Latest news with #MelissaMartin
RNZ News
03-08-2025
- Climate
- RNZ News
Woman missing amid floods, heavy snow in NSWs Hunter, New England and Mid North Coast
By Melissa Martin , ABC News Emergency flood warnings are in place for parts of NSW. Photo: ABC / Amelia Bernasconi A woman is missing in floodwaters as parts of New South Wales prepare for another day of wild weather. The NSW State Emergency Service (SES) has responded to more than 1455 incidents due to the snow, wind and rain that lashed the state's Upper Hunter region, Northern Tablelands and Mid North Coast. The woman was swept away near Cessnock following heavy rain, while vast areas of the New England region were blanketed in snow, leaving up to 200 vehicles stuck in several locations along the New England Highway. Areas of the Hunter and Mid North Coast regions suffered strong winds and rainfall across the day, leading to scores of buildings being damaged and roads blocked. Snow and ice in Glencoe, located on the northern tablelands in NSW. Photo: ABC / Kim Honan On Sunday morning, an emergency warning was in place to evacuate from some parts of Scone while major flood warnings have been issued for areas of Tamworth, Gunnedah and Manilla. Residents in and around Armidale and Glen Innes are being advised to stay near shelter today following the heavy snow that has left all major roads into the city cut off by snow and ice. Several sections of the New England Highway were closed by snowfall on Saturday. Photo: Supplied / NSW SES Emergency crews are searching this morning for a woman who has been swept away by floodwaters near Cessnock. Police said a car attempted to drive through floodwaters at Rothbury on Saturday night when it became stuck. The 27-year-old driver and her passenger, also believed to a woman in her 20s, tried to get out of the vehicle, with the passenger getting washed away. A 40-year-old man was rescued at the same location after he also became trapped in floodwater. Residents of parts of Scone were warned to evacuate early on Sunday morning amid rising floodwaters. Photo: ABC News / Amelia Bernasconi The SES said the almost 15,000 calls for help had been mostly for storm damage. Spokesperson Emily Barton said it was a busy night for volunteers. "Just in the 24 hours to 5am … crews in our northern zone responded to nearly 800 incidents alone," she said. "That was closely followed by our SES volunteers in north-western area, which is the New England region." The Bureau of Meteorology predicts rainfall will ease on Sunday, however strong winds will sweep through north-east parts of the state. This house in West Kempsey lost its roof as strong winds caused damage across the Mid North Coast. Photo: ABC News Barton said the state was not out of danger yet. "The rain will ease today, which I guess is some good news for community members, however riverine levels will continue to rise throughout today and into tomorrow," she said. Meanwhile, residents in and around Armidale and Glen Innes have been advised to stay near shelter. Essential Energy said more than 27,000 customers remained without power across the New England and Mid North Coast, with the worst hit areas Kempsey, Armidale, Bulahdelah and Walcha. Armidale was blanketed in snow and residents are being told to remain near shelter on Sunday. Photo: ABC News / Liana Boss Multiple road closures remain in place across the affected regions. The New England Highway is closed in several places, the Oxley Highway is closed between Bendemeer and Walcha and the Kamilaroi Highway is closed between Breeza and Curlewis. However, Waterfall Way has reopened between Armidale and Ebor. On Saturday, 30 passengers on the NSW TrainLink service from Sydney to Armidale were stopped at Walcha Road Station about 6pm due to a blockage on the tracks. The train was forced to return to Tamworth about 2am, unable to reach Armidale. Ice and snow have kept parts of the New England Highway closed on Sunday morning. Photo: ABC News / Kim Honan - ABC News
Eater
15-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Eater
Mosquito Supper Club Chef Expands With Quaint New Restaurant
is an award-winning food and travel writer living in New Orleans. Her work has appeared in Atlas Obscura, The Local Palate, and the Los Angeles Times. Saint Claire, from chef Melissa Martin, opens in Algiers Point Chef Melissa Martin, best known for her Uptown tasting menu-centric Mosquito Supper Club and a duo of James Beard Award-winning cookbooks, has expanded with the June 26 opening of the country French-themed Saint Claire in Algiers Point. Martin partnered with her friend Cassi Dymond to open Saint Claire. Dymond is co-founder of Maple Street's Satsuma Cafe and co-owner of Kalimera Construction, which specializes in dynamic restaurant build-outs, including Dakar NOLA, the Tell Me Bar, and N7. Located across the river, 15 minutes from the CBD, Saint Claire is situated in a historic 1920s home at the center of a cul-de-sac, surrounded by live oak trees, just steps from the Mississippi River levee. The restored building at 1300 Richland Road was once the medical officer's home on the site of Camp Algiers, an immigration center, and a WWII-era internment camp. Unlike Mosquito Supper Club, Saint Claire doesn't feature a prix fixe menu or communal dining. The opening menu features nods to seasonal vegetables and local seafood, including eggplant fritters with powdered sugar, smoked beets with trout roe, and farmed Brightside oysters from Grand Isle. There's a duck and andouille