View time : 1 min 35
Level : Intermediate
Month: May 2022
Ginsburg’s tea set, coat, other items raise $800K for opera
Read time : 4 mins
Level : Intermediate
By JESSICA GRESKO Associated Press
WASHINGTON (AP) — Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s silver tea set is going to a family with a 5-year-old daughter who once was Ginsburg for Halloween. A medal Ginsburg was awarded when inducted into the National Women’s Hall of Fame is going to a family that demonstrated recently for reproductive rights. And a drawing of her that hung in her office was a Utah-based scientist’s Mother’s Day gift to his wife.
All told, an online auction of 150 of items owned by the late justice raised $803,650 for Washington National Opera, one of the late justice’s passions. The auction ended in late April, and buyers are now picking up items or arranging to have them shipped to their homes in 38 states, the District of Columbia, Canada and Germany. Winning bids ranged from $850 to $55,000. Continue reading
Meta opens its first physical retail store
View time: 2 min 15
Level : Advanced
Europe’s farmers stir up biogas to offset Russian energy
Read time : 3 mins
Level : Advanced
By JOHN LEICESTER and FRANK JORDANS Associated Press
SONCHAMP, France (AP) — In lush fields southwest of Paris, farmers are joining Europe’s fight to free itself from Russian gas.
They’ll soon turn on the tap of a new facility where crops and agricultural waste are mashed up and fermented to produce “biogas.” It’s among energy solutions being promoted on the continent that wants to choke off funding for Russia’s war in Ukraine by no longer paying billions for Russian fossil fuels.
Small rural gas plants that provide energy for hundreds or thousands of nearby homes aren’t — at least anytime soon — going to supplant the huge flows to Europe of Russian gas that powers economies, factories, business and homes. And critics of using crops to make gas argue that farmers should be concentrating on growing food — especially when prices are soaring amid the fallout of the war in Ukraine, one of the world’s breadbaskets.
Still, biogas is part of the puzzle of how to reduce Europe’s energy dependence. Continue reading
‘Star Wars’ fan exhibit makes May 4th a special day in NY
View time : 1 min 26
Level : Intermediate
50 years on, Apollo 16 moonwalker still ‘excited’ by space
Read time : 4 mins
Level : Intermediate
By MEG KINNARD Associated Press
COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — Fifty years after his Apollo 16 mission to the moon, retired NASA astronaut Charlie Duke says he’s ready for the U.S. to get back to lunar exploration.
Part of that effort, Duke said Friday, will come in the form of the Artemis program, which includes NASA’s upcoming flight to the moon using its new Space Launch System rocket. The first of the huge rockets is supposed to blast off without crew later this year, with crewed flights planned subsequently.
“With Artemis, NASA is going to be focused on deep space, to the moon and beyond, and I’m excited about that,” Duke told The Associated Press in an interview in Columbia. Continue reading
In NYC, job ads will have to say what they pay
View time: 1 min 56
Level : Advanced
En plein air: NYC aims to keep outdoor lifestyle post-virus
Read time : 3 mins
Level : Advanced
By BOBBY CAINA CALVAN Associated Press
NEW YORK (AP) — As COVID-19 ravaged New York City, virus-wary denizens locked out of indoor public places poured into the streets, sidewalks and parks. They dined with friends in outdoor sheds hastily erected by restaurants, and went to health classes, concerts and even therapy sessions on streets closed to traffic.
Now as the city continues on its path of recovery, the pandemic could be leaving a lasting imprint on how the city uses its roadways: More space for people and less room for cars. Continue reading