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People being targeted in Central Florida after withdrawing money

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Residents in Central Florida have lost more than $100,000 to a rising criminal trend called “bank jugging.”

Investigators say people are following drivers after they withdraw money from a bank, then smash into the person’s car to take the money.

There have been three elderly victims so far, including a 90-year-old. Police say they pull up in a tinted car, typically to a handicapped spot, wait for that person to get the cash and follow them to their next destination, where they steal the item and leave right away.

“It’s become a crime trend since February in Orlando,” Orlando police detective Aaron Goss said.

READ: Florida set to execute man who strangled wife, killed Brevard County nurse with hammer

Police arrested Shawn Glenn Sr. for his involvement in at least two jugging cases from April and May. Investigators say he worked with his son and his girlfriend to rob people across the Orlando area.

Police said they were part of what’s known as the Glenn Crew, believing they could be connected to as many as 13 different jugging cases that have happened in the area, including the three seniors.

“The elderly obviously tugs at the heartstrings a little more than the regular victims,” Goss said.

READ: Crocodile nabs pet pug in Brevard County, wildlife officials investigating

Bank jugging cases are also open in Ocoee, Winter Garden and in Osceola County.

Goss is warning everyone to be on the lookout on their next trip to the bank.

READ: FBI looks for more possible victims after woman escapes from cinderblock cage in Oregon

“They all have serious criminal records that are violent. They all have firearm charges,” he said. “They all have very serious, violent backgrounds. So even though this hasn’t escalated to violence yet, the propensity is always there.”

Goss said one of the best ways to be wary is to just overall be aware of your surroundings. And if you do take the money out, put it in your pocket before you leave the doors. If you have another errand to run after you stop at the bank, take that money with you.

Click here to download the free WFTV news and weather apps, click here to download the WFTV Now app for your smart TV and click here to stream Channel 9 Eyewitness News live.

Leprosy May Be Endemic in Central Florida, Scientists Report

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Leprosy, also known as Hansen’s disease, is caused by slow-growing bacteria called Mycobacterium leprae. About 95 percent of people are genetically resistant to the bacteria.

There were 159 new cases in 2020, the most recent year for which national data are available. New cases are reported most commonly in Florida, California, Louisiana, Hawaii, New York and Texas. Central Florida accounts for 81 percent of the cases reported in that state.

The bacteria are thought to be transmitted by droplets from the nose and mouth of an infected patient, but only after close, sustained contact. Armadillos famously carry the bacteria, and people may become infected through contact with the animals.

Caught early enough, leprosy can be cured with standard antibiotic drugs taken over a year. Treatment can make patients noninfectious within a week.

But, left untreated, the bacteria can damage nerves and lead to permanent disabilities including paralysis and blindness. The physical changes associated with the disease can also lead to the enduring stigmatization and isolation of infected people.

“The fact that this patient had never traveled outside of the state of Florida was something that we just wanted to bring to light to those clinicians and physicians that are in the area,” said Dr. Rajiv Nathoo, a dermatologist and senior author on the study.

M. leprae may damage skin, peripheral nerves, the upper respiratory tract and the eyes.

The disease starts with either discolored, numb patches on the skin or with tiny nodules under it. Early symptoms can easily be mistaken for other skin conditions like psoriasis or eczema. Symptoms can develop as many as 20 years after exposure, making it even more challenging to diagnose the disease.

Left untreated, the bacteria slowly destroy nerves and muscles, leading to striking deformities in the hands and feet, sometimes referred to as claw hands and hammer toes.

The disease was first described thousands of years ago. While it may seem like a thing of the past, roughly 200,000 new infections continue to crop up all over the world each year, with a majority in Southeast Asia and India, according to the World Health Organization.

Eliminating the disease in some countries like India has proved to be much more challenging than public health officials expected.

Researchers have identified a second type of bacteria that leads to leprosy. Both pathogens are close cousins of the bacteria that cause tuberculosis.

None of these bacterial species can easily be cultured in the lab, leaving many questions unanswered about the disease’s transmission and progression.

New cases of leprosy were often diagnosed in people who had traveled to other parts of the world. But since 2015, more than one-third of the cases in the United States have been locally acquired.

Many new patients report no travel or contact with armadillos that would explain their infection, according to the researchers.

Women’s World Cup: U.S. Settles for Draw With Portugal, Knowing It Could Have Been Worse

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For more than a generation, the United States women’s national team has played out some of its best moments on the world’s biggest stages, in front of the biggest crowds in women’s soccer. World Cup finals. Olympic gold medal games. The team has, over the years, won many of those games, a long line of days to remember.

On Tuesday, though, on a chilly night in the depths of the New Zealand winter, the Americans almost endured a day they would never be able to forget.

The ending did not, in the end, go completely wrong: The United States players held on desperately to preserve a 0-0 tie with Portugal, a result that delivered them, safely but scared out of their wits, to the knockout rounds of the Women’s World Cup.

