Latest news with #Gast
Yahoo
5 days ago
- Yahoo
Meadville taps ex-FBI agent to review police action in physical confrontation with man
MEADVILLE — City officials have tapped a retired FBI agent to review the actions of some of its police officers on July 11 when they were captured on a widely-circulating video wrestling with and punching a man they said was wanted in a drug case. Officials announced in a news release issued on the late afternoon of July 14 that they have engaged PMG investigations and George Gast, of Edinboro, to conduct a use of force review of the incident, which occurred on Baldwin Street in Meadville on the late afternoon of July 11. The man police confronted, 33-year-old Nathan T. Koman, of Meadville, was wanted on drug charges from an incident in May and resisted arrest despite being hit with a Taser several times after an officer encountered him on Baldwin Street July 11, police charge in a criminal complaint filed against Koman on July 13. In the video clip, one Meadville officer is seen wrestling Koman to the ground as another officer runs up and throws punches down on him. Police charged Koman with misdemeanor counts of resisting arrest, disorderly conduct, possession of a controlled substance, possession of drug paraphernalia and public drunkenness in the incident and he was jailed on $250,000 bond. He was jailed on $25,000 bond on drug charges in the case from May. The officers involved in the incident remain on duty, Meadville City Manager Maryann Menanno said July 15. More: Millcreek police chief: Man threw hammer at officers, had other weapon before he was shot City officials said Gast, a 40-year law enforcement veteran and an FBI certified defensive tactics and use of force instructor, will conduct his review concurrently with an internal use of force investigation initiated by Meadville Police Chief Michael Stefanucci. The results of both investigations will be shared with Crawford County District Attorney Paula DiGiacomo for additional review, city officials wrote in the news release. Menanno said in the release that PMG Investigations and Gast were engaged to serve as an independent third party in evaluating the July 11 incident. "In our ongoing commitment to transparency, accountability, and public trust, we believe it is essential to ensure that any concerns surrounding the appropriate use of force are reviewed with the utmost integrity and objectivity," Menanno was quoted in the release. More: Protests coincide with probe of fatal shooting as parole agents get 'administrative duty' Koman remained in the Crawford County Correctional Facility July 15, and a lawyer for him was not listed on his two criminal docket sheets. In the criminal complaint filed against Koman in the confrontation, police wrote that Koman resisted arrest while attempts were made to take him into custody in the drug case from May, and he continued to resist as police deployed a Taser on him three times. The officers also gave Koman knee strikes to the body and punches to the back, which they said did not seem to be effective as Koman continued to resist, according to information in the complaint's affidavit of probable cause. The officers involved in the incident were not injured, Menanno said July 15. Koman was taken to the Meadville Medical Center following his arrest, but he did not have injuries that required medical attention, she said. Contact Tim Hahn at thahn@ This article originally appeared on Erie Times-News: Meadville gets outside review of police action in filmed arrest
Nahar Net
11-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Nahar Net
Global warming isn't funny -- except in the hands of these comedians
by Naharnet Newsdesk 11 April 2025, 17:43 Esteban Gast remembered feeling ashamed in high school while calculating how much carbon dioxide, the main driver of climate change, his daily activities created, known as a carbon footprint. "Have you ever driven a car or flown in an airplane?" were among the long list of questions posed by the calculator. Gast, who said his "Catholic guilt" compelled him to keep adding activities to the calculator, thus raising his footprint, recently told the story during a show at Flappers Comedy Club in Burbank, Calif. Then he hit the crowd with a twist: It was the oil and gas giant BP that popularized the idea of tracking individual emissions to shift the responsibility for climate change from companies that produce oil, gas and coal to people. "That's like your friend who is addicted to cocaine telling you not to have a latte," he said. The audience roared with laughter. Gast continued: "BP, famous for spilling oil into the Gulf of Mexico, was like, 'Hey, Esteban, do you ever drive?' And I'm like, 'I don't know, sometimes.' And they're just like pouring oil into a turtle's mouth." Gast is among a growing group of comedians using humor to raise awareness of climate change. On the stage, online and in classrooms, they tell jokes to tackle topics such as a major U.S. climate law passed in 2022, called the Inflation Reduction Act, fossil fuel industries and convey information about the benefits of plant-based diets that emit less planet-warming