Home Builder Developer - Interior Renovation and Design

The project to bring the Paignton Picture House back to life has moved another step forward.

Listed building consent has been granted for the north facade repairs project which will restore the front of the building in Torbay Road which was also known as the Torbay Cinema before it closed.

As revealed last week, the Paignton Picture House Trust has secured 200,000 from Historic England to begin work on the facade.

The full restoration of the cinema will take several years, and is being funded in part by the governments Future High Streets funding for Paignton, which will mean more than 13m to be spent on projects in the town.

Trust spokesman Paul Hawthorne said he hoped the cinema would become a beacon for the regeneration of the town.

Some of the most vulnerable parts of the building, including delicate stonework and stained glass, are found on the front of the building.

Conservation architects Le Page Architects put together a detailed application for consent based on survey work they had previously carried out.

Historic Englands feedback to the statutory planning consultation said: The application is thorough and detailed, identifying appropriate methodologies to undertake each type of repair, and clearly illustrating which parts of the building these apply to.

Conservation best practice is applied, with the maximum conservation of original fabric.

Mr Hawthorne said: This is another positive step forward to saving this incredibly important building and reopening it for us all to enjoy.

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Another boost for Paignton Picture House restoration project - In Your Area

U.S. like a banana republic

There is an axiom: What you know you have the opportunity to manage. Its what you dont know that bites you in the ass. Seems like security in DC didnt know what was going on around them, or if they did know, they sure blew it completely. The U.S.A. calls itself a republic. OK so where do I get my bananas?

Emil Andew Sekerak, Hamilton

Someone needs to get those launch codes

As I watched the riots in Washington, caused by an apparently mentally unstable President Trump, I became very concerned. The capitol was the centre of violent activity needing leadership, yet the president was nowhere to be found, and was apparently sending offensive or provocative Tweets such that Twitter froze his account. At that point I became acutely aware of my worst fears, and hoped that someone would confiscate Trumps nuclear launch codes. I wondered if Russia is on Level 3 alert, and slept with my clothes on.

Edward A. Collis, Burlington

Where are the Trump fans now?

It wasnt long ago that there were ample letters here from people who obviously admire Donald Trump. Didnt our own premier at one point say he was a role model? Where are all the Trumpists now?

Angela Walters, Burlington

Rats and sinking ships

We all watched in horror and disgust the chaos which took place at the U.S. Capitol this week. Were any of us surprised at what transpired given the divisive and baseless rhetoric coming from Donald Trump since he lost the election?

Quite apart from the surreal pictures and videos, it was fascinating to watch the parade of politicians, pundits, news and social media that rode the Trump gravy train for the past five years, suddenly realize that the trains engineer was leading them to a canyon with no bridge to success. They have been falling over each other to get off that train. Senators and members of Congress who proudly enabled the presidents behaviour over the years suddenly decided to change their positions on certifying the election results. Twitter cut off his social media account. Facebook took down his inflammatory videos. All of these people enjoyed enormous electoral success or made millions (if not billions) of dollars off of the Trump train.

Alas, that train is coming to the end of the line. And no one wants to admit that they had a ticket for the ride.

Ralph DAngelo, Hamilton

Karma bites the U.S.

U.S.A. capitalism, genocide, slavery, war mongering till this day. Cause and effect and the justice karma.

Michael McCrory, Hamilton

We should all learn from Washington

The events in Washington are a very sad reflection of many world governments simply ignoring their own people. When racism, white supremacy, poverty, unemployment, distrust of politicians and lack of affordable health care go largely unchecked, the results are predictable. Extremist groups see this inaction by governments as a great time for the recruiting of angry people. It is worth noting, this is how Hitler and Mussolini came to power in the 1930s with disastrous results for humanity. The Biden administration will have a difficult task of beginning to repair a deeply divided nation and ending a Pandemic that is taking thousands of American lives daily. All Americans need to see this as a wake up call and strive To Make America into a Great Society for all of its citizens. All governments of the world should look closely to what happened in Washington, D.C. For if people have no hope, cannot find work, see those in public office ignoring health guidelines, are subject to racism or cannot find affordable health care the results are predictable the beginning of the breakdown of an orderly society.

