Latest news with #Charbonneau
Yahoo
4 days ago
- General
- Yahoo
Steelworkers Humanity Fund donates $20,000 to support wildfire relief efforts in Saskatchewan
TORONTO, June 06, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The Steelworkers Humanity Fund (SHF) is donating $20,000 to support people and communities evacuated due to recent wildfires in Saskatchewan. Following a worsening of weather conditions in Northern Saskatchewan the SHF is partnering again with the Canadian Red Cross (CRC) by answering its emergency wildfire relief appeal. This donation follows the SHF's contribution to emergency relief efforts in neighbouring Manitoba. Many United Steelworkers (USW) union members in the area have been directly affected by the situation and have been evacuated, including virtually all USW members who live in Creighton, Sask., located down the road from Flin Flon, Man. As of June 4, the CRC has registered more than 8,000 people from over 2,800 households evacuated due to the wildfires in Saskatchewan. The Steelworkers Humanity Fund's latest $20,000 donation to the CRC will be used to assist those affected by the wildfires in Saskatchewan with immediate and ongoing relief. This includes financial assistance, support to evacuees and the communities hosting them, recovery and resilience efforts in response to the wildfires, as well as supporting community preparedness and risk reduction for future disaster events within the province. "Our thoughts are with the families and communities who have been forced to flee their homes due to the devastating wildfires in Saskatchewan," said Marty Warren, SHF President and USW National Director. Anyone wishing to donate can visit the Red Cross 2025 Saskatchewan Wildfires Appeal website. Individual donations will be matched by the federal government. Founded in 1985, the Steelworkers Humanity Fund is a registered charitable organization that focuses primarily on development projects and emergency aid in developing countries but also supports Canadian communities. USW members contribute to the fund through clauses negotiated into collective agreements. In some cases, employers make matching contributions to the fund. For further information: Marty Warren, President, Steelworkers Humanity Fund, 416-544-5951Guillaume Charbonneau, Executive Director, Steelworkers Humanity Fund, 416-544-5944, gcharbonneau@ St. Pierre, USW Communications, 647-522-1630, dstpierre@ 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
Extra.ie
20-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Extra.ie
Britney Spears makes rare comment on fling with Colin Farrell
Britney Spears has made a rare comment about her short fling with Irish actor Colin Farrell. The singer and The Penguin actor shared a whirlwind two-week romance back in the early 2000s, not long after Britney's split from Justin Timberlake. Writing about her time with Colin in her memoir, The Woman In Me, she revealed she was introduced to him through a friend. Britney Spears has made a rare comment about her short fling with Irish actor Colin Farrell. Pic: Charbonneau/BEI/REX/Shutterstock Taking to Instagram in recent days, the 43-year-old shared a picture of herself wearing lingerie as she noted: 'Last time I wore an actual nightgown out was a La Perla nightgown at a premiere with Colin Farrell… 'I wonder why conservatorship had me wear three layers of tights for 20 years hmmm???' A 'brawl' ensued between Britney and Colin when the Toxic singer visited the Dubliner on set of his 2003 action-thrilled S.W.A.T. The singer and The Penguin actor shared a whirlwind two-week romance back in the early 2000s, not long after Britney's split from Justin Timberlake. Pic:Britney wrote: 'Brawl is the only word for it — we were all over each other, grappling so passionately it was like we were in a street fight.' The singer attended the premiere of Colin's 2003 film, The Recruit, alongside the actor but admitted she wasn't entirely over her relationship with Justin Timberlake. 'As I had before when I'd felt too attached to a man, I tried to convince myself in every way that it was not a big deal, that we were just having fun, that in this case, I was vulnerable because I wasn't over Justin yet,' she detailed. At the premiere, Colin denied any romantic involvement between himself and Britney, telling reporters that she's a 'sweet, sweet girl,' and they were 'just mates.' Elsewhere, Britney claimed she was pressured into having an abortion by Timberlake, writing that he 'definitely wasn't happy' about the 'surprise' and was 'so sure that he didn't want to be a father.' 'I'm sure people will hate me for this, but I agreed not to have the baby,' she admitted.