That will have to do after a game in which the United States failed to create enough scoring chances, wasted the ones it did and then flirted with catastrophe as a Portuguese shot hit the post and caromed out in second-half injury time.

The near miss was perhaps symbolic of a night that qualified as the same, of a game in which the United States, a four-time winner of the World Cup, came within inches of a stunning — and, for them, unprecedented — group-stage exit.

Far to the south in Dunedin, the Netherlands had won the teams’ group by thrashing Vietnam, 7-0, in a game played simultaneously to the United States’ dance with disaster at Eden Park in Auckland. That lopsided result was relegating the Americans to second place in the group even as the teams played, but only if they did not lose to Portugal. In the second half, survival had become the main U.S. priority.

Jill Roord scored the seventh goal for the Netherlands in a romp past Vietnam.Credit…Molly Darlington/Reuters

The team had created chances, but not nearly enough and none of them particularly dangerous. As the game went on, and the stakes rose, they kept coming, and then going: shots sent high, or wide, or straight at the goalkeeper.

“This team gave everything,” U.S. forward Alex Morgan said. “We just didn’t put the ball in the net.”

An autopsy of all that went wrong for the United States can come later. Disconnected passes. Defensive failures. Substitutes sent on too late, or not at all.

Morgan dismissed the result as “unlucky,” which may be partially true. But the U.S. was also phenomenally lucky when the Portugal substitute Ana Capeta slipped behind its back line early in second-half injury time and pinged a shot off the right post.

By then the Americans had already shifted into safety mode, inserting a fifth defender as they tried to preserve what they could. The clock wound down, and then ran out, and the relief on the U.S. side was palpable.

“The most important thing,” U.S. Coach Vlatko Andonovski said, “is we got the job done.”

Afterward, he gathered his team in a wide circle on the field and spoke to the players briefly. But only after the veteran defender Kelley O’Hara had been allowed to have her say first. She offered a brief but impassioned address, punctuated by hand gestures and steely-eyed stares into her teammates’ eyes.

“I just told them, ‘Listen, guys, we did what we had to do,’” O’Hara said. “‘This game’s done. Group stage is done. We advanced.’” She, like several of her other teammates, seemed to know that low bar will not be good enough moving forward.

The U.S. team will likely get Sweden in the round of 16.Credit…David Rowland/Reuters

Others were less forgiving. On television, the former national team player Carli Lloyd excoriated her former team, and her former teammates, for their play, their preparations and their commitment, but also for what she saw as their temerity in taking postgame selfies with fans and dancing after treading so close to a humiliating exit. “The player of the match,” she said acidly, “was that post.”

Others noted the result had not come in isolation, and was the latest in a long string of just-good-enough scores over the past few months. The Americans had struggled to impose themselves on teams like Ireland and Wales before the World Cup; they failed to dominate Vietnam in their opener; and they were outplayed for a half before rallying for a tie against the Netherlands. Against Portugal, they nearly bottomed out.

Asked if he felt his team had deserved to win at Eden Park, Portugal’s coach, Francisco Neto, replied unequivocally. “What do you think?” he asked rhetorically. “Of course, yes.”

“Unfortunately we didn’t win,” he added, “and we go home.”

Instead it is the Americans who are through to the round of 16 — likely to a difficult game against Sweden, one of the world’s best teams and a title contender in its own right, on Sunday in Melbourne. After Tuesday night, that qualified as reward enough for the U.S. team.

Its players may be happy to leave Auckland behind for a few days after their narrow escape. They will be thrilled if they get a chance to return deeper in the tournament.

Reporters Newswire Continues Its Ascent To The Top of The Newswires

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Hundreds of accolades continue to arrive on a daily basis.

Orlando, Florida, August 2, 2023, The team at Reporters Newswire reports that they have been inundated with accolades from all sectors. It looks like their no-nonsense approach to running newswires was greatly needed in the mainstream media. Traffic has continued to increase as visitors tell their friends and family to stop there for the latest news.

At a recent press event, Reporters Newswire’s founder and CEO, Robert Nelson, made these comments, “It is high time that we stop the spread of Fake News. Those of us in the news media sector owe it to our followers to make sure we verify any outlandish claims. It is incumbent upon us to always run our organizations with fairness in mind. It is the American way.”

Reporters Newswire will be adding services to the platform. They will be adding a Crypto Ticker for all of the Crypto and NFT enthusiasts. Robert said, “Overall, I am very happy with the look of our new newswire platform. We will continue to make improvements all of the time. Site visitors are welcome to give us feedback and suggestions.”

It is the policy of Reporters Newswire not to accept advertising for such topics as Recreational Drugs, Alcohol Products, Sexual Aides of any kind, Diet Supplements and Plans, Certain Crypto Products that do not pass the “Scam Test”, Dating Apps, etc.

