While others were wondering about style points or if Texas A&M really looked like the No. 5 team in the College Football Playoff rankings, coach Jimbo Fisher had a different thought.
The 20-7 win Saturday over LSU represented real progress, he said, because of what it represented and how it was achieved over Fisher’s two previous seasons at A&M.
“I don’t know if we win that game before, I really don’t,” Fisher said Monday at his weekly news conference. “We struggled in some areas, but we still fought. The defense rose up and just kept going higher and higher. The offense just kept plugging along, doing what they could. The special teams stayed in it.
“You have to learn to do that. … Nobody’s pointing fingers. Nobody is saying you didn’t do your job.”
A&M (6-1) will learn how the CFP selection committee viewed its win and body of work on Tuesday, when the second playoff rankings are unveiled on ESPN. Ahead lies a road game Saturday at Auburn (5-3), which might be the Aggies’ biggest test remaining in the regular season as they hope for someone ahead of them to stumble.
To win, A&M will probably need a better offensive effort than the one against LSU.
Or not.
Fisher noted that part of A&M’s growth has been delivering what was needed. Against Vanderbilt and LSU, the offense failed to deliver. Against Florida and Arkansas, the offense delivered 41 and 42 points when the defense uncharacteristically stumbled.
“Our defense did that for the offense. The offense has done it for the defense at times,” Fisher said. “That’s why they’re a tight-knit group of guys.”
Senior linebacker Buddy Johnson, whose interception return for a touchdown sealed the victory against LSU, agreed things might have been different in the recent past.
“Most definitely,” the Skyline product said. “This team has been doing a great job playing as one, clicking together with each other.”
For all the team unity, Fisher did note that the offense has to be better.
A&M had just 267 yards of total offense and was 2 of 16 on third down, and senior quarterback Kellen Mond went 11 of 34 for 105 yards against an LSU defense that been torched at times against the pass.
“He’ll make adjustments and move on just like he has all year,” Fisher said. “He’s been playing really, really good football, but we’ve got to play better around him, too.”
Mond was even sacked, ending a streak of five games by an offensive line that struggled at times.
“Kellen got hit way too many times. He was slow to get up three times and that was just not OK with any of us,” center Ryan McCollum said. “Coach Fisher put the ball in our hands and started trying to run the ball and run the clock out.
“We’ve got to get in here [Monday] and fix it.”
McCollum couldn’t pinpoint a cause but said the Aggies’ 21-day layoff because of positive COVID-19 tests and contact tracing wasn’t a factor.
Fisher said the breakdowns went beyond his quarterback and said everything was correctable.
“The effort was there. The tenacity was there,” Fisher said. “The execution just wasn’t there. You get a hair off and start doing different things.”
December 01, 2020 at 08:46AM
https://www.dallasnews.com/sports/texas-am-aggies/2020/11/30/forget-the-style-points-jimbo-fisher-says-win-over-lsu-represents-real-progress-for-texas-am/
Forget the style points, Jimbo Fisher says win over LSU represents real progress for Texas A&M - The Dallas Morning News
The Las Vegas Raiders' Week 12 matchup with the Atlanta Falcons is a game they'll try to forget.
On the road, the Silver and Black fell to the Falcons 43-6. Marred by numerous turnovers and penalties, the Raiders played a sloppy game and Head Coach Jon Gruden is going to have a lot of tape to review before Week 13. On the bright side, the Raiders still sit above .500 with a record of 6-5 and they'll get a road date against the winless New York Jets next week. Before the team looks to get back on track, let's take a break down this week's edition of By the Numbers.
5 - The Raiders hurt themselves on Sunday, coughing up five turnovers (four fumbles and one interception). With that many turnovers, mounting a comeback becomes nearly impossible. Ball security will be hammered home in the meetings this week.
11 - As if the turnovers weren't bad enough, the Raiders were tagged with 11 penalties, totaling 141 yards. There were several costly penalties that nullified what would've been game-changing plays for the Raiders, such as Nick Kwiatkoski's interception, which was called back.
13 - Moving the chains was difficult all afternoon, as the Raiders picked up 13 first downs, 10 less than the Falcons.
304 - The Falcons finished with 304 total yards of offense, which might not seem like a lot, but it's only because the Raiders continued to give them excellent field position due to the turnovers.
5 - Derek Carr was sacked three times and under duress all game, facing pressure from all angles. The box score says Carr was responsible for three fumbles, but two of them weren't his fault, as the pocket collapsed and a defender caught him from behind. Once Nathan Peterman entered the game, he was sacked an additional two times.
7 - The Raiders are known for dominating the time of possession with the run game, but the team's ground attack never got going on Sunday. Due to game flow, Josh Jacobs finished the game with seven rush attempts and never had an opportunity to get rolling.
7 - Hunter Renfrow led all Raiders in receptions (seven), targets (nine), and receiving yards (73).
125 - The Falcons capitalized on the Raiders turnovers by controlling the clock with a consistent run game. Ito Smith and Brian Hill worked in unison to total 120 yards on the ground and one touchdown.
10 - Linebacker Nicholas Morrow and safety Jeff Heath led all Raiders with 10 tackles each, and each added a tackle for loss.
0-2 - The Silver and Black only made it to the red zone two times and on both trips the offense failed to find the end zone.
Here are the playtime percentages from Sunday's action:
The media should have a modicum of self-awareness. At the very least, they ought to acknowledge that billions of pixels and months of political chatter did not inform the public; if anything, they misled voters about President Trump’s level of support and wasted the opportunity to inform voters about the variety and seriousness of the challenges we will face in 2021.
In a couple of years, when Pew Research Center goes through verified voter files (as it did after the 2016 election), we may have a much better handle on questions such as what percentage of Black males voted for Trump and how the Hispanic and Latino vote split in Florida and Texas. Right now, only the results are definitive (e.g., a major breakthrough for President-elect Joe Biden in two Sunbelt states and recovery in the Upper Midwest; large vote gains in suburban districts and locales outside big metropolitan capitals for Democrats; a paucity of ticket-splitting between Senate and presidential candidates).
We also know that over time, the share of the White vote in America is declining with each election. (How much it declined between 2016 and 2020 is unknown unless you take the exit polls as gospel.) We know a large gender gap exists, although the magnitude is uncertain, too. We know states shift demographically and politically (e.g., Arizona and Georgia going blue, Texas moving slightly less red), but how permanent and how fast a state goes from red to blue depends on what political players do. Stacey Abrams has taught Democrats that if you expand and shift the electorate, the right candidates can capitalize on new opportunities.
What we know is far less than what we do not fully understand if one exercises appropriate humility about the exit polls:
Did Never Trump Republicans vote for Biden but come to the rescue of Republican House members?
