Latest news with #DavidSheppard
Yahoo
24-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Story behind Ben Sheppard's mustache: Pacers guard says, 'I feel like it's part of me now'
SALT LAKE CITY, Utah — Ben Sheppard started growing his mustache on a whim after the Indiana Pacers drafted him with the No. 26 pick in 2023. He was clean shaven as a college player at Belmont and stayed that way long enough to take all of the post-draft photos alongside fellow first-round pick Jarace Walker. Then he just started letting his facial hair grow. By the start of NBA Summer League in 2023, he was showing some stubble, but eventually gave up on everything but the hair above his lip. By training camp he had a full-grown mustache. "At first I couldn't grow any other facial hair except for a mustache," Sheppard said, "but I like how it looks on me." MORE: Pacers vs. Knicks highlights: Pascal Siakam's career night gives Indiana 2-0 lead MORE: Pascal Siakam smokes Knicks for playoff-high 39; Josh Hart, interior defense AWOL for NY Sheppard, who scored six points and added an assist during Indiana's Game 2 win over New York in the Eastern Conference finals Friday night, said his parents didn't buy into his new look right away. His parents, David and Susan, were not big fans and suggested he shave it. Ben was about to acquiesce, but then he saw a picture of them at their wedding and noticed that his father had a mustache that was almost exactly the same as his. "I just wanted to keep it after that," Sheppard said. At that point David bought into the idea, Ben said, because what could he say? Susan was still more than skeptical but eventually had to surrender. "It probably took my mom a year to accept the fact that I have a mustache," Sheppard said. "But my dad likes everything that I do." It has since become the defining feature of Sheppard's aesthetic as he's settled into a rotation role as the Pacers' high-energy, low-maintenance wing off the bench ‒ an '80s style 'stache sitting above a seemingly permanent smile. "I feel like it's like a part of me now," Sheppard said, "so I'm keeping it for the time being." The USA TODAY app gets you to the heart of the news — fast. Download for award-winning coverage, crosswords, audio storytelling, the eNewspaper and more. This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Ben Sheppard's 'stache game: Pacers backup guard goes all-in on 1980s
Yahoo
03-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Councillor and campaigners prepare to set sail for unique advice surgery
A TEAM of local councillors and campaigners are preparing to host an advice surgery unlike any other held in the town before. Liberal Democrat councillors and campaigners will be holding an aquatic advice surgery for residents this weekend, sailing down the canal to speak to local residents along the way. The Stourbridge Lion Team, comprised of former Cllrs Lois Brammall and David Sheppard and Cllr Andrew Tromans, will be sailing a narrowboat down the Stourbridge Arm of the canal and stopping to listen to local concerns during the journey. Liberal Democrat campaigner for Wollaston and Stourbridge Town, David Sheppard, said: 'What we are hearing on the doorstep is that voters wouldn't touch either Labour or the Tories with a barge pole right now. 'We are providing an alternative by demonstrating that we can deliver on local issues and bring decision making closer to community. "We are working hard to build trust with residents with events such as our floating advice surgery.' The boat, renamed The Stourbridge Lion for the weekend, will be stopping at Wollaston Road Canal Bridge, opposite the Glass House College Mooring, between 3.00pm and 5.00pm tomorrow (Friday, April 4) and near Bells Mill Bridge between 10.30am and12.30pm on Saturday (April 5). Attendees will be offered light refreshments and will have a separate booth to air any confidential concerns with their local Liberal Democrat team. Former Wollaston and Stourbridge Town Cllr Lois Brammall said: 'Joining the Stourbridge Lion Team has been a homecoming. "It has been wonderful to work alongside David and Cllr Tromans, but also to reconnect with so many residents who remember me from my time serving on Dudley Council previously. 'I am looking forward to hearing what folks using the canal this weekend have to say and campaigning for better facilities for children and young people in our area.'
