Latest news with #Fredericks
Yahoo
7 days ago
- General
- Yahoo
NPMA Debuts "Bed Bugs Exposed": A Series Revealing How These Sneaky Pests Invade Your Home
Launching during Bed Bug Awareness Week and just in time for summer travel, learn how to spot and stop bed bugs before they take over FAIRFAX, Va., June 2, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- Only 29% of Americans know how to identify bed bugs, a new survey conducted online by The Harris Poll on behalf of the National Pest Management Association (NPMA) reports. That leaves most households vulnerable to one of the most elusive pests out there. To change that, NPMA launched an eye-opening video series, "Bed Bugs Exposed." Debuting during Bed Bug Awareness Week, June 1 – 7, this series offers a rare, up-close look at how bed bugs behave in real-world environments, helping consumers learn what they look like, where they hide and most importantly, how to stop them before they become a serious problem. The NPMA team built a mini furnished bedroom and living room set to demonstrate how bed bugs can infiltrate living spaces, burrowing into even the smallest crevices. Alongside an engaging video lineup, NPMA's new microsite serves as a one-stop shop for fast facts, prevention tips, and educational articles to help you stay one step ahead. "Until you've seen a bed bug infestation up close, it's hard to understand just how sneaky these pests really are," shared Dr. Jim Fredericks, Senior Vice President of Public Affairs for NPMA. "'Bed Bugs Exposed' gives homeowners an unprecedented look at how these pests operate, coupled with the knowledge to spot the signs early and avoid bringing these hitchhikers home." Education is critical. According to a survey conducted online by The Harris Poll on behalf of the National Pest Management Association (NPMA), just 28% of Americans check their hotel rooms for bed bugs before staying overnight, and less than half of Americans (44%) would leave their accommodations if they found bed bugs. Those numbers are troublesome since bed bugs can latch onto luggage, clothing, or used furniture. Once inside, they're masters at hiding in tiny cracks and crevices, making them incredibly difficult for the untrained eye to detect. "Not only can these blood-feeding pests cause itchy, red welts on your skin, but they can multiply quickly and often go unnoticed, leading to costly treatments if not caught early," added Fredericks. Vigilance is key because bed bugs can hide practically anywhere. A recent survey of pest control professionals conducted by NPMA and the University of Florida found that over 82% of NPMA members have treated for bed bugs in the last year. 89% of respondents indicated that they treated single-family homes, followed by apartments and condos (88%), hotels and motels (70%), nursing homes and assisted care facilities (57%), and college dorms (36%). So, if you suspect bed bugs in your home or vacation rental, don't wait! Contact a pest control professional immediately. These trained experts have the knowledge, tools, and experience to properly identify and eliminate bed bug infestations. For more information about bed bugs and to watch the series, visit About the National Pest Management Association The NPMA, a non-profit organization with more than 5,500 members, was established in 1933 to support the pest management industry's commitment to the protection of public health, food and property from the diseases and dangers of pests. For more information, visit or follow @PestWorld on Facebook, Instagram, X, Pinterest, TikTok and YouTube. Survey MethodologyThis survey was conducted online within the United States by The Harris Poll on behalf of NPMA between April 8 - 10, 2025 among 2,099 U.S. adults ages 18+. The sampling precision of Harris online polls is measured by using a Bayesian credible interval. For this study, the sample data is accurate to within +/- 2.5 percentage points using a 95% confidence level. For complete survey methodology, please contact NPMATeam@ View original content to download multimedia: SOURCE National Pest Management Association Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
Yahoo
14-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
To strike or not is a fraught decision for child care providers
Pinwheels posted at Tree Top child care center in Ashland represent the families on the waiting list for the program. (Photo courtesy of Theresa Fredericks) Theresa Fredericks grew up in the world of child care. Her mother founded a child care center in Ashland 52 years ago, when Fredericks was just 5 months old. Fredericks started her career in early education as a teacher there, then took over management and ownership of the program, Tree Top Child Development Center and Preschool. Fredericks has been proud of the center's reputation in the community. Tree Top currently is licensed for 33 children at a time. With schedules staggered for some children, there are a total of 39 currently enrolled. The waiting list is nearly twice that size: 72 children. This week Fredericks put up one pinwheel for each waiting list occupant on the law in front of the center, along with some signs. 'Child care wanted,' one sign said. 'Quality child care should be a right' said another. 'Not a luxury,' said a third. On Tuesday Fredericks was 300 miles away, at the state Capitol in Madison. Tree Top was closed, and Fredericks says it will be closed again on Wednesday and the rest of this week. It was a tough decision, she said — but one she and her staff felt was necessary to make a point to Wisconsin lawmakers. 