What was the real percentage of the White vote? The evangelical Christian vote?
When we count “Latinos” or “Hispanics,” are we lumping together very discrete groups with little in common?
What was the racial and educational composition of suburban voters for each party?
Instead of using flawed and incomplete information to discover what happened, the political and media class should turn away from Trump and from horserace politics. We face unique and daunting challenges. We can witness as great a shift in presidents as we have seen since Herbert Hoover passed the baton to Franklin Delano Roosevelt.
Biden is shifting away from government by know-nothings and cronies. Instead, he is simultaneously making good on promises to increase diversity in his administration and to govern with the help of experienced, intellectually respected professionals. In many cases, the professionals he selected represent a different generation (e.g., national security adviser choice Jake Sullivan). With Biden, aging White, male billionaires and family members will not fill high positions. We have gone from staffing top jobs with T-ball players to recruiting major league veterans. The former proved to be a disaster; but the big-leaguers have yet to prove themselves.
The shift in the quality of the executive branch raises a host of interesting questions:
Can Biden rebuild an executive branch that Trump demoralized and hollowed out?
Can governance based on the best available facts produce results?
Can Biden prove centrist government is alive and well — and can win over voters?
Can Biden seize an opportunity when more Americans are sensitized to issues of racial justice to make significant reforms and create a new spirit of reconciliation?
The incoming Biden administration brings hope to tens of millions of people for a decent human being in the White House, a normal foreign policy (in which allies are respected and despots checked) and a level of competency that may effectively deliver a life-saving vaccine — to name just a few of the potential benefits. But the end of the election also offers us an opportunity to recalibrate and remember that what matters in politics is what happens after the election. Campaigns are a means to an end. Returning to a level of seriousness and focus on the substance of governance is long overdue in media coverage. Thanks to Biden’s substantial win, we now have the opportunity — and the obligation to do just that.
Special to the DemocratPublished 8:11 a.m. ET Nov. 30, 2020
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Across the Big Bend, the Alzheimer’s Project works hard to provide comfort and care to people with dementia and their caregivers. An important fundraiser for the Alzheimer’s Project is its annual Forget-Me-Not-Walk, which is traditionally held in Cascades Park.
Because of COVID-19 and the restrictions on large gatherings, the Alzheimer’s Project is offering a new twist on its annual walk.
“We are excited for this year’s event, even though it is virtual, because we know the need for services is greater than ever before. We aren’t going to let a pandemic get in the way of showing up for local caregivers,” said John Trombetta, Executive Director of the Alzheimer’s Project. “We’re encouraging our supporters to invite small groups of friends and family to walk with them and donate to the Alzheimer’s Project in the name of a loved one. This is a safe way to get involved, and the donations will enable us to continue delivering vital services.”
The virtual walk is scheduled for Dec. 1 through Dec. 15. “Even though we’re walking in small groups on our own time, we’d like this to be an event done in solidarity to raise awareness of the needs of local caregivers,” Trombetta said.
“We want walkers to take pictures or videos and tag Alzheimer’s Project on social media along with the hashtag #2020ForgetMeNotWalk so we can feature them on our social media pages. There are many beautiful places to walk and so much creativity in the community! We can’t wait to see what photographs and stories are shared with us during the 19th Annual Forget-Me-Not Walk.”
The money raised through the virtual walk will help provide personal and family counseling, respite care, caregiver support groups, Project Lifesaver for people who wander, publication of the AP Resource Manual, and caregiver training.
“By walking and making a donation, you’re helping local families in need,” Trombetta said. “There’s no charge for our services. Because of generous people in our community, no one needs to face dementia alone.”
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2020 “Virtual Forget-Me-Not-Walk”
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November 30, 2020 at 08:11PM
https://www.tallahassee.com/story/life/causes/2020/11/30/alzheimers-project-takes-virtual-path-forget-me-not-walk/6442333002/
Alzheimer's Project takes virtual path with 'Forget-Me-Not-Walk' - Tallahassee Democrat
Participants in a Snow Kayak race compete at the alpine skiing track in Druskininkai, Lithuania on ... [+]March 1, 2014. AFP PHOTO / PETRAS MALUKAS (Photo credit should read PETRAS MALUKAS/AFP via Getty Images)
AFP via Getty Images
This winter, may resort skiers and snowboarders all share a similar concern: will the resorts be enforcing COVID-19-safe practices? Will state regulation force the resorts to shut down? And will socially distanced policies mean that the wait time for a gondola is three times as long?
Those questions – along with a desire to spend more time away from people – mean many skiers are turning to backcountry skiing: skiing in undeveloped areas with no services, lifts, or avalanche control. While backcountry skiing and snowboarding are enjoyable sports, as well as great ways to squeeze in a serious workout, they’re challenging sports to learn. Skiers need to both carry and know how to use critically important life-saving devices like beacons and probes to find people in case of an avalanche. They also need to know how to read the terrain to gauge if the conditions are safe for skiing or if the avalanche risk is too high. And on top of that, the changing terrain, variable conditions, and deep snow usually mean you need to be an advanced skier or rider before heading into the backcountry. Every backcountry skier should take an avalanche safety class before beginning the sport.
So if all that seems like a bit much for an occasional weekend activity, but you still aren’t enthused about the idea of being at a resort, check out the list below for some suggestions on alternate winter activities that don’t involve crowded ski resorts.
Love mountain biking? Maybe fat biking is for you.
Group of friends riding their fat bike in the snow in Ontario, Canada
getty
If you love mountain biking, give fat biking a try. So named for the oversized (or “fat”) tires that provide extra traction and grip, fat biking is essentially mountain biking in the snow. The tires and bikes are specially designed for icy and wet conditions, making the risk of skidding off the trail much less than it would be on a traditional mountain bike. Many bike rental shops rent fat bikes in the winter, and you can ride just about anywhere, though nordic trails and gentle summer mountain biking trails are popular options. If you search “fat biking” followed by wherever you live, you’ll likely find plenty of shops offering rentals and tours. Remember that biking in the snow is generally more challenging than biking on dirt or roads, so be prepared for a tiring workout the first few times you go for a spin.
Love bocce ball or bar shuffleboard? Try curling
Strategy plays a huge part in a classic game of curling. The placement of rocks often are used to ... [+]block lanes to the scoring circles.
getty
Curling has surged in popularity recently, perhaps due to the 2018 Canadian curling team’s relatability with the average person. But curling is a high-stakes sport, and while you don’t have to be in Olympic-level shape, it does take serious skill to become a pro. Slightly similar to shuffleboard, but on ice, one player slides a stone down while the other players sweep in the stone’s path to attempt to control the trajectory and ultimate stopping point. Short of building your own curling sheet on a frozen lake (if you do, make sure you build it to regulation), you’ll need to check with your local ice skating rink to see if they offer a curling night. Alternatively, you could find your local Team USA curling club and learn from the pros. And don’t worry if you’re not an ice skater – proper footwear for curling looks more like a flat sneaker than an ice skate.