Yahoo
25-03-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Deputy council leader resigns over welfare reforms
The deputy leader of Rotherham Metropolitan Borough Council has resigned over the government's recently announced welfare reforms. Last week, changes to the benefits system were set out, including stricter eligibility criteria for disability payments, in a bid to save £5bn. Councillor David Sheppard criticised the move and accused the Labour Party of choosing to "target people who need support the most" in a statement on Tuesday. Council leader Chris Read said Sheppard's decision to resign was "deeply disappointing". "[Sheppard] has been a hardworking Labour councillor for the last nine years and I have enjoyed working with him very much. I respect his choice of course – but I disagree with it," Read said. "Our local Labour team will continue to work hard for the borough and I know that Dave will continue to support us on the local platform on which we were all elected." Sheppard was first elected to Rotherham Metropolitan Borough Council in 2016, and is the current cabinet member for social inclusion, according to the Local Democracy Reporting Service. Sheppard said he would still support the work Labour is doing at a local level but could not continue in his role in light of the recent announcement. "To me, it is unconscionable that when faced with the financial crisis left to us by the previous Tory government, the Labour Party has chosen to target people who need support the most," he said. "I have always held the belief that government should do what it can to equalise the injustices within society. "Sadly, this and other recent announcements have led me to conclude that this is currently not the case." The Department for Work and Pensions has been approached for comment. Listen to highlights from South Yorkshire on BBC Sounds, catch up with the latest episode of Look North. Rotherham Metropolitan Borough Council
BBC News
25-03-2025
- Politics
- BBC News
Rotherham deputy council leader resigns over welfare reforms
The deputy leader of Rotherham Metropolitan Borough Council has resigned over the government's recently announced welfare week, changes to the benefits system were set out, including stricter eligibility criteria for disability payments, in a bid to save £ David Sheppard criticised the move and accused the Labour Party of choosing to "target people who need support the most" in a statement on leader Chris Read said Sheppard's decision to resign was "deeply disappointing". "[Sheppard] has been a hardworking Labour councillor for the last nine years and I have enjoyed working with him very much. I respect his choice of course – but I disagree with it," Read said."Our local Labour team will continue to work hard for the borough and I know that Dave will continue to support us on the local platform on which we were all elected." 'Unconscionable' Sheppard was first elected to Rotherham Metropolitan Borough Council in 2016, and is the current cabinet member for social inclusion, according to the Local Democracy Reporting said he would still support the work Labour is doing at a local level but could not continue in his role in light of the recent announcement."To me, it is unconscionable that when faced with the financial crisis left to us by the previous Tory government, the Labour Party has chosen to target people who need support the most," he said."I have always held the belief that government should do what it can to equalise the injustices within society."Sadly, this and other recent announcements have led me to conclude that this is currently not the case."The Department for Work and Pensions has been approached for comment. Listen to highlights from South Yorkshire on BBC Sounds, catch up with the latest episode of Look North.
Yahoo
02-03-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Lib Dems celebrate growing council presence with rally in Wollaston
DUDLEY'S Liberal Democrats launched a bid for a big council comeback by staging a rally in Wollaston where they welcomed their newest member and some familiar veteran campaigners. Independent councillor Andrew Tromans announced yesterday (Saturday March 1) that he had joined the Lib Dems – six months after he quit the Labour Party and formed a Unity Group with the Lib Dems to work on campaigns of mutual interest. The move means the Lib Dems are now a four-strong team on Dudley Council – still a far cry from their heyday in the early noughties when they had around half a dozen councillors on the local authority, which is made up of 72 councillors. Liberal Democrats, left to right, Cllr Ethan Stafford, Cllr Carl Cashman, from Liverpool, Cllr Ryan Priest, Cllr Andrew Tromans and Cllr Kash Khan at Wollaston Village Hall. (Image: Bev Holder / Newsquest) But there's a change in the spring air, and lots to be done, the buoyant yellow, gold and orange clad campaigners told the News as they announced the Wollaston and Stourbridge Town Focus team would be known as the Stourbridge Lion team going forwards. Headed up by Cradley and Wollescote councillor Ryan Priest, who won his council seat in a byelection in August 2023, and Lib Dem ward councillors Ethan Stafford and Kash Khan who both won seats in May 2024, the Liberal Democrats in Dudley have made gains locally in the last two years and they have their sights set on taking even more council seats in the next local elections in 2026 in the hope