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Red deck wins. It's by far the most frustrating (for opponents) but the easiest way to cheese the competition in Magic: The Gathering whether the format is Standard, Modern, or Pioneer. It's also one of the most affordable, making Mono Red decks a lovely sight for players a bit light on the pockets. In fact, a good winning Mono Red deck can cost as little as $100 in Modern.

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Building your own Mono Red deck is easy enough. Some might even say that the deck itself plays on autopilot and you don't need to do much but for that to happen and unfold while your opponent scrambles to put out the flames, you need to be meticulous with deck-building. Mono Red decks need to be min-maxed more than usual to have consistent win rates, and here's how to achieve that mentality, go make Chandra Nalaar proud.

Blitzing your enemy before they could set up that winning combo or control the battlefield is the typical play for Mono-Red decks. Any other strategic or tactical variation just doesn't work as well as the typical Red Deck Wins composition. At least, that's how it is right now for Modern and Standard.

Modern, most especially, has quick games that end in single-digit turns or just a few minutes and this is where Mono Red can shine. Focusing to do damage each turn-- even on turn 1, if possible, is mandatory if you have a Mono Red deck. Consider that when putting in the cards. Each one of them (minus the lands) must have the capability to do damage whether they're Instants, Sorceries, or Creatures.

There is, however, one glaring weakness for the best Mono Red decks; if they haven't won by turn 4 or 5, then they start losing. By that point in the match, Red decks have already probably run out of gas or cards at hand and thus have minimal means of damaging the opponent apart from topdecking.

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That's why including cards like Light Up The Stage (maybe on the sideboard) is always a welcome solution if you're emptying your hand too quickly as a Mono Red player. Still, the priority is still to win by turn 3, 4, or 5 so conceding one of the best-of-three games if that doesn't happen is a viable option to get your footing back up in the next game. Chances are, you're luckier that time.

Unless you want a Mono Red burn, most Mono Red decks have to rely on creatures. Besides, Burn decks are usually a combination of Red and White, not just the former. With that out of the way, creatures with Haste are paramount to keeping pressure as early as turn 1.

Monastery Swiftspear or Goblin Guide can make theopponent panic early on. Golbin Guide is also underrated as it lets you see your opponent's topdeck so you can plan ahead or hold off on some attacks depending on the card. One of the newest additions to the Red Deck Wins Haste pool is the Wayward Guide-Beast and it's a good way to annoy your enemy by denying him some lands.

Apart from Red Deck Wins, another great Mono Red deck setup is centered around Prowess where creatures snowball up with buffs the more noncreature spells you cast. Again, Monastery Swiftspear is the champion in this category as it can easily become a temporary 4/4 creature by turn 2 or 3.

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Soul Scar Mage is also another Prowess creature that works well in the aforementioned type of Mono Red Deck. On the off-chance that you don't draw them, then at least you can go down the burn route with some of the Mono Red deck staples...

So which noncreature spells are the most sought-after for Mono Red? Pretty much any red Sorcery, Instant, or even Enchantment that deals 2-3 damage and only costs 1 mana. These cards do most of the heavy-lifting in most Mono Red decks.

Modern menaces such as Lightning Bolt and Lava Spike are pretty much the cards in question. Skewer the Critics and Rift Bolt are also strong contenders and sometimes get included. In Standard, players have to make do with Shock or just 2-damage spells.

Sure, 1, 2, or 3 damage every turn doesn't look as threatening as a huge green psuedo-T-Rex or the colorless nonsense of Eldrazi creatures but any player who underestimates Mono Red's attrition damage tends to lose early. That also includes you, never underestimate small red damage.

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So don't be on the fence about adding creatures like Eidolon of the Great Revel or Leyline of Combustion (on the sideboard). These small damage procs are an investment and before you know it, the opponent is down to single-digits... unless they have a lifegain deck but those aren't that common anyway and for such cases, Skullcrack or Tibalt, Rakish Instigator work wonders.

But what about those awesome red dragons in MTG that cost 6-7 mana and can end the game after two turns? It's best to ignore those if you're going Mono Red; leave the stompy and hulking creatures to green decks. Dragons and other high-cost red creatures are simply too slow.

For one, you won't get to bring them out until turn 4, 5, or 6 maybe even later. That is assuming you get a consistent draw of oneland card each turn. Time building up that mana could have been better spent whittling down at the opponent's health incrementally. Besides, big creatures can easily get punted back to the hand or deck or even to exile. Such is the state of Modern.

The reason why Mono Red decks are so fast? Because they like to keep their mana demands conservative. Most cards cost just 1 mana and are easily played on turn 1. In fact, if they wanted, Mono Red players can keep a deck that has no mana curve and stays flat at just 1-mana.

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However, there's this pesky control card called Chalice of the Void and it will ruin any low-mana-cost deck. So making your choices varied by including 2-mana cards or even 3-mana makes the deck more resilient against "unfair" control attempts.