emissions. They hope to educate people about the climate crisis, relieve anxiety with laughter and provide hope. And although the impacts of climate change are deadly and devastating, experts say using humor to talk climate is an important part of the larger ecosystem of how it's communicated. Comedian Brad Einstein thinks of it this way: "How do we look that horror in the eyes and let it look back at us and then give it a little wink?" Raising awareness In Rasheda Crockett's YouTube comedy series "Might Could," the actor-comedian blends humor with information about climate change. In one video, she quips about the environmental benefits of plant-based diets while begging food scientists to make vegan cheese that actually melts. "I'm now requesting all vegans who care about the planet to make melting vegan cheese their number one priority," she quipped. "Because that's what's going to make veganism more viable. It's the change we have to cheese." Her interest in writing climate humor is also deeply personal. As a Black woman, she knows that global warming disproportionately hurts Black and other non-white communities. "This is just another instance where people of color are going to be adversely impacted first by a disaster," said Crockett, a 2023 fellow in the Climate Comedy Cohort, a program Gast co-founded that brings together climate experts and comedians. "The Earth is warming up like the inside of a Hot Pocket ... and I just want people to care." Surveys show that many people do. A 2023 poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research found that 64% of U.S. adults said they'd recently experienced extreme weather and believed it was caused at least partially by climate change. And about 65% said that climate change will have or already has had a big impact in their lifetime. Humor can bridge the gap between the technical world of climate science and policy and the average person, Gast said. And he thinks comedians are among the "unlikely" messengers who can do that. "We need someone talking about science, and then we need someone who doesn't even mention science and just mentions a dope sunset for surfers," he said. Comedy as a salve At the University of Colorado in Boulder, climate comedy is a longtime tradition. For the past 13 years, professors Beth Osnes-Stoedefalke and Maxwell Boykoff have taught a creative climate communication course on how information about climate issues and solutions can be conveyed creatively. Sometimes they work on their own sketch comedy or standup they later perform at the annual "Stand Up for Climate Comedy." It's the kind of event the professors help encourage elsewhere, including the show Gast performed at. Several years ago, the professors decided to use their students and event attendees as case studies to learn about the effects of merging climate information with comedy. Among their findings were that climate comedy increased people's awareness of and engagement with the issue and reduced their climate anxiety. Numerous other studies have also shown that humor reduces stress, depression and anxiety. One study from 2021 found that humor helped people remember political information and made it likelier they'd share it with others. "You can't just stack up all the IPCC reports and hope that people get it," said Boykoff, an environmental studies professor, referencing the United Nations' scientific papers on global climate impacts. "You got to find these creative spaces." Theater professor Osnes-Stoedefalke said humor also has the power to exploit cracks in bad arguments and draw nuance from them. But perhaps more important, it can give people hope. Climate comedy "helped give this feeling of constructive hope," she said, "and without hope, action doesn't make sense." Making sense of the moment Climate can also be used to reflect on the politics of anything given time. Bianca Calderon, a master's student in environmental policy and renewable energy, is taking the creative climate communications class, where she's writing a standup bit about grant proposals. In the piece, she realizes she needs to rewrite her grant summary to omit words like "diversity," "community" and "clean energy" to comply with the Trump administration's directives. But there's a big problem: She's seeking federal funding for research on engaging diverse communities and getting them into the clean energy job market. "At the end of it, it's like, 'Oh, I actually don't have any words to use because none of them are allowed," she said, adding that the piece is based on her actual experience applying for funding. Einstein, the comedian and a two-time National Park Service artist-in-residence, is also using humor to talk about the administration's actions. Using a pine cone as a microphone, Einstein has been posting social media videos about the recent mass layoffs of park service employees. The online response is unlike anything he's ever received on the internet, he said. "We need an informed citizenry that can can critique the messaging coming to them," said Osnes-Stoedefalke. "And I think comedy can achieve that in a way that no others can, in a way that holds people's attention."
