Latest news with #DavidandGoliath
Yahoo
23-05-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
How Liberty conquered No. 1 Texas A&M to reach first-ever super regionals: ‘A true David and Goliath thing'
If you're going to slay a giant, you're going to need a good scouting report. Down 3-1 with two outs and a man on second, Savannah Jessee had one. She knew what was coming. By the third and final game between Liberty and Texas A&M on Sunday in the NCAA softball tournament regional round, Jessee said she had learned pitcher Emiley Kennedy's tendencies. Jessee had a hunch Kennedy would try to even the count on her next pitch, so she readied her swing. Advertisement 'I knew that pitch was going to be right where I wanted it to be,' Jessee said in a news conference Tuesday. 'I saw it well. I was perfectly on time and I was able to stay through it and put it over.' Jessee hammered a home run over left field, bringing in two runs and tying the score at 3. Three batters later, with runners on first and third and Grace Sparks on the mound after a Texas A&M pitching change, Rachel Roupe enacted the same strategy as Jessee. The Conference USA Softball Player of the Year took the first pitch to get her timing down, she said, before seeing the next pitch right where she wanted. She swung and watched as the ball hit the scoreboard and ricocheted back onto the field. Roupe's blast gave Liberty a 6-3 pad. Advertisement 'I was just trying to get the ball in play,' Roupe said in Tuesday's news conference. 'That's when you hit your home runs, when you're not trying.' Roupe's hit proved the victorious one. The Flames gave up two runs in the bottom of the sixth and none in the seventh for the 6-5 victory. Their takedown of the Aggies was the first time in tournament history that the No. 1 seed did not advance out of the regional round. It also marked Liberty's first-ever run to the super regionals. 'It was a true David and Goliath thing,' Jessee said. David and Goliath is a biblical tale of a young shepherd boy David, who challenges and defeats a giant, Goliath, with only a sling and stones. With God's help, the story says, David struck the giant in the forehead, killing him. Advertisement Many players on Liberty, an evangelical Christian university in Lynchburg, Va., are strong in their religious beliefs. Coach Dot Richardson said Tuesday that much of the game plan is contingent on God's plan — like drawing Goliath-like Texas A&M in the first place. The team's belief that everything happens according to God's will allows them to play freely and unbothered, she said. 'I am not surprised where we are because they just play with so much freedom,' Richardson said. 'That's what happens when you see great athletes play with freedom, great things happen.' Leading 6-5 in the bottom of the seventh of Game 7, Liberty's Kaylan Yoder took that liberation with her to the mound. She needed three outs to send her team to the supers. She got them in five batters. 'It's all God, man,' she said May 20 on Delmarva Sports Network. 'That's the only thing I can give credit to because I went out and I never felt so much peace in a big moment.' Advertisement All thanks to her own advice. 'The last game, Yoder told me, 'When you're struggling and there's a big moment, sometimes I either think about nothing or I think about the Lord,'' Jessee said. 'That's what she told me before I went up and hit my home run, and I told her the same thing when she went out to pitch.' But Liberty's conquest of the giant didn't happen overnight. It took years for the program to recruit talent and build the depth required to beat an SEC powerhouse in the postseason. Before 2025, Liberty made — and lost — four regional finals. Last year, No. 11 Georgia beat Liberty 3-2 in the regional final on a walk-off win. In 2023, San Diego State rallied from an early 2-0 hole to best the Flames in the final, and James Madison posted a five-run fifth inning to send Liberty home in the finals the year before that. South Carolina beat Liberty both times in the finals to advance out of its 2018 regionals. Advertisement This year, the Flames were CUSA regular-season and tournament champions for the second year in a row. Led by star hitters Roupe, Jessee, KK Madrey, Paige Doerr and Savannah Woodard, they made their eighth playoff appearance and are one of two teams (Miami Ohio) outside the Power 4 conferences to appear in each of the last five regionals. The Flames knew 2025 should've been a season of reclaiming a regionals victory instead of continuing to seek their first one. After a 10-5 victory over Marist on May 16, Liberty matched up against Texas A&M for the first time in the tournament the following day. There, the Flames stunned the Aggies 8-5. That's when Jessee realized Liberty was in the driver's seat and this time — needing only one more win as opposed to Texas A&M's two — it wouldn't relinquish control of the wheel. 