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New York Post
12-05-2025
- Entertainment
- New York Post
Ashley Judd reveals heartbreaking final conversation with mom Naomi as she lay dying
Ashley Judd is sharing new insight into her mom Naomi Judd's tragic suicide. In the new docuseries 'The Judd Family: Truth Be Told' that aired this weekend on Lifetime, Ashley, 57, opened up about the last conversation she had with Naomi as the country singer died by suicide at age 76 in April 2022. Ashley recalled that on the morning of her mother's passing, Naomi sent her a text that said, 'Please help.' Advertisement 8 Naomi and Ashley Judd attend the 2014 Nashville Film Festival. Getty Images 'When I got there, Mom was very uncomfortable in her body, pacing around the kitchen and expressing that she didn't want to be here anymore,' the 'Missing' actress explained. 'I put my hand on her leg and she patted me and she slowly softened and came back to herself and calmed down and shared a couple of things that I would say are private, between us, about why she chose to continue to live,' Ashley shared. Advertisement 8 Naomi Judd visits Hallmark's 'Home and Family' at Universal Studios Hollywood in March 2018. Getty Images 8 Ashley Judd attends Daughters For Earth, Vital Voices and International Center For Research on Women Campaign Launch in New York in 2023. Getty Images for Daughters For Earth Naomi went upstairs, Ashley said, but when the 'Divergent' star checked on her, she discovered that Naomi 'had harmed herself.' 'And then I spent the next whatever it was — half hour — just holding my mother and talking to her, and the first thing I said to her was, 'It's OK, I've seen how much you've been suffering,'' Ashley said. Advertisement 8 Ashley Judd and Naomi Judd arrive at the premiere of 'Twisted' in Feb. 2004. Getty Images 'And we just breathed together,' Ashley added, 'and I talked to her and told her how much I loved her, and it's okay to go.' Ashley said that once her mom passed of a self-inflicted gunshot wound, 'my most earnest wish was to make sure that she was relieved and absolved of her guilt and her shame.' 'I was holding her hand. I was kissing her,' Ashley recalled. 'She was so soft. She smelled so pretty.' Advertisement 8 Naomi, Ashley and Wynonna Judd at the ACM Awards in the 1990s. Getty Images 8 Ashley Judd speaks onstage at the Clinton Global Initiative September 2023 Meeting. Getty Images for Clinton Global Initiative She added of Naomi's final moments, 'It was like this final consummation of the love in the relationship that we had transformed. What an honor, to be born into this human life, to be chosen by her. I got to hold space, I got to bookend. And I'm just so glad I was there.' 8 Naomi Judd and Ashley Judd at 'Dancing with the Stars' in 2013. ABC Naomi struggled with mental illness for years before her death. The 'Have Mercy' singer allegedly wrote a suicide note that read, 'Do not let Wy come to my funeral. She's mentally ill,' in reference to her other daughter and singing partner, Wynonna, 60. Despite her mom's alleged wishes, Wynonna did go to Naomi's funeral. 8 Naomi Judd with her two daughters at the annual YouthAIDS Benefit Gala in Sept. 2005. Getty Images Advertisement Last year, Ashley appeared on Anderson Cooper's CNN podcast and called Naomi's death 'traumatic and unexpected.' Ashley added that Naomi told her while dying, 'Let it all go, be free, all is forgiven long ago. All is forgiven long ago. Leave it all here, take nothing with you just be free.' If you or someone you know is affected by any of the issues raised in this story, call or text the Suicide & Crisis Lifeline at 988.
