Latest news with #Featherstone
Winnipeg Free Press
2 days ago
- Business
- Winnipeg Free Press
Indigenous women leadership gathering focuses on competition
A vulnerable social media post struck a nerve — and it's sparked an event to change relationships between Indigenous women. 'I have worked under Indigenous women who held 'influence' over me, not as mentors, but as gatekeepers,' Jessica Dumas wrote on Facebook last month. Dumas is an entrepreneur, coach and motivational speaker. She's been spoken down to, laughed at after asking questions and made to feel ashamed for not knowing parts of her culture, per the post. JESSICA LEE / FREE PRESS FILES Entrepreneur, coach and motivational speaker Jessica Dumas along with friend Jill Featherstone are hosting 'We Are Not in Competition,' Saturday. 'The truth is, we are not in competition,' continued Dumas, a former chair of both the Winnipeg and Indigenous chambers of commerce. 'We are taught to believe there is only room for a few of us at the top, that success is scarce, that power must be hoarded and bestowed upon you by the chosen hierarchy. But I reject that. It's not true.' Dumas's friend Jill Featherstone — a fellow motivational speaker with her own business — said Dumas's words resonated with her. So she reached out. The duo now expects to address 120 women Saturday at an event they're hosting called 'We Are Not in Competition.' Attendees will be broken into groups of five. From there, they'll undertake work to process emotions and adopt new behaviours, Featherstone relayed. 'We've had limited opportunities,' said Featherstone, an author and former professor. 'When we do end up in these spaces, sometimes, we feel that there's only room for one of us, so then there's this competitiveness.' It appears in the workplace, community and at social gatherings. It prevents women from growing professionally and rising to 'their full potential,' Featherstone said. Dumas posted the social media message because she'd heard from clients who were hesitant to join her group calls. Women worried about judgement, Dumas said in a phone interview. 'I wanted to put it out there for my clients to read, but also just to share,' she added. Featherstone and Dumas have similar businesses, Dumas noted. But instead of leaning into a scarcity mindset, the pair have realized they can go further together, she said. Monday Mornings The latest local business news and a lookahead to the coming week. The two will remain solo entrepreneurs. Even so, the event Saturday may be the first of several they co-host. Manifestation and mindsets around money — including how to go from poverty to being financially secure, and how to act around loved ones — are topics they've discussed covering. 'To be able to work together, share ideas and just know and believe that we want the best for each other … just having that be a decision, like, I couldn't have asked for a funner friend,' Dumas said. About 15 spaces were available Thursday morning for the upcoming event; the registration deadline is 6 p.m. Friday. Tickets, available on Eventbrite, cost $155 and include lunch and a workbook. The seminar is happening at the Wyndham Garden on the Long Plain Madison Reserve near Winnipeg's airport. It's open to non-Indigenous women who are allies, Featherstone said. Gabrielle PichéReporter Gabrielle Piché reports on business for the Free Press. She interned at the Free Press and worked for its sister outlet, Canstar Community News, before entering the business beat in 2021. Read more about Gabrielle. Every piece of reporting Gabrielle produces is reviewed by an editing team before it is posted online or published in print — part of the Free Press's tradition, since 1872, of producing reliable independent journalism. Read more about Free Press's history and mandate, and learn how our newsroom operates. Our newsroom depends on a growing audience of readers to power our journalism. If you are not a paid reader, please consider becoming a subscriber. Our newsroom depends on its audience of readers to power our journalism. Thank you for your support.