'Without state investment the parents can't afford to pay rising tuition and staff can't afford to stay at low wages,' Fredericks told the Wisconsin Examiner. 'With investment, we will see a rise in teachers going into the field, we will see an increase in available programs.' That's why she and her staff decided to join the statewide strike called by child care providers. The strike is a response to action May 8 by the Republican majority on the Legislature's Joint Finance Committee to strip $480 million from Tony Evers' proposed budget. The money would provide child care centers with an ongoing monthly stipend, continuing support first provided through federal COVID-19 pandemic relief funds. Child care providers have credited the money for enabling them to increase the wages of child care teachers while avoiding increases in the fees that parents pay. 'I know that there are many people who think that because we care for very young children that we don't count as teachers,' said Tree Top teacher Betsy Westlund at a combination press conference and rally on the Capitol steps Tuesday. 'But the work we do is highly skilled and deeply critical to our society, the economy, and our communities.' She described a common suggestion that child care providers hear when they talk about funding shortfalls: increase tuition and expand enrollment. 'Never mind the tuition is already so high that so few can afford it, and never mind how difficult it is to find teachers willing to work for low wages with no benefits,' Westlund said. 'No one considers supporting the quality of child care by supporting skilled teachers because they assume anyone will do,' she added. 'And that hurts. Man, does that hurt — because I know how much I have to put in to become educated in early childhood.' Republicans favor expanding employer child care tax credit; providers skeptical 'We are not just babysitting — we are laying the foundation for lifelong learning,' said Amber Haas, a fellow Tree Top teacher. The organizers of the strike are calling it 'State Without Child Care.' They're doing it 'so that our elected representatives, especially on the Joint Finance Committee, can actually have an idea of what is going to happen this summer,' said Corrine Hendrickson, co-founder of Wisconsin Early Childhood Action Needed (WECAN) and the operator of a family child care center in New Glarus. At the Assembly's floor session Tuesday afternoon, child care providers sat in the overhead gallery. On the floor, Rep. Jodi Emerson (D-Eau Claire) introduced some by name, adding that they 'are here in the Capitol to advocate for $480 million in the budget for living wages for teachers in early childhood education.' While some providers are going all in with the strike, many say they cannot — but they are equally concerned about the issue. Angela Norvold has grown her child care program in Hudson from a family day care serving eight children to two centers, each licensed for 43 children. One is for younger kids and the other for older children, including 4-year-old kindergarten. 'We thought hard and as a team,' about closing for the strike, Norvold said in an interview. She and the center's administrators decided to send a letter to parents asking for their input. 'They agreed that we should stay open, and my fear was that if we closed we would lose those people for good,' she said. There's a child care shortage in Hudson, Norvold said. At the same time, she added, there are several providers in the area to choose from, but many have rooms that aren't in use because they cannot find teachers. 'I don't know that [closing] would be making a statement where we are,' Norvold said. At the same time, though, 'we did have some parents volunteer to keep their children home so that we could come [to Madison] today and tomorrow.' Norvold said that her centers were once more affordable than those in Minnesota, drawing families who moved across the border to make their home. 'They didn't just come for lower prices, they came for quality care, educated staff that wanted to stay, and a community that values raising children well,' she said in a brief speech at the rally. The funding providers received during the pandemic 'didn't just help families, it helped providers,' Norvold said. 'It helped us retain and educate staff, it helped us keep costs down without sacrificing quality. It helped us build futures.' If the support doesn't continue, 'we're looking at yet another tuition increase — at least $30 per child per week,' Norvold said. 'That will push our infant care to a level that is not sustainable for most working families. It is not sustainable for us either.' Families of children enrolled at Tree Top in Ashland have gotten behind the center's decision to join the child care strike . 'Our families support us,' Fredericks said. 'They know that we have done everything. We're contacting our legislators, they're contacting our legislators —over and over again, telling them how important it is.' Tony Singler is the father of three children who have gone through Tree Top's program, from the age of 3 months though 4-year-old kindergarten. His youngest child is now nearing graduation from the 4-K program. 