Mike LoSchiavo, Stoney Creek

Fords priorities out of whack

As Premier Ford insisted on rapid testing at Toronto international airport for free, our seniors in LTC and retirement homes along with all the valued staff are left out in the cold. Articles have stated that the local health units have the say when the residents and staff are tested. Maybe each week or every other week? With the ongoing rate of infection all staff and residents should have a rapid test every week, also all employees should be tested on their first day back to work after days off. All relatives must be tested each week upon any visits. Any visitor who refuses to wear a mask in front of any staff helping their relative should be barred entry for one week.

Why is Doug Ford so concerned with visiting travellers when our seniors are not being looked after? Doug Ford and his Minister of Long-Term Health have had enough time to study what is wrong with the LTC. Strict rules must be enforced now to save our seniors and disabled. Premier Ford has the power but again big business and friends who run them are more important. Time for all of us to tell him our seniors and disabled are very important to us. Next election remember the bleeding heart, but no action to solve anything.

Sheila Cherriere, Hamilton

Olympics are a misplaced priority

Dick Pound feels that to ensure the success of the 2020 (2021) Olympics, all Olympic athletes should receive priority vaccination.

Mr. Pound, your privilege, is showing.

Forget Phillips, blame Trudeau

Phillips sense of entitlement (Jan. 6)

This was a well written and acceptable letter. Maybe the letter writer could write another letter Trudeaus sense of entitlement. Lets level the playing field and mention all the misdemeanours by our elected politicians not likely considering its our Honourable Justin Trudeau.

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Opinion | Jan. 9: Spec readers weigh in on Washington riots, forget Phillips go after Trudeau and other letters to the editor - TheSpec.com

Kalispell

In 2019, Kalispells planning and building department had a strong year for residential and multi-family permits, establishing what seemed like a relatively high bar at the time.

Then came 2020.

We pretty much doubled multi-family and residential this year, Kalispell Development Services Department Director Jarod Nygren said on Dec. 31. Unless things change, well stay on pace with this year into the next year. COVID didnt affect growth in the valley. It actually sped it up.

In the past year, the department issued building permits for residential 312 units, which includes single-family homes, duplexes and townhomes. The department also issued permits for 156 multi-family units, which are apartments. The 2019 totals were 160 residential and 84 multi-family.

I suspect in 2021 well see more than 156 (multi-family units), Nygren said.

The activity was more than the department was anticipating, in part driven by newcomers. But a lot of the new permits were simply projects that have been planned for years and are now coming to fruition, an accumulating response to the issues of low housing supply and high demand that have been prevalent in Kalispell for years.

Growth is part of it, but its also pent-up demand we had 0% vacancy before 2020, Nygren said. The reality is that we could have built a lot more housing units just to keep up with the demand without all the new people moving here.

Since at least 2018, the planning department has known that about 1,000 new multi-family units altogether would be coming over a period of years. The 2020 trend of more units reaching the permitting phase is expected to continue in 2021, which means a lot of construction occurring on new apartments throughout the city, especially along Two Mile Drive and in north Kalispell.

We planned for it all and knew it was coming in 18, 19, but it really came this year, Nygren said.

Using planners baseline average of 2.5 people per unit, the combined 468 single-family and multi-family units permitted last year equates to housing for roughly 1,200 people. More available housing can help alleviate growing rent costs.

It certainly helps the supply, which helps keep the rental market in control, Nygren said. When youre hovering around 0% vacancy, the rental rates can continue to go up. Building new units also allows people to move around and opens up other units that might be older and maybe can be more affordable.

Commercial was also a little stronger in 2020 than the planning department expected, led mostly by office space and some retail. The areas behind Costco, on both the east and west sides of the bypass, continue to build out with professional office spaces and, to a lesser extent, retail.

Residential and commercial combined, Kalispells building department in 2020 issued $125.7 million in permits, which are indicators of forthcoming construction.

Once theyre permitted, they break ground quickly, Nygren said.

The long-awaited Kalispell Parkline Trail is going to bid this winter and will not only finally break ground in late spring or early summer, but will be completed in calendar year 2021, Nygren said, calling it straightforward single-season construction.