Daily Mail
2 days ago
- General
- Daily Mail
EXCLUSIVE Hunt for dog-napper: Chilling moment masked burglar calmly walks off with family's dogs Bruno and Molly
This is the chilling moment a masked intruder crept into a family home at night and snatched their two beloved dogs. CCTV footage shows the burglar calmly leading nine-month-old Shepadoodle Bruno and his mother Molly from a house in Featherstone, West Yorkshire, on the eve of Valentine's Day while their owner Ewa Hunt, 55, enjoyed a cabaret show with friends following a recent break-up. Molly was found 22 miles away in Goole, East Yorkshire six days later on February 19, following a tip-off from a member of the public - but Bruno has not been seen since. Footage, shared with MailOnline in a bid to bring the culprit to justice, shows the masked man slipping through a back door of Ms Hunt's property just after 8.45pm. He is seen leaving less than two minutes later with both dogs trotting obediently at his side. The mum-of-three believes the burglary was orchestrated by someone who knew her and the dogs, using a copied key to gain access and avoid suspicion. Frustrated by a lack of action from West Yorkshire Police, Ms Hunt says her sons took matters into their own hands by painstakingly compiling a timeline from multiple CCTV cameras - including one clip showing the suspect elsewhere wearing the same clothes. Despite the mounting evidence, Ms Hunt claims police have failed to act, leaving her feeling abandoned and desperate for answers. Pleading for Bruno's safe return, Ms Hunt, who runs a guest house in the town, near Wakefield, said: 'He is my whole world. 'It would mean everything to have him back. I'm living in a prison here - I can't get on with my life not knowing if he is okay. 'Everywhere I go with my other dogs reminds me of him. He's my baby. I watched him come into the world and I wanted to love him for the rest of his life. 'I went out for the evening, leaving Bruno and Molly safely in my kitchen. I didn't really think any more of it because I knew they'd be fine. 'I came home and the door was open and the dogs were gone. 'When I checked my CCTV, I was shocked to see someone had walked in and taken them. Just like that. They've let themselves into the house with a copied key. 'You can see on the footage that they walk willingly with him, looking up at him, wagging their tails, while he's got his face covered. 'I've been in such a mess. Fifteen weeks and I've had no closure. I can't sleep, I can't leave my other dogs alone.' The mother-of-three believes detectives have also failed to follow up on testimonies from witnesses pointing to the suspect. She said: 'On the CCTV, you can hear his voice saying Molly's name. He says 'Molly, get back, or something along those lines'. So clearly he knew who the dogs were. 'My sons painstakingly gathered a full CCTV timeline - down to the second - proving the same person seen leaving my home had also been recorded earlier in the same clothes elsewhere. 'The police, sadly, haven't treated this with any real seriousness in my opinion and have dismissed key evidence and missed crucial opportunities to act. 'I am now too frightened to leave my dogs home alone and cannot leave my home in the dark. 'I even have the support of concerned friends who accompany me on dog walks. 'I just wish the police would take this seriously, as any dog owner whose pet is stolen would want. I'm appealing to them to look again at this case. 'Bruno is chipped. We have the CCTV. We have the timeline. We have names. All we need now is that one person - someone who knows the truth, or has Bruno - to come forward. 'To the person who has him: Please, contact me in absolute confidence. I just want my boy back. He's just a puppy. 'He's a beautiful little soul. He's got the most beautiful soft nature. He's so laid back and never demanding. Everyone around here loved him so much. I think about him every single day.' On Facebook, Ms Hunt's friend Darcey Edwards pleaded: 'We just need that one person who has possession of Bruno to do the right thing, to have a conscience. 'He's just a dog. It's hard to imagine what he's thinking after being pulled out of a family home, from his maternal mother and his owner. 'Bruno's owner just wants him back and we are reaching out far and wide to whoever has possession of Bruno or knows who has him, or any related information. 'Dog theft is now an offence which carries a jail sentence. 'Please, please make contact in the strictest confidence if you know something or want to help return him safely.' Ms Hunt had previously posted on Facebook: 'This is no ordinary dog theft and those who know the truth will support me when I say I don't feel safe anymore and fear for my other dogs' safety. 'I don't know how I would have managed without the love and support from family, so many good friends and the kindness of total strangers, all those who understand the pain of losing a beloved dog and not knowing.' A West Yorkshire police spokesperson said: 'Police received reports of a burglary which took place at an address in Ackworth Road, Featherstone, at 8:45pm on 13 February. 'The investigation into this burglary is continuing with lines of enquiry being actively pursued. A 49-year-old man has been arrested and questioned by police in connection with the matter. 'Tackling burglary is a priority for West Yorkshire Police and all reports of these offences will be investigated thoroughly. 'Anyone with information about the incident can contact West Yorkshire Police by calling 101 quoting reference 13250086388. 'Alternatively, call independent charity Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.'
