A fintech that aims to cut out bank cards as the middlemen of payments has raised $10 million in a seed round backed by a former MasterCard president.

Lithuanian startup Kevin allows customers to make payments directly from their bank accounts by linking them to a merchant's account. The company, which was founded in 2018, claims its technology will speed up the pace of transactions and also cut out the fees levied by card issuers like Visa and MasterCard.

The payment infrastructure startup relies on bank account information instead of card details. Much of this is due to not relying on a physical card, which could be lost or stolen, and Kevin also claims payments land in accounts in hours instead of days and that it has lower fees.

The Lithuanian fintech will use the fresh cash to launch a point-of-sale system, which will allow consumers to use Kevin for in-person transactions on existing card machines via NFC. This will work just like Google Pay, but the payment comes directly from an account instead of via a bank card.

The round was co-led by OTB Ventures and Speedinvest, which both invest in early-stage European technology companies. Former MasterCard president Javier Perez's Global PayTech Ventures also backed the startup alongside B2B software investor Open Ocean, and Henry McGovern, the founder of European coffee shop chain AmRest.

While Europe's wealth of fintech startups lured a record $28.4 billion in venture capital funding in 2021, the bubble may soon burst, according to Finch Capital. The Dutch venture firm cites the talent war, rising interest rates, fewer companies going public, and increased regulatory scrutiny as hindrances, Insider previously reported.

But Adam Niewinski, cofounder and partner at OTB Ventures argued Europe's open banking directive PSD2 was poised to kick start the financial sector's next wave of digital transformation.

"I think fintech will definitely continue to grow and expand in Europe in the years to come, and there is a lot more to be done," Niewinski said, adding that incumbents must be collaborative to remain competitive. "The vast majority of fintechs we see today are business-facing, which makes them banks' friends not enemies."

Kevin's biggest customer is UniPark, the largest parking operator in the Baltics, which uses it for in-app payments. Sokolovas said the company is currently in talks with supermarket chains, which are its target customers.

It is active in 15 markets, including Sweden, Finland, Norway, Poland, Netherlands and Portugal, with boots on the ground in most. This will scale to 28 by the end of 2022, including the UK, Spain and France.

Kevin is also ramping up its headcount. Currently a team of around 150, Sokolovas hopes to expand to over 350 in 2022. Available roles span departments, including sales, business development and engineering.

Check out the pitch deck the fintech used to raise its seed round.

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Check Out the Pitch Deck Fintech Kevin, Backed by Ex-President of Mastercard in Europe, Used to Raise $10 Million. - Business Insider

White House staff visited Peak Farms in Jefferson and picked a 30-year-old tree to be delivered to D.C. in early November and decorated aroung Thanksgiving.