Weve been talking about it long enough that people are wondering if it will ever happen, but it will be finished by this time next year, Nygren said in late December.

The trail will replace the railroad tracks through the heart of town and open up development opportunities along the corridor, with ample interest already pouring in. Nygren said considerable demolition and work through the federal Brownsfields program, which facilitates the assessment, cleanup and reuse of contaminated properties, was completed over the last year.

Those sites are now open for redevelopment, Nygren said. Hopefully well see those take off this next year. There are a lot of developers with a lot of different ideas.

Before even breaking ground, the project has attracted development, including SunRift Beer Company setting up in its location off Main Street specifically to be situated along the trail. Other projects include the transformation of the former CHS Country Store on U.S. Highway 2 into office spaces and the expansion of 4th & Zuri.

Trail features such as a splash pad will be driven by private grassroots efforts, similar to the citys dog park and the bouldering feature at Lawrence Park.

Whitefish

Up the highway, Whitefish experienced a similarly busy year in residential permits and expects yet another robust construction year in 2021, led by both multi-family and single-family units.

It was just a banner year for housing, and I definitely dont see things slowing down from a building perspective, Whitefish Planning and Building Director Dave Taylor said. Theres a ton of people moving in and building.

Unlike Kalispell, Whitefish has a limited supply of large land tracts for major subdivisions, not to mention high-priced land, so single-family residence activity is predominantly driven by individual property owners building their own custom homes rather than developers constructing spec houses on multi-lot layouts.

Most of it is infill projects, which is what our growth policy called for, Taylor said.

Whitefish permitted 91 single-family residences in 2020, which Taylor called a healthy number, even if its slightly less than 2019, when 95 permits were issued. But combining that figure with other forms of housing, such as townhomes, duplexes and apartments, the total number of permitted dwelling units last year was 296.

Thats the most dwelling units weve seen in a decade, Taylor said.

One single-family residence development bucking the trend is Trailview, where developers are building a community of 58 homes along Monegan and Voerman roads aimed at providing more affordable but high-quality workforce housing.

In lieu of widespread single-family subdivisions, developers are staying busy with apartment, townhome and multi-use projects, including downtown mixed-use buildings with ground-level retail and upstairs condos. One development that continues to move forward at a sustained pace is the Alta Views townhome community near North Valley Hospital, for which 32 building permits were issued in December alone.

Columbia Falls

The city has been experiencing a transformation in recent years, both commercially and residentially, a trend that held up in 2020 and is expected to continue in 2021.

It was such a busy year, Columbia Falls City Manager Susan Nicosia said. During COVID, building and planning never slowed down. If anything, it accelerated.

Nicosia said only about 100 empty lots remain within city limits, predominantly residential.

Weve definitely been filling out in the city, Nicosia said.

While the changes in Columbia Falls have elevated property values and prices for homebuyers, a rapidly growing inventory of apartments has aimed to provide lower-cost workforce housing, led by The Highline Apartments, an expansive multi-family project on Bills Lane that has completed 180 units to date.

Highline is always full, Nicosia said, adding that multi-family in general has been filling out pretty nicely.

It definitely helps the housing market, she said.

Similar to Whitefish, Columbia Falls is welcoming more mixed-use projects into its downtown corridor. One in the works is a multi-phase project developed by Mick Ruis on Nucleus Avenue and Fifth Street. The first phase, currently underway, involves demolishing a building on the north end of the property to make room for a new three-story structure with retail on the ground floor and 48 residential units.

The second phase of Ruis project will involve the old Citizens Bank structure, which will either be remodeled or torn down.

Both residential and commercial remodels have been active as well, Nicosia said, while construction is plowing forward on the suite of school projects funded by a $37 million bond package approved by voters in October 2019.

While retail is coming in on the commercial side, office spaces have been particularly active. For one, Glacier Medical Associates (GMA) and Orthopedic Rehab Physical Therapy spearheaded a makeover of the Cedar Palace, where a multi-tenant medical campus opened in November.

Another healthcare addition is North Valley Hospitals new physical therapy building.

Thats a really nice addition to the downtown corridor, Nicosia said.

Beyond City Limits

The Flathead County Planning and Zoning Office saw elevated activity on multiple fronts last year for projects in county territory.