Yahoo
11-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Global warming isn't funny. But more comedians are using humor to bring awareness to it
BURBANK, Calif. (AP) — Esteban Gast remembered feeling ashamed in high school while calculating how much carbon dioxide, the main driver of climate change, his daily activities created, known as a carbon footprint. 'Have you ever driven a car or flown in an airplane?' were among the long list of questions posed by the calculator. Gast, who said his 'Catholic guilt' compelled him to keep adding activities to the calculator, thus raising his footprint, recently told the story during a show at Flappers Comedy Club in Burbank, Calif. Then he hit the crowd with a twist: It was the oil and gas giant BP that popularized the idea of tracking individual emissions to shift the responsibility for climate change from companies that produce oil, gas and coal to people. 'That's like your friend who is addicted to cocaine telling you not to have a latte," he said. The audience roared with laughter. Gast continued: "BP, famous for spilling oil into the Gulf of Mexico, was like, 'Hey, Esteban, do you ever drive?' And I'm like, 'I don't know, sometimes.' And they're just like pouring oil into a turtle's mouth.' Gast is among a growing group of comedians using humor to raise awareness of climate change. On the stage, online and in classrooms, they tell jokes to tackle topics such as a major U.S. climate law passed in 2022, called the Inflation Reduction Act, fossil fuel industries and convey information about the benefits of plant-based diets that emit less planet-warming emissions. They hope to educate people about the climate crisis, relieve anxiety with laughter and provide hope. And although the impacts of climate change are deadly and devastating, experts say using humor to talk climate is an important part of the larger ecosystem of how it's communicated. Comedian Brad Einstein thinks of it this way: 'How do we look that horror in the eyes and let it look back at us and then give it a little wink?' Raising awareness In Rasheda Crockett's YouTube comedy series 'Might Could,' the actor-comedian blends humor with information about climate change. In one video, she quips about the environmental benefits of plant-based diets while begging food scientists to make vegan cheese that actually melts. 'I'm now requesting all vegans who care about the planet to make melting vegan cheese their number one priority,' she quipped. 'Because that's what's going to make veganism more viable. It's the change we have to cheese.' Her interest in writing climate humor is also deeply personal. As a Black woman, she knows that global warming disproportionately hurts Black and other non-white communities. 'This is just another instance where people of color are going to be adversely impacted first by a disaster," said Crockett, a 2023 fellow in the Climate Comedy Cohort, a program Gast co-founded that brings together climate experts and comedians. "The Earth is warming up like the inside of a Hot Pocket ... and I just want people to care.' Surveys show that many people do. A 2023 poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research found that 64% of U.S. adults said they'd recently experienced extreme weather and believed it was caused at least partially by climate change. And about 65% said that climate change will have or already has had a big impact in their lifetime. Humor can bridge the gap between the technical world of climate science and policy and the average person, Gast said. And he thinks comedians are among the 'unlikely' messengers who can do that. 'We need someone talking about science, and then we need someone who doesn't even mention science and just mentions a dope sunset for surfers," he said. Comedy as a salve At the University of Colorado in Boulder, climate comedy is a longtime tradition. For the past 13 years, professors Beth Osnes-Stoedefalke and Maxwell Boykoff have taught a creative climate communication course on how information about climate issues and solutions can be conveyed creatively. Sometimes they work on their own sketch comedy or standup they later perform at the annual 'Stand Up for Climate Comedy." It's the kind of event the professors help encourage elsewhere, including the show Gast performed at. Several years ago, the professors decided to use their students and event attendees as case studies to learn about the effects of merging climate information with comedy. Among their findings were that climate comedy increased people's awareness of and engagement with the issue and reduced their climate anxiety. Numerous other studies have also shown that humor reduces stress, depression and anxiety. One study from 2021 found that humor helped people remember political information and made it likelier they'd share it with others. 'You can't just stack up all the IPCC reports and hope that people get it,' said Boykoff, an environmental studies professor, referencing the United Nations' scientific papers on global climate impacts. 