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Veterans see historic expansion of benefits for toxic exposure as new law nears anniversary

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 15:59:54 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — Nicole Leger always thought of the burn pits at military bases in Afghanistan as more like campfires than health hazards. Ordered to dispose of sensitive documents, she would toss the paperwork into the flames while catching up with fellow soldiers, moments of quiet bonding that provided a respite from her riskier work as a hastily trained medic for the U.S. Army. “We really didn’t see that it was dangerous at the time,” she said. “It was just part of the mission. So we had to get it done.”But then her sinus problems began, only worsening after she returned home, where she sometimes found herself gasping for breath at night. She remembered thinking, “This wasn’t who I was before I got in.”Although Leger already received disability benefits for post-traumatic stress, migraines and a hip fracture, it wasn’t until President Joe Biden signed legislation known as the PACT Act last year that her monthly payments expanded to take into account the impact of the burn ...

Skywatch: A great summer shower

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 15:59:54 GMT

The annual Perseid meteor shower is a late summer stargazing classic in our Minnesota-Wisconsin skies. The Perseids, which peak this week, and the Geminids in mid-December, are the two best annual meteor showers in our skies. Many other moderate to minor meteor showers get too overhyped by the media and the internet. I’m afraid folks get disappointed and discouraged when they lose sleep over not much of a show. The Perseids, though, will not let you down. Especially this year since moonlight won’t get in the way during the peak next weekend.The Perseids have been going on for about a week and will continue this week, peaking next weekend, Aug. 12-13. The best time to see the Perseids, or any meteor shower, is from around midnight to just before morning twilight gets going. Get your afternoon nap! The Perseids are extra special this year because there’s no moonlight interference in the early morning hours, leaving us with dark skies. If you can get out into the coun...

Mary Stanik: Coping with more smoke from not so-distant-fires

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 15:59:54 GMT

When smoke from the most recent Western Canadian wildfires cloaked Minnesota and temporarily gave Minneapolis-St. Paul the worst air quality numbers in the country, I figured I’d hear from friends and acquaintances seeking alleged western “Fire Country” advice on coping with skies more darkly sickening than dusky pretty. And I did.One of them expressed genuine shock that so much putrid smoke from so far away could affect the supposed Land of Sky Blue Waters in such an awful way. This person said, “I know Arizona and a lot of the West can be on fire all the time but we’re pretty used to fairly clean air here. How on earth do you people manage?”Now this acquaintance is not an unknowing person, a climate change denier or a believer in a fantasy world. But after talking for a few minutes, I realized that three years after moving from St. Paul to Tucson solely to get my brother’s help with my aged mother (and not to play golf in December or pay fewer taxes), issues such as fire, drought,...

Other voices: What the future of school choice looks like

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 15:59:54 GMT

Many states have recently created or expanded school-choice programs, but are parents taking up the opportunity? It’s early days, but data from several states should encourage lawmakers that robust offerings are in demand.Indiana this year reported an increase of some 20% in its voucher program. More than 53,000 students participated in 2022-23, compared with 44,376 the previous school year, according to the state education department. Thirteen more private schools were included, bringing the total to 343. All of this was before the state made vouchers nearly universal in May by raising the income cap and removing other restrictions.Florida also made its K-12 scholarships universal this year by removing income limits. Step Up for Students, a nonprofit administering organization, recently said it had awarded 268,221 income-based scholarships, up from 183,925 at the same time a year ago. The group said it also had granted 74,711 special-needs scholarships, an increase of some 15,000.A...

Why experts say Coach Prime “pays for himself” at CU, despite $29.5-million, 5-year contract

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 15:59:54 GMT

BOULDER — In less than nine months on the job, Deion Sanders already has CU back among college football’s top 25.The top 25 in merchandising, at any rate.According to Fanatics.com, the Buffs’ e-commerce partner, sales of CU merch as of last month made it the second-highest among, shall we say, “current” members of the Pac-12 and “top 20” among all NCAA schools.Moreover, CU sales via the site were up in late July by more than 100% compared to the same period in July 2022.So when insiders such as athletic director Rick George and independent sports business consultants concur that Coach Prime’s five-year, $29.5 million contract will make a return on the Buffs’ initial investment, the explosion of CU alums — and new fans — walking around in “Prime 21” merchandise offers a pretty good signpost as to why.“I think since Coach (Prime) has come aboard to the campus, a lot of positive things have happened,” CU chancellor Phil DiStefano told The Post last month.“Especially with (football) sel...

