Plans approved to partially pedestrianise street
Ipswich Borough Council agreed the plans to redevelop Lloyds Avenue, Ipswich, into a part-pedestrian zone at a meeting on Wednesday.
The council lodged the proposals in January as part of a scheme to create a green route between the town centre and the waterfront.
According to the Local Democracy Reporting Service, Luke O'Brien, a disability campaigner, said: "The council has a legal obligation to make reasonable adjustments for disabled people- extending the public space will require disabled people to walk further."
Local taxi drivers had previously criticised the proposal, as it could cut the number of taxi bays on the street.
Mo Ali, a cab driver who objected to the plans, said reactions on the ground hadn't been positive and highlighted fears the plans would discriminate against people with mobility problems.
The proposal to transform Lloyds Avenue was voted in by councillors at the planning and development committee meeting, with two voting against the proposal, and one abstention.
Sam Murray, a Conservative councillor at the authority, said: "As a wheelchair user, I don't care if it looks nice; I care about whether I can get on it comfortably, especially if I have to go a bit further to get a taxi."
The plans form part of the wider Ipswich Town Deal, funded by the government's Towns Fund.
A Labour councillor who welcomed the proposals, Kelvin Cracknell, said: "I take the taxi driver's concerns about picking up people who struggle walking up Lloyds Avenue from [the bottom] end, but I don't consider that a material consideration."
Several potential alterations to the Lloyds arch undercroft were also mentioned, with all councillors voting in favour of the proposed changes to add an art installation and digital screen.
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Business chief welcomes pedestrianisation plan
Town safety a priority for new business chief
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11 hours ago
- NBC News
Starvation in Gaza divides many Jewish Americans
Heartbreaking images of children starving in Gaza have caused what some Jewish Americans call a 'rupture' between supporters of Israel's offensive in its current form and those who oppose how Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu 's government is managing the war. Frustrated by the bloodshed, pressure is mounting on the United States and the international community to take better control of chaotic food distribution sites. 'We're seeing not only divisiveness, but hatred between us, and that's not a good thing for the future,' said Rabbi Erez Sherman of Sinai Temple, a Conservative synagogue in Los Angeles. 'So how do we not solve it? How do we work on that?' But support for Israel remains ironclad among many American Jewish groups and rabbis, who argue that Hamas is preventing humanitarian aid from reaching innocent civilians. 'Israel has facilitated an extraordinary amount of aid to Palestinians in Gaza, in wartime, and that's really an unprecedented situation,' said Belle Etra Yoeli, spokesperson for the American Jewish Committee, which recently ran a full-page ad in The New York Times with the image of an Israeli hostage who remains in Hamas custody. 'The Palestinian civilians who have been caught in the crossfire throughout this entire war because of Hamas' actions should not be suffering,' she added. 'Israel doesn't want that.' Nearly 1,400 people have been killed and more than 4,000 have been injured seeking food in Gaza, the United Nations' Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said last week. At least 859 people have been killed near sites operated by Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, or GHF, a controversial American- and Israeli-backed organization, the United Nations said. The foundation's executive director, Johnnie Moore, said Hamas is largely responsible for the killings and dismissed news reports about people dying by Israeli gunfire. 'We have not seen the Israeli military do anything that remotely aligns with some of these accusations,' he said. 'It is a quite evident fact that Hamas has killed intentionally probably hundreds of people in proximity not to just our sites, to U.N. distribution sites, as a means of sort of misattributing those attacks either to the IDF or to being in proximity to GHF,' he added, referring to the Israel Defense Forces. To address escalating concerns over the humanitarian crisis, synagogues across Jewish movements in the United States have organized roundtables with the executive director of the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation. At an event with GHF hosted last month by Sinai Temple in Los Angeles, reactions were mixed, according to Sherman, the rabbi, who led the discussion. Some people were shocked that an organization that has come under so much criticism was allowed to present its case. Others appreciated hearing directly from people on the ground. 