'You got to find these creative spaces.' Theater professor Osnes-Stoedefalke said humor also has the power to exploit cracks in bad arguments and draw nuance from them. But perhaps more important, it can give people hope. Climate comedy 'helped give this feeling of constructive hope," she said, "and without hope, action doesn't make sense.' Making sense of the moment Climate can also be used to reflect on the politics of anything given time. Bianca Calderon, a master's student in environmental policy and renewable energy, is taking the creative climate communications class, where she's writing a standup bit about grant proposals. In the piece, she realizes she needs to rewrite her grant summary to omit words like 'diversity," 'community' and 'clean energy' to comply with the Trump administration's directives. But there's a big problem: She's seeking federal funding for research on engaging diverse communities and getting them into the clean energy job market. 'At the end of it, it's like, 'Oh, I actually don't have any words to use because none of them are allowed,' she said, adding that the piece is based on her actual experience applying for funding. Einstein, the comedian and a two-time National Park Service artist-in-residence, is also using humor to talk about the administration's actions. Using a pine cone as a microphone, Einstein has been posting social media videos about the recent mass layoffs of park service employees. The online response is unlike anything he's ever received on the internet, he said. 'We need an informed citizenry that can can critique the messaging coming to them,' said Osnes-Stoedefalke. 'And I think comedy can achieve that in a way that no others can, in a way that holds people's attention.' ___ The Associated Press receives support from the Walton Family Foundation for coverage of water and environmental policy. The AP is solely responsible for all content. For all of AP's environmental coverage, visit
The Independent
11-04-2025
- Entertainment
- The Independent
Global warming isn't funny. But more comedians are using humor to bring awareness to it
Esteban Gast remembered feeling ashamed in high school while calculating how much carbon dioxide, the main driver of climate change, his daily activities created, known as a carbon footprint. 'Have you ever driven a car or flown in an airplane?' were among the long list of questions posed by the calculator. Gast, who said his ' Catholic guilt' compelled him to keep adding activities to the calculator, thus raising his footprint, recently told the story during a show at Flappers Comedy Club in Burbank, Calif. Then he hit the crowd with a twist: It was the oil and gas giant BP that popularized the idea of tracking individual emissions to shift the responsibility for climate change from companies that produce oil, gas and coal to people. 'That's like your friend who is addicted to cocaine telling you not to have a latte," he said. The audience roared with laughter. Gast continued: "BP, famous for spilling oil into the Gulf of Mexico, was like, 'Hey, Esteban, do you ever drive?' And I'm like, 'I don't know, sometimes.' And they're just like pouring oil into a turtle's mouth.' Gast is among a growing group of comedians using humor to raise awareness of climate change. On the stage, online and in classrooms, they tell jokes to tackle topics such as a major U.S. climate law passed in 2022, called the Inflation Reduction Act, fossil fuel industries and convey information about the benefits of plant-based diets that emit less planet-warming emissions. They hope to educate people about the climate crisis, relieve anxiety with laughter and provide hope. And although the impacts of climate change are deadly and devastating, experts say using humor to talk climate is an important part of the larger ecosystem of how it's communicated. Comedian Brad Einstein thinks of it this way: 'How do we look that horror in the eyes and let it look back at us and then give it a little wink?' Raising awareness In Rasheda Crockett's YouTube comedy series 'Might Could,' the actor-comedian blends humor with information about climate change. In one video, she quips about the environmental benefits of plant-based diets while begging food scientists to make vegan cheese that actually melts. 'I'm now requesting all vegans who care about the planet to make melting vegan cheese their number one priority,' she quipped. 'Because that's what's going to make veganism more viable. It's the change we have to cheese.' Her interest in writing climate humor is also deeply personal. As a Black woman, she knows that global warming disproportionately hurts Black and other non-white communities. 'This is just another instance where people of color are going to be adversely impacted first by a disaster," said Crockett, a 2023 fellow in the Climate Comedy Cohort, a program Gast co-founded that brings together climate experts and comedians. "The Earth is warming up like the inside of a Hot Pocket ... and I just want people to care.' Surveys show that many people do. A 2023 poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research found that 64% of U.S. adults said they'd recently experienced extreme weather and believed it was caused at least partially by climate change. And about 65% said that climate change will have or already has had a big impact in their lifetime. Humor can bridge the gap between the technical world of climate science and policy and the average person, Gast said. And he thinks comedians are among the 'unlikely' messengers who can do that. 