News Alerts will be offered based on people’s news-keyword criteria. No personal information will be gathered and shared. Another part of this site’s priority is adding protection for children while using the internet. Parents and guardians are encouraged to observe, participate in, and/or monitor and guide their online activity.

Reporters Newswire does not knowingly collect any Personal Identifiable Information from children under the age of 13. If a parent thinks that their child provided this kind of information on this website, it is strongly encouraged to contact the team immediately and they will do their best efforts to promptly remove such information from the records.

For more information, visit: https://reportersnewswire.com/

Media Contact:

Reporters Newswire
Attn: Media Relations
Orlando, Florida
info@reportersnewswire.com

A Slice of Big Sky Country You Won’t See on ‘Yellowstone’

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Recently, western Montana and cities like Bozeman are experiencing a surge in popularity because of the wildly successful drama “Yellowstone” and its prequels “1883” and “1923.”

But some of Montana’s most intriguing areas are those that remain untouched by the limelight.

The Hi-Line is one of them. It’s the stretch of U.S. Highway 2 that traverses northern Montana for about 650 miles.

Remote and vast, this part of Montana is a place where rows of golden wheat fields recede into endless horizons; where a long two-lane highway is colored by grain elevators, railroad cars and century-old homesteading remnants; and where you might drive past a welcome sign that reads: “RUDYARD: 596 Nice People — 1 Old Sore Head!”

In May, I traveled to the Hi-Line for a three-day road trip to explore the section between the towns of Shelby, in the west, and Malta, in the east. This 190-mile expanse was once shortgrass prairie — until the 1890s, when the Great Northern Railroad, under the leadership of James Hill, laid down steel tracks across the open plains. Soon afterward, settlers followed, wheat farms proliferated and, eventually, when roads were paved and joined together, Montana’s U.S. Highway 2 was established. Today, when people refer to the Hi-Line, they don’t just mean a strip of pavement; instead, the name refers to an area that encompasses the road, the railway and the neighboring farms, ranches, homes, businesses and communities.

In Shelby, after peering into several of its windows, it became clear that the Marias Museum of History and Art was closed. But a nearby resident who was outside in his yard referred me to his neighbor, whose wife’s family knew someone from the museum. In a matter of moments, the neighbor’s wife had the phone number of Tracy Dumas, a museum guide. Mr. Dumas’s wife, Luana, answered the neighbor’s wife’s phone call and explained that Mr. Dumas was mowing the lawn, which was exactly what Mrs. Dumas wanted him to be doing.

Thirty minutes later, on a break from his yardwork, Mr. Dumas, who has lived in Shelby his entire life — “I’m either tough or dumb,” he said — let me into the museum. The collection includes homesteading memorabilia; boxing gloves that belonged to Tommy Gibbons, a contender in Shelby’s 1923 world heavyweight title bout against Jack Dempsey; and a reptile display mounted by the renowned paleontologist Jack Horner, a Shelby native who served as an adviser on many “Jurassic Park” films.

Departing from Shelby, heading east, I watched as the sun illuminated the Sweet Grass Hills, three low volcanic mountains that are sacred to the Blackfeet Nation, whose reservation borders Glacier National Park. (The community lost its longtime and influential leader, Earl Old Person, in 2021.)

As I turned onto Tiber Road, toward Lake Elwell, I remembered the foreboding question posed to me earlier that day: “Do you know how to drive on a gravel road?”

Of course I know how to drive on a gravel road, I thought. I’ve lived in Bozeman for 29 years — though it has been a very long time since I’ve changed a tire.

The 15-mile stretch redefined “gravel road.” What followed was bumpy, barren, desolate, dusty, hot, lonely and relentless. When I finally caught a glimpse of the lake, I mistook it for a mirage. As I got closer, I realized that the clear bright green water and surrounding sandstone and shale formations were real.

Back on the paved road in Inverness, about 35 miles northeast of the lake, I discovered the Inverness Bar and Supper Club, where one of the owners, Shawn Byxbe, took turns tending bar with Dalton Dahlke, her 91-year-old father, as locals chatted about things like the weather, “summer fallow” — a period when cropland is deliberately kept out of production to allow it to rest — and high school sporting events.

“The supper club has not changed since I was a little kid,” said 36-year-old Conrad Wendland, a fifth-generation Rudyard farmer who spends the off-season in Los Angeles working for a film crew. In February, he purchased the Hi-Line Theater, a small movie establishment in Rudyard, six miles east of Inverness.

“The theater is special because it looks mostly like it did when it opened in 1949,” Mr. Wendland explained. In fact, a lot of places on the Hi-Line haven’t changed over the years, he said.

On his family farm, Mr. Wendland and his father are currently raising winter and spring wheat with the intention of diversifying their crops. It’s a dryland farming area, he said, meaning farmers don’t use irrigation to help water their crops. Instead, he explained, they employ all kinds of methods and strategies to optimize growing conditions: plowing, fertilizing, spraying, resting and rotating crops.