Pretty much everything is on the upswing, Landon Stevens, a planning technician with the planning and zoning office, said.

The office received 23 requests for major subdivisions in 2020, up from 14 in 2019, which Stevens called quite an increase. Major subdivisions are those with six lots or more.

The county planning office was also busy with lakefront requests for features such as docks, walkways and buoys. The jump from 81 lakefront requests in 2019 to 107 last year represents a 32% increase.

That speaks to the increase in activity of newer lakefront owners and overall increase in lakeshore activity, Stevens said, adding that there are about a dozen or so primary residential lakes under county purview. I would say that because of the influx of people here, a lot of the folks are seasonal or new owners.

The county saw continued high interest in administrative conditional-use permits to operate vacation rentals, commonly marketed on websites such as Airbnb and VRBO. Forty vacation-rental applications came through in 2020, down from 53 in 2019, and those are only properties outside of city limits. Vacation rentals inside the boundaries of local communities have boomed in recent years as well, especially during the pandemic.

People come here and want to live here and potentially profit off their property with the amount of tourists and visitors, Stevens said. Thats been a big theme weve been seeing in the office.

mreece@flatheadbeacon.com

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Residential Development Expected to Keep Booming - Flathead Beacon

Published 7 January 2021

Allanwater Homes has announced the launch of a new development which will see it build in East Lothian for the very first time.

Allanwater Haddington, situated in the Letham Mains area of the market town, will offer a selection of energy efficient, three and four-bedroom bungalows, together with three bedroom linked villas.

Several brand new designs exclusively designed for this new development - will make their debut at Allanwater Haddington, including the Tay three-bedroom detached bungalow, the Clyde and Spey, other three-bedroom detached bungalows, and the Devon, a four-bedroom detached bungalow.

Added to the mix is another recently launched home which has proved very popular at other Allanwater Homes developments across Scotland the three-bedroom Sidlaw villa.

Specification wise, Allanwater Haddington features the housebuilders new as included specification which includes Twyford Sanitaryware, Stainless Steel kitchen appliances with Induction Hobs, thermostatic showers, USB charging points, and monoblocked driveways.

Also planned to launch in 2021, is an additional new development in Chryston, near Glasgow, another brand new geographic area for Allanwater.

A sales consultant has been given a more unusual first assignment to help sell his old high schools classrooms.

Nicholas Levinson, 37, a former pupil of Boroughmuir High School in Edinburgh, attended classes while the school was based in its former home, the famed early 20th century building at Viewforth and one of the citys most prized school buildings which has been renovated into 87 apartments.

Now, thanks to working with CALA Homes (East), which is behind Boroughmuirs historic renovation, the Edinburgh native has a rare chance to revisit his youth, each and every day he works from the on-site sales office and show apartment.

While protecting and subtly enhancing the impressive exterior to the Grade B-listed building, the developer is transforming the former classrooms inside into a range of one to four bedroom mezzanine apartments.

Nick, who now lives in Trinity with his partner, said: When I take people around the different properties and tell them I was a pupil here, they usually ask me straight away which classroom or part of the building an apartment is. The transformation is incredible, its just so different on the inside to what it was when it was a school its nice to see the building in its best light now.

One of my favourite plots so far is Plot 75 on the top floor, as it has huge vaulted ceilings beyond six metres and original feature beams. It was formerly a chemistry classroom. Youd never believe what its become.

Nick is also keenly awaiting to see inside Plots 86 and 87 when they are completed, which will become two four-bedroom apartments and the largest properties at Boroughmuir. They are being built in a space that was the old school library.

Nick added: Ive had a couple of old classmates contact me, the building is quite well known in Edinburgh so theres been a lot of buzz and excitement around it. The feedback were getting from clients and visitors has been excellent, theyre amazed at how the architect has ambitiously used the space and how bright and spacious the properties feel.

The apartments themselves are so impressive, with high spec and the city views from some of the homes on the second floor are something else I spent many hours daydreaming, looking out those windows!

Coming back has been quite nostalgic, seeing what we are achieving with the refurbishment has been really nice on a personal level. Its also great to see the area of Bruntsfield has changed as well it is now one of the citys hotspots for independent shops, restaurants and bars its certainly not the area it was when I was at school.