of becoming a new opposition force. Cllr Priest, Dudley Lib Dem Group leader, said: 'I'm proud of what the Liberal Democrats are doing in Dudley, providing a real opposition to this Conservative administration. It's about getting involved and getting things done, despite not being in power and despite the financial restraints on the authority.' The local visibility of the Lib Dems has also seen veteran campaigners and former councillors David Sheppard, Chris Bramall and Lois Bramall, who were at the rally and raring to go door knocking afterwards, express an interest in a return to frontline politics. Former Wollaston and Stourbridge councillor Lois, who has spent the last decade building up a counselling service in Wolverhampton, said: 'It would be nice. I'm certainly considering it. I'm keen to do whatever we need to do get the numbers up again. If we work hard things can happen.' The Liberal Democrat Stourbridge Lion team for Wollaston and Stourbridge Town (l-r) David Sheppard, Cllr Andrew Tromans and Lois Bramall at Wollaston Village Hall. (Image: Bev Holder / Newsquest) David Sheppard, former leader of the Dudley Lib Dem Group, also fancies making a return to the council. He told the News: 'It's an exciting time. It's just what Dudley borough needs – some form of third-party force that tells it like it is, tells the truth and goes out and campaigns for things people are really concerned about – like the local toilets.' Mr Sheppard, a Lib Dem councillor for Norton from 1993 to 2004, celebrated a victory on Monday February 24 when Dudley Council confirmed it would reverse a planned budget cut that would have seen Wollaston and Netherton's public toilets axed and instead look to ditch the mayoral car and attendant. Assisted by Cllr Tromans and Lib Dem colleagues, he led a successful campaign to save the toilet blocks – putting up posters and starting a petition which was presented to the council ahead of Monday's budget meeting. He said: 'I'm hoping to get back in. I'm going to be standing in this ward with Andrew.' READ MORE: Independent Stourbridge councillor joins the Lib Dems Seasoned Lib Dem campaigner and former Norton councillor Chris Bramall also hasn't given up on local politics. The party's candidate for the Parliamentary seat of Stourbridge for the last decade or so, who has stood without success more times than he can remember, remains determined to do what it takes to support the party he's belonged to for more than two decades. He remembers the local heyday the Lib Dems enjoyed when they held around 15 per cent of the seats in the council chamber. Chris said: 'It was exciting times. We had all three council seats in Norton and in Wollaston and Stourbridge and we pressed all the time for more power for Stourbridge. 'We used to have the area committee which could actually achieve things - and the Lib Dems are now pushing for local councils for each area, with the first in Cradley.' Liberal Democrat campaigners at the rally at Wollaston Village Hall. L-r - Cllr Andrew Tromans, Cllr Ryan Priest, Cllr Ethan Stafford and Cllr Kash Khan. (Image: Bev Holder / Newsquest) He described the return of the Lib Dems to the council chamber as 'amazing' and said: 'They've achieved so much, saving The Dell Open Space, saving the public toilets and the leisure centres. All that's been done by working with the Conservatives, we had to; it was the right thing to do.' There's still plenty of work ahead though. Councillor Kash Khan said: 'We're hoping in 2026 that we'll have another two to three Lib Dem councillors.' The Liberal Democrat Stourbridge Lion team for Wollaston and Stourbridge Town (l-r) David Sheppard, Cllr Andrew Tromans and Lois Bramall at Wollaston Village Hall. (Image: Bev Holder / Newsquest) As they celebrated their local achievements, they were joined by Liverpool Lib Dem councillor Carl Cashman who gave a speech in the recently reopened Wollaston Village Hall. He told supporters how the Lib Dems fought back after having zero councillors after the Conservative-Lib Dem coalition government and said it's quite a 'difficult thing to do' and he would be watching to see how the Dudley group fares in the local elections in 2026, 2027 and beyond. Labour's Cat Eccles, who is MP for Stourbridge as well as a councillor for Wollaston and Stourbridge Town, was less happy about the news that her former ward colleague has defected to the Lib Dems. She said: 'I'm sure residents who voted in three Labour councillors last May will be disappointed with what they've ended up with. Cllr Andrew Tromans in his Labour Party days with Cllr Cat Eccles, who became Stourbridge's MP in the general election in July 2024. (Image: Handout) 'It was obvious from when the Unity Group formed that it was Cllr Tromans' intention to rejoin the Lib Dems, the party he started out as a member of. 'Following the council budget meeting it's clear the Lib Dems are propping up Harley's Conservatives and willing to throw residents under the bus for a backroom deal. 'They demonstrated this with their self-serving amendments to the budget to spend £75k on a town council feasibility study and 'saving' a public toilet by handing the mayor's driver his P45. 'Councillor Jason Griffin and I will continue to work hard for our residents in Wollaston and Stourbridge Town and we're proud to have backed Labour's amendment to the budget which would have saved vital services for people across the Dudley borough.'
