Latest news with #Holler
Daily Mirror
3 days ago
- Entertainment
- Daily Mirror
Mel B and Spice Girls bandmates reunite at iconic themed 50th birthday party
Mel B was joined by Melanie C and Emma Bunton as she celebrated her landmark birthday - with all three ladies looking wild and delightful in animal print outfits Mel B had a mini Spice Girls reunion as she was joined by Melanie C and Emma Bunton to celebrate her 50th birthday. The music icon looked in high spirits as she paid tribute to half a century of life, with an energetic night of partying to mark the occasion. The singer, known as Scary Spice, was joined by fellow Spice Girls stars Mel, 51, and Emma, 49 - with the trio stunning in leopard print. Birthday girl Mel looked elegant in a long sleeved shimmering mini dress with sequins arranged in animal print fashion. While Mel C paid tribute to her Sporty Spice days by wearing a leopard print dress by sport brand Adidas. Emma also opted for a long-sleeved mini and looked thrilled to join the party with her bandmates. Throughout the night, the band danced along to music, including the band's hit, Holler. On Sunday, Mel took to Instagram to share a video montage of her party - uploading the highlights reel to her main grid alongside a caption stating: "Heres to 50 !!! And allll thats to come." Earlier in the week, Emma had marked the occasion by sharing a string of photos of herself with Mel from over the years alongside a caption reading: "Happy 50th @officialmelb! I'm not far behind you!!! From zig ah zig ahs to belly laughs. Hope you have the best day. Sending love and birthday hugs." And Mel C had shared a string of images of her own along with a long caption. She wrote: "50 years on this planet my darling @officialmelb. Oh, the adventures we have had! I still remember the first day we met and thinking you were the coolest person I had ever seen, how is that over 30 years ago?!" She continued: "I'm so proud of everything we have achieved and adversities you have not only overcome but have used to help others Mel B MBE Hon D Univ you're a f***ing rock star and I love you more than words can say. Looking forward to BIG celebrations soon! Happy Birthday you Northern nutter." Fans noticed that both Victoria Beckham and Geri Horner - known as Posh Spice and Ginger Spice respectively - were absent from Mel's birthday celebrations. Mel and Geri have had a feisty friendship over the years - with Mel admitting she was left fuming when Geri quit their band at the peak of its fame in the 1990s. Geri marked Mel's birthday when it passed on Thursday by sharing a snap of them in an Instagram post. She wrote at the time: "Happy 50th birthday @officialmelb wishing you a very wonderful year ahead." It was something of a celebration-filled weekend for Melanie, as her fiancé, Rory McPhee, also celebrated his birthday. On Saturday, Mel shared a photo of them together via her Instagram page and added a gushing message about him. She wrote: "My soon-to-be husband!! Happy birthdayyyy !!! I can't wait for a lifetime together with you to always having fun like only we no and laughing all the way together alwaysss I luv youuu my luv @rorymcphee." Mel and Rory have been in a relationship since 2018, and they became engaged in October 2022. While their wedding date is currently unknown, it has been revealed that the singer and her hairdresser husband-to-be are planning to get married at St. Paul's Cathedral in London. The Spice Girl icon revealed to TODAY in the USA recently that she is granted permission to marry at the iconic venue thanks to her status as a holder of a Member of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (MBE) title. She told the morning news show last month: "I got an MBE for all my charity work that I've been doing. It was actually Prince William that gave me my little honorary badge. And it's quite a big deal. I didn't realise how much of a big deal it was until I started reading about it, and then I started getting really nervous. It was really lovely. So, because of that, I am going to get married in the same church as Princess Diana.'