gumbo, gnocchi with crabmeat in a lemon beurre blanc sauce, and grouper with fried okra. Inside, the space is warm and inviting, with a palette of buttery yellow and soft blues, rustic French antiques, and mismatched porcelain plates and silverware. Candlelight flickers at Saint Claire, the welcoming country mouse to Mosquito Supper Club's city setting. Spicy Mango is now open on Frenchmen Street Larry Morrow, whose goal is to have 'the largest Black-owned restaurant group in the country,' opened Morrow Hospitality's fifth restaurant in New Orleans on July 5. Morrow premiered Spicy Mango, a Creole-Caribbean fusion restaurant on the corner of Frenchmen Street and Esplanade Avenue during Essence Fest. The 200-seat restaurant exudes an island vibe, with its creative use of thatching, a dining room mango tree, and an expansive patio featuring a central fountain. Jordan Lindsey, the company's culinary director, created an irie menu with specialties like jerked chicken, crawfish beignets, and a mango-fueled island salad. Since he and his mother, Lenora Chong, opened their first restaurant, Morrow's, in 2018, the company's portfolio has grown to include Morrow Steak, Monday Restaurant and Bar, Sun Chong, and Spicy Mango, as well as two nightclubs, Hide/Seek and Treehouse. Thaihey has a stall at St. Roch Market Chef Orawin's 'Nim' Yimchalam now has a Thaihey presence at the St. Roch Market. Yimchalam, who operates Thaihey at 308 Decatur Street with her husband Nathan Greene, now serves a menu of not the usual Thai dishes, like nam khoa tod, a crispy rice ball spiced with red curry, Thai herbs, and chunks of salami. The Thai sloppy Joe, a loose meat sandwich on a bun, bright with Thai basil, is a craveable new classic. Her expansion into the St. Roch Market brings her full circle— the chef's first location was at the now-shuttered White Star Market in Baton Rouge. Cajun Flames becomes the second LUFU The short-lived Cajun Flames restaurant from the team behind LUFU in the CBD, is now the Indian restaurant's second location. The Cajun concept didn't fly, opening and closing within a year. Led by chefs Sachin Darade, Aman Kota, and Shan Samantray, the location that was formerly Saint John at 1117 Decatur Street will drill deeper into the regional Indian dishes popular at the original restaurant. LUFU, which stands for Let Us Feed U, opened July 3. Fur Bébe Café is perfect for the dog days of summer Fur Bébe Café is New Orleans's first dog cafe, located at 4826 Magazine Street, Uptown. When it comes to a theme, owner Barrett Cooper is like a dog with a bone. He knows how to create a mood — Cooper operated the atmospheric Double Dealer lounge at the Orpheum. This cafe's theme is ever-present, from the bone-shaped door handle to the menu of dog treats and hilarious AI-generated dog art hung at pooch level. Of course, there's a menu for humans too, a deep coffee program along with doggy named bites like the Corgi Cobb salad and the Catahoula toast topped with blueberry compote, lemon ricotta, and mint. The dog- and family-friendly spot includes a shaded side patio with plans for an off-leash play area in the near future.
Yahoo
12-05-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Could Maine finally create a statewide system for tracking rape kits?
May 12—Maine lawmakers are considering whether to pay for a statewide system to track sexual assault kits after a previous effort came close but failed last year. Proponents fear hundreds of kits throughout Maine are being overlooked and that a majority have never been tested and will never lead to arrests or convictions. But it will cost millions of dollars to identify and test all of them — and the proposal has returned to lawmakers during an even more competitive year for the state budget. Ever since a bill to pay for a statewide system died at adjournment in the last session, momentum has only grown. Both Kennebec and Penobscot counties have launched their own tracking systems using federal funds. Cumberland County received a $2.5 million grant in December to send an estimated 500 untested kits to an out-of-state lab. But the grant that helped Kennebec and Penobscot counties is about to dry up. If the state doesn't step in now, that work "might not move forward to anything," said Melissa Martin, policy director for the Maine Coalition Against Sexual Assault. "This is really the point where I think the state needs to step in," Martin said at a hearing for the bill Monday. The Legislature's Judiciary Committee is considering two bills this year, both of which call on the Maine Department of Public Safety to create a statewide tracking system for all of the state's sexual assault kits that would allow victims to receive updates on the status of their kits. Both bills would also require the department to compile an inventory of all its backlogged and shelved cases, and to share a report on its progress with lawmakers by January 2027. "We have no idea — we truly just don't know — how many kits are in storage," said Keri Kapoldo, who coordinates the Sexual Assault Forensic Examiner program for St. Joseph Hospital in Bangor. "We just can't fix something we can't see," Kapoldo said. In March, the committee voted "ought to pass" on LD 549, a proposal introduced by Sen. Rick Bennett, R-Oxford. The bill would cost about $1.1 million over the next two years, about one-third of which would be covered by the state Highway Fund. Bennett said in February that Maine is drastically behind other states when it comes to tracking and testing its rape