Yahoo
31-03-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Health First Indiana set to receive less funding as legislators debate its impact
The Lake County Health Department partnered with organizations to address chronic illnesses, disease prevention and gun safety. The Porter County Health Department partnered with organizations to address disease prevention, heart health and mental health for first responders. As the state legislature discusses the future of Health First Indiana funding, Lake and Porter County health officials would like to see the state continue funding the program. Health First Indiana was created by Senate Enrolled Act 4, which the legislature approved in 2023, to address public health in Indiana. The program establishes a public health infrastructure through a state and local partnership where each county, after choosing to opt in, can determine which health services to invest in based on community needs. The state funded the program $75 million in fiscal year 2024 and $150 million in fiscal year 2025, said Sen. Ed Charbonneau, R-Valparaiso, who authored the bill to establish the Health First Indiana program. In the upcoming two-year budget, the program has been slated to receive $100 million in fiscal year 2026 and $100 million in fiscal year 2027. But, as the budget has been discussed in committee, some legislators have voiced concern about continuing to fund the program. While Health First Indiana has been successful, Charbonneau said its funding, like the funding for all programs, has been closely examined this budget session as the legislature grapples with a nearly $1 billion Medicaid shortfall. 'Not everyone is 100% convinced that it's working. A part of the issue, the problem, that we're dealing with is the fact that this isn't like an economic development project where you invest $100 million … and you have an almost immediate return on your investment. This is a long-term commitment, and it's not going to provide any measurable results for many years,' Charbonneau said. In Lake and Porter counties, health officials said the program was created as former Gov. Eric Holcomb's administration realized how far behind Indiana lagged in public health measures nationwide. The money they have received, officials said, has gone toward improving public health, the effects of which won't be seen for a few more years. 'We strongly believe that good public health and good preventative care is going to be very good in terms of overall health of the county. That will reduce the number of people who need the emergency room, it will require less hospitalization,' said Lake County Health Officer Dr. Chandana Vavilala. Lake County received approximately $190,500 in 2023, approximately $6 million in 2024 – of which approximately $1.2 million was split between the East Chicago and Gary health departments – and approximately $11.6 million in 2025 – of which approximately $2 million was split between the East Chicago and Gary health departments, said Lake County Health Department Administrator Sheila Paul. The Lake County Health Department has spent its funds toward 20 partnerships, including the Indiana University School of Medicine with disease prevention education, the Purdue Extension to address chronic disease prevention, and the Food Bank of Northwest Indiana for medically tailored grocery supplies for at-risk pregnant women and those with anxiety and depression, Vavilala said. Michelle Arnold, the Lake County Health First Indiana program director, said the Purdue Extension partnership focuses on chronic disease management, like diabetes, and its Be Heart Smart program, which focuses on food label education, nutrition and physical activity. Through the Food Bank of Northwest Indiana partnership, the health department will receive a locker that has a refrigerated section to provide food and a separate section for hygiene products, diapers, coats and other items, Arnold said. The Lake County Health Department has partnered with the St. John Fire Department to help people prevent falls and reduce emergency room visits, Vavilala said. The department also used the funds to purchase a mobile clinic to increase access to health services, she said. Further, the department partnered with Methodist Hospital to support maternal and infant well-being, safe sleep and car seat education and breastfeeding instructions, Paul said. The department has also partnered with Mental Health America for safe sleep education for at-risk parents and caregivers, and for gun safety education for families with young children, Paul said. It has also partnered with Sounds of Sarah to provide education and awareness on dangers of illicit drugs, addiction prevention and access to life-saving services, she said. The Health First Indiana funds have helped the county increase access to preventative care and health screenings, strengthened community partnerships, expanded home visiting and case management services for vulnerable populations, among others, Paul said. If the funding were reduced, Paul said, it would 'significantly limit our ability to provide and expand our services.' A potential reduction would result in the roll back of the mobile clinic to rural and underserved communities and home visiting programs would be scaled back, which would increase avoidable hospitalizations. Reducing public health funding won't benefit the county or the state in the long run, Vavilala said. Funding public health improves people's lives, reduces hospitalizations and has economic impacts as businesses prefer to establish themselves in healthy communities, she said. 