AGO. THE TOWN HAD SAID THEY DIDN'T HAVE ENOUGH PEOPLE TO PULL IT OFF. THE 2019 PARADE WAS CANCELED AS A PRECAUTION BECAUSE OF THE INVOLVEMENT OF CONFEDERATE GROUPS. COVID WAS A REASON FOR THE CANCELLATION LAST YEAR. THE PARADE IS SCHEDULED FOR DECEMBER 18. >>> A 21 FOOT FRAZIER FOR FROM WESTERN NORTH CAROLINA WILL DECK THE HALLS OF THE WHITE HOUSE THIS HOLIDAY SEASON. WHITE HOUSE STAFF VISITED PETE FARMS JUST OUTSIDE BOONE TODAY WHERE THE OWNER WAS SELECTED AS THE NATIONAL CHRISTMAS TREE GROWER FOR THE THIRD TIME IN HIS CAREER. THE 30-YEAR-OLD TREE WILL BE DELIVERED TO THE WHITE HOUSE IN EARLY NOVEMBER AND DECORATED AROUND THANKSGIVING. RUSTY OWNS THE FARM ALONG WITH HIS SON BEAU. BEAUX-ARTS EXCITED AND JOINING US TODAY. MOST PEOPLE WOULD BE HONORED TO BE SELECTED ONCE IN THEIR LIFETIME, THIS IS YOUR THIRD TIME. WHAT IS YOUR SECRET? >> I DON'T KNOW. A LOT OF GOOD LUCK AND GOOD WEATHER. EVERYTHING WENT HER WAY. >> BEAU, I AM SURE THIS IS AN HONOR FOR YOU AS WELL WORKING ALONGSIDE YOUR DAD. TALK ABOUT SOME OF THE WORK THAT GOES INTO HAVING TO PRODUCE THESE FAMILY LISTS CHRISTMAS TREES. >> IT IS LIKE ANY OTHER KIND OF FARM, IT DEPENDS ON THE WEATHER AND A LOT OF HARD WORK THAT GOES INTO A. >> HAVE YOU BEEN TO THE WHITE HOUSE. >> YES. >> WHAT WAS THAT EXPERIENCE LIKE? >> IT WAS GREAT. THE BEST PART I GUESS WAS GETTING TO TAKE MY YOUNG KIDS AT THE TIME IN 2008 AND LOOKING BACK AT THOSE PICTURES NOW. I WILL HAVE THE OPPORTUNITY TO GO AGAIN NOW THAT THEY'RE ALMOST GROWN. >> RUSTY, WHAT IS THE PROCESS LIKE FOR THEM DECORATING THE TREE IN THE WHITE HOUSE? AFTER YOU DELIVER THE TREE, IS IT HANDS-OFF ARE YOU? DO YOU OFFER ANY SUGGESTIONS? >> NO. THAT IS TOTALLY THE RESPONSIBILITY OF THE FIRST LADY. SHE WILL HAVE A SPECIAL THEME THIS YEAR. IT IS KIND OF A SECRET, BUT HOPEFULLY MAYBE WE GET TO SEE WHAT IT LOOKS LIKE. IT IS ALL IN THEIR HANDS. THEY HAVE A WONDERFUL STAFF TO DO IT. >> BY SECRET, DO YOU KNOW WHAT IT IS? >> WE DO NOT. I DON'T KNOW WHAT THE THEME WILL BE THIS YEAR. >> YOU ALL HAVE BEEN IN PAST ADMINISTRATIONS NOW IN TERMS OF PROVIDING THESE BEAUTIFUL TREES. I WAS STRUCK BY THE FACT, THOUGH, THAT YOUR NAME IS BEAU AND THE LATE SON OF THE PRESIDENT, HIS NAME IS BEAU AS WELL. ANY SIGNIFICANT FOR YOU? >> NOT PARTICULARLY FOR ME. BUT IT IS ALWAYS AN HONOR TO GO SEE THE FAMILY AT THE WHITE HOUSE. >> I KNOW A LOT OF PEOPLE ARE WATCHING THIS AND SEEING ALL THESE BEAUTIFUL TREES AND EAGER TO COME TO YOUR FARM. WHAT IS A SUPPLY LIKE THIS YEAR AND WENT TO PEOPLE START GETTING THEIR TREES? >> MOST SLOTS OPEN AS EARLY AS THE WEEKEND BEFORE THANKSGIVING. WE WILL ACTUALLY HAVE TREES IN THE RALEIGH FARMERS MARKET THIS YEAR AND LOOK FORWARD TO BEING DOWN THERE IN RALEIGH. >> RUSTY, ARE YOU EXPECTING THE PRODUCTION TO BE ABOUT THE SAME THIS YEAR? >> JUST ABOUT THE SAME. WE MAY HAVE A FEW MORE TREES THIS YEAR THAN LAST YEAR. WE'RE GETTING BACK ON TRACK. HOPEFULLY, IT WILL BE AS MUCH OR SHORTAGES LAST YEAR. >> WE CERTAINLY ARE HAPPY TO

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21-foot tree from NC to deck the halls of the White House for Christmas :: WRAL.com - WRAL.com

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When is the last time the overtime you received was more than your salary? Check to see what public employees earned in overtime now on Data.MyCentralJersey.com.