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Love woodworking? Try ice carving
Woman working with work tool, cutting ice block, making ice sculpture.
getty
Winter enthusiasts who have a reasonably broad definition of what a "sport" is may want to throw a wildcard activity in the mix this winter: ice carving. Though you could certainly just buy a block of ice and get to carvin', there's a very official ice carving association, based in the U.S.: the National Ice Carving Association. In addition to managing ice carving competitions, sanctioning events, creating and enforcing national ice-carving bylaws, and offering various ice carving certifications, the Association has a huge education component for both experts and first-time carvers. You can attend in-person workshops, register for a class at an institution like Kent State or Henry Ford College, or browse through their significant online resources and lessons. Online templates are available, too, once you learn the basics. If you end up feeling inspired, you can even attend a class at the Academy of Ice Carving and Design, currently relocating to Tennessee.
Love paddling? Give snow kayaking a go.
A man uses a kayak to slide down a farmers field in Hartley Wintney, in Hampshire, 40 miles west of ... [+]London, on January 7, 2010. Britain's harshest winter for decades continued to disrupt sports schedules on Thursday as yet more fixtures were postponed because of freezing conditions. With snow and ice making it treacherous for many people throughout Britain to get to work, officials in several sports announced the unusually early abandonment of weekend matches and races. AFP PHOTO / Adrian Dennis (Photo credit should read ADRIAN DENNIS/AFP via Getty Images)
AFP via Getty Images
Yes, snow kayaking is very much a real thing, and yes, it's just what it sounds like: sliding down a snow-covered hill on your kayak. It's a bit like sledding, but with a kayak rather than a traditional sled or tube. Most flat-bottom kayaks should work just fine, and you'll want to use your paddle to steer, which actually may give you more control than you'd have with an old-school sled. While snow kayaking is undoubtedly the most obscure sport on this list, it is growing in popularity. There are a handful of international snow kayak events with purpose-build courses and specific scoring, and you'll find low-key mountain kayaking events in mountain towns like Colorado's Steamboat Springs. But if you want to get started, all you need is a nearby sledding hill, a helmet, a well-waxed kayak, and a willingness to take a fall or two in the snow as you work on becoming a snow-kayaking pro.
Love skiing? Rent a mobile ski lodge
The mobile ski lodges come complete with everything you need to sleep in (or on) your car after a ... [+]day of skiing in the mountains.
Credit: Titus Adventure Company
If you genuinely love skiing, go skiing. Nearly all resorts in the country require masks, and with social distancing procedures – and the fact that resort skiing is entirely outdoors – it's likely to be considered a lower-risk activity. But if you want to add a bit of social distancing to your ski trip or go backcountry skiing in a location with minimal infrastructure or resources, consider renting a mobile ski lodge like the ones from Denver-based Titus Adventure Company. The four-wheel-drive vehicles have everything you need for winter ski travel, including a battery jumper kit, a portable propane fire pit with a propane tank, a camp table and chairs, a cooking stove with cookware and utensils, down blankets, and even insulated Yeti brand mugs, so you can keep your après-ski hot toddy pipping hot. For the ultimate avoid-the-hotels move, opt for a rental with a pop-up rooftop tent (though sleeping in one's car is a true ski trip rite of passage.) Titus Adventure Company rents exclusively out of Denver, but you may be able to find similar options through peer-to-peer rental companies like Outdoorsy or RVShare.
November 30, 2020 at 06:00PM
https://www.forbes.com/sites/suziedundas/2020/11/30/forget-backcountry-skiing--these-are-the-best-obscure-winter-sports-to-try-this-season/
Forget Backcountry Skiing – These Are The Best Obscure Winter Sports To Try This Season - Forbes
San Francisco 49ers rookie wide receiver Brandon Aiyuk entered Week 12 leading the team in PPR fantasy scoring with only 115.7 points, a figure topped by 82 other NFL players. In other words, 49ers options have not really aided fantasy football managers much since awesome tight end George Kittle and several of his valuable teammates left the lineup weeks ago. Perhaps the narrative changes after several influential options returned from injury for Sunday's critical 23-20 victory over the Los Angeles Rams.
November 30, 2020 at 06:34PM
https://www.espn.com/fantasy/football/insider/story/_/id/30419060/first-look-fantasy-football-nfl-week-13-forget-raheem-mostert-deebo-samuel
First look at fantasy football for NFL Week 13 - Don't forget about Raheem Mostert and Deebo Samuel - ESPN
The Bucs’ ship is sinking fast, which is where we begin the Week 12 Review:
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▪ On the face of it, there is nothing wrong with losing by 3 points to one of the best teams in football. And Brady did throw for 345 yards and three touchdowns, and almost led a big comeback.
But the numbers are misleading. The Bucs trailed, 27-10, before padding the stats in the fourth quarter. Brady threw two more interceptions, giving him seven in four games. A perturbed Brady ended his postgame press conference after just two minutes and 21 seconds.
The Bucs are struggling badly right now, and may not have been a good team to begin with. Their three losses in four weeks have all come at home (and all since Antonio Brown came aboard). And they are 1-4 against teams currently qualified for the playoffs, with their lone win coming against the Packers.
The Bucs were supposed to win the NFC South and contend for the No. 1 seed, but they’re only a half-game ahead of the 6-5 Cardinals, and 1½ games ahead of Minnesota, Chicago, and San Francisco, all of whom are 5-6. The Bucs have a bye this week, and all of those teams have a chance to tighten the standings.
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The Bucs’ closing schedule won’t be that easy, either. They have a home game against Minnesota, a road game at Detroit, and a home-and-home against the Falcons. Though none of those teams has a winning record, the Vikings have won four of their last five, while the Falcons have won three of their last four and just crushed the Raiders. The way the Bucs are playing lately, those games are toss-ups at best.
Brady hasn’t missed the playoffs since 2002, and luckily for the Bucs, seven teams get in the postseason this year. But if the Bucs keep struggling, Brady might be riding Jetskis in January instead of marching toward a seventh Super Bowl trophy.
▪ It was a neat story to see Kendall Hinton get his big chance Sunday, but it made Saints-Broncos mostly unwatchable. Hinton completed just 1 of 9 passes for 13 yards with two interceptions in the Broncos’ 31-3 loss, with his one completion a screen pass to Noah Fant.
Hinton, a practice squad receiver who played a little quarterback at Wake Forest, hadn’t thrown a pass or even been tackled since 2018 and didn’t learn of his start until late Saturday afternoon. He became the first non-quarterback to start at the position since Tom Matte of the 1965 Baltimore Colts.