But with all the variables — weather, market prices, world events and nonstop physical exertion — this work is not for the faint of heart. “Despite all of the challenges, I fell in love with farming in a way that I didn’t fully expect,” Mr. Wendland said.

When I asked Ray Lipp, a crop insurance agent of 47 years who lives in the town of Hingham, seven miles east of Rudyard, about farming on the Hi-Line, he said, “We are always griping and moaning: It’s either too wet or it’s too dry or it’s this or it’s that.”

He sent me off to find a song by Wylie Gustafson called “Dry Land Farm.”

“All the neighbors’ farms got rain, but I never get a drop on mine,” the song goes.

“Yeah, things are cool for every fool but the man on the dry land farm.”

The landscape is so wide open here, Mr. Lipp’s wife, Joanie, explained, and the sky so big and boundless, that a farmer can see a potentially damaging hailstorm from miles away, possibly hours before it hits his property — and sometimes just in time to secure last-minute crop insurance.

Hailstorms, Mr. Lipp said, usually occur in June and July, in the late afternoon or early evening. Every storm is different; some are a mile wide, some 10. “But a lot of them, with the wind, they just knock everything to the ground.”

A lot of farming is gambling, he said. People hope they can get ahead and make enough to be in business next year.

“This is ‘next year’ country,” Mrs. Lipp said.

The next morning, I arrived in the city of Havre — 35 miles east of Hingham — to meet David Sageser at the local mall for a tour of the Wahkpa Chu’gn Buffalo Jump. Soon I would be driving through tribal lands, and this was an opportunity to learn about the historical culture.

Mr. Sageser began the tour as we walked through the mall’s fluorescent-lit hallway to a rear exit. Moments later, to my surprise and delight, we stood at an interpretive panel in front of a grand view: wild grasslands, majestic badlands and the iconic Milk River.

The Wahkpa Chu’gn Buffalo Jump was rediscovered in 1961 by the budding archaeologist John Brumley, who was 14 years old at the time. Approximately 2,000 years ago, the site was used to harvest bison by Indigenous peoples who hunted the animals by guiding them over a blind cliff.

Mr. Sageser concluded our tour at Havre’s H. Earl Clack Museum, where I marveled at 75-million-year-old dinosaur eggs and embryos. A few blocks away, Havre Beneath the Streets offers a fascinating look at businesses — including a saloon, a brothel and an opium den — that relocated underground in the aftermath of a citywide fire in 1904.

In Chinook, about 25 miles east of Havre, I visited the Blaine County Museum to watch “Forty Miles From Freedom,” a short multimedia piece about the history of the Nez Perce War. Later, on the 67-mile drive to Malta, my final destination on the Hi-Line, I had time to reflect on the eloquence of Chief Joseph’s speech on Oct. 5, 1877, as he surrendered near the Bears Paw Mountains: “Hear me, my chiefs. My heart is sick and sad. From where the sun now stands, I will fight no more forever!”

On the drive to Central Avenue, my phone rang. It was my 15-year-old son calling, looking for his learner’s driving permit. Our conversation reminded me of the long return trip ahead of me. But first, a stop at Coffee Central, where I briefly chatted with a few locals.

In addition to his role as coffee shop barista, Tyler Arnold is a pharmacy technician at a drugstore one block away. Mr. Arnold grew up on the Arnold Ranch, a cattle ranch about 70 miles from Malta. Unlike Mr. Wendland’s farm in Rudyard, the Arnold Ranch uses irrigation to help water its crops.

In a phone conversation after we met, Mr. Arnold talked about the family establishment and recent ranching conditions in the Malta area, which has experienced a drought for the past five-plus years. “And now grasshoppers, which thrive in dry conditions, are the worst they’ve been in years,” Mr. Arnold said. “They’ve eaten more crop than we can grow — and that goes for a lot of the farmers and ranchers around here, unfortunately.”

Sipping coffee at a table near the counter, Dyllan Herman told me he moved to Malta from Billings in April. “I always wanted to live in a small town and own my own business,” he said. “I like the quiet of a small town — and there’s good fishing at Nelson Reservoir.”

Another woman at the coffee shop invited me to a fund-raising event down the street for a high school basketball alumnus who’s fighting cancer.

The woman had recently lost her husband and daughter, and believes that life’s losses come in “clusters.”

“You’ve got to hold on to what you’ve got,” she said.

With that in mind, I headed home to Bozeman.

Janie Osborne is a photographer and writer based in Bozeman, Mont. You can follow her work on Instagram.

Follow New York Times Travel on Instagram and sign up for our weekly Travel Dispatch newsletter to get expert tips on traveling smarter and inspiration for your next vacation. Dreaming up a future getaway or just armchair traveling? Check out our 52 Places to Go in 2023.