Alexander Lewis, Home News Tribune and Courier News

NEW BRUNSWICK An application for an eight-level mixed-use building with a rooftop deck on Bayard Street will go before the zoning board next week.

89 Bayard LLC has applied to the Zoning Board of Adjustmentfor preliminary and final site plan and variance approvals to construct the47,767-square-foot buildingat89-91 Bayard St.

According to the application, the ground floor will provide parking for 12 vehicles and 32 bicycles and will include office and retail space. The remaining floors will have 45 residential units comprised of two studio, 30 one-bedroom and 13 two-bedroom units, a rooftop elevator lobby, mezzanine gym space and rooftop amenity deck and green roof.

Two mixed-use buildings on the property, which is in the Downtown Commercial District, will be demolished.

In New Brunswick: New Jersey Innovation and Technology Hub breaks ground

Among the variances sought are a building height of about 67 feet wherea maximum of 40 feet is permitted; a floor area ratio of 4.8 to 1 where a maximum of 4 to 1 is permitted and aparking variance to permit 12 spaces where a minimum of 45 spaces are required.

TheNew Brunswick Parking Authority has committed to make 45 spaces available for the project in the Wellness Plaza Parking Deck, according to the application.

A public hearing on the application is scheduled for the 7 p.m. Oct. 25 remote zoning board meeting.

All applications and supporting documents for meetings of the zoning board are available on the city's website at bit.ly/3AYHJc4orvia email, pickup or for viewing by appointment during regular business hours in the office of the Department of Planning, Community and Economic Development,25 Kirkpatrick St.

For additional information or assistance, contactBoard Secretary Dan Dominguez by email at ddominguez@cityofnewbrunswick.org or call 732-745-5050.

Email: sloyer@gannettnj.com

Susan Loyer covers Middlesex County and more for MyCentralJersey.com.To get unlimited access to her work,please subscribe or activate your digitalaccount today.

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Apartments and retail with rooftop deck proposed in downtown New Brunswick - My Central Jersey

Usually, the reunion is where cast members get their final say on a season, but Chef Mathew Shea still had a whole lot to vent about after the Below Deck Mediterranean Reunion aired on Bravo last night. Mat took to Twitter to share that he was once again disappointed in the decisions made in the editing room, over the way his words were used during the hour-long (and Lexi-less) gathering of the crew. During the reunion, he also sparred with Captain Sandy and called her one of the worst captains Ive ever worked with. Yikes! So how did we get here?

When the crew was asked if they would work with Mathew again, everyone raised their hands saying they would except Captain Sandy. I like reliability and dependability, she said. Mathews a great guy but after watching the show, people who poke the bear its a little hard. I dont see everything. So when I watched the show, I was actually mortified, she told host Andy Cohen.

But Mathew defended himself saying, I did everything I did. I regret the bad moments I have, but I think I am a good employee and I think Captain Sandy is one of the worst captains Ive ever worked with in my 15 years on boats. Ouch!

He also took to Twitter over the weekend to say, in a tweet that he has since deleted, It had a lot to do with @CaptSandyYawn calling me a pussy and telling me to go fk myself. #leadership.

However, he was also sure to shout out the camera operators, crew, and even the galley, as well as viewers who reached out to him about anxiety as being positives throughout the season.

Love him or hate him, the food got almost zero complaints from the guests (minus the bland fish incident!) but safe to say we probably wont see him back on Below Deck Med any time soon. Chef Luka, make sure youve got your bags packed!

Watch the Below Deck Med Reunionon Bravo

Read more:
Chef Mathew Shea Rips Captain Sandy Yawn During 'Below Deck Med' Reunion: "One Of The Worst Captains I've Ever Worked With" - Decider

Malbek

Malbek, which helps companies' legal, sales, and finance teams manage and analyze their contracts, announced in September that it raised $15.3 million for its Series A.

