Latest news with #Doherty
Yahoo
10 minutes ago
- Health
- Yahoo
New life for old fort as tower house transformed into community hub
The future of a formerly-at-risk 19th Century tower house has been secured with the successful transformation of Culmore Fort. Culmore Fort, in County Londonderry, has been restored for community use. It is set to accommodate youth mental health services and host meetings for a variety of sports, heritage and cultural organisations. Following years of planning and more than £265,000 in funding, the historic site in County Londonderry was converted for public use by the Culmore Community Partnership (CCP). The CCP's chairman, Neil Doherty, said the restoration will be a vital resource for the whole community. Speaking to BBC Radio Foyle's Mark Patterson Show, Mr Doherty said the Village Catalyst grant scheme — a collaborative initiative between the Department for Communities (DfC), the Architectural Heritage Fund (AHF), the Department for Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs (Daera) and the Northern Ireland Housing Executive (NIHE) — helped make this vision a reality. Additional support was also provided by The Honourable Irish Society, the Garfield Weston Foundation, and the Pilgrim Trust, he said. Mr Doherty told the programme that the fort at Culmore was held by the Crown until 1840 when it and its surrounding lands were sold to The Honourable Irish Society, who remain its owners. "For about 50 years, nobody had lived in it as the fort had been leased by Lough Foyle Yacht Club and was primarily a boat storage area, and it was becoming a wee bit derelict," he said. "We have been here now six months since the work started and it has been an unbelievable change. "The idea of taking a very old building that was out of use and changing it into something beautiful and somewhere that the community can use is fantastic." Ryan Byrne from We Build Ireland has helped carry out the restoration and modernisation works at the fort. "We were very fortunate to work with a very great architect in Mark Hackett who has been incredibly accommodating with the builders," he said. "Sometimes these old buildings get restricted by the design team. "You have to work with the building, because sometimes when you try to work against the building, that's when things can go wrong." Ryan said Mark's vision and sensitivity to the fort's historic character ensured that every decision they carried out respected the past while also bringing to life the modern state-of-the-art plans. Una Cooper, strategic manager of CCP, emphasised the significance of the fort's future role for the area. "It is no longer just a historical site," she said. "It's a safe, inclusive, space that will support young people, celebrate our culture and bring the community together. "We are incredibly proud of what this project represents." Northern Ireland Communities Minister Gordon Lyons welcomed the restoration of the historic fort and said it will be a huge benefit to the people of Culmore and surrounding areas. "We are seeing more and more communities applying to Village Catalyst (grant scheme) and I am pleased that my department is able to support projects where at-risk heritage properties are being revitalised and restored for the benefit of the local community," he said. Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs Minister Andrew Muir said it was part-funded through his department's Tackling Rural Poverty and Social Isolation (TRPSI) Programme. "The programme tackles rural poverty and social isolation by refurbishing neglected community-owned historic buildings for locally identified uses which provide access to services and address core community needs," he said. "The provision of a multi-functional community facility in the Culmore area is a significant development and I'm delighted that this project will help support the local rural community for many years to come."