The NFL cares about getting games played, not the competitiveness of the games. With the pandemic surging again, don’t be surprised to see more teams face a situation like the Broncos’.
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Kendall Hinton (right) was pressed into service as Denver's emergency quarterback.David Zalubowski/Associated Press
▪ The other quarterback in that game wasn’t impressive, either, though he didn’t have to be. Taysom Hill, making his second start, completed just 9 of 16 passes for 78 yards and threw an interception, plus he had 44 rushing yards and two touchdowns. The Saints are 2-0 under Hill, but he has some proving to do as a passer.
▪ Both of the league’s interim coaches are on fire right now. The Texans have won three of four under Romeo Crennel, and they could have won all four if not for a monsoon in Cleveland two weeks ago. And the Falcons improved to 4-2 under Raheem Morris with a 43-6 beatdown of the Raiders. The Falcons scored 43 points despite gaining just 304 yards of offense, thanks to a defense that forced five turnovers.
Crennel is likely just keeping the seat warm in Houston, but Morris, the former Bucs head coach, should have a legitimate shot at becoming the Falcons’ full-time coach.
▪ Jaguars general manager Dave Caldwell certainly deserved the ax, but I’m not sure I’ve ever seen a team fire a GM following a loss but keep the head coach, as Jacksonville did following a 27-25 loss to the Browns.
The Jaguars have lost 10 straight games, and owner Shad Khan likely wanted to start his GM search now, so the new person could help pick the next coach and get started right away on offseason plans. But Khan told Doug Marrone that he will coach the last five games. No need to stop the march for the No. 1 draft pick.
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▪ Speaking of the No. 1 pick, the Jets dropped to 0-11 with a 20-3 loss to the Dolphins, and an 0-16 season is definitely in play. Their final five games are not easy: vs. Raiders, at Seahawks, at Rams, vs. Browns, at Patriots.
Their best shot to win might be this Sunday against a struggling Raiders team, or in Week 17 if the Patriots have nothing to play for. I’m sure Bill Belichick would love nothing more than to wreck the Jets’ chances of getting Trevor Lawrence, even if it means losing a game.
▪ The battle for MVP is looking like it will come down to Aaron Rodgers and Patrick Mahomes, whose teams are the No. 2 seeds in each conference. Rodgers threw four more touchdown passes Sunday, and leads the NFL with a 117.6 passer rating. Mahomes threw for 462 yards and three touchdowns, and is second with a 115.5 passer rating.
Russell Wilson, Deshaun Watson, Derrick Henry, and Dalvin Cook are also in the conversation. But this is likely a two-horse race.
Tracking ex-Patriots
▪ Bucs QB Tom Brady: He is throwing interceptions on 2.3 percent of his passes, his highest rate since 2009.
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▪ Bucs TE Rob Gronkowski: Caught six passes for 106 yards, his first 100-yard game since Week 14 of 2018 against the Dolphins, a streak of 14 games.
▪ Falcons K Younghoe Koo: He was on the Patriots’ practice squad for 11 days last year after Stephen Gostkowski got hurt, but was released after the Patriots went with Nick Folk. Folk has been great this year, but so has Koo, who hit all five of his field goal attempts Sunday. Koo is 29 for 30 this year, including 6 for 6 from 50-plus yards, and leads the NFL in field goals.
Atlanta's Younghoe Koo kept his foot hot, hitting all five field goal attempts against Las Vegas.John Bazemore/Associated Press
▪ Texans WR Brandin Cooks: Had 85 yards on Thanksgiving, and has 719 yards this season, on pace for a 1,000-yard season with his fourth team.
Ex-Patriots coaches
▪ Mike Vrabel, Titans: Major statement win over the Colts, and the Titans are rolling again at 8-3 with the No. 3 seed in the AFC.
▪ Brian Flores, Dolphins: Said after the Jets win that Tua Tagovailoa is still his starting quarterback when he is healthy. But why? Ryan Fitzpatrick is the better QB for their playoff run.
▪ Romeo Crennel, Texans: Now 4-3 after Bill O’Brien went 0-4.
▪ Joe Judge, Giants: Current three-game win streak is over Washington, Philadelphia, and Cincinnati playing with a backup QB, but a win is a win.
▪ Matt Patricia, Lions (fired): With Steve Belichick emerging as the Patriots’ defensive leader, Patricia may have to join up with another ex-Patriot to get back in the game. The Titans don’t have a defensive coordinator and could be a good fit. The Giants also may be a good fit, especially if current DC Patrick Graham gets head coaching buzz.
Stats of the Week
▪ Tyreek Hill’s 203 receiving yards in the first quarter were the second-most in NFL history (Lee Evans, 205 vs. the Texans in 2006). Mahomes’s 229 passing yards in the first quarter were second-most in history (Peyton Manning, 247 vs. the Packers in 2004).
Kansas City's Tyreek Hill backflips into the end zone, one of his three touchdowns on the day.Doug Murray/Associated Press
▪ The Browns have won eight games for the first time since 2007, snapping a streak of 12 straight losing seasons. It was the second-longest streak in NFL history (Bucs, 14 years, 1983-96).
▪ This is the first season in NFL history to have three players with at least 30 touchdown passes through Week 12 (Rodgers, Wilson, and Mahomes).
▪ The Bears joined the 1967 49ers as the only teams to start 5-1 and then lose five straight games.
LA CROSSE, Wis. - (WXOW) - This weekend’s gun deer hunt wraps up in Wisconsin.
As it does, it opens up another potential big help toward helping local food pantries.
Each year hunters have the option of donating portions of their processed deer to local food banks and pantries.
In the La Crosse area, it’s something the Hunger Task Force is always thankful for receiving.
“We love working with the Hunters for the Hungry program,” said Shelly Fortner, Executive Director for the Hunger Task Force. “We know that it’s such a valuable product, it’s protein for people in need, and we are able to give that out.”
Since the venison donation began in 2000, hunters have donated over 90,000 deer which produced some 3.7 million pounds of ground venison.
CLICK HERE to learn more about the DNR’s donation program.
