

It was a welcome-to-Wyoming moment.

Information from: The Cody Enterprise

This article was written by Lew Freedman from The Associated Press and was legally licensed through the NewsCred publisher network. Please direct all licensing questions to [email protected].

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mccormickcreek · 8 years ago

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Sergio’s First Major

Sergio’s first major!! Wow, what an amazing Masters Tournament!

AUGUSTA, Ga. – There they went – the ghosts and the demons and the goblins, all exorcised during a victory celebration he never anticipated at a course he never could have imagined.

Sergio Garcia crouched, shook his fists and unleashed a primal scream – “YESSSSS!!!” – that’s been bottled up for 19 years.

The only line missing from his otherwise stellar résumé was a major title, and now it’s his, all his, after a wild Sunday at the 81st Masters that perfectly embodied his schizophrenic career.

Three ahead.

Tied.

Two down.

Tied.

And then finally, after curling in his 12-foot birdie putt, Garcia was one ahead when it mattered most, defeating Justin Rose on the first playoff hole in an instant classic at Augusta National.

“Nobody deserved it more than you do,” Rose told Garcia on the 18th green. “Enjoy it.”

Often criticized in his early days for making excuses, for folding at the first sign of trouble, Garcia proved to be historically resilient. His breakthrough victory came in his 74th career major start, the most by any player in history.

Garcia proved to be just as irrepressible in the final round.

Two strokes behind on the 13th hole, he saved par from the trees, added another birdie at No. 14 to cut into the deficit, and then hit one of the most brilliant shots of his career on the par-5 15th – a high-soaring 8-iron from 189 yards that kissed the flagstick and led to an eagle.

His career has been filled with near misses, with crushing disappointments, but it was Garcia, not the U.S. Open champion Rose, who played the most sublime golf down the stretch to capture the long-awaited major title.

“Obviously this is something I wanted to do for a long time, but it never felt like a horror movie,” Garcia said. “It felt a little bit like a drama, maybe. But obviously with a happy ending.”

Before heading off property, Rose stumbled into Garcia, now donning the green jacket, at the front of the clubhouse.

“Look at this man!” Rose gushed. Then he enveloped his friend in another hug.

The Spaniard’s feel-good victory was a fitting end to a surreal Masters week, which began with no Arnie, no Tiger, no Par 3 Contest and, in the most bizarre twist of all, no world No. 1. Throughout his mostly star-crossed career, Dustin Johnson has found unimaginable ways to lose a major – including now, before it even starts. While in his Augusta rental house Wednesday he slipped on a staircase, injured his lower back, and after 24 hours of treatment couldn’t answer the bell. “It sucks really bad,” he said.

What he missed was the most brutal opening round in a decade, when players walked with their chins buried in their chest and patrons chased after their windblown hats and pairing sheets. The 40-mph gusts muted Augusta’s raucous soundtrack, and just nine players were under par after two days.

Four-time Tour winner Charley Hoffman shot a remarkable opening 65 and held the halfway lead, but the majesty of Augusta is that, eventually, the stars rise to the top of the board. By the end of a sun-splashed Saturday, Hoffman was supplanted by the likes of Garcia and Rose, with Rickie Fowler one shot behind.

Another stroke back, improbably, was Jordan Spieth, who had entered the Masters as the subject of unrelenting scrutiny after last year’s historic collapse. At first he’d politely allowed the psychoanalysis, a product of his respectful Texan upbringing, but by the time tournament week rolled around he clearly wanted to move on. And everyone did, initially, after he safely navigated the 12th in his first visit since the watery debacle. Then Spieth took another quadruple bogey, this time on the par-5 15th, and ended the opening round 10 shots behind, a major deficit that hadn’t been overcome in 119 years.

Showcasing his trademark grit, Spieth shot rounds of 69-68 and entered the final round two shots behind, in the penultimate group. It was the first time in four Masters that Spieth wasn’t in the final pairing Sunday, and yet he seemed to delight in being the go-for-broke pursuer. “Finishing fifth versus 10th doesn’t mean much to me,” he said, “so that frees me up a bit.” Perhaps too much. He went out in 38, rinsed another tee shot on 12 and dropped out of the top 10.

