Latest news with #JohnMuir
Time of India
08-08-2025
- Business
- Time of India
While Harvard and Columbia lose millions in federal cuts, this California university pockets $2 million from Trump: Here's why
: Across the United States, colleges and universities are grappling with a deepening funding crisis. Shrinking federal and state budgets, rising operational costs, and the expiration of pandemic-era relief funds have left many institutions slashing programs, cutting staff, and tightening financial aid. Elite institutions like Harvard face potential losses nearing $1 billion annually due to cuts in research grants and new taxes on endowments. Columbia has also lost $400 million in federal funding, leading to major reductions in staff and halts in research projects. For low-income and first-generation students, these cutbacks threaten to close doors that were only recently opened. Amid this wave of reductions in America's education sector, one California university has secured a rare and crucial victory for those breaking new ground in their families. For many students in Stockton, stepping onto a university campus is not merely about earning a degree; it is about rewriting family history. In homes where no one has completed higher education, a diploma can feel as distant as the moon. The University of the Pacific (UOP) has now been awarded nearly $2 million in renewed federal funding, ensuring that first-generation learners don't just enter higher education, but they have the resources to cross the finish line. University of the Pacific: A legacy rooted in firsts Founded in 1851 as California Wesleyan College, Pacific holds the distinction of being California's first university. Over its history, it has pioneered numerous milestones, including the state's first independent co-educational campus, the first conservatory of music on the West Coast, and the first medical school in the region. Originally based in Santa Clara before moving to San Jose in 1871 and finally settling in Stockton in 1923, Pacific now stands as the first private four-year university in California's Central Valley. Today, the university's reach extends beyond Stockton, with graduate campuses in San Francisco and Sacramento, and a portfolio of schools ranging from business and engineering to dentistry, law, and health sciences. It also houses the treasured archives of environmentalist John Muir, preserving his papers in the Holt-Atherton Special Collections and inspiring new generations through its John Muir Center and dedicated museum-style exhibits. Against this backdrop of history and innovation, Pacific's latest funding renewal underscores its enduring commitment to opening doors for those who have historically been excluded from higher education. TRiO: The programme that changes the odds At the heart of this development is Success TRiO, a federally funded initiative that has long served as a safety net for students from low-income and underrepresented backgrounds. The $1.7 million grant, distributed over the next five years, will support 200 students annually with academic guidance, financial literacy training, mentoring, and emotional support, the very tools that can make or break a first-generation student's college journey. Until recently, the programme's future was uncertain. With federal education budgets under strain, TRiO staff had braced themselves for the possibility of losing the funding that sustains their work. The grant renewal is not just a budget line; it is a lifeline. Why first-generation students need more than just tuition First-generation learners face a unique set of pressures, working part-time to support their households, navigating unfamiliar academic systems, and often carrying the expectations of an entire family. While tuition assistance is vital, programmes like TRiO go further, offering a holistic network of academic and personal support that helps these students persist through challenges that statistics say should derail them. The ripple effect of one graduation For TRiO Director Rosie Montes, herself a first-generation graduate, the stakes are deeply personal. Every student who earns a degree sends a message to siblings, cousins, and community members that higher education is not just for the privileged, it is within reach. The impact extends beyond the individual, shifting mindsets and possibilities for generations to come. A victory in a time of uncertainty In an age when educational programmes across the US are seeing their budgets slashed, the renewal of TRiO's funding is more than a momentary reprieve. It is a statement that targeted investment in first-generation students can break cycles of limitation and open doors to opportunity. For the 1,000 students who will benefit over the next five years, it is proof that their ambition is worth backing, and that their first step into higher education will not be their last. Ready to navigate global policies? Secure your overseas future. Get expert guidance now!
New York Times
26-07-2025
- Entertainment
- New York Times
This Classical Pianist Has Reached the Mountaintop. No, Really.
For the last decade, the classical pianist Hunter Noack has been embarking on an unusual journey: He hauls a thousand-pound 1912 Steinway concert grand piano to places in the outdoors not known for hosting concerts. Picture a man seated at a piano beside a lake. It could also be on a mountaintop, in a forest or meadow. This summer, Noack, 36, is in the midst of a 10th-anniversary tour of his 'In A Landscape' project, which has taken him to Jack London State Historic Park in Glen Ellen, Calif.; Black Butte Ranch in Sisters, Ore.; and Warm Springs Preserve in Ketchum, Idaho. 'I get excited at the idea of bringing a piano where no piano has gone before,' Noack said. Inspired by the preservationist John Muir, Noack started the project as a way of getting closer to nature, and bringing classical music to rural areas where it is not typically accessible. The idea, Noack said, is to remove the barriers that typically limit classical music to concert venues like Carnegie Hall. Want all of The Times? Subscribe.