'How do you block evil from your midst while also feeding the hungry and supporting the orphan and widow?' Sherman said after the roundtable, referring to Psalm 146. 'To me, it's an impossible task, and I give credit to somebody who is at least trying to do that.' Polling suggests Jewish Americans are divided over Netanyahu's handling of the war. According to a Pew Research Center report, 53% of Jewish Americans say they lack confidence in his leadership, while 45% say they have confidence. About 6 million Jews live in the United States, or 2% of the population, according to the Pew Research Center. The poll was conducted in April, before GHF began its operations in Gaza. Supporters of Netanyahu's government, including several Jewish American organizations, have said Hamas is spreading misleading information about who is to blame for ongoing violence at aid sites, a claim Hamas has repeatedly denied. They have also criticized detractors for losing focus on the remaining Israeli hostages held captive by Hamas. 'All of this can just be stopped anytime if Hamas puts down its weapons,' said Orthodox Rabbi Abraham Cooper of the Simon Wiesenthal Center, a Jewish human rights organization that supports Netanyahu's government. An emerging concern echoed by several organizations and rabbis is that Netanyahu's position is not creating a safer Israel or global environment for Jewish people. Jeremy Ben-Ami, president of nonprofit advocacy organization J Street, said the ongoing violence is exposing Israelis and Palestinians to unnecessary bloodshed. J Street, which supports a two-state solution, opposed Netanyahu years before the war. 'If you say to people you must be pro-Palestinian or pro-Israel, then we're condemning ourselves and our kids to a never-ending conflict,' Ben-Ami said Monday. But according to Rabbi Ari Lev Fornari of Kol Tzedek, a Reconstructionist synagogue in Philadelphia, the war is creating an 'existential rupture' that is pitting friends and family members against one another. 'It's catastrophic,' he said. 'We're wrestling with the very question 'Do we belong to each other?'' Fornari was among more than 40 people arrested outside Trump Tower in New York City earlier this month as they shouted for the United States to stop arming Israel and feed Gaza. He was arrested for investigation of blocking traffic and obstruction, his third arrest since the war started on Oct. 7, 2023, he said. Some posters and signs displayed outside Trump Tower referred to an ancient maxim about the moral obligation to speak out against injustice, Fornari said. 'It says anyone who has the power to speak out and chooses not to do so is responsible for it,' he said. Handcuffed near Fornari was Rabbi Jill Jacobs, the CEO of T'ruah, a rabbinic human rights organization. Jacobs said she supported Israel's military response to Hamas' terrorist attack in 2023, which killed 1,200 people and led to the taking of 250 hostages. The strike, the worst one-day attack on Jews since the Holocaust, shocked the world. Since then, more than 61,000 people have been killed in Gaza, including thousands of children, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry, and much of the territory has been destroyed. Jacobs began questioning Netanyahu's strategy as more and more civilians in Gaza were killed, she said. In July, she denounced American Jewish leaders who had not spoken out against the humanitarian crisis unfolding thousands of miles away. 'Privately, Jewish lay leaders are anguished over Gaza. Publicly, they fear being labeled antisemitic,' she wrote in an opinion column in The Forward, a Jewish American newspaper. Jacobs has been called antisemitic by other Jewish people who support Netanyahu and shunned by legacy Jewish organizations, she said. Some of it, she said, comes from a legitimate fear of prejudice. In May, two Israeli Embassy staffers were killed outside the Capital Jewish Museum in Washington, D.C., and a Colorado pro-Israeli hostages group was attacked with two Molotov cocktails in June. There have also been reports of anti-Jewish slurs and signs at college campuses and pro-Palestinian protests across the country. The cultural fallout has been playing out in living rooms and across kitchen tables. Sonya Meyerson-Knox, a spokesperson for the anti-Zionist group Jewish Voice for Peace, which has opposed the war since 2023, said a member was uninvited to Shabbat family dinners because of differing opinions about the war. The group was suspended from several campuses, including Columbia University's, over allegations it intimidated Jewish students and made them feel unsafe during pro-Palestinian protests last year. Jewish Voice for Peace maintains that its views are not antisemitic. 'It is not unique in Jewish history for Jews to be in fierce disagreement with each other,' she said. 'What is unique is that there seems to be an effort to weaponize one-half of our community against the other.'
