Latest news with #PhoenixRising
Yahoo
4 days ago
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Revealing Jeff Buckley Doc, ‘It's Never Over,' to Arrive This Summer
A new documentary, It's Never Over: Jeff Buckley, which examines the life of the late singer-songwriter, will open in movie theaters on Aug. 8. An HBO premiere will follow this winter. The film, by director Amy Berg (Phoenix Rising, West of Memphis), features never-before-seen footage from Buckley's archives. His mother, Mary Culbert, and former partners Rebecca Moore and Joan Wasser gave new interviews for the picture. It also includes commentary from Buckley's former bandmates, Michael Tighe and Parker Kindred, as well as singer-songwriters Ben Harper and Aimee Mann. More from Rolling Stone 'It's Never Over, Jeff Buckley' Pays Tribute to One of the Greatest Singers Ever Jeff Buckley's Mom Finally Explains Why That Brad Pitt Biopic Never Happened Questlove's Sly Stone Documentary to Premiere at 2025 Sundance 'I've spent practically my entire career trying to make this film, which takes a very intimate look at one of the greatest singers and songwriters of all time,' Berg said in a statement. 'I'm so excited Magnolia and HBO have come on board to share this film with the world and give old fans and new audiences a chance to experience Jeff from this unique vantage point.' The film looks at how he followed in the footsteps of his father, singer-songwriter Tim Buckley — who died at age 28 when Jeff was 8 — and launched his own music career, signing to Columbia Records. A concert recording, Live at Sin-é, came out in 1993, and Buckley's sole studio album, Grace, came out in August 1994, three years before his death at age 30. His own legacy has grown ever since. When the film premiered at Sundance in January, Rolling Stone wrote that the picture 'does justice to [Buckley's] legacy.' 'Buckley's mother, Mary Guibert, has been extremely protective over her son and his songs, but she's opened up the vaults for Berg's film,' the review said. 'There are pictures of Buckley as a chubby, smiling baby, and rocking a metalhead shag mullet as a teen; clips of him playing in high school bands, glimpses into notebooks filled with an elegant scrawl that you can only describe as Buckleyesque. Music from every phase of his career, in both rough-demo and finished form, plays over the soundtrack, along with voicemail messages — including the last one he left his mom — and recording session banter. Rarities abound, which makes this feel as much like an archive tour as a movable scrapbook.' Best of Rolling Stone The 50 Greatest Eminem Songs All 274 of Taylor Swift's Songs, Ranked The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time
Forbes
09-05-2025
- Sport
- Forbes
From Sightlines To ‘Sailgating,' Inside Rhode Island FC's New Stadium
PAWTUCKET, RHODE ISLAND - MAY 7: General view of Rhode Island FC stadium before a 2025 U.S. Open Cup ... More game at Centreville Bank Stadium. (Photo by Mark Smith/ISI Photos/USSF/Getty Images) 'There's something about the dynamic of being on water,' says Rhode Island FC chairman Brett M. Johnson. He's talking about a picture he saw of the USL Championship team's new Centreville Bank Stadium in Pawtucket, which held its first matches earlier this month. The 10,000 seat soccer-specific venue sits alongside the same Seekonk River that Johnson once rowed on as a student at Brown University. 'It wasn't pretty, honestly,' says Johnson, describing the polluted river of his student days. Pawtucket has cleaned up its industrial riverside in recent years though, turning once neglected brownfield sites into prime real estate. And the Centreville Bank Stadium is a central part of that. Rhode Island FC isn't the first team Johnson has invested in. He was a founder of Phoenix Rising, and also helped lead the acquisition of Ipswich Town back when it was in the third tier of English soccer. Seeing the impact that Ipswich's on-field success has had on the local area, he hopes to achieve something similar in Pawtucket and give the country's smallest state something to cheer about. Rhode Island FC's first cheer at the Centreville Bank Stadium came when Maxi Rodriguez scored in an Open Cup match against its Massachusetts neighbor New England Revolution. The Revs, who eventually won this local derby 2-1, plays its home games in Foxborough, which is actually closer to Pawtucket than it is to Boston. But Johnson feels Rhode Island FC's home ground gives it something that its local rivals lack. He says, 'nothing detracts more from the beautiful game than playing in an NFL stadium' and says it's a great source of pride that Rhode Island is home to New England's first soccer-specific stadium. He says Revolution's fans deserve their own soccer-specific stadium too. Getting that rectangular home was not easy though. For its inaugural season in 2024, Rhode Island FC played far out of town at the home of Bryant University's Bulldogs. It was also offered the 'Pawsox' baseball stadium when