'Everything that Theresa does there is just more in-depth and more one-on-one,' Singler said in a telephone interview Tuesday. For his kids, he said, the center has been an ideal place to help their children through their first years. 'There's a lot of research and support that the early years are very important to the children,' Singler said. 'Our pediatrician supports that, and it's a choice we make to give our children the best chance they have.' Singler is a certified public accountant; his wife is a nurse. 'We're not teachers,' he said. 'We don't know how to teach kids at that young age.' Now they are juggling schedules and turning to friends for help while hoping their child can return to Tree Top soon. 'It's tough,' said Singler, but he says he understands the position that Fredericks and the center's employees are in. 'It's been a very good center,' he said. 'And if they don't have the funding, and they lose the teachers because the teachers have to go somewhere else, and they have to cut the enrollment and people get cut — then you don't have the opportunity to put your child into the center like that, give them the best chance forward in their early development.' SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX
CBS News
28-04-2025
- CBS News
New tribal national park in North Dakota aims to preserve rugged and scenic landscape
A new tribal national park in North Dakota's rugged Badlands is opening a little-seen area of the dramatic landscape to hikers and other outdoors enthusiasts, part of a Native American tribe's efforts to preserve the land and encourage recreation. The Mandan, Hidatsa and Arikara Nation established Three Affiliated Tribes National Park with the purchase of 2,100 acres of a former ranch adjacent to the Fort Berthold Reservation's boundaries on the south side of the Little Missouri River. The area was in the tribe's original treaty lands but a government allotment act later reduced the reservation's size, said Mary Fredericks, director of the tribe's Parks and Reserve Program. The reservation's boundaries have expanded to include the park. Tribal Chairman Mark Fox said the goal is to establish a park for cultural and recreational purposes such as canoeing, kayaking and viewing wildlife. "It's part of our history, our lands, very significant to us, the whole area," Fox said. "This is just another strong move to reacquire some of our lands and then do something very effective with it, so to speak" to aid tourism and the economy through recreation. Park officials are being careful with how they plan and develop the park to be thoughtful about impacts on the landscape. "This place will be here in perpetuity and it will be better when we are done than it was when we got it, and that's what we're pushing for, that's where we're headed," Park Superintendent Ethan White Calfe said. North Dakota's Badlands — the name denotes the difficult terrain — comprise a stark, erosive, colorful landscape with dramatic shapes, petrified wood and ancient fossils. The area draws hikers, campers, hunters, bicyclists and other outdoors enthusiasts. The park, which held a soft opening in September, is open only to foot traffic by a free permit online. Park officials require visitors to register their plans and hikers must park at a grass lot. By the end of the summer, organizers hope to have 10 miles of trails finished, Fredericks said. Plans to build a visitor center and campground are in the works. Park officials also intend to work on native prairie and soil restoration in the erosive environment where some native plants that thrive in the area have been pushed out by invasive species, White Calfe said. "We're looking at it as how do we help this area look like it did 300 years ago? How do we help this area heal to where it is in a lot of more of a state of equilibrium," White Calfe said. It's a beautiful and picturesque but deceptive and steep landscape, Fredericks said. The park is bisected by a state highway that drops from a flat into a rugged river bottom. People can see parts of the park while driving, but not its interior, she said. Eventually, the park could be a gateway for visitors to the reservation, Fredericks said. Outdoor recreation is available at Lake Sakakawea, which straddles the vast reservation, and nearby at Theodore Roosevelt National Park and the Maah Daah Hey Trail. The MHA Nation benefits from oil development on its reservation, which helped the tribe to afford the land for the park, Fredericks said. "But in that we have to be careful and preserve and conserve," she said. "I'm very, very proud of our tribal council for having the foresight to buy this land with the intent of making it into a national park ... because we don't know what's going to happen 50 years from now and what our landscape is going to look like, but we can preserve this part of it." The park neighbors Little Missouri State Park, which draws horseback riders to its 40 miles of trails in the Badlands. The rugged landscape "kind of has that almost spiritual feel to it. It's peaceful," state Parks and Recreation Department Director Cody Schulz said. State park officials have worked with the tribe for about two years on its plans and partnering together, such as connecting trail systems, Schulz said. Tribal park officials are collaborating with anyone willing, Fredericks said. White Calfe said the park is an opportunity "to tell our own story, our own narrative from our own perspective in a place like this. That's pretty valuable."