A Fife quarry could continue for another 40 years after major expansion plans were approved.

The operators of Goathill Quarry, near Donibristle, want to extract a further eight million tonnes of hard rock by extending south into a hillside.

The site produces crushed aggregate used in road building.

It also makes large stone blocks and has secured an order for armoured stone for a stabilisation project on the River Tay.

Two commercial units are being proposed for the car park of a vacant pub/restaurant on the southern edge of Glasgow.

An application has been lodged for the site in Corselet Road at Nitshill Road, at the former Darnley at the Mill venue, last used by Cook and Indis World Buffet.

Permission is being sought by Harlequin Leisure Investments for one retail unit and one food/drink takeaway in the front car park area.

The buildings total footprint would be 300 square metres. There would be 15 car parking spaces.

Lochmaben-based roof tile manufacturer Russell Roof Tilesis celebrating the dedication and long service of three employees who have a combined long service of 40 years.

The deserving staff who have been awarded the accolades include Bruce Laidlaw (production director) for 20 years, William Riddell (production operator) and Charlie Graham (production operator) who have both worked at Russell Roof Tiles Lockerbie site for 10 years.

In 2020, 11 members of the team were presented with awards ranging from 10 to 30 years.

Andrew Hayward, managing director at Russell Roof Tiles, said: Were delighted in these challenging times to have such a dedicated team across our sites, our Long Service Awards not only recognise the hard work they have put in over the years but also says thank you for the commitment to Russell Roof Tiles.

We look forward to being able to continue celebrating our hardworking staff over the next few years across all sites.

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Building Briefs - January 7th - Scottish Construction Now

SEATTLE, Jan. 06, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Porch Group, Inc. (Porch or the Company) (Nasdaq: PRCH) (Nasdaq: PRCHW), a leading software and services platform reinventing the home services industry, has been invited to present at the 23rd Annual Needham Growth Conference being held virtually on January 11-15, 2021.

Porch management is scheduled to present on Monday, January 11 at 2:45 p.m. Eastern time, with one-on-one meetings to be held throughout the conference. The companys presentation will be webcast live and available for replay here.

For additional information or to schedule a one-on-one meeting with Porch management, please contact your Needham representative or Gateway Investor Relations at (949) 574-3860 or PRCH@gatewayir.com.

About Porch Group, Inc. Seattle-based Porch Group, the vertical software platform for the home, provides software and services to more than 10,500 home services companies such as home inspectors, moving companies, real estate agencies, utility companies, and warranty companies. Through these relationships and its multiple brands, Porch provides a moving concierge service to homebuyers, helping them save time and make better decisions on critical services, including insurance, moving, security, TV/internet, home repair and improvement, and more. To learn more, visit porchgroup.com and porch.com.

Investor Relations contact:Gateway Investor RelationsCody Slach, Matt Glover(949) 574-3860PRCH@gatewayir.com

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Porch Group to Present at the 23rd Annual Needham Growth Conference on January 11, 2021 - GlobeNewswire

Key Glockcomes in hot for the new year with the new single "Off the Porch" and its accompanying music video.

The Memphis rapper keeps it cool and low-key for the visual, which features him in a dark room surrounded only by a yellow sports car, a matching yellow bike and a mic that catches on fire once he's done spitting. He flexes his chains, including one featuring Homer Simpson that blinks after he lets him hit his blunt, and compares his drip to that ofLil Uzi Vert. "Diamonds dancing on me like Uzi, choppa keep Bruce Lee, pullin' up too deep," he raps in the first verse.

He released two back-to-back mixtapes last year, Yellow Tape in January andSon of a Gunin May via Paper Route Empire. His 2019 joint album with mentor Young Dolph,Dum and Dummer,reached No. 5 onBillboard's Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart andNo. 8 on the Billboard 200.

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Key Glock Spits a (Literally) Fire Banger in 'Off the Porch' Video - Billboard

CHARLOTTE, NC. Security camera video shows three thieves stealing packages and porch furniture from Louis Gillards home on Rozzelles Ferry Road in the Wesley Heights neighborhood. It happened around noon on December 23rd. Gillard says the brazen burglars struck his house five times in a 45 minute period.