the minor league team moved out of the state, but that stadium's location was not easy to get to and the stadium itself was run-down and tired, not to mention being the wrong shape for soccer, so instead, RIFC chose to build its own stadium on a challenging brownfield site. PAWTUCKET, RHODE ISLAND - MAY 7: Rhode Island FC and New England Revolution walk out during a 2025 ... More U.S. Open Cup game at Centreville Bank Stadium. (Photo by Mark Smith/ISI Photos/USSF/Getty Images) The site had previously been used for a manufactured gas plant so the ground was full of toxic chemicals and had to be capped, meaning that all the utilities and foundations had to be designed above that cap. Rhode Island FC co-founder Dan Kroeber says that the site's history made the build very complicated as they had to make sure they didn't dig below that cap. He says the stadium has been designed with sustainability in mind. It is an all-electric stadium and no plastic is used in its concessions stands, and it's also within walking distance of a new bus and train station. It has been built in a way that allows it to be easily expanded in the future and also be used for other sports such as rugby. Johnson says the stadium, which will eventually be accompanied by a residential and commercial development, will be the catalyst for additional investment into downtown Pawtucket, and that by having a soccer-specific stadium makes all the difference to fan experience as the stadium doesn't have a single bad sightline. He says playing in big NFL stadiums nearly killed Major League Soccer, and that the league's fortunes started to turn when teams like Columbus Crew built soccer-specific stadiums. But the Centreville Bank Stadium has one more trick up its sleeve. Its prime riverside location means fans will soon be able to arrive to games from Newport or Providence by boat, in something Johnson has dubbed 'sailgating.' It's sure to be a big hit.
Scotsman
22-04-2025
- General
- Scotsman
Scots struggling to connect with community, survey finds
The Certas Energy team volunteering to support Domestic Abuse charity, Phoenix Rising in 2024 A new survey released today by Scottish Fuels, part of Certas Energy, has shown that less than half of Scottish homeowners (49 per cent) think their community is thriving, with 1 in 4 people (26 per cent) reporting that they never engage in community activities. Sign up to our daily newsletter – Regular news stories and round-ups from around Scotland direct to your inbox Sign up Thank you for signing up! Did you know with a Digital Subscription to The Scotsman, you can get unlimited access to the website including our premium content, as well as benefiting from fewer ads, loyalty rewards and much more. Learn More Sorry, there seem to be some issues. Please try again later. Submitting... The national survey shows that Scots aren't alone in facing challenges when it comes to community connection. However, they are the least certain about how to better engage with the community. Nearly one in five people (19 per cent) in Scotland said they don't know how to get more involved in their local community. The survey also showed that those living in rural areas across the UK are 23 per cent less likely to feel engaged with their community than their urban counterparts, highlighting an added challenge for Scotland's many rural communities. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad Off grid energy distributor Scottish Fuels, part of Certas Energy, is on a mission to change this through its £30,000 Community Bloom Fund. Scottish Fuels which serves rural communities across the country, is offering community groups within the UK a chance to receive £30,000 in funding to help improve a local shared space or initiative. The fund can be used to spruce up community centres, refresh local parks or sponsor local sports teams - anything that will bring communities and the people within them closer together. Richard Billington, the MD of Energy Solutions for Certas Energy, explained: "The fact rural communities are so disengaged is upsetting, especially for a country like Scotland, where 98 per cent of the land mass is considered rural. We see every day the power of community, and we wanted to do something to bring this back across the country. That's why we created the Community Bloom Fund. 'With more than 70 per cent of people saying that their local community projects would benefit from additional investment, we can't wait to see the impact it has.' Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad 'Whether it's parent and baby groups, gardening clubs or local community centres that host different events, having easily accessible and thriving community initiatives can make such a difference, especially to those in rural areas." To be in with a chance to secure the funding, community groups are invited to apply by 28th May 2025. Applicants should share a summary of the work they do and explain how they would use the funds to support the local project.