Los Angeles Times
5 hours ago
- Health
- Los Angeles Times
PG&E tried to restart a battery plant over Monterey County officials' objections. It lasted less than a day
When a massive fire ignited in January at one of the world's largest lithium-ion battery storage facilities, the neighbors demanded answers. They wanted to know what started the fire that smoldered for days, spewing toxic gas into the air and prompting evacuation warnings for 1,500 people. Nearly five months later and with the fire's cause still unknown, Pacific Gas & Electric began reopening an adjacent battery site on Sunday, despite objections from local officials. But the restart — which the utility company said was needed in order to meet summer energy demands — was called off almost as soon as it began. On Sunday, workers who 'began methodically returning the batteries to service' discovered 'a clamp failure and coolant leak' in a Tesla Megapack battery unit on site, PG&E spokesman Paul Doherty said in a statement Monday. 'Out of an abundance of caution we are deferring the facility's return to service until a later date,' Doherty said. The situation in Moss Landing highlights some of the underlying tensions of California becoming more reliant upon renewable energy, electric vehicles and battery-powered devices. State officials have aggressively pushed to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by switching to clean energy sources. But the Vistra blaze has prompted calls for additional safety regulations around battery storage — as well as more local control over where storage sites are located. The Elkhorn facility — which is owned by PG&E and maintained by both the utility company and Tesla — is one of two adjacent battery energy storage systems at the Moss Landing power complex near Monterey Bay. The other is owned by Texas-based Vistra Corp. The batteries store excess energy generated during the day and release it into the power grid during times of high demand, including evening hours. Both facilities have been offline since Jan. 16, when a Vistra-owned building containing 99,000 LG battery modules caught fire. The Elkhorn site includes 256 stationary Tesla Megapacks — essentially shipping container-sized units filled with battery modules. The facility did not burn but automatically shut down when its safety equipment detected the fire in the Vistra building. PG&E announced last month that it planned to restart the Elkhorn facility by June 1 because, during the summer, 'that power is necessary to effectively manage the demands of the California power grid.' Tesla and the utility company, two PG&E vice presidents wrote in a letter to the county supervisors, 'performed extensive inspection and clean-up' at the Elkhorn site. After the discovery of problems at the Elkhorn facility Sunday, Monterey County Supervisor Glenn Church, whose district includes Moss Landing, called it 'a good sign' that PG&E quickly paused the restart. But, he said, he still wants the utility company to wait until the fire investigations are complete to try again. 'That PG&E encountered problems as they recharged their batteries points out the volatility of this technology,' Church told The Times in an email Monday night. In a survey of nearby residents conducted by the Monterey and Santa Cruz county health departments, 83% of respondents said they experienced at least one symptom — most commonly headaches, sore throats and coughing — shortly after the fire. Nearly a quarter of respondents said they had trouble breathing, and 39% reported having a metallic taste in their mouth. The survey, conducted in February and March, was completed by 1,539 people who lived or worked in the region at the time of the fire. The results were released Monday. Jim says, 'Always tell the truth and you never have to remember what you said.'Lisa says, ''Things always look better in the morning.' My dad was a realistic pessimist so this was solid advice coming from him and, over the years, it's proved to be true in my own life.' Email us at essentialcalifornia@ and your response might appear in the newsletter this week. Today's great photo is from Times photographer Gina Ferazzi at a Riverside track field with Abi, a transgender high school athlete who navigates a fight she never asked for. Hailey Branson-Potts, staff writerKevinisha Walker, multiplatform editorAndrew Campa, Sunday writerKarim Doumar, head of newsletters How can we make this newsletter more useful? Send comments to essentialcalifornia@ Check our top stories, topics and the latest articles on
Time Magazine
a day ago
- Business
- Time Magazine
The Best TV Shows of 2025 So Far