The beauty in Mono Red decks is that the mana curve is low enough to disregard the most common deck-building woe in Magic: The Gathering: land. Most decks keep around 22 to 24 lands, that's more than a third of the deck already. Mono Red decks only need around 18 to 19. Some risky lads even manage at 17 lands.

This frees up space for more important cards in a Mono Red deck. After all, you need all the damage you can get in an opening hand. You can also include some card draw in the space freed up by shaving off a few Mountains to make the deck less reliant on luck.

Who says Red Decks can't do a bit of control? One plague of a red card that Wizards of the Coast introduced which favored Mono Red players even more is a wretched enchantment called Blood Moon and it makes all non-basic lands into, well, Mountains.

It just so happens that most decks in MTG that uses more than one color love to skip the basic lands. This is one of the best options a Mono Red player has against control or fancy midrange decks. It's best to keep it in the sideboard first though, unless you want to make real-life enemies or compel more people to succumb to Mono Red for cheap victories.

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Magic: The Gathering - How To Construct A Truly Great Mono Red Deck - GameRant

Vice President-elect Kamala Harris delivers remarks on Jan. 8 as President-elect Joe Biden looks on. The two are set to be inaugurated Wednesday at the U.S. Capitol. Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images hide caption

Vice President-elect Kamala Harris delivers remarks on Jan. 8 as President-elect Joe Biden looks on. The two are set to be inaugurated Wednesday at the U.S. Capitol.

On Wednesday, Kamala Harris will become the first woman, and the first woman of color, to serve as vice president of the United States.

Twelve years ago, hundreds of thousands of people filled the National Mall to watch Barack Obama make history as the nation's first Black president.

But when Harris takes the oath, the mall will very likely be nearly empty.

A surging pandemic had already led President-elect Joe Biden and Harris to urge supporters to watch the inauguration from home. Now, after a deadly siege of the U.S. Capitol by supporters of President Trump, thousands of National Guard members have been deployed to protect the transfer of power against more violence.

The brazen attempt to block Congress from certifying Biden and Harris' November election victory was unprecedented. But for Harris, the undercurrents of hate and racism it represented were not.

"It was the same thing that went through my mind when I saw Charlottesville. I mean, it's the same thing that went through my mind when I saw a picture of Emmett Till," Harris told NPR in an interview Thursday, when asked how she responded to images of the Confederate flag being paraded through the Senate's hallways.

"Sadly, it is not the first time I have seen a demonstration like what you are describing in the history of our country," she added. "And and it is it is a reminder that we still have a lot of work to do."

Like Biden, Harris is determined to take the oath of office outside, on the West Front of the U.S. Capitol, despite security concerns that have led to the garrison of soldiers inside the building for the first time since the Civil War. "I think we cannot yield to those who would try and make us afraid of who we are," she said.

And, like Biden, Harris is equally determined to move forward with an ambitious legislative agenda despite the fact that the early weeks of their administration will likely also see a second Senate impeachment trial of Trump.

"We know how to multitask there," Harris said. "We have to multitask, which means, as with anyone, we have a lot of priorities and we need to see them through."

Harris spoke to NPR on the day Biden unveiled a $1.9 trillion rescue package that would expand unemployment benefits, issue another round of direct stimulus payments, spend billions on coronavirus vaccination and testing efforts, and raise the federal minimum wage to $15, among many other provisions.

The full interview, including Harris' thoughts on last week's attack and the measure she's calling the Biden administration's "highest priority," is below.

I want to start with last week with the Capitol attack. You were in Washington, D.C. What was that day like from your vantage point?

It was horrific. It was a day that wherein we witnessed an assault on America's democracy, a day when we witnessed the terror that a few can wreak on so many. And it was probably, you know, it will be in history recorded as one of the worst days in terms of an attack on the integrity of our democracy.

You are, of course, about to become the first woman of color to serve as vice president, and I'm wondering what went through your mind seeing racist symbols, Confederate flags, parading through the Senate hallways where you've spent the last four years?

Well, I mean, it was the same thing that went through my mind when I saw Charlottesville. I mean, it's the same thing that went through my mind when I saw a picture of Emmett Till. Sadly, it is not the first time I have seen a demonstration like what you are describing in the history of our country. And and it is it is a reminder that we still have a lot of work to do.

Looking forward, we currently have troops quartered at the Capitol for the first time since the Civil War, there are more frightening details about last week and future threats coming out every day. But President-elect Biden is insisting that the inauguration go forward as planned on the West Front. Why is it so important to you to stick with the planned ceremony and take the oath outside?