'If we don't spend enough on public health, or the preventative care, in the beginning, we will be paying a much higher price in the long run anyways. Spending the money towards the preventative health care is much better than spending the money on the negative effects that we can have in the long run by not investing adequately into public health,' Vavilala said. Porter County received $135,768.41 in 2023, approximately $1.8 million in 2024 and approximately $3.4 million in 2025 in Health First Indiana funds, said Porter County Health Department Administrator Carrie Gschwind. In Porter County, funds have gone toward a health fair, which allowed community health organizations to gather to offer free health screenings and services from vision to heart health and provide IHSA sports physicals, among other services, Gschwind said. The Porter County Health Department partnered with the Portage YMCA, Purdue Extension and Powers Health to work toward chronic disease prevention, which included blood pressure and diabetes screenings, and connecting people with resources they may have needed, she said. Further, Porter County also worked with food pantries to provide diapers and baby wipes to those who need them, Gschwind said. The department has also partnered with area school districts and Northwest Indiana No Child Hungry to address food insecurity in children, she said. The funding also went toward reviewing trauma and fatalities, offering harm reduction kits – with items ranging from seasonal wound care to hygiene products – throughout the county, and working toward becoming a Heart Safe county, which includes CPR training, installing AEDs in county buildings and a certain number of Heart Safe community sites, Gschwind said. The Porter County Health Department also hired a psychoanalyst to work with the Porter County Sheriff's Department to offer mental health support to county first responders, Gschwind said. The 2024 funds went toward other programs as well, including a mobile health clinic, Gschwind said. In 2025, the funds will go toward the programs established in 2024 as well as addressing four areas of need for the county, she said. For 2025, the Health First Indiana funds will go toward reducing adult obesity over the next 10 years, reducing emergency room visits for asthma attacks by 2027, reducing the suicide rate by 2027, and increasing the number of required immunizations in children by 2027, Gschwind said. The Health First Indiana program has let county health officials work with community partners to identify the health needs within the community, Gschwind said. Losing funding, she said, would be 'devastating to the work' the department has begun. 'Without the funding, we wouldn't be able to offer these expanded services, this type of outreach. We wouldn't be able to further these programs that we've started to be able to see that needle move,' Gschwind said. 'This was an amazon state investment in public health. We just ask that we're able to continue and expand upon even more this great work.' As the Senate Appropriations Committee holds hearings about the budget, the Health First Indiana funding has been placed under a microscope. During a committee meeting earlier this month, Committee Chair Sen. Ryan Mishler, R-Mishawaka, said he and other legislators received pressure from constituents to cut or eliminate the program because they question how the money has been spent. In the same meeting, Sen. Liz Brown, R-Fort Wayne, questioned allocating more funds to the program because the state hasn't seen 'significant results' in the last two years. Charbonneau, a member of the Senate Appropriations Committee, said in an interview with the Post-Tribune that he's concerned about funding the program amid the Medicaid shortfall. But Charbonneau pointed to the irony of facing a Medicaid shortfall and its rising costs while discussing funding for preventative care. 'The problem is going to continue to grow unless we stop the front end, unless we stop people from getting sick,' Charbonneau said. 'What this is doing is focusing on the front end and addressing issues before they become serious problems.' Charbonneau said he's hopeful that the program will retain its allocation of $200 million over the next two years. 'We may, at a minimum, put some guardrails on it as to how the money can be spent. I can live with some guardrails, as long as they are reasonable, if that's what it takes to continue the funding,' Charbonneau said. Specific guardrails haven't been discussed, Charbonneau said. The Health First Indiana program is a paradigm shift for the state, he said, and should receive funding. 'The return on investment will be incredible, but it's going to take time,' Charbonneau said. Vavilala agreed, saying the program will have lasting benefits into the future. 'We are investing not just for now,' Vavilala said. 'We are investing this money for generations to come.' akukulka@
Chicago Tribune
31-03-2025
- Health