Yahoo
13-03-2025
- General
- Yahoo
Opinion: The Pandemic Was a Sputnik Moment for Rethinking American Education. We Blew It
The pandemic gave the country a chance to rethink how states and school districts deliver quality education. When schools shut down, there was an opportunity to create more flexible, innovative learning models tailored to students' varied needs. America had a chance to build stronger connections between schools, families, and communities. In March 2020, resilience, innovation and adaptability became urgent priorities, backed by billions in federal funding. It was a Sputnik moment for American education. We blew it. Get stories like this delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for The 74 Newsletter Get stories like this delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for The 74 Newsletter We failed to take advantage of the moment. Instead of embracing lasting change, most school systems rushed back to 'normal' — as if normal had ever been good enough. The results are horrifying. Student achievement is in free fall. Fewer than one-third of students scored proficient in reading and math, according to the latest National Assessment of Educational Progress. These declines predated the pandemic but were exacerbated by prolonged school closures. Given these realities, can policymakers still pretend the traditional education model works? A system designed over a century ago to train students for farm and factory labor is woefully inadequate for today's needs. It cannot deliver the personalized learning students require in the Age of Artificial Intelligence. Related This outdated system relies on one-size-fits-all solutions while assuming teachers can somehow provide differentiated support for every student. It rests on an increasingly fragile social contract: that students will attend school daily, that marginalized families will trust and wait for better service,and that schools are the sole places for learning. The pandemic shattered these assumptions. The U.S. must rethink education. On this, the fifth anniversary of the start of the pandemic, the Center on Reinventing Public Education has launched Phoenix Rising, a forum for exploring bold, new ideas. Phoenix Rising looks back on the root causes of the disastrous pandemic response and articulates a vision for a more nimble, personalized, joyful and evidence-based public education system. Five years after the pandemic began, we reflect on the failures and propose a path forward. Our research identifies key failures in the pandemic response and recovery: Schools lacked incentives, autonomy and capacity to deliver the personalized instruction needed to accelerate learning. States and the federal government provided little leadership, leaving districts to fend for themselves. Politics, not science, dictated too many decisions. Federal aid was distributed without clear expectations or accountability, offering only temporary relief. The consequences are clear: declining test scores, wildly varied student needs within classrooms, disruptive behavior, chronic absenteeism and increasing mental health challenges for both students and teachers. Parents remain unaware of the full extent of learning loss, and public trust in education is eroding. Related Rather than blame educators or school districts, we at CRPE diagnose a deeper problem: The education delivery system is fundamentally overmatched by its challenges. It cannot deliver the outcomes today's students need. We propose a future-ready system that prioritizes: Providing flexible, personalized learning pathways: Schools should act as portfolio managers, offering students personalized learning options rather than delivering all the instruction and support themselves. Core academics would remain in assigned schools, but students could use public dollars for apprenticeships, enrichment programs, tutoring and mental health support. Breaking down barriers in schools: Schools must dismantle rigid structures that limit student potential. Advanced coursework should be more accessible. Universal design for learning and individualized pathways to college and careers should be the norm, not the exception. Preparing students for the future: Success after high school requires more than career pathways, internships or college applications. Schools must emphasize durable skills like critical thinking, communication and leadership. By high school, students should be immersed in career exploration and have universal access to early college. Rethinking teacher roles and instruction: New schooling models should encourage team-based teaching. Evidence-based instructional practices must become standard. Research-based methods for reading, writing, math and behavior regulation should be integrated into teacher preparation and school support structures. Forty years ago, CRPE advocated for a portfolio system of governance, where school boards diversified their offerings — traditional public schools, magnets and charters — while focusing on core services like funding and accountability. Managing personalized pathways requires going further. It demands not just new governance structures, but also transformed instruction and student support. States and localities must unlock funding, teacher assignments and student intervention strategies to enable innovative approaches. They should empower new governing bodies, whether independent boards, mayors or state-appointed leaders, to integrate ideas from outside the traditional district framework. Related This transformation required bold action. Simply calling for more patience, more money and less regulation is not enough. Schools need sustained state leadership. With the federal government pulling back from education oversight, states must step up. Empty declarations of emergency won't suffice. Top-down mandates won't work. Students can and will learn if given the chance — but only if educators rethink how they learn. That means transforming classroom instruction, teacher roles, technology use and more. States must reallocate federal funding flexibly, revamp laws to incentivize innovation and create new opportunities for experimentation beyond the traditional system. Above all, the next wave of education reform must look forward, not backward. American schools cannot afford to cling to outdated structures out of a misguided allegiance to the past. Policymakers must empower schools to embrace new ideas, act on evidence and be bolder in pursuing better outcomes. Students' futures — and the country's economic and social prosperity — depend on it.