26-04-2025
New tribal national park in North Dakota aims to preserve rugged and scenic landscape
BISMARCK, N.D. -- A new tribal national park in North Dakota's rugged Badlands is opening a little-seen area of the dramatic landscape to hikers and other outdoors enthusiasts, part of a Native American tribe's efforts to preserve the land and encourage recreation. The Mandan, Hidatsa and Arikara Nation established Three Affiliated Tribes National Park with the purchase of 2,100 acres (850 hectares) of a former ranch adjacent to the Fort Berthold Reservation's boundaries on the south side of the Little Missouri River. The area was in the tribe's original treaty lands but a government allotment act later reduced the reservation's size, said Mary Fredericks, director of the tribe's Parks and Reserve Program. The reservation's boundaries have expanded to include the park. Tribal Chairman Mark Fox said the goal is to establish a park for cultural and recreational purposes such as canoeing, kayaking and viewing wildlife. 'It's part of our history, our lands, very significant to us, the whole area,' Fox said. 'This is just another strong move to reacquire some of our lands and then do something very effective with it, so to speak' to aid tourism and the economy through recreation. Park officials are being careful with how they plan and develop the park to be thoughtful about impacts on the landscape. 'This place will be here in perpetuity and it will be better when we are done than it was when we got it, and that's what we're pushing for, that's where we're headed,' Park Superintendent Ethan White Calfe said. North Dakota's Badlands — the name denotes the difficult terrain — comprise a stark, erosive, colorful landscape with dramatic shapes, petrified wood and ancient fossils. The area draws hikers, campers, hunters, bicyclists and other outdoors enthusiasts. The park, which held a soft opening in September, is open only to foot traffic by a free permit online. Park officials require visitors to register their plans and hikers must park at a grass lot. By the end of the summer, organizers hope to have 10 miles (16 kilometers) of trails finished, Fredericks said. Plans to build a visitor center and campground are in the works. Park officials also intend to work on native prairie and soil restoration in the erosive environment where some native plants that thrive in the area have been pushed out by invasive species, White Calfe said. 'We're looking at it as how do we help this area look like it did 300 years ago? How do we help this area heal to where it is in a lot of more of a state of equilibrium,' White Calfe said. It's a beautiful and picturesque but deceptive and steep landscape, Fredericks said. The park is bisected by a state highway that drops from a flat into a rugged river bottom. People can see parts of the park while driving, but not its interior, she said. Eventually, the park could be a gateway for visitors to the reservation, Fredericks said. Outdoor recreation is available at Lake Sakakawea, which straddles the vast reservation, and nearby at Theodore Roosevelt National Park and the Maah Daah Hey Trail. The MHA Nation benefits from oil development on its reservation, which helped the tribe to afford the land for the park, Fredericks said. 'But in that we have to be careful and preserve and conserve,' she said. 'I'm very, very proud of our tribal council for having the foresight to buy this land with the intent of making it into a national park ... because we don't know what's going to happen 50 years from now and what our landscape is going to look like, but we can preserve this part of it.' The park neighbors Little Missouri State Park, which draws horseback riders to its 40 miles (64 kilometers) of trails in the Badlands. The rugged landscape 'kind of has that almost spiritual feel to it. It's peaceful,' state Parks and Recreation Department Director Cody Schulz said. State park officials have worked with the tribe for about two years on its plans and partnering together, such as connecting trail systems, Schulz said. Tribal park officials are collaborating with anyone willing, Fredericks said. White Calfe said the park is an opportunity 'to tell our own story, our own narrative from our own perspective in a place like this. That's pretty valuable.'