Toronto Sun
08-05-2025
- Business
- Toronto Sun
Bill Gates pledges his remaining fortune to the Gates Foundation, which will close in 20 years
Published May 08, 2025 • 5 minute read Bill Gates speaks during the Clinton Global Initiative on Sept. 24, 2024, in New York. Photo by Andres Kudacki, File / AP Photo SEATTLE — Bill Gates says he will donate 99% of his remaining tech fortune to the Gates Foundation, which will now close in 2045, earlier than previously planned. Today, that would be worth an estimated $107 billion. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. THIS CONTENT IS RESERVED FOR SUBSCRIBERS ONLY Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada. Unlimited online access to articles from across Canada with one account. Get exclusive access to the Toronto Sun ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition that you can share, download and comment on. Enjoy insights and behind-the-scenes analysis from our award-winning journalists. Support local journalists and the next generation of journalists. Daily puzzles including the New York Times Crossword. SUBSCRIBE TO UNLOCK MORE ARTICLES Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada. Unlimited online access to articles from across Canada with one account. Get exclusive access to the Toronto Sun ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition that you can share, download and comment on. Enjoy insights and behind-the-scenes analysis from our award-winning journalists. Support local journalists and the next generation of journalists. Daily puzzles including the New York Times Crossword. REGISTER / SIGN IN TO UNLOCK MORE ARTICLES Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience. Access articles from across Canada with one account. Share your thoughts and join the conversation in the comments. Enjoy additional articles per month. Get email updates from your favourite authors. THIS ARTICLE IS FREE TO READ REGISTER TO UNLOCK. Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience. Access articles from across Canada with one account Share your thoughts and join the conversation in the comments Enjoy additional articles per month Get email updates from your favourite authors Don't have an account? Create Account The pledge is among the largest philanthropic gifts ever — outpacing the historic contributions of industrialists like John D. Rockefeller and Andrew Carnegie when adjusted for inflation. Only Berkshire Hathaway investor Warren Buffett's pledge to donate his fortune — currently estimated by Forbes at $160 billion — may be larger depending on stock market fluctuations. Gates' donation will be delivered over time and allow the foundation to spend an additional $200 billion over the next 20 years. 'It's kind of thrilling to have that much to be able to put into these causes,' Gates said in an interview with The Associated Press. His announcement Thursday signals both a promise of sustained support to those causes, particularly global health and education in the U.S., and an eventual end to the foundation's immense worldwide influence. Gates says spending down his fortune will help save and improve many lives now, which will have positive ripple effects well beyond the foundation's closure. It also makes it more likely that his intentions are honoured. Your noon-hour look at what's happening in Toronto and beyond. By signing up you consent to receive the above newsletter from Postmedia Network Inc. Please try again This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. 'I think 20 years is the right balance between giving as much as we can to make progress on these things and giving people a lot of notice that now this money will be gone,' Gates said. In a league of its own The Gates Foundation has long been peerless among foundations — attracting supporters and detractors but also numerous unfounded conspiracy theories. In addition to the $100 billion it has spent since its founding 25 years ago, it has directed scientific research, helped develop new technologies, and nurtured long-term partnerships with countries and companies. About 41% of the foundation's money so far has come from Warren Buffett and the rest from the fortune Gates made at Microsoft. Started by Bill Gates and Melinda French Gates in 2000, the foundation plays a significant role in shaping global health policy and has carved out a special niche by partnering with companies to drive down the cost of medical treatments so low- and middle-income countries could afford them. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. 'The foundation work has been way more impactful than I expected,' Gates said, calling it his second and final career. The foundation's influence on global health — from the World Health Organization to research agendas — is both a measure of its success and a magnet for criticism. For years, researchers have asked why a wealthy family should have so much sway over how the world improves people's health and responds to crises. Gates said, like any private citizen, he can choose how to spend the money he earns and has decided to do everything he can to reduce childhood deaths. 'Is that a bad thing? It's not an important cause? People can criticize it,' he said, but the foundation will stick to its global health work. The Associated Press receives financial support for news coverage in Africa from the Gates Foundation and for news coverage of women in the workforce and statehouses from Melinda French Gates' organization, Pivotal Ventures. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. The foundation's most prized metric is the drop in childhood deaths from preventable causes by almost half between 2000 and 2020, according to United Nations figures. The foundation's CEO Mark Suzman is careful to say they do not take credit for this accomplishment. But he believes they had a 'catalytic role' — for example, in helping deliver vaccines to children through Gavi, the vaccine alliance they helped create. The foundation still has numerous goals — eradicating polio, controlling other deadly diseases, like malaria, and reducing malnutrition, which makes children more vulnerable to other illnesses. Gates hopes that by spending to address these issues now, wealthy donors will be free to tackle other problems later. The Gates Foundation had planned to wind down two decades after Gates' death, meaning today's announcement significantly moves up that timetable. Gates plans to stay engaged, though at 69, he acknowledged he may not have a say. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. In its remaining two decades, the foundation will maintain a budget of around $9 billion a year, which represents a leveling off from its almost annual growth since 2006, when Buffett first started donating. Suzman expects the foundation will narrow its focus to top priorities. 'Having that time horizon and the resources just puts an even greater burden on us to say, 'Are you actually putting your resources, your thumb down, on what are going to be the biggest, most successful bets rather than scattering it too thinly?'' Suzman said, which he acknowledged was creating uncertainty even within the foundation about what programs would continue. Gates is the only remaining founder Major changes preceded the foundation's 25th year. In 2021, Melinda French Gates and Bill Gates divorced, and Buffett resigned as the foundation's trustee. They recruited a new board of trustees to help govern the foundation, and in 2024, French Gates left to continue work at her own organization. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. French Gates said she decided to step down partly to focus on countering the rollback of women's rights in the U.S. At the ELLE Women of Impact event in New York in April, she said she wanted to leave the foundation at a high point. 'I so trusted Mark Suzman, the current CEO,' she said. 'We had a board in place that I helped put in place, and I knew their values.' Even as the foundation's governance stabilizes, the road ahead looks difficult. Enduring conflicts in Ukraine and Gaza, global economic turmoil and cuts to foreign aid forecast fewer resources coming to global health and development. 'The greatest uncertainty for us is the generosity that will go into global health,' Gates said. 'Will it continue to go down like it has the last few years or can we get it back to where it should be?' Even facing these obstacles, Gates and the foundation speak, as they often do, with optimism, pointing to innovations they've funded or ways they've helped reduce the cost of care. 'It's incredible to come up with these low-cost things and tragic if we can't get them out to everyone who needs them,' Gates said. 'So it's going to require renewing that commitment of those who are well off to help those who are in the greatest need.' Sunshine Girls Editorial Cartoons Sunshine Girls Toronto Maple Leafs Canada
Forbes
02-05-2025
- Science
- Forbes
2 Major Science Organizations Unite For Vital Climate Collection
TOPSHOT - The sun is seen behind smoke above charred structures after the passage of the Palisades ... More Fire in Pacific Palisades, California, on January 8, 2025. At least five people have been killed in wildfires rampaging around Los Angeles, officials said on January 8, with firefighters overwhelmed by the speed and ferocity of multiple blazes. (Photo by AGUSTIN PAULLIER / AFP) (Photo by AGUSTIN PAULLIER/AFP via Getty Images) Every author working on a major U.S. climate report was recently dismissed. However, two major science organizations, the American Meteorological Society and the American Geophysical Union, are grabbing the baton and move the climate change science forward with a new "first of its kind science collection, according to an announcement Friday. Why are these organizations stepping up? The American Meteorological Society is the largest and oldest U.S. science and professional society focused on the atmospheric sciences. Founded in 1919 by Charles Franklin Brooks of the Blue Hill Observatory, I had the honor of serving as President of AMS over a decade ago. AMS hosts conferences, publishes scientific journals and serves as a hub for weather, climate, water, and related professionals, enthusiasts and students. The American Geophysical Union is a broader organization. Founded in 1917, its website says, 'AGU is a global community supporting more than half a million advocates and professionals in the Earth and space sciences.' Its journals are also considered to be gold standards in our field. Each organization recently announced initiatives to assist scientists, professionals, and students as the navigate a changing federal landscape. October 29 2012 National Hurricane Center Going Over The Next Advisory For Hurricane Sandy. (Photo ... More by Michele Eve Sandberg/Corbis via Getty Images) What is the National Climate Assessment? In 2018, I wrote a '101' on the National Climate Assessment. The U.S. Global Change Research Program was created in 1989 by a Presidential Initiative issued by George H.W. Bush. A year later Congress passed the Global Change Research Act of 1990. Specific recommendations included the establishment of the USGCRP and a global (climate) change assessment report to Congress and the President every four years. As I wrote seven years ago, 'By the way, I should mention that the U.S. Global Change Research Program (USGCRP) had actually been proposed in President Reagan's final budget.' To date, there have been five NCA reports (2000, 2009, 2014, and 2017/2018, 2023). Preliminary organization had begun on NCA6. NEW YORK - SEPTEMBER 24: Former President George H.W. Bush speaks during the opening session of the ... More Clinton Global Initiative (CGI) September 24, 2008 in New York City. Former President