Latest news with #Funk
Yahoo
5 days ago
- General
- Yahoo
Oregon Coast safari park owner arrested after 44 guns, $1.6M cash, drugs found, police say
The owner of West Coast Game Park Safari, which was raided by law enforcement agencies May 15-18, was arrested May 27 on charges related to possession of drugs seized during the raid. Oregon State Police raided the Bandon facility along with local, state and federal agencies, executing multiple search warrants. They seized and relocated 310 animals to animal sanctuary and rescue facilities. The facility had been racking up violations since 2016 for offenses like a dead tiger kept in a freezer for months, animals found dead, sick, starving and never examined by a veterinarian, rotting food and rat droppings. The South Coast Interagency Narcotics Team participated in the search and found about 80 grams of methamphetamine, according to a Facebook post from the Coos County Sheriff's Office. A detective obtained an additional search warrant for evidence of controlled substance crimes at the same location, the post said. The additional search recovered 44 firearms, including one modified into a machine gun, about 8 grams of cocaine, and about $1.6 million in cash, cashier's checks, bonds and certificates, the post said. Bandon Police arrested the 52-year-old owner in connection with the narcotics investigation, the post said. He was taken to the Coos County Jail on charges of methamphetamine possession, manufacturing and attempted distribution. Court records showed no charges had been filed as of 4 p.m. May 27. Police said the investigation was ongoing. Isabel Funk covers breaking news and public safety for the Statesman Journal. Funk can be reached at ifunk@ or on X at @isabeldfunk This article originally appeared on Salem Statesman Journal: Oregon's West Coast Game Park Safari owner arrested on drug charges
New European
5 days ago
- Science
- New European
Critical Mass: Is science failing, or are we failing science?
That work, by Russell Funk of the University of Minnesota and his coworkers, prompted a wave of hand-wringing. What's gone wrong with science? And can we justify expanding science budgets if there are diminishing returns? But Funk's claims also proved controversial, not least because it is very hard to know how to measure the disruptive impact of research. Some might be tempted to say: hello, what about AI? There can hardly have been a more disruptive technology, for better or worse, in the past few decades, as witnessed by the Nobel prizes in both physics and chemistry awarded last year to work in that field. Is science getting harder? Did the 20th century strip the tree of knowledge of all its low-hanging fruit – quantum and nuclear physics, say, or the structure of DNA – to leave the answers to remaining scientific questions harder to reach? That seemed to be the implication of a paper published two years ago that claimed to show that the rate of truly 'disruptive' discoveries – ones that transform a field and open up new possibilities for technologies and economic growth – declined from the mid-1940s to 2010. Despite increases in science funding and the number of researchers, we seem now to be in an age of incremental advances. But as a recent news analysis in Nature (which also published Funk's paper) shows, the impression that groundbreaking research is becoming more rare is widely shared in the research community. And if that's right, the discovery drought could slow down economic growth. So we had better understand if the trend is real, and if so, what's behind it. Funk and colleagues used a rather technical method to gauge a paper's (or a patent's) disruptiveness, which was connected to the citations of earlier work that it includes. The idea is that, if the paper transforms its field, it renders those citations obsolete by establishing a new ground zero, so that they won't feature much in subsequent publications. But is that a good metric for disruptiveness? Critics pointed out that citation practices changed a lot over the course of the last century: older papers had fewer. What's more, the 2021 paper that used AI to predict the structures of protein molecules, which won the 2024 chemistry Nobel, would on this measure be rated low in disruptiveness – which surely can't be right, can it? The arguments are all rather complicated, because so is the question: there's no way we can measure something like this with the certainty of measuring an object's temperature or mass. Surprisingly, however, the debate hasn't given much consideration to what history tells us. For one thing, over the long term science hardly looks like a steady accumulation of earth-shattering discoveries. Even though the so-called scientific revolution in the 17th century reset the way a lot of science was done, chemistry (to name one discipline) experienced a century of tentative steps until Antoine Lavoisier replaced the theory of phlogiston with his oxygen theory in the 1780s and 90s. And the economic growth produced by the chemical dye industry of the late 19th century didn't really come from a transformative discovery in understanding, but arose from a complex interplay between chemical research and market demand stimulated by industrialisation. There have been plenty of occasions when scientists have decided that all the big discoveries have been made. Famously, Lord Kelvin was said to have proclaimed as much for physics, just years before Max Planck initiated quantum theory and Einstein unveiled the theory of relativity. The Kelvin story is apocryphal, but others expressed similar sentiments that the future of physics was just about incremental improvements in accuracy. Besides, not all transformative science affects economic growth: that can hardly be said for the proof of the Big Bang (circa 1965), the discovery of dark energy (1998) and the discovery of the Higgs boson (2012). Despite all this, however, the question is important. It's conceivable that science is simply facing harder challenges now, but it's possible, too, that there are worsening problems in how it is conducted. Young researchers have less incentive to take risks, and they are also encouraged to carve it into publishable slices of diminishing size and impact. And it has long been noted that review panels for funding agencies are conservative, favouring the safe but mediocre. Academic scientists complain of being too burdened by admin and grant-chasing to actually do research. Perhaps the problem is not that all the easy science has been done, but that it's getting harder to do it at all.