Yahoo
18 hours ago
- Yahoo
Sen. John Braun to take on MGP for seat in Congress
Aug. 12—Washington state Sen. John Braun, R-Centralia, put rumors to bed on Tuesday morning, Aug. 12, as he officially announced plans to become the next representative for Washington's Third Congressional District. In an interview with The Chronicle Editorial Board on Thursday, July 18, ahead of what was expected to be is original announcement date the following Wednesday, Braun pitched himself as a return to conservative values who better represents the moderately conservative district. The announcement brings the active Lewis County politician and tested state legislator into a race that for the last two cycles has been dominated by a repeat competition between incumbent Marie Gluesenkamp Perez, D-Skamania, and current director of the U.S. Counterterrorism Center Joe Kent, who was twice endorsed by President Donald Trump. Gluesenkamp Perez's initial victory over Kent in 2022 by less than a percentage point, or roughly 3,000 votes, was considered by many to be a huge upset in the traditionally red district that has consistently voted in support of Trump and supported Republican Congresswoman Jaime Herrera Beutler for more than a decade. The seat is high on the National Republican Party's list of districts they will need to flip in the 2026 mid-term elections in order to maintain control of the U.S. House of Representatives and guard president Trump from an ineffectual second half to his second term as president. Braun sees himself as a different candidate from those who have run for the district's congressional seat in the past, believing that his reputation in the state as a "common sense" legislator will win him more wide support than Kent has earned in the past. He called Kent a "patriot" and said he would not be critical of his previous pursuits for the office. "I think I've established myself in the 20th District, in Southwest Washington, as a practical common sense legislator that will govern according to the conservative principals that are important in this district," Braun told The Chronicle. "I'm also committed to getting things done." Braun currently serves as a Washington state senator for the 20th Legislative District representing Lewis County and parts of Thurston, Cowlitz and Clark counties. He has held the seat since first being elected in 2012. He also serves as the Senate Republican Leader, a position he has held since 2020. Sen. John Braun, R-Centralia, looks through documents during the legislative session at the Washington state Capitol in Olympia on Friday, April 25. Ridley Hudson — ridley@ The 'why' Braun has been a fixture in Washington state politics for many years, so much so that some might ask the question — why now? Braun said he has considered running for federal office in the past, but that a mix of support from his family, community and from the national GOP has motivated him to finally throw his hat in the ring. "I've thought about it, but this year I was pretty serious, and a lot of folks in the community, as I talk to folks around the community, have been very supportive," Braun said. "The national folks have been very supportive, and my wife and I talked about this for a very long time, and I just decided this is the right move for our community and for Southwest Washington." Braun sees himself as a return to the conservative values of the Southwest Washington congressional district after what will be four years of representation by a Democrat. While he applauded Gluesenkamp Perez's efforts at bipartisan policy, calling them genuine, he argues that she has failed to deliver on conservative priorities in a meaningful way. "I just don't think we're getting the type of representation from the incumbent that we deserve," Braun said. "Not just here in our local community, but broadly around the Third Congressional District. It's a Republican district. A moderate Republican district, but it's a Republican district, and that's not what we're getting from Marie Gluesenkamp Perez ... She kind of gets an A on the press release but not as good on actually focusing on the issues people care about." Senate Minority Leader John Braun, R-Centralia, fist bumps another Republican lawmaker after being acknowledged during Gov. Bob Ferguson's inaugural address Wednesday, Jan. 15, 2025, at the Washington State Capitol in Olympia, Wash. (Ryan Berry/Washington State Standard) Ryan Berry Priorities While Braun recognizes the difference of serving at the federal level from serving at the state level, his priorities remain largely the same, he said. As a state legislator, especially during the most recent legislative session, Braun has stuck to fiscally conservative values, recently decrying a record state tax increase and calling for more financial accountability. He shows interest in doing the same at the federal level, calling for affordability and a balanced budget. "I have a lot of experience building a big state budget, and I hope to have an impact on an even bigger federal budget that brings our spending in line with our revenues long term," Braun said. "So we don't leave mountains of debt for our children and grandchildren." Concerning affordability, Braun hopes to tackle the issue from multiple sides, looking at tax burdens, rising energy demand and local costs for public safety. "How do we make Washington more affordable?" Braun asked. "That could be a tax issue. It could be things that address energy availability and therefore cost. It could be a whole range of things. It's public safety, and some of that is local, some of that is state and some of that is federal." Other priority issues for the Centralian include immigration, national security and education. Braun said he hopes to take advantage of his 31 years in the U.S. Navy, including seven years of active duty, to inform his policies and pursuits on national security and defense. He also hopes to aid progress and improvements