Contract lifecycle management, or CLM, has been red-hot in the legal-tech space. Of the $1.4 billion invested in legal-tech during the first half of 2021, almost a quarter was snapped up by six contract companies, including Ironclad, Contractbook, and Icertis. SoftBank recently led the $115 million Series C for ContractPodAi, another CLM company.

"'Enterprise' and 'lifecycle' are the two key words with which we differentiate ourselves," Malbek's CEO and co-founder, Hemanth Puttaswamy, told Insider. "Our solution is deployed not just to legal teams, but also sales, procurement, finance, HR, marketing pretty much across the entire enterprise."

Founded in 2017, Malbek helps these departments through the entire contracting process, from drafting contracts with optimal terms through tracking contractual obligations after they're signed.

The Series A was led by Atlanta-based Noro-Moseley Partners, which invests in early-growth tech and healthcare companies . TDF Ventures and Osage Venture Partners also participated in the round.

A few slides containing confidential information about Malbek's artificial intelligence technology were removed.

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The 11-Page Series a Pitch Deck That Landed Malbek $15.3 Million - Business Insider

ANN ARBOR, Mich. It might be easy for a surging and rested Michigan football team to look past its next opponent.

The Wolverines, still unbeaten and up to No. 6 in the polls this week, play host to struggling Northwestern this Saturday at Michigan Stadium (noon, FOX). Jim Harbaughs team is 6-0 and riding high after a bye week, and oddsmakers peg Michigan as a three-touchdown betting favorite to win the game.

And with in-state rival Michigan State on deck, potentially pitting a pair of top-10, 7-0 teams against one another in East Lansing, its shaping up to be one of the biggest games in years.

We cant look to next week because weve got a very good opponent coming in this week, defensive tackle Chris Hinton told reporters on Monday. Weve got to take every game, every week, one game at a time. Because if we dont handle our business this week, the next week and the week after is just not as significant.

Michigan State held on to beat Indiana, 20-15, in Bloomington on Saturday, cementing the Spartans 6-0 mark heading into a bye week of their own. While they have a week of rest ahead of them, Mel Tuckers team will also have an opportunity to get a jump start on preparing for Michigan.

More: U-M football a big betting favorite to beat Northwestern

Meanwhile, the Wolverines have to take the field against Northwestern a 3-3 team thats traded wins and losses, yet is coming off an impressive 21-7 victory over Rutgers.

Remember, it was just three years ago, in 2018, when Michigan waltzed into Evanston as a big favorite and fell behind 17-0 in the first half, only to score 20 unanswered points and escape with a win.

Continually, you see the Northwestern team get better every single week, Michigan coach Jim Harbaugh said. This year, last year, the year before that the year before that. When you play Northwestern in the middle of the season, later in the season theyre really formidable.

Michigan is one two unbeaten Big Ten teams still standing, along with Michigan State, clearing a pathway to the Big Ten championship if it can handle business in the second half of its schedule. In addition to the Oct. 30 game at Michigan State, the Wolverines must also travel to Penn State (Nov. 13) and host rival Ohio State (Nov. 27), a pair of pivotal games required for such a run. But before they get there, or even to the Michigan State game, they must first handle business in front of them.

The team has been very locked in, Harbaugh continued. Daily, weekly. The thing Im continuing to be pleased with is how they attack every single day. They didnt practice Friday, they didnt practice Saturday (but) they came back Sunday and we had as good a practice (as weve had).

Midseason grades: Harbaugh, Michigan get high marks for run game, defensive turnaround

Guys moving around, knowing what they are doing as locked in, focused as Ive ever seen a team come off a two-and-a-half day break.

Harbaugh declined to provide a concrete updated on Michigans injured players, only saying receiver Roman Wilson (undisclosed) and offensive linemen Chuck Filiaga (leg), Zak Zinter (leg) and Trevor Keegan (shoulder) are day to day but progressing.