Dublin, Nov. 30, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The "Worldwide Adhesives in the Wind Energy Industry Competitive Analysis and Leadership Study" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering. The adhesives in the wind energy industry manufacture landscape is diverse and continually evolving. Major players in adhesives in the wind energy industry market have diversified product portfolios, strong geographical reach, and have made several strategic initiatives. The dynamics of the adhesives in the wind energy industry market extends beyond routine macro-economic elements of supply and demand. It is the relationship between buyer's needs and seller's capabilities as well as the macroeconomic forces at work that affect the market. It is how well and how efficiently the sellers meet the needs of the buyers that determine long-term success.Over the years, the level of demand for adhesives in the wind energy industry has increased due to significant installation of wind turbines with increasing prevalence of modular blades. Different types of adhesives are used in wind energy such as epoxy adhesives, polyurethane adhesives, and other adhesives and is forecast to grow at a CAGR of 4%. The major growth drivers for this market are the growth of new wind turbine installations and the increasing use of modular wind blades.This report also offers a full competitive analysis from target markets to product mapping, from selling strategies to production capabilities. In this research study, six companies such as Henkel, 3M, Gurit, Momentive, Dow, and Aditya Birla were analyzed and profiled because they are the top revenue producers for adhesives in the wind energy industry. The six profiled manufacturers are grouped in the quadrant. The leadership quadrant analyzes the relative strength among these players. The leadership quadrant addresses the need in the market for manufacturer evaluation based on objective data and metrics. Key Topics Covered: 1. Leadership Analysis1.1: Market Description1.2: Scoring Criteria1.3: Leadership Quadrant Analysis1.3.1: Leaders (Top Right)1.3.2: Contenders (Bottom Right)1.3.3: Visionaries (Top Left)1.3.4: Specialists (Lower Left)2. Competitive Benchmarking2.1: Product Portfolio Analysis2.2: Financial Strength2.3: Market Share Analysis2.3.1: Market Share in Various Segments2.3.2: Market Share in Various Regions3. Henkel Profile3.1: Company Overview3.1.1: Henkel Company Description and Business Segments3.1.2: Henkel Company Statistics3.2: Adhesives in the Wind Energy Industry Business Overview3.2.1: Adhesives in the Wind Energy Industry Business Segment3.2.2: Global Adhesives in the Wind Energy Industry Operations3.2.3: Key Differentiators and Strengths3.3: Products and Product Positioning3.3.1: Product Line Overview3.3.2: Adhesives in the Wind Energy Industry Product Mapping3.3.3: Product Positioning in Market Segments3.4: Markets and Market Positioning3.4.1: Market Position in Global Adhesives in the Wind Energy Industry Business3.5: Revenue Breakdown by Market Segments3.6: Revenue Breakdown by Regions3.7: Production3.7.1: Global Manufacturing Operations3.8: Innovation and Market Leadership3.9: Marketing, Sales, and Organizational Capabilities3.9.1: Marketing and Sales3.9.2: Management Commitment and Track Record3.10: Financial Strength4. 3M Profile5. Gurit Profile6. Momentive Profile7. Dow, Profile8. Aditya Birla Profile For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/r/gec409 Research and Markets also offers Custom Research services providing focused, comprehensive and tailored research. CONTACT: CONTACT: ResearchAndMarkets.com Laura Wood, Senior Press Manager press@researchandmarkets.com For E.S.T Office Hours Call 1-917-300-0470 For U.S./CAN Toll Free Call 1-800-526-8630 For GMT Office Hours Call +353-1-416-8900
The 737 MAX grounding broke a streak of strong performance by Boeing(NYSE:BA) last year. The COVID-19 pandemic has added to Boeing's woes by undermining aircraft demand.
However, Boeing stock has rallied strongly in recent weeks, thanks to promising news about several vaccine candidates and the FAA's recertification of the 737 MAX. Bulls appear confident that earnings and cash flow will recover within a few years, helped by Boeing's position as half of an aircraft manufacturing duopoly (alongside Airbus).
Yet the lifting of the 737 MAX grounding and end of the pandemic won't fix all of Boeing's problems. Investors looking to bet on a recovery in air travel demand would be better off investing in high-quality airline stocks like Delta Air Lines(NYSE:DAL) and JetBlue Airways(NASDAQ:JBLU).
Boeing depends on growth
Investors who have bid up Boeing stock this month may believe that as long as air travel demand returns to 2019 levels within a few years, Boeing's revenue, earnings, and cash flow will recover. That's not necessarily true, though. Unless airlines are actually growing -- not just returning to their pre-pandemic fleet sizes -- aircraft demand will remain far below 2018-2019 levels.
Indeed, Boeing and Airbus built far fewer aircraft annually in the 1990s than they have lately. Mathematically, that means the replacement market is modest in size compared to the total number of aircraft deliveries in recent years. Sure enough, between 2015 and 2018, more than two-thirds of all new commercial jets delivered were used for growth.
Boeing is also losing market share to Airbus in the narrow-body market, which now accounts for the vast majority of commercial jet demand. Today, Airbus' narrow-body backlog is nearly twice as large as Boeing's. However, the airline industry's growth -- or lack thereof -- is a bigger concern at present.
Image source: Boeing.
A brief lesson in airline profitability
U.S. airline stocks have performed quite well over the past decade, as industry consolidation led to sustained profits. Before the pandemic hit, shares of Delta and JetBlue were beating the S&P 500 over that period, and JetBlue stock is still up 128% from 10 years ago, while Delta shares have gained 189%.
This airline renaissance hasn't been a global phenomenon, though. Last year, the global airline industry generated about $26 billion of net income, according to the International Air Transport Association (IATA), about 65% of which came from North America. Delta alone earned $4.8 billion: more than 18% of the total global industry's profits. In Europe and the Asia-Pacific region, low-single-digit profit margins were the norm. Meanwhile, the airline industry lost money in Latin America, the Middle East, and Africa last year. Middle Eastern airlines have been collectively unprofitable since 2017, while the African industry has an even longer streak of losses.
In recent years, many airlines around the world have expanded rapidly despite generating little or no profit. Those carriers were already on the rocks before the pandemic hit. The investors and governments that had been propping them up have learned an expensive lesson in 2020. Those airlines will have to earn the right to grow by first retrenching until they turn profitable.
The case for high-quality airline stocks
Last week, the IATA reiterated its forecast that airlines in every region of the world will be collectively unprofitable in 2021. That could lead to more airline failures. At the very least, it will cause most airlines to focus on shrinking and cutting costs rather than growing.
Well-run U.S. airlines should be among the first in the global industry to return to profitability. Analysts expect both Delta Air Lines and JetBlue Airways to get close to breakeven next year, despite their revenue being down 30% to 40% or more relative to 2019. Both airlines are retiring less-efficient planes, cutting overhead costs, and retooling their route networks to offset the impact of lower revenue.
Thanks to their 2020 cost cuts, Delta and JetBlue would probably earn record profits in 2023 if demand were to recover fully by then. They would also generate plenty of free cash flow to pay down debt accumulated this year. And since neither airline issued stock this year to fund losses, shareholders' stakes haven't been diluted much. Nevertheless, both airline stocks trade well below their early 2020 highs.