Spieth and Garcia couldn’t have had more wildly different experiences at this place. Ever since he arrived here as a 19-year-old, Spieth and Augusta have gone together as well as egg salad and lemonade, or sundresses and the sixth hole. Garcia, meanwhile, has had a particularly tortured relationship with the old nursery. It was here eight years ago that he dismissed the home of the Masters as unfair and “too much of a guessing game.” And it was here five years ago, after enduring nothing but major heartbreak, that he conceded, “I’m not good enough … I don’t have the thing I need to have.”

Never mind that he was a 30-time winner around the world, a Ryder Cup hero.

“Because where my head was at sometimes, I did think about, Am I ever going to win one?” he said Sunday night. “I’ve had so many good chances, and either I lost them or someone has done something extraordinary to beat me. So it did cross my mind.

“But lately, I’ve been getting some good help, and I’ve been thinking a little bit different, a little bit more positive. And accepting too, that if for whatever reason it didn’t happen, my life is still going to go on. It’s not going to be a disaster.”

Now 37 and three months from getting married, Garcia was downright buoyant between the pines. He playfully chatted with his fellow playing competitors and showed no signs of the historic major burden, his 12 major top-5s the most by any winless player in the past 75 years.

“It’s the same Sergio that people have known and loved,” said his fiancée, Angela Akins. “But he’s just been working really hard on his game off the golf course. He’s been focused on his mental game. He’s done an incredible job.”

The golf gods seemed to reward Garcia’s newfound perspective and upbeat attitude, whether it was his hooked tee shot ricocheting off a tree and bouncing back into the fairway in the second round, or his approach into 13 somehow hanging on the bank above Rae’s Creek on Saturday. Those fortuitous breaks allowed Garcia to take his first share of the 54-hole major lead in a decade – on what would have been the 60th birthday of one of his heroes, Seve Ballesteros.

Earlier in the week, two-time Masters champion Jose Maria Olazabal wrote Garcia a note of encouragement – just as Ballesteros had done before Ollie’s 1994 Masters victory.

“I’m not sharing my locker at the moment,” Olazabal wrote to Garcia, “and I hope that I get to do it with you.”

“I really believe that he has all the tools to win around here, or any major,” Olazabal said Sunday morning. “He’s been so close a couple of times.”

Just not on this course. Not until Sunday.

Leaving the fifth green, Garcia was 2 under for the day and staked to a three-shot lead. That advantage disappeared quickly, as Rose poured in three consecutive birdies before the turn.

They headed to the back nine tied at 8 under par, but Garcia made back-to-back bogeys on 10 and 11 to fall off the pace. When he overcooked his tee shot into the trees on 13, and needed to take an unplayable lie from the azaleas, he seemed destined for an all-too-familiar ending.

“In the past, I would have started going at my caddie, ‘Oh, why doesn’t it go through?’ or whatever,” he said. “But I was like, well, if that’s what’s supposed to happen, let it happen. Let’s try to make a great 5 here and see if we can put a hell of a finish to have a chance. And if not, we’ll shake Justin’s hand and congratulate him for winning.”

Garcia made that unlikely par, then birdied the 14th after stiffing his approach shot to 5 feet. On 15, after nuking a 344-yard drive, he nearly flew his approach into the cup, leaving him a 14-foot putt that he dropped over the front lip to share the lead.

In the playoff, Rose found trouble off the tee, pitched out and made bogey. Needing only two putts for the win, Garcia coolly poured in the winning putt.

No longer is he the best player without a major. No longer is he the player who came so close, so often.

“We couldn’t ask for anything more than winning the Masters,” said Garcia’s father, Victor. “It’s the best thing ever!”

When the final putt dropped, when the major weight was lifted, Garcia looked in disbelief at his caddie, Glen Murray, and then held him tight. He blew kisses to the crowd. The patrons chanted his name.

About 100 yards away, in the packed clubhouse grill, a shrill voice rang out.

“Happy birthday, Seve!”

Victor Garcia was sobbing.

Source: Golf Channel

The post Sergio’s First Major appeared first on McCormick Creek Golf Course.

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honeycreekgcc · 8 years ago

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A little magic, a lot of maturity lead Garcia to a major

Sergio is a Master’s Champion!! Wow, what an amazing Masters Tournament!