Yahoo
4 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Trade policy, getting a farm bill passed are top of mind for Kansas rancher, K-State professor
Hal Luthi, a third-generation rancher in Madison, Kansas, is anxious to see politicians in Washington, D.C., get a farm bill passed. (Submitted) TOPEKA — Kansas farmers and ranchers are paying close attention to tariffs and whether other countries will show up for negotiations, and they need a Farm Bill to pass in Washington, two agricultural experts said. Alan Featherstone, head of the Agricultural Economics department at Kansas State University, and Hal Luthi, president of the Kansas Cattlemen's Association and a third-generation rancher in Madison, both spend part of their days studying what's happening in Washington. Everything there has an effect on Kansas agriculture, Featherstone said, rattling off a quick list: trade policy, energy policy, interest rates, passage of a Farm Bill, crop and livestock insurance and tax policies. 'There's just so much uncertainty in the air until Congress and the president begin to resolve some of those policy differences,' he said. 'You compound that with the fact that most of Kansas agriculture did not have good years in 2023, 2024 — most of the income, at least on crop operations, came through government payments,' he said. 'I would suspect once the Kansas Farm Management numbers are released that roughly 50% or more of income came from' government payments. 'Probably the only thing that is going well right now is the cow-calf operations; even the feeder operations are struggling,' Featherstone said. Uncertainty is difficult but Luthi is focused more on whether or not a Farm Bill will move on. 'The ineptitude of our federal government to pass a new Farm Bill is certainly adding to all this because, well, we're heavy users of the livestock risk insurance, and we don't know what the future of that program is,' he said. 'So if we'd had the Farm Bill enacted when it should have been, well, that would certainly have alleviated a lot of the concerns people have.' But uncertainty in general, Luthi added, is something farmers are used to. 'We kind of operate on an almost daily basis of uncertainty out here in the countryside anyway, because we don't know if it's going to rain,' he said. 'We don't know what world events are going to affect our markets.' International trade is an important part of the Kansas agricultural economy, Luthi said. 'China has been a big purchaser of our soybeans and corn,' he said. 'But also I think that that's a two-handed approach. I feel like maybe they need us as bad as we need them, and at some point in time we're going to come together and come to an agreement.' Featherstone, whose work is often focused on international markets, said China imported about $1.5 billion of U.S. beef. 'To give an indication of that, the U.S. exported $8.5 billion, and so if you take 1.5 divided by 8.5 that's a pretty big percentage in terms of where that market is,' he said. 'Certainly the ability to export into the China markets is very, very important. If you look at pork it's probably less of an issue now, but two or three years ago, it was substantially different when they were fighting their Asian swine flu.' Featherstone said Luthi's point about China needing U.S. agriculture products is important. 'A lot of times we look at this from the U.S. perspective, but you also have to look at it from the Chinese perspective,' he said. 'For example, on the soybean market, they cannot import all of their soybeans without coming to the U.S. They take about 60% of the world's market.' Chinese consumers expect to have soybeans and pork available and that will put pressure on the country's government to keep trade flowing, Featherstone said. It's not all about tariffs, either, he said. Economists often will look at a 'naive' view of trade as in a free market, which assumes no taxes or tariffs. 'That's not the world we live in,' he said. 'I think it's very important to realize that you're in a negotiation here where we're not going from zero tariffs to a 10% tariff. We're in a situation where tariffs are already affecting the ability to trade. But in other cases, some of the non-tariff barriers are even bigger.' Those barriers include whether other countries will accept the use of technology the United States uses or if it could cause product bans, Featherstone said. He pointed to an announcement two weeks ago between the U.S. and Great Britain that lowered tariffs. 'My guess is that the Trump administration will back off the tariffs if they're not getting the negotiations,' Featherstone said. 'One is a hard-line view that you're just going to tariff, and that's going to be the situation as we move forward. The other is can we use these tariffs to bring countries to the table?' U.S. agricultural products did see a long-term impact from tariffs put in place by Trump during his first term, Featherstone said. 