'I just knew when we won that game that we were gonna win the whole thing,' Jessee said of the regional round. Advertisement Liberty plays No. 14 Oregon in the super regional round starting Friday at 10 p.m. ET in Eugene. The schools have met in other sports this academic year: Oregon football thumped Liberty 45-6 in the 2024 Fiesta Bowl and Oregon men's basketball blew out Liberty 81-52 in the 2025 NCAA Tournament first round. But Roupe is looking forward to the chance to even the scales. 'I'm so excited for a women's team to get the job done,' she said. This article originally appeared in The Athletic. College Sports, Women's College Sports 2025 The Athletic Media Company
Irish Independent
23-05-2025
- Irish Independent
Twelve nominations for Irish Independent and Sunday Independent journalists for Justice Media Awards
Awarded by the Law Society of Ireland, the Justice Media Awards are the longest-running media awards in the country and recognise the highest standards of excellence in legal journalism. Special Correspondent Catherine Fegan has received three nominations across as many categories, the first for her story speaking to survivors of sexual abuse, who told of the difficult decision to waive their anonymity so the perpetrators could be named. She has also been shortlisted for her coverage of the civil rape case brought against MMA fighter Conor McGregor, where a jury found he assaulted Nikita Hand in a Dublin hotel in December 2018 and ordered him to pay almost €250,000 in damages. The headline of her article read: 'Nikita Hand v Conor McGregor: The moment the mask slipped.' McGregor is currently attempting to appeal the High Court civil jury finding. Ms Fegan has also been nominated in the human rights and social justice reporting category for her story speaking to survivors of abuse at schools about the trauma they faced and their fight for justice. Legal Affairs Editor Shane Phelan has been shortlisted for his coverage of the key factors that may have swayed the jury in Nikita Hand's case against Conor McGregor in the court reporting category. Sunday Independent journalist Mark Tighe received his first of three nominations for his story on 'how one woman took on the world's most 'notorious' fighter and triumphed'. He was also nominated alongside Joe Molloy and the Indo Sport podcast team for their podcast episode 'Nikita Hand wins David and Goliath case against Conor McGregor'. Mr Tighe and RTÉ Investigates' Marie Crowe have been nominated for their joint investigation 'Field of Broken Dreams', in which multiple female footballers claimed they were subjected to unwanted or inappropriate sexual advances from FAI coaches in the 1990s. ADVERTISEMENT Ireland Editor Fionnán Sheahan has been nominated for his coverage of a Science Foundation Ireland (SFI) independent investigation surrounding it's director general Professor Philip Nolan. He has also been nominated alongside the Indo Daily podcast team in the podcast category for their episode ''Wanted': Gardaí release images of 99 Dublin riot suspects, is it a worrying precedent?', which was released last November. News correspondent Ellen Coyne has been shortlisted in the human rights and social justice reporting category for her coverage of how domestic violence victims are forced into homelessness by a lack of refuge spaces. Sunday Independent journalist Ali Bracken has received two nods in total, including for her story about assault victim Natasha O'Brien as she prepared to return to court to face her attacker and for the legal road still faced by the family of Valerie French in the years after her husband James Kilroy was convicted of her murder.