But if there was ever a cautionary tale, look at Iowa this past week. The Hawkeyes were unbeaten and ranked No. 2 in the country and lost a stunner, 24-7, to Purdue to fall out of the top 10. While they remain the favorites to win the Big Tens West Division, their College Football Playoff hopes have dimmed. For Michigan to keep all of its hopes and dreams alive, total effort will be required on Saturday against Northwestern.

Were not overlooking them at all, receiver A.J. Henning said. We know theyre a great football team. Theyre going to come in here and give us their best shot, so were going to take the necessary preparation to try and have a successful outcome.

While Michigan is off to its best start since 2016, the team has taken a unique approach to preparing each week. Players say they treat each week of practice like theyre preparing for Ohio State, long considered the Big Tens best, while treating each team as a nameless, faceless opponent.

They hope that holds true on Saturday against the upset-minded Wildcats.

Each week, were going in with a 1-0 mindset, linebacker Kalel Mullings said. We want to be 1-0 for that week and as long as we continue to do that, well reach all of our goals.

There was never any looking past our opponent this week or onto other games. We know that we have to take of business this week, take care of business next week and if we continue doing that well be set.

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With rival on deck, surging Michigan says its not overlooking Northwestern - MLive.com

Malia White from Below Deck Mediterranean went into greater detail about the intense pain she suffered following her horrific scooter accident in Spain. While fans knew the accident was extremely serious and she had broken bones and severe road rash, she never described what happened when she arrived at the hospital for treatment.

White estimated that she was going about 70 miles per hour on the Vespa scooter when one of her deckhands accidentally clipped her tire and sent her soaring. She recalled being calm immediately following the accident but warned her team she was going into shock. Then she described what happened when she arrived at the hospital.

Honestly, that was the worst part, she said about the accident on the Hollywood Raw podcast. Like I speak broken Spanish. [The medical professional] was speaking broken English. And basically, she brought the tub in. And she was like, Im was so sorry, this is going to hurt. And Im like, What? Whats going on? And she just takes this sponge and like this brush, and she just starts scrubbing all of my [wounds].

White reminded listeners that her wounds covered most of her arms and legs. I had wounds that were like massive, she recalled. Then she shared how the doctors cleaned her wounds. And it was pure iodine. And I just started screaming. She gave me a popsicle stick to like bite down on. I was like, No, please stop!'

RELATED: Malia From Below Deck Med Reveals She Hooked up With Engineer Jake in Split

The pain was horrific but White said they couldnt numb her or give her anything for the pain at the time. That was the other thing, she said. They didnt give me any pain medication, and I was like, Why? Please give me pain medication. Shes like We cant yet. Because they had to do scans and everything you know, which I understand.

Thankfully White didnt suffer any long-term infections, but she had broken bones and a concussion. No, no infections. I was concussed pretty badly, but nothing long-term. White ended up flying home to Florida to recover and spent a considerable amount of time healing. Only recently was she permitted to return to work.

When White hit the pavement, she hit asphalt and gravel to create the massive road rash. It was like asphalt, but there was a patch of gravel when my friend like trying to swerve, she recalled. So loose gravel in it. But it was asphalt, and I just kind of felt like flew and just my body just did a bunch of barrel rolls on asphalt.

The impact was so intense, White said her helmet cracked. My helmet had a crack all the way down the middle, just split, she said. Luckily, I had a face shield.

White told Showbiz Cheat Sheet the recovery period was hard because shes not one to sit still for a long period of time. She finally went for a run before her broken toes were fully healed and admitted it was painful. It was [painful] but to me, I just cant sit, she said about not being able to be active. Not working out is kind of worse for me.

RELATED: Below Deck Mediterraneans Malia White Returns Home After Serious Scooter Accident

Link:
Below Deck's Malia White Recalls Screaming in the Hospital After Her Horrific Scooter Accident 'My Helmet Had a Crack' - Showbiz Cheat Sheet

McCORDSVILLE A developer wants to bring buildings for logistics and warehousing purposes to McCordsvilles south side in a plan that calls for rezoning properties and annexing others into town.

