Latest news with #Haste
Yahoo
26-05-2025
- Yahoo
‘Death County, PA' Episode 6: The ‘good old boys' club overseeing all the prison deaths
SUBSCRIBE AND LISTEN:Wondery|Apple Podcasts|Spotify|Other podcast platforms The final episode of the podcast 'Death County, PA' begins to answer the question why so many people have been dying in a Pennsylvania county jail in recent years. And one part of the answer is the people who were supposed to be providing critical oversight were part of a 'good old boys club,' where money and favors moved back and forth between the people running the prison and the people in charge of holding them accountable. The same health care provider who has been accused of providing inadequate care at the Dauphin County Prison during some of the deaths, Prime Care, had not been audited by the county in three decades. That's despite the fact that Prime Care had been banned from providing care in Pennsylvania's state prisons because of an incident where the owner of the company falsified records after a patient died of dehydration. But Prime Care paid one of the three main people in charge of overseeing the jail, former County Commissioner Jeff Haste, more than half a million dollars over four years, income that Haste had not disclosed. Haste also pushed the county to buy property from the same coroner, Graham Hetrick, whose conclusions about why prisoners were dying was being challenged by some of his peers and in the courts. Hetrick was allowing Haste to live in that very same property. In the midst of all these revelations, the family of one of the most recent inmates to die, Justin Cofield, organized a protest at the prison. 'We demand answers,' Cofield's mom shouted at the protest. 'Shame on Dauphin County. Shame on every single person responsible for the death of so many people inside of this building here. Shame on them for the neglect of our children, of our parents, of our neighbors.' During the protest, Cofield's parents confronted Hetrick — the coroner, who had done real estate business with the county and who was accused of creating autopsy reports that downplayed the responsibility of prison staff. Hetrick refused to let Cofield's parents see their own child's body. 'It does not belong to the prison. It does not belong to the county. It does not belong to Graham Hetrick,' one protester shouted. What came out of the confrontation with Hetrick that day highlighted the longtime effort by advocates to bring change to a prison where, experts from UCLA recently concluded, the coroner's office seemed to be misclassifying deaths and where Black prisoners in particular were facing higher levels of violence than white prisoners. 'Death County, PA' is co-produced by PennLive and Wondery and hit the top of Apple's podcast charts two days after it was widely released. A new episode has been released every week, with episode 6 being the final one. Wondery has developed a number of award-winning, long-form podcast series, some of which have gone on to be produced into TV series. Wondery created the series in collaboration with PennLive, a news site run by Advance Local, one of the largest media groups in the United States, operating in 20 cities. SUBSCRIBE AND LISTEN:Wondery|Apple Podcasts|Spotify|Other podcast platforms How much do Pa.'s top-paid state government workers make? Search our database Pa.'s $200K Club: Who are the best-paid state government workers? See the Top 10 Who made the most working for Pennsylvania in 2024? Meet the $200,000 Club Read the original article on MassLive.
