Latest news with #Bland
USA Today
2 hours ago
- Sport
- USA Today
NFL analyst suggests Cowboys trade All-Pro due $94 million to Falcons
NFL analyst suggests Cowboys trade All-Pro due $94 million to Falcons The Dallas Cowboys simultaneously have a lack of depth and a bottleneck at the cornerback position. On paper, the club has two young All-Pros, another former first-round pick still on his rookie contract and a third-round rookie who most think had first-round talent from this most recent draft. But that's on paper. In reality, Trevon Diggs has been injured since inking his five-year extension before 2023 and is not expected back for the beginning on the year. Kaiir Elam was a washout in Buffalo who is currently relying on offseason optimism that the Cowboys pulled a fast one on the Bills. Shavon Revel was an athletic freak before an ACL injury that will likely have him miss the beginning of the year as well. The only certified contributor is really DaRon Bland. So of course it's suggested that the best move for the Atlanta Falcons is to acquire Bland from the Cowboys. At least, in the eyes of Pro Football Network, who went around the league and suggested a trade target for each team. The Atlanta Falcons' defense had a tough 2024, finishing 29th in our Defense+ metric. Edge rusher was a major issue going into the offseason, but the team addressed it in both free agency and the draft. Now, cornerback depth stands out as Atlanta's biggest remaining need. The Falcons ranked 25th in pass defense success rate (51.9%), partly because of an inconsistent pass rush. But the problems in the secondary go deeper. The spot opposite A.J. Terrell is still unsettled. Even the nickel role, currently held by Dee Alford, could use competition this summer. On paper, the Cowboys have one of the league's best cornerback duos with Trevon Diggs and DaRon Bland. Both are former first-team All-Pros, but they played just one game together in 2024 due to injuries. Bland is now in a contract year, and his long-term future in Dallas is uncertain. All of that is true, but unless the Cowboys' season tanks, it doesn't make much sense for them to look to trade the most reliable asset within the position group. Bland is projected to earn a $94.9 million contract, either as an extension or as a free agent this offseason and it is possible the Cowboys let him walk. In that mindset, getting compensation for him now instead of waiting for him to enter the comp pick formula makes a ton of sense. But not at the expense of being competitive in 2025.
USA Today
a day ago
- General
- USA Today
Oklahoma OF Maya Bland enters the transfer portal
Oklahoma OF Maya Bland enters the transfer portal Two days into the offseason, the Oklahoma Sooners have lost two players to the transfer portal, with more likely to come. On Tuesday, true freshman catcher Corri Hicks announced via social media that she's entering the portal. On Wednesday, it's Maya Bland looking for a new home. Bland stated via Instagram, "Thank you Sooner Nation for the love and support you've shown me these past two years. I greatly appreciate it. God's got a new path for me but I will cherish my time as a Sooner." The sophomore appeared primarily as a pinch runner for the Sooners in her two years in Norman, but she did have some big moments at the plate in 2025. She hit a two-run home run in Oklahoma's 5-1 win over Alabama back in April. Against Oklahoma State, Bland hit a game-winning three-run home to secure the run-rule win over the Sooners' Bedlam rivals. During her career with Oklahoma, Bland hit .277 with two doubles, three home runs, and 14 RBIs. She had 11 stolen bases, including eight as a true freshman in 2024. The Oklahoma Sooners are set to return the key pieces to their outfield in 2025. Kasidi Pickering, Abigale Dayton, Hannah Coor, Tia Milloy, and Chaney Helton will be back. Oklahoma's also bringing in the No. 1 player in the 2025 recruiting class, outfielder Kai Minor. Contact/Follow us @SoonersWire on X, and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Oklahoma news, notes, and opinions. You can also follow John on X @john9williams.