You can just see that they did not care. Do not care about getting caught, they did not care about a single thing except for larceny, says Gillard.

Gillard was visiting family in Florida when his phone pinged.

I received an alert from my ring doorbell that there was a visitor, a person detected at my front door. Didnt think much of it. I thought it was maybe a delivery or package or UPS guy and ignored it.

He says the next day, he reviewed the video.

And then I noticed that my porch furniture had been stolen. A sectional as well as a daybed mattress as well as all the pillows that are associated with it were all taken.

Gillard called the police. According to the police report $2,000 worth of furniture was taken.

If they were really in that much need, they couldve knocked on my door and I wouldve handed out money, food whatever they needed. But to rob me and acting that way its just inhumane.

Gillard says the two responding officers told him theyve seen similar cases in NoDa and Plaza Midwood.

Of people taking porch furniture, brazenly in the middle of the day with their face on camera and that they fit the description and fit the items that were stolen.

WCCB asked CMPD if this incident was connected to others. A spokesperson says its too early in the investigation to tell.

Read more from the original source:
Thieves Steal Thousands Of Dollars Worth In Porch Furniture - WCCB Charlotte

At the start of a new year, Im not so much about resolutions as I am about words.

My inner word nerd is compelled to look back at the year just ended to see how language has evolved, based largely on events of the year. This is also the time when lexographers and groups of linguists, historians, grammarians and others interested in language evolution publish their Words of the Year lists.

It is geek-heaven time for those of us who savor the written and spoken word.

Surprising to not a single person on the planet, the chosen words of 2020 all center around COVID-19, though some of the runners-up widen the net to include other society-shaking events of the year.

Its all pretty grim stuff this year, so let me start with the one-and-only lighter popular-culture item I could find. Oxford Dictionaries noted the word Brexit saw an 80% drop in usage this year, while Collins Dictionaries included in its runners-up list the word Megxit, which is described as the withdrawal of Meghan Markle and Prince Harry, the duke and duchess of Sussex, from their royal duties.

My favorite sources are the Oxford Dictionaries and the American Dialect Society, but Merriam-Webster, Dictionary.com, Cambridge, Collins and others also have their selections most based on how often the words have been looked up or how their usage reflects the mood and focus of the past year. Oxford also has a Childrens Word of the Year, based on essays written in a BBC 500 Words story writing competition (136,000 kids submitted entries this year).

For the first time Oxford did not select just one word or phrase, describing 2020 as a year which cannot be neatly accommodated in one single word and announced instead its words of an unprecedented year.

Oxford noted that one of the most remarkable linguistic developments has been the emergence of scientific terms in general conversation as we all have become armchair epidemiologists. Among Oxfords words and phrases of 2020 are Coronavirus, COVID-19, Following the Science, Pandemic, Shelter-in-Place, Face Masks and Key Workers, among others.

Oxford also noted spikes in the use of words such as Impeachment, Mail-In, Back Lives Matter and QAnon. Looking farther back, Oxfords Word of the Year for 2019 was Climate Emergency; it was Toxic in 2018.

The childrens writing competition sponsored by Oxford and the BBC revealed Coronavirus as the Oxford Childrens Word of the Year. Brexit was the winner last year and Plastic the year before. The stories ran the gamut from realistic to prophetic, hopeful to sweet. One girl, aged 8, wrote in her entry: That night I had an interesting dream, a magical sparkling unicorn came and whispered to me the secret ingredients of the cure for the Coronavirus.

The American Dialect Society chose COVID for its Word of the Year. The word didnt exist a year ago, said Ben Zimmer, chair of the dialect societysNew Words Committee, and now it has come to define our lives in 2020.

Some of the runners-up considered by the 13-year-old organization were also fascinating, such as Doomscrolling, the habit of obsessively scanning social media and websites for bad news. The American Dialect Society also selected key words in a variety of individual categories. Before Times, the time before the beginning of the pandemic, was considered Most Useful; Abolish/Defund was deemed the Most Significant Political Word. And its Euphemism of the Year was Essential (workers, labor, businesses), used for people, often underpaid, who are actually treated as expendable because they are required to work and thus risk infection from coronavirus.