Survive till '25. This was the watchword for Hollywood last year, repeated like a mantra at all levels of the industry, from studio execs to below-the-line crew members. But the strikes of 2023 that delayed releases slated for 2024 were never the only ills plaguing the entertainment sector. So it isn't surprising that the reality within the business hasn't quite lived up to the slogan. Still, the outlook for viewers has genuinely improved since this time last year, when beloved shows were just going back into production. Now, they've returned. The highlights of 2025 so far have included long-awaited new seasons of prestige TV phenomena like Severance and The White Lotus. Even more heartening has been the profusion of wonderful new shows, from star-studded slam dunks The Studio, The Pitt, and Dying for Sex to the surprise smash Adolescence. Adolescence (Netflix) Adolescence is, in many ways, this year's Baby Reindeer: a sleeper-hit British Netflix miniseries that started an overdue, international conversation about masculinity and its discontents. But rather than a semi-autobiographical—and intensely personal—black comedy like creator-star Richard Gadd 's Reindeer, Adolescence is a harrowing drama about the effects of incel culture and the misogynistic manosphere on kids who can't even imagine growing up without social media. In just four episodes that unfold not just in real time, but also as elegantly executed single shots, co-creators Stephen Graham and Jack Thorne relate the tragedy of a 13-year-old boy, Jamie Miller (Owen Cooper), arrested for the murder of a female classmate. That he did kill her is established early on; the question is, why? The standout hour puts Jamie in conversation with a psychologist (Erin Doherty) who gradually untangles the mess of influences that turned a seemingly normal middle schooler violent. Cooper, Doherty, and Graham, who plays Jamie's guilt-stricken father, are all phenomenal. It's no surprise, either, to see the team behind this show kind of taking over TV in 2025. Already this year, Thorne has released two other moving social dramas in the U.S., Toxic Town on Netflix and Best Interests on Acorn. Graham and Doherty, meanwhile, can be seen in Hulu's Victorian crime series A Thousand Blows. Dying for Sex (FX) If it wasn't based on a true story turned podcast, the premise of Dying for Sex might sound so far-fetched as to be offensive. Diagnosed with terminal cancer at 40, Molly (Michelle Williams) dumps her condescending husband (Jay Duplass), recruits her chaotic best friend (Jenny Slate) as her caretaker, and embarks upon a sexual odyssey to compensate for a lifetime of trauma and repression. Specifically, while undergoing invasive treatments, she exerts control over her circumstances by exploring domination. From consensual crotch-kicking to hospice hallucinations, Dying for Sex never encounters a there where it's too timid to go. And it's almost never less than believable, thanks to its grounding in an ordinary person's extraordinary last days; Williams and Slate's electric portrayal of a bond that is the most important relationship in both women's lives; and the balance co-creators Kim Rosenstock and Liz Meriwether strike between humor, heat, and brutal honesty about the universal experience that is death. Forever (Netflix) Judy Blume 's Forever, with its frank depictions of teen sex and detailed account of a visit to Planned Parenthood, has been in the cross-hairs of uptight adults since its publication in 1975. But Blume's empathetic yet clear-eyed portrait of first love became a YA classic anyway. Now creator Mara Brock Akil has updated it for a tech-saturated 21st century, in a remarkable adaptation that resituates what its white, suburban story among Black teens in L.A. The central couple, Lovie Simone's ambitious, working-class Keisha and Justin, a wealthy but lost prep schooler played by Michael Cooper Jr., feel more vivid and specific than the original characters. In a choice that ensures the show resonates with viewers of all ages, Forever also spends time with their wise, loving, inevitably imperfect parents. What Brock Akil and her phenomenal cast preserve from the novel are its most timeless themes—the ecstasy of new romance, the unpredictable nature of youth, the expanded perspective that can only come from experience. Mo (Netflix) In 2022, when Netflix unveiled the first season of Mo Amer and Ramy Youssef 's comedy series based on Amer's experiences as a Palestinian refugee in Texas, Oct. 7 was just another date. But by the time Mo returned for its second season, this past January, the massacre Hamas committed on Israeli soil on that day in 2023 had catalyzed a war that has decimated Gaza. As one of vanishingly few Palestinian American voices in Hollywood, Amer might have devoted what