Yahoo
13-05-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Plans to overhaul Oklahoma mental health hospital move forward
Sen. John Haste, R-Broken Arrow, attends a special session of the state Senate on June 12, 2024, at the Oklahoma State Capitol. (Photo by Nuria Martinez-Keel/Oklahoma Voice) OKLAHOMA CITY – A joint legislative panel on Monday moved one step closer to changing course on a new inpatient mental health hospital. The state had planned to build a state-of-the art inpatient mental health facility, the Donahue Behavioral Health Campus near the Oklahoma State University in Oklahoma City, but the Joint Committee on Pandemic Relief Funding voted to reallocate some of those funds to other projects. The new $130 million facility was to be funded in part with federal American Rescue Plan Act dollars and from $50 million the sale of the Norman facility. Lawmakers said Monday that they still plan to move the state's inpatient mental health hospital from Norman to Oklahoma City, but want to renovate an existing location. Sen. John Haste, R-Broken Arrow, told the Joint Committee on Pandemic Relief Funding that the new $130 million construction project, set to open in December 2025, has become unworkable. 'The gap in funding is still not clear, but the last estimate was more than $100 million,' Haste said. 'The cost continues to escalate. The land has not been sold and the opening date is now sometime in 2028.' One site in Oklahoma City has been identified for renovation and can meet the needs to replace the beds at Norman's Griffin Memorial Hospital, Haste said. That facility has been in use for over a century. 'This pivot from new construction to renovation will save the state both time and money as the replacement of these beds remain critical,' Haste said. The excess dollars would be invested in the Tulsa Behavioral Health Project, which has a gap in funding, Haste said. Senate Minority Leader Julia Kirt, D-Oklahoma City, moved to reduce the amount awarded to replace Griffin from $87 million to $66.5 million. The motion passed. 'These funds will be used to pay existing expenses and to purchase and renovate a facility to provide additional behavioral health capacity,' Kirt said. The new campus will have 197 beds, which is more than Griffin Memorial Hospital, Kirt said. 'There's still a discussion about an annex building and whether that will end up being part of the final project,' Kirt said. The panel also voted to move $7.9 million from the Griffin replacement project to the Tulsa Center for Behavioral Health, a 56-bed state owned and operated psychiatric hospital. 'This project will provide much needed mental health services and additional beds for capacity,' Haste said. Senate Appropriations Committee Chair Chuck Hall, R-Perry, said the changes will be put into bills and sent through the legislative process, which will give lawmakers and the public time to weigh in. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE
Yahoo
12-05-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Plans to overhaul Oklahoma mental health hospital move forward
Sen. John Haste, R-Broken Arrow, attends a special session of the state Senate on June 12, 2024, at the Oklahoma State Capitol. (Photo by Nuria Martinez-Keel/Oklahoma Voice) OKLAHOMA CITY – A joint legislative panel on Monday moved one step closer to changing course on a new inpatient mental health hospital. The state had planned to build a state-of-the art inpatient mental health facility, the Donahue Behavioral Health Campus near the Oklahoma State University in Oklahoma City, but the Joint Committee on Pandemic Relief Funding voted to reallocate some of those funds to other projects. The new $130 million facility was to be funded in part with federal American Rescue Plan Act dollars and from $50 million the sale of the Norman facility. Lawmakers said Monday that they still plan to move the state's inpatient mental health hospital from Norman to Oklahoma City, but want to renovate an existing location. Sen. John Haste, R-Broken Arrow, told the Joint Committee on Pandemic Relief Funding that the new $130 million construction project, set to open in December 2025, has become unworkable. 'The gap in funding is still not clear, but the last estimate was more than $100 million,' Haste said. 'The cost continues to escalate. The land has not been sold and the opening date is now sometime in 2028.' One site in Oklahoma City has been identified for renovation and can meet the needs to replace the beds at Norman's Griffin Memorial Hospital, Haste said. That facility has been in use for over a century. 'This pivot from new construction to renovation will save the state both time and money as the replacement of these beds remain critical,' Haste said. The excess dollars would be invested in the Tulsa Behavioral Health Project, which has a gap in funding, Haste said. Senate Minority Leader Julia Kirt, D-Oklahoma City, moved to reduce the amount awarded to replace Griffin from $87 million to $66.5 million. The motion passed. 'These funds will be used to pay existing expenses and to purchase and renovate a facility to provide additional behavioral health capacity,' Kirt said. The new campus will have 197 beds, which is more than Griffin Memorial Hospital, Kirt said. 'There's still a discussion about an annex building and whether that will end up being part of the final project,' Kirt said. The panel also voted to move $7.9 million from the Griffin replacement project to the Tulsa Center for Behavioral Health, a 56-bed state owned and operated psychiatric hospital. 'This project will provide much needed mental health services and additional beds for capacity,' Haste said. Senate Appropriations Committee Chair Chuck Hall, R-Perry, said the changes will be put into bills and sent through the legislative process, which will give lawmakers and the public time to weigh in. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE
RNZ News
24-04-2025
- Business
- RNZ News
Rocket Lab secures chunk of another Pentagon programme
The Kratos programme has been designed with the aim of expanding the number and frequency of opportunities to test hypersonic technologies. (File pic) Photo: Rocket Lab Rocket Lab, which launches from the the Māhia Peninsula and at sites in the US, has been chosen to launch a hypersonic test flight next year under a Pentagon programme. It will be the first full-scale test flight under a NZ$2.4 billion hypersonic contract won by California company Kratos. Rocket Lab subcontracts to Kratos, using its Haste rocket launched out of Virginia, rather than the Electron it more commonly uses to put up satellites. "I'm confident this will be the first of many new opportunities to serve the nation," said founder and chief executive Sir Peter Beck. The Kratos programme has been designed with the aim of expanding the number and frequency of opportunities to test hypersonic technologies. Rocket Lab was selected to join the Kratos-led team of subcontractors for Mach-TB 2.0 in January after several successful hypersonic test launches for the first part n of the Mach-TB programme from 2023. A few days ago, Rocket Lab was tapped to take part in two other hypersonic test programmes by the US and the UK military. At a business networking event in London overnight, Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has been promoting New Zealand's expertise in the space sector . He told the gathering New Zealand had more to offer than meat and dairy. "What you don't know is that we are the fourth biggest launcher of rockets into space, behind the US, Russia and China," Luxon said. Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero , a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
Yahoo
27-02-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Haste: Broken Worlds finally lets me live out my childhood fantasy of running really fast and then slamming into a rock at Mach 1 and breaking all my bones
When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission. I've always had a hope, ever since I was little—that I would, someday, be able to run really fast and hit a rock and break all of my bones. Okay, that's not the exact dream, but as a mentally hyperactive kid with a strong imagination, I did spend a lot of my car journeys running an imaginary stickman along parallel traffic, or walking my fingers like legs across various obstacles in my home. You see, we didn't have tablets back then, so we had to fill in the time between episodes of Bamzooki (look it up). Luckily, Haste: Broken Worlds is here to finally make my dream come true. This roguelike bone-breaking simulator has an available demo during Steam Next Fest, and it's rather worth the concussions you'll be enduring. If you've played Descenders before, just imagine that game without the bike and less flips—if you haven't, then let me explain. Haste is a game about strategic falling. At the start of each level, your character'll take off at a pace—when they hit an incline, they'll carry on sailing into the air in a physics-defying but ultimately satisfying way. The trick is to make sure you come down at a good angle, and your only tools to do so are your innate sense of digital depth perception, some rough mental calculations, and a button that mercifully lets you speed up your descent in case you get either of the first two things wrong. Smoother landings lead to bigger boosts, and more energy to use your special ability. Image 1 of 3 Image 2 of 3 Image 3 of 3 If this sounds scary in a roguelike context, don't worry—Haste is decently forgiving. You start off with a health bar and a trio of hearts. Eat through your health (or plummet into the abyss) and you'll lose a heart, lose all three hearts, and your run's over. In each level, your job is to zip through as quickly and as cleanly as possible. To keep things from getting stale, you have a character-specific ability (there's just one available in the demo, a hoverboard that can be strategically deployed to go even faster) and items to purchase with Sparks, which can be both passive and active. Also, sometimes the game will try to blow you up. Its randomised levels include hazards to keep you on your toes, like giant lasers and giant missiles. There do seem to be bosses, though the demo only showcases one—which you damage by flinging your body into them hard enough to make them die. Sun Tzu was missing a trick, because it turns out giving yourself concussions is a valid battle tactic, as long as you're giving your opponent more. Visually-speaking, the game's also looking very pretty. Some gorgeous character artwork's being flexed here, and the environments are nice and colourful—and the wave of doom, which eats away at the level behind you (and devours you if you go too slow) is appropriately panic-inducing. I'm really just hankering for more. The demo's regrettably short, and I think what'll really give this game the juice is a variety of character options and terrain to slam into. Still, the proof of concept is strong with this one—and I'm looking forward to seeing how forcefully I can hurl myself into objects in the months to come. Oh, and how the game's turning out, too. Haste: Broken Worlds doesn't have a release date yet, but one of its characters ominously promises me it'll be sooner than we all think. Take that however you will. Steam sale dates: When's the next event?Epic Store free games: What's free right now?Free PC games: The best freebies you can grab2025 games: This year's upcoming releasesFree Steam games: No purchase necessary