News.com.au
30-06-2025
- Sport
- News.com.au
Beaumont Newcastle preview: Muir motors on with promising filly
Trainer Matthew Smith is intent on ensuring the colours of one of the sport's living legends fly high at Beaumont on Tuesday and well into what he forecasts is a bright future for the flashy filly, Fairhead. Iconic owner/breeder and businessman John Muir has much to look forward to, Smith says, with Fairhead who was born and raised at Muir's boutique nursery, Milburn Creek, situated at Grose Vale on the banks of the Hawkesbury river. Fairhead is the first horse Smith has trained for Muir – for many years, the man behind the Muir Motors dealership at Ashfield – and he's glad to have them both on his team. • PUNT LIKE A PRO: Become a Racenet iQ member and get expert tips – with fully transparent return on investment statistics – from Racenet's team of professional punters at our Pro Tips section. SUBSCRIBE NOW! 'John is a top man,'' Smith said. 'He breeds some nice horses. He doesn't muck around. He's got good mares and they breed them well. 'I am bloody happy to have one for him and I think Fairhead will make the grade once she gets over a bit of ground next prep. 'I quite like her actually.' Fairhead, an aptly-named chestnut with three white feet and a baldy face, was bred to win a Golden Slipper being a half-sister to the Muir-designed Sizzling. And despite the fact she is also by the speed stallion Pariah, Smith has Fairhead pegged as a stayer in the making. 'She's got stayer written all over her, she'll go all day,'' he said. 'She ran well the other day. She stepped out of a Country Maiden to a Benchmark 64 and she wasn't beaten far.'' Fairhead storms home and wins on the line at Goulburn! @AlyshaCollett | @mcsmithracing — SKY Racing (@SkyRacingAU) May 30, 2025 Fairhead will have company in Tuesday's Horsepower feeds Class 1 & Maiden Plate (2100m) from her imported stablemate De Louviere. The son of German Derby winner Sea The Moon blotted an otherwise exemplary copybook when f ading to finish down the order at Wyong in what was a no-holds barred, energy-sapping war of attrition over 2000m. 'They just overdid it up front,'' Smith said. 'I wanted to go forward but not doing all the work. 'He's freshened-up nicely. I'm really happy with him. I can't see him running a bad race, his work has been great. 'He has got a stack of weight, we probably should have claimed on him, but he does handle wet tracks and he is fit and well.' Smith meanwhile couldn't have crafted a more favourable set of circumstances to aid the blue-blooded Tonkatsu Goddess post her second career win on Tuesday after a close-call at Newcastle on June 14. 'I think the winner of that race might be okay,'' Smith said. 'The margin was less than a length and they beat the others clearly. 'I thought she ran great, the other horse was just too good. 'She has drawn well and likes it wet and she's fit. She should be hard to beat. 'She's always around the money somewhere, she has just been a later maturer and has taken a bit of time that's all.' Tonkatsu Goddess races in the famous Francis and Christine Cook colours; the same worn by Smith's Toorak Handicap, Cantala Stakes and Makybe Diva Stakes triple Group 1 winner, Fierce Impact. And like him, Tonkatsu Goddess is of Japanese descent on her dam-side, boasting successful 2015 George Ryder Stakes raider Real Impact close up on her page. Smith's remaining runner on Tuesday's card is the lightly-raced Andhe's Brave who steps out for just the third time in his career in the Dailey Family Funerals Maiden Plate (1150m). 'He is a big, backward horse,' Smith said. 'He is doing a good job. Both runs have been good and now he has drawn a decent gate I think he will be right there.' â– â– â– â– â– Freedmans on a roll ahead of Tuesday's Beaumont meeting Richard and Will Freedman are hoping to start the month of July in the same way they ended June when the father and son training duo cart two of their young string to Newcastle for today's Beaumont meeting. The Rosehill-based partnership were credited with one of the shortest-priced winners of the entire 2024/25 season when Cold Brew lashed his rivals at Winx-like odds of $1.28. Fast forward three days to Saturday and the Freedmans collected another Midway, this time with the 2024 Four Pillars placegetter, Rolling Magic. 'It's been a good period,'' Will Freedman said. 'We have actually got quite a young team at the moment so it will be a busy winter into spring for us.' The Freedmans' first runner on Tuesday's card is the New Zealand-bred Sir Tua who looks a potentially cheap purchase after being secured at Karaka in 2024 for $35,000. That's despite the now gelded son of Tagaloa tracing back on a direct line to a mare named Imitation who will be forever remembered as the mother of Bonecrusher. While it is unlikely Sir Tua will ever 'race into equine immortality' himself, he does have a future as time goes by. 