'We need someone talking about science, and then we need someone who doesn't even mention science and just mentions a dope sunset for surfers," he said. Comedy as a salve At the University of Colorado in Boulder, climate comedy is a longtime tradition. For the past 13 years, professors Beth Osnes-Stoedefalke and Maxwell Boykoff have taught a creative climate communication course on how information about climate issues and solutions can be conveyed creatively. Sometimes they work on their own sketch comedy or standup they later perform at the annual 'Stand Up for Climate Comedy." It's the kind of event the professors help encourage elsewhere, including the show Gast performed at. Several years ago, the professors decided to use their students and event attendees as case studies to learn about the effects of merging climate information with comedy. Among their findings were that climate comedy increased people's awareness of and engagement with the issue and reduced their climate anxiety. Numerous other studies have also shown that humor reduces stress, depression and anxiety. One study from 2021 found that humor helped people remember political information and made it likelier they'd share it with others. 'You can't just stack up all the IPCC reports and hope that people get it,' said Boykoff, an environmental studies professor, referencing the United Nations' scientific papers on global climate impacts. 'You got to find these creative spaces.' Theater professor Osnes-Stoedefalke said humor also has the power to exploit cracks in bad arguments and draw nuance from them. But perhaps more important, it can give people hope. Climate comedy 'helped give this feeling of constructive hope," she said, "and without hope, action doesn't make sense.' Making sense of the moment Climate can also be used to reflect on the politics of anything given time. Bianca Calderon, a master's student in environmental policy and renewable energy, is taking the creative climate communications class, where she's writing a standup bit about grant proposals. In the piece, she realizes she needs to rewrite her grant summary to omit words like 'diversity," 'community' and 'clean energy' to comply with the Trump administration's directives. But there's a big problem: She's seeking federal funding for research on engaging diverse communities and getting them into the clean energy job market. 'At the end of it, it's like, 'Oh, I actually don't have any words to use because none of them are allowed,' she said, adding that the piece is based on her actual experience applying for funding. Einstein, the comedian and a two-time National Park Service artist-in-residence, is also using humor to talk about the administration's actions. Using a pine cone as a microphone, Einstein has been posting social media videos about the recent mass layoffs of park service employees. The online response is unlike anything he's ever received on the internet, he said. 'We need an informed citizenry that can can critique the messaging coming to them,' said Osnes-Stoedefalke. 'And I think comedy can achieve that in a way that no others can, in a way that holds people's attention.' ___
Associated Press
11-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Associated Press
Global warming isn't funny. But more comedians are using humor to bring awareness to it
BURBANK, Calif. (AP) — Esteban Gast remembered feeling ashamed in high school while calculating how much carbon dioxide, the main driver of climate change, his daily activities created, known as a carbon footprint. 'Have you ever driven a car or flown in an airplane?' were among the long list of questions posed by the calculator. Gast, who said his 'Catholic guilt' compelled him to keep adding activities to the calculator, thus raising his footprint, recently told the story during a show at Flappers Comedy Club in Burbank, Calif. Then he hit the crowd with a twist: It was the oil and gas giant BP that popularized the idea of tracking individual emissions to shift the responsibility for climate change from companies that produce oil, gas and coal to people. 'That's like your friend who is addicted to cocaine telling you not to have a latte,' he said. The audience roared with laughter. Gast continued: 'BP, famous for spilling oil into the Gulf of Mexico, was like, 'Hey, Esteban, do you ever drive?' And I'm like, 'I don't know, sometimes.' And they're just like pouring oil into a turtle's mouth.' Gast is among a growing group of comedians using humor to raise awareness of climate change. On the stage, online and in classrooms, they tell jokes to tackle topics such as a major U.S. climate law passed in 2022, called the Inflation Reduction Act, fossil fuel industries and convey information about the benefits of plant-based diets that emit less planet-warming emissions. They hope to educate people about the climate crisis, relieve anxiety with laughter and provide hope. And although the impacts of climate change are deadly and devastating, experts say using humor to talk climate is an important part of the larger ecosystem of how it's communicated. Comedian Brad Einstein thinks of it this way: 'How do we look that horror in the eyes and let it look back at us and then give it a little wink?' Raising awareness In Rasheda Crockett's YouTube comedy series 'Might Could,' the actor-comedian blends humor with information about climate change. In one video, she quips about the environmental benefits of plant-based diets while begging food scientists to make vegan cheese that actually melts. 