Indianapolis-based Strategic Capital Partners is considering two to three structures west of Mt. Comfort Road and north of County Road 500N.

John Cumming, senior vice president of development for Strategic Capital Partners, said the sizes of the buildings remain to be determined.

Were still working on a master plan and assembling various properties, which would dictate the size of the buildings, Cumming said.

So far, the developments would be speculative, meaning without occupants yet secured.

I would love to attract a build-to-suit as well, but our plan would be to go speculative if were not able to, Cumming said.

It would be the first project in Hancock County for Strategic Capital Partners, which has been involved in industrial, office, multi-family and student housing developments in several states since launching in 2005.

Certainly the access to I-70, a major distribution route, is attractive, Cumming said. Hancock County and the town of McCordsville have done a nice job in terms of attracting businesses. I think theres a very competitive labor story in the area, and theres a lot of demand out there, and were trying to diversify what we have to offer in the Indianapolis market.

Brian Tuohy, a lawyer with Indianapolis-based Tuohy Bailey & Moore representing Strategic Capital Partners, told McCordsville Town Council members recently that the builder has agreements with the owners of about 150 acres of the nearly 160 making up the site and is pursuing arrangements with the owners of the remaining acreage.

The eastern part of the site, along Mt. Comfort Road, is already part of McCordsville and is made up of mostly farmland with some residences. To construct its buildings, Strategic Capital Partners would need to request that the land it gets be rezoned from its residential and neighborhood commercial designations to an industrial one. Such a request would be vetted by the towns plan commission and considered by the town council.

Tuohy said the builder would seek to annex what it gets of the western portion of the site, also mostly farmland and some residences, into McCordsville.

McCordsville Town Council member Tom Strayer noted with the site being made up of different property owners and zoning classifications, and some of it being in town and some of it out, much would need to align in order to accomplish a uniformity.

When we do an annexation or development, I am not for having small cutouts within the development that arent of the same use, he told the Daily Reporter.

Tuohy also said the company would work with the town on extending a planned future road called Aurora Way west from Mt. Comfort Road. Plans are already underway to stretch it east from the thoroughfare for other industrial developments in the area.

Ten-foot-wide walking paths along Mt. Comfort Road and County Road 500N would be part of Strategic Capital Partners development as well.

If all goes according to plan, work would start in fall 2022 with occupancy for the first building ready in fall to late 2023, Tuohy said.

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More spec on deck in western part of county - Greenfield Daily Reporter

The knocking grew louder before she heard a "smash," as if a wall had collapsed in the unit above hers. She thought it was construction, she said. It didn't make sense, not at 1:10 in the morning.

Thinking the commotion was an earthquake, Nir told her children, "Run as fast as you can," and they took off, leaving the property and crossing Collins Avenue, the one-way thoroughfare hosting hotel and condo towers on the eastern edge of the barrier island that is home to Surfside.

"God was waiting for us to leave the building -- and then another big boom," Nir told CNN. "Then we didn't see anything. It was suddenly white after the big boom and with white clouds all over."

Did the pool area present signs of danger?

She was frantic and told him the building was shaking, Michael Stratton told the Herald. She reported that a sinkhole had opened up where the pool used to be, he said. Then, the line went dead.

Stratton's wife is among the 145 people still unaccounted for as rescuers comb through the rubble that once composed dozens of apartments. The death toll from Thursday's disaster stands at 18.

The contractor has not been named, but Herald reporter Sarah Blaskey spoke to him.

His initial thought was, "Wow, why haven't they maintained this building better?" and took a photo to send to his boss, Blaskey recounted. He was on-site for what he thought was "cosmetic stuff" to spruce up the pool area, but once he went below he felt, "This is going to be a bigger job," the reporter told CNN.