'China became more reliant on Brazil, and so certainly some of those markets are lost, but a lot of times they will shift,' he said. 'Probably the big thing that I think will occur, and you hear a little bit of discussion of it with the first trade war with China, there was the market facilitation program that essentially tried to provide the difference in price back to the producers.' While disagreements occur about subsidizing agriculture and farmers prefer to get their income from the markets, Featherstone said another program like that could help Kansas agriculture. Farmers received $23 billion to subsidize lost business because of tariffs during Trump's first administration. 'My guess, and I'm not a crystal ball economist, but politicians, if there's something that worked in the past, they may try it again if it's needed in the future,' he said. Luthi said tariffs can bring other countries to the negotiating table. He appreciates the fact that discussions are happening. 'We're pretty resilient,' he said. 'People are saying, 'Well, you know, we may get hurt a little bit, but if it's for the good of the country in the long term, we're willing to take that punch in the face.' And that's my feeling as well.' Luthi said the country's current path of adding to the national debt is not sustainable, and that he hears more people in the rural areas talking about that issue than about tariffs and how they might be affected. 'A lot of these tariffs aren't even in effect yet, right? Some of them don't go into effect 'til July,' he said. 'In reality, we hope maybe some of them don't ever go in place, that we have a new trade agreement or a more fair trade agreement before these tariffs are actually placed on the actual products.' The rapid-fire changes happening nationally and internationally do make it challenging to plan, Luthi said. That's especially true because spending has dropped and a recession may loom. 'We're gonna probably cut spending in several areas, and wait and see, you know, just what our actual opportunities are,' Luthi said. 'If we need a new piece of equipment, we may delay that a year. We'll certainly budget everything out and probably stand a little more conservative than we did this year.' The cattle business has been profitable recently, but the two previous years were tight, he said. 'I guess my biggest concern, maybe, is the country as whole would go into a recession because everybody's cutting back on their spending and that would affect the beef market, probably in a hurry, because that's one expense that people would probably tend to cut back on first,' he said. Featherstone said he thinks people need to be watchful because so much depends on whether negotiations are successful in getting other countries to the table. 'Farmers are resilient,' he said. 'I think there are things to be resolved, but again, elections have consequences.' For Luthi, uncertainty is part of his world. 'I don't know if we're ever in certain times, you know,' he said. 'You know, God has a plan for this world, and we're just here to utilize and enjoy it as long as we can.'
Los Angeles Times
18-05-2025
- Business
- Los Angeles Times
As L.A. rebuilds from the Palisades fire, residents ask: What's the plan?
Carol Parks, the chief of Los Angeles' Emergency Management Department, sat before a budget committee last year and painted a dire picture. Although tasked with responding to crises in the nation's most disaster-prone region, her department had received just a tiny fraction of the city's budget and was getting by with a staff of roughly 30. There was no staffer devoted full-time to disaster recovery, which meant that if an earthquake or major wildfire struck, the city would have to scramble. But the City Council and Mayor Karen Bass balked at devoting more money to the department. Seven months later, flames tore through Pacific Palisades and nearby communities, destroying more than 6,000 structures and displacing tens of thousands. Now, the Emergency Management Department is in charge of coordinating the monumental task of recovery — but with a budget smaller than what the city's Police Department uses in roughly two days. To supplement the bare-bones emergency management team, Bass turned to an Illinois-based disaster recovery firm, Hagerty Consulting, inking a yearlong contract for up to $10 million. She also brought a former EMD general manager, Jim Featherstone, back from retirement to serve as the de facto recovery chief. More than four months after the fire, Palisades residents and some of their elected officials are increasingly frustrated, asking: Who is in charge? What have they been doing? How is Hagerty spending its time? And what is the plan to restore the Palisades? As flames chewed through the Palisades