Whereas Delta and JetBlue can stage full profit recoveries once demand returns to 2019 levels, Boeing would still be suffering from a lack of industry growth. Many airlines outside the U.S. have been struggling to make money for years, so it could be a long time before the global airline industry returns to its pre-pandemic growth rate. That implies lower demand for commercial jets -- and as noted above, Boeing's market share will be considerably lower than it was two years ago.
In short, Boeing stock probably won't reach new highs until the weakest airlines in the world figure out how to grow profitably. High-quality airline stocks like Delta and JetBlue will be earning record profits long before that happens. That makes them worthier investments.
Earlier this year, Shopify(NYSE:SHOP) surpassed eBay(NASDAQ:EBAY) as the second-largest e-commerce platform in the U.S. by sales volume after Amazon(NASDAQ:AMZN).
That was a humbling blow for eBay, the world's first online auction platform for person-to-person transactions. It also explains why Shopify stock has soared more than 3,700% over the past five years. During that same period, eBay stock rose 76% and Amazon stock advanced 375%.
Image source: Getty Images.
Investors might be reluctant to buy Shopify stock right now, since it trades at over 290 times forward earnings. Meanwhile, eBay stock trades for 14 times forward earnings, which might make it look tempting as a value play. Nevertheless, it's smarter to pay a premium for Shopify than a deep discount for eBay, for three simple reasons.
1. Old e-commerce vs. new e-commerce
eBay's platform was once considered revolutionary. But today, it faces stiff competition from Amazon's third-party sellers, Etsy, and other similar marketplaces. Social media platforms like Pinterest and Facebook's Instagram are also integrating online purchases into their sponsored posts.
Today, Shopify's services are considered disruptive. Instead of providing a centralized marketplace, Shopify's e-commerce tools help over a million merchants set up online stores, process payments, manage marketing campaigns, fulfill orders, and access other services.
In other words, Shopify operates behind the scenes to help companies establish their own online presence without relying on big marketplaces like Amazon and eBay. Shopify also launched Shop, a consumer-facing app that provides searchable listings for its merchants, earlier this year.
Shopify's decentralized approach enables merchants to expand online without diluting their identity, and it's easy to scale as a business grows. By contrast, merchants usually need to buy promoted listings to stand out in eBay's crowded marketplace.
2. Fortune favors the bold
eBay shrank its business over the past five years. It spun off PayPal in 2015, shut down its fixed-price subsidiary Half.com in 2017, sold its online tickets platform StubHub this February, and plans to sell its online classifieds platform by the first quarter of 2021.
eBay also reduced its marketing spending last year. The goal was to boost its profit and take rate -- the percentage of each sale it retains as revenue -- instead of maximizing gross merchandise volume (GMV). Its prioritization of profit over growth, along with its dividends and buybacks, strongly suggest that eBay is a mature tech company with limited growth prospects.
Image source: ebay.
Shopify has expanded significantly since its IPO in 2015. It acquired the digital consulting and product development firm Boltmade in 2016, the drop-shipping platform Oberlo in 2017, and the warehouse automation company 6 River Systems last year.
The company has partnered with Amazon to let merchants sell products on Amazon from their Shopify stores. It has added similar integrations with Facebook, Alphabet's Google, Snap's Snapchat, and ByteDance's TikTok. It also beefed up its premium Shopify Plus tier for larger merchants.
Shopify has also expanded its own payments platform, Shopify Payments, which processed nearly half of its GMV last quarter. It launched its own fulfillment network last year. Finally, it offers additional services via its own app store for online stores.
All those aggressive moves indicate that Shopify is still expanding. It's eager to reinvest its cash into itself instead of divesting businesses and cutting costs to protect its bottom line.
3. Shopify is growing a lot faster
eBay's revenue rose just 1% last year as its GMV dipped 5%. It blamed that sluggish growth on the reduction of its marketing expenses and higher internet sales taxes in several U.S. states. Its adjusted net income rose just 5%, but big buybacks boosted its earnings per share 22%.
This year, eBay expects its revenue to rise 19%-20% after excluding its divested businesses and currency headwinds. Adjusted EPS is on track to grow 18%-20%.
Those growth rates look impressive, but they're mainly attributable to a temporary acceleration in online sales during the pandemic. Looking past that growth spurt, analysts expect eBay's revenue and earnings to grow 7% and 9%, respectively, next year.
Last year, Shopify's revenue rose 47% and its GMV surged 49%, but its adjusted EPS fell 30% as it integrated 6 River Systems into its new fulfillment network. However, analysts expect pandemic-related tailwinds to boost its revenue 81% this year, while adjusted EPS could jump more than tenfold.
Next year, analysts expect Shopify's revenue and earnings to rise 32% and 2%, respectively. Investors should expect Shopify to continue generating high double-digit sales growth, but its earnings growth could remain unpredictable due to the ongoing investments in its ecosystem.
Why Shopify is a better buy than eBay
The e-commerce market is rapidly evolving, and it arguably favors disruptive players like Shopify instead of legacy marketplaces like eBay. Shopify lets merchants build their own online brands and optionally link them to Amazon and social networks. eBay wants to trap them in a walled garden filled with low-priced competitors.
Investors seem to believe Shopify's vision for the future justifies its premium valuation, while eBay deserves a lower valuation. Shopify stock will likely remain volatile, but it should keep attracting more bulls than eBay.
Amusement and pleasant surprises – and the laughter they can trigger – add texture to the fabric of daily life.
Those giggles and guffaws can seem like just silly throwaways. But laughter, in response to funny events, actually takes a lot of work, because it activates many areas of the brain: areas that control motor, emotional, cognitive and social processing.
People begin laughing in infancy, when it helps develop muscles and upper-body strength. Laughter is not just breathing. It relies on complex combinations of facial muscles, often involving movement of the eyes, head and shoulders.
Laughter – doing it or observing it – activates multiple regions of the brain: the motor cortex, which controls muscles; the frontal lobe, which helps you understand context; and the limbic system, which modulates positive emotions. Turning all these circuits on strengthens neural connections and helps a healthy brain coordinate its activity.
By activating the neural pathways of emotions like joy and mirth, laughter can improve your mood and make your physical and emotional response to stress less intense. For example, laughing may help control brain levels of the neurotransmitter serotonin, similar to what antidepressants do. By minimizing your brain’s responses to threats, it limits the release of neurotransmitters and hormones like cortisol that can wear down your cardiovascular, metabolic and immune systems over time. Laughter’s kind of like an antidote to stress, which weakens these systems and increases vulnerability to diseases.
LAUGHTER’S COGNITIVE POWER
A good sense of humor and the laughter that follows depend on an ample measure of social intelligence and working memory resources.
Laughter, like humor, typically sparks from recognizing the incongruities or absurdities of a situation. You need to mentally resolve the surprising behavior or event – otherwise, you won’t laugh; you might just be confused instead. Inferring the intentions of others and taking their perspective can enhance the intensity of the laughter and amusement you feel.