San Francisco Chronicle
26-04-2025
- San Francisco Chronicle
New tribal national park in North Dakota aims to preserve rugged and scenic landscape
BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) — A new tribal national park in North Dakota's rugged Badlands is opening a little-seen area of the dramatic landscape to hikers and other outdoors enthusiasts, part of a Native American tribe's efforts to preserve the land and encourage recreation. The Mandan, Hidatsa and Arikara Nation established Three Affiliated Tribes National Park with the purchase of 2,100 acres (850 hectares) of a former ranch adjacent to the Fort Berthold Reservation's boundaries on the south side of the Little Missouri River. The area was in the tribe's original treaty lands but a government allotment act later reduced the reservation's size, said Mary Fredericks, director of the tribe's Parks and Reserve Program. The reservation's boundaries have expanded to include the park. Tribal Chairman Mark Fox said the goal is to establish a park for cultural and recreational purposes such as canoeing, kayaking and viewing wildlife. 'It's part of our history, our lands, very significant to us, the whole area,' Fox said. 'This is just another strong move to reacquire some of our lands and then do something very effective with it, so to speak' to aid tourism and the economy through recreation. Park officials are being careful with how they plan and develop the park to be thoughtful about impacts on the landscape. 'This place will be here in perpetuity and it will be better when we are done than it was when we got it, and that's what we're pushing for, that's where we're headed,' Park Superintendent Ethan White Calfe said. North Dakota's Badlands — the name denotes the difficult terrain — comprise a stark, erosive, colorful landscape with dramatic shapes, petrified wood and ancient fossils. The area draws hikers, campers, hunters, bicyclists and other outdoors enthusiasts. The park, which held a soft opening in September, is open only to foot traffic by a free permit online. Park officials require visitors to register their plans and hikers must park at a grass lot. By the end of the summer, organizers hope to have 10 miles (16 kilometers) of trails finished, Fredericks said. Plans to build a visitor center and campground are in the works. Park officials also intend to work on native prairie and soil restoration in the erosive environment where some native plants that thrive in the area have been pushed out by invasive species, White Calfe said. 'We're looking at it as how do we help this area look like it did 300 years ago? How do we help this area heal to where it is in a lot of more of a state of equilibrium,' White Calfe said. It's a beautiful and picturesque but deceptive and steep landscape, Fredericks said. The park is bisected by a state highway that drops from a flat into a rugged river bottom. People can see parts of the park while driving, but not its interior, she said. Eventually, the park could be a gateway for visitors to the reservation, Fredericks said. Outdoor recreation is available at Lake Sakakawea, which straddles the vast reservation, and nearby at Theodore Roosevelt National Park and the Maah Daah Hey Trail. The MHA Nation benefits from oil development on its reservation, which helped the tribe to afford the land for the park, Fredericks said. 'But in that we have to be careful and preserve and conserve,' she said. 'I'm very, very proud of our tribal council for having the foresight to buy this land with the intent of making it into a national park ... because we don't know what's going to happen 50 years from now and what our landscape is going to look like, but we can preserve this part of it.' The park neighbors Little Missouri State Park, which draws horseback riders to its 40 miles (64 kilometers) of trails in the Badlands. State park officials have worked with the tribe for about two years on its plans and partnering together, such as connecting trail systems, Schulz said. Tribal park officials are collaborating with anyone willing, Fredericks said. White Calfe said the park is an opportunity 'to tell our own story, our own narrative from our own perspective in a place like this. That's pretty valuable.'