Bill Clinton is hosting the fourth annual meeting of the Clinton Global Initiative (CGI), a gathering of politicians celebrities, philanthropists and business leaders grouped together to discuss pressing global issues. (Photo by) So What Are AMS and AGU Doing? Climate keeps going and so does research. As the policy levers turn, two of the most trusted science organizations are providing a pathway for scientists dismissed from NCA and other stakeholders to produce sound science and dissemination. In a joint press release, the organizations invited manuscripts for 'a new, first-of-its-kind" special collection focused on climate change in the United States. This catalog of over 29 peer-reviewed journals covers all aspects of climate, including observations, projections, impacts, risks, and solutions.' The organizations emphasized that the new special collection is not a replacement for NCA. AGU President Brandon Jones noted, 'It's incumbent on us to ensure our communities, our neighbors, our children are all protected and prepared for the mounting risks of climate change." AMS President and Penn State Professor David Stensrud also weighed in. He said, "Our economy, our health, our society are all climate-dependent. While we cannot replace the NCA, we at AMS see it as vital to support and help expand this collaborative scientific effort for the benefit of the U.S. public and the world at large.' Bernadette Woods Placky is Vice President for Engagement and Chief Meteorologist at Climate Central. The noted meteorologist who, directs their Climate Matters program, told me, 'Science is the reason we know that the climate is changing, and advancing our understanding of those changes is essential to protecting lives and livelihoods. This collaboration between AGU and AMS, two leading scientific organizations, creates a pathway to support critical climate research—research that helps communities prepare for increasing weather extremes, rising sea levels, worsening air quality, and growing threats to our food costs.' TOPSHOT - The Manhattan skyline is seen across the Hudson river past a pedestrian walking along the ... More waterfront in West New York, New Jersey, on June 8, 2023, as smoke haze from Canadian wildfires blankets the area. Smoke from Canadian wildfires continued to shroud US cities in a noxious haze Thursday, forcing flight delays and cancellations to outdoor activities as environmental groups called for urgent action to tackle climate change. (Photo by Leonardo Munoz / AFP) (Photo by LEONARDO MUNOZ/AFP via Getty Images)
Yahoo
01-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Vedika Bhandarkar Believes We Can Solve the Water Crisis in Our Lifetime
Credit - Noam Galai—Getty Images for Clinton Global Initiative On May 1, Gold House unveiled its annual A100 List, recognizing the 100 most impactful Asian Pacific leaders across industries. See the full list here. Of all the problems the world faces, providing enough water for drinking and sanitation is among the most solvable. Everybody agrees that humans need water. Nobody is morally opposed to providing it. The technology exists to bring water to most places. The earth has enough drinkable water, currently, to meet its needs. And yet about half of the world has to work pretty hard to get water, buying it from trucks, drinking from substandard sources, or sending children or women out to lug it back from a distant supply. What's stopping us from ensuring everyone has access to clean water? 'It is a lot about money,' says Vedika Bhandarkar, 57, the president and COO of 'If I don't have safe water at home, I know I need to get connected to the utility, or I need to build a water-storage tank and rainwater-harvesting system. But I lack the upfront capital and an affordable way to get that capital.' Bhandarkar is on the forefront of clear-cutting a path to financing for those who have none. Before she started working at in 2016, Bhandarkar had never heard of the organization and knew very little about how water was provided around the world. But she was pretty adept at working the levers of finance, having worked in the sector for 25 years and headed up Morgan Stanley and Credit Suisse's investment-banking divisions in India. Her success and the rise of India as an economic force grew in tandem, but she was aware that the growth had not lifted the fortunes of everyone. 'Irrespective of where you live, you sort of enclose yourself in a bubble,' she says. 'But it's much harder to do that when you see your own country, women and men, the way they live, and how wrong that is and how unfair that is.' When she decided to leave banking, partly because it 'is all about being younger and leaner and hungrier and meaner, so you should move out before somebody moves you out,' she says, she wanted to find a way to make a different kind of impact. She started by volunteering at the Jai Vakeel Foundation, an Indian organization that works with people with developmental disabilities. But pretty soon philanthropy recruiters came sniffing. She got offers from two organizations, and she discussed them with her husband and two children. When she got to the part about how was co-founded by Matt Damon, her kids had heard enough, she says. 'They turned to me and said, 'Mom, why are you even thinking about the other one?'' While her children's advice was heartening, what really motivated her was realizing how the lack of access to water exacerbated many other problems that impoverished communities faced, especially among women and girls, who use up a good portion of their day fetching water. 'They don't have time to spend either looking after their families and/or engaging in other economic activities,' says Bhandarkar, who, with her husband, had focused their philanthropic giving on women and girls even before becoming a professional in the aid world. 