Forensic engineer Stephanie Walkup, a professor at Villanova University, said the deterioration seen in the photo "does look significant," but she emphasized the contractor's photo came from the pool maintenance area, which is not where the building appears to have begun caving in -- an observation echoed by the Herald reporter.

"But it is clear that water has been infiltrating the concrete deck in that area for some time to the point of extensive corrosion," Walkup said.

She would not have sounded any alarms based on the contractor's photo alone, she told CNN, but "if that distress was observed throughout the entire structure, that's the point where it becomes extensive. That's the point where it becomes concerning."

A 2018 photo,shared with CNN by Tom Henz, shows the earlier stages of the crack engineers and experts consulted by CNN say appears to be the same crack visible in 2021, although the more recent photo appears to show it has worsened. The cause of the apparent deterioration is not clear.

After inspecting the building in 2018, engineer Frank Morabito wrote in a report that "failed waterproofing" below the pool deck was "causing major structural damage to the concrete structural slab below these areas," and warned that failure to replace it in the near future would cause "concrete deterioration to expand exponentially."

A 2021 letter to the building residents from the condominium association's president confirmed that the exponential deterioration had indeed taken place in the interim years.

"The concrete deterioration is accelerating," wrote Jean Wodnicki, the association president. "The observable damage such as in the garage has gotten significantly worse since the initial (2018) inspection."

The experts CNN spoke to said that the progression seen in the crack between the two images could be an indication of the deterioration caused by the waterproofing problem described by Morabito. Or, some said, the concrete around the crack could have simply fallen off during the three-year gap to reveal the deeper fissure seen in the 2021 photograph.

A representative of the Champlain Towers South condo association declined to comment.

Report noted deteriorating concrete, rebar

Mehrdad Sasani, a professor of civil and environmental engineering at Northeastern University, and Joel Figueroa-Vallines, president of SEP Engineers, have said the available information about the building, along with video of the collapse, suggest something may have failed near the foundation of the building. They've also said that, rather than a single smoking gun, a combination of factors likely compromised the building's integrity.

Those factors could include vibrations from nearby construction work, heavy equipment placed on the concrete roof for repairs, water damage and exposure to corrosive salt in the seawater and air.

On Wednesday, Sasani shared another hypothesis. The building's floor system was made of 8-inch-thick concrete plates atop columns, he said.

"Given the sudden nature of collapse, one potential mode of failure is so-called 'punching' failure," in which the column punches through the slab and "potentially progress(es) from there," the professor said.

Investigators should be looking for any instability in the foundation, possibly including weak points within the 200 or so precast piles that help support the building, or perhaps corrosion in the steel rebar used to reinforce the concrete.

Morabito Consultants in 2018 conducted a survey of the building for its 40-year certification, a stringent process for updates and improvements enacted after Hurricane Andrew in 1992. The firm found spalling, or deterioration, of the concrete, though engineers have differed on what that ultimately means.

"Abundant cracking and spalling of various degrees was observed in the concrete columns, beams and walls," the survey found. "Several sizeable spalls were noted in both the topside of the entrance drive ramp and underside of the pool/entrance drive/planter slabs, which included instances with exposed, deteriorating rebar. Though some of this damage is minor, most of the concrete deterioration needs to be repaired in a timely fashion."

The waterproofing below the pool deck and entrance drive was failing and causing "major structural damage," said the report, which did not indicate the structure was at risk of collapse.

The rest is here:
Condo residents saw pool deck and garage collapse before tower crumbled to the ground - CNN

Margrethe Fighter (DMAIB)

PublishedJun 30, 2021 6:37 PM by The Maritime Executive

The Danish Maritime Accident Investigation Board (DMAIB) has completed its inquiry into the capsizing of the bucket dredger Margrethe Fighter, concluding that the vessel was vulnerable to flooding and loss of stability because she was sailing heavily laden with full ballast tanks. The crew was in the habit of loading and trimming the ship in such a manner that parts of the foredeck were under water at times, and the investigators found that they had become accustomed to this practice as a matter of routine, to the point that they were aware of a need to maneuver gently and carefully.