on Jan. 7, EMD assigned a mid-level staffer to take on the recovery. Soon, Featherstone — a former firefighter who once served as interim LAFD chief — arrived at the emergency operations center. In public, Bass touted civic leader Steve Soboroff as the city's recovery czar, with a controversy over his salary taking center stage for a period. In practice, Featherstone — a self-described 'operator' and 'tactical person' — assumed the recovery director role, helping to choreograph a massive, multiagency response. Zach Seidl, a spokesperson for Bass, disputed that characterization and said the two men had different roles. Featherstone's 'role is largely internal to the City,' while Soboroff, whose term ended last month, 'worked externally with the community along with other engagement teams within the Mayor's Office,' Seidl said in an email. While the city code puts EMD in charge of coordinating disaster recovery, it operates with fewer resources than similar departments in other large California cities. A 2022 audit found that L.A. spent $1.56 per resident on emergency management — far less than Long Beach at $2.26 and San Francisco at $7.59. With such a small team for a 469-square-mile city, EMD has struggled to staff its emergency operations center in crises, prepare for events like the 2028 Olympics and help residents recover from smaller-scale calamities like building fires, storms and mudslides. Parks told the City Council in a 2024 memo that her department 'lacks the experience and dedicated staff to oversee long-term recovery projects.' After recent emergencies, EMD handled recovery duties 'on an ad hoc basis,' yielding 'delays, postponements and possible denial of disaster relief funds,' she wrote. To boost EMD, Bass in early February tapped Hagerty after hearing proposals from firms including AECOM and IEM. Her reasons for choosing Hagerty were unclear, although the firm had already signed a wildfire recovery contract with L.A. County's emergency management office and had long worked with the state Office of Emergency Services. It's not unusual for a state or local government to retain a recovery consultant after a disaster, even if it has a recovery arm of its own. Hagerty has routinely been hired to help with hurricane recovery, including managing billions of dollars in funding after Superstorm Sandy in New York in 2012. Because Bass hired Hagerty under her emergency authority, the city has also solicited bids for a longer-term recovery contract worth $30 million over three years, with Hagerty among the companies vying for it. Initially, Hagerty spent 'a significant amount' of time compensating for the lack of a city recovery team, said Featherstone, who supervises Hagerty's work, at a budget hearing last month. By contrast, L.A. County had a dedicated recovery operation that consultants could plug into — and the muscle memory from recent disasters like the Woolsey fire. 'The structure had to be built out,' Featherstone told council members at the budget hearing. 'Folks were pulled out of their regular day-to-day functions … to start to build out a recovery capability.' That structure is a series of tactical teams focused on issues including infrastructure, economics, health and housing. Under each umbrella are multiple working groups composed of several city departments working with federal and regional agencies. Under the infrastructure team, for example, is a debris removal group, a utilities team and a group for hazards such as mudslides, according to a recording of a recovery meeting reviewed by The Times. The housing team, meanwhile, brings together the Department of Building and Safety and the city Planning Department to streamline the permitting process. Debris removal was one of the first orders of business — so that group was among the first to be organized and has been the 'busiest,' as one EMD staffer said in a recording of an internal March meeting. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has the primary responsibility for clearing debris from lots, with most expected to be done by Memorial Day and the rest largely due to be finished this summer. The city, with Hagerty, helped explain the debris removal process to residents, including the decision to opt in to the Army Corps cleanup or do it on their own. With Hagerty's guidance, the Emergency Management Department also created a dashboard showing the progress of debris removal, with real-time maps tracking the status of each lot. Tracey Phillips, a Hagerty executive, told City Council members in March that her firm was organizing these tactical teams and holding weekly meetings so that 'we can develop a short-term and mid-term operational framework.' 'This is the first step to that: [determining] who the players are, getting them in the room, getting them trained up and developing that operational cadence,' Phillips explained. 