The Courier
02-05-2025
- Business
- The Courier
Perth man wins £5.5k from Inverkeithing firm at tribunal
A Perth man says he was left 'afraid' to go to work after homophobic slurs and 'childish victimisation' from colleagues. Sean McGhie, 36, won £5,500 after taking his former employer, RHT Scotland – based at Belleknowes Industrial Estate in Inverkeithing, Fife – to a tribunal. Employment judge James Hendry found the firm, which specialises in office removals and installations, was liable after an employee shouted: 'Where are you, you gay c***?' at Sean. Speaking to The Courier, Sean has revealed the personal toll after he took on the firm in what he describes as a 'David vs Goliath' employment tribunal. He said: 'I am ecstatic, it took seven-and-a-half weeks to find out if I had won and I was climbing the walls with anticipation from the moment I first stuck my own neck out to complain. 'I have to keep pinching myself.' Sean represented himself throughout the tribunal and – despite the firm hiring both a solicitor and barrister from England – was found to be due compensation for injury to feelings. The events covered by the tribunal happened in November 2023 and followed a disagreement between Sean and his supervisor, referred to as BD, over a late finishing time. The argument resulted in him being called a homophobic slur and the incident was dealt with by the firm, with BD disciplined. Sean also reported the incident to police and BD later pled guilty at Glasgow Sheriff Court and was fined £240. Sean could not include this incident as part of his tribunal claim because it happened outwith the time period considered by the tribunal, but it was used as background for his subsequent complaints. He said: 'It ended up being a David and Goliath as I had to fight against the company. 'It felt like David and Goliath, I am just wee Sean McGhie who only wanted to get to work and come home in the same state I left in.' The tribunal judgement said: 'He (Sean) makes no secret of the fact that he is gay. 'He was comfortable discussing aspects of his sexuality with fellow employees.' The tribunal said RHT Scotland – an office removals and installation firm – had 'failed to detect a pattern of behaviour' in investigating incidents involving the supervisor and Sean. This included BD allowing an automatic door to shut as Sean was approaching, calling him a 'grass' and stating 'it f****** stinks in here' while looking at him. The supervisor also excluded Sean after buying a staff lunch from a burger van. The judgement said: 'This was on one level childish (such as the exclusion from food bought at the burger van) but coming from the claimant's supervisor, who held a position of authority over him, and given the background circumstances in which these behaviours occurred, they are not wholly trivial.' On another occasion, a different colleague, referred to as AR, shouted a homophobic slur from a lift. Sean says he was left 'mortified' by the comment, which he says was heard by other people. He said: 'I actually heard people gasp and I was mortified and wanted the ground to swallow me up.' He also reported this incident to police and was later signed off work with stress. Police say nobody has been arrested or charged in connection, but a report will be submitted to the procurator fiscal. He also submitted a formal complaint about AR, however, the firm decided there 'was no basis for the complaints made'. Sean was dismissed by the company on January 9 2024 due to claims he had breached confidentiality by speaking about his complaint against BD and had failed to make the company aware of a previous court conviction. He was awarded £3,000 in compensation for the incident involving AR and £2,500 for the 'acts of victimisation' from his supervisor. Sean says he suffered with mental and physical problems as a result of the experience, including insomnia and psoriasis, a chronic skin condition. He said: 'I loved the job, my brother had recently died when I got it and it was something different. 'I was able to work through my grief as I was experiencing life in a new way. 'It was different from what I had done before – working in a call centre for SSE. 'For the first time in my life I was doing a manly job and was able to be myself. 'I was building desks and listening to Ru Paul music. 'I didn't expect to be attacked as I was really enjoying it and thought I was doing it all. 'I haven't been back to work but I am taking some time now, enjoying myself, and then I will start to look for something.' RHT Scotland declined to comment when contacted by The Courier.