would, unfortunately, be his show's final season to current events. Instead, he confined the story of his alter ego Mo Najjar's family to the months leading up to Oct. 7, opening with a Mexican detour that connected Mo's predicament to that of all immigrants, continuing through the Najjars' Kafkaesque quest for citizenship, and concluding with the their picturesque but by no means carefree visit to a homeland they hadn't seen in decades. By turns hilarious, horrifying, and sublime, Mo broadens horizons by eschewing polemic in favor of conversation. The Pitt (Max) Arriving at a fallow moment on the calendar, propelled by a wave of nostalgia for '90s network television, The Pitt hooked viewers with the promise of ER star Noah Wyle's return to the emergency room, in a new medical drama conceived by that show's producers. That was hardly all the series had to offer, though. An hour-by-hour chronicle of a single shift at a busy Pittsburgh trauma center, the first season surveyed the dire state of public health in America, earning praise from the medical community by highlighting challenges hospital workers routinely face that are rarely represented in TV's many inferior doctor shows. It gave us wonderful characters, from Wyle as a hypercompetent attending physician who is quietly suffering to Taylor Dearden as an empathetic young resident, in a singular performance that resonated with neurodivergent viewers. At its most ambitious, The Pitt pressed its stethoscope to the heart of a nation that, in its many crises, resembles nothing so much as an overcrowded emergency room. The Rehearsal (HBO) Shakespeare may have popularized the idea that life is a performance, but comedian-auteur Nathan Fielder has pushed it to an extreme in The Rehearsal, a reality comedy premised on the assumption that any human pursuit can be improved through practice. While the show's first season rearranged brains with Fielder's increasingly introspective attempt to help a woman rehearse for motherhood, Season 2 has focused on the creator's own, weirdly timely obsession with aviation safety. The big idea—one less mind-exploding than its predecessor but equally engaging—is that open communication between a plane's captain and first officer would prevent crashes. But the digressions, from a psychological profile of hero pilot Chesley "Sully" Sullenberger to Fielder's brilliant response to censorship, are at least as funny and fruitful. I won't spoil the finale for those who've yet to see it; suffice to say the season sticks the landing. Severance (Apple TV+) The three-year interval between the first and second seasons of Severance, accompanied by reports of a writing and production process plagued by ' panic ' over fans' high expectations, didn't seem to bode well for Apple's hit sci-fi thriller. But creator Dan Erickson, director-executive producer Ben Stiller, and their note-perfect cast managed to overcome those anxieties in a new batch of episodes that rivaled Season 1 without repeating it. Set amid employees of a dystopian megacorp called Lumon who've had their consciousnesses consensually 'severed'—creating one 'innie' self for work and one off-the-clock 'outie'—originally presented as a melancholy satire of office culture. This season, however, deepened the show's philosophical undertones, using the love triangle that formed between protagonist Mark (Adam Scott), his innie's soulmate Helly (Britt Lower), and his outie's long-lost wife (Dichen Lachman), as well as the romantic lives of supporting characters, to raise fascinating questions about the nature of selfhood. The Studio (Apple TV+) The year's best new comedy is Seth Rogen's all-star sendup of the film industry ca. 2025, a business beset by AI anxiety, labor unrest, and a pandemic-related cinema apocalypse, whose only formula for success seems to be convincing high-minded auteurs to make movies tied to brands beloved by children. The Studio, which casts Rogen as a well-meaning but deeply insecure executive who's suddenly promoted to studio head, isn't exactly a revolutionary idea. In fact, it pays homage to predecessors like Robert Altman 's The Player. What the show brings to the genre—and what makes each kinetic half-hour of its first season so much fun to watch—is a fierce love of movies that comes through in, for example, an extended homage to Chinatown and such stylistic flexes as a single-shot episode devoted to filming a single-shot scene. A cast that includes Catherine O'Hara, Kathryn Hahn, Ike Barinholtz, Chase Sui Wonders, and a mess of A-list guest stars appearing as themselves (Martin Scorsese, Charlize Theron, Steve Buscemi, Greta Lee, Ron Howard, Anthony Mackie, Olivia Wilde, etc. etc. ) doesn't hurt, either. The White Lotus (HBO) In