To “get” a joke or humorous situation, you need to be able to see the lighter side of things. You must believe that other possibilities besides the literal exist – think about being amused by comic strips with talking animals, like those found in “The Far Side.”
LAUGHTER’S SOCIAL POWER
Many cognitive and social skills work together to help you monitor when and why laughter occurs during conversations. You don’t even need to hear a laugh to be able to laugh. Deaf signers punctuate their signed sentences with laughter, much like emoticons in written text.
Laughter creates bonds and increases intimacy with others. Linguist Don Nilsen points out that chuckles and belly laughs seldom happen when alone, supporting their strong social role. Beginning early in life, infants’ laughter is an external sign of pleasure that helps strengthen bonds with caregivers.
Later, it’s an external sign of sharing an appreciation of the situation. For example, public speakers and comedians try to get a laugh to make audiences feel psychologically closer to them, to create intimacy.
By practicing a little laughter each day, you can enhance social skills that may not come naturally to you. When you laugh in response to humor, you share your feelings with others and learn from risks that your response will be accepted/shared/enjoyed by others and not be rejected/ignored/disliked.
In studies, psychologists have found that men with Type A personality characteristics, including competitiveness and time urgency, tend to laugh more, while women with those traits laugh less. Both sexes laugh more with others than when alone.
LAUGHTER’S MENTAL POWER
Positive psychology researchers study how people can live meaningful lives and thrive. Laughter produces positive emotions that lead to this kind of flourishing. These feelings – like amusement, happiness, mirth and joy – build resiliency and increase creative thinking. They increase subjective well-being and life satisfaction. Researchers find that these positive emotions experienced with humor and laughter correlate with appreciating the meaning of life and help older adults hold a benign view of difficulties they’ve faced over a lifetime.
Laughter in response to amusement is a healthy coping mechanism. When you laugh, you take yourself or the situation less seriously and may feel empowered to problem-solve. For example, psychologists measured the frequency and intensity of 41 people’s laughter over two weeks, along with their ratings of physical and mental stress. They found that the more laughter experienced, the lower the reported stress. Whether the instances of laughter were strong, medium or weak in intensity didn’t matter.
Maybe you want to grab some of these benefits for yourself – can you force laughter to work for you?
A growing number of therapists advocate using humor and laughter to help clients build trust and improve work environments; a review of five different studies found that measures of well-being did increase after laughter interventions. Sometimes called “homeplay” instead of “homework,” these interventions take the form of daily humor activities – surrounding yourself with funny people, watching a comedy that makes you laugh or writing down three funny things that happened today.
You can practice laughing even when alone. Intentionally take a perspective that appreciates the funny side of events. Laughing yoga is a technique of using breathing muscles to achieve the positive physical responses of natural laughing with forced laughter (ha ha hee hee ho ho).
Researchers today certainly aren’t laughing off its value, but a good deal of the research on laughter’s influence on mental and physical health is based on self-report measures. More psychological experimentation around laughter or the contexts in which it occurs will likely support the importance of laughing throughout your day, and maybe even suggest more ways to intentionally harness its benefits.
"There is an opportunity to rediscover our common ground with one another — and the way forward does not involve relitigating the last four years in federal criminal court," argues Michael Conway, former counsel to the House Judiciary Committee, in an NBC News opinion piece arguing that Joe Biden should actually pardon Donald Trump, for the love of heaven — the incumbent president who's still sending his minions to court, trying to steal the election.
Unfortunately, Biden is living up to every stereotype of the quisling Democrat and taking this advice seriously. Reports suggest that in the interest of national "unity," Biden is discouraging the idea of prosecuting Trump.
This is a serious mistake. Words like "unity" and "forgiveness" sound great in the abstract, but are utterly meaningless in the current political context for one reason: The sole responsibility for all this healing is being foisted, once again, on the backs of liberals. Conservatives can't be bothered. They're too busy working on their next moves to undermine democracy, sow division and create chaos.
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This pattern — Republicans screw everything up and are allowed to get away with it in the name of "unity," and take that as permission to go even further the next time — has been playing out since Richard Nixon first snagged his post-Watergate pardon. In a recent feature in the New York Times Magazine, Jonathan Mahler laid out the frustrating pattern in teeth-grinding detail:
When President George H.W. Bush pardoned six Reagan White House officials who were involved in the Iran-contra affair, he warned of "a profoundly troubling development in the political and legal climate of our country: the criminalization of policy differences." Bush was sparing members of his own party. President Obama created what is perhaps an even more relevant precedent for Biden by choosing not to prosecute members of the George W. Bush administration who had authorized the unlawful torture of detainees; his nominee for attorney general, Eric Holder, used the very same phrase — the criminalization of policy differences — when the issue came up during a 2009 congressional hearing.
Mahler also notes that this goes back to Gerald Ford's pardon of Richard Nixon, which was justified in the name of "healing."
But can a wound really heal when one party is busy applying bandages, while the other lurks in waiting, ready to stab the victim again? Of course not. And that's the problem we're facing. The "unity" isn't unity at all. It's a fake unity in which one side — the side that did not cause the damage wrought by Trump or Bush or Reagan or Nixon — does all the work, while the other side keeps looking for new opportunities to cause trouble. If anything, conservatives grows ever bolder in their corruption, realizing they will never face consequences for their actions, and in fact can count on the left to clean up all their messes for them.
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This is all very reminiscent of the mentality around domestic violence in the bad old pre-feminist days, when wives whose husbands beat them were told to suck it up, walk on eggshells and take the abuse in silence. Only when feminists started setting up domestic violence shelters and pressuring the justice system to start holding abusers accountable did things finally start to change.
Biden himself should understand this, as he was the original sponsor of the Violence Against Women Act, which codified and mainstreamed this notion that abusers should face consequences and victims should be allowed to walk away. Biden's legislation worked: Domestic violence decreased by 67% and murders by men of their female partners declined by 35%. It turns out turning the other cheek was just an invitation to abusers to continue the violence. But introducing consequences for abuse — lost marriages, jail time — saved lives.
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It's time to employ the same logic here. Democrats have tried reconciling with Republicans again and again, but since the work was wholly one-sided and the responsibility for "unity" held only by those who had done the least to destroy it, the result was failure. Instead, Republicans doubled down and doubled down again, escalating from Watergate to Iran-Contra to the Iraq War to now, with a president who is literally trying to steal an election.
All this anxiety around the question of what to do with Trump has little to do with Trump himself. Even those who are waxing poetic about healing and unity are forced to admit Trump is a monster who deserves absolutely nothing. But the fear is that by holding Trump accountable, Biden's administration would be implicitly passing judgment on the millions of Americans who voted for him.