I think that we cannot yield to those who would try and make us afraid of who we are. We are, for all of our faults and imperfections, we are a nation that was founded on very important principles and guided by extremely important ideals. And we cannot abandon that. We are a work in progress, but we cannot abandon the appreciation that we should all have for the traditions that are symbolic of our commitment to our democracy, which includes a peaceful transfer of power, which includes what we do to bring in one administration after another in a way that is about upholding basic standards, and in particular, those standards as outlined in the Constitution.

Shifting gears to this proposal that the president-elect laid out, this is a massive bill. It's just short of $2 trillion. Ticking through some of the details $20 billion for vaccinations, $50 billion for expanded testing, $130 billion for schools to reopen safely. If this is passed and signed into law, how quickly can Americans expect to see life to return to normal?

Let me be very clear that the president-elect and I know this is not going to be easy, but we are putting everything we've got into this, and to deal with it as soon as possible, which is why we're prepared right now to, on day one, push through and get this package, so that it hits the ground and hits the streets and we get relief to the American people.

And that's why we've called it the American Rescue Plan, because right now we see a lot of folks need to be rescued.

That's why we have the direct payment. It's gonna supplement the $600 that came in December with another $1,400 for $2,000 [total]. That's why we are expanding SNAP benefits we used to call it food stamps. It's about getting support to hungry people and hungry families. And that's why we are saying that we're going to have community vaccination sites, because we need to support local governments and local leaders, mayors and governors, in terms of what they need to do to vaccinate as many people as quickly as possible.

We can't tell you that it's all going to be over on a certain date. But I can tell you this, on January 20th, we're hitting the ground running.

How quickly can this get passed? Democrats have the narrowest of narrow majorities in both chambers.

Well, let me tell you, it's our highest priority. It is our highest priority.

And the reality of it is that this pandemic, we all know, does not see political lines. It does not ... care about who you voted for in the last election. In that way, it is an equal opportunity offender. And in red states and blue states throughout the country, we are seeing profound damage in terms of the loss of life, the loss of income, the loss of just, normalcy.

And we intend to work across party lines to do what is necessary to get this passed. ... The proposal that we are making is very reasonable. It's about doing things like saying, "Hey, we all need and want our kids to get back to school." Those kids could care less who their parents voted for. We are saying, "Let's get assistance to local leaders and local governments to get these vaccinations going," because why? Vaccines once administered in the arm of the people who need it, it will save life. And we hope and we expect and we will work at the kind of compromise and collaboration that is necessary to get this pushed through, because it's just the right thing to do.

It's your top priority. But there is going to be so much else going on, including now a Senate impeachment trial. So you have not only this bill, you have to confirm the Cabinet through the Senate. There is an impeachment trial. How does that affect everything you're trying to do beyond legislation and confirmations? Just the simple fact that so much of the Biden-Harris campaign was about turning the page on Trump and now he's going to be on trial on the first month of your administration.

We know how to multitask [laughs]. There's a reason that word exists in the English language. That's what's going to be required. We have to multitask, which means, as with anyone, we have a lot of priorities and we need to see them through.

I think a lot of people have a lot of questions about the vaccines right now. This proposal has billions of dollars to fund vaccine distribution, but it's not just funding. There are distribution problems, information sharing problems. There are trust problems, supply problems. What can the federal government do immediately in the coming weeks to start to fix these?

Well, part of it is pass our plan because we are, for example, putting $50 billion into increased testing and tracing, as you mentioned earlier. We need to increase the supply of PPE. And so that is a big part of what we're doing and including using the Defense Production Act, knowing that that's one of the great tools in the toolbelt of a president in times of crisis, a national crisis. And so these are the things that we can do immediately. And I will tell you, the president-elect [and] I have spent a lot of time on the phone and talk with mayors and governors to make sure that we get and bipartisan, by the way, Republicans and Democrats, mayors and governors, to make sure that we get them relief as quickly as possible so that it gets to the people of their cities and states.

And what are you specifically going to be focusing on in all of this? Of course, when Biden was vice president, he took the lead on that first stimulus package. This is a major stimulus package coming through. Are you going to be a point person in getting it passed or in any of these areas once it starts going to effect, if he does sign it into law?

Let me tell you something, on every decision that we have made as an incoming administration, we're in the room together, Joe and I, the president-elect and I. And on every, you know, I can't even tell you how many meetings we've been in together that range from this to many other topics that are priorities for us. And so all of the priorities are going to be a priority for me and for the president-elect, obviously. And we're full partners in this process.

There's a lot of incredibly serious things going on right now. There's a pandemic. There is this attack on the U.S. Capitol.

What are you going to be thinking about next week when you take the oath of office and you take the oath of office in an incredibly strange Capitol ceremony where the National Mall is going to be ringed by thousands and thousands of soldiers.

There will be a lot of thoughts going through my mind at that moment.