- Chicago Tribune
Health First Indiana set to receive less funding as legislators debate its impact
The Lake County Health Department partnered with organizations to address chronic illnesses, disease prevention and gun safety. The Porter County Health Department partnered with organizations to address disease prevention, heart health and mental health for first responders. As the state legislature discusses the future of Health First Indiana funding, Lake and Porter County health officials would like to see the state continue funding the program. Health First Indiana was created by Senate Enrolled Act 4, which the legislature approved in 2023, to address public health in Indiana. The program establishes a public health infrastructure through a state and local partnership where each county, after choosing to opt in, can determine which health services to invest in based on community needs. The state funded the program $75 million in fiscal year 2024 and $150 million in fiscal year 2025, said Sen. Ed Charbonneau, R-Valparaiso, who authored the bill to establish the Health First Indiana program. In the upcoming two-year budget, the program has been slated to receive $100 million in fiscal year 2026 and $100 million in fiscal year 2027. But, as the budget has been discussed in committee, some legislators have voiced concern about continuing to fund the program. While Health First Indiana has been successful, Charbonneau said its funding, like the funding for all programs, has been closely examined this budget session as the legislature grapples with a nearly $1 billion Medicaid shortfall. 'Not everyone is 100% convinced that it's working. A part of the issue, the problem, that we're dealing with is the fact that this isn't like an economic development project where you invest $100 million … and you have an almost immediate return on your investment. This is a long-term commitment, and it's not going to provide any measurable results for many years,' Charbonneau said. In Lake and Porter counties, health officials said the program was created as former Gov. Eric Holcomb's administration realized how far behind Indiana lagged in public health measures nationwide. The money they have received, officials said, has gone toward improving public health, the effects of which won't be seen for a few more years. 'We strongly believe that good public health and good preventative care is going to be very good in terms of overall health of the county. That will reduce the number of people who need the emergency room, it will require less hospitalization,' said Lake County Health Officer Dr. Chandana Vavilala. Lake County – Health First Indiana Lake County received approximately $190,500 in 2023, approximately $6 million in 2024 – of which approximately $1.2 million was split between the East Chicago and Gary health departments – and approximately $11.6 million in 2025 – of which approximately $2 million was split between the East Chicago and Gary health departments, said Lake County Health Department Administrator Sheila Paul. The Lake County Health Department has spent its funds toward 20 partnerships, including the Indiana University School of Medicine with disease prevention education, the Purdue Extension to address chronic disease prevention, and the Food Bank of Northwest Indiana for medically tailored grocery supplies for at-risk pregnant women and those with anxiety and depression, Vavilala said. Michelle Arnold, the Lake County Health First Indiana program director, said the Purdue Extension partnership focuses on chronic disease management, like diabetes, and its Be Heart Smart program, which focuses on food label education, nutrition and physical activity. Through the Food Bank of Northwest Indiana partnership, the health department will receive a locker that has a refrigerated section to provide food and a separate section for hygiene products, diapers, coats and other items, Arnold said. The Lake County Health Department has partnered with the St. John Fire Department to help people prevent falls and reduce emergency room visits, Vavilala said. The department also used the funds to purchase a mobile clinic to increase access to health services, she said. Further, the department partnered with Methodist Hospital to support maternal and infant well-being, safe sleep and car seat education and breastfeeding instructions, Paul said. The department has also partnered with Mental Health America for safe sleep education for at-risk parents and caregivers, and for gun safety education for families with young children, Paul said. It has also partnered with Sounds of Sarah to provide education and awareness on dangers of illicit drugs, addiction prevention and access to life-saving services, she said. The Health First Indiana funds have helped the county increase access to preventative care and health screenings, strengthened community partnerships, expanded home visiting and case management services for vulnerable populations, among others, Paul said. If the funding were reduced, Paul said, it would 'significantly limit our ability to provide and expand our services.' A potential reduction would result in the roll back of the mobile clinic to rural and underserved communities and home visiting programs would be scaled back, which would increase avoidable hospitalizations. Reducing public health funding won't benefit the county or the state in the long run, Vavilala said. Funding public health improves people's lives, reduces hospitalizations and has economic impacts as businesses prefer to establish themselves in healthy communities, she said. 