'He is doing things a bit wrong at the moment,'' Freedman reported. 'His racing manners aren't exactly where we would like them to be. He is trying to do things a little bit aggressively but we have taken the view that you don't learn a lot in the paddock. 'He is just learning his racecraft and when he puts it all together, he has got the ability to be well and truly out of maiden grade.' Tricolours' easily recognisable silks will be on show at Beaumont on Tuesday, worn by in-form jockey Alysha Collett aboard the handsome debutante Hell Island. The son of Hellbent's latest trial reads as 'last of nine' at Rosehill but with excuses. 'We just got caught behind horses going very comfortably and he didn't have anywhere to go,'' Freedman said 'He is probably the odds you would expect for a horse that hasn't been overly competitive in metropolitan trials but I think in both of his sets of trials, he has been under pretty hard holds.' Hell Island was bred by prominent owner/breeder Richard Pegum of Amelia's Dream (et al) fame. Tricolours' gelding was offered by Cressfield as agent at the Magic Millions Yearling sale in 2024, knocked down for the not insignificant sum of $135,000.
Hindustan Times
29-06-2025
- General
- Hindustan Times
Encounter with a curious robin
British ornithologists of the Raj found Indian birds enigmatic. To them, the Indian robin combined boldness and suspicion in the same ounce of feathered frailty. Further, unlike the British robin, the Indian namesake preferred to sport its red not on its chest but tactically tucked under a longish, active tail. The Indian fellow is not quite so modest and does not hesitate to cock his tail well forward over the back to display the chestnut hues adorning the vent, especially when his fair lady may be tempted to take a peek or a rival male threatens sovereignty! Male robin in an aggressive display when threatened. (CK Patnaik) To this, I may add that the Indian robin is one whose temperament succumbs to bouts of puzzlement and curiosity, and will dare his life and limb to put his convulsed mind to rest. I was on a jungle quest in the foothills behind Mirzapur dam on Tuesday. Since I tend to take not the path less travelled but one not travelled at all, it was a toiling trek in saunal humidity and ripping thicket. As I rested on a rock, alarm calls emitted: ' at suspenseful intervals. I was in a jungle where no humans set foot, and was wearing a black safari hat. My eccentric, mad hatter presence had alarmed, and at the same time, intrigued a male robin. It is currently the vulnerable nesting season, and the pair rears up to three broods. Robins can use snake slough to line nests, and one was fashioned from hair curls (hopefully not from a murdered, jungle-dumped lady)! Having expended his calls, the robin abandoned his covert perch. He flew to alight on a bush opposite me, just out of arm's length. To the robin, I must have illusioned a 'giant alien' emergent from a cosmic black hole. He gave me an 'up & down' look in piqued headmaster style. He turned his neck this way and that way to get his eyes to ascertain my antecedents from all angles and mysteries. I sat in all innocence through the visual interrogation. Soon enough, the robin accepted my inoffensive demeanour as a gentleman's (unsaid) word of honour: 'I come & go in peace'. He flew off to his domestic chores, and his alarms were not heard thence. I recalled John Muir: 'The clearest way into the Universe is through a forest wilderness.' The 'painted' egret at Sukhna lake. (Anuj Jain) Prisoner of the paint box Some years ago, a bizarre case of a painted python had surfaced. It was seized from poachers at Rajpura. They had cunningly painted the python brown and lopped off its tail to make it resemble a Common Sand boa, which fetches a good price in the illegal wildlife market as it is used for rituals. Similar is the case of the pet bird trade, wherein wild birds are captured illegally and then painted over to make them resemble exotic species to procure high prices. For example, law-enforcement authorities have seized black Hill mynas with beaks painted over a neon orange. On Friday morning, a ludicrous spectacle unfolded over the Sukhna lake. An eagle-eyed wildlife photographer, Anuj Jain, captured an Eastern Cattle egret (Ardea coromanda) painted over with gaudy hues of deep pink and blue. In its natural state, the egret is snow white but acquires a golden buff on its head, neck and back in breeding plumage. It was probably one illegally captured, painted over and released or had escaped. The incident underscores the laxity of wildlife authorities in keeping an eye on crimes in the urban periphery. 'A sudden flash of bright colours in the sky caught my attention. I quickly took a burst of camera shots and was surprised — and saddened — to discover it was an egret with its wings painted in unnatural hues. While it's not unusual to see white, captive pigeons with dyed feathers, witnessing the same on a wild egret was unexpected. Beyond the initial visual impact, it raises serious concerns: painted wings can make the bird more conspicuous, disrupt its ability to merge with its flock, and affect natural behaviour in flight. What seemed striking at first glance soon felt like a quiet violation of something wild and free,' an anguished Jain told this writer. vjswild2@