In August 2020, Margrethe Fighter started work on a long-term dredging project in the Port of Trelleborg, Sweden. On February 17, 2021 - the day of the casualty - she started work at about 0630. Her three-man crew's division of responsibilities had the excavator operator take command of loading the vessel, and the deckhand would unload at the dump site. The captain was responsible for navigating between work sites and maneuvering the vessel during operations.

By 1330, the ship had made two trips to the dump site, and the excavator master was filling the hold with wet mud for the third time of the day. The depth on the site was about 29 feet, nearly the maximum reach of the excavator but just shy of the target depth for the job. To keep working, the Margrethe Fighter's forward ballast tanks were filled in order to lower the bow and extend the depth that the excavator arm could access.

As the cargo hold filled up to the halfway point, the excavator operator let the captain know that it was time to drain the ballast tanks. He kept loading, and when the hold was laden so heavily that water could be seen on the foredeck, the excavator operator determined that the vessel was ready to transit and unload at the dump site. Based on a reconstruction, the DMAIB estimated that at this point the vessel was trimmed by the head by about 2.5 feet.

He placed the excavator bucket to port of the centerline because the ship had a slight starboard list, after which he went back to the deckhouse. The skipper raised the vessel's spuds and began the 15-minute voyage towards the dump site. At some point prior, he had gone to the engine room to open the discharge valves for the forward ballast tanks and started the fire pump (not the larger ballast pump) to deballast.

During the relocation voyage, the deckhand went out on deck to get ready to unload. He noticed that the ship was deeper in the water than usual, and he used an under-deck passage to get to the bow, as there was water on deck.

The excavator operator stayed in the deckhouse. Suddenly he noticed that the ship began to list to starboard in an unusual way, so he went up to the wheelhouse, where he saw that the skipper was in the process of turning to port. They had a brief conversation about what was wrong, since the ship did not usually move in this way.

From the wheelhouse, the excavator operator could see that water was coming onto the foredeck and that the bow was sinking farther and farther down. Recognizing the danger, the skipper tried to save the situation by turning the ship to starboard.

Out on deck, the deckhand noticed that the ship was listing heavily towards the starboard side. He heard the excavator operator shout to him to move the shovel of the excavator over to port side to counterbalance the list. The helmsman feared that the ship was about to capsize, so instead of entering the excavator cab, he crawled up on top of the machine in order to get away from the ship quickly when she went over.

The excavator operator also realized what was about to happen, and he hurried out of the door on the starboard side of the wheelhouse. He shouted to the master to get out too, but at that moment, the vessel capsized. She rolled through 180 degrees and stayed afloat, hull pointing up.

The deckhand and excavator operator managed to get away from the vessel after the capsizing and were rescued. The Margrethe Fighter was salvaged seven days later, and the master's body was recovered from the wheelhouse.

During the course of the accident investigation, the surviving crewmembers told DMAIB that they did not recall seeing any draft measurements or stability calculations performed on board. A logbook from a previous voyage did not contain exact information about the vessel's stability condition.

On previous voyages, the crew had debated the wisdom of navigating with the foredeck partially under water, but this operating method had been used before on other projects and there was no shoreside oversight to prohibitthe practice. According to DMAIB, there was no daily coordination between the project management team and the company's marine technical staff, and operational decisions were left up to the crew.

"The ship capsized in a normal operating situation for the crew, where parts of the deck were under water because the cargo box was full and at the same time there was water in the front ballast tanks to trim the ship forward during the dredging work. This resulted in the ship havingsignificantly impaired stability," concluded DMAIB. "It was the application of the ballast tanks as part of the ship's dredging practice that became crucial to the accident. . . . The investigation has shown that the crew did not find time to empty the ballast tanks before the relocation voyage."

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Report: Capsized Dredger Routinely Operated With Decks Awash - The Maritime Executive