Inside Carrie Walton Penner’s first year as Broncos owner and her vision for what comes next

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 15:59:54 GMT

JL Skinner relished the chance to be a role model.The Broncos rookie safety grew up going to the Boys & Girls Club in Southern California. He credits a lot of his development as a kid to the hours, days and weeks he spent there after school and in the summers.So in June, he jumped at the opportunity to join other rookies for a day trip to the Denver Broncos Boys & Girls Club.“It felt like going back home for a little bit,” Skinner said.Given his history, Skinner had a sense that he and the other Broncos youngsters would be the highlight of the day, probably the week, for the kids there. What he didn’t know when he got on the bus that morning, however, was that he would find a new role model, too.At the start of the day, Broncos owner Carrie Walton Penner made her way from seat to seat, introducing herself to the newest members of the football team.Intimidating, right? The wealthiest ownership group in American sports? The boss’s boss’s boss?Actually, according to the sixth-r...

By accumulating arms, Rockies give vote of confidence to young positional talent: “We’re going to be an elite team in a couple years.”

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 15:59:54 GMT

HARTFORD — From across the country, the top positional players in the Yard Goats’ clubhouse got the message the Rockies’ front office sent at the trade deadline.After flipping five veterans for seven pitching prospects, Colorado sees a window on the horizon to become competitive again — especially with a wealth of positional talent.“It shows that the front office believes in what they have right now on the position side, and I think that if we keep expanding pitching, we’re going to be an elite team in a couple years,” explained outfielder Jordan Beck, Colorado’s No. 4 prospect who’s mashed 23 homers this year. “I’m just glad, and excited, (that movement) is happening.”Colorado’s recent misses on the mound at the top of the draft — see: Mike Nikorak, Robert Tyler, Riley Pint and the yet-to-debut Ryan Rolison — plus a rash of injuries to its top-ranked starters in the system suddenly had the club facing a dearth ...

Letters: Reduce, reuse and recycle solutions are within our reach

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 15:59:54 GMT

Reduce, reuse and recycle solutions are within our reachRe: “Upstream solutions to downstream problems,” July 30 commentaryIn the 1960s, beverage containers were glass, aluminum, or cardboard. Why can’t we go back there today for many of our liquid products? It doesn’t take a new packaging discovery, a new plastic formula, or anything else. It’s all right there. Why can’t our government require companies to evolve their packaging strategies to go “back to the future?”Curt Anderson, BroomfieldThis article hits the nail precisely on the head. We recycle but stay within the rules of our trash collection company to rinse out containers and strip the paper labels from metal cans. That requires “precious” water be wasted. And then we are not really sure.We reuse plastic bags that the grocery stores send home with us for trash. The rest, we recycle at the store along with other plastic bags that display the “recycling” symbol, hoping those actually get recycled. And while there...

Walters: Newsom intervened on banned textbooks. Why not school closures?

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 15:59:54 GMT

When a right-leaning school board in Southern California balked at providing state-approved social studies textbooks that referenced murdered gay rights leader Harvey Milk, Gov. Gavin Newsom quickly intervened.Newsom declared the board to be “radicalized zealots” and said, “If the school board won’t do its job by its next board meeting to ensure kids start the school year with basic materials, the state will deliver the book into the hands of children and their parents – and we’ll send the district the bill and fine them for violating state law.”Newsom’s threats worked as the Temecula school board backed down. However, his lightning-fast crackdown on Temecula sharply contrasts with what happened three years ago on a much more important clash – whether to reopen schools shuttered due to COVID-19.Newsom had assumed vast emergency powers to manage the pandemic, and closing schools that serve nearly 6 million students was one of the state’s earliest and most dramatic actions.It soon bec...

Ask Amy: They let their kids roam, and it ruins our gatherings

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 15:59:54 GMT

Dear Amy: My husband and I have been married for more than 20 years. Whenever we are invited to family gatherings, his siblings do not mind their own children. This can lead to situations, including the youngsters wandering unattended by the lake, riding bikes into busy roads and oncoming traffic, and hitting the family dogs.The family would rather sit around, visit and drink while their children run amok, damaging property and being out of control.For years, I have stepped up to keep an eye on the children as I felt it was irresponsible to leave young ones unattended. As new children are born into the family, it is always the same.I, at 40+ years old, don’t get a chance to visit with adult family, as I am chasing the littles around to *literally* put out fires.My husband and I have brought it to the attention of the in-laws, but they shake it off and say I should just join them and let kids be kids.Am I wrong to think that young children should have an adult (or responsible t...