its long-awaited third season, Mike White's murderous high-end tourism satire was bigger, crazier—and, ultimately, more divisive than ever before. Some complained about the slow pace or the vaguely sketched Thai characters; others got the ick from that excruciating incest subplot. Fair enough. Even I wasn't fully satisfied with the finale, which erred toward predictability in some places and was riddled with holes in others. And yet! White's interrogation of how Eastern spirituality is instrumentalized by soul-sick Westerners succeeded in its wildest provocations. Also, I still can't think of another show that so thrillingly builds tension and explodes pieties purely through piercing dialogue exchanged by ideally cast actors. (This season's MVP list was long: Walton Goggins, Aimee Lou Wood, Parker Posey, Carrie Coon, Jason Isaacs, Patrick Schwarzenegger, Sam Rockwell in an iconic surprise guest arc, returning favorite Natasha Rothwell.) Nor, in a post- Succession world, can I name a show that's more fun to pick apart on a weekly basis. So, is The White Lotus really past its prime? As a poet once said: Piper, NO! Wolf Hall: The Mirror and the Light (PBS) It's probably an indictment on all of us—Hollywood, critics, the viewing public—that one of the greatest actors in the English-speaking world (Mark Rylance) can reprise his riveting portrayal of a singular statesman (Thomas Cromwell) in the long-awaited sequel to a masterly adaptation (Wolf Hall) of the late Hilary Mantel 's marvel of historical fiction… and we're too busy praising The Last of Us to notice. But I'm not here to scold. Rather, take this as a reminder that it's not too late to dive into the excellent The Mirror and the Light, which revisits the Cromwell saga as the once-ascendant advisor to Henry VIII (Damian Lewis) discovers that he, too, is vulnerable to the tyrant's whims. Unshowy direction brings language and performances to the forefront, as Rylance's increasingly lonely, doleful tactician keeps reliving the day he delivered Anne Boleyn (Claire Foy) to her death and is haunted by the ghost of his mentor, Cardinal Wolsey (Jonathan Pryce). Though set in the 16th century, the series' bleak observations about elitism, integrity, and the consequences when flawed people wield absolute power feel remarkably timely.
The Irish Sun
3 days ago
- Sport
- The Irish Sun
Delighted Down star declares ‘the county is booming' after win over Louth seals All-Ireland preliminary quarter-final
CEILUM DOHERTY reckons Down football is 'blooming' after they got the better of Louth in Newry's Páirc Esler yesterday. The Mourne men saw off the Leinster champions by a point to seal their place in an All-Ireland SFC preliminary quarter-final at a minimum. Advertisement 2 Down beat Louth to secure an All-Ireland preliminary quarter-final Credit: Daire Brennan/Sportsfile 2 Ceilum Doherty declared football in the county was blooming Credit: Stephen Marken/Sportsfile A win in their final game against Monaghan will secure their spot in a quarter-final. And Doherty — who scored two points — said: 'The county is blooming. People are looking to get out to watch football . 'They're seeing neighbouring counties doing very well. So that only gives you the bite and the teeth to get out and watch games and, look, it's amazing. 'I'm delighted there's a lot of children there to see it and hopefully we can show them the direction and that's the future of Co Down.' Advertisement Read More on GAA But the Mourne had to withstand a fierce fightback from Louth. And they needed a last-ditch block from Adam Crimmins to deny Tommy Durnin a chance to level it. Down thought they had blown the Wee County away en route to a nine-point interval lead. Their torch was lit when Odhran Murdock caught the throw-in with one hand and proceeded to stroke over a two-pointer inside 14 seconds. Advertisement Most read in GAA Football Ryan Magill, Ryan McEvoy and Doherty tagged on points before Danny Magill's two-pointer and a converted two-pointer from Murdock put Down clear. Sam Mulroy's free was all Louth could muster in the first quarter. Tipperary GAA star 'had to do live apology on RTE' the day after cursing during All-Ireland interview - Louth finished the half with Ryan Burns, Conor Grimes , Ciarán Downey and Mulroy on target but further scores from Danny Magill and Pat Havern gave Conor Laverty's men a healthy lead at the interval. Down managed to remain nine points ahead with 15 minutes to go. Advertisement But the Leinster champions cut that lead down to five and then to only one point. Four two-pointers from Mulroy and another by Craig Lennon swung the game and momentum was fully behind Louth. But Down grabbed points from Shay Millar, Havern and Magill