I will be thinking about my mother, who is looking down from heaven. I will be thinking about all of the people who are counting on us to lead and are counting on us to see them and to address their needs and the things that keep them up at night. And I'll be thinking about the fact that we have to hit the ground running immediately to support the people of our country, to support the children of our country, and to help get us out of the crises that we're facing, but also to, you know, let's get on and move forward and do the things that will allow us to grow and innovate and prosper.

Excerpt from:
Transcript: Kamala Harris On US Capitol Attack And Stimulus : Biden Transition Updates - NPR

Ezra Thompson coaches artistic roller skating. He wants to help the Everett Skate Deck, a place he thinks of as home, stay in business.

Ryan Acklus family owns the Skate Deck, a roller rink founded 60 years ago by his grandparents. Generations of local kids have found fun and friends there, and Acklus hopes to keep it that way.

Thats not a given, though, as coronavirus restrictions have kept the venue closed to the public for much of the past year. TEMPORARILY CLOSED says a hot-pink notice on the Skate Deck website, which also touts family fun since 1961.

Of course you dont want to see it go, but how long can we stay closed? said Acklus, who operates the Skate Deck with his brother, Cory Acklus, and their mother Teri Acklus. Id be lying if I said we havent discussed all that, he said when asked about the possibility of permanently closing.

Teri Acklus parents, Bobbie and Eric Englund, started the rink on California Street, just off Broadway, before moving it in 1976 to the current location near Silver Lake. Todays Skate Deck not only draws recreational roller skaters, including crowds of school groups and birthday parties, its the home of several competitive clubs.

Thompson coaches the Everett Eagles Artistic Skating Team, with about 30 children and teens involved. The Jet City Roller Derby and the Mob City Junior Roller Derby are based at the Skate Deck too, as is the Puget Sound Inline Hockey League. Competitions have been halted by COVID-19 precautions, Thompson said.

With the aim of supporting the place he loves and assuring the survival of his workplace Thompson, 44, launched a crowdfunding effort on the GoFundMe website. As of Friday afternoon, $11,403 had been pledged by 108 donors to the fundraiser, titled Roll it Forward!!! Support the Everett Skate Deck. The goal is $50,000.

Its been hit really hard through this whole thing. Its super sad, said Thompson. The Skate Deck has given to this community for years and years. Id like to see the community come together to help, he said.

Ryan Acklus, though, would rather the Skate Deck not take the money. He hopes the business will soon be allowed to reopen, and wants contributions to be returned to all those generous donors so theyll use that money to come back as Skate Deck customers.

We do not want to use that money, said Acklus, who nevertheless acknowledged its an awesome show of support.

Acklus, 43, said the business received some COVID relief funds, a drop in the bucket, at the start of the pandemic, but that nearly all employees, including some family members, have lost their jobs. At the peak, we had 20 to 25 employees. Most are kids, he said. Only a manager and a maintenance person stayed on, he said.

The Skate Deck was allowed to open for a short time, during which Acklus said limits on customer numbers were strictly followed. Currently, as small private groups, some club members are skating, Thompson said.

Acklus sees disparity as big box stores are allowed to be open, while his familys business with a large space needed for social distancing remains shuttered.

Niki Desautels, 38, helps run the Mob City Junior Roller Derby, and coaches one of its teams, the Mob City Misfits. A rink veteran, she skated 10 years with the Jet City Roller Derby before becoming a coach. Like Thompson, she loves the Skate Deck, an Everett institution.

I grew up in Snohomish County. I used to go to the Skate Deck all the time, she said. I loved roller skating as a kid. In my 20s, I was looking for a new hobby and decided to give it a go. As many as five nights a week, roller derby has kept her at the rink. Its like coming into your home, Desautels said.

Kids ages 5 to 18 are part of Mob City Junior Roller Derby, with three groups the Goons, the Punks and the Misfits determined by age and skill level, she said.

Although she fears the future of her home rink may be in jeopardy, Desautels hasnt gone down that road of looking for another place to skate and coach. The Skate Deck, she said, is kind of a second home.

On occasion during the shutdown, Ryan Acklus said hes arrived to find kids waiting outside the Skate Deck, wondering if their favorite place is open.

Kids make those friendships. Its a really familiar, comfortable place to be, when maybe they dont feel they can be themselves anyplace else, said Desautels. We call ourselves a family the Skate Deck family.

Julie Muhlstein: jmuhlstein@heraldnet.com

How to help

An online fundraiser has been launched on GoFundMe to help the Everett Skate Deck, a roller rink affected by coronavirus closures. To learn more or donate, go to http://www.gofundme.com and search for: Roll it Forward!!! Support the Everett Skate Deck

Gallery

Coach Bombshell helps Mob City skater Evilyna with her jersey before a Mob City holiday scrimmage at the Everett Skate Deck on Dec. 9, 2018. An online fundraising effort has been started to help support the skating venue during the pandemic. (Anthony Floyd photo)

The Jet City Bombers vs. the Palouse River Rollers at the Everett Skate Deck on Aug. 5, 2018. An online fundraising effort has been started to help support the roller skating venue during the pandemic. (R.L. Robertson photo)

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Skate Deck hopes to open for customers, not take donations - The Daily Herald

A roundabout is expected to reduce accidents and relieve traffic congestion at a busy intersection west of Franklin.