The Independent
30-04-2025
- Entertainment
- The Independent
Welsh designer loses court battle against fashion giants Boohoo over bikini copy claim
A bikini designer has lost a David and Goliath court campaign against online fast-fashion giant Sonia Edwards, 53, from Newport, Gwent, began her design career in 2010, exhibiting at the Clothes Show Live in 2011, where her signature 'Infinite' multiway bikini top first hit the catwalk. Celebrities, including Liss Jones from The Voice and Welsh media personality Lateysha Grace, have worn her designs, while her work has also featured in Vogue. But she has now lost a legal clash with and four linked companies over alleged infringements in relation to five designs, including the bikini top, after a judge said that her swimwear had "low originality". He also found that despite " that designs are copied from social media on occasion" by Boohoo companies, it was unlikely her design had been seen to be copied by Boohoo's designers, as she "had just 268 Instagram followers in 2020". Rejecting her complaints of copying, he said: "The stark truth is that there are also only so many ways to design clothing to fit the human body." The companies Ms Edwards sued alongside were Ltd, Nasty Gal Ltd, Miss Pap UK Ltd, and Debenhams Brands Ltd. The alleged infringements related to five designs marketed by Boohoo or the linked companies: a halter neck bikini top; rib organza mesh puff sleeve top; Taylor velvet ruched midi skirt; a twist front skirt, and leather front ruched leggings. Presenting her own case against a team of lawyers representing Boohoo and the other companies, Ms Edwards sought a court order preventing them from importing or selling various fashion items which she claimed are copies of her designs, plus a court declaration that Boohoo has infringed the design rights of her company, Cwtchy Cwtchy, with compensation to be paid. She told Judge Tom Micheson KC at London's High Court: 'I am a self-taught designer who relies on a hands-on, improvised approach when designing, through trial and error until I produce a design that satisfies my own visions. I don't follow trends, and work with my own creative freedom." Ms Edwards told the judge she began to notice more of her designs proliferating online during the Covid lockdown. Focusing on her 'infinite bikini' line, she said the garment could be 'tied in lots of different ways,' alleging that a similar item has been marketed by one of the defending companies, Nasty Gal Ltd. At issue with the bikini were several telltale features which she said betray the products marketed by Nasty Gal as copied from her work, including a top strap that forms 'one piece' without fastening and two front breast panels with 'openings at the top and bottom allowing the strap to be passed through'. However, Boohoo's KC, Andrew Norris, argued that the alleged similarities are not specific enough to be protected under copyright law. 'These features do not describe protectable shape and configuration," he said. "They are concepts and methods of construction and are not protectable features in design law in accordance with…the Act.' Adding that the concept of a 'multiway' bikini was 'well established,' the barrister claimed there was nothing unique about the disputed design, noting that its 'selling point' for Ms Edwards was the fact that its wearer can change how they wear it according to their whims. 'Whether the top strap forms one piece or is two pieces - i.e. which way the ends of the strap go - is the wearer's choice and is not the shape or configuration of the design,' he said. Giving his ruling, the judge said: "This is an action for infringement of unregistered design right in the design of various items of clothing. The particular sector in issue is fast-fashion - where companies engage in releasing hundreds of different styles of low-cost garments per week, based on current trends found in social media. "The claimant, Sonia Edwards, began designing clothing in 2010. She mainly promoted herself through social media with the aim of licensing her designs to others. "Her work at that time achieved recognition in Vogue Magazine and Drapers Magazine and was featured by The Fashion Network amongst others. She also exhibited at the Clothes Show Live in 2011, at the NEC in Birmingham. She has recently given up designing clothing, partly as a result of the present litigation. "The defendants are all part of boohoo, the well-known fast-fashion group. "The claimant has been complaining for a number of years about the alleged copying of her clothing designs by various big fashion brands, including ASOS, Missguided, Moschino and Shein. Her complaints against boohoo have also been going on for some years. "The claimant's case is that she possesses unregistered design right in the shape and configuration of garment designs. "The defendants say that the claimed features are really descriptions of generalised concepts, rather than actual shape and configuration in the design." Dealing with the bikini, the judge threw out Ms Edwards' claim, said the opportunity for any copying was "extremely limited," citing the "relatively low profile" of Ms Edwards' social media channels. "The contemporaneous material shows that the claimant had only a handful of likes and comments on the Facebook pages showing her designs over the relevant period. Her Instagram account Scrunchbooty had just 268 followers in 2020." He said it was more likely that someone would have come up with a similar design themselves without copying Ms Edwards' ideas. "That is a function of the low originality of the claimant's design ...which is generic enough that other people in the industry are quite capable of coming up with the same design independently," he said. "For all these reasons and in spite of the that designs are copied from social media on occasion by the defendants, I reject the suggestion that the claimant's (bikini) has been copied in the present case." He went on to dismiss the claims relating to the other garments too, finding that the "defendants did not copy the claimant's designs." "I recognise that Ms Edwards will be disappointed in this outcome. She has campaigned for some time to shine a light on what she sees as injustice against the small designer in the fashion industry. "I have no doubt that her grievances are sincerely held, but she has subjected the defendants and others to a torrent of complaints over a period of many years. Regrettably, the complaints that I have had to adjudicate are misdirected, either as a matter of fact or law, or both. "I acknowledge that copying undoubtedly takes place within the fashion industry, particularly in fast fashion. Every time the defendants ask manufacturers to reproduce images found on social media, there is a risk of someone's design right being infringed. "But the stark truth is that there are also only so many ways to design clothing to fit the human body. "Given the enormous numbers of articles being churned out by the likes of the defendants each week, it is completely unsurprising that as a matter of chance, some of these resemble articles designed previously by others, including the claimant. "And whilst the probability of chance reproduction in such circumstances is high, the likelihood of a fast fashion company using a social media feed with few followers published many years ago is low. "It is for these reasons that I have dismissed the claimant's suspicions about alleged copying by the defendants."