'It's already happening — it's just not being reported and it's not kind of coalesced yet.' As of mid-March, Hagerty had about 22 employees working on Palisades fire recovery, billing the city at hourly rates ranging from $80 to nearly $400 per employee. City Councilmember Monica Rodriguez is among those who say that some of the money used for Hagerty would have been better spent bolstering the Emergency Management Department's rank and file — as Parks had requested last year. 'I don't understand their purpose. I don't need another contractor,' Rodriguez said in an interview. 'What my city staff needs is staff to do the work.' Asked whether funding for Hagerty would be better spent on EMD, Seidl, the spokesperson for Bass, said most of the firm's work is reimbursable by the federal government, a point that Featherstone made at a March budget hearing. Featherstone also suggested that Hagerty's guidance could yield more funding in the long run because of the firm's expertise with the Federal Emergency Management Agency. Hagerty and Featherstone declined interview requests from The Times. Joseph Riser, a spokesperson for EMD, provided written responses to questions. EMD was 'very pleased' with Hagerty for building out recovery teams 'where they did not previously exist,' Riser said, noting that the firm has improved coordination and provided 'high-level briefings' to City Hall and department general managers, among other duties. Seidl emphasized that the mayor has taken steps to preserve EMD's budget, 'even in difficult budget times like this year.' He also touted steps the city has taken to hasten the recovery, like a one-stop permitting and rebuilding center, measures to allow for the re-issuance of permits for homes built in recent years, and restoring water and power in two months compared to the 18 months it took in Paradise after the 2018 Camp fire. 'Despite one of the worst natural disasters in recent history, L.A.'s recovery effort is on track to be the fastest in modern California history,' Seidl said. Some Palisades residents say that Hagerty and EMD — and ultimately, Bass and her team — have done a poor job of communicating what their plan is going forward. Citing the cornucopia of government agencies involved in the rebuild, City Councilmember Traci Park, whose district includes the Palisades, said, 'Sometimes it feels like there are so many people in charge that no one is in charge.' Maryam Zar, who runs the Palisades Recovery Coalition, said that at times, 'we feel like we are doing this ourselves.' Zar and her group have been among the most vocal advocates for a logistics plan governing how thousands of homes will be rebuilt in a community with narrow streets and already-snarled traffic. The group has circulated ideas that include a concrete plant in the Palisades, short-term housing for construction crews and one-way roads to ease congestion. Zar said that Hagerty has 'shown up to community meetings, and they have been so unable to deliver any kind of information.' In an interview, Park said that 'for weeks and weeks now,' she also has been asking Hagerty and city departments for 'a logistics and operations plan' for moving people, vehicles and materials in and out of the Palisades. Park has visited Lahaina, Hawaii, which was devastated by a wildfire in 2023, and studied other communities rebuilding from fires. She said those areas had consultants who were 'very, very engaged' with communities in identifying priorities and solving problems. She wants the city and Hagerty to push forward on a longer-term recovery plan that establishes criteria for fire-safe rebuilding and a timeline for restoring parks, schools, libraries and businesses. 'I know that those things can take significant time to develop. But this is Los Angeles, and this is the Pacific Palisades, and we are not waiting around,' she said, adding that she and her constituents were 'moving at warp speed.' Riser, the EMD spokesperson, said that traffic and logistics were not handled in a 'single, static, formal plan,' but that problems were being addressed in coordination with city and state agencies. He also said EMD has brought in traffic experts to 'structure this work more effectively.' 'Recovery is dynamic and complex and changes daily as debris is cleared, infrastructure is repaired, and reentry phases evolve,' Riser said. Frustration with Hagerty boiled over at an April 10 meeting of the Palisades community council, where Hagerty representative Harrison Newton touted recovery as 'a chance to become more resilient to the next disaster.' Residents could barely contain their fury, criticizing Newton for an abstract presentation that seemed divorced from their real needs around rebuilding, permitting and traffic control. 'It feels extremely generic,' said Lee Ann Daly, who then turned her ire toward City Hall. 