The Indiana Department of Transportation agreed to construct a roundabout at Centerline Road and State Road 144 after years of pleas from local officials.

The route is a popular way to get to Franklin Community High School, Johnson Memorial Hospital and county buildings from the citys west side.

Centerline Road congestion builds up during rush hour before and after school, because traffic on State Road 144 does not stop. Because of the abrupt stop on Centerline, distracted or speeding drivers regularly cause accidents at the intersection, traffic data shows.

Johnson County Sheriffs Office accident data shows multiple accidents at the intersection every year. There were seven in 2015, 11 in 2016, 13 in 2017, 21 in 2018, 11 in 2019 and 10 in 2020. In the last six years, 16 accidents resulted in injuries and at least two were hit and runs, according to the data.

The number of accidents in 2018 was higher because traffic was rerouted to the area due to a construction-related closure on County Road 200 North.

In 2018, anticipating the situation would worsen, the Johnson County Highway Department, Johnson County Board of Commissioners and Franklin Community Schools wrote a letter to INDOT asking for a temporary remedy to ease traffic during construction as well as a long-term fix.

As you may already be aware, this skewed intersection has seen a steady increase in the number of vehicle accidents over the last few years, resulting in more personal injury accidents as well. The accident rate for 2018 so far is on pace to surpass the total accidents in 2017. We are grateful for the actions taken by the Seymour District to date to improve the situation, such as additional warning and regulatory signage and pavement markings, but the accident rates continue to climb, meaning additional measures are needed, the letter to INDOT reads.

When INDOT first start conversations about the project, there were two sets of warning signs in each direction on State Road 144, and stop signs with plaques that read traffic from the left and right does not stop on Centerline Road, according to Natalie Garrett, an INDOT spokesperson.

As a short-term fix, INDOT in 2018 installed two yellow-flashing beacons on State Road 144 on top of the existing crossroads warning signs to help warn drivers of cross traffic ahead. The four beacons cost $20,000, Garrett said.

Later this spring, Dave OMara Contractor Inc. will start work on a $2.6 million single-lane roundabout at the intersection. The roundabout is expected to slow traffic and make an easier and safer passage for drivers on both sides, she said.

Utility relocation work is already underway and will continue for the next few months, and tree clearing work is scheduled to begin later this month,Garrett said.

State Road 144 will close fully for about 60 days this summer while the roundabout is constructed. Preparations for the closure will begin in the spring, following the utility work, she said.

The contract completion date for construction of the roundabout is Oct. 31, but environmental mitigation activities such as tree planting to replace those that have to be cut down will continue into 2022, Garrett said.

The roundabout is one solution Franklin schools superintendent David Clendening showed support for in the letter requesting INDOT action.

Sheriff Duane Burgess said the roundabout should be a good solution to traffic congestion and make the intersection safer. The signals appear to have helped somewhat, but if a driver is distracted or going too fast, the signals dont do much, he said.

Thats normally how I come to work and there are some days that you just cringe, Burgess said. Theres a lot of traffic in Johnson County right now, especially right there. Im glad they are doing something.

Continued here:
SR 144, Centerline Road roundabout on deck this year - Daily Journal

Stew Amy Johnson from Below Deck recently shared some revealing insights into what it was like to work with chef Ben Robinson and chef Leon Walker during season 3.

Johnson joined her brother Kelley on Below Deck Galley Talk to dish about the latest episodes. She admitted that watching the show gave her a little bit of PTSD. However, [Filming Below Deck Galley Talk] was an absolute blast, she dished with Showbiz Cheat Sheet.

It was so fun to get to hang out with my brother. Just chill on the couch and watch the episodes and see them all together, she said. And also to be on this side of the drama! Like getting to eat, drink some wine, and watch it all go down and not be part of it.

While shes not involved in the drama this season, she humored Showbiz Cheat Sheet with a journey down memory lane. She recounted what it was like to work with Robinson but also shared that Walker was as intense as he seemed on the show.

Walkers signature beef cheeks and endless disdain for chief stew Kate Chastain didnt seem to unnerve Johnson, who is known for her sweet and sunny disposition. Even though she managed to smile her way through some awkward moments on the show, she was candid about her impression of Walker.

You know, it was interesting with Leon because he didnt say much, she recalled. You didnt know if, like, those daggers were like he was going to bring out his knife set and start throwing knives? Or if he was just going over the menu in his head.

You never knew what to expect from him because he never really talked that much, she went on to day. And thats always a little scary to me. Im like, tell us whats going on in there, so we can, you know, move past it. But he was just so reserved that you just didnt know which way he was going.