The Michigan Economic Development Corporation (MEDC) Launches Important Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Strategic Planning to Bolster Michigan’s Competitive Advantage

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Michigan, August 2, 2023, TPMA announced today that it has partnered with the Michigan Economic Development Corporation (MEDC) as its strategic consultant to lead diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) strategic planning for the organization. This is an important milestone for MEDC as it strives to be best-in-class among state economic development organizations as it relates to equity and inclusion.

“TPMA is excited to partner with MEDC to support this important initiative. We believe that true impact is made when diverse backgrounds, experiences, and perspectives are present at the table. We are honored to be at that table with MEDC and contributing to Michigan’s competitive advantage as a welcoming business environment for all,” says Megan Wagner, Senior Director of Strategic Business Relations who is advising the partnership.

MEDC, in collaboration with more than 100 economic development partners, markets Michigan as the place to do business, assists businesses in their growth strategies, and fosters the growth of vibrant communities across the state.

Equitable, high-wage growth became a core guiding principle during the development of MEDC’s strategic plan in 2019. Through the refresh of the strategic plan in 2022, equity was reaffirmed as a priority in every aspect of MEDC programs and operations.

“As the MEDC continues to grow and evolve, so too has our commitment to equitable growth and prosperity. This has been demonstrated in our shift to a more local, regionalized approach to support businesses and communities, the growth of our DEI team, the creation of our Small Business Services and Solutions team, and more initiatives forthcoming” said MEDC’s Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Officer Aileen Bovan. “TPMA was chosen in a competitive process for their extensive experience working with statewide organizations, having a proven track record in economic development, and a clear understanding of what the MEDC is hoping to accomplish. We look forward to the results of their work.”

Planning is already underway and will include robust research, an intensive organizational review, and a DEI roadmap for the future. For more information, contact Steven Gause, Director of Strategy and Growth Initiatives, at sgause@tpma-inc.com.

About TPMA:

TPMA empowers organizations and communities through strategic partnerships and informed solutions that create positive, sustainable change. For community champions who are loyal to improving local and regional economic outcomes, TPMA provides professional consulting services and delivers transparent insights to the complete workforce, education, and economic development ecosystem that allows them to move forward, together. TPMA envisions a world that thinks strategically, works collaboratively, and acts sustainably. For complete information, visit: www.tpma-inc.com and follow TPMA on LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter.

For complete information, visit: www.tpma-inc.com and follow TPMA on LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter. 

Media Contact:

TPMA
Attn: Steven Gause, Director, Strategy + Growth
1630 N. Meridian Street
Suite 330, Indianapolis, IN 46202
317.894.5508
info@tpma-inc.com   

“Being A Leader Is Lonely” – Meet The Pioneering New Start-Up Helping Tech CEOs Fulfill Their True Potential

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CNNTurk.com journalist, Cigdem Oztabak, launched Pirix in December 2022, less than two years after leaving Istanbul to start a new life in the USA. It has already worked with a significant amount of success, providing a ‘brave new world’ consulting model that merges data-led humanistic and honest feedback to create powerful content and go-to-market strategies.

Miami, Florida, August 1, 2023, A Turkish-born female entrepreneur is living her American dream after successfully launching a pioneering company that provides CEOs and senior technology leaders with the trusted executive advice they cannot access within their organizations.

Pirix has earned plaudits from its American, German, and UK-based clients, with Oztabak speaking daily to global CEOs who need a different perspective on their biggest challenges.

“Being a leader is lonely,” says Oztabak. “Sometimes all you hear is ‘I agree’ because your team thinks that’s what you want to hear. In contrast, Pirix offers a Founder-As-A-Service or Mentor-In-Residence approach, and the reaction has been incredibly positive.

“Every day, we talk on the phone with CEOs and founders who’ve engaged us for an outside view. They want sincere conversations, trusted brainstorming sessions, and a safe space to think through their ideas away from their immediate team.”

During a two-decade career in marketing and technology, Cigdem Oztabak has witnessed the spectacular growth of a range of start-ups – and the quickfire failure of countless others. That experience has helped her make an immediate impact on Pirix’s rapidly expanding client base.

She adds: “So many start-ups crash and burn because they create something the world doesn’t need. They’re so caught up in their own ideas that they forget to check if other people want them”.

“Here’s the deal: every founder needs good friends who are supportive and pleasant. They help you get through the rough days. But you also need some brutally honest folks around you. They won’t sugarcoat things and they might sound harsh, but they’ll keep you grounded. They’ll tell you if your idea’s a dud – and you need that more than anything. That’s the Pirix promise.”

A significant part of Oztabak’s success has been generated by the development of Pirix’s product content market fit matrix. This approach educates technical teams to understand that any product development must be born from a deep synergy between customer challenges, creative marketing strategies, and thorough market research.