Pandemic was chosen by both Merriam-Webster and Dictionary.com, each citing the phenomenal increase in dictionary searches of the word (Merriam-Webster showed a 115,806% spike in dictionary traffic for Pandemic).

Collins Dictionary selected Lockdown, while Cambridge chose Quarantine, also noting that the word has experienced an expansion of its original meaning to include a period of time when people are not allowed to leave their homes or travel freely. Also on Collins Word of the Year short list was BLM (Black Lives Matter), Coronavirus, Key Worker, Furlough and Social Distancing.

In a New York Times article last month, 20 words were suggested as best capturing what it felt to be alive in 2020 most, of course, centering in COVID-19 and its effects. Most notable was Black Lives Matter. Also Contact Tracing, Essential Workers, Flatten the Curve, Super-Spreader, Voter Fraud, Wildfires and Zoom.

NYTs two almost whimsical choices were Blursday, whatever day of the week it might happen to be being hard to decipher since the passage of time has become so unreliable, and Virtual Happy Hour, a kind of socializing online or, as the writer put it, we just kind of drunk in front of our computers a whole bunch.

Sad to say, gone are the years when the defining words were such sweet things as Geek, Tweet, Selfie and Binge Watch.

I think 2020 and the words that popped out from it were best described by Oxford Dictionaries president Casper Grathwohl, who said: Ive never witnessed a year in language like the one weve just had Its both unprecedented and a little ironic in a year that left us speechless, 2020 has been filled with new words unlike any other.

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Front Porch: Take guess on 2020s words of year new vocabulary sprang up around COVID-19 - The Spokesman-Review

When I heard theChaseTheMoney producer tag onKey Glocksnew single Off The Porch, I knew we were in for an eerie, bassy banger. The Memphis rapper floats over the beat, delivering relaxed but menacing bars about being Mr. Glock, and taking you to school, riding 10 speeds before upgrading to coupes, and my favorite line, Heater on my side, dont test my cool. In the video, Key Glock furthersthe yellow imageryof his 2020Yellow Tapeera, surrounded by a yellow coupe and bicycle. Glock raps into a dangling mic and after he delivers his last bar the mic bursts into flames, naturally.Off The Porch, follows upKeyGlocks May release ofSon Of A Gunand JanuarysYellow Tape.Hip-Hops foremost purveyor of blunt-force punchlines,KeyGlocknever stops grinding. Coming through with two heavy-hitting projects, stacking flex after flex with wit and panache, 2020 findsKeyGlockone of raps most locked in and consistent.

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Key Glock Jumped Out the Porch and Jumped in the Booth (Prod. Chase The Money) - RESPECT.

A silver van pulls up to a coronavirus testing site in the parking lot of La Familia, a daycare and family services center in Fort Collins. Cristina Diaz and her coworker hand fluffy, pink unicorn stuffed animals to the kids in the backseat. They load boxes of rice, milk, and masa flour into the back.

Diazs big brown eyes peek out above her black face mask, which has Cristina written across it in red cursive. She oversees Larimer and Weld Counties as the regional coordinator for Project Protect Promotora Network. These promotores community health liaisons educate Latino residents, mostly Spanish-speaking migrant workers, about COVID-19.

In the past, promotores have worked with public health departments to reach underserved communities on issues from smoking cessation to cervical cancer. Through federal CARES Act funding, and the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment, this group launched in September to get the word out on virus prevention and care.

Promotores oftentimes lack formal medical training, but they are well-connected in their communities. Diaz, for example, has served on the boards of Northern Colorado nonprofits. Until recently, she was a social worker. Today, her strategy is to first draw people to the testing site with food boxes.

And then say, Hey, by the way, we have COVID testing right here. Do you have any of these symptoms? Do you know anyone? So they're going to leave here and they're going to go home like, Hey, I just went and got this food box and I got tested. And then we're going to have more people here this afternoon, Diaz explained with a laugh.

Leigh Paterson / KUNC

Going where people live and work

Working conditions, living situations and language barriers are among several factors that have led to high infection rates among Latinos in Colorado. These promotores are stepping up to educate people who have not been reached by mainstream information sources.