Daily Record
27-06-2025
- Daily Record
The Scottish seaside towns 'you must visit' named as East Lothian spot tops list
12 coastal destinations around the country were singled out. Scotland's top "seaside towns you must visit" have been named. Topping the list is a coastal destination in East Lothian. VisitScotland has shared a list of harbours and seaside towns that are well worth a trip, with a total of 12 locations around the country singled out by the tourism board. Coming in at number one on VisitScotland's list is Dunbar in East Lothian. The town is located along the North Sea coast, and is approximately 30 miles out of Edinburgh. The experts praised Dunbar for its dramatic scenery, singling out its "sweeping" beaches. East Beach is just a short walk from the town's High Street and is known as a top rockpooling destination, while Belhaven Bay offers panoramic views out over the Firth of Forth. Another sight named among Dunbar's highlights by VisitScotland is Dunbar Castle. Once among the strongest fortresses in Scotland, the ruins of the centuries-old castle can be found in a dramatic position looking out over the town's harbour. Meanwhile, the experts also praised Dunbar's High Street and its variety of food spots and attractions. Highlights include The Bear & Bull café, Hector's Artisan Pizzeria, and the John Muir's Birthplace museum—dedicated to the Scottish-born American naturalist who was born in Dunbar. VisitScotland wrote: "Just thirty miles east of Edinburgh, Dunbar is framed by rugged cliffs, sweeping beaches, and rolling countryside—perfect for walkers, nature lovers, and families. "Interesting fact: Dunbar was the birthplace of John Muir, the celebrated naturalist and 'Father of America's National Parks'. "You'll be stunned by the dramatic ruins of Dunbar Castle, a reminder of centuries of battles and royal intrigue, it was even a refuge at one stage for Mary, Queen of Scots! Today, Dunbar's coastline is bustling with fishing boats and watersports enthusiasts—Belhaven Bay is a famous surfing spot. "The High Street brims with unique shops, galleries, and welcoming locals. There is a great selection of cafés, pubs, and restaurants offering fresh seafood and Scottish specialties in the town." Elsewhere, Oban in Argyll and Bute placed at number two on VisitScotland's list of "Scottish harbours and seaside towns you must visit". Often referred to as a 'Gateway to the Isles', the town is known for its scenic harbour and waterfront. The experts applauded Oban's "Victorian architecture, friendly locals, and lovely seafood restaurants". Popular eateries around town include Ee-Usk, Cuan Mor, and the Oban Fish and Chip Shop. Placing third on the roundup is Tobermory on the Isle of Mull, which is famous for its colourful water-front buildings and for being the setting of iconic children's TV show Balamory. VisitScotland described the town as "one of the prettiest ports" in Scotland, and named venues Café Fish and The Mishnish Hotel as among its top destinations for seafood. Rounding out the top five on VisitScotland's list are Portpatrick in Dumfries and Galloway and Crail in Fife, coming in at numbers four and five, respectively. Portpatrick earned acclaim for beaches such as Killantringan Bay and Sandeel Bay, while Crail was singled out for its cobbled streets and fishing cottages. Also appearing on VisitScotland's list are Scalloway in Shetland, Pennan in Aberdeenshire, and Troon in South Ayrshire. Ullapool in the Scottish Highlands and Stonehaven in Aberdeenshire round out the top 10, while Portmahomack in Easter Ross and Durness in Sutherland complete the full list of 12. Read on for the "12 Scottish harbours and seaside towns you must visit". Further information can be found on the VisitScotland website. 12 Scottish harbours and seaside towns you must visit Dunbar, East Lothian Oban, Argyll & The Isles Tobermory, Mull Portpatrick, Dumfries & Galloway Crail, Fife Scalloway, Shetland Pennan, Aberdeenshire Troon, South Ayrshire Ullapool, Scottish Highlands Stonehaven, Aberdeenshire Portmahomack, Easter Ross Durness, Sutherland