Oztabak says: “If you want to sell anything, you first need to convince people you’re an expert in that area. You also need to care deeply about the challenges they face. You need to understand how your product fares against all the others. And you need to consider the value proposition from every possible angle.”

It’s a process Oztabak honed during her pre-launch efforts of Pirix. During spells in Hawaii, San Francisco, and New York, she networked extensively to build a deep knowledge of the US workplace culture, her target customers, and how best she could serve them.

That effort has been reflected in Pirix’s early successes – and Oztabak is eyeing future growth with confidence. A study by Boston Consulting Group found start-ups with diverse management teams generated 19% more revenue than their competitors while female-led start-ups have been shown to achieve 50% higher revenue with 50% less funding than male-founded start-ups.

Oztabak regularly gives inspirational talks to female founders in her home country of Türkiye, sharing her own experiences as well as insights into the latest technological developments in the United States. She also offers free mentorship and supports in their business successes.

CEOs and founders looking for trusted, experienced, and insightful personal support can visit the Pirix website to arrange a personal introduction with Cigdem Oztabak.

About Pirix:

Founded in December 2022, Pirix is a global marketing and management consultancy that works hand-in-glove with CEOs, founders, and senior executives. Its founder, Cigdem Oztabak, was born and educated in Istanbul, Turkey. Her MBA thesis was on the “Impact of Social Media on Product Marketing – 2012“. She is a product marketing and communication expert.

Cigdem was an esteemed CNNTurk.com journalist and is an International Federation of Journalists member. She is a podcast host on MetaCafe~FutureLink.

Cigdem was awarded the Stevie Awards 2022 Women in Business Mentor of the Year (Marketing and PR)

For complete information, visit:  https://www.pirix.co/

Media Contact: Pirix Inc.
Attn: Media Relations
Miami, FL
cigdem@pirix.co

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“Being A Leader Is Lonely” - Meet The Pioneering New Start-Up Helping Tech CEOs Fulfill Their True Potential 2

Trim Landscaping Continues Its Ascent To The Top of Their Profession -They Have Expanded To 17 Cities & 11 States Across The Continental USA

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 Trim Landscaping is all about turning outdoor spaces into pure magic, and their clients’ words truly speak for themselves. Trim is passionate about crafting the most breathtaking landscapes and taking care of those lawns like they’re own.

Phoenix, Arizona, August 1, 2023, Founded by Jacob Krum, Trim Landscaping began its journey in 2021 and entered the industry with remarkable gusto. Humbly located in Phoenix, AZ, Trim has expanded to 17 cities & 11 states across the continental US, offering ease and reliability to landscaping maintenance and upkeep for residential, corporate, and commercial properties alike.

Designed distinctly for client satisfaction, the vision of Trim’s founders guarantees a worry-free experience through consistent hospitality and resourcefulness, as well as integrity and growing rapport. In essence, Trim introduces charms of charisma and commitment to the landscaping community.

Planted as a concept purely for customer success, Trim began as a small entity designed for local clients and contractors. As each project intensified and requests amplified, the internal department recognized a need for change and revolutionary expansion. Characteristics of loyalty, integrity, and achievement began to instill themselves as Trim also embraced the value of family. The team’s resilience and determination inspired motivation, and opportunities to redefine lawn care proved fulfilling in numerous capacities.

As of August 2022, Trim Landscaping has sown seeds across the country and proudly services clients in multiple metropolitan areas. Certified skills and services attract partners in residential properties, as well as corporate real estate and property management companies. Trim’s dedication to customers sets their objectives apart from entities purely seeking financial gain; Trim relishes networking and preserving connections beyond projects completed. Be it personal or professional satisfaction sought through landscaping services, Trim maintains the tools and talent to make it happen.

For those considering landscape maintenance or general upkeep, Trim maintains an online presence for virtual consultations, quotes, and common inquiries. Current Property Management partners include Street Lane Keller Williams, Golden West, and MYND, as well as homeowners in reputable locations around the country. Trim promotes a successful business philosophy regarding customer service, boasting credibility and satisfaction with a smile. Accessibility is essential – clients and contractors can expect extraordinary service from Trim’s internal team and partners.

Upon consultation, a 24-hour turnaround is provided for each quote, encouraging ease in determining the next steps. Quotes transform into personal work orders, assigned to skilled contractors, and monitored by Market Managers through the point of completion. Each project is prioritized with integrity and reliability, allowing each client to embrace simplicity and delight while enjoying their personal piece of nature.

Landscaping services and maintenance appointments of the past may have been lackluster or monotonous, but Trim takes pride in personalizing each project as a future relationship. Gone are the days of tardiness and indolence; weeks-long services with indefinite timelines are not synonymous with Trim’s vision. Along every step of the journey, Trim’s devotion to client and contractor success is portrayed through correspondence, consideration, and commitment.