Its overwhelming as an English speaker, Diaz said. So I can even imagine, you know, as a Spanish speaker and even though Spanish speaking, not all of them tend to be literate. You can't just be like, Oh, here's a form. Read this, you know, share it with your family. If they are sharing it with their family, they're probably sharing it with their 8-year-old or 12-year-old. And then all of a sudden, it's the job of the 12-year-old to educate the family on it.

Promotores across the state are providing workers with winter clothing, masks and hand sanitizer by going to where they live and work: farms, warehouses and mobile home parks, for example. Project Protect Promotora Network has worked with the CDPHE on COVID-19 testing events, as was the case at the site in Fort Collins.

In their work, these promotores hear about needs that go beyond the coronavirus, relating to internet access, childcare and housing. In addition to language and literacy barriers, many Spanish-speaking workers are scared or distrustful of the government.

You dont know how to ask for help so you prefer dont do it, explained Soraya Leon, a promotora who lives in Greeley, where the majority of coronavirus cases are concentrated in the county.

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At the testing site in Fort Collins, wearing two masks and a face shield, Leons breath fogged up the clear plastic shield; condensation dripped down the inside.

As a promotora who began doing this work in November, Leon has heard confusion and disbelief about the virus. But, when she talks to workers about it, she said they listen in part, because when Leon divorced her American husband, she became undocumented and needed help herself.

I was there, I was in the same situation, Leon said. I know what you feel when you have issues.

The Weld County Department of Public Health and Environment has worked with promotores in the past, but not specifically on coronavirus prevention. The department was unable to do a recorded interview for this story but in an email, a spokesperson outlined what they have done, from putting out messages on billboards, posters and social media, to interviews on Spanish-language radio.

I think it has contributed

Dr. Mark Wallace, the former chief medical officer of Weld County, believes communication issues have contributed to the high infection rate among Latinos in Weld County.

"I think potentially, in the beginning, was more impactful, that lack of clear communication, Wallace said. I think it is less of that today since we've been struggling with this for as long as we have So there is that fundamental level of awareness because we're doing a better job of communicating in a way that is linguistically and culturally aware.

Wallace is now the chief clinical officer at Sunrise Community Health, a group of clinics in Northern Colorado; around half of their patients identify as Hispanic or Latino. He explains that since the beginning of the pandemic, the medical community has gotten better at talking through what terms like isolation and quarantine mean in daily life, for example. Now, he is beginning to think about the next communication issue: the vaccine.

It's likely to have some similar challenges, I'm not going to be pollyannaish about it, Wallace said.

Polling has shown around 60% of Coloradans are planning to get the coronavirus vaccine. Numbers were slightly lower among Blacks and Latinos. Wallace thinks it will be people like his bilingual medical assistants who will be most effective at getting the word out.

Leigh Paterson / KUNC

The next challenge? Vaccine communication

I'd say if the Pope got a COVID vaccine, that would go a long way, Dr. Michelle Barron, the senior medical director of infection prevention for UCHealth, said with a laugh.

She also hopes that her mom, who is from Mexico, will get the vaccine and then tell her friends.

That would be the gossip. Oh! Did you hear Nora got the vaccine? Oh, we should go get our vaccine too!... That, I think, is the power, Barron said.

Barron said that community members and health workers like promotores are important pathways for information, but that this issue of communication is complex.

The messaging that we're putting out there may work for 80% of our population, but what do we do differently for those 20%? she asked.

At the state level, the CDPHE intends to reach marginalized communities through its Champions for Vaccine Equity initiative. The nonprofit Immunize Colorado launched a Vaccine Equity Task Force in September.

Both the CDPHE and Weld Countys health department plan to work with promotores on vaccine education. Cristina Diaz, the promotora heading up the food boxes event in Fort Collins, expects the Project Protect Promotora Network will do this sort of work, but she predicts challenges.

You know, it's hard to get them here just to do the COVID testing, so I cant imagine a vaccine, Diaz said.

This is part two of KUNC's series, "Over-Infected, Under-Resourced: COVID-19 Hits Colorado Latinos Hard." Click here for more stories.

Read more:
When COVID Info Doesn't Reach Everyone, These Trusted Messengers Step Up To Help In Hard-Hit Latino Communities - KUNC