Yahoo
24-05-2025
- Science
- Yahoo
Where curiosity fuels the future: 50 years of the Petroleum Museum
MIDLAND, Texas (KMID/KPEJ)- In a city shaped by oil, one place has spent the last half-century telling its story, not just through artifacts, but through imagination. The Permian Basin Petroleum Museum turns 50 this year. And for those who know it well, it's never just been about petroleum. Walk through its doors, and you'll find a game show that busts myths about energy. A recreated reef that dates back over 200 million years. A hands-on mission aboard a petroleum-finding spaceship. In the very next room, you might hear the roar of a legendary race car. 'It's a place for curiosity,' said Associate Director Mara Bland. 'We want people to come in and feel inspired, no matter their age or background.' Founded in 1975 by George T. Abell, the museum was envisioned as both a tribute to the industry that fueled the Permian Basin and a living classroom for the people who call it home. Over the decades, that mission has expanded. Today, the Petroleum Museum serves as a science center, historical archive, educational hub, and community gathering space all rolled into one. And according to Bland, it's still evolving. Much of the museum's strength lies in its range. In one exhibit, visitors walk through a recreated 1930s oil boomtown, complete with a general store and land office. In another, they explore renewable energies or learn how to drill for oil in a hands-on challenge where luck and logic collide. For young visitors, the summer science camps are a major draw. This year, 72 kids are enrolled, thanks in part to scholarships supported by Oxy and a new partnership with the Boys and Girls Club. A new camp called 'Circuit Wars' introduces older students to robotics, circuits, and programming through Battle Bots challenges. 'It's about sparking interest at the right moment,' Bland said. 'Especially when older kids are thinking about what their future might look like.' For many longtime Midlanders, the museum isn't just a local attraction, it's a source of pride. But Bland said many residents are still surprised by what they find inside. 'There are people who've lived here for years and didn't realize all this was here,' she said. 'And there are kids who walk in and see their eyes light up. That's when you know it's working.' The exhibits don't shy away from the labor that built the region either. Outside, visitors can walk through the largest collection of historic oilfield equipment in the world, from towering derricks to the same cable-tool rigs that powered early wildcatters. Inside, art plays a role too. Fourteen original paintings by Western artist Tom Lovell tell the cultural story of the Permian Basin, from early settlers to the birth of the oil industry. Lovell worked closely with founder George Abell to select moments that captured the region's spirit and resilience. To honor five decades of education and community, the museum is hosting a yearlong celebration. Each second Saturday of the month, admission is rolled back to 1975 prices, just $1 for adults, 50 cents for students, and free for kids under five. In September, the museum will host two major public events: a Family Festival Day on September 13 with food trucks, activities, and free entry; and a formal celebration on September 20 honoring the museum's founders and future. Bland said these aren't just milestones, they're thank-yous. 'We wouldn't be here without the people who support us,' she said. 'This is their story too.' With thousands of annual visitors, the museum has grown far beyond its original purpose. But Bland says the heart of the work hasn't changed. Whether it's a child stepping into a replica Chaparral car, a parent finally understanding what their partner does in the field, or a retired worker seeing his story honored in an exhibit, the goal is the same: to create moments of understanding. 'Those are the things that stay with us,' Bland said. 'Because this isn't just a museum about oil. It's a museum about people and the place we all call home.' Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Business Mayor
23-05-2025
- Business
- Business Mayor
How Dalefoot is saving the earth with clever composts and peat bog restoration
Whether they are producing Dalefoot, an organic peat-free compost brand much favoured by gardeners, restoring ravaged peat bogs to carbon capturing glory or raising rare breed ewes, spreading good is second nature to entrepreneurs and Chelsea Flower Show gold medal winning icons Jane Barker and Simon Bland. With a compost formula that's a slow release nutrient mix of harvested, potassium-rich bracken, hydrating wool fleece and herbal booster comfrey, there's no need for additional fertilisers and this operation is now part of a unique group business model the couple have developed. Underpinned by the environmental science expertise of Barker, a University of Cumbria professor, and Bland's as a seventh-generation Cumbrian hill farmer, from its Penrith site the company makes and despatches a wide range of compost blends. These cover most gardening needs from sowing seeds and growing veg to clay busting best seller Lakeland Gold. Sales are direct to consumers and through retailers, garden centres and nurseries while folk in the Falklands are also fans. Harvesting bracken makes good use of a 'highly invasive plant that has a negative