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Indeed, Walker preferred to use other ways to express his frustration with the crew. Years later, Chastain shared that the animosity was so bad with Walker he poured honey in her bed when she was off the boat. Fun fact: Leon poured an entire jar of honey in my bed while I was off the boat during season 3, shetweeted in March.

Robinson is a longstanding Below Deck fan favorite. He came in to save the day when Walker was fired and finished the season with the crew. Johnson worked with Robinson during both seasons 2 and 3 and she said hes definitely unpredictable.

You just never know what youre going to get with that one, right? Johnson laughed. Yeah, hes very entertaining and I enjoy him personally. But professionally, hes a little tough to work with because youre kind of doing a song and dance to whatever temperament youre doing that day or that meal because it would change a lot.

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But hes great at his job, she remarked. And he is a hoot in the galley. I mean, when hes not, you know, screaming and not, for the most part, is very, very funny. Fun to be around.

Johnson and the rest of the Below Deck Galley Talk crew will have plenty to say when a new episode airs on Friday, Jan. 15 at 8 p.m. ET/PT on Bravo.

Read more:
'Below Deck': Amy Johnson Admits Chef Ben Was Crazy To Work With but Says Chef Leon Was a Little Terrifying (Exclusive) - Showbiz Cheat Sheet

A $2.25-million project to replace the bridge deck and superstructure to the 400-foot long, 31-foot wide bridge over the CSX railroad just north of Holland Road is set to begin later this month.

The Department of Public Works said preliminary work on the Lake Cohoon Road bridge would begin in late January, with the road closing in late February. The road is expected to reopen in late December.

Allan Myers Inc. of Glen Allen submitted the winning bid.

The abutments and columns will be restored on the nearly 60-year-old bridge, as they will not need to be replaced, according to the Department of Public Works.

The city will advise the public on road closure dates and detour information and will post signage ahead of the road closure.

According to an April 2020 inspection report, the bridges overall condition was rated poor, structurally deficient and scheduled for rehabilitation. The bridge has a sufficiency rating of 67.2%. Bridge ratings are determined by the condition of different aspects of a bridge, which are rated from 0 (failed) to 9 (excellent).

VDOT notes that a structurally deficient bridge is one in which the riding surface, the supports directly underneath it or the substructure are rated in a condition of 4 or less.

The Virginia Department of Transportation notes that a structurally deficient bridge does not imply that it is likely to collapse or that it is unsafe, but that it must be monitored, inspected and maintained.

The report noted, among other things, hairline map cracks, debris along both shoulders, numerous failing patches throughout the bridge and multiple delaminations, or bridge defects.

The bridge deck also has a steel plate on it that moves when a vehicle drives over it, according to the report, and it has multiple cracks in the concrete.

The wearing surface, expansion joints, bearing devices and structural condition of the bridge were all rated poor, while the substructures of the bridge were mostly rated in fair or good condition.

According to VDOT, an average of 1,465 vehicles travel daily over the bridge.

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Lake Cohoon bridge deck to be replaced - The Suffolk News-Herald - Suffolk News-Herald

Spokane street crews hope to have the hundreds of trees and debris that fell into city streets during Wednesdays windstorm completely cleared by Sunday, working 20 hours a day with employees from several different departments.

As of Friday morning, there were more than 100 trees left to clear throughout the city, many of which are on the South Hill. Clint Harris, director of Spokanes street department, said the city had pulled employees from other departments and work, such as bridge repair and water, and assigned them to tree removal to clear streets as soon as possible.

Its all hands on deck for this clean up, he said.

He said many of the city employees who have been deployed around town to clean up fallen trees have only had one day off, if any, between large weather events after the city had to quickly transition both workers and equipment from handling snow and ice to cleaning up after the massive windstorm that disrupted power and internet and knocked down hundreds of trees throughout the city and county.

He said smaller trees and debris can usually be cleared in an hour or two, but there have been several old and very large trees that have taken six or seven hours for street crews to remove from the right-of-way. The largest tree street crews have cleared had a diameter that was close to 4 feet.

Sean Barley, the lead foreperson for city street crews that were working on the South Hill, said more trees fell in the 2015 windstorm, but the trees that fell in this windstorm were much larger, with some causing significant damage. Many of the trees that fell were Ponderosa pines or Douglas fir.

These are the trees that somebodys grandfather planted, he said.

He said in some neighborhoods, it took a full day to clear a single block, because of the concentration of old trees and the damage to natural gas and sewage lines after they were ripped from the ground.

Harris said safety has also been a concern for workers as they try to keep traffic and pedestrians away from work sites, and wait for Avista and other departments to address downed power lines or natural gas leaks caused by the storm.

Barley said street teams had stopped counting trees and were now just keeping track of debris by how many trucks they loaded. He said he counted 16 truckloads of debris in the first three hours of work Friday morning. Once the trees and debris are loaded, theyre transported to an empty lot to eventually be put through a wood chipper.