'I'm now requesting all vegans who care about the planet to make melting vegan cheese their number one priority,' she quipped. 'Because that's what's going to make veganism more viable. It's the change we have to cheese.' Her interest in writing climate humor is also deeply personal. As a Black woman, she knows that global warming disproportionately hurts Black and other non-white communities. 'This is just another instance where people of color are going to be adversely impacted first by a disaster,' said Crockett, a 2023 fellow in the Climate Comedy Cohort, a program Gast co-founded that brings together climate experts and comedians. 'The Earth is warming up like the inside of a Hot Pocket ... and I just want people to care.' Surveys show that many people do. A 2023 poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research found that 64% of U.S. adults said they'd recently experienced extreme weather and believed it was caused at least partially by climate change. And about 65% said that climate change will have or already has had a big impact in their lifetime. Humor can bridge the gap between the technical world of climate science and policy and the average person, Gast said. And he thinks comedians are among the 'unlikely' messengers who can do that. 'We need someone talking about science, and then we need someone who doesn't even mention science and just mentions a dope sunset for surfers,' he said. Comedy as a salve At the University of Colorado in Boulder, climate comedy is a longtime tradition. For the past 13 years, professors Beth Osnes-Stoedefalke and Maxwell Boykoff have taught a creative climate communication course on how information about climate issues and solutions can be conveyed creatively. Sometimes they work on their own sketch comedy or standup they later perform at the annual 'Stand Up for Climate Comedy.' It's the kind of event the professors help encourage elsewhere, including the show Gast performed at. Several years ago, the professors decided to use their students and event attendees as case studies to learn about the effects of merging climate information with comedy. Among their findings were that climate comedy increased people's awareness of and engagement with the issue and reduced their climate anxiety. Numerous other studies have also shown that humor reduces stress, depression and anxiety. One study from 2021 found that humor helped people remember political information and made it likelier they'd share it with others. 'You can't just stack up all the IPCC reports and hope that people get it,' said Boykoff, an environmental studies professor, referencing the United Nations' scientific papers on global climate impacts. 'You got to find these creative spaces.' Theater professor Osnes-Stoedefalke said humor also has the power to exploit cracks in bad arguments and draw nuance from them. But perhaps more important, it can give people hope. Climate comedy 'helped give this feeling of constructive hope,' she said, 'and without hope, action doesn't make sense.' Making sense of the moment Climate can also be used to reflect on the politics of anything given time. Bianca Calderon, a master's student in environmental policy and renewable energy, is taking the creative climate communications class, where she's writing a standup bit about grant proposals. In the piece, she realizes she needs to rewrite her grant summary to omit words like 'diversity,' 'community' and 'clean energy' to comply with the Trump administration's directives. But there's a big problem: She's seeking federal funding for research on engaging diverse communities and getting them into the clean energy job market. 'At the end of it, it's like, 'Oh, I actually don't have any words to use because none of them are allowed,' she said, adding that the piece is based on her actual experience applying for funding. Einstein, the comedian and a two-time National Park Service artist-in-residence, is also using humor to talk about the administration's actions. Using a pine cone as a microphone, Einstein has been posting social media videos about the recent mass layoffs of park service employees. The online response is unlike anything he's ever received on the internet, he said. 'We need an informed citizenry that can can critique the messaging coming to them,' said Osnes-Stoedefalke. 'And I think comedy can achieve that in a way that no others can, in a way that holds people's attention.'