The team of dedicated Market Managers assigns each work order in accordance with the area and project requested; certified local contractors, as partners of Trim, are committed to providing the highest quality of skills and services. Past projects have included tree trimming, irrigation, sod/turf installation, as well as foliage cleanup, and routine upkeep. Online, Trim embraces the opportunity to educate by regularly producing content promoting sustainability, conservation, and landscaping enhancement techniques.

Information pertaining to water usage, fertilization, gardening tips, and grass alternatives can be located in Trim’s blog, while personal contractor and client testimonials speak for themselves on social platforms. Exceeding expectations and delivering consistent results are integral to the Trim experience: “We do better, so they do their best.”

Trim Landscaping has revolutionized the perspective of clients and contractors regarding lawn care routines and has introduced an era of compatibility through loyalty, achievement, and integrity. A new focus on landscaping enhancement is underway as Trim continues to grow, supporting local contractors, small businesses, and clients in several capacities. With every work order, Trim guarantees 100% satisfaction and efficiently considers necessary revisions to ensure a worry-free experience.

Additional services are always an option; Trim takes pride in maintaining a working relationship with each client, regardless of needs or portfolio. There are no trees too tall or lawns too small for Trim’s expertise – consistency and quality performance will determine a perfect result, every time. If Trim’s business philosophy is appealing, consider contacting their team for a consultation today.

For complete information, visit: https://trimlandscaping.com/

Media Contact:

Trim Landscaping
Attn: Media Relations
Phoenix, AZ
(833) 746-8746
partnerships@trimlandscaping.com

DeSantis’s Super PAC Burned Through $34 Million as He Slid in Polls

By
Reporters News Wire
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0

The super PAC supporting the presidential campaign of Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida spent nearly $34 million in recent months, pouring money into voter outreach, advertising, polling, consultants and other expenses as his standing in the polls steadily slipped.

Newly released financial filings show that the super PAC, Never Back Down, had nearly $97 million in cash on hand at the end of June, vastly more money than other Republicans in the race, including the front-runner, former President Donald J. Trump.

But that haul may end up being a high-water mark. Since the close of the filing period, some top Republican donors have begun backing away from Mr. DeSantis as his campaign has floundered, according to two people familiar with the candidate’s and the super PAC’s fund-raising.

At the same time, the super PAC is spending aggressively — particularly on a sprawling voter contact operation in the early states.

The influence and scope of super PACs have exploded in the last decade as a series of Supreme Court rulings opened the door to unlimited political spending. Contributions to a presidential candidate’s own campaign are still strictly limited to $3,300 each in the primary and general election — a cap meant to curb the influence of big donors. But super PACs can accept limitless money so long as they operate independently. Mr. DeSantis and his allies are the latest to test the limits what exactly operating independently means.

Today, Never Back Down isn’t just supplementing the campaign’s work; it has taken over nearly every aspect of the DeSantis campaign — staging events that the candidate attends as a “special guest,” running a bus tour through Iowa and paying people to knock on voters’ doors to sell them on the virtues of Mr. DeSantis.

It remains unclear whether Mr. DeSantis’s allies will be able to continue to raise the large sums of money required to sustain this gargantuan effort. His campaign has already fired more than a third of its staff to cut costs, and his super PAC is bearing even more of the burden of his daily operation. The filings showed that the super PAC had received donations of more than $1 million from just seven wealthy Republicans, or firms connected to them. One of those donors, Saul Fox, also gave money to a super PAC supporting Mr. Trump.

Officials with the group falsely exaggerated the strength of their early fund-raising, records show. They publicly claimed at the end of March that they had brought in $30 million; the filings show the actual amount was just under $23 million.

The super PAC did not reach $30 million until almost two months later, the week that Mr. DeSantis formally became a presidential candidate. An official with the group did not explain why they had initially provided a misleading number.

When Mr. DeSantis’s super PAC made the earlier claim about its fund-raising, the money raised came primarily from a single megadonor, Robert Bigelow, a real estate and aerospace mogul from Las Vegas.

The DeSantis super PAC was funded chiefly by Mr. DeSantis’s state committee, which transferred $82.5 million to it. The super PAC raised $48 million from other donors and spent $33.8 million, more than two-thirds of all the money it raised from new contributors.

More than half of its spending — over $18 million — was routed through various entities connected to Jeff Roe, the group’s chief strategist, who has served as a top adviser to Senator Ted Cruz of Texas and to the campaign of Gov. Glenn Youngkin of Virginia. Mr. Roe’s company, Axiom Strategies, either owns those firms or has invested in them, according to a company document. (A Never Back Down official insisted that the polling firm WPA Intelligence should not count as one that Axiom had a real stake in.)

Never Back Down also made two payments totaling $343,757 to a limited liability corporation called N2024D for “transportation management/travel service.” The company, which was registered days before Mr. DeSantis entered the race, also received money from Mr. DeSantis’s campaign, financial filings show.