Marlene Feist, director of strategic development and public works for the city, said about 150 trees have fallen into the right-of-way and about 130 trees had fallen in parks.

Spokane County has also seen hundreds of trees or debris fall into the road, but workers have pushed most of the debris to the sides for now, making it safe to drive. Spokane County Public Works and Information Outreach Manager Martha Lou Wheatley-Billeter said it would take county employees three to four weeks to clear debris from the road, and workers have found debris or trees on 140 roads across the countys road system, ranging from very rural areas to suburban neighborhoods.

Its going to take a while for us to get everything cleared up, she said.

Excerpt from:
Spokane puts 'all hands on deck' in hopes of clearing remaining trees by Sunday - The Spokesman-Review

Most of the roughly 15 people living there now have been offered spots in a new tiny house village opening soon in North Portlands St. Johns neighborhood.

PORTLAND, Ore. More than five years after putting down roots on publicly-owned land, essentially daring the city to make them move amid a newly-declared housing crisis, residents of North Portlands self-governed homeless village Hazelnut Grove have learned their days are numbered.

The announcement came Monday via a news release that quoted both Mayor Ted Wheeler and Housing Commissioner Dan Ryan. Neither was available for an interview.

Describing the villages hillside location along North Greeley Avenue near North Interstate Avenue, the release read, Steep slopes create a danger of landslides and other environmental problems. The location is difficult for firefighters to access, jeopardizing residents safety in this wooded setting.

The release added the reason for decommissioning the village now was simple: residents have somewhere to go.

Most of the roughly 15 people living there now have been offered spots in a new tiny house village opening soon in North Portlands St. Johns neighborhood. The rest, the release said, will be offered emergency housing and shelter space, a process being coordinated through the local nonprofit Do Good Multnomah.

Officials plan to start clearing out the village within the next month.

Barbara Weber, whos been living in Hazelnut Grove for about a year, said residents knew this might happen. Still, theyre furious.

I've suffered chronic homelessness. I know what that feels like, Weber said in an interview Tuesday. That's it. And I want to be with this community, and [the city] promised to move this community to land where they could be self-governed together, not ripped apart.

Weber added residents have started working with a local branch of the Poor Peoples Campaign, a movement founded by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. in 1967. They started a petition to try and convince city officials to change their minds. In a couple weeks, theyve gathered more than 2,000 signatures.

In Mondays news release, the city showed no signs of reversing course.

Its understandable that people have passionate opinions on both sides. Were making decisions that affect peoples sense of safety and their living environment, Commissioner Dan Ryan was quoted saying in the release. I want to thank everybody involved for working together to find a respectful, innovative, and safe solution.

That said, city officials have promised to clear out Hazelnut Grove before. Those plans have never come to fruition.

On Tuesday, Chris Trejbal, the vice chair of the Overlook Neighborhood Association, said hes hopeful this latest plan is for real.

They've identified a new spot in the St. Johns Village that a lot of the residents can move to. They've worked with the other residents to identify places for them to go, he said. So, I think there really is intent on the part of the city to follow through this time.

The association, as well as many residents in that neighborhood, which sits just up the hill from Hazelnut Grove, have called on the city to move the village since its inception.

Earlier this year, they sent a letter to every sitting city commissioner and the Joint Office of Homeless Services, demanding officials keep their years-old promise to disband the village.

The current situation is a humanitarian catastrophe, the letter read. Living outdoors puts peoples health at risk and leaves them vulnerable to victimization. Meanwhile, campsites are causing environmental damage to our communities, rendering public spaces and parks unusable by the public, and are documented launching points for property damage, theft and other reported crimes.

Trejbal didnt know of the citys concrete plan until Monday. He said hes grateful for the movement. He added, amid historic job losses tied to the pandemic, homelessness appears to be rising, and the city has more work to do.

There's a lot of camping that goes on along Going Street out to Swan Island, and then in Madrona Park that is very troublesome, Trejbal said. There have been multiple fires there in the past year. These are areas that we're going to continue to advocate for the city to take action on.

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After five years, city of Portland vows to clear homeless village 'Hazelnut Grove' - KGW.com

BANGKOK (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - Converting large areas of land for farming to boost food supplies increases planet-heating emissions and places a greater burden on poorer nations already bearing the brunt of climate change, researchers warned on Tuesday.

A study led by Arizona State University (ASU) analysed about 1,500 large land deals totalling 37 million hectares (91 million acres) - across Southeast Asia, Latin America, Africa and eastern Europe - showed that clearing the land for farming may have emitted about 2.3 gigatonnes of carbon emissions.

With regulations to limit land conversion or to protect forests, emissions could have been reduced to 0.8 gigatonnes, according to the study, published this month in the journal Nature Food.