'If we don't spend enough on public health, or the preventative care, in the beginning, we will be paying a much higher price in the long run anyways. Spending the money towards the preventative health care is much better than spending the money on the negative effects that we can have in the long run by not investing adequately into public health,' Vavilala said. Porter County – Health First Indiana Porter County received $135,768.41 in 2023, approximately $1.8 million in 2024 and approximately $3.4 million in 2025 in Health First Indiana funds, said Porter County Health Department Administrator Carrie Gschwind. In Porter County, funds have gone toward a health fair, which allowed community health organizations to gather to offer free health screenings and services from vision to heart health and provide IHSA sports physicals, among other services, Gschwind said. The Porter County Health Department partnered with the Portage YMCA, Purdue Extension and Powers Health to work toward chronic disease prevention, which included blood pressure and diabetes screenings, and connecting people with resources they may have needed, she said. Further, Porter County also worked with food pantries to provide diapers and baby wipes to those who need them, Gschwind said. The department has also partnered with area school districts and Northwest Indiana No Child Hungry to address food insecurity in children, she said. The funding also went toward reviewing trauma and fatalities, offering harm reduction kits – with items ranging from seasonal wound care to hygiene products – throughout the county, and working toward becoming a Heart Safe county, which includes CPR training, installing AEDs in county buildings and a certain number of Heart Safe community sites, Gschwind said. The Porter County Health Department also hired a psychoanalyst to work with the Porter County Sheriff's Department to offer mental health support to county first responders, Gschwind said. The 2024 funds went toward other programs as well, including a mobile health clinic, Gschwind said. In 2025, the funds will go toward the programs established in 2024 as well as addressing four areas of need for the county, she said. For 2025, the Health First Indiana funds will go toward reducing adult obesity over the next 10 years, reducing emergency room visits for asthma attacks by 2027, reducing the suicide rate by 2027, and increasing the number of required immunizations in children by 2027, Gschwind said. The Health First Indiana program has let county health officials work with community partners to identify the health needs within the community, Gschwind said. Losing funding, she said, would be 'devastating to the work' the department has begun. 'Without the funding, we wouldn't be able to offer these expanded services, this type of outreach. We wouldn't be able to further these programs that we've started to be able to see that needle move,' Gschwind said. 'This was an amazon state investment in public health. We just ask that we're able to continue and expand upon even more this great work.' Legislative debate As the Senate Appropriations Committee holds hearings about the budget, the Health First Indiana funding has been placed under a microscope. During a committee meeting earlier this month, Committee Chair Sen. Ryan Mishler, R-Mishawaka, said he and other legislators received pressure from constituents to cut or eliminate the program because they question how the money has been spent. In the same meeting, Sen. Liz Brown, R-Fort Wayne, questioned allocating more funds to the program because the state hasn't seen 'significant results' in the last two years. Charbonneau, a member of the Senate Appropriations Committee, said in an interview with the Post-Tribune that he's concerned about funding the program amid the Medicaid shortfall. But Charbonneau pointed to the irony of facing a Medicaid shortfall and its rising costs while discussing funding for preventative care. 'The problem is going to continue to grow unless we stop the front end, unless we stop people from getting sick,' Charbonneau said. 'What this is doing is focusing on the front end and addressing issues before they become serious problems.' Charbonneau said he's hopeful that the program will retain its allocation of $200 million over the next two years. 'We may, at a minimum, put some guardrails on it as to how the money can be spent. I can live with some guardrails, as long as they are reasonable, if that's what it takes to continue the funding,' Charbonneau said. Specific guardrails haven't been discussed, Charbonneau said. The Health First Indiana program is a paradigm shift for the state, he said, and should receive funding. 'The return on investment will be incredible, but it's going to take time,' Charbonneau said. Vavilala agreed, saying the program will have lasting benefits into the future. 'We are investing not just for now,' Vavilala said. 'We are investing this money for generations to come.'