To which I say, good. Consider, for instance, this year's Republican National Convention, a lengthy whine session about "cancel culture" from the various speakers. These were people so unused to facing consequences for their actions that the idea of lost dinner-party invitations seems like a painful price to pay for trying to to end democracy. Trump's voters thrilled to this, enraptured by the idea that they are entitled to lash out at anyone they like, and should never pay even the slightest price — not even a disapproving look from a liberal — in response. They've grown soft and childish in this environment of no consequences, unwilling to take on even the slightest responsibility to their neighbors in the midst of a pandemic.
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It's time to stop coddling the easily hurt feelings of conservatives and instead turn our attention toward the nearly 80 million people who turned out — despite extensive efforts at disenfranchisement — to bring the Trump presidency to an end. What do we owe those Americans, the ones who actually did their part to save this country? Instead of demanding that they do more to pander to conservatives' injured feelings, why not, for once, repay them for their hard work with justice? After all Trump has put this country through, that's the least those who stood up and resisted him deserve.
Here, in one of the wealthiest states in the United States of America, about 2,500 families waited in an hours-long line at Kean University last Saturday, just for a Thanksgiving meal to go. It’s like this across New Jersey. Pantries are seeing double or triple the demand since COVID hit: Cars backed up by the hundreds at some sites, starting before dawn.
“Every other family is folks we are seeing for the first time,” says Carlos Rodriguez, the CEO of the Community Food Bank of New Jersey, which stocks more than 1,000 pantries, kitchens and shelters in 16 counties.
The number of New Jerseyans with unsteady access to food is expected to spike by as much as 56 percent by the end of this year, his group reports, and it’s even more startling in children: A 75 percent increase. That’s a bigger surge than in the country overall, or neighboring states like New York and Pennsylvania, likely because Atlantic City alone has lost so many jobs in bars, restaurants, hotels and casinos.
The New Jersey Restaurant and Hospitality Association estimates between 65 and 70 percent of these folks are still unemployed. So are many of the people we once relied on to care for our kids, clean our homes or fix our roads.
If you’ve been lucky enough to avoid these bread lines, to keep a roof over your head and be hooked up for virtual school, think of them on “Giving Tuesday,” and consider chipping in with all your might. Many can’t afford other essentials either, from diapers to rent. Now’s the time to dig deep.
“Things are bad for tenants now,” says Cathy Keenan of Volunteer Lawyers for Justice. “But all of us who do this work are like, ‘Oh my god, it’s going to be so much worse.”
* * * * *
President Trump and Congress have failed to replace a $600-a-week pandemic unemployment program that ended in July, or make up for the loss of school meals when many schools closed, or agree on a new round of coronavirus relief.
So the more than 1.2 million New Jerseyans who don’t have enough to eat in this pandemic – including nearly 400,000 children – have been left to rely on local nonprofits.
Those groups are gearing up not just to help people cope today, but to brace for the prolonged suffering to come. “Even if things go back to normal and we get the vaccine, the food need continues on for years,” says Suzanne Brown of the New Jersey Pandemic Relief Fund, pointing to the aftermath of the 2008 recession.
This fund, founded by the governor’s wife, Tammy Murphy, has handed out $34 million since COVID hit, to help build up the capacity of local charities. With big cash donations, they can purchase more food in bulk and get it out faster.
On top of the people they regularly serve, even students and former professionals are now seeking out food or cash assistance.
Like Kimberly Morin of Sussex County, a court reporter for many years. She had to quit as she got older, she says, due to her physical ailments: Fibromyalgia, diabetes and back problems that now require surgery. Then the childcare center where she worked closed due to COVID.
“I spent day after day after day trying to call unemployment. It was horrible, absolutely horrible,” she said.
She had no real savings and doesn’t know what she would have done in those first few months, if not for the help she got from the United Way of Northern New Jersey, among others. “I’m not the type of person who likes to depend on people,” she said, then added: “Believe me, I was so grateful.”
* * * * *
The unemployment benefits she’s now receiving will run out come January, a common predicament. Many people lining up for help are on the brink of homelessness, and we can’t hold that off forever by just banning evictions, as the governor did with his moratorium.
Landlords aren’t getting the money they need. The eviction cases they file are likely to number in the hundreds of thousands, advocates predict. Think about the human toll of evicting that many people, all at once.
“It’s going to be a disaster, quite honestly,” says Keenan of Volunteer Lawyers for Justice.
While the majority of landlords have lawyers, 98 percent of tenants do not. Groups like Legal Services of New Jersey do great work, but won’t be able to meet this overwhelming need without an army of reinforcements, says Keenan, who recruits and trains volunteers from established lawyers to law students.
One recent case that comes to mind is a tenant in Morris County with two adult children, she says, who both lost their jobs due to COVID. The landlord can’t evict them yet, but did refuse to fix their faulty stove or restore their hot water.
“The tenants tried to boil water, the oven had a gas leak, and everyone required medical attention for carbon monoxide poisoning,” Keenan said. “That’s exactly what happens. It’s one thing after another thing.”
* * * * *
Sometimes the breaking point is childcare and virtual schooling.
More districts are going all-virtual now, given the rising rates of infection in their communities. Yet an appalling 35,000 students statewide still don’t have the laptop or Wifi they need, the Department of Education just reported.
In East Orange, for instance, more than 6,000 students lack the necessary equipment. And for some families, even that won’t be enough to bridge the so-called digital divide, says Vicky Hernandez, head of the Ironbound Community Corporation (ICC) in Newark.
“They might have gotten the device, but don’t know how to get it to work,” she explains. “It’s a barrier if you have a low education level, if you don’t speak the language. It’s a barrier if your biggest concern of the day is, how am I going to make a living, how am I going to put food on the table? The stress of poverty, frankly.”
In Newark, where school buildings remain closed, a single mother’s only option may be to go clean houses and leave her 8-year-old child behind. In such cases, Hernandez’s group steps in. They operate a remote learning site with classrooms of 10 to 12 kids and an adult leader.
Sometimes, they even foot the bill for kids to participate, when their parents haven’t been able to secure childcare subsidies from the state. Those who are immigrants here illegally are afraid to seek them out, even though they qualify. Others can’t get the necessary documentation, like a day laborer at a different work site every day, who earns cash wages.
But for their children at risk of falling behind, it can make all the difference. “We started the last week of September, and school had been running for 3 weeks,” Hernandez said. “Several had not been logging in with frequency. Some had not logged in at all.”
* * * * *
These groups we talked to are just some of the bigger, better known players working to help victims of the pandemic in New Jersey. But there are little food pantries and volunteer efforts all over the place that are also worth donating to. Call your local mayor, or school district, or just ask Google. Give whatever you can spare. You won’t regret it.
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