Its unrealistic to say that we cant convert more land, given that the worlds population is growing, especially in developing countries, said Chuan Liao, assistant professor in ASUs School of Sustainability and the studys lead author.

But we still must minimise carbon emissions while pursuing agricultural development, he said.

A sharp increase in food prices in 2007 triggered a global rush for land to increase food security, with wealthier nations and multinational businesses snapping up land in poorer nations.

Worldwide, land is increasingly concentrated in fewer hands, mainly those of large agriculture businesses and investors, with the largest 1% of farms operating more than 70% of the worlds farmland, according to a 2020 study.

While the socio-economic consequences of such deals have been apparent - including threats to the livelihoods of smallholder farmers - regulations to limit environmental damage are rare, as the goal is to boost food output, Liao said.

Enforcing environmental policies does not reduce the amount of land that can be used for agricultural development, he said.

Yet it is difficult, given the host-country governments are so keen to catch up through agricultural development, he told the Thomson Reuters Foundation.

So it is best to balance the two needs by allowing agricultural development on lands with lower carbon values or low forest cover, and by revitalising abandoned farmlands to generate lower carbon emissions, he said.

Carbon dioxide is the main greenhouse gas responsible for rising temperatures. Total 2019 emissions of carbon dioxide equivalent (GtCO2e) hit a record 59.1 gigatonnes, according to United Nations data.

Agriculture and deforestation account for nearly a quarter of greenhouse gas emissions globally - greater than the share of the transport sector.

The coronavirus pandemic has brought into sharp focus the impacts of rapid urbanisation and deforestation, which have also contributed to the spread of infectious diseases.

Last week, green group WWF said that the world has lost tropical forest equivalent to the size of California over a 13-year period to 2017, with commercial agriculture the leading cause of deforestation.

To meet growing food demand, it is necessary to raise output on existing croplands, and enforce laws to limit land conversion to protect high-carbon-value forests while permitting agricultural development on low-carbon value land, Liao said.

The pandemic makes both conservation and food security more urgent, he added.

Reporting by Rina Chandran @rinachandran; Editing by Michael Taylor. Please credit the Thomson Reuters Foundation, the charitable arm of Thomson Reuters, that covers the lives of people around the world who struggle to live freely or fairly. Visit news.trust.org

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Feeding the world while saving the planet a 'difficult' balancing act - Reuters

The World Wildlife Fund (WWF) for Nature's report on deforestation hotspots, published on Thursday, reveals that almost half of the original forested area in eastern Australia has been lost, with 700 native flora and fauna species, including koalas, threatened as a result. Unsplash

Why Global Citizens Should Care

Australia is the only developed country listed in a new report highlighting the worlds top 24 deforestation zones, due to its significant logging and excessive land clearing for cattle pasture in New South Wales (NSW), Queensland, Victoria and Tasmania.

The World Wildlife Fund (WWF) for Nature's report on deforestation hotspots, published on Thursday, reveals that almost half of the original forested area in eastern Australia has been lost, with 700 native flora and fauna species, including koalas, threatened as a result. The report said Australia's notable deforestation could also be attributed to mining, fires, transport infrastructure and urban expansion.

WWF Conservation Scientist Martin Taylor said Australia's lax environmental regulations allowed for widespread damage.

"Land clearing rates rocketed after the axing of restrictions in Queensland and NSW, placing eastern Australia alongside the most infamous places in the world for forest destruction," Taylor said in a WWF media release. "Despite Queensland restoring some restrictions in 2018, eastern Australia remains a deforestation front. That will not change until we see rates of destruction go down."

Across 2015 and 2016, 395,000 hectares were cleared in Queensland alone, the equivalent of 1,500 football fields a day.

Bulldozing in Queensland killed 45 million animals and created 45 million tonnes of carbon emissions.

Although Australia's 2019 Black Summer bushfires were not included in the report, as it tracked deforestation from 2004 to 2017, experts fear climate change-induced fires and their effect on Australia will become a prominent, recurring theme in future reports.

"Forest destruction was already bad enough for the region to be declared a global deforestation front, then the 2019-20 bushfires burned about 12.6 million hectares in eastern Australia," the report said. "Forest fires are likely to increase due to longer and more extreme dry seasons as a result of climate change."

Related Stories April 2, 2020 Australias Environment Scores 0.8 Out of 10 in 2019: Report

Eastern Australia has been looped in with 10 other "medium" deforestation fronts, including hotspots in Colombia, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Angola, Zambia, Peru, Laos, Central African Republic and Mozambique. Brazil, Bolivia, Paraguay, Argentina, Madagascar and Borneo were all marked in the "high" deforestation category.

Overall, 43 million hectares of land roughly the size of Morocco has been destroyed globally since 2004.

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Australia Is the Only Developed Country Featured on WWF's List of Deforestation Hotspots - Global Citizen