Yahoo
05-03-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
'Economic Blackout' Asks You to Boycott Amazon for a Week
It started with one day of an "economic blackout." Now, the organizer of a grassroots boycott meant to strike at corporate greed has bigger plans. The People's Union USA is calling for a boycott of mega-online retailer Amazon for an entire week starting this Friday, March 7. But will Amazon feel it? People's Union USA founder John Schwarz described the weeklong blackout as "not just a boycott," but rather a "calculated strike" in an Instagram post on March 4. He called out Amazon's impact on small businesses, treatment of workers and record profits. "This blackout is another massive message," he said. The first major message from People's Union USA came on Feb. 28 with a 24-hour economic blackout aimed widely at big corporations. Schwarz encouraged followers to shop at small businesses instead. News of the effort spread over social media with celebrities like Mark Ruffalo, Bette Midler and John Leguizamo throwing their support behind the movement. The group doesn't claim any specific political affiliation. "We are not a political party. We are not a protest," the People's Union USA says on its website. "We are a movement of people, organizing to take back control of our economy, government and future of our country." Schwarz's vision for the next blackout means more than cutting out toilet paper deliveries or impulse kitchen gadget purchases from Amazon's main website. He wants consumers to avoid Prime Video, Whole Foods, Zappos, Twitch, Alexa, Ring and IMDb, all of which are owned by Amazon or a subsidiary. Amazon's tendrils run deep. It even has creative control over 007 superspy James Bond through its ownership of MGM Studios. For someone tied into Amazon's ecosystem, this would mean unplugging Alexa devices, turning off Ring cameras and holding off on the third-season premiere of Wheel of Time. The fantasy series returns on March 13. The Amazon boycott has a David and Goliath feel to it. The retail and entertainment juggernaut reported net sales of . That was an 11% increase over 2023. Schwarz has 366,000 followers on Instagram and 341,000 followers on TikTok – his main social media vehicles for getting the word out. Meanwhile, Amazon has hundreds of millions of customers worldwide. Momentum Commerce, a digital marketplace consulting and data services company, tracked hourly sales data from its client base during the Feb. 28 boycott. The company compared that data to average sales from the prior eight Fridays. Momentum's analysis showed Amazon sales were up 1% versus the average during the blackout. "I'd say the minimal impact on Amazon sales during the one-day boycott isn't necessarily surprising," lead researcher Andrew Waber tells CNET. Waber points out how Amazon exceeds $1 billion in sales every day. "This size makes the retailer naturally resilient particularly when it comes to short-term disruptions," he says. Momentum Commerce will track sales data during the weeklong blackout to see if trends from the one-day boycott play out over the longer period. The Amazon blackout is just the beginning of a series of boycotts. The People's Union USA laid out a schedule for future blackouts. That includes Nestle (which owns brands ranging from Carnation to Gerber) from March 21-28 and Walmart from April 7-13. The group has April 18 set for another wide-ranging economic blackout that could stretch to cover that whole weekend. General Mills (known for Cheerios, Betty Crocker and Pillsbury) is next from April 21-27. Those companies aren't the only subjects of boycott efforts. Atlanta, Georgia pastor and activist Jamal Bryant is promoting a 40-day Target "fast" starting this week to protest the retailer's move away from diversity, equity and inclusion policies. Boycotts are a way for consumers to call attention to concerns and find ways to align their spending with their political, economic and social goals. It may not hurt the bottom line of a company like Amazon, but the economic blackouts are certainly generating social-media-fueled discussions. If nothing else, it asks consumers to consider where they want their money to go.