Yahoo
6 days ago
- Lifestyle
- Yahoo
New book ‘Holler' tells the story of Appalachian climate activists
Protesters at an Mountain Valley Pipeline construction site in 2023. (Katie Myers | BPR) This coverage is made possible through a partnership between BPR and Grist, a nonprofit environmental media organization. The Mountain Valley Pipeline transports natural gas through West Virginia and Virginia. But for 10 years, climate activists and worried locals opposed it, even locking themselves to equipment and camping in the pipeline's path. Many were opposed specifically to the transportation of natural gas, which includes methane, a highly flammable fossil fuel with a large carbon footprint. A new graphic novel, Holler, released in May, tells the story. Denali Sai Nalamalapu, a Southwest Virginia-based climate activist and illustrator, spoke with BPR on what this fight meant for people who were involved and what it means now. This conversation has been condensed and edited for clarity. Tell us a little about yourself and why you were drawn to the Mountain Valley Pipeline to begin with? I joined the pipeline fight to support, with communications and federal and congressional advocacy. As I started traveling more to the region, I got more connected to the community here that was fighting the pipeline and also to the mountains. I wanted to figure out different ways to tell the stories I was hearing, particularly stories of ordinary people who were just living their lives and then became pipeline resistors. And so I sat down with six people across the region that's impacted by the pipeline in Central Appalachia, and the book came to life from there. What did this pipeline mean, not only to the people in West Virginia that the pipeline directly impacted, but also to the broader Appalachian community? How did it unfold regionally? When the pipeline was first proposed, it was part of and continues to be part of a centuries-long history of massive extractive fossil fuel projects coming to the region. Part of what made it unique though, is that it is such a huge project, being three 303 miles long, going through all of West Virginia, through Southwest Virginia, into Southern Virginia, with extensions that threaten communities in Northern North Carolina. And it's methane gas, which is a highly flammable gas that's also contributing to climate change. It was such an intense, huge fight that came right after and during the fights against coal mining and specifically mountaintop removal in Central Appalachia. It did show up in this lineage of strong resistance in Appalachia that is very well known in this region, but continues to go overlooked outside of the region. 'Holler' is a graphic novel, which is a unique way to tell a character-driven story. Why did you choose the graphic novel format, and to explore the MVP through these six activists? All of that thinking was part of, how do I tell a story of the Mountain Valley Pipeline Fight with the voices of the resistors uplifted? One of them is pretty well known. Her name's Becky Crabtree, and she is known as the Grandma who locked herself to her Ford Pinto when her sheep farm was threatened by the pipeline. And the other is a quieter resistor named Paula Mann, who is a photographer who used her skills to document the way the pipeline threatened the woods that seven generations of her family have lived in. Part of who ended up being part of the book … were people who both had been part of the struggle and had been covered by the news, and who were the quieter resistors, and who were the younger resistors who were in college when they learned about the pipeline, and who were the people that were well into their 80s learning about it, and also diversity because I think central Appalachia gets thought of as this very white, very poor region that has no diversity. Oftentimes, the Monacan tribe and the other indigenous tribes in the Southeast don't get recognized as tribes and people who are continuing to fight and protect this land. The MVP ultimately was greenlit in 2024, and is continuing to make its way down through to North Carolina. Protesters may have the opportunity to carry these lessons forward. In 2020, the government approved an extension of the MVP into North Carolina called Southgate. Where does the pipeline fight go from here and what's happening now? It felt important to me that we did lose the fight, in a traditional way of deeming did you win or lose the pipeline fight, while also telling engaging and authentic stories of the community that was built through the pipeline fight and the people that were changed by the pipeline fight. And as we see the federal government in the U.S. and many powerful entities across the world not take climate change as seriously as we believe that they need to, we're going to have to define winning with more nuance than, did you absolutely stop the project or not? Denali Sai Nalamalapu is the author of the new graphic novel Holler, which is available from Timber Press. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX
CBC
25-04-2025
- Business
- CBC
U.S. booze boycott becomes a much-needed boon for B.C. wineries
Canada's united boycott of U.S. booze could result in a banner year for British Columbia's wine industry, while also delivering a financial blow to vineyards south of the border. The Buy Canadian movement is expected to boost demand for B.C. wine and some other types of homegrown liquor as the absence of U.S. product means more space at retail stores and on restaurant menus. The amount of visitors to vineyards could also rise as many Canadians steer clear of the U.S. this summer. It's a sharp change of fortune for B.C. wineries after two years of dismal crops, including a cold snap in early 2024 that wiped out nearly all of the grapes. The summer tourism season has yet to begin, but there are early signs of both increased visitors and sales at Poplar Grove Winery in Penticton, B.C. "I'm excited, first of all, and very, very optimistic," said co-owner Tony Holler, in an interview with CBC News, as he walked through the rows of vines as part of the 65-hectare operation. "Everything looks really, really good here in the Okanagan." He notes that this summer is a unique opportunity for winemakers in the province because of the increased demand and exposure for their product. "A lot of people who've never tasted our wine, once they taste them, I'm telling you, they're going to keep buying them," said Holler. Canadian