kits. A majority of kits collected from hospitals never get tested, he said. "But victims don't know this," Bennett said. "They expect that after they go through the traumatic experience of reliving an event, it will help lead to justice. ... It should be a dark mark of shame that this is so far from the truth." LD 1816, which had its public hearing Monday, is slightly different because it wouldn't mandate that kits be sent to law enforcement agencies, according to its sponsor, Sen. Jill Duson, D-Portland. Whether kits are tested would be up to the person who has been sexually assaulted. Not everyone wants to move forward with an investigation or seek prosecution. "We want to leave room for the victim, whose trauma created the kit," said Duson during the hearing. Both proposals are bipartisan; Bennett is also a co-sponsor on Duson's bill. He said Monday afternoon that his biggest priority is establishing a statewide tracking system. "These other questions are moot if we don't get the tracking and inventory part going," he said in a phone interview. Advocates for sexual assault victims said Monday said that they support this too, although some said during Monday's hearing they preferred legislation that would allow victims the choice to opt out from sharing their kits' results. Kapoldo said that in 2024, roughly two-thirds of the 70 people who completed exams agreed to share their results with law enforcement. About half of those people were ready to share evidence at the time of their exams. Others wanted to wait. "These numbers tell a powerful story," Kapoldo said. "Survivors are seeking the care but they're not always ready to engage in the judicial system or the criminal justice system." A similar bill last year, LD 2129, would have cost roughly $350,000 in its first year, a little less than a third of which would have come from the state's Highway Fund. Maine State Police Crime Lab Director Mike Zabarsky said in February that he was concerned by provisions in LD 549 that would require his staff to test all completed kits starting in 2027. (The same provisions are included in LD 1816.) He questioned whether the lab would have the capacity to take on this extra work, given its limited resources. "Without more data from the pilot project, I cannot tell you whether the lab will be swamped with untested kits," Zabarsky testified. "What I can tell you is that the lab has a backlog of kits today and any additional kits submitted to us will have a chilling effect on our ability to prioritize violent crimes against people and process kits in a timely manner without detrimentally impacting our goal to maximize throughput and achieve reasonable turnaround times." Supporters on Monday said the proposal under LD 1816 could cost less, because it only seeks to scale existing pilot programs in Kennebec and Penobscot counties to cover the whole state. ------ IF YOU or someone you know has experienced sexual violence, you can call 1-800-871-7741 for free and confidential help 24 hours a day. TO LEARN more about sexual violence prevention and response in Maine, visit the Maine Coalition Against Sexual Assault website. Copy the Story Link We believe it's important to offer commenting on certain stories as a benefit to our readers. At its best, our comments sections can be a productive platform for readers to engage with our journalism, offer thoughts on coverage and issues, and drive conversation in a respectful, solutions-based way. It's a form of open discourse that can be useful to our community, public officials, journalists and others. We do not enable comments on everything — exceptions include most crime stories, and coverage involving personal tragedy or sensitive issues that invite personal attacks instead of thoughtful discussion. You can read more here about our commenting policy and terms of use. More information is also found on our FAQs. Show less
Yahoo
07-05-2025
- General
- Yahoo
USCA LIFE program to graduate its first cohort
AIKEN, Sc. (WJBF)- USCA LIFE. Learning Is for Everyone. These 13 students, who have intellectual disabilities get the opportunity of a lifetime. To Graduate. And their parents get to see them. I asked, 'Who's coming to your graduation?' 'My dad, my mom, my stepdad, his roommate and myself. That's it,' said graduate, Amelia Carpenter. Once students with intellectual disabilities leave K-12 schools, about 18% of them get a job, making less than $11,000 a year. This makes the USCA LIFE program important. 'To be a productive member of society, we have to be able to regulate emotions and solve problems and talk to individuals and communicate and pay our bills and manage our money. And so all of those daily living and soft skills and job skills are so important because it helps them become more independent. Helps them get a job. Helps them keep a job once they have that job. And then it helps them live by themselves,' said director of USCA LIFE, Melissa Martin And over the past two years they have shown themselves to be ready for LIFE. ' I just think our students just really, truly show that every day that they can do the same things as everybody else and they can be your friend just as well as anybody else,' said mentor, Skylar Shirey. 'And this program is very great. And if you want to join it, you should because you can get a lot of good experience from it. Yeah,' said Carpenter. The doors open at 5 p.m. and the ceremony begins at 6 p.m. at the Convocation Center on USCA campus. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to WJBF.