to Washington state education while recognizing that the federal government generally has a small role in dictating local education policy. Sen. John Braun, R-Centralia, speaks with other senators during the legislative session at the Washington state Capitol in Olympia on Friday, April 25. Ridley Hudson — ridley@ Experience Going into a congressional campaign, Braun brings with him 13 years of state government experience as well as experience running a family business and serving on many at-will advisory boards in the Centralia and Chehalis area. Braun is president of his family-owned business Braun Northwest, which was founded in 1986. The business is known for building emergency vehicles. Before going into the family business, Braun served active duty in the U.S. Navy and continued to serve in the U.S. Navy Reserves until officially retiring from more than 30 years of service in 2021. Braun holds a bachelor's degree in electrical engineering from University of Washington as well as master's degrees in business administration and manufacturing engineering from the University of Michigan. He also currently serves on the Providence Centralia Hospital Community Board and the Centralia College Foundation Board. In his role as a state senator, Braun not only serves as the senate minority leader, guiding his fellow Republicans, but he also serves as a ranking member on the Senate Rules Committee and sits on the Senate Ways and Means Committee, the Senate Labor and Commerce Committee as well as other joint committees. Sen. Andy Billig and Sen. John Braun in Olympia from the Capitol on Friday, Feb. 15, 2024. Ridley Hudson — ridley@ Competition While Braun is a hotly awaited and highly competitive candidate for the race, he is relatively late to the party and becomes the third Washingtonian to announce their intention to run for the Third Congressional District spot. Brent Hennrich, a Vancouver-based Democrat, declared his candidacy for the seat in the beginning of May. Hennrich originally planned to run in the 2022 race but pulled out of the race to support Gluesenkamp Perez's candidacy. In his announcement, he called out Gluesenkamp Perez for failing to deliver on Democratic issues. Antony Baron, a Republican from Willapa Bay, has also announced his candidacy. The coastal Washingtonian is a career business man who has not yet served in political office. On his campaign website, he describes himself as an entrepreneur, father and citizen candidate separating himself from career politicians. Gluesenkamp Perez took a similar approach in her 2022 race. The candidates will also, of course, face off against the incumbent Gluesenkamp Perez, who just recently won reelection to her seat in 2024. In 2026, the incumbent will look to defend her seat that could prove a serious asset to either political party after the 2026 midterms as Republicans look to defend their majority in the U.S. House of Representatives and Democrats look to take power for themselves. Congresswoman Marie Gluesenkamp Perez takes a tour of the Cowlitz Falls Hydroelectric Project in Randle on Friday, Aug. 8. Ridley Hudson — ridley@ Here's the full news release from Braun: CHEHALIS, WA — Republican State Senator John Braun, 58, Centralia, today announced his candidacy for Congress in Southwest Washington's 3rd Congressional District. A U.S. Navy veteran and president of Braun Northwest, a family-owned manufacturer of emergency vehicles that provides 350 jobs in the region, Braun brings decades of leadership experience in business, the military, and public service. "Whether in the Navy, running a small business, or serving in the state legislature, I've always focused on solving tough problems, clearing roadblocks, and helping others succeed," said Braun. "In Congress, I'll bring that same approach—working to lower costs for families, support American manufacturing, and expand opportunities for family-wage jobs here at home." Braun served in the U.S. Navy for 31 years, including both active and reserve duty, rising from Ensign to the rank of Captain. His last assignment was as the Director of the U.S. Navy Submarine Force Reserve Component. "Members of Congress take an oath to defend our country against all enemies, foreign and domestic. I take that oath seriously. I'll work to secure our borders and maintain a strong national defense—because peace is best preserved through strength." Braun has served as a part-time citizen legislator in the Washington State Senate since 2013. In 2017, he wrote a bipartisan, balanced state budget that provided essential services without raising taxes. In 2020, he was chosen by his peers to serve as Senate Republican Leader, where he led efforts to promote fiscal responsibility, improve education, and support working families. "I know how to fight bad policy—and how to craft good policy that makes a difference for people here in Southwest Washington. I look forward to working with President Trump on a positive agenda that gets America back on the right track." Braun's campaign is already off to a fast start, having secured the endorsements of both Congressman Michael Baumgartner (R-Spokane) and former Clark County state Senator and Clark County Republican Party Chair Lynda Wilson (R-Vancouver). "I know John Braun well from our time working together in the state Senate," said Baumgartner. "He is a highly intelligent, strong conservative who would make an outstanding member of Congress. I'm proud to endorse him." "John Braun is a man of unwavering honesty and integrity," said Lynda Wilson. "He understands the unique character of Southwest Washington and the values we hold dear. I trust him to fight for us and lead with principle. He has my full and enthusiastic endorsement." Braun and his wife, Marlo, have been married for 37 years and live on a small farm outside Centralia. They have four successful adult children, three of whom have served or are serving as officers in the U.S. Navy or Marine Corps.