Business Journals
22-05-2025
- Health
- Business Journals
Measles: What to know to protect yourself and your family
Measles is circulating in the United States, with five cases to date identified in Colorado. Measles is not just a mild rash; it is a serious illness and very contagious. It can also have serious complications, especially for babies and young children. The best way to protect yourself and your family from measles is by staying current on immunizations. 'We know that the vaccine is very effective in preventing measles, and it is very safe. We also know that many parents have questions about the vaccine; we recommend speaking with your doctor to address any concerns.' said Dr. Karen Funk, senior medical director of primary care for Intermountain Health Peaks Region. Measles infects 90% of people not immunized who are exposed to the virus. Measles is transmitted through coughs and sneezes and can live in the air and on surfaces for up to two hours. About one out of five people who get measles will be hospitalized. Severe complications include pneumonia encephalitis (brain swelling), which can cause permanent brain damage, or even death. Measles symptoms develop about seven to 14 days after exposure and include: Fever Cough Runny nose Red eyes After three to four days, a rash appears Measles rash is red and blotchy and typically starts on the hairline and face, then spreads downwards to the rest of the body. The rash usually presents three or four days after the fever. An infected person can spread measles to others even before knowing they have the disease. You can spread measles to others in the four days before and after the rash appears, which is important to know if you go to seek care or be tested. Who is most at risk: Infants Children under 5 years old Pregnant women People with weakened immune systems, such as from cancer, leukemia, certain medications and HIV infection Adults over age 20 How you can protect yourself: Get the Measles, Mumps and Rubella (MMR) vaccine according to CDC's recommended immunization schedule for children. Determine whether you are protected from measles. Visit Get a Copy of Your Immunization Records | Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment to learn how to request your immunization records. Call your health care provider immediately if you think you or your child have been exposed. If you or your child have measles symptoms, please do one of the following: When possible, use a Telehealth or virtual appointment to connect with your medical provider. These offer a safe, effective alternative to verify symptoms, reduce the risk of transmission and receive timely guidance. If an in-person visit is necessary, call ahead to the clinic or hospital so care teams can implement appropriate infection prevention protocols and minimize exposure to others. 'It is important that you do not visit a physician's office, emergency room, lab or any medical clinic without first calling the facility and informing them of your possible exposure to measles,' Funk said. 'This will enable the facility to take the necessary precautions to protect others, which may include babies and others at high risk, from possible exposure.'
Boston Globe
08-05-2025
- Boston Globe
Texas man convicted of threatening to lynch Nashville DA
Advertisement Funk was targeted after a group of white supremacist, antisemitic and neo-Nazi provocateurs came to Nashville last summer and began livestreaming antics for shock value — waving swastika flags through crowded streets, singing hate songs on the downtown courthouse steps, and even briefly disrupting a Metro Council meeting. At one point, a fight broke out between a bar worker and a member of the group, who used metal flagpole with a swastika affixed to the top to hit the employee. The group member was charged with aggravated assault. The bar worker was also charged in the tussle. 'Antisemitic hate has no place in Nashville or anywhere, and this verdict shows these hateful threats for what they are: a crime,' Acting U.S. Attorney Robert E. McGuire for the Middle District of Tennessee, said in a news release. Advertisement
Hamilton Spectator
08-05-2025
- Hamilton Spectator
Texas man convicted of threatening to lynch Nashville DA
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — A Texas man associated with a neo-Nazi group was convicted on Wednesday of posting threats to lynch and kill Nashville District Attorney General Glenn Funk after another group member was charged with attacking a downtown bar worker. David Aaron Bloyed, 60, of Frost, Texas, was found guilty by a federal jury in Nashville of one count of communicating a threat in interstate commerce, according to a news release from the U.S. Department of Justice. He faces up to five years in prison at sentencing. Bloyed was found to have posted a photograph of Funk with the caption, 'Getting the rope,' and an emoji finger pointed towards Funk's image. A second post included a drawing of a person hanging by the neck from a gallows, with the phrase, 'The 'Rope List' grew by a few more Nashville jews today.' Both included swastika symbols. Funk was targeted after a group of white supremacist, antisemitic and neo-Nazi provocateurs came to Nashville last summer and began livestreaming antics for shock value — waving swastika flags through crowded streets, singing hate songs on the downtown courthouse steps, and even briefly disrupting a Metro Council meeting. At one point, a fight broke out between a bar worker and a member of the group, who used metal flagpole with a swastika affixed to the top to hit the employee. The group member was charged with aggravated assault. The bar worker was also charged in the tussle. 'Antisemitic hate has no place in Nashville or anywhere, and this verdict shows these hateful threats for what they are: a crime,' Acting U.S. Attorney Robert E. McGuire for the Middle District of Tennessee, said in a news release.