impact on sensitive habitats', says Barker while composted wool offers an alternative use for a commodity that once powered the British carpet industry and 'helps the threatened culture of hill farming', Bland explains. Coupled with fully-traceable Dalefoot is their Barker & Bland venture. One of the UK's most experienced peatland restorers with 45,000 hectares revived to date, the business reverses the damage caused by extraction, over grazing and climate change through its partnerships with environmental heavyweights such as Natural England, NatureScot, the RSPB and wildlife trusts. Read More Co-operative Bank goes to Coventry in £780m takeover Healthy peatlands can store 20 times more carbon than trees and 'restore the bog from within the bog is our ethos. We hold a patent for an innovative method of bare peat restoration, the most carbon emitting part of a degrading bog, so instead of carbon release into the atmosphere there is carbon storage,' declares Barker. Their work planting sphagnum moss on fragile landscapes such as blanket bogs in Scotland and the north of England is painstaking and complex. 'We shun carbon hungry helicopters and use our own specifically designed and fabricated machinery,' says Barker. 'Engineering specialist equipment lighter than a human footprint is needed because surfaces are so delicate.' A £2.1 million group turnover is forecast for 2026/27 and a lighter pellet format compost is in the pipeline. 'This will save on plastic and transport costs,' explains Bland and he and Barker consider a move into river restoration. Future proofing is now a top priority as the business works with the RSPB to deliver bog restoration across all fronts. 'Biodiversity, water quality, flood management, not just carbon but deep-rooted change not sticking plaster,' spells out Barker whose top compost-buying tip is to avoid those containing low nutrient coir. READ SOURCE
Yahoo
22-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Playing on LIV Tour 'brings out the best' in Bland
Veteran British golfer Richard Bland says that playing on the LIV Tour "brings out the best" in him. The 52-year-old from Southampton joined LIV in 2022 for their very first event in London - and, in his first three full seasons, has secured top-24 finishes in the individual standings every time he has played. After turning professional in 1996, it took Bland 25 years and 478 tournaments on the European Tour to win his first championship - the 2021 British Masters. Last week, Bland made the cut at the second major of the year, the PGA Championship at Quail Hollow, finishing tied for 37th place with a final score of one over par. "My game has definitely improved since joining the LIV Tour - it had to if I'm going to compete," he told BBC South Today. "When you compete with Bryson (DeChambeau), Brooks (Koepka) and Jon Rahm week in, week out, I have to bring my best if I have any chance of competing. "Someone like Jon last week (at the PGA Championship) proved he is a top-five player in the world, so is Bryson, and to be able to go up against those guys 14 times a year will only enhance my game." Bland is the second oldest golfer in the LIV Golf League behind Phil Mickelson, and this year made headlines with an impressive albatross at LIV Mexico. The lucrative LIV Tour was launched three years ago and fractured men's professional golf by signing high-profile players from America's previously-dominant PGA Tour including Rahm, Dustin Johnson, DeChambeau, Cameron Smith and Koepka. LIV Golf is backed by the Saudi Public Investment Fund (PIF) - an entity controlled by Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman Al-Saud - which is also the majority owner of Premier League football club Newcastle United. But for now, Bland's attention will be away from the LIV Tour as he looks to defend his Senior PGA title at Congressional Country Club in Maryland. Last year, he won the tournament on his senior major debut, closing with an eight-under final round of 63 for a three-shot victory at Harbor Shores. It was his first triumph since that British Masters win back in 2021. "My game is in pretty good shape right now," he said. "If I play the golf I know I can play, I am confident I can be in the hunt come Sunday [but] there are a lot of legends out here that can still play to a very high level. "I'm under no illusions that I'll just turn up and take the trophy - I'll have to play some of my stronger golf just to stand a chance and hopefully I can do that. "Whatever happens this week it's been an honour and privilege to be champion and hopefully that can continue." Last year, when he won the Senior PGA title, Bland dedicated the victory to his brother Heath, who had been diagnosed with cancer. On Instagram the two posed for a photo with the trophy once Bland had returned home, sharing a message that the cup was with its "rightful owner". "His treatment has finished now and hopefully touch wood he will be fine," Bland added. "He has a battle every day - compared to what he had to go through, me hitting a white golf ball round a course means nothing. "We all get frustrated because we care but it puts things into perspective that one poor shot is not life and death. I try to keep that close to myself and it brings me back to normality. "But I want to play well to give my family something to be positive about. If I do that then I have done my job."