Yahoo
a day ago
- Yahoo
There is 'good doubt' about Trump's BLS head nominee EJ Antoni
President Trump has nominated the Heritage Foundation's chief economist EJ Antoni to be the new commissioner of the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). Antoni will face the Senate before being appointed as commissioner. New Century Advisors chief economist and former Fed economist Claudia Sahm, RSM chief economist Joe Brusuelas, and Schwab Center for Financial Research fixed income strategist Collin Martin join Morning Brief with Julie Hyman to discuss the nomination and the future of the BLS. To watch more expert insights and analysis on the latest market action, check out more Morning Brief. President Trump has now nominated EJ Antoni. He's the chief economist currently at the Conservative think tank, the Heritage Foundation. He's nominated him as the next commissioner of the Bureau of Labor Statistics. There has been a lot of commentary about that nomination, which still has to face the Senate to get through. So I want to bring you guys back in to to talk about this as well. Claudia, let me get your take first, you know, given what we were just talking about, um, what does Antoni do, you know, what does that nomination say? Does it get through? Does it, is does this guy have the chops to to have that job? Right. Well, the commissioner of the Bureau of Labor Statistics, that is the one political figure at the BLS. And that it's always the case, the president, you know, nominates, the Senate confirms for that position. I think my biggest concern is that BLS is facing a lot of challenges. It is legitimately hard to run surveys, construct statistics, communicate them to the public, get them out in a timely manner. And frankly, this nominee just doesn't have a lot of experience and background in measurement and statistics. So I'll be really interested to hear what ideas he has on how to fix the problems that he's been a very vocal critic of. Uh, but that's, you know, the BLS needs leadership and they need resources. So, you know, if he's able to, you know, get them those resources and provide that leadership, that'd be excellent. I just, I don't, I don't see it in the record, but you know, we will be surprised there too. As as we all know from probably daily experience in all of our jobs and lives, it's very easy to criticize. It's another thing to fix. Um, Joe, what's your take on Antoni and and what he might bring to the BLS? When his Senate confirmation hearings happen, he should prepare for a withering set of criticism based on his credibility and his qualifications. We all know who EJ is. We all see his work. And there's good doubt around his, his, his background and whether he's able to do this. Let me give you a sense of what's going on, like just with the inflation data, right? Obviously, there's been three big areas where the Feds, excuse me, the BLS has had to impute statistics, because they're no longer collecting because investment in data collection is just not where it needs to be. BLS went back and did a 77-month study. You know what they found was that 18% of the months inflation was uh, revised upward 1/10 of 1%, and in 14% of the months it was revised downward by 1/10 of 1%. You know what that's like? That's like watching the paint dry. You're, if you're expecting major revisions in a granular uh, time series like the consumer price index, you're not going to get it. And that's the problem though, because there But in labor, the revisions have been much larger. Okay. Sure. That's right. But I was using this, we can go to labor, right? Again, you need to invest more. In general, right, in general, it does seem like there is an issue with data collection. Because we haven't been investing in it, right? And the survey response rates following the pandemic, when lots of businesses were wiped out, have dropped to 60% or below. So the way to fix that is to invest in data collection, invest in new methodologies, and then ride with it. But I gotta tell you, even in the big numbers, right, when you take, take a step back and look at the long period of the revisions, I mean, 99% of it's right, right? It's just right now this has been so politicized, right? Because we have a different president with a different point of view, who just clearly is going to be uncomfortable with what the data implies about his own policies. Colin, when it comes to what the market's going to key off of, you know, let's say Antoni gets confirmed, goes in there, does whatever he's going to do. I mean, the market doesn't have a lot of choice in terms of the data that it moves off of, unless we turn to alternative sources of data. I mean, what how do you think this plays out? Yeah, it's going to be difficult because a lot of the BLS data is, is, you know, really good. I mean, not just in the US, but globally, we rely on that data. And I think there, if there was a concern that it was being politicized or manipulated, I'm not saying that's going to happen, but I think there's probably concerns out there. There's a difference between updating methodologies and making sure we're getting the right data, but also making sure that it's not then politicized to get a certain outcome. I think that's going to be really important. There could be a push and pull between what we're getting from data, if it does seem like the methodologies and the processes are changing, when we do have other private services. A lot of times though we kind of disregard those and focus on the government ones. I think ADP is a really good one. ADP comes out up or down, people look at it, they don't really care too much, because they say, well, we're going to look at the BLS data. The real numbers coming out on Friday. We're going to look at the real data. So I think trust is really important. I don't know how we solve for that if there's a lack of trust. Yeah. Joe, real quick. Okay. So we're going to be looking at private label data, ADP, indeed, the Billion Prices Project over at Harvard. There's a plethora of data out there that we're all going to start turning to. And this is going to get different in a way I don't think those who make these criticisms have thought through. Related Videos What July CPI data means for the Fed & what's next for BLS Fed cut isn't the 'easy layup' Trump says it is, CPI data shows Inflation report, BLS pick, China trade extension: 3 Things Why bonds matter now for every investor Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