On Monday, Chris Jankowski, the chief executive of Never Back Down, sent donors a memo to assuage potential concerns about spending. It provided an unusual level of disclosure to donors, detailing who is getting paid what by the super PAC in a proactive attempt to fend off questions of profiteering for a $130 million organization that emerged out of nowhere in just over 100 days.

The memo said that four out of five dollars were going to voter contacts and that AxMedia, a company controlled by Mr. Roe that was hired to place television ads, is receiving less of a percentage than the industry standard. It also said that Mr. Roe’s firm provided an in-kind donation of $409,000 for travel and meals, and maintained that the firm Axiom operated at a net loss for the reporting period.

Another $2.8 million went to a company called Blitz, which is owned by GP3, a company partly controlled by Phil Cox, an adviser to Mr. DeSantis who spent a stint with the super PAC and is now informally helping the campaign.

The memo also extolled Never Back Down’s efforts to promote Mr. DeSantis after Mr. Trump’s first indictment in April with an ad blitz it described as the “surge.” It also argued that the super PAC helped Mr. DeSantis maintain his standing in early states at a challenging moment when a pro-Trump super PAC was attacking him.

“Every conversation at the door, every text message reply is making us smarter and more efficient,” Mr. Jankowski said in a statement. “We are running a full-scale operation that has never been done before at this level by either party. Donald Trump is using most of his donors’ money to cover his legal fees.”

Never Back Down’s $96.7 million war chest overshadows that of the super PAC backing Mr. Trump’s campaign, which entered July with $30 million on hand, the filings showed. Donations to Make America Great Again Inc., a Trump-aligned super PAC, have picked up as Mr. Trump’s lead over Mr. DeSantis has widened. Even as Mr. Trump’s dominance over the field has appeared to solidify in polls, his legal battles have drained finances from his political action committee.

In an interview with Bret Baier on Fox News that aired Monday evening, Mr. DeSantis argued that he was better equipped than Mr. Trump to defeat President Biden in a general election.

“The polls that come out, I beat Biden in Georgia, Trump doesn’t,” the governor said. “I beat Biden soundly in Arizona. Trump doesn’t. Those are just the realities.”

Mr. DeSantis’s campaign confirmed later that he was referring to two surveys conducted by Public Opinion Strategies, a polling firm working for his campaign. One survey, a poll from July involving voters in Arizona, showed Mr. DeSantis faring better against Mr. Biden than Mr. Trump. A survey of voters in Georgia found a similar dynamic, though it took place in June, and the Florida governor’s polling has suffered a precipitous drop since then.

A New York Times/Siena College poll conducted in late July found that 58 percent of Republicans surveyed said it was Mr. Trump, not Mr. DeSantis, who was best described by the phrase “able to beat Joe Biden.”

Ruth Igielnik contributed reporting.

North Korea responds to UN Command on US soldier Travis King who ran across border

By
Reporters News Wire
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0
Private King crossed the border between South and North Korea on July 18
Private King crossed the border between South and North Korea on July 18 – AP

North Korea has acknowledged a United Nations Command request for information on US soldier Travis King who bolted across the country’s border last month, the Pentagon has said.

But Pyongyang stopped short of giving any details about the 23-year-old’s whereabouts.

“I can confirm that the DPRK has responded to United Nations Command, but I don’t have any substantial progress to read out,” spokesperson Brigadier General Patrick Ryder told a press conference on Tuesday, using the acronym for the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.

When pressed, Mr Ryder said that North Korea’s message back to the UN Command was just “an acknowledgement” of the inquiry.

Last week the UN said “delicate” talks had begun over the fate of Private King, who had joined a civilian tour of the Joint Security Area (JSA) between the South and North, before “wilfully” crossing into the latter on July 18.

In a briefing last week Lieutenant General Andrew Harrison, the force’s deputy commander, said a “conversation” had begun between the UNC and the North’s Korean People’s Army.

“The primary concern for us is Private King’s welfare,” he said.

Soldiers of South Korea and the US at the demilitarised zone in Panmunjom, near where the unauthorised crossing took place
South Korean and American soldiers at the demilitarised zone in Panmunjom, near where the unauthorised crossing took place – AP

Talks about the fate of Private King had begun under the rules of the armistice agreement that brought a truce to the 1950-53 Korean War, he confirmed, adding that he did not wish to reveal any details that could prejudice the process.

“Obviously there is someone’s welfare at stake and clearly we are in a very difficult and complex situation which I don’t want to risk by speculation or going into too much detail about the communications,” Lt Gen Harrison said at the time.

Private King joined the US Army in January 2021 and had served as a Cavalry Scout with the Korean Rotational Force.

While in South Korea he had faced allegations of assault and a £3,097 fine for damaging a police car.

The soldier had just finished a stint in a detention facility for an unspecified infraction and was accompanied to the airport by a military escort, who could not join him beyond customs and immigration.

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