'You need to know that we have a trust issue with the people who are paying you. ... We have a trust issue, and it's huge.' Palisades resident Kimberly Bloom, whose home burned in the fire, pressed Newton to provide a 'concrete example' of Hagerty's work in a prior disaster 'that is not just another layer of bureaucracy, because that's what it feels like at the moment.' Newton referred residents to Hagerty's website and spoke of how his firm provides 'augmentation support,' prompting residents to interrupt and criticize his use of jargon. After some back and forth, Newton emphasized that he and his team were trying to accelerate the city's response to the issues raised by residents. Hagerty, he said, was 'bringing more people to bear so they're less thinly stretched, and you're achieving work faster.' So far, more than 1,500 parcels in the Palisades have received a final sign-off from L.A. County that they are cleared of debris, paving the way to begin rebuilding. As of this week, 54 construction permits for 40 addresses have been issued in the Palisades, said Seidl, who noted that hundreds of permit applications are now under review. The burden will increasingly shift onto city agencies like the Department of Building and Safety to serve thousands of homeowners and businesses seeking plan checks, permits, inspections and certificates of occupancy. The logistics of whole neighborhoods undertaking simultaneous construction projects on hillside streets, with only a few major arteries in and out, will test the recovery framework that EMD and Hagerty have been working to erect. In the coming weeks, Bass is expected to name a new chief recovery officer, and her team is 'currently interviewing ... qualified candidates,' Seidl said. Featherstone, who was initially hired on a 120-day appointment, is now serving as an assistant general manager at EMD, and Parks, the EMD chief, has asked for funding in the coming fiscal year's budget to keep him. Hagerty could be replaced by a different firm if it loses the competitive bidding process for the multi-year recovery contract. One of the many 'deliverables' for that contract is developing a long-term recovery plan. That type of overarching plan governing the rebuilding — and direct communication about the plan — is what residents and local officials say they have been pleading for. 'We have more debris clearing to do, but we are also breaking ground on new buildings,' said Councilmember Park. 'If we don't get those plans under control and in place, this is going to turn into 'The Hunger Games' very quickly.'
The Guardian
14-05-2025
- Sport
- The Guardian
Rugby by rail: the romance (and regret) of going to games by train
Like the more adventurous of you, I've reached matches via bus, tube, ferry, plane, train and, mainly, automobile. You might also have gone by tram or bike. But when ill health stopped me from driving to rugby for several years, I embraced the horseless carriage to get to St Helens, Newcastle, Coventry, Leeds, London Broncos and more. The train certainly took the strain. A sport that was born before cars and buses needed the Victorian railway routes that allowed teams and their supporters to leave their locale and establish a national competition. The railways begat professional rugby league as we know it. When cars were a luxury, excursion specials were all the rage, taking thousands of fans to big away games. For Featherstone's ATV Floodlit Trophy tie against Oldham at QPR in 1955, a special left Wakefield before 8pm, returning from Kings Cross at 10.45pm and arriving at Westgate at nearly 3am. What an adventure. Back then, even the grounds were closer to stations: Swinton's was virtually in one, and the track cut a corner off the Wilderspool ground where a fence prevented passengers from watching a few seconds of Warrington for free. Those days have long gone – lines and stations have closed, stadiums have moved – and it's been a decade since you could catch a few seconds of Super League action from your carriage (Jubilee Line tube trains slowing on the approach to Canons Park station). Railways still connect many of our clubs. Warrington is three stops from Widnes; Halifax to Bradford, Leeds to Castleford, and Wakefield and Featherstone are just two stops apart. The quickest train trip between league towns? Batley to Dewsbury: one stop, three minutes. Some clubs are more suited to rail travel than others. A smattering – such as Featherstone and Workington – are almost adjacent to stations, and the vast majority are within a 20-minute stroll. Only Salford, Hull KR, Catalans and Leigh – a town without a station since Beeching closed it in 1969 – are far enough away to discourage taking the train even before you check out the cost and times. Take this week, for example. Few fans attending the Challenge Cup semi-finals would have considered going by