to stay ahead. And when it came to the crunch, it was Crimmins who became the hero for the Mourne men. Advertisement Louth must beat Clare in their final group game to reach the preliminary quarter-finals. DOWN : R Burke, P McCarthy, P Fegan, C Doherty 0-2, R Magill 0-1, P Laverty, M Rooney, A Crimmins 0-2, R McEvoy, D Magill 0-6, 1tp, O Murdock 0-5, 1tp, 1tpf, F McElroy, J Guinness , P Havern 0-6, 1tp, J McGeough 0-1. Subs : C Mooney 0-1 for Guinness 46 mins; S Millar 0-1 for McEvoy 48; E Branagan for McElroy 50; F Murdock for Rooney 63. LOUTH : N McDonnell, D Nally, D Campbell, D McKenny, C McKeever 0-1, P Lynch, C Lennon 0-3, 1tp, T Durnin 0-2, 1tp, C Byrne, B Duffy , C Downey 0-4, C Grimes, C Keenan, S Mulroy 0-12, 2tp, 2tpf, R Burns 0-2. Subs : D McDonnell for Duffy h-t; A Williams for Lynch 41 mins; P Mathews for Grimes 61; Kieran McArdle for Byrne 61; D McKeown for Keenan 68. REFEREE : D Gough (Meath) [N Mooney (Roscommon), 21]. Advertisement
Extra.ie
27-05-2025
- Business
- Extra.ie
Microsoft accused of sharing users' secret data with advertisers
The Irish Council of Civil Liberties was given the go-ahead by the High Court yesterday to bring a case aimed at forcing Microsoft to stop the alleged sharing of sensitive data gleaned from people's internet use with advertisers. The ICCL has taken its action against Microsoft Ireland Operations Ltd, on behalf of all Irish users of Office, Windows, Xbox and other popular products. It is targeting what it describes as a massive data breach 'of millions of people's information' caused by real-time bidding (RTB) within Microsoft's advertising system. It claims that Microsoft's RTB system operates behind the scenes on websites and apps to match advertising to specific people. Pic: Framalicious/Shutterstock James Doherty, counsel for the ICCL, told Judge Barry O'Donnell the system compiles data 'segments' about Irish people based on what they have viewed online. He said these are then auctioned to a series of potential third-party advertisers in 'milliseconds'. He said all of the personal info in those segments, that was processed by Microsoft, was protected by the EU's General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). This could include information such as whether a person gambles, their finances and debt, their age, sexual interests, whether they have a child or a child with special needs, their medical condition, and even whether they work in a sensitive national security role, the court heard. Mr Doherty said that, by way of example, the ICCL had used an audience discovery tool that allowed it to discover a sample of the data being processed by Microsoft. Pic: Getty Images On May 9, 2025, this tool was able to identify that a segment was processed that related to Irish people who had an interest in online gambling with Paddy Power, the court was told. Mr Doherty said the segment contained 3,918 cookies, over 43,000 advertising identifiers and over 45,000 cached email addresses. He said the tool also detected segments that day containing sensitive data, including government, intelligence and counter-terrorism information. Mr Doherty added that Microsoft products featured on 70% of laptops and personal computers in Ireland. Users of Microsoft products and services, including Windows, Xbox, web-based Office products such as Word, Excel and Outlook, the Edge web browser, and websites and apps that use Microsoft's Xandr advertising technology, are affected, he told the court. Pic: Niall Carson/PA Wire 'A majority of consumers would be affected,' he said. The ICCL believes the outcome of the case could impact Microsoft's operations across the EU, as the company's European headquarters are based in Ireland. The organisation hopes to make Microsoft bring its systems into compliance with GDPR. Its application comes on the seven-year anniversary of the GDPR's introduction in May 2018. Mr Doherty told Judge O'Donnell it was the first time that a class action case had been taken to the Irish courts under the GDPR laws. Dr Johnny Ryan. Pic: Irish Council For Civil Liberties (ICCL) The judge said he would give leave for the case to proceed, but noted that Microsoft was not represented in court yesterday and will have the opportunity to contest the case at a later date. Dr Johnny Ryan, director of the ICCL's Enforce unit, is leading the case. Before the High Court hearing took place, he said: 'People's intimate secrets such as their relationship, work and financial status are broadcast by Microsoft into the real-time bidding advertising system. 'That system is a black hole of data open to any malicious actor and represents a huge data breach of millions of people's information… This is a data breach, pure and simple.'