USA Today
29-01-2025
- Entertainment
- USA Today
Busch Gardens is creating a Wild Oasis for families. What to expect from the new ‘realm.'
Busch Gardens is creating a Wild Oasis for families. What to expect from the new 'realm.' Show Caption Hide Caption New baby rhino rivals the cuteness of viral pygmy hippo Moo Deng Busch Gardens Tampa has an adorable new baby Southern White Rhinoceros calf and they're leaving the naming honors to the public. Busch Gardens Tampa Bay is sharing new details on what it's calling 'North America's most immersive kid-friendly adventure realm.' Wild Oasis is set to open in the Florida theme park's Jungala section this spring. It was first announced last fall. 'We're incredibly excited to introduce the Wild Oasis – a vibrant, rainforest-inspired realm with amazing animal habitats, thrilling attractions, and interactive play areas that will entertain, educate and inspire our guests to cherish the wonders of the natural world,' Busch Gardens Tampa Bay Park President Jeff Davis said in a press release, which revealed more on what's coming. Here's what guests, particularly with young children, should know about Wild Oasis. Is Busch Gardens getting a new ride? Yes. Wild Oasis will have a new 35-foot drop tower ride called Tree Top Drop, with multimedia. 'Riders will be surrounded by action-packed jungle scenes displayed on screens,' Busch Gardens said in Wednesday's press release. Kids will need to be 38 inches tall to ride with an accompanying adult or 42 inches tall to go solo. Another coming attraction is called Canopy Climb. While not a ride, this four-level climbing structure is sure to attract kids and kids at heart with '200 feet of horizontal climbing trails and vertical climbs reaching 50 feet high,' according to the park. Is Busch Gardens good for small children? Yes. The park already has several kid-friendly attractions and entertainment offerings, ranging from the Grand Caravan Carousel to the Phoenix Rising family roller coaster, which opened last year. The park is also one of the largest zoos on the continent and is accredited by the industry-leading Association of Zoos and Aquariums. What animals can you see at Busch Gardens? There are currently 200 animal species already at the park, including tigers, elephants and sloths. When Wild Oasis opens, guests will also be able to see giant anteaters, capybaras, squirrel monkeys, and tropical birds that are new to the park in a multi-level, multi-species habitat called Habitat Hideaway. 'For those looking to journey further, the Rainforest Quest offers guests the opportunity to embark on a self-guided educational scavenger hunt, providing an exploration of the interconnected wonders of nature and highlighting the relationships between different species in the rainforest,' according to the park. When will Wild Oasis open? A specific date has not been announced beyond spring, but the park said annual passholders would be the first to experience Wild Oasis. Does Busch Gardens in Tampa have a water park? Busch Gardens Tampa Bay has a splash area called Sesame Street Safari of Fun Splash & Play. Wild Oasis will add another kid's water play area to the park, called Enchanted Falls, with a splash pad, spray towers and fountains. A separately ticketed sister water park called Adventure Island Tampa Bay is located across the street from Busch Gardens. Bring the kids: 10 of the best places in the US to go with kids in 2025 Do kids get in free to Busch Gardens Tampa Bay? Like many other theme parks, Busch Gardens Tampa Bay offers free admission to all kids under three years old. Additionally, Florida preschoolers under age six are eligible for a free Preschool Card, granting them free entry to both Busch Gardens and Adventure Island for all of 2025. The first visit must be made by the end of February.