'Girls drop out of school because they're helping their moms collect water, or you have health issues because you don't have access to safe water. When we solve this, we'll also make progress on so many other aspects.' Providing water is not a one-size-fits-all proposition. Some places have plenty of rain, but it's seasonal. Householders there would benefit from a tank. Others have groundwater but need a treatment plant or a pump. For many, fecal contamination is the main issue. In 2016 the World Bank estimated it would cost about $114 billion annually to meet the globe's basic water needs, and annual expenditure was about $20 billion—and that was before Western countries including the U.S. and the U.K. began to shrink their foreign-aid budgets. way of addressing that shortfall is to help provide funds to kick-start local water programs that the recipients pay for, via loans. has created several avenues to entice people to fund water access. One of these is a group of five funds, known collectively as WaterEquity, from which donors and investors supply capital to local banks and credit providers, who then make loans to people who need water infrastructure, whether for drinking or sanitation. Bhandarkar's expertise and contacts have helped mobilize the whole spectrum of finance from philanthropists to investors to put this capital together. 'In an ideal world you could say, well, this should be funded by the government, but today there is a big funding gap, and it needs everybody to lean in,' she says. The organization also operates WaterConnect, which offers early-stage funding and technical know-how to local developers to build water infrastructure, and WaterCredit, which provides microloans to families in the developing world for safe water and sanitation. Initially, some of local partners resisted facilitating loans as opposed to grants. But Bhandarkar believes loans are a more sustainable model and allow many more people to be helped. declines to dictate the interest rates charged on the loans, although they are careful about their collaborators. 'You need to leave that decision to the financial institution,' she says. 'If you start telling them 'Charge X and not Y,' then you start distorting the market, and they will do water and sanitation lending only as long as you're partnering with them, and when you step away, they will stop.' So far, 179 partners in 16 countries have made 16.9 million loans, and the organization believes it has had an impact on 76 million people. As the developed nations begin to withdraw most of their support for their impoverished neighbors, Bhandarkar feels the responsibility of her work more keenly. 'There are so many great organizations who aren't able to work or whose ability to work is so severely curtailed right now,' she says. 'So the responsibility on us to put our heads down and work harder to achieve impact at scale is even more today than it was a year ago.' But she's optimistic. 'I do have hope that this problem can be solved,' she says. 'And I do have hope that this problem can be solved in our lifetimes." Contact us at letters@
Yahoo
24-04-2025
- General
- Yahoo
Prince Harry and Meghan Unveil NYC Memorial Honoring Children Lost to Social Media Harms
Prince Harry and Meghan Markle unveiled a temporary memorial in New York City on Wednesday, honoring children lost to social media-related harms. Established by the couple's Archewell Foundation, 'The Lost Screen' memorial features 50 illuminated smartphones, each displaying the lock screen photo of a child whose life was cut short because of social media. The images were shared by parents in the Archewell Foundation Parents' Network, many of whom came to New York to lay flowers at the display. The project calls for stronger online safeguards to better protect children. The Duke and Duchess of Sussex joined a group of approximately 50 affected families at the memorial for a private vigil on April 23. The memorial, located at the The Perch in midtown Manhattan, will be open for 24 hours. 'Life is better off of social media," Prince Harry said at the unveiling on Wednesday afternoon, according to People. "I say that as a parent, and I say that as someone who's spoken to many of the kids here tonight who lost a brother or a sister to social media. But clearly, enough is not enough. Enough is not being done.' After piloting the initiative in 2023, Prince Harry and Meghan launched the Parents' Network in August 2024 for parents in the U.S, the U.K, and Canada. "Our kids are young. They're three and five. They're amazing," Meghan told CBS News last year. "But all you want to do as parents is protect them. And so, as we can see what's happening in the online space, we know that there's a lot of work to be done there, and we're just happy to be able to be a part of change for good." Prince Harry spoke further about the Parents' Network in a speech at the Clinton Global Initiative in September 2024. 'Through trauma-informed practices, our Network helps parents come together to forge strong bonds, offering healing support through community,' the Duke of Sussex said at the time. 'This safe and free-to-access peer-support not only offers invaluable resources and advice, it is guided by a licensed facilitator, ensuring that no one has to navigate this journey alone. Our platform provides opportunity for parents to turn their pain into purpose, ultimately changing the very system that stole their child.' A virtual edition of the memorial will also be available online, featuring each child's story, with some parents contributing personal voice messages for visitors to hear. Prince Harry and Meghan arrived in New York earlier in the week to attend the 2025 Time100 Summit at Lincoln Center, where Meghan appeared for an on-stage interview with Time CEO Jessica Sibley. You Might Also Like 12 Weekend Getaway Spas For Every Type of Occasion 13 Beauty Tools to Up Your At-Home Facial Game