provinces began removing U.S. liquor from store shelves in early March in response to U.S. President Donald Trump's trade policy, which experts say could hurt Canada's economy and lead to job losses. Buy Canadian movement opening doors Trump has made a number of remarks about making Canada the 51st state and introduced a 25 per cent tariff on the importing of Canadian goods, although some exemptions have since been made. Several provinces are looking to boost interprovincial trade in the face of looming U.S. tariffs, which could lead to more B.C. wines on store shelves across the country. Since B.C. struck a direct-to-consumer wine sale program with Alberta in early January, over 43,200 bottles have been sold from 89 B.C. wineries, according to B.C. cabinet minister Garry Begg. "A lot of consumer sentiment certainly seems to be shifting and saying 'I don't want U.S. wines.' So I think it opens up a lot of doors for the Canadian wine industry," said Paul Sawler, the board chair of Wine Growers British Columbia. Large restaurant chains are requesting more product, said Sawler, who also works as director of sales at Dirty Laundry Vineyards in Summerland, B.C. So far, he says, visitors to the vineyard are up 40 per cent compared to last year. Tough blow for U.S. winemakers South of the border, it's a distressing situation as Canada is the largest export market for the U.S. wine industry, with a retail value of about $1.1 billion US annually. "It has been a big impact to our business," said Joan Kautz, head of global sales at Ironstone Vineyard, a 2,500-hectare site in Lodi, Calif. According to Kautz, Canada represents about 20 per cent of the vineyard's exports and about 10 per cent of its overall sales. Since early March, she says orders have been cancelled and many of its bottles are stuck in warehouses in Ontario, Quebec and several other provinces. "It's frustrating. We'd love to have it back out on the shelves," said Kautz. "Canada is a very important market to us in all aspects. We've spent the last 30 years building the market and we have tremendous partners in the market who are very supportive of us. And we all just want to get back to business." The timing couldn't be worse for the U.S. industry, which insiders say is already suffering from decreasing sales post-pandemic and a slowdown in visits to some wineries. Even after the Canadian boycott is eventually resolved, some U.S. industry leaders are concerned about the long-term impact because of the psychological damage to the consumer. Kautz can only wait and hope the dispute is cleared up soon. "I mean, we're neighbours and partners," she said. "Over time, people will come back to California wines because the quality is fantastic." In B.C., producers have said the wineries with the worst damage from the extreme cold in 2024 may need at least three years for their crop to fully recover. Last year, many wineries, including Poplar Grove, imported grapes from Washington state in order to maintain their operations. This temporary adjustment resulted in the production of varieties that were labelled "crafted in B.C." in the interest of transparency. Holler expects Poplar Grove will grow enough grapes this year to avoid needing to import any fruit. "Our gut feeling is that we should have two-thirds of a crop, and then probably next year we get a bit bigger crop and the following year back to a full crop," he said. "Wineries have wine. Nobody's run out of wine."
Yahoo
16-04-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Appalachian group addresses ‘coordinated attack on coal miner safety'
Video is previous coverage from the NIOSH layoffs in Morgantown on April 1 (WBOY) — Former National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) employees are continuing to speak out against federal cuts that will negatively impact coal miner safety in West Virginia and beyond. Last week, the enforcement of the 'Silica Rule' was paused until August, which will delay the enforcement of an act meant to protect coal miners from black lung, and earlier this month, hundreds of workers were laid off at NIOSH and the Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) that will result in decreased safety research and health resources for miners. Two former Morgantown NIOSH employees spoke at Appalachian Voices' most recent 'Holler from the Hollers' call, a weekly informational Zoom meeting meant to educate Appalachians about policies and government actions that could negatively impact their region. The April 10 call focused on federal cuts and policy changes negatively impacting Appalachian coal miners specifically. 'While everyone agrees that the federal government could use some efficiency improvements, they're getting a lot of things wrong and they seem to not be making—or even acknowledging those mistakes and fixing them,' Quinton King, government affairs specialist for Appalachian Voices, said on the call. Laid-off NIOSH workers continue protests for jobs and safety of U.S. workers Two former workers for NIOSH were speakers at the 'Holler,' including Anita Wolfe, a former public health analyst for NIOSH Morgantown who was coordinator of the Coal Workers' Health Surveillance Program (CWHSP) or coal miners x-ray program, which was a leader in making black lung screening accessible to miners. According to Wolfe, more than 300,000 coal miners have been screened using chest x-rays or breathing tests by the CWHPS since it began in 1969, and it has helped thousands get diagnoses and treatment for black lung, which impacts one in five career coal miners. With the cuts, the positions that make the screening and diagnosis process possible no longer exist. Wolfe said that she believes the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) 'has taken an ax rather than a scalpel to many important programs that affect our health, air, water, worker safety and more.' Wolfe continued by saying that although coal production might increase under executive orders recently signed by President Donald Trump, it could be at the expense of the miners' safety without programs like NIOSH. Although the NOISH cuts disproportionately affect coal miners, NIOSH is also the only government research group dedicated to worker safety. The former workers and Appalachian Voice urged West Virginians and anyone else impacted by health cuts to contact their legislators. You can listen to the full 'Holler from the Hollers' on YouTube here. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