rail given both stadiums – Doncaster and York – are a cab or bus ride out of town. But getting to the games on National Train Day at Batley, Halifax, Widnes, Keighley and Whitehaven were a sinch by rail. There's just one train an hour heading out of St Helens after Thursday night's game with Catalans. At least the Royal Alfred pub opposite St Helens Central station is considerate enough to put a miniature departures board at one end of the bar, punters suddenly supping up and grabbing their coat as their train pulls in. And don't be surprised if you notice what Somerset Maugham called train fever sweeping through Headingley on Friday night as the referee goes to the screen for the umpteenth time. That will be Hull FC fans checking their watches as they worry about catching the last train home. A mate of mine rarely bothers to check how he's going to get home from a night out. He just crosses that bridge when he comes to it. Heaven help him if he ever goes by train to a night match at Warrington or Castleford. You can get from the Halliwell Jones to Manchester pretty smoothly, but anywhere else is a gamble, and only a couple of away contingents could hotfoot it up Wheldon Road in time for a last train home. Avoiding Friday afternoon motorways and letting the train take you to a game can be bliss. For Wigan's two early season Friday night trips to Hull, I didn't fancy a six-hour round day trip. But, with the first train home at 5am – for me and the Wigan fans – Hull's hotels were the beneficiaries. At least for their third visit east last month, Wiganers could enjoy a Sunday afternoon outing. They'll still have cursed developers failing to build a stop at MKM Stadium, every train passing within a hundred yards of the turnstiles en route to Hull Paragon, leaving exasperated passengers a half-hour trudge back to the ground. Sundays can also be blighted by engineering works. I abandoned a planned trip to Huddersfield due to the dreaded Rail Replacement Service, picturing a Heartbeat-style charabanc crawling through Pennine villages as kick-off approached. With all but two English professional clubs on their giant network, it's no surprise Northern are long-term sponsors of Super League. Rather than crawling through Friday night or Sunday lunchtime traffic, some fans take a Northern service from the countryside to the stadium. You could be rowing on the river at Knaresborough and be at Leeds Rhinos an hour later; or walk along beautiful Baugh Fell and leave Garsdale station on a Sunday lunchtime, cross majestic Ribblehead Viaduct and stroll into Keighley's Cougar Park in time for kick-off. Head out of Cumbria in the other direction, you can tootle across Morecambe Bay from Arnside to Barrow in 45 minutes; or swim in Lake Windermere at lunchtime and be watching a game at Wigan 90 minutes later. Train travel is not always that romantic. There's little to cherish sitting on a packed teatime commuter service chugging through suburban stops like an exhausted prop making his way to a scrum. But leaping on to your homebound train as it's about to leave after an exciting match can be exhilarating, sitting back with a warm glow as you leaf through the match programme. On the route from Doncaster to Hull, you pass the lush fishing lakes at Thorne as you head across the East Riding floodplains, squeeze between the spectacularly grand Water Tower and Goole Vikings' Victorian Pleasure Ground before passing under the spectacular Humber Bridge. One trip a brutal North Sea was battering the banks, the next the sun was glistening off the estuary as latte-coloured waves lapped the trackside. Watching Belle Vue's pylons disappear out of sight as your train accelerates through the rhubarb triangle's purple fields while the sun sets after a late spring day at the rugby is hard to beat. But a train trip to London Broncos is special, too. Escaping the concrete bowels of St Pancras, you cut through the heart of the capital and pause at Blackfriars, where the glass-walled platforms conveniently enable a glorious view down the Thames, children playing on the South Bank beach, clippers ferrying tourists down the river. But beware. The uninitiated can very easily get off at the wrong station, wondering why there's no one else wearing replica jerseys. For Broncos' games at Wimbledon you board a Wimbledon-bound train but get off at Haydons Road. Leeds fans alight at Burley Park rather than Headingley; the nearest station to Belle Vue is Sandal & Agbrigg, not Wakefield Westgate or Kirkgate; for the Rec Ground you hop off at Corkickle not Whitehaven; and for Swinton Lions games at Sale you get off the Metrolink not at Sale but Brooklands. And if you're crossing the Pennines, make sure you check out the driver: it might just be former Super League star Jimmy Keinhorst, currently learning the ropes. Follow No Helmets Required on Facebook