See - Sada Elbalad
27-03-2025
- Entertainment
- See - Sada Elbalad
Leonardo DiCaprio Boards Shannon Kring's Documentary "Nine Little Indians"
Yara Sameh Leonardo DiCaprio and his production outfit Appian Way have joined Shannon Kring's investigative documentary "Nine Little Indians" about abuses at a U.S. boarding school for Native American children. Almost a decade in the making, and currently in post-production, the film will recount the harrowing story of the nine Charbonneau sisters and their childhood schoolmates who endured horrific abuse at St. Paul's Indian Mission School in Marty, South Dakota. Produced by "The Revenant" and "Killers Of The Flower Moon" outfit Appian Way, Red Queen Media, and Terra Mater Studios, the documentary will chronicle the Charbonneau sisters' nearly two-decade-long legal battle to hold the Catholic Church accountable for the heinous crimes inflicted upon the plaintiffs listed on their lawsuit, the survivors unwilling to be named, and the children who had perished at St. Paul's—among them, Geraldine 'Gerri' Charbonneau's baby conceived in rape. It also follows a Northern Cheyenne Indian school cemetery surveyor's search for additional unmarked graves at the school. Among the film's interviewees are two former nuns at the school and the abbot who supervised several of the priests accused of rape and murder. Filmmaker Kring, best known for documentary "End Of The Line: The Women Of Standing Rock", first turned her cameras on the story in 2016, when tribal members invited her to document the discovery of skeletal remains of missing children that had been unearthed during construction at the still-operational school. Above and below are first stills from the feature. American Indian boarding schools, also known more recently as American Indian residential schools, were established in the U.S. from the mid-17th to the early 20th centuries with a primary objective of 'civilizing' Native American children into Anglo-American culture. The institutions were recently featured in Paramount's 1923 series and previously in Wes Studi's 2009 Sundance feature The Only Good Indian. Author and public speaker Tony Robbins is also joining the project as an executive producer alongside DiCaprio, Jennifer Davisson, Phillip Watson, George DiCaprio, Marc Gerke, Sophia Ehrnrooth, Walter Köhler, and Wolfgang Knöpfler. read more New Tourism Route To Launch in Old Cairo Ahmed El Sakka-Led Play 'Sayidati Al Jamila' to Be Staged in KSA on Dec. 6 Mandy Moore Joins Season 2 of "Dr. Death" Anthology Series Don't Miss These Movies at 44th Cairo Int'l Film Festival Today Amr Diab to Headline KSA's MDLBEAST Soundstorm 2022 Festival Arts & Culture Mai Omar Stuns in Latest Instagram Photos Arts & Culture "The Flash" to End with Season 9 Arts & Culture Ministry of Culture Organizes four day Children's Film Festival Arts & Culture Canadian PM wishes Muslims Eid-al-Adha News Egypt confirms denial of airspace access to US B-52 bombers News Ayat Khaddoura's Final Video Captures Bombardment of Beit Lahia News Australia Fines Telegram $600,000 Over Terrorism, Child Abuse Content Lifestyle Pistachio and Raspberry Cheesecake Domes Recipe Videos & Features Bouchra Dahlab Crowned Miss Arab World 2025 .. Reem Ganzoury Wins Miss Arab Africa Title (VIDEO) News Ireland Replaces Former Israeli Embassy with Palestinian Museum News Israeli PM Diagnosed with Stage 3 Prostate Cancer Lifestyle Maguy Farah Reveals 2025 Expectations for Pisces News Prime Minister Moustafa Madbouly Inaugurates Two Indian Companies Sports Neymar Announced for Brazil's Preliminary List for 2026 FIFA World Cup Qualifiers
